Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Disc:

Video:

Audio:

• Audio commentary by film historians Lem Dobbs and Nick Redman
• Sucker Punch Blues: Looking Back on John Huston’s 'Fat City' (2017, 55 mins): new documentary featuring interviews with actors Stacy Keach and Candy Clark, casting director Fred Roos and assistant cameraman Gary Vidor (37:02)
• An American Classic (2015, 21:47): a newly illustrated audio interview with Fat City author Leonard Gardner
• John Huston on Fat City (1972, 5:58): an archival interview filmed for the French TV programme Pour le cinéma.
• The John Player Lecture with John Huston (1972, 88 mins): audio recording of an interview conducted by Brian Baxter at the National Film Theatre, London
• Isolated score
• Original theatrical trailer (2:32)
• Image gallery
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive 28-page booklet with a new essay by Danny Leigh, a contemporary review, and John Huston's reminiscences about the film

DVD included
• Limited Dual Format Edition of 5,000 copies

Bitrate:

 

 

 

The Film:

Few studio-era directors' careers survived the freewheeling 1970s, a time when successful filmmakers were more likely to be recent college graduates than weathered craftsmen. But John Huston made some exceptionally challenging films during the me-decade, and would continue to do so until the end of his life. Fat City (1972), which stars Stacy Keach and Jeff Bridges as a couple of down-and-out boxers, is one of the more uncompromising movies of the period. It isn't mentioned in the same breath as such Huston classics as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) or The African Queen (1951), but this gritty little movie is definitely not the work of an obsolete director.

Excerpt from TimeOut located HERE

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

Fat City is extremely thick on Blu-ray from Indicator group in the UK, It is cited as a "4K restoration". Huston and cinematographer Conrad L. Hall were matching the film's down-trodden milieu with a very gritty, rough appearance. It avoids any gloss or crispness, that would not suit the film, and this flat, dampened, stylistic appearance is consistent. This is dual-layered with a max'ed out bitrate and the hazy look is supported by the previous Twilight Time 1080P that was also 4K restored, looking similar. I would guess the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, 'loose', image is an accurate look for Fat City. This Blu-ray offers an authentic 1080P presentation. This is all that we can ask.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The audio is transferred via a linear PCM 1.0 channel track or, an unnecessary, 5.1 surround bump in DTS-HD Master (both 24-bit). Boxing effects have minor depth. The film's music has Kris Kristofferson's Help Me Make It Through the Night, Burt Bacharach and Hal David's The Look of Love as performed by Dusty Springfield and If performed by Bread. These songs sound excellent in the lossless.  There are optional English (SDH) subtitles and my Oppo has identified it as being a region FREE.

Extras :

Indicator add the same audio commentary by film historians Lem Dobbs and Nick Redman. It is very informative. Sucker Punch Blues is a new video by our friends at Fiction Factory and runs just shy of an hour. It features interviews with actors Keach and Candy Clark, casting director Fred Roos and assistant cameraman Gary Vidor, chronicling the making of this modern classic. An American Classic is a newly illustrated 22-minute audio interview with Fat City author Leonard Gardner. John Huston on Fat City is 6-minutes archival interview filmed for the French TV programme Pour le cinéma from 1972. 'The John Player Lecture with John Huston' is an audio recording of an interview conducted by Brian Baxter at the National Film Theatre, London in 1972. There is also an isolated score, original theatrical trailer, and image gallery. The package has a limited edition exclusive 28-page booklet with a new essay by Danny Leigh, a contemporary review, and John Huston's reminiscences about the film and comes with a second disc DVD. This Dual Format Edition is limited to 5,000 copies.

Indicator have announced that:

"We regret to report that there is a problem with the presentation of the documentary 'Sucker Punch Blues' on the Blu-ray Disc of FAT CITY which occurred during the encoding of the disc. As a result, this 55-minute documentary ends abruptly at approximately 37 minutes, leaving the end section missing. We are working hard to fix the problem, and will be making further announcements soon, but for those of you who wish to watch the documentary right away, we thought it might be useful to highlight that the entirety of 'Sucker Punch Blues' is presented on the DVD which is also included in this Limited Dual Format Edition"

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
Fat City is a masterpiece. Huston is a master filmmaker and he made this the most compelling story backed by the fine performances of Keach and Bridges. I loved seeing it again and it furthered my appreciation to enjoy the plentiful extras. Great to have this on Blu-ray. Tons of value here, folks. Very strongly recommended! 

Gary Tooze

April 7th, 2017

 

Available as a standard edition Blu-ray from Indicator: or buy directly from Indicator: Also on Blu-ray from Twilight Time in the US: