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Released by: Twilight Time
Released on: February, 2015.
Director: Roger Corman
Cast: Jason Robards, Ralph Meeker, Michele Guarini, George Segal
Year: 1967
Purchase From Screen Archives
The Movie:
A rare major studio film helmed by Roger 'King Of The B's' Corman for Fox in 1967, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is, as you would guess if you're familiar with the events that inspired it, set in the Chicago of the 1920's. Here crime is on the rise - bodies are piling up, illegal booze is running all over the place and honest businessmen are being extorted by mobsters. The men behind this reign of terror? Rival mobsters Al Capone (Jason Robards) and George Moran (Ralph Meeker), or Bugs to his friends.
Early in the movie, Bugs decides he wants to control ALL of Chicago's underworld and to make this happen he puts out a hit on Capone's right hand man, Patsy Lolorado (Michele Guarini), employing a thug named Peter Gusenberg (George Segal) and his brother Frank (David Canary) to make Patsy go away for good. Capone doesn't take lightly to this at all and so he gets his main tough guy, Jack McGurn (Clint Ritchie) to take out Bugs and his crew in what would turn out to be the bloody mob massacre to end all massacres that would take place on February 14th, 1929.
Made with a big budget by Corman's admittedly low budget standards, The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is still very much a small picture by big studio standards. That said, Corman gets every penny up there on the screen by making use of some nice studio sets and costumes and a great score from Lionel Newman. Not only does the movie look nice and polished (though never too glossy), it moves at a great pace too, showing that while Corman may have gone to play with the big boys for this project, he knew exactly what to give his audience to wind up with a hit. As such, the film is remarkably violent and quite bloody, particularly during its big finish where we get enough machine gun fire and squibs to give the finale of The Wild Bunch a run for its money.
The script gives us interesting characters and seems to strive for accuracy in terms of the film's depiction of who did what to who and when and where they did it. We also get some great 'tough guy' speak from the various mobsters that populate the picture and plenty of amusing accents to go along with them. As far as the performances go, Robards would seem to be a strange choice to play Al Capone - after he all, he doesn't really look like him at all, but he makes the most of the lead part. He struts about with some fantastic cocky attitude and all the gleaming self-confidence you'd expect. His cigar chomping tough guy routine is a lot of fun to watch and he steals pretty much every scene that he's in. Ralph Meeker is also quite good as Capone's rival, but he's outshined frequently by George Segal who proves every bit Robard's equal in the screen presence department. The supporting cast and bit part players assembled for the production are all a lot of fun as well, particularly the mighty Alex Rocco in a small role, an instantly recognizable Bruce Dern and yes, that is Dick Miller you'll see and keep your eyes open for a very quick cameo from a young Jack Nicholson. This is a sixties Corman movie, after all.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre looks excellent on Blu-ray from Twilight Time in AVC encoded 1080p high definition properly framed in its original aspect ratio of 2.35.1 widescreen. Detail is consistently strong in both close ups and medium/long distance shots while color reproduction is nice and natural. The transfer shows no signs of digital trickery, so expect a nice, natural and very pleasing amount of film grain, the kind that reminds us what this movie was shot on without ever proving distracting. Skin tones look great, black levels are nice and solid and contrast looks good too. This is a strong transfer and quite a nice improvement over the previous DVD release (which itself looked good).
The only audio option on the disc is an English language DTS-HD Mono track, with optional closed captioning offered up in English only. While it's a bit limited in range the quality of the mix is quite solid, as it demonstrates nice clarity throughout. There are no problems of note with any hiss or distortion and the levels are nicely balanced. When those Tommy Guns open up at during the finale, you'll feel it.
Extras start off with a three and a half minute long interview with the director entitled Roger Corman Remembers. It's a short piece but here Corman is keen on talking up the big studio sets and larger budget he had available for this film as well as share some insight into some of his original 'wants' for the leads in the picture. Also on hand is a five minute Fox Movietone Newreel, a vintage piece that informs us of what Al Capone was up to when he really was considered 'Public Enemy Number One' by the Feds. It's a quirky and interesting addition to the disc. Rounding out the extras are the film's original score available in DTS-HD as an alternate audio track, the film's original theatrical trailer, menus and chapter selection.
As per usual, Julie Kirgo contributes another welcome set of liner notes by way of a full color insert booklet. Some critical analysis, thoughts on the effectiveness of the performances and the impact of the ending and interesting bits of trivia make this well worth reading.
The Final Word:
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is a well-made crime thriller with some great performances and one Hell of an ending. Even if we all know way ahead of time how it's going to finish, Corman keeps us interested and makes sure that the payoff is worth it. Twilight Time's Blu-ray isn't loaded with extras but it's got a few treats in store for fans, but the real selling point here is the upgrade that the high definition audio and video provides over the past releases. Fans will definitely appreciate the quality of this release.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
