Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

The Klansman Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 22, 2017

Terence Young's "The Klansman" (1974) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. There are no supplemental features on the disc. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Sheriff Track Bascomb

I quickly want to praise independent distributors Olive Films yet again for bringing to Blu-ray films that other labels would not have touched with a ten-foot pole. Terence Young’s The Klansman is simply one of the most obvious ‘controversial’ examples, but because of Olive Films we also have nice Blu-ray releases of overlooked gems like James Conway’s Hangar 18, Norman Panama's The Trap, and Duncan Gibbins’ Fire with Fire. The variety and exotic flavor Olive Films have brought to the high-definition format have been extraordinary.

Lee Marvin is the jaded sheriff of a small town in Alabama with a long history of serious racial tensions. He does his best to maintain a good relationship with the powerful local members of the Klan and those who oppose them, but it is a never-ending game of awkward compromises that has transformed him into a cynic that he has a very difficult time tolerating. Track needs the job because it is everything he has, but he is sensing that it is only a matter of time before the voters take it away from him.

When two despicable crimes rock the town yet again, Track consults Breck Stancill (Richard Burton), seemingly the only other person around with a cool head on his shoulders who has also become a target because he frequently calls out the hypocrisy of the good ol’ boys. The two agree that the town is on the verge of a serious crisis that can collapse it, but disagree on whether there is enough time to do something to prevent it.

While Track tries to figure out what to do to calm the opposing sides and save his job, tensions escalate even more and then chaos engulfs his town. A black man (O.J. Simpson) goes on a shooting spree, one of Track’s men and outspoken Klan sympathizer (Cameron Mitchell) rapes a young black woman to send a message to the other side, and human rights activists from Chicago gather in town to protest racial hatred.

The Klansman certainly isn’t easy to like, but I don’t think that it is as bad as some of its most vocal critics claim. The truth is that it looks and feels very dated, though the fact that it is completely free of political correctness actually gives its message a lot of contemporary credibility.

The film’s biggest flaw is its obvious desire to create harsh contrasts that have a profound impact on its audience. Some of the crime scenes, for instance, run a lot longer than they should and actually bring the film very close to an area that some low-budget exploitation films typically like to visit. A lot of the crucial exchanges between the main characters that address these crimes also appear seriously overcooked.

The big picture that the film focuses on, however, is absolutely impossible to dismiss -- racism is an awful disease and it has the power to transform people of all colors into monsters. There comes a point in the film when right and wrong no longer matter and basically the entire structure of the social order that Track and Breck attempt to preserve becomes irrelevant. Is this a dangerous scenario that can never be replicated in the country we live in today? The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that it is actually a very real possibility.

The film was lensed by cinematographer Lloyd Ahern Sr., whose credits also include the great noir classic Cry of the City and the Oscar-winning comedy Miracle on 34th Street.

The Klansman Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Terence Young's The Klansman arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

The release is sourced from a dated master, likely the only one that Paramount Pictures currently has in its vaults. Unsurprisingly, there are some obvious limitations on display. For example, depth isn't optimal, and during nighttime and daytime footage it is clear that crucial nuances are lost as well. Shadow definition is also affected and plenty of the darker footage struggles with pronounced black crush. Colors remain stable and appear rather healthy as no recent attempts have been made to artificially boost up saturation, but it is again easy to see that the primaries are not optimal and key nuances are missing. On the other hand, even though the film does have a dated appearance, the lack of compromising digital corrections actually makes it very easy to tolerate. To be perfectly clear, despite the various limitations that are mentioned above, there are still some fairly decent organic qualities that have been retained. Obviously, the larger your screen is, the easier it will be to spot the limitations, but this is certainly a raw presentation of a film for which there simply isn't a better master at the moment. My score is 3.25/5.00. (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).

The Klansman 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.

It is clear that the audio has not been recently remastered, but the quality of the lossless track is good. The dialog is always clear and easy to follow. Depth is also consistently pleasing. There are no balance issues to report, though I sense that there might be some room for improvement in the mid/high registers where the relationship between clarity and fluidity can benefit from some careful optimizations. There are no audio dropouts or other digital errors to report.

The Klansman Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

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

The Klansman Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There is a lot that one can pull out of Terence Young's The Klansman to argue that it is a bad film, but the dangerous social polarization that is chronicled in it does not at all strike me as a thing of the past. The film clearly stumbles a bit when it rushes to create harsh contrasts that would have a profound and lasting impact on its audience, but even they aren't entirely devoid of logic. If you have been curious about The Klansman but have read very harsh reviews that outright dismiss it, my advice is to ignore them, see it, and form your own opinion. The Blu-ray is sourced from a dated master, but given how controversial, elusive and difficult the film has been to see, it is a small miracle that there was actually a suitable master for a high-definition release that you can now purchase and add to your collection. RECOMMENDED.