Out of the Blue Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Out of the Blue Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 30, 2022

Few would probably argue with the fact that Dennis Hopper could be on the self indulgent side in his show business career, both in front of and behind the camera. There's probably no better example in that latter category than The Last Movie, Hopper's ostensible auteur follow up to Easy Rider which is the very definition of a "sophomore slump". In fact The Last Movie was such a disaster on several fronts that it took Hopper almost another decade before he stepped into the director's chair again, and then only under rather fraught circumstances. Now Out of the Blue may in its own way be another self indulgent effort on the part of Hopper, but the "self" in this particular instance may not be Hopper himself, but star Linda Manz, and that is actually a very good thing, and arguably the best thing about this very difficult and discomfiting viewing experience. As several supplements included on this release get into, Manz is weirdly underappreciated considering how visceral her performances could be, and in that regard some might want to quibble with one of the titles of a featurette about her offered as a bonus item herein which alleges she's "gone but not forgotten", since the fact is many younger fans in particular have quite likely never even heard of her, let alone forgotten her, while other, older, moviegoers may well have let memories of this once celebrated actress fade for one reason or another. Manz is on hand as extremely troubled teenager Cebe (a nickname standing for Cindy Barnes), who is the only child of parents who are beyond dysfunctional. As is quickly disclosed in a horrifying vignette early in the film, Cebe's father Don Barnes (Dennis Hopper) is in prison after having killed a bus full of school kids in a drunk driving accident, and Cebe's mother Kathy (Sharon Farrell) has taken to quasi-prostitution to bring in some cash, while also nursing a pretty significant drug addiction.

Kind of hilariously given the overwrought "kitchen sink" dramatics that are a foundational element of Out of the Blue, the film began life under radically different expectations, as a quiet family drama written and directed by one Leonard Yakir, a name probably even less recognizable than Linda Manz, though rather incredibly (and commendably, considering what happened to him on this film), Yakir is on hand in an extended interview with 4K restoration producer John Simon offered as one of many excellent supplements on this release. Yakir's only other feature film seems is a 1975 opus called The Mourning Suit, which based on the little I've been able to glean was another quiet family drama that had a Jewish element. Yakir's original formulation for this particular outing was to have the troubled Cebe helped by a kindly psychiatrist, and while evidently quite a bit of footage was shot with the actor for what was originally planned to be a major role, the inimitable Raymond Burr is on hand here as Dr. Brean, in what in this version amounts to a glorified cameo. And in fact as the supplements get into, when Yakir was summarily dismissed from the project after just a couple of days of shooting, and the entire film was set to wrap unfinished, Hopper stepped into the breach and finished it himself, albeit with a dramatically different approach and feel, and with the character of Brean consigned to sidebar status.

Instead, Cebe is front and center and often the solitary character in the frame for large swaths of this film expressly without much guidance, which provides a lot of the subtext of the film. There's a somewhat improvisatory approach as a result, as might be expected from a "Dennis Hopper joint", but which one way or the other (again according to the supplements) Hopper re-fashioned to expressly exploit Manz's strengths as a performer. Manz was a pint sized woman, which only made her ferocious spirit all the more remarkable, and as Cebe, she's something of a "mini" force of nature, a physically diminutive girl who nonetheless had best not be taken for granted, as she proves at several points in the story. But it's the "story" where Hopper once again probably lets his self indulgent side run a bit too freely.

Instead of a coming of age film with a kindly counselor (not of the Perry Mason variety) helps a troubled teen, there is an onslaught of horrifying behaviors on display with some perhaps unintentionally comic (if often seedy and/or gruesome) imagery that can be on the hyperbolic side, though kind of weirdly (and something that may subvert Hopper's underlying concept), Cebe wends her way through any number of potentially dangerous situations with ease. Hopper adds a whole second element to all of this dysfunction by having Cebe be a fan of Elvis and what might be thought of as Elvis' multigenerational stepchildren, the punk rockers of the late seventies and early eighties. And while the whole punk ethos of fighting back, general obstreperousness, and standing up to The Man are most certainly part and parcel of Cebe's personality, that in and of itself makes the denouement here a little illogical, if admittedly no less devastating.

Out of the Blue Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Out of the Blue is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. While this is advertised as "newly scanned in 4K from the original negative", a bunch of material in the supplements suggests this is sourced off of the 4K restoration done in 2019 co-produced by frequent host of many of the supplements listed below John Alan Simon, though the "marquee" names associated with the restoration are undoubtedly Chloë Sevigny and Natasha Lyonne. One way or the other, this is a really gorgeous looking restoration, though "gorgeous" may not be the right term, despite the fact that Cebe kind of hilariously uses it as her eponymous CB handle as the film opens. The film is intentionally drab, as some of the supplements get into, and so while, yes, there are pops of color here and there, a lot of the film plays out with a relatively tamped down palette. Things look nicely natural throughout both in terms of general color reproduction and perhaps especially with regard to a nicely resolved grain field. There are some minor variances in both aspects, however, with densities and even color temperature fluctuating from time to time and with grain occasionally looking a bit clumpy and on the yellow side.

Out of the Blue Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Out of the Blue sports a nicely robust sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. Hopper rather smartly fashioned the film around some ideas percolating maybe just beneath the surface of Neil Young's "My, My, Hey, Hey (Out of the Blue)", and that track recurs, with some rather interesting subtext added each time. Cebe's love of punk music and Elvis also plays into things, and one memorable scene has her performing live with a punk band. These more raucous moments are balanced by large swaths of the film that can pass by with relatively little or actually no dialogue. A number of sound effects including the calamitous collision at the head of the film and an explosive finale, resonate with appealing force. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Out of the Blue Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One (Feature Film)

• Audio Commentary with director Dennis Hopper, executive producer Paul lewis and distributor John Alan Simon is accessible under the Setup Menu.


• Audio Commentary with film scholar Kate Rennenbohm is accessible under the Setup Menu.


• Audio Commentary with film writer Kat Ellinger is accessible under the Setup Menu.


• 1984 Dennis Hopper interview by Tony Watts (HD; 1:36:52) offers a nice archival interview done the day after a revival screening of The Last Movie.


• Gone But Not Forgotten - Remembering Linda Manz (HD; 17:59) is the first of two pieces devoted to Manz, with this one taking a few more looks at some of her other performances along with this film. This has some potentially unexpected talking heads that I won't spoil here.


• Subverting Normality: Linda Manz Comes from Out of the Blue (HD; 17:53) is the second Manz-centric piece, this one an interesting video essay by Amanda Reyes and Chris O'Neill.


• Terminal City Blues - Vancouver Onscreen in Out of the Blue (HD; 19:22) is a fun look at the film's shooting locations while providing a bit of background on Vancouver's film production history.


• Mainstreet Soldier (HD; 35:30) is a documentary short by Leonard Yakir that follows an alcoholic vet from Canada. Amazingly, this has an optional (partial) commentary by Yakir.


• Restoration Trailer (HD; 2:28) promotes the Sevigny Lyonne restoration.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:18)


• Jack Nicholson Radio Spot (HD; 1:02)

Disc Two (Bonus Disc)

• Remembering Out of the Blue offers producer John Simon in Zoom like conversations with the following people:

  Editor Doris Dyck (HD; 16:05)

  
  

  Actress Sharon Farrell (HD; 13:31)

  
  

  Post-production assistant and publicist Julia Frittaion (HD; 29:00)

  
  

  Camera operator John Holbrook (HD; 19:17)

  
  

  Composer Tom Lavin (HD; 22:36)

  
  

  Script supervisor Christine Wilson (HD; 18:48)

  
  

  Writer and producer Leonard Yakir (HD; 42:45)

• Me & Dennis (HD; 1:09:02) offer reminiscences about Hopper and thoughts about Out of the Blue by actor and filmmaker Ethan hawke, author and journalist Jessica Hundley, filmmaker Richard Linklater, filmmaker Philippe Mora, filmmaker Lawrence Schiller and artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel. These are individually accessible if desired.


• Straight to Hell - Alex Cox recalls Out of the Blue (HD; 13:16) offers John Simon in another Zoom interview.


• Dealing with Demons - Brian Cox on acting and Dennis Hopper (HD; 20:33) follows the Zoom proceedings with the always enjoyable Cox.


• AFI Q&A with 4K restoration producers John Alan Simon and Elizabeth Kerr (HD; 22:14) is unsurprisingly another internet based "virtual" event.

Out of the Blue Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are a number of pull quotes on the cover of this release which suggest some people feel this is an undervalued masterpiece. I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, if for no other reason that while Manz's performance is absolutely incredible and unabashedly deserving of attention and even celebration, the way Hopper surrounds it with almost comically overheated depictions and characterizations may strike some as, well, self indulgent. This is a release where the film may not be everyone's cup of tea (to say the least), but where technical merits are secure and the supplementary material is astoundingly well done. Recommended.