Framing John DeLorean

Summary

Shout!Factory recently acquired the Sundance and IFC Films produced documentary Framing John DeLorean. When I saw the trailer for the film, I immediately  ordered the Blu-ray. I am a sucker for documentaries on businessmen. If a filmmaker creates a documentary on an industrial trailblazer, it is a safe bet that I will be interested. I love the stylings of classic cars (while not being knowledgeable about them) and I love the era in which the documentary takes place. Add in re-enactments starring Alec Baldwin, and I blind bought this documentary immediately. I watched the film as soon as it came in.

The documentary traces the path of maverick car executive John DeLorean as his star rises at GM with his production of the GTO all the way through his stunning fall from grace as he was arrested in a coordinated drug sting operation by the FBI. The film covers his marriage to model Christina Ferrare and the devastating fallout from the folding of the DeLorean Motor Company. His trial is covered in good detail. The documentary also does a good job of covering DeLorean’s ultimate undoing from shady dealings with a shell company.

This film has stunning source material. The story of John DeLorean is a great one with moments of creative genius, an iconic car, plastic surgery, hubris, international intrigue and illegal actions, and comeuppance. This documentary presents a lot of the details and has unprecedented access to key people from his life. DeLorean’s children, key FBI agents, engineers for the DMC-12, investigative reporters, and many experts are interviewed. It is really amazing the range of important people that lent their time to this documentary. 

Unfortunately, the film shows a lack of maturity in some of its decisions. For example: the re-enactments with Alec Baldwin are well coordinated and would be effective on their own. The choice to insert behind-the-scenes footage of the filming of Alec Baldwin? This pulls the viewer completely out of the film and slows the proceedings unnecessarily. By making the film more “meta,” the filmmakers hamper the storytelling. It’s a really puzzling decision. Another immature decision comes in the end credits that is baffling and unfortunate.

After watching the film, I watched the entire extra hour of deleted scenes included on the Blu-ray. There is some really good stuff in there. If you look at the film objectively, the early career of DeLorean is given fairly short thrift in the picture as presented and is not fully fleshed out. DeLorean’s trial is covered pretty well and the fallout from the trial is covered very well. The creation of the iconic DMC-12 is well documented in the film. If you watch all the deleted scenes, a more cohesive picture of his story is formed. It feels like if the editor of the film had been more attached to telling the story than becoming star struck by the interviews with the actors, this film had all the makings of a classic documentary. As it stands, there is a great story and film in there that just needed some pruning and a good objective voice to keep the filmmakers from stubbing their toe in the editing room. I don’t want to sound sour on the film. I still really enjoyed the story and the re-enactments starring Alec Baldwin, Dana Ashbrook, Josh Charles, and Morena Baccarin would absolutely work without the behind the scenes excess. 

This is a case of a film that I enjoyed despite some gripes. Making a film is not an easy business and they almost pulled off something remarkable here. With a few trims here or there and a few scenes added back in, this would have been a resounding success. If you check out the film, I highly recommend the deleted scenes to get a little more information on his early years.

Video

Shout!Factory presents Framing John DeLorean with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.89:1. As one might expect from a brand new film shot on digital, the visual presentation looks really great. Fine detail is excellent and colors and clarity are superb. Since this is a documentary, there are lots of different film sources that vary in quality from source to source. I thought the visuals looked good overall.

Audio

Framing John DeLorean features a good sounding DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround track that actually utilizes the surrounds in the reenactments. For a documentary, there is a lot more going on here than usual. It replicates the theatrical sound perfectly. This release features crisp audio with no issues.

Supplements:

• Commentary – directors Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce, and producer Tamir Ardon was philosophically about the film and shed some light on how it came together.
• Deleted Scenes – rarely do I recommend sifting through the deleted scenes of a film, but the hour and twelve minutes of additional footage actually have some relevant and important information about DeLorean’s life and business deals. Well worth your time. This rounds out the movie well.
• Still Gallery
• Two Theatrical Trailers

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 4/5

Overall – 4/5

Framing John DeLorean is almost an amazing documentary. The filmmakers had incredible access to many important people from John DeLorean’s life. The scope of the work is remarkable. Unfortunately, the filmmakers muddy the waters a little bit through the inclusion of some unnecessary material and exclusion of some really remarkable material (in the deleted scenes.) Thankfully, Shout!Factory has included over that hour of deleted scenes on this Blu-ray which help paint a fuller picture. I enjoyed this release in spite of some of my misgivings. If you are going to watch the picture, you really need to check out the deleted scenes as well. Technical specs on the release are solid. Recommended.