In a message dated 6/9/00 12:04:37 AM, [log in to unmask] writes: >As for your list... I dare say that the compositional care given to the >visuals of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai is not quite in the same >league as The Wild Bunch, Lawrence of Arabia, 2001 and good many other >60s and 70s Hollywood examples. If so, we might as well as add the widescreen >anamorphic, 2.35:1 aspect ratio of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me I disagree. You jokingly mention Austin Powers, but Im not sure it's as laughable a proposition as you seem to think. While the films you cite are certainly primary examples of widescreen image composition, that doesn't necessarily mean that Buckaroo Banzai, by virtue of not having been nominated to the same pantheon, is any less so. While I can't speak to Buckaroo Banzai particularly, having not seen it in years (where *is* that remastered DVD?!?), I could certainly think of five films within the past year that do/will suffer from a pan & scan video transfer. American Beauty Fight Club American Psycho Mission Impossible 2 Shanghai Noon While some of those are certainly not up to the classic status of Larry or The Bunch, I still maintain that doesnt make them any less deserving of credit. Further, I can think of several directors who consciously work in the wider aspect ratio, intending their films to be seen in 2.35:1 regardless of the economic promise of the home video market. John Carpenter, David Fincher, and Luc Besson have all explicitly stated their preference for the 2.35:1 ratio and consistently make films that take full advantage of said ratio. Even the work of Michael Bay (speaking of not being in the pantheon...) suffers quite a bit from the move to video. Several key action sequences from The Rock and Armageddon are little more than unwatchable blurs on panned and scanned video. The other issue that your previous post did not address is that of pacing. While Gattaca may lose no "relevant" visual information (it goes without saying here that relevant is certainly a judgment call), the truth is that quite a few shots are in essence reedited: what appeared in the original ratio as a single continuous shot is cropped as two separate shots with the video cutting back and forth between them. This faux cutting alters the pacing of the film and certainly changes the original tone of several key scenes. Ed Owens ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html