The Southerner

Starring:Zachary Scott, Betty Field, J. Carrol Naish, Beulah Bondi, Percy Kilbride, Charles Kemper, Blanche Yurka, Norman Lloyd, Estelle Taylor, Paul Harvey, Noreen Nash, Jack Norworth, Nestor Paiva, Paul E. Burns, Jay Gilpin, Jean Vanderwilt, Wheaton Chambers, Dorothy Granger, Almira Sessions, Earle Hodgins
Director: Jean Renoir
Studio: Vci Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

The 1974 film version of Mame stars legendary Lucille Ball and is based on the 1966 hit Broadway musical, not the 1958 movie. When 10-year-old Patrick Dennis's father dies, he is sent to live with his eccentric Auntie Mame. Mame may know nothing about being a parent, but she's got love and spontaneity in spades, and Patrick blooms in the time spent with her. Though Miss Ball seems sadly miscast when Mame begins (she's too old and can't sing), by the time the movie reaches the famous foxhunt scene when Mame accidentally wins the hunt, and in turn the heart of gallant Beauregard Burnside, you start to believe Lucy is Mame.

Reprising her Broadway role (for which she won a Tony), Bea Arthur plays Mame's boozy pal Vera Charles. Songs include the now-classic "We Need a Little Christmas" and "Bosom Buddies" plus "Loving You," sung by Robert Preston's Beau and written for this movie. --Dana Van Nest

Description

Lucille Ball plays Auntie mame, loving life and living it to the hilt with her nephew and assorted eccentrics in tow. Robert Preston, Beatrice Arthur and Jerry Herman's smashing Broadway score add pizazz. Year: 1974 Director: Gene Saks Starring: Lucille Ball. Robert Preston, Bea Arthur

Customer Reviews:

I do love Lucy, but..........2007-07-05

Here, Lucy sets out to remind us why she's the Queen of comedy...with her singing. She's not new to big screen Hollywood musicals having starred in a few herself, but she ought to remember why her singing was ALWAYS dubbed...the gal can't sing. And in her 60's, she seemed more like Patrick's grandmother than his Auntie Mame. Bea Arthur top a brilliant supporting cast and it was great to hear the Asian character speak proper English. I agree with other reviewers' rave about the technical aspects, costume, sets, etc. And if you want to hear what Mame, the musical should sound like, buy the broadway cast recording from 1966 with Lansbury. This MAME is strictly for Lucy's fans. Can she do no wrong?

Effervescent as champagne.......2007-06-27

At last this glorious technicolour production of the fabulous "Mame" is available on DVD. Having worn out my video of this wonderful all singing all dancing show I am over the moon to find it now on DVD. The singing & dancing - particularly the foxhunt - make this superb escapism. Lucille Ball - she's absolutely gorgeous as Mame & Bea Arthur - a perfect foil for Lucille Ball. A wonderful cast.

A nightmare.......2007-06-25

Another Lucy vanity project.
If the movie had been in the hands of a great director/producer, it could have worked. I saw both Angela Lasnbury and Janis Paige as Mame on Broadway, and they were sublime.
Add this to the "Hello Dolly" and "Xanadu" list of worst movies ever made.

Forget the hype....it doesn't get much better than this!!.......2007-06-23

OK...OK...I love Lucy. So I am probably not the most un-biased reviewer of this film, but c'mon!! The critics were so unjustly cruel to Miss Ball and this film that it has become legendary among musical and film buffs as being just horrible. Well..it ain't so!! True..for the first 40 minutes of the film Lucy is shot in such soft focus that you think you may be going blind..but once the gauze is lifted you cannot believe how incredibly gorgeous this SIXTY-FOUR year old woman is! And the heart she pours into this film is evident throughout. By the time she catches the fox...you have to love this film. I was a child when this was in theatres..and nearly had to be sedated I was so excited at the prospect of seeing my beloved Lucy on the big screen....and I am still excited when I watch "Mame"...

Lucy MAME dvd - beware incorrect info here!.......2007-06-22

Let's correct some erroneous info that's been posted here:

1. This dvd IS Anamorphic Widescreen, not Letterboxed, as has been reported. It is also a progressive transfer.

2. The film of MAME was never in stereo, not even in the theatres. It was always a mono film. George Feltenstein of Warner Home Video has said they spent quite a while trying to remix the tracks to stereo for dvd release, but were unable to because, among other reasons, of the tracks being pieced together so piecemeal to accomodate Lucy's vocals. Even the IMDB incorrectly states it was in Stereo, but it was indeed a Mono release theatrically.

So rest assured, if you are fan of the film or of Lucy, you are NOT missing anything with this dvd. The sound is the original mono, as heard in the theatres in 1974, and is quite satisfactory. And the picture is a very nice anamorphic transfer with few blemishes.

To Kill a Mockingbird (Universal Legacy Series)

Average customer rating:

WARNING TO DEAF & HEARING-IMPAIRED PEOPLE...
One Fantastic Flick
Ban both book and movie from all schools
Excellent DVD and appropriate additional features
What more can be said?

To Kill a Mockingbird (Universal Legacy Series)
Starring: Gregory Peck , John Megna , Frank Overton , Rosemary Murphy , and Ruth White (II)
Director: Robert Mulligan
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Grapes of Wrath
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To Kill a Mockingbird

ASIN: B0009X7664
Release Date: 2005-09-06

Product Description

A true motion picture masterpiece, To Kill A Mockingbird is the acclaimed film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee. Gregory Peck's brilliant, Oscar-caliber performance captures the emotion and conflict of racism, set against the backdrop of Depression-era America. Peck stars as attorney Atticus Finch, a distinguished lawyer in a small Southern town who chooses to defend a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman. His compassion and courage in the face of the town's unjust rage win him the admiration of his two young children, while setting the stage for a riveting, unforgettable drama.

System Requirements:
Starring: Gregory Peck
Directed By: Robert Mulligan
Running Time: 130 Min.
Copyright Universal Studios Home Entertainment 2005

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com essential video

Ranked 34 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Films, To Kill a Mockingbird is quite simply one of the finest family-oriented dramas ever made. A beautiful and deeply affecting adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, the film retains a timeless quality that transcends its historically dated subject matter (racism in the Depression-era South) and remains powerfully resonant in present-day America with its advocacy of tolerance, justice, integrity, and loving, responsible parenthood. It's tempting to call this an important "message" movie that should be required viewing for children and adults alike, but this riveting courtroom drama is anything but stodgy or pedantic. As Atticus Finch, the small-town Alabama lawyer and widower father of two, Gregory Peck gives one of his finest performances with his impassioned defense of a black man (Brock Peters) wrongfully accused of the rape and assault of a young white woman. While his children, Scout (Mary Badham) and Jem (Philip Alford), learn the realities of racial prejudice and irrational hatred, they also learn to overcome their fear of the unknown as personified by their mysterious, mostly unseen neighbor Boo Radley (Robert Duvall, in his brilliant, almost completely nonverbal screen debut). What emerges from this evocative, exquisitely filmed drama is a pure distillation of the themes of Harper Lee's enduring novel, a showcase for some of the finest American acting ever assembled in one film, and a rare quality of humanitarian artistry (including Horton Foote's splendid screenplay and Elmer Bernstein's outstanding score) that seems all but lost in the chaotic morass of modern cinema. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

WARNING TO DEAF & HEARING-IMPAIRED PEOPLE..........2007-06-23

AS A DEAF FAMILY, WE LOOK FORWARD TO WATCHING MOVIES, BUT THEY MUST BE CAPTIONED (OR HAVE ENGLISH SUBTITLES). WE RENTED THIS DVD FROM NETFLIX. SURPRISINGLY, THIS CLASSIC WAS NOT CAPTIONED. THAT WAS THE DISAPPOINTMENT. WE ATTEMPED TO WATCH IT ANYWAY, BUT REALLY HAD ONLY A SMALL IDEA OF WHAT WAS GOING ON. IT'S DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND WHY THIS GREAT FILM CLASSIC WASN'T CAPTIONED. THANK GOODNESS THAT NETFLIX IS GIVING US CREDIT TOWARD A DIFFERENT MOVIE. I GAVE IT 5 STARS ONLY BECAUSE THE MAJORITY OF OTHERS LIKED THE FILM SO MUCH AND I DON'T WANT TO APPEAR NEGATIVE ABT THE FILM, CAUSE IT WOULDN'T BE FAIR TO DO SO.

One Fantastic Flick.......2007-06-19

This has got to me, in my opinion, the best movie ever made. It takes me back to my childhood. It's poignant, hard-hitting, real and inevitably sad. Life used to be like this.

Ban both book and movie from all schools.......2007-06-16

Why ban them? Then, we might be spared what is possibly the most infantile, ignorant and uninformed collection of negative reviews present on Amazon.

I originally intended to post a review a few weeks ago after I had viewed it on cable, but for some reason I decided to read the negative views (both book and movie) to see why in the world anyone could condemn either. Afterwards, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I decided to laugh, but with an undertone of sadness.

A few examples of the absurd negative comments follow (with my own comments in parenthesis):

"Every copy of this book should be burned and never allowed to be read again." (Ah, the sweet smell of scorched paper around the bonfires. Armbands optional?)

"Yuk! Try to avoid reading this book as much as possible. . . . [I]t is confusing . . . and there is too much information given at one time." (You had me at "Yuk!")

"Thanks to all my friendswho had to tourchure threw reading this disgrace and supporting me in not likeing the book. By the way, DO NOT BUY, because if i find it in your house i won't think to kindly of you." (I tremble in terror and weep in shame at what you would think of my bookshelves.)

"Talk about a bad movie i would only buy it if someone paid me twice it's value to." (I don't think this is what was meant by the "new math.")

And, my favorite: "Do not watch, do not read ... stay ignorant of Harper Lee." (I suspect, young reader, that you have succeeded far beyond Harper Lee.)

Sorry to review the reviews, but now I actually have something serious to say about the movie and book.

Years before the publication of Harper Lee's novel, there was a trial in a small southern Mississippi town in 1945. A black man named Willie McGee was accused of the rape of a white woman. The circumstantial evidence pointed strongly to the possibility that the relationship was forced by the woman. Just as in "To Kill a Mockingbird," such a relationship at the time could not - would not - be tolerated. The case attracted national attention at the time, and after a prolonged series of appeals (spearheaded by former New York Congresswoman, Bella Abzug), a public execution was staged, which was no more than a legally sanctioned lynching. The state's portable electric chair was installed in the courthouse, which was filled to standing room only. Outside spectators climbed trees to gain a look at the execution through the opened windows. (A white Mississippi attorney, Dixon Pyles, also took part in the defense, so Atticus Finch is not without a foundation in fact.)

The Scottsboro trials have been cited as the main inspiration for Lee's novel, but I've often wondered if the McGee trial might not also have played a role. But it really doesn't matter. Fiction is often more suited to tell the truth than history. And the truth is that although many people in the South knew Jim Crow laws and lynchings were wrong, they also knew that if you were vocal about it, you could lose your job - or your life, which is what makes the portrait of Atticus Finch a true profile in courage, a Southern Gothic version of Sir Thomas Moore in "A Man For All Seasons."

But beyond the racial themes, both the book and the movie weave a gentle tapestry of what life in the South was like before air-conditioning, where games were things to be played outdoors rather than in front of computers, a discarded tire was an endlessly renewable resource for entertainment and summers seemed to last forever. (I've lived what I'm talking about.)

What saddens me about the negative reviews such as I quoted above is not their ignorance, but the lack of curiosity they display about our nation's history. I do, however, fervently hope that the young reviewer who urged the burning of all copies of the book is oblivious of the historical events he or she evoked and will someday realize the horror of what such comments endorse.

Ten stars if I could.

Excellent DVD and appropriate additional features.......2007-06-13

This DVD provides clear images and speech. In addition to the complete motion picture, there are a question and answer session by Gregory Peck (Atticus Finch), an interview with the adult Mary Badham (Scout Finch), and other offerings.

What more can be said?.......2007-05-26

What can really be written about this wonderful film that hasn't already been said since its release on December 25th 1962?

One can write that this has to be one of Gregory Peck's greatest performances portraying the memorable Atticus Finch with such believability that Peck attempted time and again to shed "Atticus" as an actor, even as an established one for twenty years, asking for "villain" roles and being turned down until The Boys From Brazil, Atticus Finch was a role made for Gregory Peck as the actor can play the sensitive, caring man of integrity with utter ease and did so for several films following To Kill a Mockingbird, such as "Behold a Pale Horse" (1964) "Mirage" (1965) and "Arabesque" (1966).

Harper Lee's novel addresses many issues for its time including racism and entrenched prejudice against the black American in the deep south before and during The Great Depression and after...as an audience of the film, we are exposed to the necessity of pursuing virtue as human beings and what it really means and how important it is to have basic good manners in one's life; what it means to reach for and practice goodness and have core beliefs and in the end, standing firm by those beliefs against overwhelming opposition. The film also shows us the need to walk a mile in another person's shoes before making any judgements on them, or as Atticus says to Scout... "Until you step inside their skin and walk around a little..."

The magnificent performance of Mary Badham as the irrepressible Scout won her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress only to miss out to Patty Duke in her stunning role in The Miracle Worker Considering both performances, Duke and Badham (both children) should have won a Joint Oscar as both were absolutely magnificent in their respective roles.

When the Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee was published, a somewhat recent bio of the author, Lee was asked about the character, Atticus Finch, and was he based on her actual attorney father, she said that Atticus of course was based on her father, but she embellished and added, creating a new character, a father and man she believed would be the ideal father & human being living under the circumstances presented in the novel.

Despite this film opening forty years ago, the story and performances continue to be a model for present day filmmaking...beginning with a great story, a well adapted screenplay, a director who loves the project thus all in the crew give 100%, and the same basic example of virtue and integrity communicated in the novel and adapted for the screen: compassion, kindness, courage, respect and love.

Truly one of the all time great films of the twentieth century...something to show the children, something to learn.

A Bright 5 Stars.

To Kill a Mockingbird (Collector's Edition)

Average customer rating:

WARNING TO DEAF & HEARING-IMPAIRED PEOPLE...
One Fantastic Flick
Ban both book and movie from all schools
Excellent DVD and appropriate additional features
What more can be said?

To Kill a Mockingbird (Collector's Edition)
Starring: Gregory Peck , John Megna , Frank Overton , Rosemary Murphy , and Ruth White (II)
Director: Robert Mulligan
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

7-9 Years | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

10-12 Years | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

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Adapted from Books | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

Family Films | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

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The Grapes of Wrath
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To Kill a Mockingbird

ASIN: 0783225857
Release Date: 1998-04-29

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

WARNING TO DEAF & HEARING-IMPAIRED PEOPLE..........2007-06-23

One Fantastic Flick.......2007-06-19

This has got to me, in my opinion, the best movie ever made. It takes me back to my childhood. It's poignant, hard-hitting, real and inevitably sad. Life used to be like this.

Ban both book and movie from all schools.......2007-06-16

Excellent DVD and appropriate additional features.......2007-06-13

What more can be said?.......2007-05-26

Average customer rating:

What is Truth?
Fact is fiction, and fiction is fact; but how the story is told is what's important
One of the most Creative Films in Years...
Wonderful Message, a "definite recommend"
Sometimes Fiction is Better than the Truth

Big Fish
Starring: Ewan McGregor , Albert Finney , Billy Crudup , Jessica Lange , and Helena Bonham Carter
Director: Tim Burton
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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Edward Scissorhands (Widescreen Anniversary Edition)
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (Widescreen Edition)
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BEETLEJUICE (DVD)
Finding Neverland (Widescreen Edition)

ASIN: B0001GOH6Q
Release Date: 2004-04-27

Amazon.com

After a string of mediocre movies, director Tim Burton regains his footing as he shifts from macabre fairy tales to Southern tall tales. Big Fish twines in and out of the oversized stories of Edward Bloom, played as a young man by Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge, Down with Love) and as a dying father by Albert Finney (Tom Jones). Edward's son Will (Billy Crudup, Almost Famous) sits by his father's bedside but has little patience with the old man's fables, because he feels these stories have kept him from knowing who his father really is. Burton dives into Bloom's imagination with zest, sending the determined young man into haunted woods, an idealized Southern town, a traveling circus, and much more. The result is sweet but--thanks to the director's dark and clever sensibility--never saccharine. Also featuring Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Helena Bonham Carter, Danny DeVito, and Steve Buscemi. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

What is Truth?.......2007-07-03

I liked this movie a lot. True to the book, but smartly changed when it served the visual medium of film. One bit in the book I was hoping Tim Burton would discuss why he didn't take was the thing that really kept people in Spector, the imaginary town. In the book, there's a fierce dog that bites people's fingers off if they try to leave. Very Burton-esque. Couldn't figure out why in the film it was about the shoes.

However, I loved the relationship between Edward and Sandra Bloom - both as young people and as older folks. The simplicity of their love and complete acceptance of the other was touching. I thought William struck exactly the right tone, trying to come to terms with his father before the latter's death. All in all, the movie was an interesting juxtaposition of 'real life' and fantasy.

Fact is fiction, and fiction is fact; but how the story is told is what's important.......2007-06-30

I did enjoy this movie quite a bit, and the tall tale sequences made me chuckle more than I normally would while watching a movie. However, when I read the reviews which absolutely slaughter this film, I am inclined to agree with the criticisms. As it approaches its climax, it too often slides into maudlin sentimentality. It also leaves much to be desired when exploring the relationships of sons & fathers. It is probably best not to try and seek deeper truths from this movie.

Nonetheless, it is quite entertaining, by and large. As Edward Bloom understood, the deeper truths of a story really pale in comparison with how good of a story it is in the first place. For this reviewer at least, a really good story about a bunch of really good stories is justification for liking it. My four-star rating comes with the qualification that at times, it promises to deliver more than it really can, and tries to be more than it really is, and stumbles as a result. When it did become a bad thing to be a really good yarn? Sometimes that really is enough.

One of the most Creative Films in Years..........2007-05-21

If you see this film for no other reason, watch it for the dazzling cinematography. You can't help but be swept up into this magical world and wondering how such a fantasy could possibly be real. If you enjoyed The Princess Bride, Secondhand Lions, The Wizard of Oz, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory you are sure to enjoy Big Fish.

Wonderful Message, a "definite recommend".......2007-05-12

Great movie. Great message. This is one of those movies that I enjoy watching again and again.

Sometimes Fiction is Better than the Truth.......2007-05-09

Tim Burton's return to genuine film making is a welcome endeavor indeed. Here he creates a film that reminds me of what great film making is all about: fantasy, love and reflecting on the human spirit. I scoffed at a review that compared Big Fish to The Wizard of Oz when Big Fish first came out, but upon viewing it the comparison is really not hyperbolic at all and is actually quite justified. There is a unique carelessness and an innocence that resides perfectly and constantly in both films. To me, both films are truly a breath of fresh air and hope.

Big Fish is a book written by Daniel Wallace and is the delightful story of Edward Bloom, who has reached the twilight of his life and surrounds himself with his son, daughter-in-law and his wonderful wife Sandra. Eddie has seemingly lived a fantastic life of lies and exaggerations and his son has grown to call his bluff on more than one occasion. In fact, his son returns not just to possibly say good-bye to his father, but to attempt to get him to spill the beans on the truth of who his old man really is. Eddie of course, stands by his stories and brushes off his son's accusations nonchalantly. Most of the film we see Eddie revisit his life as a whole, seen through only his own stories. How he once befriended a 12 foot man; how he arrived in a town that was paradise, once to early and once too late when he turned it back into paradise again; how he joined the circus for three years so he could find out pieces information once a month from Amos the ringmaster about the girl Eddie was sure would be his wife and how Sandra would believe Eddie to be dead in war but he would return. The stories are full of details that would clearly indicate they are false but sometimes they are just better that way. Eddie is a mythological figure and that is just fine with him and as a viewer it's fine with me as well.

Eddie is played by Albert Finney who is in turn mirrored by Eddie's youthful version, the outstanding Ewen MacGregor who once again proves his versatility. Jessica Lange plays the older Sandra and she is played as a youngster by the talented Alison Lohman who carries as much energy and beauty as you could expect for a role with so little dialogue and so much importance. She is a real find and makes you fall in love with her right along with Eddie. Helena Bonham Carter brings her talents to the roles of The Witch and Jenny (or all of the other important women in Eddie's life). Steve Buscemi shows up, which is always a pleasant surprise and of course Amos is played by Danny DeVito who is as enjoyable as ever. The flat Keanu Reeves clone Billy Crudup is perhaps the only drawback, but he is a safe casting call as Eddie's son and does what he can in discovering that his father is exactly what he says he is and more.

Let me just add that I believe Big Fish is a family film. I don't see why it shouldn't be rated PG rather than PG-13. The language rises above the prime time television level once, there is blood only in a comedic and romantic fight sequence that has a truly admirable message and there is a women's nude rear displayed briefly and non-sexually. This is not grounds for a PG-13 movie. I would bring a seven year old to see this. In fact, my guess is that the movie was directed at this demographic. When content is not exploitative, it is not really inappropriate. I can't see why Rock Diesel films get PG-13ed when the message is nothing short of "Kill the bad guys, make a lame joke, drive and crash really cool vehicles and get the dirty chick". Anyway, Big Fish may be about a guy who is stretching the truth but the characters' hearts couldn't be more firmly in the right place. The scene when Eddie fills an entire field with Sandra's favorite flower and stands in the middle of the field, outside of her window and calls out to her comes to mind. It brings joy to my heart in a way that only a film like The Wizard of Oz can, and a small child should never ever miss that kind of message. Big Fish is a smart film that really generates a ton of emotion and convincing special effects. I don't doubt for a moment that more work went into the effects than money. This film carried a sense of hope, pride, real love, respect, fantasy and the crucial element that films of these tainted times often forget: natural and unforced optimism.

Then there is Tim Burton. He is the filmmaker that can put all of these elements together and for the first time tug at your emotions as well. Two things make this film better than Burton's other work. Firstly, it is real and doesn't dwell on being over-stylized and under-dramatized. Secondly, it is pure, clean and full of moments we can all relate too. Tim Burton has made a film that will alienate his older fans who haven't matured like he has, without "selling out" (he's done that before) and he has made a film that the whole world can watch, enjoy and discover this unique filmmaker. I'm glad that he saved some of his real film making inspiration for this wonderful little story.

Average customer rating:

A Gem that the Oscars Missed
GREATEST CHICK FLICK!!!!!
Birthday gift
'Sinners get married too, Daddy"
Great Cast Of Performers

The Color Purple
Starring: Danny Glover , Whoopi Goldberg , Margaret Avery , Oprah Winfrey , and Willard E. Pugh
Director: Steven Spielberg
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Period Piece | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | African American Cinema | Genres | DVD | Video

General | African American Cinema | Genres | DVD | Video

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The Color Purple
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ASIN: 0790729717
Release Date: 1997-03-26

Product Description

Based on Alice Walkers Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple is the richly textured, decades-spanning story of Celie, an uneducated woman living in the rural American south. Forced to marry a brutal man she calls "Mr.," Celie turns inward and shares her grief only with God. But she is transformed by the friendship of two remarkable women, acquiring self-worth... and the strength to forgive.Starring: Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey, Rae Dawn ChongDirector: Steven SpielbergProduced by Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Ken; written by Menno Meyjes; Running time of 154 minutes; Closed Captioned. Copyright: 1985, Warner Bros.

System Requirements:
Production Notes, Theatrical Trailer, Cast/Crew Bios, Interactive Menus Video Format: Widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio Enhanced for 16x9 TVs Subtitles: French, Spanish, and English English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround French: Dolby Digital Surround

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

Steven Spielberg, proving he's one of the few modern filmmakers who has the visual fluency to be capable of making a great silent film, took a melodramatic, D.W. Griffith-inspired approach to filming Alice Walker's novel. His tactics made the film controversial, but also a popular hit. You can argue with the appropriateness of Spielberg's decision, but his astonishing facility with images is undeniable--from the exhilarating and eye-popping opening shots of children playing in paradisiacal purple fields to the way he conveys the brutality of a rape by showing hanging leather belts banging against the head of the shaking bed. In a way it's a shame that Whoopi Goldberg, a stage monologist who made her screen debut in this movie, went on to become so famous, because it was, in part, her unfamiliarity that made her understated performance as Celie so effective. (This may be the first and last time that the adjective understated can be applied to Goldberg.) Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including best picture and actress (supporting players Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Avery were also nominated), it was quite a scandal--and a crushing blow to Spielberg--when it won none. The digital video disc requires flipping to play the whole movie. --Jim Emerson

Customer Reviews:

A Gem that the Oscars Missed.......2007-06-25

I am still disappointed that "The Color Purple" did not receive the Oscar in 1986. Not only was the cast OUTSTANDING, but the story hit to the core of so many issues and ills, not only in black america, but in america in general. I have two copies of the movie and still watch it when it comes on television. It is an American classic. I read the book, which has NOTHING on the movie. Steven Spielberg absolutely captured the heart and spirit of issues during a time when women were property and had no voice.

The struggle of Celie to find herself and peace, when she was raped by her "father", had her infant children taken from her, being forced to marry a man who did not want to marry her and then lost her sister because of her adulterous husband's "pride", touches the lives of every woman who has ever loved.

Outstanding performances by Oprah Winfrey, Whoopie Goldberg, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery, Adolph Caesar, Akosua Busia and the phenominal Desreta Jackson (young Celie).

GREATEST CHICK FLICK!!!!!.......2007-06-14

This movie always makes me reach for the whole box of tissues from beginning. I love the story line-the book is even better!!!! A MUST HAVE for every woman!!!

Birthday gift.......2007-06-09

It was a mother's day gift for my mother and i thought of it at the last minute...It arrived quickly and was not costly. The package came in excellent condition.

'Sinners get married too, Daddy".......2007-05-23

Sometimes it seems like movies with African American subject matter have such heavy themes that it condemns the audience for it's default association by proxy. In a heterogenous setting that can be unbelievably awkard. This is one of the few movies I've ever seen that represented Afrian Americans with style. Steven Spielberg is a moviemaking prodigy. And yes I believe Whoopi Goldberg should've won the Oscar Award for this role!

Great Cast Of Performers.......2007-05-23

Whoopi Goldberg makes one of the greatest film debuts in history. Her Celie is as fine a work as any first timer in recent memory, and still her best performance to date. Who would have guested the future of Oprah Winfrey, after her wonderful portrayal of Sophia? All around superb cast of actors. And with Margaret Avery's presence, it seems a shame not much more was forthcoming for this gifted actress. Danny Glover's most villainous role. A great effort from Steven Spielberg's ingenius cinematic mind. Adapted from Alice Walker's Pullitzer Prize winning novel, and beautifully transferred to DVD. Received a well deserved 1985 Academy Award nomination for Best Picure.

Average customer rating:

Not as I was hoping
A must have DVD!!
25 to life
[3.5]--These two almost pulled it off.
Great Job

Life (dvd)
Starring: Eddie Murphy , Martin Lawrence , Obba Babatundé , Nick Cassavetes , and Anthony Anderson
Director: Ted Demme
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 0783237367
Release Date: 1999-10-19

Amazon.com

Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy play it surprisingly straight in this film by director Ted Demme. Though there are laughs to be had, this is a story about perseverance in the face of a life of disappointment (yet the film was sold as a prison comedy). But Stir Crazy this isn't. Rather, Lawrence and Murphy play a couple of New Yorkers making a moonshine run from New York to Mississippi during the Prohibition who find themselves framed for murder and sentenced for life to a prison chain gang. As they age, the two become close friends, although the strait-laced Lawrence always resents the free-wheeling Murphy for getting him into the situation in the first place. Ultimately, these two men learn to find meaning where they can, taking value from friendship and their limited ability to affect the lives of others. At times preachy, it ends on an upbeat note; the film's biggest laughs are reserved for the final section, in which Lawrence and Murphy don age makeup and play octogenarians. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews:

Not as I was hoping .......2007-05-13

This was meant to be a birthday present and when he opened it, it looked somewhat bootlegg. A good one but bootlegg nonetheless. So I am not a satisfied customer this time.

A must have DVD!!.......2007-04-08

This is a must have DVD in your movie collection. Those who don't like this movie don't get the "black" or "urban" experience at all!! Trust me if you do you will agree this is one of the greatest comedies EVER!!! Why? because it is real..it hits home on some very disturbing points about race and injustice.. with...and without humor!! Isn't that the story of black America. Over coming through non violent means. Which include laughter, sports, music clubs, dreams and life long bonds!! This film touches on all that. Buy it... and get one of the black communities(and whites who understand urban culture) greatest films of all time...period!!

25 to life.......2007-02-07

before i go on to review this movie.............i would like to say.....(PAH-LEAZE) TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN........THIS IS A MOVIE REVIEW PAGE, NOT A TELL ALL HOW YOU RECIVED YOUR PURCHASE OR YOU DIDN'T RECIVED YOUR PURCHASE PAGE! NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR DID IT GET TO YOU GOOD OR NOT, THEY WANT TO HEAR DID YOU LIKE THE MOVIE OR NOT! THANK YOU! now i really liked this movie except for martin lawrence annoying role like he did on badboys 2! i guest hollywood likes to cast him as the pesterin side kick! but in other words,it was a decent movie!

[3.5]--These two almost pulled it off........2007-02-02

Once upon a time in America, life in prison meant precisely that. There was no early parole, no time off for good behavior. If you were sentenced to life, you could pretty much count on dying a prisoner in some godforsaken camp, farm or prison. Eddie Murphy is a small-time crook in Prohibition-era New York trying to get out of debt to a Harlem mobster. He sets up a scheme of driving some Mississippi moonshine to the mobster's speakeasy in New York. He ropes in as his driver Martin Lawrence, a bank teller who has also fallen afoul of the mobster because of an unpaid gambling debt.

Murphy's character's weak nature gets the better of him and after receiving the liquor shipment, he decides to do some gambling in a rural club. He gets cheated by a local card sharp who later mouths off to the town sheriff, who murders him. Murphy and Lawrence have the misfortune of discovering the body, and being seen with it. They get, you guessed it, life in prison. The two, initially antagonistic to one another, are forced to rely upon each other in the brutal work camp to which they are sentenced. Time passes and they dream of the freedom it seems will be denied them for a crime of which they aren't guilty.

There are a lot of moving moments in "Life" and with Murphy and Lawrence, even more funny ones. There is social commentary in the form of how black men are treated in the South, but it isn't strongly told or terribly compelling. Other movies explore that subject in greater depth and with greater insight. The problem with "Life" is that the filmmakers aren't sure whether they wanted to make a comedy, an examination of prison life in the Deep South of, say, 50 years ago, or a political/social commentary on the shaft given African Americans. They decide to do all these things, and in fact their reach exceeds their grasp.

"Life" really doesn't give you any new insights into anything. It's mainly an excuse to pair two of the brightest comic minds in America. Watching the two at work individually is fascinating, but Lawrence and Murphy don't generate enough chemistry to hold any interest as a team.

Great Job.......2007-02-01

They did a wonderful job getting my product here on time, matter-of-fact it was early and the it was brand new. Thank you for the great work.

Average customer rating:

A good movie message but a litlle bouring.
Oversized Outstanding Tall Story of a Life
Embellished Dreams and Aspirations and Truth
THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY...

Big Fish [Blu-ray]
Starring: Helena Bonham Carter , Steve Buscemi , Brandon Carroll , Danny DeVito , and Albert Finney
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: Blu-ray

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Identity [Blu-ray]

ASIN: B000M9BPEY
Release Date: 2007-03-20

Product Description

Throughout his life Edward Bloom (Ewan McGregor) has always been a man of big appetites, enormous passions and tall tales. In his later years, portrayed by five-time Best Actor Oscar nominee AlbertFinney (Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Erin Brockovich, 2000), he remains a huge mystery to his son, William (Billy Crudup). Now, to get to know the real man, Will begins piecing together a true picture of his father from flashbacks of his amazing adventures in this marvel of a movie.

Customer Reviews:

A good movie message but a litlle bouring........2007-05-07

A good movie with a message for everyone but don't really interestin.

Oversized Outstanding Tall Story of a Life.......2007-02-05

Albert Finney and Ewan McGregor as the older and younger Edward Bloom are outstanding. This is a wonderful and hauntingly beautiful movie on the meaning of truth as we sum up our lives and try to put meaning to it all. This is an important work from director Tim Burton.

Embellished Dreams and Aspirations and Truth.......2007-02-01

At the time of its release BIG FISH seemed like a big departure from the type of films that Tim Burton was directing. BIG FISH is still refreshing if not just a little strange. Nonetheless, it does not fail to entertain and it does keep you mildly captivated.

There are depictions of outrageous to intimate slices of one man's life. Credibility and embellishment is an ethereal thing.

Depending on how much truth and perhaps the importance of truth itself is found in these events, there eventually there comes the pay-off. What is really true in life anyway?

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY..........2007-01-21

This is, indeed, a magical, mystical movie about fathers and sons, which is based upon the book "Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions" by Daniel Wallace. The book is a perfect vehicle for Director Tim Burton's signature melange of reality and fantasy. The story is that of a father and his son, their estrangement, and their eventual reconciliation. It is a beautifully realized film that will bring tears to one's eyes.

The father in question is Ed Bloom (Albert Finney) who loves to tell, at least it seems so to his son, Will (Billy Crudup), tall tales about his past. The son becomes estranged from his father on his wedding day, when his father tells one tall tale too many for Will's tastes. For the next several years, Will communicates only with his mother, Sandra (Jessica Lange).

When his father becomes seriously ill, however, Will and his wife rush to his side. Father and son take final stock of each other, and the seemingly tall tales continue. As his father gets progressively worse, Will, feeling that he really does not know his father, embarks on a journey to discover for himself, once and for all, the man his father really is. What he discovers is that his father was not so off the mark with his stories, and he finally begins to appreciate who his father really is and the impact that he has had on others. It allows Will to be able to say goodbye to his father in a way that his father understands and to be at peace with the man whom he discovered his father to be.

The film takes the viewer on a ride through some of Ed Bloom's tall tales, in a series of vignettes, where the viewer sees a young Ed Bloom (Ewan McGregor) living an almost fantastical life. We see him meet the love of his life, Sandra, as a young girl (Alison Lohman). We see him as a circus worker, a soldier, a traveling salesman, and even a bank robber. We see some of the people that cross section his life: a giant, a diminutive ringmaster, a witch, and singing Siamese twins. Ed even comes across a perfectly heavenly town full of wonderful, happy people.

This is simply a marvelous film with fantastical elements reminiscent of "Forrest Gump" and "The Princess Bride". Wonderful performances are given by veteran actors Albert Finney and Jessica Lange. Look for the very touching bath tub scene, where, fully clothed, the love between Ed and Sandra is palpable. Albert Finney, in the role of the senior Ed Bloom, is exceptional as a raconteur of the first order. Ewan McGregor is remarkable as the charismatic, younger Ed Bloom, infusing the role with a joie de vivre that is as infectious as it is engaging.

Jessica Lange is terrific as the senior Sandra Bloom, grounding her relationship with her husband with a steadfastedness born of years of mutual love and respect. Alison Lohman is simply lovely as the younger Sandra, imbuing her character with a beautiful sense of innocence and longing. It is interesting that both Alison Lohman and Ewan McGregor strongly resemble their more senior co-stars.

Billy Crudup is excellent as the angry Will Bloom, the son who needs to reconcile his image of his father with the man his father actually is. Robert Guillaume is masterful in the small role of the senior Dr. Bennett. The rest of the stellar cast is superlative, though Danny DeVito's southern accent needed a bit more work. The direction, however, is deft, and the cinematography is brilliant. This is an absolutely exceptional film. I really enjoyed it immensely, even though I initially viewed this film most reluctantly, and only after much persuasion by my son. I am certainly glad that I did. This film has made me a fan of Tim Burton. It is filmmaking at its best. Bravo!

Average customer rating:

Halle Berry at her best!
Oh, come now....
holly berry, is the main atration
best part of the movie was Halle Berry
You Get What You Need

Monster's Ball
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton , Halle Berry , Taylor Simpson , Gabrielle Witcher , and Heath Ledger
Director: Marc Forster
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005YU1M
Release Date: 2002-06-11

Amazon.com

The unflinching realism and searing performances of Monster's Ball are stunning in all the connotations of the word. Hank (Billy Bob Thornton) and Leticia (Halle Berry) inhabit stark, queasy realities of the contemporary South, he as a death row corrections officer and she as the soon-to-be widow of an inmate (Sean Combs) whose execution Hank helps conduct. In the aftermath of the execution, both lose their children to tragic deaths and they form an unlikely bond. In the hands of lesser participants, the fateful plot might strain credibility and seem tailored to allow for liberal sermonizing about the obvious wrongs of our legal justice system, but director Marc Forster and cinematographer Roberto Schaefer balance the contentious nature of the film's issues--the death penalty, racism both overt and subtle, interracial couples--with a flawless attention to character and visual detail that completely convinces. The moral ambiguity of both central characters is given full voice as our sympathy is drawn out reluctantly at first but all the more resolutely in the end. Thornton draws from seemingly limitless resources to deliver yet another outstanding performance, but it is Halle Berry who is a revelation as she sustains throughout the complex tenor of brutality witnessed and raw courage defined. --Fionn Meade

Customer Reviews:

Halle Berry at her best!.......2007-06-26

I saw "Monster's Ball" in the movie theatre. I felt then that it was a good movie, but the key reason I even went to see it in theatres is because Halle Berry, one of my all-time favorite actresses, was starring in it. I have seen most of Halle's movies, and I can attest to the fact that this is, acting-wise, her best film. Halle is an outstanding actress, but I have never really seen her give her all, until now. Halle really went all out for this movie, and she deserved the Oscar. Although I don't think it's fair that so many African-American actresses before Halle have done phenomenal jobs in movies and never received an Oscar, but Halle shined in this film and that Oscar had her name on it as far as I'm concerned. The ranting and raving about Halle had to be foremost, however, the entire cast did a great job. Billy Bob Thornton, Heath Ledger, Mos Def, and Diddy all showed their acting abilities, and I was impressed.

This was not an easy film to watch. It didn't have a Hollywood ending or cheesy subject matter. The film shows us three generations of corrections officers, a grandfather, a father, and a son. The father and grandfather both have prejudiced mindsets, however the son doesn't. We learn that the father (Hank) doesn't love his son, and his son does an unlikely thing to show how upset he is about that, commits suicide in front of his father.

We meet Leticia and her son Tyrell. Leticia's husband is given the death penalty, and she's naturally on-edge. She attempts to relax her nerves by smoking, drinking and lashing out at her obese progeny. As the movie progresses, Tyrell is tragically killed in a hit and run. From what the movie implies, all Leticia had was her son. She was never seen with parents or friends. After her husband and son die, she's all alone in life, until she meets Hank. Hank sees Leticia and her dying son on the side of the road and decide to stop and offer aid to them. He rushes them to the hospital, and from there, the two of them build a friendship, and then a relationship.

Hank and Leticia both feel vulnerable because of the unfortunate occurrences they both lived. Their relationship, from the outside looking in, resembles two people who are yearning for a happiness they'd seemingly never come across and hoped to find in one another.

The irony of Hank and Leticia's relationship is that Hank was one of the correction's officers who helped kill Leticia's husband, but she is oblivious to this.

This motion picture will totally lure you into it's painful plot. Other reviews that I've read on this movie said that it was boring, and perhaps to some, it is; but if you give this movie your undivided attention from start to finish, there is hardly a boring moment in my opinion.

I DO NOT recommend this picture for the faint of heart. It includes some of the most graphic scenes cinema has ever seen, and some of them are not easy to stomach. Also, that oh so popular sex scene...very candid and graphic. However, if you can handle it, by all means take a look at this heart-wrenching film.

Oh, come now...........2007-06-13

This is one of the most over-rated movies I've ever seen. It is too contrived in plot and too manipulative, particularly with respect to the sex scene between Thornton and Berry. Consider the following:

Billy Bob Thornton plays a racist prison guard who takes a sort of military pride in the structured electrocution of condemned prisoners. His son, a non-racist guard under him, is not up to the same standard. A condemned prisoner, the husband of the woman played by Halle Berry, is put to death.

Through a convoluted set of circimstances, Thornton takes up with Ms.Berry, after Thornton's son commits suicide and Berry's overweight son is killed in a car accident. Neither knows of their connection to the electrocuted prisoner until the end of the movie. The device used to reveal the connection should be obvious to any viewer Are you following this?

For some reason (perhaps the fact that Halle Berry is drop dead gorgeous) Thornton gives up his racism and has an extremely steamy sex scene with the beauteous widow. Well, that's understandable, but the fact that she is magnificent to look upon is grossly manipulative. Would Thornton have been so solicitous of her if she had been an average looking African American woman? I doubt it. Beauty trumps racism.

Several movies have been made, through the years, about a racist white becoming liberalized by association with an African American, and in virtually every case the device for attaining this has been so contrived as to make a viewer groan. In one case a blind white girl falls in love with a very nice black man. In another case, a racist white is chained to a black man and they have to cooperate to escape pursuers. In yet another, a white girl brings a black man home to meet her upper class parents--but the black man is a handsome Ivy League surgeon. Sidney Poitier, a fine actor, was in all of these.

In all of these, including Monster's Ball, the devices are just too heavy handed and obvious. The acting in Monster's Ball is OK, but the story is the problem. For example, I never believed for a second that the Halle Berry character would have said, "Make me feel good" and seduced Thornton. Why? I don't object to sexy scenes, per se. I object when sex scenes are included to titilate the viewer, and that was exactly the case in Monster's Ball.

holly berry, is the main atration.......2007-06-08

seeing Holly in action is cool . Billy bob is p[retty good Too.

best part of the movie was Halle Berry.......2007-03-09

This movie was boring, it was like one of those sundance films, interesting enough to watch once, then put it away forever. The best part of the movie was Halle Berry's sex scene's they were brief, and tastfully done, however if it wasn't for her I never would have watched it. If I ever watch it again, it will be to get my Halle Berry fix......Keith

You Get What You Need.......2006-11-30

This is a different sort of movie; a sort of mixture of "Affliction", "The Green Mile" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner". The characters are difficult to warm up to which may have been the writer and director's point. We get plenty of love stories that lead us down the primerose path. What about a love story about two people who never should have been associated with each other. Two people whose stars not only didn't cross, they were magnetically repelled from ever even nearing each other. This is what "Monster's Ball" is to me. In that sense, it is an interesting movie.

The characters are rather extreme but, then, that's in keeping with the extreme nature of the message. Still, it's hard not to be put off a bit because of how disfuctional the main characters are. By the mid-point of the movie, we know who we DON'T like and the rest of the movie tries to salvage two out of those three. This change of direction would seem impossible except for the introduction of exteme crises that alter the lives of the people we are reluctant to care about. We reach the end of the movie shaking our heads but relizing that, in some perverse way, there's someone for everyone. I'm reminded of the Rolling Stones's song with the lyrics "You can't always get what you want but if you try sometime, you just might find, you get what you need." Not inspiring but a reminder that even scoundrels need someone to hold onto from time to time. I found that the premise worked well enough for me.

Average customer rating:

Mississppi Burning, A Hard Thing to Endure
WELL, HUH, GENE HACKMAN IS GREAT.
Mississippi Burning
A great movie. My favorite film for use of character actors.
Entertaining

Mississippi Burning
Starring: Gene Hackman , Willem Dafoe , Frances McDormand , Brad Dourif , and R. Lee Ermey
Director: Alan Parker
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000059TFO
Release Date: 2001-05-08

Amazon.com

Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe star in this well-intentioned and largely successful civil rights-era thriller. Mississippi Burning, using the real-life 1964 disappearance of three civil rights workers as its inspiration, tells the story of two FBI men (Hackman and Dafoe, entertainingly called "Hoover Boys" by the locals) who come in to try to solve the crime. Hackman is a former small-town Mississippi sheriff himself, while Dafoe is a by-the-numbers young hotshot. Yes, there is some tension between the two. The movie has an interesting fatalism, as all the FBI's best efforts incite more and more violence, which becomes disturbing--the film's message, perhaps inadvertently, seems to be that vigilantism is the only real way to get things done. The brilliant Frances McDormand, here early in her career, is not given enough to do but still does it well enough to have racked up an Oscar® nomination for Best Supporting Actress. (Hackman also received a nomination for Best Actor, and the film won an Academy Award for Cinematography). The story line of Mississippi Burning is ultimately unsatisfying--it is, after all, the story of white men coming in to rescue poor blacks--but it is beautifully shot and very watchable and features a terrific cast playing at the top of their games. --Ali Davis

Customer Reviews:

Mississppi Burning, A Hard Thing to Endure.......2007-03-15

This product was very informative and thought provoking. I have viewed this film before, but as I viewed it with my daughter I was given an opportunity to teach as we watched. I have never "to my knowledge" experienced many of the things that the film depicted, but I am a recipient of the many the blessings that the suffering of that time has produced. The timing and issues of this film are still relevant today, but the faces may longer be found behind a mask.

WELL, HUH, GENE HACKMAN IS GREAT........2007-02-17

IF YOU WANT PASSION. WATCH THIS MOVIE. HACKMAN'S PASSION FOR GETTING THE BAD GUYS IS REALLY A GREAT TREAT TO WATCH.

Mississippi Burning.......2007-01-23

Very important story, historically and socially speaking, which although disturbing and appalling, is presented in a passionate and interesting way. Excellent acting.

A great movie. My favorite film for use of character actors........2006-08-02

This is a powerful movie. Movies of this genre are bound to receive various political perspectives. But that doesn't lessen the impact of this movie. In many ways you feel Mississippi during the era involved. Not just in the politics and bigotry, but in the countryside presented itself. There are some subtle allusions that assist in creating a feel for the town this movie takes place in. Gene Hackman and William DaFoe are fabulous in their lead roles, as is Frances McDormand. But to me, the real reason to watch this movie is the incomparable collection of character actors, my favorite movie in that category. it's a treasure trove. You can debate the angle of many of the most popular civil rights movies, their message, be it explicit or implied. But the performances by this ensemble cast and the backdrop of Mississippi make this one of the most watchable movies of the genre. From R. Lee Ermey (Gunnery Sgt. in "Full Metal Jacket") and Stephen Tobolowski (Needle Nose Ned in "Groundhog Day") - 2 of the most renowned character actors playing the mayor and Clayton Townley, head of the Klan, respectively- to Brad Dourif, Michael Rooker, Gailard Sartain, Pruitt Taylor Vince- all playing loathsome bigots. Tobin Bell will be a familiar face as well in his small role as an FBI agent in the latter part of the film. Even James F. Moore who plays a simple barber with a pittance for dialogue is essential to the feel of this moving film. It's the character actors who steal this show. it's an outstanding film with crystal clear DVD remastering in sound and quality, There are several memorable scenes integral to the story (Hackman's encounter with Frank Bailey at "the club") and naturally the scenes that accompany such a film that stir the audience into righteous outrage. For the purposes of this movie, everything and everybody clicks. There are some gripping behind the scene stories as to the extent actors like the great Stephen Tobolowski went to dig into their roles, making their performances all the more effective and proven on the final print. When I started buying DVDs, this was on the top of my list. It's a steal at the often found bargain price.

Entertaining.......2006-06-29

Although loosely based upon the true-life story of the murders of three young civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Mississippi in 1964, history gives way to an entertaining crime drama with a superb cast, particularly Gene Hackman, who gives perhaps his best performance ever. It is a compelling, fast-moving story which will doubtless keep the view