Death Journey - Fred Williamson

Search DVDBeaver

S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

directed by Fred Williamson
USA 1976

After two witnesses scheduled to testify against suspected gang leader Rosewald (Patrick McCullough) meet with unfortunate "accidents," the New York District Attorney Virgil Riley (Art Maier) is able to postpone the trial 48 hours in order to transport Rosewald's accountant Finley (Bernard Kirby) from California. He enlists ex-cop Jessie Crowder (Fred Williamson) to protect Kirby on the cross-country trip fraught with hitmen wielding guns, knives, and martial arts skills (and easy women) to hinder their journey to New York in time for the trial. That's all there really is to it. DEATH JOURNEY is more conventional than MEAN JOHNNY BARROWS in that it gets the exposition out of the way (stopping for about 5 minutes to establish Crowder's martial arts skills - some of that running time in slow motion) and onto a series of repetitive (though mostly entertaining) fight scenes interspersed with Crowder bedding women he and Finley run into along the way. Williamson's charisma and Kirby's comic reactions to Crowder's inevitable bedding of each woman he meets are the most successful aspects of this film and he's got at least one more trick up his sleeve for the ending.

Eric Cotenas

Poster

Theatrical Release: May 1976 (USA)

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Code Red (Fred Williamson Signature Collection Vol) - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Code Red Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:18:21
Video	2.32:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.16 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono)
Subtitles	none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Code Red Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.32:1 Edition Details: • Audio Commentary by actor/director Fred Williamson • HAMMER TIME 2: Interview with Fred Williamson (4:3; 27:24) • Theatrical Trailer (4:3; 2:06) • Trailers for MEAN JOHNNY BARROWS (4:3; 1:43), NO WAY OUT (16:9; 2:39), BRUTE CORPS (16:9; 0:33), • FAMILY HONOR (4:3; 1:01), and CHOKE CANYON (16:9; 2:01) DVD Release Date: March 16, 2010 Amaray Chapters 11

Comments

Transferred from the original negative in high definition, DEATH JOURNEY is presented a single-layer, anamorphic, and progressive edition of the director's cut featuring scenes cut from the original release (for instance, the opening montage of witnesses being killed was deemed too violent and some nudity was also trimmed). The print source has some inherent grain but looks fine overall with much of the action taking place in sunny, well-exposed exteriors.

Director/star Williamson is on hand for an audio commentary (there's a bit more dead space than on the MEAN JOHNNY BARROWS commentary) and lengthy interview. Trailers for the film, MEAN JOHNNY BARROWS and another Jessie Crowder entry NO WAY OUT as well as other forthcoming Code Red titles round out the extras). There is no scene selection menu but the film has been encoded with 11 chapters.

- Eric Cotenas

DVD Menus