Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Shakedown Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson August 30, 2018

Any learned viewer who saw Shakedown in the spring and summer of 1988 would have recognized name reference in the scene where the prison guard yells, "Hey, Boesky!" to an inmate dressed in a business suit. "Boesky" refers to Ivan Boesky, the notorious stock trader incarcerated for insider trading who became a partial basis for Michael Douglas's Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's Wall Street a year earlier. Writer/director James Glickenhaus uses the Boesky reference as a token for the unscrupulous insider trading between reprobate New York City cops and a petty rich drug lord. Money is moving as fast as the drugs are flowing in. Glickenhaus based his script on a 1985 New York Times article about a Manhattan drug dealer who pleaded self- defense after he shot an undercover cop. Exhibitors must have known the timeliness of Shakedown's message since three critics who reviewed the film noted that an anti-drug commercial ran before the start with James Woods telling viewers not to take crack! (This was definitely a strategic maneuver by Woods to promote anti-drug awareness since he played a cocaine addict in The Boost that very year.)

Peter Weller (in his first role after RoboCop) found himself in several drug-themed films, which started when he played a shady dealer in Michael Apted's Firstborn (1984). Weller portrays Roland Dalton, a Legal Aid attorney whose been practicing for fourteen years and has been offered a high position on Wall Street through the father of his fiancée, Gail Feinberger (Blanche Baker). Dalton still has one more case to try and offers to represent Michael Jones (Richard Brooks), a black drug dealer who gunned down a snooping white police officer in the prologue. The Lincoln (NE) Journal Star's film critic L. Kent Wolgamott, who gave Shakedown four out of five stars, completely misled his readers when he wrote that Jones was "unquestionably guilty." We hear gunshots exchanged between Jones and the undercover cop but we don't know for certain (at least in the beginning) if either side was firing in cold blood.

Partners.

Assistant D.A. Susan Cantrell (Patricia Charbonneau of Desert Hearts fame) opposes Dalton in the case and it's an extra spicy because she's an old fame of his. Press critics lamented that Dalton's relationships with Feinberger and Cantrell are the weak links in the film but I see them more as assets. It's what he shows and hides from them that reveal his character's flaws. He gets along well with his possible future wife but she doesn't cling to his sixties idealism. She's both missed the past and is behind the current. That's why she mis-characterizes the Hendrix ballad she listens to. Cantrell is much more intelligent and understands where Dalton's coming from. Moreover, Dalton learns from the dirty cops' corrupt practices that he has his own moral and ethical fissures that need to get sewn up or he will be exposed. That's why in the end I think he feels the need to be open and honest with his fiancée.

Roland's partner in tracking down the dealers is old buckaroo cop Richie Marks (Sam Elliott). Marks has a gravely voiced and his unweariedly tough and hard-nosed, much like the Man with No Name. A memorable scene shows him try to ferret information from an adolescent drug dealer. Nicky 'N.C.' Carr (Antonio Fargas from Robert Downey Sr.'s Putney Swope) is the Nino Brown-type drug lord that Marks wants to take down. The pillars that make Shakedown a topflight action movie (literally) are three death-defying stunts that Elliot partakes and involved little-to-no green screen or pre-CGI. Usually, marketing or promotional messages from studios contain hyperbolic overstatements but Universal's on Shakedown couldn't be accurately delineated: "This pulse-pounding adventure features some of the most incredible stunt work and action sequences ever shot."

Shakedown Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shout Select brings Shakedown to Blu-ray for the first time in North America (#40 in the specialty label's series). This fifth film by Glickenhaus has already been available for a few years on high-def in France courtesy of Carlotta Films on a BD-25 with a trailer as the lone extra. I own the 2004 Universal DVD which has an anamorphically enhanced transfer in the OAR of 1.85:1. I can confirm that the Shout derives from the same print which isn't bad at all since it was one of Universal's better efforts for an eighties film. The Shout image is not an upconvert but true 1080p. The Blu-ray looked smooth and fluid in motion. (See Screenshot #s 15-20 for a comparison between the two, with the Universal on the top. The shots are the same but framing may differ some.) Nighttime scenes in NYC have a "big lights, big city" look to them with bright neon emanating from the marquee and billboards. The Deuce and New Amsterdam retain those locations' grime, grit, and decrepitude. To my eyes, the color timing appears spot-on with no washouts. There's a few minor artifacts but this has be the best the film has looked. Shout gives the 97-minute feature the MPEG-4 AVC-encode treatment. The video transfer has been encoded at a mean bitrate of 29993 kbps while the full disc (including the six extras) sports a total bitrate of 35.41 Mbps.

Shout has the normal dozen chapter selections. The Universal disc has eighteen scene markers.

Shout Factory 2018 Blu-ray = Screenshot #s 1-14, 16, 18, & 20
Universal Studios 2004 DVD = Screenshot #s 15, 17, & 19

Shakedown Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout has applied the film's original DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo Surround (1660 kbps, 24-bit). Two critics who saw the release prints back in '88 made gripes about the sound mixing with too much f/x added. Rick Bentley, who wrote for The Town Talk (Alexandria, LA) complained that the movie's "background noise, used to give the production a 'real' feel becomes so overwhelming it is hard to hear the dialogue. Key information is drowned out in a sea of cars, crowds and clatter." Michael Mills of the Palm Beach Post (FL) also groused that the film "is also surprisingly shoddy technically, and the quality of the sound is especially bad, with many early scenes cluttered by background noise." I'm happy to report that I found the stereo mix pretty well balanced with dialogue that is sufficiently audible, enough with some of the racket. I would rate the bass as very good to excellent. Songs like "Purple Haze" and Dylan/Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Subterranean Homesick Blues" demonstrate good high- end pitch with some decent depth. Jonathan Elias delivers a fine electronic score that should hopefully see an official album release one day.

The optional English SDH are complete and contain one spelling mistake (Boesky is misspelled.)

Shakedown Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NEW Introduction by Writer and Director James Glickenhaus (:16, 1080p) - a very brief intro by the filmmaker that goes quickly. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Audio Commentary with James Glickenhaus - cinephile/filmmaker Edwin Samuelson of the Samuelson Studios moderates this recently recorded feature-length track with Glickenhaus. Samuelson talks a little too much during the first half of the track but he adds some additional questions to keep the track going. Glickenhaus sometimes give short statements in his answers. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Shakedown Breakdown – An Interview with James Glickenhaus (16:16, 1080p) - a really good interview with Glickenhaus that's the top supplement on the disc. He seems more comfortable and more inclinded to give longer answers when he either knows the questions ahead of time or gets more time to answer them. He looks very prepared. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Miles Over the Limit – James Glickenhaus Discusses Miles Davis (5:12, 1080p) - Glickenhaus has a great personal story about Miles Davis to tell here. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Still Gallery (4:47, 1080p) - a slide show that displays sixty-nine images during Shakedown's marketing campaigns. It contains a nice mixture of press kit stills (US and Japan), lobby cards, on-set photos, poster sheets, and VHS covers.

• Theatrical Trailer (1:56, upscaled to 1080i) - an analog-sourced 1.33:1-framed trailer for Shakedown.

Shakedown Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

James Glickenhaus presents an unvarnished portrait the Big Apple and its underworld that's long gone. His Shakedown is brawny and smart and has to be considered one of the most underrated action thrillers of the '80s. It grew on me tremendously from my first viewing on DVD to this deluxe package attractively put together by the good folks at Shout! Factory. Peter Weller delivers an excellent overall performance, ably and subtly demonstrating what a chameleon he is. I will probably be checking out Glickenhaus's entire filmography. Fans of Lumet's Serpico (1973) and Prince of the City (1981) should definitely indulge. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.