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Abe Vigoda

Abe Vigoda

6 films on Best Blurays2 in 4K3 in HD1 with no official release

Abe Vigoda photo

Tall, dour-faced and slouch-shouldered character actor Abraham Charles Vigoda (February 24, 1921 – January 26, 2016) proved himself in both gritty dramatic roles, and as an actor with wonderful comedic timing. Vigoda was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Lena (Moses) and Samuel Vigoda, both Russian Jewish immigrants. His father was a tailor on the Lower East Side. He made his first stage appearance at the age of 17 and plodded away in small theater shows for over 20 years. For the majority of film-goers, Vigoda first came to prominence in The Godfather (1972) as the double-crossing Tessio, pleading with Robert Duvall to get him off the hook "for old times' sake." He also appeared in its sequel. Vigoda had roles in a few nondescript TV films before landing the plum part of Sgt. Phil Fish on the brilliant sitcom Barney Miller (1974). Perhaps his best known role, Sgt. Fish proved popular enough to be spun off to his own (short-lived) series Fish (1977). With his long face and unusual looks, Vigoda remained in high demand in mafioso-type roles, and for a while in the mid-1980s, he was mistakenly believed to have been dead, leading producers to remark, "I need an Abe Vigoda type actor," not realizing Vigoda was still alive and well. The 1990s and beyond became busy again for him, with appearances in North (1994), The Misery Brothers (1995), A Brooklyn State of Mind (1998), and Crime Spree (2003). He continued acting into his 90s, surprising audiences with his entertaining style. Abe Vigoda died in his sleep on January 26, 2016 in Woodland Park, New Jersey.

Biography from TMDB

Supporting role · Directors: Bruce Timm & Eric Radomski

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Caveat: the 1.33:1 ratio is NOT included. HDR is sometimes bright.

Best Audio:
Additional Info:

4K Blu-ray has various issues holding it back despite the new scan. No Academy ratio version is included. The new remix audio is louder, harsher and nowhere near as good as the original. The original option on the 4K Blu-ray is processed and sounds lackluster. The LaserDisc sounds best by far with the Warner Archive Blu-ray coming in a close second.

Supporting role · Director: John Patrick Shanley

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Small role · Director: Francis Ford Coppola

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount 2008 Blu-ray Coppola Restoration

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2008 Blu-ray lossy mono

Audio Notes:

(Britain release only has 5.1)

Additional Info:

The Paramount 4K "restoration" is a desecration. It has completely revisionist color timing, harsh HDR, treatment of stock footage, bad encoding, selective DNR and grain management so bad that the entire screen frequently freezes up with only characters moving around in grain soup. It is so bad that the film's restorer Robert Harris publicly washed his hands of it saying essentially the 2007 restoration (with Willis and Coppola supervising) is how the film was intended and made. This is Paramount's modern version done their way. The new 1080p SDR Blu-rays in print are the crap 4K desecration master with the same problems still there just harder to spot and with crap encodes.
The mono option is an unnecessarily processed version of the lossy mono from the 2008 Blu-ray. The 2008 Blu-ray of the 2007 Coppola Restoration while an imperfect outdated disc is LIGHT YEARS better than this 4K desecration. The only truly major issue is that it is very slightly redder than the 2007 finished master as seen on DCPs. The lossy mono on the 2008 Blu-ray is the best version of the original mix known to exist as it is better than the late 80's mastering for VHS and LaserDisc.
DFIC review of the hideous crap 4K Blu-rays: https://youtu.be/0uw6-Kcy_UA?si=ob1nDg0wTCvemjH0

Small role · Director: Larry Cohen

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Small role · Director: Francis Ford Coppola

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Paramount 2008 Blu-ray Coppola Restoration

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Additional Info:

The Paramount 4K "restoration" is a desecration. It has completely revisionist color timing, harsh HDR, treatment of stock footage, bad encoding, selective DNR and grain management so bad that the entire screen frequently freezes up with only characters moving around in grain soup. It is so bad that the film's restorer Robert Harris publicly washed his hands of it saying essentially the 2007 restoration (with Willis and Coppola supervising) is how the film was intended and made. This is Paramount's modern version done their way. The new 1080p SDR Blu-rays in print are the crap 4K desecration master with the same problems still there just harder to spot and with crap encodes. Part II overall fares better than the first film but it has all the same problems. Randomly some shots are the worst in the trilogy looks mushy and manipulated to death.
The mono option is an unnecessarily processed version of the lossy mono from the 2008 Blu-ray. The 2008 Blu-ray of the 2007 Coppola Restoration while an imperfect outdated disc is LIGHT YEARS better than this 4K desecration. The only truly major issue is that it is very slightly redder than the 2007 finished master as seen on DCPs. The lossy mono on the 2008 Blu-ray is the best version of the original mix known to exist as it is better than the late 80's mastering for VHS and LaserDisc.
DFIC review of the hideous crap 4K Blu-rays: https://youtu.be/0uw6-Kcy_UA?si=ob1nDg0wTCvemjH0

TV series

Small role

Video format: Only Unofficial Sources

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Bootleg China Blu-ray on the high seas

Additional Info:

The original 1977 censored cut has never been officially released on home video. The 1981 cut and the 1990 EU cut are available on VHS. The 1992 Trilogy cut was released on LaserDisc and VHS. The 2012 and 2016 HD versions were broadcast on AMC and streaming HBO respectively but neither are available on either platform anymore currently. The Chinese 1080p blu-ray on the high seas is probably the most accessible and affordable way to watch it, (albeit with terrible compression) and appears to be a Webrip of the 2012 AMC HD tv broadcast. It’s on two BD-25 discs with lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and with subtitles for Sicilian dialogue.

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