McVicar Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

McVicar Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 23, 2023

Tom Clegg's "McVicar" (1980) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Fabulous Films. The supplemental features on the release included exclusive new program with the real John McVicar, and exclusive new program with Roger Daltrey, producer Bill Curbishely, and composer/music producer Jeff Wayne. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

"Being a thief is a terrific life. But the trouble is they put you in jail for it."

Who was John McVicar? Before 1980, outside the United Kingdom very few people, if any at all, knew who McVicar was, and perhaps rightfully so. Between the late 1950s and 1960s, McVicar was an ordinary criminal who did several jobs, mostly small-time robberies in different parts of London, and then got caught. However, somewhere along the way, McVicar became good friends with Lady Luck, who helped him escape and then for a while kept him out of trouble. But in 1966, McVicar made a silly mistake, got caught again, and the British authorities told him that he would spend the next twenty-three years of his life in a high-security prison in Durham. Instead of remolding McVicar into a proper British citizen, however, the high-security prison launched his transformation into a superstar. Together with another ordinary criminal, Wally Probyn, McVicar successfully dug a hole and escaped, and when he went back to work, the media could not stop covering his case. Eventually, McVicar got caught again -- and again after he had done a robbery -- but during the period when he enjoyed his freedom, his story, or what was known of it, became so big that later he felt compelled to tell it properly in a book. In 1980, director Tom Clegg, with McVicar’s assistance, turned the material from the book into a film, titled simply McVicar, which now enjoys a cult status. However, McVicar is considered a cult film for several reasons, and the complete story that is described in the book is not one of them.

Virtually everything that made McVicar a very good film and earned its cult status has something to do with Roger Daltrey’s involvement with it. In McVicar, Daltrey, who had done major parts in only two other films before it -- Ken Russell’s music extravaganzas Tommy and Lisztomania -- was presented with an opportunity to prove that not only he could be a conventional actor, but lead as well. On top of this, Daltrey also agreed to create a soundtrack for McVicar, which would then be sold as a solo album. In other words, when it was conceived, despite being a small-budget film, McVicar was essentially one giant test for Daltrey with the potential to dramatically transform his career, and not necessarily for the better. (To understand how serious this test was, one needs to keep in mind that Daltrey’s bandmates from The Who were not at all thrilled with his commitment to it and initially refused to assist him. They did later and are credited on it).

In the 1980s, to declare that Daltrey successfully passed the test would have been one of the top five understatements of the decade. Why? Because in McVicar, Daltrey leads with such impressive confidence and looks so good -- not handsome, he looks authentic and oozes pure energy -- that it feels like he is an upcoming British competitor of Jean-Paul Belmondo. (In France, Belmondo became a superstar for representing just about everything Alain Delon was not. Belmondo was not handsome and was very effective in playing the working-class baddie/policeman who was always at odds with The System). Also, the soundtrack turned out spectacular. After it was released as a solo album, “Without Your Love” became an international hit and remains Daltrey’s most successful single to date. (This writer’s favorite track from the soundtrack/album has always been "Free Me", which is heard during the opening credits).

The action and overall quality of the visuals in McVicar are comparable to those of 1970s hits like Sweeney! and The Professionals (the early seasons in particular). The dialog is similar as well. While not crude, it is unfiltered and feels very organic.

According to Daltrey and producer Bill Curbishley, the then-current British government was approached with several requests for permission to shoot at a major high-security prison. However, permission was not granted. As a result, a decision was made to shoot in Ireland.

Clegg’s director of photography was Vernon Layton, who had previously lensed several episodes of The Professionals.

McVicar Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, McVicar arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Fabulous Films.

It is pretty obvious that at some point McVicar was remastered. If I had to guess, I would say that an interpositive was accessed, but in the grand scheme of things this is probably irrelevant.

On my system, the film looked good, often even very, very good. To be honest, I do not think that there are any serious issues on the current master. I think that several specific encoding optimization could have been made to ensure tighten up grain exposure and make select darker areas look better. In a few spots, the grain becomes a bit loose and noisy, which is a weakness that could have been minimized or prevented. But delineation, clarity, and depth range are usually very pleasing. Of course, it does help that there are no traces of problematic digital corrections, but the master does have plenty of proper strengths as well. Color reproduction, for instance, is quite nice too. Yes, some primaries could be a little bit better saturated, but balance is convincing and darker areas do not convey any crushing. I did notice a few tiny blemishes, but there are no large distracting cuts, marks, debris, warped or torn frames to report. All in all, even though there is some room for minor improvements, I think that this release offers a very attractive organic presentation of McVicar. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

McVicar 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 a revelation. As soon as the Blu-ray disc loaded up, I turned up the volume of my system to enjoy "Free Me", my favorite track from Roger Daltrey's soundtrack. The quality of the sound was outstanding. It felt as if I was listening to a CD recording of it, possibly even better. The dialog was very clear, sharp, and always easy to follow. Where possible, dynamic intensity was excellent as well. I did not encounter any distortions, pops, crackle, or audio dropouts to report in our review.

McVicar Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Doing Time with McVicar - in this exclusive new program, Roger Daltrey, producer Bill Curbishely, and composer/music producer Jeff Wayne recall how McVicar was conceived and what it was like to work on it. There are some terrific observations about the real John McVicar and the type of life he had, Daltrey's performance and the tremendous soundtrack he composed for the film, the locations where the film was made, and its reception and reputation as a cult classic. Also, Daltrey explains why had he not found music, he almost certainly would have ended up living McVicar's life. In English, not subtitled. (39 min).

• McVicar on McVicar - in this exclusive new program, the real John McVicar is interviewed by actor/broadcaters Keith Allen. Mr. McVicar explains why he became a criminal, and discusses his time in prison and transformation, his involvement with Tom Clegg's film, and Roger Daultrey's performance. Mr. McVicar also discusses his difficult relationship with his son, who also became a criminal, got caught, and is now serving a sentence in prison. In English, not subtitled. (20 min).

• Booklet - an 8-page illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Graham Rinaldi and additional materials.

McVicar Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For many years, I had McVicar recorded on a VHS tape and sitting next to several other VHS tapes with random episodes of The Professionals. Back then, I thought that McVicar, Bodie, and Doyle were the coolest British characters I had discovered. I could not get enough of the prologues where Roger Daltrey sings "Free Me" and The Cow times Bodie and Doyle while they show him why they are the best in the business. Now, the Blu-ray release of McVicar is on my shelf, next to the four Blu-ray box sets of The Professionals, and I could not be happier. The folks from Fabulous Films also produced two outstanding new programs for McVicar, one of them with the real John McVicar, who recently passed away. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.