Goin' South (1978)

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General		Extras
Category	Western	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1978
Running Time	144:05 (Case: 104)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (53:42)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Programme
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jack Nicholson
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	Jack Nicholson Mary Steenburgen Christopher Lloyd John Belushi Richard Bradford Danny DeVito Veronica Cartwright Jeff Morris Gerald H. Reynolds Tracey Walter
Case	?
RPI	$29.95	Music	Van Dyke Parkes Perry Botkin Jr

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired French German Dutch Italian Spanish Turkish	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, End credits

    The opening scene of Goin' South tracks Henry Moon (Jack Nicholson), a notorious horse thief as he is escaping across the border to Mexico to elude his pursuers. Unfortunately, the law catches him and brings him back to town to face the gallows. Just minutes from imminent death, the Sheriff informs Moon of an old law that is still in place that may save him from this fate. All he needs to do is to find a woman property owner who will wed him. Luckily, Julia Tate (Mary Steenburgen) takes him on, much to the surprise of the townsfolk.

    Julia also owns a gold mine which as yet has failed to show any trace of the precious metal. Moon constantly tries to consummate his marriage, but Julia is only interested in finding gold in her mine. The only reason she married him was not to save his life per se, but more as a source of free labour. As the movie progresses, the two remain focused on their own goals but do start to develop a bond. The local Sheriff, Towfield (Christopher Lloyd) spends a considerable amount of his time devoted to making Moon break the law, just so he can finally get his hanging. Can Moon overcome his past ways and greed to find love?

    Goin' South was also directed by Jack Nicholson and includes big names such as John Belushi as a Mexican deputy with a humorous accent. Danny DeVito is a local bandit called Hog whose clothes are too big, exaggerated by his trademark walk. The story contains a lot of sub-plots, but they are not all pulled together in the end. For example, Julia's property is being taken over by the railroad which does at least give a deadline for the two to find some gold, but other than that, I cannot see any reason for it.

    Don't expect too much from this movie and you will enjoy it. It has received quite a bagging in the past but personally I found it a nice fun "brain in neutral" kind of movie. On the plus side, there is plenty of humour of the dry variety with a good cast and solid performances from Nicholson and Steenburgen.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 Enhanced.

    Unfortunately, the transfer is far from clear, especially during the opening scenes. After the credits, the quality does improve but do not expect anything sharper than what the video version offers. At one point, the camera even goes out of focus for a brief scene at 62:40 as Moon leaves the tunnel. Shadow detail is never really a problem with the majority of the scenes taking place under full sunlight. The night-time scenes are well lit with no problems being presented here either. The few scenes around 53:00 that are in the gold mind are the only sections which show a problem. At times, the actors disappear briefly as they make their way to the cutting face of the mine. This is not a transfer problem though, and actually makes you feel a little helpless, confined and really stuck in a mine due to the lack of visual information. There is no low level noise.

    The colours were accurate for the scenery and clothing worn during this period. Don't expect any bright colours - there was no "magic clothing whitener" back in those days. The sky is probably the most accurate place to find a true colour marker. It was a bold blue in places and looked lifelike for a mid-summer day in the desert regions. Skin tones are never an accurate marker of colour rendering, but with the lack of other areas to check for consistency and accuracy, these appeared lifelike and normal.

    The transfer suffered from excessive grain. The opening scene was extremely bad right up to 2:50 and you could be forgiven for thinking that the place is in the midst of a sandstorm! From there, the grain dropped off somewhat but then from 101:15 until the end of the movie it went back to being extreme. The main feature itself is not too bad, but large expanses of the same colour show the grain, such as on walls, the sky, or the desert sands. Aliasing is very rare and very mild when it does occur. Film artefacts are also very common but thankfully remain small in size and do not overpower the screen. You will be too busy looking at the grain to really care anyway.

    This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change occurring at 53:42 between Chapters 6 and 7. It occurs during a natural fade to black with no sound so even the slowest of players will be able to handle this transition well.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are five audio tracks on this DVD. The default is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. There are also French, German, Italian and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtracks.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times.

    Audio sync was a brief problem at 3:15 but the remainder of the film was completely spot on.

    The musical score by Van Dyke Parkes and Perry Botkin, Jr is effervescent and a perfect fit for this light-hearted style of movie. The volume levels did not drown out the dialogue at any point during the movie.

    The surround channels were not used by this soundtrack.

    The subwoofer is not used by this soundtrack at all.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Nothing

• French Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack
• German Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack
• Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack
• Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack

    Goin' South is a is a fun movie with some interesting and well acted characters. Broaden your movie horizons and give it a go!

    The video quality is a big disappointment, especially during the times when either the beginning or end credits are being displayed. The main feature itself is thankfully not too bad.

    The audio quality is acceptable for the feature and extra sound channels did not seem warranted anyway.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall