The new Criterion email newsletter contains the following:

THE HARDER THEY COME goes out of print in September.

If this is something that you've been meaning to get - well, now's the time to make your move.

Edit: spelling correction

His first sentence?

(Thanks, btw. I have a feeling I'm the first of a long list of people who "have it on their list, but now it's at the top")

ahh. my bad. I'll delete it.

Yikes. That must suck if all we're left with is the Xenon release!

I still watch my CC every now and then. "De Hero cant' die 'til de last reel!"

The Harder the cum?

never even heard of it, let alone that it was Criterion.

oh well, I have too many other things to get between now and Sept. And besides, OOP doesn't mean I won't find it after September anyway.

Ordered - DVD Planet, 25.97 with free shipping / no tax

Get 'em while they last.......(unless, of course, this is all BS :-)

why would it be BS?

Hopefully it'll still be in stock in the next DDD sale (like Straw Dogs in this one).

Not to be taken as a negative, meaning - false alarm or retired to make way for a better edition...... in other words, relax, don't blow your money on this one, a better Criterion is coming to replace it.

According to DVDAficionado, more people own Salo than own the CC version of The Harder They Come. Now that's obscure!

they're probably buying the Salo bootlegs that are all over ebay

Did they give a reason for it to go out of print? Does someone else have the rights to it now? Are they planning on re-releasing a better version?

I think we all know the only important question about this so-obscure-I-doubt-the-director-remembers-he-directed-it film is: Will it be worth ungodly sums of money on Ebay after it goes OOP?

actually, this film, at its time, was not obscure, but a staple of campus, festival, revival screenings. very popular in its day.

At one point, the main character sees Django in the cinema and it supposedly changes his life... for this reason alone it might warrant a purchase by me.

I think Criterion would've said so if that was the case. That's what they did with M, Beauty and the Beast and Wages of Fear.

Xenon Entertainment's had their own version out for awhile now. It may be that Criterion had a fixed-period non-exclusive license that's only now expiring or something. I haven't seen any direct comparisons between the Xenon and the Criterion, but the Xenon appears to have a nice set of special features.

That's only happened a couple times in the past and in those cases the returning titles (M and 400 Blows) were fairly popular among criterion collectors. I haven't even heard of this one among the collectors so I see little reason why it should have great demand for re-release. Perhaps by a different company. *shrugs*

But a title going OOP means nothing more than Criterion's license ran out. Doesn't mean they're going to get the license again. Doesn't mean any other company is going to rush to get the license and make a disc either. It just means Criterion is no longer going to print their version. That's all.

Got the same criterion email. Here is the part...

Likewise. I doubt this is going to skyrocket in value, but I don't want the hassle of not being able to find a copy very easily somewhere down the line.

EDIT: Got my order confirmation this morning, and noticed that it's on backorder. Looks like either a) a bunch of people jumped on this when they got the newsletter, or b) this isn't a high profile title (even though it is a Criterion) and they don't keep much stock on hand.

Either way, I hope they get this back in stock soon.

I seem to be the only person I know that has owned this for the last couple of years... A great movie, highly recommended.

And quite obviously a fantastic soundtrack. The title track is probably my favorite reggae song ever.

This release WASN'T anamorphic, right? I love this movie, own the Criterion LaserDisc, yet never picked it up. I think that was the reason I never picked it up.

I like the bird...very "harbinger of doom"-like.

It is non-anamorphic, and since Criterion has been releasing several of their older non-anamorphic titles in new anamorphic versions, I would think that this *might* be a reason for putting this title in OOP status.