http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106677/


Dazed and Confused appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. A few flaws crept nto the presentation, but Dazed usually looked good.

No real problems with sharpness occurred. A couple of minor instances of softness popped up, but they went by quickly and caused no issues. Instead, the movie mostly was accurate and concise. I saw no concerns with jagged edges or shimmering, and only minor edge enhancement appeared. Print flaws popped up occasionally, with most of them obvious in the movie’s early parts. Those scenes showed more grain than usual along with some specks and grit. I saw some examples of those elements in subsequent scenes, but they showed up much less frequently, and the movie usually was clean.

Dazed went with a pretty natural palette, though with a moderately garish Seventies tone. The DVD replicated the tones well. The colors were consistently lively and fresh, with only a little runniness at times. Blacks were dense and firm, while shadows seemed concise and well developed. Too many modest issues showed up for me to give Dazed more than a “B”, but it remained a pretty solid presentation.

Similar thoughts greeted the soundtracks of Dazed and Confused. The movie featured both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 mixes. I noticed little to differentiate the pair, as both offered very similar audio.

Given the film’s budget and scope, I didn’t expect much from the soundfields, and they developed along anticipated lines. The front speakers heavily dominated, and music played the most important role up there. The film used period songs almost constantly, and they showed good stereo delineation. Effects mostly stayed in the realm of general ambience, as they offered a nice feeling of place and setting. Occasionally we got a little more than that, such as during the mailbox destruction scene, but usually we stayed with modest environmental material. The surrounds lightly supported those elements and that was about it.

Audio quality was fine. Dialogue consistently came across as natural and distinctive, with no signs of edginess or problems connected to intelligibility. Effects appeared accurate and crisp. They didn’t often tax things, but they were clean. Music varied dependent on the source. Some songs appeared vibrant and lively, while some others seemed somewhat muddy and flat. The majority of the tunes appeared well defined, though. Overall, the tracks weren’t scintillating but they functioned fine for this style of movie.

Only a few extras round out this “Flashback Edition”. We locate nine deleted scenes. All together, they last 14 minutes and 26 seconds. We see more exposition about the antagonism between the seniors and the rising freshmen, and there’s also a snippet that makes Benny look like a racist. There’s also some general chatter among various groups of girls as well as more at the movie-ending party. Only the clip where Benny complains about Asians really needed to get the boot, as it changed the tone of the film. The rest of the stuff seems decent but probably was cut for time and redundancy.

The Blunt Truth goes for four minutes, 23 seconds. It presents a fake anti-marijuana film. At best it’s cute, but it’s not very interesting.

Two retro public service announcements appear. We get “VD Is For Everybody” and “Crying Indian”, two TV spots from the Seventies. Anyone who grew up in the era will remember the anti-pollution commercial with the Indian, but the VD one is new to me. Finally, text production notes discuss Linklater’s personal inspirations for the film and its music. The information’s decent but brief.

The DVD opens with some Previews. These include ads for Quantum Leap, Seed of Chucky, and the new DVDs of Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore.

Scads of movies have looked at the shenanigans of teenagers, so its focus doesn’t make Dazed and Confused special. What helps it stand out from the crowd? Its looseness, lack of artificial emphasis on plot, and its casual humor allow it to rise above the usual genre restrictions. The DVD presents pretty good picture and audio but skimps on extras. It includes some decent deleted scenes but otherwise comes without substantial supplements. Nonetheless, it’s a fun flick and worth a look.