Fracture (Widescreen Edition)

Amazon.com

Anthony Hopkins plays a brilliant, pathologically serene killer outwitting the good guys at every turn and taking a shine to a twentysomething law enforcer who can't conceal a rural accent and rugged origins. Could it be...? No, not The Silence of the Lambs, but an original mystery, Fracture, which plays a little like Lambs as an episode of Columbo, minus Columbo. Which means the film tells us from the get-go that Hopkins' character, a wealthy engineer, shoots his philandering wife (Embeth Davidtz) and leaves her in a vegetative state. From there, it should be a simple matter for young, assistant District Attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) to nail Crawford, who provides a full confession and even eschews counsel. That's good for Beachum, a slick winner with a vague background of deprivation, rapidly on his way out of public service after attracting the attention of a deep-pocket, private firm. What he doesn't know, however, is that Crawford has masterminded more than vengeance against his wife, and that the state's case against him is full of pre-arranged holes and a huge time-bomb that will send Beachum scrambling to keep the pieces together.

The story, conceived and co-scripted by Daniel Pyne (Doc Hollywood), goes down easily with a minimum of blood and violence, and should easily appeal to mystery buffs as well as old fans of Hopkins and new admirers of Oscar nominee Gosling (Half Nelson). The latter holds his own in multiple, two-character scenes with the masterful portrayer of Hannibal Lecter, pacing Beachum's reactions to Crawford's polite provocations so everything spills onto his youthful face: torn loyalties, confusion, gullibility. Director Gregory Hoblit (Hart's War), still best-known for decades of distinguished television work (NYPD Blue), brings the necessary intimacy to make the stars' chemistry work effectively. His noirish atmosphere is a little over the top, sometimes pushing the audience to a level of expectation that the film isn't really ready to deliver, but this, overall, is an enjoyable work. --Tom Keogh

Description

Academy Awardï¿½ winner Anthony Hopkins and Academy Awardï¿½ nominee Ryan Gosling are brilliant in this "exceptionally suspenseful nail-biter" (Rex Reed) that's so smart it "doesn't let go, even after the final twist" (Gene Shalit, "Today"). Ted Crawford (Hopkins) brutally murders his wife and calmly waits for the police to arrest him. With the weapon and a signed confession in hand, Deputy D.A., Willy Beachum (Gosling), believes a conviction is a slam dunk; that is until the case completely unravels. Now, with little evidence, Beachum goes head to head with the cunning Mr. Crawford in a desperate search for the truth and the answer to one burning question: How is this guy getting away with murder?

Customer Reviews:

Fracture.......2007-09-17

only Anthony Hopkins can play this type of role and do it justice. The book kept you tied to your chair until it was finished. Spellbinding!

Overly Tricky Plot Makes for Glib Entertainment Thanks Mainly to the Two Leads.......2007-09-17

There's a familiar bag of tricks at work in this 2007 courtroom-driven suspense thriller, and it goes beyond Anthony Hopkins' deliberate echo of Hannibal Lecter in his malevolently amusing performance as Ted Crawford, a wealthy and cuckolded industrial engineer. It involves the intricately plotted, marginally credible screenplay by Daniel Pyne and Glenn Gers, which reminds me of an old episode of Columbo. That's not necessarily a bad thing since those Sunday night shows could be entertaining whodunits, but the derivative veneer of this movie purposefully shortchanges logic for contrived twists. In fact, the central conceit of the film is that we know Crawford shot his beautiful, adulterous wife point blank. The film is really about how he plans to get away with it and how young Willie Beachum, an ambitious and unflagging assistant D.A. bucks the odds and seeks the truth in this case.

Giving away any more is unnecessary, as director Gregory Hoblit is no stranger to the courtroom giving us the equally twist-infested Primal Fear eleven years ago. While the twists are not as pronounced here, they also don't feel as hard-earned here primarily because Crawford and Beachum feel more like archetypes than flesh-and-blood characters. This is where casting helps considerably since Hopkins can evince menace with minimal effort - a blank stare, veiled smirk, the delusion of befuddlement in the courtroom - before you can say The Silence of the Lambs. Impressive in last year's Half Nelson, Ryan Gosling plays Beachum in a likeably braggadocio manner with a heavy Southern accent and a variety of idiosyncratic tics. It is his character that goes through something of an arc from accepting a high-paying job at an exclusive private firm to a personal catharsis over his crusade for justice.

The two principal actors are well matched in their scenes together, even though one is a virtual replay of the one between Hopkins and Jodie Foster in Lambs. The rest of the actors aren't given much leeway to provide any meaningful depth to their characters - David Strathairn, in a complete role reversal from this year's Bourne Ultimatum, as Beachum's moral conscience and current boss, D.A. Joe Labruto; Billy Burke particularly lackluster as the indiscreet detective caught in the middle; Embeth Davidtz making her precious few moments count as Crawford's dissatisfied wife Jennifer; and former Bond girl Rosamund Pike as Nikki Gardner, Beachum's boss at his new firm. Her romantic relationship with Beachum seems like a particularly absurd plot convenience given the impropriety of a senior partner bedding an associate.

The twisty ending satisfies for the obvious reason but is tethered in legal precedents that seem strangely arbitrary (pardon the pun). As part of its set of extras, the 2007 DVD contains two alternatives to the final ending, both making the inevitable a more Baroque-level experience that borders on silly. The other deleted scenes are of marginal interest including two extended variations on the romantic coupling between Gardner and Beachum. While a trailer is included, there is surprisingly no commentary track from either the director or the two principals. For what it's worth, the film is a fun ride for the undemanding because a moment's thought afterward will inevitably spoil your memory of it.

Different Kind of Murder/Suspense Movie!.......2007-09-15

I enjoyed watching this movie a lot as it had some twists and turns in it that I haven't seen in other movies.... this way you won't have figured out the ending before it happens!!

In "Fracture", Anthony Hopkin's character attempts to kill his wife for having an affair with another man. It is no secret that he has attempted to kill his wife as he admits to shooting her to the police. He gets rid of nearly all the evidence, including the murder weapon.

So, now the movie in turn, focuses on how the police and district attorney's office go about making a case for attempted murder. The case seems to be straight forward ENOUGH and SHOULD PROVE TO BE AN EASY TO PROVE..... BUT PROVES TO BE OTHERWISE! Watch Anthony Hopkin's character play cat and mouse with a young, hot shot attorney from the district attorney's office!

'I shot my wife. Prove it.' .......2007-09-13

It has been quite a while since I've seen such a great thriller. This is just a fabulous movie with Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling playing battling characters who engage in a battle of wits. Hopkins plays a husband who discovers his wife having an affair, shoots her, confesses the same night and then has things cleverly arranged where it's almost impossible to convict him. Gosling plays a young, hotshot prosecuting attorney on his way to bigger and better things with a change of scenery to corporate law but gets stuck with this open-and-shut case right before he switches firms. The trouble is, it's a lot more than he figured and he isn't used to losing. Hopkins knows this, of course, and plays on his vanity.

Gosling evolves from a me-only lawyer to someone who really wants justice, even if it costs him. Both characters are cocky and smart and the twists and turns just add to the fun.

I could have watched this story unfold for another two hours and would have been happy to do so, am I'm not one to sit still for long periods these days. That's how good this was. Highly recommended.

Who's the good guy?.......2007-09-06

This film was entertaining, but it was conflicting to see the cat and mouse being played between Gosling and Hopkins. Every time Hopkins was on screen he dominated the dialog, but it was Gosling who managed to portay his own character growth from a disinterested prosecutor with one foot out the door to act like the great lawyer he was supposed to be. My main issue with the movie is that Hopkins is consistently portrayed as a maniacal killer, craftily outsmarting police, and essentially evil incarnate. The fact is that yes, he killed his wife; he killed his cheating wife after having conclusive proof that she was guilty of having an affair. He also managed to ruin the cop who was her lover, and he did so brilliantly. He should have been the hero of this movie, not the villian.

Average customer rating:

I hate it when I know the story from the first five minutes.
If you look close enough, you'll find everyone has a weak spot :-)
Interesting crime but less than stellar delivery
Not 2 Bad
3.5, Ok, But Not Great.

Fracture (Full Screen Edition)
Starring: Anthony Hopkins , Ryan Gosling , David Strathairn , Rosamund Pike , and Embeth Davidtz
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000R4SMD6
Release Date: 2007-08-14

Description

Customer Reviews:

I hate it when I know the story from the first five minutes........2007-09-04

This movie was pretty good, except as a mystery it gives too many clues from the onset. The whole time I felt like talking to the screen. Although the acting was much better than average and the cinematic directing very engrossing, the story was too weak to match, and failed to engage any empathy with any of the characters.

Overall a pretty good but far from great movie.

If you look close enough, you'll find everyone has a weak spot :-).......2007-09-02

This is a very smart movie. I really enjoyed it (although some parts moved too slow). Anthony Hopkins is as on top as ever and he really delivered a great performance. Ryan Gosling also did a fantastic job and was very believable as a district attorney out to prove Hopkins guilty of shooting his wife.
I found this gripping and engrossing and there were enough surprises in it to keep me guessing. While there was one or two predictable parts, the ending was great and I like the fact that we were left to do a little bit of wondering. I don't know that it's the kind of movie to go out and buy to watch over and over, but as a first time viewing and maybe once more after you've pieced it all together, I really recommend you at least see this once. Very entertaining.

Interesting crime but less than stellar delivery.......2007-08-31

This ho-hum thriller starts slowly, once Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) shoots his wife for cheating on him. Young prosecutor Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) is assigned the case - believed to be an easy and immediate conviction - as he is about to leave for a lucrative corporate law position. A game of cat and mouse ensues between Willy and the arrogant and educated Ted, once Ted gets all the evidence against himself thrown out of court. The ending is fairly interesting, but it's a long, slow haul to get there. In between, the viewer must endure a stale romance between Willy and his new boss - an anorexic blond with the charisma of cardboard whose only acting skills are opening her gaunt eyes wide and intensely staring at Willy as if he was a sandwich she would kill to get a bite of. Hopkins sleepwalks through a toned down version of Hannibal Lector, albeit without the interesting homicidal nuances of that character. And Gosling, who showed he has true talent in Murder by Numbers - seems to flounder as a lower class, Midwesterner clawing his way to the top in LA. His accent and body language feel forced, and he isn't ever believable as a successful attorney. The whole movie has the feel of trying too hard, yet never quite succeeding at gripping the audience.
-Jessica Teel, MA

Not 2 Bad.......2007-08-26

I would say this was a really good movie. I would recommend to watch. i don't know about buy though. It was kind of predictable if you actually look at all the clues , think about the what's going on, and know something about law. Than it probably want be as interesting in the end, but it was still a good movie.

3.5, Ok, But Not Great........2007-08-19

Hopkins is a great actor and can always pull off any character he plays. The story line was too weak. It had the potential to be a good suspenseful story, but lacked enough substance. It was ok for a rental. I wouldn't buy this movie.

Average customer rating:

A Great Screen Play!
Shallow and Frivolous
Chicago IS jazz hot!
Loved it -- Fantastic Music and Great Cinematography
Great Musical!

Chicago (Widescreen Edition)
Starring: Christine Baranski , Colm Feore , Richard Gere , Catherine Zeta-Jones , and Queen Latifah
Director: Rob Marshall
Manufacturer: Miramax Home Entertainment
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ASIN: B00005JLSE
Release Date: 2003-08-19

Amazon.com

Bob Fosse's sexy cynicism still shines in Chicago, a faithful movie adaptation of the choreographer-director's 1975 Broadway musical. Of course the story, all about merry murderesses and tabloid fame, is set in the Roaring '20s, but Chicago reeks of '70s disenchantment--this isn't just Fosse's material, it's his attitude, too. That's probably why the movie's breathless observations on fleeting fame and fickle public taste already seem dated. However, Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones are beautifully matched as Jazz Age vixens, and Richard Gere gleefully sheds his customary cool to belt out a showstopper. (Yes, they all do their own singing and dancing.) Whatever qualms musical purists may have about director Rob Marshall's cut-cut-cut style, the film's sheer exuberance is intoxicating. Given the scarcity of big-screen musicals in the last 25 years, that's a cause for singing, dancing, cheering. And all that jazz. --Robert Horton

Description

Winner of six Academy Awards(R) (2003) including Best Picture, and starring Academy Award nominee (Best Actress, CHICAGO) and Golden Globe winner (Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, CHICAGO) Renée Zellweger (BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY), Academy Award winner (Best Supporting Actress, CHICAGO) Catherine Zeta-Jones (TRAFFIC), Academy Award nominee (Best Supporting Actress, CHICAGO) Queen Latifah (BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE), Golden Globe winner (Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, CHICAGO) Richard Gere (UNFAITHFUL), and Academy Award nominee (Best Supporting Actor, CHICAGO) John C. Reilly (GANGS OF NEW YORK) -- CHICAGO is a dazzling spectacle cheered by audiences and critics alike! At a time when crimes of passion result in celebrity headlines, nightclub sensation Velma Kelly (Zeta-Jones) and spotlight-seeking Roxie Hart (Zellweger) both find themselves sharing space on Chicago's famed Murderess Row! They also share Billy Flynn (Gere), the town's slickest lawyer with a talent for turning notorious defendants into local legends. But in Chicago, there's only room for one legend! Also starring Lucy Liu (CHARLIE'S ANGELS).

Customer Reviews:

A Great Screen Play!.......2007-09-02

Chicago, the movie, was done so well, it makes a fellow want to see the play - as on Broadway!

Shallow and Frivolous .......2007-06-28

After many years of wanting to see this film, I finally got a chance to view it. I like musicals and loved Moulin Rouge, so I thought I'd give this one a try. However, after viewing, I was a bit puzzled at all the fuss and acclaim this movie received and continues to receive.

Chicago, while visually stunning and artistically impressive (in that the actors did their own singing), is a shallow, cynical, superficial, and unsympathetic story. Most movies rely upon story and plot for their strength; not so Chicago, whose only redeeming quality is the song and dance they put on.

The main problem with the story is that there are virtually no sympathetic main characters. To take that a step further, the main characters are all frauds, and the story's message is shallow. The two somewhat redeeming characters, Roxie's husband and the woman who is hanged, are both pretty much invisible and discarded in the film. Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly are both in jail for murder, and both have hopes and dreams of making it, being a big star, and having people adore them, so they call upon a slimebag attorney, Billy Flynn, to help them out. Roxie and Velma take turns lying and deceiving each other so they can get the fame in Chicago. Roxie openly admits she cheated on her husband, is oblivious to the fact that he's spent his life savings to get her a lawyer, and uses every trick in the book (including pretending that she has an illegitimate child) to ensure that she is the center of the newspaper headlines. Velma is a conceited fame-hungry snob who bribes the prison ward and only sucks up to Roxie when she realizing she is losing the fame war. From here we have a battle over popularity, as the two think of shenanigans to steal the headlines from each other. Who will win out? Who cares.

The message basically projected in this film is that its legitimate to whatever it takes to get ahead in this world--lie, cheat, steal, commit adultery--and, in fact, it might make you a star!

Are we are suppose to root for two back-stabbing, deceitful, murderesses who walk over people just to get their claim to fame all because they can sing and dance? Or how about a double-crossing, pompous, lying, money-hungry lawyer looking for the next damsel charged with murder? No thanks. I say throw them all in jail.

Watching this film, I found it mystifying how so many people and critics could love this movie so much. Granted the story's plot has probably changed from the musical version on stage, but the movie version falls quite short of its glowing reviews. Moreover, how could this film have received six Oscars in 2002? I liken the Oscar committee of 2002 to the gullible Chicago citizens in the film, falling over and swooning at something that puts on a little song and dance. Maybe Chicago was the Academy Award's apology for Moulin Rouge not getting any Oscars the previous year.

If you want to see a musical that is vastly superior, has heart, style and substance, and better acting, see Moulin Rouge.

Chicago IS jazz hot!.......2007-06-08

One of the best musicals of all time. Rapid paced, great story line, great actors, fantastic scenery... I can't say enough about everything this musical has going for it!!! A definite for your collection.

Loved it -- Fantastic Music and Great Cinematography.......2007-05-17

This is one of my very favorite movie musicals. The songs are so great and so much fun!

My favorite part about this movie though, is the way in which it constantly cuts back and forth between simultaneous shots of what the characters are doing in the "movie" version and what they are doing in the "stage" version of the story. It is this symmetrical blending of the two arts that really appeals to me, and the cinematography is very well done.

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, John C. Reilly, and Queen Latifah all put on award-winning performances. I was especially impressed with Gere's and Reilly's performances. (Lucy Liu's small part was nice simply because she is so gorgeous, LOL, but she really is only a brief side character.)

This is the best and most enjoyable stage-musical-to-movie adaptation that I have yet seen, and I highly recommend it. Is it the best movie-musical ever? Probably not, I'd have to vote for The Sound Of Music, but even so, I find myself watching Chicago more often than TSOM. And Moulin Rouge is even funnier than Chicago, but I still love Chicago's songs the best.

Great Musical!.......2007-04-10

This is the musical for people who hate musicals! My kids and I all belt out the words when the songs come--each song is so unique and original. This really is an incredible film--the acting is perfect--I love the casting. Catherine Zeta Jones is so powerful, as is Renee Z. Ruchard Gere is at his best, as well, which was a cool surprise!

Average customer rating:

Awesome Blu-ray title
IT WILL RAZZLE DAZZLE YOU...
Ersatz

Chicago [Blu-ray]
Starring: Christine Baranski , Colm Feore , Richard Gere , Catherine Zeta-Jones , and Queen Latifah
Director: Rob Marshall
Manufacturer: Miramax
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: Blu-ray

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ASIN: B000KEG94C

Product description

The winner of 6 Academy Awards® (2002) including Best Picture, Chicago seduces like never before on Blu-ray's high definition disc. Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, Richard Gere and Queen Latifah, this "splashy, sexy, knockout" (Rolling Stone) sizzles in this spectacular new format. After committing crimes of passion, nightclub sensation Velma Kelly and spotlight-seeking Roxie Hart both wind up on Chicago's famed Murderess Row. But with the help of slick, defense lawyer Billy Flynn, these notoriously lethal ladies will soon become local legends! Get more than an eyeful of "razzle dazzle" in jaw-dropping 1080p, and experience every sultry, musical nuance with 5.1 48 kHz, 24-bit uncompressed audio. Set your senses free with Blu-ray™ High Definition.

Customer Reviews:

Awesome Blu-ray title.......2007-01-28

This movie has the BEST audio of any Blu-ray movie, and far better than anything HD-DVD can offer. I don't really like musicals, but I wanted to experience the audio for this film and it was simply amazing, the picture was excellent too. Just make sure you have your HDMI cables hooked up correctly!

IT WILL RAZZLE DAZZLE YOU..........2007-01-21

This is a fantastic musical. From the beautifully designed sets, to the period costumes, to the show-stopping song and dance numbers, it will simply razzle-dazzle the viewer. The director and his singing and dancing troupe of stars simply pull out all the stops in this brilliantly executed musical.

The film, which provides a cynical and satirical look at fame and fortune, centers in nineteen twenties Chicago around two murderesses, Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger). Velma, who together with her sister, was a dance hall success, killed her husband and her sister when she caught them together en flagrante delicto. True to the maxim, however, that the show must go on, she goes on stage immediately after dispatching the two lovers, where she is promptly arrested.

Roxie Hart, an admirer of Velma Kelly, is married to Amos Hart (John C. Reilly), a good-hearted, regular Joe, but she longs for tabloid fame and fortune. She begins to have an affair with a man who promises that he could get her a stage gig only to find that he lied just to get her in bed. So, she ends up killing him. Her long suffering husband stands by his little woman as she is trundled off to jail to await trial. There, she meets her idol, Velma Kelly, who finds her hero-worship annoying.

In the jail, Matron "Mama" Morton (Queen Latifah) reigns supreme over the inmates, accepting bribes for favors. Velma Kelly, represented by star defense attorney Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), is in tabloid heaven. Roxie Hart, longing to be in tabloid heaven as well, gets her husband to retain Billy Flynn on her behalf. Before she knows it, she, too, is in tabloid heaven, playing the media like a violin.

The legal profession also gets a cynical slap in the guise of the slimy, fast talking Billy Flynn, who looks for the best selling point rather than for the truth. He understands the thirst of the media for the perfect sound-bite and he gives it to them. Guilty or not guilty, it doesn't matter. What matters to him, as a hired mouthpiece, is the media mileage he can get for his client, as well as for himself. To that end, he is the ventriloquist, and his client is no more than his dummy.

The razzle-dazzle musical numbers move the story along. Catherine Zeta-Jones is terrific, looking impossibly beautiful and showing off her musical theatre background to great advantage with "All That Jazz" and "Cell Block Tango". Queen Latifah is outstanding as the sly and voracious Mama Morton, who goes whichever way the wind is blowing. She also has a show-stopping musical number, "When You're Good To Mama" that is simply memorable. Renee Zellweger, though not a professional singer or dancer, shows that she can sing and dance with the best of them.

The men also shine in this musical. John C. Reilly, as Roxie's long-suffering husband, also has a terrific number, "Mister Cellophane", that is truly heart rending and poignant, as well as metaphoric. Richard Gere gamely rises to the occasion in his first musical, making the slick Billy Flynn character an integral part of the film with his "Razzle Dazzle" number and his tap dancing.

I love this top notch, clever film, finding it hugely entertaining. It deserves every one of its six Academy Awards, including that for "Best Picture". Director Rob Marshall deserves kudos for this brilliantly directed, seamlessly edited, musical masterpiece. While it is a fairly faithful screen adaptation of Bob Fosse's Broadway musical, it has Rob Marshall's contemporary imprimatur on it. It is a film of which he can be justly proud. Bravo!

Ersatz.......2007-01-08

"Captain Kirk, the approaching probe will destroy Earth if we do not respond with whale sound!" "O.K., send them some." "The sounds will be real but it will just be gibberish." "Well people watched `Chicago'; what make you think the probe is any more discerning?"

The plot line by (Maurine Dallas Watkins) is a killer; it is all about the whimsical world of killing. Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) killed her husband and sister. Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger) shoots her boyfriend Fred Cassely (Dominic West) dead. And a whole bevy of sleazy babes that killed their significant others. They kill a few songs. And the plot was never alive.

It is possible that the play may have had some redeeming social value. However by the time it was hacked up for this movie the only thing of value is the fast forward button. And again just because the movie has the appearance of a play does not give it any virtue.

If you do like murder and music then you may prefer "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (1982)

In Search of History - Salem Witch Trials (History Channel) (A&E DVD Archives)

Average customer rating:

Salem's Trials
Ehhh... interesting, but...
Good Introduction to The Salem Witch Hunts of 1692

In Search of History - Salem Witch Trials (History Channel) (A&E DVD Archives)
Starring: In Search of History
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0007WFUQ0
Release Date: 2005-04-26

Customer Reviews:

Salem's Trials.......2007-01-07

This DVD is excellent for 11th Grade English Teachers, trying to go over the Salem witch trials can be difficult. If you purchase this DVD it goes step by step on how everything started and students get interested right away. I thought it was well explained and it was smooth transition into the whole Crucible unit.

Ehhh... interesting, but..........2007-01-05

I bought this product to use in my classroom while teaching The Crucible to 11th grade students. It held their attention for about 5 minutes. Some of the information is interesting, but most of it I already knew and/ or found out in my research to teach the book. Bottom line is this: if you like the History Channel, you will like this DVD. If not, look at something else.

Good Introduction to The Salem Witch Hunts of 1692.......2006-02-16

This History Channel documentary is a good introductory history to the infamous witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. It gives a broad overview of the major events and characters in this tragic episode of fear and suspision in early colonial America.

The Salem Witch saga began in the winter of 1692 with the strange behavior surrounding a number of young girls living in Salem Village, several of whom were living in the household of the controversial village minister Samuel Parris. The girls were given to bizarre fits that the local physician was at a loss to explain except by the actions of witchcraft. Soon accusations were leveled at the minister's Carib Indian slave woman, Tituba, who, under torture, admitted to being a witch in league with the Devil. Before long, hundreds of people from the surrounding countryside were arrested and dragged into court to answer to charges of witchcraft. In the end, 19 people died as a result of the tumultuous trials before public sentiment finally turned against the accusers.

The Salem Witch Trials have loomed large in American history since the time they occurred. There have been many different attempts to explain the causes of the witchcraze that swept Salem, but the debate continues to this very day. This documentary gives a clear and basic understanding of the historical events that took place and serves as a good introduction to this material for anyone interested in this notorious event in American History.

Average customer rating:

An enjoyable history lesson
THE CASE THAT WILL NOT DIE NOR SHOULD IT
Nicely done documentary on a historic trial
A History Lesson to Remember
A must-see for American history buffs

Sacco and Vanzetti
Starring: Tony Shalhoub , Studs Terkel , Arlo Guthrie , Giuliano Montaldo , and John Turturro
Director: Peter Miller
Manufacturer: FIRST RUN FEATURES
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ASIN: B000QJLQE4
Release Date: 2007-08-21

Product Description

SACCO AND VANZETTI brings to life the story of Nicola Sacco and
Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists who were
accused of a murder in 1920, and executed in Boston in 1927 after
a notoriously prejudiced trial.
The ordeal of Sacco and Vanzetti came to symbolize the bigotry and
intolerance directed at immigrants and dissenters in America. Millions
of people around the world protested on their behalf, and now, 80
years later, their story continues to have great resonance, as civil liberties
and the rights of immigrants are again under attack.
Powerful prison writings (given voice by acclaimed actors John
Turturro and Tony Shalhoub) and passionate interviews with the likes
of Howard Zinn, Arlo Guthrie and Studs Terkel are interwoven with
artwork, music, and film clips. Through the story of Sacco and
Vanzetti audiences will experience a universal - and very timely - tale
82 minutes, color & b/w .2006, BONUS MATERIALS INCLUDE:
Interview with Director Sacco and Vanzetti F.A.Q.
Archival photo gallery Suggested Readings More!

Customer Reviews:

An enjoyable history lesson.......2007-09-10

Although a drama lover, I do enjoy a good documentary--and this is a good one. Most of us, I suspect, have heard the names Sacco and Vanzetti, but I bet that most don't recall the details of the case. This film is a concise, 82-minute documentary that covers the background of the two men, the crime that took place, the evidence (or lack thereof) which convicted them, and the public outcry over the trial and execution. It's nicely done, using both still photos and some clips from an earlier (and currently unavailable) film, as well as interviews with people close to the case. It's well-paced; it tells the story, but doesn't drag. Many of the stills are quite lovely and I really enjoyed the soundtrack. A fine example of documentary filmmaking--and a history lesson with relevance today.

THE CASE THAT WILL NOT DIE NOR SHOULD IT.......2007-09-10

I have used some of the points mentioned here in previous reviews of books about the Sacco and Vanzetti case.

Those familiar with the radical movement know that at least once in every generation a political criminal case comes up that defines that era. One thinks of the Haymarket Martyrs in the 19th century, the Scottsboro Boys in the 1930's, the Rosenburgs in the post-World War II Cold War period and today Mumia Abu-Jamal. In America after World War I when the Attorney General Palmer-driven `red scare' brought the federal government's vendetta against foreigners, immigrants and militant labor fighters to a white heat that generation's case was probably the most famous of them all, Sacco and Vanzetti. The exposure of the tensions within American society that came to the surface as a result of that case is the subject of the film under review.

Using documentary footage, reenactment and `talking head' commentary by interested historians, including the well-known author of popular America histories Howard Zinn, the director Peter Miller and his associates bring this case alive for a new generation to examine. In the year 2007 one of the important lessons for leftists to be taken from the case is the question of the most effective way to defend such working class cases. I will address that question further below but here I wish to point out that the one major shortcoming of this film is a lack of discussion on that issue. I might add that this is no mere academic issue as the controversy over the strategic call for retrial or freedom in the current case of the death-row prisoner, militant journalist Mumia-Abu-Jamal, graphically illustrates. Notwithstanding that objection this documentary is a very satisfactory visual presentation of the case for those not familiar with it.

A case like that of Sacco and Vanzetti, accused, convicted and then executed in 1927 for a robbery and double murder committed in a holdup of a payroll delivery to a shoe factory in Braintree, Massachusetts in 1920, does not easily conform to any specific notion that the average citizen today has of either the state or federal legal system. Nevertheless, one does not need to buy into the director's overall thesis that the two foreign-born Italian anarchists in 1920 were railroaded to know that the case against them 'stunk' to high heaven. And that is the rub. Even a cursory look at the evidence presented (taking the state of jurisprudence at that time into consideration) and the facts surrounding the case would force the most mildly liberal political type to know the "frame" was on.

Everyone agrees, or should agree, that in such political criminal cases as Sacco and Vanzetti every legal avenue including appeals, petitions and seeking grants of clemency should be used in order to secure the goal, the freedom of those imprisoned. This film does an adequate job of detailing the various appeals and other legal wrangling that only intensified as the execution neared. Nevertheless it does not adequately address a question that is implicit in its description of the fight to save the lives of Sacco and Vanzetti. How does one organize and who does one appeal to in a radical working class political defense case?

The film spends some time on the liberal local Boston defense organizations and the 'grandees' and other celebrities who became involved in the case, and who were committed almost exclusively to a legal defense strategy. It does not, however, pay much attention to the other more radical elements of the campaign that fought for the pair's freedom. It gives short shrift to the work of the Communists and their International Red Aid (the American affiliate was named the International Labor Defense and headed by Communist leader James P. Cannon, a man well-known in anarchist circles and a friend of Carlos Tresca a central figure in the defense case) that organized meetings, conferences and yes, political labor strikes on behalf of Sacco and Vanzetti, especially in Europe. The tension between those two conceptions of political defense work still confronts us to day as we fight the seemingly never-ending legal battles thrown up since 9/11 for today's Sacco and Vanzetti's- immigrants, foreigners and radicals (some things do not change with time). If you want plenty of information on the Sacco and Vanzetti case and an interesting thesis about it's place in radical history, the legal history of Massachusetts and the social history of the United States this is not a bad place to stop. Hopefully it will draw the viewer to read one or more of the many books on the case. Honor the Memory of Sacco and Vanzetti.

Nicely done documentary on a historic trial.......2007-09-02

For years I heard about this case of "unsubstantial evidence" and political harassment through folk songs sung by Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. That's all I knew of the story. I decided it was time to learn more when this 2006 documentary came out recently on DVD. It uses a lot of footage from an Italian fictionalized version of the story that was made years ago. (I need to seek out that one as well.). The archival footage used is excellent and this film raises questions in a few areas. Other reviews have discussed the "immigration" and "illegal alien" angle. I saw the film more from a "civil rights" angle. Is a man innocent until proven guilty - beyond reasonable doubt? It seems that most articles and, certainly this film, show that the "beyond a reasonable doubt" did not exist. Much of the evidence was conflicting and not substantiated.

A documentary should not be judged on whether the viewer agrees with the outcome of the events but whether the Director was fair in his/her presentation. On this level I think it succeeds. And it acts as a history lesson. It's not that's it's "very timely" as the package says. It was never "untimely", in my opinion. With the supplemental materials including a FAQ section, this can be a useful tool in both schools and universities and should be available in every public library's DVD collection.

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"

A History Lesson to Remember.......2007-08-26

Sacco and Vanzetti is not only a fascinating and extremely well done film,it also tells the story of what was truly the case of the century capturing the attention of people worldwide. It is a history lesson we must all remember,

A must-see for American history buffs.......2007-08-24

Although already familiar with the story of Sacco and Vanzetti, I was thoroughly shocked and enraged (and ultimately charmed) by this thoughtful film. It is a very straightforward historical documentary (nothing flashy here), but the music and poetry and artwork woven into it really brings the story to life. I would have liked to have seen more attention given to the story's relevance today (immigrants' rights again being a hot topic in this country), but nevertheless this is a solid and well-crafted treatment of one of the most notorious criminal trials in American history.

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Everything But the Moral Premise
Breakthrough cure for Insomnia.
Creepy
Masterpiece about a Master

Capote
Starring: Allie Mickelson , Kelci Stephenson , Philip Seymour Hoffman , Craig Archibald , and Bronwen Coleman
Director: Bennett Miller
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ASIN: B000E33VWW
Release Date: 2006-03-21

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Bolstered by an Oscar®-caliber performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman in the title role, Capote ranked highly among the best films of 2005. Written by actor/screenwriter Dan Futterman and based on selected chapters from the biography by Gerald Clarke, this mercilessly perceptive drama shows how Truman Capote brought about his own self-destruction in the course of writing In Cold Blood, the "nonfiction novel" that was immediately acclaimed as a literary milestone. After learning of brutal killings in rural Holcomb, Kansas, in November 1959, Capote gained the confidence of captured killers Perry Smith (Clifton Collins, Jr.) and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino) in an effort to tell their story, but he ultimately sacrificed his soul in the process of writing his greatest book. Hoffman transcends mere mimicry to create an utterly authentic, psychologically tormented portrait of an insincere artist who was not above lying and manipulation to get what he needed. Bennett Miller's intimate direction focuses on the consequences of Capote's literary ambition, tempered by an equally fine performance by Catherine Keener as Harper Lee, Capote's friend and the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, who served as Capote's quiet voice of conscience. Spanning the seven-year period between the Kansas murders and the publication of In Cold Blood in 1966, Capote reveals the many faces of a writer who grew too close to his subjects, losing his moral compass as they were fitted with a hangman's noose. --Jeff Shannon

Description

In November, 1959, the shocking murder of a smalltown Kansas family captures the imagination of Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman), famed author of Breakfast at Tiffany's. With his childhood friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), writer of the soon-to-be published To Kill a Mockingbird, Capote sets out to investigate, winning over the locals despite his flamboyant appearance and style. When he forms a bond with the killers and their execution date nears, the writing of "In Cold Blood," a book that will change the course of American literature, takes a drastic toll on Capote, changing him in ways he never imagined. Stellar performances from Hoffman and Keener, as well as Academy Award® winner Chris Cooper (Adaptation) are why critics are calling Capote a "must-see movie."

Customer Reviews:

Scorecard.......2007-09-13

I always find it fascinating when two movies about the same topic come out very closely together. This has happened too many times for it to be coincidence. We had Dead Man on Campus vs. The Curve. Dangerous Liaisons vs. Valmont. Elizabeth vs. Shakespeare in Love. The Thin Red Line vs. Saving Private Ryan. Antz vs. A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo vs. A Shark's Tale Etc, etc. And now we have Capote vs. Infamous. Not just two movies with similar topics, but two movies that chronicle the exact same period of time about the exact same period of people, namely Truman Capote and the Kansas-family killers.

Scorecard

Better at being Truman Capote---Philip Seymour Hoffman. Toby Jones had the advantage of looking more like Capote, and being more on point with Capote's mannerisms, but his performance comes off as mimicry. Hoffman doesn't mimic, he acts. Plus, he gets points for degree of difficulty. He doesn't look like Capote at all, but he pulls it off. He even manages to make Capote somewhat sexy.

Better acting from the rest of the cast---Capote. With the exception of Sandra Bullock as Harper Lee, the rest of the Infamous cast is outshined by Capote's cast. Infamous has a lot of big names, but their parts are so minimal that it's almost a waste.

Better Love story---Capote. The love story is a little too subtle, but the interaction between Capote's Truman and Smith works really well. Perry Smith is portrayed with more gentility, and it becomes believable Truman could have fell for him. Daniel Craig plays Perry Smith like a schizophrenic who at one point gags and threatens to rape Capote. That's not how you fall in love. The love angle is not believable at all in Infamous.

Better script---Capote. The writing is tighter and more focused while Infamous's writing is a little jerky. We spend a little too much time with Truman's friends. And the interview style of the movie seems like a crutch. Capote was able to tell its story through action while Infamous needs the characters breaking the flow of the movie to tell the audience what's going on.

Better movie---Capote. It is bleak but better directed, better acted, and better executed. Infamous has lighter and funnier moments, but it can at times come off as frivolous.
I just wish Capote hadn't made Truman seem so evil. They play him entirely too ruthless and manipulative. And as a result, we are forced to sympathize with murderers of 4 innocent people.

In situations like this, it becomes obvious that the quicker one to the punch gets rewarded. Capote was released first; it got the attention; and it got the Oscar. Infamous is now just a footnote to Capote's page. But I like and enjoy both films; and maybe they should act as companion pieces. Glue them together, and maybe you'll get one accurate picture of Truman Capote.

Everything But the Moral Premise.......2007-09-03

This film is a generally excellent piece of realism about writer Truman Capote and the making of his early 1960s "non-fiction novel" about the murder of a Kansas farm family, In Cold Blood. The performances, cinematography, design, pacing, and (for the most part) direction and editing cannot be faulted. My problem is the moral premise as embodied in the script.

The script sets up Capote's childhood friend, author Harper Lee of To Kill a Mockingbird fame, as his co-worker and moral conscience, esentially convicting him of exploiting the killers on death row, "wanting them dead" finally so that Capote could publish the book. I have no idea if this indictment of Capote derived from Harper Lee, who is an admirable figure and admirably portayed. But even if true, the conclusion borders on the glib, and is questionable. The essential fault of the movie is that it builds this indictment of Capote as a writer, but does not give him equally resonant words to justify his methods or ends. It simply assumes that fame, writing a best seller, etc, is a bad and inferior motive. And it assumes that was Capote's motive.

Capote was a weird, quirky enough figure and is rather easily parodied. He was a marginal, desparately lonely figure, mawkish, embarrasing, somewhat perverse. But what he was doing was a literary experiment. It took somebody like him to enter this no man's land. The book was successful in its own right and on its own merits. It has indeed had an influence on American art and literature, some very good and some bad. But the experimental nature of the project was bound to incur unknown personal and psychological costs and risks. Art is necessary for any mature society to see itself, and while that premise does not justify any art or any experiment, it is enough to justify a serious endeavor like In Cold Blood.

Secondly, the charge of Capote exploiting the killers is highly questionable. They were clearly guilty, had due process of law, and the idea either that (1) Capote could have done more for them, ie., getting better lawyers for more appeals, or (2) such appeals would have been justified or sucessful, is really highly questionable. One cannot impose present day legal ideals, or attitudes about capital punishment, ex post facto on the early 1960s. There were trials in that day truly way out of line (the Sam Shepard carnival in Ohio upon which The Fugitive was based) which make better and fairer comparison than present day assumptions. There is no evidence the Kansas killers were treated in anything but a sober and deliberate manner for those times, by the system. Their execution was an inevitability. And the so-called "lies" Capote told Perry Smith were not only either harmless (he personally hadn't settled on a book title), or weirdly humane (ie., his sister still cared for him). Are these the sort of sins with which we convict major art in this country these days? If so, it says more about us -- a descent toward the trivially personal over 45 years, with a tendancy to send people up the flagpole for derision. Both tendancies were notably absent from Capote's final product, by the way, as to all concerned -- whatever misdemeanors (or mere infractions) he may have committed along the way.

But you do not have to like Truman Capote personally, or even like his book, to believe that his cause deserved more of a voice in this project. The fact is, the plain people of Kansas gave the In Cold Blood Killers a fairer trial than this film does Truman Capote. Thus for all its great aesthetic merits, which carry it far, this film is ultimately not satisfying as either an unbiased record or as a moral tale.

Breakthrough cure for Insomnia........2007-09-02

Capote, like many true crime genre films, has the advantages of being able to fallow an already pre-paved formula built around discoveries and pay offs. The other advantage is that more often then not, this type of story revolves around an act that is far outside the path of most of man kinds cautiously lived lives. Most people live there lives in such a way that they try to avoid conflict. I am no exception to this well ingrained way of existing, it is afterall the basis of what we call being civilized. We have all had experiences in our childhood where we have either participated or seen large groups of children, and sometimes even adults, fallow an ambulance to a location to gawk at the atrocity that awaits. If it is something that is particularly bloody, like a rather nasty traffic accident, it tends to bring a larger crowd of spectators. Like kids in a playground running to watch a fight, a true crime film by its very nature already comes equipped with a well baited hook to draw us curiosity seekers in. We are afterall going to see something that we will more then likely never experience in our own tame controlled normality. Films like The Hunt For The Unicorn killer, Boys Don't Cry, Mississippi Burning, Jasper Texas, The Hillside Strangler, Monster, The Accused, and Indictment starring James Woods, are examples of a few films that I can come up with off the top of my head that fallow the priciples of true crime genre story telling. All these films share the same type of pre-existing story design, and all these films work and are very much worth watching. The only real deviation outside of the characters involved, is in who the protagonist is going to be. Is it a film about the perpatrator of the crime? Or is it a film about the cops who solve it? Is it going to be a film about the friends and family members who grieve and fight for justice? Or is it about some other entity involved in the case? It is in this way that a true crime story can find its own originality, and seperate itself from other films in its genre.

Capote is no exception from this true crime formula, and director Bennett Miller does a fine job of keeping the vessel with in the confinds of these well groved tracks. The original aspect to this films story telling design is that of the character of Capote himself. Here we have a flamboyant socialite, decked out in the finest threads money can buy, speaking brilliant English with his dandy limp-wristed accent, and on top of all this, has a rather sizable desire to be the very social center of the entire universe. The juxtaposition of this extremely unusual one of a kind character to the salt of the Earth folks that are found in America's heart land, adds a nice bit of spice to this already intriguing dramatic stew. Furthermore, Capote is a very flawed human being with a poor tendency to drink, he is in short an alcoholic. On top of all this, he falls in love in the most idealistic sense with the main incarcerated murderer. Though this lends itself well in the impassioned writing of his legendary book "In Cold Blood", it also crosses his motives and passions up into a tangled mess. Capote,dispite his apparent love for the captured killer, is not above lying and manipulating to achieve the ends to his means. Cleary he will stop at nothing to to find the sordid reasons behind the very killings themselves. On the one hand he seems to do all he can to help these two lost souls, including using his fame to find them the best lawyers available. While on the other hand he is not above seeing them executed to achieve the perfect ending to his book. In the end these very twisted desires lead to the downfall of the real Truman Capote himself, as such, In Cold Blood ended up being the last book he would ever write. The film is full of fine performances, including the Oscar winning performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman, and as mentioned, Bennett Miller does a fine job of not letting the film stagger off track. Yet for all that is done right, there is still one major problem that ultimately hinders the watch-ability of this film.

I loved my red shoes.

My first memory in life was of running on a grassy slope in a park while looking down at my feet. I can still remember how captivated I was with my bright red shoes. It was not until I was older and looked at the photo from this event, that I realized that I was barely two years old when these memories took place. I bring up this early childhood memory to illustrate just where the major problem lies in this film. In an ill fated attempt to manipulate a shift of focus with-in the viewer from the visuals to the importance of the story, Bennett Miller chose to desaturate much of the color out of the movie. In the process he bleached out nearly all of the visual stimulation. To me the notion to do this was a complete utter oxymoron, cinema, by definition, is a visual art form. What confounds me even more about this directorial decision is that Capote is already a very languid film anyway. Outside of the brief instance in which the flashback of the actual crime is shown, there is no activity to be found anywhere in this film. Capote takes place in a flat nearly treeless landscape, dull police buildings with blank walls, and inside dank dingy jail cells. It is a film in which two people sit in an empty cell and talk for long periods of film time. If anything, Capote needed all the visual stimulation it could get its hands on. Now I should point out that one of my all time favorite films just happens to be 12 Angry Men, which is in black and white and takes place in a single room. The difference here is that despite these limitations, 12 Angry Men is visually appealing. The tone and shading to that picture registers as lush, rich, and delicious to the eye. The same can not be said about Capote, which only manages to make my eyelids go heavy like I am going under hypnosis. The admiration I feel for 12 Angry Men should hopefully quell any notion that I lack an attention span and need car chases and explosions to stay interested in a film. No, I believe that more then just the color was desaturated durring the process of removing the highlights out of the film stock. To me, it is as if the very aura of the film was rendered sedate, stagnant, and lifeless.

Capote, an all natural home remedy.

I'll be perfectly honest with you, I own a copy of this film. Yet every time I attempt to watch it, I end up falling asleep. Usually by the time that detective Alvin Dewey (played by Chris Cooper) briefs the media and other concerned citizens about how the police will stop at noting to catch the criminals, I am pretty much counting my first sheep. Maybe its only me and I have rocks in my head or something, but between the desaturation of color and the blankness of this films energy, I can not get past the first half hour of screen time without feeling like I just took a couple of melatonin tablets. The stagnant lack of energy that permeates the very pores of this movie began to put me down with such astounding regularity that I actually decided to keep the film and use it as a sleep aid. I have always been a bit of an insomniac. The funny thing is, is that Bennett Miller chose to desaturate this film in order to enforce a viewers concentration on the story, not to cause them to go under sedation and miss half of the film. I can only conclude by saying that Capote could teach a great lesson to film makers in what not to do, for as my fist memory illustrates, its stimulation that places memories into our minds, not the lack of it.

Creepy.......2007-08-26

I thought this movie was creepy but it was a true story.

Corey Cotta, Author of All of Yesterdays Tomorrows.

Masterpiece about a Master.......2007-08-12

Capote is a film no writer really deserves. What of Faulkner, Melville or Hemingway? Why Capote? Something clearly intrigues the artistic mind about this little man, who as shown in this film was a little, awful man. He is depicted here as a manipulator and user. He got in with the killers out in Kansas and then pretended to care in order to get their story, in much the same way he had squeezed reticent Marlon Brando for a story about his alcoholic mother. This is a very well made little picture, supremely well-acted by Hoffman, who has been growing year by year into a formidable actor. Just think of that awful little fat boy in "Boogie Nights" and consider how far he has come, giving here one of the great performances of the decade. He is a brave, daring actor, fearless really, and willing to go where few of our handsome leading men are willing to venture. His imitation of Capote is at times spot-on, eerily accurate and yet dynamically singular. The film too has merit. It is a tragedy about a tragedy. It took a while, but clearly Capote decided to kill himself after the hangings in Kansas. One is haunted by the image of Capote pacing the floor of his apartment at the UN Plaza, drinking away his sorrow.

Billy Jack 35th Anniversary Ultimate Collection (Born Losers/Billy Jack/ Trial of Billy Jack/ Billy Jack Goes to Washington)

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Billy Jack Collection
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Billy Jack 35th Anniversary Ultimate Collection (Born Losers/Billy Jack/ Trial of Billy Jack/ Billy Jack Goes to Washington)
Starring: Billy Jack Ultimate Collection
Manufacturer: Billy Jack Ent.
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Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002QO3BY
Release Date: 2005-09-27

Description

Born Losers: The first film in which the character Billy Jack ever appeared. Tom Laughlin had written Billy Jack back in the 1950's, but couldn't get anyone interested in a film about Indians - half-breed or otherwise. Tom Laughlin toned down the Indian and political themes in order to get Born Losers made. It became a very successful independent film! Billy Jack: The film that broke the mold. Billy Jack was, once again, the largest grossing independent film of all time. People saw Billy Jack 25 times or more than any movie in history until Star Wars. From the karate to the Native American spirituality, to the Freedom School, to the racial tolerance, few films have ever been this successful or stuck their necks out so far. The Trial of Billy Jack: The Trial of Billy Jack not only broke every box-office record for its day, it forever changed the way motion pictures were distributed. It was for the release of The Trial of Billy Jack that Tom Laughlin created the mega-multiple release that included the first-ever use of national TV advertising for a motion picture. Billy Jack Goes To Washington: Perhaps the most controversial film of all. Twenty years before Senators like Bradley, Rudman, Cohen, and Pell quit saying the U.S. Senate is so corrupt it doesn't work anymore, Billy Jack Goes to Washington told a story straight out of the headlines. At the Washington premiere one Senator exploded, vowing to do everything in his power to make sure Billy Jack Goes to Washington was never released.

Customer Reviews:

A Good Set.......2007-08-14

Supposing that you want a set of Billy Jack Movies, this is a good one. For a while, in that era of sartorial horrors known as the 70s, Billy Jack was a very popular film franchise. This collection of all four movies is a great boon for fans. Those who are not fans would have no interest anyway.

The series morphed a great deal over its run. BORN LOSERS took place in Southern California and involved a man protecting a rape victim from bikers. The rest move the story to Arizona and add Indian mysticism to the basic plot of an honest guy protecting others.

The series also varies quite a bit in quality. Production values were worse early on but the films were better. That too is a familiar story.

Individual Synopses appear below:

BORN LOSERS
This was the movie that started the Billy Jack franchise of the early 70s and it is definitely a product of that era in everything from costume to style to dialog to location.

Tom Laughlin plays Billy Jack, a mysterious loner who is part Indian and recently released from the Special Forces in Vietnam. He is trying to get along in southern California but is handicapped with such traits as a conscience. He gets arrested on "vigilante" charges when he saves a young boy from being beaten to death by a biker gang. This puts him off of the good citizenship ideal.

This same motorcycle gang mentioned before has more to its activities than just beating kids bloody. It also like such recreational pastimes as rape. When a group of girls is hospitalized after a particularly brutal rape, the DA desperately wants at least one of them to press charges but all of the girls are frightened of retaliation. The gang victimizes each one further to ensure their silence.

On of the girls is spunkier than the rest. She decides to prosecute and the gang comes after her. She runs straight into Billy Jack's arms and Billy Jack stiffens her resolve and helps to protect her when the local sheriff proves unable to do so.

The action in this movie is understated by today's standards and the fights are really laughable. They do make their points, though and the point of the movie is not action but justice.

BILLY JACK
This is the second of the Billy Jack Series.

It is a few years later (than BORN LOSERS) and Billy Jack is now living on an Indian reservation in Arizona. On the same reservation, there is an experimental school that is short on rules, long on the counter-culture and even longer on hacking off the officials of the local town.

Billy Jack acts as sort of an unofficial protector for the school. He makes a strange compatriot for the head of the school. She is a pacifist who will endure practically anything, including rape, to keep from using violence. Billy Jack, on the other hand, is a former green beret and doesn't hesitate to use violence when necessary.

Tensions build between the school and the town and things come to a head when the runaway daughter of a corrupt deputy sheriff funs off to the school. The deputy wants her back and is willing to do anything to get her, including frame and/or kill innocent people. While Billy tries to protect and, occasionally, avenge, he becomes the target of officialdom and a fugitive.

This story is no more complex than that of the first movie. Neither is it any better acted. Even so, there is something compelling about it.

THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK
BILLY JACK closed with Billy being arrested for manslaughter. This film opens with an extremely long sequence featuring the director of the school Billy was protecting in the last installment, recounting a long list of grievances to a reporter. In this sequence, virtually every hippie stereotype and left wing cause is aired. Intermingled with this retrospective diatribe are flashbacks of Billy Jack's legal trial and prison sentence.

The "trial" referred to in the title does not seem to be the legal one mentioned above. After being released from prison, Billy undergoes a personal trial, replete with Indian mysticism. He is seeking to become a less violent person. This is the backdrop for the real point of the film.

All events lead up to staging a massacre at the school similar in nature to the historic one at Kent State University. The movie is virtually a tribute to those who lost their lives. Little else is accomplished in terms of story or drama.

The movie makes some valid and even good points about the politics of the day and indicts justs about everything associated with "The Establishment". It also back a few losing points of view. Whether these points of view are agreed with or not, however, the film could have been much stronger and made its point better.

This is a very long film. That made it proportionally more difficult to sit through. It is propaganda of its time. It has germs of truth within but those germs are lost with the sledgehammer method of delivering the message.

BILLY JACK GOES TO WASHINGTON
The basic story is right out of the Jimmy Stewart classic. A senator dies and, in a politically pandering move, Billy Jack is appointed as the replacement. The Senior senator wants to make sure that nothing remotely political gets put on his plate. Billy Jack decides to sponsor a bill for a youth camp and the senior senator encourages him, thinking it will keep him out of his hair. Everything falls to pieces, though, when Billy reveals the location of his proposed camp. A nuclear power plant is secretly being proposed for the site. This puts him at odd with the powers that be and results in a titanic struggle of good vs. evil. It just gets nastier when Billy refuses to knuckle under to intimidation.

There are a few differences from the original movie. The bogeyman here is nuclear power and, more generally, politicians. Also, this being a Billy Jack movie, there are the obligatory martial arts scenes starring the newly minted senator.

The movie gets some things right. It is appropriately cynical about Washington and politicians. It portrays corruption as the norm and it does so believably. It also makes an effort to use some sentimental imagery and footage to stir up patriotic feelings. It does not work with this cast.

This is nowhere near as good as the Jimmy Stewart movie but it is quite watchable. It is also much better than THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK.

A classic collection.......2007-08-10

You have to admire Laughlin's passion for this character. Just listen to the commentary on any disk. Granted the films are extremely dated, but there is an undercurrent of contemporary attitudes toward our government, war and Americans in general. While you may not agree with Laughlin's liberal leanings, you have to admire the fact that a film this critical of the establishment can be freely made in this country. Politics aside, the film Billy Jack is the best in the collection but all the films have merit. I recommend this collection especially if you like films from the seventies.

Great movies.......2007-08-01

If you're a Billy Jack fan you'll love this! It's got 4 movies and a bonus disc. It's all put together in one case. You also can't beat the price!

Billy Jack Collection.......2007-07-21

A big 'Thank you!' to Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor for putting this collection together.

Great "Ultimate"Collection!!!.......2007-05-26

The Billy Jack series ALL-in-one DVD is fantastic! I know people have complained about: Billy Jack Goes to Washington; BUT IT TOO IS A WELL WRITTEN, WELL DIRECTED, AND A WELL ACTED MOVIE! The problem is, Billy Jack's attitudes of so profoundly mis-trusting governmental authority as in his previous movies is not the same in the Washinton movie. The Washington movie has Billy Jack trusting at least one Senator because of that Senator's relationship with Billy Jack's father before he was found dead( just like in: Mr. Smith Goes To Washington), however if this trust had existed for as long as it was implied, Billy Jack would have called on this Senator's assistance in the previous movies... So its like, 'where did this come from?'. Taken by itself a wonderful remake!!!

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A Great Screen Play!
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Chicago IS jazz hot!
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Great Musical!

Chicago (Full Screen Edition)
Starring: Taye Diggs , Cliff Saunders (II) , Catherine Zeta-Jones , Renée Zellweger , and Dominic West
Director: Rob Marshall
Manufacturer: Miramax
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

DTS | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00009RGBS
Release Date: 2003-08-19

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Description

Customer Reviews:

A Great Screen Play!.......2007-09-02

Chicago, the movie, was done so well, it makes a fellow want to see the play - as on Broadway!

Shallow and Frivolous .......2007-06-28

Chicago IS jazz hot!.......2007-06-08

Loved it -- Fantastic Music and Great Cinematography.......2007-05-17

Great Musical!.......2007-04-10