It’s the mid seventies and the USA is at war in Vietnam. President Richard (Dick) Nixon’s (Dan Hedaya) popularity is at an all time low and he’s embroiled in what becomes known as the world famous "Watergate Scandel"

During a school excursion Betsy and Arlene take a slight detour from the group and and bump in Gordon Liddy(Harry Shearer) (who they bumped into previously in the Watergate stairwell on the night of the robbery..hmmmm) but the girls can’t quite remember who the man is. He remembers them and so gets Bob Hinderman (Dave Foley) to have a quick ‘chat’ with the girls.

During this ‘chat’ Dick makes an appearance with his faithful dog Checkers. The girls fall madly in love with checkers and before you know it the girls are dubbed the Official Whitehouse Dog Walkers!!

With Betsy’s mum’s famous Hello Dolly Cookies in hand (laced with the leaves of walnut bush!! J the girls are welcomed with open armed by most of the whitehouse staff. The highly paranoid Hinderman continually keeps a very close eye on the girls as he’s not wanting them to stumble across the secrets of the whitehouse. And before you know it, they do!!!

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?

VIDEO
Pretty much the norm from the Columbians is this gorgeous Anamorphic Widescreen Transfer.

With it’s very nice film like quality, this is a transfer that is consistently good from start to finish. Colour Saturation is solid without a trace of bleeding, and sharpness is near perfect throughout with only a slight hint of edge enhancement here and there. Black level is very good and shows a great deal of image depth and shadow detail though does fall short of perfect as it seems the level of contrast is a fraction low., certainly not to a point of distraction, but none the less it is there however small.

Just a minor complaint of this near perfect picture.

Though only running for a good 90 minutes, Dick has been spread over two layers of an RSDL DVD. The very well placed layer change occur within chapter 25 at 72:14 (it’s during the shot of Betsy behind the tree)

AUDIO
Maybe I’m getting too old, but they just don’t make music like they use to!! Dick contains a kick ass sound track with some ripper songs from the 70’s. All the songs have been very well integrated into the 5.1 Dolby Digital Mix with a nice level of surround ambience, though the front mix in confined to the left and right (centre channel not used for the music mixes it seems.but that’s fine). Incorporating a separate isolated music track in Dolby Digital 5.1, you can enjoy the music sans effects and dialogue.a major bonus indeed. (it would be great if more DVDs came with a music only track, and in 5.1… kudos CTHV for doing this on more than just one occasion)

In addition to the great music on the 5.1 mix, the remaining sound elements and also very good. The surround do get a nice workout with some great and subtle sound effects throughout. Dialogue is always clear and intelligible and very much in sync!!

EXTRAS
Complimenting this ‘interesting" film is a nice collection of extras.

Director Andrew Fleming and co-write Sheryl … join in for a nice commentary track. Maybe it’s me, but It seems these 2 have a much higher opinion of this film than I do. It’s a cute film, but certainly no Oscar winner!! J

The isolated music track is no doubt the best inclusion here. Unlike many music only tracks that have been released on DVD to date, this one is Dolby Digital 5.1 encoded, rather than plain ‘ol stereo. Granted disc space can be an issue and this is why there are far more stereo only music only tracks on DVDs, but it makes such a big difference to the sound. Much in the same way as releasing a Panned and Scanned version of a movie. You’re not getting the entire picture!!

A Bloopers reel with a few funnies, (one of which is very politically incorrect, but you gotta love Dan Hedaya! :) 11 minutes worth all 1.85:1 aspect with DD2.0 sound

A single deleted scene…yes well

Featurette : typical 5 minute jobbie

Theatrical Trailer

Talent Profiles

I guess with a film like this tanks at the box office, it’s hoped that video, laserdisc, and now DVD will help return some of it’s financial loss. And it’s also probably the reason why you get more than just a movie for the DVD.

While I can’t say I loved Dick, and wouldn't really go out of my way for more Dick, you will find that this sorta Dick does kinda grows on you after a while :) Who knows it might be the Hudson Hawk of the Naughties in a few years time. Well, maybe not!