The Long Wait 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

The Long Wait 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

If I Had a (Mike) Hammer.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 11, 2023

If you see the key art for this film and notice (since it's kind of impossible to ignore) Mickey Spillane's name splashed across the imagery in a huge font, and then see Anthony Quinn's name as star, you might be thinking, "I didn't know Anthony Quinn ever played Mike Hammer," and there's a good reason for that thought: Anthony Quinn never played Mike Hammer. Quinn's character of Johnny McBride in The Long Wait is for all intents (intense?) and purposes a kinda sorta stand in for Spillane's iconic detective, though in this case McBride isn't actually a private dick by trade, and falls into an investigation only after he survives a horrifying car crash resulting in his amnesia, and then pretty quickly finds himself fingered for murder. I've mentioned in any number of other reviews featuring amnesiacs (and there are a glut of them, like Mirage) that mysteries involving characters with that particular affliction can have an almost built in benefit in that the audience is pretty much in the same boat as the main character, attempting to figure out exactly what's going on and whom (if anyone) can be trusted. That's certainly the case with The Long Wait, though it's kind of interesting to note that, as commentator Max Allan Collins gets into in his analysis of the film, McBride is not the typical flustered if still somehow noble hero attempting to get to the bottom of his identity. Instead, McBride is kind of a boorish hothead who doesn't shy (in true Spillane fashion) from bedding (allusively, of course, this being a mid fifties entry) a series of women to help him get to some answers. McBride is also seen flying off the handle at the veritable drop of a hat throughout the story, which gives the character a somewhat feral quality that is at least a bit atypical for film featuring those with substantial "memory problems".

That subliminal tether between amnesiac and audience was perhaps even more heightened in the original Spillane tale (which I've never read), but which Collins mentions was in Spillane's almost patented first person. Collins also gets into some of the differences between the source tome and the adapted screenplay by Alan Green and Lesser Samuels (Samuels also produced), and argues that the film actually makes the narrative clearer and (despite its hyperbolic aspects, as will be discussed) at times at least more credible than Spillane's original. In this version we meet McBride (who has yet to be identified as such) hitchhiking, and obviously worried about something. His ride, unfortunately, ends in a fiery crash and we next meet the character in the hospital, where he's being nursed for bad burns on his hands suffered in the wreck. It's here that we first see a flash of Johnny's temper, this time with a doctor who's attempting to help him, but at least this interchange doesn't end in a physical altercation, something that most definitely can't be stated about some later run ins Johnny has with various folks.

The story kind of weirdly then segues a couple of years into the future (a data point that is delivered via a throwaway line of dialogue) where Johnny, still not going by that name, has been toiling in the oil fields. Kind of hilariously, and perhaps slightly indicative of an intermittent silliness in the film's screenplay, two other oil field guys are bantering about (what else?) amnesia (seemingly unaware of Johnny's affliction, mind you), which is then the first time that hot headed Johnny erupts in physical violence. That deprives him of employment and soon enough he's kind of tricked into journeying to a town called Lyncastle where, unbeknownst to him, he's wanted for murder.

Almost immediately, Johnny is accosted by two semi-tough cops who nonetheless get pushed around by Johnny himself, after they attempt to tie him to a murder which is in turn tied to a bank heist. They have Johnny McBride's fingerprints, but when it's discovered that those aforementioned burned hands means Johnny no longer has identifying patterns on his fingertips, the cops can't make their case stick, in what is obviously a patently ludicrous plot machination that just kind of needs to be accepted at face (and/or finger) value. In the meantime, Johnny has started to interact with a number of town's residents, some of whom seem to know him pretty well, even if he has absolutely no clue as to whom they are or where they figure into the Johnny McBride story.

Suffice it to say that what unfolds is a story of small town corruption and that, unsurprisingly, Johnny is actually a hero. He's also evidently catnip to women, and the film utilizes a conceit whereby Johnny is alerted to the fact that his former girlfriend Vera, who may be the key to his questions, is still in town, though she's gone into hiding and had plastic surgery, so that the only photos he has of her may not properly identify her. That allows Johnny to cut a wide swath through the female population, which includes a number of curvaceous and at times blatantly flirtatious characters played by Peggie Castle, Shirley Patterson (billed under her alternate name Shawn Smith), Dolores Donlon and Mary Ellen Kay.

A lot of The Long Wait may ironically live up to its title, since the film seems woefully short of the kind of hard fisted action elements that typically populate a Mike Hammer enterprise, even with Johnny's frequent temper tantrums. What ends up being rather interesting about this enterprise, is the last act, which narratively speaking at least probably doesn't offer too many surprising revelations (anyone who doesn't see both the "sub villain" and "Big Boss" coming from a mile away is probably not paying attention), but which suddenly goes into stylistic flourishes which, as Collins kind of alludes to in his commentary, have a certain Wellesian flair.

The Long Wait 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 version included in this package. As with ClassicFlix's release of I, the Jury 4K + 3D, ClassicFlix is not releasing a standalone 1080 version, so I'll address both formats in the following comments.

The Long Wait is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of ClassicFlix (with perhaps a bit of help from StudioCanal, since there's that masthead at the beginning of this presentation) with both 1080p and 2160p transfers in 1.75:1. To cut to the chase, this is another nice 4K remaster which nonetheless may appeal to videophiles more in its 1080 version than its 2160 version, especially since the 4K UHD disc does not employ HDR. The 1080 presentation impresses throughout, albeit with some passing deficiencies in clarity and densities, two aspects which are probably only exacerbated in the 4K UHD version (note, for example, a noticeable downgrade in image quality in the early sequence featuring the doctor treating Johnny's burned hands, and the downgrade in image quality is markedly more observable in the 2160 version). The film does employ a lot of opticals, some with seemingly pretty long "bumps" in and out, and those moments understandably show less detail and a spike in grain. There are a few very minor blemishes that have made it through the restoration gauntlet, but they're really virtually imperceptible. The 4K UHD version may have missed an opportunity to highlight (no HDR pun intended) Franz Planer's rather striking cinematography since it only features SDR, but contrast in both versions is typically excellent.

The Long Wait 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Long Wait features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono that is limited by some source deficiencies of the film soundtrack, including noticeable distortion in the opening music. Things improve noticeably when it's just dialogue, though there's a just slightly hollow, boxy sound at times. There's occasional very slight background hiss, but overall everything is perfectly listenable if not optimal. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Long Wait 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Both the 4K UHD disc and 1080 disc in this package offer the commentary. Only the 1080 disc has the Photo Gallery.

• Audio Commentary by Max Allan Collins


• Image Gallery with Rare Scene Stills (HD; 2:58)

Additionally, the 1080 disc offers Trailers for other releases from ClassicFlix. On both the 4K UHD disc and the 1080 disc, the disc boots to the trailer for Raw Deal, which can be chapter skipped through.

The Long Wait 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While there hints of some "Abstractionist noir" framings earlier in the film, it's only when things start to get deliriously gonzo in the film's closing moments that The Long Wait really starts exhibiting a riveting style. There are any number of plot holes wide enough to drive a truck through, as the saying goes, and Anthony Quinn, while always an interesting screen presence (this film premiered just a few months before La Strada), may not always be completely helped by the writing, which ultimately gets positively lurid with scenes like a bound female character dragging herself across the floor like a supplicant as she attempts to give Johnny a little aid and/or comfort. The ultimate mystery here may also be a bit too obvious, and in that regard while Collins avers that the screenplay actually made things more streamlined, since the source novel hung upon a McGuffin of sorts whereby amnesiac Johnny wasn't really Johnny, but a lookalike, that particular conceit, while preposterous, may have given this narrative the little extra energy it needed. This second 4K UHD release from ClassicFlix offers generally solid technical merits, especially with regard to the 1080 presentation, which my hunch is some may prefer over the SDR 4K UHD version.