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The Longest Yard
[Blu-ray 4K]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Kino Lorber Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (27th September 2023). |
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The Film
 It's 1974, and your film "The Godfather" just won Best Picture at the Academy Awards and Producer Albert S. Ruddy is flying high at Paramount thanks to the backing of studio head Robert Evans. The film and its making are now the stuff of legend. So what's your next move? Make the sequel? Of course not, instead you make "The Longest Yard" with Burt Reynolds! This move has got to be one of Hollywood's most baffling choices. The keys to the kingdom are given to you, and yet, "The Longest Yard" is what you choose to use those keys on. While it's not a terrible film, on the contrary it's quite an enjoyable film with some incredibly taboo elements that may not fly in today's world. But more on that later. "The Longest Yard" started out as passion project for Ruddy and had set his sights on making it as soon as "The Godfather" was a hit. Evans had other plans and wanted him to produce a sequel, which eventually would end up happening, just with a different producer. Ruddy stuck to his guns and eventually his film would get the green light with his star attached, director Robert Aldrich would be brought on to take the reins, an old hand in Hollywood responsible for crowdpleasers such as "The Flight of the Pheonix" (1965) and "The Dirty Dozen" (1967). Aldrich would be able to craft a tale that mixed some equal parts drama and comedy and get the most out then up-and-coming star Burt Reynolds. He did exactly that. "The Longest Yard" tells the story of washed up football star Paul Crewe (Burt Reynolds). After beating his girlfriend, stealing her car, chased by police, and resisting arrest is sent to prison. While in prison he encounters Warden Hazen (Eddie Albert), who wants to recruit Crewe to put together a prisoner's team to play against the prison guards. Initially he refuses but then sees that this is his chance to redemption. This film is very much a product of its time where things like slapping around your girlfriend wasn't a big deal, there's racial humor that wouldn't play out today, and homophobic views that are equally shocking, but in the 70's depending on who you asked it just wasn't that big of a deal. These issues make for a flawed product when viewed from today's perspective, oh and did I mention all these views are from the film's hero? Crewe does come across as unlikable, so there's at least that. As problematic as it is, "The Longest Yard" is entertaining, the police chase at the start is a hell of a way to start your picture, the Prison-Warden dynamic, while clichéd, is ever present and does in fact work. The football scenes are where the film truly shine and the film's entire third act is a fun watch. There's a strong performance from the film's lead as well as supporting players which included some real-life football players. All said and done it's important to view this film with an eye towards it being a product of its time, flaws and all it's still better than the Adam Sandler remake audiences got in 2005.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of widescreen 1.85:1 mastered in 4K HEVC-encoded 2160p 24/fps. You can view with either Dolby Vision or HDR. The film was originally shot on 35mm film for the most part this 4K image looks pretty solid, although there are some instances where the image looks a little soft. So it's not entirely consistent. Grain levels look good, detail is solid, skin tones look natural, and black levels are deep. There are still some blemishes throughout but for a nearly 50 year-old movie it stands up fairly well in 4K. The package also includes the film in HD 1080p on a separate Blu--ray disc.
Audio
A single audio track is included in English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono, I'd have to assume this is the film's original audio track. Dialogue is well mixed, the action sounds a bit thin, but these are the limitations of 2.0 mono and perfectly suited for a soundtrack of this era. No real complaints here. Optional subtitles are included in English only.
Extras
Kino has done a terrific job of licensing films and delivering some pretty solid 4K presentations with a decent amount of supplements and "The Longest Yard" is no exception, below is a closer look. DISC ONE: 4K UHD Two audio commentaries are included on this disc, the first is by film critics Alain Silver and James Ursini, authors of "Whatever Happened to Robert Aldrich?", here these two offer up some excellent insight into the film's production and the key people that made it happen most especially the film's director. The second audio commentary features star Burt Reynolds and writer/producer Albert S. Ruddy, recorded in 2005, is decent enough but not as informative as the previous track. DISC TWO: Blu-ray The same two audio commentaries are included on this disc. "Doing Time on The Longest Yard" is a featurette from 2005 (11:38) that takes a short look at the making of the film. "Unleashing the Mean Machine" is a featurette from 2005 (11:02) takes a closer look at the lengths the filmmakers went to in order to make the football scenes look authentic. The film'a original theatrical trailer (4:04) is also included. As are a collection of bonus trailers for: - "Semi-Tough" - "Fuzz" - "Shamus" - "White Lighting" - "Hustle" - "Gator"
Packaging
Packaged in a standard 4K keep case housed in a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
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