Penitentiary II Blu-ray - Leon Isaac Kennedy

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

(aka "Championship Fight" or "Black City Tiger")

directed by Jamaa Fanaka
USA 1982

Gordone "Too Sweet" Martel (Leon Isaac Kennedy) returns in PENITENTIARY II. Having made parole at the end of the first film after having defeated Jesse Amos (Donovan Womack) in the ring, Gordone is working part time as a delivery boy for his lawyer sister Ellen (Peggy Blow, RABBIT TEST); however, he is in danger of violating his parole which stipulated that he work for fight trainer Sam Cunningham (recast with Stan Kamber of Fanaka's infamous film SOUL VENGEANCE/WELCOME HOME, BROTHER CHARLES) even though Gordone hates boxing (since the conditions of the parole only state that he must "work" - as opposed to "fight" - for Cunningham for a year, he does janitorial work around the gym). When "Half Dead" (also recast with GHOSTBUSTERS' Ernie Hudson) gets out of the penitentiary and murders Gordone's girlfriend Clarisse (Eugenia Wright), Gordone injures him. Gordone steps back into the ring and starts training with recently released "Seldom Seen" (recast with Malik Carter, BLACK BELT JONES) - and Mr. T himself - and finds himself facing Jesse Amos in a televised penitentiary fight. Meanwhile, Half Dead's buddies "Do Dirty" (Cepheus Jaxon, who played another role in PENITENTIARY) and Simp (Marvin Jones) have busted him out of the hospital. While Half Dead goes after Gordone, Do Dirty and Simp target Gordone's sister, her husband (Glynn Turman, MEN OF HONOR), and Gary Coleman-esque nephew (Sephton Moody).

Eric Cotenas

Posters / Video covers

Theatrical Release: 2 April 1982 (USA)

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Comparison:

ArrowDrome - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Vinegar Syndrome - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the DVD Review!

Box Covers
Distribution	ArrowDrome Region 0 - NTSC	Vinegar Syndrome Region 'A' -Blu-ray
Runtime	1:43:32 (4% PAL Speedup)	1:48:46.353
Video	1.71:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.26 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.85:1 - 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 39,237,466,012 bytes Feature: 31,685,526,144 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.88 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Bitrate Blu-ray
Audio	English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1817 kbps 1.0 / 96 kHz / 1817 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 128 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 128 kbps / DN -4dB Isolated Score: Dolby Digital Audio English 128 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 128 kbps / DN -4dB
Subtitles	none	English, none
Features	Release Information: Studio: ArrowDrome Aspect Ratio: Widescreen letterboxed - 1.72:1 Edition Details: • Audio Commentary by director Jamaa Fanaka • Theatrical Trailer (4:3; 4:13) • Bonus Feature: PENITENTIARY II (see below) • Trailer for PENITENTIARY II (4:3; 2:29) • Liner Notes Booklet by Calum Waddell • Reversible Cover DVD Release Date: February 13th 2012 Amaray Chapters 12	Release Information: Studio: Vinegar Syndrome Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 - 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 39,237,466,012 bytes Feature: 31,685,526,144 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.88 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Archival commentary track with Jamaa Fanaka (writer / producer / director) • "In the Raw" - archival interview with Jamaa Fanaka (27:39) • "Too Sweet on the Outside" - interview with Leon Isaac Kennedy (16:14) • Isolated soundtrack • Original theatrical trailer (2:26) • Reversible cover artwork DVD Blu-ray Release Date: February 27th, 2018 Transparent Blu-ray Case inside cardboard slipcase Chapters: 6

Comments

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

ADDITION: Vinegar Syndrome - Region FREE - Blu-ray (February 2018): This is the sequel to Penitentiary - as we reviewed on Blu-ray HERE.

Vinegar Syndrome's new Blu-ray is advertised as 'newly scanned and restored in 2k from 35mm original camera negative'. The image quality towers above the older DVD looking far sharper, less damage and more information in the frame. Colors are deeper and richer and the 1080P is a huge bump in video quality.

Vinegar Syndrome transfer the audio in a faithful DTS-HD Master mono track (24-bit) and it sounds, reasonably clean with the production limitations in tact. The score is credited to Jack Wheaton and is also offered as an isolated score option. English SDH subtitles are also provided (see sample below) on the Region FREE Blu-ray disc.

There is an archival commentary track with writer / producer / director Jamaa Fanaka found on older DVD editions. "In the Raw" is a 1/2 hour archival interview with Fanaka reflecting on the Penitentiary films. "Too Sweet on the Outside" is 1 6-minute interview with Leon Isaac Kennedy discussing his life and the fame brought to him by the films. As mentioned, there is an isolated soundtrack, an original theatrical trailer and the package contains a reversible cover artwork and a second disc DVD.

Vinegar Syndrome continue to digitally restore these forgotten, but niche genre, films from the 70's and 80's. Fans love the Penitentiary trilogy and the Blu-ray transfers are exceptionally improved over the SDs. The extras also offer some valuable insight into the production values of the time. This has all the fun and drama of the first release with the addition of Mr. T. . Very cool... and recommended! I love having this on my shelf to access whenever.

- Colin Zavitz

***

ON THE DVD: As with the first feature, Arrow has utilized Xenon's non-anamorphic widescreen NTSC master (note that Arrow's disc is Region 0 NTSC, not PAL). The image is progressive, but seems to be a progressive encoding of a hard-telecined 29.97 transfer (as opposed to a 23.976 telecine pulldown flags) since the image lacks interlacing artifacts but does feature field doubling when objects and people are moving in the frame. This is acceptable for this release given the standards set by the aged master of the first feature. Although there are two audio tracks, they seem to be the same track and Arrow has not carried over the commentary for the sequel from Xenon's OOP disc.

- Eric Cotenas