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Robert Altman: You've just been nominated for an Oscar (for M*A*S*H) and given the keys to Hollywood--what are you going to do next? Leave it to eternal maverick Altman to turn around and make this wickedly loony, esoteric (and little-seen) comedy, about an odd loner (Bud Cort as the title character) whose dream is to build a pair of wings in his aerie in the Houston Astrodome that can really fly. Altman spoofs both The Wizard of Oz (look for Margaret Hamilton in a cameo) and Bullitt as he fuses a strange serial murder plot to his story of young Brewster and his strange adventures. His cast includes such Altman regulars as John Schuck, Michael Murphy, and Rene Auberjonois, as well as a wild cameo by Stacy Keach. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (16)

bizarre movie, but not depressing at all.
BREWSTER MCCLOUD concerns a young man (Bud Cort; he was Harold, in HAROLD AND MAUDE) who lives in a room inside the Houston Astrodome, and dreams of flight. He spends his time photographing birds and designing wings, in the hopes that he can take to the air as a bird does.

A second plotline involves a serial killer, a performer of strangulation murders, loose in Houston. The HPD have called in Shaft, a hotshot San Francisco detective, to help solve the case. Each of the victims is found with bird excrement on his face.

Of course, our naive and physically slight Brewster is the killer.

A film of bizarre plot and presumptively a satire, BREWSTER MCCLOUD does not approach the mastery of Robert Altman's other films of the period, particularly MASH and MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER. Occasionally the dialogue is very funny, but too often the director chose to impress the viewer with a skewed sensibility which leaves much to be desired. Inconsistent shots and the lack of a consistent structure probably leaves many viewers reeling.

Similarities to other Altman films abound, but most easily spotted are the terrific ensemble cast, the familiar players from other Altman films, such as Rene Auberjonois, G. Wood, Kellerman, and Duvall, and the use of voice-over throughout the movie. The police radio, in this case, takes the job of the intercom announcer in MASH, and provides a useful way of moving the plot along.

Not quite for Altman completists only, I'd recommend this to all Robert Altman fans, fans of Harold and Maude, and fans of bizarre movies. In a sense this is a black comedy. Not depressing in the least, it represents a rare, brave attempt to make a unique motion picture. While it doesn't work on a number of levels, various strange elements stand out to make BREWSTER MCCLOUD a movie worth seeing.

ken32

Both disturbing and comforting
The first time I saw this movie I walked away thinking "i never want to see that again..." The reason why was that this film leaves the viewer feeling depressed for days. Although the plot has it's holes, it is ultimately unimportant. It's the characters themselves that make this film. Both Duvall and Kellerman are captivating while the protagonist embodies that little part of us all that wants to just disappear from time to time. It's not a great film...it's good though and it will stick with you long after the credits roll.

Full Of Yearning Myself...
This is an oddly touching film despite its ostensibly disjointed plot, which is replete with a send-up of the coldest of the "cool" Steve McQueen personas (in "Bullett"), plus a teasing parody of Altman's own "M*A*S*H" sequence in which Sally Kellerman is humiliated in the shower. (This time she is revealed bathing in a public fountain!) The film posits a definite yearning for innocence and escape from the gross cruelties and disappointments of the Vietnam War era through the young Brewster McCloud's attempt to fly as a bird -- of sorts. However, he can only do this if he maintains his own sexual innocence (a very traditional religious concept, by the way), and he doesn't, of course, and so is betrayed by a callow (and callous) "Eve" -- portrayed by one of Altman's favorite performers, Shelley Duvall, in her debut.

Sally Kellerman, by the way, is a really beautiful, touching "bird-woman," who is Brewster's personal "angel"; Bud Cort is a gentle but naive hero (despite being a mass murderer!), and the film only seems to run along without care for the plot, for it is actually a well-crafted story of a futile attempt to "regain Paradise" by "flying away" from our cruelly competitive and facile culture. It finishes very enigmatically, yet tragically, for it is also a symbolic account of the failure of the 1960s "youth rebellion." Not among the "best" of Altman -- "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" is the better depiction of American decay, and "Nashville" is Altman's quirky yet perceptive study of U. S. politics -- but I can't get it out of my head: it makes me sad and full of yearning myself....

VERY STRANGE!!!
God, what a weird movie. Very funny though. I was laughing the whole time. This movie is not for everyone however, but for those who like the offbeat, strange, funny ones, this one is for you. It's a little hard to follow, but it does have a cute story to it. It is put together well and has a great cast. I loved the ending!!!

harold squared
The insatiable Bud Cort steals the show, but is only rivaled by the complex and theoretical plot. One can spend a few hours contemplating the exact allegorical comparisons between birds and humans, and still feel perplexed, yet satisfied. Do watch the film, which forces the audience to "...think outside the box" ... Read more

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Two events force Kate (Jill Clayburgh) to confront the dissatisfactionsof her life: her father's impending wedding and a job offer that would take herfrom Chicago to New York. Her relationship with Homer (Charles Grodin) ispleasant but shallow. When she meets Ben (Michael Douglas) at the wedding'srehearsal dinner--he's her future stepbrother--there's an immediate spark. Theyflirt on the way home, finding themselves in an arcade where they both prove tobe intensely competitive. Their first encounter gets a little prickly, but soonthey find their relationship taking a deeper and more complicated turn. It'sMy Turn would never be made now; too many scenes of people talking, too manyunresolved questions. But the movie's attention to the details of humaninteraction, particularly the negotiations around a sexual encounter, make itrichly rewarding. Douglas gives a strong performance and Clayburgh is superb;it's delightful to rediscover how smart and sexy she could be. There's a generalimpression that dozens of women-centered movies were made in the late 1970s, butin fact movies that explore life from a woman's point of view are rare. Moreimpressive, though, It's My Turn was written and directed by women, andthe male characters are as fully developed and multidimensional as the women.It's a small movie--it covers a weekend in Kate's life and no tumultuousdecisions are made--but within that short span, a lot of life takes place.--Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A rating of MDA: Mawkish, Dopey, and Awful
The whole film, "It's my Turn", from beginning to end, is jive.

The characters portrayed in this film seem about as real as the two-dimensional cardboard likenesses of film stars that one might see in the lobby of a theatre. In contrast, Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie do a better job of appealing to greater intellect and provide more entertainment value, for sure.

The whole concept behind the movie is laughable. It's full of campy 70's feminist rhetoric, and about as deep as Barbie and Ken. Not much to think about here.

The dialogue sounds more like a set of mindless jokes. Did people really talk like that back in 1979?

Charles Grodin and Mike Douglas portray a couple of Archie and Jughead-types on the make. Jill Clayburg's performance is particularly laughable as a seventies version of everywoman who struggles with the mundane problems of life in Chicago and New York. A meaningless sub plot: Her father fails to comply with her beatific ideas of perfection!

I saw this film at the local cineplex over twenty years ago, and since then, I've never forgotten my feelings upon the conclusion of the film: I had just wasted two hours of my life on this piece of drivel.

At the time, I seriously considered breaking into the projection room, and taking the film from the projector outside to the parking lot, where I could then pour gasoline over it and burn it!

Watching this film was a truly hateful experience.

Surprisingly good
This is an engaging, thoughtful, funny film. Jill Clayburgh seems at ease with being ill-at-ease and it's fun to watch her struggle as the Michael Douglas character enters her life. Douglas, as usual, adds his own brand of male energy as the baseball star whose injuries have forced his retirement. Also, Charles Grodin is wonderful as the rejected lover.

A very sweet film
Jill Clayburgh is this film. It has a wonderful clamness to it and you can sit down and really enjoy watching it. Michael Douglas is great as the love interest. Those who are Yankee fans will love the shots of Yankee Stadium. ... Read more

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The first, and only, X-rated film to win a best picture Academy Award, John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy seems a lot less daring today (and has been reclassified as an R), but remains a fascinating time capsule of late-1960s sexual decadence in mainstream American cinema. In a career-making performance, Jon Voight plays Joe Buck, a naive Texas dishwasher who goes to the big city (New York) to make his fortune as a sexual hustler. Although enthusiastic about selling himself to rich ladies for stud services, he quickly finds it hard to make a living and eventually crashes in a seedy dump with a crippled petty thief named Ratzo Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman, doing one of his more effective "stupid acting tricks," with a limp and a high-pitch rasp of a voice). Schlesinger's quick-cut, semi-psychedelic style has dated severely, as has his ruthlessly cynical approach to almost everybody but the lead characters. But at its heart the movie is a sad tale of friendship between a couple of losers lost in the big city, and with an ending no studio would approve today. It's a bit like an urban Of Mice and Men, but where both guys are Lenny. --Jim Emerson ... Read more

Reviews (83)

After Midnight
1969's Midnight Cowboy helped usher in a new era in filmmaking. The industry was no longer saddled with the studio's moral standard codes that did not allow nudity, cursing or violence and directors set out to depict life in graphic detail. British director John Schlesinger's first American film adapted the novel of James Leo Herlihy and follows the paths of two lowlifes living in New York City. Jon Voight appears in his star-making role of Joe Buck, a dreamer who comes to New York from Texas to live what he thinks will be the easy life as a gigolo. He quickly finds out hustling isn't as easy as he'd thought it would be when he actually ends up paying for the first trick he turns. He then runs into Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, a sickly, gimpy con man who swindles money out of Joe. Ratso is played by Dustin Hoffman who fulfilled the promise he showed in The Graduate with a gritty, gutsy performance. Ratso takes pity on Joe afterwards and invites him to stay in his apartment, which is actually in a condemned building. They try to eke out a living and Joe actually gets his first legitimate customer who takes him to a weird, psychedelic party. This scene is dated with its counterculture imagery, but it doesn't detract from the power of the film. Ratso's illness is too far gone for him to survive the New York winter, so Joe in one act of selflessness turns a homosexual trick to get money for them to take a bus to Florida. The film is filled with what was at the time shocking sexual commentary and scenes that today are commonplace in films and even appear on television. The film received an X rating and became the only X-rated film to win the Best Picture Oscar. Mr. Schlesinger won for Best Director and Waldo Salt won for Best Adapted Screenplay. Mr. Voight & Mr. Hoffman were both nominated for Best Actor, but probably cancelled each other out and paved the way for John Wayne to win his only Oscar. Midnight Cowboy is no longer shocking by today's standards, but it is still a powerful and moving film and captures what the feeling of the New York underworld must have been like in the late sixties.

Who can ever forget Ratzo?
They look soooo young, Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman. Watching this film for the 2nd or 3rd time, I realize not only how old they are now, but also how old I must be!
Midnight Cowboy was really revolutionary for its time, but by today's standards it's kinda tame. Still, what a great flick. After all, it put Jon Voight on the map, and if it weren't for that signature move, where would we be today without Angelina Jolie, his daughter?
In the movie, Jon Voight plays Joe Buck, a naive dude from Nowheresville, TX, who goes to NYC with aspirations of being a gigolo. He quickly finds it difficult to make a go of it and ends up in a dump with Ratzo Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a crippled con man and thief who apparently has TB.
One of my favorite blips in movies of all times if Ratzo smacking the hood of a taxi and yelling, "I'm walkin' here, I'm walkin' here!" - not to mention the madman religious freak who turns his toilet into a psychedelic shrine to Jesus.
Basically, though, at its heart the movie is a pathetic tale of friendship between 2 lost losers. A film classic.

A STORY ABOUT THE TRUE FRIENDSHIP.
"Midnight Cowboy" is not easy to see. Even though it has lost a good deal of its original impact, this movie has visually striking scenes and powerful images. But underneath that though surface, "Midnight Cowboy" is a story about the unconditional friendship.

Joe Buck (played by Jon Voight) and "Razzo" Rizzo (played by Dustin Hoffman) are apparently the two more different persons in the whole New York City, but actually they share more in common than they and the audience think at the beginning of the film. Despite the fact that their origins are completely different, Joe and Razzo eventually understand that they only have each other in the tough Big City.

The song "Everybody Is Talking" is very good, and it is a great musical background to the gray streets of New York City. The director John Schlesinger never was known for finesse and subtlety, and this movie proves that he was a risky director. Jon Voight became well-known thanks to his portrayal of Joe Buck, and Dustin Hoffman portrayed a lovable loser with his usual skills.

"Midnight Cowboy" is a very dark film, but intelligent and influential at the same time. Perhaps some elements have lost their original impact, but still this is a powerful movie.

The crude crash against the reality
Midnight cowboy is a bitter and satirical story about the dreams and fantasies which turn around a smart boy village (Jon Voight) who thinks, he is the master of the world and so New York is another land to domain, but this will be a wrong choice as you can imagine.
Our boy goes to NYC and meets an outsider (Dustin Hoffman) who will feed his dreams. But the crude reality will show those men how far and wrong they are about New York as a promised land.
With surrealistic situations , the texan boy will experience slow but progressively, the dissapointment process , and his desired gigolo proyect will become in ashes ; and still yet ...
Well, Dustin is amazing as the uncommitmed street man, the locations in NYC look like a hell's preview; the sense of anguish and claustrophobia are notorius. Hunger, loneliness and hopeless will be his true colleagues in this nightmarish journey.
A well made fable about the dream and reality; the ancient myth of Eros and Psyque ; fantasy against imagination. A methaporical slap for those who still hope that NYC will receive you with open arms without any effort.
An extraordinary film who won the Academy Award and threw the gladiator actoral sand to Jon Voight.
Unforgettable and even recognized soundtrack even now.
Undoubtly the masterpiece of John Schlessinger and one of the most solid gems of the american cinema in any age.
A milestone.

Sappy & sentimental & so manipulative.
This contrived piece of sentimental quasi-gay Hollywood indulgence must really have titillated them back 35 or so years ago, same people who thought Hair was a racy musical. Jon Voight does a fine Elvis impression but Dustin sounds like he's doing a puppet act from an old radio show. I lived in NYC for umpteen years from the 50s on & never ever saw anyone who talked or walked like Hoffman does in this, except maybe outside Actors Studio on 45th street.

Great if too quick shots of Hubert's Museum & Flea Circus & other 42nd street nostalgia, though, makes it worth a couple stars anyway. ... Read more

Reviews (83)

After Midnight
1969's Midnight Cowboy helped usher in a new era in filmmaking. The industry was no longer saddled with the studio's moral standard codes that did not allow nudity, cursing or violence and directors set out to depict life in graphic detail. British director John Schlesinger's first American film adapted the novel of James Leo Herlihy and follows the paths of two lowlifes living in New York City. Jon Voight appears in his star-making role of Joe Buck, a dreamer who comes to New York from Texas to live what he thinks will be the easy life as a gigolo. He quickly finds out hustling isn't as easy as he'd thought it would be when he actually ends up paying for the first trick he turns. He then runs into Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, a sickly, gimpy con man who swindles money out of Joe. Ratso is played by Dustin Hoffman who fulfilled the promise he showed in The Graduate with a gritty, gutsy performance. Ratso takes pity on Joe afterwards and invites him to stay in his apartment, which is actually in a condemned building. They try to eke out a living and Joe actually gets his first legitimate customer who takes him to a weird, psychedelic party. This scene is dated with its counterculture imagery, but it doesn't detract from the power of the film. Ratso's illness is too far gone for him to survive the New York winter, so Joe in one act of selflessness turns a homosexual trick to get money for them to take a bus to Florida. The film is filled with what was at the time shocking sexual commentary and scenes that today are commonplace in films and even appear on television. The film received an X rating and became the only X-rated film to win the Best Picture Oscar. Mr. Schlesinger won for Best Director and Waldo Salt won for Best Adapted Screenplay. Mr. Voight & Mr. Hoffman were both nominated for Best Actor, but probably cancelled each other out and paved the way for John Wayne to win his only Oscar. Midnight Cowboy is no longer shocking by today's standards, but it is still a powerful and moving film and captures what the feeling of the New York underworld must have been like in the late sixties.

Who can ever forget Ratzo?
They look soooo young, Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman. Watching this film for the 2nd or 3rd time, I realize not only how old they are now, but also how old I must be!
Midnight Cowboy was really revolutionary for its time, but by today's standards it's kinda tame. Still, what a great flick. After all, it put Jon Voight on the map, and if it weren't for that signature move, where would we be today without Angelina Jolie, his daughter?
In the movie, Jon Voight plays Joe Buck, a naive dude from Nowheresville, TX, who goes to NYC with aspirations of being a gigolo. He quickly finds it difficult to make a go of it and ends up in a dump with Ratzo Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a crippled con man and thief who apparently has TB.
One of my favorite blips in movies of all times if Ratzo smacking the hood of a taxi and yelling, "I'm walkin' here, I'm walkin' here!" - not to mention the madman religious freak who turns his toilet into a psychedelic shrine to Jesus.
Basically, though, at its heart the movie is a pathetic tale of friendship between 2 lost losers. A film classic.

A STORY ABOUT THE TRUE FRIENDSHIP.
"Midnight Cowboy" is not easy to see. Even though it has lost a good deal of its original impact, this movie has visually striking scenes and powerful images. But underneath that though surface, "Midnight Cowboy" is a story about the unconditional friendship.

Joe Buck (played by Jon Voight) and "Razzo" Rizzo (played by Dustin Hoffman) are apparently the two more different persons in the whole New York City, but actually they share more in common than they and the audience think at the beginning of the film. Despite the fact that their origins are completely different, Joe and Razzo eventually understand that they only have each other in the tough Big City.

The song "Everybody Is Talking" is very good, and it is a great musical background to the gray streets of New York City. The director John Schlesinger never was known for finesse and subtlety, and this movie proves that he was a risky director. Jon Voight became well-known thanks to his portrayal of Joe Buck, and Dustin Hoffman portrayed a lovable loser with his usual skills.

"Midnight Cowboy" is a very dark film, but intelligent and influential at the same time. Perhaps some elements have lost their original impact, but still this is a powerful movie.

The crude crash against the reality
Midnight cowboy is a bitter and satirical story about the dreams and fantasies which turn around a smart boy village (Jon Voight) who thinks, he is the master of the world and so New York is another land to domain, but this will be a wrong choice as you can imagine.
Our boy goes to NYC and meets an outsider (Dustin Hoffman) who will feed his dreams. But the crude reality will show those men how far and wrong they are about New York as a promised land.
With surrealistic situations , the texan boy will experience slow but progressively, the dissapointment process , and his desired gigolo proyect will become in ashes ; and still yet ...
Well, Dustin is amazing as the uncommitmed street man, the locations in NYC look like a hell's preview; the sense of anguish and claustrophobia are notorius. Hunger, loneliness and hopeless will be his true colleagues in this nightmarish journey.
A well made fable about the dream and reality; the ancient myth of Eros and Psyque ; fantasy against imagination. A methaporical slap for those who still hope that NYC will receive you with open arms without any effort.
An extraordinary film who won the Academy Award and threw the gladiator actoral sand to Jon Voight.
Unforgettable and even recognized soundtrack even now.
Undoubtly the masterpiece of John Schlessinger and one of the most solid gems of the american cinema in any age.
A milestone.

Sappy & sentimental & so manipulative.
This contrived piece of sentimental quasi-gay Hollywood indulgence must really have titillated them back 35 or so years ago, same people who thought Hair was a racy musical. Jon Voight does a fine Elvis impression but Dustin sounds like he's doing a puppet act from an old radio show. I lived in NYC for umpteen years from the 50s on & never ever saw anyone who talked or walked like Hoffman does in this, except maybe outside Actors Studio on 45th street.

Great if too quick shots of Hubert's Museum & Flea Circus & other 42nd street nostalgia, though, makes it worth a couple stars anyway. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Written for the stage and coherently opened up for the screen by veteran director Herbert Ross, Play It Again, Sam is closer to a conventional comedy than Woody Allen's more self-contained films, but his smart script and archetypal hero-nebbish achieve a special charm aimed squarely at movie buffs. Allen is Allan Felix, a film critic on the rebound after his wife's desertion trying to brave the choppy waters of born-again bachelorhood and struggling to reconcile his celluloid obsessions with the hazards of real-world dating. His apartment is a shrine to Humphrey Bogart, and it's none other than Bogey himself who materializes at strategic moments to counsel Allan on romantic strategy. He gets more corporeal aid from his married friends, Linda (Diane Keaton) and Dick (Tony Roberts), who try to orchestrate prospective matches and reassure him when those chemistry experiments explode. When Allan finds himself falling in love with Linda, the dissonance between fantasy and reality proves both funny and poignant--a precursor to the deeper emotionalism missing from the star's earlier directorial efforts that was soon to inform Allen's most affecting '70s comedies. It's also the start of his onscreen relationship with Keaton, further underscoring Allen's evolution toward a more satisfying contemplation of the friction between head and heart. --Sam Sutherland ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Classic Woody!
As I'm sure you now by now, this film stars Woody Allen as a film critic and CASABLANCA buff (coincidentally named Allen) whose bored wife leaves him in the throes of insecure bachelorhood, while he secretly yearns to fulfill Humphrey Bogart's role in his own love life. Watching Woody at his neurotic, self-deprecating best is fun, and he does a lot of physical comedy in this entertaining little film. It's funny that this is an essential Woody Allen film, yet Woody Allen himself didn't direct it! The film's director is Herbert Ross, director of some clever & funny movies such as MY BLUE HEAVEN (1991), and some not-so-clever-and-funny movies, most notably the awful PENNIES FROM HEAVEN (1981). However, Woody wrote the screenplay, which had been adapted from the stage play that he also had written. Since Herbert Ross doesn't take any liberties with Woody's style, it ends up being by all accounts a classic Woody Allen film.

Co-starring in this enjoyable film are Diane Keaton (in her first of many films with the irreppressable Allen), Tony Roberts (as Keaton's too-busy and full-of-himself husband), and Jerry Lacy (who continually appears to Woody as a vision of Mr. Bogart). This film was originally set in New York City, but ended up getting re-set to San Francisco due to a labor strike. Of course, all of the actors in this movie have New York accents, but that's no matter. PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM is so much fun to see for all of the trouble that Woody gets into with his dates that we only care for how his character will redeem himself by film's end.

Classic Woody!!!

An unknown classic
A very clever, funny film. Anyone who has struggled in the dating game will probably see a little of themselves in Woody Allen's charactor. The scene on the couch, between Woody and Diane Keaton, is one of the funniest scenes in any movie ever. Tony Roberts and Jerry Lacey are excellent as the too-busy husband and Humprey Bogart. If you liked ANNIE HALL or WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, I highly recommend this movie, even if you are not a Woody Allen fan.

Play it again, Sham... Go on!!!
A work of genius.

While this is one of Woody's finest moments, it also brilliantly underscores one of the dilemmas of modern man.

Allen's nerdy new age man Allan Felix is so in his head and ineffectual that his wife simply abandons ship - a brilliant observation on a social a trend that is if anything, on the increase.

The magic and true genius of this movie lies in the way Bogart's grounding yet wild Dionysian energy drives Allen's UberNerd to stop whining and intellectualizing and just act. I'm slightly paraphrasing, but Bogie's ghost's advice to Felix to 'Tell her she's beautiful' and 'Go on, kiss her... Go on!' are a joy to behold.

The revelation is that by finding his inner warrior, his wild man energy, he is actually successful, and creates a scenario in which the man and the woman can be more comfortable in their clearly defined, yet non-hierarchical roles.

While there is immense significance in the role and transforming power of the Bogart figure, this is still a warm, loving and utterly crazy Woody classic and can be enjoyed on any level.

Diane Keaton... sigh...

Great for my teenage angst
This was an important movie to me as a teen. Its the classic Woody as nebbish who wins out in the end. Far more conventionally filmed than a Woody-directed film its nonetheless up their with his funniest - touching as well.

Funniest movie ever
If you like comedy, I mean genius works of comedic brilliance, watch this movie. Buy it, rent it, or whatever. You won't be dissapointed. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A powerful and provocative film from the young De Palma
I saw both "Greetings" and "Hi, Mom!" back in the early 1970s at a college art theater, which was well before director Brian De Palma and actor Robert De Niro became big names. "Greetings" was De Palma's 1968 anti-war movie and "Hi, Mom!" was sort of intended as a sequel of sorts. In this 1970 film De Niro plays John Rubin, a Vietnam vet who returns from the war to settle in Greenwich Village. His big idea is to film the people in the apartment across the street and to sell Pepping Tom type films (where you even have to look through a the little windows in a little brick front to get the correct experience). Eventually John's obsession with making films gets him involved with a radical "Black Power" group. This results in two unforgettable sequences, the first involving what we would not call a Yuppie audience being subjected to urban guerrilla theater in the play "Be Black, Baby," and the second an act of urban terrorism that gives Jon a chance to say the film's title while smiling into a camera.

De Palma is clearly exploring the idea of breaking the barrier between actors and audience in the act of performance. I can appreciate this idea because every time I see theater in the round I keep watching the audience watching the play instead of just watching the play. Pay attention to De Palma's use of the split screen to explore the dual perspectives and get the audience watching the movie involved more involved in the equation as well. Repeatedly, it all comes down to point of view, meaning the point of view of the camera. This idea is reinforced by Jon, for whom life is not real unless it is on camera, a point most notably made in his sexual encounter with Judy (Jennifer Salt).

However, the most powerful part of this film is the "Be Black, Baby" sequences, and this is where you either find this film totally brilliant or grossly offensive. Throughout "Hi, Mom!" De Palma and De Niro have made the viewers party to Jon's voyeurism, albeit in more subtle ways than splatter flicks that let the audience see through the killer's eyes. Having persuaded (coerced?) us into this perspective, De Palma makes us pay for it in a most brutal manner. If you cannot appreciate the payoff of this sequence, and that could well be most of the people who bother to watch this film, then you are not going to be able to appreciate this film. But at the very least you should be able to understand not only what De Palma is doing, but why.

After that point the film section of the film seems quite anticlimactic. De Palma is trying to take his argument to the next level, but having been blown away by "Be Black, Baby," there is no way for the director and actor to top that moment. "Hi, Mom!" is a provocative film that provided me with one of the most memorable experiences in a movie theater that I have ever had. Watching this film again, this time knowing where De Palma and De Niro were taking me, really made me appreciate the purpose behind that powerful moment. Of course from the vantage point of today it is rather startling to compare this rather raw film with the slick Hollywood productions for which De Palma is best known, but this film is so powerful it is hard not to consider it his best work.

a trip out film
I was just gonna watch the film because I think RObert De Niro is one of the Greatest Actors Ever, but then the film takes on a behind the scenes of Being Black&that truly adds another factor to this film.it's a trip out film.

Hi, Bomb!
The most overlooked movie of the 1970's. Probably one of DePalma's best efforts. Also, a great example of DeNiro's early acting range. Funny, terrifying, brilliant. A great dissection of race issues, voyeurism, war, random violence, the family, and gender relations as well as a terrific homage to Hitchcock's Rear Window...

Strange Movie
Robert De Niro has played many odd ball characters in his day and perhaps none more so than Jon Rubin, in Brian De Palma's Hi,Mom! The movie begins with De Niro renting a run down apartment in the city where he can begin his new career. This career, he has decided, will be in the adult film industy. He tries to convinces a smut producer to give him a budget to film his neighbors in the buiding across from him. Eventually, he agrees so using a telephotolens De Niro begins recording their every move. Unfortunatly his targets(who have no idea they are being watched) are not very interesting. So De Niro begins to date a girl in the building he has noticed is lonely in an attempt to spice up his video. However, this does not pan out and De Niro's porn career is over. He turns his camera in for a television. This leads him to take a role in a play called Be Black Baby playing a police officer. It is being put on by some black radicals to illustrate to white people what it would be like to be black in contemperary America. The play is shocking and probably the most interesting part of the film. After the play is over De Niro returns to the girl from the building across from him and the movie ends in a melodramatic and bizarre fasion. This movie is definatly worth watching. This film put Brian De Palma on the map, and De Niro shows flashes of the brilliance that in years to come would create so many classic characters.

AWESOME
I loved it! This film is not only funny but also describes a serious issue like racism in a realistic way. And of course De Niro's performance! Incredibly powerful, especially when he played the police officer. This is definitely worth watching. ... Read more

Reviews (28)

Memorable TV-movie from the 70's
Not a bad excursion into mythology with anthropologist Cornel Wilde and daughter Jennifer Salt doing battle with legendary gargoyles in the American Southwest. Also on hand are "Dark Shadows" veteran and Oscar nominee Grayson Hall as a dotty proprietess of an inn and Berny Casey as the "Head Gargoyle" with a voice that is obviously dubbed by an unnamed actor.

The film was one of my favorites while a college student and it still has a fond place in my memory.

Friday night frights
When I was a kid, my friends and I would watch the "Plenty Scary Movies" on channel 8 in Tulsa, Oklahoma every friday night. It was a tradition. It seemed like once every 2 months the feature would be "Gargoyles", and we NEVER got tired of it.

With a creepy soundtrack and amazing makeup by Stan Winston, Gargoyles was a fantastic scare for us. I know a lot of people will roll their eyes and say that there's nothing scary about this film, but I think that is just because we have become used to non-stop action, explosions, shaking camerawork, quick-cut editting, and CGI monsters.

When Jennifer Salt is walking back to the motel in the dark and you hear noises coming from the darkness, well, I'm sorry, but that is just creepy. When Bernie Casey (amazing as the head Gargoyle) emerges from the darkness, I still feel a chill.

This movie used to be on TBS several times a year. It was on so much that I never bothered to get it on video tape. Then when it stopped showing up on cable TV, I thought I might never see it again. Thank goodness it is available again! And on DVD!

This Halloween, do yourself a favor and include Gargoyles in your scary-movie-mix. When you hear the Gargoyle's voice (sounding like he is talking through a fan) saying "you have nothing to fear", you'll know he is lying. I just felt a shiver up my spine. I think I am going to have to go watch this movie again!

Read Genesis chapter six
Genesis chapter six say is all about this prophetic film. This movie was so far ahead of it time. The original Americans have written of these powerful creations for generations. Coast to Coast radio show talk about the giant ones. This film is apparently more truth than fantasy. Just remember the next time at night when you think its just a bat or you see something out of the corner of your eye.....

From 70s TV Comes an Ancient Evil
A made-for-TV flick that originally aired on CBS in November of 1972, GARGOYLES tells the story of an anthropology researcher (Cornel Wilde) who, with the assistance of his adult daughter (Jennifer Salt), travels to the Arizona desert to investigate an unusual skeleton discovered there. However, when the duo try to transport the bony remains away from the discovery site, they are pursued by a number of gargoyle-like creatures who want to reclaim the unearthed skeleton, and the scientist and his daughter soon find themselves at the locus of an age-old battle between mankind and an evil race of garrulous reptilians.

Yes, it's cheesy. But for many horror fans who grew up in the 1970s, it's one of those guilty pleasures that, in spite of any intrinsic sense of good taste, will always have a special place in their nostalgic little hearts--right there next to Wacky Packages stickers and CRACKED magazine. And to be honest, it's really not all that bad, especially when compared to a lot of the other tripe spewed by the one-eyed monster during the "ME" decade.

At times GARGOYLES can be really atmospheric, especially during the night scenes in which the titular creatures attempt to reclaim the bones of their dead, but at other times it is blatantly ridiculous. The first half of the film actually plays better than the second, as the viewer is then offered only brief glimpses of the nightmarish reptilians as they swoop down on moving autos or attack folk in secluded buildings. The "magic" quickly dissipates, however, when the creatures finally appear in full view and the audience can easily see the Gargoyles for what they really are--a group of actors and stuntmen in unconvincing rubber suits. The one exception to this rule is the make-up job on the Gargoyle king, played by former professional football player Bernie Casey. This character looks like a greenish incarnation of Satan himself, and when combined with the eerie vibrato of his voice, he never fails to invoke plenty of gooseflesh.

In spite of the hokey premise of the plot and the rubber-suit monsters, GARGOYLES is definitely a must-see for serious horror fans. There are some genuinely spooky moments, especially early on, and the film is also historically notable for being the first major professional gig for make-up FX master Stan Winston. (Considering the masterful work he's produced in the years since--everything from Cicely Tyson's "aged" skin in TV's THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN to EDWARD SCISSORHANDS to several incarnations of the TERMINATOR--it's not unreasonable to assume that he was responsible for the outstanding make-up of the Gargoyle king and not the rubber suits.)

The DVD from VCI is short on extras, and the image has that same softness common to older TV shows that are transferred to disc. However, the digital transfer was made from the complete, uncut version of the film that was apparently screened only in Europe, and that means that even long-time fans of the show in North America may actually see a few bits they didn't see initially on CBS or during the film's numerous syndicated reruns. Definitely worth picking up a copy.

Creepy movie
I saw this movie when I was a child, it scared the hell out of me. I saw it again at the age of 30, it still did. Ok some of the costumes were cheesy, the special effects were limited and the acting pretty much stunk, but that creepy music.....oh man. I thought this movie was psychologically scary.

This is a timeless B movie classic. ... Read more

Description

Creepy slasher flick featuring Margot Kidder (Superman) as a psychotic twin with a brand new set of knives.Now with its own cult following, Sisters was the film that put director Brian De Palma (Carrie, The Fury, Dressed to Kill) on the map.A reporter witnesses the murder of a young man inside a neighboring apartment.When the body doesn't turn up, the reporter does some digging of her own and winds up immersed in the secret lives of famous Siamese twins.Replete with gore, excellent use of split-screen photography, and cameos from Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck, Steel Magnolias) and Charles Durning (The Sting, The Hudsucker Proxy), De Palma's first tribute to Hitchcock also features a spine tingling score from Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Vertigo). ... Read more

Reviews (46)

De Palma's divine tribute to the art of Alfred Hitchcock
A hard-nosed lady reporter witnesses a brutal murder, then learns that the girl she holds responsible for the crime has a seperated siamese twin sister. One of De Palma's best films, "Sisters" is definitely a tribute to the great Alfred Hitchcock with obvious references to PSYCHO and REAR WINDOW, as well as the bone-chilling score by Bernard Herrmann(Hitchcock's favorite composer), but De Palma proves to be a revolutionary filmmaker in his own right: His use of split screen to show two actions taking place at once is superb and quite unlike anything Hitchcock ever did. Also, I would note that the ending of this film is far more bizarre and unsettling than anything the master could concoct. In addition to putting De Palma on the map, "SISTERS" boosted Margot Kidder's career, and played a firm hand in revolutionizing the splatter movie genre(there are two great gory murders that you won't easily forget). If you love to be scared, SISTERS is one film you won't want to miss!

Brian De Palma's first real success is a knockout.
Brian De Palma has always been one of Hollywood's great imitators. He's the same type of filmmaker as Tarantino: he's seen all the movies and simply cannot resist paying homage to his favorite films whenever he gets the chance (ie. The Odessa Steps sequence from 'The Battleship Potemkin' finds it's way into 'The Untouchables'). Here, De Palma begins a string of Hitchcockian susense films with 'Sisters', a powerfully disturbing look at the extreme bond between a set of siamese twin sisters (played by Margot Kidder in her pre-Superman days). De Palma seems so assured in his direction through-out the film, using flashy jump cuts, eerie montages and flashbacks, and (in simply one of the most amazing sequences ever captured on film) he utilizes the split-screen technique first used to great impact in Michael Wadleigh's "Woodstock" to create two unique viewpoints of a murder. A murder which sparks the film and sets it down it's path. A tabloid reporter named Grace (played by Jennifer Salt) witnesses the murder of a young black man by Dominique (the evil twin) from her window. When she brings the police to the scene of the crime, she meets Danielle (the normal twin) but finds no body... and no Dominique. Soon she sets out to find the truth and expose the murderer. The film is charged with voyeurism, and De Palma carries us along swiftly and adeptly. Bernard Herrmann's score and Gregory Sandor's excellent cinemotography add to what is already a chilling tale of identity and madness, where nothing is what it seems and a simple kiss can be deadly. Much thanks goes to Criterion for resurrecting this long lost classic and restoring it to pristine condition. A great film for fans of the bizarre.

As racist as a Stephen King Short Story from the seventies
This movie is the most balsy opaquely racist movie I've ever seen. But I'll get to that in a moment.

Margot Kidder is a bombshell in this movie. Every sinew, every muscle, every handful of glandular greatness, every strand of beautiful raven black hair on her Canadian brow is perfectly structured to reveal an untapped sex-goddess in her prime (25). Her French Accent is positevly genius and to die for along with the scenes where she is using her allure to distract the cops from growing wise to her homicide. What, pray tell, happened to Margot Kidder in the five years from Sisters to Superman. Her perfect mouth becomes somehow gaunt and the fortifying keratin tissue around her lips fades in an unattractive way. I cannot place exactly what it is, but something happened to Margot in those five years which took away much of her blossoming beauty.

But I digress. The reason this movie is racist is because when broken down it shows how a group of white people conspire together to kill a healthy, young, law-abiding, successful black man and don't get caught. They suffer no repercussions. Thus the subtext of the film acts to assert racist propaganda disguised as a thriller/horror picture.

But read any Stephen King short story in the mid seventies and you'll get the same thing. Apparently brian and stephen didn't think black people would ever attain the education or affluence to see their movies/read their stories.

"You are not a doctor"
nancy drew (jennifer salt) would kill to get off of staten island and become the maverick of NYC journalism. the only problem is that all she has done to this point with her 'little job" is write about rampant police corruption, isolating herself even further from the big city. what she needs is a break, and witnessing a murder, (especially a depalma split-screen murder) appears to be her ticket, if she can get anyone to listen.

nancy drew on acid

In this Hitchcok style this is the best
This film has many aspects to remark. The first of them lies in the style: the film reminds to a slow english picture, in the Hitchcock of the fifties, specially The rear window and the rope, there are many unforgettable shot angles , the sensation you breathe is amazing. You feel the claustrophobic mood and once more, the camera becomes before us once more as a device for making the viewer a real Peeping Tom.
The dual character played in both characters are brilliant played by Margott Kidder in his best rol to date and dazzling direction. The script runs organically , giving visible and suggestive clues. A brilliant psychothriller!.
De Palma made a little masterpiece, soon before one my favorite cult movie any age like Phantom of Paradise. De Palma was in the peak of his powers, undoubtly.
If you are a hard fan of the suspense, this film is for you. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This nostalgic special captures some classic moments from one of the most beloved shows of the '70s--a zany parody of daytime drama that launched the careers of such celebrities as Katherine Helmond, Richard Mulligan, Robert Guillaume, and Billy Crystal. The special starts as Jessica Tate (Helmond) enters the afterlife. Through a combination of dogged persistence and her trademark ditzy wisdom, Jessica attempts to convince an especially harried angel (Maude's Bea Arthur) into giving her a second chance at life. After all, the story isn't done yet. No single retrospective could hope to explain all of the convoluted plot lines generated by the warring Tate and Campbell clans, and those unfamiliar with the show might be left a bit dizzy by Jessica's whirlwind history. In its time, the show mined a wide range of social issues for laughs, touching on everything from cult kidnappings to alien abductions, student-teacher affairs to interracial marriage, and gay parenting to terminal illnesses. Soap's knack for laughing at serious issues--and refusal to back away from "heavy" drama when called for--still makes for brilliantly relevant satire more than 20 years after the show first hit the airwaves. --Grant Balfour ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Just Snipits
I didn't enjoy the snipit version of this video. I would have rather seen whole episodes.

Soap Soup
I loved SOAP and wanted to find some videos of episodes. Why are there never any reruns of this popular show?? It was not clear that this video was a "review" of Jessica's life (while talking to Bea from Golden Girls as the greeter in heaven). While it was good to see my old favorite characters again, I have never liked seeing brief snippets of scenes that were really good and leave you wanting to see the rest. What I had hoped for was a video with several actual episodes. The video seemed very short. Concidering the price, I expected it to be as long as a movie. As a "review of Jessica's life" and "SOAP Soup", it was good and worth watching. However, I will probably not buy the other "best of Soap" videos available.

Soap Suds
Soap was is a classic. Written by the Witt Thomas Harris team (who also wrote The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, Nurses and Benson to name but 4) this video contains Beatrice Arthur as a guardian at the gates of heaven, it really is funny!, I won't tell you what happens it this video, and what other clips are shown as it will spoil it. Buy it! it is well worth it! ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

The first, and only, X-rated film to win a best picture Academy Award, John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy seems a lot less daring today (and has been reclassified as an R), but remains a fascinating time capsule of late-1960s sexual decadence in mainstream American cinema. In a career-making performance, Jon Voight plays Joe Buck, a naive Texas dishwasher who goes to the big city (New York) to make his fortune as a sexual hustler. Although enthusiastic about selling himself to rich ladies for stud services, he quickly finds it hard to make a living and eventually crashes in a seedy dump with a crippled petty thief named Ratzo Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman, doing one of his more effective "stupid acting tricks," with a limp and a high-pitch rasp of a voice). Schlesinger's quick-cut, semi-psychedelic style has dated severely, as has his ruthlessly cynical approach to almost everybody but the lead characters. But at its heart the movie is a sad tale of friendship between a couple of losers lost in the big city, and with an ending no studio would approve today. It's a bit like an urban Of Mice and Men, but where both guys are Lenny. --Jim Emerson ... Read more

Reviews (83)

After Midnight
1969's Midnight Cowboy helped usher in a new era in filmmaking. The industry was no longer saddled with the studio's moral standard codes that did not allow nudity, cursing or violence and directors set out to depict life in graphic detail. British director John Schlesinger's first American film adapted the novel of James Leo Herlihy and follows the paths of two lowlifes living in New York City. Jon Voight appears in his star-making role of Joe Buck, a dreamer who comes to New York from Texas to live what he thinks will be the easy life as a gigolo. He quickly finds out hustling isn't as easy as he'd thought it would be when he actually ends up paying for the first trick he turns. He then runs into Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, a sickly, gimpy con man who swindles money out of Joe. Ratso is played by Dustin Hoffman who fulfilled the promise he showed in The Graduate with a gritty, gutsy performance. Ratso takes pity on Joe afterwards and invites him to stay in his apartment, which is actually in a condemned building. They try to eke out a living and Joe actually gets his first legitimate customer who takes him to a weird, psychedelic party. This scene is dated with its counterculture imagery, but it doesn't detract from the power of the film. Ratso's illness is too far gone for him to survive the New York winter, so Joe in one act of selflessness turns a homosexual trick to get money for them to take a bus to Florida. The film is filled with what was at the time shocking sexual commentary and scenes that today are commonplace in films and even appear on television. The film received an X rating and became the only X-rated film to win the Best Picture Oscar. Mr. Schlesinger won for Best Director and Waldo Salt won for Best Adapted Screenplay. Mr. Voight & Mr. Hoffman were both nominated for Best Actor, but probably cancelled each other out and paved the way for John Wayne to win his only Oscar. Midnight Cowboy is no longer shocking by today's standards, but it is still a powerful and moving film and captures what the feeling of the New York underworld must have been like in the late sixties.

Who can ever forget Ratzo?
They look soooo young, Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman. Watching this film for the 2nd or 3rd time, I realize not only how old they are now, but also how old I must be!
Midnight Cowboy was really revolutionary for its time, but by today's standards it's kinda tame. Still, what a great flick. After all, it put Jon Voight on the map, and if it weren't for that signature move, where would we be today without Angelina Jolie, his daughter?
In the movie, Jon Voight plays Joe Buck, a naive dude from Nowheresville, TX, who goes to NYC with aspirations of being a gigolo. He quickly finds it difficult to make a go of it and ends up in a dump with Ratzo Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a crippled con man and thief who apparently has TB.
One of my favorite blips in movies of all times if Ratzo smacking the hood of a taxi and yelling, "I'm walkin' here, I'm walkin' here!" - not to mention the madman religious freak who turns his toilet into a psychedelic shrine to Jesus.
Basically, though, at its heart the movie is a pathetic tale of friendship between 2 lost losers. A film classic.

A STORY ABOUT THE TRUE FRIENDSHIP.
"Midnight Cowboy" is not easy to see. Even though it has lost a good deal of its original impact, this movie has visually striking scenes and powerful images. But underneath that though surface, "Midnight Cowboy" is a story about the unconditional friendship.

Joe Buck (played by Jon Voight) and "Razzo" Rizzo (played by Dustin Hoffman) are apparently the two more different persons in the whole New York City, but actually they share more in common than they and the audience think at the beginning of the film. Despite the fact that their origins are completely different, Joe and Razzo eventually understand that they only have each other in the tough Big City.

The song "Everybody Is Talking" is very good, and it is a great musical background to the gray streets of New York City. The director John Schlesinger never was known for finesse and subtlety, and this movie proves that he was a risky director. Jon Voight became well-known thanks to his portrayal of Joe Buck, and Dustin Hoffman portrayed a lovable loser with his usual skills.

"Midnight Cowboy" is a very dark film, but intelligent and influential at the same time. Perhaps some elements have lost their original impact, but still this is a powerful movie.

The crude crash against the reality
Midnight cowboy is a bitter and satirical story about the dreams and fantasies which turn around a smart boy village (Jon Voight) who thinks, he is the master of the world and so New York is another land to domain, but this will be a wrong choice as you can imagine.
Our boy goes to NYC and meets an outsider (Dustin Hoffman) who will feed his dreams. But the crude reality will show those men how far and wrong they are about New York as a promised land.
With surrealistic situations , the texan boy will experience slow but progressively, the dissapointment process , and his desired gigolo proyect will become in ashes ; and still yet ...
Well, Dustin is amazing as the uncommitmed street man, the locations in NYC look like a hell's preview; the sense of anguish and claustrophobia are notorius. Hunger, loneliness and hopeless will be his true colleagues in this nightmarish journey.
A well made fable about the dream and reality; the ancient myth of Eros and Psyque ; fantasy against imagination. A methaporical slap for those who still hope that NYC will receive you with open arms without any effort.
An extraordinary film who won the Academy Award and threw the gladiator actoral sand to Jon Voight.
Unforgettable and even recognized soundtrack even now.
Undoubtly the masterpiece of John Schlessinger and one of the most solid gems of the american cinema in any age.
A milestone.

Sappy & sentimental & so manipulative.
This contrived piece of sentimental quasi-gay Hollywood indulgence must really have titillated them back 35 or so years ago, same people who thought Hair was a racy musical. Jon Voight does a fine Elvis impression but Dustin sounds like he's doing a puppet act from an old radio show. I lived in NYC for umpteen years from the 50s on & never ever saw anyone who talked or walked like Hoffman does in this, except maybe outside Actors Studio on 45th street.

Great if too quick shots of Hubert's Museum & Flea Circus & other 42nd street nostalgia, though, makes it worth a couple stars anyway. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

I love this movie!
This movie is such a classic! I especially commend the acting talents of not only Robert DeNiro, but that young Judith Thomas! She was robbed of her oscar in 1969 for her wonderful performance!

The Wedding Party
A great movie with an early Robert DeNiro who's great and everything he does and this is one of the first movies before he worked with Martin Scorsese and became a legend in Hollywood so enjoy this Bobby classic ... Read more

Amazon.com

This compilation introduces each of the twisted story lines of the 1970s-era soap opera spoof by beginning with Jessica Tate's wrongful conviction of the murder of Peter, her lover and step-nephew. In a jailhouse meeting, Jessica (Katherine Helmond) and brother-in-law Burt (Richard Mulligan) examine other possible suspects, a perfect excuse to roll tape. Viewers meet her daughter Corrine, also embroiled in an affair with tennis pro Peter, that is, until her chaste courtship with a priest interferes. They see Burt's stepsons Danny, burdened with a mob assignment to kill Burt; cross-dressing Jodie (Billy Crystal), saving up for a sex change operation until his football-playing boyfriend dumps him for a shot at heterosexuality; and Chuck and Bob, the inseparable ventriloquist and dummy team. Or how about Jessica's husband Chester, outraged at her betrayal despite his own mistress and girlfriend. The only nonsuspect is Mary--Jessica's sister, Burt's wife, and the moral center of the sitcom--who stands by Burt through his guilt-ridden impotence and descent into madness because he killed her first husband. But who killed Peter? That question is never answered in this 74-minute volume, which leaves Jessica still in her jail cell as credits roll. --Kimberly Heinrichs ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Just Snipits
I was disappointed in the snipit version of this video. It recaps past episodes that involved the characters inolved with Peter but doesn't really capture the essence of any of the episodes. I guess I would have preferred to see a few episodes in their original form.

AN UNCONVENTIONAL FAMILY BUT A LIVELY ONE
I can't say enough good things about this show or this 90 minute movie which is really a recap of everything that happened in the first season.

Jessica (katherine Helmond) and Burt (Richard Mulligan, God bless him!) are what made the sitcom what it was in addition to many others who went on to do great things after the show was canceled in 1981.

If you want a movie that has a lot more going for it than just your typical cookie cutter Father Knows Best clan. The Tates and The Campbells are for you.

There is not enough good things I can say about "Soap"
One of the most controversial series' ever made, and on top of that one of the funniest. Despite the protest letters that accumulated over 20,000, ABC backed up the sitcom and still aired it. Shortly after the protests stopped, then the ratings took off. It has everything from homosexuality to ventriliguism (sp?). Starring Katherine Helmond, Richard Mulligan, Billy Crystal, Robert Guilliame, Ted Wass, Robert Mandan, and Cathryn Damon, to name a handful. The best characters were played by Mulligan (Burt), Helmond (Jessica), and Guilliame (Benson). Richard Mulligan, who is an underappreciated actor, gives the most comical and convincing performance, which he won an emmy for. Katherine Helmond deserved an emmy for playing a dimwit so well. From Jessica's court scenes to Burt's alien abduction to devil possession, this outrageous comedy delivers. Even is able to become dramatic sometimes. Quite possibly the best comedy ever! GRADE: A+

A GREAT INTRODUCTION TO A GREAT SERIES!!
This tape, is a great way it be introduced to the wacky Tates and Campbells from Dunn's River, CT!!. Although packaged as THE BEST OF SOAP it is in fact a clip show that aired before the beginning of the second season. It was shown to catch viewers up on what had gone before in the previous first season. It shows Jessica Tate (played by Kathrine Helmond) in jail for a crime she did not commit and her brother-in-law Burt Campbell (played by Richard Mulligan) comparing notes trying to figure out who did kill Peter Campbell. The two review all the family members via clips from the past season. One word of warning: You don't find out who DID do it by the video's end. This was after all just a way to get you to watch the season opener the following week.There were 2 other retrspectives made during the series run. For somestrange reason the one for season 2 is not avaliable commercially while the one for season 3 is under the title of JESSICA'S WONDERFULL LIFE. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

I love this movie!
This movie is such a classic! I especially commend the acting talents of not only Robert DeNiro, but that young Judith Thomas! She was robbed of her oscar in 1969 for her wonderful performance!

The Wedding Party
A great movie with an early Robert DeNiro who's great and everything he does and this is one of the first movies before he worked with Martin Scorsese and became a legend in Hollywood so enjoy this Bobby classic ... Read more

Reviews (83)

After Midnight
1969's Midnight Cowboy helped usher in a new era in filmmaking. The industry was no longer saddled with the studio's moral standard codes that did not allow nudity, cursing or violence and directors set out to depict life in graphic detail. British director John Schlesinger's first American film adapted the novel of James Leo Herlihy and follows the paths of two lowlifes living in New York City. Jon Voight appears in his star-making role of Joe Buck, a dreamer who comes to New York from Texas to live what he thinks will be the easy life as a gigolo. He quickly finds out hustling isn't as easy as he'd thought it would be when he actually ends up paying for the first trick he turns. He then runs into Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, a sickly, gimpy con man who swindles money out of Joe. Ratso is played by Dustin Hoffman who fulfilled the promise he showed in The Graduate with a gritty, gutsy performance. Ratso takes pity on Joe afterwards and invites him to stay in his apartment, which is actually in a condemned building. They try to eke out a living and Joe actually gets his first legitimate customer who takes him to a weird, psychedelic party. This scene is dated with its counterculture imagery, but it doesn't detract from the power of the film. Ratso's illness is too far gone for him to survive the New York winter, so Joe in one act of selflessness turns a homosexual trick to get money for them to take a bus to Florida. The film is filled with what was at the time shocking sexual commentary and scenes that today are commonplace in films and even appear on television. The film received an X rating and became the only X-rated film to win the Best Picture Oscar. Mr. Schlesinger won for Best Director and Waldo Salt won for Best Adapted Screenplay. Mr. Voight & Mr. Hoffman were both nominated for Best Actor, but probably cancelled each other out and paved the way for John Wayne to win his only Oscar. Midnight Cowboy is no longer shocking by today's standards, but it is still a powerful and moving film and captures what the feeling of the New York underworld must have been like in the late sixties.

Who can ever forget Ratzo?
They look soooo young, Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman. Watching this film for the 2nd or 3rd time, I realize not only how old they are now, but also how old I must be!
Midnight Cowboy was really revolutionary for its time, but by today's standards it's kinda tame. Still, what a great flick. After all, it put Jon Voight on the map, and if it weren't for that signature move, where would we be today without Angelina Jolie, his daughter?
In the movie, Jon Voight plays Joe Buck, a naive dude from Nowheresville, TX, who goes to NYC with aspirations of being a gigolo. He quickly finds it difficult to make a go of it and ends up in a dump with Ratzo Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), a crippled con man and thief who apparently has TB.
One of my favorite blips in movies of all times if Ratzo smacking the hood of a taxi and yelling, "I'm walkin' here, I'm walkin' here!" - not to mention the madman religious freak who turns his toilet into a psychedelic shrine to Jesus.
Basically, though, at its heart the movie is a pathetic tale of friendship between 2 lost losers. A film classic.

A STORY ABOUT THE TRUE FRIENDSHIP.
"Midnight Cowboy" is not easy to see. Even though it has lost a good deal of its original impact, this movie has visually striking scenes and powerful images. But underneath that though surface, "Midnight Cowboy" is a story about the unconditional friendship.

Joe Buck (played by Jon Voight) and "Razzo" Rizzo (played by Dustin Hoffman) are apparently the two more different persons in the whole New York City, but actually they share more in common than they and the audience think at the beginning of the film. Despite the fact that their origins are completely different, Joe and Razzo eventually understand that they only have each other in the tough Big City.

The song "Everybody Is Talking" is very good, and it is a great musical background to the gray streets of New York City. The director John Schlesinger never was known for finesse and subtlety, and this movie proves that he was a risky director. Jon Voight became well-known thanks to his portrayal of Joe Buck, and Dustin Hoffman portrayed a lovable loser with his usual skills.

"Midnight Cowboy" is a very dark film, but intelligent and influential at the same time. Perhaps some elements have lost their original impact, but still this is a powerful movie.

The crude crash against the reality
Midnight cowboy is a bitter and satirical story about the dreams and fantasies which turn around a smart boy village (Jon Voight) who thinks, he is the master of the world and so New York is another land to domain, but this will be a wrong choice as you can imagine.
Our boy goes to NYC and meets an outsider (Dustin Hoffman) who will feed his dreams. But the crude reality will show those men how far and wrong they are about New York as a promised land.
With surrealistic situations , the texan boy will experience slow but progressively, the dissapointment process , and his desired gigolo proyect will become in ashes ; and still yet ...
Well, Dustin is amazing as the uncommitmed street man, the locations in NYC look like a hell's preview; the sense of anguish and claustrophobia are notorius. Hunger, loneliness and hopeless will be his true colleagues in this nightmarish journey.
A well made fable about the dream and reality; the ancient myth of Eros and Psyque ; fantasy against imagination. A methaporical slap for those who still hope that NYC will receive you with open arms without any effort.
An extraordinary film who won the Academy Award and threw the gladiator actoral sand to Jon Voight.
Unforgettable and even recognized soundtrack even now.
Undoubtly the masterpiece of John Schlessinger and one of the most solid gems of the american cinema in any age.
A milestone.

Sappy & sentimental & so manipulative.
This contrived piece of sentimental quasi-gay Hollywood indulgence must really have titillated them back 35 or so years ago, same people who thought Hair was a racy musical. Jon Voight does a fine Elvis impression but Dustin sounds like he's doing a puppet act from an old radio show. I lived in NYC for umpteen years from the 50s on & never ever saw anyone who talked or walked like Hoffman does in this, except maybe outside Actors Studio on 45th street.

Great if too quick shots of Hubert's Museum & Flea Circus & other 42nd street nostalgia, though, makes it worth a couple stars anyway. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A powerful and provocative film from the young De Palma
I saw both "Greetings" and "Hi, Mom!" back in the early 1970s at a college art theater, which was well before director Brian De Palma and actor Robert De Niro became big names. "Greetings" was De Palma's 1968 anti-war movie and "Hi, Mom!" was sort of intended as a sequel of sorts. In this 1970 film De Niro plays John Rubin, a Vietnam vet who returns from the war to settle in Greenwich Village. His big idea is to film the people in the apartment across the street and to sell Pepping Tom type films (where you even have to look through a the little windows in a little brick front to get the correct experience). Eventually John's obsession with making films gets him involved with a radical "Black Power" group. This results in two unforgettable sequences, the first involving what we would not call a Yuppie audience being subjected to urban guerrilla theater in the play "Be Black, Baby," and the second an act of urban terrorism that gives Jon a chance to say the film's title while smiling into a camera.

De Palma is clearly exploring the idea of breaking the barrier between actors and audience in the act of performance. I can appreciate this idea because every time I see theater in the round I keep watching the audience watching the play instead of just watching the play. Pay attention to De Palma's use of the split screen to explore the dual perspectives and get the audience watching the movie involved more involved in the equation as well. Repeatedly, it all comes down to point of view, meaning the point of view of the camera. This idea is reinforced by Jon, for whom life is not real unless it is on camera, a point most notably made in his sexual encounter with Judy (Jennifer Salt).

However, the most powerful part of this film is the "Be Black, Baby" sequences, and this is where you either find this film totally brilliant or grossly offensive. Throughout "Hi, Mom!" De Palma and De Niro have made the viewers party to Jon's voyeurism, albeit in more subtle ways than splatter flicks that let the audience see through the killer's eyes. Having persuaded (coerced?) us into this perspective, De Palma makes us pay for it in a most brutal manner. If you cannot appreciate the payoff of this sequence, and that could well be most of the people who bother to watch this film, then you are not going to be able to appreciate this film. But at the very least you should be able to understand not only what De Palma is doing, but why.

After that point the film section of the film seems quite anticlimactic. De Palma is trying to take his argument to the next level, but having been blown away by "Be Black, Baby," there is no way for the director and actor to top that moment. "Hi, Mom!" is a provocative film that provided me with one of the most memorable experiences in a movie theater that I have ever had. Watching this film again, this time knowing where De Palma and De Niro were taking me, really made me appreciate the purpose behind that powerful moment. Of course from the vantage point of today it is rather startling to compare this rather raw film with the slick Hollywood productions