7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Greg Powell is a disturbed ex-con who recruits Jimmy Smith (aka Jimmy Youngblood), a petty thief, as his partner in crime. Powell panics one night when the two of them are pulled over by a pair of cops for broken brake-lights. Powell decides to kidnap the cops and Smith, as always, reluctantly goes along with Powell's crazy scheme. The group drives out to a deserted onion field in Bakersfield, California and one officer is shot while the other escapes. The remainder of the film explores the nature of the American justice system, as well as the devastating psychological effects of this event and the trial on the surviving officer.
Starring: John Savage, James Woods, Franklyn Seales, Ted Danson, Ronny CoxPsychological thriller | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
History | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.86:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Setting out to create a true crime tale, author Joseph Wambaugh found deeper psychological wounds to explore when he wrote the 1973 novel, “The Onion Field.” A former cop with intimate knowledge of the law enforcement system, Wambaugh understood the emotional spaces of his characters, while fascinated with the ways of evil. Planning to bring the work to the big screen, Wambaugh secured creative freedom by partially funding the feature himself, hiring director Harold Becker to craft a version of “The Onion Field” that would respect the source material and help flesh out the corroded personalities of the players. The 1979 picture is successful in this respect, delivering a literary atmosphere of procedural events and troubling intimacies that help to comprehend the case at hand. Certain cinematic elements slip out of Becker’s control, but Wambaugh’s core interests in crime and punishment are heartily respected.
The AVC encoded image (1.86:1 aspect ratio) presentation doesn't have the best luck with skintones, which register normal one moment and purple-ish the next, missing consistency. Colors in general fall a little flat, only really coming to life with neon signage and brightly lit exteriors, while costuming provides a modest amount of spirit. Detail isn't inspired, flat with close-ups, delivering dull facial features and emotional nuance. Inherent cinematographic softness and focus problems are easy to spot. Grain reads on the noisy side. Delineation is merely passable, never extraordinary, with a few scenes threatened by solidification. Print is bit tattered, with speckling throughout and tiny vertical scratches, and there's a faint blue line that periodically shows up on the left side of the frame.
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix doesn't have much trouble managing dramatic speeds, with crisp dialogue exchanges working through accents and intensity without harsh extremes. Atmospherics are lively, with heavy outdoor activity during the onion field sequence, handling buzzing insects and expanse. Prison interiors also carry some energy, dealing with echoed hallways and multiple characters. Scoring is stable and supportive, but never quite authoritative. Violence retains snap, with gunshots intentionally loud to trigger shock.
"The Onion Field" doesn't deliver a particularly cinematic experience, registering more as a television movie with appropriately ballooning performances from Woods and Seales (perhaps best known as Dexter on "Silver Spoons"). Certain details of the case and the interplay between Jimmy and Gregory (their relationship turns sexual in prison) are too hazy for comfort, along with the extent of Karl's rehabilitation. Pieces of this puzzle are missing, lost to the adaptation process, and a few gaps in behavior stand out. The effort has problems and lacks punch in its second half, but basic ideas on post-traumatic stress disorder during a time when such a thing wasn't allowed to be addressed are vividly imagined, and frustration with Jimmy and Gregory's legal delay is felt in full. It remains a powerful film about a particularly loathsome crime, with Becker and Wambaugh making absolute certain that while this is a tale of murder, "The Onion Field" is actually a story of men in various stages of denial.
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Warner Archive Collection
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Reissue | Special Edition
1948
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1972
1950
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Warner Archive Collection
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