Is Project X coming to DVD? (1 Viewer)

[StephenA]

I love this movie. Some of it has to do with me loving chimps, but I still find this movie highly entertaining and moving. I really hope they do release it. Who else would love to have this?

 

[Ricardo C]

I certainly hope it gets a DVD release. Hell of a cool movie, and Helen Hunt looked absolutely stunning

 

[Paul Hillenbrand]

Project X will be released this Tuesday 2/22/05.
Matthew Broderick
Helen Hunt
William Sadler
Jean Smart
Studio: Anchor Bay
Production Year: 1987
Widescreen 1.85:1
DD Surround Sound
108 Mins
UPC Code: 013131297096

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Matthew Broderick, in one of his first grownup roles after years of playing teen heroes, stars as an air force foul-up, a pilot who, as punishment, is assigned to care for the chimps in military medical experiments. He's indignant at first but gradually warms up to his simian charges (who wouldn't?). The more time he spends with them, the more he realizes just what thinking, feeling creatures they are--which sticks him squarely in the center of a moral dilemma when he realizes that the outcome of the experiments involves putting all the chimps to sleep. Director Jonathan Kaplan, no stranger to ethically complex melodrama, gives what might otherwise be a predictable tale a jolt of both adrenaline and real emotion--and it doesn't hurt that most of his actors are lovable scene-stealers. --Marshall Fine

 

[MikeEckman]

Oh wow! I must've missed this announcement! I always loved this movie and will eagerly pick it up! I remmeber seeing this one as a kid and getting really choked up when they radiated the monkey pilot.

 

[Keith I]

I just got my copy in the mail and am pleased to confirm that Anchor Bay did it again by making this DVD anamorphically enhanced for widescreen TVs (no surprise there). I don't have any other video format to compare it to but skimming through it, the image is pretty good. It's not too bright or dark, everything looks normal. Kudos to Anchor Bay for providing yet another good transfer. The extras consist of a few trailers and TV spots.

I wonder how the Air Force feels about this DVD? Probably the same when the movie was released in theaters. The DVD's release is low-key and under-the-radar so they must not be too worried.

-

 

[Travis Brashear]

This one's really slipping under a lot of radars, I'm noticing, so I'm getting quite nervous that my local Best Buy won't have it in stock when I show up on Tuesday, which will piss me off to no end because it feels like I've waited FOREVER for this little gem to be released...

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Sweet Zomby Jebus, I did not know this was coming out but will definitely have to pick it up...the first time I watched this movie was in a comunications class I took in High School and saw it on TV not all that long ago.

 

[MikeEckman]

Even if BBY is missing it, order it from Deepdiscountdvd...its only $8.99 there.

 

[Travis Brashear]

I've heard that DDD is bad about getting new release titles shipped in a timely manner, so I've only used them for titles that have been out for several months or years...

 

[Sebastien S]

...

Isn't this the movie where they actually "mistreated" the animals durring production?

I remember both "Siskel & Ebert" mentioning this when I was young and telling people not to see it or rent it...

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

There's no mention of this in Roger Ebert's review.

 

[StephenA]

Finally it's coming out. I'll be getting it when I get a chance a chance get to the store. I forgot I even made this thread.

Sebastien S: I never heard anything about that, though it may be true.

 

[Keith I]

There was controversy in the media about the mistreatment of the animals in this movie; I recall reading about it somewhere (a 'net search of "Project X" might bring up something). Wasn't this what caused more scrutiny of animal treatment on movie sets? Was Bob Barker involved?

I wonder if that's why the DVD was released under-the-radar and not from Fox. All other things aside, this is a nice presentation on DVD. It's anamorphic widescreen (with good audio and video) for a very low price.

I preordered it from one online retailer and got it last Friday!

 

[Travis Brashear]

I found the following information at this link: http://www.landrights.org/ALRA.orego...terrorism3.htm
"For 13 years, Hollywood animals were on their own until another blunder incurred the public's wrath. While shooting "Heaven's Gate," filmmakers blew up a horse with explosives. Actors joined the protest, and in 1980 the Hollywood Producers' Guild and the Screen Actors Guild inserted an animal-protection clause in their collective bargaining agreement, bringing back the American Humane Association to police movie-making.
Then came an incident that brought animal-rights activists down on the American Humane Association and resulted in new rules that have changed radically what the world sees on movie screens.
During the filming of "Project X" in 1985 and '86, trainers used snakes to scare chimpanzees and get desired facial expressions. Bob Barker, a Hollywood game-show host and animal-rights activist, went on the air with complaints, and soon the town was filled with militants, including Gary Francione, then director of Rutgers University's Animal Rights Law Center.
The Rutgers professor accused the trainers of beating the chimps with blackjacks, as well, a charge that was never proved but which helped propel the mainstream Humane Association into writing rules that eventually outlawed even flyswatting."
I had never heard anything before about this, but it looks like there may be validity to it. If true, then it seems perplexing that the makers of a film with the singular goal of villifying cruelty to animals would stoop to same for its filming...

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Travis,
the excerpt quoted in your post hurt me deeply. I cannot stand hearing or reading such things and as a result, will not be buying this film which I loved until this very moment. :frowning:
Knowing now that the frightened look in Virgil's eyes may have been real, it just breaks my heart. :frowning:

 

[Keith I]

And an interesting thing is that at the end of the movie, within the credits, it says that all animals were monitored by the Humane Society.

-

 

[Travis Brashear]

And an interesting thing is that at the end of the movie, within the credits, it says that all animals were monitored by the Humane Society.

Right--see this, combined with my comments from earlier, lead me to suspect something isn't quite square with these allegations...I'm still buying the title...

 

[MikeEckman]

The sad fact is, for MANY years animals have been mistreated at the expense of human entertainment. This movie is a far cry from the inhumanities that have gone on in circuses, zoos, and royal palaces of years past.

I agree it is sad, but for those of you who are going to boycott this movie, why? If these allegations are true, then why not look at this movie as a piece of history in that it was the 'straw that broke the camels back' (no pun intended) that caused filmmakers to take animal rights seriously.

Yes, its sad, but sometimes stuff like this needs to happen for things to change.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Mike,

the film can still stand for all that stuff, but I don't want it in my collection now.

You must understand how sensative I am to this issue, if I hear ANYTHING at all, regarding how an animal was abused or tortured, it stays with me forever and never leaves my subconcious. I saw a small kitten accidentally killed when I was about 14 and I can still see it happen in my head as clear as if it had happened yesterday and it makes me want to cry if I think about it for too long.

My family knows to not even bring this subject to my attention if they hear about something on the news or whatever because they know that i'll get angry and dwell on it.

About the film, I won't be able to enjoy it knowing that some of Willie's (Virgil) reactions were out of fear of something frightening him off camera. I'll pass.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

And the comments quoted above seem to say that this monitoring DID occur, but at the time the rules of what constituted mistreatment were not clear defined.

Reread what is quoted above:

"Then came an incident that brought animal-rights activists down on the American Humane Association and resulted in new rules"

It sounds like Heaven's Gate created the demand for AHA monitoring, however when making Project X, the behavior of the filmmakers was not yet considered outside the rules established by the AHA-- which were then revised following Project X.

So, the film might have a credit for Humane Society monitoring, however the above seems to indicate that wasn't, at the time, enough.

-V