Description

No matter what rolls in on the tides of time, California surfing buddies Matt, Jack, and Leroy know they'll stick together. And, they know they'll be ready when a rare 20-foot swell hits the coast at last. ... Read more

Reviews (43)

SURF MOVIE OF THE CENTURY!
This movie is regarded as a surf classic and rightly so. Slickly produced, consisting of a series of vignettes over 13 years it gives a non-surfing person a revealing insight into the surf culture. The still-thorny issue of the Vietnam War is dealt with and the transition from the swinging sixties into the seventies is handled very well (a technique John Milius perfected in his 1983 classic Uncommon Valor which incidentally pre-dated the much hyped Rambo First Blood II by nearly two years). The climax of the film is the surf footage at the end depicting the legendary day of a lifetime, Big Wednesday. The only negative is the thought that the two stars, Jan Michael Vincent and Gary Busey threw away their lives after this movie due to drug addiction (Busey almost died from an overdose in 1994). Another negative is that some of the surfing terminology in the book didn't make it to the film. In the book, the car is referred to as "The Makeshift" - it isn't in the film. Still, if you cast these things out of your mind for 100 minutes you will experience something truly special. You won't be disappointed.

Early acting at its best...
This film is phenomenal in that it brings not only William Katt, Gary Busey and Jan Michael Vincent together but also introduces many new faces to 80's film and television such as Robert England (aka Freddie Krueger) and Steve Kanaly (aka Dallas). The film, although originally thought of as a surfing movie is far from that. It is a film totally encompassing the late 60's and early 70's around the vietnam era and the pressures of the strained relationships of three friends. A film worth seeing for anyone who grew up during that time.

Yes
If you're interested in surfing at all, you need this one.

Surfing Movie
This one is not just a documentary about surfing. It is actually a good life/friendship movie... And let's not forget about the waves! I enjoy watching this movie.

Cover misleading - needs better cover
BIG WEDNESDAY is, as many have stated, so much more than just a surfie movie. It explores the friendship of three friends over a 10 year period who just happen to all have a surfing passion. A film overlooked by many, yet has a great story to tell with excellent performances by Katt, Busey and Vicent. The surfing aspect is a small part of the overall storyline.

I think the marketing people should have released this DVD title with a different cover as it is misleading and cheapens the movie to a great degree. It is so much more deserving than that. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

An amazing film
Joseph Losey's early masterpiece, The Boy With Green Hair, deserves a first-class DVD treatment. This is not it. The DVD quality is very, very bad.
Other Losey films, such as his version of M and Secret Ceremony need to be released on DVD also.

AWFUL DVD PICTURE FOR A FIRST-RATE FILM
This movie has been a favorite of mine since childhood. It covers an important time in American history -- World War II, Macarthyism, xenophobia ... and love. Fine acting, superb screenplay by a talented writer ... and it deserves a first-rate recording. The picture is almost impossible to see, the colors are dull, the sound is dull ... One must strain to see and hear this delightful film. Give us a Re-Mastered Version and I'll pay anything for this heartbreaking, life-affirming piece of art that has become a (cult) classic!

Everybody Has Green Hair
This DVD is one of the worst transfers in my collection. The picture has an overall greenish tint to it and it seems to be "fuzzy" or out of focus. Little care seems to have been taken in producing this DVD. Printing on the case looks unprofessional. Stockwell's acting is first-rate, but the supporting cast does a walk-on, at best. I recommend this movie only for the most avid, diehard Dean Stockwell fan.

The little movie that caused a lot of trouble
Joseph Losey's radical film, "The Boy with Green Hair" (BWGH) (RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., 24 November 1948) never got a fair shake. World events of the time haunted it, and powerful men argued about it. It was an expensive production for RKO and a showcase for cutting edge Technicolor film. I believe the film should be seen again and appreciated, if only in the context of it's time.

The film would hardly stir a ripple today but not in 1948. Like the film, "The Search", it centered on the plight of war orphans in postwar Europe. After World War II, the United States began to disarm, seeking the halcyon isolationist peace it knew before. However, by 1949, the political reaction in the US to international Communism led to the jingoistic Red Scare. It became an example of the kind of film some in and out of government didn't like: (1) it was made by Communists in Hollywood, (2) its theme was pacifist, and (3) it expressed racial and ethnic tolerance.

When Howard Hughes, the armaments manufacturer, purchased RKO in May 1948, half the staff quit (including BWGH's producer and studio VP, Dore Schary) and others were fired. Hughes tried to change BWGH in several ways, including screaming at 12 year old Dean Stockwell to change his lines to a call for a stronger military. But Stockwell, though terrified of Hughes, believed in the film's message and refused. Allegedly, Hughes was unable to re-edit or change the film to his liking. So, he likely sabotaged it in other ways. The film was banned in some places, and Hughes soon pulled it from distribution and shelved it. Its box office is difficult to determine, though Variety reported it did respectable to fair business but not "socko". If critics understood it was a parable, then they were okay with it. If they thought it was literal, then they didn't understand it at all. Generally, they thought the story tepid and uneven. Both the director and a co author, Ben Barzman (who'd adopted a war orphan), were blacklisted. Other careers were hurt over this film, and even Stockwell stated in a 1990 interview that he's surprised he wasn't blacklisted, too, because of the fury over BWGH.

It opens in the period following the war. Twelve year old Peter Frye (Stockwell) is telling his story to a psychiatrist. Peter has a bald, white head. He is a sad, lonely boy whose parents were killed in the war and has been shuttled among relatives. Finally, he goes to live with a distant relative he calls Gramp (Pat O'Brien), a retired entertainer. Peter displays an active imagination and a tendency to exaggerate. But Gramp's Irish tall tales, gentle wisdom, and magic tricks are a fair match for Peter's little fibs. There is genuine affection between them. Then, while bathing one morning, Peter discovers his hair has turned emerald green. Peter first thinks it's one of Gramp's magic tricks, but it seems that the transformation is inexplicable and Peter hates it. So does almost everyone else. Eventually, Peter learns that the green hair is a mark that there must never be another war, and he delivers this message to the town. The town doctor tells Gramp that "Peter will discover it's a dangerous thing for a man to have green hair." Peter becomes an enemy of the people and hunted as an outcast.

It's quite rich in subtext. The story follows the pattern of the mythic Hero's Journey, during which Peter, like the postwar US, loses his illusions and innocence. He accepts the necessity of his parents' mission to save children from war and their deaths. He is complete now and happy in Gramp's love Further, I see the green hair as an image of the Green Man, the ancient Celtic icon of spring and rebirth after winter. The Green Man appears as a face adorned with green leaves and sometimes wearing a cap of stag antlers. This is forecast with Peter's baseball cap, which has a design like two horns on it, and when he is playing with his green hair in the bathroom mirror he forms two antler-like spires out it. Peter, in the spring of his life, is a symbol of the promise of new life, peace, and tolerance.

There are also plausible clues about Peter's green hair and his peace message. Peter may be an unreliable narrator, considering his imagination, history of exaggeration, and belief in Gramp's magic tricks. We also recall he washed his hair with a bar of green soap that morning. At the denouement, we may wonder, like the psychiatrist, whether Peter's hair turned green. Was it imagined, magic, a miracle, or an accident? Still, Peter has his message to sustain him.

Despite its troubled past, the film is a cult classic. It has been released again on vhs, when I would've preferred a dvd. The transfer might've been better. The new release from Terra Entertainment also has an acceptable image, probably on par with an internet version I've seen. Though I'm certain Losey sometimes shot in subdued light to fit the mood. Perhaps Stockwell might've offered commentary for a dvd. He's almost the last survivor of the principal cast. Though he viscerally hated acting as a child, he gave a very mature, thoughtful performance. Variety's review commented on Stockwell's "absorbing and sensitive" performance, as did others. Few juvenile performers today can match him. His home studio, MGM, now aware they had a standout juvenile star after "Genleman's Agreement" (he'd won a Golden Globe award) and BWGH (he'd won the Parent's Magazine award), exploited his talent. His famous roles in "Down to the Sea in Ships", "The Secret Garden", "The Happy Years", and "Kim" followed immediately. I believe it should be restored. It was the little film that caused a lot of trouble.

A classic, mostly unknown....and unnappreciated.
I first saw this movie when I was a child, and was immediately fascinated by it. I have seen it many times since, and enjoy it each time. It is a war story, (WWII) about a little boy, Dean Stockwell, (Peter) who loses both his parents and goes to live with his grandfather, Gramps, wonderfully played by Pat O'Brien. Gramps is a magician by nature and a waiter by trade, and he must work nights, consequently leaving young Peter home alone. The boy is terrified at first, but Gramps reassures him with the sentence: "There's nothing in the dark that wasn't there when the lights were on." He amuses the boy with magic tricks, and eventually wins his trust and love. One day at school there is a paper drive for war orphans, and it is then, from a classmate, (with the typical cruelty of children) tells him he resembles a boy in one of the war posters, and Peter responds: "I do not look like him; anyway, he's a war orphan." And the classmate says, "So are you." And that's how he finds out his parents are never coming back, and he really is a war orphan, and feeling betrayed, mistrusts Gramps and his teacher, and everyone else. Then he wakes up one morning and finds his hair has turned green. He is astonished, as is Gramps, who finds the color is permanent and will not wash out. When he goes to school that day, he attracts a great deal of attention, and at first, it's interesting; then people start to panic: "It's the milk, it's the school," etc. and fear spreads. So finally, the milkman complains and everyone shuns Peter and Gramps takes him to the barbershop where he has his head shaved completely bald. He wears a cap, but still the kids at school plague him, and one day, on the way home from school they chase him into the woods. They go away, he loses them, and finds himself in a glade, and flings himself down on the ground, crying...he looks up suddenly, aware that he is not alone, and sees a group of poor, bedraggled children, all sorrowful, all terribly thin, with torn, ragged clothes. The tallest and oldest of the children, a boy of about fourteen, speaks and tells him why his hair turned green...and why it is of such importance. The performances are fantastic, and the musical score is superb, a song written by a true original, **Eden Ahbez, the real First Hippie/rebel:

(**he was a legend in Hollywood for his unusual life style. Even after he and Jacobsen had a son, they kept on living out under the stars, with not much more than a bicycle, their sleeping bags, and a juicer to their name. The story may be apochryphal, but it's said that once, when Ahbez was being hassled by a cop who assumed from his wild appearance that he deserved to be hauled off to a mental institution, he remarked calmly, "I look crazy, but I'm not. And the funny thing is, that other people don't look crazy, but they are." The cop thought it over and responded, "You know bud, you're right. If anybody gives you any trouble, let me know.")

and it is called, aptly, "Nature Boy", sung beautifully by Nat King Cole. Haunting melody. It should be required viewing in all schools, and should also be released on DVD. Buy the VHS and see it, you are in for a great night's entertainment and more. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

"Jolson Story II": script only OK but Parks better than ever
"Jolson Sings Again" picks up where "The Jolson Story" left off and takes the singing star into the 1940s, when he finds himself in professional decline until his movie biography comes out. Because this sequel covers far less territory than the original, "Jolson Sings Again" lacks the stature and story values of the earlier picture. But in many ways it's even more fun to watch.

By this time Larry Parks, already impressive in "The Jolson Story," was in full command of the role. Parks is often very amusing and inventive here, adding little bits of business to his performance. As for his song scenes, this writer submits "Sonny Boy" for special praise. Parks is letter-perfect, so much so that the film editor doesn't cut away from Parks's face as he delivers one long, flawless take. Barbara Hale is excellent as the romantic interest, and Ludwig Donath and Myron McCormick are fine in support. (Look quickly for "Gong Show" bandleader Milton Delugg as a young accordionist.)

Fans of Al Jolson will enjoy hearing many popular hits, and movie buffs will especially enjoy the scenes showing the preparation and filming of "The Jolson Story." You don't have to know the original to enjoy "Jolson Sings Again."

JOLIE SINGS AGAIN
My favorite of the two Jolson Movies. Watch this wonderful DVD and be brought back to a time of Inocents. When movies really were Spectacular....Get the popcorn ready..Put your feet up and get ready for a wonderful Experience...........Enjoy !!

Never get tired of this one!
Larry Parks is incredible once again as Al Jolson. Sure, its kind of predictable, and some of the more popular scenes from "The Jolson Story" are redone here, but I could watch this movie every day and not get tired of the music, story, and especially Larry Parks! Would LOVE to have it in DVD if/when that happens!

Big Shock! Jolson's voice was not used on all songs!
Columbia Pictures was not happy with at least three of the tracks Jolson sang. He was older and not well so they brought in Jolson "sound-a-like" singer Norman Brooks to sing them. If you ever heard Mr Brooks you would be amazed! He HAD AL Jolson's voice!!
Once source told me that Jolie never knew the difference.

Entertaining sequel to "The Jolson Story" with Larry Parks
"Jolson Sings Again" is a worthy sequel to "The Jolson Story" with Larry Parks repeating his amazing portrayal of the sensational Broadway entertainer Al Jolson. The film takes up where the original ended with Jolson singing in a night club then he goes home to find that his wife Julie (Evelyn Keyes) has left him. William Demarest is back once again as Steve Martin (Jolson's friend and manager) with Ludwig Donath and Tamara Shayne repeating their roles as Jolson's parents. Jolson is only happy when singing on stage to a live audience but finds that he is now no longer in demand and it is difficult to get work. Steve Martin tries hard to discover some Broadway producer who will put Jolson into a show but no one is interested. Jolson then volunteers to entertain the troops abroad and is one of the first of the big stars to do this. While on one of these Tours he meets Col. Bryant (Myron McCormick) who is a big Jolson fan. On another Tour Jolson contracts an illness and is taken to hospital. Ellen Clark (Barbara Hale) is a nurse at the hospital where he is recovering and they fall in love and get married. Jolson still pines to be singing again and Steve Martin manages to get him a spot in an all star benefit show. The show is extremely long and Jolson doesn't appear until the finale by which time many people have left. However, Col. Bryant is in the audience that night and he stays to the end specially to hear Jolson sing. Bryant is now a Hollywood film producer and phones Jolson after the show with an offer to make a film of Jolson's life story. Much of "Jolson Sings Again" shows the background to the making of the earlier film which is fascinating - particularly when Larry Parks (as Jolson) is introduced to Larry Parks (as himself)!! "The Jolson Story" became a smash hit putting Jolson back on top and he went on to even greater success than before with another biographical film a few years later continuing his story in "Jolson Sings Again".

Some favourite lines from the film:

William Demarest (to Robert Emmett Keane): "I'm not going back to that guy with some lame excuse that adds up to only one thing - he's not wanted. I can't do it Charlie, and you're not going to make me do it".

Myron McCormick (to soldiers at Jolson troop concert): "I don't know what the name means to you. When I was your age it meant the world's greatest entertainer - Al Jolson".

McCormick (to Parks as Jolson): "Meet a young fellow named Larry Parks".

Barbara Hale (to Parks): "It's your right to hear those bobby soxers squeal".

It is interesting to note that the storyline in both films was not entirely accurate and took a few liberties with the facts. Jolson's mother died when he was eight years old yet in the films she lives on to see him become a big success on Broadway and in talking pictures. Many people who played active parts in Jolson's real life story did not even get a mention in the film versions. His long time manager Louis Epstein, his dresser valet Frank Holmes and his brother Harry Jolson were all eliminated!! The character of Steve Martin excellently played by William Demarest did not actually exist and it has been suggested that this role was probably a composite of the three men referred to above plus several other people. Jolson's first two wives were not even mentioned in "The Jolson Story" and Ruby Keeler (Jolson's third wife) would not allow her name to be used in the picture so attractive Evelyn Keyes had to play the fictitious Julie Benson instead.

Harry Cohn (the notorious head of Columbia Pictures) is to be congratulated for going ahead with Jolson's life story when all the other major Hollywood studios had turned it down. Even Warner Bros. (for whom Jolson had starred in several films) were not interested. Filming was started on a small budget and in black and white. When Harry Cohn saw the early rushes he decided to film in colour and make "The Jolson Story" a major prestigious production. This certainly paid off in a big way for him as the film became one of Columbia Pictures top money earners and led to this sequel "Jolson Sings Again". James Cagney and Danny Thomas were both offered the part of Jolson and surprisingly both of them turned it down! Jolson desperately wanted to play the leading role himself and was opposed to another actor portraying his life. Unfortunately for him the studio decided that Jolson was too old (he was 60 at the time of the first film) but Columbia could not have found anyone better than the young Larry Parks (31) who perfectly captured the Jolson style and threw himself into the part with relish. However, Jolson did manage to play himself in one scene of "The Jolson Story" singing "Swanee" on the Winter Garden runway (all filmed in longshot with no close-ups). A clip from this scene was also shown in "Jolson Sings Again" so he did manage to appear in both films after all. Following the completion of "Jolson Sings Again" Larry Parks only made another four films due to the McCarthy communist "witch hunt" which was a shame as he was a very talented performer. He died in 1975 but will always be remembered for these two magnificent Jolson films. It is remarkable that over 50 years after Jolson's death there is an active "International Jolson Society" still in existence which has hundreds of members worldwide and publishes regular illustrated journals. "The Jolson Story" and "Jolson Sings Again" are two of my favourite musicals and I can watch them over and over again. ... Read more

Reviews (50)

The Widescreen version on DVD was worth the wait!
This movie is based on the first novel I read in high school. The book was both engaging and suspenseful and the film brings it to life on the screen (right down to verbatim dialog from the book). When I saw this film in the theater the first time I was blown away.

Veteran film makers Ross Hunter and George Seaton gather an excellent cast and crew to do justice to the book (material not used in this film was developed to make Airport '75). It's no wonder the film, though panned by critics of its time, garnered 10 Academy Award Nominations, including Best Picture (Helen Hayes received the Best Supporting Actress award)!

This is a must film for those who are fans of its genre. A 30 year anniversary documentary of the film would still have been an appropriate tribute to honor all those involved with its making (many are no longer with us). Remastering it digitally in its original widescreen presentation is quite an improvement!...

This is where it all began
There have been a few disasters and monsters before this movie. However this is the one credited as the beginning of the airplay disaster movies. These have included some sequels and even the "Air Plane" spoofs.
It is fun to look back at the different actors and remember or see them for the first time in a younger body.
The film has several overlapping and intertwining stories; some of the stories seem like soap operas.
A few mentionable scenarios are Mel Bakersfield (Burt Lancaster); airport manager is accused of placing his work before his family. He gets berated in the middle of a crisis by his probably to be ex-wife Cindy Bakersfeld (Dana Winter). Does he also get distracted by his beautiful and efficient assistant? Throw in a pilot playboy, Capt. Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin) that is forced to evaluate fatherhood. For comic relief we have Ada Quonsett a geriatric stowaway. Then for the drama there is someone who has nothing to lose and everything to gain if the plane mysteriously does not reach its destination; the man with an attaché case D. O. Guerrero (Van Heflin.)
I am not going to go through the whole story it is for fun if you get to speculate on what is going to happen. How ever I must say one of my favorite characters is Joe Patroni (George Kennedy) operations chief that is tasked with clearing the runway of a stuck 707. See him again as the corrupt lawyer, Uncle Andrew, in Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile."

Airport
The movie Was Well Made.ive seen this more than 20 times.The cast was great.I liked Helen Hayes she was funny.

good but not great
One of those All-Star production during the seventies.
Much better than the following Airport-Films.
A sentimental Oscar for Helen Hayes,she was really a great actress,but her performance was only solide and not outstanding.
Maureen Stapleton gives the best and greatest performance in this
film,her role was small but but most interesting.The Academy Award had should goes to her.Fine Turns by Lancaster and Martin.

Still a Thrill
Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin star in this film about life and work around an airport for the employees and passengers. It is a mix of suspense and drama, of the sort that is still a thrill today, and while airports were safer during this time, the film exposes the caps that were apparent even then.

Dean Martin's performance is especially memorable, as it is very different from his work with Jerry Lewis or parts thereafter (no singing). However, in the form of a brainy teener there is still something of a Jerry Lewis-type-character for the man of "That's Amore" to contend with. A film that will entertain and intrigue! ... Read more

Reviews (7)

VW Bug, the Skipper too...
Bad. That's the only way to say it. This movie is "no-budget" film making trying to make an effects extravaganza. And failing. The movie includes the infamous VW Bug as the giant bug, the "hi-tech" science lab which seems to be in high school biology classroom, untold shots of basically meaningless shadows and darkness, and the Skipper from Gilligan's Island as the "comic relief" -- read: spouting corny jokes. The film can be enjoyed two ways: (1) Enjoy the hokiness in the way B-movie can. (2) Watch the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version. The MST3K version is hilarious! This version features hilarious running commentary pointing such details as "Lab provided by Mrs. Johnson's class," or "'But, You can't see anything in this shot!' Be quiet film school grad! I'm the director, you just keep rolling!'" Also there is a running gag about the mobs screaming "Packers!"

The Skipper vs The Interdimensional Arachnid Horde
I've always enjoyed a good enormous insect devouring the Earth film, with some of my favorites being Them! (1954), The Black Scorpion (1957), and even Empire of the Ants (1977), but The Giant Spider Invasion (1975), while having its' moments, barely rates as a blip on the silver screen, or any screen, comparatively speaking.

Directed by Bill Rebane, whose other credits include Monster a-Go Go (1965) and The Capture of Bigfoot (1979), stars Steve Brodie as NASA scientist J.R. Vance. Now, Brodie looked familiar, but I couldn't recall what other films I've seen him in until I looked up his bio and saw such cinematic flotsam as The Wild World of Batwoman (1966) and Jerry Warren's Frankenstein Island (1981)...ugh...I'm still reeling from that last one. The film also stars Barbara Hale (from TV's Perry Mason) as Dr. Jenny Langer, character actor Robert Easton, and Alan Hale Jr. aka the skipper from Gilligan's Island...oh man, I feel a serious cinematic hurting coming on...

The film starts out with some kind of foreign object traveling to Earth, crashing spectacularly on Dan Kester's farm in Hicksville, Wisconsin (okay, the town wasn't named Hicksville, but it shoulda been, given the complete idiotic, backwoods nature of the residents we've met so far). Shortly after impact of the extraterrestrial object, residents begin reporting problems with radios and televisions, but that's the extent of incident. No one really seems to have noticed that a fairly large object from outer space has slammed into a Wisconsin pasture, and even the farmer puts off investigating until the next day. A scientist, Dr. Langer, working at the local observatory does report strange and unusual readings to NASA...to which they dispatch Dr. Vance to investigate.

The following day Kester and his alcoholic wife decide to investigate the strange happening at their farm, and discover a number of cattle have been partially eaten. They also find the impact site, and a number of geodes around the area. After breaking one open, they find what appears to be diamonds inside, and dreams of wealth begin to swirl in their heads. What they missed was the spider that popped out of the geode, and scurried off to do whatever it is spiders do...soon the spiders begin to make frequent appearances, creeping and crawling all over the place. And not just wee, bitty spiders but great big uns, too...and they appear to be hungry. After several townspeople get all et up in a particularly gruesome fashion by the biggest spider (I tell you, he's fifty feet tall if he's a foot!), Dr. Langer and Dr. Vance postulate that the object that crashed to Earth opened up a portal to an alternate universe, one that is populated by spiders, and they are now coming through this portal to Earth. That seems like quite a presumption, but since Vance is a NASA scientist, who am I to argue?

Anyway, various plans begin to formulate, with the scientists looking for a way to close the portal, and local yokels forming gun-toting mobs to hunt down the giant spider what et up their kin. After getting to know the various residents of this small farming community, I formulated my own plan...let the spiders gorge themselves on these knuckleheads, and then perform a tactical nuclear strike on the community. Do they manage to stop the invasion of voracious interstellar arachnids? Or are we all doomed to become space spider sweet meats?

Okay, first of all the effects are really shoddy, but I that doesn't automatically make a film bad. If the acting, script, dialog, direction and/or characters are decent, I can let poor effects slide, especially in the context of low budget filmmaking (the cost of the film was about $250,000 to $300,000). Well, guess what? Most of those elements were pretty shoddy as well...I will say that it did look like a lot of effort and heart were put into this rather doomed production, but it seemed the director was never able to muster anything near the overall impact he was looking for, as I think this was a definite case of over reaching ones' limitations, specifically in the budget department. Alan Hale Jr. makes a few appearances throughout the film as the sheriff, but he spends more time in his office than anything else, making some of the lamest jokes you've ever heard. You can tell the writer tried to inject a comic element into the script, but mostly these elicited a great deal of groaning from this viewer. The funniest elements were the ones not meant to be funny, like the giant spider (it's actually a VW bug with fake legs attached), the theories thrown about by the scientists, and just the general character development. In many scenes real, smaller, spiders were used, and certainly provided many creeps, but what I found even creepier was the casual notion of relations of a biblical nature between some of the characters who where related to each other...none of this was shown, but it was eluded to, and given the characters involved, it was certainly not great stretch of the imagination. (Things that make you go 'ewwwww')

Fred Olen Ray's Retromedia Entertainment provides a decent full screen print (about as good as a VHS copy) here with some noticeable wear and tear at a couple of spots. A real plus is the inclusion of some pretty good special features like an introduction by Akron, Ohio's Son of Ghoul, a mini reproduction of a four page comic book put out at the time of the film's release, a theatrical trailer for the film, and an interview with director Bill Rebane in which he basically points out the weaknesses in his film, lack of money, too many producers (five, at one point), and lack of a decent script, to name a few. Despite my criticisms, I am happy to know that someone out there is releasing films like this on DVD.

Cookieman108

Adds a new dimension to the term VW Bug!
One of the giant spiders in this ridiculous movie is built around a VW bug! Actually it doesn't look that much more ridiculous than any of the other creepy crawlies here. Bad movie fans will enjoy this and the disc looks pretty good. Director interview too.

for B-Movie afficiados only
I saw GIANT SPIDER INVASION double billed with AT THE EARTH'S CORE when it was first released at a drive-in in 1975; I was 6 years old. I finally had the opportunity to see this again almost 3 decades later. Basically this film is a total failure, but don't let that deter you if you have a taste for 70's B-Movie fare. Highlights are Alan Hale("Hi little buddy!!")and in one seen where you can actually see the microphone moving from side to side at the bottom of the screen. Stupid, grimy; for the curious only.

The Skipper vs. The Giant Spiders
Back from the shadows of cheaply made monster movies incorporating a few scares (actually, this had one scare - and I was intoxicated so I'm not certain it was truly meritable of the term "frightening") and a lot of laughs (As the back of the movie's case implies, the "Spider effects" is actually a VW disguised as a Giant Spider from Outer Space, plus there are some laughable yokel mating rituals.) comes The Giant Spider Invasion. It basically adheres to the old monster movie principles, the cheaper the monster and the thinner the reasoning, the better.

Here we have the story of a small Wisconsin town that experiences an unknown object plummeting to Earth, landing close to the farmhouse of the unsavory Dan and Ev Kester. Upon closer inspection of the impact site, the Kesters find droves of their livestock mutilated and worry about what did it, too, until they discover geodes filled with what look to be diamonds - and a more sinister eight-legged cargo that is initially overlooked. Enter the NASA scientists and their loosely scientific hypothesis that states that the crash site is actually a "black hole" emanating energy feeding some soon to be gigantic spiders and you have a truly fun-filled, barely budgeted monster movie!

Be forewarned that the plot is thin, the actors (with the exception of Alan Hale AKA "The Skipper") are subpar, and the effects are almost nonexistent. Knowing this ahead of time, however, leaves you room to enjoy this flashback to an enjoyable time in "horror" cinema. Buy it and experience VW love once again! ... Read more

Reviews (50)

The Widescreen version on DVD was worth the wait!
This movie is based on the first novel I read in high school. The book was both engaging and suspenseful and the film brings it to life on the screen (right down to verbatim dialog from the book). When I saw this film in the theater the first time I was blown away.

Veteran film makers Ross Hunter and George Seaton gather an excellent cast and crew to do justice to the book (material not used in this film was developed to make Airport '75). It's no wonder the film, though panned by critics of its time, garnered 10 Academy Award Nominations, including Best Picture (Helen Hayes received the Best Supporting Actress award)!

This is a must film for those who are fans of its genre. A 30 year anniversary documentary of the film would still have been an appropriate tribute to honor all those involved with its making (many are no longer with us). Remastering it digitally in its original widescreen presentation is quite an improvement!...

This is where it all began
There have been a few disasters and monsters before this movie. However this is the one credited as the beginning of the airplay disaster movies. These have included some sequels and even the "Air Plane" spoofs.
It is fun to look back at the different actors and remember or see them for the first time in a younger body.
The film has several overlapping and intertwining stories; some of the stories seem like soap operas.
A few mentionable scenarios are Mel Bakersfield (Burt Lancaster); airport manager is accused of placing his work before his family. He gets berated in the middle of a crisis by his probably to be ex-wife Cindy Bakersfeld (Dana Winter). Does he also get distracted by his beautiful and efficient assistant? Throw in a pilot playboy, Capt. Vernon Demerest (Dean Martin) that is forced to evaluate fatherhood. For comic relief we have Ada Quonsett a geriatric stowaway. Then for the drama there is someone who has nothing to lose and everything to gain if the plane mysteriously does not reach its destination; the man with an attaché case D. O. Guerrero (Van Heflin.)
I am not going to go through the whole story it is for fun if you get to speculate on what is going to happen. How ever I must say one of my favorite characters is Joe Patroni (George Kennedy) operations chief that is tasked with clearing the runway of a stuck 707. See him again as the corrupt lawyer, Uncle Andrew, in Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile."

Airport
The movie Was Well Made.ive seen this more than 20 times.The cast was great.I liked Helen Hayes she was funny.

good but not great
One of those All-Star production during the seventies.
Much better than the following Airport-Films.
A sentimental Oscar for Helen Hayes,she was really a great actress,but her performance was only solide and not outstanding.
Maureen Stapleton gives the best and greatest performance in this
film,her role was small but but most interesting.The Academy Award had should goes to her.Fine Turns by Lancaster and Martin.

Still a Thrill
Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin star in this film about life and work around an airport for the employees and passengers. It is a mix of suspense and drama, of the sort that is still a thrill today, and while airports were safer during this time, the film exposes the caps that were apparent even then.

Dean Martin's performance is especially memorable, as it is very different from his work with Jerry Lewis or parts thereafter (no singing). However, in the form of a brainy teener there is still something of a Jerry Lewis-type-character for the man of "That's Amore" to contend with. A film that will entertain and intrigue! ... Read more

Reviews (7)

VW Bug, the Skipper too...
Bad. That's the only way to say it. This movie is "no-budget" film making trying to make an effects extravaganza. And failing. The movie includes the infamous VW Bug as the giant bug, the "hi-tech" science lab which seems to be in high school biology classroom, untold shots of basically meaningless shadows and darkness, and the Skipper from Gilligan's Island as the "comic relief" -- read: spouting corny jokes. The film can be enjoyed two ways: (1) Enjoy the hokiness in the way B-movie can. (2) Watch the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version. The MST3K version is hilarious! This version features hilarious running commentary pointing such details as "Lab provided by Mrs. Johnson's class," or "'But, You can't see anything in this shot!' Be quiet film school grad! I'm the director, you just keep rolling!'" Also there is a running gag about the mobs screaming "Packers!"

The Skipper vs The Interdimensional Arachnid Horde
I've always enjoyed a good enormous insect devouring the Earth film, with some of my favorites being Them! (1954), The Black Scorpion (1957), and even Empire of the Ants (1977), but The Giant Spider Invasion (1975), while having its' moments, barely rates as a blip on the silver screen, or any screen, comparatively speaking.

Directed by Bill Rebane, whose other credits include Monster a-Go Go (1965) and The Capture of Bigfoot (1979), stars Steve Brodie as NASA scientist J.R. Vance. Now, Brodie looked familiar, but I couldn't recall what other films I've seen him in until I looked up his bio and saw such cinematic flotsam as The Wild World of Batwoman (1966) and Jerry Warren's Frankenstein Island (1981)...ugh...I'm still reeling from that last one. The film also stars Barbara Hale (from TV's Perry Mason) as Dr. Jenny Langer, character actor Robert Easton, and Alan Hale Jr. aka the skipper from Gilligan's Island...oh man, I feel a serious cinematic hurting coming on...

The film starts out with some kind of foreign object traveling to Earth, crashing spectacularly on Dan Kester's farm in Hicksville, Wisconsin (okay, the town wasn't named Hicksville, but it shoulda been, given the complete idiotic, backwoods nature of the residents we've met so far). Shortly after impact of the extraterrestrial object, residents begin reporting problems with radios and televisions, but that's the extent of incident. No one really seems to have noticed that a fairly large object from outer space has slammed into a Wisconsin pasture, and even the farmer puts off investigating until the next day. A scientist, Dr. Langer, working at the local observatory does report strange and unusual readings to NASA...to which they dispatch Dr. Vance to investigate.

The following day Kester and his alcoholic wife decide to investigate the strange happening at their farm, and discover a number of cattle have been partially eaten. They also find the impact site, and a number of geodes around the area. After breaking one open, they find what appears to be diamonds inside, and dreams of wealth begin to swirl in their heads. What they missed was the spider that popped out of the geode, and scurried off to do whatever it is spiders do...soon the spiders begin to make frequent appearances, creeping and crawling all over the place. And not just wee, bitty spiders but great big uns, too...and they appear to be hungry. After several townspeople get all et up in a particularly gruesome fashion by the biggest spider (I tell you, he's fifty feet tall if he's a foot!), Dr. Langer and Dr. Vance postulate that the object that crashed to Earth opened up a portal to an alternate universe, one that is populated by spiders, and they are now coming through this portal to Earth. That seems like quite a presumption, but since Vance is a NASA scientist, who am I to argue?

Anyway, various plans begin to formulate, with the scientists looking for a way to close the portal, and local yokels forming gun-toting mobs to hunt down the giant spider what et up their kin. After getting to know the various residents of this small farming community, I formulated my own plan...let the spiders gorge themselves on these knuckleheads, and then perform a tactical nuclear strike on the community. Do they manage to stop the invasion of voracious interstellar arachnids? Or are we all doomed to become space spider sweet meats?

Okay, first of all the effects are really shoddy, but I that doesn't automatically make a film bad. If the acting, script, dialog, direction and/or characters are decent, I can let poor effects slide, especially in the context of low budget filmmaking (the cost of the film was about $250,000 to $300,000). Well, guess what? Most of those elements were pretty shoddy as well...I will say that it did look like a lot of effort and heart were put into this rather doomed production, but it seemed the director was never able to muster anything near the overall impact he was looking for, as I think this was a definite case of over reaching ones' limitations, specifically in the budget department. Alan Hale Jr. makes a few appearances throughout the film as the sheriff, but he spends more time in his office than anything else, making some of the lamest jokes you've ever heard. You can tell the writer tried to inject a comic element into the script, but mostly these elicited a great deal of groaning from this viewer. The funniest elements were the ones not meant to be funny, like the giant spider (it's actually a VW bug with fake legs attached), the theories thrown about by the scientists, and just the general character development. In many scenes real, smaller, spiders were used, and certainly provided many creeps, but what I found even creepier was the casual notion of relations of a biblical nature between some of the characters who where related to each other...none of this was shown, but it was eluded to, and given the characters involved, it was certainly not great stretch of the imagination. (Things that make you go 'ewwwww')

Fred Olen Ray's Retromedia Entertainment provides a decent full screen print (about as good as a VHS copy) here with some noticeable wear and tear at a couple of spots. A real plus is the inclusion of some pretty good special features like an introduction by Akron, Ohio's Son of Ghoul, a mini reproduction of a four page comic book put out at the time of the film's release, a theatrical trailer for the film, and an interview with director Bill Rebane in which he basically points out the weaknesses in his film, lack of money, too many producers (five, at one point), and lack of a decent script, to name a few. Despite my criticisms, I am happy to know that someone out there is releasing films like this on DVD.

Cookieman108

Adds a new dimension to the term VW Bug!
One of the giant spiders in this ridiculous movie is built around a VW bug! Actually it doesn't look that much more ridiculous than any of the other creepy crawlies here. Bad movie fans will enjoy this and the disc looks pretty good. Director interview too.

for B-Movie afficiados only
I saw GIANT SPIDER INVASION double billed with AT THE EARTH'S CORE when it was first released at a drive-in in 1975; I was 6 years old. I finally had the opportunity to see this again almost 3 decades later. Basically this film is a total failure, but don't let that deter you if you have a taste for 70's B-Movie fare. Highlights are Alan Hale("Hi little buddy!!")and in one seen where you can actually see the microphone moving from side to side at the bottom of the screen. Stupid, grimy; for the curious only.

The Skipper vs. The Giant Spiders
Back from the shadows of cheaply made monster movies incorporating a few scares (actually, this had one scare - and I was intoxicated so I'm not certain it was truly meritable of the term "frightening") and a lot of laughs (As the back of the movie's case implies, the "Spider effects" is actually a VW disguised as a Giant Spider from Outer Space, plus there are some laughable yokel mating rituals.) comes The Giant Spider Invasion. It basically adheres to the old monster movie principles, the cheaper the monster and the thinner the reasoning, the better.

Here we have the story of a small Wisconsin town that experiences an unknown object plummeting to Earth, landing close to the farmhouse of the unsavory Dan and Ev Kester. Upon closer inspection of the impact site, the Kesters find droves of their livestock mutilated and worry about what did it, too, until they discover geodes filled with what look to be diamonds - and a more sinister eight-legged cargo that is initially overlooked. Enter the NASA scientists and their loosely scientific hypothesis that states that the crash site is actually a "black hole" emanating energy feeding some soon to be gigantic spiders and you have a truly fun-filled, barely budgeted monster movie!

Be forewarned that the plot is thin, the actors (with the exception of Alan Hale AKA "The Skipper") are subpar, and the effects are almost nonexistent. Knowing this ahead of time, however, leaves you room to enjoy this flashback to an enjoyable time in "horror" cinema. Buy it and experience VW love once again! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Disaster DVD
I Love this DVD The Video is much clearer and better than I expected, as no restoration has taken place. The colors are vibrant and deep. The audio is clear and in full surround.
The movie it's self is of coures the grandfather of all disaster films. And the best I might add.

Now all we need is the other disaster films from ther 70's, and 80's to be placed on DVD!

(Full Screen Version) ... Read more