'Shogun,' with documentaries, released in 5-DVD set
By Terry Lawson
Knight Ridder News Service
Following "Roots," which was finally released two years ago, the most anticipated DVD from the golden age of TV miniseries would be, if my mail is any indication, "Shogun." It finally arrives this week in a five-DVD box (Paramount). The nicely packaged set includes all 10 hours of the epic 1980 drama about a 17th-century English trader (Richard Chamberlain) whose ship washes up on the Japanese shore. After undergoing serious culture shock, he finds himself immersed in the ways of the samurai, and teaming with a warlord played by the great Toshiro Mifune in his struggle to become the shogun.
The heart of the story, however, is the trader's forbidden romance with translator Yoko Shimada. Chamberlain's performance was so passionate he spent the rest of his career playing similarly conflicted lovers. The DVD benefits greatly from the remastered sound, and a 13-part documentary about the making of the series will certainly please the fans. But the best extras are three documentaries exploring the history of 17th-century feudal Japan, and the real-life story that inspired the James Clavell novel, in which many dramatic liberties were taken.
5 Clint Eastwood flicks
With Clint Eastwood returning to form with his upcoming drama "Mystic River," Warner Bros. has released five more titles from his impressive and prolific catalog, all digitally remastered and remixed into 5.1 Dolby and all priced at $19.98. The 1968 "Where Eagles Dare" pairs Eastwood, on the verge of superstardom, with Richard Burton in an Alistair MacLean thriller about an American GI in World War II who doesn't understand why he's been assigned to an all-British team headed by Burton on a secret mission in the Swiss Alps. Though roundly panned on release, it's aged very well.
"The Rookie" from 1990 is one of Eastwood's weaker efforts, a routine buddy-cop affair in which vengeful vet Clint is paired, much to his disgust, with well-mannered rookie Charlie Sheen. The same year, "White Hunter, Black Heart" was a change of pace for director Eastwood, a story about a macho director (played by Eastwood) who goes to Africa to shoot an adventure romance but becomes far more interested in shooting an elephant than a movie. Based on a book inspired by John Huston during the making of "The African Queen," it was the most ambitious directing project Eastwood had undertaken to that point. The best of the new releases, though, and one of Eastwood's best movies period, is 1984's "Tightrope," written and directed by Richard Tuggle, and featuring one of Eastwood's very best performances as a cop looking for a sexually kinky serial killer. He discovers, with help from psychologist Genevieve Bujold (one of the very best of Eastwood's female screen partners) that he has some sexual issues of his own. Great filmmaking on just about every level.
The fifth Eastwood title is "City Heat" from 1984.
Summer films and 'Africa'
The window between theatrical and DVD releases continues to grow shorter, evidenced by the release this week of three summer '03 movies. "Daddy Day Care" (Columbia TriStar) arrives as an extras-packed special edition, despite the fact that there was little special about the Eddie Murphy family comedy whose gag is its title. "Holes" (Walt Disney Home Entertainment), based on the best-selling young-readers novel, stars Shia LaBeouf as a hard-luck case sent to a camp that is supposed to turn him into a responsible citizen, but makes him spend his days digging holes with his fellow campers. The disc contains commentaries by director Andrew Davis and author Louis Sachar, and by LaBeouf and other cast members, as well as a gag reel.
Like "Holes," "A Mighty Wind," the latest mockumentary from the form's master, Christopher Guest, is likely to find a far larger audience on home video than at theaters. At least that was the case with Guest's previous comedies, "Best of Show" and "Waiting for Guffman." "Mighty Wind" (Warner Home Video) reunites musicians from the Hootenanny era for a big tribute concert, with Guest and his fellow Spinal Tappers Harry Shearer and Michael McKean as a Kingston Trio-like group, Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara as a one-time duo and ex-lovers, and Fred Willard as a manger of New Christy Minstrels-type troupe whose members include a former porn star. Copious extras include a drier-than-toast commentary from Guest and co-writer/co-star Eugene Levy.
On a more serious note, this year's foreign language Academy Award winner, "Nowhere in Africa," based on the true story of a Jewish attorney who flees Nazi Germany for Kenya with his wife and daughter, gets a two-disc special edition treatment (Columbia TriStar) that includes deleted scenes, commentary from the producer, rehearsal footage and more.
