American Caruso

Starring:Mario Lanza
Studio: Kultur Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

When someone in Proof of Life says "Don't leave me hanging," you can bet they're going to be left hanging. That's what happens when Alice Bowman (Meg Ryan) learns that her husband Peter (David Morse) has been kidnapped by rebels in the (fictional) Latin American country of Tecala. He's building a corporate-funded dam there, and that makes him a fine target for kidnap by the rebels, who barter with the lives of well-insured executives. Enter Terry Thorne (Russell Crowe), former soldier-turned-"K&R" (kidnap and ransom) negotiator for a global firm that collects a commission for rescued hostages. With no guarantee of payment, Thorne takes the job out of moral obligation (and a yearning for would-be widow Alice).

There's little room for delicacy in Tony Gilroy's screenplay, adapted from an article by William Prochnau and the book Long Road to Freedom by kidnapping survivor Thomas Hargrove. A hint of romance between Crowe and Ryan (who enjoyed plenty of it off-screen) adds tension as the story shifts back and forth to Morse's captivity, but it also threatens to cast Alice in an unsympathetic light. Avoiding that pitfall, director Taylor Hackford crafts the plot as a latter-day Casablanca that unfolds on a grander canvas (at stunning locations in Ecuador) while favoring an exciting rescue-mission climax over the tragedy of an ill-timed affair. It might have worked better as a straightforward macho action flick (with David Caruso doing lively work as Crowe's gung-ho K&R cohort), but Proof of Life effectively conveys the two-sided torment of a hostage crisis, while Morse holds it all together as the character to root for. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Their lives are on the line. Their hearts are out on a limb. The wife of a kidnap victim and the hostage negotiator working with her navigate a brutal world of terrorism that values money over life - and find their tasks complicated by the growing awareness that they're attracted to each other.

Customer Reviews:

Proof that editors add value.......2007-06-04

If there was ever an argument for a good editor, this movie is it. The key elements of a great story are there. The characters are there. The lush visuals and outstanding photography are there. In fact, I find myself using the Chapter Select option more on this movie than any other in a collection of 400+ to jump to the action sequences, which are outstanding, or just to watch the sweeping photography of the cityscape and slums of latin america, fading into the jungles and mountains over which the final credits play.

What the movie needed more than anything was a hard-handed edit to chop out the extraneous garbage about Peter and Alice's backstory. We really didn't need to know (or care) about their marital conflict or any of the backstory about Africa or their lost child. These are not integral to the core plot: guerillas kidnap Peter, and Alice needs to learn a lot about the kidnap and ransom business and raise a substantial sum of money in a very short period of time. She also needs to learn who she can trust and how to get things done in the local culture. Meanwhile, Peter is learning how to avoid his captors' ire, and trying to cope with his fear and isolation as he is led farther and farther away from the civilization he has always known into the depths of the mountains and jungles. These are interesting issues and could have easily carried the film by themselves without all of the domestic filler, which proves to be a huge distraction.

If such a director's cut could be created, it would make this movie a five-star movie and I'd shell out the cash on the release date without a second thought. Unfortunately, due to the stigma associated with the release and lack of commercial success, that seems highly unlikely. The movie also cries out for a sequal with Caruso and Crowe's characters carrying out further K&R negotiations and rescues, but, again, that possibility seems remote.

Action, Ideas, and Doing the Right Thing.......2007-03-18

Terry Thorne (Russel Crowe), a kidnap and ransom negotiator for an insurance company, is sent to the country of Tecala in South America to negotiate the release of engineer Peter Bowman (David Morse). The insurance is canceled, as well as the negotiation, but Peter's wife Alice (Meg Ryan) asks Terry to help and they both have to cope with their growing attraction as they work together.

Taylor Hackford's film is doubly courageous and unique:

First, it addresses the idea of private rescue, both business and personal, in an age when most people look to the state for protection from criminals. Proof of Life not only illustrates the business aspect of private rescue (through an insurance company), but the idea that personal action of rescue can come from the the heart. Some reviewers try to include the state as a player by mentioning that the kidnapers are antigovernment and that Thorne once worked for a government.

Second, the movie illustrates doing the right thing (though perhaps after stepping over the line depending on how the viewer interprets one scene).

This is rated R and the foul language and profanity are very bad. The language issue makes it hard to share the movie with others. I considered dropping a star, but because of the above two points did not.

Action and ideas in a very good movie.

Proof of my best movies.......2005-12-26

Indeed this movie may seem like a common action-drama-love story but not really watch it attentively and you'll get what i mean. It gives you the message of professional and moral responsibility over a situation that is confusing whether to abandon your job or fulfill it. In this matter russell is divided with his affection towards his client's wife and the duty to save him. Great sequencing of events every part is juicy. the rescue in the end is classic special forces operations. the saddest moment was when meg drives away with her rescued husband and russell cant take off his eyes from the vehicle. Great movie indeed!

No Proof Required, This Movie's Got Life!.......2005-10-24

I like Russell Crowe and David Morse so when they are together in a movie of course I have to buy it. I probably would have given this five stars if I had reviewed it last year but I've watched it like twelve times so the absolute wonderfulness has worn off a bit. Definitely a fun movie to watch.

A very under-rated film!.......2005-08-16

I hate when a film fails in the box office due to off screen antics versus actually sucking. It still baffles me that 'Dukes of Hazzard' can overtake 'Cinderella Man' in the box office, all because Russell Crowe has a temper. WHO CARES!!! Cinderella Man was and is a far better movie. Now this brings me to 'Proof of Life' which failed in the box office mostly due to the offscreen affair between Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe. Now rumers circulated that it was Russell Crowe who ended the marriage of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, although Ryan claims that their marriage was already on shakey grounds. Again, WHO CARES!!! This movie is still a great movie, a great plot and some equally impressive acting. WHile not Crowes best performance he still puts his heart and soul into Terry, a H&R negotiator (Kidnap and Ransom)...anyways...the story is like this. Alice (Ryan) and Peter have a rocky marriage. They are at ends with each other because Peter is to involved in his work that he neglects his wife. he's never around and when he is he's always preoccupied with getting his dam built. That is all until he is kidnapped and held ransom by a group of terrorists in South America. That is where Terry comes into play. He is sent to help negotiate Peters safe return. There are a few plot twists and it ends up that Terry is doing this mission seperate from his company (kinda probono). The movie realy revolves around the emotions of the charactors. You know, I feel it's unfair to feel that Meg Ryans charactor is unsympatetic because of the assumed affair between Alice and Terry. As the beginning of the film helped us see, her husband didn't pay any attention to her, and that is one of the main reasons that women leave their husbands in the first place, not because they don't love their husbands but because they don't feel their husbands love them and find that love in the eyes of a strager who gives them attention. Like Terry did, just by asking the name of her dead daughter, like she says "no ones ever asked me that before". I thought that this movie was very well done, and is worth a watch even if you aren't pleased with the off screen lives of the actors, it doesn't change the fact that they deliver above par on screen. The only, and I mean only, reason that I did not give this movie 5 stars is the fact that it is all to common to rate a movie R for no apparent reason. This movie has very little violence and NO sex (although a sex scene between Crowe and Ryan would have been welcome) and the only reason for an R rating is the unnessisary F-Word use...if only these words were ommited then my children could watch this great film!

Average customer rating:

American Caruso
The American Lanza Was Great - That Is More Than Enough
Magnificent!
An irrelevant bit of fluff
The American Caruso

American Caruso
Starring: Mario Lanza
Manufacturer: Kultur Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Mario Lanza
The Great Caruso [Import]
Great Caruso
Mario Lanza: At His Best!
The MARIO LANZA Collection

ASIN: B00003M5GD
Release Date: 1999-11-30

Description

Mario Lanza did more to bring classical music and opera to the masses through the popular art of movies than anyone else. His unique tenor voice was known to millions through such hit films as The Great Caruso and The Toast of New Orleans, and on such chart-topping records as "Be My Love." The chubby "singing truck driver" from Philadelphia became a Hollywood legend, only to be destroyed by his own excess. In a brief twelve years, Lanza went from being a star to an overeating has-been. He died tragicaly at the age 38 alone and near penniless in a diet clinic under mysterious circumstances. Through clips of his popular recordings, and from interviews his story is now told. This revealing video profile presents the highs and lows of this remarkable performer. Video hosted by Placido Domingo. 1983, color, 70 minutes.

Customer Reviews:

American Caruso.......2007-01-18

The DVD was a gift for my husband who is highly delighted with the quality of the exerpts and the links . Thank you also for the swift delivery - it arrived on his birthday - some days earlier than was expected.

The American Lanza Was Great - That Is More Than Enough.......2007-01-11

Why this ongoing nonsense about a this or that Caruso? Enrico Caruso was unquestionably great. He was also unique. This frenzy to tag other tenors as the German Caruso (Tauber, or some other German or Austrian? Nothing of the kind, but great enough in his own right); the Romanian Caruso (Schmidt - again, unique and a splendid artist); the Polish Caruso (Kiepura - terrific on film, if sometimes perhaps less so on records) - the list goes boringly on and on.

Caruso was great and unique; and so, despite the stubborn or prejudiced or deaf or silly critics, was Lanza. They both left many wonderful recordings, and Lanza at least also was fortunate enough to live when good quality sound film technology was available, so thanks to technology we may enjoy his legacy perhaps even more than that of the great Neopolitan.

Magnificent!.......2007-01-09

Considering the subject matter, how could it be less than magnificent? Although he left us much too soon, that was not his choice nor ours. However, look at all he left behind - not only his own accomplishments, but the inspiration for future generations. This DVD presents his immense talents and his human frailties. He was loved for both.

An irrelevant bit of fluff.......2006-02-16

Mario Lanza had an amazing voice and a tragic life and career. By all rights, his story should make for a fascinating video. Unfortunately, this effort is laughably inadequate and is nothing more than a poorly arranged pastiche of isolated facts, interviews and sound bites that do little to enshrine Lanza's talent or illuminate his life. Indeed, the viewer unfamiliar with Lanza'a biography would be little enlightened by the thin patchwork of loosely woven information presented here. Placido Domingo's ridiculous buffon hair style and comic accent only serve to enhance the aburdity of this production.

The only positive aspects of this video are the all too brief selections from Lanza's films, none of which, amazingly, have been released on DVD. The public would have been better served by new releases of Lanza's films. For now, we can be content with the many existing vocal recordings that are available on CD.

The American Caruso.......2005-09-07

I bought the DVD because of the music which is sung in it

Average customer rating:

A Great Western
See the Princess and the President in CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA
"Barbara Stanwyck & Ronald Reagan in high adventure ~ Cattle Queen of Montana"
great scenery
Holy cattle, Mr. President!

Cattle Queen of Montana
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck , Ronald Reagan , Gene Evans , Lance Fuller , and Anthony Caruso
Director: Allan Dwan
Manufacturer: Vci Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Tennessee's Partner
Law And Order
Silver Lode (1954)
Forty Guns
The Violent Men

ASIN: B00005UWA5
Release Date: 2002-02-12

Description

Sierra Nevada Jones (Barbara Stanwyck), a feisty young woman, attempts to stake her claim in the cattle business despite threats from greedy land grabbers and their hired killers. Undercover agent Farrell (Ronald Reagan) comes to her rescue, even though he is in the midst of a separate investigation to find out who's been provoking the local Indian tribes into attacking the whites. CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA is beautifully filmed on location at Montana's Glacier National Park. Bonus Features: Original Theatrical Trailer. Specs: DVD5; Dolby Digital Mono; 88 minutes; Color; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1954; SRP - $9.99.

Customer Reviews:

A Great Western.......2007-01-27

I bought this movie because I use to work on a farm and I love the sound that cattle make. However when I watch I was very please to see the way the stars handle them self considering that this movie was made back in 1954. I thought Barbara Stanwyck who a star in The Big Valley was excellent in her role as Sierra Nevada Jones the woman fighting for her right to the property that her and her husband had. This was also the first movie that I saw that former President Ron Reagan was in before he went into politics. Regan who played the role of gunfighter Farrell was excellent. While Farrell is working for the government is trying to find out whose selling guns to the Indians. Tom McCord who does his usually good job as the bad guy is trying to run Jones out of town so he can control the whole valley

See the Princess and the President in CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA.......2006-07-10

Film producer Benedict Bogeaus and veteran director Allan Dwan (Robin Hood 1922) teamed up in the 1950's to give us several films mostly westerns. Among those was the excellent SILVER LODE (1954) and TENNESSEE'S PARTNER (1955) John Payne was the hero of these two, with Ronald Reagan as Tennessee's partner in the second. Both of these are also available through Amazon on VCI Entertainments DVD.

Unlike the above-mentioned movies, CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA (1953) seems to have come in for a bit of "stick". Starring Barbara Stanwyck in the title role, no doubt it she cuts a fine figure in western garb and she is the best thing in it, although it has been said elsewhere that she hated it. That maybe true but she is still very watchable against the backdrop of Montana's Glacier National Park. The acclaimed-cinematographer on this film was John Alton who was also responsible for the cinematography in the aforementioned SILVER LODE and TENNNESSEE'S PARTNER.

Miss Stanwyck gives an energetic performance as the woman whose cattle and land are at risk from rustlers and claim jumpers, she is helped by college educated good Indian Colorados (Lance Fuller) and hindered by bad Indian Natchakoa we also have the white-heavy Tom McCord (Gene Evans) and his sidekick Yost (Jack Elam). Thrown in for good measure is a mysterious gunman called Farrell (Ronald Reagan). The Blackfeet Indians hired as extras, were so impressed with Stanwyck (who done her own stunts) they gave her the Indian name of Princess Many Victories and made her a blood sister.

Any film now that starred pre-1981 Ronald Reagan has or should have additional interest because at that time he became the 40th President of the USA. In the film BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) the hero Marty is transported back in time to 1953. On an advertising hoarding is a poster advertising THE CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan. When Marty (Michael J Fox) was asked by Dr Brown (Christopher Lloyd) "Tell me young man from the future: "Who is the President of the United States in 1985?" Marty replied "Ronald Reagan" amid hoots of laughter from those present--A classic never-to be-forgotten moment of cinema history!

On some shots in the film the colours seem to be a bit faded, but not so much as to spoil your enjoyment. Also included on this DVD is the original theatre trailer as well as restored-trailers for TENNESSEE'S PARTNER and two LONE RANGER movies. All well worth viewing on a wet afternoon.

"Barbara Stanwyck & Ronald Reagan in high adventure ~ Cattle Queen of Montana".......2005-10-11

VCI Entertainment presents "Cattle Queen of Montana" (1954) (Dolby digitally remastered)...an RKO Pictures production featuring Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan...story line has Sierra Nevada Jones (Stanwyck) and her father (Ankrum) arriving in Montana to file their claim for some prime ranch land...while camping and bedding down the cattle Natchakoa (Caruso) with his band of renegade tribesmen raid the camp and steal the cattle...land owner and neighbor McCord (Evans) is behind all of the bad events that happen to Sierra...with the help of Colorados (Fuller) son of the chief who has attended the whitemans college is trying to bring peace between the Indian and townspeople...is Farrell (Reagan) who is working for McCord and his henchman Yost (Jack Elam) help Sierra Jones...can Farrell who is a hired gun be working for the army undercover...will his fast gun help turn the tide for the Cattle Queen of Montana...this above average B-Western will keep you guessing to the very last scene... no one will ever forget this woman...as she strips off all restraint, in a role as fiery as the guns of greed around her...relive those thrilling days from the '50s when romance and drama took us down the dusty trails and the plains to exciting adventures.

Under director Allan Dwan, producer Benedict Bogeaus with original story by Thomas W. Blackburn, screenplay by Robert Blees and Howard Estabrook, music composed by Louis Forbes...the cast include Barbara Stanwyck (Sierra Nevada Jones), Ronald Reagan (Farrell), Gene Evans (Tom Mccord), Lance Fuller (Colorados), Anthony Caruso (Natchakoa), Jack Elam (Yost), Yvette Duguay (Starfire), Morris Ankrum (J.I. 'Pop' Jones), Chubby Johnson (Nat Collins), Myron Healey (Hank), Rod Redwing (Powhani), Paul Birch (Col. Carrington), Bryon Flouger (Land Office Employee), Burt Mustin (Dan)....nothere is a great deal of entertainment here for "B-Western" fans out there...all courtesy of VCI Entertainment, who in my humble opinion is the best there is in restoring early serials and features like this one.

SCENE SELECT:
1. Sierra Nevada
2. Stampede!
3. White Ways
4. Without You
5. To Town
6. Getting Too Big
7. Courtesy
8. Brand Consicious
9. 200 Rifles
10.No Blackfoot
11.Can He talok?
12.Showdown

SPECIAL FEATURES:
1. "Cattle Queen of Montana (original theatrical trailer)
2. "Tennessee Partner" (John Payne & Ronald Reagan)
3. "The Lone Ranger" (thunders to the motion picture screen) (restored trailer)
4. "The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold" (restored trailer) (Golden Book Entertaiment)

Own them now on DVD....if you crave action, drama and plenty of adventure then this is the place for all of the above...if you enjoyed this feature check out another as VCI Entertainment presents "Tennessee Partner" (1955) (Dolby digitally remastered), featuring John Payne, Ronald Reagan and Rhonda Fleming is based on a Bret Harte writings as our story takes place in a gold mining town in California where gambler John Payne finds it easier to take money at the poker table than digging for gold...a stranger riding into town played by Ronald Reagan saves Payne...Reagan known as Cowpoke becomes Tennessee's partner....but the place is full of rough characters....the story lines are excellent with outstanding action scenes and production with over an hours worth of entertainment

Great job by VCI Entertainment for releasing the "Cattle Queen of Montana" (1954), digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more of the same from the '50s vintage...order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment, stay tuned once again with a top notch Westerns from VCI...so saddle up and get ready for some hard riding and adventure that only VCI Entertainment (King of the Serials) can deliver...just the way we like 'em!

Total Time: 88 mins on DVD ~ VCI Entertainment 8287 ~ (2/12/2002)

great scenery.......2005-09-19

Typical 1950's western yarn. The plot is very simple, the acting is actually very good.. What saves this movie is the great scenery of montana. All and all it is a good movie to have in your collection.

Holy cattle, Mr. President!.......2005-01-26

Hey, any movie featured in Back To The Future
is worth a top review.

Even if I had never seen this movie I would give it a great review.

It taught me the importance of peaceful bovine coexistance, and the nutritional value of plains grasses.

Some people think nobody lives in Montana just because the highways have no speed limits, but this movie shows that there are at least 2.

Look for a cameo by a very yound Elvis Presley.

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