"I need a taco."

I've plugged The Warner Archive DVD-on-demand program on here a few times, and the titles I splurged on (and at $20 for a DVD-R, I do mean splurged) — Wichita and Westbound — have been quite nice. I was happy with the quality — and overjoyed to have these things sitting in my house.

There are a number of other titles I want. More of their Randolph Scotts. Darby's Rangers. But I was really looking forward to one of their latest releases, Freebie And The Bean, Richard Rush's terrific 1974 buddy/cop movie. It's got a ton of great car and motorcycle stunts. Great performances from James Caan, Alan Arkin and Valerie Harper. Plenty of Hawks- and Altman-esque overlapping dialogue. And Paul Koslo!

Well, my best friend pulled the trigger on this one before I did, and judging from his email this morning, he's a bit disappointed in what showed up in his mailbox.

Anything Laszlo Kovacs shot (dig his list of credits sometime) deserves the red-carpet treatment when it comes to DVD, so for this transfer to be anything less than perfect is a big fat drag. Among the many things he pulls off effortlessly during this 114 minutes, the way lens flare helps conceal the fact that Evel Knievel is doubling for Caan is brilliant.

So even if the picture and sound aren't what you'd hoped for, the movie itself is still hilarious. Arkin's still masterful. And it's still got all that loopy dialogue. (How much of it's improvised?)

And Whitey (Koslo) still gets punched in the face through the screen door.

For a limited time, you can buy two Warner Archive films and get a third free with the coupon code SPITFIRE. Not sure when it runs out. Try it.