According to Hudson, the only major changes has made to this expensive epic are lobbing off a compromised ending (the film is now shorter, just under two hours) and adding a voice-over narration by Pacino, a sort of ethereal device representative of his character's thoughts in certain scenes.

I had never seen the original film (though it had a VHS release in the mid-1990s) and was hoping to enjoy it. But I found it rather labored and muddled, and worst of all, boring. The voice-over is mystical but also redundant, as the film depicts the war from the point of view of an illiterate fur trapper (Pacino with a weird accent). Nastassja Kinski and Donald Sutherland costar, and singer Annie Lennox has a bit part in the opening scenes.

Extras: widescreen, featurette (conversation between Pacino and Hudson), trailer

"Zabriskie Point" (Warner, 1970; R for violence, sex, nudity, language; $19.98). A cynical, somewhat disjointed look at America in the late 1960s from the point of view of two alienated young adults — filtered through eccentric European filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni ("Blow-Up," "The Passenger").

The story has a petty criminal — who may or may not have killed a policeman during a campus riot — stealing a private plane, landing in Death Valley and meeting a hippie on her way to Arizona.

But the thin script (credited to five writers, including Antonioni himself and Sam Shepard) is merely an excuse to indulge in philosophical discussions, a heady rock score (Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, etc.), lingering long shots that will tax your patience and strange fantasy sequences (including a notorious desert orgy).

The cast is an odd mix of non-actors in lead roles and familiar character actors (along with leading-man Rod Taylor) in small parts. (Young Harrison Ford is supposedly in this somewhere but I couldn't spot him.)

Extras: widescreen, trailer

"M. Butterfly" (Warner, 1993; R for violence, sex, nudity, language; $19.98). David Cronenberg directed this adaptation of the Tony-winning play about a French diplomat (Jeremy Irons) in love with a Chinese opera diva (John Lone), unaware that he's a man in drag. This despite a long-term sexual relationship! The diva also steals secrets for China's government.

Inspired by a true story but freely adapted but ultimately less than satisfying thanks to the dark and dreary treatment, and an over-the-top ending.

Extras: widescreen, featurette (interview with Cronenberg), trailer