Johnny Handsome Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.0

Johnny Handsome Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 28, 2026

Walter Hill's "Johnny Handsome" (1989) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include recent program with Walter Hill; archival program with writer Ken Friedman; new program with Elizabeth McGovern; new audio commentary by critics Alain Silver and James Ursini; new audio commentary by critics Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger; vintage trailer; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Like all of Walter Hill’s great films, Johnny Handsome is a contemporary western. For the same reason, it quickly builds a heavy neo-noirish atmosphere that, in some areas, becomes even more prominent than in Hill’s masterpiece, The Driver. It is set in New Orleans, the best big city America can offer for a contemporary western with a neo-noirish atmosphere. It has a killer soundtrack by Ry Cooder, arguably the best man one could hire in America to compose neo-noirish harmonies.

During a jewel store heist, John Sedley (Mickey Rourke), known in the underworld as Johnny Handsome because of his badly disfigured face, sees his best pal (Scott Wilson) killed by ‘partners’ Rafe Garrett (Lance Henriksen) and Sunny Boyd (Ellen Barkin). The crew’s wheelman (Allan Graf), who has been nervously waiting near the jewel store, is also gunned down. Sedley is caught, while his ‘partners’ disappear with the loot.

A very shady, well-connected lawyer (David Schramm) convinces Sedley to plead guilty in exchange for a five-year prison sentence. However, just a few months later, following a botched attempt on his life, likely paid for by his ‘partners’, Dr. Steven Resher (Forest Whitaker) offers Sedley a much better deal. If Sedley agrees to be his guinea pig in a series of cutting-edge reconstructive surgeries, which Resher will document and use to advance related work in the same field, Resher will give him a new face and a brand-new identity. Resher also promises Sedley that he will help him get paroled.

Sedley agrees and undergoes multiple, very painful procedures, and at the end, as promised by Resher, he gets a beautiful new face. After receiving new identity documents under the name Johnny Mitchell, Sedley also gets his parole request approved, much to the displeasure of veteran Detective L.Z. Drones (Morgan Freeman), who is convinced that men like him can never be reformed. At one of New Orleans’ biggest shipyards, Sedley is then hired as a steelworker.

But while trying to be the hard-working, good man Mitchell is supposed to be, and love a simple girl (Elizabeth McGovern) from the shipyard who has started falling for him, not knowing anything about his criminal past, Sedley figures out a perfect scheme to punish his former ‘partners’. At the center of it is another heist and a crew exactly like the one that hit the jewel store where Sedley’s best pal was murdered.

In Hill’s oeuvre, Johnny Handsome is a bit of an anomaly. It is a contemporary western with a neo-noirish atmosphere that shares several other key qualities of Hill’s greatest films. However, it is based on John Godey’s novel The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome, published in 1972 and, according to Hill, shot to emulate the classic film noirs of the 1940s. This is why some of the mood swings can be pretty dramatic.

But Hill is fully in control of Johnny Handsome, and Rourke, Henriksen, Barkin, Freeman, and McGovern always look right, selling the triumphs and failures of their characters in the best ways possible for a genre film like Johnny Handsome. Only Whitaker looks a bit too dramatic while engaging Rourke and later confronting Freeman.

The one area where it feels like more should have been done, especially considering that a great director like Hill was behind the camera, is the transformation of New Orleans into a major character. It feels like it is only a supporting character. In No Mercy and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, both terrific films with similar neo-noirish atmosphere, the city has a tremendous presence and enriches the drama and action in unforgettable ways.

Johnny Handsome 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, Johnny Handsome arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The Blu-ray release presents an exclusive new 4K restoration of Johnny Handsome, sourced from the original camera negative. The 4K restoration was completed at TransPerfect Media France on behalf of StudioCanal. Official credits included with the Blu-ray release clarify that the 4K restoration and color grading were supervised and approved by Walter Hill. The 4K restoration is also made available on 4K Blu-ray in this combo pack.

The new 4K restoration is very disappointing. While it brings meaningful improvements over the previous Blu-ray release of Johnny Handsome, produced by Lionsgate in 2010, it effectively alters the native period appearance of the film. The new appearance is heavily tealed, at times creating anomalies that are common on flawed encodes. For example, in several areas, the tealing destabilizes the dynamic range of the visuals. You can see an example here. The prominent lush blues, browns, and even blacks that support the film's native neo-noirish appearance are either severely compromised or, in many areas, practically lost. This is incredibly frustrating because the 4K files easily could have produced marvelous, definitive Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray releases. They produce exceptionally stable visuals with superb density levels, which is what Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray releases should offer. However, all of the great work done to prepare these 4K files is compromised and, ultimately, wasted by a terrible color grade. My score is 2.25/5.00. (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).

Johnny Handsome Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I chose the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. However, later I tested several areas of Johnny Handsome with the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The former is great track. All action material sounded terrific on my system, boasting the type of dynamic intensity that feels right for it. However, Ry Cooder's noirish harmonies can be similarly effective. The dialogue is very clear and sharp. Some of Mickey Rourke's mumbling while he has the disfigured face can be a bit tricky, but everything is still easy to understand.

Johnny Handsome Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary One - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger. The more interesting comments address the noirish roots and qualities of Johnny Handsome, Mickey Rourke's transformation, the quality of the action, and Walter Hill's direction and career.

• Commentary Two - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Alain Silver and James Ursini. The more interesting comments in this commentary address the juxtaposition of characters with a contrasting philosophy of life, Walter Hill's frequent use of close-ups and emphasis on detail, how in real life actions not an appearance define a person, and the neo-noirish atmosphere that dominates the drama.

• Elizabeth McGovern - in this new program, Elizabeth McGovern admits that she does not recall how she was cast to play her character in Johnny Handsome. However, McGovern shares plenty of interesting information about Mickey Rourke and Walter Hill's working methods during the shooting of Johnny Handsome, her small improvisations, and New Orleans' character and atmosphere. At the end of the program, McGovern also has a few great comments about the message of Johnny Handsome and its undeniable, according to her, boldness. The program was produced for StudioCanal. In English, not subtitled. (16 min).

• Codes to Live By: Walter Hill on Johnny Handsome - in this archival program, Walter Hill discusses the conception of Johnny Handsome and why it is not the type of film that can advance a director's career. Hill also reveals what attracted him to the the story that became the film, and comments on John Godey's novel, Mickey Rourke's transformation, and the visual style and tone of the film. Later, Hill addresses the critical reception of Johnny Handsome as well. The program was produced by Robert Fischer for Fiction Factory. In English, not subtitled. (44 min).

• Wordsmith: Interview with Writer Ken Friedman - in this program, writer Ken Friedman confesses that he was "very pleased with the visceral violence" of Johnny Handsome and explains how he tweaked a lot of the crucial material from John Godey's novel. Friedman also comments on his interactions with Walter Hill, who was the first director with a proper grasp of the main characters and their noirish environment, and Mickey Rourke's transformation. In English, not subtitled. (13 min).

• Eye of the Beholder: Interview with Makeup Artist Michael Westmore - in this archival program, makeup Artist Michael Westmore discusses the work done to create Johnny Handsome's disfigured look, the medical research that was performed at UCLA to get everything right, and the-then state-of-the-art technology used to finalize Mickey Rourke's transformation. The program was produced for Lionsgate. In English, not subtitled. (11 min).

• Action Man: Interview with Stuntman Allan Graf - in this archival program, stunt coordinator Allan Graf recalls his first encounter with Walter Hill and their long professional relationship. Graf also discusses the very risky work he did for Johnny Handsome in a historic area of New Orleans, where the jewel store heist was staged, and some specific instructions he gave Lance Henriksen and Ellen Barkin. The program was produced for Lionsgate. In English, not subtitled. (12 min).

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage American trailer for Johnny Handsome. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

Johnny Handsome Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you choose to acquire this Blu-ray release to replace your previous Blu-ray release of Johnny Handsome, you will get a decent upgrade. However, it will not be because the the new Blu-ray release presents a great, definitive new 4K restoration. It will be because the previous Blu-ray release features a horrendous presentation of Johnny Handsome. Prepared at TransPerfect Media in France, the new 4K restoration has very serious color issues. It is most unfortunate that Hill approved it because it replaces the native period appearance of Johnny Handsome with a badly tealed contemporary one, which, sadly, is common practice in France. Had a restoration team at a major studio in America, like Universal or Paramount, completed the 4K restoration, it would have looked vastly different.