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Vanishing Point
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (2nd June 2009). |
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The Film
 Before going into "Vanishing Point" the only frame of reference I had was the references made to the film from Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof" (2007) as the leading ladies wish to take out the Charger for a test drive, that and I'm familiar with the film's ending. "Vanishing Point" comes at the start of the 1970's and delivers a new direction in film, if the 60's were about anti-establishment then the 70's were about freedom and "Vanishing Point" was the first that truly communicated the freedom of the road, escaping the world and being on your own. This film is pure escapism, but with a dark ending and a deeper theme than what's immediately visible on the surface. "Vanishing Point" tells the story of Kowalski (Barry Newman), a Vietnam vet, ex-cop turned druggie errand man. Kowalski has to deliver a Dodge Charger to San Francisco from Colorado and makes a bet he can do it in less than 15 hours. This leads Kowalski to tear up the road and avoid authority as he makes fools of the law enforcement in every state he passes through. On his journey he encounters several interesting characters as he stops only for gas and some much needed speed to keep him awake and alert. As his escapades garner notoriety, a blind radio DJ, Supersoul (Cleavon Little), becomes his only lifeline. The film was released to modest success in 1971 but would live on as a cult hit for decades, and Barry Newman became an unlikely sex symbol, unlikely because of his unconventional features. He doesn't exactly scream "hot stuff" but his gruff and no nonsense sensibility can easily be seen as a winner with the ladies. I'm a fan of action movies where the lead hardly says anything and uses action instead of words. Films like "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" (1991) or "Blade" (1998) are good examples and Kowalski prefers to let action speak louder than his words. As a result the car chases are what make this film truly memorable. "Vanishing Point" is all about the chase, Kowalski races against others on the road and also puts the police through their paces throughout the Western states. The chases are mostly exciting and shot in a gritty almost handheld style that places viewers right alongside the Charger. There are several different chases in the film but in the end it does get a little tiresome, the filmmakers threw in some variety, however I found the shorter US edit to be less tedious as the longer UK cut (both of which are on this disc). The film's story is also about as skeletal as they come, there's no meat, it's a straightforward narrative and director Richard C. Sarafian chose to reveal aspects of Kowalski's past over the course of the film to keep audiences interested. "Vanishing Point" is on the surface a car-chase film, but it does have some depth if you look for it, it makes a statement of freedom and not being bound by anything or anyone. It's a theme that would remain quite constant among 70's films. It stuck the finger up at authority in much the same way "Easy Rider" did in 1969 but nowhere near as critically hailed or groundbreaking. It's an entertaining film and worth watching also Cleavon Little's performance was my favorite of the film, his blind radio DJ was just pure fun.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 in 1080p 24/fps high-definition and mastered using AVC MPEG-4 compression. This film is 38 years old, and at times it certainly looks it. The image jumps from sharp to soft, the opening credit sequence is quite soft and was not a good introduction to the film as I feared the entire print would be like the opening, but it did improve and softness wasn't seen as much (aside from an occasional shot or too). Sharpness in wide shots look good especially establishing shots of the highway and terrain. I also noticed some edge-enhancement and the occasional but of dirt or speck. Overall however the print is pretty good for a film of its age, colors are a little bland but I believe they are intentional, the photography is very natural looking and thus skin tones are accurate, black levels are good but night scenes in the beginning of the film are lacking in detail.
Audio
Four audio tracks are included in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mixed at 48kHz/24-bit as well as tracks in English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono, French Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono and Spanish Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS-HD audio, this is an up-mixed audio track created from the film's original mono elements. The result is OK at best but it does show its age. The mix is very front heavy with occasionally surround activity mainly in the music and directional effects. It's a loud track but doesn't feel like it has a whole lot of depth. Optional subtitles are included in English, Spanish, Cantonese and Mandarin.
Extras
Fox has released this film with a decent amount of extras that include an audio commentary, two featurettes, theatrical trailers and TV spots as well as some exclusive extras that include interactive features, a picture-in-picture commentary, two trivia tracks, as well as bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up is the feature-length audio commentary by the film's director Richard C. Sarafian. The director takes a nonchalant manner of speaking here and covers a lot about the production. He saunters through topics at times but also takes a few moments to watch the film leaving some silent gaps. It's a sloe track as he comments on the film's development, shooting, locations, working with the various cast and crew and the challenges of the production. It can be a a bit boring at times and makes you wish other participants were involved in the recording session. Extras:"Built For Speed: A Look Back at 'Vanishing Point'" is a retrospective featurette that runs for 17 minutes 51 seconds and looks back on the film and its cult status. It covers the themes of the film and looks at key scenes among other things. It's a short but interesting feature that provides some good background on the film. "0A-5599" is the next featurette that runs for 10 minutes 20 seconds, this takes a closer look at the iconic car featured in the film, the 1970 Dodge Challenger, this is basically a classic muscle car appreciation clip. Next up is the "1970 Dodge Challenger" interactive feature, is a 3-D model of the car that you can interact with and explore. It's a neat feature but gets tiresome quickly. There's also a "Super Soul Me" Bonusview picture-in-picture video commentary, it's total run time is 30 minutes 40 seconds and requires a profile 1.1 player or greater. This feature plays over the film and includes pop-up video information that features behind-the-scenes footage and interview clips. "Virtual Dashboard" is an interactive feature which features a dashboard that's overlaid on the film, while you watch the movie you can access the speedometer and check mileage and fuel as the film progresses. You can tune the radio which brings up soundtrack info and also pull up a map. It's another neat little interactive feature but again has limited appeal once you've spent ten minutes with it. "Cars, Cops and Culture" is a '70's trivia track and features information about the time period, and doesn't have anything to do with the film of its production... There's a second trivia track entitled "Vanishing Point Trivia Challenge" which is more of a quiz about the film you can play. The disc also features the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 15 seconds as well as a series of two TV spots that include: - TV spot 1 which runs for 22 seconds. - TV spot 2 which runs for 1 minute 3 seconds. Rounding out the disc are a collection of bonus trailers for: - "The Transporter" which runs for 1 minute 27 seconds. - "Speed" which runs for 2 minutes 41 seconds. - "Street Kings" which runs for 1 minute 22 seconds. The disc is also D-Box enabled for those that have the equipment.
Overall
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