Monday, July 14, 2008

July 2008 DVD Order

I'm continuing to build the "100 greatest" Television collection that I've been working on all year. I also discovered that I missed a lot of movies staring Al Pacino and several with Dustin Hoffman. Some of them were significant movies and I don't know how I missed them before. About a month or so back I was going through our collection and I saw that I didn't have many good sports movies, but sports movies are tough. Finding Actors that are athletic or Athletes that can act is problematic but I did go through several lists of the "50 best" sports movies and found several gems I'd missed before. Boxing has always been a rich source of drama for cinema and there is at least one classic I've never seen before.


The Movies.


3:10 to Yuma: Glenn Ford is the bad guy and Van Heflin has to guard him until the train comes. A classic Western I missed before.
All the Right Moves: Tom Cruise, Lea Thompson, Craig T Nelson in a teen sports flick.
American Buffalo: From a David Mamet play with Dustin Hoffman and Dennis Franz.
Bang the Drum Slowly: Michael Moriarty, Robert De Niro, and Vincent Gardenia, in a baseball movie that's also De Niro's breakout film.
Devil's Advocate: Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron in an over the top but entertaining version of a lawyer for the Devil.
Dog Day Afternoon: Sidney Lumet directs Al Pacino, Charles Durning, and Carol Kane in a movie of New York losers in a failed bank robbery.
Donnie Brasco: Johnny Depp is Donnie Brasco an undercover cop and Al Pacino is his unwitting Mob connection.
Eight Men Out: An all star cast about the famous 'Black Sox' scandal.
Heat: Michael Mann directs Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer and a host of others in this edgy cops and robbers blockbuster.
Hoosiers: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershy, and Denis Hopper in a predictable but mesmerizing slice of life basketball movie.
Insomnia: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank in a cat and mouse murder mystery in Alaska.
Karate Kid. Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elizebeth Shue, Charming. Predictable. Rocky for teens, and Everybody copies it.
Lenny: Bob Fosse directs Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine as 50's comic Lenny Bruce and his stripper wife Honey Harlowe.
Longest Yard: Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, and Bernadette Peters along with a host of ex-NFL stars in a prison football comedy.
Mad City: John Travolta, Alan Alda, and Dustin Hoffman in a hostage situation manipulated by the media.
Major League. Predictable but Baseball comedy with Tom Berenger, Wesley Snipes, Charlie Sheen and Rene Russo.
North Dallas Forty. Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, and Charles Durning in a comedy drama of life as a Dallas cowboy (think Tom Landry and Don Meredith).
Panic in the City. A gripping Crime Drama directed by Elia Kazan with Richard Widmark Jack Palance, and Zero Mostel.
Professionals: Taut western action with Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Woody strode as guns for hire Jack Palance as the bady guy and Claudia Cardinale as the babe.
Requiem for a Heavyweight: Anthony Quinn, Mickey Rooney, Jackie Gleeson in a brutal look at the seamy side of boxing from writer Rod Serling.
Rudy: The Little Engine that could done as Notre Dame Football with Sean Astin and Ned Beatty.
Set-up: Another great boxing movie with Robert Ryan in his best performance.
Wag the Dog: Top rate political Comedy with a huge cast of stars including Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman.
White Men Can't Jump: Woddy Harrelson and Wesley Snipes are basketball Hustlers.
Scent of a Woman: Chris O' Donnell and Al Pacino a blind guy goes wild.
S1m0ne: Interesting idea with Al Pacino and Winona Ryder.
Panic in Needle Park: Stunning 1970's drug abuse movie with Al Pacino.
Confidence: Serious version of the Sting with Dustin Hoffman Rachel Weisz, Ed Burns, and Paul Giamatti.

Television

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season two
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season three
Cheers: The complete third season
Cheers: The complete fourth season
Gunsmoke the complete first season
Gunsmoke Second Season Vol 1
Gunsmoke Second Season Vol 2
Have Gun will Travel the complete second season
Perry Mason Season two Vol. 1
Perry Mason Season two Vol 2
Saturday night Live the complete second season
Saturday Night Live the complete third season
Star Trek: Next Generation complete second season

Non Fiction

Hoop Dreams
Pumping Iron
Olympia the Leni Reifenstahl Archival Collection
Six Days in June