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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > Politics > Government > Betrayal > Cable TV > Urban > Drugs > Junkies > Addicts > House Of Cards: Volume Four (2016 U.S. Version aka The Complete Fourth Season/Sony Blu-ray Set)/The Panic In Needle Park (1971/Fox/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)

House Of Cards: Volume Four (2016 U.S. Version aka The Complete Fourth Season/Sony Blu-ray Set)/The Panic In Needle Park (1971/Fox/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)



Picture: B Sound: B/C+ Extras: C-/B- Main Programs: C+/B



PLEASE NOTE: The Panic In Needle Park Blu-ray is now only available from our friends at Twilight Time, is limited to only 3,000 copies and can be ordered while supplies last from the links below.



Here's our latest hard looks at the dark side of life, despite a separation of decades, shows that bad things only seem to get worse...



House Of Cards: Volume Four (2016 U.S. Version) is back, retaining leads Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, but despite directors this season including David Fincher, Joel Schumacher, Carl Franklin and James Foley, the show is starting to run out of steam and not just because the original U.K. version was shorter. Here's our coverage of the previous season...


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/13600/Carla's+Song+(1996/Twilight+Time+Limited+Blu-r


One could argue that real politics have become so wacky (Brexit, the U.S. presidential race, etc.) that a fictional version cannot compete, but the storylines and characters were already pretty fixed years ago so that has limited validity. Cannot go into specifics without spoiling anything, but it is at least still an intelligent show and you get 12 episodes here over 4 discs.


A faux campaign sticker is the only extra, though we also get Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and other cyber iTunes capable devices.



Jerry Schlatzberg's The Panic In Needle Park (1971) has one of Al Pacino's best and earliest acting performances playing a drug-addicted junkie trying to survive on the then-streets of New York with a girlfriend and fellow junkie (Kitty Winn in a good performance) in tow. Done with no non-digetic music and a groundbreaking drama for its time, it is very raw, real, a giant step after the likes of Preminger's The Man With The Golden Arm in dealing with this situation. Ugly as it is, it is sad to say 45 years later, this looks like the good old days!


Pacino makes his character Bobby a joyous con before the drugs take over and it is amazing how inventive, clever and realistic he is, capturing this kind of 'guy' we sometimes still see today but was more rampant in the pre-1980s years. Some scenes can still be very effective (plastic hypodermic needles had not arrived yet, making disease more rampant, esp, after AIDS arrived) and the film pulls no punches. Rated PG, this would be an R today.


Besides seeing a darker section of New York long cleaned up since, we get some amazing early appearances by great actors like Raul Julia, Kiel Martin, Michael McClanathan, Richard Bright, Al Neri, Joe Santos, Alan Vint, Marcia Jean Kurtz and even Paul Sorvino. Like so many realistic films of the time, the acting talent seems endless.


Schlatzberg reunited a few years later with Pacino in Scarecrow with Gene Hackman, as well as turning out underrated films like Sweet Revenge, The Seduction Of Joe Tynan and Street Smart. His Director of Photography here, Adam Holender, would work with him again, but if this film looks a bit like Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy, its more that the locale and grittiness. Holender lensed that classic too.


Extras include yet nicely illustrated booklet on the film including informative text and another excellent, underrated essay by the great film scholar Julie Kirgo, while the Blu-ray adds an Isolated Music Score Track featuring 30 minutes of Unused Music Composed and Conducted by Ned Rorem, Notes on Ned Rorem's Unused Score with notes shown over an alternate version of another piece not used in the film, the Original Theatrical Trailer and two featurettes: Panic in the Streets of New York and Writers in Needle Park.



The 1080p 2.00 X 1 High Definition image transfer on the Cards episodes look good and far better than the DVD versions from the previous season did. An HD shoot throughout, this looks pretty solid and even if the show is not what it once was story-wise, the look is.


The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Park can show the age of the materials used, but this is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film and the DeLuxe Color is pretty consistent throughout. Expect some grain, but it is supposed to look gritty.


As for sound, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 1.0 Mono lossless mix on Park shows its age with its location audio, any post-audio work and has been as cleaned as possible. The music track is nicely in sync with the film and of course, sounds better.


The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Cards is the obvious sonic winner here, but I give the show credit for using silence to its advantage instead of filling tracks for no good reason. It is also better than the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on the DVD box set of the previous season.




To order The Panic In Needle Park limited edition Blu-ray, buy it and other great exclusives while supplies last at these links:


www.screenarchives.com


and


http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/



- Nicholas Sheffo


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