3 epic Warner releases well worth viewers' time, money
By Terry Lawson
Knight Ridder News Service
It would take almost an entire day to watch the three latest films released in Warner Home Video's' two-disc Special Edition series, and that's without delving into the copious extras.
George Stevens' Hollywood epic "Giant"; Philip Kaufman's 1983 chronicle of the NASA space program, "The Right Stuff"; and Sergio Leone's stylized dream of a gangster saga, "Once Upon a Time in America" — each runs more than three hours. And all are worth the investment of both time and money.
The colossus of the trio is "Giant," (3 hours, 21 minutes), in which Rock Hudson gave his best performance as Bick Benedict, a Texas rancher who chooses a bride from the East, played by a 23-year-old Elizabeth Taylor. This decision has ramifications that unfold over the course of 25 years, most notably on the ranch hand played by James Dean.
Released in 1956, nearly a year after Dean's death, the film added substantially to his legend. But Stevens, who won the directing Oscar, also had juicy roles for Mercedes McCambridge as Benedict's sister, Dennis Hopper and Carroll Baker as the Benedicts' grown children and the great Chill Wills as a Benedict uncle.
Stevens' son George Jr. provides a true scene-by-scene commentary; he obviously knows the film and its production history inside out.
"The Right Stuff" has improved with age, though director Kaufman never truly cracked the problem of unifying the anecdotal nature of Tom Wolfe's best seller about the seven original Mercury astronauts and their spiritual godfather, test pilot Chuck Yeager. The astronauts are played by Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn, Fred Ward, Charles Frank, Scott Paulin and Lance Henriksen. Sam Shepard plays Yeager.
This is mostly a film of inspiring moments and some memorable performances, most notably by Harris as John Glenn and Ward as the scapegoated Gus Grissom. Extras include short commentaries; three new production documentaries; about 15 minutes of deleted and extended scenes; and, best of all, the fine PBS documentary "John Glenn: An American Hero." But it is the gorgeous transfer that makes it worth buying.
"Once Upon a Time in America" was critically ravaged when originally released in the United States in 1994 — and deserved it. Critics who had been sent lavish folios of scenes before the film was released were surprised to see that not only were many of the scenes missing, so were some of the characters.
Shown at the Cannes Film Festival in a print lasting 229 minutes, Leone's half-century account of Jewish immigrants who formed a crime syndicate in 1920s New York was shorn to 139 minutes for its U.S. release, much of it snipped from the flashback sequences. The film made little sense, and it suffered more from inevitable comparisons to the "Godfather" films that were invited by Robert De Niro's starring role.
The film's 227-minute select-city re-release revealed it as a flawed masterpiece. But it was still minus two minutes of violence, and by the time many of us saw the print in a theater, it was already beat up.
Those two minutes are now present and accounted for, and the DVD transfer and sound mix are gorgeous.
'Frida' beautifully done
Some non-Warner DVDs also hit shelves this week, most notably a two-disc set of "Frida" (Miramax), a biography of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, whose art was overshadowed in her lifetime by that of her husband, Diego Rivera.
The film liberally condenses and romanticizes Kahlo's life — events that took place in Detroit now occur in New York — but the movie is beautiful to behold. It's imaginatively directed by Julie Taymor and very well acted by Salma Hayek and a supporting cast that includes Alfred Molina as Rivera, Geoffrey Rush as Trotsky and Edward Norton, who apparently rewrote the script sans credit, as Nelson Rockefeller.
Extras are copious and interesting; along with a Hayek interview and a Taymor commentary, there are tours of Kahlo's Mexico and art and a look at the two surreal puppetry pieces created for the film by the brothers Quay.
'Tears' filmed in Hawai'i
Other recent theatrical releases include "Tears of the Sun" (Columbia TriStar; filmed in Hawai'i), Antoine Fuqua's turgid followup to "Training Day," with Bruce Willis; "Old School" (DreamWorks), an unexpectedly funny stupid comedy about three guys (Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson) reliving their frat-boy days; and "Jungle Book 2" (Walt Disney), a bland animated sequel to the last great film of the first Disney era.
