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DVD The Four Seasons
Actually, this comedy is one of the more enjoyable films to examine midlife crisis in the 1980s. Written and directed by Alan Alda, it examines the effects of middle age on a group of married couples who are longtime friends. Each season they go away on a vacation together, but the dynamic gets skewed when one of the men dumps his wife for a younger woman. Though some may find the characters' self-satisfaction and upscale neuroses a shade cloying, they are more than matched by Alda's solid, often funny writing. The couple with the biggest laughs: the hilariously paired Jack Weston and Rita Moreno (although Alda and Carol Burnett also strike comic sparks). --Marshall Fine
In 1981, Alan Alda wrote and directed a film inspired by and named after a famous piece of classical music written by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): "The Four Seasons". The film's plot centers around three middle-aged couples who enjoy sharing vacations together: Jack Burroughs (Alan Alda), Kate Burroughs (Carol Burnette), Nick Callan (Len Cariou), Anne Callan (Sandy Dennis, 1937-1992), Claudia Zimmer (Rita Moreno) and Danny Zimmer (Jack Weston, 1924-1996). Each vacation occurs about every three months, beginning in the spring, then to the other three seasons; with each accompanied with Vivaldi's seasonal movement of music. With each vacation, something new is learned about the various couples. In the spring at a secluded lake, Nick reveals to Jack his desire to divorce Anne. In the summer while vacationing on a sailboat in the Caribbean, Nick is no longer with Anne; instead he brings a young girlfriend named Ginny Newley (Bess Armstrong). With Nick constantly giving Ginny presents and keeping the other two couples up at night with their noisy activities, Jack & Danny find it difficult to keep their eyes off of Ginny to the consternation of Kate and Claudia. With autumn, the three couples visit some of their college-aged children, Lisa (Elizabeth Alda) and Beth (Beatrice Alda), at a Connecticut university and get the unexpected visit from Anne. When Jack expresses his jealousy towards Nick while playing soccer, Kate expresses her unhappiness with his obessesion over Ginny as well as her tiring of being responsible for setting up the couples' vacations. Lastly, in the winter, the three couples go on a ski trip. There, the ongoing rivalry between Nick and Jack results in the two them being injured while trying to show off with inappropriate tricks on cross-country skis: Nick with a broken ankle and Jack with a torn tendon. Following Danny expressing his fears of death, Ginny expresses her discontent with being the outsider and goes for a walk alone in the snow. With Nick & Jack impaired, Danny decides to go and look for her; but he ends up falling through some thin ice. It's then up to the other five to rescue the hypochondriac Danny, but it may cost him his most prized possession: his new Mercedes.
With an interesting story, engaging characters, good acting, wonderful cinematography and appropriate music, "The Four Seasons" is well worth watching and I rate it with 5 out of 5 stars. Though it was filmed nearly 25 years ago, the film is by no means dated as the issues that it raised then are just as relevant today with many middle-aged couples that have been together for a long time.
The Four Seasons
Excellent DVD, but I've seen the movie and owned the VHS already and knew that.
I went ahead and ordered the DVD for the improved video and audio quality and was very pleased with the outcome.
Excellent stars, good plot line and for the forty/fifty something crowd, you can't go wrong with this one, at this price.
So True, So True
When this movie was released in 1981, I was 25, and I loved it. Now that I'm 49, I love it even more. It stands the test of time, because the truths (funny and unfunny!) about marriage and about friendships between couples still stand up. I often think of it. One of my favorite lines of all time is in this movie, when Carol Burnett accuses husband Alan Alda of always overanalyzing everything, and he says, "Yeah, but do you know WHY I always overanalyze everything?" And Rita Moreno looking wistfully at their divorced friend with the adoring hot lover and saying, "I wanna be like them." It's a sweet and real movie. Not a zillion-dollar blockbuster...it's got so, so much more to give than that!
Bernard Slade's smart, funny, and touching play about an adulterous couple who meet one weekend a year for 26 years is nicely adapted for the screen by Robert Mulligan (To Kill a Mockingbird) in this 1978 film. The two-person story stars Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn, both of whom are outstanding at conveying a rainbow of emotions over a quarter-century as life gives and takes away, and the world convulses with change. Mulligan brings taste and honesty to the film, and Alda and Burstyn give full, living performances. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Director(s): Robert Mulligan DVD Release Date: Released the 06 April 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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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.
Until Boogie Nights, this film had stood for almost two decades as the best performance Burt Reynolds had ever given. In a criminal oversight, he was denied an Oscar nomination, perhaps because it came in the middle of his action-movie winning streak. Directed by Alan Pakula from a script by James L. Brooks, the film cast Reynolds as a newly divorced man struggling to cope with single life in the city. But a blind date (initially misconstrued by the woman as a mugging) leads to renewed hope in romance when he and his new lady friend (Jill Clayburgh) actually seem right for each other. But before he can make a commitment, his flighty ex-wife (Candice Bergen) bounces back into his life to make him miserable all over again with her flirtatious indecisiveness. Wonderfully acted and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Burt Reynolds - Jill Clayburgh Director(s): Alan J. Pakula DVD Release Date: Released the 21 June 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Not short on murder, mayhem, or any other screwball '70s conventions, Foul Play is a wonderful vehicle for Goldie Hawn. She plays Gloria, a librarian "ready to take a chance again," who ends up the target of an assassination ring. Chevy Chase, fresh off of Saturday Night Live, does the closest thing to real acting he would ever achieve (okay, maybe Fletch) as Tony, the cop assigned to protect Gloria. Dudley Moore made an indelible impression on American audiences as Stanley Tibbets, a surprisingly kinky symphony conductor. But it's the quirky things that make this film: the grandmothers playing Scrabble with expletives, Burgess Meredith's snake Esme, the old Japanese couple in the back of the careening limo. From the opening credits with Barry Manilow crooning the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Goldie Hawn - Chevy Chase Director(s): Colin Higgins DVD Release Date: Released the 16 November 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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