Race for the Yankee Zephyr DVD

 Race for the Yankee Zephyr still

Race for the Yankee Zephyr
aka: Treasure of the Yankee Zephyr - 1981




Enterprise/Hemdale/Pact/First City - 104-108 min.
DVD UPC # 9315842021979; 692865344339

Cast: Ken Wahl, Lesley Ann Warren, Donald Pleasance, Bruno Lawrence, Grant Tilly, George Peppard.
Screenplay: Everett de Roche; Photography: Vincent Monton; Editor: John Laing; Composer: Brian May; Producers: Antony Ginnane, John Barnett, David Hemmings; Director: David Hemmings.
A deer hunter(Wahl) and his bumbling partner(Pleasance) by chance stumble upon the wreckage of a DC-3 on the shore of Lake Wakatipu. Included amongst its cargo are medals, booze, money and $50 million in gold bullion. Before they can begin recovery, others get wind of the discovery and show up to pressure them in revealing the location. This is an action/chase, frankly silly, film with most of its energy occuring in the numerous stunts, chases and explosions. Great helicopter shots of Fiordland and the Queenstown area. New Zealand's first big budget ($6 million) co-production.

Censor Rating: PG - Review Rating: C+


AVAILABILITY OF VHS OR DVD COPIES

R4 PAL DVDs are available from Australian sources for about $15au or NZ sources for about $12nz. The DVD has no extras, but it is presented in the original 2.35:1 Cinemascope widescreen. The box slick says that the screen format is 4 x 3 Full Frame, which it clearly is not. There is a short "historic" footage at the beginning that is in 1.33:1 format, but after that the format changes to 2.35:1 for the rest of the movie. There are no extras. An R1 version was available, under the aka of 'Treasure of the Yankee Zephyr', but as of June 2009 is OOP. There is a double feature R1 offering by "East West DVD" that is a low cost, low quality ripoff this is not recommended. Older vhs versions are not in the original cinemascope widescreen format.

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SOUNDTRACK ON AUDIO CD

Click for Race For The Yankee Zephyr CD Details


REVIEWS

Sequence review and comments

IMDB Review/comments

TV Guide brief review

Time Out Review
Four Word Film Review

Archetypal case of Hollywood-in-New Zealand. Set in a non-specific celluloid adventure world which happens to have the Southern Alps in it. Cast and storyline angle it for undemanding American audiences. Even on its humble action-adventure level, very poorly paced. More a crawl than a race. (Nicholas Reid - 'A Decade of New Zealand Film')

TRAILER - AWARDS - MISC

Opening video clip

Information at IMDB

1982 - Knokkeheist Film Festival - Best Actor: Donald Pleasence.

Internet Movie Poster Awards


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