Working Girls (1974) Review

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(More customer reviews)From the description, I thought this might be one of those amusing T&A flicks from the 70's. The ones where the girls are jiggling out of their tops in all sorts of preposterous situations. The story is boring, not funny at all. Cassandra Peterson is topless, not naked as the alternative title suggests. It's definatley her, she does the same thing with her eyes that she does when accenting a punchline as the Elvira character. When you've seen this once, your not likely to sit through it again.

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Emmanuelle 2 - The Joys of A Woman Review

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(More customer reviews)This rating is not for the movie which is good and every bit what the other reviewers have noted. My beef is with the DVD which is 85 minutes and even shorter than the VHS version which is 92 minutes. Can someone tell me why? If anything, the director's cut should have been produced on DVD. What a disappointment!

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Welcome to the Grindhouse: Malibu High/Trip with Teacher (1975) Review

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(More customer reviews)Another exploitation double feature disc emulating the formula of the 2007 film, "Grindhouse", which featured two simulated 70's-era low rent thrillers (contributed by Robert Rodiguez and Quentin Tarantino), along with simulated trailers and concession-stand ads from the same era. Here, though, you get two actual low-rent, 70's-era epics featuring babes, guns, and some nasty violence. "What?" you say. "The cover of the DVD makes it look like you get lots of sexy fun. Where do the guns and violence come in?"
Well, that's the fun of these independent thrillers from a bygone era, an era when independent fare 90% consisted of sleazy gems like these, not the latest Jane Austen adaptation. And added fun always came from the fact that, regardless of the poster art, you never knew what you were actually going to get from these unpredictable movies. So, what are you getting from "Malibu High" and "Trip With the Teacher"? Glad you asked...
"Malibu High" delivers the nudity and high school hijinks promised in the poster... at first. But then it slowly goes off on a kind of descent-into-crime-and-madness riff where the central teen-age girl character, in an effort to gain independence from her nagging mother, becomes a prostitute (first small time, then as a busy, going concern), then- I kid you not- a cold-blooded hit woman working for a mob kingpin.
Oh, yes, during all of this the girl is still concerned about getting good grades, so she bribes her teachers with sexy fun at the local lovers' lane in return for A's. So, yes, the producers do drift back from time to time to the sexy exploitation theme promised on the poster, but it's soon back to assassinations in parking garages and rich guys' mansions.
While many "grindhouse" movies are unfairly lumped into the "so bad it's good" category, this one probably rightfully belongs in that particular bin. But it's definitely worth a look, preferably with a group of friends and a case of beer.
"Trip with the Teacher" doesn't want to distract you with a complicated plot, so it simply employs that old stand-by, "teens on a field trip get terrorized by crazed motorcycle thugs", and uses the rest of its energy to come up with particularly brutal ways for the thugs to terrorize the girls. Though the poster art indeed suggests that there's some kind of menace in the film and not just naked girls, it really doesn't prepare you for the unsavory deaths in store for several of the characters, and not just the girls. Yes, these thugs are mean to everybody, so it would be unfair to hit this creepy little epic with a lot of "another movie that hates women" reviews.
Things are lightened up a bit by a "good" motorcycle guy who comes to the girls' aid, but it's still all rather unpleasant. In the end, though, I have to concede that "Trip with the Teacher" is ultimately an edgy, and (unlike the earlier film) not at all ridiculous example of the grindhouse form. And since you all want to know this: Yes, there's a fair amount of nudity, but none of it is really fun to watch, due to the violent context in which most of the nudity takes place.
Extras include trailers for something called "The Stepmother", offering more thriller/exploitation fun, as mom gets it on with everyone but her husband; and "Weekend with the Babysitter", a silly movie that examines the "relevant" issue of white-haired, late middle-aged married guys suddenly taking up with their teen-age babysitters and their "now generation" friends. This trailer appears on at least one other "Welcome to the Grindhouse" double-feature DVD, but it never gets old. The disc features one or two other trailers from the 70's, but those were the best ones.
The prints used for the main features are generally fine, but both show some wear and tear. But you're not supposed to let that bother you, as scratchy prints and even the occasional missing reel were supposed to be part of the classic grindhouse experience.
In the end, I'd say that "Malibu High" is about 80% worth seeing because it's "so bad it's good" and 20% worth seeing because it's genuinely sort of interesting. "Trip with the Teacher" reverses things: it's 80% actually involving (but only if you can tolerate violent exploitation fare) and 20% fun-to-laugh-at badness.
With that said, if any of this sounds at all interesting to you, go pick this DVD up and see for yourself how you'll respond. After all, what's to lose considering the dirt-cheap price?


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The Pigkeeper's Daughter / Sassy Sue (1975) Review

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(More customer reviews)Up until three months ago, I was ignorant of producer Harry Novak, his soft-X filmographry or Something Weird Video, the Seattle company that's preserved these nuggets of drive-in history. Now that I've learned about them, I thank God for all three. Both "The Pigkeeper's Daughter" and "Sassy Sue" are goofy hillbilly humpathons that offer plenty of laughs, though most are of the unintentional kind. "The Pigkeeper's Daughter" has qualities more closely associated with porn: Wretched acting, a mere hint of a plot and even less of a script, and lots of extended sex scenes (which are pretty explicit for a softie). Terry Gibson (in the title role) and Patty Smith (a.k.a. Peggy Church) are about the only people anyone would want to see have sex. There's a surprising amount of male nudity--unfortunately it's in the form of out-of-shape John Keith and skinny Peter James (who has some nasty looking teeth). And what happened to the "actress" playing Gibson's mama? Her breasts look chafed and there's a horrible bruise across her lower back. Was she beaten into taking this role? (This might explain her performance.) By comparison, "Sassy Sue"--the story of a young man, his cow, and the women who try to come between them--is a much more polished effort. The acting is a little better (though it's still bad), the cast is more effective and there's actually some genuine laughs. A definite highpoint in this one is John Tull's tryst with one of the horny babes wanting some backwoods boffing ("It would help if you mooed a little," he snipes). The sex--although simulated and not quite as explicit as that in "Pigkeeper's Daughter" (there's a moment in the final scene that pushes the boundaries of softcore, however)--seems a little more genuine in "Sassy Sue." Both movies are raunchy fun, though "Pigkeeper's Daughter" is raunchier and "Sassy Sue" is more fun. Better than both movies are the trailers for other similarly-themed Harry Novak productions, like "Midnight Plowboy," "Country Cuzzins" and "Tobacco Roody." Fans of large breasts and trash cinema will definitely want to add this to their collection.

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The Cheerleaders Collection (The Cheerleaders/Revenge of the Cheerleaders/The Swinging Cheerleaders) (1973) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Cheerleaders must be one of the most heavily censored erotic films around (I know of at least 4 different versions).That's amazing, given that there is no hard-core activity or male nudity. It may be testimony to the sheer erotic intensity the film generates. This is the so-called "hard R" version, the original release print, and it looks great. Included is a stills gallery of "Cheerleader Cheesecake", including what appear to be the motel room audition photos, and some incredible pooside shots of Stephanie Fondue. Fans of this film will be well rewarded.
The film's reputation as an erotic classic stems from numerous things that lift it above its competition: the girls are lovely, sexy and young (they actually look like high schoolers, not srippers); the photography is clear; the editing allows the action to unfold without a lot of jump cuts; the humor is genuinely funny; and the film develops a steady rhythm by quickly moving from one erotic scenario to another. In short, it delivers on its promise to be arousing, and it never lets up. If you liked the shower scene in Porkys, here's a whole movie's worth.
Like any truly great film, this one created a genre of imitations, none even remotely as good as the original. The other two films in this package are interesting only as examples of that, despite the presence of Rainbeaux Smith (Drum) in both.
The package includes a booklet with a good essay by Gary Hertz. All in all, a classy presentation, and thank you to Anchor Bay for doing a first-rate job with a deserving film.

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Tobacco Roody/Southern Comforts (1971) Review

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(More customer reviews)NUDTY!!!The clothes come off quick and often. Wow. The best something wierd video I've ever seen. Good looking girls big boobs, lots of bush. Its great! Both movies have alot of nudity even some quick spread eagle shots. The second film ends with a nude beauty pagent. All the girls from the movie get naked! Full Frontal. The sex is lame and very fake softcore, sept for alittle quick guy to girl oral. As far as story, lots of lame jokes and stupid plots. But it didn't matter cause all these girls like to get naked. Highly recommended!

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God's Left Hand, Devil's Right Hand Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been avoiding this one for a while after I read some not-so-positive reviews. I looked it up again recently and noticed that not only was it directed by Shusuke Kaneko (a very entertaining filmmaker) but it was also based on a book written by Kazuo Umezu, which is always an advantage because a handful of imaginative and fun movies have been recently made from this man's works (see "Tamami: The Baby's Curse" and "Orochi" ASAP!). I decided to give it a shot, and I'm glad I did.
After her psychic brother falls into a coma, a girl attempts to use his clues to catch a serial killer. One bizarre aspect is that the antagonist (Tomorowo Taguchi in an over-the-top performance) murders hot schoolgirls and then draws their deaths in a picture book for his 7-year-old daughter to read! This is one of those fun horror films that's not to be taken too seriously. The death scenes are nicely bloody and there's a healthy dose of absurdities and cheesiness (be prepared to chuckle a lot). The ending of this movie is so ridiculous that it needs to be seen to be believed. Oh, and the use of little kids in bloody terror sequences is much appreciated by this horror fan.

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The Beast (La bête) (1977) Review

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(More customer reviews)As legend has it, Walerian Borowzcyk originally intended the short version of "The Beast" to be part of his compilation film "Immoral Tales". Due to the nature of "The Beast", it was cut from the original film and put on the back-burner till Borowczyk decided to turn it into a full-length feature. I feel this decision was a poor one. The short version of "The Beast" is the best thing about this film, which essentially tries to pad out the original's 20 minute running time to an hour and a half. This wouldn't be so bad if the padding weren't so boring. Aside from the rose-masturbation scene, which is intercut with "flashbacks" to the short film, there really is not much else that would make this a worthwhile purchase for fans of erotic cinema. The notorious scenes of horse-copulation are distasteful and verge on disgusting for anyone not turned on by beastiality. Instead of this "hype" film, I would recommend you take a look at Radley Metzger's "The Image", another controversial film that actually goes beyond "The Beast" as far as inclusion of graphic content. As an added bonus, all the sex in "The Image" is of the human variety.

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Rudolph & Frosty's Christmas in July (1979) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have more to say about it at DVDtoons.com, but here's the short of it: It does run a little long, and could have certainly used some editing, but this movie is fun and rates well against the R-B TV specials. Anyone who thinks this movie is too confusing could not have been paying much attention, and I also would not say it's scary--- my 3-year old loved it (of course, it will depend on your own child's "scare threshhold"). Personally, I enjoyed the "origin" of Rudolph, found the new mythology of the characters charming, and thought Winterbolt to be a great villain. The movie gets a 7/10 from me, although the video quality could have been a little better on the disc. The lack of extras was disappointing too.

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Two of Us (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)Michael Linsey-Hogg, the director of Let It Be, weaves fact and fiction into a compelling movie about two of the greatest personalities of our generation.
McCartney comes off a bit too warm in this but its hard to see that as a flaw. Reputed to be a 'cool' person at the best of times perhaps we see through to the real Paul. Lennon on the other hand is accurately portrayed from the clowning to the acid wit he was so well known for.
While the actors don't physically resemble John and Paul that well they certainly come across as them if you just squint your eyes and pretend a little.
Best moments in the movie:
McCartney in a heartfelt moment telling John how during the break up of the Beatles he felt as though he was losing his best friend. Lennons acid response. "We were never that close mate".
A scene in Central Park with the two of them in disguise. Reminiscent of A Hard Days Night is the exchange between them and two mounted police. We laughed out loud at this one and the scene just felt right.
A scene in a restaurant when an elderly couple finally get there nerve up to approach John. They make the gaffe of requesting that he sing a few bars of Yesterday (Pauls song). Lennons response again had us laughing out loud and again it felt as though it really was John saying it.
The best moment of all is one with John and Paul on the roof of the Dakota. I won't attempt to describe this one but it brought tears to my eyes and confirmed to me that the chemistry between John and Paul was truly magic.
This movie brings back a little of the joy the Beatles brought to the world way back when. A celebration of John and Paul and the real world magic of Beatle music.

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The Exorcist (25th Anniversary Special Edition) (1973) Review

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(More customer reviews)For those of you that like The Exorcist and wondered if you should have seen the movie in the theaters *just* becuase it has some new scenes I can tell you it's definataly worth it.
The added scenes improve the continuity for the most part and provide a few new shocks (as if this movie needed more).
The soundtrack is radically reworked as well, employing newly scored music that adds to the mood of the movie.
There are new sound effects that have more "oomph" for the modern six channel digital sound.
Have the 25'th Anniversary tape? Saw the Spider walk scene in the Documentary? Well, in the new release, it's a different version and 10 times more creepy (it took a minute for the audience I was with to calm down).
It was great to see this in a theater and see people jaded by cookie cutter slasher flicks respond to this movie so well. This movie is not fast paced and that allows it to build up a foundation of dread and fear about the developing possession of the girl. Until it finally unleashes in the more horrifying scenes you've all heard about.
The overall color scheme of the movie is grayish and colorless, further drawing you into that fear and dread. The background music (the new and the limited amount utilized in the original version)has very little melody with a lot of sustained low chords. It doesn't call attention to itself but does unnerve you.
The possessed girl is probabaly one of the scariest faces in movie history. It's incredible that all that was really done to Linda Blair's face was to add a few asymetrical cuts, cover over her eyebrows and darken her sockets (giving her eyes a skull like look). But of course, it was the makeup master Dick Smith that was doing it so it's not too much of a surprise. The crowning feature of the scariest face was the unhuman look of the eyes, done with contact lenses.
The upcoming DVD of the "version you never saw" deserves a place in my colection and yours.
Besides a faithful transfer of the new version to DVD and the trailer, I can suggest that Warner Bros. include the tour of Washington sequence. This is another sequence that was not used in the final cut. It still exists but with no soundtrack. Putting it on the extras section of the DVD with an explanation of the missing soundtrack and subtitles would make this DVD an even better purchase for fans of the movie (like myself).

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An innocent girl is evilly possessed -- and a doubting priest becomes her last hope. Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn in the two-time Academy Award(R) winner that shocked the world.DVD Features:Audio Commentary:Separate Commentaries by Friedkin & BlattyOther:"Fear of God" 3 trailers Nwe InterviewsTV Spot:6 TV Spots: "Beyond Comprehension", "You Too Can See The Exorcist", "Between Science and Superstition", "The Movie You've Been Waiting For", "Nobody Expected It", "Life Had Been Good"

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Pete's Dragon (Disney Gold Classic Collection) (1977) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Pete's Dragon" (1977) has become a somewhat forgotten Disney movie that was originally inspired by the success of Mary Poppins (45th Anniversary Special Edition) as a live-action/animation musical. The story finally got the green-light in 1975; songs were by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, and an all-star cast was assembled: singer Helen Reddy in her first film role, Broadway's Jim Dale, Shelley Winters, Red Buttons, Jim Backus, and Mickey Rooney. Sean Marshall, in his first acting job, portrayed the title character of Pete.
Pete is a young orphan who has escaped the abusive family that adopted him: a dirty bunch of hillbillies known as The Gogans (Jeff Conaway, Kenickie from Grease (Rockin' Rydell Edition) [Blu-ray] plays one of The Gogans). They adopted Pete to use him as a slave. Elliott, a large green dragon who can become invisible at will, helps Pete escape, and acts as his friend and protector. Pete ends up in the small village of Passamaquoddy, where he is taken in by kindly Nora (Reddy) and her father Lampie (Rooney). The two own the lighthouse in town, where Nora waits for her boyfriend Paul to return, even though he was lost at sea years before. The Gogans find Pete and attempt to steal him back, with the aid of Doc Terminus (Dale), a medicine showman, and his shill, Hoagy (Buttons). Although fairly predictable, it is a heartwarming story with an excellent cast and music that is light and breezy. Definitely good fare for the young!
Nominated for Best Original Score and Best Original Song ("Candle in the Water"), pleasantly sung by Reddy.
When watching today, the animation looks a little antiquated, as digital animation and the ability to combine live-action with cartoons has obviously improved since 1977. Still, with the limitations of the day, what the Disney team was able to create is still quite impressive. The entire town of Passamaquoddy was built on the Disney backlot, with a functioning lighthouse built above Morro Bay, California. The US Coast Guard had to give permission to Disney to actually light it so as not to confuse real ships in the water. Disney's Golden Oak Ranch in Santa Clarita was also used for a number of outdoor shots.
SPECS:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound * Widescreen (1.66:1)--Enhanced for 16x9 TVs. This was the first Disney film recorded in the Dolby Stereo sound system. The clarity and color of the image of the DVD are excellent; sound is good too, but nothing that will really blow your speakers away. Running time of approximately 129 minutes, which is just about 5 minutes short of the original roadshow version.
BONUS FEATURES:
Sneak Peeks: Snow White on Blu-ray, The Prince & The Frog (theatrical), Disney Blu-ray, Hannah Montana the Movie, Up, D23, Earth, and Tinkerbell: The Lost Treasure.
Brazzle Dazzle Effects (25:23): Narrated by Sean Marshall (Pete) who is heard present day, but never seen! Sean takes us on a journey telling the history of live-action/animation in Disney films, beginning the Alice Comedies. Virginia Davis (Alice) recalls pantomiming to invisible animals. "Children love to pretend. I loved to pretend, too." Disney thought that by putting a live girl in an animated setting he could get a leg-up on the competition. Ub Iwerks joined the Disney team early, left, and then returned in the 1940's. Many of the special effect processes that have made Disney film magic possible were a result of his genius. "The Three Caballeros" was a milestone in 1945 in combining color live-action film with animation. Using rear-screen projection and special process-lab effects, Iwerks helped the film accomplish many things never seen before. The real jump came in 1959 with "Ten Who Dared," a film that used the Sodium Vapor Process Screen. Using yellow lights/filters, filmmakers were able to block out backgrounds that made it easier to combine the animation. Without this process, "The Parent Trap" and "Mary Poppins" would never have been possible. Marshall recalls filming "Pete's Dragon" in the summer of 1976. He loved the entire process: special effects, acting, dancing, makeup. "The only thing I didn't like was the fame!" He recalls Red Buttons and Mickey Rooney attempting to upstage each other, and how choreographer Onna White's instruction helped prepare him to be a college pole-vaulter. In this featurette, you will see the original live-action film and learn how it was combined with the animation. Very interesting to watch documentary.
Deleted Storyboard Sequence: "Terminus & Hoagy Hunt Elliott" (2:25)--Nothing really missed here!
Original Song Concept: "Boo Bop BopBop Bop (I Love You Too)" (2:35): Very pop-sounding; almost a little out of place. Not missed from the storyline, it featured both Pete & Elliott.
Original Demo Recordings (all from February 11, 1976):
Brazzle Dazzle Day: Alternate song, first attempt. The song was liked by re-written.
Every Little Piece: Alternate melody. Thought to be too somber, the lyrics were kept, but the melody was rewritten.
The Greatest Star of All: Deleted song for a deleted character. Artist Ken Anderson thought 2 villains were not needed, so both song and character were cut.
Promotional Record:
Pop versions of songs from the movie released on a 7" Vista record are presented here: It's Not Easy, Brazzle Dazzle Day, There's Room For Everyone, Candle on the Water.
Art Galleries: Concept Art, Behind-the-scenes, and publicity galleries. Varying quality, but still very cool to see, especially the behind-the-scenes shots.
Trailers: International & Theatrical Trailers
"About Pete's Dragon": 5 screens with production notes about the movie.
"Disney Family Album" (excerpt, 2:20): About artist Ken Anderson. He describes how he based Elliott on Wallace Beery - large, bumbling, but loveable. He also is seen at the Disney ranch, which he describes as his Laughing Place.
"The Plausible Impossible" (excerpt, 3:36): From the Disneyland TV show, October 31, 1956. Shows the Disney Art of Animation book, with chapter 5 about the Plausible Impossible--using animation to make the unreal look real. Clips from Fantasia shown.
"Lighthouse Keeping" (1956, 6:45): Donald Duck cartoon
Includes a game for the very young, where you must find Elliott.
Overall, a really great DVD with enjoyable extras.

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Pete, a young orphan, runs away to a Maine fishing town with his best friend--a lovable, sometimes invisible dragon named Elliott! When they are taken in by a kind lighthouse keeper, Nora (Helen Reddy), and her father (Mickey Rooney), Elliott's prank playing lands them in big trouble. Then, when crooked salesmen try to capture Elliott for their own gain, Pete must attempt a daring rescue.

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Tourist Trap (1979) Review

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(More customer reviews)One of the best horror films of the 1970's has finally been given a long overdue home video makeover. TOURIST TRAP is the most frightening movie ever made about mannequins, and a classic example that a low budget can be a horror film's greatest asset. In today's predictable, estrogen-driven MTV style of filmmaking wherein the writers believe that blood, gore, and throwaway lines are the ingredients necessary to make a horror film, TOURIST TRAP blows that notion out of the water. The film possesses an air of originality thanks to Nicholas Von Sternberg's beautiful visual style and superb editing by Ted Nicolaou. The story itself is similar to PSYCHO, but it's done with such pinache that one might not initially realize it. Brian DePalma's SISTERS (1973) is another great PSYCHO inspiration that you should check out if you already have not.
I first saw this movie one Saturday afternoon on TV in the mid-80's and it left one hell of an impression on me. It begins with what is unquestionably one of the most bizarre and frightening openings ever done in a horror film. A group of friends are on vacation when one of their tires blows out. Woody, the driver, walks to a gas station to get some help, but he finds himself in a situation that would give just about anyone a heart attack.
Enter Chuck Connors. He gives a wonderful and ultimately surprisingly sympathetic performance as Mr. Slausen, a congenial and charming gentleman who owns a now-defunct roadside souvenir shop/wax museum. When he meets up with Woody's friends who are concerned about Woody's whereabouts, Mr. Slausen comes to the rescue, but a series of horrendously bizarre events begin to transpire. As the story progresses, the natural inclination on the part of the viewer is to refute the plausibility of the bizarre set pieces that slowly mount. I find that if you watch it from the standpoint of falling asleep and having a nightmare about mannequins that come to life, this film is much more frightening and enjoyable.
When I was seven, I used to play in my grandmother's basement that was populated by some truly horrific dolls. One of them had outstretched hands with no hair that walked when you wound it up, and let me tell you - they were frightening. This film has that kind of effect.
This film inexplicably received a PG rating during its theatrical release which, the director states, killed it at the box office. I would have demanded an R rating if I were him! While the film contains no overt bloodshed, one of the murders is particularly gruesome and cruel (that's not counting the opening scene!)
The DVD transfer of this film is a revelation. Colors that were originally muted on the old 16mm faded prints that made the rounds on late night cable are now rich and vibrant. Pino Donaggio's score, which is one of the best elements in the film, comes through in full force. As a bonus, director David Schmoeller gives a running commentary throughout the film, though I wish he divulged more information than he actually does. Although he mentions TOURIST TRAP's origins - a film school thesis project called THE SPIDER WILL KILL YOU - he fails to disclose the film's budget. Disappointingly, why wasn't this thesis film included on the DVD? Why does the DVD state that it contains 40 trailers to other horror films when I can only access seven?
Despite my carpings, the DVD is well worth the asking price. The trailer for TOURIST TRAP is included.
For those of you who love gaffes, check out the left side of the screen at the 72:52 point during Tanya Robert's death scene. A stage hand can be seen behind a pane of glass.
Forget SCREAM and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER. If you don't have a DVD player yet, this is one reason to purchase one. The film is currently out of print on VHS, but VHS stinks anyway!
Thank you, David Schmoeller, for making one of the best horror films EVER.
TOURIST TRAP is superb.

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Love American Style - Season 1, Vol. 1 (1969) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Love American Style" (1969-1974), best known for its classic theme song and for airing the pilot (Season Three segment "Love and the Happy Days") that ultimately launched the hit series Happy Days, was a comedy anthology series about love and romance (a rarity) featuring a combo of guest stars in comedy vignettes. A product of its time, "Love American Style" looked naughty on the outside, but was actually a humorous yet quaint look at the rituals of dating and mating. Though ABC revived the series [as "New Love American Style"] in 1985, only The Love Boat (1977-1986) was successful in following the format of the original classic series which after decades since its debut finally comes to DVD! Love American Style - Season One, Volume One is a 3-disc (619 min.) set featuring all 37 segments from the show's first 12 [of 24] hour-long Season One episodes; Full Frame (1.33:1) video. Here is a list of the segments contained in this volume, plus original airdates:
1. Love and the Pill (9/29/1969)
2. Love and the Hustler (9/29/1969)
3. Love and a Couple of Couples (9/29/1969)
4. Love and the Joker (10/6/1969)
5. Love and the Letter (10/6/1969)
6. Love and the Living Doll (10/6/1969)
7. Love and the Unlikely Couple (10/6/1969)
8. Love and the Phone Booth (10/13/1969)
9. Love and the Doorknob (10/13/1969)
10. Love and the Militant (10/20/1969)
11. Love and the Legal Agreement (10/20/1969)
12. Love and Who? (10/20/1969)
13. Love and the Single Couple (10/27/1969)
14. Love and the Phonies (10/27/1969)
15. Love and the Modern Wife (10/27/1969)
16. Love and the Busy Husband (11/3/1969)
17. Love and the Watchdog (11/3/1969)
18. Love and the Dating Computer (11/3/1969)
19. Love and Take Me Along (11/10/1969)
20. Love and the Geisha (11/10/1969)
21. Love and the Advice Givers (11/10/1969)
22. Love and the Roommate (11/17/1969)
23. Love and the Burglar (11/17/1969)
24. Love and the Wild Party (11/17/1969)
25. Love and the Big Leap (11/24/1969)
26. Love and the Former Marriage (11/24/1969)
27. Love and the Good Deal (11/24/1969)
28. Love and the Shower (12/1/1969)
29. Love and Mother (12/1/1969)
30. Love and the Athlete (12/1/1969)
31. Love and the Dummies (12/1/1969)
32. Love and the Comedy Team (12/8/1969)
33. Love and the Mountain Cabin (12/8/1969)
34. Love and the Divorce Sale (12/8/1969)
35. Love and the Bachelor (12/22/1969)
36. Love and the Positive Man (12/22/1969)
37. Love and the Other Love (12/22/1969)First Fantasy Island, and now Love American Style followed by The Love Boat.
Bring on Hotel!


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Love, American Style was an hour-long television anthology which originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974. For the 1971 and 1972 seasons it was a part of an ABC Friday prime-time lineup that also included Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Room 222, and The Odd Couple. Each week, the show featured different stories of romance, usually with a comedic spin. All episodes were unrelated, featuring different characters, stories and locations. The show often featured the same actors playing different characters in many episodes. In addition a large and ornate brass bed was a recurring prop in many episodes. Charles Fox's delicate yet hip music score, featuring flutes, harp, and flugelhorn set to a contemporary pop beat, provided the "love" ambiance which tied the stories together as a multifaceted romantic comedy each week.

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The Longshot/They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way (1986) Review

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(More customer reviews)Those who remember watching The Carol Burnett Show know that Tim Conway is perhaps the funniest actor to ever live. The two films on this double feature DVD, Longshot and They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way, are not legendary classic comedies, but they each contain a number of very funny scenes and offer an overall kooky good time. Tim Conway not only stars in both films, he wrote both of them. Longshot (1985) is particularly noteworthy because it features a reunion of the funniest comic duo of all time, Conway and Harvey Korman. They team up with Jack Weston and Ted Wass to form a team of all-time losers and underdogs. They continually berate themselves for passing up opportunities in the past, missing out on some big payoffs just because they are afraid to take risks. When a stable worker from the tracks tells them he can guarantee the victory of a longshot horse in a certain race, they decide, for once, to go for it all the way. Their partner in the stables has a special little pep pill that will make the horse run like the wind, and he agrees to slip the pill to the horse if the guys will place a bet for him along with themselves. Logic and common sense says the horse can't possibly win, but the guys not only place a huge bet on the horse, they borrow all of the money from a local mobster. As the movie progresses, there is a lot of pretty funny physical comedy, Jonathon Winters shows up to add his own twist of fun to the proceedings, and the ending plays out much better than I expected.
They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way is actually the older of these two films, dating back to 1978. In this one, Tim Conway teams up with Chuck McCann as incompetent police officers who are sent to jail undercover to try to find out where a notorious bank robber stashed the money from his heist. No one at the prison knows they are cops, and no one would believe it, anyway, as these guys are just pathetically slow about a lot of things. They find the money a few days before they are set to be released, but to their great dismay the only person besides themselves who knows they aren't really criminals suddenly dies. Faced with the dire circumstances of a ten-year stay in prison, the duo decides to break out of jail and take the recovered money to the governor. There are some really funny scenes in this movie, including a truly classic scene wherein Tim Conway finds himself ordered to pull the warden's bad tooth and has just a little bit of trouble with the Novocain - this scenario reminded me a lot of some of Conway's classic performances on The Carol Burnett Show. Another memorable scene features Conway impersonating a Japanese translator at the governor's party. Interestingly, this movie features two characters from The Dukes of Hazzard - Enos (Sonny Shroyer) and Ben Jones (Cooter). This ending of this movie did leave me feeling a tiny bit cheated, but I can't complain about all the laughs I had along the way.
If you are a fan of Tim Conway, this double feature DVD is certainly worth picking up at its affordable price; you get about three hours and fifteen minutes of comedy, and you'll certainly enjoy a number of really funny scenes even if the movies as a whole don't live up to your expectations. For me, the dentistry scene in They Went That-A-Way is worth the price of the DVD all by itself.

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The Towering Inferno (1974) Review

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(More customer reviews)Irwin Allen decided to follow up his "The Poseidon Adventure" success with the 1974 suspense-thriller "The Towering Inferno," a movie which also garnered an impressive 10 Oscar nominations and is released as a 2-disc DVD special edition this week.
Whereas in "The Poseidon Adventure" the leads had to travel up, the only way is down for Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden, Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Wagner and Faye Dunaway. Attending the opening night gala the guests are trapped on the 129th floor of the world's tallest building which becomes an inferno thanks to the shoddy wiring system installed by chief builder James Duncan (Holden) and his electrician son Roger Simmons (Chamberlain).
Newman plays Doug Roberts, the proud architect behind the Glass Tower, a skyscraper, which dominates the San Francisco skyline at a height of 138-story's. Returning from a long vacation Roberts immediately recognizes that something is wrong and he is proven correct when a circuit breaker burns out and ignites garbage on a lower floor.
While the script can be a tad melodramatic at times, the effort put into this movie is obvious. Nominated for Best Picture and winning for best cinematography, best special effects and best song, the movie was a smash hit and still holds up well today in this age of blockbuster special effects extravaganza's.
As with "The Poseidon Adventure" the previous DVD release was sorely lacking in special features and has been replaced with three hours of extras. Joining the nine all-new featurettes which includes a retrospective, a look at the special effects and the art design is the AMC Backstory on the making of the movie, 32 deleted or extended scenes and an audio commentary by film historian F.X. Feeney.
Feeney's commentary is fascinating and comprehensive, covering all aspects of the production from the writing and dialogue all the way through to the sets and the sense of anticipation director John Guillerman builds up from the start. Feeney tells us that this movie was a milestone for Hollywood in that it was the first time two studios had co-produced a feature. Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox owned two separate books, "The Tower" by Richard Martin Stern and "The Glass Inferno" by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson, and both planned to make two competing movies on the same subject.
It was Allen who stepped in and proposed the historic deal and the two studios agreed, splitting first the cost and then the profit equally.
Though not for the full length of the feature special effects director Mike Venzina and stunt coordinator Branko Racki both individually comment on individual scenes. Verzina discusses eight scenes and Racki talks about nine separate scenes. Their observations are largely technical in nature and center on their selective specialties.
The longest of the documentaries is once again the AMC Backstory which runs 22:08. It is in this featurette that we learn that the model used for shots of the tower was itself seven stories high, that William Holden became aggravated with Faye Dunaway's tardy-ness to the set and that despite the media attempting to portray conflict between the two stars Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, the two actually got along well together with a mutual respect and friendly competition (as evidenced by a funny blooper).
The other featurettes range from 4:28 in length (on the directing of the movie) to 9:15 on the writer Stirling Silliphant. But they cover a wide range of topics from a retrospective by the cast and crew "Inside the Tower: We Remember" (8:16) in which Richard Chamberlain likens the set to being at a really glamorous Hollywood party day after day with the standard six star dressing rooms being increased to 15 to the architecture of the tower in "Still the World's Tallest Tower" (8:28) which compares The Glass Tower to other real-life skyscrapers and the impact these high-rise buildings have on the surrounding communities.
Other topics touched on include the safety aspects employed on the production in "Putting out fire" (4:58) in which Allen comments "You'd better have all the camera's rolling because fire waits for no man," and also reveals that firemen were on the set each day to "Running on fire" (5:52) which discusses the work of the stuntmen and includes the facts McQueen did not like anyone else doing his stunts and even Newman and Chamberlain did a number of their own stunts.
Also on this special collector's edition are 32 deleted or extended scenes that range from the 40-second "Still Waiting for the Elevator" which featuresshots of crowds of people pushing and shoving each other at the elevator and Holden's character assessing the situation on the telephone to the 2:55 clip "Four Alarm Fire" which covers the spreading of the fire through the building, the call from security requesting a four-alarm fire and shots of fire engines screaming through the streets of San Francisco.
All of the deleted or extended scenes were originally part of a longer television broadcast. Unfortunately their condition has deteriorated and they were deemed of too poor quality for Fox to include them through the popular DVD technique of seamless branching alongside the theatrical cut on the first disc.
Rounding out the special features on this release are three 1975 articles from "American Cinematographer" which run for a combined 83 pages and which, like those on "The Poseidon Adventure" DVD release, include selectable images which take the viewer to image galleries. These articles are all technical in nature and include discussion on how the movie was photographed and the work of the action unit. There are also six storyboard comparisons and five image galleries that range from shot compositions and costumes through to publicity and conceptual sketches.

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A dedication ceremony at the world's tallest skyscraper turns into a high-rise catastrophe when a defective wire in its systems-control panel causes an electrical flare-up. Within minutes the gala event turns into a hellish inferno, as a raging fire traps society's most prominent citizens on the top floor. Winner of three Academy Awards, this spectacular suspense thriller features dazzling special effects and a star studded cast including Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden and Faye Dunaway. **Commentary by F.X. Feeney - Film Historian **Scene Specific Commentary by Mike Vezina, Special Effects Director on X3 **Scene Specific Commentary by Branko Racki, Stunt Coordinator on The Day After Tomorrow **32 Extended and Deleted Scenes and 1 Alternate Opening Sequence **Inside the Tower: We Remember Featurette **Innovating Tower: The SPFX of an Inferno Featurette **The Art of Towering Featurette **Irwin Allen: The Great Producer Featurette **Directing the Inferno Featurette **Putting out Fire Featurette **Running on Fire Featurette **Still the Worlds Tallest Building Featurette **The Write Stirling Silliphant Featurette **AMC Backstory: The Towering Inferno Featurette **6 Storyboard Comparisons **Vintage Promotional Materials: NATO Presentation Reel, Original 1974 Featurette #1, Original 1974 Featurette #2 **Irwin Allen 1977 Interview *Trailer Farm: The Towering Inferno Teaser, The Towering Inferno Trailer, The Poseidon Adventure Trailer **Interactive Galleries: *American Cinematographer Article *The Towering Inferno and How It Was Filmed *Photographing The Dramatic Sequences for "The Towering Inferno" *"Action Unit" Lives Up To Its Name While Shooting "The Towering Inferno" **Stills Galleries: *Shot Compositions *Publicity *Behind the scenes *Conceptual Sketches *Costumes *Cross-promo Fox on BD Trailers

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Flesh Gordon (1974) Review

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(More customer reviews)Flesh Gordon has achieved the status of a minor cult film. Although it carefully instructs the viewer not to confuse it with the real Flash Gordon, it follows the story of the first Flash Gordon serial fairly closely, at least for the first third of the film. Part of its cult status comes from the campy style and humor, but mostly it is the combination of cheesy soft-core porn with relatively decent special effects. The DVD shows that strange amalgamation clearly. Overall, the picture quality is fairly mediocre, perhaps not unexpected in a movie this age that was made on a very low budget in the first place. There is a lot of grain in many of the scenes, and some of them are washed out as well. But the worst scenes are the live action scenes (though not all the live action scenes are bad). The special effect scenes, especially the stop-motion animation scenes, are pretty good. They are sharp and the colors are bright and deep. It is obvious that much more care was put into making the special effects than into the rest of the movie. The sound is also nothing special and the supplemental material consists only of a trailer. The DVD does provide a better viewing experience than the VHS, but not a lot better. We're not talking Dark City, here. If you already have this movie on VHS, it may not be worth upgrading (though the trailer, slightly better picture and sound, attractive cover on a Alpha Keep case, and the permanence of DVD was enough for me) but if you don't have it and want it, then the DVD is the way to go.

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FLESH GORDON UNCUT VERSION - DVD Movie

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