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The Reckoning [Blu-ray]
(Jack Gold, 1970)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: Columbia Pictures Corporation Video: Indicator (Powerhouse)
Disc: Region: FREE (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player) Runtime: 1:50:09.978 Disc Size: 38,027,993,266 bytes Feature Size: 32,299,871,808 bytes Video Bitrate: 35.00 Mbps Chapters: 12 Case: Transparent Blu-ray case Release date: August 28th, 2017
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.75:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: LPCM Audio English 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles: English (SDH), none
Extras:
• Culture Clash (2017, 19:35): a new interview with writer,
journalist and broadcaster Matthew Sweet DVD included
Bitrate:
Description: A ruthless business executive (an intense tour de force performance by leading man Nicol Williamson) returns home to his Liverpool roots to investigate his father’s death. An unflinching exploration of the British class system, Jack Gold's penetrating, brutal drama stands alongside contemporary classics Up the Junction and Room at the Top, and pre-dates Get Carter by a year. Underrated and underexposed, The Reckoning may well be one of the most essential British films ever made.
The Film:
Michael "Mick" Marler has risen up through the ranks at
Grenville, a large British company specializing in business machines. Despite
his drive and polished air, Mick comes from a tough working-class background and
has worked hard to fit into the posh world in which he and his social-climbing
wife Rosemary (Ann Bell) live. His marriage consists of little more than
animalistic lovemaking in between traded insults and long silences with his
wife. Excerpt from Wikipedia located HERE Michael Marler (Nicol Williamson), determined to leave his criminal father and his Irish past behind him, abandoned Liverpool to pursue a more respectable career path. Now he's a wealthy businessman living in London, but his father's death draws a reluctant Michael back to his hometown. When he learns his father was killed in a fight with a young delinquent, Michael teams up with an old flame (Rachel Roberts) and a friend of his father's (Paul Rogers) to avenge the death. Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. The Reckoning arrives on Blu-ray from Indicator out of the UK. The image quality shows grain and looks heavy, almost bland, with a subtle richness. As per their usual, this is dual-layered with a max'ed out bitrate. It is neither glossy nor crisp. It shows some minor inconsistency but close-ups look detailed. Colors are solid and I would guess the 1.75:1 image is pretty close to how the film looked theatrically and any deviations from that would be the source. It looks very clean and film-like. This Blu-ray offers a pleasing, highly watchable, presentation without digital anomalies, artifacts or noise.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio :The audio is transferred via a linear PCM authentically mono at 1152 kbps (24-bit). There is modest depth in the infrequent effects which include car engine sounds, and crowd noise in a wrestling match that breaks out into a brawl. The score is composed by Malcolm Arnold (No Highway in the Sky, The Bridge On the River Kwai, Island in the Sun, Stolen Face, Hobson's Choice) and suits the film highlighting the tension and ambivalence. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles and my Oppo has identified it as being a region FREE - playable world-wide.
Extras : Indicator add three new interviews as supplements. Culture Clash spends 20-minutes with writer, journalist and broadcaster Matthew Sweet discussing The Reckoning. Memories of Marler is a new, brief, interview with actor Tom Kempinski ('Brunzy' from the film). On Your Marks has second assistant director Joe Marks for only 4-minutes. There is an original theatrical trailer and an image gallery of on-set and promotional photography. The package contains a limited edition exclusive 32-page booklet with a new essay by Michael Pattison, Jack Gold on The Reckoning, Kenneth Tynan on actor Nicol Williamson, and an overview of contemporary critical responses. Being dual format a DVD is included and this edition is limited to 3,000 copies.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze August 19th, 2017 |
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 3500 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. 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 APC AV 1.5 kVA H Type Power Conditioner 120V Gary W. Tooze ALL OUR NEW FORMAT DVD REVIEWS
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