Dragnet

Dom Robinson reviews

Dragnet”Just the facts.”Distributed by

Columbia TriStar

• Cert:
• Cat.no: UDR 90119
• Running time: 102 minutes
• Year: 1987
• Pressing: 2001
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 16 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Pro Logic)
• Languages: 5 languages
• Subtitles: English, Dutch, Swedish
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £19.99
• Extras: Trailer, Filmographies, Production Notes
  

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  Director:

  Tom Mankiewicz

  (Delirious, Dragnet, TV: Hart to Hart, Tales from the Crypt)

Producer:

David Permut and Robert K. Weiss

Screenplay:

Dan Aykroyd, Alan Zweibel and Tom Mankiewicz

Music:

Ira Newborn

Cast:

Friday: Dan Aykroyd
Streebek: Tom Hanks
Whirley: Christopher Plummer
Gannon: Harry Morgan
Connie Swail: Alexandra Paul
Emul Muzz: Jack O’Halloran
Jane: Elizabeth Ashley
Jerry Caesar: Dabney Coleman

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Based on the TV series I never watched, Dragnetpartners mismatched detectives Friday (Dan Aykroyd) and Streebek(Tom Hanks) in a comedy in which the Saturday Night Live pairspark off one another and which I’m sure did relatively successful andam surprised no sequels came about.

The threadbare plot finds the pair going after a gang which have torched awarehouse full of “Bait” soft-core porn magazines, the owner of which is playedby Dabney Coleman doing a take on Playboy‘s Hugh Hefner, as wellas stealing animals from a local zoo. The gang, P.A.G.A.N., led byWhirley (Christopher Plummer) set up weird sexual rituals which areinfiltrated by the stiff-upper-lipped Friday and his laidback parter, Streebek,but you know how it’ll end and when the bad guy is captured, it all happensrather too quickly.

The cast also features M*A*S*H‘s Harry Morgan as Captain Gannonand Baywatch‘s Alexandra Paul as “the virgin” Connie Swail.

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The print is reasonable most of the time and is presented in the original1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio, but you get the expected print flecksfrom time to time and there’s some geometry problems as people occasionallylook like their face is being stretched, depending on where they’re standing.The average bitrate 5.60Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 8Mb/s.

The sound is in Dolby Pro Logic throughout, in English, German, Polishand two other languages I can’t read the names of. The comedy doesn’t haveany major stand-out moments but the score and Art of Noise-reworkedtheme tune come across well.

The extras are the standard for a back-catalogue title from Universal releasedthrough Columbia TriStar: a trailer (4:3, 90 seconds),a few pages of Production Notes and Filmographies for the maincast and crew members.

There are only 16 chapters, menus are static and silent and the subtitlescome in 3 languages: English, Dutch and Swedish.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALLReview copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.