Entertainment For Lively Minds
Please, Release Me
Many years ago I watched a film on television with my parents. It was Reuben, Reuben starring Tom Conti. I think the year was possibly 1985 or 1986 (the film came out in '83) and I was either in my last year at school or first year at Uni. The point is I loved the film. Conti's performance is superb, one of a small handful of great film performances by Brit actors playing drunks on screen in the 80s (Dudley Moore in Arthur and Michael Caine in Educating Rita spring to mind). As I remember it the script was tight and "adult" with some great dialogue and one-liners from Conti. There's a scene on a train when he can't find his ticket that had us all in stitches in that "we shouldn't be laughing, he's a sad drunk" kind of way but Conti is so compellingly channelling Buster Keaton it was the only valid response. The final scene is memorable also in a way that very few modern films seem to manage these days. I won't spoil it but it's John Irvingesque pathos is pitch perfect. I think/hope I have remembered it correctly.
Despite Tom Conti being nominated for an Oscar the film has never had a DVD release as far as I am aware. It's a crying shame because all these years later I continue to crave seeing the film again. It was rare in the mid 80s to watch anything that simultaneously captivated both my parents as well as myself, particularly as I was probably at my most snotty and arrogant in the year we watched it (on BBC1 I think) and would have been loath at the time to concede a common understanding of the film's merit. Remembering the film reminds me how embarrassingly self-centred I was in those days.
But it also got me thinking. Does the Massive have any films/TV series they'd love to see being given the full DVD/remastering treatment? What other long lost gems are there in vaults gathering dust that should be given a digital airing?
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Plays
I am perhaps being a little broad here (fandabidozi!) but West End/Broadway plays are rarely released on DVD, as far as I know. Why not?
And specifically on Tom Conti, I saw him play a drunk in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell and it was a vaudeville drunk, shaying hish wordsh like that with his tie askew and hair ruffled. Very funny, yet when Peter O'Toole did it, he played it fairly straight with the odd stumble but nowhere near as much staggering around. I believe Peter O'Toole drinks and Tom Conti doesn't. Interesting, I thought.
Yes they do
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/why-isnt-that-out-dvd
And A Very Peculiar Practice is STILL not out
Lord love a duck
Sorry DFB. There was a niggling suspicion that this had done the rounds.
Ho hum.
Agree with you on A Very Peculiar Practice. Marvellous TV. British grotesque at its parochial best.
As far as I can see,
the full "Very Peculiar Practise" 5 DVD box, including both series and "A very Polish Practice", will be released on 10 October this year.
Not before time.
Yes
but they've been saying taht since March when it was supposed to be released
Johnny Staccatto
I'd luv to see this series get a proper release.. John Cassavettes is amazing as the jazz pianist/P.I Actually I'm not sure what he was but he got into some great scrapes.. I always wanted to go down to Waldos and hear some cool jazz.. Great NY location work and gritty storylines.. After Det Reagan I wanted to be Staccatto..
Made in the 50's It always seemed to be on late at night (mid 80's) when I staggerd in from a gig..
I want this to come out because it was rubbish.
Hardwicke House was an appalling comedy which featured Roy Kinnear as a headmaster at a sort of St Trinians school. It was on ITV in the eighties, only two episodes were broadcast and it was cancelled. Obviously I watched it because I was about 12 and hoping for nudity which never occurred. I've always wanted to see it again. How awful could it have been really?
Similarly "Heil Honey I'm Home"
I've seen an extended clip at the NFT and it seems pretty tame if not exactly hilarious its a fairly amusing parody
The only ep broadcast is on Youtube
although much of the early comedy stuff aired on BSB was junked when the production offices closed. this includes stuff by Armando Iannuci, Steve Coogan and Chris Morris
My Favorite Year
Never had a Region 2 release and Peter O'Toole is marvelous in it.
Oh I concur
That was a movie, this is real life.
What is the difference?
Without giving anything away...
...it really is the ultimate shaggy dog story.
Bakersfield PD
US comedy about an inept police station. Shown on Ch4 in 1994 and cancelled after one season. Beautifully written with a great cast (Ron Eldard, Giancarlo Esposito). Hot Fuzz's premise owed it more than a small debt. Never to my knowledge appeared on legit DVD.
easy!!
"no surrender"
Bleasdale at his most incisive..featuring costello as the world's most nervous magician and the best post-punk parody in cinema..
"can y' do any glenn miller?"
"y' mean fly off in the fog?"
"you'll fuckin fly in a minute"
The Paper Chase
Was gonna say this US series, which I saw tucked away late night on Sky One I think it was, many years ago. However, a quick peruse of Amazon reveals the first two series are available on DVD on import. It's fair to say I developed a schoolgirl crush on James Stephens as the nerdy James T. Hart...(And the series was much better than the film ;-)).
Another great film I remember seeing once is Mia Farrow and Topol in 'Follow Me', which I don't think is yet available on DVD (I could be wrong).
Scarecrow
...starring a young Al Pacino and Gene Hackman. Though I notice today that now Amazon seems to have it on "Region 2 Import" after years of it being mysteriously unavailable. I feel my wallet twitching and flinching...
Octopus - Power of the Mafia
Great Italian drama series that was shown on C4, if I remember correctly, and only ran for two seasons. Thoroughly, thoroughly evil gangsters - I imagine they are a lot more realistic than the comedy goombahs from The Sopranos.
Also, Spyship, a neat little BBC drama about the accidental sinking of an intelligence operation and the cover-up that followed. Great 1980s Cold War paranoia.
Cop Rock
It's not easy to say. I loved it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop_Rock
Cops....
On that subject, BBC had a great series 'The Cops'.
http://www.world-productions.com/wp/content/shows/cops/cops.htm