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The film stars Glenn as Emmett, a cowboy traveling across the desert to spring his brother Jake (Kevin Costner) out of jail, so they can settle down in California. Along the way, Emmett picks up a stranger named Paden (Kevin Kline), whom he finds sleeping on the ground in his long johns. The eventual threesome becomes an inevitable foursome when they meet Mal (Danny Glover), a black man railing against frontier racism while avenging the death of his father. All roads led to the town of Silverado, where the four men's fortunes will be decided.

The multiple storylines fold over each other nicely, if not always smoothly. The love interest is played by Rosanna Arquette. She has very little to do in the movie and looks uncomfortable doing it. At one point she goes from being wooed by Paden to being wooed by Emmett with no explanation whatsoever. Silverado throws in all the conventions of the genre: the feisty barmaid (played by Linda Hunt), the evil sheriff (played by Brian Dennehy), wagon trains, pianos playing in the background, stuntmen falling off wooden structures, and the final, High Noon shootout (not common in the real West, but common in Western movies). But Kasdan is merely taking these elements, and simultaneously honoring them, updating them and making them his own. This is a Western with a contemporary flavor. It's not hip, but it's not old fashioned, either.

The film is well scored by Oscar nominee Bruce Broughton and expertly shot. Kasdan and cinematographer John Bailey give us the widest vistas possible, sometimes to wonderful effect. In the first scene of the film, Emmett is sleeping in a shack when he's fired upon from outside by gunmen. We never see the gunmen outside, only Emmett trying to pick them off from inside. When the fight is over, Emmett opens the door to reveal a glorious shot that extends to the horizon. The movie is filled with such broad, beautiful views.

Kasdan, who co-wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Empire Strikes Back, is a solid American craftsman whose films are always sophisticated and fun. InSilverado he cashed in his Big Chill success by directing a Western, a genre not in favor in the mid-80s. But no genre will ever go out of style as long as there are filmmakers to breathe new life into them. Silverado proves it.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

I loved this transfer. And in a sense, this is what Superbit should be all about. Along with giving the deluxe treatment to The Fifth Element and making fanboys slobber, why not take older films and really spiff them up? There was no reason to believe that A) a good enough Silverado print was available and B) the Superbit process would yield such great results. Two things really stand out. First are the vistas. There are so many shots of big, blue skies and expanses of brown desert. And while there are definitely black dots of dirt that pop up occasionally to mar the blue, the skies are smooth and film-like and beautiful. But even more impressive are the blacks. There are plenty of nighttime exteriors and they're amazing. Two characters would be having a conversation outside and not only are their faces bright with good detail, but the darkness behind them is rock solid black. Elsewhere, detail was above average and the picture shows admirable sharpness with good flesh tones. Colors are fully saturated and rich, with no jaggies and no edge halos. This is one my favorite Superbit transfers, if only because I was expecting so little and got so much.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

There are two 5.1 tracks on this DVD, one in Dolby Digital and the other in DTS. While it's no surprise that the DTS is better, it's hardly enough of a difference to rush out and buy a DTS decoder. The Dolby Digital features a very broad aural palette, constantly tested by gun blasts and other sound effects. The high end tempts brittleness, but always stays firm. The bass, which includes the rumbling of horses, is always tight and deep, if not floor- rattling. Dialogue is very clear. The front three speakers do most of the work, as the rears are there only to support the trumpet-fueled musical score and provide some ambient sound effects. What's nice about the mix is that it's quite warm and natural, certainly more than one would expect from a 20-year old movie. The DTS track contains all the above attributes, while adding some firmness to the high end and better integration to the overall presentation. A French Dolby Surround is on hand so the Frogs can enjoy the adventures of les cowboys.

Subtitles are available in all sorts of wacky flavors, including English, Spanish, French, Thai, Portuguese, Chinese, and Korean.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

With the Superbit transfer taking up a majority of Disc One, most of the extras are on Disc Two.

Disc One does contain one supplement, an audio commentary by Western historians Frank Thompson, Paul Hutton, and Steve Aaron. As an extremely amateur student of the Old West, I found their comments terrific. Granted, they think they're funnier than they are, but they know what they're talking about. Most helpful was hearing them point out the film's inaccuracies ("hats didn't look like that in the West") and comparing the look of the film characters to how people really looked in the mid-1800s. Thompson, Hutton, and Aaron have been hired as consultants on many modern Westerns and they compare the levels of accuracy of different films. Ron Howard's The Missing was excellent, Silverado, not so excellent. Those so inclined will listen to this commentary from beginning to end.

For the rest of the supplements, put in Disc Two. First up is A Return to Silverado with Kevin Costner. Costner reminisces about seeing How the West Was Won when he was 7 years old. Thus began a lifelong interest in cowboy movies. Costner got along well with writer/director Lawrence Kasdan when they worked on The Big Chill, although he was eventually cut from the film. Legend has it that Kasdan promised to make amends by writing a role for him in his next movie. In Silverado, Costner had a real challenge crafting his character, since Jake operated in his own childish world. To solve this, Costner didn't relate to any other actor, but instead related "to the horizon", the only part of Western lore big enough to hold Jake's enthusiasm. A new interview with Costner is the centerpiece of the featurette, and he seems pretty honest, forthcoming, and intelligent. For what it's worth, he's still a big star and it was nice to see him donate his time. I was happy to watch it all the way through. As a bonus, there's plenty of vintage stills and behind-the-scenes footage. Video of the Costner interview is good and the vintage footage is acceptably okay.

The Making of Silverado is a 37-minute mini-doc on the creation of the movie. In a new interview, Kasdan admits loving everything about Westerns since he was a kid, especially the universality of the themes. Kasdan knew that Westerns were not in favor in 1980s Hollywood. But he wanted to make a post-modern piece that was more about big, broad strokes of fun. Brother Mark Kasdan is also interviewed, as is DP John Bailey (whose Silverado visuals were inspired by Georgia O'Keefe) and production designer Ida Random. There is fantastic footage of the New Mexico set being constructed, which was, at the time, the largest Western set ever built. In a fun vintage interview, Kevin Kline says the bitter cold during the winter shoot toughened the actors up for the long days ahead. If you love the movie, you'll love this fast-moving featurette.

A History of Western Shootouts is a shill piece for Sony's collection of ten Western-themed DVDs. Narrated by John Cleese, it's a seven-minute commercial that should avoided, if only as a silent protest. As if that wasn't enough, Columbia's Top Westerns Trailer is a 2-minute, quick cut promo for some Sony shoot- em-up DVDs. Had the studio removed the nine minutes of blatant commercialism, they probably could have fit all the extras on disc one.

Finally, there is a Collector's Booklet containing an essay worth reading and, in an effort to fully embrace the Western motif, a standard deck of playing cards, which can be used to, well, play cards. Had the filmmakers really wanted authenticity, they could have included the rules to faro, a popular cowboy card game sorely in need of a comeback. For a time, Deputy U.S. Marshall Wyatt Earp was a faro dealer.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.

Final Thoughts