The Conformist [Dual Format Edition[Blu-ray]

one of the 10 best films I've ever seen
What kind of man gets himself in such a pickle that --- on his honeymoon --- he's given a gun and asked to kill a professor he's always admired?

That is the question presented to us at the beginning of "The Conformist," as Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant) sits in a Paris hotel room, waiting for the call that will tell him it's time to kill the professor. If you love movies, the answer --- told in a series of flashbacks, and, on occasion, flashbacks within flashbacks --- will make for one of the most rewarding cinematic experiences of your life.

Let's get the praise out of the way right off. Bernardo Bertolucci --- known to most moviegoers for his Oscar-winning "The Last Emperor" and his down-and-dirty "Last Tango in Paris" --- made "The Conformist" at 29. It is a young man's film, drenched in ambition. It is also Bertolucci's greatest film. Indeed, it is one of the ten greatest films I've ever seen.

My reasons?

First, "The...

Fall of a Fascista
Break out the brass section, the DVD has arrived. This landmark film like fine wine, now that it has been remastered by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, and presented with color intact in widescreen in Italian and French, emerges as a true classic. The dispicable VHS dubbed panned & scanned version that we have been watching for over 20 years can be "retired". Bernardo Bertolucci's truth is once again on display. This release sparkles with clarity, and we can thrill to the carefully presented imagery and the powerful symbolism.

Bertolucci, under 30 when he directed CONFORMIST, has become a wonderfully gifted and powerful force in cinema; and never more so than in this fledging effort. He must have storyboarded every moment. The film is tighter than a Rolex; no wasted seconds or icons. In this film he began to explore the vistas of sensuality and sexuality that only two short years later would blossom into THE LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1972); and then would spill out all over...

Please, Paramount - or Whoever Has the Rights - Bring This Out on DVD
I just want to add my voice to those asking - pleading - for The Conformist to be released in a subtitled version on DVD. I first saw The Conformist when it was released about 35 years ago, and have had the good fortune to see it a few times since. (At the risk of rubbing salt in the wound of reviewer James Luckard, I did get to see it when it was at the Nuart in L.A. two years ago.) This film is just absolutely stunning in every way - Jean-Louis Trintignant is of course a great actor, but the thing I find so overwhelming with this film is the way the story, the acting, the cinematography, the lighting, the music, everything just comes together so well.

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