A Man Could Get Killed Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

A Man Could Get Killed Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 5, 2026

Ronald Neame's "A Man Could Get Killed" (1966) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include new audio commentary by mystery writer and filmmaker Max Allan Collins and podcaster Heath Holland; new audio commentary by critics Steve Mitchell and Troy Howarth; and vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

I am not your guy, believe me.

In 1955, Rififi delivered the gold standard. There are other great capers from the same period, too, like Bob the Gambler and The Killing. However, one could successfully argue that their deconstruction of the thieves’ work is less meticulous. Rififi educates, while Bob the Gambler and The Killing entertain.

After Rififi, the caper became a show-off piece. Serious capers that focused on the mechanics of the thieves’ work were still made, but they were usually very good character studies as well. One of the very best of these films, The League of Gentlemen, emerged in Britain in 1960. Another similarly outstanding film, Symphony for a Massacre, emerged across the Channel in 1963.

The capers that became show-off pieces then began juggling two very particular identities. Some of these films began prioritizing comedic material, effectively transforming the thieves’ work into a most enjoyable theatrical gig. Also, the overwhelming majority of them routinely visited striking exotic locations. In 1967, Grand Slam went to Rio de Janeiro, just in time for the Carnival, and The Caper of the Golden Bulls headed to Pamplona, Spain, just in time for the notorious Running of the Bulls event. The remaining films began prioritizing the unique charms of their stars. Among them were Ocean's 11, The Pink Panther, Charade, Topkapi, Gambit, and The Thomas Crown Affair.

Ronald Neame’s A Man Could Get Killed was part of this transformational trend. It is a caper, doing a bit of showing off, but relentlessly prioritizing the unique charms of its stars. Shot on location in Portugal, during the summer, it was released theatrically in 1966.

The stars are James Garner, Melina Mercouri, Sandra Dee, and Anthony Franciosa. At the airport in Lisbon, Garner, playing an American businessman, is mistaken for a veteran British secret agent on a mission to track down a large load of missing industrial diamonds. While doing his best to convince his contact at the British embassy that his American accent is real and he is not working for MI5, Garner earns enormous respect for his chameleon-esque performance, but becomes a big target for various international spies, whose governments have also dispatched them to uncover the industrial diamonds. Somehow, Garner then becomes involved with the frisky widow (Mercouri) of a killed shyster who may have had something to do with the industrial diamonds, an American diamond smuggler with a fake Portuguese accent (Franciosa), and a hopelessly romantic vacationing American student (Dee).

The plot is as twisty as a bowl of slightly overcooked capellini, and the missing industrial diamonds are just a pretext for the stars to get involved in various utterly ridiculous situations. Unsurprisingly, there is plenty of cheese to go along with it all.

The final product is tasty. However, A Man Could Get Killed is a second-tier caper that, while enjoyable, is easy to forget. It is primarily because what the stars do to impress has been done better in countless other films like it.

The opening credits inform that A Man Could Get Killed is based on David Esdaile Walker’s novel “Diamonds for Danger”, published in 1954.

A Man Could Get Killed Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, A Man Could Get Killed arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

While technical details are not provided, it is painfully obvious that A Man Could Get Killed has been fully restored at Universal. The entire film looks sensational on Blu-ray, dramatically better than numerous films that have been recently restored in 4K and released on 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray. I could not be any more pleased with its current appearance.

Delineation, clarity, and depth range from excellent to outstanding, and the density levels of the visuals are fantastic. Unsurprisingly, on my system, all areas of the film looked terrific. There are no traces of any problematic digital corrections. The original cinematography sporadically overexposes or underexposes some of the grain, but all of these changes are very natural. Color reproduction and balance are excellent. All primaries and supporting nuances are properly set, ensuring that the entire film has a very accurate period look. Image stability is great. I did not see any distracting large debris, cuts, marks, warped or torn frames to report in our review. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

A Man Could Get Killed Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

Music is consistently used to make the mayhem more attractive. However, I do not think that viewers will remember any particular areas of A Man Could Get Killed because the music there does something original. The action material sounds very good, but the dynamic contrasts there are modest, too. All dialogue is very clear, sharp, and easy to follow. I did not encounter any encoding anomalies to report in our review.

A Man Could Get Killed Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary One - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Steve Mitchell and Troy Howarth.

• Commentary Two - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by mystery writer and filmmaker Max Allan Collins with critic and host of the Cereal at Midnight Podcast Heath Holland.

• Trailer - presented here is a remastered trailer for A Man Could Get Killed. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

A Man Could Get Killed Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Caper of the Golden Bulls, Grand Slam, Gambit, and Deadfall. All of these capers come from the 1960s, too, and entertain like A Man Could Get Killed. I think that all of them are superior films, but not in one particular way, so there are certain things that A Man Could Get Killed does a little bitter. I collect capers, but had never owned a copy of or seen A Man Could Get Killed, which surprised me a lot because it should have popped up on my radar over the years. Kino Lorber's release presents an outstanding restoration of it, completed at Universal. RECOMMENDED.