Disc Reviews

"Did you ever run away from a scream? You can't. It will follow you through the woods. It will follow you all of your life... courage is never enough."

How many films are lost and forgotten over the years? It would be interesting to know how many films have been made since the advent of the movie industry. It is probably in the millions, and yet most of us would probably have trouble thinking of a thousand.

Perry Mason officially ended in May of 1966, but that wasn't going to be the end. Twenty years later the surviving cast members reunited for Perry Mason Returns. It was Perry and Della back together again. Both Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale returned to their roles. William Hopper had died in 1970, so William Katt joined the reunion as Paul Drake, Jr. Katt might not have really been Drake's son; he was Hale's son. When Katt left the films he was replaced by William R. Moses as Ken Malansky. Ken was a young law student helped by Perry once when he was framed in law school for a rival's murder. He ends up being both a legal assistant and investigator for Perry in the reunion films. The films also often starred James McEachin as Lt. Brock, the cop on many of the cases.

While the name on the collection and each of the television movies might be Perry Mason, Raymond Burr and his iconic character only appear in two of these six films. Burr died in September of 1993, and CBS attempted to continue the series after his death. They never killed off Mason. He was away somewhere as a guest attorney filled in for him. The rest of the cast remained, and the name of the series was given an "A" before Perry Mason Movie. The style would more or less remain the same, but it just didn't have the legs everyone was hoping for after the loss of Burr. Obviously, this is the last of these film collections. The team would continue to do 30 television movies from 1985-1995. CBS has now begun to package these reunion films in collections like this. You get six films on three discs. The discs appear in a plastic case, and the cases are held by a cardboard slipcase.

Who would have believed that one of the world's most enduring if not exactly endearing comedians actually got his start in a serious drama? The film was Run Silent Run Deep, and the actor was Don Rickles. For a couple of years the former nightclub funny man would pursue the world of serious acting. That was until his friend Dean Martin made him a staple of his famous television roasts. Rickles became a standout, and his unusual brand of humor took off like a rocket to the stars. It's those very stars that helped make the man a household name that would bear the brunt of his fast and furious barrage of insults and put-downs. Most of them laughed in return, and soon it became a badge of honor to endure an attack from Rickles. The only thing worse than being insulted by Don Rickles was being ignored by Don Rickles. He earned such names as Mr. Warmth and the Merchant of Venom. What he really earned was the respect of several generations of fans. Today kids and adults alike know him as the voice of Mr. Potato Head from the Toy Story films and shorts. At nearly 90 years of age the funnyman has quite a legacy to look back upon. Now Time Life has given us the opportunity to do a little looking back ourselves with the 8-DVD set The Ultimate Don Rickles.

The set begins with the 6-disc complete CPO Sharkey series. The comedy series only ran two years from 1976-1978. In fact Don was never afraid to rib himself about how short his television run was. He blamed it on the fact that there were other shows on at the same time.

"These rebels, they have no fear, or they have so much they are numb to it. They feel as if they have nothing left to lose, and they hate us who do..."

It's all just a matter of perspective, isn't it? As a history teacher I have taught aspects of that event we all recognize as the American Revolutionary War. Did you know that in a British history book I have it is referred to as the Colonial Rebellion? You see, one man's revolution is another man's rebellion. Everybody is talking about who will be the next James Bond. It seems we’ve been fascinated by the spy genre since the early 1960’s. AMC has added a new wrinkle to the spy game with Turn: Washington’s Spies. When we say Washington, we’re not talking about the city. We’re talking General Washington, George Washington that is. It’s a revolutionary show about a real-life spy ring from America’s fight for independence. And yes, this series lets you see the war clearly from both perspectives.

"And then there's Maude."

In football, there's always a lot of talk about coaching trees. You know the idea. Some great mastermind who saw his assistants go on to have success of their own and who passed that lucky charm down to others for, perhaps, generations. All In The Family would be the television equivalent to a coach with a long tree. There were an incredible number of spinoffs that led to other spinoffs. Archie's neighbors The Jeffersons moved on up to the East Side and had their own several years of success. That show saw maid Florence have her spinoff from that show called Checking In. Meanwhile, Archie's daughter had her Gloria series, and after Edith's death, Archie settled into Archie Bunker's Place. Even the Bunker home had a spinoff called 704 Houser Street when a new family moved in.

I recently reviewed a cinematic production of a different bible story, Noah’s Ark, and I commented on the fact that I have heard that particular story told time and time again since childhood. Now I have been given the opportunity to review another bible story adapted for screen: the story of Moses. I thought that I had heard the story of Noah a lot, but then I began thinking about how many times I have heard the story of Moses. Whether be it through different adaptations of films or the original tale in the Bible, I believe I have experienced a retelling of the tale of Moses more than any other tale from the good book. Fellow cinephiles might recognize a few of these titles: Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (both his 1923 and 1956 versions), the animated feature The Prince of Egypt, or perhaps the more recent Ridley Scott feature, Exodus: Gods and Kings. The one thing that each of these films has in common is the aforementioned source material.

This specific adaptation, titled Moses, places Ben Kingsley in the lead role. It was his presence that drew me to the film in the first place. However, I was quite surprised to see two other veteran actors, Christopher Lee and Frank Langella (occupying the roles of Ramses and Memefta respectively).  It was a little bizarre that these three actors were the only ones that I actually recognized in the production. Every other actor I had never seen before, creating a strange stage on which Kingsley performs. This strange stage is made even more bizarre with the fact that Lee and Langella are actually minor characters in the film: Although the pharaoh and his heir are the main antagonists in the actual story, the amount of screen time they occupy is incredibly insignificant. As a result, Kingsley’s performance as Moses becomes enunciated, which left him little room for error in my expectations regarding his acting. I must say he definitely delivered on all fronts, but I don’t think I’d prefer him to Charlton Heston in 1956’s The Ten Commandments.