Best Served Cold: How a Revenge Film was Buried for Decades

Best Served Cold: How a Revenge Film was Buried for Decades is a feature-length documentary scheduled for release on August 16, 2026. The film centers on The Farmer (1977), a revenge picture that spent decades out of circulation before becoming one of the most-requested cult films of the new millennium. The documentary reconstructs the chaotic circumstances surrounding the original production, including an actor's incarceration for manslaughter, serious on-set injuries, and reported connections to Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese. The film also widens its scope to examine the returning-veteran subgenre to which The Farmer belongs — a cycle of hard-edged, often violent character studies that peaked in the 1970s, represented here by titles such as Welcome Home, Soldiers Boys (1971), The No Mercy Man (1973), and Rolling Thunder (1977).