Paul's Case

Starring:Eric Roberts
Studio: Monterey Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
Seen on PBS

Written By: Teleplay writer Ron Cowen, based on the Willa Cather classic

Starring: Eric Roberts, Michael Higgins

Directed By: Lamont Johnson Description: Lost in a world of fantasy, young working-class Paul dreams of escaping his dreary existence in turn-of-the-century Pittsburgh. As fate would have it Paul gets his chance by stealing some money and subsequently running off to glamorous New York City.

Once there, Paul experiences everything he ever dreamed offrom a luxurious hotel suite to his first taste of champagne. However, when reality finally comes crashing down around him, Paul realizes the desperate course he must now take.

In a powerful and intense performance, Eric Roberts (Academy Award nominee "Runaway Train", "Star 80") plays the title role in author Willa Cather's PAUL'S CASE. As the tortured and tragic young man, Roberts brings to life this classic American story of a sensitive soul pitted against an uncaring materialistic society.

Amazon.com

This lushly produced fantasy has gained a loyal following since its release in 1985, and it gave a welcomed boost to the careers of Matthew Broderick, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Rutger Hauer. You have to ignore the overly aggressive music score (critic Pauline Kael aptly dubbed it "disco-medieval") and director Richard Donner's reckless allowance of anachronistic dialogue and uninspired storytelling, but there's a certain charm to the movie's combination of romance and heroism. Broderick plays a young thief who comes to the aid of tragic lovers Isabeau (Pfeiffer), who is cursed to become a hawk every day at sunrise and Navarre (Hauer) who turns into a wolf at sunset. The curse was cast by an evil sorcerer-bishop (John Wood), and as Broderick eludes the bishop's henchmen, Navarre struggles to conquer the villain, lift the curse, and be reunited with his love in human form. The tragedy of this lovers' dilemma keeps the movie going, and Broderick is well cast as a young, medieval variation of Woody Allen. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Great Movie.......2007-05-21

This was a great movie, it has romance, action/adventure, betrayal and love, and of course, Matthew Broderick's smart mouth. The scenes with Rutger and Michelle were tear jerkers. I think they did a great job with the casting.

a must have for family video library.......2007-05-15

Humor, romance, drama, fantasy...this movie has it all. A family ready story of love denied. Matthew Brodrick at his best, using sly wit to counter the seriousness with which the others actors played their roles.

wonderful.......2007-05-07

What a great romance. I watched it when I was younger and I think I enjoy it even more now. It was such a moving story that your heart just goes out to the characters.

A timeless Hit!.......2007-03-26

Our family never gets tired of watching this classic love story, it's got it all. We love this movie!

Great movie.......2007-03-10

I stumbled across this movie a while back on VHS, and have been trying to find it on DVD as my other copy was fried from overuse. Yes, it's an older film, but in the way of a medieval romance film, it's very good. Lots of twists and turns, the actors are very good, and the work with the animals is great as well. I knew Matthey Broderick from Ferris Beuler's Day Off, and this younger actor is great to see! If you're up for a good 80's action romance set with knights and a romantic curse, this would be the movie!

Average customer rating:

The original "Father of the Bride"
Spencer Tracy
Like the film itself, Liz is as light as air...
Quaint Look At a Revered Institution
Dearly Beloved.....

Father of the Bride (Snap case)
Starring: Spencer Tracy , Joan Bennett , Elizabeth Taylor , Don Taylor , and Billie Burke
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Manufacturer: Turner Home Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Desk Set

ASIN: B00008MTY0
Release Date: 2004-06-01

Amazon.com essential video

This 1950 Vincente Minnelli classic may show its age here and there, but it's still a far sturdier movie than the 1991 Steve Martin vehicle. Spencer Tracy earned yet another Oscar nomination for his wonderfully well observed portrayal of Stanley Banks, a decent (if occasionally long-winded) fellow who gets caught up and cut up in the rudderless spectacle that is the wedding of his only daughter (Elizabeth Taylor, of course). It's a sage commentary on the class mores of the day--how much does one spend? (Or, more accurately, when does one quit spending?) Does one invite one's work colleagues, even if they don't know the bride? Tracy is simply magnificent, gruffly warm and funny, whether he's getting sloppy drunk and discoursing at length or simply sitting by, silently amazed, as his daughter and her beau make up after a spat. The film inspired a sequel (1951's Father's Little Dividend--try getting that title made nowadays), a remake, and a remake of its sequel, as well as a TV series--all in all, almost as many incarnations as Taylor had weddings. --David Kronke

Description

Stanley Banks is a good father who adores his beautiful daughter Kay and his well-ordered life, a life that is thrown into chaos when Kay announces her engagement. A classic MGM comedy, the story is told via flashback and chronicles the many travails, financial and emotional, suffered by Stanley (Spencer Tracy) as he tries to give Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) a wedding to remember. Year: 1950 Director: Vincente Minnelli Starring: Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor

Customer Reviews:

The original "Father of the Bride".......2007-06-25

A buoyant, big-hearted MGM comedy featuring the wry comedic talent of Spencer Tracy, Minnelli's romp provided the original template for an idea that's been imitated countless times (as in 2000's "Meet the Parents"), but never done quite so charmingly. Tracy is side-splitting as the aggrieved, helpless Dad, even when he's just making a face. Taylor makes a radiant, effervescent bride-to-be (wasn't she always?), and Bennett is marvelous too, as are supporting players Moroni Olsen and Billie Burke, as Buckley's prominent, well-to-do parents. Minnelli keeps the whole affair--hilariously solemn heart-to-heart talks, a disastrous engagement party, lovers' spats--from derailing into broad farce. If you have to choose a "Bride," make it the original.

Spencer Tracy.......2007-02-12

The original version of this movie. Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor make a good pair for this one. Great for old movie fans!

Like the film itself, Liz is as light as air..........2006-12-31

A minor classic in a minor tradition, blending the late Forties with the early Fifties, "Father of the Bride" is a fragmentary but mainly delightful suburban comedy which finds Hollywood in its best light vein and benefits from a strong central performance...

One night at dinner, daughter Kay casually announces her engagement... Like the situation comedy parents they are, father and mother react on cue... Mr. and Mrs. Banks fret and fume their way right up to the wedding itself... Following practically to the letter the events of Edward Streeter's charming novel, the movie is a series of comic set pieces: father meets future son-in-law; boy's parents meet girl's parents; prospective bride feuds with prospective groom... The vignettes are brushed with the light Minnelli touch at its most charming, and they are acted with captivating nonchalance by Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and the Taylors, Don and Elizabeth...

As the complaining teddy bear papa, attentive to his daughter's welfare and alert as to the disposal of his pennies, Tracy is unbeatably amusing... Playing the American domestic dictator, Tracy is all good-natured father exhausted by the sheer weight of the problems leading up to the happy event...

But it's an ensemble show, and as the typical spoiled daughter of a typical mid-American bourgeois, Elizabeth has one of her happiest screen moments, twisting and persuading her father and her fiancé with a sweet instinctive to the natural-born female... Except for her cheerful announcement of her engagement, when she chatters carelessly about her fiancé's prospects and 'The Life Ahead,' she has no scene all for herself... She's there to express doubt or irresolution, and this is one of her most responsive and natural performances... Like the film itself, she's as light as air...

Quaint Look At a Revered Institution.......2006-07-23

There are almost certainly dated elements in "The Father of the Bride". I also thought Liz Taylor was a little too Hollywood glamorous to be playing a typical suburban American girl. The focus here, however, is Spencer Tracy in the title role and he is nothing short of brilliant. Gently balancing bemusement and bewilderment at the staggering cost emotionally and financially of losing his little girl Tracy doesn't strike a single false note. The film is also augmented by a witty voice-over narration by Tracy. I think it unfair to compare this film to the Steve Martin remake. I think both film's succeed and the remake, though adding some nineties touches, retains enough of the original's charming elements to stand up by itself.

Dearly Beloved............2006-05-27

Another "classic" that I had not seen in years and I could only remember the inspired and hilarious dream sequence where Spencer Tracy tries desperately to get down a fun house of an aisle to get to the alter while his daughter the bride and attendees look on in horror. This one sequence brings the audience out of a rather normal and traditional looking world and right into the noir for a moment before bringing us gently back to suburbia again. I also love the "slice of life" (as filtered through Hollywood's eye) approach to the film. By this I mean that it's rather fun to see what a modern middle class suburban family and home was like in the late 1940s to the early 1950s (servants and all). I loved seeing lovely Elizabeth Taylor dressed in rolled up blue jeans and a flannel shirt and kerchief, (That woman could wear a potato sack and look elegant) and calling Tracy "Pop" in her genuinely affection tone. The entire cast of characters is great with seasoned professionals like Billie Burke and Leo G. Carroll to name just a couple. But Tracy alone is the anchor to this piece, bringing a rye wit and quiet sense of dignity and patience to the whole mess, even when surrounded by the aftermath of the wedding in what looks like a bombed out city complete with with crepe paper. The whole film has such a sweet, satisfying quality that I think, in the hands of a lesser man than director, might have fallen flat. But Minnelli pulls it off brilliantly, balancing charm, sentimentality, humor and even fantasy with just the right touch. And, as others have mentioned in other opinions posted here, it is difficult to compare the original here with later remakes. I do like Steve Martin very much, but there is really nothing to compare next to Spencer Tracy and the subtle expertise of the folks at MGM, circa 1950

Average customer rating:

Robot underwear
So campy, its fun to watch
robot jox
Giant Robot Mahem!
Good Movie.

Robot Jox
Starring: Lisa Aliff , Michael Alldredge , David Cameron , Jeffrey Combs , and Larry Dolgin
Director: Stuart Gordon
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000AM6ONU
Release Date: 2005-10-04

Description

Directed by Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator), ROBOT JOX reveals a world where nations settle their territorial disputes by a single combat between two giant machines. Piloted by national heroes Achilles (Gary Graham, TV's Alien Nation) and Alexander (Paul Koslo, Shadowchaser), the robots meet in Death Valley to fight for the greatest prize of all: Alaska. But when Achilles' machine crushes 300 spectators, the match ends in a draw. Refusing to face Alexander in a rematch, Achilles is replaced by Athena (Anne-Marie Johnson, TV's Melrose Place), a genetically-engineered combat fighter. So when the GenJox is nearly killed and the game is forfeited, Achilles avenges their honor by challenging Alexander to a winner-take-all death match, in this heavy-metal, sci-fi adventure.

Customer Reviews:

Robot underwear.......2007-04-08

There, I said it!

Excuse my little funny and lets get to business, bare with me a minute.
One: No one will ever convince me a robot--or massive object--standing better than fifty feet tall has survivabilitly on the battlefield. I mean these things were anywhere from 100 feet to 300 feet tall.
Twenty miles away they could see you and start shooting with everything they can throw from that far away and you could never see most of it coming even with the best mono-radar. "Well," you say "The other guy is in one also and it is only the two of them fighting!" And I say, "Well...that's true but how did they all get so 'big'. I mean, if fifty years ago everybody was using them it would have been a short lived war--no such thing as 'conceal and cover' with one of those babies." My point being apparently in the fifty years after the 'robot wars' they got bigger.
Two: Missle/rocket launchers on both shoulders, semi-automatic artillery in the center of the chest (just beneath the cotpit), lasers firing from the chest--sometimes the hands--hands sometimes detach and blast forth with rocket engines to smash an opponent--a fifty foot long chainsaw designed to cut through a really big opponent and several other weapons.......and then at the end when they both go berserk they resort to a stomping, kicking, bashing fest? Come on!
Three: I could see me going neanderthal with a knee between the legs as my semi-automatic artillery gun zeros' in on the pilots' cotpit but a smash fest?
Four: A neat story that should go into a part two with somewhat smaller and faster robots.
Five: Ok story line, ok acting.
Seven: If your cotpit is that obvious to see, why waist time taking pock
shots at the legs, arms, and so on--hit the cotpit and get it over with.
Eight: For those of you owning the Mech Warrior series some of this is going to look familiar.
Nine: The robots are so big they are Godzilla slow--it kinda makes a fellow wonder; why am I slowing walking over there to punch this guy with a fist as big as a house when I could be shooting him with those two shiney brand new missile launchers on my shoulder with about twenty shoots each? Oh well, so much for realistic thinking.
Ten: I think a part two should involve the robot war.
Eleven: As a matter of interesting fact, I feel a part two should show how it all began--The two countries are fighting, we're loosing, uh oh--time to bring out our super weapon--we do and then the enemy shows up with one of their own.
Twelve: All in all, I am glad I bought it, viewed it, reviewed it. For science fiction to be about technology from all directions you would think the field would be crawling with robots--but it isn't. I mean, you got Data but he didn't even look like one (that's because he is an android) then you've got the Lost in Space robot, Day the Earth Stood Still robot, Forbidden planet robot and two or three others. Of course you could say "Robot Jox didn't have a robot in it--they are mechanicals with a human in side...they don't think for themselves--dummy!" To which I will say "Well...sorry. I mean something passably robotic."

And so there it is. The original idea comes from THE Robert A. Heinleins'
novel StarShip Troopers. I recommend both this movie and that novel to all who are interested. So why only four stars? Well, Heinleins' novel pretty much laid-out a five star idea, Robot Jox really only came out with a two star attempt at it, another star for having the ball-bearings to even try, and the final star for going through with it in a fine way.
Mind you I am not throwing off on them--they did great--but they could have done better with them same people, equipment, and money.

So campy, its fun to watch.......2007-03-09

I remember seeing this at a video rental store, and remembering it being advertised on television and in different magazines. From the box art (different from the box art shown here in Amazon - there were two robots facing off), I just had that feeling that it was going to be good.

Was I ever wrong!

This film is so campy, so over the top, it reminds me of other movies in the same vein (Wing Commander for instance). These are great to watch just for the sheer cheap entertainment value, but don't blame me if you feel a tinge of regret in enjoying Robot Jox.

robot jox.......2007-01-20

this movie is excellent, i love gary graham as achellies piloying the battle robot

Giant Robot Mahem!.......2007-01-10

I remember this movie from when I was younger, and more tolerant in my opinion on the quality of special effects. The stop-action quality of the robot sequences, while not up to Harryhausen standards, are still credible, until the weapons and combat are introduced. The laser, cannon and offensive technology used in the battle scenes, make the battle look like a scene from the old marrionation "Thunderbirds" TV show. The sets used to simulate the piloting of a giant robot are well done, a credit to years of giant robot anime from Japan. The major plot revolves around using robots to settle disputes in a war-ravaged world. Unfortunately, the only way we know how bad things are, is when a large family celebrates with a meal of beanie-weenie. The script and acting are kept at a basic level, obviously geared to a target audience between the ages of 8 and 13. All things considered, unless you enjoy watching hokey movies, like I do, I'd reserve this movie for young children who don't care about FX quality.

Good Movie........2007-01-09

I was playing Quake 4 the other day when a feeling of nostalgia came over me. Looking back at this movie, I am amazed at how it kept my attention at the time. Just thinking about it gave me that sorta warm and fuzzy feeling inside. Though I haven't seen it in years, I doubt it would have the same effect on me today. This aside, I found the movie highly entertaining.

Average customer rating:

The Secret Face of Madness
A haunting & haunted film
THE THIRD SECRET

The Third Secret
Starring: Stephen Boyd , Jack Hawkins , Richard Attenborough , Diane Cilento , and Pamela Franklin
Director: Charles Crichton
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000NO1XJK
Release Date: 2007-05-22

Customer Reviews:

The Secret Face of Madness.......2007-06-09

Here's a tidy little British suspense film from 1964 that will hold your interest throughout. Well-received and highly regarded at the time, it soon fell out of view, overshadowed by THE NANNY and BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING and SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON and several other, more sensational British chillers of the same era. Now it's back on DVD, and worth a look from anyone who enjoys a literate, well-acted mystery.

A London psychiatrist is found dead, an apparent suicide, but his young daughter (Pamela Franklin) is convinced he was murdered by one of his patients. She appeals to the only patient she trusts, a TV commentator played by Stephen Boyd, to investigate the others. One of them is a dangerous paranoid schizophrenic--but who is it? The passive/aggressive art dealer (Richard Attenborough)? The frigid secretary (Diane Cilento)? The eminent judge with an unmentionable vice (Jack Hawkins)? Or is it Boyd himself, whose recent loss of wife and child to tragedy has unbalanced him, causing disturbing dreams and sudden, violent behavior? He investigates, leading to a surprise finale.

The publicity for the film played on the recent success of PSYCHO and DIABOLIQUE, asking audiences to see it from the beginning and please not to reveal the shocking "third secret" to other potential moviegoers. It's not really as shocking as all that--not now, anyway, though it might have been in 1964--but it's a solid, entertaining diversion. Try it.

A haunting & haunted film.......2007-06-04

Here's a powerful film that was completely unknown to me, one that deserves to be much better known. It's suspenseful & unsettling, but it's also far more than that.

When a noted psychiatrist dies suddenly, the official decree is suicide. But his fourteen year old daughter Cathy (a stunning young Pamela Franklin) doesn't believe her father would have killed himself, and she pleads with TV commentator Alex Stedman (an equally good Stephen Boyd) to investigate.

Alex has his own reasons for wanting to discover the truth. A patient of the dead psychiatrist himself, he's been shattered by the suicide. The doctor helped pull Alex out of despair when his wife & daughter died, and Alex fears that suicide means that everything that helped him was a lie. He desperately needs to learn the truth for the sake of his own sanity. So he begins investigating the doctor's other recent patients, sure that one of them must be a murderer.

What makes this film especially striking is the overall look & tone of it. Filmed in black & white, there's a world-weariness to it, a sense of balancing precariously over a dark, chaotic abyss that waits to claim everyone. Stephen Boyd is superb, his handsome but hard face etched with grief & doubt. He erupts in rage & fear at times, and raises the suspicion that he may be the murderer himself, having blotted out that self-knowledge. Could it be possible? Or is he simply struggling to survive in a world bereft of personal meaning?

We follow his investigation, which leads first to a tortured gallery owner & aspiring painter played by an unrecognizable Richard Attenborough; then to an intimate encounter with another patient, portrayed with brittle beauty & growing despair by Diane Cilento; and finally to a craggy, distinguished judge with a secret, played by Jack Hawkins.

But the most fascinating relationship is between Alex & fourteen year old Cathy. She's unnaturally precocious, a woman-child wise beyond her years, who obviously sees an understanding father figure in Alex. He in turn sees his own dead daughter as she might have been, and it's only in her presence that his grim face softens with tenderness & hope. Some modern viewers might tend to see this relationship as Cathy's suspicious uncle does, that of a predator moving in on a vulnerable girl. But it's something quite different, innocent yet somehow erotic all the same -- certainly it's the most intense relationship in the film.

The script is highly literate, the sort of writing that's seldom seen in films today. And the suspense builds as the film moves forward, an almost existential suspense -- the mystery isn't just about the identity of the murderer, but whether life itself has any meaning. It leads to a stunning climax that frankly jolted me. I wondered if it might not be better to end the film at that point, which would have been terribly bleak but effective. Yet the final scenes, while not viscerally shocking, are all the more sad & heartbreakingly tender, reminding the viewer that some wounds never fully heal.

Most highly recommended!

THE THIRD SECRET.......2007-03-30

This 1964 British import was directed by Charles Crichton. Starring Stephen Boyd (Ben Hur, Fantastic Voyage), Jack Hawkins (The Cruel Sea, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Ben Hur, Lawrence of Arabia), Diane Cilento (Hombre, The Wicker Man--and married to Sean Connery 1962-72), Richard Attenborough (In Which We Serve, The Great Escape, The Flight Of The Phoenix, The Sand Pebbles), and Pamela Franklin (The Innocents, The Legend Of Hell House).

I might be totally off base here as I have not seen this little gem for 30 plus years but I think we've got the first secret is what we don't tell other people. The second secret is what we don't tell ourselves. The Third Secret is....... I do remember being totally into this mystery and look forward to it's DVD release. The portfolios of the actors involved in this forgotten film show how much talent was involved. It begs to be seen again, and by ME !!!!

Average customer rating:

Dead Bodies Sprout from Everywhere
75 Years Young and Wearing Beautifully
Great movie, but...
The Kennel Murder Case
SO MUCH FUN!

Kennel Murder Case (1933) (B&W)
Starring: William Powell , Mary Astor , Eugene Pallette , Ralph Morgan , and Robert McWade
Director: Michael Curtiz
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00006G8EZ
Release Date: 2002-07-30

Customer Reviews:

Dead Bodies Sprout from Everywhere.......2007-06-17

The Kennel Murder Case is a great murder mystery concerning a series of murders beginning with a champion show dog. It is up to Philo Vance {William Powell), a curious spectator to solve the mystery of the apparant suicide that turns out to be much more.

There is something about Powell that reminds me of modern day George Clooney. He has class with a simultaneous every-man quality that makes him great in these kinds of films. The rest of the cast is less exciting, but equally famous like Mary Astor and Eugene Pallette.

This is definitely a quality film, but the picture quality is truly a fault and a distraction. It is hard to get into the movie in the beginning because the film looks so bad. It is hard not to want to turn it off and pick up another film. I've seen neglected b-movies with much better quality prints than this one.

I'm sure this film would benefit from a cleaning and restoration. It is impressive visually, especially for such an early talkie. It employs some special camera tricks like mobility, wipe transitions, and oblique angles which Orson Welles made famous later on.

75 Years Young and Wearing Beautifully.......2007-06-05

In the 1920s and 1930s Philo Vance became a household name with publication of the wildly popular S.S. Van Dine (alias for Willard Huntington Wright) novels featuring the patrician amateur detective.

Though Kennel is one of the better Philo Vance novels, this adaptation of the eponymous book represents the rare case where a film is better than the original story (which would not film well if precisely represented on screen because of (1) the psychological issues which would be hard to depict, and (2) the novel's culminating violent scene, which the film modifies).

The genius in taking one of the lesser of the canonical Philo Vance novels and making it into a classic is, of course, Michael Curtiz's direction; Curtiz being an exceptionally talented director who has, perhaps, the misfortune of being eclipsed by the fame of his films (e.g., Casablanca, Mildred Pierce, and The Adventures of Robin Hood) because of lack of a distinctive style.

This film is also a successful example of an early talkie: the sound is fairly good except in some scenes where the boom is obviously too far away, and in one shot (between Robert Barrat and Helen Vinson) we actually see the microphone! Some of the actors are clearly still making the silent-to-sound transition, but the performances are uniformly good. The key scene stealer is Etienne Giradot, who plays the Coroner, Dr. Doremus. Indeed, his performance is so endearing he reprised the role in other Philo Vance films.

While it becomes fairly easy to guess the culprit, the film doesn't suffer for this because of the excellent direction, good sets and wardrobe (check out Mary Astor's chic outfits!), and fine performances. (Though primarily loved for his work as Nick Charles in the Thin Man films, William Powell gives one of the best (and most subtle) performances of his career in Kennel.) Besides its status as a Hollywood classic, Kennel is an outstanding example of successful story adaptation and early sound film-making. (One can also see some noir hints later fulfilled in Curtiz's Mildred Pierce.) Highly recommended.

Great movie, but..........2007-04-10

I love this movie, sort of an early Nick Charles adventure, before he got married, without Nora. I wish there were more Philo Vance movies available, but alas, I have not found any. But the condition of the print is quite poor. I recorded a better print off of PBS!!
Still, I would recomend this to all the diehards.

The Kennel Murder Case.......2007-03-01

A good transfer to disc. Typical of the 'detective genre' in the 30s which kept grandma and grandpa fascinated. Often very low budget but nice to watch even today. William Powell is always good. In this as in the Thin Man series he is a consumate actor.

As a bonus this good old movie is on a budget label which is easy on the wallet.

SO MUCH FUN!.......2007-01-04

These old movies are so much fun to watch! They are just genuine good fun!!

The Dick Tracy Show: The Complete Animated Crime Series

Average customer rating:

Dick Tracy cartoon series
Too Long Ago
Another blast of the past!
Wow, we kids were sure easy to please!
I applaud the release....

The Dick Tracy Show: The Complete Animated Crime Series
Starring: Everett Sloane , Jerry Hausner , Paul Frees , Mel Blanc , and Johnny Coons
Director: Brad Case , David Detiege , John Walker (III) , Ray Patterson , and Abe Levitow
Manufacturer: Classic Media
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000GG4XTW
Release Date: 2006-09-26

Customer Reviews:

Dick Tracy cartoon series.......2007-01-04

Excellent packaging and condition of prints. (Would have liked to have the episodes listed in a booklet, as there were 130, and the only way to know what was where was put each disk in and go through tedious rounds of menues).
However, I was very pleased to see all the episodes intact, including full begin themes, (unlike the disappointing releases of Batfink without its begin song).
Well worth buying for fans of Dick Tracy. See all the famous villains, and the rotating cast of Tracy's support characters: GoGo Gomez, Hemlock Holmes, Jo Jitsu, Heap O'Callory etc.
Great stuff

Too Long Ago.......2006-11-03

This was a nostalgia buy ~ I remember loving these as a kid, and when I read details about the product I would not have appreciated back then ~ such as Everett Sloan was the voice of Tracy ~ I had to get it. Fortunately I found a "fell off the truck" copy on eBay for less than half price, because upon playing the first disc I realized that these are pretty much for kids only. Aside from a few adult references (such as using a Peter Lorre-like voice for Flattop) these are not very clever, and definitely do not hold up as adult entertainment by any stretch of the imagination. I guess I was fooled by my own enjoyment of many great reprints of the original Tracy strip (which I see is now coming out in new editions ~ look elsewhere on Amazon) but after 3 of these cartoons I knew I was going to be trading this one in at Coconuts. Better stick to Volume 4 of Looney Tunes, which appears to have quite a few ESSENTIAL Bugs Bunny features this time.

Another blast of the past!.......2006-10-14

I remember a long time ago when my mom rented these cartoons on video for me back in the early 1990s. These cartoons have been in my mind for a very long time. Now that they are on dvd it,s a great blast of the past. All the cartoons are entertaining and funny too. Even though I don,t see the crimestopper tips the cartoons are still good as can be.

Wow, we kids were sure easy to please!.......2006-10-12

When I saw this DVD set, I just had to pick it up for nostalgia sake. One reviewer was a bit harsh but admitted that they did not see the show when originally aired in the 60's. What's the saying? Sometimes you "just had to be there" in order to find appeal in DVD releases of old TV shows such as this. As is often the case it is far more about simple nostalgia and fond recollections than perceived quality.

As a kid in the 60's, the "Dick Tracy Show" was a favorite and after popping in the first disc and seeing that high overhead street scene with the traffic parting and that music...a flood of memories came back. Of course looking at it now with my adult eye it was pretty cheesy stuff. I had totally forgotten that Dick Tracy doesn't really do anything other than hand off the assignments in the opening scene and check in at the end. I wonder why? Is it that Tracy was drawn too seriously and wasn't meant to be funny and therefore let his cartoon-like "crime-busting pals" take over? Funny, as an adult, and why I would even notice such things, I found myself picking up mistakes, errors or things that don't make sense. Geez, it's a cartoon, but I noticed that there is no nameplate on Tracy's desk when facing him but with the angle from behind it suddenly appears...and the nameplate is facing him! Things like this only add to the appeal. OK, this is sad. What's next? I'm going to notice Deputy Dog and Yogi Bear don't have pants on...or the fact that they talk?

Anyway, though I am not sure I can sit through all 130 episodes, it is a hoot to catch up with ol' Mumbles, Flattop and Pruneface as well as GoGo Gomez, Joe Jitsu and of course, Heap O'Callory! Get it? A rather plump cop named "Heap O'Callory". It went over my head as a kid and I just made the connection watching it as an adult.

Good fun if you grew up watching this show or if you have young kids in the house. For me, since the entire series is on one attractively priced DVD set, it was an easy choice.

I applaud the release...........2006-10-07

It is GREAT to have these and I love the original cartoons un-edited and uncut! It appears that CLASSIC MEDIA made a small goof though. The back cover says it includes Tracy's CRIME STOPPER TIPS (The short inbetween segments from the original show) BUT unless they are a REALLY well hidden EASTER EGG, I haven't been able to find them. Other than that, I am glad this set was released Un-Censored!

Average customer rating:

alright....
Refreshingly simple and ethereal
Some films should just be pitched over a cliff
Sometimes Love Hurts
Reviewers're missing one crucial thing

All the Real Girls
Starring: Paul Schneider (IV) , Zooey Deschanel , Shea Whigham , Danny R. McBride , and Maurice Compte
Director: David Gordon Green
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00009ZPTY
Release Date: 2003-08-19

Amazon.com

You'd think moviemakers would have run out of new ways of capturing the trials and joys of young love--but director David Gordon Green finds a fresh take in All the Real Girls, a bittersweet small-town romance. By leaving out the usual humdrum exposition of a courtship story, Green cuts right to the little moments that form the high and low points of a budding relationship. It's an impressionistic style aided by the wonderfully spontaneous and unpredictable acting of Paul Schneider (who also co-scripted) and Zooey Deschanel--who look like they're improvising, even though they're not. As in Green's excellent debut feature George Washington, a small town serves as an atmospheric backdrop--this place looks a couple of decades shy of the 21st century. The mosaic approach makes the film play like a collection of memories, someone's first love recalled with fondness and just a bit of regret. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

alright...........2007-05-13

Intresting movie but it kinda gets slow in parts. Shipping wise it came fast and in perfect condition.

Refreshingly simple and ethereal.......2006-11-30

All the Real Girls is a refreshingly simple story about first love with a fittingly ethereal approach to its subject. The film is about the relationship between Southern small-town Romeo Paul (Paul Schneider) and inexperienced Noel (Zooey Deschanel). An indiscretion mars their romance and some soul searching by Paul follows.

There is much to like about Schneider and Deschanel's performances, which are poignant, sad, and naked. It is especially nice to see Deschanel in a larger, more grounded role than her usual quirky supporting roles. Director David Gordon Green drops you right in the middle of Paul and Noel's courtship but reveals his characters slowly. The seemingly improvised dialogue and long cuts brings to mind Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise, but less witty and talky, more emotionally raw. Some will be turned off by the film's meandering narrative structure and visual style, which has been called impressionistic (it feels more crafted than that). Indeed, Green tries hard to be unconventional and poetic, at times coming across as esoteric. But it will be thoroughly absorbing to those who want a more evocative kind of film; plus it feels pretty darn close to first love.

Some films should just be pitched over a cliff.......2006-02-26

This movie is a long, slow, earnest melodrama about small town twenty-somethings struggling to...you know...find themselves...get somewhere...grow up...ah, hell, I have no idea, really. The movie is shot so that we are stuck in that eternal autumn that permeates most small-town melodramas. All oranges, browns, and golds. The characters meander through their lives with little direction and no visible means of support. There's a factory which none of the characters seems to work in. Zooey Deschanel plays a very confused girl who is a virgin when she starts dating Paul Schneider. Schneider is a player (that's right, all of a sudden there are at least two babes in this town that we see Schneider has, erm...pleasured. They wear professional makeup and have their hair done in New York. Or at least that is what it looks like.) He falls for Deschanel and doesn't screw her because he's a changed guy. It's his new self. So what does Deschanel's character do? She does a bad thing at a weekend party at a lake. The whole rest of the film is devoted to the pain and inchoate ramblings of Schneider and the rest of the cast, all of whose lives seem to be hopeless and in need of repeated doses of stiff, tough-sounding and superficial philosophies which, it appears, everyone can spout. Nothing like dead-end stultifying, small-town life to make a person into a wise man. The worst are the virtually tongue-tied ramblings of Deschanel. While there are moments of dimmed insight in this movie, for the most part it is self-indulgent and plodding, filled with little meaningless scenes that give it an art-house feel. Deschanel is fine as the wounded/wounding girl, Schneider is stiff, pasty, and dull as the boyfriend (he also wrote the story). He looks way too old for Deschanel which, apparently, he is.

Sometimes Love Hurts.......2006-02-11

A Beautifully love storie in real real terms with the proper ammount of infatuation, love, pain and love after the pain, really touching "real girls" in this film is more than just an adjective or a tittle for this picture and Zooey Deschannel is the owner of the kind of personality that fits in such description with a natural charisma, some sort of intellectual charm and a beauty just a few girls have, dont miss this one if you like independent films.
HM

Reviewers're missing one crucial thing.......2006-01-24

I won't bog down w/ specifics, as past reviewers have already shared their comments. But as someone below said: in a lot of cases it's a "love it or hate it" film. That aside, I was taken by the beauty of the picture sequences, along with the actors' ability to convey their emotions.
But perhaps the most important thing a lot of folks are neglecting is the soundtrack! It's excellent, featuring a host of discreet bands. Pyramid, Mogwai, and , and Sparklehorse, to name a few.
Do yourself a favor and at least check it out.

Average customer rating:

Trashy and over the top, but oh so much fun
The Betsy
The Betsy
glitzy
I liked it quite a bit

The Betsy (Keep Case)
Starring: Laurence Olivier , Robert Duvall , Katharine Ross , Tommy Lee Jones , and Jane Alexander
Director: Daniel Petrie
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000E5N6L6
Release Date: 2006-04-25

Amazon.com

Adapted from a Harold Robbins potboiler, The Betsy offers power struggles, incest, adultery, gold digging, and car racing. Laurence Olivier plays a ruthless but fallible auto tycoon with a tortured family history including a weakling son (Paul Rudd), a daughter-in-law he loves too much (Katharine Ross), a resentful grandson (Robert Duvall), and a devoted great-granddaughter (Kathleen Beller) to whom he bequeaths most of his fortune. In the midst of all these family squabbles is racing enthusiast Angelo Perino (a very young Tommy Lee Jones) whom the old man hires to build a revolutionary, ecologically advanced car which will be called The Betsy after his great-granddaughter. Angelo builds The Betsy (the car), seduces Betsy (the great-granddaughter), and even has a fling with Duvall's mistress, played by the haughty Lesley-Anne Down. In order to boil down Robbins's plot-heavy novel to 125 minutes, some of the connecting tissue has been lost. But Olivier is a grand old ham and Jones shows early on why he was destined to be a star. Lavishly produced, The Betsy has been formatted for the small screen, which doesn't allow us to fully enjoy the elaborate sets. But it's a chewy two hours of pulp, nonetheless. --Richard Natale

Description

Harold Robbin's sexy best seller stars Tommy Lee Jones as a racing driver drawn into the spider's web of a Detroit carmaking dynasty. Checkered flag support from Laurence Olivier, Robert Duvall and Leslie-Anne Down. Year: 1978 Director: Daniel Petrie Starring: Laurence Olivier, Robert Duvall, Katharine Ross

Customer Reviews:

Trashy and over the top, but oh so much fun.......2007-03-09

Besides disaster movies the 70's gave us the trashy all-star soap opera for the big screen (The Love Machine, Once Is Not Enough, The Greek Tycoon) and this slice of cheese. We get incest, rape, homosexuality, greed, murder, backstabbing, and lots on SEX AND NUDITY!!!! The plot is silly and the dialog is corny, but the actors seem to be having fun and it moves very fast and and does what these movies are suppose it do, Entertain! Turn your brain off, put the kids to bed(it's rated "R" for a reason), and curl up with someone you love and watch the rich treat each other like dirt!!! Enjoy

The Betsy.......2007-01-29

This product was never received. It was ordered for another member of the household and just recently came to my attention.

Please investigate and provide fulfillment. Thank you.

The Betsy.......2007-01-04

The film is excellent quality considering its age.
It has not lost anything with the passage of time. The sets are rich and opulent, the acting terrific and so is the quality of the sound.
I saw this film about 25 years ago at the movies and enjoyed it just as much.

glitzy.......2006-12-04

glitzy, trashy, brilliant. This movie is put together so well you are pulled in before you realize the plot is mostly soap opera drama. This was the first time I'd seen Tommy Lee in a movie. He is magnetic in this role.

I liked it quite a bit .......2006-09-28

I always liked it. My son said it was flawed. That was so many years ago. I liked the story and I liked the actors. It kept me entertained flaws or no flaws. Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duval are standouts. They got John Barry to write the music so it can't be all bad. My days are numbered. This was one of the first DVDs that my son bought. He just found it in that pile of rubble he keeps in his room. I asked him for years to play it for me. Now I am too tired and it doesn't seem all that important. He put it in the player but the images seem to have lost the magic. The first time I saw it there was magic. I remember that it had a good story. The kind of story I like to see when I go to the movies. Well Tommy Lee and Duvall are still plugging away. Maybe there is magic in the world after all.

Average customer rating:

High Sierra
A Nice Transition from Gangster to Noir
An excellent star vehicle for Bogart
not a great film, but has great moments
"High Sierra" was the film that changed the course of Bogart's career and lifted him up to stardom...

High Sierra (Snap Case)
Starring: Ida Lupino , Humphrey Bogart , Alan Curtis , Arthur Kennedy , and Joan Leslie
Director: Raoul Walsh
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Crime | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B0000B1OGA
Release Date: 2003-11-04

Amazon.com

This 1941 melodrama is memorable for both its strong central performances and their intimations of how the previous decade's crime dramas would evolve into film noir--no accident, given the solid direction of veteran Raoul Walsh and the hand of screenwriter John Huston, who teamed with the author of its novelistic source, W.R. Burnett (Little Caesar). In the central character of Roy "Mad Dog" Earle, a fictional peer to John Dillinger, Humphrey Bogart finds a defining role that anticipates the underlying fatalism and moral ambiguity visible in the career-making roles soon to follow, including Sam Spade in Huston's directorial debut, The Maltese Falcon.

Earle suggests a prescient variation on the enraged sociopaths that were fixtures of the gangster melodramas that shaped Bogart's early screen image. Pardoned from a long prison stretch, the weary robber is clearly more eager to savor his new freedom than immediately swing back into action. But his early release has been engineered by a mobster who wants Earle to pull off a high-stakes burglary, setting in motion a plot that is a prototype for doomed-heist capers--a small, yet potent subgenre that would later include Huston's The Asphalt Jungle and Stanley Kubrick's The Killing.

What gives High Sierra its power, however, isn't the crime itself but Earle's collision with the younger, brasher confederates picked to help him, and the hard-edged but vulnerable taxi dancer they're competing for, played forcefully by Ida Lupino, who actually received top billing. Her attraction to the reluctant Earle is complicated by a convoluted subplot designed to showcase then starlet Joan Leslie, but the movie finally moves into its most gripping moments when the wounded Earle, pursued by police, flees ever higher toward the mountains. His final, suicidal showdown would become a cliché of sorts in lesser films, but here it provides a wrenching climax sealed by Lupino's vivid final scene. --Sam Sutherland

Description

Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino star in this tragic study of an American gangster whose hard-boiled persona finds itself at war with his compassionate side--a side that will ultimately be his downfall.

Customer Reviews:

High Sierra.......2007-06-22

Though the forties saw a waning in gangster pictures, early on Bogart was given a juicy breakout role in Walsh's "High Sierra", as a killer with a compassionate side. Bogart's "Mad Dog" Earle is more Dillinger than Capone, more sympathetic and human, but when threatened, still a scary individual. Young Lupino stands out as Earle's loyal protector who can't win his love. Co-written by a young John Huston, "High Sierra" is a solid, flavorful entry for "Bogie-as-bad-guy" fans, boasting a slam-bang finish.

A Nice Transition from Gangster to Noir.......2007-06-11

Firstly, I think Koehler's review is largely spot on in its criticism of this movie. The blatant racism made me cringe several times (thankfully, though, the filmmakers had enough taste not to use a white man in black paint), the sleep-talking scene does seem like a cop-out, and the dog is too explicitly a vehicle for fate. On top of that, I'll add that some key moves in the end are hard to understand--why did Earl give all the money to Marie? Why did he subsequently rob a store without filling up with gas first (presumably the reason for the robbery in the first place)? This movie is by no means perfect.

But it does have, I think, a good bit of substance to outweigh all these relatively minor detriments. The innovation of a complex gangster, for instance, is very enjoyable and already sets the tone for the "decent fellow forced into corrupt ways" nature of film noirs that was right around the corner. There is quite a bit of similarity in this respect between High Sierra and, say, Criss Cross, The Urban Jungle, or Out of the Past, where the main characters also are fundamentally decent and are trying to get back on the straight path by pulling off one final dirty deed.

To my pleasant surprise, the female lead here is even better than in most classic noirs. Not only is she in my opinion much prettier and a better actress than most, but her character is actually more realistic. In a genre that typically features one-dimensional femme fatales whose job is only to lure the male protagonist into further corruption (think Out of the Past or Criss Cross), Marie shows more than a single impulse, and what's more important, even genuine affection for Earle. She's not in it just for the money like so many of the female characters.

Lastly, there is a somewhat campy allegory involved here with the use of the mountains and the theme of busting out of jail to freedom. It's as subtle as a hammer in the way the director brings it up, since the characters talk about it a number of times (and Marie even brings up quite bluntly at the very end), but it adds a very pleasant element to the ending and makes it feel much more fulfilling. The tragic ending is still here, and the protagonist couldn't escape his fate/past, yet there is still a feeling of restored balance that most noirs lack (those who have seen the ending of The Asphalt Jungle will know what I mean).

The disc itself has little beyond the movie--just the theatrical trailer and a 10-minute documentary on how High Sierra figures into the cinematographic scene. The latter, however, is aptly done and is very informative.

This movie is on the brink of getting five stars from me, but some things simply fall short. An excellent way to spend the night nonetheless.

An excellent star vehicle for Bogart.......2007-04-26

This movie is a very complex film for its time that combines elements of the old tried and true gangster film, film noir, and melodrama. It makes for good viewing today and is a very good showcase of Bogart's versatility as an actor. The main character is Roy 'Mad Dog' Earle (Bogart), a man released from prison by a wealthy old associate so that he can pull off a big jewelry heist at a resort near the California/Nevada state line. On his cross-country trek to reach the destination of the robbery, Roy meets the Goodhue family. The Goodhues have lost their farm and are on the way to stay with relatives that just happen to live near Roy's destination. When Roy arrives where the rest of the mob is staying, he finds two tough-guy wanna-bes, Babe and Red, that are constantly fighting over a girl - Marie Garson (Ida Lupino). At first the younger hired guns don't respect Roy. They think he is old and washed up. However, he soon shows them who is in charge and they don't challenge him again.

Only a few of the minor characters are painted totally good or bad - such as the elder Goodhues on one extreme and Babe and Red on the other. The major characters have subtle shades of both good and evil in their personalities. This is particularly true of Roy. He longs for the simple life among good people that the Goodhues remind him of, yet during the course of the robbery he must pull off and its aftermath he thinks nothing of killing in order to accomplish his aim. Roy is actually capable of great kindness, helping out the Goodhues when they get in an auto accident and don't have any insurance, and even paying for Velma's operation to remove a birth defect so that she can walk normally. Roy falls in love with Velma, one of the Goodhues' relatives, believing her to be a simple and decent girl. However, he finds she changes into the most hard-boiled of people once her handicap is removed. Her final rebuff to Roy is filled with almost unwatchable cruelty. The woman who actually cares for Roy is Marie. It takes time for Roy to accept this, since it seems hard for him to believe that people can have both good and bad in them, even though this is very much a trait of Roy's own character. Marie has a background completely opposite that of Velma's, mentioning how she was beaten by her father as a child and then went on to work for a "dime a dance" place before winding up with Red and Babe. She has great heart, but she lacks judgement, which she herself admits. The odd piece of symbolism built into this movie is Pard, the "hard-luck dog", who has seen each of his owners die untimely deaths. In spite of this, Roy makes a pet of the dog, seeming to confirm the fact that he is indeed "running towards death". In the end, it is this friendly little dog that is in fact Roy's undoing.

not a great film, but has great moments.......2007-01-18

t's hard to imagine Humphrey DeForest Bogart as something other than a movie star. Yet for ten years, he treaded water in supporting roles, spending much of that time doing imitations (albeit good ones) of his memorable Duke Mantee performance from The Petrified Forest.

And then came High Sierra and everything changed.

Before America had other things to worry about (ie: Adolf Hitler), it was still working out its love/hate relationship with pseudo-Robin Hood, depression-era hoodlums (John Dillinger and the like). By 1941, Warner Brothers had practically cornered the market deifying and demonizing these "angels with dirty faces." Raoul Walsh had humbly served the cause in his previous The Roaring Twenties; here, he directs Bogie in the role of existential anti-hero Roy "Mad Dog" Earle. It would be a defining film in the transition from the James Cagney-style gagster pictures to the dawning era of film noir (which Bogart would come to define).

Newly-released from prison, Roy has a debt to settle with the crime boss to whom he now owes his freedom - payment, as it so often does, comes in the form of one last score. There's apparently thousands of dollars of jewelry in need of stealing and no one but Roy qualified to make sure it gets done right. Per custom, things do not go according to plan as Bogie falls in love (twice), people get shot, and our Mad Dog faces destiny on the doomed high sierra from which the film takes its title.

It's not a great film. Bogart talks in his sleep during a crucial scene, which is probably the most overused narrative cheat in the history of celluloid. Man's best friend figures much too prominently and awkwardly in the plot as a literal harbinger of doom (both the film's "dogs" are cursed); additionally, there some "I'se be catchin' ma feets nah, Boss" style racial stereotyping that is just plain embarr