THE FURY

The film opens in the Middle East in the summer of 1977, where secret agent Peter (Kirk Douglas) is on holiday with his long-time colleague Ben (John Cassavetes). Also in tow is Peter's teenaged son Robin (Andrew Stevens), who is about to be taken by Ben to a specialist school in Chicago which will help develop his extraordinary telekinetic skills.

As Peter and Ben amicably part company, Arabic gunmen appear on the roofs of nearby buildings and open fire on Peter. Ben manages to keep Robin out of the line of fire until this ugly scene is over, and then ushers the kid away, leaving him with the belief that his father has been murdered.

But Peter has survived this attack, and later manages to strike a bullet into Ben's arm, upon witnessing his collusion with his would-be assassins. Peter is forced into hiding following this turn of events, but remains hell-bent on tracing his son - and getting even with his old pal Ben ...

A year passes, and the story transports us to Chicago. Here we meet the comely Gillian (Amy Irving). She's a likeable kid who doesn't realise the extent of her physic abilities until she has a run-in with a bully at school and inadvertently causes the bitch's nose to bleed profusely.

Gillian is upset by this revelation and begs her mother to let her enrol into the specialised Paragon institute, renowned for its munificent research into all things ESP-related. The mother relents upon meeting gracious institute head Jim (Charles Durning), and Gillian quickly settles in to her new regime of mild-mannered testing.

But guess what? This institute happens to be the place where Robin was originally taken to, and is constantly overseen by its nefarious benefactor, Ben.

Ben takes an interest in Gillian’s apparent powers, hoping to exploit her for secret government gains in much the same way that he did with Robin. Though Jim tries to protect the girl by claiming she’s a fake, Ben continues to sniff around the institute in the hope of getting her on side.

In the meantime, his henchmen are in constant pursuit of Peter, who has also been led to Chicago by a contact who’s suggested Gillian may share a psychic connection with his missing-presumed-dead son.

Is Robin alive? If so, can Peter trust his lover Hester (Carrie Snodgress) to infiltrate the institute and arrange a secret meeting between him and Gillian? Or will Ben and his evil cronies fulfil their dastardly plans, whatever they may be, first?

THE FURY is a manically paced 2 hour film, filled with action set-pieces such as roof-top chase sequences, bloody shoot-outs and horror-tinged displays of telekinetic showmanship. It’s populated by a wealth of characters, some who pass by fleetingly, and a storyline that constantly flits between the plights of Peter, Gillian and Ben: it is, at times, dizzying.

Director Brian De Palma adapted John Farris’ novel (Farris wrote the screenplay too) in 1977, hot on the heels of his success with another telekinetic literary adaptation, CARRIE. While THE FURY doesn’t share that film’s focus and - in replacing the latter’s sympathetic title character with a heady mix of action, comedy and grisliness - lacks its predecessor’s emotional impact, it still manages to divert effortlessly while further demonstrating the director’s love of pure cinema.

Each scene is beautifully framed and composed. De Palma wisely reins his penchant for split-screen effects here, but throws virtually everything else into the mix: slow-motion; virtuoso camera-work; breathless dolly work, and much more.

Performances are enjoyably broad throughout. Douglas strikes an odd balance between the tormented father and comic relief, though his charisma is such that he pulls both styles off with equal aplomb. Irving is a little too wet to root for; Durning and Stevens are both underused. Cassavetes, meanwhile, is as entertainingly sinister as ever. Despite it being common knowledge that he appeared in the film simply to help fund his own highly personal directorial efforts, his inclusion here helps the film tremendously.

A young Dennis Franz is on hand as a cop whose new car is amusingly trashed by a desperate Peter; William Finley is barely recognisable as Peter’s early contact. James Belushi even figures in an uncredited blink-and-you’ll-miss-it role as a beachgoer.

Elsewhere, the film is ably supported by Richard H Kline’s sumptuous cinematography and John Williams’ excellent, sweeping score.

My biggest beef about this otherwise thoroughly enjoyable slice of typically paranoid 70s escapism, is that it all feels a little crammed-in and messy. Oh, and the explosive (pun intended) finale, while justifiably renowned, ends so abruptly that you can’t help but feel a yearning for closure as the end titles roll.

Arrow Films Video's blu-ray of THE FURY looks magnificent. The original 1.85:1 aspect ratio has been respected in this MPEG4-AVC file and the 1080p HD transfer - struck from the original negative - can seldom be faulted. Images are bright, natural, detailed and vivid: odd moments of grainy noise during some of the darkest scenes are not enough to taint the fact that, overall, the presentation here is remarkable.

English audio comes in options of 4.0 Master Audio (the original theatrical mix), a lossless mono mix and an equally nice stereo ‘isolated score’ alternative. They're all great, as are the easily readable optional English subtitles for the Hard-of-Hearing.

The disc opens to an animated main menu page. From there, pop-up menus include a scene-selection menu allowing access to the film via 12 chapters.

Extras begin with "Blood on the Lens", in which Kline discusses his working relationship with De Palma on set of the film, over the course of 27 minutes.

"Spinning Tales" sees co-star Fiona Lewis (THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS) still looking good, and all-too-willing to discuss her career before and around the time of THE FURY’s shoot. She explains why she was initially reluctant to sign up to the film, elaborates on De Palma’s working habits and even describes injuries sustained during one scene that was shot but never made it into the final film. This runs for 13 minutes in length.

"A Location Journal" is better still. In it, fellow director Sam Irvin recounts the experiences of his 8 days spent on the set of the film. He remembers observing a young Rick Baker at work on the FX, Irving coming clean about her lover’s famous identity, De Palma’s committed work ethic and much more. This is a fact-filled, interesting 49-minute memoir.

Sticking with Irvin, his own 18-minute short film DOUBLE NEGATIVE from 1985 is also included. It’s an enjoyably stylish thriller about a director who must salvage the last print of his beloved latest horror film before it gets destroyed as part of an intended insurance scam.

Also featuring Finley, Irvin’s debut pays blatant homage to many De Palma tropes, and its inclusion makes perfect sense on this disc.

Four archive interviews ensue. Despite some of the mono dialogue coming across as muffled on occasion, these are great additions to an already impressive disc. We get an FX-heavy chat with De Palma (6 minutes); producer Frank Yablans’ more commercial slant (7 minutes); an amiable talk with Irving (5 minutes); an agreeable chat with Snodgress (5 minutes).

A short stills gallery (53 seconds) and the film’s original theatrical trailer round off this impressive set of extras.

Also included in this set but not available for review purposes are double-sided cover art, and a collectors’ booklet containing interviews with De Palma and Farris.

Review by Stuart Willis