7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Ticlaw, a small town in Florida, has only one attraction: a safari park. The government constructs a freeway that passes near Ticlaw, but decides not to put an exit into the town. The people of Ticlaw, leaded by it's Mayor, will do anything in order to convince the governor to alter the project.
Starring: William Devane, Beverly D'Angelo, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Beau BridgesDrama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
John Schlesinger's "Honky Tonk Freeway" (1981) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include exclusive new audio commentary recorded by producer Don Boyd and critic/filmmaker Daniel Kremer and critic/biographer Nat Segaloff as well as vintage trailer. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
The future
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Honky Tonk Freeway arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.
The release is sourced from a very frustrating 4K master that was prepared on behalf of StudioCanal. Delineation, depth, clarity, and density levels range from very good to excellent, so on a larger screen the improvements are very easy to recognize and appreciate. Unfortunately, the master is poorly graded and as a result there are various very familiar issues that we have come to expect from 'restorations' that were finalized in European labs. So, what is the problem here? Incorrect LUT values that destabilize primaries and important supporting nuances. It appears that the whites were suppressed and collapsed by the greenish hues that you can see in screencaptures #1, 4 and 20. The effect is usually very prominent during daylight or well-lit footage, but not in darker footage. This is why in very dark footage balance actually often looks convincing (see screencapture #22). In daylight footage, blues and supporting blue nuances are destabilized as well, though here the fluctuations are smaller and often easy to ignore. Reds suffer as well, especially when they are supposed to appear properly balanced with strong whites. So, because of the improper color-grading that was applied when the master was prepared, when you view the film you should expect to see unnatural random spikes of greenish hues that affect the overall balance of the visuals. Image stability is excellent. There are no distracting age-related anomalies to report. My score is 2.75/5.00. (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).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtleties are provided for the main feature.
The lossless track is excellent. Indeed, clarity, sharpness, and balance remain convincing throughout the entire film. Dynamic intensity is quite impressive as well, which surprised me a bit because the mayhem produces plenty of organic sounds and noises. The dialog is clear, clean, and very easy to follow.
Believe it or not, it is nice to have massive misfires like Honky Tonk Freeway because they help you understand why very similar projects like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Nashville are special. John Schlesinger was apparently quite unhappy with how Honky Tonk Freeway turned out, and while this isn't surprising, just about everything that is bad about it can be traced right back to him. Simply put, it is a very poorly directed film that should have never been released in its current form. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from a recent but problematic 4K master that was prepared on behalf of StudioCanal.
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