From classic thriller to science fiction classic to controversial comedy, three iconic movies are celebrating the anniversaries of their release – Blazing Saddles (50th anniversary), North by Northwest (65th anniversary) and The Terminator (40th anniversary), and all three of them will be released for the first time on 4K Ultra HD and Digital on November 19.
Also celebrating anniversaries are The Wizard of Oz (85th anniversary), which will be available in an 85th Anniversary Theater Edition on November 5 and The Polar Express (20th anniversary), which was released on 4K in 2022.
Released in 1974, Blazing Saddles, which returned to theaters last month to mark the milestone, has been called ribald, tasteless and…hilarious. This classic spoof of the Western genre by director Mel Brooks pokes fun at everyone and everything. A corrupt governor grants a reprieve to an African American convict if the condemned man agrees to serve as sheriff of a small Western town, believing that the new sheriff will only live long enough to serve the needs of the governor and his nefarious railroad-baron backer.
Blazing Saddles received 3 Academy Award nominations for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Madeline Kahn); Best Music, Original Song; and Best Film Editing and, in 2006, was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
North By Northwest, meanwhile, finds Hollywood icon Cary Grant starring as an innocent man mistaken for a spy in one of director Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest thrillers. While leaving New York’s Plaza Hotel, advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Grant) has the misfortune of raising his hand just as the name “George Kaplan” is paged–starting a lethal case of mistaken identity and a nonstop game of cat and mouse as he is pursued across North America by espionage agents trying to kill him–and by police who suspect him of murder.
Directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock and written by Ernest Lehman, North by Northwest was nominated for 3 Academy Awards for Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction and Best Original Screenplay, and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant in 1995.
The Terminator Remains a Science Fiction Staple
Last, but by no means least, the sci-fi horror classic The Terminator will soon be realized in glorious 4K Ultra HD. Disguised as a human, a cyborg assassin known as a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) travels from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). Sent to protect Sarah is Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), who divulges the coming of Skynet, an artificial intelligence system that will spark a nuclear holocaust.
Directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd, The Terminator stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton and Paul Winfield, and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant in 2008. The movie has since spawned one of the biggest blockbuster franchises of all time, with Cameron teasing recently that there is even more to come.
Once again,
Blazing Saddles
,
North by Northwest
, and
The Terminator
will be released for the first time on 4K Ultra HD and Digital on November 19.