At close range (1964)

WORK – Acting as a professional

Leverage killers, Charlie Strom and his partner coldly execute Johnny North in an institution for the blind. Intrigued by the behaviour of his target, who, rather than trying to escape, is being shot down, Charlie Strom reconstructs his career. He discovers that his victim is a former car driver that a race injury and the influence of an attractive young woman pushes to serve as a driver to a gang during the attack of a postal van. A million dollars. It's enough to turn many heads, explain certain behaviors and the desire of a sponsor to play discretion...

Originally conceived for television but considered too violent to be broadcast in 1964, this implacable black polar worn by a high-fly casting was going to give the New Hollywood! Still of great efficiency today, thanks to an innate sense of narrative and staging, this free adaptation of the new Killers However, Ernest Hemingway took an old blow as soon as it was discussed « special effects » (see karting session).

IMAGE – A brush that's worth it!

Less hard and healthier than on the Blu-ray published in 2014 by Arrow Films (I was able to compare with the French edition released on 24 March 2021 at BQHL Éditions), the images of this UHD HDR10 transfer are impressive overall despite the presence of some scratches.

The silver texture is more coarse, the definition is otherwise more solid, the pitch is quite great (when the focus allows it), the colorimetric palette of the 60s is even more beautiful than in the past, the contrasts are much better managed (the white veil is gone), the different types of lighting are no longer surprising (like the reflections of the sun on the bodywork) and the compression hardly weakens.

SON – Death around

Voluntaryly felt if it is during the scenes related to the car races where the dynamics pass the second, this soundtrack DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono restores appropriately the dialogues, atmospheres and music of John Williams. But if the whole is clear, many taps are heard (violently sometimes) at regular intervals.

CONCLUSION – One more term for Ronald Reagan

Very colorful and bright for a black film, At close range enjoy a beautiful 4K restoration that gives it a certain class. Too bad his silencer at the end of the cannon does not succeed in eliminating certain parasitic noises!