Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Rough Night in Jericho Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 10, 2021

Arnold Laven's "Rough Night in Jericho" (1967) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include exclusive new audio commentary by critic Samm Deighan and vintage trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

It is very strange to see that the producers of Rough Night in Jericho booked Dean Martin to play the heartless villain Alex Flood. This character sticks out like a sore thumb in Martin’s filmography because he isn’t just bad, but exceptionally mean and in fact absolutely impossible not to detest. Martin avoided playing such characters like the plague and yet his unexpected transformation is arguably the biggest reason to see Rough Night in Jericho.

Flood, a former lawman-turned-businessman, is the undisputed king in the small western town of Jericho because he owns fifty-one percent of everything that makes it function as one. This means that anyone that breaks the law in Jericho instantly hurts Flood’s business interests, which is why most of the time the place looks peaceful.

But Flood’s complete dominance is disrupted when former deputy-turned-stagecoach driver Dolan (George Peppard) and his aging partner Ben Hickman (John Maclntire) arrive in Jericho to do business with Molly Lang (Jean Simmons), a young and beautiful widow who wants to be independent. While Hickman recovers at her place -- before Hickman and Dolan enter Jericho, Flood ambushes their coach and seriously injures the former but quickly disappears without a trace -- Flood attempts to bankrupt Dolan in a poker game and force him to abandon the stagecoach business, but instead inspires him to protect the widow and she gradually falls in love with him. Flood, who has repeatedly failed to make her love him, then vows to crush all three in the worst possible way, but his plan backfires when Dolan organizes a bunch of local residents with plenty of reasons to hate him.

Arnold Laven worked with a screenplay by Sydney Boehm and Marvin H. Albert which very quickly sends Rough Night in Jericho down a familiar path. Indeed, immediately after Flood ambushes the stagecoach and exchanges fire with Dolan it becomes clear that it is only a matter of time before they clash in another deadly duel. Everything that happens after that essentially prepares for this decisive encounter where one of the two characters will have to emerge victorious.

Nevertheless, Rough Night in Jericho is a very entertaining western because the stars engage each other and various great supporting actors in ways that produce some serious fireworks. The biggest treat of course is seeing Martin overpowering or simply abusing folks around him with such authority that it actually makes one wonder why he wasn’t cast regularly to play a disgusting villain. It truly is a very odd but brilliant performance that infuses the film with tremendous atmosphere. Just as interestingly, however, Peppard not only matches the quality of Martin’s performance, but in certain segments clearly overshadows him.

Laven was able to use the services of cinematographer Russell Metty, who had already lensed such genre classics as Ride the Pink Horse, Naked Alibi, Spartacus, and Touch of Evil. While in terms of visual brilliance Rough Night in Jericho is difficult to compare to these films, it is a very nicely crafted western that actually uses nature in some brilliant ways.

*According to archival reports, Rough Night in Jericho was initially supposed to be shot for Twentieth Century Fox. Also, William Holden and Van Heflin were considered for the rivaling male characters.

Rough Night in Jericho Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Rough Night in Jericho arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from an old an unfortunately quite weak master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. With the exception of a few close-ups with proper lighting, the rest of the visuals lack proper delineation and depth. The wider panoramic shots are usually the most problematic ones, but darker footage can be just as underwhelming. There are traces of some digital work as well, though the smearing that emerges from it isn't consistent. Colors look good, but this is another area where there is actually quite a bit of room for improvement(s). For example, while most of the primaries look fine, some can be better balanced. Saturation can be improved as well, but there other balance issues with the supporting nuances that need to be addressed. Image stability is good. The film looks clean, but some minor black spots and blemishes remain. So, this film needs to be fully remastered, either in 2K or 4K, so that it actually looks like organic film. 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).

Rough Night in Jericho 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. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The lossless track is very nice. Aside from some extremely minor dynamic unevenness that emerges in a few areas where the music has an important role, the rest sounds excellent. The dialog is very clean, sharp, and easy to follow. There are no distortions, audio dropouts, or other similar anomalies.

Rough Night in Jericho Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - vintage trailer for Rough Night in Jericho. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Commentary - exclusive new audio commentary recorded by critic Samm Deighan.

Rough Night in Jericho Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While virtually all of the notable conflicts in Rough Night in Jericho are entirely predicable, there is a lot to like and even admire in it. For example, watching Dean Martin play the heartless villain Alex Flood is a real treat because this is a very, very unusual character transformation for him. But George Peppard is terrific as well, plus there are some outstanding contributions from old pros like John McIntire and Slim Pickens. I like this film a lot. Unfortunately, Kino Lorber's release is sourced from an old and quite weak master that was supplied by Universal Pictures.