George Peppard - New Blu-Ray Releases From Kino Lorber

[AndyDursin]

P.J.
7/10

GROUNDSTAR CONSPIRACY
6.5/10

NEWMAN'S LAW
5/10

George Peppard's interesting career spanned from headlining '60s dramas “The Carpetbaggers” and “The Blue Max” to a crossover of films and TV in the '70s, leading to his starring in the classic Stephen J. Cannell series “The A-Team” for NBC in the early/mid '80s.

Three of Peppard's vehicles for Universal are new to Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber this month, each offering something unique for genre enthusiasts.

P.J. (109 mins., 1968) is a lively quasi-noir about a New York City detective (Peppard) who gets crossed up with a millionaire (Raymond Burr) and his mistress (Gayle Hunnicutt). Location filming and a melodic, seriously raucous Neal Hefti score – what a shame nobody got around to releasing this – are the strongest assets in this John Guillermin-directed piece that offers late '60s period atmosphere and a conventional noir plot, enlivened by supporting appearances from Susan Saint James, Wilfrid Hyde-White and Brock Peters. Kino Lorber's Blu-Ray hails from a superb 2K master (2.35) with the trailer, an image gallery, and a commentary by Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell on-hand.

The '70s were filled with paranoid thrillers like “Three Days of the Condor” and “The Parallax View.” Preceding them was Peppard's 1972 effort THE GROUNDSTAR CONSPIRACY (95 mins., PG), a mostly satisfying widescreen affair starring Michael Sazzarin as an amnesia-ridden assassin who just destroyed a top-secret government research facility. While he attempts to figure out his own identity, he's pursued by a secret agent (Peppard) and romanced by a young woman (Christine Belford) who may, or may not, know more than she's letting on. Paul Hoffert's score and Lamont Johnson's direction occasionally employ blasts of dated bombast to throw the viewer off-kilter (this was '72 after all), but the underlying film is tidy and efficient, and certainly looks good to boot. Kino Lorber's Blu-Ray (2.35) includes a new 2K master with the trailer and a commentary by Daniel Kremer and critic Scout Tafoya.

With his hit series “Banacek” behind him, Peppard starred in another Universal feature, NEWMAN'S LAW (98 mins., 1974, PG), as an L.A. cop who refuses to be coerced and fights to clear his reputation after being set up by drug dealers for embezzlement and murder. This is the least engaging of the three pictures, perhaps no surprise since it was configured as a TV movie that Universal opted to release to theaters instead. It does have Abe Vigoda as a mob boss and a wocka-wocka Robert Prince score, but the plot plays by the book and Richard T. Heffron's helming is strictly standard-issue. Still a rarely-screened film with scant home video appearances, cult fans may warm to “Newman's Law” just the same. Kino Lorber's 2K master (1.85) looks good with four radio spots, the trailer, and commentary from critic Peter Tonguette offering insight into the production.