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Released by: Twilight Time Releasing
Released on: August 15th, 2017.
Director: William Fay
Cast: Elvis Presley, Charles Bronson, Gig Young, Lola Albright, Ad Asner
Year: 1962
Purchase From Screen Archives
The Movie:
One of the many middle of the road pictures that Elvis would make throughout his career, this one finds him playing Walter Gulick, an all American guy who just got out of the army and is looking for work. He stumbles into a boxing training camp and hits up the owner, Willy Grogan (Gig Young) for a mechanics job. Grogan is none too keen on keeping him around until a young boxing pro (Michael Dante) shows up on the scene in need of someone to spar with. Gulick, of course, volunteers and despite the odds manages to take down the champ, instantly winning the affection and appreciation of the previously soured Grogan, who takes him under his wing. Grogan's fiancé, Dolly (Lola Albright), sees Gulick as the kind hearted guy that he is and gives him the nickname of Kid Galahad.
As Gulick works his way up the boxing ladder, trained by Lew Nyack (the mighty Charles Bronson), he soon realizes that this isn't what he wants to do and that he'd rather go back to trying to make it as a mechanic. Grogan's younger sister (Joan Blackman) falls for the kid, however, and much to Grogan's dismay, a local mobster (George Mitchell) decides that the time has come to fix one of Kid's fights...
Elvis looks awkward in the ring in this film. He doesn't look at all like a real boxer and doesn't look comfortable in the ring or in the roll. His scenes with Bronson are great and definitely stand as some of the high points in the film, but Elvis just doesn't seem all that cut out for the boxing life. He does better in the more dramatic aspects of the film, sort of fumbling his way through the more physical scenes. To be fair though, the screen time he shares with both the lovely Lola Albright and the equally lovely Joan Blackman (let's face it, she's pretty adorable in this movie) work about as well as they need to. There's enough chemistry between the King and the ladies to make these moments stand out. As to Bronson's presence in the picture, he's good in the role and he looks the part. He plays the surly trainer well.
Cramming a half a dozen songs into the film probably wasn't the brightest movie in terms of having the film and its star taken seriously, but it's doubtless the producers cared much about either of those issues. They simply wanted to sell tickets and so we're left with a half a dozen awkward musical numbers in a film that really doesn't need them and probably would have been better off without them.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Kid Galahad arrives on Blu-ray for the first time anywhere in the world from Twilight Time in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed in the film's original widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85.1. This is a very strong picture boasting good detail and a nice film-like appearance. Grain is there but never overpowering and print damage is almost non-existent. Colors are reproduced quite nicely even if they might be just a slight bit faded in some scenes. The reds pop nicely without ever looking artificially boosted. Contrast is dead on and skin tones look lifelike and natural. The black levels might not quite hit reference quality levels but they're deep, while shadow detail is fine. The picture is free of any noise reduction, edge enhancement or crush and this is quite a huge improvement over the previous DVD release.
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 decent depth and range and while it might have been nice to hear some of those musical numbers in a surround mix what's here is authentic and fitting. There are no issues with any hiss or distortion and the levels are properly balanced.
Extras on the disc as light, limited to the film's original theatrical trailer, static menus and chapter selection. Inside the Blu-ray case, however, is the obligatory color insert booklet containing archival images and insightful liner notes from scribe Julie Kirgo.
The Final Word:
Kid Galahad is far from the best Elvis movie ever made but it does offer up the chance to see him act alongside Charles Bronson and for that reason alone it's worth seeing despite its many and obvious flaws. Twilight Time's Blu-ray release is light on extras but it does look and sound nice and offer fans a decent upgrade over the previous DVD release.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
