7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A desperate African-American man betrays his friend, a black militant leader, for some money to help feed his girlfriend's children, and then becomes the object of a manhunt by the militant group.
Starring: Ruby Dee (I), Roscoe Lee Browne, Raymond St. Jacques, Jason Bernard, Frank SilveraHeist | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Jules Dassin certainly has one of the most fascinating filmographies in the annals of cinema. After having made his mark as an actor with a Yiddish troupe in New York City, Dassin matriculated to Hollywood where he found work as an assistant to Alfred Hitchcock, among others. He then rather quickly started making shorts and B-movies, including everything from an adaptation of an Edgar Allen Poe story (The Tell-Tale Heart) to an interesting comedy called The Affairs of Martha which plays like a kind of white bread precursor to The Help, when an unidentified maid to some tony Caucasians on Long Island find out she’s writing a tell all book, leading everyone with a maid to panic. Dassin quickly became an A-lister, working with everyone from Joan Crawford (Reunion in France) to Charles Laughton (The Canterville Ghost), becoming one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s most dependable and versatile helmsmen. Dassin was at the height of his powers in 1948 when his Naked City was released, a film that helped solidify several elements in the noir genre, but his follow up, Thieves’ Highway, was pounded out fairly quickly for Fox under the threat of imminent blacklisting, something that did in fact happen, bringing Dassin’s American film career to a sudden screeching halt (Bette Davis did manage to get him a little work directing her failed Broadway revue Two’s Company). One of his best known films, 1950’s Night and the City (also a Fox release), was made in London, and his hugely influential 1955 opus Rififi, was a French production. Dassin continued to work, sporadically at least, in Europe and he managed to have two significant hits starring his future wife Melina Mercouri, including her Oscar winning turn in Never on Sunday, and, five years later, the Rififi-esque Topkapi, which won co-star Peter Ustinov his second Oscar. But Dassin hadn’t made an American film for decades when he took on the rather unusual property of Uptight (AKA Up Tight!), a 1968 film made at the height of racial unrest in the United States and which must have seemed frighteningly militant to audiences of the day. One of the most interesting things about Uptight is the fact that it’s a kind of unexpected reworking of the hoary but still viscerally impactful The Informer, a novel by Liam O’Flaherty which became an extremely well regarded 1935 John Ford film which won Academy Awards for Ford, star Victor McLaglen, scenarist Dudley Nichols, and composer Max Steiner. The rather startling idea of transporting a story about the Irish revolution to the ghettos of Cleveland is arresting, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the transition is smooth or even particularly effective.
Uptight is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is generally speaking a very sharp and well detailed looking high definition presentation, with very robust color and extremely strong contrast, something which helps this often dimly lit film to pop rather well, all things considered. There is a rather large amount of grain on display throughout this proceeding, and that verges toward the digital noise side of things in several very dark scenes. There are some niggling issues to mention. In the robbery scene, there are some brief density and flicker problems in a couple of shots, something that also crops up in a later sequence that also takes place in very dark surroundings. There are also some very minor damage issues that crop up from time to time. This was the next to the last film lensed by the legendary Boris Kaufman (On the Waterfront), who brings a gritty, urban look to the film that is very well represented in this high definition presentation.
Uptight has a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track that nicely reproduces the soul and blues drenched score by Booker T. and the MG's. Dialogue is also very cleanly and clearly presented. This is obviously a very narrow track, but it sounds very good and has no damage to report. Fidelity is excellent and all frequency ranges are reproduced with appealing fullness.
No extras are included on this Blu-ray disc.
Uptight serves as a fascinating historical document for an era where race relations were precipitously poised to devolve into outright anarchy (as they actually did in many infamous riots). This was probably the most tumultuous moment for race relations in the United States until the horrible aftermath of the Rodney King verdict, and Uptight captures it all with riveting, if sometimes theatrical, detail. The film has a glut of fantastic supporting performances by some incredibly gifted black actors, something that perhaps points out Mayfield's lack of real nuance in the leading role. But overall this is a one of a kind film experience that would make for a fascinating double feature with Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool. This Blu-ray offers very good video and excellent audio and comes Recommended.
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