Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 18th, 2023
"It's always open season on princesses."
Roman Holiday is one of those classic films that had an extremely hard time getting made. Frank Capra had the rights to the story for several years. Most of what he had was based on a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, but that was extremely problematic, as Trumbo was one of the original Hollywood Ten and was blacklisted. They were a group of Hollywood people who refused to answer questions before the Joe McCarthy-led House Un-American Activities Committee that was pretty much rooting out communist with little regard to whether they were there or not. The committee ruined thousands of lives, and in 1947 the group had turned their attention toward Hollywood. Many played along by attending the hearings, and some even passed on names of others to avoid trouble for themselves. The Hollywood Ten stood up to the madness, and it got them blacklisted. They couldn't work for any studio in the country. That meant Trumbo could not be given credit for his screenplay, and it was Ian McLellan Hunter who acted as a beard for Trumbo and took the credit and sold the rights to Frank Capra, who planned on directing the film with Gary Cooper and Elizabeth Taylor in 1949. By then at least eight other writers took shots at revisions, and the piece truly suffered under the "too many cooks" situation. The budget appeared to skyrocket, and Capra ended up selling it to Paramount for $35,000. Paramount also spent too much money and time going through various rewrites. Finally the project ended up with William Wyler, who went back to pretty much the script that Trumbo wrote under Hunter's name, and in 1991, Trumbo's writing credit was deservedly restored.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 27th, 2023
"Superman's journal, final entry. My cells are breaking down at an alarming rate. I'm running out of time. I have few regrets. My life has been a wonder. I've traveled across space and time, seen and done things beyond imagination. I had parents who loved me. Good friends like Pete, Lana, and Jimmy. I got to help people while living an incredible adventure. I loved a good woman, and she loved me back. I'm tired, but I still have one more job to do ..."
We all know the story and its many incarnations. All-Star Superman is one of the more unique stories to be told through Warner Brothers Animation's DC feature films. It's not the latest. It was released in 2011 before Warner Brothers started to release their films on UHD. Of course, there was no UHD Blu-ray in 2011. In addition to the recent and upcoming animated features, Warner Brothers is going back to those earlier films, and All-Star Superman is as good a place as any to start.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 21st, 2023
"Them clothes got laundry numbers on them. You remember your number and always wear the ones that has your number. Any man forgets his number spends a night in the box. These here spoons you keep with you. Any man loses his spoon spends a night in the box. There's no playing grab-ass or fighting in the building. You got a grudge against another man, you fight him Saturday afternoon. Any man playing grab-ass or fighting in the building spends a night in the box. First bell's at five minutes of eight when you will get in your bunk. Last bell is at eight. Any man not in his bunk at eight spends the night in the box. There is no smoking in the prone position in bed. To smoke you must have both legs over the side of your bunk. Any man caught smoking in the prone position in bed ... spends a night in the box. You get two sheets. Every Saturday, you put the clean sheet on the top ... the top sheet on the bottom ... and the bottom sheet you turn in to the laundry boy. Any man turns in the wrong sheet spends a night in the box. No one'll sit in the bunks with dirty pants on. Any man with dirty pants on sitting on the bunks spends a night in the box. Any man don't bring back his empty pop bottle spends a night in the box. Any man loud talking spends a night in the box. You got questions, you come to me. I'm Carr, the floor walker. I'm responsible for order in here. Any man don't keep order spends a night in..."
You guessed it ... the box. Enter our anti-hero, Luke. The anti-hero has become somewhat cliche today. What was once an artistic expression of the gray line between good and bad guys has morphed to the glorification of the just plain bad guy. We end up loving and rooting for such vicious characters like Vic Mackey, Tony Soprano, and Dexter Morgan. These are killers with nary a pang of conscience. Their deeds are always self-serving no matter what they pretend they might be. But if you go back far enough -- most credit Marlon Brando's coda performance in The Wild One -- you'll find there was once a far more nuanced kind of anti-hero. One of the industries best examples of this was Paul Newman's troubled teenager, Luke. Luke wins us over with a charm and an honest belief that he's a good guy. The archetype would later be pruned to perfection by Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's nest several years later. McNulty and Luke have a lot in common, and their environments and motivations aren't all that different. In the end they're both "broken" by the establishment, conforming to a code that did not allow guys like this to live happily ever after. Times and sensibilities have certainly changed, but performances like Paul Newman's Luke remain to remind of us of a time when audiences just wouldn't have been ready for the likes of Hill Street's Detective Buntz. Ironically, it would be Marlon Brando again who would be the first to make us root for a cold-hearted killer named Vito Corleone.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 11th, 2023
"In 1539 The Knight Templars of Malta paid tribute to Charles V of Spain by sending him a Golden Falcon encrusted from beak to claw with rarest jewels --- but pirates seized the galley carrying this priceless token, and the fate of the Maltese Falcon remains a mystery to this day."
What is not a mystery today is the significant role that The Maltese Falcon has played in cinema history. The film itself was a remake. In fact, it was actually Warner's third attempt to film the Dashiell Hammett novel in a single decade. The first version came in 1931 and starred Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade. That film also featured Dwight Frye as Wilmer Cook. The film was a moderate success but never really delivered on the potential of the source material. Five years later Warner would attempt a comedy version of the story in Satan Met A Lady. It was a total flop. It would only take another five years before the studio took its third crack at the material. In this case, the third time certainly was a charm.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 11th, 2021
"My name is Harris K. Telemacher. I live in Los Angeles, and I've had seven heart attacks. All imagined. That is to say, I was deeply unhappy, but I didn't know it because I was so happy all of the time."
Steve Martin plays a wacky TV weatherman who develops a close friendship with an electronic freeway sign in the sleeper hit comedy L.A. Story. I found the critically acclaimed film to lack hilarity, but it does get marks for inventiveness. Martin is enjoyable in most anything he’s in, even if the material is not so great. L.A. Story is one such example of an actor rising above said material. Most of the over-the-top silliness misses the mark, and Marilu Henner has little more to do than play the cliché of snobbish socialite. The true love of the Martin character’s life – played by Victoria Tennant – is so bland vanilla I would have much rather seen him end up with his free-spirited squeeze toy (Sarah Jessica Parker), though any such relationship would be doomed to fail. At least there would be some excitement.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 5th, 2021
If you were a child in the 1960's or 1970's, you were around at the golden age of the Christmas television special. We just celebrated the 50th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas, and there were a ton of holiday charms that came and went each year. But there were a handful that became classics and found their way to the airwaves every year in December. Of course, A Charlie Brown Christmas became one of these, and it is indeed among the best. It was not the only special to become beloved by generations of viewers. Now Dreamworks has brought together seven of the most memorable of these classics. This was a wonderful trip down memory lane for me, as it will be for millions of children of all ages who looked forward to these event broadcasts each and every year. Now you can watch them whenever you want. And they might not be just for Christmas anymore.
Now these beloved classics are together again in a Steelbook release.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 6th, 2021
We first came to know Paul Hogan as the "Shrimp On The Barbie" guy. He was doing television and radio ads for Australian tourism. A smart fellow, he saw that the ad character was popular and rode an enormous wave of an Australian fad that hit America in the 1980's. Suddenly there were Australian bands like Men At Work teaching us about vegemite sandwiches on the top of the music charts. We got steak, not shrimp, on our barbie with a chain of Australian-themed steakhouses appropriately called Outback "no rules, just right" started up by a Florida group. Pop culture became inundated with catch phrases like "no worries" and "G'Day". Australia was cool, and we even had an "Australian" neighbor we all later found out was faking it for years. No doubt anything Aussie was considered cool. It was in that light that Hogan parlayed his tourism ads into an over-the-top Aussie character named Michael J. "Crocodile” Dundee.
The film was an almost instant hit. It pulled in a rather sweet $175 million at the domestic box office. Remember, this was a 1987 comedy with no real known American stars. Of course there was going to be a sequel. That film pulled in considerably less, but still a respectable $110 million. Those three films have now been brought to Blu-ray as a three-disc set from Paramount. The third film was called Crocodile Dundee In Los Angeles and tanked big time with an embarrassing $25 million box office total. That was 2001, and the Aussie fad has long since passed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 20th, 2018
If you were a child in the 1960's or 1970's, you were around at the golden age of the Christmas television special. We just celebrated the 50th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas, and there were a ton of holiday charms that came and went each year. But there were a handful that became classics and found their way to the airwaves every year in December. Of course, A Charlie Brown Christmas became one of these, and it is indeed among the best. It was not the only special to become beloved by generations of viewers. Now Dreamworks has brought together seven of the most memorable of these classics. This was a wonderful trip down memory lane for me, as it will be for millions of children of all ages who looked forward to these event broadcasts each and every year. Now you can watch them whenever you want. And they might not be just for Christmas anymore.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 22nd, 2018
The days of drive-in cinema and grindhouse pictures are all part of a bygone era, where the films were fearless and took chances with their subject matter. Now films seemed to be made so carefully as to not offend anyone. When it comes to Macon County Line, as much as it is a staple of its time, it’s hard to imagine this film being made today. It’s a film that’s a blend of two genres. It’s a road film, but because of the location and characters, it’s also a good ol’ boy picture. So how does this drive-in classic fare on Blu-ray? Despite having a runtime of 88 minutes, the story doesn’t rush into anything but instead lets us get to know the two brothers Chris (Alan Vint) and Wayne Dixon (Jesse Vint) who are on a quick joyride before they enlist in the military. Whether they are hooking up with married women or doing a quick dine-and-dash for breakfast, the boys seem to always be on the run from something, whether it’s an angry husband or the police. The Dixon brothers are far from your hardened criminals, but instead just a pair of guys enjoying their last days as civilians in 1954 Louisiana. Along the way they pick up Jenny (Cheryl Waters) a beautiful young hitchhiker the boys vie for affection over, but it never gets all that serious, because they know they don’t have much time left before they enlist.
The chemistry between the brothers is easy to see since they are brothers in real life, but the fun doesn’t last for long once Sheriff Reed Morgan (Max Baer) crosses their path.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 4th, 2016
If you were a child in the 1960's or 1970's, you were around at the golden age of the Christmas television special. We just celebrated the 50th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas, and there were a ton of holiday charms that came and went each year. But there were a handful that became classics and found their way to the airwaves every year in December. Of course, A Charlie Brown Christmas became one of these, and it is indeed among the best. It was not the only special to become beloved by generations of viewers. Now Dreamworks has brought together seven of the most memorable of these classics. This was a wonderful trip down memory lane for me, as it will be for millions of children of all ages who looked forward to these event broadcasts each and every year. Now you can watch them whenever you want. And they might not be just for Christmas anymore.
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
