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| Category | Drama | Theatrical Trailer(s) | None |
| Rating |  |
Other Trailer(s) | None |
| Running Time | 129 minutes | Commentary Tracks | None |
| RSDL/Flipper | No/No | Other Extras | Cast/Crew Biographies
Production Notes Film Flash |
| Region | 4 | ||
| Distributor | Warner Brothers | ||
| RRP | $29.95 | ||
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| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | No | MPEG | None |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Dolby Digital | 5.1 |
| 16x9 Enhancement | Yes | Soundtrack Languages | English |
| Theatrical Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
| Macrovision | Yes | ||
| Subtitles | English
Arabic English for the Hearing Impaired |
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Day 1: Francesca, born in Italy, and living a dull Iowa housewife's life, accidentally meets Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood) when he gets lost trying to get to one of the famous covered bridges of Madison County (hence the movie's title). Robert is a photographer for National Geographic, and Francesca is instantly attracted to him.
Day 2: They have sex.
Day 3: They travel around. They have more sex.
Day 4: They fight because Robert has to leave. Robert leaves.
The family comes back. Just before Robert leaves town, he gives Francesca the opportunity to leave her husband but she doesn't.
A lot of time passes. Robert dies, and his ashes are scattered from one of the bridges of Madison County. Francesca dies.
The best way to describe this plot is; nothing much happens, and the movie takes forever for all of this nothing to happen. It is seriously dull. There is a total lack of on-screen chemistry between Clint & Meryl in my opinion, so the story just isn't believable. Plus we have to put up with Meryl speaking with a bad fake Italian accent throughout the movie.
The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced. The Region 1 version of this disc is presented as a pan & scan disc, so we have at least got the appropriate aspect ratio.
The movie was absolutely razor sharp at all times. Shadow detail was magnificent.
The colour was perfectly rendered throughout the transfer. There are a lot of outdoor vistas which are vibrantly coloured, and there is never any colour bleeding seen.
No MPEG artefacts were seen. Film-to-video artefacts consisted only of trivial aliasing artefacts here and there. Film artefacts were pretty much non-existent.
Dialogue was always completely clear and intelligible, which is to be expected in a movie that is dialogue-driven.
The music is acceptable, ranging from classical music to blues. I note that Clint employed Kyle Eastwood and his band in one of the scenes in a blues bar (keeping it in the family no doubt).
The surround channels were used during the movie both to create an ambient soundfield, and to fill out the music. They were active frequently during the movie, which gave a good sense of being outdoors during outdoor scenes, and gave a good sense of being in a club during club scenes. There were no special effect sequences.
The .1 channel was lightly used to support the music.
The only extras on this DVD are still frames for the cast and crew biographies and still framed production notes.
The video quality is superb.
The audio quality is good, with a lot of subtle surround presence which enhances the feel of the movie.
| Video |  |
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| Extras |  |
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Michael Demtschyna
30th October 1998
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| DVD | Pioneer DV-505, using S-Video output |
| Display | Loewe Art-95 95cm direct view CRT in 16:9 mode, via the S-Video input. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
| Audio Decoder | Denon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital AddOn Decoder, used as a standalone processor. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | 2 x EA Playmaster 100W per channel stereo amplifiers for Left, Right, Left Rear and Right Rear; Philips 360 50W per channel stereo amplifier for Centre and Subwoofer |
| Speakers | Philips S2000 speakers for Left, Right; Polk Audio CS-100 Centre Speaker; Apex AS-123 speakers for Left Rear and Right Rear; Yamaha B100-115SE subwoofer |