The Executioner Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

The Executioner Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 2, 2023

Sam Wanamaker's "The Executioner" (1970) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint Films. There are no special features on the release. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The prologue is a classic cinematic curveball. It shows a man who has emerged alive from an intense shootout with other men who must have been professionals. As the camera carefully begins to move and reveals a corpse at the bottom of an empty pool, it seems inevitable that Sam Wanamaker’s The Executioner will tell a story about gangsters involved in a turf war. At this point, the mind of a seasoned film aficionado would rightfully conclude that the survivor is either one of the rivaling gangsters or a cop who has managed to destroy them from within. But as soon as the opening credits disappear, the film jumps back in time and begins revealing a drastically different scenario.

Even though he speaks with an American accent, the survivor is a high-ranking British intelligence agent named John Shay (George Peppard) and he has badly fumbled a massive operation. In Vienna, in an apartment that is closely monitored, while speaking to someone he trusts, Shay then reveals that he has lost his entire international team of spies because of a mole. In London, after doing some investigative work on his own, Shay concludes that the mole must be one of his colleagues, Adam Booth (Keith Michell), who has managed a lot of the same information he has worked with. However, when Shay attempts to expose Booth before his bosses (one of them played by a predictably excellent Charles Gray), he is told to stay in his lane and stop being a conspiracy theorist. But the rebuke has the opposite effect on Shay, and soon after he travels to Turkey and Greece to uncover the crucial evidence proving that he is right. While abroad, Shay then reconnects with his former mistress, Sarah (Joan Collins), who has married his target.

Unquestionably Wanamaker’s best film, The Executioner is a classic intelligent 1970s late-night spy thriller. The key word here is intelligent because with the original material from Gordon McDonell’s story Wanamaker quite easily could have produced one of those enjoyable but easily forgettable exotic action films the prolific British producer Harry Alan Towers loved to fund during the same period. Instead, Wanamaker delivered a twisty spy thriller that in many ways rivals 1970s classics like Telefon and The Mackintosh Man.

Most interestingly, The Executioner has a very laid-back personality that at least initially appears to be at odds with its intellect. Indeed, while Peppard begins hunting for the crucial evidence, a very persistent young lady (Judy Geeson) constantly slows down his work and, in the process, Wanamaker discovers plenty of excuses to focus on the underappreciated perks of the spying business, like having an unlimited credit line while visiting posh nightclubs, terrific restaurants, and luxurious resorts around the world. This is not how intelligent spy thrillers were made at the time. The intelligent spy thrillers followed the clear trail left by 1960s classics like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Manchurian Candidate, and The Ipcress File, while thematically similar films that had the same appreciation for the perks of the spying business simply copied the successful James Bond films.

This strange relationship between the personality and intellect of The Executioner makes it virtually impossible to guess correctly what happens in Peppard’s head and where he is heading next. It makes it very difficult to read the people he meets and interacts with as well. It is obvious that some of them are actors who are trying to deceive Peppard, but the information that is needed to reveal their true identity is very tightly controlled. This, ultimately, is what makes spending time with The Executioner a wonderful experience.

Cinematographer Denys Coop floods The Executioner with plenty of nice panoramic visuals that quickly create the impression that it was a big production. Coop's earlier contributions to British classics like This Sporting Life, A Kind of Loving, and Billy Liar accomplish exactly the opposite.

The Executioner Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Executioner arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint Films.

The master that was used to source this release was provided by Sony Pictures. It is not a new master, but it is very good. There is only one short segment in the second half of the film -- which I am intentionally not identifying because there is a key development there -- where it appears that some reconstructive work might have been done because the original elements were damaged. Density levels drop and there is surface damage as well, but the visuals are still quite nice. The rest looks very good, frequently even great. The color grading job is very convincing, too. The primaries look nicely balanced and the supporting nuances are healthy. Yes, improvements can be made and they will positively affect the dynamic range of the visuals, but the current color balance is very good. There are no stability issues. Also, excluding the segment I mention above, there are no distracting surface imperfections to report. My score is 4.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

The Executioner Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

The lossless track dopes not reveal any signs of aging. All exchanges are very clear, sharp, and stable. Dynamic intensity is good for a film from the 1970s, too. However, there is hardly any action throughout the film, so dynamic contrasts are quite modest. I did not encounter any audio dropouts or distortions to report in our review.

The Executioner Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no special features to be found on this release.

The Executioner Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Even if you have seen plenty of classic Cold War films over the years, it is very unlikely that you will guess correctly the ending of The Executioner. There is a lot more throughout the film that will surprise you as well, including its flexible attitude, which is very unusual for an intelligent and authentic spy thriller. I think that Sam Wanamaker's best work is in this film and would not hesitate to place it next to1970s classics like Telefon and The Mackintosh Man. This Blu-ray release is sourced from an older but very nice organic master that was supplied by Sony Pictures. It is included in Film Focus: George Peppard, a four-disc box set. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.