The Gauntlet (1977) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Action | None | |
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1977 | ||
Running Time | 104:38 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (77:14) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Programme | ||
Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Clint Eastwood |
Studio
Distributor |
Warner Home Video |
Starring |
Clint Eastwood Sondra Locke |
Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
RPI | $29.95 | Music | Jerry Fielding |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English French Italian Dutch Arabic Spanish Portuguese German English for the Hearing Impaired Italian for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | Yes, can of Tab on dashboard | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
For a while he was with Sondra Locke (I thought they were married, but apparently not) - I wouldn't have minded, but he felt that meant he must include her in his movies, and she is not a talented actress. I tend to avoid Clint Eastwood movies with Sondra Locke in them, but when this movie came up for review I felt I really should give her a fair go.
So, how is this movie? Well, unfortunately, Clint is not at the top of his form, and Sondra drags him down further. The plot doesn't help. The whole movie is one long set-up for the climactic scene; it's a long and tedious set-up, and the climactic scene is not all that good. Sondra plays a foul-mouthed, nasty-minded hooker who is being dragged against her will from Las Vegas to Phoenix so that she can testify in a trial. Clint is playing Clint Eastwood role number 2 - that's the hard-bitten cop (as opposed to Clint Eastwood role number 1, which is the hard-bitten cowboy). This time around, the cop has a drinking problem, his partner has just been promoted, and he's been selected to escort this hooker from Las Vegas to Phoenix. The mob is betting that she won't make it. He is determined that she will. I'm not going to say any more because you've probably deduced most of the rest of the plot already.
Before you get the wrong impression, I must say that I really like Clint Eastwood movies, including all the good ones, and a lot of the bad ones. I just think he should avoid co-starring with orang-utans, and Sondra Locke (oh, the temptation of juxtaposing those two...). I'm really looking forward to seeing more of his movies come out on DVD, especially Heartbreak Ridge, but even Firefox.
If you can switch off your discrimination, so you don't see the huge holes in the plot, then it is possible to extract some mild enjoyment from this movie, but there are a lot of other Clint Eastwood movies out there, and most of them are rather better.
This disc is presented in an aspect ratio of about 2.35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. This is the original theatrical ratio.
The picture is not especially sharp, but it is good enough. The shadow detail is adequate. There is no low-level noise, which is impressive.
Colour is washed out - probably a product of the film stock, but possibly a deliberate intention considering the desert settings of much of the film. I don't think there's a fully-saturated colour in the entire film. Even so, flesh tones look pretty reasonable - not at all hard to watch.
There are relatively few film artefacts, but one of the few is a beaut! Have a look around 94:35 - there's a large white triangle on the picture under the marksmen - looks like a chunk out of the film. There's a large watermark on one frame over the car at 16:54, but that's less noticeable. There's almost no aliasing to be seen, which is surprising, but pleasant. There are no MPEG artefacts. All up, this is quite a clean transfer.
The subtitles are available in eight languages, plus two hard-of-hearing streams - I sampled both English streams. The subtitles are white and placed under the picture in the black bar. They are in a simple, easy-to-read font. They are abbreviated, but well-timed.
The disc is single sided and RSDL formatted. The layer change is at 77:14, hidden in a cut. It's invisible on some players, and just visible on others. Not a bad effort.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
There are three soundtracks. I listened to the English one. It is Dolby Digital 5.1. The closing credits list Dolby Stereo, so the 5.1 soundtrack must be a remastering.
The dialogue is clear, and mostly readily understood, despite some background hiss.
The score is loud and excited during the action sequences, with a fair bit of brass. It's composed by Jerry Fielding. There is some distortion in the music - listen at around 61:50 for an example.
The surrounds are not heavily used, with nearly no directional content. The subwoofer is used for the many explosions.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
There are no extras. The back cover lists interactive menus and scene access - that's hardly "extras".
The menus are static and silent.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 disc is missing:
The Region 1 disc is missing:
The two discs are pretty much identical, except that the R1 is single layer (suggesting more compression, and hence lower quality), and is packaged in a snapper case.
The Gauntlet is one of Clint Eastwood's poorest efforts, presented reasonably well on DVD.
The video quality is adequate.
The audio quality is reasonable.
There are no extras.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Arcam DV88, using Component output |
Display | Sony VPH-G70 CRT Projector, QuadScan Elite scaler (Tripler), ScreenTechnics 110. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Denon AVC-A1SE |
Speakers | Front Left and Right: Krix Euphonix, Centre: Krix KDX-C Rears: Krix KDX-M, Subwoofer: Krix Seismix 5 |