Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy - 20th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

It's difficult to know what comedy will hold up decades later or who might be offended by jokes that were once funny but now have become uncouth. That's not the case with Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy as its comedy is timeless and still packs in the hardy laughs on a constant basis. Fans of the film still quote numerous lines from the film twenty years later. Anchorman also shot several actors to superstardom that are all household names today from the brilliant performances in this movie where it's wonderful to see just how genius they all were when starting out. But coming back to the film many years later, one element that's not talked about so much is the heart and romance of the film. The genuine charm and chemistry everyone had on set with these zany characters often get overlooked. It's very evident through the performances with Will and Christina and their love for their team and the news is the heart and soul of the film that keeps this movie chugging along in addition to the comedic dialogue. 

Our Previous Review:

Director Adam McKay is a comedy genius. He's about the only comedy director, besides Woody Allen (yes, still), whose movies I still get excited about. While the press was busy spilling tons of ink (and more misplaced raves than I can count) on Judd Apatow (who has produced three of McKay's films, it should be noted), McKay was busy making movies that were sublime and surreal. Instead of being confined to the rigid constraints of mainstream comedies, he took bold leaps into the absurd. And unlike Apatow, his movies actually looked like real movies, with visual depth and an uncanny sense of action and editorial nimbleness (the race scenes in 'Talladega Nights' almost trump the great 'Days of Thunder'… almost).

After McKay left as head writer on 'Saturday Night Live' (he oversaw the halcyon days with frequent partner Will Ferrell), he embarked on his first film: 'Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.' The movie, while not a runaway success (its $90 million gross looks like a pittance compared to 'The Hangover's $467 million) it has since earned its status as a certifiable cult classic, endlessly quoted and lovingly remembered and talked about.

'Anchorman' takes place in the 1970s (it's never really defined what year, not that it matters), and narration courtesy of Bill Kurtis lets us know that this is a golden era for newsmen. And chief amongst those newsmen is San Diego's own Ron Burgundy (Ferrell) and his team of newscasters – field reporter Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), sportscaster Champ Kind (David Koechner) and meteorologist Brick Tamland (Steve Carell). They're all, more or less, good-natured idiots and misogynists. All of this gets challenged when Veronica Corningston (Christina Applegate) shows up and takes the station by storm. Not only is she gorgeous (there's a great montage where each member of the team tries to woo her) but she's a hell of a news anchor. Their world goes topsy-turvy. Soon Ron and Veronica start a romantic relationship, which never trumps his outrage that she is seen as his equal.

Of course that all sounds very straight and if you know the movie you know that it gets a whole lot weirder than that, mostly because Ferrell and McKay are such demented madmen. There are little things that still reveal themselves after multiple viewings, stuff like the fact that every news report we see from the Channel 4 broadcast involves animals (there is never any attempt at national news) or spotting Seth Rogen in a tiny role as Veronica's field cameraman.

But this is Ferrell and McKay's show. McKay brings his gentle surrealism (Ron Burgundy has whole conversations with his dog), pointed social commentary (chauvinism vs. feminism being the movie's chief conflict), and dense visual style (this is a real period movie, not some goofy nonsense) to the scene and has enough care with his wonderful stable of actors to make the movie really unforgettable. Instead of relying solely on Judd Apatow-style riffs (although there is plenty of that, too), McKay has built an entire world from the ground up, housed with weird and wild characters.

It may have just been a tad too bizarre for the mainstream, but now it's gladly found the cult following it deserves. And McKay and Ferrell have gone on to a wonderful career, with 'Talladega Nights,' the brassy, brilliant 'Step Brothers,' this summer's 'The Other Guys,' and their Broadway show 'You're Welcome, America.' Clearly, McKay and Ferrell have followed Ron Burgundy's advice: they've stayed classy.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy reads the news via Paramount in a brand new 4K + Blu-ray + Digital Code set. The three discs are housed inside a hard, black plastic case with a cardboard sleeve. One disc contains the 4K theatrical cut of the film while the Blu-ray Disc contains both the extended cut and the theatrical cut. There is a third disc full of bonus features too. Paramount might be listening to us since someone finally changed up the artwork a bit. The cardboard sleeve features Ron himself with sunglasses looking out on America with the Channel 4 News background. The case itself features the entire cast of the news team at the news desk. 

Anchorman finally hits the upgraded 4K format with a fantastic 2160p UHD transfer with Dolby Vision that looks excellent. Has it been 14 years since the last Blu-ray release? So many technological advances in home theaters and sound have come through over the past years and this movie looks better than ever with the upgraded video quality. 

The color palette of this '70s-era film is deliberately warm with exquisite yellows, reds, pinks, oranges, and browns. The rich mahogany inside Ron's house gives off a stunning glow that contrasts nicely with the interior walls and furniture. The Dolby Vision enhances all the colors inside the news studio and the many glorious outfits the newscasters wear. From the maroon coat Ron wears to the blue Jacket champ sports on the air all look wonderful. Exteriors of green trees in the city to the blue skies of San Diego look beautiful. Night sequences reveal inky blacks with no crush or murky shadows anymore. The skin tones are always natural except for heavy makeup applications used for the newsroom to a silly effect. The light blue color of the pool scene along with the blue News 4 background has amazing shades of blue that work well with the warmer colors. 

The detail is sharper and more vivid 14 years later as well. Closeups give noticeable upticks in facial pores, individual hairs on faces and heads, makeup blemishes, and wrinkles, Even Baxter's stringy hair looks better this go-around. The textures of wool and silk in the '70s wardrobe look outstanding. Props, vehicles, and wooden fixtures all bring that necessary texture to the forefront, even the background items. There are no issues with banding, aliasing, or heavy noise either. There is a wonderful layer of filmic grain that gives the viewer that nostalgic sense of the '70s video. This video presentation is a treasure and well worth the wait.

Unfortunately, Paramount didn't want to extend the upgrade to a Dolby Atmos option. Instead, the same DTS-HD 5.1 audio mix has been transferred over. It sounds great, however, it would have been amazing to have the Dolby Atmos dazzle during the epic fight sequence. 

From Our Previous Review:

This isn't a particularly action-heavy movie (obviously), but the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix handles things nicely regardless.

'Anchorman' is a talky movie, so the emphasis of this mix is on dialogue, which means that most everything is front-and-center in the mix. But when the dialogue sounds so crisp and clear, that's fine by me. It's easier to make out some of the more subtle jokes (yes – there is subtlety – in the movie and the mix) and keep everything straight.

As far as surround sound support, there's not a whole lot of it, but when it is required, things sound bold and full. You can hear it in sequences like the aforementioned party sequence, and a large, full-scale rumble with competing news teams (a sequence which features cameos from Ben Stiller, Tim Robbins, and Luke Wilson among others). These sequences maintain a solid level of immersion and atmosphere.

Additionally, both Alex Wurman's slinky score, and the fine collection of period-specific pop songs sound really great.

There are also French Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks available, and subtitles in English SDH, French, and Spanish.

There are NO new bonus features included in this set that comes with three discs. It would have been great to have a retrospective with the cast twenty years later, however, that might have to wait for a future release. Even though there are no new bonus features, there are plenty of extras from the last Blu-ray release that are highly entertaining here. 

• Feature Commentary: This commentary features McKay, Ferrell, Andy Ritcher (who isn't in the movie but who did appear in 'Talladega Nights'), Kyle Gass (again: not in the movie), Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Christina Applegate, and, most baffling of all, American jazz legend Lou Rawls. It's Rawls who makes the best entrance saying, simply, "I'm Lou Rawls and I'm still wondering what I'm doing here." Still, that velveteen voice classes up the whole operation which while not reaching the batshit genius levels of Ferrell and McKay's musical commentary track for 'Step Brothers' (still probably the best non-Steven Soderbergh commentary track ever) is still pretty nuts. Ferrell and McKay, right out of the gate, are on fire. If there was ever such a thing as a commentary track-as-performance art, then this is it. A must listen.
• Deleted & Extended Scenes (HD, 53:56) THERE ARE SO MANY! And what's amazing is that these scenes are entirely separate from the 'Wake Up Ron Burgundy,' a movie that is made up of deleted scenes and abandoned subplots. 'Anchorman' might set some kind of world record for the sheer number of deleted scenes. I wouldn't be surprised. Some of these are pretty hilarious, others not. But if you're a super fan, they're worth slogging through.
• Bloopers (HD, 7:46) These are more straight-up outtakes than anything else and are reasonably funny.
• "Afternoon Delight" Music Video (HD, 3:50) There's a funny scene in the movie proper where Ron Burgundy and the boys have an impromptu musical moment set to Starland Vocal Band oddity "Afternoon Delight." (The one about getting busy, midday.) Well, this is a full-blown music video for the same song which, it turns out, is just as weird.
• ESPN Audition (HD, 1:55) This is a funny little bit with Ron Burgundy auditioning to be an anchor for upstart sports channel ESPN (which is actually chronologically accurate - the network began in 1979). This is only halfway amusing but he lets some good zingers fly, stuff like "Who would want to watch a 24-hour sports channel?" Yuk yuk yuk…
• 'Wake Up, Ron Burgundy' (HD, 1:32:53) The most special of all special features is the full-length 'Wake Up, Ron Burgundy,' a movie comprised of outtakes and abandoned subplots that they couldn't fit into the actual movie. This is a startling piece, not only for how well it works, in that distinctly oddball Ferrell-McKay way, but in the amount of big-time actors that were cut, entirely from the feature film (people like Maya Rudolph, Chuck D, and Justin Long). It's really amazing that this film, a curio that was packaged with the original film for a limited time and has since been relegated to eBay and other secondhand locations, has been given a new life with the "Rich Mahogany" Blu-ray. You're not an 'Anchorman' diehard if you haven't seen 'Wake Up, Ron Burgundy.'
• Intro-Commentary: This is so weird! It's a small, maybe twenty-minute "intro-commentary" for 'Wake Up, Ron Burgundy' by Will Ferrell and "third listed executive producer" Aaron Zimmerman (aka Adam McKay doing a crazy character). You will giggle extensively; well worth a listen.
• PSAs (HD, 3:41) These are brief, hilarious public service announcements addressing the concerns of the time (chiefly: hippies). Very funny stuff.
• Awards Speech (HD, 3:12) I'm not even sure what this was for, either part of the movie or some other throwaway bit, but anyway, it's Ron Burgundy picking up some kind of basic news award several years in a row and, predictably, making an ass out of himself.
• MTV Movie Award Interviews (HD, 10:14) For the MTV Movie Awards one year, they had Ron Burgundy interviewing famous people: Burt Reynolds, Rebecca Romijin, and Jim Caviezel. The Burt Reynolds interview is the funniest, but the Jim Caviezel segment is worth watching just for his weird hair. This might be proof that you can just drop the Ron Burgundy character into any situation and it'll be funny.
• Specials Included in this section are three, electronic press kit-style bits. "Cinemax: The Making of Anchorman" (HD, 9:29) and "Comedy Central Reel Comedy - Anchorman" (HD, 8:31) both cover similar ground and are both so indistinguishable that I can't really distinguish between them, and I just watched them both. Somewhat more interesting is "A Conversation with Ron Burgundy" (HD, 16:41), which is done as a kind of informal interview/lecture, hosted by 'Anchorman' narrator Bill Kurtis.
• Rehearsals (HD, 9:09) Are more bits of the very talented cast improvising. I believe this is the section where you watch David Koechner fumble the famous "I shit a squirrel" speech, over and over again, which is sort of a delight.
• Playback Video (HD, 5:10) These are videos made for the "remote" news stories. Watch, as David Wain, director of 'Role Models' and member of the hilarious comedy troupe Stella, walks behind Paul Rudd and makes a disparaging remark about his smell! Damn that musky Sex Panther!
• Commercial Break (HD, 2:04) More funny nonsense. If you are going through all of the special features, you might be a little exhausted at this point, and if so, it wouldn't be a crime to skip this.

Twenty years ago, this small comedy film about a news team in the '70s took the world by storm. It launched the careers of several notable actors today and continues to be one of the most-quoted movies ever released. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is still laugh-out-loud funny and features some of the funniest performances from the top names in the comedy field. It has a ton of heart too. The new 4K video with Dolby Vision has this film looking the best it ever has. The previous DTS-HD 5.1 audio mix and its treasure trove of bonus features are all wonderful, even though there are no new ones to be enjoyed. But the 4K version of one of the funniest movies has arrived, so everyone cannonballs into the pool and gets this release, because it's HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!