Each year when things slow down on the big screen at the movies, it's time to turn to the little one and watch the stacks of DVDs that have piled up. A wide range of recommendations from my ever growing pile—conveniently grouped, as always—by category:
GAY & GAY-RELATED
Forget Brokeback Mountain, when it comes to a mainstream gay love story from a major studio with box office stars, look no further than 1982's Making Love making its DVD debut courtesy of Fox Home Video. OK, so Michael Ontkean wasn't exactly A-List box office. OK, so Harry Hamlin wasn't either ( though he had made a fetching debut in Clash of the Titans the previous year ) . But in retrospect, the career risk these two took over 20 years ago is pretty astonishing. The film, written by the openly gay Barry Sandler, is a character study that follows the story of a successful doctor deliriously in love with wife Kate Jackson who suddenly finds himself attracted to men. And when he meets Harry Hamlin, wild horses, let alone a former Charlie's Angel, can't stop him from jumping the fence. This is a full-on gay romance complete with love scenes—something that still hasn't been matched by any mainstream Hollywood release. Kudos to all involved and a special mention for Roberta Flack's beautiful title song. Check out the documentary The Celluloid Closet for background on the film in lieu of any extras on this DVD.
From 1977 comes Fox Home Video's DVD debut of Julia. Based on the Lillian Hellman memoir Pentimento that, according to some critics, makes James Frey's A Million Pieces look as honest as Abe, this is the story of the intense friendship of playwright Hellman ( Jane Fonda ) and her girlhood friend ( Vanessa Redgrave ) , the ravishing, mysterious heiress and political activist, Julia. Jason Robards plays Hellman's mentor and sometime lover, writer Dashiel Hammett. Director Fred Zinnemann's film is gorgeously photographed and acted ( Redgrave and Robards won Supporting Oscars ) . The core of the film is the detailed friendship between the two women that many have interpreted as being lesbian in nature. True/not true, made up by Hellman, the result is great drama. Meryl Streep has a small role. No extras.
From Wolfe Video comes The Journey, a sensual story of forbidden lesbian love. Chicagoan Ligy J. Pullapally's lyrical story covers territory rarely visited by Malayalam filmmakers. The movie tracks the friendship between the beautiful, outgoing Delilah and her new neighbor, the shy Kiran. Slowly the friendship intensifies into the Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name and in rural Malaysia, you'd better believe that lesbian taboos still exist. The sensitive story is integrated with great details of local customs and the film is sensuously photographed. Includes a director's commentary.
At the other end of the spectrum is the sexy and silly Exposed: The Making of a Legend just out from TLA Releasing. Is it possible that shooting a porn film could be anything more than titillating? This jocular documentary cheerfully attempts to debunk that notion. Mr. Pam, the film's female director, was with the cast and crew of the Colt Studios production of BuckleRoos, which shot for ( an unheard of for porn ) , two weeks. She captures everything you'd ever want to know and a lot you don't about the process. Naturally, the ironies abound ( especially when those involved start pontificating ) . Sexy and silly and aptly grouped in TLA's 'Guilty Pleasures Collection.' A nice assortment of extras. Obviously, there's plenty of male nudity and strong sexual content.
RECENTLY IN THEATRES
I loved the music, loved the singing and loved that the film version of Rent followed the traditional conventions of the onscreen musical. The story—that of a group of bohemians trying to survive during the Go Go '80s in Manhattan—I was less enthusiastic about. But for fans of both the show and the movie, the 2-disc DVD release from Sony Pictures is going to be nothing less than Rent nirvana. With more than three hours of extras, this might be the ultimate history of the show, and its creator Jonathon Larson.
Charlize Theron and company act out the true story of female miners sexually harassed during that same period in the mines in northern Minnesota, otherwise known as North Country. The just-released disc from Warner Home Video includes the usual smattering of documentaries and the Oscar-nominated performances from Theron and Frances McDormand. Sissy Spacek, Richard Jenkins, and Rusty Schwimmer offer terrific support.
Neither Cameron Diaz nor Toni Collette got Oscar nods for their wonderful work as battling sisters in the chick flick In Her Shoes, just out from Fox Home Video, though the performances of both are stellar. Shirley MacLaine, who didn't either, is also very effective and quietly subdued as their long-lost grandmother. Three long documentaries are included on the disc.
CLASSICS
Fox Home Videos latest DVD collection 20th Century Marquee Musicals include the tough but lovely Alice Faye, dream boat John Payne, Brazilian Bombshell Carmen Miranda, and closeted gay actor Cesar Romero, all having a blazing technicolor Weekend in Havana from 1941. Next, the frisky Betty Grable proves why the soldiers in WWII gave her the title Pin-Up Girl, which serves as the excuse for this 1944 musical in which Grable is supported by Martha Raye and Joe E. Brown. Daddy Long Legs from 1955 features the French gamin Leslie Caron in her last musical paired with the masterful Fred Astaire, support by Thelma Ritter and tuneful Johnny Mercer songs including 'Something's Gotta Give.' Each contains vintage poster art reproductions and film historian Jeannie Basinger's insightful commentaries.
Turner Home Movies has released a batch of Oscar-winning films for the first time on DVD in support of their annual '30 Days of Oscar' promotion on TCM. Each has a generous share of extras. They include the film version of Edna Ferber's western Cimarron ( 1931's Best Picture ) , the boxing saga The Champ also from 1931, The Good Earth from 1937, legendary producer Irving Thalberg's final MGM production and the epic story based on the Pearl S. Buck novel of a poor Chinese family, Spencer Tracy and child actor Freddie Bartholomew in the heartwarming family classic Captains Courageous, Ginger Rogers in her 1940 Oscar-winning performance ( over Bette Davis in The Letter and Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story no less ) as career woman Kitty Foyle. Jane Wyman also won the Oscar as the deaf girl in 1948's touching Johnny Belinda. and finally Kirk Douglas in Vincent Minnelli's biopic of artist Vincent Van Gogh in 1956's Lust for Life.
TV ON DVD
Finally, from Touchstone Video there's more Dorothy-Blanche-Rose and Sophia ( Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White, and Estelle Getty respectively ) to savor in The Golden Girls—Season 4 which, in my estimation, one of the funniest sitcoms to ever grace the small screen. This 3-disc set includes 24 episodes including the one in which Blanche's brother Clayton ( played by Monte Markham ) comes out—groundbreaking stuff in 1985.
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