Any more Mike Nichols Commentaries out there? (1 Viewer)

[Race Bannon]

This year's Criterion release of The Graduate (1967) caused me to listen to the Mike Nichols (and Steven Soderbergh) commentary track, which was AWESOME.

Mich Nichols is just one of the most intelligent and talented men to ever make films -- about everything, life in general. And he did commentaries at a time in his life when he was very retrospective and humble. He's so wise and humble about all that he has learned. I love to hear him warmly confess to things he realizes now he was wrong about, or wishes he has. For example, looking at Anne Bancroft now, he things "Why didn't I make 12 more movies with her? Why didn't I just ask her what's the next thing you're working on until she was available?"

Anyway, this commentary caused me to track down the 2001 DVD of Catch-22, because there is a similar Nichols/Soderbergh commentary. And it is also great.

It's hard to quickly track down what other ones might be out there -- there's not as good a database for the DVD editions that came out, and the early 2000's appear to be Nichols' "prime" when he was doing these.

Anyway -- does anyone know of another Mike Nichols commentary out here, on any edition, even DVD? Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[Race Bannon]

Oh, I did find 2006 DVD edition that is supposed to have one -- Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf. I wonder if the upcoming blu-ray will include that?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I don't mean to drag this too far off topic, but I think Steven Soderbergh commentaries in general are fantastic - whether it's Soderbergh on his own movie, or commenting on someone else's, it's always worth a listen in my opinion. I have his track for "The Graduate" but have yet to listen to it (it's on the MGM DVD version too), but I think I will make getting to that a priority now that I've read your recommendation.

 

[Race Bannon]

I don't mean to drag this too far off topic, but I think Steven Soderbergh commentaries in general are fantastic - whether it's Soderbergh on his own movie, or commenting on someone else's, it's always worth a listen in my opinion. I have his track for "The Graduate" but have yet to listen to it (it's on the MGM DVD version too), but I think I will make getting to that a priority now that I've read your recommendation.

It's REALLY good, and Soderbergh is a big reason for that. I do like the two-director format. It's more of a conversation, but each side holds up his end of the bargain.

Some of the Bogdanovich commentaries out there have the same quality.

 

[dvdclon]

Soderbergh did a commentary on Criterion's "The Third Man" as well as a dual track with director Gary Ross on "Seabiscuit." I've seen conflicting information that Ross and Soderbergh also did one for "Pleasantville".

 

[Charles Smith]

The BD cover names Ross on the commentary, but I haven't listened to it yet to know if he's alone.

 

[Filmgazer]

Mike Nichols and Steven Soderbergh did a very interesting commentary track on the 2001 Paramount DVD of "Catch 22". Not sure if it's included on the more recent DVD release that's available on Amazon.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I love the Catch 22 track and I love the film. I really hope somebody can get that out on blu-ray.