Revolver

Blue Underground has produced a DVD that is guaranteed to please Italian crime film fans with Revolver. The video offers a sharp, colorful transfer that restores the film to its anamorphic widescreen glory. Audio is limited to a single English mono soundtrack: it would have been nice to have an Italian-with-subtitles option (especially given the occasionally amateurish quality of the English dubbing) but this is a solid sountrack that delivers the audio clearly and makes effective use of Ennio Morricone's atmospheric musical score. Blue Underground fleshes out this quality presentation with a nice array of extras. First up are a pair of trailers: both use essentially the same set of clips, but the European trailer favors a dialogue-free "music and visuals" approach while the American trailer is steeped in hard-boiled narration that declares Revolver "makes Death Wish look like wishful thinking." There are also a pair of American radio spots that utilize the same amusing hard-sell approach. However, the best extra is a 14-minute retrospective documentary featuring interviews with director Sergio Sollima and actor Fabio Testi: both men fondly discuss memories of working with Oliver Reed and Sollima discusses how his filmmaking philosophy influenced his politically-charged treatment of the story. All in all, this DVD of Revolver offers a thoughtful presentation of a lesser-known genre title and is a good example of the general quality of Blue Underground's output.