It was a hot August night
in El Centro, California. Of course it
was, it is the desert (it is always hot in August), but it just never cools
down at night out there — the moisture in the air from all of the irrigation in
the Imperial Valley seems to trap the heat during the summer. It just makes it worse; in a word: unbearable.
Around midnight, the
streets are quiet in this farming community and yet the young staff members
(concession, box office, etc.) for both the Crest and the Fox theatres were
still there, milling around anxiously await word if it would be OK to have a
midnight screening of the new film I was carrying in the truck.
Honestly, I couldn’t
recall seeing anything like it. They
could watch any movie playing in the two theatres any time they wanted (often
while working!), but they had talked (beg, pleaded) the manager/projectionist
of the Crest into sticking around after the last showing to screen this
particular film. He said sure; he didn’t
go to bed until first light anyway, so why not.
As the VP of operations
for this small Southern California theatre chain (some 30 screens), I would make
the run to El Centro a couple of times each month from Los Angeles with the new
films for the week, pick up the ones just completed, deliver concessions and
spend some time with both theatre managers — it was a way to maintain contact with
these “remote” outposts.
The two film cans
contained just another “chop socky” movie; they were becoming all the rage in
the early 1970s, especially in our Huntington Park theatre. But to have the high school kids hanging
around after midnight to get a sneak of this latest one came as something of a
surprise.
The film that everyone
was anxious to see was director Robert Clouse’s Enter the Dragon,
starring Bruce Lee, John Saxon and Jim Kelly.
It was the first studio-produced martial arts film and it was going to
be a monster … the kids were right. They
had a blast at their exclusive late night screening of the film, complete with
all of the popcorn and sodas they could consume in 98 minutes.
Bruce Lee was already
dead (just weeks before the film opened of a cerebral edema), but on that night
in El Centro (and in the weeks that followed across the country) a legend was
born.
In addition to Lee
becoming a film icon, filmmaker Robert Clouse built an entire career around
this genre, delivering such films as Black Belt Jones (Jim Kelly, 1974) The
Game of Death (this 1978 release was a total cheat of a film … he used
footage of Lee from other films that he had appeared in) and The
Big Brawl (Jackie Chan, 1980).
Plus, if you look
closely, you will spot future film stars Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung in small
roles in Enter the Dragon.
On June 11, Warner Home
Video will bring to Blu-ray: Enter the Dragon: 40th
Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition to market complete with bonus
materials that include collectible art cards, a lenticular card and an
embroidered patch, plus commentary from producer Paul M. Heller (Truck
Turner, First Monday in October, My Left Foot, etc.).
Other bonus treats
include three new featurettes — “No Way as Way,” “The Return to Han’s Island”
and “Wing Chun: The Art that Introduced Kung Fu to Bruce Lee” — an interview
with Lee’s wife, Linda Lee Caldwell, and five vintage featurettes (plus five
different trailers for the film).
Also getting a release
date this week from Warner Home Video is director Richard LaGravenese’s film
adaptation of the Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl novel, Beautiful Creatures.
The ARR for DVD and
Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack (both SKUs include UltraViolet) editions is 95 days and
the box office take was a little light at just $19.2 million.
This supernatural
romantic tale teams Alice Englert (In Fear, Ginger & Rosa) with Alden
Ehrenreich (Stoker, Tetro) with veterans Emma Thompson
and Jeremy Irons in a magical tale of “casters” (those capable of weaving
spells) locked in a battle for the next member of either the dark side or the
light side (a battle of good and evil).
Romance is in the air, but not all (make that, anything) is as at it
seems.
Bonus features, exclusive
to the Blu-ray SKU, include six featurettes and deleted scenes (also include on
the stand-alone DVD edition).
To download this week's
complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report: DVD & Blu-ray Release Report
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