PENTATHLON (Bruce Malmuth, 1994)

[alex.sp89]

I never heard how DL got along Bruce Malmuth ? I heard a lot that Bruce was not that great as director, Stallone mainly directed his Nighthawks (1981), Seagal not happy with him on Hard to Kill )1990), he was fired after 4 weeks of filming from Stone Cold (1991) before Craig Baxley came on board ( 4-5 millions went on trash because of him). Why Malmuth was hired to direct PENTATHLON after all this wrong experiences ? He was more a commodity for some producers or what ?

I rewatch this movie sometimes, but looks too naive in parts. With better oriented genre could be a better movie. Is it an action movie or comedy or thriller or a fairy tale hard to tell... I still like it ,views of the city, cinematography is good, score OK. Ending feels butchered after police arrest DL after bomb attempt and Olympics finale. Feels like a segment was deleted between this action seq.

[Jox]

I never heard how DL got along Bruce Malmuth ?

Not too well from what I was told, but what I was told was that nobody really got along on that set, and there were constant arguments between everybody.

Why Malmuth was hired to direct PENTATHLON after all this wrong experiences ?

That's is a question I also wonder. I know he was attached as director from the early development period, but by that time the STONE COLD problems had already happened. Somebody among the producers must have vouched for him and supported him as director of the movie... and after a while they just had to complete production no matter what (and the budget was already shrunk and certainly couldn't allow to hire anybody else).

[alex.sp89]

Bruce Malnuth persona is very mysterious as director. I recall only George P Cosmatos has somehow the same position. George P is credited as director on Rambo 2 and Cobra for Stallone - that actually he never directed and Stallone was the real director (again as in BM Nighthawks), Tombstone (1993) George P was hired after original director Jarre was fired and again rumors are stating that Kurt Russell actually directed it.Besides that George P was a terrible human being treating people like trash if they are not stars or the same range as him. Brian Thompson confirmed that in interview, Michael Biehn said the same thing recently on podcast. Bruce Malmuth i hope never has this kind of behaviors...

[Jox]

Giant 120x160 cm theatrical poster I had never seen.
I suspect that French distributor Metropolitan Filmexport used it to release the film in Francophone countries of North Africa...

[Jox]

PENTATHLON was filming 30 years ago.

[Scorpio]

Is there a Blu-ray edition of this film that is worth it?
I'm looking on Blu-ray.com, and they're all 1080i...
What is the edition with the best video and audio quality?
Thanks!

[Jox]

As far as I know all the Blu releases are from the same 1080i master, which is still the best we've ever seen the film as (except for the very few luck ones who saw it in theaters)...

[JuV]

I've always watched the German Blu-ray release and the quality is sufficient enough for a 1080i release. I know the UK and German transfers are identical, but it looks like the UK release has become a bit more pricey. The German release however can be found (used) for about €3 on Amazon.

[alex.sp89]

I think the French BD is good because is the one with 23,976 fps, DE is 25 fps and the most worldwide releases are in 25 fps. i think the FR BD has the original English track

[JuV]

I'm pretty sure the French Blu-ray only has French audio, no English. But I could be misremembering.

[Jox]

Yes, the French disc is French-dubbed only.

[Gunner]

Question for Jox; How close is that second revised draft of the script by James L. Bartlow that you have, to the 1991 Filmstar Inc. synopsis? For those of you here who maybe are not aware of it, original script for Pentathlon was very different, and would make more of an action film. Personally, it always sounded like it would have been so much better version of the film, as long as they got better director than Malmuth. Read the original synopsis here;

http://www.dolph-ultimate.com/dolph-in/pentathlon.html

[Jox]

Question for Jox; How close is that second revised draft of the script by James L. Bartlow that you have, to the 1991 Filmstar Inc. synopsis?

I haven't read them in a while, I have to revisit them to compare and see exactly how much different they are.

Personally, it always sounded like it would have been so much better version of the film, as long as they got better director than Malmuth.

One thing I can tell is that this synopsis must be dating from before the Bartlow draft, and that Malmuth was already attached when the Bartlow draft was sent out to potential distributors (as per the cover letter that came with it)...

[Scorpio]

I've always watched the German Blu-ray release and the quality is sufficient enough for a 1080i release. I know the UK and German transfers are identical, but it looks like the UK release has become a bit more pricey. The German release however can be found (used) for about €3 on Amazon.

There are two different Blu-rays in the UK:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Pentathl ... ray/45427/

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Pentathl ... ay/134228/

The Blu-ray in the second link is from Universal.
Maybe Universal's Blu-ray is the best Blu-ray of all?

[Jox]

It must be just a repack, didn't Universal absorb Anchor Bay? I highly doubt they made a newer master...