Amazon.com

Digitally remastered with 49 minutes of previously unseen footage, Apocalypse Now Redux is the reference standard of Francis Coppola's 1979 epic. A metaphorical hallucination of the Vietnam War, the film was reconstructed by Coppola and editor Walter Murch to enrich themes and clarify the ending. On that basis Redux is a qualified success, more coherent than the original while inviting the same accusations of directorial excess. The restored "French plantation" sequence adds ghostly resonance to the war's absurdity, and Willard's theft of Colonel Kurtz's beloved surfboard adds welcomed humor to the film's nightmarish upriver journey. An encounter with Playboy Playmates seems superfluous compared to the enhanced interplay between Willard and his ill-fated boat crew, but compensation arrives in the hellish Kurtz compound, where Willard's mission--and the performances of Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando--reach even greater heights of insanity, thus validating Redux as the rightful heir to Coppola's triumphantly rampant ambition. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (244)

Absolutely brilliant
When I watched the original movie 20 years ago I was
very impressed (for all the wrong reasons like Duvall's swaggering Kilgore).
Watching the additional footage in Redux,
I can say I had no idea then what this movie is about, or
it's literary complexities. The Plantation scene is absolutely
brilliant, fundamental to the Heart of Darkness book theme, also
like the end scene where we see Kurtz's copy of the 'Golden Bough'.

It's so easy to sell the violent scenes to the movie audience, but you try to
show a loving scene in the movie the critics will say 'its too drawn out' in
the Plantation scene, or 'cheap' in the Bunny scene. That's the American
psyche still at work today, violence is embraced for over 3 hours,
but 3 minutes of love is way too long. There is no elegance in violence
but the movie love scene always has to be elegant
(like some airbrushed Playboy perfection) , if not, it's tawdry and shameful
to the movie critics.

On a historical note, the film seems to blend the various War
myths of Poshepny's Hmong army, II/47's operation at the Memot
rubber plantation, and SOG's Operation Tailwind. Martin Sheen
wonders aloud in Apocalpyse Now why they really want Kurtz dead.

When I saw the opium scene at the Plantation (US-backed
Warlords ran drug operations near Memot in war time) it seems to me
real-life military operations in the area were designed to keep the trade flourishing.
If the CIA wanted control of the area, an
out of control rogue like Kurtz (Poshepny?), had to go.

The Greatest War Film Ever Made
'Redux' brings to life the greatest war story of this generation in a completely new perspective. Copolla captured the insanity of Veitnam in a way that no other filmaker has. 20+ years since the original was released, I am still engrossed in this film and its story. This is not a film about Veitnam in the traditional sense. If you want that, go see Oliver Stone's Platoon (with all of the typical Oliver Stone sensationalism) or Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (which doesn't even look like Veitnam). This is a film about a man's (in)sanity (Captain Willard played by Martin Sheen) delivered through the horror of Veitnam as he pursues the renegade Colnel Kurtz (Brando).

'Redux' adds nearly an hour of extra footage which gives more depth to the already epic film. The French Plantation sequence (nearly 30 minutes long) is the real highlight of the new footage. This is an elaborate series of scenes with completely new faces (including Aurore Clemente). Considering all that went into these scenes, it is difficult to imagine how this was omitted from the final cut of the original. But, in an effort to get the original under 2 1/2 hours, it was cut. The only hint that anyone had of Copolla's mysterious French Plantation Scene was in the 'Hearts of Darkness' documentary released several years ago. The extended sequence of scenes with Kurtz at the end is an additional highlight on 'Redux' along with a haunting new soundtrack.

The story doesn't change, however, and neither does the importance of this epic film. Copolla explores the depravity of one man's mind during the horror of Vietnam. Apocalypse Now takes such a different angle from any other war film of its era. There is no hero in this war, as illustrated by Willard. Copolla nearly lost his own mind (and his fortune) during the filming of Apocalypse Now (see 'Hearts of Darkness'). The result is as magnificent today as it was 20 years ago.

In watching 'Redux', it is difficult to determine when the film was made. The cinematography is unmatched and the attention to detail is witnessed in every scene. This film is a 'must see' and a 'must have' . The only real let down is the absense of any bonus material on the DVD. I would have gladly paid extra for any extras that might have been appropriate.

boring ?!?!
I find that the people complaining about this film have missed the point. Its NOT the theatrical version its NOT platoon its NOT full metal jacket, why are they expecting it to be so? Watch the other films then?!?!? This film is one man's glimpse into hell, in particular, the vietnam war experience. It shows how war and the idea of propaganda of wartime to make the government look good etc while good men die make people go mad. It shows the horror of war. After viewing this film I find in NO way it to be boring. I find the complainers comments to be sad and a reflection on them that they might be boring. This is a brilliant film and was NEVER supposed to be a shoot em up hollywood epic. Going into this expecting lots of action is like going into burger king for a pizza. Cmon folks...get a grip on reality! This film is a mind trip. Plain and simple. See its brilliance for what it is, a NEW version! Director's cut if you will but it's NEVER been seen like this. Its new, its refreshing and the new scenes add some "quirky" aspects but meld together well with the original film. For any fans of the orignal that want the original why go here, click the back button and buy the OTHER version. Nuff said.
Brilliant film, Brilliant acting, Brilliant NEW version. Period.

Comes across as a dark odyssey more than a war film.
PLOT(minus spoilers): We follow five soldiers, led by Sheen's character, as they head out on an assasination mission. The target is a C/O(Brando) who's apparently gone AWOL, having began to slaughter the enemy without orders as well as become a godlike figure in the eyes of many indigenous people in the area, virtually turning them into his warrior slaves. Upon traveling to find the C/O, Sheen becomes strangely intrigued by his military tactics, tactics so swit and terrible that even the VC have become fearful of him. The military, meanwhile, has assured Sheen's character that this commander is indeed insane, but it's the journey up river in which we see......

.... EVERYTHING out on the river is insane. Posts are manned without commanders, officers(Robert Duvall) are more fixated on surfing and Play Boy Playmates than their present battle. During these segments, when we move - almost drift - from scene to scene, we begin to see this Vietnam as something different, something more vague and faintly evil than we could ever had dreamt up. This side of the world has gone mad, as Sheen's character soon begins to see ever more clearly. Even the men accompanying him begin to shift towards the other side of sanity. But don't fret, the way this shift is portrayed is a beautiful thing to witness, as is the irony of their endeavor - that, sent to kill an officer for going crazy, EVERYTHING is also crazy, and the AWOL officer makes perhaps the most sense.

I suppose this film reiterates all we thought we knew about Vietnam, only it happens in a way that both tears and swallows your preconceptions alive, forcing you to dig ever deeper into the madness that surrounded Vietnam.

"The Horror...The Horror"
We have all heard about the difficulties Francis Ford Coppola experienced during the creation of what will be the movie he is most remembered for, 1979's "Apocalypse Now": A typhoon wiped out his sets in Asia. Star Martin Sheen suffered a minor heart attack during filming. Marlon Brando was Marlon Brando. The film's portrayal of war as madness often mirrored the problems involved in filming an epic about America's involvement in the Vietnam conflict. Until "Apocalypse Now Redux" arrived on the scene a year or two ago, we never saw the full cut of the film. Well, "Redux" still doesn't contain everything since Coppola supposedly lensed miles of film stock, but this version contains several brand new sequences as well as extensions of existing scenes not seen in the original. Coppola supposedly stated that his film, "Isn't about the Vietnam War; It IS the Vietnam War." As far as I know, the director never fought in that conflict, so this claim is spurious at best. What you will get from the film, though, is an immersion in the blackest of nightmares through the performances of some of the finest actors in Hollywood. "Apocalypse Now" in any form is a must see picture.

Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is probably not the best person suited for a top-secret mission. When we first see the man, he is in a hotel room in Saigon slowly going mad, the stresses of war having taken a terrible toll on his mental and physical being. His mission, if he chooses to accept it, is to track down a military officer named Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) and terminate him "with extreme prejudice." It seems the good colonel went insane up in the jungle, built up a mercenary army, began transmitting bizarre rants about snails crawling on the edge of a razor, and thus threatens the American war effort. The high command cannot have an officer carrying out his own warped whims in the bush, so Willard is to go up the Mekong River in a patrol boat and track Kurtz down. The captain accepts the order, obviously, and thus begins a journey into the darkest corners of Vietnam. During the lengthy trip, Willard reads extensively from Kurtz's military files, learning that his target once represented one of America's best and brightest soldiers, a man educated at top universities whose career track was paved with gold. How could such a brilliant man go completely over the edge? Willard tries to figure it all out.

Captain Willard has plenty of time to ponder the enigmatic Kurtz during the trip. The boat sails into one bizarre scene after another, some fraught with peril while others are just plain strange. Willard and the crew briefly spend time with the hyper macho Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall), an officer in the Air Cavalry who likes to blare Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" over his helicopter gunship's speakers while reducing a Vietcong stronghold to rubble. It is Duvall's character that utters the immortal line "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" as he urges his men to surf the ocean waves in a combat zone. The weirdness doesn't stop here, as Willard and his crew witness a show put on by Playboy Playmates at a riverside supply depot, visit a plantation proudly maintained by a French family, and stumble over an isolated river bridge under constant enemy bombardment defended by American soldiers with no idea who is in charge. The final showdown between Kurtz and Willard is not only the most powerful sequence in the film; it is one of the most intriguing parts of any film ever made.

It is no secret "Apocalypse Now" closely mirrors Joseph Conrad's novella "Heart of Darkness." Too, Coppola's film is so obviously an attempt to show how the war permanently altered America's self-perception that I don't need to spend time discussing that theme. What has always drawn me so deeply into this movie is the acting, of course, but also the "madness" of Colonel Kurtz. Is the rogue officer really insane? By what standards? According to what we saw on the journey up the river, can we call what Kurtz is doing insane? I don't think so. As much as we might cringe at the colonel's "horror and moral terror" speech, anyone with an ounce of sense should realize that that is exactly how a nation should fight a war. Rules and laws developed in civilization must automatically fly out the window when the soldiers march off to battle. Kurtz recognizes America will lose the war because his country burdens its soldiers with pointless rules-like not allowing pilots to paint an offensive word on the side of aircraft, for example. You see the same thing in Oliver Stone's "Platoon" when an officer rambles on about an "illegal killing," as though you can place an arbitrary value hierarchy on what goes on in a war zone and still think about winning. War is screaming, mind-shattering insanity, not a game with strictly defined parameters that any one side should follow. Kurtz is "mad" because his training prevents him from embracing the Vietnamese conception of the "moral" soldier.

If you haven't seen this movie, what are you waiting for? "Redux" adds nearly an hour to the film's original runtime, the picture quality looks great, and Coppola's beast contains the best dialogue in cinematic history. My favorite line in the film? Anything Kurtz utters, but especially the "moral terror" speech and his response to Willard's adamant claims about being a soldier instead of an assassin: "You're neither. You're an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill." Moreover, you get to see plenty of actors show off their stuff, including Harrison Ford, G.D. Spradlin, Dennis Hopper, Laurence Fishburne, and Frederic Forrest. You need to move this one up to the top of your list immediately. ... Read more

Reviews (285)

The Best War Movie Of All-Time!
Francis Ford Coppola risked his career, his money and his sanity in making this Vietnam adaptation of 'Hearts Of Darkness'. The result is a large-scale war movie that ranks among the best movies of all-time. Martin Sheen has the role of a lifetime as Captain Willard, and he does deliver a credible performance. Marlon Brando is equally credible as the mysterious and possibly mad Colonel Kurtz. Robert Duvall creates a brilliant character; Colonel 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning' Kilgore. Grandly majestic war sequences are awe-inspiring. Thought provoking and filled with eerie chaotic imagery. Simply masterful filmmaking from Coppola. Extras: Laurence Fishburne and Harrison Ford in small roles, also spot Francis Ford Coppola in a cameo. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film a 10!

Dark and somewhat slow-paced, but excellent epic film
I saw this film for the first time on video, and was somewat surprised by its somewhat deliberate pacing and lack of straightforward action. For someone who is not a huge Coppola fan, nor a reader of "Heart of Darkness", I found the movie somewhat difficult to follow.

That is not to say that this isn't an excellent film. Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is an apparently unattached Airborne soldier who is "waiting - waiting for a mission" and is enlisted to find and "terminate the command" of the renegade Special Forces Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). Along the way, we meet a motley crew of a Navy riverboat, including a very young Lawrence Fishburne as a 17-year-old machine-gunner. The plot takes an almost whimsical turn when we meet Lt. Col Kilgore (Robert Duvall) who is an Air Cavalry commander, and plays the immortal "Flight of the Valkyries" while systematically laying waste to a North Vietnamese village. While the fighting is still going on, he orders a couple of his soldiers to either "surf or fight", being that he is a huge fan of surfing. It is from Duvall's character that we get the immortal line, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like --- it smells like victory!"

After this scene, Sheen and his crew of Navymen proceed further upriver, until they reach the last American outpost on the river. The outpost is under apparent heavy attack, and there are no officers to be found. This scene, which makes no sense in the context of a typical war movie, makes perfect sense in this film. The leaderless American soldiers seem to move about in a haze, apparently oblivious to anything outside their immediate surroundings, particularly the grenadier, who is either at far beyond the point of psychological exhaustion, or heavily drugged. Copolla never makes either clear, but rather leaves that to the imagination of the viewer.

When Sheen and his crew get further upriver, the plot takes stranger and stranger turns - the crew is attacked by an unseen enemy, in which Clean (Fishburne) is killed, and shortly thereafter, the boat's chief is killed in an attack by natives hurling, of all things, spears at the Americans!

However, the strangest part of the movie is the last half-hour or so. Sheen reaches his objective, but Col. Kurtz is heavily guarded by native warriors toting modern weaponry. There are bodies everywhere - hanging from trees, floating in the river, laying sprawled about on the ground. It is truly horrific, and speaks to the level of insanity to which Col. Kurtz has descended, but it also begs the question - "How could all those people stand being around all those rotting corpses?" In the climax, Sheen sneaks past Kurtz' guards, and hacks the colonel to death. As he lay dying, Kurtz whispers, "The horror - the horror..."

All in all, an extremely powerful and moving film, although rather slow-paced.

A True Masterpiece!
I watched this movie in 1978 when it first came out and was totally in awe! Francis Ford Coppola spent almost 3 years making this film and it was well worth it. The all star cast in this film rocks! Everytime I watch this film, I wind up mimicing the characters. The lines are memorable! (I love the smell of Napalm in the morning.) It is the greatest movie ever made!

A great adaptation
To write that this movie is a comment on war or the politics of the period is a gross misconception in my view. this movie like the book Heart of Darkness, which I suggest everyone who sees this movie reads, is a powerfull commentary on human nature. The line 'the horror, the horror' does not refer to the horrors of war or acts of violence commited but is a general judgement and condemnation of the darkness that resides in human nature.

Anyway this is a brilliant adaptation and well worth the few bucks it costs.

The horror, the horror.
The horror of war and what it does to teh mind of men is exposed beautifully here in this grande epic. Great performances, plot and cinematography. It doesnt get much better than this. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Let's face facts here: You don't watch a movie like Major Paynefor its artistic merit any more than you'd watch Schindler's List for its comedy. If you go in thinking otherwise, you're bucking for a disappointment. So it's a pleasant surprise to discover that Major Payne is more entertaining than a barrel full of bad reviews would lead you to believe. It's a totally formulaic comedy about a bunch of misfit kids who turn into a crack squad of skillfully disciplined ROTC cadets, but Damon Wayans is spot-on hilarious in the title role as the hardened military bulldog who whips the little slackers into shape. Wayans plays the role as if killing and warfare were the only joys in life, and when he finds himself cast adrift without a military commission, a scene that directly parodies Apocalypse Now lets you know that Wayans (who cowrote the script) is going to bring something new to this routine scenario. Major Payne's idea of a good bedtime story is to recall his worst battlefield horrors, and Wayans gives it just the right twist of comedy to put Payne's bullet-pierced heart in the right place--he's really just a good guy with an iron-clad exterior. The young recruits strut their stuff in the final round of their cadet competition (their marching rap is good for a solid laugh), and director Nick Castle keeps it all from becoming too stupid or over the top. It's arguably only for Wayans's most ardent fans, but as a send-up of all the great movie drill instructors, Major Payne is painlessly enjoyable. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (31)

Funniest movie I have seen
This movie is simply excellent. Damon Wayans achieves to transform a serious subject into a comedy which never offends the USMC. He plays so well that he deserves them.

The soundtrack is so good. Sounds are quite exagerated and thus become funny. For instance, during the Universal opening title when the (r) registred mark symbol appears, you hear a DING ! When Major Payne meets the Madison school headmaster, you can hear all these insects and butterflies (the headmaster loves entomology) flying and buzzing around and over the shaved head of Major Payne. This scene is purely hilarious, one of my favorite moment. I was laughing so much I thought I shall died. Maybe another victim of Major Payne (fortunately not the final one).

The music by Craig Safan is particularly successful and sustains any funny actions, the Aretha Franklin's musics too. It seems obvious Craig Safan enjoyed to create a real musical background that depicts a "cartoon" atmosphere. Sometimes very serious, and few seconds later so funny.

The story is not only comedy but extraordinary rich thanks to the work of Damon Wayans and the cast. One best moment is when Major Payne offers a bullet from his heart to his new "girlfriend" or when Major Payne understands that Cadet Alex Stone wants to push him outside Madison school (Do you want to see me gone?). Only Damon Wayans can play like that (heartily).

The texts are outstanding (even for a french viewer). The american vocabulary is so rich and the art of using it (and expanding it) is so irresistible. I laugh from the first to the last second of Major Payne.

The french translation is also a success even if the task was enormous because there is so much american idioms. Nevertheless, the french dub is really funny. I do prefer the original voice of Damon Wayans because he talks so perfectly as a USMC drill instructor. This man is not an actor, he is a human VTR! He can spend two weeks with Marines and then speaks like them. The french voice is very good but the dub actor was unfortunately unable to complete such performance.

The scene with the hidden man into the closet and how Major Payne definitely "kills" the Tiger's nightmare is a masterpiece.

Nick Castle did one of my favourite movie, forever and I just wanted to thank him and all the cast for giving us such good time.

Vive the USMC, Vive Major Payne, Vive Damon Wayans.

Hilarious and a good movie
I'm not that big of a Damon Wayans fan, but he does a great job in this movie. He starts a program at a local school for kids who want to be in JROTC. His ultimate goal is to prepare them to win the competition for best cadets in the county JROTC competition that will be held later on. He is real strict on all the kids, so they all want to get rid of him. He has to find a way to get along with the kids while also giving them some discipline.

"Major Payne" is a hilarious movie. While you watch the movie, you'll be laughing a lot, but you'll also see that it's a good movie. I recommend anybody to get "Major Payne."

"...and biz - ness - is - goooood!!!"
If there is any movie as funny as this one, I would like to know what it is. This is the funniest movie I know. Damon Wayans is so talented; he is hilarious in this movie. There is not one moment in this movie that is poorly done. It just gets better with repeated viewings. I really didn't Damon Wayans other than by name until I saw this movie.
The kids in this movie are terrific. Their acting is great! They are all grown up now. If you want to see a funny movie, you have got to get this one. A previous writer was right on the money when he said that Major Payne's character is like a cross between Gomer Pyle and Lou Gossett, Jr.'s character as a drill sergeant. This movie is full of fantastic instant-classic lines that I won't give away here. See it!!!

Major Payne is Major Funny
I loved this movie and I love Damon Waynes character and I love when he insults peaple expacially when he cracks peaples fingers when they say something is hurting them and he said want me to take your mind off of that.LOL pure funny, worth watching and buying

Major Funny
I liked it! I am surprised that no one seems to realize this movie is basically a remake of a Charlton Heston film, The Private War of Major Benson (which you really need to see also). This is an excellent updated version with a happy ending for soldiers as well as the Major! Laugh hard, laugh loud and watch for the cameo by the professional wrestler Bam Bam Bigelow in the "Billy Jack" fight sequence. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR is definitely one of the best movies about Baseball of the '90s. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR is about a 12-year-old boy named Henry Rowengartener (Thomas Ian Nicholas) who ends up playing for the Chicago Cubs - being the youngest person ever to play in Major League Baseball - because he tripped on a Baseball and broke his arm and can now pitch a ball faster than 100 miles per hour. The Chicago Cubs is one of the lousist teams in the majors and the owner of the Chicago Cubs was looking for somebody who could really play Baseball. This movie also comes with a great, positive message: No matter how young you are, nothing is impossible. It's a great movie for both kids and adults and it's very funny, too. I highly recommend this movie to all Baseball fans. Even if you're not a Baseball fan you should still see this movie. The acting is very great, too. And Thomas Ian Nicholas is so cute. Buy it!

This movie is actually pretty good.
Rookie of the Year is actually a pretty good movie and even though it might seem like one og those stupid Disney non-cartoon movies it is a pretty funny movie.
This movie is about a boy (Thomas Ian Nicholas) who loves to play baseball but is horrible until he brakes his arm and is able to snap is arm forward so he can throw a baseball 100MPH and then get's an offer to play for his favorite team, the last place Cubs and he becomes a big help to the team.There is also love in this movie but it is mostly a kids and grown-up comedy.I'd say if you like baseball see Rookie of the Year or if you like comedys see Rookie of the year.I'm shoor you'll like this movie.

The Best Baseball Moive Ever!!!
I love this movie.At first I like baseball very much,but when I saw this movie it made me like baseball even more.I love Thomas Ian Nicholas who played in this movie as the boy name Henry that he joins in the Cubs right after his arm injury as A Pitcher.On this movie I thought was funny when he said to the Pitcher is Pitcher's got a Big Butt!I goota get this movie!!!! It's The Best!!!!

Good but there's better
I received this movie since my son was addicted to watching "The Sandlot" This movie is more Hollywood where as "The Sandlot" has more heart.

Thomas Ian Nicholas
Thomas Ian Nicholas did a great job in this film, out of every child stars in movies in the ninties he made it. He came from Rookie of the Year to American Pie. When American Pie started he and Alyson Hannigan were recognizable but everyone else is unknown. Jason Biggs would have been fourteen if he saw the movie, Chris Klein would have been thirteen if he saw the movie, Eddie Kaye Thomas would have been twelve or thirteen if he saw the movie and Alyson Hannigan would have been eighteen if she saw the movie. Him, Elijah Wood and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are the guys who made it big. ... Read more

Reviews (113)

Solid Acting
This movie is beautiful and painful to watch. It tries hard to live up to Toni Morrison's novel and succeeds in capturing many of the book's powerful images. The story's central characters are Sethe and Paul D., two ex-slaves from the "Sweet Home" plantation. Denver is Sethe's teenage daughter, the only of three (living) children who has not been driven away by the baby ghost in Sethe's house. Beloved is a strange young woman who comes to stay with the other three characters, stirring up memories of Sethe's horrible past. Acting awards go to Kimbery Elise as Denver and Thandie Newton as Beloved, who carry the movie with grace and strength. Denver is the movie's heart, and dares you not to look at her each time she crosses in front of the camera. Oprah Winfrey and Lisa Gay Hamilton do very well with the character of Sethe, portrayed at two different ages. Danny Glover is neither special nor offensive as Paul D. The story is easier to follow if you have already read the book, and might even then take more than one viewing to sufficiently grasp. The camera work is skillful, and the sets and costumes add very much to the film. Because of its style and three hour length, seeing this movie feels like watching a really good miniseries. It's an inspiring and artfully made film.

Loved Beloved
For those who did not understand or found it difficult to follow the story line of this hauntingly strange yet beautiful tale, I'm sorry for their loss. Had I closed my mind to this film after its first five minutes or because of the critics reviews, I too would have missed this powerful drama. Winfrey, Glover and the entire cast have my gratitude and respect for bringing Toni Morrison's story to film. Sethe, Paul Dee and Denver were wonderful strong characters. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. My eyes beheld Beloved and found it a beauiful well done work of art. Like many, I allowed the critics to discourage me from the theater and almost ignored it completely.

The shock of several scenes depicting the horrors and cruelity of slavery wained after my first several viewings, but I continued to find the story powerful, sad, joyous, strange and hauntingly beautiful. I can't seem to get enough and have returned again and again. My purchase of this movie will be a great addition to my most selective library of films.

This film has stayed with me. I though it should be given a chance and have asked several friends who also passed it up to view Beloved just for their opinion. It seems more people than not truly enjoy this film once they give themselves permission to view it with an opened mind and look pass the five second dog scene. It's a shame Winfrey, Glover and the entire cast were so overlooked for their contributions. This film should be given a second chance. What do you think?

Almost a masterpiece
It took me a long time to watch the movie Beloved due to the fact that it wasn't easily available in South Africa, I truelly enjoyed this movie and was really happy with the way it stayed true to the book which is one of my all time favourites, I've read the book so many times I even know most of the lines, I mostly was anxious to see the movie cos I wanted to see how they would manage to bring such a story to life, thankfully I wasn't dissapointed, the only problem I have with the movie was the casting of Danny Glover in the role of Paul Dee, I strongly feel that he spoiled the movie,they would have done better to cast another actor to the role, If you want to see poetry in motion(which I deeply believe the book is) then you have to watch this movie, Bravo to everyone(except Mr Glover but for whom I would have given this film 5 stars)who was involved in the making of this film. Well done for an outstanding protrayal of what I truely believe must have been the hardest novel ever to bring to life.

Didnt do the book justice
Oprah ruined the whole essence of the book with this movie. I was expected an oscar performance and got garbage. The book was poetic and explained the relationship between the family members, the relationship that blacks have with religion each other, slavery etc etc. The movie did not catch any of that. Most of the movie did not even make sense. I was sorely disappointed.

Love your heart!
I recommend you reading the book by Toni Morrison before watching this movie (which I did) because I can understand the flashbacks being confusing if you have not read the book by the Nobel winning author Toni Morrison. "Beloved" is about a woman named Sethe who was "married" to a man named Halle at the plantation "Sweet Home" during the times of slavery. Sethe escapes slavery and is beaten by some white men while she was pregnant with her daughter Denver, and the white men drank her milk from her breasts. The scar from the cowhide whipping still remains on her back after many years, and it looks like a cherryblossom tree. Her husband Halle saw the whole thing and went crazy because of the experience, and she never saw her husband again. She has her baby with the help of a white girl named Amy Denver who is going to Boston to get some velvet. Amy is the one who points out that her back looks like a tree, and Sethe names her baby "Denver" after the white girl. She goes back home to Halle's mom's house, Baby Suggs, where she has hidden her children. Baby Suggs is an inspirational Christ-like character who gives sermons on loving your hands, skin, and heart because no one else will love them. Her speech scenes are done beautifully. Paul D, a man from Sethe's "Sweet Home," comes into their lives. Sethe's baby "Beloved" is haunting the house.
Beloved comes back in the body she would have been in had she lived. Sethe finally finds out that it is her baby, and she reveals that long ago when the white men came to claim Sethe's babies as property, she killed all of her children except Denver so that they would not be brought into slavery.
It is a beautiful and touching movie, and if you have never seen Oprah act, you are missing something! Glover and Winfry are both beautiful actors in this movie. Don't miss it! ... Read more

Reviews (148)

The hype and the movie don't measure up
I was really excited to hear that this movie was coming out. I have always been an Ali fan. Will Smith is great in the film. He is the reason that this movie gets three stars. John Voigt and Mario Van Peebles also do a great job!

Now for some cons. The cinematographer needs to find another profession. The camera shakes too much during the fights and blurs people out a lot. It is somewhat nauseating ... The Rocky movies had better fight photography. My eyes were beginning to hurt from the extremely bright white colors in the movie. Another thing, it brings out all the bad history of Ali. It shows him being a womanizer, a bad husband, and a traitor to his friends and country. At times, I was wondering if I liked the man or not. They picked a bad time of his life to portray. Finally, I didn't learn anything more about Ali from the movie. Everything in it was common knowledge.

Overall, not a bad movie, but not a good movie either. It is worth seeing if you don't know much about Ali and camera shaking doesn't bother you.

Too Long, But Strong
This is not a perfect movie by any means. But Will Smith is brilliant as Ali, particularly during the early part of the film, where he superbly portrays the boxer in his young Cassius Clay days. I remember those years when Cassius Clay came to prominence, and Smith captures his spirit, his cheekiness, his strength, and his sheer, confident youth to a tee. As Clay grows as a boxer and as a man, embraces the Muslim faith, and becomes Muhammad Ali, he changes more than his religion and name. The cockiness is still there, but so is the cynicism and disappointment brought on by too much fame, too much money, too many women, too many hangers-on. Smith handles the change from brash youth to more thoughtful man with subtlety and aplomb.

The disappointing part of the film, which begins to drag on and on, is the lack of depth in Ali's relationships. His marriages are glossed over quickly...we get no sense of what he is really thinking, or what his private life is really like. The same holds true of his relationships with his entourage, from his manager on down. If this was meant to come across as aloofness, it didn't work; this viewer found it very frustrating.

Nevertheless, the movie is worth seeing, for the sheer exuberance of Smith's acting, and the absolutely dead-on portrayal of the late sportscaster Howard Cosell, rendered fabulously by Jon Voight. It is not a brilliant movie, but in my view, it deserves more than 3 stars. I think it is inexplicably under-rated.

Ali Bumaye
Ali - The Director's Cut, takes about 20 or so minutes out of the original movie and adds about 28 minutes of new footage back into the movie. According to Michael Mann, both versions are truly director's cuts, and this one simply emphasizes the politics a bit more. This is what a director's cut should be. A true redo of the movie, not adding in an extended scene or two to get an "unrated" DVD to sell more.

Will Smith gives an incredibly powerful performance as Cassius Clay, aka Muhammed Ali. Mario Van Peebles does a great job as Malcom X, and Jamie Foxx is wonderful as Bundini. The movie shows how Ali was manipulated by his management, but also how he stuck to his beliefs.

Will Smith delivers the line so convincingly, it's amazingly powerful and heartfelt. Not only the lines, but Will also took real punches in the movie. They hired professional boxers to play Frazier, Sonny Liston, and and George Foreman, who were allowed to throw real punches at Will but stop at incapacitating him. The realism shows in the boxing scenes. The movie ends at the Rumble in the Jungle, an excellent place to end the story of Ali. We all know the sadness that followed later in life, but there's no need to go into it in the movie.

If you enjoyed the original version of Ali, definitely check it out.

A TKO
When I first heard that Hollywood was doing a biopic on the life of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, I thought it was a good idea, who's time had come. Although, Ali's boxing career had been in its latter stages, by the time I was old enough to notice such things, Ali transcends the sport. Even people who have never watched a boxing match in their life knows who Ali is. The fact that the film was being directed by one of my favorite filmmakers, Michael Mann, was also anorher plus. When I saw the film during its theatrical release, I thought it was a b it better than some of the very mixed reviews suggested. When the movie was originally released on DVD, I was disappointed at the lack of any commentary or extras, the director's cut disc, addresses those issues.

With wit and an athletic genius, that oozed confidence, with both defiance and inner grace, Muhammad Ali (Will Smith) forever changed the American landscape. Ali took on any and all opponents, inside and ouside of the ring. The law, conventions, the status quo, all got a taste of him - not to mention any fists put in front of him. Ali both ignited and mirrored the conflicts of his time and ours to become one of the most admired fighters in the world.

I thought Smith aquited himself very well with his performance as Ali. I was impressed by his ability to not come off like someone doing an exaggerated comedic turn. His transformation may not be 100% spot on, it doesn't have to be, to work out well. I compare how Smith works here, to the way Anthony Hopkins became his own version of Richard Nixon, in that film. Comedian Jamie Foxx, as Drew Brown, should have won the Oscar for his work. Foxx is pitch perfect, showing a dramatic side, he obviously kept well hidden. Jon Voight goes almost unrecognized as controversial sportscaster Howard Cosell, not quite as dynamic playing Malcolm X as Denzel Washington was, Mario Van Peebles is still pretty good, as is Mykelti Williamson playing boxing promoter Don King. Technically, Mann's film is nearly pefect. The director's cut includes a total of eight minutes that have been restored or re-edited. In a subtle way, the new version adds another layer to the story.

The audio commentary from Mann is very well done. The track is engaging, insightful, and never lags. Like the commentary for Manhunter, it's great to listen to Mann discuss how he does his things here as well. The exclusive making-of documentary is basically an HBO First Look for Ali. It's good to see on set footage though.

Ali is an even better film with the inserted/changed footage. Fans and admirers of Mann should pick this up. Anyone else should see it for the performance of Foxx.

Mann's Underrated Take on Legendary Boxer
When Ali was released in 2001 it received decidedly mixed reviews. While Will Smith was praised for his impressive physical transformation into legendary boxer Muhammed Ali, the film itself was criticized for revealing nothing new about the man. Herein lies the problem that Michael Mann and company faced: how do you shed new light on one of the most documented historical figures of the 20th Century? Like he did with The Last of the Mohicans, Mann has revisited Ali again on DVD with a new cut of the film. He's taken out approximately 20 minutes of footage and put 30 minutes of previously unseen footage back in. The effect? Hard to tell unless you've seen the film many times but Mann claims that the politics of the times are more the focus this time around.

There is an audio commentary by writer/director Michael Mann. He does an excellent job of putting the film into its historical context. The director clearly did his homework and points out who everyone is and the significance of the events depicted in the movie which is a nice consideration for viewers not familiar with this particular period of time. This is an extremely informative track and Mann contributes many very thoughtful observations over the course of the movie.

"The Making of Ali" is a 29-minute featurette that originally aired on HBO. It is slightly better than your average electronic press kit and features some decent on the set footage and interview sound bites with Mann and various members of the cast.

Ali eschews the traditional docudrama for a more impressionistic take on the man and life. Mann's film may not say anything new about the famous boxer, but it does depict an exciting ten years of his life in a masterful and richly evocative fashion. This DVD features an excellent transfer of the movie with an aggressive 5.1 surround soundtrack and is definitely worth purchasing for Mann fans for his audio commentary alone. ... Read more

Reviews (72)

Awesome man, excellent tribute
Denzel Washington makes this little understood nearly mythical man breath. After studying the life of Malcolm X in a sociology of religion class, we watched this film to relax a bit. The script seems fairly accurate to history, and the imagery helps bring the conflict, drive and sincerity of Malcolm X to life.
In the movie, it becomes so obvious that Malcolm had just reached a kind of Buddhist nirvanna in his Islamic faith. Had he been allowed to live, his newly found spiritual insight gained from his pilgrimage to Mecca most likely would have helped to enlighten other Americans, Muslim or Christian, white or black. Malcolm appears on the verge of something even greater than he had previously been. Malcolm appears to be on the verge of becoming a national and perhaps even global spiritual and secular leader at the time of his death. Denzel makes more mourn the death of a man I never met. Inspiring, insightful. I'm grateful to Denzel and Spike for bringing me this "joint."

Excellent Biopic, One of the Best!
A sweeping biopic of an admirable man, who, while his ideas were wrong, had the will and the determination to defend his ideas and to say them publicly. A powerful film, with a sweeping force and excellent production values. While the film is extremely long (200+ min.), it is never boring ans always fascinating, it is divided in equally interesting stages; Malcolm's youth, prison time, his dedication to Elijah Muhammad, and the ultimate betrayal and death of Malcom X. A compelling study of a complicated, angry man, and whether you agree with his ideas or you don't, the movie remains a riveting biopic that is one of the best movies of the 90's. The reason the film works so well is mainly because of the performances and the assured direction by Lee. Not as incendeary or provocative as one would expect from a Spike Lee film, only the first and last few minutes are controversial. Denzel Washington delivers a powerful performance that ranks among his best. Also Angela Bassett is great in support. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film a 9!

Powerful...
...is the best way to describe Malcolm X, Denzel Washinton's greatest work in cinema so far. It tells the story of Malcolm X, the strong-willed black revolution leader whose ironic and powerful views differed very differently from Martin Luther Jr.
Denzel Washington gives an extraordinary performance, and with heart he shows the metamorphosis of Malcolm X, from hip young kid, to his life of crime days, to when he was a white-hating civil rights leader.
There are many other great performances in the film, and Spike Lee makes Malcolm X his best "joint" ever. You can feel that this is a Spike lee film, because it is a little strange and it swings from one mood to another. Spike lee also stars in the film, but as a minor character.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching Malcolm X, and it ranks as one of the best film of the '90s. If you love Denzel Washington, you haven't seen him perform until you have seen him in Malcolm X.

BEST MOVIE EVER
Movies are never good as the book, but its good to see a visual. One thing I didn't like about the movie is the way they protrayed Elijah Mahammad.
This movie changed my life, for someone like me in High School that didn't like to read. lol It was becasue of this movie I joined the Nation Of Islam when I was 18. I figured I would go to the source, Malcom X just repeated what Elijah said, and look how great he became. Malocom X was so great, but always thought he would come back to the N.O.I....Give thanks to Malcom X our living Ancestor...

Definite classic
But... while this film marks Spike's high point as a director and one of Denzel's highest points as an actor (THIS is what he should've goitten the Oscar for, not Training Day, and it's criminal that Spike wasn't nominated.)
That being said, the film is overall excellent and historically accurate, even when it hurts, such as the corruption of the Nation of Islam. Two things, however, mar it: First, Freeman's Elijah sounded like he belonged in Kung Fu film; the real Elijah (there are tapes)didn't quite sound that Asian. Second, the ending just didn't fit. That was just Spike trying way too hard to say something that really didn't need to be said. The film could've ended at the assassination and been near perfect. The rest was attempted spin-doctoring.
DEFINITELY see this film. It's essential in understanding a lot of the early '60s political scene. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Despite rave reviews as one of the most stylish and intelligent detective pictures in a number of years, this 1995 adaptation of Walter Mosley's novel never found a mass audience. Too bad, because Carl Franklin's film is nearly perfect in every way, from its rich, shadowy look to its depiction of life in post-World War II black America (L.A.-style) to the acting of Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, and others. Washington plays Easy Rawlins, an aircraft factory worker who is laid off only to find his true calling: as a private eye, albeit an unlicensed one. Hired to find a missing woman, he becomes entangled in a complex but satisfying case involving sex, corruption, racism, and of course money. Top-notch from top to bottom--and Cheadle is dangerously funny as Easy's best friend, a killer named Mouse. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Easy Does It!
It is the end of WWII. Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins(Denzel Washington) returns from the war to find segregation,discrimination, and a decent job hard to come by. He has used the little bit of money he had to buy a house and car, but he must find a way to keep up the payments. A job does come his way, it sounds shady, but it's seems to be easy cash, so he takes it. The job...To find a missing woman named Daphne Monet(Jennifer Beals)...seems easy enough.

Finding this mysterious woman, Easy, gets into trouble at every turn. Dead bodies start turning up all around him. The cops harass him,he uncovers political foul play, and a dark secret about the woman. Working with him is his old friend "Mouse" (Don Cheadle), who's answer to everything is shoot first and ask questions later. The "reward" for finding this woman and what she knows is growing as the answers start leading up the ladder of society. Is Easy's interest now for the money or the girl?

If you like the old style of film noir in movies like "Laura" or the newer modern film noir like "L.A. Confidential" you'll love "Devil in a Blue Dress". It's gripping, edge of your seat stuff.Director Carl Franklin and director of photography Tak Fujimoto give us a great look at this steamy side of Los Angeles in the 1940's.The musical score by Elmer Bernstein is wonderfully atmospheric, and the old rhythm and blues or"Shout and Jump" music by such greats
as T-Bone Walker and Duke Ellington are a great addition to 1940's feel. The cast also features Tom Sizemore and Maury Chaykin.

The DVD(Columbia Tri-Star) is a nice transfer. It is in widescreen, with a full screen version on the other side. Picture and colors are outstanding. The sound was good, dialouge a little low at times but still good. Features include Director's commentary during the film if you want, Don Cheadle's screen test and trailers. There are subtitles for those needing them.

All that is needed now is another EASY RAWLINS story..how bout it Denzel?..........Enjoy........Laurie

A neo-noir of the first order
A voluptuously seedy tale of blackmail, murder and double-cross, "Devil in a Blue Dress" captures splendidly the mood of the forties, and is a worthy modern equivalent to old gems such as "Double Indemnity", "The Blue Dahlia" and "The Big Sleep". Acting, writing, direction, cinematography and music are all of an par above the standards of conventional filmmaking. Denzel Washington -- (an actor who is flawless in every performance) -- is superb in the role of Walter Moseley's detective, Easy Rawlins, the classic noir type of the down-at-heel gumshoe. He receives excellent support from Jennifer Beals, Tom Sizemore and Don Cheadle as his gun-crazy help. A heady aroma of sexuality and intrigue make this one of the most absorbing of recent noir film adaptations. Carl Franklin, with a flair for suspenseful situations, directs crisply.

Devil with a lot of sexuality
Denzel and Lisa Nicole Carson [who played Carla in ER opposite Peter Benton's character] heat up the screen with their... love making doesn't really quite apply here, but let's stick that I suppose. Tom Sizemore delivers a stellar performance. The film has a sleek, stylized quality to it. Period piece. Denzel delivers as he does time and time again. A good movie, but be prepared for violence and serious sexual content.

Stylish Post-War Mystery
It's summer in Los Angeles, 1948. Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins (Denzel Washington) returned from World War II a few years ago to a land of opportunity. He got a job, a mortgage and a home of his own. But now he has lost his job and is determined not to lose his house. A friend introduces Easy to a sleazy character named DeWitt Albright (Tom Sizemore) who ostensibly is trying to locate the former girlfriend of mayoral candidate Tom Carter (Terry Kinney) so that the couple may be reunited. Desperate to keep making his mortgage payments, Easy accepts the job of finding the girlfriend, a woman named Daphne Monet (Jennifer Beals). His search causes him to be suspect in several murders and arouses the interest of the rival candidate for mayor, Matthew Teran (Maury Chaykin). Easy finds that he is not the only person looking for Daphne Monet and that no one is exactly who he, or she, appears to be. As motives become less clear and the trail becomes more murderous, Easy calls on a childhood friend named Mouse (Don Cheadle), who has more experience in the criminal underworld and is more than willing to use force, for help. With the police, Albright, and Daphne Monet all demanding his loyalty, Easy must buy time and use his wits to unravel the mystery of Daphne's identity and uncover the scandals that will make or break the careers of two of the city's prominent politicians.

"Devil in a Blue Dress" is based on the detective novel of the same name by Walter Mosley. Screenwriter and director Carl Franklin has altered and simplified Mosley's novel for the screen and employed cinematographer Tak Fujimoto to create a stark and moody environment in sunny California. Fujimoto's cinematography looks great and is reminiscent of the film noirs of the 1940's, when the story takes place, and also does an excellent job of communicating the tone of the novel visually. The degree to which the film evokes the style of World War II era film noirs is striking considering that "Devil in a Blue Dress" is in color. This film isn't as sexy as the novel on which it is based, nor is it as effective in conveying Easy's desperation. It is, however, more tightly woven, more plausible, and more enmeshed in city politics. Don Cheedle's interpretation of "Mouse" couldn't be better. And the cinematography is a pleasure to watch. "Devil in a Blue Dress" a stylish and enjoyable neo-noir adaptation.

Uniqueness amongst Conventionality
'Devil in a Blue Dress' quickly creates a very appealing misé en scene that's constructed upon upbeat and sunlit scenery. Combined with director Franklin's dexterous dolly movements and smooth camera techniques that follow the always-charismatic Denzel Washington around the culturally diverse streets of 1948 Los Angeles, it makes you want to throw your imagination into its storyline for a few hours. With brooding and insidious male characters, beautiful and mysterious female characters, voiceover narration by the protagonist, and a gradually revelatory, detective-like storyline we get the sense that we're watching a more-colorful-than-usual film noir. There's no question that it couldn't have been setup much better; it's too bad that it slowly-but-surely dissipates away into the realm of conventionality.

As far as underrated acting goes - Tom Sizemore is spectacularly sleazy as the coldhearted DeWitt Albright and Maury Chaykin is his usually creepy self as the political Matthew Terell. Easy Rawlins (Washington) is a familiar character - he's a man who will do just about whatever he has to do in order to earn some cash, although he's proud of his dignity and won't sell himself short. He's also more amiable and compassionate than the average man is, which is what ultimately differentiates him from the bad guys of the story. The lesser-seen element here, however, is that he also happens to be Afro-American. It's refreshing to see a film concentrate upon this culture without trying to dictate too many things to us about it - race is an element of this film, but it's not a particularly prominent or overblown one.

A myriad of different characters are introduced - sometimes it seems as if the film is actually relying upon the appearances of new characters in order to progress the plot, and even then some things aren't made very clear. I understand that the writers were simply trying to convey the sheer volume of the situation that Easy has gotten himself into, but its lack of tautness just gets annoying after a while. And there is a cool aura of mystery surrounding the plot until you realize that it's simply going down the all-too-familiar cinematic road of political corruption. The final theme of an average man achieving complacency through oppression is well communicated, but couldn't it have been done in a slightly more interesting/original/unique way? ... Read more

Reviews (16)

A good piece of work
Don't get it wrong this movie is not about the Million Man March. This is an excellent work portraying the diversity amongst African-American men. This movie not only showed these differencies but also the interaction between their different views on current affairs, and how this affects unity amongst African-American men and women. I like how Spike Lee used the camera on the bus to give the viewer the feeling of actually riding on the bus with the travellers. The documentary feeling of the film also served to bring your psyche into the work.

Lee Hits us again with the polemics
Once again, Spike Lee hits us again with the polemics. Overall, the story is not bad. The basic idea of a bus ride to the MMM is a good one. SOME of the characters are nicely drawn, such as Charles Roc Dutton's bus driver, Ossie Davis as the patriarch, and the caring father of the wayward son. But the film is weighed down by Spike Lee's usual soapbox dialogue and polemics. Sadly, few of the characters in this film actually talk, they make speeches (as is the case with "The Red Menace" and "Putney Swope)." Like I said, the story itself is good and the above-mentioned characters are nicely drawn. But the dialogue? Go to the soapbox on 125th St. in Harlem as the Black nationalist pontificators pound the podium and you get the idea.

Spike Lee at his best and worst...
His best: social journalism. Nobody brings perennially pressing issues to the screen as consistently and vitally as Spike Lee---love or hate his films as you may, there's no argument that he does a superb job of provoking debate and reflection. Here it's Lee's two favorite topics, racial history/injustice/relations and (less prominently but still significant) gender/sexual issues...treated with a vast amount of humor and often insight.

His worst: at times some of his films implode when Lee gets on his soapbox and goes too heavy-handed---the Message blots out the Movie. This happens towards the last one-third, with the last 10 minutes especially preachy and contrived. The film craft breaks down, characters and dialogue that before had been pretty much spot-on suddenly verge into labored allegory and caricature.

It's like Lee drew up a laundry list of Pressing Societal Problems (brings to mind Larwence Kasdan's "Grand Canyon") and tried to allot 5-10 minutes for each one. Sometimes he does so with grace and wit, but sometimes he stumbles into glibness and stereotyping.

I was a little disappointed that Lee didn't show more of the actual Million Man march, maybe explore the controversial Louis Farrakhan a little bit more deeply. I was however pleasantly surprisd that Lee does take a fairly mature, gutsy stand on homosexuality and homophobia absent in some of his earlier films.

Had Lee made this film more as a straight (or pointed) documentary rather than trying to turn it into a heavy-handed inspirational treatise, I'd gladly give it 5 plus stars. Even in its current form it's well worth watching.

One of my favz - Great actors makes it a wonderful film
This is according to me a very good film, it's actually one of my fav's.
What makes it so good is the feeling u get from watching the movie, U feel that u are a passenger on the bus observing the others.
There are some great performances in this movie unlike Spike Lee's HE GOT GAME that had a player in the NBA in the lead and pretty much everybody except for DENZEL & Hill Harper didn't know how to act.

Great performances from GABRIEL CASSEUS, HILL HARPER, OSSIE DAVIS and the rest of the cast.

A thoughtful film
Get on the Bus is one of Lee's best works. Poignant, funny and introspective, it tells the tale of various black men from various walks of life; a father and his estranged, angst-ridden son, a gay couple, an arrogant actor, an ex-Crip turned Muslim, a half white cop and Ossie Davis as the "spiritual grandfather/moderator" type. They travel from California to DC for the Million Man March, and along the way come to terms with prejudice and hatred they have felt without as well as within.

Some may criticize the "stereotypical" treatment of the white characters, but this may be a bit much. The Jewish Bus driver is an honorable character, and in a scene with him and Charles Dutton, director Lee let's him speak his side of the story "OK, I may have some problems with blacks....but no more worse than the problems you have with whites. I don't have anything to prove to these guys". Randy Quade's redneck cop may have been over the top, but suffice to say, there are people in parts of America who still treat people that way.

Overall, I think this film is definitely Lee's most underrated work. ... Read more

Amazon.com

One of the most pivotal moments in 20th century American history is bracingly dramatized in Separate but Equal. In telling the detailed story of the Supreme Court's 1953 decision to abolish racial segregation in schools, this superb 1991 TV movie covers a broad spectrum of issues, never taking its "eyes off the prize" while its first-rate cast conveys the importance of the Supreme Court's ultimately unanimous decision. It was the culmination of a lengthy, legally complex, and morally compelling struggle that began humbly in South Carolina in 1950, where future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (Sidney Poitier)--then a New York-based lawyer for the NAACP--fought on behalf of an underprivileged black community facing social injustice despite the 1896 decision (Plessy v. Ferguson) that promised "separate but equal" treatment in the wake of slavery's abolition. Both direction and script by George Stevens Jr. are utterly conventional, but with so much dignity and fine acting in the service of a noble undertaking (including Burt Lancaster's final performance, as opposing counsel John W. Davis), Separate but Equal achieves a lasting importance of its own. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (13)

A Powerful American Epic
Separate But Equal is a riveting portrayal of the struggle for desegration of the public schools. While some liberties are taken to enhance the story for television, it is still of reasonable historical accuracy. Sidney Poitier and Burt Lancaster turn in solid performances as opposing counsel. However, the real star of this video is the far lesser known Richard Kiley who turns in an excellent portrayal of Chief Justice Earl Warren. As a result, the stronger half of the story turns out to be the second part which provides a fascinating look at Warren's struggle to guide the court through the bitterly divisive issue of whether segregation in the public schools was unconstitutional. The intellectual battles among such strong willed men as Justices Douglas, Frankfurter, and Reed and the difficulties of the latter two to come to a resolution of the issue is masterfully portrayed. All in all, this is clearly one of the best historically based presentations I have seen in recent years.

First rate docudrama on Brown v. Board of Education
"Separate But Equal" puts three names about the credits: Sidney Portier as Thurgood Marshall, Burt Lancaster as John W. Davis, and Richard Kiley as Earl Warren. This is significant because it helps to personify the three sides in the monumental Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education. Marshall headed the NAACP lawyers who challenged the legal doctrine that legitimized segregation in the South. Davis represented the interests of the states, not out of a sense of bigotry but out of legal principle; after all, it was the Supreme Court that had established the separate but equal doctrine. This becomes a key part of the dilemma that Chief Justice Warren faced because the law was obviously legal--it just also happened to be wrong.

This excellent 1991 docudrama was aired in two parts. The first part looks at the segregated school system in Claredon County, South Carolina, one of the four cases that comprised the ruling, and the harm of segregation is captured in a memorable sequence in which young black children always pick the white doll rather than the black doll to describe who is smarter, better, etc. The second part of the film deals with the lengthy process by which the high court deliberated the case, doing a better job of capturing the process than any drama I have ever seen.

Portier provides Marshall with all the dignity appropriate to the role, and it is a treat to see the actor play a lawyer arguing before the high court. Lancaster, in his final role, performs a key function: he is earnest and likeable, which means that in the context of this story our opposition has to be to his position and not to him personally. In other words, this is a legal matter that has to be determined on the point of law and not on our feelings about bigots and racism. However, writer/director George Stevens, Jr. has set us up, because for Kiley's Earl Warren it is a question of justice rather than the law, especially after the former Governor of California visits the battlefield at Gettysburg and discovers his driver had to sleep in the car because no local hotel would accept a black.

For me this is Kiley's film and the most fascinating part of "Separate But Equal" is watching him rally the Court to make its landmark ruling. This is a long, hard, effort for Kiley, who insists that a unanimous ruling is important to make it clear to the nation that there is no longer two sides to this issue. I appreciated that Stevens simply has Kiley read the actual ruling at the film's climax. Again, Stevens using a simple image to bring home the significance of the ruling as the preacher and father who were at the heart of the case we watched in the first part hear the news on the radio, pull over their car, get out and kneel by the side of the road to give thanks.

At 193 minutes this docudrama would consume a week of class, but it could be well worth the effort. Certainly screening it for students would produce some interesting questions and discussions. Final comment: Stevens uses irony throughout "Separate but Equal" (e.g., Marshall and the NAACP lawyers cannot get a cab to take them to the Supreme Court to hear the decision), but there is one delightful use of humor, when a young white lawyer who is helping with the appeal explains to the NAACP lawyers why he is there working with them.

They play in the streets together, they separate for school.

"John, if this case goes before the Supreme Court. . . I'm gonna need you"

It's the early 1950's, in America. The governor of South Carolina James Francis Byrnes, in his 70's at the time, pays a visit to his friend, the famous lawyer John W. Davis. Davis had argued 138 cases in front of the Supreme Court. Byrnes was turning to him for help.

Byrnes was determined to show that discrimination and segregation in public schools were not the same thing. He wanted black school children to have equal schools. He was ashamed of the terrible condition the black schools were in, in his state of South Carolina. He even levied a three percent sales tax to fund the improvement of black schools. He was prepared to spend 75 million dollars to improve the public schools for black children in his state.

But he knew, that the small case that a few courageous people (Harry Briggs, Reverand J.A. Delaine) had started in Clarendon county, SC, was too big of an issue for his efforts alone. The case was on it's way to the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (the NAACP), had become involved. Their head lawyer, Thurgood Marshall had combined this case and four other similar cases (from Delaware, Kansas, DC and Virginia) into one called 'Brown v. Board of Education', and made it his mission to strike down segregation in public schools in America.

The great thing about this movie is how it makes each side look respectable. The movie does not make this a 'bad evil white men against poor suffering black people' type of story. But rather, the film, portrays the white men as being highly respected, educated and willing to do the right thing. But at the same time, very concerned and perhaps even afraid of the consequences of their decisions.

I also loved the humor in this film. For example when Byrnes is conversing with Davis and says 'I admit to past sins, our colored schools are a disgrace'. Or when one of the lawyers at the NAACP legal defense fund says about the South Carolina case "If we win this one, we'll only have 11,172 school districts left."

The heart of this film is the uncommon courage of the people. Courage among so many involved. Of course, first from the blacks from those small towns, who risked their jobs and safety, and faced the hate of the Ku Klux Klan, by taking these complaints to their local lawyers. Then, to the NAACP, for climbing this long and expensive uphill battle. But also, to the judges on the Supreme Court, and in particular the Chief Judge Earl Warren.

Warren was quoted as saying 'Everything that I did in life that was worthwhile, I caught hell for.' What a difficult decision, but what a remarkable effort on his part to unite the nine members of the Supreme Court to conclude the case with a unanimous decision to end segregation in public schools in America.

It took a lot of brave people on both sides, to end separation of black and white school children in public schools. Perhaps Thurgood Marshall summed it up best, when he mocked the thinking of people in the south by saying 'you can have them attending the same State Universities and Graduate schools, but if they attend the same elementary and high schools together, the world would fall apart.'

A wonderful treasured movie. Must see for all.

Great Film - Typical Rotten Artisan DVD
This is one of the best films made for TV. It tells the story of the groundbreaking Supreme Court case that put Thurgood Marshall in the minds of most educated Americans.

However, this is a terrible DVD. The colors are dark. There is no sharpness to the film at all. In effect, it is worse than what you saw when it originally came out. As usual, Artisan does not take advantage of the DVD technology. I tried to contact them, but their website has no email address. This DVD is cheaply made, which is a shame. This a film classic, much more deserving than the shabby treatment Artisan has given it. This ranks right up there with the horrible DVD that Artisan made of "The Quiet Man." Please Artisan, either give us good copies of these great films, or quit ruining them.

FIVE STARS FOR THE FILM, 1 STAR FOR ARTISAN

Great historical/legal drama
I thoroughly enjoyed this historical dama about Briggs v. Elliott. It was a great drama, seemed very accurate, portrayed a little-known legal "Super Bowl" between my hero, John W Davis, and Thurgood Marshall. Everybody should watch it. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Kinda funny but pretty racist
There were some funny moments in the movie but if the roles were reversed the black community would be in uproar. If it was making fun of black kids taking the SAT instead of white people boxing it would be deemed racist. I guess it's not even so much the boxing angle but how white people are portrayed. You have Corbin Bernson (whatever) doing his sissy act from Major League 2, Jeff Goldblum as the nerd, the boxer is just a clueless foolio, and Jon Lovitz is well, Jon Lovitz. The thing is I wouldn't even care if there wasn't such a double standard. It's just the fact that racism is okay if it's against whites that bothers me.

A very dark comedy for those who enjoy political wit
I was one of the 3 or so people who actually saw this film in the theatre and I enjoy it more every time I see it. It's an excellent, funny, satirical look into the world of professional boxing where athletes, who risk their physical health and financial future, are treated like commodities for the gain of promoters, who risk nothing and always get the big payoff. The flamboyant promoter (Samuel L. Jackson) deftly uses white America's obsession/anger with African-American dominance in sports to produce a payday as the media plays a willing pawn in the game. All of the performances in this movie are excellent but Peter Berg deserves a special mention.

Finally...
Okay the DVD itself isn't so great with only minimal features but why I give this 4 stars is because I waited FOREVER for this thing to finally be released. It is one of my all-time favorite comedies and I laugh so much everytime I see it. It is about time that this was finally released and I say it rules!

It would be even better on DVD
Make that 4 people who saw it in the theatre. This is just one of those movies that somehow got passed over. I've worn out my VHS copy. I've seen thousands of movies once. I've seen this movie more times than I can count. Scenes and dialog from "THE GREAT WHITE HYPE" have become part of my comedy repetoire...that nobody ever gets...

I'm With Tony - Why No DVD?
In my opinion, this is one of the funniest movies made during the 1990's.

Sure it has some racist overtones, but we all need to be able to laugh at ourselves sometimes... ... Read more

Reviews (4)

ANARCHY TV- An Equal Opportunity Satire
Channel 69 is a religious cable channel which is suddenly taken over by a group of young social anarchists, whose aim is to jump-start the social revolution by means of televising nude aerobics. Sound strange?
Well, this is the premise, in a nutshell, of ANARCHY TV. In this sometimes achingly funny little movie, the satire is equally aimed at all fronts-the Religious Right, Social Conservatives, Politicians, Televangelists,Law Enforcement, as well as politically correct, bleeding heart pseudo-liberal protest marchers in search of any cause about which to raise a placard and march in the streets. By focusing on the manipulative tactics of both sides of the political spectrum, ANARCHY TV successfully exposes the folly within each of these camps. While most of the cast seems wooden (Dweezil Zappa sleep walks through most of this film, and Alan Thicke never breaks out of his one note characterization of the Uber-Conservative), there are some very fine turns here too, most notably by Jonathan Penner, whose blend of the serious and the absurd help to keep the story from disintegrtaing into slapstick.
Although much of the movie is a wild comic ride with lots of unexpected turns around each corner, the story falls apart in the last 10 minutes, leaving this reviewer to wonder why such a biting satirical gem as ANARCHY TV lost its bite in the end.

Jonathan Blanks' Anarchy TV
Director Blanks brings Frank Zappa's children onboard in a decadent ninety minute comedy that entertains.

Channel 69 is the local public access station that plays shows like "Political Jeopardy" and "Eat Me." The shows lambast the establishment, and push free speech and individualism. It is run by cute couple Jerry (Jonathan Penner) and Natalie (Jessica Hecht), hilarious paranoid Frank (Matt Winston), Katie (Moon Zappa), and Sid (Dweezil Zappa). Natalie is also a teacher, working her political agenda into subversive elementary school plays, much to the principal's (Mink Stole) chagrin.

Natalie's dad is Reverend Wright (Alan Thicke), who buys the television station, disowns his daughter, and throws the group out onto the street. They try to protest their plight, but no one seems to care as no one was watching them in the first place. They hold a couple of disastrous rallies, where all their friends butt heads about their personal beliefs. They are thrown in jail, and eventually bailed out by Oriental prostitute/fan Tiffany (Tamayo Otsuki).

As the Christian station broadcasts on their station, the group hatches a new plan. They take the station by force and begin broadcasting their stuff again, much to the yawns and indifference of the viewing public. Even the police and press do not care. Frank discovers a safe in the station that holds the key to all his off-the-wall beliefs, and sets about breaking the combination.

Tiffany suddenly gets a great idea, and viewers begin tuning in- nude aerobics will do that. Soon, the little station terrorists find themselves to be media darlings, and people tune in, shedding their inhibitions and clothes as well. Eventually the film ends in Frank's shooting, as he discovers proof that the government executed radical Abbey Archer (George Wendt) with microwaves.

The film plays like a goofball version of "UHF." The film makers wisely lampoon conservatives as well as liberals, but usually spends way too much time beating it into their audience. The final few minutes, featuring the shooting, brings down all the silly fun of the film, and really ends on a sour note. The entire government-as-assassins angle absolutely fails.

Moon and Dweezil Zappa are very funny in supporting roles, as is Ahmet as an abusive cop. Matt Winston is a riot as par