Black Eye Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Black Eye Blu-ray Movie Review

The cane mutiny.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III December 30, 2024

They can't all be The Searchers, can they? Warner Archives continues their otherwise solid December lineup with Jack Arnold's kinda-sorta blaxploitation Black Eye starring Fred Williamson (who would re-team with Arnold the next year on, well, Boss Nigger), an ultra low-budget affair that attempts to jazz up Philip Marlowe-style crime drama for a new generation. The results are fitfully entertaining but mostly in spite of its obvious shortcomings, although there's some great time-capsule footage of L.A., a few comically memorable supporting performances, and Williamson does his best to carry the lackluster script as best he can. It's still an uneven watch even at just 98 cheesy minutes, meaning that Black Eye is for die-hard fans of the cast and genre only. For total outsiders, this might be a slow death.

Black Eye's story begins at the funeral of a former silent movie star, which is sparsely attended to the point of absurdity (above) and features one of the least convincing ministers I've seen since most of them. You wouldn't know it from the lack of mourners, but there's a priceless treasure perched atop the dearly departed's casket: a stylish wolf-headed cane that might have something extremely valuable inside. Not surprisingly, said artifact is promptly stolen by a mysterious redhead lurking nearby and eventually passed around to several unscrupulous owners, and it's here where I'll let the film's slightly misleading tagline take over: "Whenever the cane turns up, someone turns up dead."

Local private investigator Shep Stone (Williamson), who previously quit the force after his sister overdosed, is brought in to help solve the case. A handsome and charismatic man who kinda-sorta dates the stunning girl next door Cynthia (Teresa Graves), Stone carries himself in a relaxed manner and seems confident in his abilities. (At least more so than keeping Cynthia satisfied, since she's currently seeing wealthy socialite Miss Francis [Rosemary Forsyth] on the side.) Working with detective Bowen (Richard X. Slattery) to iron out the details, Stone ambles through a series of locations and suspects -- local hoods, a porno filmmaker connected to another recently deceased actor -- to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, a second case emerges that directly involves one of his mutual acquaintances and elements of the existing case, one that may or may not involve a runaway girl, a heroin ring, and a group of religious zealots.

Black Eye wants to be a lot of things, not the least of which is an obvious capitalization on the dominant success of Shaft several years earlier. It can't hope to reach the heights of that film or even its two sequels, instead occupying that sort of awkward middle ground between lightly entertaining and mostly laughable. To his credit, director Jack Arnold -- unquestionably the most known for his science fiction films of the 1950s including It Came from Outer Space, Creature From the Black Lagoon, and the fantastic The Incredible Shrinking Man -- gives the film a workmanlike efficiency that includes a few solid action scenes and great on-location footage of Venice Beach and Santa Monica. That, combined with Williamson's obvious charm, manages to elevate Black Eye to modest heights during the film's otherwise uneven lifespan. But there's too much working against it, including the script and fatally bad casting for several key supporting characters, to consider this film anything other than a genre curiosity with a few admittedly bright spots.

Nonetheless, Warner Archive has dutifully brought Black Eye to Blu-ray roughly a dozen years after their own modest 2012 DVD edition. As expected, it offers a handsome presentation that supports the film's time-capsule appeal and grain-heavy appearance. No extras are included, unfortunately, not even the trailer which can be seen here.

Black Eye Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

If the cars and fashion didn't give it away, the film stock sure does: Black Eye is about as unabashedly 1970s as they come and Warner Archive's stunning 1080p presentation perfectly supports the time-capsule appeal of this low-budget production. Film grain is ever-present and even threatens to overtake a handful of dimly-lit interiors (including the bar Stone frequents) but is kept under control almost every step of the way, allowing the pleasingly natural textures and strong image detail to do most of the heavy lifting. The entire film was shot on location in and around Los Angeles, and the sunny outdoor footage will be of great interest to those who grew up (or still live in) these particular eras -- I'm from the other side of the country and was born five years after Black Eye's theatrical debut, and I still want to just walk around those streets. Not surprisingly, the film's earthy color palette and unmistakable fashions have their own similarly unique appeal, and they too come through extremely clearly on this well-encoded dual-layered disc (which really seems like overkill for this movie-only release, but is nonetheless appreciated). Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, this impressive 1080p transfer is a stunner almost every step of the way.

Black Eye Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix unsurprisingly hangs back in comparison but still impresses, offering a clean and uncluttered sonic presentation that gets the job done from start to finish. The dialogue is clean and crisp throughout, foreground effects are well-handled, and there's plenty of room left over for the era-specific score by composer (and electronic music pioneer) Mort Garson. No real age-related wear-and-tear was detected, aside from negligible amounts of hiss which were presumably left untouched to not risk damaging the dynamic range. Overall, no complaints.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered during the main feature.

Black Eye Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with vintage poster-themed artwork. Sadly, no extras are included.

Black Eye Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jack Arnold made much stronger films than the kinda-sorta blaxploitation drama Black Eye, which certainly has its moments but is overall pretty uneven despite solid direction and a decent central performance by the charismatic Fred Williamson. I certainly wouldn't call it a total loss, but only die-hard genre enthusiasts will be able to see much past the film's limited strengths. That said, it does have a very specific kind of time-capsule appeal and Warner Archive's Blu-ray showcases the priceless shot-on-location Los Angeles cinematography in grand fashion... which means that despite a total lack of bonus features, Black Eye is still decently recommended to the right crowd.