Blaze (1989)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1989
Running Time	112:39 (Case: 115)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (55:26)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Ron Shelton
Studio Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	Paul Newman Lolita Davidovich Jerry Hardin Gailard Sartain Jeffrey DeMunn Garland Bunting Richard Jenkins Brandon Smith Jay Chevalier Robert Wuhl Michael Brockman Eloy Casados James Harper
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$18.95	Music	Bennie Wallace

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Spanish Swedish Norwegian Danish Finnish Spanish Titling	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

     Louisiana politics. Flashy, trashy and oh so stylish!! "Uncle" Earl Long was the on-again off-again Governor of Louisiana from 1939-1960. Blaze tells the story of Long's passionate association with an "entertainer," Blaze Starr (Lolita Davidovich), and the political derring-do they find themselves in during the late 50s and early 60s.

     Whilst the film is named after his consort, Paul Newman's portrayal of the curmudgeon Long is scene stealing. What is it about Southern Governors? Hmm. Earl Long is a charismatic, fast talking, flamboyant and theatrical political street fighter. He flagrantly visits shady Bayou strip joints, is quite brazenly unfaithful in his marriage, and apparently sees no inconsistency between his philanderin' ways and his bible-quoting political spars.

     Blaze has come a long way from the Virginia hills where she was one of the ten children of a good Christian couple. Seeking her fortunes, and perhaps a husband, she finds herself a star of the strip joints, but homespun wisdom seems to have stood her in good survival stead, and far from being overwhelmed by the attentions of the flashy Long, she proves herself a beguiling match for his overbearing behaviours.

     What develops is a story of remarkable tenderness and humanity, played amidst a time of enormous social upheaval, political intrigue and the matching of two unique individuals who are genuinely good for each other.

     This is the deep South of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King and the Jim Crow Laws. Black Americans had no status, no standing and, mostly, no right to vote. And whilst Long was not overtly activist and his motives were most probably self-serving, nonetheless his extraordinary act as a white governor to insist that Negroes in his constituency had the right to vote was revolutionary for the time.

     Blaze was written by the director, Ron Shelton (of Bull Durham fame), and, as is often the case in such instances, this provides a satisfying and coherent story which moves at a good pace and develops assuredly to its denouement. Shelton wrote the play based on Starr's own memoirs, and this provides an even richer feeling of honesty and reality to the script.

     The characters in Blaze are credible, entertaining and multidimensional. Newman in particular appears to approach this role with a playful gusto that is perfectly pitched to an historical character who was probably bipolar. The pitches and swells of his character's energy and mental state are subtly portrayed, and the relationship between himself and Davidovich is convincing and engaging.

     I won't spoil the story line for you, but most of the events depicted in the film are fairly accurate descriptions of real events, which makes it even more entertaining and proves once again that truth is frequently more fantastic than fiction.

Video

     This transfer is a little frustrating in that it is a little inconsistent. When it's good, it's really rather good, when it's bad, it's ordinary.

     The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced and appears to be faithful to the original cinematic format.

     The amount of low level noise is acceptable, with some isolated incidents of halation, which, fortunately, do not distract attention from the film. There are frequent incidents where the contrast level leaves something to be desired, and yet, in other places, the transfer looks fresh, sharp and clean. At times the image is a little soft and dull, yet at other times, the print displays as crisp, bright and fresh. Certainly, it never falls to the level that would be described as "bad" - it just varies between "good" and "average." Shadow detail is acceptable, blacks are black, whites are white, and mostly, the detail is acceptable.

     The colours were again somewhat inconsistent - ranging from adequate to glorious. However, skin tones remained natural and there was no evidence of serious colour bleeds to mar the production.

     The opening scenes of this film have marked amounts of low level noise and a disturbing amount of transfer film artefacts making it look like a messy, grubby transfer. Fortunately, at around 13:52, this starts to sort itself out, and soon settle to acceptable levels.

     The subtitles are accurate and timely and, when selected, are displayed within the image. They are crisp, clean, legible and do not overly interfere with the image.

     This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change placed at 55:26 without any undue distraction to the viewing experience.

Video Ratings Summary

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Shadow Detail
Colour
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Overall

Audio

     There are two audio tracks on this DVD - English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1. I confess, I lasted about 3 and a half minutes in the Spanish version, but it appeared to differ little in quality from the English track.

     The dialogue was generally clearly audible, with the exception of a couple of slurred Southern pronunciations, for which the English captions were a blessing.

     Audio sync was not a problem at all with this transfer, and was completely spot on.

     The musical score was an absolute delight. Cheeky, quirky, tongue in cheek and heavily reliant on that luscious Creole music of the South, it provided the perfect counterpoint to the action. Fats Domino, Hank Williams and Randy Newman "flesh out" a vibrant and entertaining score.

     The surround channels were very sparingly used, and I detected no real evidence of subwoofer activity, although in this case, it would have been an unnecessary and unwelcome intrusion if it had been used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

     There are no extras on this DVD.

Menu

     The menu design is 16x9 without animation or sound.

     There does not appear to be an R1 version in print anymore, although according to Amazon, it's due out in April 2004. For instant gratification, go R4.

     I really enjoyed this film. Shelton is a director who can keep more than one plot line in the air at a time, and the performances are fabulous. It makes you think how horribly drab and dull our own political participants are by comparison. These Southerners are visceral, Machiavellian, trashy, complicated packages that live life with a voracity of appetite that is exhausting and exhilarating.

     The script is interesting, the facts are sufficiently accurate to be plausible and the transfer is just acceptable. A very enjoyable film.

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Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall