Firefox (1982)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio Listing-Cast & Crew Featurette Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1982
Running Time	119:26
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Clint Eastwood
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Clint Eastwood Freddie Jones David Huffman Warren Clarke Ronald Lacey Kenneth Colley Dimitra Arliss Austin Willis
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Maurice Jarre

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/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 French Italian Dutch Arabic Spanish Portuguese German Romanian Bulgarian English for the Hearing Impaired Italian for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Based on the novel by Craig Thomas and adapted for the cinema by Alex Lasker and Wendell Wellman, Firefox has Clint Eastwood experimenting with producing, directing and acting in the lead role. I can vaguely remember seeing this movie when it was first released on video. The technology advances since then have made the elements of this movie, specifically the main features of the plane, less impressive. Nevertheless, it was and still is a good movie that kids of the current generation can enjoy.

    The worst fears of the West become a reality when they learn that the Soviets have developed a lethal flying machine. The MIG-31, code-named Firefox, is so advanced that its weapons and tactical abilities are controlled purely by thought. Sensors in the pilot’s helmet convert the thought patterns into actual commands the plane can understand. The plane can fly at MACH 6, is invisible to radar and is so advanced that the Americans have nothing that can even come close to its abilities. So, rather than try and develop one of their own, they decide to do the next best thing - steal it!

    The catch is that the plane can only understand Russian, so they need to find the best pilot in the business who can also understand the Russian language. The man for the job is retired U.S. pilot Mitchell Gant (Clint Eastwood).

    The allies must get Gant into Russia, track across the countryside undetected by the KGB, and steal the plane before anyone notices it has gone. Whilst the KGB is like a bear (slip by quietly and no one will notice), Gant unfortunately wakes the giant, which makes for an exciting and action-packed movie.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer was amazingly clear with good delineation between edges and the background, evidently due to the remastering work. Luckily, shadow detail is not a big problem as there are a lot of night scenes or dimly lit areas when the agents are hiding from the Russians. In nearly all instances there is some form of artificial lighting on the subject's face or at the centre of the camera’s attention to overcome the dark backdrops. An example of the added light on the subject's face can clearly be seen at 11:27. A perfect example where shadow detail has been superbly handled is at 22:56. There is mild low level noise, but no instances draw attention to themselves or cause a distraction.

    The colours were mostly muted with no instances of bright or vibrant colours. This is probably as a result of the production design or the film development process rather than a fault of the transfer. Personally, I felt that the muted colours suited the tone of a secret agent/spy picture. Some skin tones seemed slightly unrealistic, but for the most part faces and hands looked natural in colour.

    Aliasing is very rare and very mild when it does occur. Film artefacts are a big problem for all scenes that use archival material. These were mostly confined to aerial shots of planes and dog fights. There was a dramatic quality shift as the scenes switched between this material and the Firefox movie production shots. The main feature itself contains mild film artefacts and those that do appear are minimal in size and not distracting at all.

    There are 10 subtitle tracks on this disc with 2 additional tracks for the hearing impaired available in English or Italian. The English version I checked were close to the spoken word but not exact.

    This disc is an RSDL disc. As yet, I have been unable to detect the layer change on my Pioneer DVD player.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand most of the time. Some of the Russian agents did sound a little muffled at times which may have been due to the fake accents rather than being a transfer specific problem. I felt that the overall audio level was slightly lower than it should have been for a balanced system.

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

    The musical score by Maurice Jarre was well mixed and a fitting choice for this style of movie. The peaks and troughs of sound, together with the way they have been mixed across the 5.1 channels suited the scenes well. The volume levels did not drown out the dialogue at any point during the movie.

    The surround channels were subtly used for ambience and very aggressively used for directional sound effects and music. The directional noise caused by the fighter jets, explosions and cars all added to the movie's appeal. The re-mastered Dolby Digital 5.1 track was definitely worth the effort. From the first scene at 1:01, the directional sound placement can be heard and it continues through the entire feature.

    The subwoofer was highly active during the action sequences, and placed an excellent bottom end on these scenes. Just go to 64:35, 72:00 or, for the best example, 72:22 to hear the sub thump.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Cast and Crew

    This is a single graphical page themed around the movie, listing the main actors and their character names. There appears to be a slight difference in the menu on this disc - see the R4 vs R1 comparison below.

Featurette – Clint Eastwood – Director (30:00)

    This is a 30 minute British television featurette which focuses on Clint Eastwood the man and his acting style. Throughout the interview, Eastwood seems unnatural, seemingly as if he would rather be somewhere else. Whilst there are a few brief moments showing filming on location for Firefox and seeing the actual premiere, there is very little other information shown here. John Dykstra poses the problems such a film presented but there is nothing here that provides a real insight into the movie or even Eastwood for that matter. Sure it’s nice that something was included, but don’t expect too much from this particular feature.

Theatrical Trailer (2:30)

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Clint Eastwood and screenwriter Alex Lasker filmographies.

• various subtitles

    Firefox was a movie I thoroughly enjoyed when it was first released and I was glad to get the opportunity to enjoy it again.

    The video transfer has been given special attention and the quality of the image is evident.

    The audio has been re-mastered and the directional sound effects have definitely added to the movie.

    The extras were interesting as a once-off, but I felt more detail could have been given in this area. At least some additional material specific to the movie itself rather than Eastwood would have been a step in the right direction.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall