Indiana Jones in a four-disc set
By Terry Lawson
Knight Ridder News Service
I will make no claim that "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is one of the greatest movies ever made; I will say that seeing it the first time was one of the most memorable movie-going experiences I've ever had. And as soon as I slipped Disc 1 of "The Adventures of Indiana Jones" (Paramount), which collects all three Indiana Jones films, into the DVD player, I was taken right back to 1981, feeling like some 12-year-kid in the adventure movie of my dreams.
The great accomplishment of producer George Lucas, director Steven Spielberg and writer Lawrence Kasdan was the way they lovingly conveyed the exhilaration of popcorn-movie watching.
Indiana (Harrison Ford) was the man: an archaeologist professor who got his nose out of books and into the field, with a fedora, bullwhip and a catalog of quips. He thought what he wanted was to be the guy who dug up the legendary lost Ark of the Covenant; what he really wanted was to get the girl (Karen Allen) and save the world from the Nazis.
The inevitable sequel, 1984's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," was, not unexpectedly, unable to recreate the adolescent rush of its predecessor.
Spielberg and writer Jeffrey Boam redeemed the series with 1989's "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," which introduced the father, played with a James Bond wink-acknowledgment by Sean Connery, who had made Indy the man he was.
Paramount should be applauded for the beautiful digital restoration and transfers of all three films; the colors are vivid, the picture is rich in detail, even on smaller TV screens. The classic opening scene of "Raiders" looks exactly as — maybe better than — you remember it.
The 5.1 surround remixes for the first two films are the equivalent of those fake stereo albums of the early '60s, but have been accomplished as well as could have been hoped for. "The Last Crusade," fortunately, was produced after most movie theaters had converted to front-rear systems, so it sounds superior. But LucasFilm made a decision not to do the kind of re-recording that has been imposed on a lot of event films from the "Raiders" era, to preserve its historical purity.
Per the unspoken Spielberg/Lucas code, there is no audio commentary, but the fourth disc is distinguished by an amazing two-hour documentary-retrospective, "Making the Trilogy," with behind-the-scenes footage.
There are also four brief featurettes looking at the stunts, the pre-CGI special effects, the sound effects and the music, none of which is exactly riveting. At this point, you may be so over-Indy-indulged you are unlikely to care.
Roswell and Rob Petrie
Oh, yes, there are other DVDs to tempt you this week, including one with Steven Spielberg's name attached. "Taken" (Universal) is a six-disc set of all 10 of the 90-minute episodes of the 2002 TV miniseries that purports to document the secret history of alien visitations and abductions, from Roswell, N.M., to the present, while a secret, special team of government investigators attempts to keep the public from catching on. It's a soap opera of above-average quality, and occasionally absorbing.
Any list of the best TV shows ever includes "The Dick Van Dyke Show." The new set "Season One" (Image) collects all 30 episodes of its 1961-62 kickoff, including a pilot for an earlier version of the series called "Head of the Family" with producer Carl Reiner in the Rob Petrie role. Reiner and Van Dyke add commentary to two episodes; supplements include footage of the 1962 Emmy awards where the show was honored. ("Season 2" is also out, and while it was not sent for review, this unabashed fan can vouch for it.)
'Full Throttle' Angels
The week's major recent theatrical release is "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" (Columbia TriStar), an action-comedy so resolutely anti-narrative that it's all but impossible to tell the actual movie — something about Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz recovering a ring that contains encoded information that every criminal and terrorist in the world covets — from the two hours of extras. They cover everything from cars and clothes and makeup to director McG's efforts to create action sequences beyond anything anyone could imagine.
