Boys on the Side

Amazon.com

This female-bonding film takes your basic soap opera and twists it inside out. Although director Herbert Ross draws superb performances from his actresses, he occasionally wallows in that maudlin, Hollywood melodrama in which close-ups are crucial. Remember, this is the man who directed Steel Magnolias. However, Ross also does something you don't expect: he makes you fall in love with his characters. Whoopi Goldberg is a down-on-her luck singer who hopes to start over in Los Angeles. Mary-Louise Parker is the realtor whose life is going nowhere. After Goldberg answers Parker's ad in the paper for a companion to drive to LA, these two completely different women grudgingly find themselves emotionally involved. Drew Barrymore enters the picture on the first leg of the trip when Goldberg insists on visiting her. After battling with her drug-dealing boyfriend, the flighty, sexy Barrymore throws in with them. During their trek west, the women learn to take life as it lands on them while recognizing true friendship. The film is enlightened in that it accepts the complications and blurred family ties of the '90s. At the heart of the story is the realization that people can expand past expected boundaries. The movie gels in other areas as well. The all-female soundtrack is powerful and works to underscore, not overpower, certain scenes. The same can be said of the supporting cast, specifically Anita Gillette and James Remar. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful Movie Ever.......2007-06-10

Embrace diversity is the message that this movie brings to us all. With the most amazing woman of our time, Whoopi Goldberg has given us a masterful production. A road trip to assist a friend sees these women find a friendship that will last forever, regardless where their future lives take them. This is a must for the sunday afternoon with good friends.

Glad to find it!!!.......2007-04-11

I saw this movie a long time ago and couldn't find it anywhere. I was very excited when I finally found it--and for a great price too!!

An entertaining ride.......2007-01-29

A road movie for the fairer sex, "Boys on the Side" is helped immeasurably by the performances of Mary-Louise Parker, Drew Barrymore, and Whoopi Goldberg. The latter plays a lesbian nightclub singer (!) who agrees to share the wheel with repressed, straight-laced Parker on a trip to San Diego. Following a serious misadventure with her drug pusher boyfriend, the still pixy-ish Barrymore joins the journey.

"Boys on the Side" is as contrived as a soap opera with each character facing a personal crisis, but the three stars are so good, it's easy to overlook the frequently smarmy plot developments and enjoy the performances. Parker is particularly good, especially when she unwinds by lip-synching to Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock." The soundtrack is nicely compiled, too, and features performances by the likes of Sarah McLachlan, Bonnie Raitt, The Indigo Girls, and Annie Lennox.

Brian W. Fairbanks

Another great Drew movie.......2007-01-14

Another great Drew Barrymore movie. Another great cross-country road trip movie. Whoppi Goldberg stars as a lesbian lounge singer in search of a new life; Drew Barrymore stars as a pregnant girl who accidentally killed her abusive boyfriend; and Mary Louise Parker stars as an uptight real estate agent who is infected with HIV. The three women hide out in a small town in Arizona, hoping to start a new life. The relationship between Goldberg's character and Parker's character is very touching. A great chick flick.

My Favourite.......2006-11-10

As this is my favourite soundtrack/movie, of course I would rate it highly!!! Excellent quality, fast delivery, all round good service!!

Average customer rating:

Classic Comedy
EAST SIDERS BACK UP MUGGS.
Series fans, add 1 *.Huntz Hall in drag is worth price alone
Antics galore!

East Side Kids: Clancy Street Boys
Starring: Leo Gorcey , Huntz Hall , Bobby Jordan , Noah Beery , and Amelita Ward
Director: William Beaudine
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Slapstick | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Farce | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Classic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Comedy | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

( E ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

ASIN: B00008Z48G
Release Date: 2003-06-10

Customer Reviews:

Classic Comedy.......2007-04-01

Clancy Street Boys has a tried but true storyline in a b-picture format. Muggs (Leo Gorcey) is having a birthday, and just like every year, his rich uncle (Noah Beery) sends him money through the mail. In the card is an announcemnt; Uncle is coming to New York with his daughter (Amelita Ward) to visit. Muggs' mother (Martha Wentworth) becomes distressed. It seems that her husband has been scamming Muggs' uncle for years, telling him that there are seven children, not one, for the extra birthday cash. In order to protect his father's honor, Muggs rounds up the gang to play the parts, including Glimpy (Huntz Hall) as his little sister Annabelle.

The story is very funny and well done. The gang's slang really makes for some great jokes, and as always Gorcey and Hall shine. Gorcey is able to bring plenty of laughs by being completely serious, and Hall's goofyness is inevitably funny.

EAST SIDERS BACK UP MUGGS........2005-05-27

During the course of the second manifestation for Leo Gorcey's mini-mob players, the East Side Kids, who followed the Dead End Kids, while preceding the Bowery Boys, producer Sam Katzman hired veteran director William Beaudine for the East Side series due to his established success at leading movie youngsters and this quite effective Monogram release is the initial effort with Beaudine at the helm. The mother of young Muggs McGinnis (Gorcey) shares with him a letter received from his late father's close friend, "Uncle" Pete, a wealthy Texan, in which he Pete tells of an impending visit by him and his daughter Judy to the McGinnis home in New York where the rancher expects to meet for the first time the five brothers and the sister Annabelle of Muggs, non-existent siblings invented by the widow McGinnis in order to receive Pete's financial support over many years. Muggs conscripts his East Side roustabout cohorts as his family, with Glimpy (Huntz Hall) dressed as Annabelle, and when Uncle Pete and Judy arrive in New York, confused jollity ensues, until a local thug plots to expose the impersonation as a means of obtaining some of Pete's wealth for himself. The film, produced with a virtually non-existent budget, has a virtually non-existent script, as well, with ad libbing contributed by most of the cast, notably Gorcey with his rather fascinating employment of malapropisms, all of which is very compatible to Beaudine's loose-reined directoral mode. His relaxed methods must also take responsibility for some ragged performing, and there is need for more efficient editing, but this comedic affair eschews the wonted wartime jingoism that marks the series, and Hall is enormously and unexpectedly hilarious in his gender bending role, joining the other members of the cast in patent enjoyment of playing in this entry. The DVD version offers no special features.

Series fans, add 1 *.Huntz Hall in drag is worth price alone.......2003-12-30

The East Side Kids series took a definite turn for the better when director William Beaudine joined it in 1943. CLANCY STREET BOYS is Beaudine's first, and also the first East Side escapade to be played strictly for laughs. To impress his father's old friend from Texas, Leo Gorcey has to pass off his rowdy pals as his siblings (including Huntz Hall in lipstick as sister "Annabelle," and African-American Ernie Morrison as a stepbrother!). Noah Beery and Lita Ward (the future Mrs. Gorcey) are enjoyable as Gorcey's fresh-from-Texas visitors, and Rick Vallin is personable as the heavy. (Vallin became one of producer Sam Katzman's favorite actors.) This was filmed on Katzman's usual how-low-can-we-go budget, which results in frequent ad libs and a relaxed atmosphere. An hour of fun for comedy fans, and series fans will really enjoy it. The print was frequently cut and recut by TV stations, so there are splices at scene changes. Except for a few momentary digital glitches, the image is surprisingly sharp and clear.

Antics galore!.......2001-08-07

If you grew up watching the East Side Kids/Bowery Boys, you'll love this film. Muggs and the gang are always at their hysterical best. It's just as much fun to watch them now at age 51 than when I was 10. This is a keeper!

Average customer rating:

Boys on the Side

Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Comedy | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000GAKBQ2
Release Date: 2005-11-29

{14 Movies / Over 16 Hours} It's a Joke, Son / the Groom Wore Spurs / St. Benny the Dip / That Uncertain Feeling / Letter of Introduction / Broadway Limited "THE EAST SIDE KIDS IN: Mr. Wise Guy / That Gang of Mine / Ghosts on the Loose / Bowery Blitzkrieg / Boys of the City / Pride of the Bowery / 'Neath the Brooklyn Bridge / Million Dollar Kid"

Average customer rating:

{14 Movies / Over 16 Hours} It's a Joke, Son / the Groom Wore Spurs / St. Benny the Dip / That Uncertain Feeling / Letter of Introduction / Broadway Limited "THE EAST SIDE KIDS IN: Mr. Wise Guy / That Gang of Mine / Ghosts on the Loose / Bowery Blitzkrieg / Boys of the City / Pride of the Bowery / 'Neath the Brooklyn Bridge / Million Dollar Kid"

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000ERRSO0

[19 Comedy Flicks] Love Laughs At Andy Hardy, My Dear Secretary, Never Wave At a WAC, Nothing Sacred, the Nasty Rabbit, New Fave, One Week, Parlor Bedroom and Bath, Smallest Show on Earth, Two Weeks to Live, Bashful Bachelor, so This Iswashington, Dreaming Out Loud, Clancy Street Boys, East Side Kids, Little Tough Guy, Spooks Run Wild, Flying Deuces, Stolen Tools

Average customer rating:

[19 Comedy Flicks] Love Laughs At Andy Hardy, My Dear Secretary, Never Wave At a WAC, Nothing Sacred, the Nasty Rabbit, New Fave, One Week, Parlor Bedroom and Bath, Smallest Show on Earth, Two Weeks to Live, Bashful Bachelor, so This Iswashington, Dreaming Out Loud, Clancy Street Boys, East Side Kids, Little Tough Guy, Spooks Run Wild, Flying Deuces, Stolen Tools

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000E3AW7O

Product Description

DVD FEATURES: DIGITALLY MASTERED, INTERACTIVE MENUS, CHAPTER SELECTIONS, ENHANCED AUDIO 5.1

DVD:

DVD

DVD