Mickey One - Warren Beatty

Search DVDBeaver

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

directed by Arthur Penn
USA 1965

Considered ahead of its time — and perhaps it still is — this unusual drama, inspired by the French New Wave, brought Warren Beatty and producer-director Arthur Penn together for the first time — two years before their landmark Bonnie and Clyde. Beatty stars as a Detroit night club comic who incurs the wrath of The Mob (he doesn’t know why) and flees to Chicago to start life anew — but still living in fear. But the plot is secondary to the look and sound of this film (a favorite of Martin Scorsese), which boasts a score by Eddie Sauter and stunning photography by Academy Award®-winner Ghislain Cloquet (1980, Best Cinematography, Tess). Alexandra Stewart, Hurd Hatfield, Franchot Tone and Jeff Corey co-star in this one-of-a-kind motion picture. Incidentally, much of it was shot in what is now Oprah Winfrey’s studio. Newly remastered.

Posters

Theatrical Release: 27 September 1965 (USA)

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Sony Pictures (Screen Classics by Request) - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Sony Pictures Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:32:30
Video	1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 4.32 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	Dolby Digital 2.0 (English)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Sony Pictures Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.85:1 Edition Details: • Trailer (3:01) DVD Release Date: September 21st, 2010 Keep Case Chapters 10

Comments

Influenced by the French New Wave and film noirs, Arthur Penn, already being nominated for an Oscar for The Miracle Worker, constructs Mickey One as a tale of a man on the run, making this his first teaming with Warren Beatty, two years before Bonnie and Clyde. Unfortunately, the film was not released on DVD until now, joining 99 other titles in a new program from Sony Pictures called Screen Classics by Request. Taking a note from Warner Archive Collection, these releases are pressed on DVD-R discs and available exclusively through Sony Pictures web site or at several on-line retailers (no Amazon listings yet).

NOTE: "Mickey One" was shot by Ghislain Cloquet, who did "Au hasard Balthazar" the following year. He shot several Bresson films, and many other notable works. (Thanks Doug!)

The single-layered progressive anamorphic transfer is excellent, with no visible damage on the print and no pixelization or other strong defects. The film is slightly letterboxed on the top and the bottom to keep aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The English mono soundtrack is fine, but like Warner Archive discs, there are no subtitles available. The only extra is a 3-minute trailer for the film. The menu design is basic and the film is divided to 10 chapters, each one every ten minutes. With the recent passing of Arthur Penn, this release marked the last theatrical film he directed to be released on DVD. The excellent transfer provided by Sony Pictures marks this disc as recommended, if the price is right.

- Gregory Meshman