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Robert Harris

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Anthony Harvey's 1971, They Might Be Giants, is one of those delicious trifles, that's always a pleasure.

It's an unconventional rom-com, about a retired judge, who knows that he's actually Sherlock Holmes, and the psychiatrist assigned to his case.

For those who may never have been aware of the film, it's best viewed with no information up front. Main cast members are George C. Scott - going into TMBG directly after Patton, and Joanne Woodward, whose husband was a producer on the project.

Photographed on location, in Manhattan by Victor Kemper, and with a score by John Barry, it's one of those little films that I love.

Tony Harvey had previously directed The Lion in Winter, and here, was re-united with his author and screenwriter, James Goldman - adapted from his play.

The HD master supplied to Kino Lorber, for this long-awaited Blu-ray, appears to have a bit of bottle age, could be sharper, and more stable, but does the trick for government work.

Extras include a featurette, and a commentary of sorts.

Image - 3.5

Audio - 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

Upgrade from DVD - Yes

Highly Recommended

RAH

 
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Wayne Klein

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Thanks for the review. I enjoyed your commentary track with Harvey but I did have a question about the film--since this was co-produced by Paul Newman (Newman-Foreman Productions), did Harvey indicate any other actor that he considered for the role of Playfair (I don't remember hearing anything in the commentary about it)? I'm on a George C. Scott run with The Hospital, this film, Oklahoma Crude and a couple of other films. Scott gives a marvelous performance here.

Another question--is the transfer you provided the commentary track here for the same source used for the Blu-ray?

Thanks for continuing to do these overviews.
 

Wayne Klein

Second Unit
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Mar 9, 2005
Messages
401
Anthony Harvey's 1971, They Might Be Giants, is one of those delicious trifles, that's always a pleasure.

It's an unconventional rom-com, about a retired judge, who knows that he's actually Sherlock Holmes, and the psychiatrist assigned to his case.

For those who may never have been aware of the film, it's best viewed with no information up front. Main cast members are George C. Scott - going into TMBG directly after Patton, and Joanne Woodward, whose husband was a producer on the project.

Photographed on location, in Manhattan by Victor Kemper, and with a score by John Barry, it's one of those little films that I love.

Tony Harvey had previously directed The Lion in Winter, and here, was re-united with his author and screenwriter, James Goldman - adapted from his play.

The HD master supplied to Kino Lorber, for this long-awaited Blu-ray, appears to have a bit of bottle age, could be sharper, and more stable, but does the trick for government work.

Extras include a featurette, and a commentary of sorts.

Image - 3.5

Audio - 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

Upgrade from DVD - Yes

Highly Recommended

RAH
Also one other question about the shorter version--I enjoy what was the additional footage shot for?
 

Robert Harris

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Thanks for the review. I enjoyed your commentary track with Harvey but I did have a question about the film--since this was co-produced by Paul Newman (Newman-Foreman Productions), did Harvey indicate any other actor that he considered for the role of Playfair (I don't remember hearing anything in the commentary about it)? I'm on a George C. Scott run with The Hospital, this film, Oklahoma Crude and a couple of other films. Scott gives a marvelous performance here.

Another question--is the transfer you provided the commentary track here for the same source used for the Blu-ray?

Thanks for continuing to do these overviews.

The track was produced for the DVD aeons ago. Unfortunately, Mr. Harvey has left us, and I never asked, but one would presume not.
 
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Winston T. Boogie

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Watched this over the weekend, have not yet listened to the commentary but looking forward to it. I also recently watched another Harvey directed picture, Eagle's Wing from 1979...the stories about him when he was working on that picture portrayed him as being a bit...well...out of his mind. Not sure if that had to do with the circumstances or...well...I really don't know.

This is a fun goofy little film though and there seems to be a bit in it that was later borrowed for both The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai and Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic (who I think was borrowing from Buckaroo Banzai and not this).

Good stuff, happy to have this picture on blu-ray.
 
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Winston T. Boogie

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Does the new blu have the ending in the supermarket?

Well, there is a sequence in a supermarket but that is not where the film ends.

Basically, Scott and Woodward enter a big beautiful supermarket thinking this is where they will meet Moriarty, cops and the mental hospital staff gather outside, then enter the market to apprehend Woodward and Scott, they surround them but when they go to arrest them all their friends that were marching with them show up and things devolve into a grocery store food fight. Then Scott takes over the store microphone and begins announcing incredible specials on everything and everybody stops fighting, grabs a cart, and goes on a shopping spree allowing Scott and Woodward to leave the market to head to the next destination where they believe they will meet Moriarty. The ending actually occurs in Central Park.

This is advertised as including scenes that I believe were not shown theatrically. Honestly, I never saw this film in a theater, I saw it once decades ago on television. So, I could not identify which scenes were added and which had never been shown. It all plays well as it is, so there do not seem to be any scenes that stood out as something that may have been cut but now reinstated.
 

B-ROLL

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Does RAH have other commentary tracks that are available?:thumbs-up-smiley:
giphy.gif
....
 

PMF

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MUST resist the urge...
MUST resist the urge!!!!!!!!
"The Force is strong with this one". - Darth Vader

P.S. Did I miss something here when I asked about other possible BD's with RAH commentary tracks?
This question, of course, is not inclusive of the films that Mr. Harris has restored;
such as the Criterion DVD of "Spartacus".
 
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Will Krupp

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"The Force is strong with this one". - Darth Vader

P.S. Did I miss something here when I asked about other possible BD's with RAH commentary tracks?
This question, of course, is not inclusive of the films that Mr. Harris has restored;
such as the Criterion DVD of "Spartacus".

AND DON'T CALL ME SHIRLEY!!!!

aahh, shit..... :(
 

Robert Harris

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Commentary tracks are Very difficult to do well. I’ve done a couple as favors, plus those as extras or docs with restorations.

I’d much prefer to listen to Scott MacQueen, Joe McBride (A Foreign Affair), or Michael Schlesinger (The Front Page).
 
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B-ROLL

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Commentary tracks are Very difficult to do well. I’ve done a couple as favors, plus those as extras or docs with restorations.

I’d much prefer to listen to Scott MacQueen, Joe McBride (A Foreign Affair), or Michael Schlesinger (The Front Page).
We do appreciate the ones you do :) !
 

Will Krupp

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This is advertised as including scenes that I believe were not shown theatrically. Honestly, I never saw this film in a theater, I saw it once decades ago on television. So, I could not identify which scenes were added and which had never been shown. It all plays well as it is, so there do not seem to be any scenes that stood out as something that may have been cut but now reinstated.

There seems to be some confusion across multiple platforms about what was shown in theaters. From what I'm able to gather, with help from the Chris Steinbrunner book about Holmes in the movies, the penultimate scene in the supermarket was part of the INTENDED theatrical version but it was deleted prior to the film's original theatrical release as the studio felt it was too raucous and slapsticky (slapstick-ish?) That scene was reinstated when the film was sold to television because they needed it to pad the film to a 2 hour length with commercials.

I think the information is incorrect on imdb as they have the theatrical version listed as 98 minutes and seem to be under the impression that the supermarket scene was part of the original release when it wasn't. I know the KL version is listed on their website at 91 minutes so I would gather that's the longest version.
 

Angelo Colombus

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Saw the movie for the first time last night and liked it. Fine performances by Scott & Woodward and liked the quirky story and characters. Agree with Robert about the look of the print not looking it's best but it's ok and I did laugh at the scene in the supermarket and how much meat cost back then.
 

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