Highway Racer Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Highway Racer Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 19, 2021

Note: This version of this film is available on Blu-ray as part of Years of Lead: Five Classic Italian Crime Thrillers.

The Italian term Poliziotteschi may not be strictly grammatical, but it has served as shorthand for years to describe a subgenre of Italian cinema that was almost insanely popular in that country in the seventies in particular. If many films in this category were frankly the Italian equivalent of B-movies, some, like 1970's Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, achieved considerable renown and critical appreciation, and in fact that particular film ended up winning that year's Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Arrow's Years of Lead may not exactly be offering Oscar worthy outings in this set, but in a way that actually may be a better way to understand the idiom, since Poliziotteschi frequently featured gritty storylines and unvarnished characters. Some of the films in this set have been previously released on Blu-ray by German label Camera Obscura (and the reviews of those films will point to those prior releases), and some of the supplements produced for the Camera Obscura releases have been ported over to this set. But Arrow is also touting the fact that this set features a new 2K restoration of Colt 38 Special Squad, which is exclusive to this limited edition release.

Highway Racer is one of the films in this set which has received a previous Blu-ray release courtesy of Camera Obscura in Germany. Those interested in a plot recap are encouraged to read Svet's Highway Racer Blu-ray review of that release. Svet's review is also a good resource for screenshot comparisons and seeing how the slate of supplements stacks up between the two releases. As often happens and as I've repeatedly mentioned, "different reviewers means different opinions", and I'm evidently not quite the fan of Highway Racer that Svet is.

Highway Racer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Highway Racer is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer:

Highway Racer is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with Italian mono audio. The HD master was created and supplied by Intramovies.

Svet gave top tier marks to the Camera Obscura release, and while this Arrow version once again looks extremely similar if not outright identical, I'm a bit less enthused about the appearance, mostly due to a somewhat brown-yellow grading that can make things look a little artificial at times. This version looks to be ever so slightly brighter than the Camera Obscura release, something that can make some blacks look a bit on the milky side (contrast the inside roof of the car in screenshot 9 of this review with screenshot 20 in Svet's review). In its best moments, though, this transfer pops with considerable authority, good detail levels and a naturalistic palette (see screenshot 5). Some of the location work, notably some of the sequences in cars, don't quite match the bulk of this release's generally excellent fine detail levels. There's no major damage that I spotted, and compression has no problems that I noticed, either, giving this release a nicely organic quality.

Highway Racer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Highway Racer features LPCM Mono tracks in either Italian or English. To my ears, the Italian track is just slightly more full bodied than the English, especially in the midrange, but in toggling between the two as I watched the film, I didn't notice any huge differences in amplitude or general mix levels. The Italian track boasts nice fluidity and all dialogue, effects and score are rendered without any major problems. Optional English subtitles are available.

Highway Racer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Faster Than a Bullet (HD; 19:42) is an interview with film historian Roberto Curti, originally produced for Camera Obscura in 2019. For a bit more information, see Svet's Highway Racer Blu- ray review. In Italian with English subtitles.


• Poster Gallery (HD) features images courtesy of Peter Jilmstad.

Highway Racer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Anyone who likes action oriented films with things like car chases will no doubt enjoy Highway Racer, and the production had a kind of "guerrilla filmmaking" approach that the supplement with Roberto Curti gets into. Technical merits are generally solid, and the Curti piece is very interesting, for those who are considering a purchase.