Review: Madigan
Blu-ray: Madigan (1968)
Directed by Don Siegel and starring Hollywood legends Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda, this hard edged crime thriller set in Spanish Harlem bridges the gap between classic film noir and the gritty police procedurals of the 1970s.
Widmark plays the titular Detective Daniel Madigan, who along with his partner Detective Rocco Bonaro (Harry Guardino) are given just 24 hours to find a killer who stole their guns in a bust that went wrong and is using those guns to kill whomever gets in his way. All of this happening while Commissioner Anthony Russell (Fonda) tries to keep his precinct in order as lies and deceit within it come to his attention.
The location shooting in New York adds a layer of gritty realism to the entire movie, while Siegel eschews car chases and gunfights (except for a nail biting final scene) for interrogations and affairs…which most of the characters seem to be having, all of them juggling their personal and professional lives in a seemingly endless 72 hours where sleep is the least important of all things.
Hard hitting and tense throughout, Madigan can be seen as a precursor to Dirty Harry which Siegel went on to direct just 3 years later.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:
- High Definition remaster
- Original mono audio
- Audio commentary with writers and film experts Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman (2022)
- Cinéma cinémas: Richard Widmark (1983, 8 mins): the celebrated actor talks about his career in this extract from the French television programme
- Super 8 version: cutdown home cinema presentation
- Isolated music & effects track
- Original theatrical trailer
- Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Limited edition exclusive 36-page booklet with a new essay by Elena Lazic, an archival interview with Don Siegel, an extract from the director’s autobiography, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
- UK premiere on Blu-ray
- Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK
Release date: 12 September 2022.
Review by Dave from a disc kindly supplied by Powerhouse Films.