Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Doc Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 11, 2024

Frank Perry's "Doc" (1971) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary by filmmaker Alex Cox and vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

How far is Tombstone? Anyone know?

Pete Hamill’s screenplay would not have been turned into a film in 2024. Even twenty years earlier, it still would have been instantly discarded. Why? It injects the great story about Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, and Tombstone with such blistering machismo and then alters it in such radical fashion that it produces one of the most uncivilized reconstructions of the Old West. The great irony is that this uncivilized reconstruction is almost certainly one of the most accurate reconstructions of the Old West.

Somewhere in the Arizona desert, Holliday (Stacey Keach) enters a lousy gambling saloon and challenges a half-drunk stranger to a game of poker. Holliday bets his horse, the stranger bets his mistress, Katie Elder (Faye Dunaway). Holliday, a notorious gambler with a seemingly endless bag of tricks, easily wins, and shortly after continues his journey with his brand new possession.

In Tombstone, Holliday reunites with his old friend, Sheriff Earp (Harris Yulin), who is working hard to win an important upcoming election. While having drinks, Holliday is offered to team up with Earp and help him get rid of the biggest troublemakers in the area, the Clantons, who do not want to see the town run properly. Doing so right before the election would ensure that Earp easily wins. In exchange for Holliday’s help, after the election, Earp will make sure that his friend legally takes over the gambling business and the two become the richest men in town.

While trying to make a decision, Holliday falls in love with Elder, and soon after the two begin dreaming of starting a family. But an old health issue reminds Holliday that he might be running out of time to sample the life ordinary folks live.

Frank Perry directs Doc in much the same way British directors did their famous ‘kitchen-sink’ dramas, which is precisely why the classic western glamour is virtually impossible to detect in it. Also, much like the ‘kitchen-sink’ dramas, Doc does not have any classic good characters. Holliday, Earp, Elder, the Clantons, and everyone else around them simply play the game of survival without following any rules. From time to time, they just lower their guard a bit and reveal a softer side that temporarily makes them appear like the classic good characters. (This is what allows Perry to weaken the supposedly unbreakable friendship between Holliday and Earp, which no other film has dared to tweak. After a while, both are shown to realize the true nature of the game of survival).

The language these characters use is predictably colorful, too. Holliday repeatedly calls Elder ‘bitch’ and at the right time she fires back at him while enthusiastically borrowing from his vocabulary. These exchanges do not transform Doc into a grotesque, difficult-to-endure circus, but there are no filters of any kind. The conventional western that transformed the likes of Joel McCrea, John Wayne, and Clint Eastwood into iconic stars would have never tolerated such language.

However, it is very difficult not to concede that the reconstruction of the Old West that emerges in Doc is not one of the most accurate. It must be, and it is. The Old West is routinely referred to as the Wild West precisely because it was a notoriously uncivilized place ruled by some of the shadiest and most despicable ‘survivors’ who went there to reset their lives. So, how likely is it then that two of its greatest stars, Holliday and Earp, may have been a lot like them? According to Perry, very likely.

Perry shot the bulk of Doc on location in Almeria, Spain, where Sergio Leone and many other Italian directors went to shoot their famous spaghetti westerns. Perry’s director of photography was Gerald Hirschfeld, whose credits include such genre films as The Incident, Cotton Comes to Harlem, Two-Minute Warning, and The Car.

Doc 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, Doc arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a very good, recent 2K master. The entire film has an attractive organic appearance that is also very healthy. While some areas exhibit natural softness, delineation, clarity, and depth remain great. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. Color balance is outstanding. It is very easy to tell that the party that graded the master was very careful to avoid crushing in darker areas, which makes quite a difference because plenty of footage takes place indoors or at night. Saturation levels are great. There are no stability issues. A few encoding optimizations could have been made to ensure an even better presentation, but there are no serious anomalies to report and the overall quality of the presentation is great. (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).

Doc 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 dialog is clear, clean, and stable. There is a good soundtrack by Jimmy Webb, but it does not produce any memorable dynamic contrasts. There are interesting nuances that emerge during the more intimate footage. I did not encounter any hiss, crackle, pops, distortions, etc.

Doc Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by filmmaker Alex Cox.

• Trailer - presented here is a remastered vintage U.S. trailer for Doc. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Cover - reversible cover with vintage poster art for Doc.

Doc Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Even though I cannot prove it, I am convinced that Frank Perry must have decided to do Doc after viewing Federico Fellini's Satyricon. These films do some very radical things that essentially destroy classic perceptions of the famous places they visit and the history that is associated with them. However, while Perry's fabrications about Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, and Tombstone can be easily dismissed, his reconstruction of the Old West and the colorful characters that roamed free there is almost certainly very accurate. Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release is sourced from a very solid recent 2K master. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.