"American soldiers in battle don't fight for what some president says on TV. They don't fight for Mom, apple pie, the American flag. They fight for one another." Those words of Lt. Gen. Hal Moore sum up the focus of director/writer Randall Wallace's adaptation of the first engagement between

the United States and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). In November 1965, members of the newly formed U.S. Air Cavalry found themselves in an intense firefight with several thousand battle-hardened NVA veterans in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Wallace crafts a rare three-dimensional portrait of combat, covering not only the men on the front lines, but also the effects the battle had on the wives and children back home. In addition, Wallace depicts the North Vietnamese as an adversary due the same respect as that given to the U.S. forces. The film is based on the book by Moore (portrayed by Mel Gibson), who led the unit into battle, and journalist Joe Galloway (portrayed by Barry Pepper), who was present during some of the most intense combat the United States has faced. The Paramount home video DVD features a pristine transfer, an excellent audio commentary by Wallace and a behind-the-scenes documentary, Getting It Right, that details the lengthy steps the filmmakers took to ensure historical accuracy to honor the memory of all involved in the confrontation. In addition there are 10 deleted scenes with commentary.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Directed by Nicholas Meyer

It's 20 years after Kirk, Spock and McCoy's initial five-year mission and much has changed. Spock now captains a training vessel for cadets and Kirk, having traded in his captain's chair for an admiral's desk, is starting to feel very old. But when a crisis involving a nemesis from their past threatens the galactic future, it's up to the crew of the Enterprise to save the day one more time.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was director Nicholas Meyer and producer Harve Bennett's clever redressing of the Trek franchise, representing a concept midway between the opulent grandeur of Robert Wise's Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and the shot-on-the-fly original TV series. Khan was a stripped down, sleeker version with the action and adventure aspects ramped up to the max. The fans loved it and it set the stage for several sequels to come both visually and story-wise.
This beautiful two-disc set offers not only Meyer's original director's cut of the film (which only extends it by four minutes from the 112-minute theatrical version), but also a plethora of extras including audio commentary by Meyer; on-camera interviews with Meyer, William Shatner (Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Spock), Ricardo Montalban (Khan) and Harve Bennett; the featurettes Designing Khan and The Visual Effects of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan where Meyer, Bennett and the design and effects teams reveal the back story of how they went about resurrecting the series for the big screen. For instance, Nimoy was not exactly thrilled with the original script so Meyer rewrote the project in a mere 12 days to a form where the actor was once again willing to don the classic pointy ears.
As the end of the film, the villain is dispatched but the crew has taken their lumps both physically and spiritually. But asked how he feels now, Kirk responds in as much surprise to himself as everyone else "I feel young... " It's a sentiment likely to be shared by viewers no matter what age.

The Rookie (2002)
Directed by John Lee Hancock

Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid) gave up on his dream of pitching in big-league baseball following a shoulder injury, settling for life as a high school teacher and coach of the school's perpetually losing baseball team. He agrees to a bet with his team. If they win the district championship, he'll try out for a major league team again. What follows is an inspirational tale made even more so because it's true. Director John Lee Hancock's The Rookie delivers a fastball down the middle with its message of not giving up on your dreams. It does for baseball what director David Anspaugh's Hoosiers and Rudy did for basketball and football. Hancock shares the audio commentary with Quaid, and they go into detail about a number of aspects of production as well as creating little moments and capturing the essence of baseball. Hancock says that the real antagonist of the film is actually Father Time, because everybody else in the film wants Morris to succeed. The big question is, because of his age, can he? Hancock also talks about his fears when the film received a "G" rating. "[During production] I never put a governor on myself about language and content. When I got the rating back, I was a little afraid at first," Hancock says. " 'G' [isn't perceived] as General Audiences anymore, it means talking dogs. It's something adults will know is not harmful for their kids, but it's something they won't enjoy." Fortunately for Hancock, adults did flock to the film and he hopes that will result in the rating going back to meaning 'General Audiences.' This Disney DVD also features a documentary, The Inspirational Story of Jim Morris: Meet the Real Rookie, deleted scenes as well as a short, Spring Training, offering tips on pitching, catching, etc. from the film's baseball coordinator.

World Cinema Roundup
Continuing its commitment to Akira Kurosawa's prodigious cinematic legacy, The Criterion Collection has once again done the master justice with a superb transfer of his outstanding film Red Beard (1965). Based on a novel by Shugoro Yamamoto, set in the 17th century, the story chronicles a young doctor's introduction to the world of public health, when he finds himself attached to a facility run by Red Beard (Toshiro Mifune). The intern is arrogant and unwilling to adapt to the scenes of day-to-day suffering, preferring to hide in the world of theory. Red Beard, through his influence, forces the obstinate youngster to see things as they really are, and in the process changes his life and outlook. Beautifully told, with Kurosawa's unerring eye for visual detail, Red Beard is probably one of the most moving Japanese films of the period. It also marked the end of two major associations; it was Mifune's last appearance in a Kurosawa film, and the director eschewed the Tohoscope format thereafter, choosing to work with spherical lenses. Red Beard, in gorgeous scope black and white, is stunningly rendered on the new DVD, apparently transferred from a 35mm fine-grain master positive. Additionally, a digital restoration system was used to painstakingly obliterate many instances of "dirt, debris and scratches." Giving an audio 'lecture' is historian Stephen Prince, which is informative if not a little on the pedantic side. The idea of someone 'reading' a commentary can be awkward, making the listener too aware of the reader's quirky vocal mannerisms.

Can't get enough of Kurosawa and Mifune? Criterion has also packaged their previous releases of The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Sanjuro and The Hidden Fortress into a box set titled "Akira Kurosawa: Four Samurai Classics." This is the perfect opportunity to add these cinematic classics to your home-video library and, as a box set, for considerable savings over buying them individually. Several of the discs feature extras such as Sanjuro's behind-the-scenes footage and Samurai's audio commentary by Japanese film expert Michael Jeck.

Also just released by Criterion is a pair of jolly British classics: The Horse's Mouth (1958), directed by Ronald Neame, which features Sir Alec Guinness' fantastic performance as artist Gulley Jimson; and The Importance of Being Earnest (1952), directed by Anthony Asquith. Both are well-presented, and The Horse's Mouth also contains a short 'documentary' by D.A. Pennebaker which appeared on the bill at the New York theater where the picture opened. Made some years before, this five-minute film is a colorful train ride on the 3rd Street Avenue L, shortly before it was closed, and its herky-jerky wackiness certainly has something in common with the feature it accompanies. Pennebaker himself talks on camera about his film, as does Ronald Neame about his. Not much in the way of extras on Earnest, except some stills, and useful liner notes by Bruce Eder, but the film itself is a Tecnicolor delight, showcasing Michael Redgrave, Joan Greenwood and Dame Edith Evans in Oscar Wilde's witty stage-adapted frippery.

If you're in the mood for a bit more Guinness, there's Anchor Bay's boxed set, The Alec Guinness Collection, featuring pristine transfers of Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Man in the White Suit, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers and The Captain's Paradise. Alas, there are no extras.

Fox Home Entertainment has packaged three films by director Baz Luhrmann and released them as "The Red Curtain Trilogy Box Set." The set includes the special editions of Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge that are all packed with extras including audio commentaries. Topping it off is a bonus disc Behind the Red Curtain only available in the boxed set. The bonus disc features an interactive documentary where Luhrmann explains his "Red Curtain Cinema" concept, a tour of the House of Iona in Sydney, Australia where Luhrmann conducted the rehearsals for Moulin Rouge and much more.

We've got some documentaries on the menu this time too, starting with the fabulous Tokyo Olympiad (1965), Kon Ichikawa's epic three-hour look at the groundbreaking Olympic Games staged the previous year in Japan. Spectacularly shot in scope — one wonders how the cameras were manipulated to occupy the often cramped spaces they inhabit — the political, cultural and sporting events roll and tumble before us, elevating human endeavors to the highest level. Peter Cowie's lecture, like Stephen Prince's is 'ead, but is voluminous and encyclopedic in its wealth of Olympic history detail. Home Vision Entertainment offers a brace of quirky Ron Mann efforts; Poetry in Motion (1982) and Twist (1992), each revealing offbeat insights into idiosyncratic netherworlds. The modern poets of America, more performance artists than contemporary readers, sing, chant, dance and shout their words to enthusiastic audiences — and in Twist, the nature of dance itself is explored; its historical tribal popularity, leading to the frenetic explosion and universal appeal of the title wig-out.

Watching folks twist the night away certainly affords us a few chuckles, none, however, are as large as those emanating from General Idi Amin Dada (A Self-Portrait) (1974), in Barbet Schroeder's aptly titled documentary. It's hard to believe now that Idi Amin once sent shivers down the world's spine as the mass-murdering dictator of the new Ugandan Republic, but he did — and Schroeder's film captures the full horror of the grinning megalomaniac. Laughing amiably as he sends a few more "traitors" off to die — in the end he had upward of 300,000 people killed — Idi warms to his favorite topic — himself. What is most chilling and unbelievable about this film is the participation in it by the dictator! Overseeing the final cut and composing the score, were but two of Idi's contributions as he sought to make sure he would be well represented. Schroeder gamely lets Amin metaphorically hang himself as his ramblings reach epic, mythological proportions. Funny today, from the comfortable distance of a quarter century, but chumming around with this guy wouldn't have been fun, and certainly engendered a considerable risk to one's health. I love Amin's goofy accordion music — I think a soundtrack album should be released immediately.

Anchor Bay Entertainment's commendable devotion to British esoterica reaches its apotheosis with a wonderful new box set containing the three charming, effervescent and MGM–homaging musicals starring '60s pop sensation, Cliff Richard. Sir Cliff, as he is now, was groomed as the English Elvis, albeit far less threatening, and his musical films were a chocolate box combination of high school hip, and teenage schmaltz. The first one, a surprise smash hit, The Young Ones (1961), was directed with appropriate zest and verve by Sidney J. Furie, capturing quite neatly, both the spirit of the early days of Swingin' London and the feel of MGM circa 1940. The film's writers, and songwriters, Peter Meyers and Ronald Cass, really understood musicals, and their obvious knowledgeable enthusiasm helped them create a quite atypical British film. They also penned the No. 1 hits, "The Young Ones" and "The Girl in Your Arms." The second film, Summer Holiday (1962), an even bigger success than the first, capitalizes further on the formula and pushes the envelope a bit. So bright and colorful is it, that one can't help but wonder whether it was an influence on Jacques Demy's later Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). Directed by Peter Yates, his debut Summer Holiday is a model of form, and a terrific example of making the most out of not much. Meyers and Cass scored big again with the title song, and "Bachelor Boy," one of Cliff's most popular songs. Concluding the trilogy is Wonderful Life (1964) which flopped; largely because The Beatles had arrived and Cliff was perceived as too innocent and anachronistic. It mines similar territory to its predecessors and is just as self-effacingly pleasant. Sidney J. Furie returned to helm, and while working on it, he was offered his next project; The Ipcress File (1965)! Among the special features are commentaries by Furie on his two films, along with pal Paul M. Lynch, and Peter Yates talks with Jonathan Sothcott on Summer Holiday. These may be minor efforts in the grand canon of musical greats, but Anchor Bay is to be eternally thanked for keeping them alive for posterity, and making them swing again in transfers worthy of the originals' colorful gorgeousness.

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