Hatari! - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Nostalgia can have a bite. The danger of revisiting an old favorite after years away is that it might not live up to the cherished recollections. Such is the case with my latest viewing of John Wayne and Howard Hawks’ Hatari! and revisiting a film I hadn’t seen in decades. I don’t recall how young I was when I first caught this film, but I was young enough to be impressed by the shot-on-location animal hunts, the vivid cinematography, and some of the larger-than-life personalities. At a guess, it’s been the better side of 25 years or longer since I saw this film and that nostalgic bite clapped back. It’s not as great as I remembered and it’s also a lot longer and slower than I recall, but there's enough fun to be had with the great cast and rip-roaring action sequences. 

Our great Hollywood-produced animal hunt features Marion Robert Morrison as John Wayne pretending to be big-game hunter Sean Mercer. Mercer and his team are responsible for filling orders from zoos and circuses and with their elaborate operation, they rundown the various critters, wrangle them, and ship them off to their new homes away from the bosom of Mother Nature. After “The Indian” (Bruce Cabot) is gored by a black rhino and needs to recuperate, the team is waylaid trying to train up a new man called Chips (Gerard Blain) and make room for photojournalist Dallas (Elsa Martinelli). While they try to keep up with orders, tension breaks out between the men as they fight for the affection of local gal Brandy (Michele Girardon). But once "The Indian" is back on his feet, it’s time to take down that big black rhino and salvage their season.

True to form, Hawks delivers some deliciously exciting action sequences for Hatari! along with his usual blend of romance and humor. While a lot of the close-ups of our Wayne and our key cast members were captured in the safety of a studio with a rear projector running the landscape, a lot was actually shot on location in Tanganyika (Tanzania today) . It’s the raw realism of these moments that makes you feel like you’re about to be trampled by some wild animal and then run over by a truck or Jeep. 

Hawks was also a master at deft sexual interplay between his male and female cast members. You don’t need to look far for a great example, but Rio Bravo and The Thing from Another World immediately spring to mind. Much of Hatari! plays to the combined strengths of Wayne and Hawks in their prime. 

The problem is Hatari! gets bogged down, repeatedly. Whenever the men aren’t on the hunt rounding up zebras or other animals. The relative motion of the film’s pace comes to a dead stop. Without a centralized human villain to avert, no real mythical beast to avoid or hunt down, it’s left to the pinings of horney men over two beautiful women. And that’s just not enough drama or interest to hold the vast two-hour and thirty-seven-minute run time. There’s comfort padding, then there is the sort of Sealy Posturepedic padding that few films can escape. By the time we get to the climax, it’s quite an effort to get that sense of adventure and excitement going again. 

Hatari! might not live up to my rose-colored boyhood nostalgic memories, but I admit to having a fun time revisiting it. It’s not a great film and there are certainly some repetitively dull stretches, but when the hunt is on, the show is a great ride. Hawks and Wayne made other better films together (even if three of them are virtually the same film). Some beautiful location photography and action sequences are the saving graces making this adventure worth checking out. I’ll have to give it a couple more revisits to see if some of that childhood nostalgia returns but for now, at the very least, I’d say Hatari! is a flawed but damned fun flick. 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Kino Lorber Studio Classics screams Hatari! on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray. A Two-disc 4K UHD set, the 4K is pressed on a Region Free BD100 disc with a BD50 serving up 1080p. The discs are housed in a standard sturdy two-disc case with an identical paper slipcover. The discs load to a static image main menu with standard navigation options.

Reportedly sourced from a fresh new 4K scan of the original camera negative, KLSC actually does a pretty damned impressive job handling Paramount’s Hatari! in 2160p with Dolby Vision and HDR10. In my main review, I mentioned how easy it was to spot the differences in the close-up and wide shots during the hunt scenes because you can really see how clear and obvious they were shooting for safety but at the same time, equally putting the cast in danger! Facial features, costumes, the Tanzanian locations, and the wild animals, are all on display with great detail. Film grain is rendered well with a nice cinematic veneer without looking overly processed, sharpened, or smoothed. Some of the optical effects and transitions can look a tad rough around the edges, but for a 62-year-old film, that’s to be expected. Given this is a Paramount title, I was a little worried about grain management, but there doesn’t appear to be anything outwardly off about that. The bitrate stays high and even-keeled. There are a couple of oddly soft shots where details don’t quite come to life and the grain can look a tad smeary, but they’re thankfully brief. Those moments are usually after a dissolve or transition so they could be leftover optical remnants that might have been touched up for this new master. 

And as I mentioned in the main review, I haven’t seen this film since I was probably around 12 or 15 (at least 25 years) so I have no basis of comparison in my collection. I understand the previous Blu-ray from 2014 wasn’t much to look at. So on the basis of just this viewing experience, this disc is quite good. Dolby Vision brings out the bright vivid natural colors, and primaries have plenty of pop. Black levels are generally well resolved. Some of the nighttime conversations at the camp can have a fairly dead background but avoid any serious crush issues. The image displays a very impressive sense of depth making those animal chase sequences all the more exhilarating. 

On the audio front, the film comes in with a pair of listening options, DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0. Sampling between them, I’d have to give the 5.1 the edge. It’s fuller and more robust and impactful for those big hunting scenes. Since they’re the best moments of the film, I felt the extra channel spread and spacing were fun assets for the track. Compared to the 2.0 mix, I felt like the levels were a tad low and it just didn’t match the same impact. It served better in the quieter conversational moments. I had a hard time discerning if this was a mixdown of the 5.1 track, if it is it wouldn’t surprise me. Overall both tracks do well for the film, I just enjoyed my time with the 5.1 mix better. Dialog for both tracks is clear and the Mancini score is nicely robust and prioritized on both tracks.

Bonus features aren’t the most robust assortment ever assembled, but this lone commentary track is certainly worth a listen. Julie Kirgo partnered with Peter Hankoff to bring a lot of interesting history trivia and perspective to the track. As the lone bonus feature of substance, it’s well worth the listen after the show is over. 

4K UHD Disc 

• Audio Commentary featuring film historians Julie Kirgo and Peter Hankoff
• Theatrical Trailer 

Blu-ray Disc

• Audio Commentary featuring film historians Julie Kirgo and Peter Hankoff
• Theatrical Trailer 
• KLSC Trailer Gallery:
• The Shepherd of the Hills
• Reap the Wild Wind
• Legend of the Lost
• Jet Pilot
• The Horse Soldiers
• Brannigan
• Man’s Favorite Sport?

John Wayne and Howard Hawks made some great films together, four of them Westerns. Hatari! obviously isn’t one of their westerns, nor is it among their best efforts - but it’s still an entertaining film. Perhaps too long in the tooth with too much downtime padding, the film is at its best when our cast isn’t clumsily trying to pitch woo and instead are trying to run down and capture a wild creature. The hunt sequences save the film from the depths of mediocrity for a feature worth checking out. It might not fully live to my childhood memories, but I can’t deny I had fun and will be giving it another look soon. As to KLSC’s new 4K disc, color me impressed. The Dolby Vision transfer is a lively vivid work with clear details and bold colors. The audio is strong and the commentary track is a worthwhile listen. All told, I have to call this one Recommended. 
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