Cellabration: A Tribute to Ella Jenkins [DVD]

Payday has earned a powerful cult reputation since it was released in 1972, which is impressive considering how few people have actually seen the movie -- it never received a full-fledged nationwide theatrical release, and its availability on home video has been spotty at best. However, the strength of Rip Torn's wired, maniacal performance hasn't dimmed a bit with the passage of time, and this DVD release from Warner Bros. finally makes the film widely available. Payday has been transferred to disc in the widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1; the image is letterboxed on conventional televisions and enhanced for anamorphic playback on 16x9 monitors. Richard C. Glouner's cinematography sometimes makes Payday look more like a made-for-TV movie than a theatrical feature (doubtless a product of the film's low budget), but this DVD presents the images in the best possible light -- the source materials are squeaky clean, the transfer is pin-sharp and the colors are rich and naturalistic, especially during the outdoor sequences. The audio has been mastered in Dolby Digital Stereo, retaining the original monophonic sound mix, and the quality is good if not exceptional. The dialogue is in English, with optional English subtitles but no multiple language options. As a bonus, this edition includes a commentary track featuring producer and financier Saul Zaentz and director Daryl Duke; since Duke died in the fall of 2006, either this disc has been in production for some time (it was released in January 2008) or his comments were rescued from another source. At any rate, Duke's comments tend to have more to do with the film and what inspired it, while Zaentz's contributions more often focus on his first efforts in film production and the life of musicians on the road. The disc also includes Payday's original theatrical trailer as well as a trailer for The Dukes of Hazard: The Beginning, which seems wildly incompatible with the main feature. If the extras aren't as impressive as one might hope, this is still a solid presentation of a more than worthwhile film, and hopefully this disc will allow Payday to finally find the wider audience it richly deserves.