Noire, Rosette Le

Fritz the Cat

Advertised as "X-rated and Animated," Fritz the Cat earned an impressive $25 million in 1972. Screenwriter-director Ralph Bakshi based the film on three of Robert Crumb's stories about a superficial college student who tried to seduce anything in a skirt. The gritty, often gross film shocked U.S. audiences accustomed to innocent flirtations and slapstick comedy in cartoons. Thirty years later, Fritz looks less shocking than puerile. The violence grafted onto Crumb's innocent stories feels gratuitous, and the racial imagery tasteless. As dated as a Nehru jacket, the film will interest students of animation history and American pop culture. Crumb detested the film: he drew Fritz as a decadent Hollywood star, who was exploited by caricatures of Bakshi and producer Steve Krantz--and murdered by a bitter ex-girlfriend. "Another casualty of the '60s..." --Charles Solomon

Maverick writer-director Ralph Bakshi (Heavy Traffic) made his feature-length film debut with this "startling and audacious" (The Hollywood Reporter) foray into adult-content animation,creating the first X-rated cartoon and one of the most successful animated features of its time! Based on a legendary character created by underground comic book artist-writer R. Crumb, Fritz the Cat is a brilliant commentary on '60s life and a "snarling satire that stubbornly refusesto curl up in anyone's lap" (Playboy). It's the age of awakening and Fritz, one way-cool cat and NYU student, loves to embrace every experimental experience that crosses his path. Embarking on a fantastic journey of self-discovery, he indulges in everything from multiple bedroom follies to a wild joy ride through a dangerous Harlem. But when Fritz joins a group of radically aggressive hippies, he finds himself holding the dynamite that will detonate the ultimate '60s statement one that could cost him his life!

Gimme a Break - Season One

Actress-singer Nell Carter provided the heart and soul for this much-loved NBC family series (1981-1987) about a black woman who cares for a white police chief's daughters after the death of their mother. Though some of the show's humor was derived from jibes about Ms. Carter's size and the clash of parenting styles between the no-nonsense Chief (stage veteran Dolph Sweet) and Carter's warm, sassy Nell Harper, Gimme a Break also addressed more serious and emotional subjects with surprising warmth and drama. The debut episode, "Katie the Crook" (which is featured on this three-disc set, along with the other 18 episodes from the 1981-82 season), does a fine job of touching on the tougher issues, as the Chief's three daughters (Kari Michaelson, Lauri Hendler, and Lara Jill Miller) each react to the mother's untimely passing in realistic manners. Other episodes in the first season offer a good blend of humor and pathos, including "Mom's Birthday" (in which Nell allows the family to celebrate their mother through home movies), "The Emergency" (a rare TV storyline about teen birth control), "Your Prisoner Is Dead" (the Chief is traumatized after killing a drugstore burglar, and considers retirement), and "Nell Goes Home" (Nell is rejected by her ailing father during a trip to Alabama). Much of the credit for the show should go to the cast, especially Ms. Carter and Sweet (both who have since passed away), though veteran character actor John Hoyt deserves mention as the family's grandfather; their enthusiasm for and skill behind the roles is undoubtedly a large reason why Gimme a Break still enjoys a following. The first-season set includes a preview of the show's second season (the episode "Nell Goes to Jail"), as well as episodes from Charles in Charge and Kate and Allie, two other popular family sitcoms from the '80s. A 30-minute featurette on '80s TV (the same one featured on the Charles in Charge first-season set) rounds out this fan-pleasing set. -- Paul Gaita

Nell Carter shines as Nellie Ruth Nell Harper the role that twice earned her Emmy® and Golden Globe Award nominations and helped redefine the meaning of family. Available for the first time ever on DVD Gimme a Break! is the funny hip and sometimes poignant portrayal of the Kanisky family: widowed Police Chief Carl; his three daughters Katie Julie and Samantha; and their unflappable housekeeper-turned-surrogate mother (Carter). This 3-disc set includes all 19 episodes from Season One as well as a preview from Season Two bonus episodes from the smash-hit sitcoms Kate and Allie and Charles in Charge and a special featurette that takes a look back at other great TV shows of the eighties. Featuring renowned guest stars such as Danny Glover Rue McClanahan and Helen Hunt Gimme a Break! is the beloved sitcom that delivers both love and laughs.System Requirements:Running Time: 468 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 025192941320 Manufacturer No: 29413

The Sunshine Boys

Neil Simon's Broadway hit about an effort to reunite a pair of aged vaudevillians for a TV special is both funny and poignant, thanks to the inspired casting of Walter Matthau (perhaps the consummate Simon actor) and George Burns (who kicked off something of a career comeback with this Oscar-winning role). They play a former comedy team who split up years ago over disagreements about how the act should be performed and, more importantly, over their conflicting views about the importance of show business versus that of life. Matthau is hilarious, sometimes touchingly so, while Burns remains a master of comic economy. Richard Benjamin is also good as Matthau's nephew who brings them back together. This was remade for television with Peter Falk and Woody Allen. --Marshall Fine

Based on Neil Simon's popular Broadway play, this 1975 film directed by Herbert Ross (The Turning Point, Footloose) pairs the legendary comic talents of Walter Matthau and George Burns as two old-time vaudevillians who could never stand the sight of each other. The two curmudgeons are roped into appearing on a television reunion special, and they find themselves rehashing the same arguments they had 50 years earlier. Burns came out of retirement for this role and won an Oscar for his work as the laconic half of the duo, while Matthau shines as the ham-handed antagonistic egomaniac. One of Neil Simon's snappiest creations has been energetically brought to life in this enjoyable comedy, and it's a rare opportunity to see two legends in finest form. --Robert Lane

Two feuding former vaudville performers are convinced to reunite for a TV special. George Burns won an Academy Award for best supporting actor.Running Time: 111 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 012569590229

Anna Lucasta

Based on the hit Broadway play Anna Lucasta is "a searing illuminating family drama" (The Film Daily). Sultry siren Eartha Kitt is "vibrantly sexy" (Los Angeles Times) as a lascivious lady of the night and cool cat Sammy Davis Jr. displays "tremendous appeal and power" (Cue) in this torrid tale of love and greed.When wild child Anna Lucasta (Kitt) is banished from the family home by her self-righteous father she falls into a life of prostitution and into the arms of street-wise sailor Danny Johnson (Davis). But after Anna shocks them all by finally finding true love with a well-heeled young suitor her unforgiving father sets a vengeful plan in motion to remind his daughter of her sordid past and destroy her future forever!System Requirements: Running Time 97 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 027616917218 Manufacturer No: 1007641

Scandalize My Name: Stories From the Blacklist

Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist examines the way Red Scare politics was used to impede the emergence of African-Americans as full participants in the political, social and cultural aspects of post-war American life. Because television was born in this era, and adopted the political attitudes of the time, the story is told through the confrontation of African-American performers with blacklists, loyalty oaths and discrimination in casting. Hosted by three-time Academy Award® nominee Morgan Freeman, Scandalize My Name is brought to life by African-American directors, actors and scholars who used their talents to advocate for social and cultural equality.

Lily in Love

Big Blonde (Broadway Theatre Archive)

Oscar-nominee Sally Kellerman (MASH) stars in Dorothy Parker's 1929 O. Henry Prize-winning short story which poignantly chronicles the life of a vivacious showroom model and good-time party girl in the 1920's who gives up her high-life for marriage to a traveling salesman - played by four-time Emmy winner John Lithgow (Third Rock from the Sun). When he turns out to be a hard-drinking philanderer, the marriage deteriorates - and the now-blowsy and dissolute aging flapper turns to drinking for solace, moving from man to man as she sinks into an alcoholic haze. Also starring Anita Morris, Peg Murray, George Coe and Rosetta Lenoire.

The Royal Family (Broadway Theatre Archive)

Elegantly written by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, The Royal Family had more impact in 1927, when its similarities to the Barrymore clan were readily apparent, but this frequently witty drama remains relevant in exploring the blessings and curses of life on the stage. An affectionate portrait of a multigenerational family of eccentric American thespians, the play draws its lifeblood from Lily Cavendish (a perfect role for stage veteran Eva LeGallienne), now in her final days and still yearning for greasepaint and footlights. Her children followed her into theater, but marriage now tempts them away, and flamboyant son Tony (played by codirector Ellis Rabb, channeling John Barrymore) faces legal problems from Hollywood. What's a matriarch to do? Rabb favors Ferber's familial drama over Kaufman's comedic precision, and the play mildly suffers from that imbalance. Still, its purebred pedigree remains intact, and The Royal Family lives on as a celebration of the acting fever that never goes away. --Jeff Shannon

George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber collaborated on this 1927 hit comedy about an eminent and slightly eccentric theatrical clan. A Barrymore-like brood, the Cavendishes are as flamboyant offstage as they are on. Their real-life family drama occurs in a Manhattan apartment when the grand matriarch, Fanny Cavendish, learns that her daughter and granddaughter may both be giving up the stage for marriage. Theatre legends Rosemary Harris, Eva LeGallienne, Sam Levene and Ellis Rabb have great fun portraying characters they know all too well from their years on stage.

Family Matters