The 4 Vengeful Western Films DVD Collection Has Been Added To Mill Creek Entertainment's Mar. 1 Release Calendar

Mill Creek Entertainment has added the DVD release of 4 Vengeful Western Films to its Mar. 1 release calendar.

Priced at just $9.98, this classic collection of Spaghetti Westerns kicks off with director Jaime Jesús Balcázar’s 1966 tale of betrayal and revenge, 4 Dollars of Revenge.   

Robert Wood (Battle of the Bulge, Pray to God and Dig Your Grave, The Lustful Amazons, etc.) stars as Capt. Dexter, a Union army captain with political ambitions whose last assignment is to deliver a stash of Confederate gold to the U.S. Treasury.   But it’s a set up, his men are slaughtered, the gold is stolen and he is charged, found guilty and sentenced to prison for life for masterminding the heist.   

Not so fast, Capt. Dexter has other ideas, makes good his escape from prison and rides out for revenge … no mercy for those who set him up!

3 Dollars of Lead (aka: Damned Pistols of Dallas) is a 1964 gem from filmmaker José María Zabalza (Rebels of Arizona, Bullets Over Dallas, etc.).   Clay Stone (Fred Beir — The Organization, Fort Courageous, etc.) is just minding his own business as a stage coach passenger when “Fast Draw” (Ángel Álvarez) and his gang rob him and his fellow passengers, including the lovely Katy Dior (Evi Marandi).   That was a big mistake, you don’t rob a gunslinger!   He hunts down the gang … one by one!

Next up is 7 Dollars to Kill (aka: Seven Dollars on the Red) from director Alberto Cardone and starring Anthony Steffen (Viva! Django, Sabata the Killer, Arizona Colt Returns … and many more) as the survivor of a bloody massacre, who goes in search of his son and the ruthless El Cachal (Fernando Sancho)!

And last, but not least, Mill Creek Entertainment rounds out the 4 Vengeful Western Films collection with director Luigi Batzella’s 1971 film, Paid in Blood, starring Jeff Cameron (Pray to God and Dig Your Grave, Four Came to Kill Sartana, God Is My Colt .45, etc.) sets out for revenge when his brother is robbed and murdered while withdrawing money from the local bank to pay for a big wedding.   Suspicion quickly falls on the cheap dancehall girl, Cora (played by the legendary Krista Nell), who was Jeff’s brother’s bride-to-be.   Is she behind the plan, or is she just a patsy?   Our hero has to sort this out … who does he trust, who does he kill!

Arrow Video Pick Mar. 22 For The Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Release Of Pam Grier's Black Mama White Mama

The theatrical poster from American International Pictures screamed “Chicks in Chains.”   That’s all the temptation needed for many a young man during January of 1973 to brave the cold and check out Black Mama, White Mama at their local theatre.

They were not disappointed in this Blaxploitation film starring Pam Grier that also managed to include other genre favorites, such as women in prison, leering lesbians, “cat fights,” drug lords, revolutionaries and even nuns stripped of their habits, all of which was crammed into 87 minutes of non-stop action by director Eddie Romero (Beast of the Yellow Night, The Twilight People, Savage Sisters, etc.).   Whew!

Word arrived this past week that Arrow Video, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new hi-def Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack edition planned for delivery to eager fans on Mar. 22.

The Blaxploitation cycle hit its stride in 1972 with films like Super Fly, Hammer and Across 110th Street and so the arrival of this Pam Grier action flick was perfectly timed and with a title such as Black Mama, White Mama what more could audiences of the day ask for!   

As for Pam Grier, this was her fourth “women in prison” film in just two years — The Big Doll House, Women in Cages and The Big Bird Cage — but that cycle was about to change and a full-blown star would be born with her next film, Coffy. 

Here, Grier finds herself sentenced to a jungle hell hole, run by a sadistic lesbian played by the late Lynn Borden (Frogs, Walking Tall, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, etc.), who likes to check out the prisoners voyeuristically before having her way with them.   Also sentenced to this lovely place is Karen (Margaret Markov (Pretty Maids All in a Row, The Hot Box, etc.), the main squeeze of the local revolutionary, Ernesto (Zaldy Zschornack).   

Let’s just say that these two don’t hit it off — “cat fight” — which lands them chained together (an homage to The Defiant Ones) and on a bus bound for a super max prison.   The bus is attacked by Ernesto, things don’t go as planned, and our “black mama” and our “white mama” are chained together, in ultra-short prison-issued “mini-skirts” and on the run.   They are hunted like dogs by literally everyone, including bounty hunter Ruben (played by Sid Haig) … run, mama, run!

Bonus goodies planned by Arrow Video include commentary by author and filmmaker Andrew Leavold (The Search for Weng Weng, Lesbo-A-Go-Go, etc.), a vintage video session with Margaret Markov and two featurettes — “Sid’s Filipino Adventure” and “The Mad Director of Blood Island.”

Paramount Home Media Preps Blockbuster Hits 2 On DVD For Delivery On Mar. 22

Paramount Home Media has prepared the perfect “sampler” for those looking to add some mega-budget franchise series to their home entertainment libraries at a bargain. 

On Mar. 22, look for Blockbuster Hits 2, a double-disc DVD collection featuring director Michael Bay’s 2009 monster hit (over $400 million domestically), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, filmmaker J.J. Abrams’ 2013 release of Star Trek: Into Darkness and director Jon M. Chu’s all-action sci-fi thriller, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, starring Dwayne Johnson, Channing Tatum and Bruce Willis.

The SRP is just $16.99 … and that’s before discounts at retail.

MVD Entertainment Group Selects Feb. 12 For The DVD Debut Of Documentary Filmmaker Cindy Marabito's The Dicks From Texas

It took 16 years for documentary filmmaker Cindy Marabito to complete her film, you can certainly call that a labor of love!   Her film, The Dicks from Texas, will be making its DVD debut on Friday, Feb. 12, courtesy of MVD Entertainment Group.

She fell in love with their music; that would be the music of The Dicks, an Austin-based punk band who challenged sensibilities, did things their way and during their four-year run they self-produced a pair of albums and might have slipped away into obscurity.    But fans — fans like Cindy — believed.   The Dicks, although never a big success, became music legends.

So why did it take her so long to complete her film?   It turned out that she had a higher calling … her love of animals.   Specifically, Pit Bulls, quite by accident she became something of a force of nature in rescuing these misunderstood canines.   She even wrote a book about her experiences, “Pit Bull Nation,” and the blog site, Pit Bulls and Other Animals.

From time to time she’d return to the story about The Dicks, about Gary Floyd, the late Glen Taylor … and the rest of the band’s members; their reunion concerts and more.

The final product, The Dicks from Texas, is like a visit to another dimension for those not familiar with the Austin music scene in the 1980s.   For fans, her film is a tribute that they will savor again, and again … and again.   So come join the fun on Feb. 12.

Oh yes, and be sure to check out Cindy’s web site, Reunion Rescue (reunionrescue.com) … this is one filmmaker with the heart of a saint!

Universal Studios Home Entertainment's Oscar Nominees — Trumbo And The Danish Girl — Head To DVD And Blu-ray On Feb. 16 and Mar. 1 Respectively

With little action at the box office — which is incredibly sad — Universal Studios Home Entertainment has elected to move two Oscar-nominated films in the acting category to the home entertainment arena without further delay.

First up is director Jay Roach’s biopic Trumbo, which garnered Bryan Cranston his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor as black listed screenwriter Dalton Trumbo — he already has 11 Emmy nominations (with five wins, including three as the iconic Walter White from Breaking Bad).   It will be available as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings on Feb. 16.

This Bleecker Street Media indie production, despite positive reviews and the aforementioned Oscar nomination, has only managed to generate $7.4 million in domestic ticket sales.   The ARR works out to 102 days.

Bonus features for both the DVD and Blu-ray SKUs include two production featurettes — “Who is Trumbo?” and “Bryan Cranston Becomes Trumbo.” 

The second film, also with a Best Actor contender, is director Tom Hooper’s film adaptation of David Ebershoff’s 2000 novel loosely based on the life of Lili Elbe, The Danish Girl.   Blu-ray and DVD editions will be retail-ready on Mar. 1.

Despite a Best Actor nomination for Eddie Redmayne (his second in as many years, having won last year for his performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything) as Lili Elbe (aka: Einar Wegener) and a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Alicia Vikander (her first, although she could have easily been nominated as well for her performance as the android Ava in Ex Machina) as artist Gerda Wegener, The Danish Girl has only managed to pull in $8.9 million at the box office.

For the record, the ARR for that Mar. 1 street date is a quick-to-market 95 days.  The only bonus goodies, which is common to both the DVD and Blu-ray editions, is the featurette titled, “The Making of the Danish Girl.”

HBO Home Entertainment Has Tabbed Mar. 15 For Blu-ray And DVD Editions Of Game of Thrones: The Complete Fifth Season

HBO Home Entertainment mega-Emmy winning series, Game of Thrones, returns to the realm of DVD and Blu-ray on Mar. 15 with the release of Game of Thrones: The Complete Fifth Season.    

All ten episodes will be packaged as five-disc DVD and four-disc Blu-ray collections.

Bonus goodies include a quartet of deleted scenes, episode commentaries and four featurettes.   Exclusive to the Blu-ray edition are an “In-Episode Guide” and two additional production featurettes — “The Dance of Dragons” and “Histories and Lore.”

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Brings The Good Dinosaur To DVD And Blu-ray On Feb. 23

A lightning-quick trip from the local multiplex to the home entertainment market place is what Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has in planned with a three-SKU helping of director Peter Sohn’s The Good Dinosaur on Feb. 23.

The ARR is a dazzling fast pace of just 88 days — which matches Disney’s previous quickie — Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland back in 2010 — that’s for any film grossing in excess of $100 million.   Ticket sales currently stand at $119.3 million, which came in a little lighter than expected, but solid enough to translate positively when it comes to DVD and Blu-ray sales (plus assorted merchandise).

Planned for delivery on Feb. 23 are a stand-alone DVD edition and two Blu-ray/DVD Combo Packs — one with and one without a 3D viewing option.

Bonus nuggets appear to be limited to the Blu-ray editions.   These kick off with Toy Story 3, Up, The Incredibles, etc.), director of photography/lighting Sharon Calahan and supervising technical director Sanjay Bakshi.

commentary from voice-actor-turned-director Peter Sohn (his feature-length debut here), who is joined by co-writer Kelsey Mann, supervising animator Mike Venturini (

There are deleted scenes, the Oscar-nominated short animated film titled Sanjay’s Super Team, five featurettes, an animation promo clip and something called “Dino Bites” (not sure what that is).