Ryan, Fran

Stripes (Unrated Extended Cut)

Bill Murray has joined the Army and the Army will never be the same! When John Winger (Murray) loses his job his car his apartment and his girlfriend all in one day he decides he only has one option: volunteer for Uncle Sam. He talks his friend Russell (Harold Ramis) into enlisting with him. Where else they figure can they help save the world for democracy and meet girls! John and Russell find basic training a snap: they are arrested twice have endless run-ins with their drill sergeant (Warren Oates) and get into a big mess at a female mud-wrestling match. They even steal a top secret government vehicle to take some gorgeous female MPs on a date and wind up behind the Iron Curtain. Stripes is outrageous fun! And that's the fact Jack!System Requirements:Running Time: 107 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 043396059948 Manufacturer No: 05994

Bill Murray was heading toward a career peak on the back of comedies such as this one from 1981, the second film in his ongoing collaboration with director Ivan Reitman (the two went on to make Ghostbusters). Murray plays a chronic loser who joins the army and fails to find a fan for his ironic sensibilities in his by-the-book sergeant (Warren Oates). When push comes to shove, however, the smirking hero takes charge of his ragtag unit and turns them into fighting machines, albeit to the rhythm of hit songs by Manfred Mann and Sly Stone. The film is occasionally funny, but it mostly plays like any one of a dozen underachieving comedies featuring players from Saturday Night Live and SCTV. --Tom Keogh

Pale Rider

One man stands up to the corporate mining boss who is out to kill all of the independent miners in gold rush California.
Genre: Westerns
Rating: R
Release Date: 2-SEP-2003
Media Type: DVD

After a nine-year break from the genre that made him an international star (the Western just before this one was The Outlaw Josey Wales, from 1976), Clint Eastwood returned in this gritty Western, crafted in the tradition of Shane and High Noon. Eastwood directed and stars as the nameless stranger known only as "Preacher," because he rides into a beleaguered mining town wearing a clerical collar. He's either an agent of death or an angel of mercy, and the echoes of Shane ring loud and clear when he comes to the aid of independent miners who are being terrorized by a local tycoon (Richard Dysart) and his ruthless band of hired guns. Befriended by a miner (Michael Moriarty) and idolized by the miner's wife and daughter (played by Carrie Snodgress and Sydney Penny, respectively), the "Pale Rider" sparks the defiant spirit of the underdog miners and takes after the bad guys with single-minded purpose. Digital video disc offers standard and widescreen formats and a remastered soundtrack. --Jeff Shannon

The Apple Dumpling Gang (Special Edition)

Bill Bixby plays a 19th-century gambler who inherits responsibility for three orphans, but the kids in turn have something of value: a huge gold nugget. This Disney film from 1975 is an enjoyable potboiler with its sentimentality under control and the accent on laughs, most of which are provided, not unexpectedly, by Tim Conway and Don Knotts as thieves who want to get their hands on the treasure. An easy, safe film for children. You can't go wrong with this. --Tom Keogh

Head for cover! Don Knotts and Tim Conway are Wild West outlaws who can't hit the broad side of a barn -- but never miss when it comes to rounding up laughs! The hilarity begins when a roving bachelor (Bill Bixby) inherits three young orphans and a wealth of problems. When the youngsters stumble upon a huge golden nugget, they must fend off the greedy townspeople. So the kids join forces with the bumbling outlaws to stage a robbery of the gold. Little do they know a surly gang of sharpshooters plans to beat them to the draw! If you're aiming for fun, saddle up and head out with THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG!

Savannah Smiles

Savannah is an imaginative six-year-old whose wealthy politician parents have little time for her. When Savannah runs away from home and hides in the broken-down getaway car of two bumbling felons the small-time crooks are suddenly mistaken for big-time kidnappers. Will the charms of one special little girl teach everyone about love trust friendship and family?System Requirements:Running Time: 100 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG UPC: 013131320299 Manufacturer No: DV13202

Produced in 1982, Savannah Smiles tells the story of Savannah, a girl of privilege who runs away from home. She ends up in the company of Boots and Alvie, two ex-convicts on the run. This bumbling duo soon realizes who Savannah is and that a large reward has been offered for her return. They try to give her back, but instead of the parents being grateful, they accuse the two of kidnapping. Boots and Alvie have no choice but to go underground with Savannah, and the three soon become a family whose days are filled with kite flying, home-cooked meals, bedtime stories, and a puppy. But Boots and Alvie know in their hearts they must do the right thing and return Savannah to her parents. For its time, this is a sweet movie filled with innocence and fun. However, in a time when children are told never to go off with strangers, it is hard to justify a movie that glorifies that very thing, no matter how goodhearted the two felons are. (Ages 6 and older) --Peggy Maltby-Etra

The Apple Dumpling Gang / The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again

THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG: Head for cover! Don Knotts and Tim Conway are Wild West outlaws who can't hit the broad side of a barn -- but never miss when it comes to rounding up laughs! The hilarity begins when a roving bachelor (Bill Bixby) inherits three young orphans and a wealth of problems. When the youngsters stumble upon a huge golden nugget they must fend off the greedy townspeople. So the kids join forces with the bumbling outlaws to stage a robbery of the gold. Little do they know a surly gang of sharpshooters plans to beat them to the draw! If you're aiming for fun saddle up and head out with THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG HE APPLE DUMPLING GANG RIDES AGAIN:There's more trouble afoot as The Apple Dumpling Gang (Don Knotts and Tim Conway) can't stop causing trouble -- and laughs -- even when they give up their life of crime! First the ditsy duo is accused of bank robbery as they try to deposit a check. Then they join the U.S. Cavalry and wind up in the stockade for inadvertently blowing up their fort. Although they escape this mess the witless team who could never shoot straight still can't seem to succeed in going straight. It's riotous raucous fun as THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG RIDES AGAINFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/FAMILY GATHERINGS UPC: 786936758429 Manufacturer No: 05674500

Private School

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: CATES/MODINE/RUSSELL/WILHOITE
Title: PRIVATE SCHOOL
Street Release Date: 03/06/2007
Domestic
Genre: COMEDY VIDEO

Take Animal House, throw in a dose of television's Bosom Buddies and you get the Phoebe Cates/Matthew Modine sex farce Private School. The 1983 film was shot one year after Cates won fame in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (thanks primarily to her little red bikini), and two years before Modine won rave reviews for his work in Vision Quest. While neither star gives a stellar performance in Private School, both are appealing and likeable, even with the ridiculous premise. Chris (Cates) attends an all-girls private school, while horndog Jim (Modine) matriculates at the nearby all-boys school. In order to get close to her, Jim and his friend dress up like girls and befriend Chris and her hot posse. When Chris' sexy rival Jordan (Betsy Russell) tries to woo Jim away by riding a horse, Lady Godiva style, the stage is set for a catfight. Throw in a guest appearance by Sylvia Kristel of Emmanuelle fame and double entendres abound. The soundtrack is full of songs by '80s staples such as Rick Springfield, Vanity Six, and Bow Wow Wow, whose "I Want Candy" is played throughout a peeping shower scene. Though cheesy and intended for teenage boys, the film has an almost innocent charm compared to some of the current fare in theaters. --Jae-Ha Kim

The Long Riders

Four theatrical families of the 1980s re-create the saga of the 1860s James Gang: Stacy and James Keach David Keith and Robert Carradine Randy and Dennis Quaid and Christopher and Nicholas Guest.System Requirements:Starring: David Carradine Keith Carradine Robert Carradine James Keach Stacy Keach Dennis Quaid Randy Quaid Kevin Brophy and Harry Carey Jr. Directed By: Walter Hill. Running Time: 99 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2000 MGM Studios.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN/MISC. Rating: R UPC: 027616859037

This terrific Walter Hill Western follows the careers of the James and Younger brothers--and uses the nifty idea of casting actual clans of acting siblings in the roles. Thus, the James brothers are played by James and Stacy Keach; the Youngers by David, Keith, and Robert Carradine; the Millers by Randy and Dennis Quaid; and the Fords by Christopher and Nicholas Guest. Hill, working with an evocative Ry Cooder score, creates a film that is at once breathtakingly exciting and elegiac in its treatment of these post-Civil War outlaws. The Keaches in particular bring a surprising dignity to the roles of Frank and Jesse James, while David Carradine is a hoot as Cole Younger--and the Quaids mimic real life (as it was for them then) in their battles as the Miller brothers. Bloody, to be sure, but also bloody good. --Marshall Fine

Hong Kong Phooey - The Complete Series

Hong Kong Phooey a somewhat inept super-hero and a master of kung fu and marital arts is always on alert for crime. He gets tip-offs from the police station where he works as Penrod "Penry" Pooch the mild mannered janitor. Whenever Penry overhears a call for help he quickly dives into a filing cabinet and changes into his karate outfit and then hops into his Phooeymobile. Despite his fallings and thanks to Spot his cat Hong Kong Phooey always manages to save the day. He is a beloved superhero to all who know him. These 31 classic cartoons from Hong Kong Phooey are now available for the first time ever on DVD!Running Time: 397 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ANIMATION/ADULT SWIM UPC: 014764314327 Manufacturer No: H3143

Fan-rrific! Hanna-Barbera's Hong Kong Phooey was the Saturday-morning cartoon answer to the mid-'70s martial-arts craze. Mild-mannered janitor Penry (voiced by Scatman Crothers) works in the police station alongside switchboard operator Rosemary (Kathy Gori) and beleaguered Sergeant Flint (Joe E. Ross), humans who never suspect that the diligent dog is actually "America's secret weapon against crime." Never mind that Hong Kong Phooey, although armed with his trusty book of kung fu and a Bond-meets-Wacky Races Phooeymobile, wouldn't even be able to get out of his quick-change file cabinet without a well-placed blow from his loyal cat, Spot (who's striped, naturally). The public is awed by him, Rosemary has a crush on him, and villains--including the Claw, the Giggler, Goldfisher, and the Gum Drop Kid--fear him, but no one notices that Hong Kong Phooey only succeeds through his own klutziness, Spot's help, or dumb luck. The two-DVD set (one single-sided, one double-sided) include all of the series' 31 episodes, though at only 11 minutes each, two of them were shown in its half-hour time slot. There's also a retrospective documentary, a storyboard of a complete episode run side-by-side with the final version, and commentary on three episodes by some of the original team: creative producer Iwao Takamoto and layout unit manager Willie Ito, and Warner animation producer-historian Scott Jeralds. Crothers also scatted the famous theme song: "Hong Kong Phooey, Number One super guy / Hong Kong Phooey, Quicker than the human eye / Chicky-chong chicky-chong / Chicky-chocky dooky-chong / Dooky-bop chop-choppin' / Da bow-wow-wow!" Hong Kong Phooey is harmlessly entertaining, about as harmless as Hong Kong Phooey was to bad guys everywhere. --David Horiuchi

Big Wednesday

No matter what rolls in on the tides of time California surfing buddies Matt Jack and Leroy know they'll stick together. And they know they'll be ready when a rare 20-foot swell hits the coast at last.Running Time: 119 min.System Requirements: Running Time 119 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG UPC: 085391118220

John Milius charts a decade of social change as three surfing buddies use the sport as a personal touchstone for their lives while growing up in the turbulent 1960s. Irresponsible hot-dogging legend Matt (Jan-Michael Vincent), serious and stable Jack (William Katt), and mad misfit Leroy, a.k.a. "Masochist" (Gary Busey), are teenage surf bums in 1963, living at the beach in a perpetual summer under the sway of surfboard-maker Bear (Sam Melville), guru, mentor, and keeper of the lore. But the times they are a changin' and boys grow up in the shadow of Vietnam while adulthood pushes them into hard decisions. John Milius mixes the nostalgia of American Graffiti with the reverence of a John Ford cavalry drama. Surfing becomes a kind of spiritual quest spoken of in awed mythic tones and photographed with the epic grandeur of a rite of passage. Milius's heavy-handed direction and reverent attitude slows the films and will turn off some viewers, but Milius fans will appreciate his macho stylings and philosophical musings, and surfing fans will love the spectacular surfing footage, including the dazzling stylings of world champion Gerry Lopez (who Milius later cast in Conan the Barbarian). Lee Purcell costars as Matt's supportive wife, with Patti D'Arbanville, Barbara Hale, and Robert Englund in supporting roles. Look for Ford stock player Hank Worden in a small role and Milius himself in a cameo selling marijuana in Tijuana. --Sean Axmaker

Nick Knight