Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Someone to Watch Over Me Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson March 20, 2019

Someone to Watch Over Me presented Ridley Scott with an opportunity to get away from sci-fi and fantasy cinemascapes that characterized the first part of his career and into a more traditional mainstream genre film: i.e., the detective thriller/romantic drama. Scott's fifth feature was also the first presided over by David Putnam's (Chariots of Fire) short-lived tenure as the head of Columbia Pictures. (Since producing films, the British-born Putnam has gone on to become a Member of the House of Lords.) According to screenwriter Howard Franklin, StWOM was the studio's most sellable picture of 1987. It teemed Tom Berenger (fresh off his Oscar-nominated work for Platoon) with Mimi Rogers (then Mrs. Tom Cruise). Berenger and Rogers's characters couldn't have come from more different worlds. As the film opens, Det. Mike Keegan (Berenger) is being fêted for a promotion by NYPD. He resides in lower middle-class Queens and is celebrating with his wife Ellie Keegan (Lorraine Bracco), fellow officers on the force, and one big cake. We're then introduced to Claire Gregory (Rogers) at a far different and more opulent party hosted by her friend and disco owner, Win Hockings (Mark Moses; Berenger's cast mate on Platoon). But unfortunately for Win, the psychopathic mobster Joey Venza (Andreas Katsulas) has caught up to him. (The weakness of Franklin's script is that we don't really learn the nature of their relationship and why Joey goes after Win.) Claire is an eyewitness to this incident and Det. Keegan is assigned to protect her from Joey.

Mike is both attracted to Claire's beauty and the Art Deco world in New York that she inhabits. He isn't so much interested in becoming a member of that world as he is simply fascinated by it. He's never been around it before. Berenger and Rogers share very good chemistry together. Naturally, as Mike becomes more romantically entangled with Claire, his family life suffers. Lorraine Bracco, who was unanimously praised by critics as Keegan's wife, demonstrates here why she was to become one of the best (if unsung) actresses in Hollywood. She understands her husband's profession very well because her father was a cop. She's strong in facing up to her beau's infidelity. In sum, Bracco delivers a highly realistic and naturalistic performance. While Someone to Watch Over Me is definitely not among Scott's best works, it reaffirms how deft a visual stylist he is, no matter the genre.

Someone to Watch Over Me Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Someone to Watch Over Me makes its debut on Blu-ray worldwide courtesy of Shout Select (#69 in the specialty label's series) on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50. Presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, the transfer is most competently presented by Shout. One thing you'll notice is how dark the film is from start to finish. Scott employs a lot of chiaroscuro lighting and mixes in his characteristic fog and smoke. Facial tones are natural and don't appear manipulated. The image has a very nice, thick texture with rock-solid contrast. There are some speckles but those are few and far between.

In evaluating StWOM's transfer, it holds true to form how it likely appeared to critics seeing the release prints in 1987. Longtime New York Times reviewer Vincent Canby noted the "smoky interiors often lighted from below, lots of reflecting surfaces, nighttime exteriors of startling, liquid clarity." Film historian David Daly noted the soft backlighting and mellow blues. Bob Ross of the The Tampa Tribune agreed: "Almost every shot in 'Someone' is severely backlit. Pinpoints or squares of brightness illuminate the rear of each frame, while the central objects or characters are in shadowy semi-brightness. Women seem to have halos when they are bathed in such spotlights." Ross' colleague Hal Lipper from the rival Tampa Bay Times lauded the disco's basement (as shown in the scene from Screenshot #8): "This has to be seen. Scott and production designer Jim Bissell have retrofitted a Roman bath with Blade Runner appointments, so the setting has a misty, mysterious, otherworldly effect."

The main feature carries an average video bitrate of 35000 kbps. My video score is 4.75.

Someone to Watch Over Me Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The only sound track on the disc is the original stereo, rendered here as a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo (1610 kbps, 24-bit). I found myself turning the volume up quite frequently to hear Berenger's plebeian accent. Perhaps owing to how the stereo tracks were mixed in 1987, the dialogue doesn't register that lough or at a sufficiently high enough pitch to keep your audio receiver static throughout. Michael Kamen's musical underscore and the various pop songs and classical pieces fare better. There are three renditions of the Gershwins' title theme, "Someone to Watch Over Me": Sting performs it at the beginning, four vocalists in the middle, and Roberta Flack over the closing credits. Bach's "Aria" and Vivaldi's "Gloria" are source works played in Claire's apartment. I wouldn't have minded if Shout also included a 5.1 remix.

Optional English SDH are included.

Someone to Watch Over Me Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NEW Someone...To Write a Script – An Interview with Screenwriter Howard Franklin (10:41, 1080p) - the articulate Franklin sits down to discuss penning the screenplay and his working relationship with Ridley Scott. Although he's correct that critics often compared the film to Fatal Attraction, he's wrong that "half of the reviews mentioned AIDS," especially as it pertains to American cinema's cultural context of the period. I perused at least thirty original critical reviews of StWOM and not a single one made reference to AIDS or the HIV virus. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Someone...To Shoot a Movie – An Interview with Director of Photography Steven Poster (14:04, 1080p) - Poster discusses the lighting schemes and atmospheric conditions in select scenes that Scott liked to use as well as the helicopter shot above the Chrysler Building. In English, not subtitled.

Someone to Watch Over Me Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Someone to Watch Over Me was a nice change-of-pace for Ridley Scott and an above-average romantic thriller of the period. Shout Select delivers an outstanding transfer and decent but unremarkable lossless audio. It's one of the few titles of Scott's released on the digital format that the British auteur either hasn't recorded a commentary or been featured on the bonus materials. To my knowledge, StWOM is the last film of Scott's to reach Blu-ray so fans of the director should add it to their collections. RECOMMENDED.