“THE OFFER” follows the journey of Al Ruddy, a Hollywood outsider who starts as a programmer & ends up producing one of the greatest films of all time: The Godfather. Over the course of the production, Ruddy, along with his assistant Bettye McCartt and director Francis Ford Coppola, contend with all the problems of making a movie: from battles over casting & scripting, to the involvement of the real-life mafia. Paralleling Ruddy’s rise is the ascent of crime boss Joe Colombo & the Italian-American Civil Rights League, which condemns Mario Puzo’s bestselling novel. Ruddy’s film adaptation puts him & Colombo on a collision course that will ultimately make or break the movie. Hanging in the balance is Paramount Pictures, a last place studio on the verge of being scrapped by parent company Gulf & Western. Robert Evans, the iconic studio executive, gambles on The Godfather to save Paramount and put it where it belongs: at the top.
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Video Quality
The Offer comes to DVD with 10 episodes over 4 discs, which offers a decent amount of room to avoid compression issues. Due to the limitations of the format, these episodes are not going to look as good as they do in high definition, but the presentation is very respectable within the DVD format. Even without the added definition, this is still a fetching show with fine details visible in many regards. Skin tones look natural, and close ups look quite good. Black levels are a bit more of an issue here, as low-light scenes lose some of the outlines of objects within the shot. Colors are rendered favorably, and there is an appreciated texture in the clothing. This series was released on Blu-Ray, but it was not made available for review. If you are a fan of the show, you may want to spring for the HD version on Blu-Ray.
Audio Quality
This DVD set comes with a Dolby Digital 5.1 track that sounds fine for the format. Sound effects and the throwback score never overpower the dialogue causing fuzzy information. The rear speakers create an immersive atmosphere as the multitude of bustling environments envelop you at all of the appropriate times. The mix has an admirable sense of directionality so that nothing ever feels like it is coming from the wrong place. Dialogue is rendered clearly with a focus in the center channel. This track gives you what you would want as it executes all of the key elements perfectly. There are English and English SDH subtitles provided.
Special Features
- Backstories: Every episode is given an accompanying in-depth featurette. Through these videos you get a closer look at historical events, an analysis of story developments, highlights from the episodes and more. These are fun additions that are worthwhile for fans.
- A Seat At The Table (3:38)
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- Warning Shots (4:05)
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- Fade In (4:12)
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- The Right Shade Of Yellow (4:01)
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- Kiss The Ring (3:32)
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- A Stand Up Guy (4:09)
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- Mr. Producer (3:11)
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- Crossing That Line (3:33)
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- It’s Who We Are (4:18)
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- Brains and Balls (4:16)
- Deleted Scenes: A brief selection of unused material is provided here which does not offer too many missed gems but may be enough to impress hardcore fans.
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- A Seat At The Table (0:27)
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- Fade In (0:34)
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- Crossing That Line (2:08)
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- It’s Who We Are (0:56)
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- Brains and Balls (1:43)
- Crafting The Offer: This set offers an array of brief featurettes in which the department heads and various creative figures dive deeper into the process of replicating this period in time with as much accuracy as possible.
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- Wardrobe & Costume Design (4:24)
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- Music Composition (4:27)
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- Production Design (4:46)
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- Prop Design (4:24)
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- Hair & Makeup Design (4:11)
- Meet Al Ruddy: A four-minute piece which takes a look at the real-life producer of The Godfather who is portrayed by Miles Teller in The Offer. You get some decent interviews with the legend as well as impressions from some of the various performers and creative figures on the show.
- Directing The Offer: A nearly five-minute featurette which takes a look at the series as a whole and how the directors of this series worked with the cast members to bring it to life.
- Parallels – Art Imitates Art: A nine-minute look at the approach to crafting this series without recreating scenes from The Godfather, the obstacles that were faced behind the scenes, the easter eggs included for fans and more.
- The Offer – Sending A Message: A seven-minute examination of the difficulties behind getting The Godfather made and the act of translating that into a limited series. This touches a lot of elements from other featurettes.
- No One Can Refuse- Making The Offer: A four-part documentary totaling 68 minutes is provided here which takes an in-depth look at the making of the series from all angles. This is by far the best supplemental feature on the disc.
Final Thoughts
The Offer is a fairly interesting concept for a limited series; as the old saying goes “truth is stranger than fiction.” There were so many small things that had to come together to make this classic movie a reality, but not so much that we needed ten episodes to effectively cover everything. The creative team behind the series seems a bit too in love with the lore to create an effective series. While momentum comes in fits and spurts, there is so much unnecessary minutiae that the drive becomes sluggish. The performances are really strong, and the production value is readily apparent in every shot, but we needed a sharper focus for this one to really succeed. Paramount Home Entertainment has provided a new DVD set with a decent A/V presentation and an excellent assortment of special features. Those who want the best quality will want to spring for the Blu-Ray release.
The Offer is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the DVD.
Disclaimer: Paramount Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this set free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.