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Do IT this week: Layering
Black-and-white movie follows American Indians living in '50s Los Angeles
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Published on Sunday, Nov 15, 2009
The big release this week on DVD and Blu-ray is the latest version of Star Trek, and a very enjoyable movie it is. But since you probably already know plenty about that film, let's look first at a far less famous title.
The Exiles (Milestone, $29.99) is a movie about American Indians living in a decayed section of Los Angeles called Bunker Hill in the late '50s. Shot in black and white, using a combination of narration and dubbed dialogue, it recalls slice-of-life movies like the Oscar-winning Marty as it follows the characters through a typical night into the following morning.
Shot at a time when Indians were still for the most part portrayed in movies and TV shows as war paint-wearing savages, it was a significant cultural departure. It has attracted historians of Los Angeles because it was made in Bunker Hill, a neighborhood long since dismantled in LA's unending waves of renewal and reinvention. And it was all done on a tiny budget; according to the Los Angeles Times, the filmmakers began with $539, everything in director Kent Mackenzie's bank account.
But the film did not get a theatrical release, Mackenzie died in 1980 and it appeared to be lost — until another filmmaker showcased The Exiles in a 2003 documentary, and the film was resurrected and presented to rave reviews in 2008.
Now comes the two-disc DVD presentation, with a beautiful print of the film (restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive) and comprehensive extras about the film and Mackenzie — audio, video and DVD-ROM elements. You can even find the 12-minute Fawn's Devotion, a silent movie believed to be the first by an American Indian filmmaker.
Getting back to Star Trek, a back-to-the-beginning story of Kirk and Spock, which I liked quite a bit, it will be offered on a single-disc DVD ($29.99) a two-disc package adding a digital copy ($34.98) and in a multidisc set in high-definition Blu-ray ($39.99).
It has also inspired some piggyback marketing. The Best of Star Trek: The Original Series: Volume 2 and The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation: Volume 2 ($14.99 each) offer four episodes of their respective series on a single disc. They seem best aimed at the casual fan who has not snapped up the vast array of previous TV releases, but at least they have chosen episodes well.
The original-series selection, for instance, includes A Piece of the Action, where Kirk and Spock deal with a planet inspired by Capone-like gangland wars, and Space Seed, the original Khan episode. The Next Generation set has Relics, bringing in Scotty from the original series, and Tapestry, a look back at Picard's life.
The original-series episodes, by the way, have the digital remastering and enhanced special effects that have irked some Trek purists. Like me.
Also riding the fantasy wave is Farscape: The Complete Series (A&E, 88 episodes, 26 discs, $149.95), a collection of the fantasy from writer Rockne O'Bannon and the Jim Henson Co. It involves an American astronaut who ends up in a galaxy populated by weird creatures (hence the Henson connection), complicated schemes and sometimes sharp dialogue.
The box includes the show's four seasons (which are also being sold separately, for $49.95 apiece), extras from a previous DVD release and new extras, highlighted by Farscape: Undressed, a primer on the show made in conjunction with its third season.
But some fans will take issue with the ''complete series'' tag because the box lacks The Peacekeeper Wars, a fan-demanded miniseries that followed the end of the weekly program. Still, if you are drawn in by the big Farscape package, Peacekeeper Wars is available separately.
Also on the TV side of DVD offerings is Andy Barker, P.I.: The Complete Series (Shout! Factory, six episodes, two discs, $24.99). It's another attempt by Andy Richter to be a successful sitcom star, this one from 2007. Richter plays an accountant who, mistaken for a private investigator, takes on the new role.
When I previewed the series two years ago, I said it was ''full of funny little details'' but that the details were more amusing than the parody as a whole. But at least on DVD you can freeze the frame and enjoy the details. Extras include a look back, commentaries and a blooper reel.
Finally, there's Margaret Cho: Beautiful (Image, $14.98), an 86-minute performance from her stand-up tour, recorded before last year's presidential election.
Cho riffs about sex, politics (including things you can't say if you want to stay part of the Obama campaign), her family, traveling, her anatomy and other topics. I have been a fan of Cho's comedy for a long time, and this is more or less what I expected: rude, filthy and often very funny. The extra is a brief behind-the-scenes segment.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com, on Facebook and on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
The big release this week on DVD and Blu-ray is the latest version of Star Trek, and a very enjoyable movie it is. But since you probably already know plenty about that film, let's look first at a far less famous title.
Get the full article here.
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