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French Mono

Gentleman’s Agreement

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 31st, 2002

Synopsis

Gregory Peck is a freelance writer recently arrived in New York. Hired to write a series onanti-Semitism, he hits on the idea of passing himself off as Jewish. The angle works only toowell, and he experiences prejudice first-hand, in ways that threaten to completely derail his life.The performances are universally excellent, and the actors are really put to the test when theyhave to mouth the painfully moralizing speeches at the end of the film. Until the disappointingconcl…
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 23rd, 2002

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Synopsis

Petty crook Nicholson is transferred from prison to a mental institution. Is he crazy? Hecertainly seems to be to go up against head nurse Louise Fletcher, the well-meaning tyrant of theplace. In the course of his war, he ignites the spirits of the other inmates.

Audio

The sound has been remastered into 5.1. Though the sound quality is nice (barring somedistortion due to original recording), I’m not sure the surround mix was necessary. The musicand …
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King of Comedy, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 6th, 2002

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Synopsis

Robert De Niro is Rupert Pupkin, supreme loser. He has delusions of greatness, andconstantly fantasizes he has a wonderful friendship with talk show host Jerry Langford (JerryLewis, superb). Pupkin is determined to get his moment in the limelight, and he will stop atnothing, not even kidnapping, to make sure he gets what’s coming to him. Along for the ride issimilarly obsessed (and grotesque) fan Sandra Bernhard. Look out. Incredibly smart, incrediblyfunny, incredibly uncom…
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Rio Grande

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 22nd, 2002

Synopsis

Wayne is veteran Lt. Col. Yorke, bedevilled by the fact that the Apaches attack and thenretreat across the Rio Grande, while the cavalry can’t pursue into Mexico. Further complicatinghis life are the arrival in camp of his young son as a fresh recruit, and his estranged wife(O’Hara) wanting to bring sonny home. This isn’t the greatest of Ford’s westerns, largely becauseof its meandering plot. But it does have those great Monument Valley vistas, and it is goodfun.

Urban Cowboy

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 21st, 2002

Synopsis

Country boy John Travolta arrives in the big city of Houston. He finds a home away fromhome in Gilley’s, a huge country & western bar. There he meets and falls in love with DebraWinger. But when villain Scott Glenn tries to steal her from him, will Travolta rise to thechallenge of the mechanical bull?

Audio

A pretty nice job done of giving an older soundtrack a solid surround mix. The music and thesound effects both come through very well. You won’t…
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Singin’ in the Rain

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 19th, 2002

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Synopsis

The plot is very simple, as the spectacular song-and-dance numbers are the real star of theshow. Gene Kelly and Jean Hagen are big stars of the silent screen. But sound is arriving, andHagen’s voice sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard (and she has a personality to match). Kellyfalls in love with Debbie Reynolds, a struggling dancer with a terrific voice. This is enough of aframework on which to hang the production numbers, but the comedy in between is oftenhowlingly fun…
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Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 14th, 2002

Plot? What plot? Oh right: traumatized telekinetic teen accidentally raises Jason from the bottom of the lake. Jason kills folks. That’s about it. But you don’t watch these for the plot –you watch them for the killings. These are, sad to say, relatively restrained, and some of Jason’s tool acquisitions are silly (where did he get that electric hedge trimmer from?). The characters (I use the word loosely) are even more interchangeable than ever, and the continuity goes all to #%&@ in the latter part of the film.
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No Way to Treat a Lady

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 14th, 2002

Synopsis

Rod Steiger, obsessed with his dead mother, adopts one disguise and accent after another(Irish priest, German plumber, gay hairdresser, you name it) as he kills women and marks theirforeheads with lipstick. Frustrated cop on the case is George Segal, perpetually harassed by hiscartoonish Jewish mother, but also falling in love with Lee Remick. Good fun to be had here,especially from Steiger — an actor who always had a propensity to ham it up, and here he is givenfree reign…
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Don’t Look Now

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 2nd, 2002

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Synopsis

In an opening sequence that chills no matter how many times you see it, the little daughter ofDonald Sutherland and Julie Christie drowns. The action then shifts to Venice some time later, asthe couple move through the mourning. A blind woman claims to be a medium with visions ofthe daughter. Christie believes, but Sutherland will have none of it. But then why does he keepseeing a little figure in a red raincoat, a figure that might be his daughter…

Director Nicol…
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My Bloody Valentine

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 2nd, 2002

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Synopsis

Twenty years ago, there was a mining disaster. The only survivor wreaked bloody revengea year later. Nineteen years later, he seems to be back, and the usual bunch of kids is in trouble.Neat looking killer, cool setting, and some unintentionally hilarious acting and dialogue are theorder of the day. The killings aren’t as graphic, sadly, as some of the publicity stills. The moviewas cut prior to release, and this is still not the restored version. Who know if we’ll ever see…
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Masque of the Red Death, The / The Premature Burial

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 13th, 2002

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Synopsis

The Masque of the Red Death is one of Corman’s most sumptuous Poe pictures. Vincent Price plays the decadent Prince Pospero, presiding over sadistic revels while the plague rages outside his castle walls. The plague, however, is personified here, and has plans for Prospero. In The Premature Burial, Ray Milland is obsessed with the fear that he will be buried alive. Guess what happens? Though not as good as Masque, this film has long been absent from home video, and its appearance here is ver…
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MASH – The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 27th, 2002

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Synopsis

The second season still shows a strong connection to the Robert Altman film, with the movie’s closing credits narration, for instance, still being used, and the first episode still finding it necessary to let us know who the characters are. At the same time, while still following traditional sitcom patterns, the series is also clearly pushing against that envelope.

Audio

The soundtrack is the original mono. The sound reproduction is clear and unmuddied, and th…
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Verdict, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 25th, 2002

Synopsis

Paul Newman’s Frank Galvin has seen better days. Now he’s a broken-down, alcoholic ambulance-chaser. But then his last chance arrives in the form of a negligence case being brought against two doctors who gave a young woman the wrong anaesthetic, reducing her to a vegetable. Though Galvin at first is planning to settle out of court, he changes his mind, and the result is a David-and-Goliath courtroom struggle.

Though a 1982 release, The Verdict still has much of the feel of a 70s f…
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Desert Rats

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 12th, 2002

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Synopsis

1941. Field Marshal Rommel’s forces are sweeping across Africa. The only thing blocking him from the Suez Canal is Tobruk. The British and Australian forces are hopelessly outmanned and outgunned, but their orders are to hold out, and hold out they will. Richard Burton is placed in charge of a battalion of green Australians. Though his toughness doesn’t endear him to his him, Burton nevertheless whips them into combat and commando troops.

The characters are familiar. Burton’s comm…
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Brotherhood, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 8th, 2002

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The title catches your eye. A mob film, you suspect. And you’re right. But a mob film from 1968, BEFORE The Godfather defined the genre as we know it today, and the difference is apparent.

Synopsis

Kirk Douglas is big-shot Mafioso living in retirement in Sicily. He’s old-fashioned, and believes in the old “values” of the Cosa Nostra. From the States comes his brother, who wants to make his name with the mob. His assignment, as it turns out, is to kill Douglas. Set entirely in rura…
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Marilyn Monroe – Diamond Collection Vol. II

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 4th, 2002

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Films

Fox offers five more Marilyn Monroe classics in Marilyn Monroe – The Diamond Collection Vol. II

Don’t Bother to Knock – “Jed, an airline pilot, (Widmark) is resting in a hotel when he notices Nell (Monroe), a young woman babysitting for a wealthy couple. As Jed gets to know Nell better he realizes that the woman is not as stable as perhaps she should be. A unique thriller featuring a rare dramatic performance from Monroe, illustrating a broader range than most people might …
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Thief of Hearts

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 12th, 2002

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Let’s take a little trip down memory lane, shall we? Follow me back to that bygone era known as the eighties. Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer were consolidating their formula for slick, commercial fluff, Harold Faltermeyer’s synthesized scores were inescapable, and Steven Bauer actually rated star billing.

Synopsis

Steven Bauer is a professional cat-burglar, aided and managed by cocaine-sniffing restaurant employee David Caruso (looking geekily young). On one particular job, Bauer finds, amid hi…
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De Sade

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 15th, 2002

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Intro

Every so often, the Marquis de Sade comes back into vogue. The last couple of years saw the release of Quills and Sade close on each other’s heels. Their rather romantic views of Sade are as nothing, however, compared to this 1969 film.

Synopsis

Returning to the now decrepit castle in which he lived, Sade (Keir Dullea of 2001: A Space Odyssey fame) encounters his corrupt clergyman uncle, played by John Huston (hilariously mangling French names and doing a lip-smackingly creepy wa…
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National Lampoon’s European Vacation

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 7th, 2002

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Chevy Chase is at his funniest in National Lampoon’s European Vacation. This film now seems somewhat dated, but it still makes me laugh.

Synopsis

“The first time the Griswalds took a trip – in National Lampoon’s Vacation – moviegoers everywhere went along for the ride… and went bonkers! Now they’re into even zanier sightseeing in National Lampoon’s European Vacation, directed by Amy Heckerling (Clueless, Fast Times at Ridgemont High).

Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo return as Clark …
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Boxcar Bertha

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 1st, 2002

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There is something rather humorous about the fact that this film, originally firmly in the exploitation genre (this is an American-International picture, produced by Roger Corman after all), should now be released under the “Avant-Garde Cinema” label. Go figure. It is important, however, as Martin Scorsese’s 1972 directorial debut.

Synopsis

Clearly inspired by the success of Bonnie and Clyde, Boxcar Bertha chronicles of the adventures of Bertha Thompson (Barbara Hershey, excellent) and her quartet …
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My Bodyguard

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 14th, 2002

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Intro

Fox’s recent set of Family Features includes a couple of films aimed at older viewers, and are that rare thing: the smart teen comedy. This is one (the other is Breaking Away).

Synopsis

Chris Makepeace plays Clifford, the new kid in school. The son of a hotel manager, he’s a fairly laid-back sort, dealing without blinking with his flamboyant grandmother (Ruth Gordon of Harold and Maude) and the various characters at the hotel. School becomes a trial, however, when he runs afoul o…
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Breaking Away

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 14th, 2002

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Intro

Eccentric and heartfelt, this Oscar-winning coming-of-age story deserves rediscovery.

Synopsis

Dennis Christopher is Dave, cycling enthusiast. Since the world’s greatest cyclists are Italian, Dave tries to become Italian, much to the low-key bemusement of his parents. Dave and his friends (played by Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Jackie Earle Haley) are from the working class end of town, and are constantly at odds with the college boys, and this class rivalry ultimately climaxes…
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Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 23rd, 2001

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Intro

This is a deeply, deeply silly film. But it takes being silly deeply, deeply seriously.

Synopsis

Peter Weller is Buckaroo Banzai: brain surgeon, physicist, rock star, fighter of evil. He and his merry men, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, fight to save the world from destruction caused by a war between the Black Lectroids (good aliens) and the Red Lectroids (bad aliens). The deadpan cast includes good guys Jeff Goldblum and Ellen Barkin, and, on the side of evil, John Lilthgow and Christ…
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Planet of the Apes – The Complete TV Series

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 23rd, 2001

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Intro

If you are part of the MTV generation, you may find this collection more ancient then entertaining. If you grew up watching this series, it will bring back memories….

Synopsis

It changed the face of television forever. Based on the enormously popular and successful Planet of the Apes movie, the 1974 TV series has become a true cult classic. Now all 14 episodes (including “The Liberator,” which never aired during the show’s original run) have been compiled and are available to ow…
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Blue & the Grey

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 13th, 2001

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Intro

I’m guessing here, but I bet that it’s the DVD format’s ability to store vast quantities of information that is behind the sudden home video releases of twenty-year-old TV mini-series. This one is suitably epic.

Synopsis

John Geyser (John Hammond) is the artistic son of a Southern farming family. He is also the most racially enlightened member. He becomes a sketch artist for a newspaper, and therefore also becomes our eyewitness of the US Civil War.

This is one of those Big…
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