Art Carney

Average customer rating:

Muppets 3rd Outing
Can't get enough of the Muppets!
Great Family Movie
The Muppets on Broadway
The best film in the universe!

The Muppets Take Manhattan [Region 99]
Starring: Frances Bergen , Art Carney , James Coco , Dabney Coleman , and Juliana Donald
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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3-6 Years | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

7-9 Years | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

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( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

The Great Muppet Caper - Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition
The Muppet Movie - Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition
Muppets from Space
The Muppet Christmas Carol - Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition
Muppet Treasure Island - Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition

ASIN: B00005BCJR
Release Date: 2001-06-05

Customer Reviews:

Muppets 3rd Outing.......2007-05-08

I enjoyed the Muppets as a child and still get an occasional guilty pleasure out of watching them. This isn't their best movie, but it has its moments. Save yourself a few bucks and go buy it @ Wal-Mart for $5.00!!

Can't get enough of the Muppets!.......2007-05-06

What a wonderful movie that the whole family can enjoy. It was a good film filled with all of the Muppet characters that delighted us from so long ago! Good plot about getting their musical opened on Broadway. I think you will enjoy it too!!

Great Family Movie.......2006-03-30

Loved it in the theatrical release - looking forward to viewing it again and again!

The Muppets on Broadway .......2006-01-29

In this 3rd movie of the Muppet series, they are hitting the road, and going to New York, but while they are taking Manhattan, I sure hope they return it when they are doen with it. This is the last Muppet movie that the late Jim Henson did, the series returned after his death with the Muppet Christmas Carol. But also imange what would be like for the Muppets to disband, and well you have this movie, which may not be the best one they have done. The Muppet perfromers for this movie are Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson, Steve Whitmire, and Richard Hunt. When the movie begins, the Muppets are perfoming in a colege theatre of thier show "Matthan Melodies" and they are just about to graudate for college. But while Kermit the Frog is onstage, when the show is over, the rest of the Muppets decide that thier show is good enough to take it to the next step, and that is broadway in case you have just joined us. But they then Kermit can't believe what they decided, but gets talked into it, so they head to broadway. Now they need is a producer, and looking through the ads, thier first one (Dabney Coleman) seems intersted, but wants the Muppets to pay him $300 each, I guess what he does get is they are just about flat broke, so how do they plan to get thier show on broadway? They keep trying with servel other producers, but one by one, they keep closing thier office door, which leads Kermit to get frusted, and he says that the Muppets depend on them to much. And with barely any money, they stop off at a restuarant, and while Kermit is placing an order, and having a chat with the owner/manger/etc (Louis Zorich), the rest of the Muppets decide to decide to stop depending on Kermit so much, so they they make a plan to go out and find jobs out of town, and of course Kermiet meets and becomes best friends with the owner's neiece Jenny (Juliana Donald). But before they go, they tell Kermit they have gotten better offers but out of town.

The best film in the universe!.......2005-11-06

This movie is da bomb! It's FUNNY! The songs are excellent! And the wedding was great! Here's the description on the back of the box:Broadway bound,the Muppets take Manhattan by storm in this magical musical about breaking into show business! Fresh out of college,Kermit,Fozzie and the entire cast of Kermit's musical "Manhattan Melodies" head for the Big Apple with plans to turn their small play into a big hit! All they need now is someone to produce their show! But when no one in town will even meet with them,it's up to Kermit to believe hard enough for all of his friends that the show WILL go on! Family entertainment has never been more fun than in this comedy marking Frank Oz's solo directorial debut. P.S. I didn't get this from Amazon,I got it on eBay for 7.50 with free tax. Sincerly,Richard G. from Connellsville P.A.

Average customer rating:

Wonderful, wonderful.
Clean Romantic Comedy
Light Tracy-Hepburn-Style Romp Takes Well-Aimed Jabs at Greedy Doctors
Lighter Than Air, and What's Wrong With That?
House Calls

House Calls
Starring: Walter Matthau , Glenda Jackson , Art Carney , Richard Benjamin , and Candice Azzara
Director: Howard Zieff
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Hopscotch - Criterion Collection
A Guide for the Married Man
The Front Page
The Odd Couple
The Fortune Cookie

ASIN: B0007QJ1ZW
Release Date: 2005-05-31

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful, wonderful........2007-06-20

Roger Ebert once commented that Michael Caine never gives a bad performance. Neither does Gene Hackman and neither does Walter Matthau. This is one of his best. Medical humor always seems to work. Here it soars, with the help of Glenda Jackson, Richard Benjamin, and--in one of his most hilarious roles--Art Carney. The subplots are also well done. There's even a brief appearance by Matthau's real-life son.

This is the sort of movie you can watch again and again and the underlying story is sweet and loving, not cruel like The Odd Couple or long in the tooth like Grumpy Old Men. This is Matthau at the top of his rumpled powers, playing a skilled surgeon with notable human failings ripe for redemption.

Clean Romantic Comedy.......2007-01-10

Very enjoyable movie that we watch over and over. Nice music. From this movie we purchased the CD Moonlight Gambler/ Frankie Laine. We also purchased the Movie Hop Scotch on Dec 28 and have not received it as yet.

Light Tracy-Hepburn-Style Romp Takes Well-Aimed Jabs at Greedy Doctors.......2006-08-10

I remember seeing this 1978 comedy at one of the bargain matinees I took in when I was looking for a study break from my college courses. Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson do some effective Tracy-Hepburn-style thrusting-and-parrying in this featherweight romp directed by the reliable Howard Zieff (he did "Private Benjamin") about a newly widowed doctor's aggressive re-entry into the dating game. It all breezes by quickly primarily thanks to the clever script by veteran screenwriter Julius J. Epstein ("Casablanca") along with Alan Mandel, Max Shulman and future director Charles Shyer.

Dr. Charley Nichols has just come back from Hawaii after his wife's death. Upon his return, he becomes aware that he is instant catnip to any and all the single women in LA. He works in a hospital run by an increasingly senile chief-of-staff, Amos Willoughby, whom Charley has to pacify to keep his residency. Enter Ann Atkinson, a transplanted Englishwoman who bakes cheesecakes for a living and has certain concrete opinions about the medical profession, which she expresses freely on a PBS talk show. Of course, Charley is on the show's discussion panel, and sparks, as they say, fly. This leads to the standard complications about how serious Charley is willing to become about Ann. At the same time, the hospital has to deal with a potential wrongful death lawsuit from the widow of a rich baseball team owner who died at the hospital under Willoughby's careless supervision.

It's just refreshing to see such a mature yet bracing love story between two characters inhabited by actors who deliver lines with the scalpel-wielding skill of surgeons. Matthau is his usual 1970's curmudgeonly swinger and quite a sight waddling with his gangly arms held akimbo in his power walk. Away from her heavy, award-winning Elizabethan roles, Jackson is crisply sardonic and charmingly vulnerable as the feisty Ann, who thinks all doctors should aspire to be Albert Schweitzer. Art Carney plays Willoughby with predictable bluster, while Richard Benjamin provides amiable support as Charley's colleague, Dr. Solomon. It's all very compact with a few nice jabs at the greed within the medical profession. There are no extras on the 2005 DVD.

Lighter Than Air, and What's Wrong With That?.......2005-12-20

In a career that featured a wealth of great comic performances, Walter Matthau gave few that were more delightful and relaxed than this one. In contrast to the wonderfully over-the-top style he displayed while winning an Oscar for "The Fortune Cookie" and being nominated for another in "The Sunshine Boys," Matthau employed a lighter but equally effective comic touch for this 1978 romantic comedy. He plays a widowed doctor who is over his grief and ready to sow some wild oats, only to find that he's fallen for a woman who wants nothing to do with his playboy ways. Glenda Jackson, who later left acting to join the British parliament, is a perfect match for Matthau's game, and the two trade barbs beautifully in a film that plays so leisurely that it's over before you know it. Look for superb supporting performances from Richard Benjamin as well as Art Carney as the dottering and caustic hospital administrator. He hams it up wonderfully in a part far removed from the nice guy he played in "The Honeymooners." This is one of those movies that looks like it was fun to make. It's definitely fun to watch.

House Calls.......2005-09-07

Delightful romantic comedy benefits from a top-notch script (by Max Shulman and Julius Epstein-co-writer of "Casablanca"!), and the unexpected chemistry between lovable schlump Matthau and starchy Jackson, who are both fabulous. Affirming once again that true love will triumph over casual sex, "Calls" is a charming, clever romance, with plenty of laughs and heart. Matthau fans should flock to this.

Average customer rating:

The Dumbing Down of America
GREATEST MOVIE EVER!!
Lousy Movie
Last Action Hero.
good comedy

The Last Action Hero
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger , Austin O'Brien , F. Murray Abraham , Art Carney , and Charles Dance
Director: John McTiernan
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Collateral Damage
Red Heat (Special Edition)
The 6th Day [Region 99]
Kindergarten Cop
True Lies

ASIN: 0800177975
Release Date: 1997-10-07

Amazon.com

Jack Slater is an action-film hero played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. An old projectionist (Robert Prosky) hands a magic movie ticket to Jack's biggest preteen fan (Austin O'Brien), and the kid steps right inside the latest Jack Slater film, becoming the actor star's sidekick in gunfights and car chases. But when Jack's nemesis (Charles Dance) gets his hands on the ticket, the fight busts out into the real world and Jack (à la Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear) refuses to believe he's a fictional character. Director John McTiernan churns some nifty scenes out of this setup, although the fiction-to-reality shuffle is not as deft as in, say, Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, and the plot needs the kind of logic and discipline found in that classic when-worlds-collide film Back to the Future. Still, Schwarzenegger has moments of wit and smashing action, and we get a faux-movie trailer advertising an intriguing new shoot-'em-up: "Something's rotten in the State of Denmark--and Hamlet is taking out the trash!"

Customer Reviews:

The Dumbing Down of America.......2007-02-23

The following story will tell you why this movie bombed at the box office.

While visiting family in Miami one of my cousins went to see the movie. When he got home he was telling me how much the movie stunk. As he was talking it became obvious to me that he had taken the movie seriously. So I yelled at him "It's a parody!! He's making fun of action movies in general and himself in particular!!" I could see the lightbulb go on over his head and he went right out and saw it again.

Needless to say, he loved the film. As do I. It's not often that a big star has the guts to make fun of himself just to make his fans laugh. So if you have this film languishing in your collection somewhere you need to see it with this in mind. It's parody. Satire. Comedy! Watch it and have fun.

GREATEST MOVIE EVER!!.......2007-02-22

Arnold is the world's greatest actor. If there was justice in the world, he would be given the Oscar every year. I actually moved to California, so that Arnold would be my governor. Last year, I voted for him twice. This is his finest film. Note the superb cinematography and witty repartee. I heart Ahnold.

Lousy Movie.......2006-06-28

I love a lot of Arnold's movies but this movie is just a one time viewing.
My overall opinion a horrible movie, would have been great if it was actually funny.

Last Action Hero........2006-06-17

Saw this movie on HBO and it was very cool.I like it when Jack Slater says to the bad guy at the end,"No sequel for you".Rated PG-13 for strong action sequences.Canada:14A.Great movie for the whole family.

good comedy.......2006-03-22

this movie it's not to be take it seriously...it's just a parody of actions movies, and i think is very funny

i like the part when slater arrives to his home when the bad guys are kidnnaping the kid, and he kill evryone there...and one of the kidnappers shoot him at 3 feet of distance, and he avoid the bullet....

thas pretty funny...

Average customer rating:

Buy it only for the original.
Nice Being Able To See Both Films
Somebody needs to shoot the producer
3 TO 4 STARS!
Me And Charlie McGee...

Firestarter Movie Collection
Starring: David Keith , Drew Barrymore , Freddie Jones , Heather Locklear , and Martin Sheen
Director: Mark L. Lester , and Robert Iscove
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

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( F ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Carrie (Special Edition)
The Rage: Carrie 2
Stephen King's: Sometimes They Come Back
The Night Flier
Stephen King's Cat's Eye

ASIN: B0001FVDQ4
Release Date: 2004-06-01

Customer Reviews:

Buy it only for the original........2007-02-13

The first firestarter was a great film, but the uneeded sequel sucks. Buy this only for the first.

Nice Being Able To See Both Films.......2006-12-29

Let's, see; how to explain this? If you are a real Stephen King fan, you might not like either version of Firestarter as neither version is like the book, but I've read the book which is quite long and if everything that was in the book was put into a movie, that movie would be about six hours long. However the original 1984 version of Firestarter comes close to the book in many ways, but its problem is that the movie could have been just a little longer and filled in a bit more of the background.

The new movie does that, but it's a form of revisionist history. Things happen in the 2nd movie differently from the original movie, and from the book as well. For the purist, this is not quite a good thing. I sat through the movie saying "now that didn't happen like that," that didn't happen that way," and so on, comparing the differences and not quite enjoying the film. The problem is, the second film is not all that enjoyable as the star of this film is no longer the cute Drew Barrymore nor are the other actors up to the quality and caliber of the ones in the first movie.

Somebody who has never read the book (which is one of King's better books) or seen the first movie, might enjoy Firestarter 2, which is more a strange combination of the Scanners and X-Men movies than a Stephen King piece. As science fiction stories go, it's okay; and despite what the DVD cover says, this is a science fiction story and not anything supernatural. It's not bad, but it could have been so much better. I give it three stars. Look at this film first, then compare it with the original film; then you decide which is the better film.

Somebody needs to shoot the producer.......2006-07-10

Now I have seen my share fo good movies and read some really good books and I have to say that of all the books and all the movies, Stephen Kings orignal Firestarter has to be one of my absolute favorites. I have read this story enough to know it backwards and forward. It is a story that I have a invested a lot of time viewing and reviewing. So when I learned that there was going to be a sequel I had really high expectations.

In the sequel we are first introduced to how Charlie lost her mother. This is something that avid Firestarter followers will see as a studio seen pitch to add drama and effect to a story that is needs none. Not to give the story away for fan but it can be safe to say that the writers, and the directors didnt bother to research the book or the storyline enough to know how this happened out in the original. Had that time for the research been done it would have probably been accepted. Secondly we are introduced to a group of survivors of the original experiment. This is something that is a direct contridiction of the original book, becuase there were only 2 survivors and they married, raised a child, and then killed. Other then that there were no Lot Six survivors, in the movie. In the book however there were 2, on man that was kept in a small room on an island compound, and of course Charlie McGee.

Finally and this is what I found the most distrubing, the charater played by George C. Scott, (John Rainbird) has been re introduced in to the story, He is no longed the cold calculated killer that burned to death in the barn from the last story, now he is a scientest. Not just any scientest he is someone that is some how part of the Lot Six program. A program that was has not spawned several children that have "special" abilities.

According to the book and to the orignal movie, the reason that they wanted Charlie in the first place was because she was the only person that had any abilities as a result of the Lot 6 Experiment that didnt tax the body physically. That was why they wanted her to begin with. She was supposed to be used as a weapon. A weapon.

If you are going to re make a movie at least read the original. Case in point "Back to the Future."

3 TO 4 STARS!.......2005-04-05

First of all, the movie is quite good overall! i wouldn't of expected anything like what it actually was. It's not a horror, scary movie, therefore not a film for someone looking for a scary movie!!!

Me And Charlie McGee..........2005-03-12

Drew Barrymore is not bad at all as little Charlene "Charlie" Mcgee. She's afflicted with pyrokenesis (starting fires w/ her mind) handed down to her by her mum Vicky (Heather Lockleer) and dad Andy (David Keith), who were both injected with an experimental serum by a secret government organization called "The Shop". Now Charlie is on the run with dad, trying to escape the clutches of the nefarious shop operatives who've already killed mum! Unfortunately, an assassin named Rainbird (George C. Scott) wants Charlie for his own demented reasons. Along with Capt. Hollister (Martin Sheen), Rainbird plans on exploiting Charlie's powers, then killing her with a quick blow to the head! He's a sick one! As much as I like Drew Barrymore in this, FIRESTARTER has it's lame moments of pure cheese, like when Mum's oven mits burst into flames, whatta riot! Or when flaming mannequins (shop agents) fly through trees at Charlie's instigation during the blazing climax! Still, it's not a terrible movie, just not a classic. Then, there's FIRESTARTER 2: REKINDLED, a nearly 3 hour sequel that suffers from a bloated storyline that could have easily been squeezed into an hour! Charlie's all grown up now, and suffering from nightmares from her past, as well as that pesky burning thing. She is unaware that Rainbird (Now played by Malcolm McDowell) is alive (?!) and still infatuated with her. He's also raised up a small army of kids with various psychic abilities (sort of a bratty version of Village Of The Damned). These kids are being trained as weapons of course, and will ultimately face Charlie in an all-too-whimpy showdown. Dennis Hopper (Night Tide, Blue Velvet) is also in this as Richardson, a clairvoyant with the personality of day-old oatmeal. REKINDLED has far more smoke than fire, and seems almost endless to sit through! It's more or less a freebie tacked on to the infinitely superior original. So, grab some marshmallows and roast 'em by the TV screen! Enjoy...

Average customer rating:

A towering masterwork!
Great Film! Unfortunatley the widescreen is FAKE!
"I'll tell you something Harry, I don't always like you...but I love you."
Harry and Tonto DVD - Get It For Posterity
A Blast from the Past

Harry and Tonto
Starring: Muriel Beerman , Herbert Berghof , Sybil Bowan , Philip Bruns , and Art Carney
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Save the Tiger
The Trip to Bountiful
An Unmarried Woman
Next Stop, Greenwich Village
Julia

ASIN: B0009X75O2
Release Date: 2005-09-06

Amazon.com

In 1974, the Oscar nominees for Best Actor included Jack Nicholson (Chinatown), Al Pacino (Godfather Part II), and Dustin Hoffman (Lenny). And the winner? Art Carney for this Paul Mazursky comedy about a retired schoolteacher evicted from his apartment to make way for urban redevelopment. So he takes his cat, Tonto, and heads cross-country to live with one of his children. But the trip is an eventful one, involving encounters with an assortment of friends and strangers. Carney is a game and canny old pro and he helps this film rise above its occasionally sentimental excesses; the result is consistently entertaining. But honestly--the Oscar over Nicholson, Pacino, and Hoffman? You be the judge. --Marshall Fine

Description

Art Carney shines in this poignant drama about an aging widower's determined search for a better life. Harry (Carney), who lives in New York with his pet cat, Tonto, is having a rough time of it. Not only does he keep getting mugged, but the huge wrecking ball outside his window is about to demolish his apartment. So Harry bids farewell to the city and sets out for life in the suburbs with his son's family. But son Burt is too stuffy and his wife is too bossy. When a stay with Harry's single daughter doesn't work out either, man and cat head West in a second-hand car, meeting bizarre characters along the way. Finally they reach L.A., where Harry moves in with his other son Eddie (Larry Hagman). But by now Harry's realized he likes being on the road and hasn't yet had his fill of adventure. Highlighted by Carney's outstanding performance. This moving story lights up the screen with a wit and wisdom that is rare and beautiful.

Customer Reviews:

A towering masterwork!.......2007-03-23

Following the traces of that devastating portrait of lonely man in "The Swimmer", and even foreeing the fabulous Tornatore's film "We are fine", a decade later, an old man decides to make a country trip with his cat as only partner.

You can include this powerful and majuscule masterpiece among one of the most expressive films ever made, loaded of humanity, poetry and sublime grandness. As a matter of fact there have not been so many films that have dealt with this uneasy chapter of our lives, in which the lights of the existence are turning off, but far to be an overindulgent work, this man displays a radiant conviction and sense of epic, easily contrastable respect the different people he will meet on this long road.

Art Carney in the role of his lifetime deserved the Academy Award for this sublime performance.

Great Film! Unfortunatley the widescreen is FAKE!.......2006-07-23

The aspect ratio is fake.
The top and bottom of the regular full screen version has been severely cropped out of the picture to give the illusion your getting a widescreen - what your getting is less picture!
The studios should label the DVD's as they did when they cropped VHS video picture " this film has been modified to fit you tv screen" as in modified to fit a 16x9 tv in this case.
You have already lost one third of the picture when it was modified to full screen, now you loose an additional one third to one fourth of the movies image!
The reason leterbox and widescreen has a demand, is that the audience or consumer wants to view the Movie as it was filmed and framed by the filmaker, and not loose out on portions of the movie that the director intended.
In other words the idea to release in widescreen was for the intention of showing MORE not LESS of the movies image.
The studios believe they can get away with this, since the average buyer does not have a full screen video version to compare with, or the consumer is just unaware.
I compared this DVD to a full screen VHS version and you can also compare with the trailers included on the dvd, and in many cases where some DVD's come with both Full & Wide Screen on a flip disc, compare them before watching, many of the widesreen sides are just chopped versions of the full screen.
The picture quality is great on this and most DVD's, it is unfortunate though that it has to be a conciliation for cropped picture. It is a shame, this is such a great movie with great vintage footage (much that has been cropped out) of NYC of the early 70's before NYC became gentrified.

"I'll tell you something Harry, I don't always like you...but I love you.".......2006-03-28

Well, I'll agree Art Carney was certainly the unlikely Oscar winner in 1975 for his role as gallivanting, cat toting septuagenarian Harry Coombes in the film Harry and Tonto (1974), especially given his competition including Jack Nicholson (Chinatown), Al Pacino (The Godfather: Part II), Dustin Hoffman (Lenny), and Albert Finney (Murder on the Orient Express), but that shouldn't overshadow the fact that this is just a really wonderful film, one worth checking out. Produced, co-written, and directed by Paul Mazursky (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Down and Out in Beverly Hills), the film stars, as I mentioned, Art Carney (W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings, Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood), probably best know for his role of Ed Norton, the world's most famous sewer worker, on the 1950s series "The Honeymooners". Also appearing is Philip Bruns (The Great Waldo Pepper), Cliff De Young (F/X), Josh Mostel (City Slickers), Geraldine Fitzgerald (Wuthering Heights), Melanie Mayron (My Blue Heaven), Chief Dan George (The Outlaw Josey Wales), Larry Hagman ("I Dream of Jeannie"), and Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist), who won an Oscar for another film she appeared in released the same year titled Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.

Carney plays Harry Coombes, a widowed, 72 year old retired teacher who's recently found out that he and his orange tabby named Tonto, are soon to be among the homeless throngs as their NY apartment building is slated for destruction, to be replaced by a parking lot. Harry reluctantly moves in with his son Burt (Bruns) in his suburban home, but quickly realizes living with a group isn't his (or Tonto's) bag. Harry begins looking for a new place in the city, but it's difficult, especially when you've got a cat in tow. After the death of a close friend, Harry decides to do a little traveling and spend time with his two, other children, one of whom named Shirley (Burstyn) lives in Chicago, and the other named Eddie (Hagman) who lives in California. After problems not only at the airport and subsequently on the bus, Harry and Tonto find themselves on foot somewhere between the moon and New York City, eventually buying a car, picking up a couple of hitchhikers (the scripture quoting hitchhiker soon finds another ride, thank God, as he's headed south rather than west), one of them a runaway named Ginger (Mayron), who manages to convince Harry to look up an old flame (Fitzgerald) along the way (it's not like Harry or Ginger are in that big of a hurry to get anywhere in particular). The trio do make it to Chicago and see Harry's daughter, but they're soon on their way again, with Harry's grandson Norman (Mostel) along for the ride (Norman was sent from NY to collect his grandfather, but ends up sort of hooking up with Ginger). After some interesting encounters (a vitamin salesman, a benevolent prostitute, and an honest to goodness Native American medicine man), Harry and Tonto finally make it out west, learning the journey can often times be more enjoyable than the destination.

Here's one of my favorite lines from the film...it comes from an elderly landlady of a shoddy NYC apartment building as Harry, who's looking for a new place, comments on the limited view..."At our age, if you don't know what the world looks like, you never will." Everyone's a comedian...I like how she just walked in on the tenant still living in the apartment to show it (apparently, he was moving out at the end of the week). You know what's strange? I've never seen anyone walking a cat (as they would a dog, with a leash), until I saw this film. This is a fairly sweet, mellow, sometimes sad film that flows along at a amiable pace, taking its' time in the telling. Carney, who was in his mid 50s at the time, is really wonderful as Harry, an educated man (he's always got a line of Shakespeare handy), and devoted cat owner, always with a song in his heart, just beginning to explore the opportunities now in front of him, some of which he traded off on many years past in choosing to settle down and raise a family. One of my favorite elements of the character is, despite the time spent in the Big Apple (he'd been mugged four times that year), he displays a willingness to open himself up to the experience of traveling the country by the seat of his pants with his furry companion, meeting new and interesting people, and seeing the world outside of a major, metropolitan city. He does seem a little naïve at times, but I think it's more of him just leaving his preconceptions behind and his willingness to want to understand how the rest of the world lives. As far as the rest of the performances, they were all very well done, doing exactly what they should have, supporting Carney's role. I thought Harry's children interesting...there's Burt, the sort of clingy, overly concerned son, Shirley, the independent daughter who seems to have inherited her father's intelligence as well as his stubbornness, and finally Eddie (Hagman), the seemingly well-to-do Hollywood schmoozer who puts up a good, but transparent façade (he's broke as the day is long). As I said, the story moves along pretty well, and I hardly even realized nearly two hours had passed by the time it was over. I was really engaged in the characters and relationships, along with the bits of humor and drama. There are a couple of poignant moments in the film, but they're never milked as they would have been in other films, and for that I was impressed and thankful. They were relatively short, sweet, and appropriate, and kept the film well away from the realm of schmaltzy sentimentality.

The picture, presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), looks clean and comes across well, as do the audio tracks, available in both Dolby Digital mono (English and Spanish) and stereo (English only). There's a commentary track with producer, co-writer, and director Paul Mazursky, along with a theatrical teaser, a theatrical trailer, and three television spots, and English and Spanish subtitles.

Cookieman108

By the way, not only did Mazursky produce, co-write, and direct this film, but he also appeared in a bit part credited as the `Gay Hustler'. Watch for his scene in the last third of the film, as Harry's at a bus terminal in L.A. waiting for his son Eddie to pick him up. One last thing, if this film taught me anything it's that people sure loved the Raymond Burr television series "Ironsides" back in the day.

Harry and Tonto DVD - Get It For Posterity.......2006-02-13

A truly magnificent film that is forgotten, even though it displays independence, sentimentality, masterful acting and pure entertainment. If for no other reason, you need to get the DVD version to hear Paul Mazursky's commentary version of the film. It is fascinating to learn the details that went into making this classic! The one criticism is that Mazursky makes a couple of references to "Art Carney being only 59 when the
movie was made." Since the movie was shot in the fall of 1973, Art was actually only 54 at that time, and he plays Harry at
age 72 perfectly. With all apologies to Jack Nicholson, Al
Pacino, Dustin Hoffman and Albert Finney, their work in 1974 cannot compare to Art Carney's Oscar-winning performance. You owe it to yourself to purchase this film!

A Blast from the Past.......2006-01-09

I also remember seeing this movie when I was a young teen in the 70's. It's a nice period piece from that era. Definitely a type of movie that NEVER gets made anymore, at least in Hollywood. On seeing it on DVD, close to 30 years later, it does seem dated, but, so what. Its a very nice piece of film making. BTW, is it just my imagination, but did they dub the word "bitch" in place of the c-word "c - - t", in the DVD version?? Just curious.

Average customer rating:

One of my top 10 movies
Love this Movie
Strong Language
Review and Prospective From a St. Helens Movie Extra
camp classic - not true to life though

St. Helens
Starring: Art Carney , David Huffman , Cassie Yates , Albert Salmi , and Ron O'Neal
Director: Ernest Pintoff
Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Great Los Angeles Earthquake
The Eruption of Mount St. Helens (Large Format)
Asteroid
Tornado Warning
Aftershock: Earthquake in New York

ASIN: B00008W2RF
Release Date: 2002-11-26

Customer Reviews:

One of my top 10 movies.......2007-05-13

A very believable movie of the events of the Mount. St Helen's eruption. I ordered it for my Mother and had a chance to watch it. Now I will get a copy. Art Carney played the old man on the mountain that would not leave and with reason he played the character very well. I enjoyed it very much.

Love this Movie.......2007-03-24

This movie was very well done. I enjoy watching this over and over again.

Strong Language.......2007-01-04

Purchased this DVD because of my family vaction to Mt. St. Helens. I liked the movie, but it seemed that every other word out of Art Carney was "g** d***".

Review and Prospective From a St. Helens Movie Extra.......2006-07-10

I thought a word or two from a guy who was running through the flying simulated ash while cameras rolled in downtown Bend, Oregon might help you enjoy this great movie even more. The producers decided on Bend for the fall 1980 filming because of the resemblance to Cougar, Washington which was the real life town near Mount Saint Helens. The ash you see flying in the movie as people scramble to safety is actually Bentonite shoveled in front of a large gas driven fan, I remember having to squint as my real life 4 year old son and I scurried through a makeshift swap meet supposedly fleeing the eruption. Set back with your popcorn and watch vehicles flip and collide, fireballs overtake cars trying to flee, and the old stubborn mountain man Harry Truman, not the President, played by Art Carne arguing his point with experts over why he should stay at his secluded mountain cabin in spite of the imminent danger. Awesome! I also set idle in line, setting in my blue VW Squareback for what seemed like hours waiting for welders to fabricate a small launching ramp to flip a car in an intersection.
I recommend this movie because it builds great suspense as the dedicated scientist David Jackson, played by David Huffman studies the mountain as it continually rumbles and bulges with tremendous pressure build-up, and ends with some very sobering facts about the power of nature and the consequences of ignoring official warnings and restricted areas. It's actually quite educational. Be sure to see this entertaining semi-docudrama, and look for this then 23 year old Oregonian in a brown patch leather vest running from right to left with my own 8 mm camera and case around my shoulder, I had originally traveled the 10 miles to town to film a movie being filmed and ended up in it, I still have that memorable home movie footage. My son was nearby, but it's pretty tough to spot him on screen unless you pause and search. THINK I'LL GO WATCH IT NOW FOR OLD TIME SAKE. Happy watching!

camp classic - not true to life though.......2003-04-12

When I saw this movie a found it a laugh a minute! It was like an east coast person's view of what life must be like in the Pacific Northwest. We don't all wear flannal shirts, drink beer in bars, listen to country-western, brawl, work as loggers and chew tobacky! Wow, did they ever get it wrong! I am from Gresham Oregon and had a front row seat (the Portland area had about the best view of this in the world.) May 18, 1980 was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the clear blue sky and I watched that mountain spew its contents all day long. No movie can ever capture it. The only thing I think I will never forget is that and seeing the ash cloud traveling east as far as the eye can see. Oh, the movie? Just watch it for fun, it's harmless, unlike the real deal.

Average customer rating:

Great film, not so great DVD.
Burn Baby Burn !
Turning the Heat Up
I enjoyed this movie, but it had some weaknesses.
Really more like 3.5 stars

Firestarter
Starring: David Keith , Drew Barrymore , Freddie Jones , Heather Locklear , and Martin Sheen
Director: Mark L. Lester
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Firestarter 2 - Rekindled
Stephen King's Cat's Eye
Graveyard Shift (Ws Sub)
The Dark Half
Stephen King's: Sometimes They Come Back

ASIN: 6305078157
Release Date: 1998-04-01

Amazon.com

Stephen King wasn't exactly in peak form when he wrote Firestarter, so this 1984 movie adaptation was at a disadvantage even before the cameras rolled. There were so many King movies being made at the time that this one's weaknesses became even more apparent. In her first film role after her memorable appearance in E.T., Drew Barrymore stars as a little girl whose parents acquired strange mental powers after participating in a secret government experiment. From this genetic background she has developed the mysterious ability to set anything on fire at will, especially when she's angry. That makes her very interesting to government officials seeking to exploit her skill as a secret weapon. Her father seeks to protect her by using his powers of mind-control, and George C. Scott plays an Indian who believes the girl must be destroyed. There's a routine climax involving a lot of impressive pyrotechnics, but none of this is grounded in a dramatically solid foundation, and none of the characters are developed enough for us to care about them. So the movie gradually turns into a laughable thriller with no suspense whatsoever. It's a movie only a pyromaniac could love. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Drew Barrymore stars as an eight-year-old girl with the amazing ability to start fires with just a glance. Can her power and the love of her father save her from the clandestine government agency, "The Shop," that wants her destroyed? From the Stephen King novel.

Customer Reviews:

Great film, not so great DVD........2007-02-13

Buy the new double collection, it has much better quality. Other than that, this is a great Stephen King adaptation and I would recomend it to King movie fans.

Burn Baby Burn !.......2007-01-19

If you liked the movie called Scanners and if you liked the movie Christine, then you will probably like Firestarter. They are all similar pace wise and have some similar music in the background. I never read the Firestarter book so I can't compare them right now.

The acting is a little unbelievable when it comes to the secondary acting (ie goverment agents that act weird and goofy for no reason), but the main actors do a darn good job for how many takes they were given. Drew Barrymore is mostly realistic, except for two scenes where she seems to be at the end of a long day of shooting. David Keith has those hypnotic eyes and his bonding with Drew was quite good in realism. Freddie Jones has that panic look in his eyes, but he did better in Dune if you ask me. But then with the budget of Dune, you get more Freddie. Martin Sheen has some nice psycho moments and he gets similar screen time in the movie Spawn. Obviously he acts better in West Wing, but then he is pretty young in Firestarter. Art Carney plays an old farmer and he made me laugh a few times. Louise Fletcher has some small scenes on the farm as well, but to see her better, you should see One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or Star Trek Deep Space Nine. George C. Scott plays a native american and I am not sure he pulls it off totally, but maybe he is half native american or something (they never say). But when George laughs in the movie, you cringe in your heart and you might even thank your lucky stars that George is not your uncle or father either !

The special effects show their age, but for no computer effects, it is pretty nice and poetic as the bad guys get their flaming body suits. Again, if you like the special effects of Christine the movie, then you should be able to handle this movie. The Pyro character in the X-Men movies has similar powers, but I grew up as the sci-fi special effects improved, so I can look past certain laws of physics being broken. However, one scene has Drew Barrymore almost getting run over by a huge truck on fire and I am still not sure how they did that stunt.

I watched the DVD as a rental, but last week I found the VHS tape for one dollar so it was worth it to me to own this flick.

Turning the Heat Up.......2007-01-11

FIRESTARTER is one of Stephen King's best stories--surreal, yet plausible; both frightening and cheering. Drew Barrymore's performance warms hearts and burns villains. Great story, great movie--perhaps the star performance in Barrymore's career.

I enjoyed this movie, but it had some weaknesses........2006-12-27

This movie was a decent though not perfect adaptation of the book. One problem was it tried to be heavy on star power. The cast includes Drew Barrymore, David Keith, Heather Locklear, Martin Sheen (in a role that Burt Lancaster was to play), George C. Scott, Art Carney, and Louise Fletcher. For the most part, this was not a problem, but can I picture George C. Scott playing a one eyed native American? Wasn't there a good native American to play that role?

The story is more a true science fiction story than a horror story. The government has secret experiments toying with paranormal activity. Two of the guinea pigs fall in love, get married, and . . . no, they don't live happily ever after. They have a daughter, and the government thugs kill the mother and try to kidnap the daughter, until the father intervenes. There are no supernatural evil creatures; just people with abnormal abilities up against bad human beings.

The movie can drag at points. It is not as effective as the book, which is nothing new. It was rated R due to the violence primarily. The acting on the part of Barrymore was not the greatest, either. But I found it an entertaining picture.

Really more like 3.5 stars.......2006-10-15

The book was absolutely brilliant. I read it in 4 days. The movie rates only just better than average. Despite her Hollywood lineage, Drew Barrymore just doesn't strike me as a very poignant actress. E.T. and Charlie's Angels were her best flicks. Throughout the movie, Drew seems to slur her speech. She could have been high while performing since she did get hooked on drugs at a very early age. In my opinion, someone else should have been chosen to play Charlie McGee.

Even though this movie was made in the 80s, it still could have done better visual effects-wise. Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, E.T. and Poltergeist came out the same period and were putting out some great supernatural feature films. Firestarter is substandard compared to its blockbuster counterparts. Doesn't seem as if much of a budget was committed...nor a script for that matter.

Nonetheless, the director did what he could while David Keith, George C. Scott and Martin Sheen carried the drama of the film. For the most part, the story turned out pretty decent.

This would fall right to the bottom of the Supernatural Movies pile, but it's still worth watching for entertainment value. On the otherhand, the sequel, Firestarter 2, is just plain horrid depsite the snappier special effects. Leave that one alone. The original is actually the better of the two.

Average customer rating:

For Die Hard Rich Fans
FINALLY OUT ON DVD!
Hillbilly Hoedown!
Very cool
Very cool

Take This Job and Shove It
Starring: Robert Hays , Art Carney , Barbara Hershey , David Keith , and Tim Thomerson
Director: Gus Trikonis
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Harper Valley P.T.A.
Convoy
Stroker Ace
Hooper
White Lightning

ASIN: B00015HVME
Release Date: 2004-03-02

Description

Get ready for a keg of laughs that never runs dry! Robert Hays and Barbara Hershey head a cast of comedy greats (including Eddie Albert and Martin Mull) and country music legends (Charlie Rich, Johnny Paycheck, David Allan Coe and more) in this rabble-rousing (LA Herald-Examiner) laugh riot! When corporate hotshot Frank Macklin (Hays) is sent back to his hometown to upgrade the Pickett Brewery, he just wants to get in, make the changes and get back out. But once Frank has had a tall drink of refreshing down-home life, instituting cold-hearted productivity increases at the plant becomes tougher. And when his bosses tell Frank his job is to betray the workers, he'll have to act fastto save the good times and the good brew!

Customer Reviews:

For Die Hard Rich Fans .......2006-08-26

I may not be a professional critic, but I know this much, if you're a real Charlie Rich fan you will enjoy this film. He may not have much reel time in this, but what he does have is worth the price of the film. Although he isn't seated behind his piano in this flick, he is given a chance at some good old fashioned slap-stick, and breaks up in the middle of one scene that has him being blasted by two huge water hoses. As for the rest of the film, if you like The Dukes of Hazzard, you'll love this. I don't, but I love Charlie Rich, so I was happy.

FINALLY OUT ON DVD!.......2004-04-09

I can't believe one of my all-time favorite movies is out on DVD! THANK YOU! Robert Hays, Art Carney, Charlie Rich, Eddie Albert, Martin Mull & of course the sexy Barbara Hershey all get together to make a great flick! Drink beer, drive a monster truck at the company picnic, wrestle in the mud with a sexy lady, talk about how you got a free Piaget watch from a weekend in bed, and chase down your old friends on the highway in Iowa with your Mercedes and your middle finger! Also, the football game in the bar was cool! I could watch this over and over again! Rednecks know how to have a good time! *****

Hillbilly Hoedown!.......2003-03-03

Was it really only as recent as 1981 that hillbilly country blue collar movies were all the rage? I guess it must have been, because it was about the same time that "The Dukes of Hazzard" and Burt Reynolds movies like "Hooper" and "Smokey & the Bandit" were in vogue. This film, which takes its title from the classic country ode to the workin' man, is no different; when it was made, country was cool, and the hillbilly/blue collar way of life was to be envied for its simplicity.

There are, of course, plenty of dated hillbilly blue collar sterotypes throughout the film (monster truck racing, junkyard backyards, trashed-out clunker cars, honky-tonk cry-in-your-beer country music, pointless bar fights, lady mud wrestling, and beer-swilling galore), but there are also more dramatic social comments on display.

The basic plot revolves around a chain of breweries being bought out by a corporation. Our hero, Frank Macklin (Robert Hays), returns to his hometown as the corporate hatchet man, assigned to make the corproation's newest acquisition more profitable. To do this, he must stand up to his old drinkin' buddies who work at the brewery, who don't understand why he's changed, or that "getting out" made him so different from the good 'ol boy of years past.

I liked Art Carney as the brewery owner, and Eddie Albert as the inconsiderate and bullying corporate boss. While both are more famous for their comedic roles, they do very well with the more dramatic material offered here. In fact, the whole cast is just fine, but they were saddled with hillbilly comedy that doesn't seem to fit with the themes of the blue collar worker facing a changing world, and the erosion of a rural lifetime of experience in the name of progress and profit.

There are three scenes that are just excellent; in one, a blue collar man realizes over breakfast that he will forever be tied down and kept from his dreams by his wife and children. In the second, an aged brewery worker admits that he can't read. In the third, Macklin seeks out his two friends, and finds them drinking the day away. Sadly, these scenes are not typical of the film as a whole, although there are good scenes sprinkled throughout.

The classic honky-tonk cry-in-your-beer country music is excellet for it's genre, although I suppose many today may find it dated, as it is clearly pre-Garth Brooks. Lacy J. Dalton and David Allen Coe both appear in the film as the owners of the local honky-tonk, and Johnny Paycheck (who made Coe's song a blue collar standard), cameos, as does country legend Charlie Rich.

I really wanted to like this movie, but it was ultimately only mildly enjoyable. The sad thing is that the movie had everything going for it; characters, cast, social setting, music, and more. It made me mourn for the obvious lack of vision that put the focus on blue collar hillbilly comdeic antics, instead of the social commentary of the blue collar code of honor versus the evils of progress and automation. The social message would have been a far better focus, and would have made the film far more memorable. Instead, we must sit through a good 'ol boy social comedy; a mixed metaphor, and a tepid, lukewarm blue collar comedy.

The end result is a film that wanted (and deserved) to be something more, but missed its chance.

Very cool.......2001-08-14

This is for all the beer drinkers. I loved this movie years ago and still enjoy it. If you like a good comedy and like having a beer now and then, this movie is a plus!

Very cool.......2001-08-14

This is for all the beer drinkers. I loved this movie years ago and still enjoy it. If you like a good comedy and like having a beer now and then, this movie is a plus!

Average customer rating:

Excellent Detective Homage
A failed film noir
An Endearing, First-Rate Murder Mystery
BETTER A "LATE SHOW" THAN A NO-SHOW
Another Great Detective movie!

The Late Show
Starring: Art Carney , Lily Tomlin , Bill Macy , Eugene Roche , and Joanna Cassidy
Director: Robert Benton
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Going in Style
Reds (Special 25th Aniversary Collector's Edition)
Charley Varrick
Bad Company (1972) (Ws Sub)
The Conversation

ASIN: B00013WVL2
Release Date: 2004-03-30

Amazon.com essential video

Writer-director Robert Benton, who examined a similar story in 1998's "Twilight," first explored the territory of the geriatric private eye in this sadly underrated 1977 delight. Art Carney stars as a nearly retired detective who suddenly finds himself caught up in two seemingly separate cases. One involves the murder of his former partner (Howard Duff); the other entangles him with a flaky post-hippie (Lily Tomlin), who wants him to find her missing cat. The two cases eventually dovetail, but the plot--which leads them to a Hollywood crime bigwig played by the affable Eugene Roche--is of less interest than the almost magical chemistry between the crotchety Carney and the wonderfully off-the-wall Tomlin. The perfect film for anyone who likes their mysteries in the Dashiell Hammett/Raymond Chandler mode. --Marshall Fine

Description

An aging private eye tries to solve the murder of his ex-partner with the help of an aimless young woman.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Detective Homage.......2007-06-11

I'm sure the powers that be didn't know how to market this quirky gem then or now. If you go to the video store they usually file it in the comedy section which is the furthest thing from the truth. For sure, there are comic elements in "The Late Show" but if you blink you miss them. The film is a mystery, rather, a homage to the work of Chandler and Hammet. Like the best tributes "The Late Show" stands on it's own as a great film. The film has it all including a brilliantly woven mystery penned by writer-director Robert Benton and terrific acting. Art Carney ingeniously underplays detective Ira Wells, an old school detective out of place in Seventies L.A. suffering from a perforated ulcer and a bum leg. Lily Tomlin matches him as new age kook Margo who employs Ira to find her cat. Despite the generation gap there is palpable chemistry between Carney and Tomlin. Check out how Benton cleverly ends this yarn. There's a non-flashy low-key quality to "The Late Show" which shouldn't be surprising because it was produced by the master of understatement, Robert Altman. Catch this film before it possibly goes out of print.

A failed film noir.......2007-04-22

I purchased this film because of the rave reviews, on Amazon and elsewhere, and because of the two highly talented stars. What a jolt to discover that the film is a flop, a failed attempt to remake a film noir featuring someone like Humphrey Bogart or Peter Falk as the tough detective. Toss in an airhead junkie as the sidekick and you have magic, right? Wrong. The script is the primary problem. It's unintelligible and without an ounce of wit. There is the grisly murder and the car chase for the teenagers. And the sloppy ending, so that everyone will go home satisfied. But it all adds up to nothing. I'd rather watch re-runs of "Law and Order."

An Endearing, First-Rate Murder Mystery.......2004-11-24

An endearing murder mystery, with great chemistry between Art Carney and Lily Tomlin. Carney is an aging, gruff private eye with a bad leg, a bleeding ulcer and a hearing aid. Tomlim is an off-kilter woman who believes in reincarnation and occasionally sells a little dope. She wants to hire Carney to find her cat. From there we have belly shots, beatings and blackmail. It's a nice, complicated mystery. Tomlin has a great scene with a refrigerator. And the ending is satisfying.

If people ever thought Tomlin wasn't a skilled actress, they should watch this film and Nashville. Shame she hasn't had more of a movie career. I think she's an attractive woman, but no Hollywood starlette type. She's got a long face, a skeptical intelligence about her, and wicked humor. On the other hand, she could play with great vulnerability (Nashville).

First rate movie. First rate actress. Carney was certainly her equal in the film, and Bill Macy plays a memorable sleaze.

BETTER A "LATE SHOW" THAN A NO-SHOW.......2002-08-06

"The Late Show" (1977), Robert Benton's valentine to the 1940's detective film genre has it all: the structure, the language, the grit and noir, plus something more--humor and heart. Long overlooked and drastically under rated by 1970's reviewers, the film and especially its title seemed to dredge up images of some old B&W flick that belonged on late night TV and perhaps didn't fit the mold of being "with it" or of being retro-slick in a then-generation of the Think Young, Drink Pepsi (not Alka Seltzer) society it reflected. Yet what most critics seem to have missed about the title alone is its play on words which embraced not only the old, late night TV movie idea but also the spirit of the tribute writer/director Robert Benton presents here: the vernacular of 1940's detective speak, where "show" meant a client or a job, and, "late" meant late, as in beyond the time someone or something is expected to arrive. Thus, the slang title refers to both Ira Wells (Art Carney) and Margo Sperling (Lily Tomlin), who are thrown together, quite unexpectedly, at a crucial time--before it's really too "late" (as in "dead"). Carney brilliantly (yet so unassumingly) plays 'Ira Wells,' a set in his ways broken down old heat packing (private) detective with "a bum leg, perforated ulcer, and hearing aid," who's been living out what's left of an empty and lonely life in a rented bedroom in an older widow's home. Resigned to this seeming fate, Ira believes his best days, times, and friends are all behind him (especially at the rate people he's known are "kicking off"). Ira can see his own end, which is brought home even more forcefully when his former PI partner, Harry Regan (Howard Duff), who seemingly arrives for a long over-due visit after a bender, dies in Ira's rented bedroom bed from a gunshot to the gut (yet spilling nothing save for blood). Enter Charles Hatter (Bill Macy), a chiseler and con artist, along with a wonderfully zany and off-beat wannabe actress, Margo Sperling (Lily Tomlin). They show up with a stolen cat "case" for Ira Wells at Regan's funeral entombment--and the game of cat and mouse, or, rather, rat, is almost ready to begin--again--for Ira, who says only he's "out of the business" and never uses the word "retired." But this will not be "just another case," it will be THE case, coming in the nick--and Nora--of time to make a difference and a change possible in the lives of two people. Of course, hindrances loom immediately: old-school/generation collides with new, language usage throws up an initial barrier as does Ira's 1940's mind set about women ("dolls") and how they're supposed to act. Yet all this goes by the boards when Ira and Margo start to work the related cases of the missing cat and Regan's murder together. These two people turn out to be an unlikely team that has needed the likes of one another all along. Their differences are far outweighed by what they have in common--such things as character, dignity, regard for others, loyalty, caring, and inner strength. They complement each other which tends to bring out the best in both of them. Ira has not ever had a pal, partner, buddy, or romantic interest who wasn't simply out for himself or herself until Margo; and Margo hasn't ever met anyone quite like Ira, who inspires her, looks out for her, and not only encourages but trusts her to sleuth with him, the pro, even before he discovers she could really excel at it and is more savvy about life and things than even he expected. He becomes enough at ease with Margo. though, that when pressed, he emotionally reveals his inner most fear with her--the scene between the two at the diner, after Ira collapes and Margo wants to take him to the hospital, should have earned Art Carney an Oscar nomination alone. But will they solve the murder? Will they ever team up? "The Late Show" is as much a story of the human condition as it is a noir murder mystery to be solved. Even the bad guys like Ronnie Birdwell (Eugene Roche) and Charles Hatter (Bill Macy) have real dimension and differences--and are portrayed as likeable louses with their own problems in life. The plot is skillfully and painstakingly developed with twists and turns which cover, much as the detective films of the 1940s did, mystery, which can turn to comedy, then switch to tragic drama, and even twist to include a hint of romance. Robert Benton deserved the Oscar for this original screenplay, not simply the nomination. The only remaining question is: when will the director's cut become available on video or DVD so that audiences can discover the rather obvious chunks of missing footage from the film including (but not limited to) John Davey as 'Sgt. Dayton'?--Lenore Hutton Normal, Illinois

Another Great Detective movie!.......2000-09-19

Along with Night Moves,(and obviously Chinatown) this one of my favorite detective films from the 70s. Art Carney and Lily Tomlin are a great pair and they help make a good movie even better. Robert Benton(Bad Company, Nobondy's Fool, Twilight) has made a great film here that is at once a tribute and a commentary on Raymond Chandler-type films. Carney is great as an aging PI who is hired to find a cat and ends up embroiled in a much larger story. The dialogue here is so well done-it's very stylish-throwback dialogue if you will. I love this movie and it seems that so few people have seen it. I own it and any fan of the Maltese Falcon or the Big Sleep should too.

Average customer rating:

Boooring out of hell
Kaki Hunter is the best ever!
Worst movie I've seen in almost 10 years
Meathead, er, ah, Meatloaf - Yuck! But at least the soundtrack was decent and had Cheap Trick...
Unwatchable Dreck

Roadie
Starring: Meat Loaf , Kaki Hunter , Art Carney , Gailard Sartain , and Don Cornelius
Director: Alan Rudolph
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Monster Dog
Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper - Live 1973 - Billion Dollar Babies Tour
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
A Hole in One
Alice Cooper - Special Edition EP

ASIN: B00008973E
Release Date: 2003-04-15

Amazon.com

One the strangest musical curiosities of the 1980s, Roadie stars Meat Loaf as a good ol' Texas boy who turns himself into the world's greatest roadie to win the heart of a teen-age groupie (Kaki Hunter). She, however, is obsessed with Alice Cooper, just one of the musical guest stars in this rock & roll road movie farce. Meat Loaf single-handedly saves concerts by Hank Williams Jr. and Roy Orbison (who duet on "The Eyes of Texas") and Blondie (who crank up "Ring of Fire") as well. Directed by Alan Rudolph, from a slapdash story he co-wrote with producer Zalman King (which surely qualifies as one of the most unlikely creative partnerships in film history), this high-energy cinematic jam is a raucous, disjointed goof. But only the comedy is played out of key. The music rocks. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Bands make it rock, but roadies make it roll! Meat Loaf stars in this rollicking (Variety)road film featuring incredible live performances by Alice Cooper, Blondie, Roy Orbison, Hank Williams, Jr., and Asleep at the Wheel! Down-home Texas boy Travis Redfish (Meat Loaf) falls hard for Lola, a glitter-spangled groupie determined to lose her virginity to Alice Cooper. Hoping to woo her, Travis signs on with a traveling rock band and soon finds himself celebrated as the greatest roadie of all time ! But Lola's date with destiny (and Cooper) looms. Can true love survive rock 'n roll?

Customer Reviews:

Boooring out of hell.......2007-01-04

Truly atrocious! Avoid it. It has no plot and it's cheap. Meatloaf, known for being a charming, funny and charismatic artist, is just like a lazy, unispired big sack o'coal in this one. And it's booooooring!

Kaki Hunter is the best ever!.......2006-06-07

It has been a while since I have seen this movie. I will never forget when it came out I ended up seeing it like, five times in one year.
The movie is great, but what makes it is Kaki. Too bad she retired from acting, but I am sure after all those Porky movies she was exhausted.
My fave line in the whole movie is by Lola:
"I'll eat chili till I DIE.!!!!!!!"
Thanks.

Worst movie I've seen in almost 10 years.......2006-05-25

I know what you're thinking. Alice Cooper, Art Carney, Meatloaf, Blondie... this would have to at least have some camp value. I thought so too.

I was wrong.

This movie is atrocious. I'd give it 1 1/2 stars if I could simply for a halfway decent soundtrack but that's all there is to recommend it. Meatloaf can't act, neither can Don Cornelius, neither can anyone apparently as even Art Carney mails this one in.

The plot is ridiculous and the attempts at humor are worse.

Avoid at all costs, even if you're a huge fan of any of the principals.

Meathead, er, ah, Meatloaf - Yuck! But at least the soundtrack was decent and had Cheap Trick..........2006-05-09

Dull, but surprisingly not-very-funny movie.
I'm not really into either Al(ice) Coops or
Meathead, whoops, (heh-heh, couldn't resist),
er, ah Meatloaf. The Cheap Trick song mentioned
above was actually Everything Works (if you let
it), which also now appears on the very fine
release, "The Essential Cheap Trick." Tricksters:
look for the new release "Rockford, Rockford",
which I hope to have a review for shortly. Rock
on!

Unwatchable Dreck.......2006-03-21

This movie is not funny--it is written by and for morons. (Caddyshack 2 is a masterpiece compared to this pile of dog doo) The Alice Cooper Band of the ear