Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

An Innocent Man Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 13, 2020

Peter Yates' "An Innocent Man" (1989) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include a vintage trailer for the film; new video interviews with actors David Rasche and Laila Robins; as well as exclusive new audio commentary by filmmaker and film historian Jim Hemphill. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The zoo

The folks at Kino Lorber conducted an exclusive new interview with David Rasche in which he mentions that An Innocent Man fell in the shadow of Lock Up and did not get what it deserved. Is this what really happened back in 1989? Did Lock Up somehow make it impossible for An Innocent Man to impress the few critics whose opinions actually mattered? And what about the casual filmgoers? I detected a great deal of sadness in Rasche’s comments, which made me ponder the history and fate of An Innocent Man. Somehow, I never saw the connection to Lock Up, which does explore some similar themes but is ultimately a very different film. An Innocent Man has a pretty rough side but comes with a multi-layered narrative that makes it absolutely impossible to categorize as a macho action thriller -- which is exactly what Lock Up is. Perhaps Rasche is right, but I never saw these films as direct competitors. I just never expected that they would become ‘big’ because they did not have the ‘serious’ messages that critics were -- and still are -- looking for to begin hyping a film as an inevitable award-winner.

Peter Yates directed An Innocent Man from a very solid script by Larry Brothers which splits it into two contrasting sections. In the first, Jimmie Rainwood (Tom Selleck) is accidentally shot in his home and then framed by two crooked cops (Richard Young and Rasche) with a long history of dealing with the shadiest characters in town. (They end up in Rainwood’s place after one of them, a seasoned cokehead, makes an amateurish mistake). After a quick trial, Rainwood is then sent to prison where a tough criminal named Virgil Cane (F. Murray Abraham) makes him realize that the only way to survive his sentence is to become a bigger animal than the ones circling him. In the second section, Rainwood is a different man determined to bring the crooked cops to justice, and when he is eventually released from prison Virgil helps him set up a trap for them.

There are two specific reasons why this film works really, really well. The bigger one is the solid acting from the entire cast. Obviously, Selleck’s transformation is the key piece of the narrative and without its authenticity everything else becomes meaningless, which is why a lot of the good things that happen in the film are directly related to it. However, what Abraham and Rasche do with their characters actually ends up rivaling the brilliance of Selleck’s performance, so instead of having a single star functioning as a catalyst for the intensity and drama, the film benefits from a team of stars with unique personalities that easily expand the playing field where the magic is supposed to happen. (There is equally impressive material with Badja Djola, Laila Robins, and Bruce Young). The other reason is the film’s attitude, which borrows heavily from that of other similarly themed films from the ‘70s. Neither the action nor the drama has any filters, so all of the situations that the different characters are placed in look incredibly convincing.

William A. Fraker lensed the film in much the same way he did Sharky's Machine -- there are a lot of very fine on-location shots but the visuals still have a casual edge that feels very much in sync with the film’s chosen personality.

A good soundtrack from Oscar-winner Howard Shore enhances the drama, but the music that virtually everyone remembers from this film is Joe Cocker’s fantastic rendition of “When the Night Comes”.

*Innocent Man initially appeared on Blu-ray via Mill Creek Entertainment. This recent release from Kino Lorber is sourced from a different and better master.

An Innocent Man Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, An Innocent Man arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

Out of the many films from Touchstone/Disney's catalog that Kino Lorber have reissued and I have seen to date, this release is sourced from the best master. It is older, but it is very healthy and with all-around very solid organic qualities. In fact, excluding some tiny nuances that can be better exposed during darker footage, I think that it is pretty much a flawless master. In some areas the encoding could have been optimized to make it even more obvious that it is so, but I still liked what I saw a lot. Depth, clarity, and fluidity are really, really good, and the color grading is done with an excellent awareness of the importance of proper balance. If a new master is ever created for this film, I really believe that the improvements it would offer will be academic at best. Overall image stability is excellent. There are no large distracting debris, cuts, damage marks, warped or torn frames to report. My score is 4.25/5.00. (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).

An Innocent Man Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I lean toward the 5.1 track as the better one because the front channels actually sounded a little better on my system, but there are other spots on the 2.0 track that I prefer. To be honest, I am not entirely sure how, or when, these tracks were finalized because they actually feel pretty different. Clarity, depth, and dynamic intensity are very nice, but if a new remix is done in the future, I would think that balance will be looked at and quite possibly improved.

An Innocent Man Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for An Innocent Man. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 480/60i).

• Interview with David Rasche - in this new video interview, actor David Rasche remembers how he was cast to play Mike Parnell, how his character was/is remembered and the impact that it had on his career, what it was like to work with Peter Yates and Tom Selleck (there are some great comments about the actor's professionalism), the film's critical reception, etc. The interview was conducted exclusively for Kino Lorber. In English, not subtitled. (14 min, 1080p).

• Interview with Laila Robins - in this new video interview, actress Laila Robins discusses her contribution to An Innocent Man, her inexperience at the time and Tom Selleck's support, Peter Yates' directing methods, the complexity of her character, etc. The interview was conducted exclusively for Kino Lorber. In English, not subtitled. (12 min, 1080p).

• Commentary - this new audio commentary was recorded by filmmaker and film historian Jim Hemphill. The bulk of the information addresses Tom Selleck's performance and impressive body of work, the style and tone of An Innocent Man, Howard Shore's career and soundtrack, etc.

• Additional Trailers - additional trailers for the following titles from Kino Lorber's catalog:
  
  1. Playing God
  2. A Stranger Among Us
  3. Terminal Velocity
  4. One Good Cop

An Innocent Man Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

David Rasche thinks that An Innocent Man would have had a different fate if Lock Up did not compete with it in 1989. I don't know, I am just not convinced that filmgoers thought of them as direct competitors. For my money An Innocent Man is a better film, but they are quite different. This recent release is sourced from an older but very solid master and offers an all-around much better technical presentation of the film than Mill Creek Entertainment's first release. The folks at Kino Lorber also produced a couple of very nice exclusive bonus features for it. (If you enjoy An Innocent Man, also consider adding to your collection Tom Gries' The Glass House). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.