Madigan

Director– Donald Siegel

Starring – Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens

Released by: Kino Lorber Studio Classics

Number of Discs - 1

Reviewed by - David Steigman

Date- 12/18/2019

There is something compelling and special when a film has at least two or more mega-stars in it. Legendary Hollywood actors Henry Fonda and Richard Widmark, who were in some of the greatest films during the classic era when dramas and Film Noirs were peaking, star in the 1968 thriller Madigan. Based on 1962 novel The Commissioner by Richard Dougherty, Madigan is your basic ‘cops versus gangsters’ type of film, except at this point in our cinematic history, more riskier scenes were being shot, with the bar being raised when it comes to inclusion gore and nudity.

Taking place New York City, Madigan’s main plot focuses on two detectives, Daniel Madigan (Richard Widmark, Night and the City) and Rocco Bonaro(Harry Guardino, Dirty Harry) are given 72 hours by Commissioner Anthony Russell (Henry Fonda ,Fail-Safe, The Grapes of Wrath) to capture a hoodlum Barney Benesch (Steve Ihnat, In Like Flint) who is wanted for homicide. At the beginning of the film, the two detectives actually had caught up with Benesch but he outsmarted them and was able to escape and taking their own guns, making them look like goofs. While the hunt for Benesch Madigan’s wife Julia lets her husband know she’s tired of feeling neglected and being left alone. Julia’s loneliness is causing her in her having thoughts of looking elsewhere for love and nearly an affair with a Police Captain. And top of that, Commissioner Russell is also having relationship problems as his married mistress Tricia Clark (Susan Bentley, Porky’s) has filed for a divorce, plus his long-time friend, Chief Inspector Charles Kane(James Whitmore, Them!) has become corrupt as he’s receiving bribes to protect a place for prostitutes.

Director Don Siegel, the man responsible for the timeless 1956 classic science fiction film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and other superior films including Dirty Harry, Charley Varrick and Telefon has once again hit a home run with Madigan. His directorial magic has made another classic and stands out among other similar films during this time period. The acting is marvelous, with the cast, which has a few zany characters, a midget bookie Castiglione (Michael Dunn) and Benesch’s pimp Hughie (Josh Stroud) hand in excellent performances. The literate story, with some great subplots, along with the excellent cinematography by Russell Metty and the film’s steady pacing results in Madigan being one terrific crime drama.

Madigan, a title that is part of Kino Lorber’s licensing deal makes its long awaited debut on Blu-ray. The video quality for the movie is superb. The colors are vivid, bold and deep, especially reds and greys. The suits, police uniforms and other apparel the actors wear look especially rich in high definition. Daylight scenes look fantastic with clear blue skies and robust shots of New York City. Scenes that take place inside, such as police stations, are also finely detailed with deep textures. Skin tones look accurate and film-like. No DNR appears to have been applied and print damage is at a minimum. The image easily surpasses the DVD.

The English DTS-HD master 2.0 audio track sounds perfectly fine with dialog, musical score by Don Costa and other acting noises, mainly gunshots, coming in flawlessly. The action shots tend to sound a bit louder, as is the cast in most Blu-ray releases. No hissing or drop-offs were detected.

The Kino Blu-ray has some supplements as well; there is a new audio commentary by film historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson. It’s an enthusiastic commentary with lots of trivial and other behind the scenes information. Commentaries done by those who have a great passion for film make them all the better; this one being essential to listen to! TV Spots and theatrical trailers for Madigan, Charley Varrick and The Black Windmill consist of the remaining supplements.

I can easily say that this release from Madigan is recommended, and we should be thankful that Universal has been licensing out titles more and more. Hopefully this trend will continue in the future.