MVD Entertainment Group's Next "MVD Rewind Collection" Release Will Be Richard Schenkman’s Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God On Apr. 24

MVD Entertainment Group’s latest addition to its popular “MVD Rewind Collection” promotional line of DVD and Blu-ray products will be the Apr. 24 special edition Blu-ray release — a new hi-def transfer from the original 35mm film elements — of writer/director Richard Schenkman’s 1998 award-winner, Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God ... Be Back by Five.

This compelling “road trip” begins with the introduction of three 12-year old friends, Daniel, Stan and Richie (played respectively by Timothy Reifsnyder, Brandon Espinoza and Richard Acosta), who are best buddies, and their tag-along girlfriend, Gabby (Laura Breckenridge).    

We then transition to the present and meet the adult versions of Daniel (Jon Cryer) and Stan (Rick Stear) as they go in search of their friend Richie (Rafael Báez), who is now homeless and last seen wandering the streets near Coney Island.  The adult Gabby (Ione Skye) is now Stan’s “girlfriend,” but is, as we shall come to learn, frustrated with his inability to get his life together.

If Stan has problems, you can only imagine how bad Richie is.   He’s sick, he’s lost his way and it is the dead of winter … Daniel and Stan’s mission is clear, find him.   As the day progresses, we get a series of flashbacks that step by step fill in the missing pieces that lead to this crisis.   

The film originally worked the festival circuit during 1998 and 1999 and scored win after win for Best Film, which led to a very limited arthouse run in 2000, followed by a DVD launch the same year and a reissue in 2008.   This marks the films Blu-ray debut … and it comes loaded with extras.

Writer/Director Richard Schenkman (The Man from Earth, The Man from Earth: Holocene) and actor/co-writer Jon Cryer (Pretty in Pink, Morgan Stewart's Coming Home, etc. … and the Emmy-winning star of Two and a Half Men) provide commentary, plus they also provide a newly-filmed introduction to the film.   There is also the featurette titled “'Went to Coney Island... To Make a Movie” and a short film from Richard Schenkman titled “The Producer.”