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Directed by Larry Yust
USA 1972

 

Trick Baby is the gritty story of the relationship between two Philly conmen, Johnny “White Folks” O’Brien (Kiel Martin, Moonrunners), a biracial man posing as a white man, and “Blue” Howard (Mel Stewart, Hammer), a black man. From an early age, Blue raised Folks as his own son. However, Blue passed on more than his heritage when he taught him the ways of the street and the art of the con. Folks was a natural, and in no time, they were using their skill and their color to play on people’s prejudices and fears. Then, on one hellish day, things begin to unravel when they get in over their heads with a crooked cop and some shady investors. Now the heat is on, friends are scarce and they must rely on each other. But when the chips are down, can the two men really trust each other? In the next 24 hours, Blue and Folks will learn the disturbing truth about themselves and the world they prey on. Based on the notorious novel by Robert “Iceberg Slim” Beck (Pimp: The Story of My Life) and co-written and directed by Larry Yust (Homebodies).

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Two Phildelphia con men try to evade gangsters they have conned and cops who are trying to put them in jail.

Posters

Theatrical Release: December 22nd, 1972

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Review: Scorpion Releasing - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

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Bonus Captures:
Distribution Scorpion Releasing - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:33:56.672         
Video

1.78:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 32,553,966,140 bytes

Feature: 23,668,156,416 bytes

Video Bitrate: 29.99 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

DTS-HD Master Audio English 1872 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1872 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles English, None
Features Release Information:
Studio: Scorpion Releasing

 

1.78:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 32,553,966,140 bytes

Feature: 23,668,156,416 bytes

Video Bitrate: 29.99 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• NEW Interview with Director Larry Yust (27:35)
• Radio Spot (1:00)
• Theatrical Trailer (2:27)


 Blu-ray Release Date: September 29th, 2020
 Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters 12

 

 

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Scorpion Releasing Blu-ray (August 2020): Scorpion Releasing have transferred Larry Yust's Blaxploitation gem Trick Baby to Blu-ray. It's on a dual-layered disc with a high bitrate. It's in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio. It is as soft as you might expect - consistent with a few marks and speckles. It doesn't look great, but it seems to look authentic - I see no digitization, plenty of grain in darker scenes and it was solid on my system with occasional depth even with the film-like heaviness. 

NOTE: We have added 66 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Scorpion Releasing use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. It has realistic intentionally scattered dialogue and a funky score by James Bond (his only film credit), supporting the film well. Scorpion Releasing offer optional English subtitles (see sample below) on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Scorpion Releasing Blu-ray offers a great, frank, 1/2 hour interviews with director Larry Yust telling some amusing anecdotes - being offered the mish-mash of the original script and how he ended up re-writing it. He still has the source novel that he thought was brilliant, shooting in Philadelphia, finding the right bar, enjoying the film's music, the positives of Pauline Kael's review etc.. He amusingly says no has no idea who the other two names credited to writing Trick Baby are. There are also some radio spot and a theatrical trailer.  

Larry Yust's Trick Baby is certainly considered Blaxploitation. It has a strong vérité quality - and a well-paced action, crime flic about hustlers trying to get ahead. There are subtleties here - this deserved a commentary. I really enjoyed it. The Scorpion Releasing Blu-ray has plenty of value with the interview and seeing a well-realized 70's 'con-men' actioner in 1080P. Strong entertainment that hit the spot perfectly. Strongly recommended. 

Gary Tooze

 

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Distribution Scorpion Releasing - Region 'A' - Blu-ray


 


 

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