Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Zachariah Blu-ray Movie Review

Brokeback!

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 24, 2019

Hermann Hesse died in 1962 after a successful and long life as a spiritually attuned novelist, though at the time of his death he really wasn’t that much of a cultural touchstone. The nascent “youth movement” that built to the Summer of Love and beyond as the sixties wended their precarious course changed all of that, and Hesse’s works became a kind of “new age” Bible for many teens. Hesse’s influence spread to several media, including Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater (named after a Hesse character), Santana’s Abraxas album (which owes its title and an epigraph on its cover to Hesse’s Demian), and the 1972 film Siddhartha. Though some may not have realized it at the time of its original release, a somewhat earlier film, 1971’s Zachariah, was also based on Hesse’s Siddhartha, though the links to the supposed “source” novel are probably tenuous at best. Zachariah often plays like a fever dream of sorts, but part of its weirdness may be due to major excisions and/or revisions that were made after director George Englund* delivered his original cut of the film to its investors, who (according to a really engaging interview with star John Rubinstein included on this Blu-ray as a supplement) more or less freaked out (to use the parlance of the day) and demanded changes be made. The film billed itself at the time as “the first electric western”, and supposedly takes place back in the 19th century (one presumes), albeit a “Wild West” populated with rock groups playing “amplified” instruments in the deserts of Baja, California.

If the completed project may not exactly hit the bullseye, Zachariah has a fascinating pedigree and pre-production history that may well make it unmissable for some, despite its perceived flaws. The film was ostensibly co-written by members of the venerable Firesign Theater, though the final project was so far removed from their original vision that they disavowed their participation. As is gotten into in the supplements, a connection to the Beatles helped spark this project and at one point Bob Dylan and Brigitte Bardot were slated to co-star. It’s arguable that had Dylan also contributed to the song score, it may have had more lasting impact.

Either by design or due to the changes that were made in post-production, the film bears only passing similarities to Hesse’s original yarn of a well born youth who has to experience the trials and tribulations of “real life” before realizing what his spiritual truth is (in this regard, Hesse’s novel is actually much closer to the underlying story of the musical that made John Rubinstein a Broadway star, Pippin). Here, the stand-in for Siddhartha is Zachariah (John Rubinstein), whose background is elided at best and frankly more or less ignored at worst, meaning his “quest” doesn’t seem to have sprung from any meaningful need. His best friend is Matthew (Don Johnson), and the two join up with a gang of outlaws, in an attempt to up their “street cred”. The plot is vignette driven, and often drifts into weird little musical sequences courtesy of bands like The James Gang and Country Joe and the Fish.

Zachariah ultimately makes it to a village of sorts where he becomes intimately involved with Belle Starr (Pat Quinn), a romance that does little to deflect from what are pretty obvious homoerotic allusions running rampant through the film (as is addressed in the commentary track). That aspect is kind of shockingly overtly referred to early in the film when a bad guy calls Zachariah the old-fashioned three lettered epithet for being gay, at which point Zachariah shoots him cold blooded, in what is ironically kind of the way Zachariah realizes he has sharpshooting capabilities. (My Brokeback! deck above is a joking allusion to a musical built around a romance between cowboys.)

As the commentary track also addresses, this film was plagued by a less than fulsome budget, leading to what the commentators describe at one point as “desperate” measures in terms of production design. For example, the whole Belle Starr sequence plays out on what look like cardboard flats just set up in the desert, with no “insides” apparent.

As outright gonzo as elements of Zachariah undeniably are, the film actually never really totally becomes the “head trip” it seems was hoped for. It’s intermittently engaging, and Rubinstein and Johnson are never less than enjoyable (if not entirely believable), but some may feel the film never really rocks out in any serious way, and that with co-writers as talented as The Firesign Theater, things should have been much funnier.

*Baby Boomers unfamiliar with Englund may be interested to know he was both the son of Mabel Anderson, who portrayed Darrin Stephens' migraine prone mother on Bewitched, as well as the longtime husband to Cloris Leachman.

Zachariah Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Zachariah is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. While there are some variances at play (which I'll get to in a moment), this is really a very nice looking transfer of what has become a cult item for home media collectors. Quite a bit of this presentation pops quite nicely, with a well saturated palette and some appealing levels of fine detail. Colors are arguably just a trifle on the pinkish side at times, but a lot of the very colorful production design looks great. The film utilizes a bunch of "old school" opticals like wipes and superimpositions (like spinning newspapers rotating out of a background image, as seen in screenshot 18), along with several optical dissolves, and image quality is understandably degraded, with a noticeably chunkier grain field, in those moments. But there are some brief other moments divorced from any opticals where grain suddenly looks a good deal grittier and detail levels drop, if slightly. There is also some minor but noticeable damage present in the form of tiny specks and scratches. I actually wavered a bit as to whether to score this as a 3.5 or a 4.0, but I opted for the slightly lower score to temper expectations.

Zachariah Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Zachariah features a nice, full bodied DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track that capably supports the film's many musical elements, while also providing good rendering of effects like galloping horses or gunfire, and the film's sometimes goofy dialogue. Fidelity is fine throughout the presentation, and there are no signs of distortion or other problems.

Zachariah Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson is nicely conversational but very informative, though it sounds like Thompson is literally phoning it in (the fidelity between his voice and Berger's is pretty noticeable). Berger admits to never having seen the film "unmedicated" (as he puts it), evidently including this time.


• Interview with Star John Rubinstein (1080p; 22:15) is actually titled The Journey of Zachariah and is hugely enjoyable. One of the best things about it is there's no moderator -- this is simply John reminiscing for close to half and hour.


• Zachariah Trailer (1080p; 2:58)

Additionally, trailers for other Kino Lorber releases are also included.

Zachariah Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The very first Broadway show I saw on Broadway was the incredible original Bob Fosse staging of Pippin, where I got to see legends like John Rubinstein, Jill Clayburgh and Ben Vereen strut their stuff on stage. It was literally a mind blowing experience for a young kid, and one which I'll never forget. (A friend of mine was one of the many producers for the revival, which I took my own sons to see a few years ago.) The highly enjoyable featurette with Mr. Rubinstein included on this Blu-ray has the star talking about the "quest" aspect of its title character's "arc" in the film, and if one were to simply replace one title character's name with another, the description could very well pertain to the Stephen Schwartz musical as well. That said, Zachariah's score probably isn't in the same league as the now legendary Broadway musical, but that's only one of several reasons the film doesn't totally hang together. It's weird as hell, and has moments of bizarre imagination, but it's probably best appreciated as a true curio from its era. Kino Lorber has provided a release with solid technical merits and enjoyable supplements for those considering a purchase.