The Chase (1966) Blu-ray

Released to theaters sixty years ago, The Chase boasts a staggering amount of talent on both sides of the camera. Pre-title billing belongs exclusively to Marlon Brando, who at 41 was already an icon with one Academy Award and a slew of nominations to his name. Under the title were figures on the rise: young Robert Redford and Jane Fonda plus Robert Duvall in only his fourth feature film. At the helm was the lightly seasoned but already respected Arthur Penn, shooting this just a year before Bonnie and Clyde. Penn’s name would have garnered less recognition back then that of Sam Spiegel, a producer who had guided three of his previous five films to Best Picture wins at the Academy Awards. At the foundation of the project was a 1952 stage play and 1956 novel by Horton Foote, who had recently won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for 1962’s masterful To Kill a Mockingbird. Two-time nominee Lillian Hellman adapted Foote’s work here.

Buy The Chase from Amazon.com:
Blu-ray · Prime Video

It is certainly conceivable that even with all this talent in place, things could have gone awry for The Chase, but I’m happy to report that they did not.

I had always assumed there was a connection between this film and the 1994 Charlie Sheen comedy of the same name that I caught at just the right young age to enjoy. Turns out, there is no connection whatsoever, although I’m sure the recycled title was a minor contributor to the critical skewering of the Sheen movie.

The ’60s Chase opens with Bubber Reeves (Redford) escaping from prison with a plan to return to his little hometown in Texas. The town’s level-headed Sheriff Calder (Brando) is expecting that and is prepared to capture the escaped convict with minimal conflict. Rumor has it that the unfortunately-named Bubber is innocent and that’s certainly the vibe we get from the charismatic blonde as he lays low, hopping trains and accidentally implicating himself in another crime of which he’s innocent.

With a 134-minute runtime, there’s plenty of time for Foote, Hellman, and Penn to explore life in the state that has wrongly sentenced Bubber. We see the power and influence that banker Val Rogers (E.G. Marshall) wields over the sheriff’s department. And we get looks at the love lives of the town’s residents. The Sheriff is not thrilled to see that his wife (Angie Dickinson) has been gifted an expensive dress by Rogers; he asks that she change out of it to attend the banker’s lavish birthday gathering. Meanwhile, Bubber’s lonely wife (Fonda) has been seeing Rogers’ son (James Fox), news that is sure to complicate the improbable anticipated reunion even more.

Then there is the situation of Edwin Stewart (Duvall), a bank pencil-pusher wracked with guilt for letting Bubber take the rap for a theft he committed. Perhaps as some kind of cosmic justice, Stewart’s wife (Janice Rule) openly flirts (and presumably does more in private) with a colleague of his.

Not all of these small-town entanglements ring true or play as intended in 2026. Some of it seems melodramatic and the salacious subplots feel superfluous. There is also some exploration of Southern racism, which feels tangential and insufficiently resolved, threads that the following year’s Best Picture winner In the Heat of the Night and others would get to delve into a bit more deeply. But the compelling main narrative eventually takes center stage and The Chase starts to sizzle when it does.

Redford, just one year removed from winning the Golden Globe for Best New Star for Inside Daisy Clover, is out of the picture for most of the runtime, but his character looms large offscreen, like Harry Lime in The Third Man. Despite his prominent billing, Brando too has to share the spotlight with a bevy of side characters, although his dramatic impact in the unflinching final act is undeniable.

The Chase did not draw a single award or nomination of significance, although it seemingly wouldn’t have been expected to, with Columbia Pictures opening the film in February, before 1965’s awards had even been doled out. Bigger success was coming for everyone here, most immediately for Penn, who would begin directing Bonnie and Clyde in the fall. Redford and Fonda continued to take off, reuniting as newlyweds in the agreeable film version of Neil Simon’s romantic comedy Barefoot in the Park the following year. Brando and Duvall enjoyed enduring success into middle age, thanks in no small part to their respective work in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. And Dickinson would star in NBC’s “Police Woman”, a series that brought her three consecutive Emmy nominations in the mid-1970s.

First released to North American Blu-ray in a limited run from the since-retired boutique line Twilight Time a decade ago, The Chase has just returned to the high definition format from Alliance Entertainment in the presentable but barebones disc reviewed here.

BLU-RAY DISC SPECIFICATIONS:
2.35:1 Widescreen
DTS-HD Master Audio Mono 2.0 (English)
Subtitles: English for Hearing Impaired
Release Date: March 10, 2026
Single-sided, single-layered disc (BD-25)
Blue Keepcase
Suggested Retail Price: $27.99

VIDEO and AUDIO

Alliance’s 2.35:1 presentation leaves nothing to be desired within the standards of 1080p high definition. One presumes this movie fits into a middle class designation among catalog titles. It is popular enough to justify a new Blu-ray release in 2026, but probably not popular enough to offset the costs of a release on the still and probably forever niche 4K Ultra HD format. Judged by what we get rather than what we don’t, the picture is sharp, vibrant, and appropriately spotless, while the 2.0 DTS-HD mono soundtrack is crisp and free of distortion. English subtitles are kindly included.

BONUS FEATURES, MENUS, PACKAGING and DESIGN

If bonus features are of interest to you, Alliance’s Blu-ray will definitely disappoint you in comparison to the film’s 2016 Twilight Time and 2017 Indicator counterparts. The Twilight Time version boasted the original theatrical trailer, an isolated score track, an audio commentary by film historians Lem Dobbs, Julie Kirgo, and Nick Redman, and a booklet with essay. Indicator’s region-free UK release had all that plus a photo gallery and an additional hour of video extras including reflections on the film from Arthur Penn, his son, and actor James Fox.

Sadly, Alliance’s Blu-ray retains absolutely none of that. The static menu’s only option is to turn on or off the English SDH subtitles. That’s a definite bummer, but it probably gives some comfort to those who dished out more money for one of those earlier pressings, which were both limited to 3,000 printed copies.

Alliance’s edition does feature full-color disc artwork, which is somewhat unusual today, although that hasn’t been a home video selling point for nearly three decades now.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

If you don’t care about bells and whistles, then Alliance’s new Blu-ray edition of The Chase will satisfy you with a first-rate presentation of this 60-year-old film. If, however, you’re the type of collector who prefers to own the definitive release of a film, you’ll presumably find more value in the long out-of-print Twilight Time or Indicator BDs, although those might set you back more in the second-hand market. Either way, this is a 1960s movie worth seeing.

Buy The Chase from Amazon.com:
Blu-ray · Prime Video

Robert Redford, Ranked 🎞️ Robert Duvall, Ranked