June DVD Quick Picks
A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More: Special Editions: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly – arguably the best of Sergio Leone’s “Dollars” trilogy, which really isn’t a trilogy at all – has had a fine special edition disc for a few years now. So it’s high time the first two flicks featuring Clint Eastwood’s iconic Man With No Name get special edition DVD releases of their own. Filmed in 1964 and 1965, the classic spaghetti westerns – the latter featuring the first clash of titans between Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef – didn’t make it to the States until ’67, and it was many years still until Leone’s artistic embrace of a very American genre was recognized as the high art it is. Give these dirty dust-ups the double-disc respect they deserve…
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: Extra Frills Edition: Yet another “What took them so long?!” package, for before moviegoers had to choose from dueling asteroid and volcano films, we had 1995’s great battle of the drag epics.
And the home team took a big hit, for the “ladies” of To Wong Foo… had nothing on the Outback-shimmying trio – regal Terence Stamp, fragile Hugo Weaving and bitchy Guy Pearce – of one-hit wonder Stephan Elliot’s Aussie classic. Drag out your best tiara and your ABBA albums and grok a terrific and long overdue set including director’s commentary, deleted scenes and bloopers, the “Birth of a Queen” featurette and loads more. Faaaaaabulous.
Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Season 1: Today the daringly scripted prime-time animated series is a staple genre, yet so many dysfunctional ‘toony families owe a lot to the Boyles of this 1972 oft-forgotten gem (It’s hardly ever syndicated, which is a crime.) Spun-off of Love, American Style and inspired by All in the Family, the clash between conservative dad Harry (voiced by Tom Bosley) and his liberal progeny was at the center of what at the time was a button-pushing series for its type; the taboos might pale now in comparison to what comes out of Stewie Griffin’s mouth on any given Sunday, but this was cutting edge stuff thirty-five years ago.
Also recommended this week: The Best of Chappelle’s Show; CHiPs: Season 1; The Cosby Show, Seasons 3 & 4; Fantastic Voyage: Special Edition; Ghidorah, the 3-Headed Monster; Henry Rollins: Uncut in New York City; Meatballs; Mission: Impossible: Season 2; Seinfeld, Season 8; Trading Places: Special Edition; Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Special Edition.
— Nicole Campos
