Giant (Two-Disc Special Edition) (Digipack)

Giant (Two-Disc Special Edition) (Digipack)


Starring:Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Jane Withers, Chill Wills, Mercedes McCambridge, Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo, Rod Taylor, Judith Evelyn, Earl Holliman, Robert Nichols, Paul Fix, Alexander Scourby, Fran Bennett (II), Charles Watts, Elsa Cárdenas, Carolyn Craig, Monte Hale
Director: George Stevens
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video
They call it Giant because everything in this picture is big, from the generous running time (more than 200 minutes) to the sprawling ranch location (a horizon-to-horizon plain with a lonely, modest mansion dropped in the middle) to the high-powered stars. Stocky Rock Hudson stars as the confident, stubborn young ranch baron Bick Benedict, who woos and wins the hand of Southern belle Elizabeth Taylor, a seemingly demure young beauty who proves to be Hudson's match after she settles into the family homestead. For many the film is chiefly remembered for James Dean's final performance, as poor former ranch hand Jett Rink, who strikes oil and transforms himself into a flamboyant millionaire playboy. Director George Stevens won his second Oscar for this ambitious, grandly realized (if sometimes slow moving) epic of the changing socioeconomic (and physical) landscape of modern Texas, based on Edna Ferber's bestselling novel. The talented supporting cast includes Mercedes McCambridge as Bick's frustrated sister, put out by the new "woman of the house"; Chill Wills as the Benedicts' garrulous rancher neighbor; Carroll Baker and Dennis Hopper as the Benedicts' rebellious children; and Earl Holliman and Sal Mineo as dedicated ranch hands. --Sean Axmaker
Description
Texan rancher Bick Benedict visits a Maryland farm to buy a prize horse. Whilst there he meets and falls in love with the owner's daughter Leslie, they are married immediately and return to his ranch. The story of their family and its rivalry with cowboy and (later oil tycoon) Jett Rink unfolds across two generations.
Cult Camp Classics 1 - Sci-Fi Thrillers (Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman 1958 / Giant Behemoth / Queen of Outer Space)
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Extremely Fun Boxset
  • Outstanding treatment of 3 sci-fi camp classics
  • Good to see these films again
  • These are not real movies.....
  • What a bargain!
Cult Camp Classics 1 - Sci-Fi Thrillers (Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman 1958 / Giant Behemoth / Queen of Outer Space)
Starring: Allison Hayes , William Hudson , Yvette Vickers , Roy Gordon , and George Douglas
Director: Nathan Juran , Eugène Lourié , and Douglas Hickox
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:
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ASIN: B000OHZJGO
Release Date: 2007-06-26

Amazon.com

Featuring three enjoyably "awful" movies from 1958-59, Cult Camp Classics, Vol. 1: Sci-Fi Thrillers turns nuclear radiation into cause for celebration, especially if you enjoy movies with extra cheese. With the Cold War in full swing and society's worries blamed on the threat of nuclear annihilation, sci-fi buffs (like future filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, and John Landis) could see a new monster movie almost every week. Many of them came from Allied Artists, the low-budget B-movie production company (formerly Monogram) that rose from the ghetto of "poverty row" distribution to produce countless exploitation thrillers between 1946 and 1979. The '50s saw the rise of nuclear monster thrillers, and Allied popularized the trend with its own menagerie of giant, irradiated creatures. The key to Allied's success was its crowd-pleasing combination of exploitable ingredients, and what better way to combine sci-fi, sex, and horror than to unleash a towering babe with an attitude problem? That's exactly what Allied did with Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, a now-classic campfest in which a spurned wife (Allison Hayes) is irradiated by a glowing alien space-ball, grows to a height of (you guessed it), and exacts revenge upon her cheating husband (William Hudson). A year before she bared her shapely backside as Playboy's Playmate of the Month for July 1959, Yvette Vickers costars as Hudson's scheming mistress, giving the film an extra boost of sex appeal. With bargain-priced effects including a giant floppy-fingered hand, hilarious process shots, and cheesy models destroyed by the world's biggest bitch (for whom it is still possible to feel some sympathetic compassion), the movie's not as good as its celebrated poster (which now adorns movie-geek T-shirts around the world), but it's still a lot of fun.

The Giant Behemoth was director Eugene Lourie's obvious attempt to capitalize on his 1953 hit The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, starring a gigantic paleosaurus rising from the Atlantic with a bad case of atomic radiation. London is the monster's eventual stomping ground, but the lumbering lizard is camera-shy for nearly an hour; you can imagine Beaver Cleaver and his pals groaning through seemingly endless scenes of talky exposition, anxiously awaiting the climactic stop-motion creature effects supervised by the legendary Willis (King Kong) O'Brien. Scoring much higher on the camp-o-meter, and far more entertaining, is the cult classic Queen of Outer Space, which borrows props and costumes from Forbidden Planet, Flight to Mars and World Without End for its outrageously kitschy plot about manly astronauts who crash-land on Venus and discover an underground society of mini-skirted space-babes. Unfortunately the disfigured Venusian queen (Laurie Mitchell) is a man-hater supreme, so the spectacularly costumed Zsa Zsa Gabor (as a Venusian scientist, no less) leads a revolution against her. With a screenplay by Twilight Zone veteran Charles Beaumont and a story credited (almost incredibly) to legendary playwright/screenwriter Ben Hecht (who surely never suspected his idea would eventually yield this movie), Queen of Outer Space is exactly what you'd expect it to be: So bad it's good, and more than worthy of inclusion in this irresistibly priced triple-feature set. --Jeff Shannon

On the DVDs
Three feature-length commentaries accompany the sci-fi thrillers in Cult Camp Classics, Vol. 1. Two of the commentaries are hosted by Tom Weaver, a noted authority on sci-fi and horror films whose historical acumen is more casual than academic: While sharing the commentary on Queen of Outer Space with the film's titular star Laurie Mitchell (who became a mainstay at fan conventions at Weaver's invitation), Weaver fails to explain how the production came to use props and costumes from the classic Forbidden Planet, and that's a glaring oversight. He compensates as an amiable interviewer with the equally good-natured Mitchell, and it's a treat to hear them enthusiastically reading unfilmed scenes from the film's original screenplay. For the commentary on Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, Weaver is joined by the film's comely costar Yvette Vickers (another regular at sci-fi conventions), and their combined anecdotes provide an adequate oral history of this camp-classic production. Star Wars veterans and special-effects masters Dennis Muren and Phil Tippett provide the loose-and-lazy commentary on The Giant Behemoth, which consists mostly of Muren making sarcastic jokes about the film's glacial pacing. It's hardly the authoritative commentary that some fans might've hoped for, but Muren and Tippett are well-versed in special-effects history (Muren even owns the original stop-motion Behemoth creature model), and they share an infectious enthusiasm for the films that inspired them to excel in their profession. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Extremely Fun Boxset.......2007-06-30

If you like 50's sci-fi, this set is a must have. Nice widescreen, anamorphic prints of all 3 films--50 Foot Woman and Giant Behemoth are b& w, Queen of Outer Space is in glorious Cinemascope color!

The Giant Behemoth is another solid 50's stop-motion effect giant monster movie, in the vein of Beast from 20,0000 Fathoms, The Black Scorpion and others. Very enjoyable.

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is actually not as campily bad as it's usually hyped. The special effects are occasionally lackluster and do add a comedy element, but the acting, dialogue, cinematography and score are all decent. Pretty standard, fun 50's sci-fi.

Queen of Outer Space--now this is the camp classic! From this movie, I learned that the only women who don't welcome overt sexual harassment from leering, agressive men are the ones who are too hideously disfigured to be the object of said advances! Imagine Forbidden Planet, with all the cool special effects and engaging plot themes removed and replaced with lots of scantily-clad alien beauties and 50's era "battle of the sexes" dialogue--on the planet Venus, of course! Botchino! Botchino!

All in all, a very fun set for fans of 50's sci-fi.

5 out of 5 stars Outstanding treatment of 3 sci-fi camp classics.......2007-06-27

This three-pack is an interesting collection of B features that are typical of what was churned out pretty regularly by some of the lesser studios that were capitalizing on the sci-fi films that were popular during the 1950's. These B pictures often came out campy, and these three are a best-of-breed collection that make for great fun. Like Dr. Johnny Fever whose DJ career took a plunge after he said the word "booger" on the air until he eventually landed at low-rent WKRP, you have to wonder how some of the talent involved in these productions wound up in this position. You've got bad directors gone worse, special effects artists going the way of Ed Wood, and girls gone wild - all the makings of some great cheesy fun. What is so great about this pack is that Warner Home Video cleaned up the video and audio on these films quite nicely, and even put commentary tracks on these films. Not even James Cagney merited a commentary track in his Signature Collection! The films and their features are as follows:

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
A great case of camp and sci-fi meeting a love triangle. Poor little rich girl Nancy Archer has been drinking heavily since she found out her husband has been cheating on her, and it has recently caused her to do a stretch in an asylum - there was no such thing as substance abuse clinics back then. When Nancy drives off angrily into the desert one night she has an encounter with a very big alien who infects her with his largesse. Now we have a very big girl with one bad attitude on our hands intent on taking the nearby town apart to find her husband. I used to see this one on the UHF channels late at night back in the early 70's when I was babysitting. Great fun.
DVD Special Features:
Commentary by Yvette Vickers and film historian Tom Weaver
Subtitles: English & French (feature film only)

The Giant Behemoth (1958)
Here's another movie where metabolism has been altered, this time by science and radioactive fallout. This was one of the later giant creature movies of the 1950's, and it hasn't been as fondly remembered as its forerunner "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms", but it is still great fun. This time a giant brachiosaurus, greatly enlarged due to improperly dumped radioactive material, emerges from the sea and is intent on destroying London. The poverty row budget shows in this one in spite of the presence of some skilled technicians that had worked on King Kong and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Wires are often clearly visible, as is footage of one car being destroyed by the giant beast being used repeatedly in the movie as though they are different events.
DVD Special Features:
Commentary by veteran special effects creators Dennis Muren and Phil Tippett (The Academy Award winning visual effects and dinosaur supervisors of "Jurassic Park" provide insight into this ground-breaking stop-motion monster.)
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English & French (Feature Film Only)

Queen of Outer Space (1958)
This campy outer space movie has a captain and his crew landing on a planet where men are not allowed. However, not all of the residents of the planet are happy about this edict. Thus it comes down to the man-hating queen versus the planet's leading scientist (Zsa Zsa Gabor). To add to the suspense, like Marvin Martian, Queen Yllana wants to blow up the earth. Everyone in this film seems to know they are starring in a campy production and they are just having fun with it. This movie actually borrowed its sets, costumes, and special effects from "Flight To Mars", "Forbidden Planet", and "World Without End", and has a screenplay by the renowned Ben Hecht of all people.
DVD Special Features:
Commentary by Laurie Mitchell and film historian Tom Weaver
Theatrical Trailer
Subtitles: English & French (feature film only)

4 out of 5 stars Good to see these films again.......2007-06-26

Prints for these films look fine, and it's good to see such modest movies cleaned up and given the DVD treatment, though some purists will question the minor letterboxing on "50 ft. Woman" and "Behemoth". Yvette Vickers commentary on "50 ft. Woman" is a treat. She remembers the film well and speaks fondly of it and of her time spent making the movie. Be aware though: the advertisements say the trailer for "Woman" is on the DVD, but for some reason it isn't. Strange: probably an oversight. "Behemoth" looks sharp and clear, but Dennis Muren and Phil Tippet's commentary does a great disservice. They clearly don't respect the film at all, and spend much of their time insulting it, even mocking it, before wrapping up with "well, I guess now we know why they never made a sequel to this movie." Wish they'd had some affection for the film, or had at least familiarized themselves with it before offering such caustic feedback. By the ninth or tenth time they say, "Ray Harryhausen would have done this SO MUCH better" the novelty wears thin, and one wonders what Harryhausen himself might have said about the movie. "Queen of Outer Space" has the novelty of color, and the surprising pedigree of a Ben Hecht screen story. Kudos to Warner Bros. for putting these films out, and yes, the "Behemoth" disc has the often cut ferryboat scene, for those who are interested. Too bad about the shoddy "Behemoth" commentary, but fans should enjoy thoroughly these long-awaited B movies.

1 out of 5 stars These are not real movies............2007-06-23

real Movies have great casting and scripts to work with. None of these B-movies have any of that. They are not even scary. They are just so badly made and it;s no wonder that few if any of these actors ever found work again.

4 out of 5 stars What a bargain!.......2007-06-08

If you enjoy 1950s campy B movies, then I don't see you going wrong here with this first set. For details just search each of the movie titles and you see each movie alone runs almost as much as this set and you will see from the reviews they are all kind of legends as far as the genre goes. They actually are some of the best of that period of B movies. I know I like all three of these in this set. I can say I compare the "50 ft Woman" to the "War of the Colossal Beast" and "The Giant Behemoth" to "Beast from 20,000 Fathoms". The last one with Zsa Zsa Gabor on the planet of women is not to be missed if nothing more than to see how far we had plunged into skimpily clad women with bad lines in B class SciFi moviedom. Hmmm does B stand for bad? Well even if it does these movies are entertaining for most fans of science fiction.

The first two movies in the set are black and white movies but they look like they have been gone over and cleaned up. "Queen of Outer Space" is in color and very clear and sharp. I got my set a few days ago so my wife and I watched the first two in the set a couple nights ago and the third last night. All the DVDs are sharp and clear. Each had a commentary available by someone in the movie. "Does anyone know if the costumes, sets, and music for "Queen of Outer Space" was done by people that later worked on "Star Trek"? The mens uniforms and radios definitely looked like they came from the "Forbidden Planet" wardrobe. I'm definitely glad I got this set.
The Princess Bride (Special Edition)
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • A top-notch fairy tale!
  • Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!
  • One of the Greates Movies Of all Time
  • Great Family Movie
  • Awesome Parody On Fairy Tales. Cute, Funny & Romantic With All The Classic Fairy-Tale Elements We Love. "As You Wish."
The Princess Bride (Special Edition)
Starring: Cary Elwes , Mandy Patinkin , Chris Sarandon , Christopher Guest , and Wallace Shawn
Director: Rob Reiner
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005LOKQ
Release Date: 2001-09-04

Product Description

From celebrated director Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally) and Oscar *-winning screenwriter William Goldman (Chaplin) comes an enchanting fantasy (Time) filled with adventure, romance and plenty of good-hearted fun (Roger Ebert)! Featuring a spectacular cast that includes Robin Wright (Forrest Gump), Cary Elwes (Liar, Liar), Mandy Patinkin (Dick Tracy) and Billy Crystal (City Slickers), this wonderful fairy tale about a princess named Buttercup and her beloved is a real dream of a movie (People)!

Special Features: