I have had my introduction to the films of Samuel Fuller... and I want more. However, the wanting I'm experiencing has little to do with the films on Criterion's two recently released Blu-rays for Fuller's Shock Corridor and The Naked Kiss as much as it has to do with the selection of special features available on these two discs. Limited as they may be, the selection of interviews, short films and documentaries available across these two discs paint the picture of an artist of a bygone era. As director Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas) says in one of them (from a 1983 interview), "The B-picture is finished. For ten, fifteen years already. It doesn't exist anymore, and Sam's whole work was inside that genre. Sam never made a film that took more than four weeks to shoot and cost more than a million-and-a-half."
I've chosen to review these two releases together because...
I've chosen to review these two releases together because...
- 1/18/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Home on the Range
Opens
Friday, April 2
NEW YORK -- This amiable, Western-themed animated effort from the Walt Disney Co. is a clear attempt to return to the more lighthearted cartoon style that was so prevalent before its onslaught of stately musical epics. The tale of a group of animals determined to save their owner's dairy farm from the clutches of an evil outlaw, "Home on the Range" also boasts the return of composer Alan Menken ("Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin") to the creative team.
While not destined to assume a place in the Disney animation pantheon, the film should reasonably entertain the Small Fry during the current holiday season, though it is not likely to attract the adult crossover audience that can make for a breakout animated hit. It may also suffer from the competition, judging by the plaintive cry "When is it going to be Scooby-Doo?" heard from one tyke during the screening.
Featuring the sort of disparate voice-over cast emblematic of Disney cartoons, the film stars, among others, Roseanne Barr and Judi Dench, representing the most unusual screen pairing since, well, Barr and Meryl Streep in "She Devil". They voice the characters of cows Maggie and Mrs. Caloway, who, along with fellow cow Grace (Jennifer Tilly), fight to rescue their kindly owner Pearl (Carole Cook) from having her farm taken over by the dastardly Alameda Slim (Randy Quaid). Joining forces with a variety of other animals from the farm -- including horse Buck (Cuba Gooding Jr.), ace can-kicking goat Jeb (Joe Flaherty) and a variety of pigs, chickens, etc. -- they set out to capture Slim in the hope of garnering the reward for his head. Besides the expected dangers, they also must contend with competition from bounty hunter Rico (Charles Dennis, doing a Clint Eastwood homage).
The screenplay by co-directors Will Finn and John Sanford is a genial, jokey affair, filled with the requisite juvenile humor (belching pigs, etc.) and sprinkled with enough adult-oriented asides, like bulls leering after dairy cows ("Let me guess, you're a Taurus", one of the former comments), to qualify the film for a PG rating. While there are indeed some funny moments -- "We don't eat meat
it's like a professional courtesy," Barr's cow explains -- the humor generally lacks the manic hilarity of the Pixar efforts. And some of the gags, like Rico quoting a line from "Little Caesar" or a brief switch to widescreen that may be an in-joke reference to the company's own "Horse Whisperer", are likely to go over the heads of even the adult audience members.
The film's conventional, old-fashioned animation style generally gets the job done, with the anthropomorphic animal qualities rendered with the proper cute appeal. The voice talents do well by their characters. Barr scores consistent laughs as the sassy Maggie. Dench uses her elegant tones to good effect as the refined Mrs. Caloway. Gooding, as the vain horse, and Tilly, as plucky cow Grace, also are very enjoyable, no doubt because they seem so much like cartoon characters even in real life. Also very funny is Steve Buscemi, whose sleazy human character amusingly bears more than a slight resemblance to him.
Menken, besides his score, also has contributed several pleasant new songs (lyrics by Glenn Slater), none destined to be standards. They're sung by such stars as k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt and Tim McGraw.
Home on the Range
Buena Vista Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Credits:
Directors-screenwriters: Will Finn, John Sanford
Producer: Alice Dewey Goldstone
Original score: Alan Menken
Original songs: Alan Menken, Glenn Slater
Story: Will Finn, John Sanford, Michael LaBash, Sam Levine, Mark Kennedy, Robert Lence
Associate producer: David J. Steinberg
Editor: H. Lee Peterson
Art director: David Cutler
Voices:
Maggie: Roseanne Barr
Mrs. Caloway: Judi Dench
Grace: Jennifer Tilly
Buck: Cuba Gooding Jr.
Slim: Randy Quaid
Pearl: Carole Cook
Sheriff Brown: Richard Riehle
Rico: Charles Dennis
Rusty: G.W. Baily
Lucky Jack: Charles Haid
Audrey: Estelle Harris
Jeb: Joe Flaherty
Ollie: Charlie Dell
Wesley: Steve Buscemi
Patrick: Patrick Warburton
Annie: Ann Richards
Phil, Bill & Gil Willie: Sam Levine
Running time 74 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Friday, April 2
NEW YORK -- This amiable, Western-themed animated effort from the Walt Disney Co. is a clear attempt to return to the more lighthearted cartoon style that was so prevalent before its onslaught of stately musical epics. The tale of a group of animals determined to save their owner's dairy farm from the clutches of an evil outlaw, "Home on the Range" also boasts the return of composer Alan Menken ("Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin") to the creative team.
While not destined to assume a place in the Disney animation pantheon, the film should reasonably entertain the Small Fry during the current holiday season, though it is not likely to attract the adult crossover audience that can make for a breakout animated hit. It may also suffer from the competition, judging by the plaintive cry "When is it going to be Scooby-Doo?" heard from one tyke during the screening.
Featuring the sort of disparate voice-over cast emblematic of Disney cartoons, the film stars, among others, Roseanne Barr and Judi Dench, representing the most unusual screen pairing since, well, Barr and Meryl Streep in "She Devil". They voice the characters of cows Maggie and Mrs. Caloway, who, along with fellow cow Grace (Jennifer Tilly), fight to rescue their kindly owner Pearl (Carole Cook) from having her farm taken over by the dastardly Alameda Slim (Randy Quaid). Joining forces with a variety of other animals from the farm -- including horse Buck (Cuba Gooding Jr.), ace can-kicking goat Jeb (Joe Flaherty) and a variety of pigs, chickens, etc. -- they set out to capture Slim in the hope of garnering the reward for his head. Besides the expected dangers, they also must contend with competition from bounty hunter Rico (Charles Dennis, doing a Clint Eastwood homage).
The screenplay by co-directors Will Finn and John Sanford is a genial, jokey affair, filled with the requisite juvenile humor (belching pigs, etc.) and sprinkled with enough adult-oriented asides, like bulls leering after dairy cows ("Let me guess, you're a Taurus", one of the former comments), to qualify the film for a PG rating. While there are indeed some funny moments -- "We don't eat meat
it's like a professional courtesy," Barr's cow explains -- the humor generally lacks the manic hilarity of the Pixar efforts. And some of the gags, like Rico quoting a line from "Little Caesar" or a brief switch to widescreen that may be an in-joke reference to the company's own "Horse Whisperer", are likely to go over the heads of even the adult audience members.
The film's conventional, old-fashioned animation style generally gets the job done, with the anthropomorphic animal qualities rendered with the proper cute appeal. The voice talents do well by their characters. Barr scores consistent laughs as the sassy Maggie. Dench uses her elegant tones to good effect as the refined Mrs. Caloway. Gooding, as the vain horse, and Tilly, as plucky cow Grace, also are very enjoyable, no doubt because they seem so much like cartoon characters even in real life. Also very funny is Steve Buscemi, whose sleazy human character amusingly bears more than a slight resemblance to him.
Menken, besides his score, also has contributed several pleasant new songs (lyrics by Glenn Slater), none destined to be standards. They're sung by such stars as k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt and Tim McGraw.
Home on the Range
Buena Vista Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Credits:
Directors-screenwriters: Will Finn, John Sanford
Producer: Alice Dewey Goldstone
Original score: Alan Menken
Original songs: Alan Menken, Glenn Slater
Story: Will Finn, John Sanford, Michael LaBash, Sam Levine, Mark Kennedy, Robert Lence
Associate producer: David J. Steinberg
Editor: H. Lee Peterson
Art director: David Cutler
Voices:
Maggie: Roseanne Barr
Mrs. Caloway: Judi Dench
Grace: Jennifer Tilly
Buck: Cuba Gooding Jr.
Slim: Randy Quaid
Pearl: Carole Cook
Sheriff Brown: Richard Riehle
Rico: Charles Dennis
Rusty: G.W. Baily
Lucky Jack: Charles Haid
Audrey: Estelle Harris
Jeb: Joe Flaherty
Ollie: Charlie Dell
Wesley: Steve Buscemi
Patrick: Patrick Warburton
Annie: Ann Richards
Phil, Bill & Gil Willie: Sam Levine
Running time 74 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 7/9/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Home on the Range
Opens
Friday, April 2
NEW YORK -- This amiable, Western-themed animated effort from the Walt Disney Co. is a clear attempt to return to the more lighthearted cartoon style that was so prevalent before its onslaught of stately musical epics. The tale of a group of animals determined to save their owner's dairy farm from the clutches of an evil outlaw, "Home on the Range" also boasts the return of composer Alan Menken ("Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin") to the creative team.
While not destined to assume a place in the Disney animation pantheon, the film should reasonably entertain the Small Fry during the current holiday season, though it is not likely to attract the adult crossover audience that can make for a breakout animated hit. It may also suffer from the competition, judging by the plaintive cry "When is it going to be Scooby-Doo?" heard from one tyke during the screening.
Featuring the sort of disparate voice-over cast emblematic of Disney cartoons, the film stars, among others, Roseanne Barr and Judi Dench, representing the most unusual screen pairing since, well, Barr and Meryl Streep in "She Devil". They voice the characters of cows Maggie and Mrs. Caloway, who, along with fellow cow Grace (Jennifer Tilly), fight to rescue their kindly owner Pearl (Carole Cook) from having her farm taken over by the dastardly Alameda Slim (Randy Quaid). Joining forces with a variety of other animals from the farm -- including horse Buck (Cuba Gooding Jr.), ace can-kicking goat Jeb (Joe Flaherty) and a variety of pigs, chickens, etc. -- they set out to capture Slim in the hope of garnering the reward for his head. Besides the expected dangers, they also must contend with competition from bounty hunter Rico (Charles Dennis, doing a Clint Eastwood homage).
The screenplay by co-directors Will Finn and John Sanford is a genial, jokey affair, filled with the requisite juvenile humor (belching pigs, etc.) and sprinkled with enough adult-oriented asides, like bulls leering after dairy cows ("Let me guess, you're a Taurus", one of the former comments), to qualify the film for a PG rating. While there are indeed some funny moments -- "We don't eat meat
it's like a professional courtesy," Barr's cow explains -- the humor generally lacks the manic hilarity of the Pixar efforts. And some of the gags, like Rico quoting a line from "Little Caesar" or a brief switch to widescreen that may be an in-joke reference to the company's own "Horse Whisperer", are likely to go over the heads of even the adult audience members.
The film's conventional, old-fashioned animation style generally gets the job done, with the anthropomorphic animal qualities rendered with the proper cute appeal. The voice talents do well by their characters. Barr scores consistent laughs as the sassy Maggie. Dench uses her elegant tones to good effect as the refined Mrs. Caloway. Gooding, as the vain horse, and Tilly, as plucky cow Grace, also are very enjoyable, no doubt because they seem so much like cartoon characters even in real life. Also very funny is Steve Buscemi, whose sleazy human character amusingly bears more than a slight resemblance to him.
Menken, besides his score, also has contributed several pleasant new songs (lyrics by Glenn Slater), none destined to be standards. They're sung by such stars as k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt and Tim McGraw.
Home on the Range
Buena Vista Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Credits:
Directors-screenwriters: Will Finn, John Sanford
Producer: Alice Dewey Goldstone
Original score: Alan Menken
Original songs: Alan Menken, Glenn Slater
Story: Will Finn, John Sanford, Michael LaBash, Sam Levine, Mark Kennedy, Robert Lence
Associate producer: David J. Steinberg
Editor: H. Lee Peterson
Art director: David Cutler
Voices:
Maggie: Roseanne Barr
Mrs. Caloway: Judi Dench
Grace: Jennifer Tilly
Buck: Cuba Gooding Jr.
Slim: Randy Quaid
Pearl: Carole Cook
Sheriff Brown: Richard Riehle
Rico: Charles Dennis
Rusty: G.W. Baily
Lucky Jack: Charles Haid
Audrey: Estelle Harris
Jeb: Joe Flaherty
Ollie: Charlie Dell
Wesley: Steve Buscemi
Patrick: Patrick Warburton
Annie: Ann Richards
Phil, Bill & Gil Willie: Sam Levine
Running time 74 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Friday, April 2
NEW YORK -- This amiable, Western-themed animated effort from the Walt Disney Co. is a clear attempt to return to the more lighthearted cartoon style that was so prevalent before its onslaught of stately musical epics. The tale of a group of animals determined to save their owner's dairy farm from the clutches of an evil outlaw, "Home on the Range" also boasts the return of composer Alan Menken ("Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin") to the creative team.
While not destined to assume a place in the Disney animation pantheon, the film should reasonably entertain the Small Fry during the current holiday season, though it is not likely to attract the adult crossover audience that can make for a breakout animated hit. It may also suffer from the competition, judging by the plaintive cry "When is it going to be Scooby-Doo?" heard from one tyke during the screening.
Featuring the sort of disparate voice-over cast emblematic of Disney cartoons, the film stars, among others, Roseanne Barr and Judi Dench, representing the most unusual screen pairing since, well, Barr and Meryl Streep in "She Devil". They voice the characters of cows Maggie and Mrs. Caloway, who, along with fellow cow Grace (Jennifer Tilly), fight to rescue their kindly owner Pearl (Carole Cook) from having her farm taken over by the dastardly Alameda Slim (Randy Quaid). Joining forces with a variety of other animals from the farm -- including horse Buck (Cuba Gooding Jr.), ace can-kicking goat Jeb (Joe Flaherty) and a variety of pigs, chickens, etc. -- they set out to capture Slim in the hope of garnering the reward for his head. Besides the expected dangers, they also must contend with competition from bounty hunter Rico (Charles Dennis, doing a Clint Eastwood homage).
The screenplay by co-directors Will Finn and John Sanford is a genial, jokey affair, filled with the requisite juvenile humor (belching pigs, etc.) and sprinkled with enough adult-oriented asides, like bulls leering after dairy cows ("Let me guess, you're a Taurus", one of the former comments), to qualify the film for a PG rating. While there are indeed some funny moments -- "We don't eat meat
it's like a professional courtesy," Barr's cow explains -- the humor generally lacks the manic hilarity of the Pixar efforts. And some of the gags, like Rico quoting a line from "Little Caesar" or a brief switch to widescreen that may be an in-joke reference to the company's own "Horse Whisperer", are likely to go over the heads of even the adult audience members.
The film's conventional, old-fashioned animation style generally gets the job done, with the anthropomorphic animal qualities rendered with the proper cute appeal. The voice talents do well by their characters. Barr scores consistent laughs as the sassy Maggie. Dench uses her elegant tones to good effect as the refined Mrs. Caloway. Gooding, as the vain horse, and Tilly, as plucky cow Grace, also are very enjoyable, no doubt because they seem so much like cartoon characters even in real life. Also very funny is Steve Buscemi, whose sleazy human character amusingly bears more than a slight resemblance to him.
Menken, besides his score, also has contributed several pleasant new songs (lyrics by Glenn Slater), none destined to be standards. They're sung by such stars as k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt and Tim McGraw.
Home on the Range
Buena Vista Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Credits:
Directors-screenwriters: Will Finn, John Sanford
Producer: Alice Dewey Goldstone
Original score: Alan Menken
Original songs: Alan Menken, Glenn Slater
Story: Will Finn, John Sanford, Michael LaBash, Sam Levine, Mark Kennedy, Robert Lence
Associate producer: David J. Steinberg
Editor: H. Lee Peterson
Art director: David Cutler
Voices:
Maggie: Roseanne Barr
Mrs. Caloway: Judi Dench
Grace: Jennifer Tilly
Buck: Cuba Gooding Jr.
Slim: Randy Quaid
Pearl: Carole Cook
Sheriff Brown: Richard Riehle
Rico: Charles Dennis
Rusty: G.W. Baily
Lucky Jack: Charles Haid
Audrey: Estelle Harris
Jeb: Joe Flaherty
Ollie: Charlie Dell
Wesley: Steve Buscemi
Patrick: Patrick Warburton
Annie: Ann Richards
Phil, Bill & Gil Willie: Sam Levine
Running time 74 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 4/2/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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