Director: Terry Gilliam
Screenplay: Richard LaGravenese
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams, Mercedes Ruehl and Amanda Plummer
Country: United States
Running Time: 137 min
Year: 1991
I feel like I’d be hard pressed to find a film fan who doesn’t enjoy at least one Terry Gilliam picture. I mean, the man’s done it all. Brazil, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Twelve Monkeys, Time Bandits, the list goes on and on. It’s a career with very few lows and an unprecedented amount of highs. He’s a filmmaker I still have a lot to watch from, but I’ve never hated one of his films because of how, well, Gilliam they are. It’s like someone saying something’s Lynchian, or Cronenbergian, there’s certain directors who have that style, that level of craftsmanship that it’s difficult not to assign a phrase to work that feels like theirs.
When I first started collecting Criterion Collection titles back in 2018, one disc always stood out to me whenever I was in HMV but for some reason, I never picked it up. That film was Gilliam’s The Fisher King. Unfortunately, the title went out of print on Blu-ray a while back and ever since, UK fans have had no way to access the film on Blu-ray, until Criterion announced that they were porting over their recent 4K UHD release of the film to the UK, putting it back in print for Criterion and Gilliam heads across the UK. Given that it was one of the big Gilliam blindspots of mine, I knew I had to cover it for Blueprint: Review. Side note, our editor David covered the Blu-ray back in 2017, which you can read here if you’re interested.
The Fisher King follows shock-jock radio host Jack Lucas (played by Jeff Bridges), a Howard Stern-esque figure who gets his kicks treating viewers who phone in like dirt. After an unfortunate incident involving comments made by him to a listener resulting in a horrific restaurant shooting, he becomes a hermit, leaving the limelife and virtually hating everything about life. Whether it’s the customers at his girlfriend Anne’s video store, or the sitcoms she watches on TV, Jack is a negative, narcissistic and miserable old Scrooge. When he’s out late one night, he’s mistaken for a homeless man and almost murdered by some teenagers before the eccentric homeless man Parry (played by Robin Williams) saves his life. Jack soon finds out that Parry, a peculiar and delusional individual previously worked as a teacher at a prestigious university before losing his wife in the horrific shooting that Jack’s radio show listener carried out. From then on, Jack sets out to help Parry out, which results in him trying to set up Parry with the love of his life, Lydia. The thing is, he’s never met Lydia and only knows her from watching her daily routines near where he lives.
Immediately, I need to say right off the bat, The Fisher King is a wild film. I know, Terry Gilliam making a wild film? So shocking! But it’s the way that Gilliam’s able to balance the variety of tones, from slapstick comedy to incredibly haunting drama, romantic comedy sequences and moments of genuine terror. They’re all wrapped up into a film that kept me glued to my screen for its entire 137 minute runtime.
It’s no surprise to say that Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams are excellent in the film, with Willams receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and even as someone who doesn’t tend to love Williams in comedic roles, I adored his work here. The subtle ways he gives the audience pieces of Parry’s history, without making it glaringly obvious is a touch I’ve always admired about Robin’s dramatic performances, and he bounces off of Bridges’ Jack incredibly well. One of the best scenes in the film involves Parry in the middle of Central Park, stripping down to nothing and laying on the grass as he describes the story of the Fisher King to Jack.
I had an absolutely delightful time with The Fisher King and I’m quite frustrated at 2018 me for not picking up the Blu-ray in HMV, right when it was eying me in the face saying “Pick me up!” because it took me all these years to finally discover and fall in love with it. Great performances all around, Gilliam’s delivering with the absolutely manic filmmaking that we’ve come to love from his work, giving hints of what would come later in Twelve Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with the chaotic camerawork, and a story that’s sweet, dramatic, feel-good and miserable in equal measure, The Fisher King’s another excellent addition to the ever-so-great filmography of Terry Gilliam.
Film: 
The Fisher King released on 4K UHD Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection on December 2nd. Criterion previously released the film on Blu-ray back in 2017. I viewed the 4K UHD disc for the film and the Blu-ray disc for the bonus features. The UHD transfer is great, maintaining solid bit-rates throughout as expected from Criterion and the Dolby Vision HDR grade compliments the grimy look of New York more than you’d expect. The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track sounds great too, although it’s not something that’s necessarily demo worthy, but it serves the film extremely well. Given that this was a first time watch, it’s difficult to compare to previous home media releases (aside from the Blu-ray included in this set which also looks great) but I feel like this is the definitive release of The Fisher King on home media. The following extras are included:
DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Terry Gilliam, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
Audio commentary featuring Gilliam
Interviews with Gilliam, producer Lynda Obst, screenwriter Richard LaGravenese, and actors Jeff Bridges, Amanda Plummer, and Mercedes Ruehl
Interviews with artists Keith Greco and Vincent Jefferds on the creation of the film’s Red Knight
Interview from 2006 with actor Robin Williams
Video essay featuring Bridges’s on-set photographs
Footage from 1991 of Bridges training as a radio personality with acting coach Stephen W. Bridgewater
Deleted scenes, with audio commentary by Gilliam
Costume tests
Trailers
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by critic Bilge Ebiri
Cover by LA2
All of these extras are identical to the old Blu-ray, which David covered a few years back, but I’ll cover them here briefly for those interested.
An audio commentary with Gilliam is included and it’s ported over from the old Laserdisc release. It’s a good listen, full of the regular anecdotes and high energy that you’d expect from one of his tracks. I’ve heard a few in the past, such as his Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas commentary and he’s never dull, I’ll give him that.
The Tale of the Fisher King is a series of two documentaries about the making of the film that run for around an hour in total, featuring interviews with Gilliam, Bridges and an array of others that worked on the film. It’s an in-depth piece that reminded me of the documentary for Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys. Absolutely worth a watch for those interested in learning about how the film was crafted.
A series of featurettes and interviews are included. The Tale of the Red Knight is a 23 minute interview with Keith Greco and Vincent Jefferds who talk about how they brought The Red Knight to life, the problems that came up and more. It’s a fascinating watch. There’s Jeff’s Tale, an 11 minute piece highlighting the collection of photos that Jeff Bridges took during the production of The Fisher King, with him talking about them too. Jeff and Jack is another Bridges-focused extra, a 22 minute interview with Jeff as he discusses his performance in the film. Robin’s Tale is an archival interview with Robin Williams, running for 20 minutes and features him discussing The Fisher King in great detail, talking about his experiences working on the film and Gilliam as a director and more. It’s great to see an interview with him on this release. All of these featurettes and interviews compliment the film incredibly well and I’d recommend checking all of them out.
Six deleted scenes are featured, all with optional audio commentary from Terry Gilliam and they’re a decent watch. They’re all fairly brief and you can see why they were cut, especially given the already meaty runtime of the final cut, but it’s great to see these included.
Five trailers are included, as well as three minutes of costume tests.
I wasn’t provided with a retail copy so I can’t comment on the essay, unfortunately.
The Fisher King isn’t a film that’ll jump to most people’s heads when thinking of Terry Gilliam, but it should because it’s a fantastic film. Criterion’s 4K UHD release doesn’t offer anything new in the bonus features department, but delivers a great new native 4K transfer and should be in the collection of any fan of zany, out there films. In other words, any Terry Gilliam fan. Highly recommended.
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