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A view on Blu-ray by Gary W. Tooze

Bad Man's River [Blu-ray]

 

(Eugenio Martín, 1971)

 

 

Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: International Apollo Films

Video: Kino Lorber

 

Disc:

Region: 'A' (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 1:31:48.169

Disc Size: 19,252,736,978 bytes

Feature Size: 18,512,885,760 bytes

Video Bitrate: 23.71 Mbps

Chapters: 8

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: October 6th, 2015

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 2.47:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 1718 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1718 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)

 

Subtitles:

None

 

Extras:

Barquero Trailer (1:37) / Sabata Trailer (2:36)

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: Newly Remastered in HD! The con is on! During the volatile Mexican Revolution, Roy King (Lee Van Cleef, Sabata, Barquero) and team of bandits gets drawn into a scheme with two other criminals, Francisco Paco Montero (James Mason, The Destructors) and the lovely Alicia (Gina Lollobrigida, Woman of Straw) to swindle the Mexican government out of one million dollars. But when they re captured by a gang of revolutionaries, they must finesse their way past the revolutionaries, the Mexican Army and even Billy the Kid. Directed by Eugenio Martin (Horror Express), who also co-wrote the screenplay with legendary screenwriter Philip Yordan (The Bravados, El Cid) the stellar cast includes Aldo Sambrell (Navajo Joe), Sergio Fantoni (Hornets' Nest), Jess Hahn (Topkapi) and Gianni Garko, legendary star of various Sartana and Django spaghetti westerns.

 

 

The Film:

Roy King (Lee Van Cleef) is a wanted bank robber out west, who after his last job in El Paso meets on a train the attractive widow Alicia (Gina Lollobrigida) and marries her when he learns she's traveling with a priest, only to find she ties him up and escapes with the bank loot as he's taken off the train to a loony bin on her request. Later, after he breaks out of the loony bin, she gets him and his gang a job through her next husband, the Mexican diplomat double-agent revolutionary, Francisco Montero (James Mason), to blow up the arsenal of the Mexican army at their headquarters. When the mission is accomplished, there's no payoff of the $10,000 promised but a promise of a million dollars if King and his gang pull off the next job. Alicia explains that now the Mexican government will spend a million dollars to buy new guns through Montero, and King will steal the money from Montero.

Excerpt from Ozu's World located HERE

 

A Mexican revolutionary offers four marauding outlaws a million bucks to destroy an arsenal owned by the Mexican army. The arsenal gets blasted, but the million bucks doesn't get delivered in this "outsmart the outsmarters" and "double-cross the double-crossers" western saga.

Excerpt from Barnes & Noble located HERE

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

The single-layered Kino Lorber Blu-ray of Bad Man's River has some damage marks in the beginning but settles down fairly soon after the credits to look quite reasonable. There may be a shade of thinness and frailty but colors are fairly rich and there are instances of depth. I appreciated the consistently of the textures. It's really widescreen at 2.47:1 and the scope is appealing. The many outdoor sequences do modestly raise-the-bar for the overall image. This Blu-ray gave me a watchable, and decent, viewing in regards to the picture quality.

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

Kino Lorber use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track at 1718 kbps in the original English language but DUB syncs are apparent. There are effects in the film - mostly guns, explosions, and horses. and they come through flat with only a modicum of depth. The god-awful score is by Waldo de los Ríos and, IMO, contributes greatly to the poor-ness of the film experience. It never seems to suit and it doesn't sound very crisp either. There are no subtitles offered and my Oppo has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.

 

Extras :

Only a, two trailers; Sabata and Barquero.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
Bad Man's River isn't a particularly impressive western.  I always like seeing Van Cleef and Gina Lollobrigida but Mason isn't in it much. I hate to complain about the score but it adds a 'jokey' atmosphere that isn't really there. A very poor choice, IMO. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray
is far from stellar and this isn't one of their packages I could endorse - only to the most hard-core Van Cleef fans. If you are keen though, the time to buy is now at 50% OFF at Amazon. 

Gary Tooze

September 28th, 2015

 

About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500 DVDs and have reviewed over 5000 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.

Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction.

Gary's Home Theatre:

60-Inch Class (59.58” Diagonal) 1080p Pioneer KURO Plasma Flat Panel HDTV PDP6020-FD

Oppo Digital BDP-83 Universal Region FREE Blu-ray/SACD Player
Momitsu - BDP-899 Region FREE Blu-ray player
Marantz SA8001 Super Audio CD Player
Marantz SR7002 THX Select2 Surround Receiver
Tannoy DC6-T (fronts) + Energy (centre, rear, subwoofer) speakers (5.1)

APC AV 1.5 kVA H Type Power Conditioner 120V

Gary W. Tooze

 

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