DVD Review: Playing Dead

Playing Dead is a delightful film about a once-accomplished actor who is now struggling and so accepts a job helping the police with crime scene re-enactments. It stars Francois Damiens as Jean Renault, whose name, as another character points out, sounds like Jean Reno (at one point, a man holds a sign at the train station which reads “Jean Reno,” leading Jean to quip, “I’m sorry if you were expecting The Professional”).

The film opens with police at a crime scene, but soon it’s revealed that it is a film set. Jean Renault is being difficult, nitpicking about a detail. The director doesn’t fire him, but it’s clear she’ll never work with him again. His agent then has a talk with him. Jean argues on his own behalf: “I’m always on time, always willing, always full on. I know my characters, my lines.” His agent interrupts: “You always argue! You’re a royal pain. Nobody wants to work with you.” The agent also points out that Jean is constantly being edited out of projects. Jean turns humble, saying in almost a whisper, “I’m not a pain.” And it’s that moment that we begin to care about this guy, even to like him.

In addition to now being out of work, Jean is divorced and having a bit of trouble pitching in money for the raising of his two children. He needs seven more work days to qualify for benefits, and so the woman at the employment agency offers him a job playing victims for re-enactments of murders. His first assignment sends him to a ski resort in the Alps.

I like the rapport between Jean and Lieutenant Lamy (Lucien Jean-Baptiste), the police officer who collects him at the train station. And Jean is candid about his career, his mistakes, telling Lamy and his wife that fame came to him too early. “I got conceited, and turned down some very big projects.” The film does a very good job of making it believable that directors wouldn’t want to work with him, while also making him likeable.

Quickly Jean becomes interested in the case. Because Jean is approaching this job as he would any acting role, including researching the part, he both irritates the police and also brings to light certain aspects of the case that don’t quite fit the magistrate’s view of what happened. The magistrate, Noémie Desfontaines (played by Géraldine Nakache), is also the love interest of the film, and I really like the developing relationship between her and Jean.

The film begins in comedy, and there are funny moments throughout, but it also kind of sneaks up on you as a very effective and competent mystery. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable film.

Playing Dead was directed by Jean-Paul Salomé, and was released on DVD on January 6, 2015 through First Run Features. The film is presented in French, with English subtitles. The DVD contains no special features.

DVD Review: Missionary

Missionary is a suspenseful thriller about a small-town woman who becomes involved with a Mormon missionary and then encounters trouble when she wishes to break off the relationship. It stars Dawn Olivieri as Katherine Kingsman, Kip Pardue as Ian Kingsman (her husband from whom she is separated), Connor Christie as Kesley (her twelve-year-old son), and Mitch Ryan as Elder Kevin Brock, the man who enters their lives and doesn’t want to exit.

The film opens with Kesley running football drills by himself in the yard, getting ready to try out for the team. Katherine is inside, looking for clean clothes. It’s the score that sets the serious tone immediately, as there is no dialogue in these opening shots. What’s interesting is that after establishing the home life of these two characters, the film then takes us to two missionaries, one testing the other with various scenarios to see which biblical passages he’ll refer to for each given problem. As with the first shots of Kesley, the camera does not focus or linger much on their faces, but rather on the details of what they’re doing. The film takes us back and forth between these two worlds, and it’s interesting to get that other perspective, and learn a bit about how the missionaries live and conduct their business.

Katherine works in a salvage yard while also studying toward a degree. We learn that her mother died a couple of months ago and that she’s separated from her husband, and so is in a fragile place. After she tells a customer about her mother’s death, the film goes to shots of some of the old, broken cars while we hear her crying, before we finally see her seated in one of them. It’s a nice choice, and I really appreciate the way the film presents these characters and the information.

While Katherine is trying to help her son with football drills, the two Mormons interrupt to try to talk about Jesus. Katherine politely declines, but when Elder Kevin Brock tosses Kesley the football, she asks him to toss him a few more, since she’s unable to throw the ball well herself, and making the team is very important to her son. When he gets his white shirt dirty, Katherine lends him a clean one, and sees his build while he changes. Later, after Kevin compliments her, she impulsively kisses him. Interestingly, the film then cuts to her in the car with Kesley (presumably driving him to football tryouts), while her mind is clearly elsewhere. We see her thoughts and changing emotions play on her face, including a close-up of her mouth as she smiles. The sequence is done lovingly, delicately, beautifully, and without dialogue.

Kevin received a prophecy about finding his family from a church leader, and reveals that he believes this prophecy actually refers to Katherine and Kesley. Uh-oh. He begins talking about their sacred union. He’s handsome, but demented. Unfortunately, Katherine has fallen asleep while he was talking and so hasn’t heard his craziest and most obsessive thoughts (a bit contrived, but okay). And when Kevin learns that Katherine and Ian are going to give their marriage another shot, he becomes a bit unhinged.

The film at this point becomes a sort of Fatal Attraction. While we’ve seen this story line before, this film really does present a new and somewhat refreshing take on it, a new angle. What I like is that this film takes its time setting up these characters, and letting us really get to know them. In fact, for me, the film is more interesting in the first half, before Kevin becomes a villain. But what’s also good is that once Katherine learns about Kevin, she handles things in an intelligent manner, and that is also refreshing. She does what any of us would likely do in that situation, and because of that we’re really with her, rather than simply watching her. The film takes what could be a by-the-numbers story, and gives us a something intelligent and original. A good deal of the appeal is due to some really good performances by the leads as well as by supporting players. These characters feel like they really inhabit this world. I also like the score of this film. And the soundtrack includes an interesting rendition of A-ha’s “Take On Me,” done by A.C. Newman.

Missionary was directed by Anthony DiBlasi, and was released on DVD on January 6, 2015. Note: My screener copy did not contain any special features.

DVD Review: Elsa & Fred

Elsa & Fred is the story of two elderly neighbors who strike up a friendship which develops into something special for both of them, and for the film’s audience. It has an excellent cast, with Shirley MacLaine as Elsa and Christopher Plummer as Fred, and supporting performances by Marcia Gay Harden, Scott Bakula, James Brolin, Erika Alexander and Chris Noth.

The film opens with a moving company bringing in Fred’s possessions, under the unwanted supervision of Fred’s daughter Lydia (Marcia Gay Harden). There’s a cute moment where she makes a demand of the building’s supervisor, leading him to make a phone call: “Get me a ladder. Yeah, I know. I hate ladders, and I’m always falling off ‘em, but this woman is driving me crazy.” Fred’s wife has died, and he’s moving into an apartment on his own. Though he says he can look after himself, Lydia worries about him being alone and has hired a caregiver, Laverne (Erika Alexander, in a really good performance).

It isn’t long before Elsa and Fred meet. Upon hearing that Fred’s wife died only seven months ago, Elsa tells him: “The first year is the most painful. But you’ll get over it.” Fred replies: “I’m already over it. We hated each other.” Fred is adorably grumpy and wishes to stay inside all day, while Elsa is decidedly more active, though with an equally active imagination and a slight obsession with the film La Dolce Vita, leading to several fabrications. She lives a life much of her own creation, which is admirable even when it leads to mendacity.

Fred is unhappy, and you get the feeling he’s been that way throughout most of his life, in large part because an accident kept him from pursuing his one real love of performing music. Though Fred is the grumpy old man, Christopher Plummer never lets the performance drift into cliché. Fred feels like a real person. Partly this is due to the writing, as when Fred explains that he’d rather do nothing at this point than to do things with mediocre results. You can feel both the frustration and the pride when he tells Elsa: “I don’t do anything so-so. I never have, until now. Now I’m old, everything is so-so.”

There are so many wonderful moments, like when Fred goes to buy flowers and admits to the clerk he has no idea what to purchase. The clerk asks if this is his first time buying flowers for the woman, and he says yes, so we assume the flowers are for Elsa. But we then see him placing them on his wife’s grave, which says so much about him, about his life, about their marriage, their relationship, and about where he is now. So much is done with just a couple of very short scenes.

Sure, some stuff seems contrived, like Fred’s kitchen pipes exploding. And I could do without the scene where they leave the restaurant without paying the bill (a scene we also saw in Le Week-End). But this is a sweet and completely delightful film, which is also often quite funny. It really hinges on the two main performances, which are both excellent. These are two actors who are just so enjoyable to watch. The film, by the way, is based on the 2005 Argentinian film Elsa Y Fred.

Special Features

The DVD includes a featurette on the making of the film, with interviews with director Michael Radford, producer Ed Saxon, cinematographer Mike McDonough, as well as cast members Christopher Plummer, Shirley MacLaine, Marcia Gay Harden, Erika Alexander, James Brolin, Scott Bakula, Chris Noth and Jaime Camil. About Elsa, Shirley MacLaine says, “She’s the hardest character I’ve ever played.” There is also some behind-the-scenes footage, including some shots of Christopher Plummer playing piano. This featurette is approximately nineteen minutes.

The DVD also includes the film’s trailer.

Elsa & Fred was released on DVD on December 30, 2014 through Millennium Entertainment.

DVD Review: Big Gay Love

Big Gay Love is a dramatic comedy about a gay man who is doing well in his professional life (as a party planner), but is insecure in his social life, not completely pleased with his appearance, and not believing that anyone could fall in love with him. It opens with Bob (Jonathan Lisecki, who wrote and directed the wonderful Gayby) going to look at a house he wishes to purchase. In voice over he tells us, “Today I am realizing the dream of buying my first home.” But while looking at the house, the married gay couple next door pops by and makes Bob feel worse during what should be a bright moment for him.

Meanwhile, Bob’s best friend Lana announces she is getting married, but her fiancé is someone Bob recognizes from some photos in a gay magazine. And Bob’s mother (Ann Walker) wants Bob’s help in making a comeback as an artist of some sort. But the main thread of this film is Bob’s relationship with Andrew Darcy (Nicholas Brendon, whom you’ll recall from Buffy The Vampire Slayer), a caterer who is not only handsome, but seems like a nice, level-headed guy. So of course Bob questions why someone like Andrew would be interested in someone like him, possibly leading him to undo the very thing he’s been searching for.

Early on, when Andrew asks Bob, “How was your day,” Bob begins to tear up. “No one ever asks,” he explains. It’s a sweet moment, and the film works best when it’s being sweet. I love the moment when Bob enters the elevator (after his first kiss with Andrew), and is so joyous that he jumps. Jonathan Lisecki is able to make that moment not only believable but endearing. The scenes between Bob and Andrew are those that work best. The humor, however, is hit and miss.

The film has some forced and awkward moments, like when Bob’s friends push Bob to introduce himself to a series of people at a party. The stuff between Bob and his two gay friends often seems forced. And when Bob’s mother shows up at Bob’s apartment unannounced, Andrew somehow recognizes her, saying “Aren’t you that pin-up model from the 1970s?” It seems an unnatural way to get across that bit of information, especially as I don’t believe Andrew would recognize her that way. The film hasn’t established that Andrew follows female models or that he’s heavily into the 1970s or anything that would give credibility to his recognizing her. Also, the movie doesn’t really find a flow. It moves from point to point, but without any real momentum. That being said, the film does have heart.

Special Features

The DVD includes a commentary track by Ringo Le. He talks about the cast, and about shooting at M Bar, and offers some advice for new directors. However, he’s clearly unaware of the definition of the word “literally,” for in describing the actors playing the gay neighbors, he says, “they just literally nailed the scene.” Ouch. And later when talking about the two leads eating a lot of sandwiches, he says, “By the end of the night, they literally wanted to explode.” Really?

The DVD also includes the film’s trailer.

Big Gay Love was released on DVD on December 2, 2014 through TLA Releasing.

DVD Review: Tricked

Tricked is a documentary on prostitution, with a focus on young women who are forced into it, and the efforts to get them out. It centers on Danielle Douglas, a woman who was forced into prostitution at the age of seventeen when she was at Northeastern in Boston. She is quite open and frank about her experiences. She talks a bit about how it happened, and it’s interesting that it began with the man acting like her boyfriend. Danielle says: “I think that I was looking for love, and to me at that point in my life love meant sex. I didn’t really know what love meant. I just knew that sex got me attention, and attention got me something that I thought was close to love.”

There are interviews with other prostitutes, including Rain, who says she started when she was eleven years old. You can’t help but be affected when you hear her say: “My pimp took my virginity and I fell in love with him. He was my first love, he was my first everything.” And Cindy displays a tattoo of her pimp’s name. What’s interesting is that the film also interviews several johns and pimps, including Slim, a pimp who thinks of himself as a good person because he helps his girls out with various things. He also says it’s safer for him to sell women than to sell drugs. It’s the women who are taking the risks; the pimps, as they admit, often stay at home.

The filmmakers also interview people in law enforcement, focusing on two men: Daniel Steele, of the Denver police department, and Chris Baughman, of the Las Vegas police department. Chris Baughman has some interesting things to say. He points out, “We also have a slogan of ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,’ which I don’t particularly care for because it gives people the idea that you can come here, do whatever you want, and go home, and then there’s no mess left to clean up.” He also mentions how people coming into his city believe prostitution is legal, and get into trouble because of that. He’s one of the most well-spoken interview subjects. Daniel Steele comes across as at times a bit of a braggart and a self-appointed savior. Mitch Morrissey, a district attorney in Denver, talks about how these are difficult cases to prosecute.

The oddest interview subject is Debbie, “The Pimp Cup Lady,” a religious weirdo who wears a goofy wig and makes drinking cups to sell to pimps. She demonstrates how she anoints and prays over each cup. “After the cup is made, then I leave it on this altar for seven days, saying, ‘My father, God, holy father, I ask you in the name of Jesus to touch this individual…’” Also interesting is the footage of the Players’ Ball, where the women are forced to look down at the floor as they file in. Danielle talks about her experience there, and it’s something I’d never heard of before.

The filmmakers clearly have an agenda, and though it is an admirable one, as a result the film can be a bit heavy-handed in some respects. An example is the way people are labeled on screen. Danielle is called a “former sex slave,” and at one point there is footage of a suspected pimp being arrested. And though he is claiming innocence, the film labels him “pimp,” which feels a bit like judge and jury rather than documentary.

Special Features

The DVD includes four bonus scenes, totaling approximately seventeen minutes. One of these scenes is an interview with a professional dominatrix, who provides a perspective on consensual sex work, something that is missing from the film. Another scene features Daniel Steele traveling to Sweden to learn how the approach to prostitution works in that country. In Sweden, it’s legal to sell sex, but illegal to purchase it. So the women don’t go to jail, and are even allowed to keep the money they make, but the johns are arrested. That seems a bit unfair to me, but it’s based on the idea that the women are victims and should be helped, not punished. However, it also seems like an easy way for women to make some money without having to do anything at all.

Another of the bonus scenes is about prostitution at the Super Bowl, and it includes a title card which reads: “10,000 prostitutes were brought to the Miami Super Bowl in 2010, many of them minors. 133 underage prostitutes were arrested during the Dallas Super Bowl in 2011.” The fourth bonus scene is actually a collection of several short scenes of operations to arrest prostitutes and johns.

The bonus features also include biographies of filmmakers Jane Wells (who is referred to as a “documentary filmmaker and activist”) and John-Keith Wasson, plus – surprisingly – subjects Danielle Douglas, Daniel Steele and Christopher Baughman.

Tricked was directed by Jane Wells and John-Keith Wasson, and is scheduled to be released on DVD on February 3, 2015 through First Run Features.

DVD Review: Two Mothers

Two Mothers is an intimate drama about a lesbian couple in Germany that wishes to have a child. Isabella, or Isa (Karina Plachetka), and Katja (Sabine Wolf) are a stable and loving married couple who desire to bring a child into their lives.

The film immediately sets a somewhat somber and realistic tone with lots of greys during the opening credits sequence. The office, with its filing cabinets, the clothing, and even the sky are grey. The only bright color is the red clothing of an infant on a subway, drawing our eye and making clear just how important a child is to Isa, showing how she views a child against the rest of the world.

We then see Isa and Katja naked together at home, in a very loving and comfortable embrace, peppered with soft speech and laughter, as they start trying out different names for their baby. I appreciate that the film quickly establishes their relationship as a loving one seemingly devoid of drama. Because that allows this quest for a baby to become the drama, to become almost the defining element of their relationship, as it eventually does.

The film follows this couple on this specific journey, and it keeps the viewer quite close to them. Because we feel we’re on the journey with them, we are baffled and frustrated when they’re baffled and frustrated, excited and joyful when they are excited and joyful. The film has a very true and realistic feel, almost like a documentary. It’s shot much like a documentary, capturing the moments without relying too much on traditional film coverage, and with seemingly natural lighting.

They decide to use a sperm donor. When Isa calls, she says she’s in a lesbian relationship, and the response she gets is “As far as I know, it’s not officially permitted in Germany,” which comes as a surprise to Isa. Though they are married, they’re told it’s not the same thing as a married heterosexual couple. Like any couple, they wonder about the costs involved in raising a child, and they discuss their income and qualifications for receiving a sperm donation. When they do find a doctor who will treat them, he lets them know that only twenty to thirty percent of patients do become pregnant. Plus, Isa is thirty-seven years old, which will make things even more difficult. When a title card suddenly tells us, “11 inseminations, 9 months later,” we might expect that Isa has become pregnant, but no, it’s not that easy. Money becomes an issue, and they begin exploring other options.

This film has lots of sweet moments, as when Isa shares information she’s reading with Katja. Isa says: “The chances of getting pregnant are much higher if the woman is aroused. If she feels loved and safe at the moment of insemination, as though nature had constructed the body for that purpose. What shall we do about that?” And there’s a moment that is simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking when Isa goes to purchase something that will allow her to insert the sperm herself, and the woman behind the counter suggests seeing a vet for whatever tools they use to breed large dogs.

Isa is really driven to have a child, which begins to create problems in their relationship, to the point where we begin to wonder if a child really is the best thing for them. It’s interesting, because at that moment, we begin to feel a bit more distanced from them, just as they begin to feel a distance between themselves. This film has a completely believable feel, and that is in large part due to the good, honest, natural performances of the two leads.

Two Mothers is presented in German with English subtitles. It was directed by Anne Zohra Berrached, and is scheduled to be released on DVD on January 13, 2015 through Canteen Outlaws and TLA Releasing. The DVD includes the trailer.

DVD Review: WKRP In Cincinnati: The Complete Series

WKRP In Cincinnati was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid. It was one of those rare shows that my parents loved just as much as I did, and so we’d watch it together. For years I’d been hoping that it would be released on DVD. The first season was released on DVD several years ago, but without the appropriate music, and with scenes cut out, so I didn’t bother with it. Now Shout! Factory has released with complete series, with most of the original music intact. It contains all four seasons on twelve discs, plus a thirteenth disc of bonus material.

For those who are unfamiliar with the show, it is about a poorly rated radio station that hires a new program director who then changes the format to rock and roll. It stars Gary Sandy as Andy Travis, the program director who makes the change, and Gordon Jump as Arthur Carlson, the manager of the station. Joining them are Loni Anderson as Jennifer Marlowe, the gorgeous and wise receptionist; Richard Sanders as Les Nessman, the less-than-competent news director of the station who has an affection for hogs; Frank Bonner as Herb Tarlek, the less-than-competent sales manager with a distinct fashion sense; Jan Smithers as Bailey Quarters, the gung-ho and intelligent newcomer; Tim Reid as Venus Flytrap, the new night-time DJ hired by Travis; and Howard Hesseman as Dr. Johnny Fever, the DJ who has been fired from every other station and has trouble staying awake.

The two-part pilot has the entire radio dial introduction before the opening credits start (which was cut when the show was in re-runs). Andy Travis, the new program director, arrives to help the station, but Arthur Carlson at first doesn’t remember hiring him, then worries about his mother’s wrath upon learning that Andy is planning to change the stations format to rock and roll. (By the way, Mrs. Carlson is played by Sylvia Sidney in the pilot; she’d later be played by Carol Bruce.) Johnny Fever is bloody hilarious, and has us all shouting, “Give it to me straight, doctor, I can take it!” Johnny often has the best lines, as in the second part of the pilot he says: “I try not to have any ideas. They only lead to complications.” The writing is one of this show’s many strengths. A listener (played by Richard Stahl) complains about the new format: “We’re a determined fringe element that cannot be counted upon to do the sensible thing.” He demands an on-air apology to Lawrence Welk. (The DVD includes the little promo spot before the ad break.)

There is a lot of great humor in this series. Like the moment in “I Want To Keep My Baby” when Johnny Fever plays a record at the wrong speed. He quickly catches it, and starts the record over at the correct speed, saying, “And now, the long version.” The series’ goofy episode “Fish Story” has some seriously funny moments, and Venus Flytrap is particularly funny, as when, after several drinks, he says: “On the air? I am the air.” Some lines just really stand out, like when Johnny says to Herb, “Aren’t you ashamed having the ethics of a fungus?” Or in “Three Days Of The Condo,” when he says: “You know, I’m touched. I always have been.” And of course in “Up And Down The Dial,” when, upon looking at the ratings book, Johnny exclaims, “Wow, look what I’m doing with teenage boys!” There is also some funny drug humor, like in “Baseball” when Johnny Fever tests the first baseline to see if it’s cocaine.

The show is terribly funny, but also touches on some serious issues, and does so with intelligence and heart, and even guts. On “Les On A Ledge,” the show addresses prejudice and homophobia. Johnny tells Herb that Jennifer is a transsexual in an effort to get him to stop hitting on her. Meanwhile Les is barred from the locker room after a player believes he’s gay. It’s handled well, especially considering this was the 1970s. (This episode also includes the promo spot before the commercial, in which Jennifer says, “This is Jennifer, reminding you not to touch that dial…or anything else.”) And in “Who Is Gordon Sims,” Venus tells the story behind his desertion of the army during the Vietnam war. The show touches on sexism in the episode “Bailey’s Big Break,” and shady photographers in the hour-long “Filthy Pictures.” And of course there is that excellent episode about that Who concert where kids lost their lives. I also appreciate the episode against automated radio programming, as well as the episode on Armistice Day (specifically about calling it Armistice Day rather than Veterans Day).

But of course this show is about the music. You’ll hear music by Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, The Doors, Supertramp, Bob Marley, and the Grateful Dead. In the episode “A Date With Jennifer,” Johnny plays “Shakedown Street,” introducing it by saying, “Here’s some more good news from an always-reliable source; it’s the Grateful Dead.” And you can see Johnny holding the record cover. Grateful Dead fans, if you have a quick eye, you’ll also catch Johnny Fever holding a copy of “Steal Your Face” in the episode “Les On A Ledge.” That record is also in “Turkeys Away” and “The Airplane Show,” and in the fourth season a Steal Your Face logo is attached to the microphone arm. In the episode “Never Leave Me, Lucille,” Andy holds a copy of “Skeletons From The Closet.” It’s also fun looking at all the posters that decorate the offices and DJ booth in the background. They change from episode to episode, but include Devo, Emmylou Harris, ELO, Blondie, The Pretenders, Queen, The Clash and Oingo Boingo.

A few episodes worth mentioning:

“Turkeys Away” – Mr. Carlson wants to be more involved in the day-to-day activities of the station, and comes up with a Thanksgiving promotion that involves tossing live turkeys out of a helicopter. Les is bloody hilarious as he reports the carnage. “The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement.”

“A Date With Jennifer” – Richard Sanders co-wrote this episode, in which we see for the first time the tape on the floor marking where Les Nessman’s walls should be. It also features a hilarious moment when Les gets dressed for his date while “Hot Blooded” plays.

“The Contest Nobody Could Win” – When Johnny accidentally reads a fifty dollar contest as a five thousand dollar contest, the gang decides to create a contest so difficult that no one can win it. But the second contestant wins it anyway. Mr. Carlson likens this error to the Reds losing Pete Rose. He says to Johnny at one point: “Well, nobody’s perfect. You’re not perfect, I’m not perfect. Jennifer maybe, but nobody else.” This was always one of my favorite episodes, but the ending is not as I recall it. I remember Johnny going to the car with the fake winner and returning with the money, saying that guy knew nothing about music. And it was Vincent Schiavelli in that role. The version here has a different ending, with a different actor. Where did this other ending come from?

“A Commercial Break” – This is another of my favorite episodes, in which a funeral chain store wishes to advertise on WKRP. Fred Stuthman is fantastic as Mr. Ferryman. I love the shot of him dancing to the jingle in the booth.

“The Doctor’s Daughter” – This episode is about Johnny’s 19-year-old daughter getting back in touch with him. It opens with a funny scene where Travis tries to get Johnny to play at least one song from the top 40, or at least “Play a part of one of the songs off the play list… if you want to talk more about this, I’ll be in my office playing with a loaded revolver.” Later, when Johnny pretends he intends to play a hit, but then says he’s out of time, Andy says, “I laughed so hard I dropped by gun.” Frank Bonner directed this episode.

“Clean Up Radio Everywhere” – This is an excellent episode dealing with the issue of censorship. A religious nut comes to the station to persuade Arthur Carlson to ban certain songs from airplay. Andy Travis points out: “That man did not come in and say, ‘We don’t like this music, so we’re not going to listen to your station anymore.’ What he said was, ‘We don’t like this music, we don’t want other people to listen to it anymore.’” And Les is hilarious, particularly when he says: “So as you can see, I’m a very confused man. And when I get confused, I watch TV. Television is never confusing.” This episode also features a great use of John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

“Jennifer’s Home For Christmas” – By federal law, all sitcoms have to have a Christmas episode. So WKRP has its own, but it’s a good one. The opening scene has Johnny Fever wearing ear plugs while playing a Christmas song. Perfect! And when he back-announces, he says: “Okay, babies, I don’t get it either, but somebody out there likes it. So we’ll just keep shoveling through the seasonal syrup here for a few more days. Not too much time left of this good cheer and bad music.” Johnny later touches on another of the myriad problems with the holiday when he says, “In the spirit of Christmas, we killed a tree for you.” This episode also features Venus playing Chuck Berry’s rendition of “Merry Christmas Baby” and a great guest appearance by George Gaynes as one of Jennifer’s admirers.

As good as that episode is, the following season the series sadly resorts to the more typical Christmas Carol episode, with Arthur Carlson in the role of Scrooge. The only other real misstep is “Mama’s Review.” The series was only nine episodes in at that point, and already resorted to a clips episode. However, this episode is important as it’s when Carol Bruce replaces Sylvia Sidney as Mrs. Carlson. One other issue: there is a very weird moment at the beginning of the first episode of the second season, when we hear someone else introducing himself as Venus Flytrap.

This show has some wonderful supporting players, including Edie McClurg as Herb’s wife (Most people associate her with her great performance as Grace in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). Hoyt Axton appears as an old friend of Jennifer’s in “I Do, I Do… For Now.” And Ian Wolfe is absolutely perfect as Mrs. Carlson’s butler.

Special Features

This box set includes a DVD of bonus features. The first, Baby, If You’ve Ever Wondered: WKRP In Cincinnati Reunion, is a panel discussion of the show featuring series creator Hugh Wilson, Jay Sandrich (who directed the pilot), Asaad Kalada (series director), and cast members Loni Anderson, Tim Reid, Jan Smithers and Howard Hesseman. Cast member Gary Sandy also joins them by phone. There are a lot of wonderful anecdotes here, including one about the banner for the Scum of the Earth episode. Howard Hesseman talks about his own radio experience, and the panel discusses the episode about the Who concert. The panel is moderated by Jim Ladd. This feature is approximately forty-four minutes.

A Look Back At WKRP In Cincinnati With Gary Sandy is an interview with Gary Sandy, in which he talks about his character, his fellow cast members, series creator Hugh Wilson, and about the writing. There is some interesting information on the way the show was shot, and about Gary Sandy being a big baseball fan. This feature is approximately twenty-five minutes.

Do My Eyes Say Yes is a short feature about the character of Jennifer Marlowe, featuring interviews with series creator Hugh Wilson and cast members Loni Anderson, Frank Bonner and Tim Reid. A “Fish Story”…Story is a short feature about the episode titled “Fish Story,” and how it came about, and about the writing credit on that episode. It features interviews with the same folks interviewed for Do My Eyes Say Yes.

WKRP In Cincinnati: The Complete Series was released on October 28, 2014 through Shout! Factory.

DVD Review: Sex (Ed): The Movie

I didn’t have sex education when I went to school, which now strikes me as peculiar since I was in school in the 1980s, a time when it might have been important. But those were the dark days, the Reagan years, when good ol’ Nancy encouraged us to just say No to everything, and Ronald believed AIDS only attacked those who somehow deserved the disease. In fifth grade, the girls in my class were taken to an assembly to learn a thing or two, and were told in no uncertain terms not to share this information with the boys. Seriously. So my friends and I had to figure stuff out on our own, which we did, with varying degrees of success. I don’t necessarily wish I’d had sex education, but I certainly would have appreciated having the documentary film Sex (Ed): The Movie.

Sex (Ed): The Movie documents the history of sex education in the United States. It often has a light, bouncy tone and a sense of fun about its subject, while simultaneously taking that subject seriously. At the beginning of the film, we enter a fifth grade classroom in a public school in Los Angeles, and we watch students watching a film on puberty (and listen to them giggling). A girl asks a very specific question after the film, and is not given a straight answer. Ah, so not much has changed.

The film features many interviews with adults who recall their own sex education, as well as footage from sex education films from various years. There’s an interesting sequence when we get a montage of the title shots from several sex education films, going farther and farther back by year. Just seeing the changing titles gives a clue as to the changing perspectives on the issue, beginning in the present with what is most familiar to us, and going backwards. The film then moves forward from the past, giving a history of how sex education was taught – or not taught – at different times.

The documentary even includes footage from early silent movies, one of which has title cards like this one: “Controlled, the sex impulse, like the horse, may be a source of power and service.” And there is footage from some of the military sex films from World War II, as well as from a Walt Disney cartoon titled The Story Of Menstruation, and a 1974 film with Marcia Brady. Perhaps even more interesting are the stills of posters that depict women as the problem, as carriers of disease. And there’s information on the different messages presented to the girls and the boys in these sexual education films. What is also interesting is how the 1970s films were more open and frank about sex, about masturbation and so on.

The narrator of the 1965 film Perversion For Profit says, “We know that once a person is perverted, it is practically impossible for that person to adjust to normal attitudes in regards to sex.” As much as I’d love to argue with that statement, it’s certainly been the case for me. And in the 1961 film Boys Beware, a boy named Jimmy hitchhikes and is picked up by a friendly man named Ralph. The narrator tells us: “What Jimmy didn’t know was that Ralph was sick, a sickness that was not visible like small pox, but no less dangerous and contagious, a sickness of the mind. You see, Ralph was a homosexual.” Ah yes, back in the early 1960s, when homosexuality was contagious. While it’s easy to laugh at some of the so-called information that was presented in the past, the film also indicates that we really haven’t come all that far in our attitudes. After all, it wasn’t all that long ago that U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders was fired by Bill Clinton for her remarks on masturbation; and we still have those ridiculous abstinence programs.

Special Features

The DVD contains two archival sex education films. The first, A Respectable Neighborhood (1961) is about a girl named Emily who runs away from home. She is a tough little girl who listens to jazz and likes to sculpt, and apparently has syphilis. Meanwhile, a group is working on creating a film warning of the dangers of the disease. Ed Platt (yes, from Get Smart) plays a man investigating the outbreak of syphilis. This film is approximately twenty-three minutes, and was directed by Irvin Kershner, whom you might recall as the director of The Empire Strikes Back.

The second archival film is titled Masturbatory Story, Or Coming Of Age, and this one is totally nutty and incredibly funny. Its story is presented as a serious of stills, and the whole thing is set to a folk song. It begins with a grown man pretending to be a child in a bath tub, while the song is about the boy discovering his penis and asking his mother, “Does it know any tricks?” It then cuts to ten years later when he learns the word “masturbation” and has the hots for a girl in his class. “A hard-on in the hall draws attention,” he sings. And then approximately thirteen minutes into the film, the folk song ends, and as the boy finishes masturbating we hear the familiar sounds of “Also Sprach Zarathustra.” The stills are then of rockets and volcanoes and so forth (yes, years before The Naked Gun included that hilarious montage of images in a sex scene). The song is by Chris Morse, by the way.

The special features also include four short deleted scenes.

Sex (Ed): The Movie was directed by Brenda Goodman, and is scheduled to be released on DVD on February 3, 2015 through First Run Features.

DVD Review: Casting By

Casting By is a completely enjoyable documentary on film and television casting directors, particularly Marion Dougherty, who cast such films as Midnight Cowboy, Slaughterhouse-Five, A Little Romance and The World According To Garp. While the focus is on Marion Dougherty, the scope of the film is broader to include information on casting in general, including the changing views and methods of casting, with interviews with many other casting directors, including Juliet Taylor, Ellen Lewis and Lynn Stalmaster.

The film opens with a statement on the importance of what a casting director does. Martin Scorsese says, “More than ninety percent of directing the picture is the right casting.” The film provides some history of how casting worked in the early days before going into how Marion Dougherty changed things. In New York, she went to theatres to find actors, and liked to cast against type, and for chemistry. She admits, “When people say, ‘How do you cast,’ I always tell them, ‘Gut reaction.’” She talks about being hired as an assistant casting director on Kraft, and then taking over several months later. And she goes into the differences in casting between New York and Los Angeles. “Hollywood had no idea what casting was all about,” she says. Casting in Hollywood was all about physical types defining characters. And the film provides interesting information on how Hollywood did casting back in the day.

This documentary has a great, quick pace, with lots of excellent footage, anecdotes and interviews. When Marion talks about casting Warren Beatty and not being able to understand what he said, we are treated to footage of his performance, and I can’t make out a lot of it myself. “He should forget Brando and do his own thing,” Marion says. There is some great stuff on Naked City and the actors that Marion Dougherty brought to that series. She talks about the process of reading actors and taking notes on each of them (and the film shows us examples of her early notes on Gene Hackman and Jon Voight).

Casting By not only includes the perspectives of many top casting directors; it also includes thoughts on casting and casting directors by many of the industry’s most well-known directors and actors. Those interviewed include Robert De Niro, Woody Allen, Norman Jewison, Glenn Close, Al Pacino, Robert Redford, Jon Voight, Danny Glover, Robert Duvall, Clint Eastwood, Arthur Hiller, Bette Midler, Richard Dreyfuss, John Travolta, Jeff Bridges, Peter Bogdanovich, Cybill Shepherd, Norman Lear, John Lithgow, Mel Gibson and John Sayles. These actors and directors give personal accounts of how casting directors helped their careers and helped their films. Glenn Close says, “Marion Dougherty is the reason I was cast in my first movie.” And she is far from alone in making such statements. Interestingly, several seriously accomplished actors talk about how they initially gave terrible readings and performances. Jon Voight’s story is particularly entertaining. About his performance in Naked City, he says, “I was so bad, I got almost physically sick watching it.”

The documentary also delves into the industry’s response to casting, including the controversy over the term “casting director” and the fact that casting is the only main title credit without an Oscar category. And the film looks at more recent changes in the corporate influences behind casting. This is an excellent documentary that will enlighten the public on an aspect of filmmaking that is not often considered.

Casting By was directed by Tom Donahue, and was released on DVD on September 16, 2014 through First Run Features. The DVD contains no special features.