The Wedding Party Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Wedding Party Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 2, 2018

Note: This film is available as part of De Palma & De Niro: The Early Films.

Brian De Palma and Robert De Niro share a lot more than just that “De” in their last names. The two forged their early film careers at least partially in tandem, and both have of course gone on to become rather monolithic characters in the world of modern cinema. Perhaps precisely because of their outsized reputations, it may be hard to think of either of them as “beginners”, but the appealing if sometimes kind of unexpectedly provocative movies gathered together in this intriguing new set by Arrow show them in the process of learning their craft(s), and as such there’s a perhaps more intimate, visceral feeling attending these early efforts than in some of either of these artist’s later, glossier, outings. While The Wedding Party bears a 1969 release date, putatively dating it after 1968’s Greetings, from a production standpoint it actually predates the other two films in this set by several years, since it was evidently actually shot in 1963 but languished unreleased for several years. It was in fact the unexpected (if “minor” by today’s standards) success of Greetings that helped, at least in part, to garner attention for The Wedding Party. Hi, Mom! is actually a direct sequel to Greetings, and features De Niro reprising his role as troubled Vietnam vet Jon Rubin, in a film one talking head in a supplement included in this set likens to “Taxi Driver light”.

The Wedding Party is definitely the outlier in at least a few ways with regard to this set. Both Greetings and Hi, Mom! are linked not only due to the linking character played by Robert De Niro in both films, but also their emphasis on the then still very relevant Vietnam War. Both of those films were also shot in color. The Wedding Party, by contrast, is in rather nice looking black and white, with an at least somewhat more vignette driven structure that almost emphasizes a kinship to silent cinema at times. In a way, The Wedding Party also presages Robert Altman’s somewhat similar A Wedding. The film is filled with interstitial quotes supposedly from a “bible” for bridegrooms, and each subsequent scene either depicts the quote in a way, or (just as frequently) skewers it. In another way, groom Charlie (Charles Pfluger) finds himself surrounded by a bunch of eccentric relatives and friends of his fiancée Josephine (Jill Clayburgh), in a plot element which may remind some of the screwball antics of You Can't Take It with You, though in this case the “wackos” are definitely from old (maybe ancient) money. Though he typically gets top billing these days, Robert De Niro (famously misbilled as Denero) is actually just a hanger on here, one of Charlie’s buddies who accompanies him to the festivities. Probably too frenetic for its own good, and never really delving deeply enough into the characters, especially Charlie, who seems to alternate between raging hormones and cold feet (including what almost looks like an illicit dalliance shortly before the nuptials), A Wedding Party provides some intermittent pleasures but definitely has the feeling of being a work in progress.

The Wedding Party Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Wedding Party is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. Arrow's insert booklet lumps two of the three films together for its verbiage on the restorations:

The Wedding Party and Greetings have been exclusively restored by Arrow Films for this release.

The Wedding Party is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1 [sic] with mono audio. The original 35mm camera negative element was scaneed in 2K resolution on a 4K Arriscan at OCN Labs, CT. The film was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master and restored at R3Store Studios in London. The original mono mix was remastered from the optical negative reels at OCN Labs.

All materials for this restoration were made available by Troma Entertainment Inc.

Greetings is presented in its origina aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono audio. An original 35mm camera internegative element was scanned in 2K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director at EFilm, Burbank. The film was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master and restored at R3Store Studios in London. The original mono mix was remastered from the optical negative reels at Deluxe Audio Services, Hollywood.

All materials for this restoration were made available by Charles Hirsch and Academy Film Service.

The Wedding Party boasts a very nicely organic looking image, one with solid contrast, (mostly) nicely deep black levels, and decent detail levels, especially within the context of De Palma frequently shooting midrange to wide shots and just as frequently utilizing intercutting and a rapidly moving camera. There are some very slight density fluctuations, and brightness can vary, again very slightly, a situation that tends to attend the outdoor material the most. Compression looks great and I can't imagine fans not being very well pleased with the look of this transfer.

The Wedding Party Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Wedding Party features a generally solid sounding LPCM Mono track. Some of the organ cues (including the underpinning of the "Ondine" logo) can sound just a little "wobbly", but John Herbert McDowell's rather invigorating score sounds fine otherwise. At least some of the film features blatant dubbing, with characters' lips not matching the dialogue in any way, shape or fashion. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout and there are no major signs of age related wear and tear.

The Wedding Party Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged this set with Greetings and The Wedding Party sharing a disc, and with Hi, Mom! on its own disc. Supplements on each disc are therefore not necessarily devoted solely to any given film (this includes the interviews with Charles Hirsch, which can momentarily veer off into tangential information), and so I'm providing a list of all supplements on both discs in this set on all three reviews of the films included in the set:

Disc One contains The Wedding Party and Greetings and the following supplements:

• Greetings Audio Commentary by Glenn Kenny


• Brian De Palma: Early Years (1080p; 11:41) is a new appreciation of De Palma (and De Niro) by Howard S. Berger.


• Charles Hirsch on Greetings (1080p; 11:47) is an engaging interview with the producer.


• Greetings Press Book (1080p)

Disc Two contains Hi, Mom! and the following supplements:

• Charles Hirsch on Hi, Mom! (1080p; 11:47) continues the interview with the producer.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:54)

The Wedding Party Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Wedding Party shows De Palma still finding his way, and the film kind of plays like a crazy quilt at times, patched together from various elements in a kind of random fashion. Performances are occasionally a little halting or too self aware, but there's a charming innocence to much of this film that plays distinctively lighter than some of De Palma's considerably darker "mature" fare. Technical merits are first rate, and The Wedding Party comes Recommended.