When you look back at 2004, it’s a little hard to imagine just how big an impact Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy would have on the film industry. I’m not trying to say the film invented anything new with this fun, satiric comedy, but what it did do was launch the careers of many and really helped make comedy fun and raunchy for a while, and more importantly, profitable at the box office. I mean, this film is stacked with stars. Sure, there’s Will Ferrell front and center, but this is had a pre-40 Year-Old Virgin Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Christina Applegate, Kathryn Hahn, Seth Rogan, David Koechner, Fred Willard, and numerous others who are in the background or just make cameos. Seriously, this might be the best comedic cast put together of all time, and when you dive into the extras, you get a glimpse at just how talented everyone is. The film may be 20 years old, but it holds up. I’ve seen the film at least a dozen times, and it still makes me laugh. So what makes this film so special?
The film is about Ron Burgundy (Ferrell), who is San Diego’s top news anchor in the 1970’s. He’s a mixed bag of charming and is full of bravado and simply believes every woman would be honored to have him take them to bed. To Will Ferrell’s credit, if anyone else was playing this role, I feel the character would be despised, but Ferrell manages to make him seem more like a loveable buffoon. Surrounding Burgundy are his Channel 4 news team, Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) as the suave man-on-the-street reporter, Champ Kind (David Koechner) as the sports reporter, and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) as the weather reporter. The chemistry these four have is something special, and they play so well off one another. Seriously, I don’t know how they got through some of these scenes without constantly breaking character. The team though is in for a rude awakening when their news director, Ed Harken, wants to inject some diversity to the team and so enters Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), a transfer to their news station who is vying for a reporter job. Corningstone wants to be the first female lead anchor, and, well, let’s just say the rest of the news team doesn’t feel a woman belongs behind the news desk.
What’s not surprising is the relationship that develops between Ron and Veronica. The duo are just so fun to watch together from their time dating to when they become bitter rivals as the film plays on. It’s no surprise that Applegate can handle comedy after being on Married With Children for so many years, but this role she just owns by showing how a woman can be funny, smart, and sexy at a time when Hollywood just wanted their actresses to be rather one-dimensional in comedy. This film in that respect was a bit ahead of its time. (Sadly this was only 20 years ago.)
The film seems to always toe the line just right when it comes to being absurd. After all, it’s hard not to smile when the big story all the news stations in the city are trying to cover center around a panda at the zoo giving birth. Oh, and as for the rivalry between the other news stations, not only do these moments feature some of the film’s best cameos but also one of the funniest and most over-the-top fight sequence. I’d find it funny if news teams really did have this kind of gang mentality and these ridiculous feuds, but of course none of this is meant to be taken seriously.
As I also said, this film is 20 years old and has spawned a sequel, and to this day Will Ferrell makes appearances in character as Ron Burgundy. So many lines in this film have become part of the zeitgeist of America, and I feel people quote the film without even realizing it. While this may not have the best cinematography or the most thought-provoking story, it still manages to be a film that manages to be funny and endearing, and despite being rated R, it manages to not overstep with the crudeness, which is kind of impressive.
Video
Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The ultra-high-definition image presentation is arrived at with an HEVC codec at an average of 70 mbps. The film was shot on 35mm, so is naturally 4K. The transfer here is quite striking. The original film grain element remains enough to preserve the naturally organic nature of the film. The HDR/Dolby Vision ups the ante both in colors and contrast. The outside shots are often a little too bright at times, but that appears less harsh here than it did on the Blu-ray. The brightness is balanced rather nicely with rich black levels and some fine shadow definition. There’s not a lot of low-lit material here, but the jump is noticeable, to be sure. Textures bring out the period of the film, particularly with Burgundy’s clothes. His choices of jackets are quite unique, and both reds and textures give you the full Burgundy effect. This is most certainly an upgrade and one worth having.
Audio
The Dolby Digital HD-MA 5.1 track is a little bit of a disappointment. It is the exact audio presentation from the 2010 Blu-ray release. I think fans deserved an upgrade here. The song selections are a huge strength for the film, and they often don’t get the depth to truly shine here. I’ve heard CD versions with more punch. The dialog is served here, and it appears that’s really the only concern. Subs are weak, and a little sub depth would have added just a bit of punch to even the dialog.
Special Features
The extras are found on two included Blu-rays. One of which contains the HD version of the film. The other is strictly extras.
Disc 1
Deleted and Extended Scenes: (53:56) There are 36 scenes here that range from being scenes removed from the film to simply alternate takes. It is entertaining, and it’s no surprise that they were able to make another movie out of all the “cut” footage.
Bloopers: (7:46) Basically just the cast having fun and flubbing their lines.
“Afternoon Delight” Music Video: Here we get to see a funny produced music video of the Channel 4 News Team singing the song.
ESPN Sports Center Ron Burgundy Audition: (1:55) A funny clip of Ron auditioning to join the ESPN news team.
Disc 2
*This has one of the funnier disc menus with Ron Burgundy berating you for taking so long to pick a selection to watch.
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy
This is basically an entire film that was made from alternate takes and cut plotlines from the original film and pieced together to be used as a “lost film”. The major plot element that makes this different is that Ron and Veronica are battling to cover a story about a group of political thieves that call themselves “The Alarm Clock”. This is a full 93-minute film, and it is pretty funny in parts. I totally loved seeing Ron and his male cohorts on the Channel 4 News Team trying to be in-the-field reporters.
There are several scenes you’ll see repeated from The Legend of Ron Burgundy, but I still think this might be the most clever use of deleted footage I’ve seen, and the payoff is complete for the fans.
Intro Commentary with Will Ferrell and Aaron Zimmerman: This is pretty funny what they do here I really don’t want to spoil it, but this is one of those simple jokes that shows just how funny everyone is who was involved with the film.
PSA: (3:41) Five quick PSAs with Ron Burgundy giving advice just how you’d expect Ron would do it.
Award Speech: (3:12) Footage from 1970 when Ron won an Emmy.
Raw Footage “Good Takes” (39:26) 27 scenes with a variety of alternate takes. All are pretty funny.
“Afternoon Delight” Recording Session: (2:58) BTS footage in the studio with the cast recording the song.
Happy Birthday AMC Loews: (3:15) Ron delivers a birthday message to Loews for their 100th anniversary.
Interviews: (10:14) Ron Burgundy appears at the 2004 MTV Movie Awards and interviews Burt Reynolds, Jim Cavizel, and Rebecca Romijn.
The making of Anchorman: (9:29) Your standard making-of featurette.
Comedy Central Reel Comedy: (8:31) Another little promo feature from Comedy Central back in 2004.
A Conversation with Ron Burgundy: (10:41) A fun conversation with Ron Burgundy.
Cast Auditions: This is a fun little feature seeing members of the cast auditioning for their parts. When you click on the Alternate Universe, you get to see a variety of the actors in the film auditioning for alternate roles, and you get to see what could have been if casting had been swapped.
Table Read 6/2/03: (18:37) We get a variety of scenes that we get to see done from the original table read before they started filming.
Rehearsals: (9:04) We get to see some personal home video footage of them rehearsing for the film.
Playback Video: (5:10) We get to see them filming what look to be segments to use maybe as background in the film or just practice.
Commercial Break: (2:04) Some fun footage that shows the cast and crew having fun between takes.
Trailers & TV Spots.
Final Thoughts:
I feel like this is one of the best comedies in the past 20 years, and I feel like it is a classic that will remain so for years to come. This release not only has the theatrical and unrated versions of the film; it is also loaded with features to keep fans busy for hours. Seriously, I was exhausted after watching all the extras. This is the perfect movie to sit down and enjoy or to just have on while doing chores around the house. It may not be Best Picture material, but really, what great comedies are?
Parts of this review were written by Gino Sassani
