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Final 1980-81 season has 22 series episodes in a tight DVD package
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Published on Sunday, Apr 26, 2009
Some notes on DVD releases coming Tuesday . . .
• The Waltons: The Complete Ninth Season (Warner, 22 episodes, three discs, $39.98) presents the final, 1980-81 season of the series in a tight little package. Two of the three discs have episodes on both sides, and there are no extras unless you count the paper episode guide inside the package.
And this was the end of The Waltons as a weekly series but not as a TV presence. There were three TV specials in 1982, then reunion films in 1993, 1995 and 1997. So there is material for at least one more DVD package.
• I wonder what might have happened to Jean-Claude Van Damme had his interview with Newsweek gone a little differently. When the action film JCVD came out last year, there was new respect for the action star, playing a screen variation on himself.
''Who knew he could act?'' said one review, and more than one saw it reviving Van Damme's career the way The Wrestler brought Mickey Rourke back. But then he did an interview with Newsweek in which he started coming on to a female reporter less than half his age, and there was suddenly more talk about his personality and less talk about his acting.
But if you want to see JCVD, it gets wide distribution on Tuesday after being a Blockbuster exclusive. The DVD is $19.99, the Blu-ray $15 more; it includes deleted scenes and a digital copy.
• Michael J. Fox is getting seen and heard a great deal lately thanks to his new book Always Looking Up and his guest-starring role on Rescue Me. You can also visit the younger Fox on video with the release of Spin City: Season Two (Shout! Factory, 24 episodes, four discs, $39.99). No extras.
• Pete Seeger will be 90 in May, and has become a venerable figure in American culture. Check out the documentary Pete Seeger: The Power of Song if you don't understand why. And if you want to see Seeger in good form, Tuesday brings Pete Seeger: Live in Australia 1963 (Acorn, $24.99), recorded during a world tour. I especially like the way he immediately tries to warm up his rather stiff audience with a sing-along.
The DVD includes a concert recorded by Australian television (even more significant, because Seeger was blacklisted from U.S. TV appearances at the time), as well as extra material from other interviews and performances on Australian TV. There's also a booklet with more information about Seeger in Australia.
• Among items already in stores is American Swing (Magnolia, $26.98), a fascinating documentary about Plato's Retreat, the notorious New York club where couples could go, socialize and have sex with other club visitors in the late '70s. Using interviews and archival footage (some of it explicit), the documentary is a serious look at one aspect of sexual attitudes in America, and at Larry Levenson, the club's founder. If you watched the CBS series Swingtown (which is also on DVD), this is a more thoughtful examination of some of the same issues. The DVD includes more interviews.
Down the DVD road: Cult MTV series The State will come to DVD on July 14. . . . Van Morrison's Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl is due May 19. . . . The International, with Clive Owen, arrives on June 9.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com and now on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Some notes on DVD releases coming Tuesday . . .
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, Oh
Posted 10:17 AM, 04/26/2009
Goodnight John Boy.
AKRON, OH
Posted 10:52 AM, 04/26/2009
Jean-Claude Van Damme - DID SOMEONE SAY CHUCK ZITO ??
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 08:21 PM, 04/26/2009
We would care WHY?
