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DVD Review Fearless Frank DVD Review (1 Viewer)

Matt Hough

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Matt Hough
Fearless Frank DVD Review

Filmed four years before he leapt to international stardom as the title character in the Oscar-winning Midnight Cowboy but shelved after completion and only released afterward, Philip Kaufman's Fearless Frank did no favors for the movie career of Jon Voight. With talented people before and behind the camera very early in their careers, it’s obvious the filmmakers were going for something broad and highly camp (similar to what the producers of the Batman television series were able to pull off), but the timing is off throughout and most of the players simply don’t get in the groove of this simplistic cartoonish adventure.



Studio: MGM

Distributed By: N/A

Video Resolution and Encode: 480P/MPEG-2

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Audio: English 2.0 DD

Subtitles: None

Rating: G

Run Time: 1 Hr. 17 Min.

Package Includes: DVD

Amaray case

Disc Type: DVD-R

Region: 1

Release Date: 06/16/2015

MSRP: $19.98




The Production Rating: 2/5

After leaving the farm and coming to the big city, simpleton Frank (Jon Voight) is rubbed out by a mobster known as The Boss (Lou Gilbert) for having the temerity to fall for his girl friend Plethora (Monique van Vooren). He’s brought back to life and endowed with superhuman powers by the Doctor (Severn Darden) who then proceeds to send his creation on missions to clean up the city. Frank manages to round up most of the Boss’s gang: The Rat (David Steinberg), The Cat (Ben Carruthers), Needles (Nelson Algren), and Screwnose (David Fisher), but then Frank gets cocky going out on missions not commissioned by the Doctor causing a riff between the two. Meanwhile, the Boss has recruited his own mad scientist Claude (also Severn Darden) to create a clone of Frank which they call Fake Frank (also Jon Voight) who begins his own crime wave.

 

Philip Kaufman who would later go on to terrific success with his remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the great space satire The Right Stuff both wrote and directed this spoof of mad scientist and crime fighting conventions, but everything is way too broad and overdone, and he’s allowed the actors to mug and overplay their roles so that nothing hangs together very well. (How very wise that the makers of Batman were to insist their actors play the spoofing with a completely straight face.) It’s obvious they’re working with a tiny budget, so rudimentary special effects like Frank flying around Chicago and displaying super strength have to be done on the cheap (there is one funny moment when Frank’s single punch sends one of the bad guys hurling backwards through the streets and landing in a jail cell). There isn’t any excuse, however, for a screen story that seems threadbare and doesn’t really go anywhere leading to an ending that’s completely confused and nonsensical. The screenplay probably needed a few more rewrites and possibly a different set of eyes to punch up the comedy so the actors wouldn’t have to resort to mugging to make things funny.

 

Jon Voight, Joan Darling (who plays the mousy daughter of the Doctor), Anthony Holland (as loyal butler Alfred), and David Steinberg all went on to fine careers (and in the case of Voight, Darling, and Steinberg, award-winning careers), but only Holland gets into the right frame of mind with the comedy, underplaying just the right amount to stand out from the rest of the overacting ensemble. Voight is pretty awful in the early going trying to mimic a hayseed-come-to-town, but once he gets to play two different versions of his super character, he does manage to show some range without a lot of the goggle-eyed double takes and silly Goofy-like giggle he had effected before. Severn Darden gets to play dual roles as well, but he doesn’t show much delineation between the two characters apart from different costumes and make-up. Monique van Vooren gets top billing and a chance to warble a tune or two during the film, but otherwise she’s there more for the voluptuous show she can display than for any acting expertise.



Video Rating: 4/5  3D Rating: NA

The film is presented in its Techniscope aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is anamorphically enhanced for widescreen televisions. It’s a very good print of the film with good to excellent sharpness (there are a couple of strange moments where it seems focus has been deliberately pulled to some inconsequential object in the foreground leaving the actors out of focus, maybe for comedy effect, but it doesn’t work), and there are only a few stray bits of dust and dirt specks. Color is nicely saturated (in one instance of a red wall, a bit of blooming is evident), and skin tones are believable and appealing. Contrast has been consistently applied. The movie has been divided into chapters every ten minutes so this film has 8 chapters.



Audio Rating: 4/5

The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound mix is decoded by Dolby Prologic into the center channel. Despite only the tiniest bit of hiss heard in some quiet moments, the dialogue, rudimentary sound effects, and the noodling music of Meyer Kupferman work in harmony with one another in the mono track. There’s some poor post synch work at the beginning of the movie and occasionally later on, but all of the direct recording is done professionally.



Special Features Rating: 0/5

There are no bonuses with this made-on-demand disc.



Overall Rating: 2/5

The curious may want to see actor Jon Voight’s introduction to movies in Fearless Frank, but this spoof of superhero films is weak and not handled with any kind of subtlety. Better to enjoy the actor’s later work in much better films like The Odessa File, Conrack, and Coming Home, and leave this one to the mists of distant memory.


Reviewed By: Matt Hough


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Squire

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It was on THIS last night. Never saw or heard of it before. Watched a bit of it. It's probably worth watching once but I don't know if I'd buy it!
 

ahollis

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I remember Fearless Frank playing a double with Madigan's Millions with Dustin Hoffman at the Drive-In right after the success of Midnight Cowboy. Anything for a buck.
 

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