At Close Range (1986)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1986
Running Time	110:46 (Case: 115)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (66:46)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	James Foley
Studio Distributor	MGM	Starring	Sean Penn Christopher Walken Mary Stuart Masterson Chris Penn Millie Perkins Eileen Ryan Tracey Walter R.D. Call David Strathairn J.C. Quinn Candy Clark Jake Dengel Kiefer Sutherland
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	Patrick Leonard Madonna

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired German for the Hearing Impaired French Italian Spanish Dutch Portuguese Greek Hungarian	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    At Close Range is based on a true story and stars Sean Penn as Brad Whitewood Jnr. Brad's a bit of a lad, generally lounging around at home, smoking a bit of pot with his brother and mates and getting into a few minor fights around town. Brad and his brother Tommy (played by Penn's real brother Chris Penn) live with their divorced mother in a poor part of town. The future doesn't look all that bright for either of the boys, with no real desire to work or further their education. But Brad's dreary life takes a sudden lurch all caused by two simple events. Firstly he meets the incredibly cute Terry (Mary Stuart Masterson), a high school senior who instantly falls for the dashing and handsome Brad. The promise of true love may just turn Brad around and get him moving in a direction with some responsibility attached.

    Unfortunately around this time he also gets reacquainted with his estranged father Brad Snr (Christopher Walken). Sporting the big sunglasses, big hair and even bigger ego, Brad Snr is everything that Brad Jnr wants to be. He's charming, charismatic, a winner with the ladies, and drives around in exotic sports cars. But Brad Snr has a reputation, and it's not a good one. He's known as the leader of an organised burglary gang who basically works their way around the Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania areas pinching trucks, cars and other farm machinery and then disposing of them for cash. But Brad Jnr sees an association with his father as a way to further his life and so blinded by the thought of quick riches decides to learn what it takes to become a successful thief. Unfortunately as his involvement in crime continues to escalate, Brad Jnr learns that the net is closing in on his father as the FBI gets closer to making arrests. It is then he discovers a side of Brad Snr that he doesn't altogether like and tries to quit the business, but the consequences could prove disastrous and leaving not all that easy.

    This is quite a violent film that is based on the true story of four-time convicted killer Norman Johnston and the crime gang he ran with his two brothers. Directed by James Foley (The Chamber, Glengarry Glen Ross, Confidence), it oozes a dark and dangerous feel that sort of seems at odds with the initial part of the story, but one that seems right at home with the gruesome climax. Christopher Walken is his usual bizarre and slightly over-the-top self, while Sean Penn again proves he knew exactly what he was doing from a very young age. Mary Stuart Masterson holds her own extremely well against the two more seasoned and experienced main actors, with support from the likes of David Strathairn, Crispin Glover, and Kiefer Sutherland all in very minor and early-career roles. Indeed, the cast assembled here is quite impressive.

Video

    Many early to mid 1980s films don't scrub up all that well when transferred to DVD often looking rather dated and even substantially worse than many 1950s or 60s films. It must be the overabundance of tans, beiges and browns that feature heavily that causes many of the problems, not to mention the garish fashions, jewellery and of course the ever-present big hair. As a result I wasn't expecting a whole lot from this transfer, but it took me by surprise. Aside from a little dirt and a bit of grain it really is quite good. Sure there are plenty of outrageously large hairstyles, over-sized sunglasses and pastel colours abound, but overall it is only a mildly dated look that pervades this transfer.

    Presented in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1, it is also 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is reasonably sharp throughout and though there is a small amount of edge enhancement present it is not an issue. The level of shadow detail is excellent which is just as well since many of the scenes occur at night in dimly lit places. There is no low level noise.

    Colours are quite drab and dull, though this appears to be the intention. Black levels are reasonable, occasionally drifting to a more grey look than black, but overall they are not that bad.

    I saw no compression artefacts. Thankfully, there are few major film-to-video artefacts, with aliasing in particular absent. Film artefacts are quite numerous. Most of them are small enough to ignore.

    There are several sets of subtitles present. I sampled the English variety and found them adequate, without being 100 per cent accurate.

    This is a dual layered disc with the layer change occurring at 66:46. Mary Stuart Masterson's character pauses briefly at the beginning of a scene. Noticeable but well placed and not at all disruptive.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are five soundtracks in total on this disc. All are Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtracks with the surround flag embedded in the bitstream. Supported languages are English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish.

    This isn't the greatest example of a surround encoded track. The left and right channels are used, but the rear channels remain pretty much silent throughout. Separation across the front channels is handled adequately but without the real punch offered by a modern 5.1 surround soundtrack.

    Dialogue is pretty much all this film is about. It is handled well with no obvious audio sync problems.

    The score is by Patrick Leonard, and it's an interesting one. The closing song over the end credits is Live To Tell by Madonna (also co-written by Patrick Leonard) and this song also forms the basis of much of the score. It does get a little repetitive at times, but it's a different way of approaching a score and I found it quite interesting.

    There is basically no surround or dedicated subwoofer use. It isn't missed.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Theatrical Trailer

    A slightly bizarre trailer in that it opens by showing the very last scenes of the film. It then proceeds to run for a lengthy 2:57 and does contain an awful lot of the plot, the important bits, and much of the action. Disappointing and worth avoiding until after you have watched the full film.

    The Region 4 disc misses out on;

• Additional full frame 1.33:1 version of the film
• French Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Soundtrack
• Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Soundtrack
  

    The Region 1 disc misses out on;

• German Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack

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

    I feel this is a win to the slightly better specified Region 4 disc, though if the inclusion of the worthless full frame version is important then you may wish to consider the import.

    At Close Range is a slow-burning yet somewhat violent film featuring stand-out performances from Christopher Walken and Sean Penn.

    The video transfer far exceeds what I was expecting and really is quite pleasing to watch.

    The audio is effective, though it shows its age often.

    There are effectively no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall