Hollywood studios flood stores with manly movies for dad
Want to dazzle your dad on his special day? Just visit your favorite video outlet. Hollywood studios have flooded stores with manly movies designed as gifts for Father’s Day.
Three of Sylvester Stallone’s most popular action epics have been re-mastered in “Rambo Trilogy: Special Edition DVD Boxed Set” ($59.99, DVD only). The glossy package contains “First Blood,” “Rambo: First Blood, Part II” and “Rambo III,” as well as a fourth disc packed with extras about the trilogy featuring the action superstar as Vietnam veteran John Rambo.
The three re-mastered “Rambo” titles are also available individually on DVD ($19.99 each) and in regular tape versions ($14.99 each).
Michael Douglas plays a desperate father trying to protect his teen-age daughter from becoming a drug addict in director Steven Soderbergh’s timely drama, “Traffic” (Criterion Collection; $39.99), which recently arrived in a special edition double-disc DVD set and is the ultimate way to see this riveting film. The numerous extras on the impressive DVD set of “Traffic” include commentary by Soderbergh (who won an Oscar as best director for his work), deleted scenes and special demonstrations on film processing, editing and audio editing. No-frills versions of “Traffic” ($19.99, tape and DVD) are also available, but the Criterion Collection package would make the ultimate gift for any fan of the 147-minute film.
If your dad likes stylish sci-fi films packed with action, Paul Verhoeven’s outrageous “Starship Troopers” (Columbia; $27.99, DVD only) has been released in a double-disc “Special Edition” that contains a digitally remastered anamorphic wide-screen pressing of the film and numerous extras. Based on the book by Robert A. Heinlein, the R-rated picture concerns young soldiers, led by Casper Van Dien, who travel to a distant world for a showdown with a bug-like species threatening Earth.
The second disc in “Starship Troopers: Special Edition” contains a documentary (“Death From Above”), featurettes on the special effects and the making of the film, deleted scenes, screen tests, theatrical trailers, commentary by Verhoeven and much more. A no-frills version of “Starship Troopers” is also available on tape ($14.99) and DVD ($19.99), but as with “Traffic,” the double-disc “Special Edition” set is the way to go.
For a gift that provides a great cinematic epic, the top choice is “Lawrence of Arabia” (Columbia TriStar; $19.99, full-frame tape; $24.99, wide-screen tape; $39.99, “Exclusive Limited Edition” DVD).
Director David Lean’s 1962 biography, starring Peter O’Toole as the British officer who fought in the Middle East during World War I, won seven Academy Awards, including best picture. The lavish double-disc DVD is packaged in an impressive book-like container and features a digitally mastered anamorphic wide-screen image and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. The second disc contains a making-of documentary, four original featurettes, newsreel footage and an interview with director Steven Spielberg discussing the importance of “Lawrence of Arabia.”
Other titles guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of any movie-loving dad include:
– “The Hustler” (Fox; $9.99, tape; $19.99, DVD) with Paul Newman as “Fast Eddie” Felton in director Robert Rossen’s 1961 black-and-white classic about a pool shark who tests his skills against the legendary Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason). The impressive DVD version also contains commentary by Newman and a making-of documentary. To make the gift even better, add Martin Scorsese’s “The Color of Money” (Touchstone; $19.99, tape; $29.99, DVD) to the package. “Money” is the 1986 sequel to “The Hustler” in which Newman re-creates his role as Fast Eddie and serves as a mentor to an arrogant young pool player (Tom Cruise). Newman won an Oscar as best actor for his outstanding performance in the follow-up. Three other Newman titles – “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Hombre” and “The Verdict” (Fox; $9.99 each, tape; $19.99 each, DVD) – have also been reduced for Father’s Day.
– The offbeat 1987 crime film, “Best Seller” (MGM; $14.99, tape and DVD), has been re-mastered and offers an intriguing tale about a frighteningly lethal hit man (James Woods) stalking a cop (Brian Dennehy), who also writes crime novels, and pressuring the officer to pen his bloody life story. Woods and Dennehy deliver remarkable performances as men of action who are opposite sides of the same coin.
– If your dad loves The Duke, five John Wayne favorites – “El Dorado,” “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” “The Sons of Katie Elder,” “True Grit” and “The Shootist” (Paramount; $9.99, tape; $19.99, DVD) – are available at newly reduced prices.
– Three frontier tales – “Bad Company” with Jeff Bridges, “Five Card Stud” with Dean Martin, and “Will Penny” with Charlton Heston (Paramount; $9.99 each, tape; $24.99 each, DVD) – have arrived for fans of cowboy movies.
And perhaps the greatest Western in cinematic history – “Shane” (Paramount; $9.99, tape; $19.99, DVD) – has been reduced in price. The 1953 gunfighter epic with Alan Ladd belongs in the film library of any father who’s a true fan of frontier epics.
Laser Beams
After enjoying a breakthrough hit in “Risky Business” (1983), Tom Cruise could have played it safe and selected a traditional project that would have displayed his sex appeal.
Instead, the actor, who turns 40 in July, decided to take an artistic gamble.
He agreed to spend months in England filming director Ridley Scott’s expensive dark fairy tale, “Legend” (1985), which died at the box office. Cruise plays a boyish warrior trying to save a beautiful girl (Mia Sara) from a horned demon (Tim Curry) in a fantasy word populated by dwarfs, monsters and unicorns. When the project hit negative responses, Scott discarded Jerry Goldsmith’s traditional score for an electronic soundtrack by Tangerine Dream and – to his regret – made other changes.
The filmmaker’s original vision is finally available in “Legend: Ultimate Edition” (Universal; DVD only; $26.99). The double-disc set contains both the 114-minute “Director’s Cut” and the 90-minute domestic release version of “Legend.”
The image has been digitally re-mastered in anamorphic wide-screen and a 50-minute documentary, “Creating the Myth,” chronicles the troubled film’s production history.
Scott, whose credits include “Blade Runner,” “Alien,” “Gladiator” and “Black Hawk Down,” ultimately created a visual masterpiece, and the stunning sequences featuring Curry’s blazing-red demon provide more than enough reason to devote an evening to this title.
Coming Soon!
The following titles either have been or soon will be released to video stores. (If your local tape outlet doesn’t stock them, tapes can be mail ordered by calling (800) 523-0823 or DVDs by calling (800) 624-3078, unless otherwise noted.)
– “The Shipping News” (Miramax; $99.99, tape; $29.99, DVD; June 18: with Kevin Spacey (“American Beauty”), Julianne Moore (“Hannibal”) and Judi Dench” (“Iris”) in director Lasse Hallstrom’s drama about a lonely man who has a second chance to enjoy life.
– “The Majestic” (Warner; $22.99, tape; $26.99, DVD; June 18) with Jim Carrey (“The Truman Show”) in an old-fashioned tale about a Hollywood writer who loses his memory and embarks on a new life in a small town where the residents embrace him.
– “Orange County” (Paramount; $99.99, tape; $29.99, DVD; June 18) with Jack Black (“High Fidelity”) and Colin Hanks (TV’s “Roswell”) in a comedy about a high school senior who’s traumatized after being wrongly denied admission to Stanford University and is forced to attend a party-oriented community college.
( “I Am Sam” (New Line; $99.99, tape; $24.99, DVD; June 18) with Sean Penn (“Casualties of War”) and Michelle Pfeiffer (“What Lies Beneath”) in a melodrama about a mentally challenged man fighting for custody of his young daughter.
( “Rollerball” (MGM; $99.99, tape; $26.99, DVD; June 18) with Chris Klein (“American Pie”), LL Cool J (“Deep Blue Sea”) and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (“X-Men”) in a remake of the 1975 action drama about athletes who participate in deadly competitions for corporations. The home version will be rated R and feature additional footage. The theatrical release was cut to obtain a PG-13 rating.
( “One Kill” (Paramount; $99.99, tape only; June 18) with Anne Heche (“John Q”) and Sam Shepard (“Black Hawk Down”) in a military conspiracy thriller.
( “The Final Hit” (Artisan; $99.99, tape; $24.99, DVD; June 18) with Burt Reynolds (“Boogie Nights”), Lauren Holly (“Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story”), Benjamin Bratt (“Traffic”) and Sean Astin (“The Lord of the Rings”) in a tale about an over-the-hill producer who decided to pull every dirty trick in the book to get a film into production.
( “Beneath Loch Ness” (Dimension; $99.99, tape; $29.99, DVD; June 18) with Patrick Bergin (“Patriot Games”) in a thriller about a research team’s treacherous encounters with a deadly creature at the bottom of a lake in Scotland.
( “Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch” (Disney; $19.99, tape; $29.99, DVD; June 18) with Kevin Zegers (“Air Bud”) and Richard Karns (TV’s “Home Improvement”) in a sequel about the sports-oriented golden retriever Buddy who this time becomes the star hitter on a baseball team.( “Max Keeble’s Big Move” (Disney; $19.99, tape; $29.99, DVD; June 18) with Alex D. Linz (“Home Alone 3”) in a family comedy about a seventh grader who learns that his family is about to move. He gets revenge on all of the bullies who mistreated him and then discovers that the plans for his family to relocate have changed.