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WARNER

MOVIE INFO

Director:

Director:
Robert Aldrich
Cast:
Gene Wilder, Harrison Ford, Ramon Bieri
Writing Credits:
Michael Elias, Frank Shaw

Synopsis:
A Polish rabbi wanders through the Old West on his way to lead a synagogue in San Francisco.

MPAA:
Rated PG.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA Monaural
Subtitles:
English
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
None

Runtime: 119 min.
Price: $21.99
Release Date: 7/12/2022

Bonus:
• Trailer


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The Frisco Kid [Blu-Ray] (1979)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (July 5, 2022)

Back in 1979, the ads for The Frisco Kid focused on star Gene Wilder. These promos heavily touts his appearances in hit films like Blazing Saddles, Silver Streak and Young Frankenstein.

The message? Expect Frisco to offer another wild and wacky comedy with Wilder. However, the reality turned out to be rather different.

Set in 1850, Frisco introduces us to Avram Belinski (Wilder), a recently ordained rabbi in Poland. Though not the sharpest blade – he placed 87th in his class of 88 – he gets an assignment to head to San Francisco and lead a temple there.

Avram makes it to Philadelphia okay, but after he misses his boat to San Francisco, he gets robbed by some low-lifes who offer him a wagon ride out west. They leave him on the side of a road, but he gets some help from an Amish clan.

They offer him enough money to take a locomotive part of the way to San Francisco. That journey provides our first look at Tommy Lillard (Harrison Ford) when he robs the train.

Avram misses that occurrence but soon bumps into Tommy. When Avram departs the train, he lacks many resources and meets Tommy when the latter helps him snare some fish.

The two soon become an odd partnership as Tommy grudgingly helps Avram make it across country. Along the way, they go through many adventures and become pals.

When Frisco hit the screens in 1979, I recall that I believed it was a new film from Mel Brooks. After all, Brooks worked with Wilder many times in the past, and a flick about a Jewish cowboy – as ads touted Frisco - sounded like something up Brooks’ alley.

As it happens, Brooks had no involvement in Frisco whatsoever. Instead, Robert Aldrich directed the flick. When I first saw Frisco, my most recent experience with an Aldrich movie came from 1974’s The Longest Yard, an effort that I found to be confused and muddled.

I guess that means I shouldn’t be surprised that I thought Frisco was confused and muddled as well. Often Frisco feels like a much longer movie cut down to fit time limitations.

At 119 minutes, Frisco already seems too long for this sort of film, but as was the case with Yard, the piece suffers from jerky editing. Many scenes end abruptly, and there’s exceedingly little narrative flow to matters.

Our leads go from one spot to another without much to connect events. This means the story fails to explore issues and characters well.

These problems extend to the movie’s tone. As I mentioned, the trailer touts Frisco as a Mel Brooks style comedy, but that’s not remotely the case. Though it attempts laughs at times, it almost never achieves them, and the story seems inappropriate for that sort of tale.

In truth, Frisco would work much better as an adventure drama. The story comes with many moments that depict how Avram’s faith helps him, and that attitude would fit better with a more serious movie.

Instead, Frisco tries to have it both ways. It really does stick with a more serious tone much of the time, but then it’ll toss in a wacky bit here or there.

Frank De Vol’s score also attempts to leaven things, but it sounds out of place. It’s like putting Carl Stalling music on top of Sophie’s Choice, so the drama doesn’t match the goofy music.

No one seems to know what kind of movie they want to make. Much of the story focuses on the drama but the actors seem to think they need to play it for laughs.

I like Wilder but he does a terrible job here. He simply bugs out his eyes and shouts most of his lines.

Much of these odd readings make little sense. He turns Avram into a charmless, annoying character.

In the end, the movie’s problems mainly reside with the director. He made The Frisco Kid a flick with no consistency or clarity.

Is it a wacky comedy or a serious drama? No one seems to know, and the audience suffers through this poorly edited mishmash.


The Disc Grades: Picture B+/ Audio B/ Bonus D-

The Frisco Kid appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. I didn’t expect much from this transfer, but it usually looked pretty good.

Sharpness generally came across well. Occasionally I noticed some mildly soft elements, but those weren’t dominant, so instead, most of the shots seemed crisp and distinctive.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt natural, and print flaws remained absent.

Colors mainly looked positive, as the palette tended toward an amber feel with some blues at night. The tones didn’t dazzle but they appeared well-rendered.

Blacks seemed deep and dark, while shadows were appropriately concise and visible. Nothing here turned into showcase material, but the scan replicated the source well.

In addition, I found the DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack of The Frisco Kid to be satisfying, as the mix has held up fairly well over the last 43 years. Speech came across as warm and natural, with only a few issues related to edginess.

Effects appeared fairly full and dynamic, and they didn’t suffer from any distortion or other problems. Music also was bright and rich, with pretty nice range.

During percussive scenes, the score offered surprisingly strong bass response. For an older monaural soundtrack, Frisco was more than adequate.

How did the Blu-ray compare to the 2006 DVD release? The lossless audio came across as a bit more dynamic than its lossy counterpart.

In addition, visuals appeared cleaner, more natural and better defined. The image boasted an impressive upgrade.

Extras disappoint. We get nothing more than the film’s trailer.

With The Frisco Kid, we find a poorly assembled and never very entertaining movie. It includes a good cast and some comedic potential, but it never goes much of anywhere. The Blu-ray offers pretty solid picture and sound, but it lacks bonus features. Somebody out there must like this erratic, jumbled flick, but I don’t think much of it.

To rate this film, visit the DVD review of THE FRISCO KID

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