Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Try and Get Me! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 7, 2016

Cy Endfield's "Try and Get Me!" (1950) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films. There are no supplemental features on the disc. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

"This is where we hit the jackpot!"

The film ends with a powerful message that feels even more relevant today. There are people that would argue otherwise and insist that the country has changed for the better, but the truth is that the masses are even easier to manipulate now.

Frank Lovejoy is Howard Tyler, a young and healthy man who feels like a complete loser because he can’t support his family. In a bowling alley Howard meets Jerry Slocum (Lloyd Bridges, Sahara, Ramrod), a brash hoodlum who offers him a job. It is a risky job that can cost him his freedom, but he takes it because his wife Judy (Kathleen Ryan) is pregnant and they need the money.

Soon after, Howard and Jerry rob a couple of small stores. Then they kidnap the son of a local businessman, but the boy seriously irritates Jerry and he kills him. In the hours after the murder a sense of guilt overwhelms Howard and pushes him on the verge of a serious nervous breakdown. He confesses everything to a lonely girl who assumes that he is also single and looking for someone to fall in love with.

After Howard and Jerry are arrested and thrown in the local jailhouse an overly ambitious newspaper reporter (Richard Carlson) decides to make the most of the murder case that has fallen into his lap. But the coverage enrages his readers and they decide that their tax dollars should not be wasted on a trial that could spare Howard and Jerry’s lives.

Cy Endfield directed this powerful noir film based on Jo Pagano’s novel The Condemned which chronicles a real murder case that took place in San Jose in 1933. The film has been distributed under two different titles: Try and Get Me! (which is a line Bridges’ character utters multiple times during a crucial sequence before the brutal finale) and The Sound of Fury.

The film is very unsettling. It argues that the American Dream can become a devastating obsession and then easily destroy a perfectly normal man. One wrong decision is all it takes to transform him into the type of ‘monster’ society simply refuses to tolerate. The film also argues that after he is branded a ‘monster’ it is just as easy to manipulate the masses so that they commit heinous acts in the name of justice.

Bridges is sensational as the cocky hoodlum. There is something genuinely disturbing about the way he imposes his will on the men and women around him. Some sense that he is dangerous but seem too weak to walk away from him. Like a real predator he exudes power and authority that instantly intimidate them and then make them feel vulnerable.

The finale easily could have appeared in a documentary feature. It is raw and very intense and some of the mass segments look flat-out dangerous. It is difficult to tell exactly how Endfield managed the movement of people because it looks like there is complete chaos everywhere.

The dark and very energetic orchestral score was created by Oscar winning composer Hugo Friedhofer (The Best Years of Our Lives, An Affair to Remember).

*The murder case that Pagano’s novel chronicles also inspired Fritz Lang to direct Fury in 1936.

Try and Get Me! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Cy Endfield's Try and Get Me! arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

The film has come back into the public consciousness thanks to the Film Noir Foundation's recent restoration and reconstruction which were completed with assistance from Paramount Pictures. It looks simply magnificent in high-definition. Excluding a few small density fluctuations that appear before and after select transitions depth and clarity are consistently outstanding, while fluidity is probably as good as one can expect it to be for a film of this caliber. During the darker/nighttime footage shadow definition is also very well managed. There are no traces of problematic degraining corrections. Edge-enhancement isn't an issue of concern. The blacks and whites appear unmanipulated and there is a lovely range of nuanced grays; balance is excellent as well. Overall image stability is very good. A few extremely light artifacts nearly try to sneak in, but there are no serious encoding anomalies; even when projected on a very large screen the film looks quite magnificent. Finally, large debris, damage marks, cuts, and stains have been removed as best as possible. My score is 4.75/5.00. (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).

Try and Get Me! 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 yellow English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio has been remastered and as a result depth and clarity are very good. Hiss, crackle, buzz and other age-related imperfections have been carefully removed as well. Hugo Friedhofer's dramatic score easily breathes and balance is very well managed. Indeed, even during some of the most intense segments there are no sudden spikes or drops in dynamic activity. Also, there are no audio dropouts or distortions to report in our review.

Try and Get Me! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this release.

Try and Get Me! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This quite brutal film noir from blacklisted director Cy Endfield may well be one of the biggest additions to Olive Films' catalog. A lot of people probably have not heard of it, but there is a good reason why. It was not available on DVD, and only recently it was brought back into the public consciousness thanks to the Film Noir Foundation's restoration and reconstruction, which were completed with assistance from Paramount Pictures and Martin Scorsese. It is a minor masterpiece that will surely appear on a lot of prestigious top ten lists at the end of the year. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.