P.J. is a neo-noir crime mystery thriller from 1968 directed by the great John Guillerman(King Kong ‘76) and starring George Peppard(The Blue Max) and screen legend Raymond Burr(Perry Mason). For those who have seen The Long Goodbye, Busting and Shadows of an Empty Room, P.J. has similar elements.
New York private eye “P.J.” Peter Joseph Detweiler (Peppard) is going through a difficult period in his life, barely surviving, running low on cash, accepts a job as a bodyguard job for a wealthy woman Maureen Preble (Gayle Hunnicutt, The Legend of Hell House). She is the mistress of a crooked millionaire William Orbison (Raymond Burr) and is getting attacked and threatened by his wife. Unfortunately for P.J., he is just a pawn in a deadly game that Orbison and Preble are playing, involving murder. P.J. ends up being framed for murder of Orbison’s business partner Jason (Jason Evers, The Brain that Wouldn’t Die). Once he is released, he wants to know who was behind him being set up, slowly learning what Orbison was planning.
This is an entertaining thrill ride of a film with lots of great dialog exchanges, a crazy fight in a gay bar, a funny scene with a pizza and some shocking bloody gun violence. Raymond Burr who often played the heavy in various Noirs during the forties and fifties did not lose a step recreating a somewhat similar role. George Peppard was also fantastic with his corny one-liners and smooth talking, witty performance. Gayle Hunnicutt hands in a spectacular performance as a sexy mistress femme-fetale type, while the remaining cast including Brock Peters, Wilfred Hyde-White, Coleen Gray were also excellent in their roles. The catchy musical score is by Neal Hefti, which will sit in your head days after you have watched the film. Shot in Cinemascope by Academy Award Winning Cinematographer Loyal Griggs, the New York scenery is a marvel to watch, adding more enjoyment to watching the film.
Kino Lorber unearths P.J. for what is the film’s first ever release on home video. The movie has been given a 2K master on a dual-layered BD-50 disc. The ‘PQ’ for P.J. is top-notch. The image is overall pleasing with great with rich, deep colors. Reds look especially strong here. Film grain is present, and no DNR has been applied.
The English DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track, which is a standard with Kino Lorber releases is perfectly fine with dialog and various sounds from the film coming in clear. Optional English subtitles are available.
Kino has provided a few extras for this release. There is an audio commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell, who once again give their insight and knowledge about the cast and crew of P.J. Their commentary tracks are always worth a listen.
As with just about all Kino Lorber releases, there are several theatrical trailers for your enjoyment including P.J., Torbuk, The Groundstar Conspiracy, Newman’s Law, Race for the Yankee Zephyr and Death on the Nile
An image gallery is the other extra on this Blu-ray.
P.J. was a lot of fun to watch and I would call it an overlooked gem. Now on home video for the first time ever, with excellent audio and video quality, this is a recommended release! Kudos to Kino for getting this film out for movie fanatics to enjoy!
P.J.
Director- John Guillermin
Cast- George Peppard, Raymond Burr
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Kino Lorber
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date- 12/7/20