Boardwalk Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Boardwalk Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 26, 2014

For those of you with a Jewish background, I can adequately sum up Boardwalk with a simple and heartfelt, “Oy, the tsuris”. For those of you who haven’t quite assimilated the necessary Yiddishisms, saying “bad things sometimes happen to good people” will at least hint at the almost unspeakable series of catastrophes that confront aging Jewish couple David and Becky Rosen (Lee Strasberg and Ruth Gordon). The Rosens have made Brooklyn, and more specifically Coney Island, their home for close to 50 years, but the times, they are a-changin’, and not necessarily for the better. A gang led by the ominously named Strut (Kim Delgado) has moved in and is terrifying local residents and business owners (one of whom is David). Add to this health issues and family dysfunctions (including some concerning their daughter, played by Janet Leigh), and this is one massive downer of a movie.

Co-writer and director Stephen Verona slathers on the problems so indiscriminately that the film’s occasional flights of whimsy seem especially ill conceived. What seems to be a heartfelt family drama about a group of people facing a tumultuous transitional period devolves into a revenge tale that strains credulity. The wild changes in tone and even content, where the film veers from the Rosens’ grandson’s dreams of rock stardom (replete with several performances) to the suicide of their lifelong friends to, finally, David taking matters literally into his own hands make this play like the cinematic equivalent to a roller coaster ride on Coney Island itself.

Boardwalk Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Boardwalk is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The elements utilized for this transfer have their fair share of age related issues, including faded colors and some regular damage. The image is nicely organic and decently (if not overwhelmingly) well defined, however, though some of the darker sequences are littered with minimal noise. Contrast is somewhat variable as well, casting some of the outdoor moments in a blown out fashion while delivering a bit of murkiness to dimly lit interior scenes.

Boardwalk Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's dialogue driven sound mix is delivered via LPCM 2.0 and sounds fine, if occasionally spotty. There are one or two very brief dropouts (mostly at the beginning) as well as some evident hiss in quieter moments, but aside from these issues, there's nothing major to complain about.

Boardwalk Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 2:25)

Boardwalk Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Verona assembled an incredible cast for this film. Aside from Strasberg, Gordon and Leigh, there's also a brief but quite touching cameo by none other than Lillian Roth, but it's all largely for naught. This came at the end of the vaunted seventies' run of independent features, and it has that lo-fi feel that lovers of this era may well find laudable, but the story is so relentlessly dour that some viewers may wish that David would turn on them long before he finally does on his tormentors.