6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A hungry young buck who aspires to be a career criminal starts out working at a warehouse for a gangster, and because of his ruthlessness and dependability he begins to ascend the ladder of organized crime.
Starring: Joe Dallesandro, Stefania Casini, Ferdinando Murolo, Raymond Pellegrin, Giovanni CianfrigliaCrime | 100% |
Thriller | 10% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region A, B (locked)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
One of the best remembered ad campaigns of all time was for Schlitz beer, which suddenly catapulted into national consciousness in a way it never had before when “go for all the gusto you can” became a catchphrase. That campaign was popular in the late sixties and early seventies, and it’s not hard to assume that Joe Dallesandro may have seen one of the spots and taken the message to heart, for if there’s one guy who seems to have gone for about all the gusto that’s possible (or at least available), it’s “Little Joe”. Dallesandro is on hand in a nearly half hour long supplement, the sole bonus feature on this new Blu-ray release, and considering the first thing that’s heard, even before the first sight of a now fairly elderly Dallesandro, is the former “Warhol superstar” asking if it’s okay if he smokes a cigarette. That fact that Little Joe shows up (with that nickname) in Lou Reed’s iconic “Walk on the Wild Side”, a tune which came out in 1972, may indicate that Dallesandro was going for the gusto from a relatively early age. Dallesandro was at the height of his matinee idol heyday when he made The Climber in 1975, and while the film has its fair share of issues, Dallesandro’s undeniable charisma isn’t among them.
The Climber is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer:
The Climber (L'Ambizioso) was restored by Arrow Films in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono sound.WIth an understanding that Squitieri evidently filmed much of this picture on the fly, with at times less than optimal lighting conditions, the results here are largely highly commendable. When the film ventures outside, the palette is natural looking and quite vivid, with excellent depth of field when vistas permit. Fine detail is excellent in close-ups, but overall clarity can still be somewhat variant even in outdoor sequences, especially when focal subjects are far away. The film has its fair share of rather dark moments, either intended or (at least at times) unintended, and in several longer scenes shadow detail is minimal at best and overall detail levels are somewhat subdued. This is a fairly grainy looking presentation, but the encode is strong and there are no compression issues other than slight yellow chunkiness in a few selected spots.
All restoration work was carried out at L'Immagiane Ritrovata, Bologna. The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution on a pin registered Arriscan and was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master.
Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and scratches were removed through a combination of digital restoration tools. Overall image stability and instances of density fluctuation were also improved.
The original Italian mono and English language soundtracks were transferred from the original optical sound negatives using the Sondor OMA/E with COSP Xi2K technology to minimize optical noise and produce the highest quality results possible. There are times in which audio synchronisation will appear slightly loose against the pciture, due to the fact that the soundtracks were recorded entirely in post production. This is correct and as per the film's original theatrical release.
Both of the DTS-HD Master Audio Mono tracks on this release can't quite overcome the obvious post looping that was employed, with slight but noticeable differences in things like ambient reverb and even amplitude. As stated above in Arrow's "About the Restoration", the looseness of the sync is quite noticeable throughout both tracks. While dialogue is clear enough, it occasionally takes a back seat to both effects like roaring motorcycles or a kind of groovy score, one which sounds quite reminiscent of some of the late sixties television themes being done by the likes of Dave Grusin or Lalo Schifrin.
Fans of Dallesandro will probably be more willing to cut The Climber sufficient slack to get by the film's less than artful moments, but one thing this film has in abundance one way or the other is charisma, as well as a really notable and quite specific feel for place and time. The plot is about as hackneyed as they come, but Dallesandro and Casini compete quite effectively with some Italian scenery to at least keep the eyes entertained. Arrow's release offers excellent technical merits, and while there aren't a surplus of supplements, the extended interview with Dallesandro is great.
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