Newman's Law Blu-ray - George Peppard

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Richard T. Heffron
USA 1974

From Richard T. Heffron, the director of Trackdown, Futureworld, Foolin’ Around and I, the Jury, comes this action-packed thriller starring George Peppard (The Groundstar Conspiracy, P.J.) as an honest L.A. cop battling criminals and corrupt policemen in his own precinct. Caught between crime rings and their own superiors, most cops would play it by the book—but Newman (Peppard) wrote his own. Newman is a no-nonsense inner-city detective who will stop at nothing to clear his name when a gang of international dope peddlers frame him for bribery and murder. Once on the vengeance trail, Newman faces death at every turn, as his enemies attempt to put the self-appointed judge, jury and executioner in their gun sights. Co-starring Roger Robinson (Willie Dynamite), Eugene Roche (Foul Play), Gordon Pinsent (Away from Her), Abe Vigoda (TV’s Barney Miller), Michael Lerner (Busting) and Mel Stewart (Trick Baby), this badass ’70s actioner offers a gritty look at real justice—known on the street as Newman’s Law.

***

LAPD Officer Newman has not gotten the reputation of a straight arrow by avoiding conflict when fighting for right. In this police drama, his honesty is put to the test when he and his partner discover a international drug ring involving some of the department's highest ranking officers.

Posters

Theatrical Release: August 21st, 1974

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Review: Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:38:33.073
Video	1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 33,071,054,216 bytes Feature: 30,885,660,672 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.92 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 1557 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1557 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 33,071,054,216 bytes Feature: 30,885,660,672 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.92 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian and Critic Peter Tonguette • 4 Radio Spots (2:05) • Theatrical Trailer (2:27) Blu-ray Release Date: October 6th, 2020 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 9

Comments:

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

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (September 2020): Kino have transferred Richard T. Heffron's Newman's Law to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Brand New 2K Master". It looks very good. Like The Groundstar Conspiracy and P.J. on Kino Blu-ray - they have max'ed out bitrates. The image quality is clean, textured, richer colors than SD exports and the HD presentation is excellent in-motion. No complaints at all. Hopefully, the screen captures below give you an idea of the video quality.

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (16-bit) in the original English language. There is plenty of aggressive gunplay with a massive battle near the finale. There is some depth in the lossless. We have a score by Robert Prince (Columbo and many TV credits including Peppard's Banacek), sounding effective. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by Peter Tonguette (author of Picturing Peter Bogdanovich: My Conversations with the New Hollywood Director.) He talks about the limited mood setting, a 'no-nonsense' visual style - and what was happening similarly in filmmaking in 1974, Heffron's restrained and intelligent direction, use of location shooting and of lighting, Banacek (TV Series) - also directed by Heffron (4 episodes) and about the unlikeable, lone-wolf character of Vince Newman - not a typical hero. Tonguette keeps a good pace, has an excellent voice as a commentarist and communicates very effectively. I agree it would have been interesting in black and white. There are also four radio spots and a theatrical trailer.

Newman's Law has George Peppard, again, relying less his handsome visage and heartthrob blue eyes - and here portraying a surly, unflinching cop - strong on principles, light on friendship. There may be some 'Blu-ray effect' going on here as I enjoyed this, and the other two Peppard films, simultaneously released by Kino on BD - The Groundstar Conspiracy and P.J. far more than I was anticipating. 70's style, solid crime-actioners and the lead is better than I ever gave him credit. I recommend all three for fans of that era's genre crime-thriller flics. I'm surprised they weren't packaged in a Kino Blu-ray boxset. While not masterpiece fare they have the cache that may entice many a film fan.