Reviews

The 1962 "The Music Man" is still my favorte musical after all these years. I saw the movie when it hit the Screen in 1962. This Special Edition CD is excellent. For a movie dating back to 1962 you would think the sound would be a bit off. Not so in this case - the quality is better than expected. If you really like the "The Music Man" be sure and get both the CD and the DVD Special Editions.

I purchased this DVD because I have been cast as Mrs. Paroo in a local production of "Music Man" and wanted to re-acquaint myself with it. I had forgotten that Hollywood was capable of creating something so entertaining and free of sex, violence, and dirty words. It was so refreshing.

This arrived pretty quickly considering it was from the US.Unable to purchase it in this country so pleased to get a copy as a present for my Mum

When I was a kid my family had The Music Man on video. I don't remember when I saw it last, but I got this soundtrack yesterday and played through it a couple times. I always enjoyed the movie and this CD captures all the fun I remember. Robert Preston is excellent as the fast-talking con man Harold Hill (reprising the role he originated on Broadway) and Shirley Jones is good as Marian the Librarian. The songs (with some dialogue cues) are pulled right out of the movie, so the sound may not be as crisp and clear as a Broadway cast recording may be. But the sound is decent nonetheless and the music is wonderful. The CD includes (as far as I can remember) all the songs from the movie. The first track is actually three songs back-to-back-to-back (the orchestral theme, the salesmen on the train, and the people of Iowa). I'm not sure why they couldn't separate these songs so they could be listened to individually, but it's not that big a deal. The Music Man 1957 Broadway recording is also available, but the 1962 film version is the one I grew up with, so I opted for this particular recording. But Robert Preston was in the stage version, too, so it's probably just as good. (Although the song "My White Knight" from the Broadway show was replaced with "Being In Love" in the movie, if that makes a difference to you.) The CD was released nearly twenty years ago (I reckon), so the jewel case isn't as sturdy as those of newer releases. No big deal. The liner notes are scant, with a backstory by Meredith Willson (the man who wrote the musical) but no song lyrics. But the CD content is great and the price can't be beat. If you haven't seen the play or the movie, I highly recommend it!

The music is fun but a bit "raw" sounding. I thought it was going to sound more studio edited like other soundtracks I own. I still enjoy the CD though. My kids enjoy it too.

Reviews

This DVD has much better sound quality than most Dead Show videos. If you have a decent system, you will really enjoy this DVD. The video is of good quality as well, although I sometimes wonder what the cameraman is thinking when he has the camera on Mickey Hart while Jerry is ripping through a solo. This is a good show with a good setlist and the band plays with lot's of energy. I recommend this DVD over most of the other Grateful Dead offerings.

Yes, yes ... yes. I've been to Dead concerts, bought too many vinyls and CDs and t-shirts ... This DVD is definitive. All are at the top, playing as well as any other concert, ever. If you are not a total Dead fan, get this one, its the keeper. If you are a total Dead head, get this one, it will be your favorite. Audio post production is very, very good (set to 24bit/48k stereo). Video is as good as any (set to 4/3 pan & scan). The first three tracks are not polished as Jerry comes off his meds and the rest of the band acts leaderless ... until ... until ... But, then the fun begins and the group does come together and clicks, then rocks ... There is nothing like it ... there is nothing like a Grateful Dead Concert and this was and is one of the best. If you want to really get hooked on the Dead (again), play the last five tracks first ... then start over at the beginning.

This is worth the money. The DVD replicates the concert well, the boys were playing in record heat. The camera shots are good, plenty of shots of everyone.

Good Selection of tracks, good quality, good to see them back in their glory days!!!

For almost three hours in July of 1989, Jerry Garcia owned Buffalo, NY and basically gave a clinic on how to play guitar.

Reviews

Today, I saw an excellent youth theatre perfomance of this classic musical!! They performed with the same enthusiasm and excitement as the original broadway cast! Listening to the original cast recording, brings back wonderful memories of the production I saw today! Robert Preston doesn't just play the role of Harold Hill, he is Harold Hill!! Barbara Cook is wonderful in the role of Marion The Librarian though, Shirley Jones, from the Motion Picture Cast, remains my personal favorite! Though the soundtrack is a little short in length (about 45 minutes long) it is still very entertaining and makes a great addition to any broadway soundtrack collection!! Get It!!!!!!!!!! :)

As is typical with the 1960's original Broadway cast recordings, they were edited for LP format and much of the material was cut. I was hoping with the remastering they would put more of the music on the CD. Alas, such is not the case. Boo!!!!

Of all the broadway musicals, Music Man is my favorite. It captures middle America. Its tunes are melodic, spunky, inventive, and sweet. This CD is a solid rendition of the show!.

Meredith Willson's "The Music Man" has been revised and performed all over the world. While it's a good musical overall, I am not crazy about it myself. I didn't care for Pert Kelton's voice which I felt was like nails on a chalkboard at times. One of the main reasons to listen to this compact disc is for Barbara Cook's singing capabilities as old maid librarian Marian. Pert Kelton plays her mother. Marian thinks she's better than most of the people in her small Iowa town because she reads French literature but manages to fall in love with the music salesman. Apart from Barbara Cook, I didn't care about the rest of the story. I felt the songs were typical of the musical genre and sometimes annoying but I do feel that it's worth seeing once if not at all.

One of the most charming and most tuneful of all Broadway shows. I saw the original Broadway production in 1958 -- Robert Preston's performance was brilliant and is preserved as fresh as new on the cast recording, which is so much more enjoyable than the overproduced soundtrack recording. This is the show that kick-started Barbara Cook's career, a couple of years after she starred in Bernstein's Candide (which was panned by the critics and had only a brief run) singing "Glitter and Be Gay". Hers was, and still is, one of the great voices of Broadway, and if you agree, check her out on the original cast album of "She Loves Me".

Reviews

Please note that I saw this movie on HBO so I can't comment on the video transfer or its features. As other reviewers here have noted, this movie plays fast and loose with the facts, but it's entertaining and enjoyable to watch. McCrea was a good choice for the character of Buffalo Bill Cody, a no-nonsense, easy-going but courageous Indian scout and frontiersman whose exploits were much celebrated during his day in dime novels and in the newspapers. Frontiersman like him, and also Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Kit Carson, John Colter, Wild Bill Hickok, and others, became legends in their time as they pushed back the frontiers and fought the Indians. All the supporting actors did a fine job with their roles, including Edgar Buchanan as an old army sergeant, and Jane Darnell as the Indian schoolteacher who seems to have a thing for Buffalo Bill although this doesn't really get developed. The movie follows Bill through his various adventures and exploits, the most important being the battle at War Bonnet pass where he killed the Indian chief Yellow Hand. There's a long lead-up to this event, though, as the movie follows Bill's interactions with the local Indians and the townspeople. But after this event, the movie takes a distinctly different turn as Bill travels back to Washington and gets involved in the quagmire of Indian politics in the capital. Bill's life takes a downward turn at this point as he runs out of money and is forced to support himself as a carnival side show act demonstrating his amazing shooting skills. Perhaps from this experience he gets the idea to form his own Wild West Show, which is shown as traveling not only the U.S. but abroad as well and is a huge success. One of the most interesting aspects of the movie is how it goes to great pains to show the Indians in a positive light, often portraying them as honorable, reasonable, and decent people, compared to the greedy and dishonest white man who simply wants to defraud the Indians of their land. Bill is often seen commenting on how admirable he finds the Indians in many ways and he usually takes their side in their disputes with the white man. If true this is an interesting comment on his character. Overall a decent movie and unusual in how positively it portrays the Indians and how negatively it portrays the white culture. The color is also still quite vibrant which adds to the visual appeal of the movie.

A wagon, heading towards a fort, attacked by Indians. Riding to the rescue, rifle blazing, is Buffalo Bill Cody (Joel McCrea). Among those saved, Senator Frederici (Moroni Olsen) and his daughter Louisa (Maureen O'Hara). Louisa raves on a bit about the "savages", but Bill corrects her, suggesting that they attack the wagons crazed with whiskey - which the white man provided. This nicely sets the stage for the moral attitude of the film - that Buffalo Bill is a man caught between the worlds of civilization and nature, and that he understands and respects the Indian, is saddened by what has been done to him - even while he knows that his duty is to help further the cause of westward expansion. This is a pretty well done large-scale, expensive Technicolor western - made at a time when only a couple of westerns per year were in color. There's a lot of location shooting (in Montana and Utah), and several of the sequences involve quite large numbers of extras - the large battle between the cavalray and the Cheyenne at the end is pretty spectacular. But ultimately it's the tale of one man who becomes famous but initially rejects it, whose heart is always being torn - between doing his duty for his country in leading the cavalry to head off the Cheyenne at Powder River, for which he received a Medal of Honor, and between fame and fortune in New York after establishing his Wild West show, and a quieter life at home in the west. The cast is pretty solid, and McCrea brings some real poignancy to his portrayal, even if there's probably not a lot of historical truth to it. Thomas Mitchell is along to play the sardonic newspaperman who helps put Bill into the public spotlight, and Edgar Buchanan is old-timer Sgt "Chips" McGraw, a somewhat more serious role than what he often played What's probably most memorable and interesting about the film today is the relatively complex portrayal of Bill's - and the nation's - relationships with the Indians. It's not surprising that the two principal native roles are played by whites - Anthony Quinn as Bill's childhood friend and eventual enemy Chief Yellowhand, and Linda Darnell as the rather superfluous and underdeveloped schoolteacher Dawn Starlight, whose loyalties are torn between her people and her obvious (if never stated or explored) attraction to Bill. In the end, certainly stereotypes abound (the raised hand and "How" in greeting, the pidgin English, etc) and we get little sense of the Indians as human beings, of their culture; but the fact that Bill is presented as championing their cause at times - and regretting when he has to fight them, always - and that the film makes no bones about the treaties being broken by the white man while the natives have tried to honor them, certainly gives it a more progressive stance than many westerns of the time. Most of the action of the film takes place in 1872 or thereabouts, though as I said it plays fast and loose with history; if I'm not mistaken, for example, the film conflates the Powder Creek battle for which Cody received is MOH with the Warbonnet Creek incident from four years later, after Custer's last stand. In any case, it's this "western" part of Cody's career, the beginning of his marriage, and the showdown with the Cheyenne that is the concern here; the formation of the Wild West show and Bill's later career is treated as an afterthought, but it is to the film's considerable credit that we can well imagine what went into those shows, and Cody's moral purpose in showing the public the "real" west - certainly whitewashed in this film, which does tread a little too close to hagiography at times - is clearly evident. Whether it really happened like that or not is beside the point; this is the larger-than-life Bill, and as such it's a solid piece of work.

Great movie, that's why I bought it. Brought back some great memories of childhood western entertainment. Easy for entire family to watch together! Delivery was very fast!

If you buy this film expecting to see the pretty Linda Darnell in a worthy role, watch out! Though she's billed third, she's in, perhaps, 15 minutes tops as a sulking, jealous rival for Buffalo Bill's love interest (played by Maureen O'Hara). All I can say is that Linda must have been on someone's "you know what" list to have been demoted from headliner to such a small (and unnecessary) role. I love Maureen O'Hara and bought this DVD mainly due to reading about the film in her autobiography, "'Tis Herself". Joel McCrea is believable as Buffalo Bill and must have been on "loan" for the part (I can't imagine any of Fox's players at the time in this role). Not the best story line, still enjoyable. I would recommend this only if you are a fan of McCrea or O'Hara.

Although historically inept, the movie has a fine empathetic performance by Joel McCrae, and a surpisingly sympathetic view of Native Americans. Well made, briliant color and epic scope it is a fine addition to anyone's Western collection. Just don't believe anything in it.

Reviews

Altman's comedies aren't always that funny. With a radiant Paul Newman, supported by Burt Lancaster's bemused Ned Buntline of the dime novel, we have a script delivering a steady drumroll of putdowns about the creation of the West. Buntline exits stage door left, deeply uncertain about the transformation of his own commodity into a newer, more spectacular, but thinner variant. Whatever resonance the film may be attempting to strike with 1880s values, Altman's film has plenty to say about 1970s liberal values. The buffoonery proceeds apace while Bill connives to con Sitting Bull to headline his Wild West Show. The Sioux lads (Sitting Bull has an interpreter, the aptly dubbed and granite-like, William Sampson)don't budge a grain of gravel in contracting to participate. They comply merely to facilitate the course of Sitting Bull's dream. The camera frequently withdraws to encompass the immensity of the eternal mountain range behind the ephemerality of the carnival. Bill is foiled. His grog-addled arrogance and vanity are no match for the sombre indigenies who stake their land claim,to no avail, before an supremely ignorant President Cleveland. The whites are the dills in Altman's bigger picture which has Bull's demise promptly trivialised when re-enacted in the pitiful stage death by his stoic interpreter.Hadn't he said not long before something like,'History is just disrespect for dead people'?

When Altman is good he's great. Like in McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Shortcuts, The Player and, oh yes, MASH. The Amazon review for BB et al should be read before ordering this. Like, flat-footed and obvious, I think they say. Beyond Altman, an akin movie of this time would be Little Big Man, which is sensational, not stupid.

I was filmed in my home town and a very good friend of mine was a extra in the movie and we looked at it to see if we could pick her out. Unfortunatly we did not find her. o-well

Paul Newman stars as Buffalo Bill, the showman of the wild west, with his circus act of performers. Robert Altman is famous for movings that expose how easily people fall for myths and stories, and this is no exception. Bill and his crew are all larger than life, believing in the stories written about themselves. They decide to put Geronimo into their act, thinking that they can stir up their audience into a blood lust against the "evil Indians". To their surprise, people actually respect the native Americans, and even the president comes out to meet Geronimo for himself. In the end it's only Geronimo that speaks honestly, and he is ignored. He leaves the white men to their problems. There are a number of famous actors and actresses here - Joel Grey, Harvey Keitel, Burt Lancaster, Geraldine Chaplin. Undoubtedly all signed on to make a movie that had social significance, especially with it coming out in 1976 - America's 200th year of independence. However, they are in essence satiring people who in fact were "heroes" in many ways. Buffalo Bill did in fact do some impressive things in his life. By all accounts Geronimo liked him and enjoyed being with him. For many of the city slickers, these shows were their only glimpse into what the wild west was all about, even in a general portrayal. Also, the native americans are treated as being supernatural Gods. They get across rivers that are uncrossable, they set up lodgings where they should not be able to. There isn't any relating to them as people, as a culture. I would really have liked to see more of the cross-cultural issues - the different ways in which they related to women, to minorities, to performing in public.

Robert Altman's expertise at framing and then exposing the three dimensions of show business, of presentation and performance, place and status, ala Nashville, Gosford Park, A Praire Home Companion, The Player, The Company and Kansas City (to name a few), gets the interesting, ironical and historical treatment here. In Paul Newman's Buffalo Bill Cody, legend of the wild west, and extraordinary showman, Altman gives the American man of myth, then chips away at him, all while the rival and counterpart Sitting Bull grows and deepens in merely standing still. Newman's performance is terrific, his eyes never betraying the truth of his limitations, though his histriotics along with those of his minions in his large show, work very well at entertaining and maintaining. Joel Grey, Kevin McCarthy and Harvey Keitel all stand out as Newman's producing partner, press agent and flunky respectively. Their sycophancy echoes the Emperors New Clothes, and is set against Sitting Bull and his right hand man Halsey, who agree to join the wild west history show in order to tell the truth of the matter, ever stoic and unimpressed by the show. With humor and his trademark layering of sound, dialogue and wit Altman gives us the lesson of what is real and unreal, fraudulent and true, the stuff of history books and shows, and the heart of the matters.

Reviews

Troy Aikman!!! Emmitt Smith!!! Michael Irvin!!! Alvin Harper!!! Bernie Kosar!!! All the big names are here, what a classic. Absolutely the best video of all time. WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What else do you expect from the team of the decade...another Super Bowl Season. The season that started off on a low note (2 losses) only to come back and win it all. NFL Films does an outstanding job in showing all of the highlights and details of the super season.

Reviews

I highly recommend these tweezers to any and all who love the outdoors. They conveniently attach to your key ring and I have used mine thousands of times (on my second pair now). The first pair broke, but it was entirely my fault. I tried to use them for something they weren't intended for which required me to bend them further open... I bent them too far :( All of that aside, these are the best tweezers I've ever owned.

Works well, sharp point that is protected when it is on your key chain. It takes a short minute to get used to removing it from the protector which can be connected to your key chain; squeeze and lift, then pull to separate. I have had it on my key chain for several months that I carry daily (in and out of my jeans pocket), with no problems with it coming off unexpectedly.

I got these for backpacking to save weight. They do the job, but I am not overly impressed. I had to file the point a little to make it sharper. They were a little too dull to break the skin and remove a splinter.

These are the greatest tweezers in the world! I've used them for 20 or so years and even order them from overseas (I'm not in the US). GREAT for plucking and splinters!

I have had a pair of these tweezers for at least 20 years. I protect them with my life! I always have one designated location where I can find them. Coupled with a magnifying glass, a person can pick the smallest slivers. I am very happy to find a place where I am able to get more. Working as a carpenter and a logger. Burning wood for fuel. I have had my share of slivers. I think many people would love these tweezers. Could be a great gift item.

Reviews

Hi All, I received this movie the same way the description was written. good price, the movie is in perfect conditions like new. no problems with delivery.

I'm sure it's quite easy to read around the other reviews for the praise the film deserves as a film. BUT unfortunately this blu-ray transfer looks washed out, with a constant sheen of brown that dampens the whole image throughout. It's a great film, but definitely deserves a better transfer than this. Buyer beware.

An ambitious FBI agent enlists the aid of a criminally insane ex-psychiatrist to help track down a vicious serial killer. It has been a good long while since I have felt the presence of Evil so manifestly demonstrated as in the first appearance of Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs. The Silence of the Lambs slams you like a sudden blast of bone-chilling, pulse-pounding terror.

Great movie....I've seen this about a thousand times and will probably never get sick of it.

This is one of my all time favorite movies. This is a five star movie and my two star rating applies only to the Blu-ray transfer. I have the Criterion Collection Edition of this movie. In comparing the Blu-ray edition and the Criterion DVD edition, I found the Blu-ray edition to have a less appealing color palette. It is somewhat bluish, less saturated, and sometimes looks magenta. The Criterion edition has an overall warmer tone. The movie itself also does not seem to benefit all that much from the higher resolution transfer either. I don't know if it's the definition of the film or if the transfer wasn't well done. You are not going to see the kind of sharpness you see on more recent Blu-ray transfers such as The Dark Knight or Revolutionary Road. Excellent film, though if you have the DVD already it is probably not worth it to get the Blu-ray version.

Reviews

I purchased this as a gift for a friend. I purchased it mainly for the soundtrack, but there was no soundtrack on it. It is not worth the trouble to return. Buyer beware

Whether your a fan of Mr. Bill Murray or Hunter S. Thompson, this is a definite must have for any movie enthusist. Good laughs, excellent acting, and of course good writing seeing as how Mr. Thompson aided in the story. I knew I recognized Lazlo(Hunter's crazed lawyer) who is played by Peter Boyle and it was very interesting to see the man when he still had hair(well....) and smarting off to others besides the Romano clan. You must have this placed next to Fear and Loathing if you don't already. Don't be a part of the underestimators, ADD THIS!!

I bought this DVD about 5 years ago when I have not seen this movie until I brought it home and sliped it in my playstation 2. Because of 2 reason. 1) none of my local video stores don't have a copy of this movie on their shelfs and 2) This movie is not shown on any of the cable networks. This is not a bad movie. This movie is about Bill Murray playing a famouse person named Hunter S. Thomson who was a famous journlist who attended famous events and wrote a journl on the famouse events and coverage like the 1972 superbowl game and some on Richard Nixon. What make this movie so interesting is that like I said is its about Hunter S Thompson life and its shows you what his life was like and what he did when he was doing or writing any coverage. Like when he was at the hotel on the weekend of the 1972 superbowl game, he crash and distroyed the hotel room and invited everyone into his room and threw a wild party. Its like he invited you into his personal life when you watch this movie. I don't think that the real Hunter S Thomson wanted it that way or I don't that Bill Murray ever had the time to be with him or got to know more about him, or its has do with Bill Murray spending the summer at Camps white Pine& Towhee in Canada where they were filming Meatballs at the time,and he was too busy preparing for his Tripper role. I think that was problem. In 1997, Johnny Depp spend a year sleeping in Hunter basement so he can learn alote about Hunter so he can play him better when they were filming Fear and loathing in Las Vegas. Now some of you think Hunter S Thomson was off the walls or acting a little bit wild. Well thats because he was on drugs alote, and if they could do a PG rated verson of this movie without the bad laguage and the hard sex. This movie would set them straight and show them what kind of drugs can do to them. My faviort seen in the movie is where Hunter and Lazlo are in the car driving on some rocky road, Hunter is toppless and pick up this Hippy hitchicker, and the hitchiker gets in the car. And Then Hunter gets out the gun and ams at the hitchiker passenger and then shots out the car window. That Part made me laught. And as for the rest of the film. I give it a good laught and importain message. Buy this movie and it will keep you entertain for hours, and what ever you do, don't ever ever do what Hunter did in real life, and that is DRUGS. Trivia 1.The scean where Hunter and Lazlo are driving on one the streets in San Francisco and you will see a wall that says Fear and loathing in Las Vegas written in graffitti. 2. Neil Young had a small role in the movie, he playes one of the jury members when Lazlo ahs to attend one of his trails. 3. Saddly in 2006. 2 of the stars in Where the Buffalo roam passed away. Peter Boyle who played Lazlo died of heart disease on Dec 12 at age 71. And Bruno Kirby who played Marty Lewis died of Leukemia on Aug 14 at age 57. 4. There going to be a third Hunter S Thomson book being made into a movie called The Rum Diary. Warner Bros should staring shooting some time beginning 2010

Here's a writer of a different breed, someone who speaks mind even if it is off topic, he did make it come around again to make both ends meet. The story is great, and Bill Murray does an excellent job portraying Hunter. Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was another great portrayal of Hunter and both do justice. " The only difference between the Sane and the Insane, is IN and yet within this world, the Sane have the power to have the Insane locked up." Hunter S. Thompson

Both actors portray Hunter S. Thompson in different films. Bill Murray shows a much more lively side of Thompson in Where the Buffalo Roam, while Depp shows the drug craved maniac that Thompson was in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Reviews

This series is fun to watch as an adult, and has great values to pass onto your children. I think it is a great show for the kids to see, no sex, violence or cussing, and safe for all ages to see.

I really love this dvd set, its still one of my very favorites,i really watch them alot too.

I ORDERED THIS DVD FOR MY 19 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER. I RECEIVED A DVD THAT WAS OF EXCELLENT QUALITY. MY DAUGHTER REALLY ENJOYS WATCHING THIS DVD OVER AND OVER. THANK YOU ALL VERY VERY MUCH FOR YOUR GREAT DEDICATION TO FINE SERVICE. GOD BLESS EVERYONE THAT WORKS FOR THIS COMPANY. IT IS SO REFRESHING IN THIS DAY AND AGE TO FIND A COMPANY WHO OBVIOUSLY CARES THAT THIER CUSTOMERS RECEIVE AN EXCELLENT PRODUCT, NO MATTER WHAT THEY ORDER.

If you enjoy just plain down home fun this this is for you. I remember watching Punky when I was little and it never gets old. It gives you a message that sometimes helps you in life as you start growing up for youngsters and it is something you can let your kids watch without worrying if it is appropriate for them to watch.

Good for kids. Wish TV shows today were more like the old days. Good, clean humor. Good for family night!

Reviews

i got it as a christmas present for my boyfriend and he loved it. it came in a nice tin. he carried it around for about a month and the picture started to rub off so if you buy it for a collector its vary nice but i dont recomend using it be cas it wont last long

Reviews

mousepads are mousepads, but this one is about an inch and a half too thick for ease and comfort of use for use with a Logitech Laser mouse. Slows down the cursor. It doesn't help that it consumes a fair amount of desk space either.