The good news: finally, Warner Bros. is releasing this cult classic on DVD. The bad news: go to Amazon.com and look at the DVD cover! Harrison Ford takes up the whole cover and Gene Wilder is shown in a tiny picture in the corner. They are promoting this as if this were Ford's film - it's not, it's Wilder's. So typical. And, of course, the DVD will have no special features. Thanks for nothing, Warner Bros.
shareI totally agree. Ive been waiting forever for this dvd in particular, and they ruined it. They couldve made it really great getting those two stars in interviews and adding some other content. But they chose to try and cash in on Harrison Ford as a cowboy instead of sticking with the original. The original cover, I feel, is great. Happy to finally have it coming out, but dissapointed also.
shareI agree, i just looked at it and wtf. This is nuts. How could they do that. I personaly feel that gene wilder is a much greater star than mr. no personality harrison ford.
sharekeep in mind:
putting Ford on 99% of the cover and putting Wilder on 1% not only makes WILDER FANS ANGRY, but it also makes FORD FANS LET-DOWN. it makes WILDER fans angry BEFORE the dvd comes out, and FORD fans angry AFTER. when people watch the movie thinking it's a FORD film, they'll be let down. and when people who already know it's Wilder's film sees the cover, they're angry.
but, as long as it sells, that's what the studios mindset is... lame as that might be.
hollywood is all about money. even art MUST MAKE MONEY!
No special features? Yeah Warner Bros, thanks for nothing. They could have at least supplied a trailer! (if there ever was one, that is) But I'll bet there aren't any interviews because Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford themselves probably even forgot they made the movie. Since this film is so forgotten, they won't bother to make a special edition. Oh well.
"Snap out of it!" -Cher in Norman Jewison's "Moonstruck"
You might be able to find a custom cover. There are DVD Cover sites out there if you look.
shareWow, this is absurdly funny.
HARRISON FORD!!!
(... oh, and some "gene wilder" guy is in it too, I guess.)
The good news is that at least it is a good transfer. Crisp colors, good sound - and, of course, a truly wonderful, poignant, and brilliantly funny film. The DVD cover? Feh! The movie? Like a nice glass tea!
shareThe funniest part is the contrast between the original box and the dvd cover.
When the original came out, Wilder was a MUCH bigger star than Ford. Now, Ford plays the same gruff, gravely, old as hell tough guy in every movie.
Sad, really.
At least the transfer is good.
This movie is a personal favorite.
And to the poster who thinks people will be let down, I disagree.
This movie stands on its own. If it had an all black cover it would still satisfy any viewer.
This is one of the few movies I would recommend to anyone.
That's not entirely true. Gene Wilder, at least, hasn't forgotten it. He mentions parts of the filming in his autobiographical 'Kiss Me Like a Stranger' (available at most bookstores). He does get into a little detail about the day they filmed the scene of him & Ford splashing in the surf.
shareYeah this was just a marketing ploy by Warner, at the time the movie was made Ford was not as big a star as Wilder, but today it is vice versa, so they go with the money man, this film was Gene Wilder's, Not Ford's but as someone else has said, those who know the film will know that, new or younger viewers will thnk they are buying a Ford film and will likely be ticked off once they view it., by the way I thought this was a great movie, I watched it in the theatre when it first came out, I did not buy the Warner dvd since I recorded it to dvd myself off of Encore, which is uncut and commercial free .
shareDon't misunderstand: I don't discount Mr. Ford. But in this movie, he comes off as a total rookie, and it's not hard to imagine half a dozen better cowboy actors, in his place. This WAS Gene Wilder's movie. It was all about him. I don't really understand why it's been forgotten.
shareI don't get why its been forgotten either. I watched it on TiVo with my 16 year old son tonight and he loved it!
This is one of my four fav Gene Wilder movies. I think it's very telling as to the kind of man Mr. Wilder is outside of acting roles: Poignant, witty and compassionate.
My other three favs of his are Young Frankenstein, Willy Wonka and Blazing Saddles.
Exactly the other three Wilder movies I would have named. Sa-lute!
shareMy top four includes, Rhinoceros, Quackser Fortune has a Cousin in the Bronx, Thursday's Game, and this film :)
shareI was definitely let down when they announced/released shot of the cover to this film, but as I was unable to track down a VHS copy and the movie is so damn rare/hard to find I bought it. The really good news is that at least it is out DVD finally and has a pretty good transfer. Bad news is that it lacks any noticeable features or extras. Still, this is the most underrated comedy of all time. It is quite possibly the most subtle and brilliant comedy ever created. Some of the jokes you need to be in the "know" to understand, such as some of the Yiddish jokes, but it is a great film nonetheless.
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Well, I love Gene Wilder--if he's not my favorite actor he's close to it (a couple other contenders are Walter Matthau and Jack Nicholson), and I love this film, but the DVD cover doesn't bother me really. Harrison Ford (who I like, too, but not as much as Wilder) is a bigger star now (and for example, Wilder's current rank on IMDb's "Star Meter" is 419, Ford's is 63). Warner Brothers is just trying to make money on the release. I'm just happy that it is on DVD. It's pretty common practice to put someone's picture bigger on a rerelease when they turned out to be a bigger star later on.
shareWhy not put BOTH filling the cover? It's ironic how these days new movie dvd covers have every stupid actor in the movie squeezed in on the cover - yet they can't even put 2 actors here!!!!!
I've seen other dvds like this, with a now famous actor shown large on the cover (who wasn't as well known back then) and I just shake my head. The Car Wash dvd makers stuck Richard Pryor large on the cover when all he did was make an 8 minute cameo. I know there's worse out there.
boobies
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Misleading covers or film descriptions are always a pain. Even if the film proves to be enjoyable, I hate to see a film promoted under a false pretense.
shareI agree, and I'm a huge Ford fan but it's ridiculous, Gene Wilder is so great in this. The only good thing about it is how much it vindicates Ford, who according to what I read was resented by the director at the time for being a relative nobody when he'd originally wanted John Wayne.
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Reason is a pursuit, not a conclusion.
Whats really stuoid about the dvd cover is that they made fords head so huge and put wilders face up in the corner.Why not at least give them equal space on the cover even though wilder should get top billing.
"Sorry I'm late. I was taking a crap."
Paul Newman
The DVD cover is very dishonest and misleading, but frankly, the VHS cover wasn't that great either (even though it emphasized Gene Wilder). This film is really a showcase for Gene Wilder, who is a bigger draw to me anyway.
shareI just watched the DVD I bought, and yeah Wilder ought to have starred on the cover. I do not think it was that great a transfer; the colors of the trees and scenery appear to be hazy while the actors are overly-bright. I do not recall it being that way in the actual film.
Many scenes are cut out. The original film was over 2 hours long, that is what I saw, since I saw it on its first weekend.
The scene where Gene is ice skating, and the one where he was dancing in the street were longer. I miss those because Gene is so good and graceful.
[sad]