Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Wanted: Dead or Alive Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 2, 2019

Gary Sherman's "Wanted: Dead or Alive" (1986) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers for the film; exclusive new video interview with the director; exclusive new video interview with actress Mel Harris; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The bounty hunter

Gary Sherman hit the jackpot when he could not get Mel Gibson to be the star of his film and studio execs okayed Rutger Hauer. (Apparently, James Caan was another actor that was on his radar and he considered a safer choice but could not do a deal with). Regardless of the changes that Sherman would have made, without the cool Dutchman his film instantly would have lost more than half of its testosterone, which is the key quality that makes it rather special.

Veteran bounty hunter Nick Randall (Hauer) is contacted by a former colleague (Robert Guillaume) who is still working for the government and offered quarter of a million to track down a vicious middle-eastern terrorist named Malak Al Rahim (rock legend Gene Simmons) who has started blowing up things in the Los Angeles area. If Randall turns him in alive the deal gets even better -- he will pocket an additional fifty thousand. The old pro agrees to do the job because with this much money he will finally be able to pay off and fix his dream boat and then start living the good life with his new girlfriend (Mel Harris).

Soon after Randall goes to work, however, he loses his best friend, Detective Danny Quintz (William Russ), who has been secretly trying to assist him, and clueless girlfriend, and then realizes that the government has been using him as bait to bring Malak out of the shadows and destroy his organization. Randall also discovers that Malak is a former foe with whom he had clashed in Beirut many years ago, and now, after he has also identified him, he wants him dead. While ‘interrogating’ a businessman who has recently worked with the terrorist Randall then gets a helpful tip that sends him on the right track, but is forced to rush because at the same time he is also alerted by his government contact that a large chemical plant on the outskirts of the city has become a target.

Sherman recorded an exclusive new interview for this release in which he offers a wealth of valuable information about the conception of Wanted: Dead or Alive. One very interesting bit from it is his confirmation that the only part of the original script for the film that survived before production was initialed was its title; the rest was junked and Sherman and his partners basically delivered an entirely new script that they thought worked perfectly for their Dutch star. Also, when Hauer’s character was worked on they wanted to emphasize an obvious relationship with the one that Steve McQueen played in the classic TV series from the late 1950s. (It is a symbolic relationship at best, but it is still a nice touch).

The film is loaded with a huge dose of machismo which gives it its personality and produces all of the exciting material. Indeed, while decent, the story really functions as a ‘playground’ where Hauer and Simmons find the excuses they need to unleash their characters in a way that similarly-themed contemporary action thrillers rarely tolerate anymore. So, instead of proper character development there is a lot of gritty and occasionally even flat-out nasty action, and Hauer in particular goes all in on the fun.

Sherman apparently reached out to John Alcott (Barry Lyndon) and he had told him that he would love to lense his film, but a personal request changed his mind and he booked the young Russian cinematographer Alex Nepomniaschy whose style had impressed him a lot. Sherman lucked out again because Nepomniaschy delivered exactly the type of cold industrial qualities he was looking for to give the film a memorable neo-noirish appearance.

*Sherman’s equally loose and attractive thriller Vice Squad was recently restored in 4K and released on Blu-ray by Scream Factory. Click here to see our listing and review of this release.

Wanted: Dead or Alive Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Wanted: Dead or Alive arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a very solid new 2K remaster of the film. Indeed, the only area where there is a little bit of room for improvement is density, but I ended up upscaling it to 4K and on my projection screen the film looked glorious. The color grading job in particular makes the film look a lot -- and I mean a lot -- more atmospheric than I remembered it being, so I had a great time revisiting it. There are no traces of problematic digital adjustments. Image stability is terrific. Also, there are no large distracting debris, cuts, stains, warped or torn frames to report. 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).

Wanted: Dead or Alive Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit). Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The lossless audio track is great. Clarity, depth, and overall balance are as good as they can possibly be. In fact, some of the action footage sounds as good as what you would hear on modern productions, so if you can, crank up the volume on your system and immerse yourself in the fun. There are no audio dropouts, pops, cracks, background hiss, distortions, or hum to report.

Wanted: Dead or Alive Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Nuclear Winter: Interview with Gary Sherman - in this new video interview, Gary Sherman explains in great detail how Wanted: Dead or Alive was conceived, and discusses the many changes and big and small adjustments that were made during the production process, the visual style of the film, the finale and the emergence of the notorious "Fuck the Bonus" line, the casting of Gene Simmons (hilarious segment), Rutger Hauer's personality and his presence before and behind the camera, etc. There are some really interesting comments about Vice Squad as well. The interview was conducted exclusively for Kino Lorber. In English, not subtitled. (38 min, 1080p).

• Life Before Thirtysomething: Interview with Co-Star Mel Harris - in this new video interview, actress Mel Harris recalls how she entered the film business and discusses her involvement with Wanted: Dead or Alive and interactions with Rutger Hauer during the shooting of the film. The interview was conducted exclusively for Kino Lorber. In English, not subtitled. (7 min, 1080p).

• Audio Commentary - Gary Sherman and executive producer Arthur M. Sarkissian discuss at length the structure of the narrative and visual style of Wanted: Dead of Alive as well as the particular era in which the film was conceived. The commentary was recorded exclusively for Kino Lorber.

• Trailers - two original trailers for Wanted: Dead or Alive.
  
  1. Trailer One - fully remastered trailer. (2 min, 1080p).
  2. Trailer Two - vintage trailer (2 min, 480/60i).

• Additional Trailers - additional trailers for the following releases from Kino Lorber's catalog:
  
  1. Black Moon Rising
  2. ffolkes
  3. Steele Justice
  4. Flesh+Blood
  5. Spetters
  6. Lisa

Wanted: Dead or Alive Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Macho action thrillers from the '80s do not get any bolder and better than Wanted: Dead or Alive. Indeed, Rutger Hauer is completely in his element when he plays the jaded bounty hunter Nick Randall and the tone and visual appearance of the film are pitch-perfect. Skeptical? Gary Sherman's confession that he would not touch this type of material with a ten-foot pole in the current socio-cultural environment should tell you everything you need to know about the sad evolution of genre films -- the cool risk-takers are gone, perhaps forever. Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release of Wanted: Dead or Alive is sourced from a very solid new 2K remaster. Don't miss it. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.