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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (April 2024): Kino have transferred Abner Biberman's The Looters to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Brand New HD Master – From a 2K Scan of the 35mm Fine Grain". It looks quite modest for the first 15-minutes showing inordinate softness but seems to improve as the film progresses. The softness may be a function of the production although a few close-ups later in the film have decent detail. Contrast can be muddy and grain textures are a bit clunky. 

NOTE: We have added 66 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. Surprisingly with its plot The Looters has few aggressive moments (a distant plane crash, lone rifle shot) until the finale with some dangerous military explosions. There is very little depth exported. The, uncredited, score was by Heinz Roemheld (The Roaring Twenties, The Scarlet Letter, O.S.S., Four Frightened People, Ruby Gentry, I, Jane Doe, Dangerous, The Monster that Challenged The World, The Land Unknown, The Mole People, 1933's The Invisible Man) and Eric Zeisl (At Gunpoint, The Purple Mask) sounding clean with consistent dialogue in the lossless transfer. Kino offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A'-locked Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by film historian Toby Roan (author of A Million Feet Of Film: The Making Of One-Eyed Jacks.) He is a compendium of knowledge sharing details on the checkered early life of Rory Calhoun - in his youth robbing several jewelry stores, stole a car (driving it across state lines) and being sentenced to three years in prison. He remained there until he was paroled shortly before his 21st birthday. Toby discusses Calhoun's chance meeting with Alan Ladd - riding horseback in the Hollywood Hills - and his career including extensive television roles and later films like Motel Hell (1980) and Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988.) Quite fascinating. Also recounted are the careers of Julie Adams (Creature From the Black Lagoon,) and character actors Frank Faylen (over 200 TV and film credits,) Thomas Gomez (Key West) and other cast and crew involved in The Looters. Another informative commentary from Toby. There are also a handful of trailers but none for The Looters.

Actor-turned-director Abner Biberman's The Looters has an intriguing premise with survivors of a mountain plane crash and the robbery of a quarter million in stolen cash. The story was written by Paul Schneider - who had mostly TV credits including two well-remembered episodes of the original, 1966, Star Trek series: "Balance of Terror" (the introduction of Romulans) and "The Squire of Gothos" with Venita Wolf. The Looters does seem to have awkward dialogue and characterizations. I couldn't help but sense some homo-eroticism between the characters Jesse (Rory Calhoun) and Pete (Ray Danton) in the beginning of the film. This evaporates once plane crash survivor Sheryl Gregory (Julie Adams) enters - btw, at the age of 19, Adams she was crowned "Miss Little Rock". So, The Looters was a good story - not so well realized on film although I appreciated the greed motivation theme - and superficialities exposed; men liking Sheryl for her looks and the money being an assumption of relationship enticement. There certainly are positives including that this is the film's first appearance on home video. The Kino Blu-ray includes the valuable Roan commentary - fans of the cast and 50's adventures (stranded in the Rocky Mountains milieu) may enjoy.

Gary Tooze