Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

D.C. Cab Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 19, 2020

Joel Schumacher's "D.C. Cab" (1983) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage trailer; radio spots; and exclusive new audio commentary by critic/filmmaker Daniel Kremer and critic Scout Tafoya. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

You are good to go now

I have to state the obvious first because it is the main reason most people will get this recent release of Joel Schumacher’s D.C. Cab -- the film is wild in a way that now seems borderline dangerous, which of course makes it special. How sad. This film isn’t a genre-defining masterpiece and it was never meant to be one, but now that it is no longer possible to make other films like it just about everything it does looks original. Why is that? Because it was made the old-fashioned way, with a screenplay by Schumacher that does not tolerate safety guards. And guess what? It is the right concept for a film that seeks the funny everywhere, even in risqué situations that nowadays would instantly make the moralistic watchdogs nauseous.

Of course, I have to mention the cast as well, which could not have been any more colorful. If you scroll down the long list of names, it reads like a who’s who of ‘smaller’ stars that were part of many cultural trends during the ‘70s and ‘80s -- Mr. T, Paul Rodriguez, Max Gail, Gary Busey, Irene Cara (singing). C’mon, unless you were living under a rock, or were not born yet, you should instantly recognize these people because they defined pop culture as it happened around you. On top of this, they are as loose as they can be without getting in some real trouble. How great is this?

The fun begins after Albert Hockenberry (Adam Baldwin), a young and very charming southerner, arrives in D.C. to work for a cab firm run by Harold Oswelt (Gail), a good friend of his late father. Harold welcomes him with open arms, quickly introduces him to the cabbies, and then tells him to go get some practical experience while waiting for the authorities to issue his license. Eager to learn and get to know the city, Albert then begins riding with the cabbies and quickly realizes that they are some of the most colorful characters he has ever seen on the road. But while Albert’s training is underway, a priceless violin is found in one of the taxis and handed back to its owner, and when $10,000 in reward money are transferred to Harold and then stolen by his wife (Anne De Salvo), internal fights threaten to collapse the firm. Albert vows to help Harold restore order as best as he can, but while doing his part falls in love and then gets kidnapped by a couple of loony characters.

As you can tell, the story is essentially a mish-mash of mostly random events that pull the film in all kinds of different directions, but the sense of chaos that permeates it actually feels right. There is a very simple reason for this. Schumacher’s screenplay sets the right situations for the diverse characters to shine without actually looking like they need to, and while these situations do not produce a great story, the overwhelming majority of them are seriously funny. And yes, a few are flat-out bonkers too, like the one where Albert and Dell (Busey) drop a cheating exotic dancer in front of a popular strip club and then force her right back out of it with nothing but a pair of high heels. Of course, it all happens on a bright and sunny day in D.C.

Ultimately, the easiest way to praise D.C. Cab is to argue that it is a great nostalgia fix. It just oozes fearless energy that is sorely missed now. Of course, it misfires on multiple occasions and when it happens it is so obvious it is impossible to deny it, but it happens in an organic way that instantly tells you how sincere it is.

D.C. Cab 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, D.C. Cab arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from an old master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. Unfortunately, it is a very problematic master that makes it virtually impossible to enjoy the film.

The main issue with the master is that it has been 'enhanced' with all sorts of different digital tweaks and they have introduced pretty much all of the bad anomalies that destroy native filmic qualities. For example, some sort of electronic sharpening has been applied and as a result the visuals do not have a proper grain structure. Also, the same sharpening can be credited for some really, really bad smearing (see screencapture #3). Needless to say, delineation and depth are very problematic. In darker areas existing black crush is exacerbated as well, which is why these areas the visuals often look like upscaled material (see screencaptures #4 and 5). On top of this, there is a lot of distracting aliasing. Image stability is very good. I'd say that the master was graded nicely as well, but in darker areas so many native nuances are lost that most of the time the visuals look like a smeary mess. To sum it all up, the current master is very weak and simply unsuitable for a proper Blu-ray release. (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).

D.C. Cab 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.

The lossless track is solid. The audio is clean, sharp, and free of balance issue. Perhaps there are few areas where it can be slightly fuller and better rounded, but even if in the future a new 4K master emerges and the audio is fully remastered, I don't believe that the new track will offer a sizeable upgrade in quality. Perhaps one of these new Dolby Atmos tracks that are being prepared for some older films can make a bigger difference. As it is, I think that the current lossless track handles the original soundtrack very well.

D.C. Cab Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - vintage trailer for D.C. Cab. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 480/60i).

• Radio Spots - a small collection of vintage radio spots for D.C. Cab. In English, not subtitled. (5 min, 1080p).

• Audio Commentary - critic/filmmaker Daniel Kremer and critic Scout Tafoya have a lot of interesting things to say about the decade in which D.C. Cab emerged, the film's sense of humor, the nice soundtrack, the careers of the people that made the film, etc.

• Additional Trailers -
  
  1. My Bodyguard
  2. Bustin' Loose
  3. Moving Violations
  4. Veronica Guerin

D.C. Cab Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

D.C. Cab is another great nostalgia fix with a sense of humor that feels almost rebellious now, which of course is extremely sad. Kino Lorber's release of D.C. Cab is sourced from an old and very problematic master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. I give the label credit for bringing the film to Blu-ray, but this master just isn't good enough for a proper high-definition presentation. The film needs to be completely redone, in 2K or 4K, so that it actually looks like film. AVOID.