Review by Gary Tooze

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Audio:

• Trailers (The Laughing Policeman - 3:35, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three - 2:32, Report to the Commissioner - 2:21, Busting - 2:45, Fuzz - 2:59)

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As police clinically and methodically follow up a multiple killing on a San Francisco bus, this adaptation of the Sjöwall/Wahlöö novel looks as if it's setting the record straight on recent cop films. But in its desire to make no concessions to Dirty Harry and its ilk, it destroys any potential interest with almost wilful perversity. Matthau's disgruntled cop, alienated from family and superiors, emerges as a tedious protagonist, relating to nothing, continually bored and boring. The plot hops around in an unengaging manner, while the excursions into the underworld (pimps, dopers, transvestites, Angels, etc) are patchily directed. Ironically, by the end, complete with car chase and split-second shooting, the film has become indistinguishable from all those movies it's trying so hard to disown.

Excerpt from TimeOut 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 The Laughing Policeman looks fairly heavy and flat - which may be in line with the original production. The 1080P image is textured, colors may look a bit faded and it can appear soft by modern standards. The 1.85:1 presentation is consistent. The source is pretty clean, and I noticed no noise. This Blu-ray gave me a watchable, and presumably authentic - if less remarkable, viewing in regards to the picture quality.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kino Lorber use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track at 1558 kbps (16-bit) in the original English language. There are effects in the film - guns, bus crash, cars etc.. They sound reasonably deep and realistic at times. The score is by Charles Fox (Barbarella, The Green Slime, Dying Room Only) adds flavor to this thriller. There are no subtitles offered and my Oppo has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.

Extras :

I think it's great that Kino are providing so many commentaries with their Blu-ray releases. The Laughing Policeman has an interesting one by Lee Pfeiffer, editor-chief of Cinema Retro Magazine with film historians Eddy Friedfeld and Paul Scrabo - they discuss the fine performances by Matthau and Dern and the film's forgotten status, underrated director - as well as the many support players. There is also an 8-minute interview with actor Paul Koslo - who played the incarcerated drug pusher in the film. There is an animated montage of images as well as trailers for The Laughing Policeman, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Report to the Commissioner, Busting and Fuzz.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
I had never seen The Laughing Policeman and was pleased with all the support players - Louis Gossett Jr., Anthony Zerbe, Cathy Lee Crosby, Joanna Cassidy, Gregory Sierra etc.. I thought this was an above-average effort for this genre. Solid leads with a decent script and plenty of gritty action. The Kino Lorber Blu-ray adds value with the commentary and I was appreciative just to have seen the film - it did appear to be lost in the shuffle with similar rough-edged police-drama efforts from the 70s. I think it's worth a spin or two!  NOTE: At the writing of this review it is 45% OFF at Amazon.

Gary Tooze

October 10th, 2016