Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Bobby Deerfield Blu-ray Movie Review

Mill Creek has released the 1977 film 'Bobby Deerfield,' directed by Sydney Pollack, to the Blu-ray format. The image includes adequate 1080p video and acceptable 5.1 lossless audio. No extras are included. At time of writing, this release is exclusive to a two film bundle that also includes Pollack's 'Castle Keep.'

Bobby Deerfield Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The 1080p Blu-ray presentation of Bobby Deerfield delivers a problematic picture. The image is saddled with moderate macroblocking, at times falling away to "mild" and at times rising to "massive." Most shots, scenes, and sequences hold to some level of intensity. Look at a dinner scene at the 13-minute mark for a good example of how macroblocking impacts various elements, especially, here, the red curtain behind a character. The image struggles to hold to a faithful filmic look, with grain not a prominent component to the picture. Fine detail is certainly amplified by the 1080p resolution, but absolutely nothing here really impresses. The picture is largely flat and uninspired, offering baseline definition to clothes, faces, and environments but struggling to find anything resembling pinpoint accuracy or significant depth or detail. It's all very lacking, and also lagging far behind what a good Blu-ray, sourced from film elements, should look like. Colors are decent enough, with natural greens, bright fire, and various clothing and car colors delivering serviceable depth, but there's really no vividness or color impact at work. Black levels waver, whites are OK-ish, and skin tones are adequate. This one is watchable, but it really needs some work.

Bobby Deerfield Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mill Creek races Bobby Deerfield onto Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation is at least adequate, offering some nicely immersive din as throngs of press surround Deerfield in the opening race and as crowds chant his name. Of course, the overall clarity and fidelity are lacking, and the sounds come across as partly tinny, partly stunted, and just lacking a rich smoothness and authenticity, sounding more like a garble of sounds blended together with no true sense of location harmony. But, at least they are there. Many effects struggle to find any significant stage impact. A train in the 16-minute mark sounds downright pitiful for its lack of aggressive movement or clarity as just one example of would-be more prominent effects falling into a state of audio depression. Music follows suit, offering rather tepid aggression and less-than-ideal stage engagement and posture. Dialogue is at least clear and intelligible and finds itself presented with firm front-center placement.

Bobby Deerfield Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on the disc.

Bobby Deerfield Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bobby Deerfield offers a quasi-interesting human interest story with a background against the Formula One racing scene, but the film is really more about the race to understanding life rather than zooming along the track. The Blu-ray is poor, offering no extras, struggling video, and adequate audio.