Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

The Onion Field Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf June 13, 2015

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.

In 1963, Jimmy Lee Smith (Franklyn Seales) was a petty thief fresh out of prison, looking to return to criminal behavior. Meeting Gregory Powell (James Woods), a hyper young man with plans to escalate his taste for armed robbery, Jimmy is caught up in his new partner’s maniacal ways. After making a score in Las Vegas, the pair returns home through rural California, soon pulled over by cops Karl Hettinger (John Savage) and Ian Campbell (Ted Danson). During the traffic stop, Gregory pulls a gun, shifting the balance of power as Ian and Karl are taken hostage, driven into an onion field where Ian is shot and killed. Escaping on foot, Karl is forever stained by the experience, with his life and career destroyed by depression and doubt. For Gregory and Jimmy, a new battle is set to be fought over numerous trials, with the pair abusing the legal system to delay their death penalties.

As much as “The Onion Field” details the events of Ian’s horrific murder, it also seeks to understand character, spending its first hour establishing hostilities and camaraderie, with the cops spending their down time sharing professional histories and private fears, beginning to solidify into a unit as tragedy strikes. The crooks are equally examined, finding Gregory a sociopath who abuses Jimmy, yet welcomes him into his idea of family, trying to secure loyalty through intimidation. He’s smart, adding distracting disguises to weaken witness accounts of his crimes, but he’s also territorial, making sure his partner, who’s frightened but dim enough to stay, knows his place. The screenplay is careful with these details, generating an understanding of motivation before all hell breaks loose in the onion field. It helps to encourage sympathy, but also to screw with concepts of villainy, finding Gregory not just a rube with a gun, but a dangerously complex guy who prefers to disarm with his easily dismissible appearance.

The onion field shooting is handled well by Becker, who ramps up anxieties as the crooks drive the cops to the middle of nowhere. Violence is shocking, but once Jimmy and Gregory are arrested for the murder, only an hour of the film has gone by, leaving confusion as to where “The Onion Field” is headed next. The story shifts to an extended legal battle over the death penalty and a question of shots fired, with a single bullet to the mouth credited to Gregory, while four more bullets emptied into Ian after his death are unclaimed -- the imprisoned men fighting accusations that they finished off the cop in a particularly cruel manner. There’s also time with Karl, who’s left a wreck by the murder, especially after he gave up his gun in the showdown, branded a coward by his superiors. Karl’s arc is a potent ride of guilt and distress, watching the broken man turn to crime himself to find help during a crippling time. The balance is comfortable and intentionally frustrating, observing Gregory (who’s acting as his own attorney) and Jimmy push the limits of legal protection to clog the court system with complaints, dragging out their case for years, which only makes matters worse for Karl.

The Onion Field Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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 Onion Field Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features director Harold Becker.

• Interview (10:54, HD) with John Savage is a messy chat about "The Onion Field" and the actor's craft. Prone to rambling, Savage is an emotional guy, discussing his process while dealing with a true story and his time with friend James Woods, with the pair lost to chemical excess during the late 1970s and early '80s.

• "Ring of Truth" (28:59, SD) is a 2002 featurette on the making of "The Onion Field," bringing in Savage, Woods, Ted Danson, Joseph Wambaugh, and Becker to help provide war stories from the shoot. The focus is on character motivation and thespian preparation (Danson learned how to play the bagpipes for his role), while Wambaugh shares anecdotes about his time with the real killers in prison and their reaction to the book and the film. Woods is in rare form here, celebrating his performance and his subtle acting choices.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (1:59, HD) is included.

The Onion Field Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"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.