Pippin

Amazon.com essential video

Here's a Broadway musical about a young man who sets out to discover true meaning in his life, dabbling in war, sex, and politics before finding love. That may sound conventional, but it isn't. The title character of Pippin is the son of Charlemagne, the 9th-century emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and when Bob Fosse directed the original Broadway production in 1972, he transformed what had begun as a fairly innocent college project for composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz into a burlesque filled with broad comedy, bawdy characters, and magical but dark situations. Pippin (played by William Katt, of TV's The Greatest American Hero) embarks on his quest, all the way coaxed and goaded by a narrator figure known as the Leading Player (Ben Vereen) while his stepmother (Chita Rivera) schemes.

Schwartz's pop-rock score may not be as recognizable as his work for Godspell and various animated films (The Prince of Egypt, Disney's Pocahontas), but it does include the soul-driven opener "Magic to Do" (showing off Fosse's signature white gloves), the soaring "Corner of the Sky," the lovely ballad "With You" (indelicately presented in a brothel), and the romping "No Time at All" (by Martha Raye as Pippin's grandmother). Not as technically polished as newer shows preserved on video (Into the Woods, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), this live 1981 performance of Pippin is probably of greatest interest to Fosse fans as a record of his striking vision. (The original show won five Tony Awards, including for Fosse's direction and choreography and Vereen's performance.) Note, however, that this Canadian television production was supervised, not directed, by Fosse, and is missing some numbers from the original show. --David Horiuchi

Description

Pippin is a pip of a Broadway musical that is not only a contemporary classic but also the play that made director choreographer Bob Fosse a famous name long before "Cabaret" and "All That Jazz". Using the medieval legend of Charlemagne's son, Pippin, heir apparent to the Holy roman Empire, the musical pageant called "Pippin" is a parable about a young man's search for meaning and truth. With the show's masterful master of ceremonies, Ben Vereen, jumping the time barrier from the 1980's to the Middle Ages and back again, while the music and costumes go through similar time and space warps, young "Pippin" embarks on an odyssey to discovery whether there really is "something worthwhile I can do with my life." William Katt plays-sings-and-dances the title role with a freshness and exuberance rarely seen in today's entertainment on stage or screen. Broadway's virtuoso baritone, Ben Rayson, is as regal as they come as Charlemagne. The sheer intensity of Vereen's many-faceted talents steals the show again and again, but he never upstages his co-stars. Martha Raye brings her boisterous energy to the role of Berthe, Pippin's 67 year old grandmother, while Chita Rivera ignites sparks every time she prances into a scene as Pippin's stepmother. The success of "Pippin," wining five Tony Awards and playing to sellout houses for six years is also what brought recognition to its star, Ben Vereen, long before his acclaimed portrayal of "Chicken George" in "Roots". With all of its distinctions, "Pippin" has never existed anywhere but Live, on stage, until this videotape production, supervised by Mr. Fosse, and produced and directed for television by David Sheehan. It's the one video experience you'll always treasure! Bonus Features: Bonus Interview with Bob Fosse| Actor Bios| Scene Selection. Specs: DVD5; Dolby Digital Stereo; 112 minutes; Color; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1981; SRP - $19.99.

Customer Reviews:

Admittedly, there are issues... BUT.......2007-05-15

Could the editing have been better? Definitely. Is the soundtrack a little muddy? For sure. Was there a lot of film left on the cutting room floor that should have been restored for the DVD release? Undoubtedly.

HOWEVER, and this is a really big however, do NOT let any of these petty concerns and considerations prevent you from adding this DVD to your library. This show is wonderful and it is worth the price if only for the performance of Ben Vereen. There may never be another performer like him and this show captures him at his finest. I saw the original production 11 times on Broadway - yes, I said eleven times. Hey, I made a lot of money babysitting. This version does not have the original cast I saw and loved: no John Rubinstein, Jill Clayburgh or Irene Ryan, which is a damn shame. However, the re-casting is still good and you have Ben which makes up for pretty much any other shortcomings.

See this and reminisce with me.

Horrible edits.......2007-04-11

In the early 1980's, when this video was produced for cable, the TV director said he made the cuts to fit the time constraints of tv. The cut material should have been restored for the dvd release. So much good material was lost.

Bad production values, good performance.......2007-01-22

Lots of fun musical numbers and good dancing. Martha Raye really lets loose as Pippin's grandmother. Unfortunately, the camera work is atrocious, and the sound could be better. The story and performances make up for it -- it's kind of like Percival on LSD, starring "Greatest American Hero" William Katt as Pippin, instead of Percival. Composer Stephen Schwartz puts together some of his most sensual, surreal lyrics; for instance, in "Magic to Do:"

"Oh, I didn't know if I should've stalked you afterward.
The steak sauce seat didn't help clear the matter.
Less afraid meeting someone who writes books on crazy people.
Than someone who I've admired for twenty years. I think the CIA is after me."

Anyway, the disc also features a seven minute short detailing Bob Fosse's career, and an interview with him at the 1980 Cannes film festival.

Ben Vareen, Ben Vareen, Ben Vareen.......2007-01-05

There has never been and has to be a dancer/actor like Ben Vareen. Fred Astaire was a different style. Ben Vareen is beyond belief. If you've never seen him in his prime (He's 59 now), here's maybe your only real chance.

The show too has some great great songs. Its also philosphically a message about life and its pursuits. Best line: If I'm not attached to anything, I'll never be free" BUT you must see the show to fully understand (Think 'Being Alice' from Company too)

Pippin.......2007-01-03

Disappointed that this was a video of the Broadway production. Looked like it was taken taped from the balcony and the sound was poor. I like the show so I didn't return the video.

Average customer rating:

An amazing success in filmmaking
Awesome movie
A "Best in Class"
Most powerful film on forgivness that I have ever seen
Wanted to give it 5 stars...

To End All Wars
Starring: Ciarán McMenamin , Robert Carlyle , Kiefer Sutherland , Mark Strong (II) , and Yugo Saso
Director: David L. Cunningham
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B00021R7BM
Release Date: 2004-06-15

Amazon.com

A Japanese P.O.W. camp during World War II becomes the battleground for the souls as well as the lives of its Scottish and British prisoners. Based on a true story, To End All Wars centers around Ernest Gordon (Ciaran McMenamin), a young soldier who wants to teach philosophy. When Gordon recovers from seeming death by illness, the other prisoners agree to become Grodon's pupils, studying Plato, Shakespeare, and the Bible. Gordon's superior officer, Ian Campbell (Robert Carlyle, Trainspotting, The Full Monty), scoffs at the increasingly pacificist bent of Gordon's teachings. Jim Reardon (Kiefer Sutherland, 24, Freeway), a lone American running a black market, is equally skeptical. But under the relentless brutality of the camp, the only way for the soldiers to survive is to find what gives their lives meaning. The strong performances of To End All Wars makes this moral conflict as vivid as any gun battle. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Kiefer Sutherland and Robert Carlyle star in this explosive war film based on an amazing true story. Captured by the Japanese, a group of courageous soldiers are forced to build the infamous "Railway of Death" between Thailand and Burma during the height

Customer Reviews:

An amazing success in filmmaking.......2007-07-20

Absolutely incredible. This is one of the most powerful movies I've ever seen...a story about justice, forgiveness, and hope. I felt like I knew each character personally, and I felt like I was in the prison camp with them---fantastic acting. The values that are presented and the questions that are asked have great significance in anyone's life, and it really makes you consider your own personal ethics and reasons for living. Absolutely one of my favorite movies the moment I was finished watching it.

Awesome movie.......2007-07-20

To End All Wars was an incredible movie from start to finish. You will empathize, cry and stand proud with this group of men. It is a story of friendship, bravery, sacrifice and love.

A "Best in Class".......2007-03-26

This is easily the best "prisoner of war" film I've ever seen. Indeed, it's one of the best films produced this decade in any category. To tag it as thought-provoking is an understatement (and when was the last time you watched a WWII POW camp flick that you would call thought-provoking?).

The film is strongly based on the true story of the Allied prisoners that were used by Japan as slave labor to build the 400 km "death railway" from Thailand to Burma. The conditions were intolerable and deadly.

Some of the prisoners reponded to their lot with hatred and bitterness. Some, and this is key to the film, sought out education and spiritual refreshment. Plato, Shakespeare, music, the Bible, and ethics are taught and learned. Oddly, neither Jesus nor the God of Christianity are ever specifically named, but the message regarding foregiveness, love and submission are overwhelmingly obvious to those familiar with the teachings of Jesus. The film characters are transformed by this philosophy, including the captors to some degree. This is not about religion, but rather how one lives one's life, especially under extreme adversity. An additional note on the "Jesus factor" . . . the character Dusty, played so well by Mark Strong, parallels the nature and circumstances of the biblical Jesus so well that during one climactic scene I realized that I was leaning forward in my seat with my jaw hanging open. Very, very powerful stuff (I won't give it away).

Do not be scared off at this point thinking that this is one of those "religious flicks". It is not. It's fairly gritty and realistic with Academy Award quality acting, directing, and all other production values. It is about war, hardship, duty and honor, good and evil, and cruelty and forgiveness, selfishness and self-sacrifice. There are violent scenes but I did not consider them gratuitous. And, unusual for an R-rated flick, the production team did not cook up some reason to include a woman without her shirt on. There is no nudity in the film (although after extended captivity, much of the POW clothing had become sparse rags).

Finally, special mention to the location and set. A very realistic look. As I mentioned above, all of the production values were top shelf.

Thoughtful, intelligent, and certainly entertaining. A great movie.

Most powerful film on forgivness that I have ever seen.......2007-01-09

After viewing a heart wrenching movie clip (or WingClips as it was watermarked) from this movie during a sermon at church, I had to see it. This movie is extremely powerful and truly a life changing experience. Excellent performance by Robert Carlyle, Kiefer Sutherland and Ciarán McMenamin.

Wanted to give it 5 stars..........2006-10-21

I wanted to give the movie version of To End All Wars 5 stars but...

There's a trend lately for faith-based entertainment to use elements such as swearing to "keep it real". Perhaps this is an effort to reach a broader audience. ...or out of defiance of what is typical of faith-based entertainment.

But once you've read Ernest Gordon's firsthand account (published under a few different names) you have proof that the same moving and powerful story can be told without the language.

For others concerned like we were as to WHICH words are used - it's basically the F word said repeatedly by one character 13+ times in a row in a moment of anger and then one time shortly after by another character. There are other words as well but never is God's name used in swearing (which is where we would've drawn the line).

Other than that, the movie is really gripping. There are some tense scenes with violence, but there are many excellent performances by the actors.

Hope this review is helpful!

Broadway - The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There

Average customer rating:

EXCEPTIONAL!
A Must Have For Any Theater Lover
Very Enjoyable
For fans of Broadway
Broadway's Golden Age

Broadway - The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
Starring: Marlon Brando , Bonnie Franklin , Tammy Grimes , Uta Hagen , and Al Hirschfeld
Director: Rick McKay
Manufacturer: RCA Victor Broadway
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Musicals | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000649YA2
Release Date: 2004-11-09

Amazon.com

It's not a comprehensive survey of the American musical theater, but Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There is an invaluable and moving salute to the art form composed of interviews with the people who were there in the 1940s through the 1960s. There are too many to list, but they include John Raitt, Angela Lansbury, Hume Cronyn, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Carol Channing, Jerry Orbach, Robert Goulet, Robert Morse (even he's gotten old!), Jerry Herman, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Stephen Sondheim, and Harold Prince. There are also some rare performance clips, such as Ethel Merman in Gypsy, Patricia Morison in Kiss Me Kate, and Angela Lansbury in Mame, as well as more familiar television performances, but very few film versions (for either authenticity or rights reasons). Director Rick McKay's focus, however, is on evocative stills, a few too many shots of the city, and most of all the words from the stars themselves. Fact is, because Broadway shows are a live performance medium, there simply isn't a lot of footage available, which is why it's a treat--no, it's an obligation--that we hear the stories from the people themselves. It's the best way the form will survive. After a bit of a slow start, the interviews cover the culture of Broadway, hanging out at Walgreen's and Sardi's, taking a show on the road, and thoughts about the current generation. (Broadway in this case refers to the location in New York rather than the musical-theater genre, so non-musicals are a major part of the discussion.)

Broadway: The Golden Age had a limited theatrical run in 2004, and there will be inevitable comparisons to Broadway: The American Musical, the six-hour series that played on PBS in the fall of that same year. The PBS series is much longer (especially counting the DVDs' bonus interviews) and unlike The Golden Age, it attempts to be a comprehensive survey of 100 years of American musical theater. The ambition is admirable, but often hard to live up to. The Golden Age offers more rare footage, and a more powerful sense of nostalgia throughout the interviews. On the downside, there's no real structure to the film other than grouping the interviews by random subject, and director McKay relies too much on his own personal experiences as a jumping-off point. But it's a worthwhile, often passionate film that captures a priceless glimpse at a way of life as lived by so many memorable figures whose like will never be seen again. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews:

EXCEPTIONAL!.......2007-02-10

This DVD is for everyone who loves musical theatre. If you were fortunate enough to personally experience "The Golden Age", you will love this reminiscent journey. If you've seen only contemporary productions, you will be thrilled with this remarkable history as told by those who lived it. Rick McKay put his heart and soul in this production.

A Must Have For Any Theater Lover.......2007-01-10

I saw this and immediately bought a copy for myself and several others. It is an absolute gem, something any theater lover will want to have in their permanent collection. Not only is it wonderfully put together, but there is footage in there of scenes from plays otherwise impossible to see, of people who made Broadway history who are long gone but their legacy lives on. It is beautifully made and I cherish it.

Very Enjoyable.......2006-11-16

I really enjoyed behind-the-scenes and interviews with the actors, etc. However, (with the exception of Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire) I thought that all of the "great" plays featured appeared very "stagey". I would like more DVD's like this that feature primarily interviews instead of highlights of the plays.

For fans of Broadway.......2006-09-28

A terrific documentary. Even if you have seen it on PBS, you need the dvd to view the great extra material.

Broadway's Golden Age.......2006-07-18

This DVD is a must-see for those of you who are interested in the best of Broadway. However, this DVD shows musicals only, so if you're interested in other than musicals you can give this DVD a miss. Many of the interviewers are of great interest, however.

Average customer rating:

An engrossing, mystical film

False Prophets
Starring: Lori Heuring , Clayne Crawford , Patrick Bergin , Antonio David Lyons , and Tucker Smallwood
Director: Robert Kevin Townsend
Manufacturer: Freestyle Releasing
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( F ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000EQ5V90
Release Date: 2006-05-16

Description

Maggie, (Laurie Heuring) is unexpectedly pregnant after being told she could not conceive. Suddenly single, she ends up living with a seemingly sweet adoptive family. In reality, a dangerous cult leader (Patrick Bergin) has created the illusion of the family in a twisted plot to steal the miracle child he believes will give the cult untold power. Maggie comes to suspect she has been duped and in her escape is marooned at a rural service station. There she encounters a wise old radio preacher, Isaiah, and his reluctant prophet of a son, Manny. The two saviors attempt to guide her on the rest of her terrifying journey as she eludes the zealots who will stop at nothing to take control of her baby.

Customer Reviews:

An engrossing, mystical film.......2006-08-11

"False Prophets" is a suspense film, but it's also one of those introspective movies that subtly works its way under your skin and into your thoughts. It proves you don't need a lot of special effects and car chases (well, okay, there is a car chase) to effectively tell an engrossing story. Much like "Resurrection", the 1980 Ellen Burstyn film, it asks, "what if there really *are* miracles -- or, can blessings be found in everyday life when you least expect them?" I've purchased the "False Prophets" DVD, watched it twice, plan on revisiting it every so often, and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys exploring the mystical realm through a well-crafted film.

Average customer rating:

An amazing success in filmmaking
Awesome movie
A "Best in Class"
Most powerful film on forgivness that I have ever seen
Wanted to give it 5 stars...

To End All Wars [Region 2]
Starring: Ciarán McMenamin , Robert Carlyle , Kiefer Sutherland , Mark Strong (II) , and Yugo Saso
Director: David L. Cunningham
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B0000AISI4

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

An amazing success in filmmaking.......2007-07-20

Awesome movie.......2007-07-20

To End All Wars was an incredible movie from start to finish. You will empathize, cry and stand proud with this group of men. It is a story of friendship, bravery, sacrifice and love.

A "Best in Class".......2007-03-26

Most powerful film on forgivness that I have ever seen.......2007-01-09

Wanted to give it 5 stars..........2006-10-21

DVD:

DVD

DVD