video vault
DVD Pick of the week: Monte Walsh
(CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment)
Based on a novel by Jack Schaefer (of Shane renown), this 1970 Western marked the first and best film directed by noted cinematographer William A. Fraker.
Lee Marvin gives one of his best performances in the title role, a veteran cow-puncher who can’t quite resign himself to the fact that the West he knows is fast fading. His best friend Chet Rollins (Jack Palance) has settled for a life of domesticity, marrying a local widow (Allyn Ann McLerie), but although he loves the prostitute Martine (Jeanne Moreau), Monte knows he can’t change his ways. So does Martine, for that matter, lending their relationship poignancy.
The acting is first-rate, with Palance (warm and wonderful) and Moreau (luminous and touching) in top form. Adding to the Western flavor are such familiar faces as Mitchell Ryan (in his screen debut), Jim Davis, Bo Hopkins, Michael Conrad, Matt Clark, GD Spradlin, John McLiam, Charles Tyner and Billy Green Bush.
By turns exciting, dramatic, humorous, romantic and even poetic, the film is further enhanced by David M. Walsh’s cinematography and John Barry’s score. Monte Walsh is a treasure.
Rated PG-13.
ALSO Available“90210”: THE SECOND SEASON (CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment): The highs and lows of daily life in and around West Beverly High, continue in all 22 episodes from the 2009-’10 season of the prime-time CW Television Network drama series, an updated version of the popular ‘90s Fox series. The ensemble cast includes Shenae Grimes, AnnaLynne McCord, Jessica Stroup, Lori Loughlin and Rob Estes. This six-DVD boxed set retails for $44.99.
“7TH HEAVEN”: THE FINAL SEASON (CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment): Stephen Collins, Catherine Hicks and company bid farewell, in all 22 episodes from the 2006-’07 season of the long-running (11 seasons), awardwinning prime-time CW Television Network family drama, which marked one of executive producer Aaron Spelling’s late-inning small-screen hits. This five-DVD boxed set retails for $49.98. 16 WISHES (Image Entertainment): A bland teen fantasy starring Debby Ryan as a teenager who is granted 16 wishes on her 16th birthday. Rated G.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment): A two-disc “diamond edition” ($29.99 DVD retail, $39.99 DVD/ Blu-ray combo retail) of the 1991 box-office smash based on the classic fairy tale, which made history as the first animated feature to receive an Academy Award nomination as Best Picture. Paige O’Hara provides the voice of Belle (“the beauty”) and Robby Benson as the Beast, with Angela Lansbury, David Ogden Stiers and Jerry Orbach prominent in support. Six Oscar nominations in total, including Best Sound and Best Original Song (“Belle” and “Be Our Guest”), with wins with Best Original Score and Best Song (the title tune). Rated G.
“CAPRICA” (Universal Studios Home Entertainment): Eric Stoltz and Esai Morales head the cast of this SyFy Channel series, designed as a prequel to its successful reboot of “Battlestar: Galactica,” depicting the rise of Cylon technology. Despite decent reviews, a fervent fan base and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Special Visual Effects, the network pulled the plug on this expensive series after fewer than 20 episodes. “Season 1.0” and “Season 1.5,” both of which include such special features as behindthe- scenes interviews and audio commentaries, each retail on DVD for $49.98.
DESPICABLE ME (Universal Studios Home Entertainment): Steve Carell provides the voice of the title character in this animated blockbuster about a super-villain whose scheme to steal the moon is compromised by his friendship with three orphan girls. The all-star voiceover line-up includes Russell Brand, Jason Segel, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig and Julie Andrews. Enjoyable and funny, but the mid-section pacing is a little wobbly. That didn’t prevent it from being a blockbuster. Available as a single-disc DVD ($29.98 retail), a two-disc DVD special edition ($34.98 retail), a DVD/Blu-ray combo ($39.98 retail), or as a four-disc combo ($49.98 retail). Rated PG.
EX-TERMINATORS (Image Entertainment): Sluggish pacing dooms this “high-concept” black comedy about a group of gals (including Heather Graham, Jennifer Coolidge and Amber Heard) who strike a blow for women’s lib by knocking off a series of ex-husbands, ex-boyfriends and various male chauvinists. Rated R.
“GHOST WHISPERER”: THE FINAL SEASON (CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment): The award-winning prime-time series, with Jennifer Love Hewitt as a young clairvoyant (and a series executive producer), comes to an end — but with enough episodes to ensure likely syndication. This six-DVD boxed set ($62.99 retail) includes all 22 episodes from the 2009-’10 season. A complete boxed set of all five seasons retails for $189.98.
MADELINE’S CHRISTMAS & OTHER WINTERY TALES (Shout! Factory): Getting into the spirit of the Christmas season, this collection of animated stories from the Emmy-winning animated series, originally broadcast from 1993-’95 on the Family Channel and based on the best-selling children’s books written by Ludwig Bemelmans, showcases the title heroine’s holiday adventures. This DVD retails for $12.99. MRS. MIRACLE (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): In this adaptation of Debbie Macomber’s best-selling novel, Doris Roberts plays a helpful housekeeper to young widower James Van Der Beek and his twin sons (Valin Shinyei and Michael Strusievici), even going to far as to play matchmaker for the widower and the boys’ schoolteacher (Erin Karpluk). This lighthearted holiday tearjerker gets a boost from likable performances.
“PARENTHOOD”: SEASON 1 (Universal Studios Home Entertainment): Bonnie Bedelia and Craig T Nelson play Mom and Dad in all 13 episodes from the 2010 season of the prime-time NBC-TV drama, inspired by Ron Howard’s hit 1989 film, which also spawned a short-lived sitcom in 1990. Howard and Brian Grazer serve as executive producers. The ensemble cast also includes Lauren Graham (who replaced Maura Tierney), Dax Shepard, Erika Christensen and Peter Krause. This three-DVD boxed set retails for $39.98. SALT (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): Slick, empty-headed spy-jinks with Angelina Jolie as a covert CIA agent who may or may not be a deep-cover KGB operative. A box-office hit but an artistic failure. Available on DVD in its theatrical edition or as an unrated edition ($28.96 retail each), and as a Blu-ray unrated edition ($34.95 retail). Rated PG-13.
“SPACE PRECINCT”: THE COMPLETE SERIES (Image Entertainment): The entire 24-episode collection ($49.98 retail) of the British-produced science-fiction series created by Gerry Anderson (of “Thunderbirds” and “Space: 1999” fame) starring Ted Shackelford and Rob Youngblood as a pair of cops patrolling the mean streets of Demeter City, located on the distant planet Altor. Without American syndication, the series only ran one season (1994- ’95) but, like many sci-fi series’, has a following.
“THE TWILIGHT ZONE”: SEASON 2 (Image Entertainment): All 29 episodes from the 1960-’61 season of Rod Serling’s classic prime-time CBS-TV fantasy series come to Blu-ray in a four-disc Blu-ray boxed set ($99.98 retail). Guest stars include the great Cliff Robertson, William Shatner, Robert Cummings, Don Rickles, Dennis Weaver, John Carradine and many others. Emmy wins for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama (Serling) and Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for TV, with an additional nomination for Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Drama. This show never gets old.
YOO-HOO, MRS. GOLDBERG (Docurama Films): Aviva Kempner’s first-rate documentary tracing the life and career of actress/producer Gertrude Berg (1898-1966), who blazed a trail in radio and television with the popular series “The Goldbergs,” for which she won the first Best Actress Emmy in history. Informative, enlightening and entertaining.
