Che!

Released by: Twilight Time Releasing
Released on: September, 2014.
Director: Richard Fleischer
Cast: Omar Sharif, Jack Palance, Cesare Danova, Robert Loggia, Woody Strode
Year: 1969
Purchase From Screen Archives

The Movie:

Directed by Richard Fleischer only two years after the death of its titular subject, 1969's Che! stars a bizarrely cast Omar Sharif as Ernesto "Che" Guevara and it catches up with him in the mid-fifties upon where he arrives in Cuba from his native home of Argentina. Here he becomes involved in the overthrowing of the notoriously corrupt Batista government by way of the revolution led by none other than Fidel Castro (played by Jack Palance… another bizarre casting choice). Of course the more involved with the communist movement he becomes, the more certain parties start to pay attention to him and eventually he's assassinated by government forces in rural Bolivia.

Part feature film, part 'documentary' Che! mixes up traditionally shot movie footage with some interesting archival clips and edits all of this into the narrative alongside some remarkably bad faux-interviews in which the actors play their characters and offer up to the camera their thoughts on Guevara and what he did and stood for. This would all be well and good if the film were structured in such a way as to both educate and entertain, but it fails miserably at the first and winds up occasionally succeeding at the second, if more often than not for all the wrong reasons. It's almost impressive just how little information the storyline imparts on us about Guevara. When dealing with a subject as incendiary as he was at this time you'd think Fleischer and company would go all out to at least try to paint a complex portrait of a complex figure but instead the movie winds up feeling like a misguided attempt by a major studio to cash in on the death of an infamous counterculture icon.

The writers do appear to have at least tried to get to that point - that's what the interviews are there for, so that Guevara's associates can lay bare what they feel were his intentions and true motivations, but it happens on such a shallow and almost insignificant level that it doesn't really help things much at all. It's all very sanitized, in the way that old Hollywood films dealing with controversial subjects could sometimes be, and because of that it lacks much impact. This is quite surprisingly, particularly when you take into account the fact that it was co-written by Michael Wilson, a writer who was blacklisted himself during the McCarthy era.

The movie does offer up some unintentionally funny bits though. Omar Sharif does what he can as he delivers horribly overwritten dialogue in that way that Omar Sharif somehow manages to do. As Guevara he's not so much the symbol of the peasant revolt as he is… fancy. He has that air of arrogance to him that makes him far more fitting to play characters of wealth and prestige than the revolutionary type he's cast as here. It simply does not work, but it's interesting to watch him try. Far more amusing is Jack Palance, probably the last person you'd think to cast as Fidel Castro, yet here he is and he's actually really amusing to watch, but not what most would consider good. It's hard to see anyone but Jack Palance here, regardless of the size of his fake beard or the goofy looking plastic nose they've slapped on to his face to convince us otherwise. Throw in supporting roles from Woody Strode, Robert Loggia and Frank Silvera and this really winds up as a film full of very questionable casting choices. At least Lalo Schifrin's score turned out well and as goofy and frequently misguided as all of this is, at least it's never dull.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Che! arrives on Blu-ray for the first time Twilight Time in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed in the film's original widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35.1. This is a very strong picture boasting good detail, a nice film-like appearance. Grain is there but never overpowering and source materials are clean and free of any major print damage issues. Colors tend to look just a little bit flat, they never pop the way they might but contrast looks great and skin tones look lifelike and natural. The black levels might not quite hit reference quality levels but they're deep and shadow detail fares quite well. The picture is free of any noise reduction, edge enhancement or crush and this is a very nice transfer that takes full advantage of the format.

The only audio option for the feature is an English language DTS-HD Mono track with optional closed captioning offered up in English as well. This simple but effective track gets the job done. There's good depth to the mix throughout and the track is free of any hiss or distortion problems. The levels are properly balanced throughout and all in all this disc sounds just fine.

The main extra on the disc is a six minute vintage featurette that talks up the films merits and features some decent footage shot on set during the shoot. It's not particularly deep or thorough but the behind the scenes clips are interesting to see. Outside of that we get Lalo Schifrin's isolated score as an alternate audio option in DTS-HD, a TV sport, a theatrical trailer, menus and chapter selection. Once again writer Julie Kirgo contributes a set of interesting liner notes that offer a nice summary of the film's production history alongside some critical analysis of the movie.

The Final Word:

Che! isn't a very good movie at all but it is a fascinating disaster in its own strange way. The A-list cast and director make misfire after misfire here but you get the impression that they had their collective heart in the right place. What should have been an in-depth character piece winds up a shallow and dated pseudo-action film but it's entertaining if you're in the right mood for it. The Twilight Time Blu-ray isn't stacked with extras but it does offer a few supplements and the disc both looks and sounds very good.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!