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(Capricorn One, D'Artagnan, End of Days, Hanover Street, Narrow Margin, Outland, The Presidio, The Relic, Running Scared, The Star Chamber, Stay Tuned, Sudden Death, Timecop, 2010)
Producers:
D. Constantine Conte
Screenplay:
Larry Ferguson
Music:
Bruce Broughton
Cast:
Lt. Col. Alan Caldwell: Sean Connery
Jay Austin: Mark Harmon
Donna Caldwell: Meg Ryan
Sgt. Major Ross Maclure: Jack Warden
When I first saw The Presidio around
ten years ago I wasn't particularly impressed and thought it time for a
re-viewing now the DVD has been released, but both aspects have proved rather
a let-down.
It's one of those contrived plots where an incident - in this case a murder
at The Presidio military ground - brings together two warring parties - in this
case Lt. Col. Alan Caldwell (Sean Connery) and Police Inspector
Jay Austin (Mark Harmon) who fell out when the elder one ensured the
younger one was forced out of the military police a few years ago - but the
only way they'll crack this particular case is by working together and just
to add to the predictability, Austin's in love... with Donna (Meg Ryan),
who just so happens to be Connery's daughter! Zzzzzzzzzzz....
And Jack Warden plays Sgt. Major Ross Maclure, one of those dumb
creatures that just HAS to fight for truth, justice and the American way and allows himself to get shot dead just
to help his Vietnam friend Connery. I hate it when characters in films think
so little of themselves that they'll just give up their life just like that.
What lets it down, like with
48 Hours,
is the quality of the picture. Although in the original 2.35:1 widescreen
ratio, there are dropouts and flecks on the print all over the place and it's
not anamorphic. Thanks to that latter note, some brainiac at Paramount placed
the subtitles at the bottom of the screen, partly in the black bars, so if you
want to read the subtitles AND zoom the picture in to fill a widescreen TV...
you can't! And to think they solved this with
Another 48 Hours
and now they've dropped the ball again!
So many DVDs have done this and I really can't understand their thinking.
Do they just not care at all? Even if I had to watch a non-anamorphic picture,
it's less of a bind if they'll just place the subtitles WITHIN the 16:9
picture area.
The average bitrate is a middle-of-the-road and fairly steady 5.84Mb/s.
To add insult to injury the only extra, a 2½-minute theatrical trailer
voiced by "Mr. Deep Voice" Don La Fontaine, *IS* anamorphic,
but cropped to 16:9.
The sound is in a remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack for English only
and, while it has a few good moments, it sounds too muffled at times.
The French, German, Italian and Spanish languages are in Dolby Surround,
while the Hungarians just get plain mono.
Subtitles come in 17 languages: English (and hard of hearing), Arabic,
Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian,
Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. The disc has a
mere 18 chapters. It'll do, but it's nothing to shout about and the menus are
static and silent.
Overall, this release is certainly not worth the full £19.99. Time to
start up a budget range for DVDs like this.
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