Madigan Blu Ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Timothy Bodzioney]

Kino has released Don Siegel’s 1968 excellent police melodrama Madigan on Blu Ray. In just a handful of years in the 1960s the thirty-year-old production code crumbled and was soon replaced by the MPAA film rating system in the fall of 1968.  The makers of Madigan, released in March of 1968, take full advantage of these changes pushing sex, violence, and moral ambiguity further than action films of just a few years earlier and deliver one of the best cop films of the era.  Unfortunately, the transfer is erratic and not nearly as good as it could be.



Madigan (1968)



Released: 29 Mar 1968
Rated: TV-14
Runtime: 101 min




Director: Don Siegel
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller



Cast: Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens, Harry Guardino
Writer(s): Howard Rodman (screenplay), Abraham Polonsky (screenplay), Richard Dougherty (novel)...

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[Robert Crawford]

Thank you for your review as it's consistent to what I've read about this video presentation on this forum. Bruce Kimmel for one, really hammered it it for its video shortcomings. I think this is one of those movies that Kino releases onto Blu-ray that would've been rejected by Twilight Time or not released by Warner Archive. It's probably from an old master. One of these days I will get around to watching my Kino Blu-ray to see for myself how badly this video presentation really is as it's only about 100 minutes long. So many movies to watch and so little time to watch them all.

 

[lark144]

Thanks for the review, Tim. I saw this many times in a theatre when it came out, and the saturated colors, especially the reds and yellows, were so distinctive, that I wanted to watch it over and over. I will be passing on this Blu-ray. Also, it gives a very evocative view of Manhattan circa 1968. Fun City, the down and dirty nightclub-porn emporium seen in the opening minutes of the film, was on 7th & 49th, and was where many drag queens who gravitated around Andy Warhol as well as downtown artists such as Karen Finley worked. It was an important signpost in late 60's NY bohemia, mostly because of who worked there and how they developed and influenced others. Karen Finey wrote a memoir about Fun City, and there it is, in the opening montage of MADIGAN.

 

[haineshisway]

If you want accurate color, do seek out the UK DVD.

 

[Spili]

Looks an old Universal master with the usual symptoms: DNR...

 

[Robert Crawford]

Thank you for your review as it's consistent to what I've read about this video presentation on this forum. Bruce Kimmel for one, really hammered it it for its video shortcomings. I think this is one of those movies that Kino releases onto Blu-ray that would've been rejected by Twilight Time or not released by Warner Archive. It's probably from an old master. One of these days I will get around to watching my Kino Blu-ray to see for myself how badly this video presentation really is as it's only about 100 minutes long. So many movies to watch and so little time to watch them all.

Well, I watched my blu-ray this evening, but, I got caught up in the movie so I didn't noticed anything extremely bad about the video presentation. I plan on watching it again with the audio commentary so I'll try to pay closer attention to the video presentation especially as it pertains to color. Right now, I've seen a lot worse that would take me out of the movie and this video presentation didn't do that.

 

[JoeStemme]

Don Siegel's adroit Direction and a fine Cast lifts this somewhat routine police drama. The script went through a number of hands and both principal writers (Abraham Polonsky and Howard Rodham) both quit the project at various times and Rodham even used a pseudonym to emphasize his displeasure with Producer Frank Rosenberg's interference (Siegel, too, battled with him).

Richard Widmark plays the title character with his trademark wiry screen presence. Henry Fonda plays the aloof Police Commissioner who's longtime buddy is his Chief (James Whitmore). Partnered with Harry Guardino, Madigan is on the trail of a seedy killer (Steve Ihnat; very creepy). Others in the strong cast include Susan Clark, Inger Stevens, Michael Dunn and Don Stroud. The compromised script does border on cliche, but, it does have a gritty NYC feel which Cinematographer Russell Metty captures well. There is an air of the more permissive late 60s in terms of the handling of infidelity that could have been suggested just a few years earlier. The concluding shootout scene is tautly handled by Siegel*.

Other than the mezza-mezza screenplay, the biggest detriment to the completed film is Don Costa's score - one which makes the whole film feel like a one hour TV episode than a feature film (of course, the Madigan character did get spun off into a series just a few years later with Widmark reprising the role). What a difference a Jerry Fielding soundtrack could have made. Siegel and the cast still make MADIGAN an above average watch, with the Madigan character being sort of a dry run for the superior DIRTY HARRY.