Guilty
By Suspicion (1990/Warner
Archive DVD)/Hombre
(1967/Fox/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)/McFarland
USA (2015/Disney Blu-ray)
Picture:
C/B/B- Sound: C/B-/B Extras: D/B/C Films: B/B-/C
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Guilty
By Suspicion
DVD is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and the Hombre
Blu-ray is now only available from our friends at Twilight Time, is
limited to only 3,000 copies and can be ordered while supplies last.
Both can be ordered from the links below.
The
following dramas try to deal with prejudice, racism and more...
Irwin
Winkler's Guilty
By Suspicion
(1990) is the ever underrated other film besides Martin Ritt's great
The
Front
(1976, see our coverage of the limited edition Twilight Time Blu-ray
elsewhere on this site) about the ugly, horrible effects of the
Hollywood witchhunts by the US Government in the 1950s. It should
have been a big hit then, rediscovered by now and yet, it is just now
getting a DVD release and an on-line only one by Warner Archive. The
film is excellent.
Robert
De Niro plays a screenwriter working at Fox (for Darryl F. Zanuck no
less) who has a wife (Annette Benning), a family and friends. He
works hard and believes in the American Dream when suddenly, the
witchhunt begins and people are asked to turn on others to look good,
stay employed and/or not go to jail. The script is very well written
and period brought to life with total authenticity as nothing is left
unspoken or not portrayed about how bad things were at the time. It
holds up really well, is as timely as ever and at the time, people
were asking if it could happen again.
To
some extent, it was. By the 2000s and post 9/11, it did. A shame
how prophetic it was and that history has repeated itself, which is
why it is such an important, special film. George Wendt, Patricia
Wettig, Sam Wanamaker and Martin Scorsese are among the great, strong
supporting cast. If you have never seen it, go out of you way for
it. It shows how prejudice, hatemongering and political manipulation
become a horrid combination.
There
are sadly no extras.
Martin
Ritt's Hombre
(1967) asks us to believe Paul Newman is half-Native American and
that was a stretch back then let alone now, but was also a bold thing
in 1966 when this film was made and plays into how his character will
have to deal with racism and a group of greedy men who kill to get a
small fortune. This is as much a character study that asks questions
about human nature and the West as much as a simple Revenge Western,
but Ritt (based on the Elmore Leonard book, a man whose properties in
the genre are suddenly curios again thanks to the great TV series
Justified
that recently ended its run) tries to do more with it.
Richard
Boone is the main thief, coming around with murder and bloodletting
for said wealth, which slowly drags in all kinds of persons who might
not otherwise get hooked into the situation including a a tough salon
gal (Diane Cliento), a strange man (Frederic March) and his wife
(Barbara Rush) and more (Martin Balsam and Cameron Mitchell are also
here) in a film that has its moments. However, I always found it a
bit bogged down and a little uneven, with some moments not aging
well. Still, it is rightly a favorite of Western fans and the cast
is great. Sexism, arrogance and class division also show up here and
it is worth a look for those interested. For every moment that is
obvious and predictable, something opposite happens.
Extras
include another illustrated booklet on the film including informative
text and essay by Julie Kirgo, while the Blu-ray adds an
exceptionally excellent feature length audio commentary track by Lee
Pfeiffer and Paul Scrabo, Original Theatrical Trailer and Isolated
Music Score track of David Rose's music for the film. Issued years
ago as a double feature on a CD we reviewed here...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1695/Undefeated/Hombre+(Limited+CD
That
CD is sadly out of print ($100+ a copy at the time of this review)
and you can now have the score by getting this Blu-ray.
Niki
Caro's McFarland
USA
(2015) has Kevin Costner back after Black
Or White
(where he broke the race barrier.... we guess....) as a high school
coach who gets fired for an accidental incident, landing up at
another school. He is married and has a family. This time, the
school has many Latino students who are in trouble, but he gets to
know them and is determined to make an excellent running team out of
a solid group of young men. It works!
This
is based on a true story and for a change, I bought that part, but
the script is so 1980s mall-movie phony that its slight smugness
every
few scenes
gets so redundant that it makes the whole long 129 minutes (!) run on
and on and on for no good reason, even when it occasionally deals
with palpable racism and prejudice. This puts it way below much
better such Disney releases like Miracle
and I blame Costner in part for not realizing this. Only watch when
awake!
Extras
include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes
capable devices, while the Blu-ray adds a Music Video, two Making Of
featurettes and
Deleted & Extended Scenes.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on
Guilty
has a few moments where you can see what a superior 35mm film shoot
this was, is and always will be, but unfortunately, this transfer (a
possible recycle of the widescreen master used for the old 12-inch
analog LaserDisc) is a little too soft with tiny noise throughout to
really show off the stunning work of Director of Photography Michael
Ballhaus, A.S.C. in some of his most underrated work. He lensed this
around the time of Scorsese's GoodFellas
(reviewed elsewhere on this site).
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on Hombre
is from a new HD master by Fox that does a fine job of showing off
the DeLuxe color, real 35mm anamorphic Panavision scope frame and
shot by the also-legendary James Wong Howe, who worked with Ritt on
many occasions including Hud.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on USA
is a digital shoot and when it tries to look dusty, it seems forced
and weak, especially as compared to Hombre.
Consistently generic, it is not a very memorable film visually and
disappoints.
In
the sound department, the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Guilty
is one generation down and a little weak, though it does have some
Pro Logic surrounds. This was a well-recorded film and deserves a
major upgrade. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 1.0 Mono lossless mix on
Hombre
is pretty good for its age, rendering the original theatrical mono
sound as well as can be expected and sounds as good as it ever will.
That
leaves the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on USA
the sonic champ here, by default as much as anything. The soundfield
is solid from well-recorded, consistent work, but it is oddly not
very memorable on any sonic level.
To
order the Guilty
By Suspicion
Warner Archive DVD, go to this link for it and many more great
web-exclusive releases at:
https://www.warnerarchive.com/
...and
to order the Hombre
limited edition Blu-ray, buy it and other great exclusives while
supplies last at this link:
www.screenarchives.com
-
Nicholas Sheffo
