Neal McDonough: The Hollywood Interview

Actor Neal McDonough


NEAL MCDONOUGH TAKES OFF THE GLOVES IN TRAITOR
By
Alex Simon

Editor's Note: This article appears in the September issue of Venice Magazine.

Neal McDonough first gained notoriety in Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ epic HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, playing real-life WW II hero Lt. Buck Compton. This came after more than a decade of bit parts, guest spots on television, and paying his dues the way only the tough son of Irish immigrants could. Born February 23, 1966 in Dorchester, MA. Neal was the youngest of six children. After attending Syracuse University, he went onto study at London’s Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.

Following his acclaimed work in Band of Brothers, Neal went on to appear in such films as Spielberg’s Minority Report, Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers, and the acclaimed series Boomtown. More recently, Neal appeared in such diverse fare as The Guardian, I Know Who Killed Me, The Last Time, and Jon Avnet’s 88 Minutes, opposite Al Pacino. Neal also recently appeared in the miniseries Tin Man, as the eponymous leading character.

Possessed of an old-school tough guy steeliness not seen since the likes of Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen or Robert Mitchum, Neal’s talents are put to good use in director Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s Traitor, as a hard-nosed FBI agent who, along with his partner (Guy Pearce), track a suspected terrorist (Don Cheadle)’s entry into the U.S. However, as in all good political thrillers, no person, or event, is quite as it seems. The Overture Films release hits theaters August 27.

We sat down with Neal McDonough at his Hancock Park home recently. In between two lively children and four cats and dogs, a conversation managed to happen. Here’s some of it:

I said to (director) Jeffrey Nachmanoff that Traitor reminded me very much of John Frankenheimer’s political thrillers from the ‘60s and ‘70s. It had that same gritty energy.
Neal McDonough: Yeah, I think Jeffrey’s in the same league. My wife and I used to see Frankenheimer at church and he was somebody I’d always wanted to work with, he was such an icon. Now that he’s gone, there are people like Jeffrey that can take up where he left off. The film is entertainment for thinkers, and there isn’t a lot of that out there right now. Everything is really…

A comic book.
Yeah! Although some of the comic adaptations, like Iron Man, I thought was really terrific. I haven’t seen Batman yet. Once you have kids, you don’t have much free time to watch anything but Teletubbies, which is okay. (laughs) But this is a film I was proud to be a part of. In the last few years I’ve done twelve films, a couple of which were great, a couple weren’t so great, and the rest…I’m very lucky to be a working actor, let’s say that. (laughs)

You’ve been very busy the past few years.
Yeah, I’ve been really fortunate: Flags of Our Fathers, Boomtown, Tin Man, which is probably my favorite role to date. It was fun to play that hardened guy with the heart of gold underneath, but wouldn’t show that heart to very many people. That’s what I am, mostly. My dad came over from Ireland in 1947; my mother came over in ’53. As soon as my dad arrived on American shores, he went straight to the Army office and said “I want to be an American.” So they shipped him all over the world for five years, and he became a sergeant all of which, as he says, is a small price to pay for being an American. So he sunk that into my skull at a very young age: if you do something, do the best you can. If you don’t like something, tell someone you don’t like the way it’s done. That’s really who I am, and when I play these John Wayne, Lee Marvin type characters, that’s who I gravitate towards, like my character Max Archer in Traitor. He can be a good guy or bad guy in the film, but as long as he plays in the gray, not the black & white, that’s who I am.

Lee Marvin was the king. Point Blank is one of the great movies.
Oh man, he was just amazing! That’s a perfect film, just perfect.

Do you think Lee Marvin’s character in that was real, or was he the Angel of Death, as some film scholars and pundits have theorized?
I think he was real. What else could Lee Marvin be, but real?

Let’s go back to Max Archer. How did you avoid making him a cartoon, which would have been very easy to do?
I went into it determined not to make him a cartoon. I played Max as gray as possible. When he’s doing things that might be perceived as being bad, I tried to understand why he was doing it. I tried to portray him as a person who loves what he does, has a very specific way of doing things, while Guy Pearce’s character has another way of doing things.

Ultimately a pragmatist at heart.
Absolutely. He’s going to do what he has to do to get the job done, and if you get in his way, you’re going to get your ass kicked. If I’d had a few more minutes with Don Cheadle’s character in that room alone, I think he would’ve told me everything. (laughs) Someone said to me the other day “How do you feel about being typecast as the tough guy?” I said “What would Lee Marvin or John Wayne have said if you’d asked them the same question?”

McDonough and Guy Pearce in Traitor.

Steve McQueen is the other actor you’ve always reminded me of.
Thanks, man. He was amazing, too, another guy who existed in the gray. I thought about McQueen somewhat with this character I just played in Street Fighter, named Bison, who would have been easy to make into another cartoon bad guy. So I had him speak eight different languages, flying private jets, and everything he did was according to this really crazy code of ethics, but it was his code of ethics. This made him such an incredibly scary character. You look at this guy, and you say “That’s Richard Bramson!” (laughs) He’s this charming guy who’ll smile and charm your pants off, but he’s truly dangerous underneath—not that Richard Bramson is dangerous or evil, but you see what I’m saying. (laughs) You look at the great leaders in the history of the world, and they all exist in that gray area. You have to at that level, and I like playing those characters.

This is the second time you’ve worked with Guy Pearce.
Yeah, and almost identical characters. In Ravenous he was the very thoughtful, careful thinker, and I was the gung-ho guy doing push-ups in the snow. Guy’s great. He’s a very mellow, peaceful guy in person, too.

You paid a lot of dues before you got your first break. Your first paying gig was a single line in Darkman.
“Buncha cuties, huh?” That was my line. At the premiere, in Hyannis where I’m from, my brother Bob at that time had a sign company and had this thing called the ad van that would cruise all over Hyannis. For a week, it had a sign that read “See Darkman, starring Neal McDonough as Dock Worker # 2.” (laughs) We had the premiere and the place was just packed with all my friends. I got killed before (director) Sam Raimi’s name came up in the beginning, and as soon as Raimi’s name came up, we all got up and walked across the street to a pub, and I still haven’t seen the whole film, to this day! (laughs) Someone asked me recently, “How do you enjoy your life now, compared to your salad days?” When I didn’t have anything, and I was working UPS out here, or doing Christmas tree deliveries, I enjoyed the heck out of that, too. As long as you enjoy all the steps, that’s just what life is. I just try to keep it simple as possible.

McDonough in Band of Brothers.

You’re the youngest of six kids, right?
Yeah, and all my siblings are amazing. We have two professors, a stock broker, my brother who had the little sign company now runs the biggest sign company on The Cape, a teacher, and then there’s me, out of the blue, the actor. My mother always said I was the best mistake she ever made, because she had five kids in six years, then four years later I came along. So there was the pod, then there was me. For me, it was more freedom, whereas for the first five it was more like the military: everyone gets in line, everyone eats now, everyone go to bed. My dad, the sergeant, had that down.

When did you know you were an actor?
From the get-go. There was a lot of tension in my family because there was so much going on all the time. I just wanted to make everyone smile, and enjoy. I don’t think that’s changed at all. I’m still the kid who wants to put a smile on people’s faces.

McDonough (center) with Tom Cruise (L) and Colin Farrell (R) in Minority Report.

So you were the kid that was always going for the lead in the school play, or the church play?
Oh yeah, that and sports. I loved baseball. I had to choose between theater or baseball. I got all these scholarship offers from amazing schools to play baseball, but I told my dad “Syracuse has one of the best theater departments. I want to go there.” He just looked at me and said “You’re going to have to work your ass off to pay for it.” Alright. He said “Okay, good. Don’t let yourself down.” And I haven’t. You work hard, great things will happen.

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Jeffrey Nachmanoff: The Hollywood Interview

Director/writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff


JEFFREY NACHMANOFF TAKES THE HELM OF TRAITOR
By
Alex Simon

Editor's Note: This article appears in the September issue of Venice Magazine.

Writer/director Jeffrey Nachmanoff makes his feature debut behind the camera with the political thriller Traitor, released August 27 by Overture Films. Born and raised in Arlington, VA., with stint in London during his teens, Nachmanoff did undergraduate work at Harvard, followed by graduate studies in film at USC. Nachmanoff cut his teeth in “the biz” by editing documentaries, and writing on the side, soon finding himself a working writer after one of his screenplays was optioned. Nachmanoff’s first produced screenplay was the 2004 disaster epic The Day After Tomorrow, and he is also the wordsmith behind Jerry Bruckheimer’s upcoming production Prince of Persia, based on the popular video game.

Jeffrey Nachmanoff spoke with us recently at his Hollywood home about realizing his life-long ambition of shouting “Action!” for a living. Here’s what transpired:

One thing that struck me while watching the film was how reminiscent it was of the work of John Frankenheimer. Are you a fan and/or student of his films?
Jeffrey Nachmanoff: Wow, that’s a huge compliment. Certainly some of my influences for this film were things like French Connection I & II, All the President’s Men, films that were really smart, political thrillers. A lot of those films were made in the ‘70s. A lot of those films were about the political realities the country was facing, but were also popular entertainment. Somewhere along the way, it feels like those became compartmentalized. It got hard to make popcorn films that were about something. So you had to choose between popcorn entertainment, where if you had anything even moderately daring, the studio would want you to take it out, or really serious, independent films with no budget that barely get a release.

Hopefully films like this and The Dark Knight will change that, because they combine both, like the films of the ‘70s.
Yeah, absolutely. I just saw Dark Knight two nights ago, and was blown away by it. Chris Nolan actually lives down the street, so I can’t even have bragging rights about being the best filmmaker on the block! (laughs) They’re entertaining, take you for a ride, but at the same time you don’t have to run away from the real world while you’re doing so. If fact, the real world elements add to it, and make it that much richer.

Yeah, and the last theatrical release before this summer that I can remember which was like that was Frankenheimer’s film Ronin, which was a decade ago.
For me, what makes a story compelling is something that I would want to know about, even if I didn’t have a way to see it in a movie. The subject of how far we’ll go for what we’ll believe in, the subject of what is acceptable when fighting our enemies, which The Dark Knight deals with, as well. What level of collateral damage is acceptable, and not acceptable to us as men and women of principle. Those are all interesting things, but you also have to put those in the back seat and say “It’s a story about this man, or woman, and his journey. And we’re going to take you along with him, and follow him through a lot of twists and turns where his beliefs in the system he trusted, and his belief in himself is tested at almost every turn.” In the case of this film, we have different belief systems which collide, and each case provides the chance for drama and the chance to see what different people do in difficult situations.

Nachmanoff and Don Cheadle on the set of Traitor.

Yeah, it was very reminiscent of Frankenheimer’s Black Sunday, which clearly showed both the Palestinian and Israeli points-of-view.
That was really important to me when I first came on board to make this project. I said that I wasn’t interested in making a jingoistic film that takes one absolute side of it. I grew up in London in the 1980s, and there were terrorist alerts constantly from the IRA. Many people were killed, but there wasn’t the kind of one-sided vilification of the IRA and its cause in the popular entertainment of the period like there is with what we’re facing now, with terrorists in this country. In those movies and TV shows from the 80s in the UK, there were IRA and there were British spies, and it was back and forth, and gritty, and felt very real. It wasn’t jingoistic at all. That may be because the troubles had existed there for decades longer, so the perspective was different. So I thought, why hasn’t anyone done that here and now, with what we’re facing in the U.S.? And I should add that in no way does our film take a two-way viewpoint in the killing of innocent people. Everyone can agree that setting off a bomb that kills innocent people is a horrible thing, but that didn’t stop us from watching films like In the Name of the Father or The Long Good Friday. The characters were very compelling, yet they were IRA terrorists, sympathizers, or fellow travelers. So there was this scale of people, and it wasn’t so easy to say who was “good” or who was “bad.” You grow up on a certain block or a certain street, you are on “this team,” whether you like it or not. The fact that one day they might ask you to set off a bomb, that’s when you find out what you’re really made of.

And you do that with Don Cheadle’s character in Traitor.
Yeah, Samir is a man of faith, someone who believed in Islam and believed in justice, and perhaps was sucked into something bigger than himself. If he’d grown up in a different place on the planet, this person might have been a Red Cross volunteer. Also I believe that the only way to fight religious extremists is to make an effort to understand them. You have no chance of defeating your enemy if you don’t at least try to put yourself in their shoes.

This story has an interesting genesis: apparently it was Steve Martin (who gets co-story credit) that came up with the original concept?
It wasn’t too long after 9/11 that Steve Martin was working on a film called Bringing Down the House with my producers David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman. And Steve said “I have an idea for a thriller in the world of terrorism.” David and Todd laugh, and they meet with Steve the next day who tells them the idea, which he’d written up as a five page treatment. They bought it on the spot, got it set up at Disney, and said “Now we need a writer who can turn this into a screenplay.” That’s when I was brought into meet them. One of the reasons I wanted the meeting, was I wanted a chance to meet Steve Martin! (laughs) Like many young writers, I’d grown up idolizing Steve Martin. So I brought in a rough idea, and pitched it to Steve, and he said “That sounds great.” And that was the beginning of it all.

How was it making the transition from screenwriter to director?
I’d directed student films before, but never a feature. As a writer, you’re really there to serve the director, because someone has to control the process of actually making the film, fortunately or unfortunately. That is, unless you’re lucky enough to be given a shot to direct a film that you’ve written. So I guess you could say that I’m an old rookie as a director, and all that preparation I went through before I stepped behind the camera was great, really invaluable. So even though I’ve been working in Hollywood for some time, this is really the first film that I can say is mine.

Nachmanoff and Guy Pearce on the set of Traitor.

Tell us about that what that experience was like, since you don’t hear it much anymore. It’s very much a ‘70s story.
(laughs) It’s totally a ‘70s story! It’s like the line from the Bible: “It’s harder for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.” Similarly, it’s about as difficult for a writer-for-hire to get to direct his own screenplay. What happened was, I wrote the script, the producers were really happy with it, the studio was happy with it, but said “Even though we think this is a great script, Disney is not in the business of making an edgy terrorist thriller,” which was a little alarming considering they’d hired me to write one! (laughs) But these are the vagaries of Hollywood. So it sat around for a while, got put into turnaround, and Don Cheadle read it, and said “I’d like to play this part.” Then my producers said “You know, the only way to really get this movie made is to not make it as a big studio movie, and there’s only one person who can deliver that on this film, and that’s Jeffrey.” And they were right: they were never going to have someone who was more passionate and knew more about this story than me. I’d lived it, I’d breathed it, and I’d directed it in my head already. So when I went to pitch myself as the director, I put together a visual book of images from films, from various photo libraries and other sources, which actually put my undergraduate background to use, where I got my degree in art and photography. I also did some storyboards, and I put together a visual representation of how I’d shoot the movie. I think that helped convince them, and make them comfortable that I was ready to be the director. Then I sat down with Don, and we very quickly hit it off. When he gave me his vote of confidence, that’s what put everyone else over the edge. Once you have one of the premiere actors in Hollywood giving you his stamp of approval, it’s that much harder for people to say “no.” I got very lucky.

Theatrical trailer for Traitor.

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Author Harlan Ellison gives an absolutely inspired rant on the treatment of writers in "the biz." Enjoy!

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John Badham: The Hollywood Interview

Director John Badham.

John Badham's Tides of War
By Alex Simon


John Badham has drawn critical praise and box office success during a career distinguished by its range and diversity. Badham rose to the forefront of the film world in the summer of 1983 with the release of Blue Thunder and WarGames, two of the season's biggest hits, which were nominated for four Academy Awards. WarGames, a coming-of-age thriller, stars Matthew Broderick as a precocious teen computer hacker who manages to hack into the NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) computer, and almost kicks off WW III with the Russians! The film has just been re-released on DVD in a new, 25th anniversary edition from MGM/Fox.

Born August 25, 1939 in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, the son of an American Army General and an English actress, Badham grew up in Alabama, and attended college at Yale. He initially cut his teeth on episodic television in the late ‘60s, earning an associate producer spot on Rod Serling’s legendary swan song Night Gallery, where he directed six episodes between 1971-73. Badham made his first feature film, The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings, in 1976, which teamed James Earl Jones, Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor. In 1977, Badham guided John Travolta to worldwide fame in Saturday Night Fever, which went on to become one of the top grossing films of all time, and to usher in the era of disco music and fashion.

Following Saturday Night Fever, Badham received recognition for his vivid adaptations of two Broadway plays; Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981), starring Richard Dreyfuss, and the stylized Dracula, with Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier which swept the Grand Prizes at the Paris International Science Fiction Festival and the U.S. Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Awards. He then directed Kevin Costner in the cycling action-drama American Flyers (1985), followed by the delightful comedy Short Circuit, featuring Ally Sheedy, Steve Guttenberg and the very human antics of Robot Number Five.

In 1989, Badham directed Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn in the action/comedy Bird On A Wire. Both Stakeout and Bird On A Wire were filmed on location in Vancouver, British Columbia, and rank among the top-ten grossing movies of their respective years. His film Point of No Return (1992), propelled Bridget Fonda to stardom, as a government created assassin. Another Stakeout (1993), reunited Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez as the pair of undercover cops from the original hit Stakeout. In 1994, Drop Zone took Wesley Snipes into the high adrenaline world of skydiving to catch a group of killers. Nick of Time (1995), starred Johnny Depp as a ordinary father who is forced into a plot to assassinate the Governor of California when his young daughter is kidnapped.

Badham did undergraduate work at Yale in philosophy, then earned his Master’s Degree from the Yale School of Drama. Inspired by his sister Mary’s early Hollywood success as the young protagonist Scout in the classic To Kill a Mockingbird, he moved to Los Angeles and landed a job in the mailroom at Universal Studios, where he moved up through the ranks learning casting, cutting trailers and eventually directing episodic television.

Badham has earned the reputation of being an “actor’s director” through a career impressive in its range and diversity. In 1977, he guided a then-unknown Travolta to worldwide fame with Saturday Night Fever (a cultural milestone that launched the disco era and went on to become one of the top-grossing films of all time). His career hit another high point in 1983, when two films he directed that year, Blue Thunder and WarGames, received four Academy Award nominations. Since then he’s collaborated with such luminaries as Laurence Olivier, Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson, Johnny Depp and James Garner in films that have won both critical praise and box office success. Other films Badham has helmed include Point of No Return (1993), Short Circuit (1986), Bird On A Wire (1990), Stakeout (1987), Another Stakeout (1993), American Flyers (1985), Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981) and the stylized Dracula (1979).

Badham is also a prominent television producer and director. Currently directing episodes of the hit series "Heroes" and "Crossing Jordan" he served as an executive producer and director for the Steven Bochco drama Blind Justice (2005). He’s also directed The Shield (2003), Standoff (2006), Just Legal (2005) Night Gallery (1972) and received two Emmy nominations for his work on the ‘70s series The Senator and The Law. His telefilm Floating Away (1998), starring Paul Hogan and Roseanna Arquette, won the Prism award for its portrayal of alcohol abuse. Other projects include HBO’s The Jack Bull (1999), Showtime’s The Last Debate (2000), Lifetime’s Obsessed (2002) and CBS’s Footsteps (2003).

Professor John Badham leads the Graduate Directing Program at the Dodge College of Film and Media at Chapman University. In addition, his innovative computer program, ShotMaster, which creates
Storyboards for people who cannot draw, is available to DGA members on their website.

John Badham spoke to us recently about WarGames’ 25th anniversary, and his remarkable career.


When I first saw WarGames, it was entertaining, and scary, at the same time. Let’s begin by talking about how timely it was, since there will be a lot of people seeing the film for the first time who didn’t live through the Cold War.
John Badham: That’s true. The Cold War was winding down at that point, not like it was in the ‘50s, but we certainly touched on how stupid war was, and the fact that we’d gotten ourselves into this paranoid position.

But Reagan was still rattling the saber pretty enthusiastically at that point.
Absolutely! He saw this movie as a guide to what you could do. He thought it was realistic. (laughs) I heard this through a guy named Larry Lasker, who co-wrote WarGames, and it’s also in the famous Reagan book that one of Reagan’s staff wrote. At one point, they’re discussing the various missile defense systems, and Reagan starts talking about something like Star Wars, to which his staff replied that that sort of thing wasn’t possible with the present technology. Reagan said “Well yes it is. Mommy and I saw it the other night, this movie called WarGames.” The reason I really believe it is that Larry Lasker’s parents were good friends with the Reagans. Larry and (co-writer) Walter (Parkes) had gained access to NORAD through the White House. If you’re a VIP of some sort, you can go down into the mountain and get a tour of the facility.

The 25th anniversary DVD of WarGames.

You came into the production quite last-minute, replacing Martin Brest, who’d done 2-3 weeks of work on the film.
He’d been on it quite a while in preparation. Then after shooting about 2 weeks worth of film in Seattle, he’d come back to Los Angeles to continue shooting. I was in the process of a painfully long sound mix on Blue Thunder, which took ten weeks, and I got a call from my agent saying “They’re in trouble over at United Artists with this film. I told them you wouldn’t be interested, but I wanted to let you know about it.” And I said ‘Lee, what if the film’s good? We should read it anyway.’ And the script was just fabulous. You just got caught up in this young guy who’s in over his head. First there’s a sense of fun, then there’s a sense of adventure and danger, then it becomes really chilling. From what I could tell out of what Marty was shooting, he’d taken a somewhat dark approach to the story, and saw Matthew’s character as someone who was rebelling against his parents, and who was just kind of stewing inside. There was that tone to it. I said ‘If I was 16 and could get on a computer and change my grades or my girlfriend’s grades, I would be peeing in my pants with excitement!’ And the way it was shot, it was like they were doing some Nazi undercover thing. So it was my job to make it seem like they were having fun, and that it was exciting, but it wasn’t this dark rebellion.

From a directorial point of view, was it tough to come in and take over someone’s vision?
Well, first you have to get the confidence of the crew, and I walked into the production office, which is a huge open space with 20 desks and some offices surrounding the perimeter. They said “Here’s your office.” It had been Marty Brest’s office, and there was a big sign on the door that said “Do Not Enter Without Knocking.” I grabbed a magic marker, turned the piece of paper over and wrote “Come on in anytime.” (laughs) I knew I was going to have to talk to these people really fast and get a lot done, because they gave me two weeks to prepare, then after three days they nudged me so much we were shooting on the fourth day. So I made friends with the crew, and let them know I wasn’t a threat, and the actors Matthew and Ally, are terrified that they’re going to get fired. So these two kids are coming on the stage stiff as boards. They had Marty’s vision in their heads, plus “This is the end of the line for us, too.” The first shot I did with them was about 12-14 takes, which for me is a lot! If I do 5 takes, I’m irritated with myself for not getting it right. But the job was to loosen them up, get them goofy, and be relaxed.

How do you do that, put actors at ease?
Your personality is going to help a lot, by being upbeat, encouraging and maybe adding things to the scene that might make it a little more fun. For example, Matthew’s character had a chest of drawers where he kept his clothes, so I grabbed some underpants, hung them on a lampshade, and messed up the room, so that when Matthew came in, he had to straighten things up, hide the underpants, and so on, from this girl, who’d never been in his room. At one point, I said ‘We’ve done a lot of takes here, and your mind gets kind of locked into one thing. Let’s just have a race around the stage outside, and the last person in has to sing a song to the crew.” They looked at me like I’d lost my mind, but out we went, and had a race around the stage. They both were 20 years younger than me, so you can guess who lost that one! Then I sang the silliest song I could think of in front of the crew, which was “The Happy Wanderer,” which is one of those yodeling songs.

Is there any film of this?
(laughs) No! Of course not! So we went on and began to have a lot of fun, and two takes later, that’s what you see in the movie. But it took a while, and after that they were in good shape because they knew they had someone they could trust, that they could have fun with, and who wasn’t going to yell at them.

Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy in WarGames (1983).

This was the breakout movie for both Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy. What was it like working with them at that point, when they were still pretty green?
Matthew was actually a very confident actor at that point. He’d had a lot of experience, and the genes of his father, James Broderick, who was a fabulous actor and had been on a wonderful show Mike Nichols created, called “Family.” So Matthew had all of those genes. Ally had done one movie, Bad Boys, she was very green at that point. It took a lot of nurturing, and being patient with her until she got some confidence in what she was doing. So much of acting is about being relaxed and being confident, which is easy for me to say and really hard to do!

While watching the film again, it struck me that WarGames is a very timely film now for entirely different reasons than in was in ’83.
How so?

First of all, if you look at the way technology has grown since then—my cell phone has more memory than the computer Matthew Broderick was using—one has to wonder if it would be even easier for a terrorist hacker to break into NORAD today, and also it struck me how this film is a more serious cousin to Dr. Strangelove in many respects.
I’m sure that I unconsciously borrowed a lot from Dr. Strangelove in the tone, because it’s one of my favorite movies, and the other movie that was out at that time was Fail-Safe, which I didn’t like at all. It was very similar, but the silly part of me just delighted in Dr. Strangelove. So certainly the character of the General that Barry Corbin plays has some echoes coming out of there.

I thought it was also interesting that Walter Parkes said he wrote the part of Dr. Falken with John Lennon in mind.
Wow, you know he never told me that. That’s a new one on me, but it makes sense. At one point. Walter told me that he wrote it as a model of Stephen Hawking, who’s confined to a wheelchair, and then everybody starting saying “That’s too much like Dr. Strangelove!” So we went with an ambulatory character instead.

The original theatrical trailer for WarGames.

Let’s talk about your background. When did you know that you were creatively inclined?
Probably just having fun making stuff up since I was little. My mom was an actress who had attended RADA before the war, so I probably got some of her genes. My sister certainly got some of her genes. I started acting in the first grade and then realized in college that I was an okay actor, but not good enough to make a career out of it. My friend Sam Waterston was getting all the big leads, and you just knew that Sam was going to be big, and would always be big, and that turned out to be the truth.

Did you get to spend time on the set of To Kill a Mockingbird with your sister?
No, I was busy in college and there was no way I could break away, but I wish I had. I did get to come out later and watch her be in a Twilight Zone episode, which was really exciting for me to be on a set, and watch Rod Serling, and see how movies were shot. That was my first time on a set.

And the TV series that really helped launch you was Serling’s Night Gallery, a decade later.
That’s right. I did get to know Serling, and had several conversations with him, and had the frightening prospect of having to rewrite him! (laughs) The pilot for Night Gallery, which was the two hour pilot where Steven Spielberg directed the segment with Joan Crawford, Serling had this long, long introductory speech in the beginning. My boss, the show’s producer, said to me “This is kind of long.” I said ‘Yeah, it’s going to time out at 2-3 minutes.’ He said “Well, call Serling and tell him to cut it down.” I said ‘You want ME to call Rod Serling and tell him to cut it down?!’ He said “Yeah, I don’t have time.” Click. (laughs) He hangs up. So before I called him, I thought ‘I’d better have something ready.’ So I got him on the phone and told him, and he began to bitch and moan and carry on, and you’d have thought I asked him for his first-born child! (laughs) “They don’t pay me enough to do this kind of stuff!” So I said ‘Well sir, I took the liberty of making a few cuts and if you like them, great, if not, you don’t have to use them.’ He said “Okay, okay. Let’s hear it.” So I told him the cuts and he said “That’s fine.” (laughs) I hang up the phone. I’m dripping with sweat after this confrontation with this amazing, iconic writer. Re-writes were just not his thing.

Did you get to know him well enough where you got a sense of him as a person?
Not that well. I remember him saying to us one night that he no longer understood the business. This is 1969 or ’70, that it had changed and he just didn’t get it anymore. And I’ve witnessed that so many times since then, because the business is constantly changing and morphing and it’s all you can do to keep up with what people are doing.

Have you had any similar epiphanies?
I just watch the way films are being made nowadays. Studios are making nothing but big cartoons that they can make franchises out of. They don’t want to make anything that smacks of just being a one-off. Nobody wants to make the Robert Altman-type films, like the films of the ‘70s, where you make one of them, and they’re great and everybody’d love it. But now, if you can’t look forward to making four or five, they don’t want to do it.

You were lucky enough to come up at the end of the auteur decade, so you got to make some of those films yourself, beginning with Bingo Long, but especially Saturday Night Fever, which cemented your career and John Travolta’s, and created an entirely new cultural touchstone. Let’s being with how a boy from Alabama managed to make this gritty, kitchen sink drama that was reminiscent of the work of Tony Richardson and John Osborne from the early ‘60s.
Interestingly enough, Bingo Long was a favorite of (producer) Robert Stigwood, and his people, so they were making a picture that was eventually called Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. They flew me to New York in secret, to talk about making Sgt. Pepper. And I read the script and said ‘I don’t understand a bloody word of this thing! What am I going to do?’ So I have a meeting them, and I’m not very positive about it. Stigwood is trying to get me to stay in New York to work on the script, and I have to make up a tale about how it’s my daughter’s birthday, and I have to fly back to LA, because I no more want to stay in town and work on this thing than I wanted to have my prostate examined! (laughs) So I go home, and I don’t hear anything more from them. About two weeks later, they fire John Avildsen (Rocky) from Saturday Night Fever. Now the good part is that what I’d been working on during that time was the musical adaptation of The Wiz. I’d worked on the adaptation of the script and was with my partner Rob Cohen at Universal. We were in a go mode, except for one, nasty thing: they kept insisting they wanted Diana Ross to play Dorothy. I kept saying ‘Dorothy is six years-old. Dorothy in L. Frank Baum’s books is a little child.’ But that’s tough to do in the movies with a little child, which is why Judy Garland was 15 when she did it, and they strapped her breasts down. Over the years, all the girls who’d played the part were 14-15, which would’ve been fine with me. But to have 30 year-old play Dorothy, who believed in cowardly lions and tin men, that was just neurotic! They kept insisting, and finally one day I said ‘I can’t do this. I’ve got to get out of this.’ Rob said “If you quit, you’re not going to get paid.” And he was right: I’d worked on it for six months and hadn’t seen a nickel, and I was literally on unemployment at that time. So I knew I had to figure out a way to get fired. So I’m in a meeting with the head of Universal and four or five of his honchos. I said ‘You know, I love Diana Ross. I think this is the best idea for this musical…There is this problem with her age, but I know how to solve it.’ So they all looked at me, and they all thought I’d figured out some devious way to save face. I said ‘The other night, I saw on late night TV this wonderful, old Robert Montgomery film called Lady in the Lake, which is all shot from Montgomery’s POV, and you never actually see him, unless he’s looking in a mirror or something. That’s what we’re going to do with Dorothy! Won’t it be great!’ (laughs)

John Travolta in Badham's hit Saturday Night Fever (1977).

That’s brilliant. You got into Yale for a good reason.
Well it took me about four months to come up with that, because this drama with Diana Ross went on for that long (Editor’s note: Sidney Lumet went on to direct the picture, which was a notorious flop). I had gone through anger, denial, all those things you’re supposed to go through about death…But during that entire process, I’d been watching one musical a day to familiarize myself with the genre, everything from Buzby Berkeley to Bob Fosse, I watched it. So when I got Saturday Night Fever, I was primed and ready to go. I knew how to do those dance sequences, and I also understood the psychology of those kids, because even growing up in Alabama, the psychology was very similar.

Was there any feeling while you were making Fever that it was going to be the phenomenon that it was, or did you think you were making this small, slice-of-life picture?
I looked at it that way. I looked at it as Mean Streets, which was really the model for me. It was a $3 million picture. It was meant by Paramount as a way to give John Travolta something to do while they were waiting to start Grease. Robert Stigwood wanted to do it, and they said “Fine, Robert. You pay for it, and we’ll distribute it.” But Paramount really didn’t want to make it. When they saw it, they were horrified by the language and the sexuality, all of which Robert was very insistent about keeping. Every time I would suggest softening it, Robert would say “No! Keep it as it is.” Barry Diller and Michael Eisner, who were running Paramount at the time, were just in shock. And then when the movie opened big, Barry Diller was heard yelling—these were the days when to find out what the theater grosses were, you had to call into this number, and they’d read you the figures—“No, no. There’s too many zeroes. There’s too many zeroes! This can’t be right!” (laughs) But they were.

One reason the film holds up so well today is that you shot it very neo-realist style.
Yeah, I almost tried to pretend like I was an English documentarian who’d come to Brooklyn to shoot a study of these kids and this subculture. I just tried to observe, and listen to people, and not try to impose my vision on it, because what do I know about Brooklyn?

So what was it like going from unemployment to being the hottest director in town?
Certainly difficult in terms of deciding what to do next. I just thought I should make pictures I would enjoy making, which was tough because a lot of people were after me, throwing dozens of scripts at me. So every choice I made was kind of painful. I had fun doing the movies that I picked, though.

You followed Fever with two stage adaptations: Dracula and Whose Life is it Anyway? What was it like opening up material that was originally written for the stage, and making it cinematic?
With Dracula it was pretty easy, because we just went back to Bram Stoker’s book, and paid no attention to the Broadway show. What we tried to keep from the show was Frank Langella’s sexuality. They were emphasizing the more campy aspects, and we decided to play it straight. With Whose Life, I worked with Reginald Rose, who’d written 12 Angry Men, and told him to open up the hospital, since the play really just took place in one room. We actually took the play up to the Williamstown Theater Festival one summer so we could familiarize ourselves with the material. I had a wonderful cast in addition to Richard Dreyfuss: Blythe Danner, Ed Herrmann, Celeste Holm. Then we started shooting afterward, right away.

You worked with the great John Cassavetes in that film. What was he like?
Oh, he was wonderful. He had kind of an angry, gruff exterior, but he really committed to what he was doing. John was so used to doing improvisational stuff, that on the very first day of shooting, he’s got to walk over to order some Valium for Dreyfuss’ character to calm him down. The line was “Nurse, prepare 10 milligrams of Valium for Mr. Harrison.” And John said “I can’t say this. It’s too doctor-like.” I said ‘John, you’re a doctor.’ He said “Why can’t I just say ‘Give this asshole a shot!’” I said ‘Because if you’re not specific about the amount, you could kill him. Doctors have to be precise.’ “Oh, okay, okay. Kid, I’m doing things for you I wouldn’t do for myself.” (laughs) He was so funny. We’d do five or six takes, and he’d say “Okay, those were for you now I’m going to do one for myself.” And we said ‘Fine, do what you want. We’ll follow you.’ And he’d do another take, and it would be exactly the same. But I knew he felt better, just kind of getting his rocks off. He was really the kindest man, and so generous underneath that gruff exterior. He was really a wonderful guy.

I understand you also shot a version in black & white?
We shot the whole thing in black & white! MGM said that we had to shoot it on color stock, which was their safety margin, because they didn’t want to do it in black & white. So to please me, they let us shoot on color stock, and then we developed it in black & white, and made a lovely black & white print. I thought if we made a widescreen, Panavision print, which we did, in a gorgeous black & white like something out of the ‘40s, that it would be something really special. We ran it at a few previews, and people loved it, but David Begleman, who ran MGM at that time, said “Well, I can tell from how people are reacting that it’s going to need to be in color.” I said ‘Uh, I didn’t get that at all. I don’t understand.’ So it went out in color, and I drained as much of the color out in the color mixing as I could to keep it subdued. We’d protected ourselves during the shoot a little bit by making sure all the sets were black, white or grey, and the costumes were, as well.

Warren Oates and Roy Scheider in Blue Thunder (1983).

Let’s talk about Blue Thunder and the late, great Roy Scheider and Warren Oates.
They were two of the most terrific professionals. They came to work, knew their jobs, and were just exceptional human beings. Warren was a wild man, and part of The Wild Bunch! (laughs) He had a great history there, and his stories of nightly tequila parties as the sun went down in Mexico with mariachi bands playing, that was kind of how Warren lived his life: really wild and crazy. But he’d come to the set, and was so focused on his job, and would try anything. One time, we had rear projection plates going on behind his office set, to simulate downtown LA at night. The rear projection kept screwing up and I went up to him and apologized and he said “Ah, don’t worry. I could do this all day long! I love this!” That kind of spirit, just loving the work, and being willing to try things, was what was so great about him. And Roy Scheider came from a totally different background: New York guy, more Method-trained and everything, more serious about his work, but somebody who knew how to have a lot of fun, too. I suspect Roy is the guy in Jaws who wrote the line “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.” (laughs) Roy would do that, he’d come up with these little one-liner ad-libs at the end of scenes. When I showed the film to Spielberg, he said “You gotta cut these lines out that Scheider does at the end of scenes. He’s always doing it. I hate it!” I said ‘Well, I think they’re kind of funny, Steve.’ But it’s a shame we lost him, because he was a wonderful guy.

You’ve written a very well-received book called I’ll be in my Trailer. How was the book born?
The book was born after I was speaking at AFI one night, and somebody asked me a question about how do deal with difficult actors. I said ‘I don’t have enough time to answer that, because it’s really hard.’ And I noticed that the whole class that I had there, 30-40 people, had suddenly sat up, stopped writing in their notebooks, started paying attention, and I realized that there was a subject people were really interested in. So I went with my friend Craig Moderno, who’s a journalist, and we interviewed as many directors and actors as we could get our hands on over a period of 3-4 years: Sydney Pollack, Michael Mann, Mark Rydell, Steven Soderbergh, Michael Ritchie, Oliver Stone…anybody I could get to sit down with me, and would ask ‘How do you work with actors?’ And I’d ask the actors ‘What do you want from a director, and what pisses you off about a director?’ I learned so much from that, and that book is a reflection from all of those things.

Badham lines up a shot.

In recent years you’ve come full circle and have returned to doing television work. What’s it been like going back to TV?
It’s interesting because it’s like going to the gym to work out. I’m going to Chicago next week to do a TV show called The Beast, with Patrick Swayze, and I’ll be there for three weeks, and then I’m gone. In that time, I’ve got to do the best I can with the script that I’m given, which is a really good exercise. That’s opposed to a movie I’m working on right now that I’ll be on for a year and a half. It’s a long, slow process. It’s certainly not a director’s medium, television, whereas film is. In TV, it’s kind of like being a short order cook at McDonald’s. They’ve got a picture of that Big Mac, and that’s the way that Big Mac has got to be made. You don’t go screwing around and moving that pickle from one side of the bun to the other! (laughs) That’s how producers would like television to be done. Part of the challenge of being the director is to introduce stuff in there that maybe they haven’t thought of, and that a little creativity is a good thing. The biggest challenge is to stay fresh, and you do that by keeping busy. I like keeping busy.

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DVD Playhouse: August 2008

DVD PLAYHOUSE—AUGUST 2008
By Allen Gardner

TRAFIC (Criterion) Jacques Tati’s final outing as the bumbling Monsieur Hulot, this time finding himself on the road to Amsterdam where he’s taking his state-of-the-art camper to an auto show. Late career gem from the actor/filmmaker, loaded with his signature sight gags and satire on consumer society and technology. 2 disc set. Bonuses: 1971 interview with cast and crew; 1973 TV profile of Tati; Trailer; New, two-part documentary on Tati and M. Hulot. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! (Criterion) Wild, almost indescribable assault on the senses from maverick Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin. Set in a lighthouse on Black Notch Island where fictional protagonist (you guessed it) Guy Maddin is raised by his domineering, Bible-thumping mother. David Lynch meets Salvador Dali would be the best way to sum up this comic, sci-fi nightmare of a film, not for all tastes to be sure, but also unforgettable. Bonuses: Narration tracks by Isabella Rossellini, Laurie Anderson, John Ashbery, Crispin Glover, Guy Maddin, Louis Negin, and Eli Wallach; Documentary; Two new short films by Maddin; Deleted scene; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo.
MON ONCLE, ANTOINE (Criterion) A young boy comes of age in rural Quebec of the 1940s. Nicely-done cinema-verite-style film borrows much from the French New Wave, but does so honestly, and with a great deal of heart. Quiet, gentle, beautifully understated film could be used as an object lesson for today’s young filmmakers who seem obsessed with hyperactive editing and things that go “boom!” 2 disc set. Bonuses: Trailer; English-dubbed soundtrack; Documentary on film’s production; Documentary on director Claude Jurta; 1957 experimental short by Jurta and Norman McLaren. Widescreen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
THE SMALL BACK ROOM (Criterion) Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s intriguing noir exercise about a bomb-disposal expert (David Farrar) who struggles in love (with lovely Kathleen Byron) and his latest assignment to analyze a devastating new weapon developed by the Germans. A deft blend of suspense and romance that, like most Powell/Pressburger efforts, still feels contemporary nearly 60 years after its release. Bonuses: Commentary by film scholar Charles Barr; Interview with cinematographer Chris Challis; Audio excerpts from Powell’s dictations for his autobiography. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
TWENTY-FOUR EYES (Criterion) Beautiful film from Japan about a dedicated teacher which is also a telling social and political tale of Japan itself, spanning the years 1928 through post-WW II. Hideko Takamine is breathtaking as the idealistic teacher, whose faith never waivers in youth, even in her country’s darkest hour. Finely observed character study from director Keisuke Kinoshita. Bonuses: Interview with Japanese cinema scholar Tadao Sato; Trailers. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN (City Lights) Mesmerizing film adaptation based on Manuel Puig’s novel about two prisoners (William Hurt and Raul Julia) in an unnamed Latin American jail who form a complex relationship rooted in fantasy, in which their political, social and sexual identities crystallize. Stunningly directed by Hector Babenco, Hurt’s turn as a transsexual inmate scored him a Best Actor Oscar in 1985. 2 disc set. Bonuses: Four featurettes; Documentary: Tangled Web, Making Kiss of the Spider Woman. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
QUID PRO QUO (Magnolia) Nick Stahl plays an ambitious reporter investigating why a perfectly healthy man entered a local hospital and demanded that surgeons remove one of his legs. After hooking up with an informant (Vera Farmiga), he is led into a bizarre subculture of willing amputees! Bizarre mystery story is also compelling as hell, thanks to a terrific cast and fine direction by Carlos Brooks. Bonuses: Audition tapes; Documentary excerpts; Storyboards; Deleted scenes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES (Magnolia) Fascinating portrait of two best friends (Evan Rachel Wood and Eva Amurri) on the brink of adulthood, one a hell-raiser, the other a timid soul. An intriguing study of extremes by director Vadim Perelman, featuring fine supporting work from Uma Thurman . Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Alternate ending; Casting sessions; Photo gallery; Featurette; Commentary by Perelman and production designer Maia Javan. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN? (Genius Products/Weinstein Co.) Morgan Spurlock’s darkly humorous look at the (thus far) inept manhunt for the world’s most wanted terrorist. Spurlock travels the Middle East interviewing both ordinary people and political experts on the world’s most war-ravaged region, and the implications of Bin Laden’s still being at large. Funny and thought-provoking, as with Spurlock’s previous efforts. Bonuses: Alternate ending; Animated history of Afghanistan; Interviews with Shimon Peres, IRA leader Martin McGuinness; Egyptian activist Saad Ibrahim; Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE BANK JOB (Lions Gate) True heist story about a motley gang of robbers who pulled off a daring bank robbery in 1971 London. Jason Statham heads a fine cast, and the period is beautifully recreated, but one wishes that director Roger Donaldson, who’s done such fine work in the suspense genre before with films like No Way Out, would have emphasized grittiness more and humor less. Still overall a solid thriller, worth a look. Bonuses: Commentary by Donaldson, actress Saffron Burrows, composer J. Peter Robinson; Two featurettes; Deleted and extended scenes; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
SECRETARY (Lions Gate) Maggie Gyllenhaal is pitch-perfect as an ambitious young woman who takes a job as the secretary to a tightly-wound lawyer (James Spader, great as always) and soon finds herself involved in a kinky, sadomasochistic affair with the seemingly-reserved yuppie, that soon turns loving! Quite sweet (believe it or not!) romantic comedy from co-writer/director Steve Shanberg. Bonuses: Commentary by Shanberg and co-writer Erin Cressida Wilson; Featurette; Photo gallery. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 surround.
THE INGLORIOUS BASTARDS (Ryko/Severin Films) 1978 Italian exploitation “classic” is an unabashed rip-off of The Dirty Dozen, wherein a motley band of American soldiers (B-movie stalwarts Bo Svenson and Fred “the Hammer” Williamson among them), all hardened criminals headed for court-martials, break out of their prison convoy after it’s attacked by Germans. Before they can reach safety in neutral Switzerland they find themselves recruited by an army intelligence officer (Ian Bannen) for a suicide mission behind enemy lines. Consistently campy and cheesy, but rarely any fun, and painfully derivative of an entire genre of better movies made a decade (or more) earlier. Currently being remade by Quentin Tarantino, but based on the very middling source material, all one can ask is “why?” One thing’s for sure: Quentin has nowhere to go but up! Three disc set. Bonuses: Two featurettes; Trailers; Documentary on film’s production; Trailer; Soundtrack CD. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
THE EXECUTIONER’S SONG: DIRECTOR’S CUT (Paramount) Dynamite adaptation by Norman Mailer of his own historical novel about convicted murderer Gary Gilmore (Tommy Lee Jones, riveting) and his desire to be executed for his crimes, by firing squad. Jones gives a haunting portrait of an intelligent man driven to self-destruction by demons so deep-seeded, that he seems keenly aware that only doom can await him at the end of the road. Rosanna Arquette, Christine Lahti and Eli Wallach are fine in support. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
THE ROLLING STONES: SHINE A LIGHT (Paramount) Martin Scorsese returns to the rock concert documentary stage that he helped redefine with The Last Waltz 30 years ago, filming The Stones during their “A Bigger Bang” tour in 2007. Lots of great energy captured by the world’s greatest continuously operating rock band, with Scorsese’s kinetic camerawork adding much to the proceedings. Bonuses: Four bonuses songs; Featurette. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY (Universal) Frances McDormand stars as a woman in 1930s England who lands a job as social secretary to high-society bad girl Delysia Lafossse (Amy Adams, a gem) and quickly finds herself at her wit’s end in trying to put out all the disastrous fires that her “lady” starts! Period comedy owes much to the very broad classics of the time in which it’s set. That said, if you’re game, it’s a fun ride. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Two featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
VAMPYR (Criterion) Carl Theodor Dreyer’s masterpiece of texture, mood and style concerning a student of the occult and a virtual parade of supernatural haunts and evildoers that live in and around Paris. Perhaps the most atmospheric film of its time (or perhaps all-time), this gem from 1932 has gone onto influence countless generations of filmmakers with its innovative camerawork, editing and use of early sound. 2 disc set. Bonuses: Original German version; Commentary by film scholar Tony Rayns; 1966 documentary on Dreyer; Visual essay by Caspar Tybjerg on Dreyer; 1958 radio broadcast of Dreyer reading an essay about filmmaking; Book: “Writing Vampyr.” Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
HIGH AND LOW (Criterion) Another of Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s masterpieces, based on an American crime novel by Ed McBain. Toshiro Mifune stars as a wealthy industrialist who finds that his chauffeur’s son has been kidnapped—only the kidnappers think the boy is his, and are demanding a huge ransom! Seamless blend of ticking clock thriller and social commentary on Japan’s class system. Two disc set. Bonuses: Commentary by Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince; Short documentary; Interviews with Mifune, actor Tsutomu Yamazaki; Trailers. Widescreen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
UN FLIC (DIRTY MONEY) (Lions Gate) Crime classic from French master Jean-Pierre Melville (his final film) about a Paris police chief (Alain Delon) who discovers that his American friend (Richard Crenna) not only leads a group of bank robbers after-hours, but is also sharing his mistress (Catherine Deneuve, at her most beautiful). Terrific thriller from 1972, full of Melville’s trademark grim faces, long silences and drab colors. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
I LOVE THE ‘80S! Paramount releases a new collection of their biggest hits of the Regan era: John Hughes’ classic teen romp FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF features a commentary track by Hughes; the musical coming-of-age story FOOTLOOSE which made a star of Kevin Bacon; Two more films from the Hughes banner: Molly Ringwald’s angst-ridden classic PRETTY IN PINK and Eric Stoltz in SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL; Finally the box office smash TOP GUN with Tom Cruise as the Navy’s hottest, and most foolhardy, fighter pilot. Features commentary by producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Tony Scott and naval experts; 4 music videos; TV spots. All are widescreen, Dolby 5.1 surround and feature a bonus CD of ‘80s pop classics.
PUPPY (Dokument Films) Twisted little thriller from New Zealand about a young girl who is kidnapped by a delusional tow truck driver and forced to pretend she’s his recently-deceased wife. Micro-budget film shot in 20 days is quite impressive, albeit crude on many levels, but still works on a Russ Meyer-meets-Roger Corman guilty pleasure level. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo.
WATCHING THE DETECTIVES (Genius Entertainment) Amusing romantic comedy about a video store owner (Cillian Murphy) who falls in love with a real-life femme fatale (Lucy Liu) that’s like a character out of the movies he’s obsessed with! Clever, loaded with film references for cinefiles everywhere. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
LONESOME DOVE (Genius Entertainment) Classic mini-series, based on Larry McMurtry’s best-seller swept the 1989 Emmys about two aging Texas Rangers (Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, never better) who yearn for one last adventure before hanging up their spurs as civilization is slowly creeping upon their old west way of life. They find their quest in heading a cattle drive 3,000 miles north to the grasslands of Montana. All-star cast includes Diane Lane, Danny Glover, Anjelica Huston, Steve Buscemi, and Chris Cooper. Bonuses: Featurettes; Interviews with cast and crew; Sketch gallery. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE FIRST OLYMPICS: ATHENS 1896 (Sony) Fine miniseries about the men who brought the Olympic Games back to life at the end of the 19th century. David Caruso and Alex Hyde-White head a fine cast that benefits greatly from Gary Allison and William Bast’s well-crafted teleplay about a group of dedicated people who achieved the impossible. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
FORBIDDEN ZONE: IN COLOR! (Legend Films) Richard Elfman’s cult classic (formerly shown only in black & white) about a beautiful girl who finds herself transported into “the sixth dimension,” and a subterranean world ruled by horny midget King Fatso and his jealous Queen Doris. Surreal, absurd, psychedelic and generally subversive, did we also mention that it’s a musical? Not for all tastes, to be sure, but a wild ride you’re sure not to forget! Bonuses: Intro by Elfman; Pop-up trivia; Japanese promo; Extended scene; Deleted scenes; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.
ONLY THE VALIANT (Republic/Lions Gate) Gregory Peck stars in this classic western as a hard-nosed cavalry officer whose martinet ways alienate him from the soldiers under his command, particularly after he sends a popular officer on a suicide mission. When they are forced to hold down their fort under attack from Apaches, Peck must fight the Indians, his own men, and the pressure of a pending Army investigation. Tense, well-crafted oater, directed by the great Gordon Douglas. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo.
DISFIGURED (Cinema Libre) An intimate portrait of an obese woman and a woman suffering from the eating disorder anorexia who find a common bond in Venice, CA. Honest portrait of very real people dealing with damage, self-inflicted and otherwise. An honest, perceptive, powerful film. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Cast and crew commentary; Documentary; Outtakes and bloopers; Trailer; Featurette. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
WASTED (Genius Products/Weinstein Co.) A group of 20-something pals revisit their home town circa 1996 while attending the funeral of a high school buddy. During the course of the weekend, friendships are rekindled, re-examined, and some old demons are stared down. Well-done, intimate indie with well-sketched turns by its young cast (Eddie Kaye Thomas, Kip Pardue, Josh Cooke). Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Commentary by director/co-writer Matt Oates, co-writer Jeremiah Lowder, Cooke; Still gallery. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
TAI CHI MASTER (Genius Products/Weinstein Co.) Another title in the “Dragon Dynasty” series, with martial arts superstar Jet Li starring as a freedom fighting rebel who must face off against his former best friend on the battlefield. Michelle Yeoh co-stars in this epic, directed by famed Hong Kong action maestro Yuen Wo-ping (who choreographed The Matrix films). Bonuses: Commentary by Hong Kong film scholar Ben Logan; Featurettes. Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL! More of televisions greatest hits, from past and present, arrive on DVD this month. Paramount leads the pack with STAR TREK: SEASON TWO, all 26 episodes remastered with new special effects, bonus episodes from the Star Trek animated series and Deep Space Nine, as well as behind-the-scenes home movies. Full screen Dolby 5.1 surround. SOUTH PARK: THE COMPLETE ELEVENTH SEASON, features all 14 uncensored episodes following the escapades of those foul-mouthed tots from the “quiet, redneck mountain town” of South Park, CO. Bonuses: Commentary by creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. GIRLFRIENDS: THE FOURTH SEASON, features more sexy adventures from the hottest, most sophisticated ladies in L.A. in 23 episodes on 3 discs. Exec produced by Kelsey Grammer, the fourth season finds the girlfriends dealing with forbidden romance, self-improvement, and a very testy first year of marriage. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. DEXTER: THE SECOND SEASON, continues the grisly adventures of everyone’s favorite crime fighting forensic scientist and serial killer! Michael C. Hall is brilliant in the title role, and is backed by a dynamite supporting cast in one of TV’s smartest, most offbeat thrillers. 2 disc set bonuses include: Bonus episodes of Showtime series THE TUDORS, CALIFORNICATION and BROTHERHOOD; Interview and podcast with Hall. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. DAVE’S WORLD: THE FIRST SEASON stars Harry Anderson as real-life newspaper columnist Dave Barry in 23 episodes of the sitcom inspired by his syndicated columns full of humor and insight. 3 disc set. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. CAROLINE IN THE CITY: THE FIRST SEASON stars Lea Thompson as a newspaper cartoonist whose neurotic New York adventures make up this comic gem. 24 episodes on three discs. Bonuses: Episodic promos. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 surround. THE HILLS: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON, continues the adventures of privileged Hollywood kids who find their lives going in different directions post-college. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Interviews with cast and crew; Commentary by cast and crew; Two featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. In the classics section, we find BEVERLY HILLS 90210: THE FIFTH SEASON, 31 episodes of the 1990s hit that brought the fast lane lifestyle of the country’s most famous zip code to life. Four disc set. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. PERRY MASON: SEASON 3, VOL. 1 stars Raymond Burr as TV’s most famous attorney (at least of the 1950s). 12 pulse-pounding episodes in glorious black & white! Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. FAMILY TIES: SEASON FOUR, gives us another 24 funny, heartwarming episodes of the Keaton family, whose parents are ‘60s idealists and children are all ‘80s yuppie, particularly elder son Alex (Michael J. Fox). Bonuses: TV-movie Family Ties Vacation; Gag reel; Episodic promos. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. THE LOVE BOAT: SEASON ONE, VOL. 2, brings 12 more lighthearted tales of love on the high seas aboard the world’s most romantic cruise ship. Bonuses: TV-movie The New Love Boat; Episodic promos. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Universal releases HOUSE: SEASON FOUR, starring Hugh Laurie as TV’s grumpiest, but most brilliant doctor. Bonuses: Six featurettes; Commentary by producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: SEASON SEVEN, features 22 episodes on five discs, starring Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay as detectives assigned to investigate the most brutal, sexually-based crimes on the tough streets of NYC. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Acorn Media brings the classic 1976-77 series THE DUCHESS OF DUKE STREET to DVD, about a woman who rises from the kitchen staff to become the manager of London’s finest turn-of-the-century hotel. 31 episodes. Bonuses: Photo gallery; Filmographies. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. FIRST AMONG EQUALS, based on Jeffrey Archer’s novel is a 10-part story of sex, money and power in the halls of British government. Tom Wilkinson stars. Smart, scintillating, literate drama. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. ALFRESCO is the zany 1980s comedy series that introduced the world to rising stars Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, Robbie Coltrane, Ben Elton and Stephen Fry. Bonuses: Three-episode pilot series; Featurette; Cast bios. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. TERRY PRATCHETT’S DISCWORLD COLLECTION: WYRD SISTERS & SOUL MUSIC are wild animated adventures based on author Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, featuring a fantastic cast of dwarves, witches, trolls, elfs and giants. Picture J.R.R. Tolkien on acid, and you get the idea! 2 disc set. Bonuses: Storyboards; Interview with Pratchett. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Warner Bros. releases TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, SEASON ONE, starring Lena Headey as the mother of civilization’s savoir John Connor, who must train her son to fight against the machines that will attempt world domination. Bonuses: Commentary by exec producer Josh Friedman, cast and crew; Featurettes; Audition tapes; Gag reel; Extended cut of episode 7; Storyboards. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. THE BIG BANG THEORY: THE FIRST SEASON, follows the comic misadventures of physicists Leonard and Sheldon, who are brilliant in all things scientific, but lacking when it comes to social graces, such as dealing with the opposite sex. This becomes readily apparent when a comely neighbor moves across the hall. Funny and clever. Bonuses: Two featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 surround. Koch Vision releases ADVENTURES OF THE GALAXY RANGERS, VOL. 2, the further, offbeat adventures of an outer-space wagon train, featuring voice work from Jerry Orbach, among other fine actors. Bonuses: Interviews with and commentary by series creator Robert Mandell and writers Dan Fiorella and John Rawlins; Featurette on Orbach; Slideshow; Orignal music tracks. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. WIRE IN THE BLOOD: PRAYER OF THE BONE has clincal psychologist/profiler Dr. Tony Hill (Robson Green) traveling to a small Texas town from the UK to testify as an expert witness in the trial of a brutal murderer. Smart, intense adult drama. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono. P.D. JAMES: THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION, features nine dramatizations of the celebrated author's mysteries on 15 DVDs, each starring Roy Marsden as Scotland Yark sleuth Adam Dalgliesh. All are beautifully acted, intelligently written. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Finally, VSC releases THE HUDSON BROTHERS RAZZLE-DAZZLE SHOW: THE COMPLETE SERIES, a Saturday morning favorite among kids raised in the very groovy '70s, combining very inventive, subversive humor with some truly great music. Dubbed by none other than John Lennon as "The kings of Saturday morning," these 16 hours of programs are sure to take you back to a more "colorful" time! Bonuses: Two featurettes; Bonus sketches. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
DOCUMENTARY DAYS Genius Products/The Weinstein Co. releases PETE SEEGER: THE POWER OF SONG, filmmaker Jim Brown’s fascinating look into the life and work of one of folk music’s most influential voices. Loaded with archival footage and interviews with giants of the scene such as Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, and many more. Bonuses: 3 additional scenes; 5 short films from the Seeger family. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Paramount/PBS release MUHAMMAD ALI: MADE IN MIAMI, a look at the critical role the city of Miami played in the evolution of (arguably) the greatest boxer of the 20th century. A fascinating look into how Cassius Marcellus Clay of Louisville became one of the most significant cultural figures of our time. Bonuses: Interview with the film’s producers. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Arthouse Films releases THE COOL SCHOOL: HOW L.A. LEARNED TO LOVE MODERN ART, a portrait of LA’s seminal Ferus Gallery and it’s proprietors Walter Hopps and Irving Blum, who helped build the LA art scene from the ground up. Narrated by Jeff Bridges and featuring interviews with figures such as Dennis Hopper, Ed Ruscha and others. Bonuses: Three featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
Thorco Films releases THE AUDIENCE STRIKES BACK, a humorous look at eight audience members at an opening day screening of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith who participate in a roundtable discussion about the Star Wars phenomenon, shot in real time. Fascinating look at how pop culture influences the lives of everyday people. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Magnolia releases SURFWISE, a provocative documentary look at the Paskowitz family, headed by their once-successful physician father, who chucked it all and took his wife and nine children to live in a camper by the beach. Bonuses: Commentary by director Doug Pray, producer Matt Weaver, and Salvador Paskowitz; Three featurettes; Outtakes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Finally, COCAINE COWBOYS 2: HUSTLIN’ WITH THE GODMOTHER, tells the remarkable, horrific story of Griselda Blanco, one of Miami’s biggest drug traffickers who was responsible for hundreds of murders, smuggling over 300 tons of cocaine, and plotting the kidnapping of JFK Jr.! Must be seen to be believed. Bonuses: Featurette; Filmmaker commentary; Photo galleries; Deleted scenes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
THE HORROR, THE HORROR…More titles to give you goosebumps and nightmares: Lions Gate leads the pack with DUNGEON GIRL, a disturbing story of a young girl abducted and raised to womanhood by a disturbed man. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. BONE EATER is an evil Indian spirit who is unleashed when a construction crew accidentally unseals his tomb, wreaking havoc on the small town in which he’s released. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. TRAPPED ASHES is an anthology of horror tales from noted directors such as Joe Dante, Ken Russell, Monte Hellman and Sean Cunningham. Bonuses: Cast and crew commentary; Director’s cuts of the films; Documentary; Deleted scenes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA’S GUEST tells the horrific, sexy story of the vampire count who kidnaps a young beauty from her lover’s arms, and his quest to bring her back. Bonuses: Director’s commentary; Photo gallery; Trailers. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. DEAD AND GONE tells the story of a man who kidnaps his comatose, shrew of a wife in an attempt to kill her so he can collect her life insurance, but soon finds himself haunted by his lady’s vengeful spirit! Bonuses: Filmmaker commentary; Featurette; Deleted scenes; Outtakes; Trailers. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. SIX FILMS TO KEEP YOU AWAKE is another anthology, this time of short films from Europe: Spectre, A Real Friend, A Christmas Tale, The Baby’s Room and To Let. Bonuses: Six featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. BELPHEGOR: PHANTOM OF THE LOUVRE, is a terrific French ghost story starring lovely Sophie Marceau and legendary Julie Christie, who do battle with an evil spirit let out of an Egyptian tomb at Paris’ famed museum. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Anchor Bay releases BRUTAL MASSACRE: A COMEDY, a Hollywood satire “mockumentary” about a washed up director who tries a final comeback with the ultimate festival of gore on film! Bonuses: Extended and deleted scenes; Featurette; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Genius Products release THE BOSTON STRANGLER: THE UNTOLD STORY, which poses the question that Boston police arrested the wrong man in the notorious 1960s sex crimes that terrorized the city. Bonuses: Cast and crew commentary; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. THE KILLING GENE: UNRATED, stars Stellan Skarsgard as a veteran cop investigating a string of murders where the victim was forced to choose between their own death, or that of a loved one. Creepy, well-made, with a fine cast. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; 3 featurettes; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. WIDE AWAKE tells the story of a vengeful former patient, looking for payback on the surgeon who kept him awake during heart surgery as a boy! Bonuses: Deleted scenes; 3 featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
BLU-RAY TITLES Blu-ray technology offers a new standard in DVD viewing and the home theater experience: 1080p resolution; Lossless audio, which delivers the finest uncompressed digital sound available; and Smart Menu Technology, which floats on-screen during playback so you never leave the film. Just a few of the titles arriving on Blu-Ray this month include: Sony releases THE COUTNERFEITERS, winner of the 2007 Oscar for Best Foreign Film, telling the true story of a German/Jewish forger who, in exchange for comfortable living conditions, helped his Nazi captors forge phony bank notes to fund the German war effort. Bonuses: Commentary by director Stefan Ruzowitzky; Deleted scenes; Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 51. surround. REDBELT, written and directed by David Mamet, is a compelling drama about a Jiu-Jitsu instructor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who undergoes a crisis of conscience when forces beyond his control force him to step into the competitive ring. Bonuses: Commentary by Mamet and Randy Couture; Four featurettes; Interviews with Mamet and David White. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. BELLY is a gritty hip-hop drama punctuated by a terrific score and dazzling cinematography. Widescreen. DTS 7.1 HD master audio. I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER is a teen fright fest starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze, Jr. as teens who find themselves targets of a vengeful hit-and-run victim. Bonuses: Filmmaker commentary; Director’s short film, “Joyride”; Featurette; Music video; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE is a based-on-a-true story tale of a young girl whose body was overtaken by a seemingly supernatural force. Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Campbell Scott and Colm Feore head a fine cast. Bonuses: Director commentary; Three featurettes; Deleted scene. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. URBAN LEGEND is another fright-fest, this time revolving around a group of New England college students who find an urban legend coming back to life in their community. Bonuses: Director commentary; Featurette. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Lions Gate releases Oliver Stone’s acclaimed film about THE DOORS, the west coast rock legends fronted by iconic Jim Morrison (Val Kilmer, in his best turn to date). A near-perfect portrait of the excess that was ‘60s rock and roll. Bonuses: Commentary by Stone; Featurette; Deleted scenes; Trailer. Widescreen. DTS 7.1 HD Master Audio. Finally, Summit Entertainment releases NEVER BACK DOWN, about a new kid in town, who must prove himself with his fists and his heart when local bullies challenge him. Bonsues: Deleted scenes; Two featurettes; Alternate angle fight mode; Commentary by cast and crew. Widescreen. DTS 5.1 Master Audio.

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