Bayview Entertainment Targets Oct. 26 For The DVD Release Of Documentary Filmmaker Jerry Simmons' Operation Carpetbagger

Bayview Entertainment has tabbed Oct. 26 for the DVD debut of documentary filmmaker Jerry Simmons’ Operation Carpetbagger, a look back at one of the most secret missions of World War II.

Before helicopters, the only way to get behind the lines with troops or to supply the forces on the battlefield, was to parachute in.   They came up with a daring plan to use Heavy B-24D Liberators to fly at tree-top level, in enemy territory, and do parachute drops of supplies, and even people.   Zip-in, fly low, find the target and let it go!!

They got so good at it, with flight after flight behind enemy lines, that the crews would actually land their B-24s on remote roads and in country fields, pick-up wounded and fly back out.   Their mission, “Operation Carpetbagger” was considered top-secret … it could not be revealed how they found their targets, even General Patton’s vanguard tank units — who had run short of fuel — was found in the heat of battle and the much-need gasoline was delivered.   Drop the supplies and fly out without the German’s being any the wiser.

Also arriving on DVD on Oct. 26 is documentary filmmaker Tony Villani’s heartfelt presentation of Soldiers, Six Stories, Six Wars.

From World War II, and poignantly to Afghanistan, with stops in Vietnam, Kosovo, Iraq and the Cold War, we have six self-contained stories about combat, fear, loyalty, death … and right and wrong.   Haunting at times, and in a very real sense, where they have gone, we cannot, only imagine.  

Lastly, Bayview Entertainment has also targeted Oct. 26 for the DVD debut of documentary filmmaker Jay Nuzum’s A Soldier Home, a very personal look at a U.S. Marine returning home from Iraq, who is suffering from PTSD.

Nuzum met Zach Fresquez in an acting class.  It was a chance meeting, but as Nuzum got to know Fresquez he realized that there was a story there; a story that needed to be told.

Through interviews and the reenactment of events, U.S. Marine Zach Fresquez’s experiences, his nightmares, the things that haunt him unfold.   From everyday life back in the real world, finding a meaningful job, love … and finally a release from the demons that plague him through poetry and improv performances.

 

 

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Oct. 19 Will Be The DVD Release Date For Mill Creek Entertainment's Ultraman Tiga DVD Collection

Mill Creek Entertainment has set Oct. 19 as the street date for the next addition to its ever-growing Ultraman library available as DVD and Blu-ray product offerings. 

The 25^th Anniversary of Ultraman Tiga arrives on DVD as a six-disc collection featuring all 52 episodes from the series, which includes the special presentation of Ultraman Tiga Side Story: Revival of the Ancient Giant.

They were prophesized.   They were of legend.   Perhaps forgotten, but now the legend, the prophecy has come to pass as the Global Unlimited Task Squad has to engage not one, but two, giant Kaiju, Melba and Golza, from an ancient civilization at the other end of the galaxy.

In desperation, Daigo Madoka (Hiroshi Nagano) of the Global Unlimited Task Squad merges with the ancient Ultraman Tiga — who had, at one time, gone to the dark side — in an effort to bring a giant of their own into the battle against Melba and Golza.

Ultraman Tiga is presented in Japanese with English subtitles.

 

 

 

 

Icarus Films Sets Oct. 19 As The DVD Release Date For Let Them Eat Dirt

When the Martians came to earth they were on the fast track of obliterating all of mankind, but in the words of H.G. Wells, “The Martians — dead! ... slain, after all man’s devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon this earth.”

It turns out, the invaders from Mars had no natural immunities to microbes and bacteria, the smallest of things, and failed.  

Icarus Films, teaming up with Bullfrog Films, announced this past week that the documentary filmmaking team of Brad Marshland and Rivkah Beth Medow’s Let Them Eat Dirt will be making its DVD debut on Oct. 19.

Based on B. Brett Finlay (PhD) and Marie-Claire Arrieta’s (PhD) book, “Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Your Child from an Oversanitized World,” makes the case that allergies, obesity, asthma, intestinal disorders, auto-immune diseases, diabetes, you name it, are all on the rise and can be traced to the over use of anti-bacterials and antibiotics.   This obsession has created the exact opposite result, instead of healthier kids, they are becoming sicker.

Plenty of examples are presented, from diet to infections.   For example, the Amish don’t use anti-bacterials and have a 4 percent incidence of asthma.   The general population has a rate five times that.  Why?

Hosted by Good Morning America’s Becky Worley, Let Them Eat Dirt makes the case that kids should be sent outside, play, get dirty, get the sniffles, the cuts and bruises … and build natural immunities.

 

 

 

 

MVD Entertainment Group Bestows "Rewind Collection" Status On Roy Roger's Mackintosh & T.J./Under Western Stars Blu-ray Double-Feature On Nov. 23

It was a hot summer shooting schedule in Guthrie, Texas.  An entire month from mid-July to mid-August in 1975.   This production would be the last ride for Western screen legend Roy Rogers … he had been making movies for 40-years and this was to be the end of the trail.

MVD Entertainment Group announced this past week that they would be joining forces with Verdugo Entertainment on Nov. 23 for the double-disc Blu-ray “Rewind Collection” double-feature release of director Marvin J. Chomsky’s Mackintosh & T.J., representing the end of Roy Rogers film career, plus Under Western Stars, showing his first starring role in 1938.

Mackintosh & T.J. is a new 4K film restoration from the original 35mm camera negative.  UCLA Film and Television Archive was the source for the Under Western Stars restoration ... first time on Blu-ray.

Beginning in 1935, Roy Rogers began appearing in films, but you wouldn’t know it.   He was background, part of Sons of the Pioneers or some random guitar player.   If he got a credit at all, it would be Len Slye or Dick Weston … his film career was going nowhere.

And then the big break came in the fall of 1937 when Republic Pictures film star, Gene Autry, went “on strike.”   Roy Rogers had just done two films (as a singer) for Republic, Wild Horse Rodeo and The Old Barn Dance (starring Gene Autry), so the studio knew he could handle the singing part in Under Western Stars (the song “Dust” was nominated for an Oscar), but they were more than pleasantly surprised when they discovered that he could really act as well!!

Skip ahead to 1975 and Mackintosh & T.J. … and the last theatrical release for Roy Rogers, who had become a recording artist, the star of radio, film and television (his own series, The Roy Rogers Show from 1951 to 1957).

Bonus features included with this “Rewind Collection” Blu-ray release from MVD Entertainment Group are commentary from actors Clay O’Brien (as T.J.) and Andrew Robinson (as Coley), with moderation by author C. Courtney Joyner, the featurette titled “Lone Pine Cast Reunion,” on-set footage from Mackintosh & T.J. and a video session with actor Billy Green Bush. 

 

 

 

Arrow Video To Release A 4K Ultra HD Edition Of Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes On Nov. 09

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has selected Nov. 9 for the release of a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack edition of writer/director Wes Craven’s 1977 horror masterpiece, The Hills Have Eyes.

This is a new 4K film restoration featuring both the original and alternate ending to the film.

In 1972, Wes Craven burst upon the indie filmmaking scene with the landmark horror film, The Last House on the Left.   Craven then set about to write his next film, which was to take place in the same general area as The Last House on the Left, but in a moment of inspiration the filming was moved to the Mojave Desert in California.

The setting was perfect for a story that begins with a family on vacation in their station wagon, with a trailer in tow, who stop by Fred’s Oasis and get an ominous warning from Grandpa Fred to not go wandering around looking for an abandon silver mine that they say they have inherited.   The warning is not heeded.

The Carters are not a bunch of inept tourists, which makes what follows a much sharper story than just an assembled “victim pool” and a slaughtering of the helpless.  

Big Bob Carter (Russ Grieve — Foxy Brown, Dogs) is a retired cop, he has two German Shepherds, guns, a wife (Virginia Vincent), an adult son, Bobby (Robert Houston), two daughters, Brenda (Susan Lanier) and Lynne (played by Dee Wallace, whose only other screen credit at the time was a small part in The Stepford Wives … The Howling, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Cujo and more would follow) and Lynne’s husband, Doug (Martin Speer), as their family-on-vacation group.  

It’s only when their car breaks down and they are separated — in search of help — that they become vulnerable to the inbred cannibal family headed by Papa Juniper (James Whitmorth — Terminal Island).  Ruby (Janus Blythe), Mercury (Peter Locke), Mars (Lance Gordon) and Pluto (Michael Berryman — One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Deadly Blessing, The Devil's Rejects, etc.) are, in effect, the “other team” in this life and death contest in the desert.   Brilliant!!

Bonus features include three vintage commentary options.  One with writer/director Wes Craven and producer Peter Locke, the second feature cast members Michael Berryman, Janus Blythe, Susan Lanier and Martin Speer, and the third with author Mikel J. Koven (“Film, Folklore, Urban Legends”).  

Also included here is the feature-length making-of documentary, Looking Back on The Hills Have Eyes, outtakes and two featurettes — “Family Business” and “The Desert Sessions.”

 

 

 

 

Paramount Home Entertainment Preps Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins For Release On Oct. 19

Paramount Home Entertainment has targeted Oct. 19 for the delivery of a three-SKU helping of director Robert Schwentke’s Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins.  

This is the third film in the series, following G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2013), but judging from its theatrical performance — compared to the first two films — it might be a while before a fourth installment in the series arrives.  Blame it on the Covid.

The ARR works out to 88 days and box office receipts currently stand at $28.2 million.

Planned for release are stand-alone 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD editions.

Bonus features are limited to the 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray SKUs.   These include the short film titled Morning Light: A Weapon with Stories to Tell, deleted scenes and a trio of production featurettes — “Enter Snake Eyes,” “A Deadly Ensemble” and “Arashikage.”

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Looks To Nov. 09 For The 4K Ultra HD Presentation Of The Outsiders: The Complete Novel

Word arrived this past week from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment that a new 4K film restoration of director Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film adaptation of the S.E. Hinton novel, The Outsiders, will be heading home on Nov. 9.

The Outsiders: The Complete Novel will be arriving as a 4K Ultra HD/Three Blu-ray Combo Pack, which clocks in at 24 minutes longer than the original theatrical cut.

After the disaster of One from the Heart, Coppola needed to recover, to find his footing again.   He had received a letter from a librarian, signed by students, requesting that he adapt Hinton’s book two years earlier and turned to that as the vehicle that might get him back on track.  

The film was shot over a seven-week period in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which kept production costs down.   But the key to the film was the “dream” cast that Coppola was able to assemble.

Let’s go down the list … C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy.   His only other screen credit was a small part in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.  This was his story, he had to shine; he did.  Next, we have Patrick Swayze and Rob Lowe, who were cast as his brothers … previously, Swayze was in Skatetown U.S.A. (and a few made-for-TV movies) and this was Lowe’s theatrical debut.   WOW.

And then you have the tough-guy “Greaser,” Dallas, played by Matt Dillon.   He probably had the most screen experience with My Bodyguard, Liar’s Moon and Tex.  

The rest of the “Greasers” were played by Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez and Tom Cruise.   Seriously, Macchio (before The Karate Kid), Estevez (he had just finished Tex with Matt Dillon and Meg Tilly) and Cruise (two years earlier he had appeared in Taps).  

The opposition, the “Socs,” the rich kids … the nice kids, the kids with a future.  We have Leif Garrett as “Bob,” he’s a bully.   Darren Dalton in his screen debut (he would team up with Swayze, and others, the following year in Red Dawn), Diane Lane as Cherry and Michelle Meyrink as Marcia, in her film debut (also Valley Girl the same year).

A magnificent cast …

The theatrical cut was for running time … The Outsiders: The Complete Novel has these scenes restored.

Bonus features include the Theatrical Cut of the film, a newly-prepared introduction by Coppola, two new featurettes — “Francis Ford Coppola Anatomy of a Scene” and “Old House New Home” — new video session with cinematography Stephen Burum and the restoration team (James Mockoski and Gregg Garvin) and deleted scenes.

On the vintage side, there are two commentary options.  One featuring Coppola and the second with cast members Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Diane Lane, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio and Patrick Swayze.   There are vintage featurettes, deleted and extended scenes and a clip from the Today Show (1983).