Sky High

Starring:Sky High
Studio: Tokyo Shock
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Based on the memoir Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam Jr., October Sky emerged as one of the most delightful sleepers of 1999--a small miracle of good ol' fashioned movie-making in the cynical, often numbingly trendy Hollywood of the late 20th century. Hickam's true story begins in 1957 with Russia's historic launch of the Sputnik satellite, and while Homer (played with smart idealism by Jake Gyllenhaal) sees Sputnik as his cue to pursue a fascination with rocketry, his father (Chris Cooper) epitomizes the admirable yet sternly stubborn working-man's ethic of the West Virginia coal miner, casting fear and disdain on Homer's pursuit of science while urging his "errant" son to carry on the family business--a spirit-killing profession that Homer has no intention of joining.

As directed by Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer), this wonderful movie is occasionally guilty of overstating its case and sacrificing subtlety for predictable melodrama. But more often the film's tone is just right, and the spirit of adventure and invention is infectiously conveyed through Gyllenhaal and his well-cast fellow rocketeers, whose many failures gradually lead to triumph on their makeshift backwoods launching pad. Capturing time and place with impeccable detail and superbly developed characters (including Laura Dern as an inspiring schoolteacher), October Sky is a family film for the ages, encouraging the highest potential of the human spirit while giving viewers a clear view of a bygone era when "the final frontier" beckoned to the explorer in all of us. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Coalwood, West Virginia, 1957. Working in the coal mines is an inescapable way of life in this small town. When high schooler Homer Hickam, Jr. (Jake Gyllenhaal) sees the Sputnik satellite in the night sky, he dares to break free of the mines and reach for the stars. With the support of his teacher (Laura Dern) and three friends, Homer sets out on an inspiring quest to build his own rocket. Overcoming a poor education, a tough father (Chris Cooper) and a series of misfires, Homer turns his dreams into reality in this incredible true story of hope, determination and triumph. You ll laugh with it, cry with it, and go away absolutely loving it, says Robert Butler (Knight Ridder News Service) of the critically acclaimed October Sky.

BONUS MATERIALS:
Aiming High: The Story of the Rocket Boys
Feature Commentary with Homer Hickam
Spotlight on Location
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

System Requirements:

Runing Time 108 Min

Format: DVD MOVIE

Customer Reviews:

One of the Best!.......2007-06-21

Excellent feel good story about a group of boys who overcome their circumstances to achieve their dreams in a small coal mining town. Based on a true story!

Great family movie........2007-06-11

Great family movie. It's a story about kids getting inspired to learn something that changes their lives. It doesn't rely on violence or romance, just a good story. My brothers and I built lots of rockets when we were kids, so that probably helps.

If you think kids shouldn't build model rockets because it is too dangerous and they might get interested in building one, don't buy the movie.

From Western Virginia coal mines to NASA.......2007-06-04

A simple and effective film about what life is all about, responding to challenges. It took a lot of gall for Homer and his friends to be able to grow into manhood without falling in the trap of a prefabricated future that runs from father to son, to be a miner in the local mine and never get out of that fate. It took also three different challenges for Homer and his friends to conquer a personal and free future. The challenge of the first ever man-made artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, a Soviet satellite, a milestone in human history, a turning point that Homer and his friends could not miss, did not want to miss. Then the challenge of science and applied mechanics to calculate and to devise a rocket from scratch or rather from what they could gather in books and order in their minds. Finally the challenge of a world that resists and refuses and tries to force you back into the pack, even with an untimely accident that forces you to get back into the pack for plain survival necessity, and even then Homer proved he had the guts to accept the challenge that was blocking for a while his own plans and dreams. But there is another side of the story that the film does not emphasize enough. Homer is the carrier of the project but he is also the carrier of the inspiration he and his friends need. If he is the one who is going to get the university scholarship, because his friends gave him precedence, his friends will also be able to get on their own roads and tracks and step out of the mining fate, thanks to the energy his inspiring example sets in front of their eyes. It is hard at times not to follow the example of the one who is like a beacon on a difficult road. But the film is also effective to show how the father resisted this dream because for him science was not the fabric of a true man, like mining or football. The working class fate that was so present in those 1950s and 1960s and still is present in some areas is too often enforced by the traditional thinking of the father. If the mother does not have the courage to speak up one day, the working class fate I am speaking of becomes a tremendous trap. Here too the film is effective and it should make some parents think. This might have been the fourth challenge Homer had to face: the challenge of taking a road that was not the one pointed at and programmed by his own father.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

Great Movie.......2007-05-13

A favorite movie - great storie about believing in your dreams and not giving up.

This movie is one of the ten best of all time........2007-05-12

This movie is a real movie, not the made-up stuff they sell in theaters. Based on a true story, it just works like magic. The characters are totally believable, and at the end, it shows the space shuttle. So it really is about Homer Hickam, currently a NASA engineer, 98%, and the current space program, 2%. The year it's set in is 1957, 50 years ago, and starts with Sputnik going overhead. Anyone who likes space stories, especially real ones, will love this movie.

Average customer rating:

MY FAVORITE JOHN WAYNE FILM
Perhaps the Ultimate Western.
GREAT JOHN WAYNE CLASSIC!
Early Duke Classic
Exciting, highly enjoyable, and beautiful!

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Starring: John Wayne , Joanne Dru , John Agar , Ben Johnson , and Harry Carey Jr.
Director: John Ford
Manufacturer: Turner Home Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000O599NK
Release Date: 2007-05-22

Amazon.com essential video

The second installment of John Ford's famous cavalry trilogy (which also includes Fort Apache and Rio Grande), this meditative Western continues the director's fascination with history's obliteration of the past. It features one of John Wayne's more sensitive performances as Capt. Nathan Brittles, a stern yet sentimental war horse who has difficulty preparing for his impending military retirement. All things considered, he refuses to leave before fulfilling his obligation to the local Indian tribe. It's a film about honor and duty as well as loneliness and mortality. And Oscar-winner Winton C. Hoch beautifully photographs it in Remington-like Technicolor tones (you've never seen such stunning cloud-covered skies). The combination of melancholy and farce (Victor McLaglen makes a perfect court jester) evokes comparisons to Shakespeare. Best of all, the scene in which Wayne fights back tears when receiving a gold watch from his troops is unforgettably bittersweet. If you view the whole trilogy, it actually makes sense to save this for last. --Bill Desowitz

Description

A masterpiece of mood and heroics, this second film in director John Ford's renowned cavalry trilogy (Fort Apache and Rio Grande are the others) features one of John Wayne's most moving performances as a cavalry officer in his final week of service on the frontier. Under makeup aging him some 20 years, he inhabits the role of a wily veteran who knows the sting of war and vows to make his last mission one of peace. The ritual of outpost life, the sweep of battle, the advance of the patrol beneath ominous skies: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, an Academy Award winner* for its color cinematography, paints a memorable portrait of the honor, duty and courage in the finest tradition of the cavalry. And of Ford filmmaking.

Customer Reviews:

MY FAVORITE JOHN WAYNE FILM.......2007-07-04

Although Red River, The Searchers, and possibly True Grit and The Shootist might arguably contain better acting performances from the Duke, this film is my favorite. Everything works in this film, and works well. John Ford loved the U.S. Cavalry, as can be clearly seen in the trilogy, and also in the Civil War film, The Horse Soldiers. While I love all the aforementioned films, this one is the one where everything worked perfectly. The contrast of Wayne's seasoned Capt. Brittles with the two younger officers, the lonely life Brittles lives with no wife or family vs. the younger men competing for the hand of lovely Joanne Dru, the comedy relief provided by the incomparable Victor McLaglen, the savvy wisdom of(former confederate captain) Sgt. Tyree, nothing is missing. This was John Ford's stock company at it's best, with perhaps only The Searchers to compare. The passing years only make me love this film more. everyone was at the absolute top of their game for She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. See it soon!!!

Perhaps the Ultimate Western........2007-04-17

John Wayne lives this part. A battle hardened veteran of the war between the states, a career officer - Captain Nathan Brittles - finds himself on the Western Frontier nearing the end of his career. A man for whom the military is not just a way of life, it is life. And, in a remarkably sensitive fashion for the time, the "hostiles" are shown to be a civilized and intelligent people who have been pushed time and time again by the western expansion of this nation and are simply fighting to survive. It would have of course been easy just to shoot another movie reflecting an Indian uprising with calvary charges and heroic gestures. Thank goodness we're spared that. Instead, we have a deeply well orchestrated movie developing many different characters and plot lines. While he is Army through and through, Captain Brittles still poignantly takes time to water the desert flowers on his wife's grave and to talk to her gently until that day comes that he joins her. And, Sgt Tyree, the irrepressible scout that is almost an extension of Captain Brittles, has another life too that we learn about, in a touching and well done scene not often witnessed in today's pyrotechnic oriented films. Is this the best western I've ever seen? Maybe, maybe not, but the Searchers (who can forget that shadowy ending shot with John Wayne framing the door?) is close (not to mention the sleeper The Tin Star with Henry Fonda) and so are Fort Apache, My Darling Clementine (Henry Fonda again), and Gunfight at the OK Corral (Kirk Douglas) - some of which have been mentioned by other reviewers as well. I would give this movie more than 5 stars if I could, and you cannot go wrong viewing it.

GREAT JOHN WAYNE CLASSIC!.......2007-03-11

Without any doubt - this is my favorite John Wayne classic movie.
All actors are playing wonderful and the movie was shot on a great
place - Monument Valley/Arizona.

Just perfect for every Western fan.

Thank you John Wayne!

Early Duke Classic.......2007-01-19

See another side of John Wayne. This movie stands with The Shootist as one of Wayne's more layered roles. *****

Exciting, highly enjoyable, and beautiful!.......2006-11-08

'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon' remains for many viewers their favorite Ford film, and it is certainly the most striking visually... Winton C. Hoch won an Oscar for his Technicolor photography...

The compositions and photography around Ford's new stamping ground of Monument valley are great to look at as always... The Monument Valley goes from bright sunlight to hail and sleet...

There is a melancholy mixed together in those incredible vistas, with a certain sense of dreamlike contemplation... A backdrop so complex but so significant as the human characters...

Ford has superbly achieved a huge and composite demonstration of all the legends of the frontier cavalryman... Never have the legendary troops been through the silent 'Indian country' and across the magnificent Western plains so brilliant, vivid, exciting and romantic...

Ford has surely done better himself, unquestionably with 'My Darling Clementine,' and 'The Searchers,' yet one has to admit the undisputed merits of 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.' Even the usual criticism launched against it-that it is a Western influenced by feeling rather by reason--can be dismissed at the start... Certainly Ford can be sentimental but only when the springs of honest feeling run dry and lose their inspiration, and this never really happens in 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.'

The story is that of an older cavalry officer (John Wayne) who is six days from retirement at Fort Stark when he's sent out, in a last mission, to escort the Major's wife (Mildred Natwick) and her niece, an attractive single lady (Joanne Dru) out of the danger area... Wayne tries to fulfill his military role protecting his female charges against the uprising of the Sioux, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche and Apaches...

Wayne possibly more than any other Western star has re-created and heightened the mythology of the West-one has only to watch again his absolute and ideal image in 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,' or his avenging Ethan in 'The Searchers,' to be reminded of how irresistible the Duke has been on the cinema screen...

'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon' is above all a sentimental movie, with irresistible scenes, full of Ford's best touches:

- The cavalry engaged in its everyday work... Wayne simply can't picture himself in a world far from the army...

- The comic interaction between Wayne and Victor McLaglen, two hardcore professional officers...

- The bravery of Sgt. Tyree (Ben Johnson), chased by hostile Indians, who must finish his mission by reporting to the captain what he saw...

- The rivalry of two young cavalry lieutenants (John Agar and Harry Carey Jr.) in love with the same woman, each competing to have her wear a yellow ribbon as a token of his love...

- The 'beloved brute,' the tough-soft cavalry sergeant sharing his saddle with a little orphan rescued from a devastated stage station...

- Ford celebrating McLaglen's lachrymose in self-indulgent fisticuffs in an epic saloon fight...

- The last inspection of the C. troops almost bringing tears to Wayne's and the audience's eyes, as he reads the inscription that means so much to him...

- Wayne riding into the war camp of the Indians to stop a war...

- The U. S. cavalry at full gallop descending upon the encampment, firing wildly and stampeding hundred of Indian ponies...

- The evocative use of music, notably the gay and spirited theme song of the yellow ribbon, played countless times...

'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon ' is an exciting story with strong characters and sentiment, highly enjoyable, and beautiful...

The John Wayne Century Collection (Big Jake, Donovan's Reef, El Dorado, Hatari!, Hondo, In Harm's Way, Island in the Sky, McLintock!, Rio Lobo, The High and the Mighty, etc.)

Average customer rating:

Great Value
This box set does NOT contain THE QUIET MAN

The John Wayne Century Collection (Big Jake, Donovan's Reef, El Dorado, Hatari!, Hondo, In Harm's Way, Island in the Sky, McLintock!, Rio Lobo, The High and the Mighty, etc.)
Starring: John Wayne
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The John Wayne Film Collection (Without Reservations / Allegheny Uprising / Tycoon / Reunion in France / Big Jim McLain / Trouble Along the Way)
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The John Wayne Western Collection (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance / True Grit / Hondo / McLintock! / Big Jake / The Shootist / Rio Lobo / The Sons of Katie Elder / El Dorado)

ASIN: B000O179G8
Release Date: 2007-05-22

Product Description

DONOVAN'S REEF
Acclaimed director John Ford and screen legend John Wayne team up for what would be their final collaboration in this boisterous, rowdy South Seas escapade. The Duke, Lee Marvin and Jack Warden play World War II navy buddies who have made the French Polynesian island of Haleakaloha their post-war paradise. Local headquarters is Donovan's Reef, Wayne's rough-and-tumble watering hole where bragging, brawling, and full-blown misbehavior are the order of the day. But destined to create more turmoil than any barroom fisticuffs is the sudden arrival of Elizabeth Allen, a straight-laced Boston blue blood. She's hoping to locate her long-estranged father (Warden), affirm that he is "not of good moral character," and then assume control of the family's shipping dynasty back home in the States. Suave, debonair Cesar Romero and a sarong-clad Dorothy Lamour add to the laughs - and mayhem - in this tropical comedy treat.

IN HARM'S WAY
In Harm's Way, based on James Bassett's novel Harm's Way, has enough plot in it for four movies or a good miniseries (when it was shown on network television in prime time, it was broken into two very full nights). On the morning of December 7, 1941, a heavy cruiser, commanded by Captain Rockwell Torrey (John Wayne), and the destroyer Cassidy, under acting commander Lieutenant (jg) William McConnell (Thomas Tryon), are two of a handful of ships that escape the destruction of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Under Torrey's command, the tiny fleet of a dozen ships carries out its orders to seek out and engage the enemy fleet. But lack of fuel and a daring maneuver (but tragic miscalculation) by Torrey causes his ship to be seriously damaged. He's relieved of command and assigned to a desk job routing convoys in the shakeup following the attack, and his exec and oldest friend, Commander Paul Eddington (Kirk Douglas), is reassigned after a brawl, the result of his anger after identifying the body of his wife (Barbara Bouchet) who was killed during the attack while cavorting with an Marine Corps officer. Torrey's shore assignment leads him to reestablish contact on a very hostile level with his estranged son, Ensign Jere Torrey (Brandon de Wilde), his estranged son from a long-ended marriage, who is also serving at Pearl Harbor; he also establishes a romantic relationship with Lt. Maggie Haines (Patricia Neal), a navy nurse; he also befriends Commander Egan Powell (Burgess Meredith), a special-intelligence officer. Through his son's boasting during their bitter first meeting, Torrey learns of a top-secret offensive called Sky Hook — he figures out enough of it to impress Powell, and when Sky Hook gets bogged down by the indecisiveness of its commander, Vice Admiral Broderick (Dana Andrews), Powell convinces the commander of the Pacific Fleet (Adm. Chester Nimitz, unnamed here but played by Henry Fonda) that Torrey is the man to salvage the operation. Promoted to rear admiral, with Eddington — who'd been rotting away on a shore assignment, drunk most of the time — assigned as his chief of staff, Torrey gets Sky Hook rolling and finally finds his purpose in this war, gaining the belated admiration of his son in the process. Eddington is similarly motivated but is still haunted by the violent, ultimately self-destructive demons that blighted his marriage and his life — he is particularly attracted to a young nurse, Annalee Dohrn (Jill Haworth), not knowing that she is already involved romantically with Jere Torrey. Meanwhile, McConnell survives the sinking of his ship and is ordered to join Torrey's staff. Matters all come to a head when the Japanese begin a counter-offensive to Torrey's planned troop landing. And just at the time Torrey needs his men at their best, Eddington's violence and rage boil to the surface in a way that will destroy him and blight both men's lives. In a final attempt at redemption, Eddington provides Torrey with the information he needs to set up a battle that he has at least a chance of winning, pitting his small task group of destroyers and cruisers against the Japanese task force led by the Yamato, the largest battleship ever built.

HATARI!
Hatari! is Swahili for "danger"—and also the word for action, adventure and broad comedy in this two-fisted Howard Hawks effort. John Wayne stars as the head of a daring Tanganyka-based group which captures wild animals on behalf of the world's zoos. Hardy Kruger, Gérard Blain and Red Buttons are members of Wayne's men-only contingent, all of whom are reduced to jello when the curvaceous Elsa Martinelli enters the scene. In tried and true Howard Hawks fashion, Martinelli quickly becomes "one of the guys," though Wayne apparently can't say two words to her without sparking an argument. The second half of this amazingly long (159 minute) film concerns the care and maintenance of a baby elephant; the barely credible finale is devoted to a comic pachyderm stampede down an urban African street, ending literally at the foot of Martinelli's bed. The other scene worth mentioning involves comedy-relief Red Buttons' efforts to create a fireworks-powered animal trap. Not to be taken seriously for a minute, Hatari is attractively packaged and neatly tied up with a danceable-pranceable theme song by Henry Mancini.

RIO LOBO
After the Civil War, a Union Colonel goes to Rio Lobo to take revenge on two traitors.

BIG JAKE
An aging Texas cattle man who has outlived his time swings into action when outlaws kidnap his grandson and wound his son. He returns to his estranged family to help them in the search for Little Jake.

THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
Like Pontius Pilate, director John Ford asks "What is truth?" in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance—but unlike Pilate, Ford waits for an answer. The film opens in 1910, with distinguished and influential U.S. senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) and his wife Hallie (Vera Miles) returning to the dusty little frontier town where they met and married twenty-five years earlier. They have come back to attend the funeral of impoverished "nobody" Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). When a reporter asks why, Stoddard relates a film-long flashback. He recalls how, as a greenhorn lawyer, he had run afoul of notorious gunman Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), who worked for a powerful cartel which had the territory in its clutches. Time and again, "pilgrim" Stoddard had his hide saved by the much-feared but essentially decent Doniphon. It wasn't that Doniphon was particularly fond of Stoddard; it was simply that Hallie was in love with Stoddard, and Doniphon was in love with Hallie and would do anything to assure her happiness, even if it meant giving her up to a greenhorn. When Liberty Valance challenged Stoddard to a showdown, everyone in town was certain that the greenhorn didn't stand a chance. Still, when the smoke cleared, Stoddard was still standing, and Liberty Valance lay dead. On the strength of his reputation as the man who shot Valance, Stoddard was railroaded into a political career, in the hope that he'd rid the territory of corruption. Stoddard balked at the notion of winning an election simply because he killed a man-until Doniphon, in strictest confidence, told Stoddard the truth: It was Doniphon, not Stoddard, who shot down Valance. Stoddard was about to reveal this to the world, but Doniphon told him not to. It was far more important in Doniphon's eyes that a decent, honest man like Stoddard become a major political figure; Stoddard represented the "new" civilized west, while Doniphon knew that he and the West he represented were already anachronisms. Thus Stoddard went on to a spectacular political career, bringing extensive reforms to the state, while Doniphon faded into the woodwork. His story finished, the aged Stoddard asks the reporter if he plans to print the truth. The reporter responds by tearing up his notes. "This is the West, sir, " the reporter explains quietly. "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Dismissed as just another cowboy opus at the time of its release, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance has since taken its proper place as one of the great Western classics. It questions the role of myth in forging the legends of the West, while setting this theme in the elegiac atmosphere of the West itself, set off by the aging Stewart and Wayne.

THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER
Henry Hathaway directs the 1965 psychological Western The Sons of Katie Elder. Four sons reunite in their Texas hometown to attend their mother's funeral. John (John Wayne) is the gunfighter, Tom (Dean Martin) is the gambler, Matt (Earl Holliman) is the quiet one, and Bud (Michael Anderson Jr.) is the youngest. They soon learn that their father gambled away the family ranch, leading to his own murder. The brothers decide to find their father's killer and get back the ranch, even though they are discouraged to do so by local Sheriff Billy Wilson (Paul Fix). When the sheriff turns up dead, the Elder boys are blamed for the murder. Deputy Sheriff Ben Latta (Jeremy Slate) joins forces with the only witnesses of the murder: Morgan Hastings (James Gregory) and his son Dave (Dennis Hopper). A gunfight breaks out between the Hastings gang and the Elder gang. After his brother Matt is killed, John decides to settle the ranch dispute in a court of law with a judge (Sheldon Allman). However, Tom decides to take matters into his own hands by kidnapping Dave. After the final climactic gunfight, John and the wounded Bud retreat to a rooming house owned by Mary Gordon (Martha Hyer).

TRUE GRIT
In 1970, John Wayne won an Academy Award. for his larger-than-life performance as the drunken, uncouth and totally fearless one-eyed U.S. Marshall, Rooster Cogburn. The cantankerous Rooster is hired by a headstrong young girl (Kim Darby) to find the man who murdered her father and fled with the family savings. When Cogburn's employer insists on accompanying the old gunfighter, sparks fly. And the situation goes from troubled to disastrous when an inexperienced but enthusiastic Texas Ranger (Glen Campbell) joins the party. Laughter and tears punctuate the wild action in this extraordinary Western which features performances by Robert Duvall and Strother Martin.

THE SHOOTIST
About ten minutes into The Shootist, Doctor Hostetler (James Stewart) tells aging western gunfighter John Bernard Books (John Wayne) "You have a cancer." Knowing that his death will be painful and lingering, Books is determined to be shot in the line of "duty". In his remaining two months, Books settles scores with old enemies, including gambler Pulford (Hugh O'Brian) and Marshall Thibido (Harry Morgan) and reaches out to new friends (including feisty widow Lauren Bacall and her hero-worshipping son Ron Howard). In the end, is shot to death, but in so doing he is able to dissuade another from following his blood-stained example. Throughout the film, Book's imminent demise is compared with the decline of the west, as represented by the automobiles and streetcars that have begun to blight the main street of Wayne's home town. It is unknown if John Wayne was aware that he was dying of cancer when he agreed to film The Shootist; whatever the case, the film is a powerful valedictory to a remarkable man and a fabulous career.

EL DORADO
Legendary producer-director Howard Hawks teams with two equally legendary stars, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, in this classic Western drama. Mitchum plays to perfection an alcoholic but gutsy sheriff who relentlessly battles the dark side of the wild West, ruthless cattle barons and crooked "businessmen." The Duke gives an equally adept performance as the sheriff's old friend who knows his way around a gunfight. Filled with brawling action and humor, El Dorado delivers the goods. James Caan and Ed Asner co-star.

THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY
When a commercial airliner developes engine problems on a trans- Pacific flight and the pilot loses his nerve, it is up to the washed-up co-pilot Dan Roman to bring the plane in safely.

ISLAND IN THE SKY
A transport plane crash-lands in the frozen wastes of Labrador, and the plane's pilot, Dooley, must keep his men alive in deadly conditions while waiting for rescue.

HONDO
Based on the Louis L'Amour story "The Gift of Cochise," this sparkling western has Wayne as a half-Indian Cavalry scout who, with his feral dog companion, finds a young woman and her son living on a isolated ranch in unfriendly Apache country. A poetic and exciting script, outstanding performances, and breathtaking scenery make this an indisputable classic. Page's debut.

MCLINTOCK!
Wayne shows off his funny side in this 1963 western, a comedy inspired by The Taming of the Shrew. Starring as wealthy cattle baron G.W. McLintock, Wayne shows a real sense of comic timing in several scenes filled with slapstick humor. After his wife (Maureen O'Hara) and daughter leave him for the East, McLintock attempts to win them back. The dynamics between O'Hara and Wayne are the strong suit of this film, the actors having worked together previously on

THE QUIET MAN
As this is by no means a revisionist western, McLintock's chauvinistic attempts to "tame" his wife fit within the problematic ideology of the larger western genre. The ultimate example of this comes at the end of the film when McLintock settles his marital dispute by publicly "spanking" his wife in what is now a notorious cinematic moment.

Customer Reviews:

Great Value.......2007-06-14

This collection is an outstanding deal at $70. THis contains many of Wayne's most sought-after films at a bargain price.

This box set does NOT contain THE QUIET MAN.......2007-05-23

Contrary to Amazon's editorial description above, the John Wayne Century Collection contains 14 movies, but does NOT include THE QUIET MAN. Still, it is a good bargain and contains a new Special Edition release of TRUE GRIT.

Average customer rating:

When rich people get bored.....
Perfect Conclusion to the Trilogy of Great Journeys:
Hold the popcorn
Eyes Wide Shut Is Good Reason For Region-free DVD Player
Not to be discounted

Eyes Wide Shut
Starring: Tom Cruise , Nicole Kidman , Madison Eginton , Jackie Sawiris , and Sydney Pollack
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005ATQD
Release Date: 2001-06-12

Amazon.com essential video

It was inevitable that Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut would be the most misunderstood film of 1999. Kubrick died four months prior to its release, and there was no end to speculation how much he would have tinkered with the picture, changed it, "fixed" it. We'll never know. But even without the haunting enigma of the director's death--and its eerie echo/anticipation in the scene when Dr. Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) visits the deathbed of one of his patients--Eyes Wide Shut would have perplexed and polarized viewers and reviewers. After all, virtually every movie of Kubrick's post-U.S. career had; only 1964's Dr. Strangelove opened to something approaching consensus. Quite apart from the author's tinkering, Kubrick's movies themselves always seemed to change--partly because they changed us, changed the world and the ways we experienced and understood it. And we may expect Eyes Wide Shut to do the same. Unlike Kubrick himself, it has time.

So consider, as we settle in to live with this long, advisedly slow, mesmerizing film, how challenging and ambiguous its narrative strategy is. The source is an Arthur Schnitzler novella titled Traumnovelle (or "Dream Story"), and it's a moot question how much of Eyes Wide Shut itself is dream, from the blue shadows frosting the Harfords' bedroom to the backstage replica of New York's Greenwich Village that Kubrick built in England. Its major movement is an imaginative night-journey (even the daylight parts of it) taken by a man reeling from his wife's teasing confession of fantasized infidelity, and toward the end there is a token gesture of the couple waking to reality and, perhaps, a new, chastened maturity. Yet on some level--visually, psychologically, logically--every scene shimmers with unreality. Is everything in the movie a dream? And if so, who is dreaming it at any given moment, and why?

Don't settle for easy answers. Kubrick's ultimate odyssey beckons. And now the dream is yours. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews:

When rich people get bored............2007-06-12

As most people know, this was the great Stanley Kubrick's final movie. I believe he died before the filming was complete. It was also, ironically, filmed just before Tom & Nicole broke up (a bit of irony there?) These facts alone would be enough to make this film a collector's item. However, it also has some other things going for it as well.

The story is about a Dr. (Tom Cruise) who is haunted by the notion that his wife (Nicole Kidman) has cheated on him. Or, even if she didn't ACTUALLY cheat on him, she surely wanted to. This leads him on an escapade of sexual deviance. He considers hooking up with a girl who has a crush on him as well as soliciting the services of a prostitute. He justifies his actions as a form of "getting even" with his spouse.

The biggest gamble, however, is sneaking into a ritzy orgy scene where everyone is wearing masks. The scene is bizarre and at the same time beautiful. The ritual with the prostitutes is downright surreal. This sets the stage for everything else that happens in the movie.

If you're into erotic thrillers, this one belongs in your DVD collection. Makes me wonder how much of this kind of thing really does go on in High Society places. Also, Nicole Kidman takes her clothes off for the first time in quite awhile, and I do believe there are more nude shots of her in this film than any other movie I've ever seen her in. That alone is worthy of the price of this DVD!

Perfect Conclusion to the Trilogy of Great Journeys:.......2007-04-17

I believe that Kubrick's swansong is a great masterpiece, it is one of my favorite films and has been since I saw it first time. I felt under the film's spell from the very beginning: the camera was so much in love with Kidman's gorgeous figure, her golden hair; the music by Shostakovich - so European even though the film takes place in NYC. The film was so clever and so mesmerizing. The more I watched the more I realized that there was something vaguely familiar and strangely comical in the film. I kept thinking and it occurred to me that Kubrick paid homage and parodied Joyce's "Ulysses" in the same way Joyce himself treated Homer's celebrated poem. For me, there are so many similarities between "Bloomsday" and "Billnight", between both men's journeys and adventures on the streets of Dublin and NYC that I am curious if anyone else noticed that. There are visits to the Kingdom of Dead, sirens, Cyclops, the sorceress that turns men in pigs (the figure of speech that is :)). Both Bloom and Bill try to run from but can't forget and eventually come back to the only woman they are attracted to for eternity - Penelope - Molly Bloom- Alice Harford. Both deeply suffer from her infidelity (Bloom from the real one and Bill from imaginative but it hurts the same). Both are very insecure men who doubt their own masculinity and try to prove to them that they are the real men but they can't. Both are married to the strong women who would give them hope in the end - both "Ulysses" and "EWS" ends on the affirmative note. The last word in "Ulysses" "Yes" belongs to Molly just before she fell asleep and the last lines in EWS are:

"Alice Harford: I do love you and you know there is something very important we need to do as soon as possible.
Dr. Bill Harford: What's that?
Alice Harford: F_uck."

If that's not the happiest and most satisfying ending for a movie ever then I don't know which one is. For the great ending I can forgive a movie many sins. But to tell you the truth, "Eyes Wide Shut" is perfect, it has nothing to apologize for. It is the movie that would be admired many years from now. It is a perfect conclusion to the trilogy of great journeys of a man for search of himself - "Odyssey", "Ulysses", and "Eyes Wide Shut".

Hold the popcorn.......2007-03-29

We actually paid money to see this movie in a theater. We sat through the entire thing waiting for it to have some socially redeeming value. We left not only disappointed, but angry. Outraged.

Yes, I know what it was about. Of course, I didn't know that going in, that would have been nice. And I couldn't believe the arrogance and the audacity of celebrating a culture of elitism that thrives upon decadence and depravity. Why are we watching this? And WHY ARE WE PAYING FOR IT?

It is even more obvious, a handful of years later, that Tom Cruise is "not OK." That Nicole Kidman has her own brand of dark drama going on, a drama that is not that far removed from Britney Spears and Anna Nicole Smith. It's larger than life and darker than insanity. We should do something about it. I wish I knew what. But I don't want it with my popcorn.

Eyes Wide Shut Is Good Reason For Region-free DVD Player.......2007-03-19

When "Eyes Wide Shut" was released in the U.S., in order to escape an X-rating, certain digital images were inserted during the infamous orgy scene. However, the version of Kubrick's film released in Europe did not include these digital images. When the film became available on DVD, one version (with the digitalized images) was distributed here in America, while the "European" version of the DVD shown the scene minus the inserted digital images. You can order the European version of the DVD not only here but any number of DVD distribution companies. The problem is, the European version will not play on DVD players sold in the electronic and stereo equipment stores in the U.S.
Why not? Because DVD players sold in the United States are designated Region 1 players, while the European version of the DVD is a Region 2 DVD, and the Region of the DVD player must be the same Region as the DVD or you get no picture.
How do you know the Region of a DVD? On the back of its case, usually in very small print, is an oval or rectangular print of the world with a number right in its middle. This image with a number is very often not easy to find on the back of the case, so you must look with varying degrees of difficulty to discover it. It's definitely always there, believe me, you just must really look for it sometimes. Once you find the oval globe, you can't miss the number in its middle, and that's the DVD's region. So, knowing that all store-bought DVD players in this country are Region 1 players, the Region 2, European version of the film is incompatible with it, and voila, no picture.
Other American films share this same problem. David Lynch's "Lost Highways" is unavailable in its widescreen version, with a quality image transfer from film to DVD only in the Region 2, European version. The Region 1 version available here is not widescreen, distributed from Canada, and is of poor quality. Sam Peckingpah's only war movie, "Cross of Iron" suffers from this exact same dilemma. Orson Welles's classic, "The Magnificent Ambersons," is available only from Germany, in a Region 2 format. We're talking about great American films, folks, for some reason or another, unavailable for viewing here because of this Region incompatibility between the player and DVD itself.
Why is this? The powers that be (whoever that is) have divided cinema on DVD into twelve Regions, in order to control the competion between themselves.
Oh, there are some popular foreign films available for play here in Region 1 versions for our Region 1 players, but those films are comparatively few and far between. So, is there no option for the film buff, such as myself, who enjoys both domestic and foreign films which are not coded Region 1 DVDs?
Thanfully, we do have an alternative and it's called the Region-free or Multi-region DVD player. You will not find those players at your local chain electronics store, however. They only sell Region 1 DVD players. You must go online, and THERE you will find these DVD players which will display movies from any Region, from any country in the world. American DVD players also only play movies with what's called NTSC television screen encoding, which also limits the films available for view because many foreign DVDs require PAL television encoding. The Region-free player also eliminates this distinction as long as your television is not a dinosaur. Cinema is an art form which should be made available for anybody, anywhere to enjoy. It's not, unless you get a Region-free DVD player.
I realize most people don't care to go beyond what's commercially available in film, and they should just stick to what they have, and when it's replacement time, return to their local electronics outfit. For those demanding world cinema's availability, Region-free players are the only way to go. I've made that choice and, now, my reach extends to movies from all over the planet. I can even see the magnificent "Eyes Wide Shut" minus those damned digital images.
Instead of going in this sensible direction, the owners to DVD rights in our country are pointing us in a different direction, to high definition DVD. That's right; you can now upgrade the picture quality of Region 1 DVDs by purchasing a new high definition DVD player in conjunction with new high definition DVDs. Forget about your existing 5.1 surround sound player and supporting discs; start all over again with high definition. There are two competing companies offering the next level in DVD technology: Blu-ray and HD. Both companies are owned by various major movie studios with certain studios backing one while other studios support the other. It's (high definition) being touted as the next step in DVD technology, and maybe it is, if someone's just now starting a DVD collection or is willing to chunk away the old, outdated stuff in favor of high definition players and DVDs. But buyers beware: the choice of high definition DVDs offered by both Blu-ray and HD at your local store is very limited, and a substantial difference in picture quality only comes with the high end new players, costing anywhere from $600.00 to over $1,000.00. Your last consideration is which brand to choice, Blu-ray or HD? One system's DVDs are not compatible with the other's player and visa versa. It's much wiser to wait and see which company wins before strongly committing one way or the other.

Not to be discounted.......2007-02-26

Don't discount this film because you are dismayed by Tom Cruise. This film is excellent and a must see. The symbolism in this film alone makes it worth a look. Attempt to ignore good old Tom and rekindle your love for him pre-insanity. Kubrick rarely gets enough accolades for this movie, as he should.

Average customer rating:

Superhero comicbook readers hit a movie
DISNEY PUTS A SPIN ON THE HIGH SCHOOL COMEDY
"What do you want me to do? I'm not Wonder Woman, y'know!"---Lynda Carter
"I can't do anything more to help you. I'm not Wonder Woman, you know."
Family fun

Sky High (Widescreen Edition)
Starring: Michael Angarano , Kurt Russell , Kelly Preston , Danielle Panabaker , and Christopher Wynne
Director: Mike Mitchell (VI)
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000BJ7BCK
Release Date: 2005-11-29

Description

A super adventure of heroic proportions, this crowd-pleasing hit from Walt Disney Pictures stars Hollywood favorites Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston! The son of legendary heroes Commander (Russell) and Jetstream (Preston), young Will Stronghold carries huge expectations as he enters a high-tech high school known for molding the heroes of tomorrow. With no apparent superpowers of his own, however, Will seems destined to grow up a mere sidekick. But as he discovers his true strengths, he'll also learn that it takes loyalty and teamwork to truly become a hero!

Customer Reviews:

Superhero comicbook readers hit a movie.......2007-06-11

I grew up on the Silver Age Comics (60s) of the heroes with high ideals and teams. My favorite group was the Legion of Superheroes. This movie reminded me so much of the Legion. It is a great clean movie that mom and dad can sit down and watch with the kids without embarrassment! No cursing, no nudity, no blood.....and a great story. Wow!! How long has it been since you could put all four of those ideas into one movie? Gather the family for some feel-good movie viewing.

DISNEY PUTS A SPIN ON THE HIGH SCHOOL COMEDY.......2007-05-13

It's good to see Kurt Russell back in a Disney movie again. The story centers around a Super Hero Mom and Dad who send their son off to a special secret Super Hero school in the sky. The usual "high school" high jinks occur in this family friendly comedy with some new interesting twist. Lynda Carter has a small amusing role at "Sky High".

"What do you want me to do? I'm not Wonder Woman, y'know!"---Lynda Carter .......2007-05-07

PLOT DETAILS FOLLOW

Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) is the son of the world's two most famous superheroes, The Commander aka Steve Stronghold (Kurt Russell) and Jetstream aka Josie Stronghold (Kelly Preston). In a world where superheroes are an everyday part of life, their children attend Sky High, a private secondary school built on an anti-gravity platform far above the surface of the Earth, accessible only by a flying school bus piloted/diiven by Kevin Heffernan (THE KING OF QUEENS) and run by Principal Powers (Lynda Carter of WONDER WOMAN).

As part of the first day Freshman rituals, the new students are expected to demonstrate their super powers in front of the rest of the class. Graded by Coach Boomer, the retired superhero Sonic Boom, students are either classified as Heroes or Sidekicks; it is the Sidekicks who become the pariahs in the pecking order due to their weak or offbeat, or impractical powers (one boy glows bright yellow, one girl can shapeshift only into a guinea pig, Will's best friend, Layla (Danielle Panabaker) refuses to demonstrate her powers for ethical reasons, and Will shows no sign of super powers at all).

Fortunately for Will, the prettiest and most popular girl in school, Gwen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), takes a shine to him. A Technopath, she can build anything out of anything, and helps him in Chemistry Class and with such projects as his ray gun. Will is soon smitten with her. Because of this "in" with the In Crowd, Will's confidence soars, and he soon begins to develop Super Strength and the ability to fly. Transferred from the Sidekick classes to the Hero classes, Will starts ignoring his friends, particularly the secretly-in-love-with-him Layla, who is heartbroken.

To needle Will, she begins hanging out with Warren Peace, the son of a mixed marriage (Mom's a Superhero, Dad's a Supervillain put in jail by Will's parents); Warren himself is a dour Gothic kid who can shoot fireballs from the palms of his hands.

Holy Pep Rally! It soon turns out that Gwen is not quite so nice as she seems. The Prom becomes a revenge fest, in which Will and Warren, backed by the Sidekicks, on one side, and Gwen (aka Major Pain) engage in a titanic battle between Good and Evil. The ending is a foregone conclusion in a movie like this, but let's face it, he couldn't have done it without them.

Looking at it coldly, SKY HIGH should have been a bomb, but it isn't, successfully blending the usual acne-angst elements of a Teen Movie (including the obligatory housewrecking party), with one-off Comic Book Characters. The result is light and entertaining, and rarely misses a beat.

Kurt Russell is wonderfully goofy as Dad Stronghold, both battling evil and sneaking Will down into the Secret Sanctum for a game of pinball---"Don't tell your mother, she's still mad at me for dropping that battleship on her foot" kind of dialogue is his stock-in-trade; as Mom, Kelly Preston gets just not enough time in her skintight Jetstream outfit to be truly satisfying on camera in her smallish role; Angarano is just teenage dorky enough as Will, but not so dorky that his transformation is unbelievable; Mary Elizabeth Winstead is just the sweetest thing in a skirt until she isn't anymore.

Danielle Pannabaker is the great surprise in SKY HIGH. Alternately shy and retiring, and calm and full of certitude, she imbues Layla with a kind of dignity none of the other characters have. When she finally uses her powers, they are entirely in character for her and yet unusual, a true expression of Female Power at its best.

A THREE-AND-A-HALF-STAR effort, SKY HIGH is good family fun fare.

"I can't do anything more to help you. I'm not Wonder Woman, you know.".......2007-05-07

The 2005 superhero family fantasy "Sky High" is about a boy named Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) whose parents, Steve & Josie Stronghold (Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston respectively), are famous superheroes named "The Commander" and "Jetstream". Steve ("The Commander") has super-strength and Josie ("Jetstream") can fly. Naturally, Steve & Josie believe that their son Will will grow up to be a superhero, so they enroll him in the exclusive superhero high school called "Sky High", so named because it floats several thousand feet in the air thanks to an anti-gravity device. When new students (freshmen) arrive at Sky High, they are separated into one of two groups: heroes or sidekicks. A hero has a real superpower, whereas a sidekick may have a power, but not something powerful. The man responsible for determining which kids are heroes and which are sidekicks is Coach Boomer (Bruce Campbell, who may be remembered for portraying Elvis Presley in the 2002 film "Bubba Ho-tep", as well as his roles in the various "Evil Dead" films). Upon arrival, the new freshmen are met by Sky High's principal, Principal Powers (Lynda Carter, best known for portraying Wonder Woman in the 1970's TV series of the same name), before being tested by Coach Boomer. The determination of whether a child is a hero or a sidekick determines not only what classes they attend, but also their social status: sidekicks are generally not socially accepted by the heroes. Hence, when Will cannot initially demonstrate any superhero powers, he is designated as a sidekick along with most of the new students who rode to Sky High with him in the flying school bus driven by Ron Wilson (Kevin Heffernan). Of course, Steve & Josie aren't particularly happy that their son may only be a sidekick, but Will may only be a late bloomer, as he demonstrates when he gets into a fight with another student, the flame-throwing Warren Peace (Steven Strait), in the school's cafeteria. Once it becomes apparent that Will is a hero and not a sidekick, he's moved from the sidekick classes to the hero classes where he gets to spend time with the beautiful senior named Gwen Grayson (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who may be more than she appears. Will tries to continue to be friends with his former fellow-sidekicks, including his very dear friend Layla Williams (Danielle Panabaker), but Gwen and her friends want to separate Will from them. As the film progresses, the stage is set for a climatic ending.

With good special effects, good acting, an interesting story and good direction (under Mike Mitchell), the family-friendly "Sky High" is a very entertaining film for young & old alike. Those familiar with the Harry Potter stories written by J.K. Rowling may find some similarities between Sky High high school where students are separated and Hogwartz with its separation of students into four houses. However, whereas Hogwartz separates children based upon personality traits, Sky High separates students based upon abilities. Overall, I rate "Sky High" with a well-deserved 4 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it.

Family fun.......2007-04-26

This is a fun family movie. It's great on rainy days or in the car on the road. Everyone loves this movie.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Two-Disc Ultimate Edition)

Average customer rating:

Everything, including the chainsaw on the kitchen sink...
Not a gorefest, but a real celluloid nightmare...
i'm shaking my head
The scariest movie ever made!!!
One of the greatest horror films ever made

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Two-Disc Ultimate Edition)
Starring: Marilyn Burns , Allen Danziger , Paul A. Partain , William Vail , and Teri McMinn
Director: Tobe Hooper
Manufacturer: Dark Sky Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000FS9FE4
Release Date: 2006-09-26

Amazon.com essential video

This sensational, extremely influential, 1974 low-budget horror movie directed by Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist, Lifeforce, Salem's Lot), may be notorious for its title, but it's also a damn fine piece of moviemaking. And it's blood-curdling scary, too. Loosely based on the true crimes of Ed Gein (also a partial inspiration for Psycho), the original Jeffrey Dahmer, Texas Chainsaw Massacre follows a group of teenagers who pick up a hitchhiker and wind up in a backwoods horror chamber where they're held captive, tortured, chopped up, and impaled on meat hooks by a demented cannibalistic family, including a character known as Leatherface who maniacally wields one helluva chainsaw. The movie's powerful sense of dread is heightened by its grainy, semi-documentary style--but it also has a wicked sense of humor (and not that camp, self-referential variety that became so tiresome in subsequent horror films of the '70s, '80s, and '90s). OK, in case you couldn't tell, it's "not for everyone." But as a landmark in the development of the horror/slasher genre, it ranks with Psycho, Halloween, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. --Jim Emerson

Product Description

ONE OF THE SCARIEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME Even More Terrifying 30 Years Later!
- Entertainment Weekly

The Ultimate Two-Disc Edition Of The Original Classic Now Remastered in High-Definition And Loaded With All-New Extras.

It has been called grisly, sick, and perverse as well as raw, unshakeable, and the movie that redefined horror. It was attacked by churches, banned by governments, and acclaimed by only the bravest of critics. It stunned audiences worldwide and set a new standard in movie terror forever. In 1974, writer-producer-director Tobe Hooper unleashed this dark, visionary tale about a group of five young friends who face a nightmare of torment at the hands of a depraved Texas clan. Today it remains unequaled as a landmark of outlaw filmmaking and unparalleled in its impact as perhaps the most frightening motion picture ever made.

Dark Sky Films presents this masterpiece like you ve never seen or heard it before, newly transferred in High Definition from the 16mm camera originals, remixed in 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo Surround, and featuring never-before-seen Bonus Materials produced exclusively for this definitive collection.

System Requirements:
Running Time: 84 minutes

Format: DVD MOVIE

Customer Reviews:

Everything, including the chainsaw on the kitchen sink..........2007-06-17

Fans of this cult favorite can relax - no, they didn't gloss up the film stock with digital sheen to make it look as though it were filmed yesterday. To be certain, TCM was cleaned up: the colors are brighter and more vibrant, and the film's nocturnal sequences aren't quite as murky as they were in the VHS edition. But this minor buffing hasn't betrayed the film's gritty, low-budget, high-grain 16mm (as transferred to 35mm stock) aesthetic. The '70s zeitgeist isn't even remotely diminished, but the attractive wide shots (mostly rural Texan landscapes) are as eye-catching as ever. The only way to get a better look at this film is to obtain the original theatrical reels, cigarette burns and all!

I hardly need to explain a film that's become an B-movie legend, one of the most successful and notorious independent films in American cinematic history. The synopsis, in summary: a traveling group of well-intentioned young twenty somethings run afoul of a family of redneck cannibals, one of which wears human faces as masks and uses a certain popular power tool for hunting and butchering. Fans of this film know the rest, and newcomers don't need to know any more. Even though the sheer horror of this film has been overrated (as is that of most popular horror films), few low-budget slasher flicks provide as much excitement and black humor as this one. If you haven't seen this yet, there's no reason not to.

This DVD offers quite a few features for fans of TCM, Tobe Hooper and Gunnar Hansen. Prominent among these are the soundtrack selections. For standard viewing, the film's soundtrack can be heard as a crisp stereo surround track that's a bit bright, and as the film's original mono recording, which is blunt, a bit messy and preferable for anyone who wants a more authentic viewing experience. The third option is a conversational audio commentary voiced by Hooper, Hansen and cinematographer Daniel Pearl. For fans and film students alike, I couldn't recommend this feature more; it's informative and very funny. Unlike certain audio commentary tracks, which are very dry as a result of the participants being recorded independently, this one benefits from the interaction between director, actor and cinematographer, especially when the three are comparing memories and discussing related experiences of a film that they collaborated on almost thirty years prior to this recording.

The disc's deleted scenes and alternate footage aren't quite so essential, but they are of mild interest. All of them consist of raw, untreated footage. The clips that haven't any sound are supplemented with textual script extracts. I think that audio commentary tracks would have been preferable to the textual summaries provided for each clip. Yes, the infamous makeup scene is included.

One of the more interesting features is "A Study In Filming," which consists of every unedited shot that was used to film the twenty-second scene in which Leatherface commits his first on screen murder. Even though this is essentially filler, it is somewhat engrossing, as it illustrates how much footage is required for a heavily edited (albeit short) scene.

This disc would be far from complete without the theatrical and televised trailers for the 1974 Bryanston release and New Line Cinema's 1980 re-release. Both sets of trailers are adequate and stylistically representative of their respective periods of release. Although it was hardly necessary to include the ludicrous trailers of TCM's two awful sequels and the incomparably terrible remake, they do make for compulsive viewing. They may induce squirms in a state of embarrassed discomfort.

The blooper reel is short, but rather amusing. Although it's nice to know that the making of this film was sometimes as jocular as it was maddening, the finished product is much more hilarious.

Silent footage of the Family's house is included. This provides a more detailed perspective of the macabre interior art design that featured quite a few chicken and human bones. I needn't mention that this is strictly intended for fans.

The provided film and production stills are competently shot, but not terribly interesting. They're included for the sake of completeness.

On the other hand, the scanned lobby cards and posters are definitely worth a look. The cards are typical (and probably worth quite a bit on eBay), but the art design of the theater posters are especially interesting. The Italian, German and Japanese posters are especially attractive and evocative, and some of them implement a few photos and paintings that I've never seen before.

For hardcore fans of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," this is an essential purchase if they don't already have it. For the more casual fan of horror and '70s B-films, this is definitely worth a rental. For anyone with a weak stomach, stay away - the nausea that this film can produce lives up to its' cult legend!

Not a gorefest, but a real celluloid nightmare..........2007-06-04

This is as terrifying as you've heard. Whether you saw it on an old, faded VHS copy, or you saw it in the theater when it came out, or on a later, remasted edition, it is so relentless and claustrophobic that it is impossible to shed from your mind. The thing about this film that despite its reputation, it has hardly any gore in it. It is not a gorehound film, not even close. It runs along the lines of Night of the Living Dead, an independent horror film that is truly scary and disturbing. It's not a film in which you get a few scares and then some comic relief. It's a plain nightmare of a film, and even in the end when one of the captives escape, you're still scared like hell. It burns into your subconscious like only a handful of films do (Cannibal Holocaust, Night of the Living Dead, and Salo for example). It's a testament to the filmmaker, Tobe Hooper, for making such a great film that still can scare people today. Forget the sequels or the remakes: this is the only one you need to see.

i'm shaking my head.......2007-04-25

This movie feels so wrong and yet so right at the same time. It tortures your mind and brings out your fear but I still love it anyway. I'm glad I waited until I was 24 to watch this movie as it is that unsettling. I've never been so relieved that a movie was over not because I didn't like it but because I was so glad that the terror I was experiencing was finally over. I was exhausted when I got through with this film. It is my top 3 for scariest movies of all time. One of the best things about this movie is that there is very little blood. NOT recommend for kids as they WILL have nightmares.

The scariest movie ever made!!!.......2007-04-22

I was in high school the first time I saw this movie...I watched it one day at 2 am thinking that it was gonna be just a gory lame kinda horror movie...When it was over, I was too scared to even want to turn off all the lights in the house and go up to bed...It scared the hell out of me...What I really loved about the movie was that since it was such a low budget film it looked too real(Unlike the crappy horror movies that come out now)...If you have never seen any of the TCM movies, this is the one to watch(the remake was ok)...

One of the greatest horror films ever made.......2007-04-16

This is worth owning if you are a fan of horror films. Its very disturbing.

Average customer rating:

Okay, so I'm the one guy who didn't think it was all that and a bag of chips.
An Experience that will Stay With You For Some Time To Come...
loved it
Ridiculous ending, not worth watching!
This is a very good movie

Open Your Eyes
Starring: Carola Angulo (II) , Gérard Barray , Joserra Cadiñanos , Penélope Cruz , and Ion Gabella
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
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Vanilla Sky
Belle Epoque
The Sea Inside
Woman on Top
Amores Perros

ASIN: B00005LZOD
Release Date: 2001-08-21

Amazon.com

Imagine if an actor's director like Eric Rohmer--whose films consist almost entirely of conversation between pairs or small groups of people--made a film that incorporated elements from movies like Dark City, eXistenZ, The Thirteenth Floor, The Truman Show, and Total Recall. The result might resemble Alejandro Amenabar's remarkable second feature, Open Your Eyes, which favors ideas over effects and offers twist upon twist with mind-warping agility. This film rewards multiple viewings, pushing the viewer toward one perception of reality, then switching to another until reality itself is called into question. Melodrama, love story, and psychological thriller combine with a dash of science fiction, forming a plot that is both disorienting and deceptively precise.

Set in Madrid, the story defies description, but this much can be revealed: young, handsome Cesar (Eduardo Noriega) is vain, rich, charming, and--following a botched suicide-murder scheme by a jilted lover--horribly disfigured. He'd fallen in love with Sofia (Penélope Cruz) but is now an embittered husk of his former self, stuck in a "psychiatric penitentiary" on a murder charge and hiding behind an expressionless mask. His reality has crumbled, but as the film's agenda is gradually revealed, we realize that there are other factors in play. Exposing that agenda would be a criminal offense against those who haven't seen the film; suffice it to say that Open Your Eyes takes you into the twilight zone and beyond, and does so cleverly enough to prompt Tom Cruise to produce and star in an English-language remake, Vanilla Sky. The 2001 remake, directed by Cameron Crowe, costars Cameron Diaz and Penélope Cruz, who reprises her original role. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Okay, so I'm the one guy who didn't think it was all that and a bag of chips........2006-12-21

Abre los Ojos (Alejandro Amenabar, 1997)

Okay, I have to say this first: Eduardo Noriega is the male lead in the new Brad Anderson movie Trans-Siberian. I don't need to know anything else, because Brad Anderson is about as close to being a god as movie directors get. If Anderson thinks Eduardo Noriega is the goods, then Eduardo Noriega is the goods.

He's also the star of the much-talked-about Alejandro Amenabar film Abre los Ojos, which everyone and his mother complained was desecrated when remade in America as Vanilla Sky a few years ago. And while I can't find anything wrong with slagging a Tom Cruise flick, I'm not terribly sure why this movie is being held up as the gold standard. Maybe it's a relativity thing; I have (to the value of my sanity, according to friends) managed to avoid seeing Vanilla Sky.

In any case, the plot: Cesar (Noriega, who, did I mention, is in the new Brad Anderson movie?) is an arrogant, handsome womanizer who meets the woman of his dreams, Sofia (Penelope Cruz). Problem is, the girl he jilted for Sofia, Nuria (Before Night Falls' Najwa Nimri), isn't too happy with the arrangement. While offering him a lift home, she commits suicide by crashing her car, an accident that leaves handsome Cesar horribly disfigured.

Now, intercut with all this are scenes of Cesar being interviewed by a doctor, so we know there's a lot more to this story than we're being let in on. And that's all well and good, except that the movie keeps raising two questions for each one it answers. At that rate, you're going to be left with a whole lot of unanswered questions when the movie ends. And that's exactly what we get. It's not so much that the film is ambiguous, which it is, but it's that the ambiguousness of the ending is the part about which we can feel we have the clearest grasp on. There's an "as you know, Bob" character at the end to explain everything, but Amenabar has given us a very strong feeling throughout his tenure in the film that the guy is, quite simply, lying his tuckus off. And where does that leave us? (Knowing nothing but our interpretation of the ambiguous ending, of course.)

What we do get is some rather fine shots of Penelope Cruz showing a lot more skin than we've seen from her before, a handful of really good performances (including Noriega's), and a mystery that, were it to come to any sort of conclusion, would be a cracker. Now, I'll be the first to admit that it's entirely possible I missed some small detail that makes the whole thing make perfect sense, but until someone points it out to me, 'm still wondering what it is about this movie (aside, of course, from Penelope Cruz naked) that gets peoples' juices up.

And did I mention that Eduardo Noriega is in the new Brad Anderson flick? ** ½

An Experience that will Stay With You For Some Time To Come..........2006-10-02

Abre Los Ojos came to my attention after seeying it's American Remake, Vanilla Sky. Vanilla Sky had amazed me and had been spinning in my mind for a long time after I had seen it. Then I found this dvd of the original, and bought it here on Amazon.
When it arrived I immidiately watched it, ready to be pulled into that world which Vanilla Sky had pulled me in about a year ealier. Only this time, this movie stunned me even more than Vanilla Sky did, it captured me, moved me and gave the world of dreaming and love a totally different perspective than it gave me when I watched Vanilla Sky.
The reason?
The original is simply more powerfull than it's remake.

Abre Los Ojos is one of those movies that is everlasting. It is a tense thriller, a beautiful love story, an emotional drama, a big mystery and can even be placed under the catagory Horror at some moments.
The story is the most original and one of the most powerfull stories I've ever seen. It's complex, it's tempting, it's confusesing, it's powerful... It's everything that makes a story worthwhile and is absolutely something to remember and think back to.
The cast is fantastic. Penelope Cruz plays the exact same role that she plays in Vanilla Sky. The thing that makes her better in this one than the remake is that she has no problem pronouncing her scentences. Spanish is her motherlanguage, the language she was raised with and the language she can pronouce with pure pasion and fantastic acting. She also did a fantastic job in Vanilla Sky, don't get me wrong, but here you can feel her emotions fluently and she gives her absolute best and in Vanilla Sky you can't really feel that even though she acts absolutely great in that movie.
The leading role is for Eduardo Noriega, an actor that is absolutely convincing and realistic for the part he plays. He was a great casting choice and gives his very best. The thing that makes him believable is that you will feel for his character during the movie. He portrais his character in such a way that is only said in one word: powerful.

The other aspects of the movie: the setdesign, the locations, the lighting, the music, the cameramovements, the editing, the atmosphere and everything else is all maqnificent and leaves a powerfull impression. It helpes the story live and feel real to the audience.
Everything has been taken care of to make every small detail look stunning which helps you even more with falling in love with this movie.
Don't you worry about the language (the whole movie is spoken in Spanish), cause when you are into this movie you won't even notice that you are still reading the subtitles.

My only left advice to you is: Watch Abre Los Ojos first, and after that Vanilla Sky. I did it in the other direction and all I can say is that I think it's a pitty that I did so. So don't make the same mistake that I did and watch Abre Los Ojos first! You will understand what I mean when you will watch Vanilla Sky secondly.

So open your eyes and be moved by this absolute masterpiece of filmmaking. Yes people, this is what the movies are all about!
WOW, what a film!

loved it.......2006-08-28

This film, which in my opinion is way better than Vanilla Sky, flat-out spreads important questions to the viewer. the most important being: how far are you willing to go, how much of your life will you allow beauty to control?

Ridiculous ending, not worth watching!.......2006-08-10

This movie was captivating and interesting for the first 3/4ths of it. It is a psychological thriller/mystery and you obviously want to find out the big explanation at the end that resolves all your questions. Well, the ending was so incredibly far-fetched and crazy that I can't believe that anyone who read the WHOLE script actually wanted to work on this movie. It ends up being a stupid "sci-fi" type ending. So, if you want to get all into a movie, only to have them resolve it with the most ridiculous scenario possible, buy this one!! ....or....DON'T.

This is a very good movie.......2006-08-05

I got this movie so that I will continue to improve on my Spainish. I am thrilled to find such good movie in the process. I have seen Vanillia Sky, but this is so much better, in some way much more original. The performances...what can I say, I stayed glued to the television until the end.

Average customer rating:

Superhero comicbook readers hit a movie
DISNEY PUTS A SPIN ON THE HIGH SCHOOL COMEDY
"What do you want me to do? I'm not Wonder Woman, y'know!"---Lynda Carter
"I can't do anything more to help you. I'm not Wonder Woman, you know."
Family fun

Sky High (Full Screen Edition)
Starring: Michael Angarano , Kurt Russell , Kelly Preston , Danielle Panabaker , and Christopher Wynne
Director: Mike Mitchell (VI)
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000BJ7BCA
Release Date: 2005-11-29

Description

Customer Reviews:

Superhero comicbook readers hit a movie.......2007-06-11

DISNEY PUTS A SPIN ON THE HIGH SCHOOL COMEDY.......2007-05-13

"What do you want me to do? I'm not Wonder Woman, y'know!"---Lynda Carter .......2007-05-07

"I can't do anything more to help you. I'm not Wonder Woman, you know.".......2007-05-07

Family fun.......2007-04-26

This is a fun family movie. It's great on rainy days or in the car on the road. Everyone loves this movie.

Average customer rating:

Straight To DVD Quality Embellished With Better Special Effects
Pretty Darn Good
Sky High-ly Recommended
I want to give this 6 stars
"it's great"

Sky High (UMD Mini For PSP)
Starring: Bruce Campbell , Lynda Carter , Dave Foley , Cloris Leachman , and Kevin McDonald
Director: Mike Mitchell
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: UMD for PSP

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ASIN: B000BJ7BCU
Release Date: 2005-11-29

Amazon.com

The idea of a high school for superheroes will appeal to teens and preteens, who struggle powerlessly with petty authoritarians, bullying peers, and their own rampant hormones, and Sky High spotlights young Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano, Lords of Dogtown), the son of top-of-the-heap superheroic couple the Commander (Kurt Russell, Tango & Cash) and Josie Jetstream (Kelly Preston, View from the Top). Unfortunately, though he's about to be dropped into the midst of kids who can stretch, turn to living stone, or shoot fire, Will has yet to develop any powers at all--and may never develop them. His development anxieties (and some entertaining metaphors for high school social hierarchies) contrast with a bubbling plot by an old foe of the Commander's to destroy Sky High and all of superhero-dom. Sky High has a great supporting cast (including Bruce Campbell, Army of Darkness; Dave Foley, NewsRadio; Lynda Carter, Wonder Woman; and Cloris Leachman, Young Frankenstein) and a handful of funny, offhand bits, but the bulk of the movie is bland and obvious. Younger kids may not mind the clumsy action scenes, generic dialogue, and tacky production design, but even comic-book-loving teenagers will label Sky High bargain-basement. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

Straight To DVD Quality Embellished With Better Special Effects.......2005-12-20

"Sky High", the new film starring Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston, Michael Angarano, Lynda Carter, Dave Foley and Bruce Campbell is a throwback to the Disney Studios of the 70s, when they made one cheesy live action film after another featuring people dealing with strange circumstances like becoming a dog or a computer. You know, the type of film Kurt Russell got his start in... I honestly thought that these films were made for the Disney Channel or straight to video, but for some reason, Disney decided to release "Sky High" in theaters. Now it is on DVD, where it should've started in the first place.

"Sky High" isn't a bad film, it just isn't worthy of theatrical release. The pleasant story is filled with some acceptable acting, some terrible acting, a truly bizarre climax and some amusing live action takes on comic books.

Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) is about to start high school, but Will's parents, Steve (Kurt Russell) and Josie (Kelly Preston), realtors by day, are actually the world's most famous superheroes, The Commander and Jet Stream. The Commander has incredible strength and Jet Stream can fly, so naturally, they expect their son to have some powers of his own. Will is no ordinary kid, so he won't be going to an ordinary high school. He and his best friend, Layla (Danielle Panabaker), she can make plants grow at incredible speeds, are off to attend Sky High, a high school floating in the clouds over the San Fernando Valley (yet another excuse for the smog), where the children of all of the superheroes learn to enhance their powers. There is only one problem, Will doesn't seem to have any powers. Once there, he and Layla run into the usual high school problems and cliques, except all of the kids have a super power. Will even learns that he already has an arch nemesis, Warren Peace (Steven Strait), the son of a supe