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| Category | Mob | Theatrical Trailer(s) | Yes, 1 |
| Rating |  |
Other Trailer(s) | Yes, 1 - Columbia Tristar DVD Promo |
| Year Released | 1991 | Commentary Tracks | None |
| Running Time | 131 minutes | Other Extras | Cast & Crew Filmographies |
| RSDL/Flipper | No/No |
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| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region | 4 | Director | Barry Levinson |
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Distributor |
 
Columbia Tristar |
Starring | Warren Beatty
Annette Bening Harvey Keitel Ben Kingsley Joe Mantegna |
| Case | Transparent Amaray | ||
| RRP | $34.95 | Music | Ennio Morricone |
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| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | MPEG | None |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | Dolby Digital | 2.0  |
| 16x9 Enhancement | Yes | Soundtrack Languages | English (Dolby Digital 2.0 )
French (Dolby Digital 2.0 ) |
| Theatrical Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 |
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| Macrovision | Yes | ||
| Subtitles | English
French Dutch Arabic |
Smoking | Yes |
Whilst that is basically all there is to the plot, the characters are well fleshed out and the movie makes for a riveting 131 minutes of viewing.
The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced.
The transfer was sharp and clear throughout, though not as crisp as the latest transfers. Some of the backgrounds seemed to be a little grainy, but this never became a significant issue. Shadow detail was good, and no low level noise was apparent.
The colours were well rendered at all times, with perfect colour saturation.
No MPEG artefacts were seen, though some backgrounds seemed on the verge of breaking into blockiness. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of trivial aliasing once or twice. Film artefacts were very rare and inobtrusive.
Dialogue was always clear and easy to listen to, which is quite important for a movie of this type.
There were significant audio sync issues with this disc. A number of scenes appeared to be marginally out of sync. In particular, Chapter 16, a scene in which Bugsy speaks very rapidly, is clearly out of sync. I would presume that this is more an ADR issue than anything else, as the sync tends to drift in and out rather than remaining fixed. Nonetheless, this is quite a significant annoyance when it occurs and detracts significantly from the impact of the on-screen image.
The score by Ennio Morricone was suitably atmospheric, ranging from very suspenseful to very romantic. It complemented the on-screen action nicely, and was better than other scores from this composer that I have listened to in the past.
The surround channel was used for music, for some uneven ambience, and for some special effects. Overall, it was not a very enveloping soundtrack, being mainly up front. The odd amount of ambience coming from the rear speakers was more distracting than anything else since it was so unevenly present.
The .1 channel received signal from my surround processor, but remained silent throughout the majority of the movie.
The video quality is good, but not great.
The audio quality is just barely acceptable, even though there are a significant number of times when the audio is slightly out of sync with the video.
The extras are limited but acceptable.
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© Michael Demtschyna
5th May 1999
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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 |