Independent distributors Olive Films have officially announced their February batch of Blu-ray titles, which includes: John Frankenheimer's
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), John Sturges'
The Hallelujah Trail (1965), Jim McBride's
Great Balls of Fire! (1989), and Oscar Williams'
Five on the Black Hand Side (1973).
Great Balls of Fire!
Synopsis: Dennis Quaid (The Day After Tomorrow) and Winona Ryder (TV's Stranger Things) star in the biographical drama Great Balls of Fire!, directed by Jim McBride (The Big Easy). Quaid portrays rock 'n' roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis in a film that traces his rise to fame and scandalous personal life, including his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown (Ryder). Seated comfortably between soap opera and docudrama, Great Balls of Fire! offers the viewer a look inside the life of a gifted artist and his Icarus-like rise in the music world. But what goes up …
Featured in supporting roles are Alec Baldwin (TV's 30 Rock) as Lee's cousin, the pre-televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, Trey Wilson (Raising Arizona) as legendary music producer Sam Phillips, Stephen Tobolowsky (Groundhog Day) as music promoter Jud Phillips, with Lisa Blount (An Officer and a Gentleman) and John Doe (Road House) as Lois and J.W. Brown, Myra's parents.
With optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.
STREET DATE: FEBRUARY 27.
Birdman of Alcatraz
Synopsis: Birdman of Alcatraz, director John Frankenheimer's (The Manchurian Candidate) biographical drama, stars Burt Lancaster (Elmer Gantry) as Robert Stroud, the "birdman" of the title, who, as the film begins, is incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison for murder, a sentence that will eventually lead him to Alcatraz. Seeing his days stretch out to life without parole for the murder of a prison guard, Stroud will pass his days in solitary confinement caring for a baby sparrow, an act which eventually blossoms into caring for an array of birds sent as gifts to fellow inmates.
Birdman of Alcatraz offers supporting performances by Thelma Ritter (who would receive an Academy Award® nomination for Best Supporting Actress) as Stroud's mother; Karl Malden as prison warden, Harvey Schoemaker; Betty Field (Picnic) as Stroud's future wife, Stella; Telly Savalas (The Dirty Dozen) as fellow inmate Gomez; Neville Brand (Stalag 17) as Bull, a prison guard who befriends Stroud; and Edmond O'Brien (The Wild Bunch) as Thomas E. Gaddis, the author of the book based on Stroud's life. Birdman of Alcatraz was photographed by Burnett Guffey (Academy Award® winner for From Here to Eternity – 1954, Bonnie and Clyde - 1968) and scored by Elmer Bernstein.
Special Features:
- Audio commentary by Kate Buford, author of Burt Lancaster: An American Life
- Optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature
STREET DATE: FEBRUARY 27.
The Hallelujah Trail
Synopsis: Burt Lancaster (Elmer Gantry) and Lee Remick (Days of Wine and Roses) star in The Hallelujah Trail, the widescreen comic western extravaganza directed by John Sturges (The Magnificent Seven) from a screenplay by John Gay (The Courtship of Eddie's Father) based on the novel by Bill Gulick.
Under the watchful eye of its owner Frank Wallingham (Brian Keith, The Parent Trap), the Wallingham Freighting Company is bound for Denver with forty wagons of whiskey to quench the town's thirst. But there are others who have plans of their own for the load of libations including temperance leader Cora Templeton Massingale (Remick), who wants it destroyed, the Sioux Indians who want it for themselves, ditto the Denver citizens militia, as well as the Irish teamsters hired as wagon drivers. Fearing that the shipment may not reach its destination, Colonel Thaddeus Gearhart (Lancaster) assigns Captain Paul Slater (Jim Hutton; Walk, Don't Run) to safeguard the cargo, unaware that Slater's fiancée, Louise (Pamela Tiffin, Harper) – who also happens to be the Colonel's daughter – has fallen under the powerful spell of Cora's temperance message.
Rounding out the cast in this comic free-for-all are Donald Pleasence (Halloween), Martin Landau (Ed Wood), Dub Taylor (Bonnie and Clyde), John Anderson (Ride the High Country), Tom Stern (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold) and Val Avery (Black Caesar).
The Hallelujah Trail was photographed in the Ultra Panavision 70 format by three-time Academy Award® winner Robert Surtees (King Solomon's Mines – 1951, The Bad and the Beautiful – 1953, Ben-Hur – 1960), costumed by eight-time Academy Award® winner Edith Head (The Sting – 1974), with a rousing score by Academy Award® winner Elmer Bernstein (Best Music, Original Music Score, Thoroughly Modern Millie - 1968).
The Hallelujah Trail is sourced from the best available elements.
With optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.
STREET DATE: FEBRUARY 27.
Five on the Black Hand Side
Synopsis: Fed up with patriarch Mr. John Henry Brooks Jr.'s (Leonard Jackson, The Color Purple) tyrannical rule, Mrs. Brooks (Clarice Taylor, Play Misty for Me) and the Brooks children -- Booker T. Washington (D'Urville Martin, Black Caesar), Gideon (Glynn Turman, Cooley High) and the soon-to-be-married Gail (Bonnie Banfield) are a family in revolt. But it's the impending nuptials, along with fiancé Marvin's (director Carl Franklin, One False Move) insistence that the wedding be a traditional African ceremony that's the catalyst for all the dramedy. Adding to the fun is Ja'Net Dubois (Willona on TV's Good Times) as firebrand Stormy Monday. With a colorful assortment of eccentric friends and neighbors, and topics ranging from black identity to gender equality, you have "a real clean scene with a lot of laughter in between."
Five on the Black Hand Side is directed by Oscar Williams (The Final Comedown), written by Charlie L. Russell (based on his stage play) and co-stars Virginia Capers (What's Love Got to Do with It), Dick Anthony Williams (The Jerk), Sonny Jim (Malcolm X) and Godfrey Cambridge (Friday Foster).
With optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.
STREET DATE: FEBRUARY 27.
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DVD ONLY ANNOUNCEMENT
Hair
From the opening strains of the "Aquarius" anthem, director Milos Forman's (Amadeus) film adaptation of Hair proves that it is not only a masterful interpretation of the 1968 Broadway musical sensation, but that it is pure cinematic entertainment.
Based on the Gerome Ragni, James Rado and Galt MacDermot stage musical, Hair stars John Savage (The Deer Hunter) as country boy Claude Hooper Bukowski, a Vietnam draftee who embarks on an adventure of a lifetime when he meets a group of counterculture hippies: Berger (Treat Williams, Smooth Talk), Jeannie (Annie Golden, TV's Orange Is the New Black), Hud (Dorsey Wright, The Warriors) and Woof (Don Dacus). Introduced to a world of free love and hallucinogens, Claude's eyes are also opened to the darker side of class, race and big city life when he becomes infatuated with a beautiful debutante, Sheila (Beverly D'Angelo, Coal Miner's Daughter).
At turns both comic and dramatic, Hair boasts a catalog of adeptly performed musical numbers including the title tune along with "Good Morning Starshine," "I Got Life," "Where Do I Go," "Let The Sun Shine In" and a heartbreaking rendition of "Easy to Be Hard," a showstopper for performer Cheryl Barnes in her screen debut.
Directed by Milos Forman, two-time Academy Award® winner for Best Director (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest – 1976, Amadeus – 1985), Hair is written for the screen by Michael Weller (based on the musical play by Gerome Ragni & James Rado and Galt MacDermot) with music composed, arranged and conducted by Galt MacDermot. Featured players include Charlotte Rae (TV's The Facts of Life), Nell Carter (TV's Gimme a Break),
Melba Moore (Lost in the Stars) and a special cameo appearance by director Nicholas Ray (The Savage Innocents). Technical credits include cinematography by Miroslav Ondrícek (Amadeus, Ragtime); choreography by Twyla Tharp (Amadeus); vocal arrangements by Thomas Pierson (Manhattan); film editing by Stanley Warnow (Woodstock) and Alan Heim, A.C.E. (Academy Award® winner, Best Editing, All That Jazz – 1980) with costumes by Ann Roth (Academy Award® winner, Best Costume Design, The English Patient – 1997).
With optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.
STREET DATE: FEBRUARY 27.