HATARI 

John Wayne teams up with the “guy’s guy” director Howard Hawks on “HATARI”, now available on dvd from PARAMOUNT.   “HATARI” meaning “DANGER” in Swahili, stars Wayne as a hunter in Africa, capturing big animals for zoos all over the world.  The film’s plot is pretty simple, but as with most Hawks films, characters are where the focus lies.  Wayne is saddled with a variety of fun companions, including Red Buttons, Hardy Kruger, and more, as his daily exploits verge on “HATARI”, as he treks across the plains of Africa at breakneck speeds to capture some dangerous animals.  When a beautiful photographer joins up, new tensions arise! 

PARAMOUNT has preserved the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with 16:9 enhancement.  The image is sharper than we’d expected, but for a film having so many exotic locales, colors are more subdued than we’d like.  Fleshtones are skewed a little too much towards a reddish tint as well.  Contrast is solid with deep blacks and grays. 

The soundmix offers a 2.0 mono soundtrack.  While fidelity is decent, diaglogue is distorted in certain scenes. The Henry Mancini score still sounds terrific however.