Is Dead Presidents worth a blind buy? (1 Viewer)

[Daryl Stovall]

I think with Menace 2 Society, Newline gave them more artistic freedom to flesh out their material. Disney & Fox gave them bigger budgets, but in a trade-off, they tightened the reigns artistically.

 

[Scott Burke]

I like Menace better than both From Hell and Dead Presidents.

 

[Yancy Berns]

"Dead Presidents" is my favorite Hughes Brothers film. Very confident, very fast-moving, very beautifully shot. (Incidentally, "From Hell" is growing on me every time I see it... Good Hammer-style horror show...)

Oh, and I'm a proud owner of the "Dead Presidents" Criterion... great set, great commentary... Man, part of me still misses those big clumsy laserdiscs...

 

[Paul.S]

I hope that someday, somehow, we'll see Criterion's extensive laserdisc special edition of Dead Presidents released onto DVD.

Hear, hear. Menace II Society could definitely stand for a better DVD re-release also. It's an early (1997) disc that is, surprisingly for New Line, non-anamorphic. Too bad Presidents is also non-anamorphic.

Terrific soundtrack.

-p

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

It's been years since I've seen the movie but I remember enjoying it immensely and renting it multiple times in my highschool days.. What's the chance that we might see an updated release since this was one of Miramax's earlier DVD titles?

 

[Aaron Silverman]

It'd be great to get that Criterion set on DVD. This is an underrated film -- it's the dark flip side of Forrest Gump.

 

[Darcy Hunter]

I love Menace 2 Society and think it's one of the best films to come out of the 90's, and I admired what they were trying to do with Dead Presidents, but it does come up short. It had an amazing soundtrack (great music choices worthy of a Scorsese flick), nice performances, and a great visual look, but the whole thing just didn't come together. I had the same feelings about From Hell, but I would still be excited about anything they try to tackle in the future, but they do need a really killer script to shine.

Didn't the Criterion LD have an extended unrated version of the heist scene?

 

[David Dias]

"Didn't the Criterion LD have an extended unrated version of the heist scene?"

Yes, it did, however it wasn't integrated into the film, it was available separately.

I enjoyed "Dead Presidents" tremendously, the performances, the music, cinematography, everything about it really. The Criterion LD, which unfortunately I don't own anymore, had a fantastic commentary with the Hughes Bros, Larenz Tate, Keith David, the DP, a film professor, and I believe someone else that I can't recall. It also had a featurette about blacksploitation films, deleted scenes, behind the scenes footage, and some music videos.

 

[Joe McCabe]

But Ron, he said "Nuff said", and you added more. What's your problem?

Seriously though, I think Dead Presidents is a great movie, and really captures the feel of the time. Alot of the scenery, and music, reminded me of my old neighborhood.
My main gripe with the DVD, is that it isn't anamorphic.

 

[Matt Fisher]

I remember seeing the trailer and thinking "wow what a great looking heist film", then seeing the film on PPV back in 1996 (heck I was only 12, don't think I was seeing this one in theaters), it seemed the film was extremely misrepresented. The majority of the film took place in Vietman from what I can remember with only a small portion actually dealing with the heist. Then again its been about 8 or so years since I've seen the movie, and like I said I was 12 at the time, so my memory may be way off.

 

[PaulP]

Yes, hopefully Criterion will get this DVD out one of these days. All those extras sound great, so I'm not touching a non-anamorphic barebones disc.

 

[Paul.S]

The majority of the film took place in Vietman from what I can remember with only a small portion actually dealing with the heist. Then again its been about 8 or so years since I've seen the movie, and like I said I was 12 at the time, so my memory may be way off.

Yeah your memory is off, Matt. Majority takes place in NY before and after Vietnam.

Good but not great pic. Danny Elfman's contribution is terrif as usual. Great s'track. Typical early Di$ney DVD, the non-anamorphic transfer leaves a lot to be desired.

-p