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Waters proud of extras on two-disc set that has 'Buddy Deane Show'
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Published on Sunday, Nov 11, 2007
One of the best times I had at the movies this year was seeing the musical version of Hairspray on a big screen in downtown Cleveland.
You can get something close to that feeling on Nov. 20 when Hairspray comes to DVD in a variety of ways. New Line is releasing it in basic full-frame and widescreen versions ($28.98), a two-disc Shake & Shimmy Edition ($34.98), a fancy limited-edition gift set ($59.98) and on high-definition Blu-ray ($39.98).
With each of those, of course, you get the movie, a delight all by itself thanks to the songs, the central performance by Nikki Blonsky and a supporting cast that has John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Zac Efron and Queen Latifah. You can also see John Waters, the writer-director of the original movie that inspired all this madness, in a cameo role.
Waters, who will be at the University of Akron for a series of events this week, is especially pleased with some of the extras in the two-disc version. A history of Hairspray goes all the way back to The Buddy Deane Show, the teen-dance series in Baltimore that inspired Waters, and includes interviews with some of the people who danced on Deane's show.
It then goes through the story of Waters' movie (which starred Ricki Lake) and on to the musical renditions. Lots of nuggets along the way, such as Lake's recalling that she was frequently fed Dove bars between scenes because she was losing so much weight working on the dance routines.
Other extras on the double disc include a musical number cut from the film (with director Adam Shankman explaining why in a commentary), other deleted scenes and even dance instructions. It's a good package.
Waters can be seen on DVD sooner with the release Tuesday of a solid documentary called Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream (Starz Home Entertainment, $19.97), a look at six movies that developed a following as underground faves on the late-night-film circuit, and in some cases gained pure classic status.
The covered movies are El Topo, the original Night of the Living Dead, Waters' Pink Flamingos, The Harder They Come, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Eraserhead. The documentary has extensive clips from the movies along with interviews with the filmmakers, critics and fans.
If you liked the Bon Jovi special that was scheduled to air on A&E on Saturday night, have I got a DVD for you. Bon Jovi: Lost Highway: The Concert (A&E, $24.95) arrives in stores Tuesday with 30 minutes of footage not included in the televised special along with short interviews with band members and other extras. Excellent tunes, too.
Suppose I say to you, ''Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.''
Are you smiling? Well, then, you probably already have one of the previous DVD releases of The Princess Bride. But if you don't, or you want to share its glories with someone else, there's a new 20th-anniversary edition (Fox, $19.98). It has some new features, among them a DVD game, but the game's not too impressive.
Also looking superfluous is It's a Wonderful Life: 2-Disc Collector's Set (Paramount, $24.99). This is one of the best Christmas movies of all time, so you should have a copy. But you can buy the original black-and-white version on DVD and not encourage the distributors of this package, which includes both the original and an unnecessary colorized copy. The color looks nice enough at times, but it's not the way the movie was meant to be seen.
Notebook: I have gotten at least one reader question about With a Song in My Heart: The Jane Froman Story, a music-laden 1952 feature starring Susan Hayward. Well, it is finally coming to DVD on Tuesday as part of Fox's Marquee Musicals Collection. Other titles in the series to be released that day are Bloodhounds of Broadway (1952, with Mitzi Gaynor) and The Girl Next Door (1953, with June Haver). Each lists for $19.98.
What may be my favorite promotional effort in recent weeks is on the DVD of Hot Rod, the Andy Samberg comedy, which hits stores on Nov. 27. A sticker on the package declares ''From the co-creators of the hilarious, Emmy-winning SNL digital short, 'D**k in a Box.'''
Eastern Promises, the fine collaboration between actor Viggo Mortensen and director David Cronenberg, arrives on DVD on Dec. 26 from Universal. Yes, the day after Christmas. Just the occasion for a violent crime saga. Makes me wonder what kind of holiday Universal thinks its customers will have.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in a blog at http://www.ohio.com. Contact him at 330-996-3582 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
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