NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Arrow Blu-ray (July 2024): Arrow have transferred Howard Hawks' Red Line 7000 to Blu-ray. It is on a dual-layered disc with a high bitrate. There was a 2017 out-of-print Kino Blu-ray of Red Line 7000 HERE, but we do not own to compare. The Arrow 1080P looks quite pleasing, bright colors and decent contrast. It has a consistent film-like thickness and the overall image is very clean. The HD presentation image quality is not particularly dynamic but, I expect, is as good as the film can look on this medium. The racing stock footage is glaringly apparent.

NOTE: We have added 52 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Arrow use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. Red Line 7000 has plenty of racing sequences with loud car engines, crowd noise, crashes, fire and some performance and dance music by Nelson Riddle (adapting or composing for a variety of films such as El Dorado, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Pal Joey, The Great Gatsby, The Naked City TV Series, Batman the Movie etc.) with a couple of numbers; Wildcat Jones and Let Me Find Someone New sung by Carol Connors. It all sounds as consistent and clean as you might anticipate. Arrow offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A'-locked Blu-ray. Other regions will see this:

The Arrow Blu-ray include the older commentary by Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman. Julie's father, George Kirgo, wrote the screenplay for Red Line 7000 (add Voices, Spinout etc. to his extensive credits) so she has a lot to say and it's filled with anecdotes and production minutia. Julie and, the late, Nick always provided great commentaries together. Arrow augment the supplements with plenty more; Bruce Kessler: Man in Motion, is a new 3/4 hour interview with assistant director Bruce Kessler who shares stories of the production. He has extensive directorial credits - a lot in TV including episodes of Quincy, M.E., The Rockford Files, Kolchak: The Night Stalker etc. Gas, Gears, Girls, Guys & Death, is a new 37-minute visual essay on the film by filmmaker and critic Howard S. Berger who probes deeply into the work of Howard Hawks, beyond the famous westerns, making his usual keen observations. A Modern Type of Woman is a new 20-minute visual essay on the “Hawksian Woman” in Red Line 7000 by film scholar Kat Ellinger talking about the female performers and their roles in the film. Lastly is an image gallery of posters, lobby cards, and stills. The package has a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Hadley, a double-sided foldout poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Hadley and an illustrated collector’s booklet containing new writing by film critic Martyn Conterio author of Black Sunday (Devil's Advocates.) 

With all due respect to the director, I did not enjoy Howard Hawks' Red Line 7000 at all. Quentin Tarantino said it "plays like an Elvis Presley movie"... but there is no Elvis to carry our attention. The performances are uninspired with the only strong positive being young James Caan who, years later, called the film "a joke". Even Hawks is quoted as saying "...as a piece of entertainment I don't think I did a good job." Agreed. I couldn't really care about the character's racing ambitions or superficial romances. It all seemed so contrived. Fans may wish to check out this Hawks clunker seeing as it has an updated Peyton Place vibe with 60's nostalgia. But it's not a film I would watch again. The Arrow Blu-ray is at their usual stellar standard; commentary, new supplements and package accoutrements. You can't like everything, I guess. Ohhh... spot George "Sulu" Takei as a mechanic and Teri Garr as a nightclub dancer.

Gary Tooze