Hollywood releases vintage titles on DVD for 50-plus age bracket
Some DVD titles worth considering as gifts for the 50-plus crowd include: – “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood’ (Warner; $26.99): Although starring Sandra Bullock, the real centerpiece of this picture is Ellen Burstyn. The performer, who won an Oscar as best actress for “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,’ plays an eccentric Louisiana mother whose daughter (Bullock) comes to understand the reasons for her parent’s often hurtful behavior throughout the years. The extras on the DVD version of the PG-13 picture include eight additional scenes, commentary by director Callie Khouri and two featurettes.
– “Hopscotch’ (Criterion; $29.99): Never a box-office favorite, this delightful lightweight 1980 picture, directed by Ronald Neame (“The Poseidon Adventure”), concerns a disgruntled CIA operative (the late Walter Matthau) who reacts to a desk-job demotion by threatening to publish his memoirs about government dirty work. Any older person ever the victim of downsizing will certainly be able to identify with the main character. British actress Glenda Jackson co-stars. The DVD pressing of this rarely seen movie features a new high-definition digital transfer.
– “Jackie Brown: Collector’s Edition’ (Miramax; $29.99): Director Quentin Tarantino made this thriller as a tribute to its star, Pam Grier, who appeared in a number of blaxploitation pictures (including “Coffy’ and “Foxy Brown’) in the 1970s. The R-rated picture, which casts Grier as a stewardess who makes a mistake by getting involved with a gun runner (Samuel L. Jackson), will delight fans of the actress’ vintage works. The DVD version absolutely sparkles and offers an incredible number of extras, including deleted scenes and a making-of documentary.
– “Kansas City Confidential’ (Image; $24.99): Long considered a lost work, this 1952 film noir title is a no-frills black-and-white favorite about a disillusioned World War II veteran (John Payne of “The Razor’s Edge”) seeking the robbers who framed him for a crime. Director Phil Karlson gives the stunning work a remarkable raw intensity, aided by the participation of B-movie villains Neville Brand and Lee Van Cleef.
– “The Long Goodbye” (MGM; $19.99): Director Robert Altman takes the traditional gumshoe genre and turns it inside out with this 1973 adaptation of a Raymond Chandler novel concerning shamus Philip Marlowe (Elliot Gould of “M*A*S*H”). Watching the picture, which contains one of the most unsettling scenes of unexpected violence in Hollywood’s history, requires some patience, but it’s a sophisticated treat to study Altman as the filmmaker puts Marlowe through his paces during this story about a missing husband (baseball-player-turned-actor Jim Bouton). For the DVD, cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond was hired to supervise the digital transfer so the toning down of colors he sought to achieve on 35mm was fully captured.
– “Roman Holiday: Special Collector’s Edition” (Paramount; $29.99): Audrey Hepburn, who won an Oscar as best actress for her performance, lights up the screen as a lonely princess who hides her identity and becomes involved with a newspaper reporter (Gregory Peck). The 1953 romantic comedy, directed by William Wyler (“Ben-Hur”), has been fully restored and digitally remastered for the DVD, which includes extras such as three theatrical trailers and a making-of featurette.
– “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon’ (Warner; $19.99): John Wayne looks better than ever in this 1949 frontier epic that’s the middle installment of director John Ford’s cavalry trilogy (which also includes “Fort Apache’ and “Rio Grande’). What makes this DVD so special is the striking color cinematography by Oscar-winner Winton C. Hoch.
– “Sunset Boulevard: Special Collector’s Edition” (Paramount; $29.99): Director Billy Wilder’s grimly humorous and downbeat 1950 classic about the dark side of Hollywood received a frame-by-frame restoration for this lavish DVD. Gloria Swanson and William Holden co-star in the black-and-white picture, and the DVD contains numerous extras, including a making-of documentary, a featurette on the movie and commentary by Ed Sikov, author of “On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder.”
– “To Catch a Thief’ (Paramount; $24.99): One of Alfred Hitchcock’s most elegant works, this 1955 caper picture, set on the French Riviera, stars Grace Kelly as a pampered heiress who becomes involved with a reformed thief (Cary Grant) trying to prove he’s not responsible for stealing some jewels. Grant and Kelly generate seductive star power.
– “To the Devil…a Daughter” (Anchor Bay; $19.99): British favorite Christopher Lee (“Horror of Dracula”), whose career was rejuvenated thanks to the successes of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” and “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones,” is at his evil best. During this production from England’s legendary Hammer Films studio, the intense actor, now 80, plays a Satanist obsessed with transforming a teen-age girl (Nastassja Kinski) into a devil goddess. Though not a huge box-office success when initially released, the 1976 production, based on a novel by Dennis Wheatley, has become a cult favorite and is finally available in a digitally restored print. The terrific supporting cast includes American star Richard Widmark (“Madigan”), Honor Blackman (“Goldfinger”) and Denholm Elliott (“Raiders of the Lost Ark”).
– “Unforgiven: 10th Anniversary Special Edition’ (Warner; $29.99): Clint Eastwood directed and stars in this towering Western, which won four Oscars, including best film and director. The 131-minute production has been carefully pressed on DVD with an all-new digital transfer, and a second disc is filled with extras, including four documentaries on the film and its creator. The story concerns a retired hired killer (Eastwood) who has attempted to change but returns to his old ways after a sadistic sheriff (Gene Hackman) viciously murders his best friend (Morgan Freeman). Themes about aging, regret, retribution and resurrection surface during this unforgettable R-rated work that looks better than ever on DVD.
– “Windtalkers” (MGM; $26.99): Hong Kong director John Woo (“Face/Off”) spent $140 million on this fact-based World War II epic about Navajo Indians who developed a code that could not be broken by the Japanese during the battles in the Pacific. Audiences stayed away from the old-fashioned battle tale, starring Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach and Christian Slater, but it was sold to young action audiences instead of veterans and older viewers. Those second two groups will have a deeper appreciation of the subject matter in this expensive picture, which features a beautiful high-definition anamorphic wide-screen transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.