Neil Young Movies ‘Human Highway’ and ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ Coming to DVD
A pair of long-unavailable Neil Young movies is headed to home video.
On April 22, Young's longtime label Reprise will issue his 1979 concert film Rust Never Sleeps and a director's cut of his 1982 narrative feature, Human Highway, as a double-feature bundle. Fans who buy the set on Young's official site, where pre-orders begin Feb. 29, will receive an exclusive poster with their purchase.
As previously reported, both movies are being screened during a special one-night-only theatrical engagement on Feb. 29, hosted by Fathom Events at select theaters nationwide. The event, titled An Evening With Neil Young, will be followed by a live Q&A session with Young and several Human Highway cast members, conducted by Cameron Crowe.
While Rust Never Sleeps is an acknowledged highlight of Young's film catalog, Human Highway has had a more difficult journey. A low-budget labor of love for Young, who co-wrote and co-directed the feature over a four-year span, it imagines a nuclear apocalypse as seen through the eyes of a group of small-town gas station/diner customers and employees (including Young, who plays an attendant, and members of Devo). The production was infamously bumpy — star Sally Kirkland later sued Young after being injured on the set — but the movie's been reappraised in recent years.
As tends to be the case with Young's catalog, the films have been remastered with exacting care — particularly Human Highway, which underwent an arduous audiovisual upgrade that involved using some incredibly creative tactics to polish the masters. Although the films are currently only scheduled to arrive on DVD, producer Will Mitchell has also mentioned plans for a Blu-ray release.
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