DVD SCENE
'The Killers' two-disc set is a standout
By Terry Lawson
Knight Ridder News Service
The blunt economy of Ernest Hemingway's short story "The Killers" can be experienced firsthand on the superior new Criterion Collection two-DVD set, whose impressive array of extras has Stacy Keach reading the entire story in about 20 minutes.
Hemingway's story formed the core of one of the greatest of all films noirs, Robert Siodmak's 1946 film of the same name, notable for more reasons than we have room to account, but inevitably referred to as Burt Lancaster's film debut.
Lancaster plays "the Swede," the ex-boxer marked for execution by two hit men, an event that occupies the first 15 minutes of the film, its dialogue almost utterly faithful to Hemingway's prose. The film is filled out with a riveting "Citizen Kane"-style flashback investigation of what brought the Swede to this fateful moment. Even those who have never seen this movie will figure out there's a dame involved, played by a never-as-sizzling Ava Gardner.
The film is pretty close to perfection, and it's never looked as good as it does in this new digital transfer, but that's only the beginning. The set also includes a 19-minute adaptation of the film by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky ("Solaris"), a 1949 "Screen Director's Playhouse" radio adaptation starring Lancaster and Shelley Winters and insightful essays by director Paul Schrader and author Jonathan Lethem.
On disc 2 is Don Siegel's brutal 1964 remake, in which the victim, played by John Cassavetes, is now a teacher of blind people, and the two assassins, played by Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager, assume the task of figuring out why he deserved to be dead.
The 1964 edition was originally made for television but taken to theaters when Siegel declined to tone down the violence, a dispute recalled here in excerpts from Siegel's autobiography, correspondence and memos. Also included is an interview with Gulager, the last survivor of the primary cast, if you don't count Ronald Reagan in his last film role, as a very nasty Mr. Big.
Improved 'Fear'
I was among the many critics disappointed by Terry Gilliam's adaptation of Hunter Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," but it's hard to be disappointed in the film's Criterion Collection treatment, in which the only thing to be found lacking is the film's content.
The first disc contains a gorgeous new transfer of the comedy recounting the drug-fueled drive into the heart of the American nightmare taken by Thompson (Johnny Depp) and his even more out-of-control Samoan attorney Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro). It's been remixed into Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1; and there are three commentaries — by director Gilliam, the actors and Thompson himself, sounding almost lucid — and deleted scenes, with Gilliam explaining why they were cut.
Disc 2 is a treasure trove of related material, the highlight of which is a 1978 BBC documentary in which Thompson and artist Ralph Steadman, who provided the original illustrations for the Rolling Stone articles that became the book, taking a reunion ride from Vegas to Hollywood. If you taught a class in how a special-edition DVD should be put together, this would be the textbook.
A 'Beauty'
At the risk of sounding like a shill, it should also be pointed out that the week's third-most-impressive DVD would be the Criterion Collection edition of the recently restored version of Jean Cocteau's lyrical, visually astonishing 1946 version of "Beauty and the Beast." Thoughtful commentaries and production material abound.
Nearly as impressive, as a fantasy that couldn't be more different, is Artisan's "Ultimate Edition" of 1994's "Stargate," the first sci-fi hit from Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day," "Godzilla").
This tale of a military expedition that enters the portal of the title and discovers a civilization that long ago left its imprint on Earth is presented in both its theatrical version and an eight-minute-longer director's cut, both remastered into anamorphic wide-screen. Its new sound mixes, a Surround EX and a Dolby 6.1, will knock your socks off.
Add-ons include a Devlin-Emmerich commentary and a breathless documentary in which "Chariots of the Gods" author Erich Von Daniken seems overjoyed to rehash his theories that the great wonders of the world, including the pyramids and Pamela Anderson, were the work of space aliens. (Just joking about Anderson.)
Warner Home Video adds to its exceptional two-disc Special Edition line with a remastered "The Color Purple," Steven Spielberg's way-too-glossy 1985 adaptation of Alice Walker's wonderful book, exceptional mostly for the talents it introduced to the world: Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, who really should make more movies.
And Warner seems to have missed a bet by not giving the Special Edition treatment to John Huston's 1951 adaptation of Stephen Crane's Civil War novel "The Red Badge of Courage," starring Audie Murphy.
The ones that got away
"The Rules of Attraction" (Trimark Home Video) is a pumped-up, tricked-out and honestly provocative adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel about the wicked ways of college students (James Van Der Beek, Jessica Biel and Shannyn Sossamon). Note that an unrated cut of the film with excised scenes is destined to be released in the future. "Taboo" (Columbia TriStar) is another drama examining the secret and often sordid lives of college students (Nick Stahl, January Jones, Eddie Kaye Thomas); while its murder-mystery plot is contrived, it has a redeeming twist.
Neither "One Hour Photo" (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) nor "City by the Sea" (Warner Home Video) made much of a box-office dent last year, but the former is notable for Robin Williams' creepy performance as Sy the Photo Guy, while the latter rouses Robert De Niro from his stupor to play a cop investigating a killing that turns out to involve his estranged son.
