7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
They exploded the ugliest riot in prion history to cover their dangerous, desperate break for freedom.
Starring: Gene Hackman, Jim Brown, Mike Kellin, Ben Carruthers, Clifford DavidCrime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
William Castle is a name associated almost exclusively with the horror genre, and the kitschy, gimmick laden horror genre at that. Castle was lovingly parodied by John Goodman in Matinee, but Castle himself was kind of a living parody in and of itself, a bigger than life producer who thrived on luring audiences to the theaters with all sorts of ridiculous techniques like Emergo or Percepto or even Illusion-O (Castle obviously had a thing for final “o”’s). Castle finally got some mainstream prestige in 1968 when he produced the sensational Roman Polanski adaptation of Ira Levin’s Rosemary's Baby, but in a cruel twist of fate, illness sidelined Castle just when it seemed he might finally join the ranks of bona fide A-listers, and by the time he recovered, he was once again consigned to less than stellar outings like 1969’s Riot, the kind of gritty but lackluster drama that was then regular fodder on television outings like ABC’s Movie of the Week. In fact Riot’s director Buzz Kulik had made the bulk of his mark in Hollywood working in series television, and he would soon go on to helm a number of highly praised made for television movies, including A Storm in Summer and what remains one of Kulik’s most fondly remembered pieces, Brian’s Song. Riot has a rather interesting ambience, having been filmed almost completely in the environs of what the film generically calls the Arizona State Prison, but which IMDb identifies as Yuma Territorial Prison in Arizona. Many real life prisoners as well as the then current warden of the prison are on hand as well, lending an unusual feeling of verisimilitude to some of the desperate machinations of a bunch of men who take control of a cellblock and attempt to stall while they figure out a way to break free.
Riot is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The elements utilized for this high definition presentation are in very good shape, perhaps due to the fact that this film never made much of an impact on broadcast television, ostensibly due to some of its more provocative sequences. While there is some age related damage to report, it's relatively minor as these things go and never proves to be a major distraction. Colors are nicely saturated and robust, but they do appear to have faded just slightly, tilting toward the brown end of the spectrum. There are some minor contrast issues in some of the interior scenes, especially the sequences inside the tunnel, where it's often hard to make out exactly what's going on. By and large, though, this is a solid looking transfer which follows in the reliable Olive tradition of neither overt restoration nor overt digital tweaking.
Riot features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track that has no damage to report and which faithfully recreates the film's fairly unambitious sound design. While there are some bursts of activity here which give the film decent dynamic range, courtesy of such activities as several fights which break out, and late in the film the explosion of tear gas cannisters, a lot of the film is actually more dialogue driven, something this mono track delivers with fine fidelity. Christopher Komeda's score, which evidently rubbed some critics the wrong way when the film was originally released, features a nice main theme sung by Bill Medley which recurs throughout the movie and which sounds fine in this lossless setting.
No supplements are offered on this Blu-ray disc.
Riot seems to be setting itself up to be a rootin' tootin' adventure yarn with a bunch of desperate criminals "gaming the system" while they prepare a daring escape. Unfortunately, the film never really works up much of a head and steam, and instead dissipates in a bunch of quasi-philosophical monologues by Cully and Red. A couple of exciting sequences and a pretty gruesome ending hint at the lurid B-movie lurking just beneath the surface of this politically ambivalent statement, but Castle would have done better to have just resolutely gone the trashy route here rather than trying to invest the film with so much "meaning". This Blu-ray features very good video and audio and may be of some interest to those who like the stars. A few discerning people will want to check this out for its Christopher Komeda score.
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