Bleckner, Jeff

The Beast (Two-Disc Special Extended Version)

SPECIAL EXTENDED EDITION! Peter Benchley, the master of sea terror, returns with another tale of aquatic mayhem in this three hour uncut version. With almost 80 minutes of restored scenes previously edited from earlier release, this is the original version, nominated for two Prime Time Emmys. Stars William L. Petersen (CSI).

Hill Street Blues - Season 2

Created by Steven Bochco ( Murder One NYPD Blue ) and Michael Kozoll and featuring an ensemble cast including Daniel J. Travanti Veronica Hamel Bruce Weitz Charles Haid Betty Thomas and James Sikking each episode chronicled a day-in-the-life of the cops on the beat starting with the infamous morning roll call and ending with a recap of the day s events. The first hard-hitting series of its kind Hill Street Blues garnered 26 Emmy® Awards including four for Outstanding Drama won two Golden Globes® and is credited with inspiring beloved dramas such as St. Elsewhere Law & Order and NYPD Blue. System Requirements:Features: Commentary by Actors Charles Haid Bruce Weitz and Dennis Dugan on "The World According to Freedom" Gregory Hoblit: The Hill Street Blues Story Profile: Bruce Weitz on Mick Belker Profile: Charles Haid on Andy Renko Featurette: Confessions of Captain Freedom Executive Story Consultant/ Writer Robert Crais on "Freedom's Last Stand" Gag Reel Running Time: 100 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 024543242192 Manufacturer No: 2234219

Despite critical acclaim, Hill Street Blues could not get arrested ratings-wise its first season. Far from being careful out there, the superb second season did nothing to tinker with the integrity of this groundbreaking series to make it more audience friendly. Multiple storylines, overlapping dialogue, gritty language, and a pseudo-documentary style capture the palpable chaos and tension of what one character calls "the rat-infested, poverty-stricken urban reality." From the precinct-house shooting rampage that opens the season to a hijacked hearse in the season-ending episode, Hill Street Blues deftly walks the line between police procedural and personal drama, further fleshing out its gallery of compelling and colorful characters. Belker (Bruce Weitz) is still a growling mad dog who takes bites out of perps. But in one of the series' most memorable story arcs, he forms a surprising bond with the delusional costumed citizen Captain Freedom (Dennis Dugan), Public defender Joyce (Victoria Hamel)'s steamroller persona breaks down when a colleague is murdered and the case is thrown out because of a technicality.

Other dramatic developments: LaRue (Keil Martin) falls off the wagon and endangers his partner, Washington (Taurean Blacque), during a drug bust ("Zen and the Art of Law Enforcement"); Goldblume (Joe Spano) gets personally involved in the case of an abusive slumlord ("Of Mouse and Man," featuring future Miami Vice star Edward James Olmos as a threatened tenant); Esterhaus (Michael Conrad) is still bedeviled by sexual siren Grace Gardner (Barbara Babcock); and Precinct Capt. Frank Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti, who earned his second Emmy for Best Actor) and Joyce bring their clandestine affair out into the open. Other ongoing storylines involve realistic depictions of police corruption and inter-partner race relations. Hill Street's second season fulfilled the promise of its auspicious first, and repeated as TV's Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmy Awards. No roll call of classic, trendsetting TV series would be complete without it. --Donald Liebenson

Meredith Willson's The Music Man (TV Film)

Meredith Willson's musical masterpiece is such an American classic, it deserves to be known by each new generation--and this sprightly TV-movie version spiffs it up nicely for the young folk. It's a testament to Willson's achievement that this 2003 production can survive a casting flub: the usually engaging Matthew Broderick's low-key charm is an exact mismatch for the brassy energy of traveling salesman Professor Harold Hill. When Broderick sings the words "thundering, thundering!" from "Seventy-Six Trombones," he sounds as though he's murmuring, murmuring. But he wears well (especially in a nifty "Marian the Librarian"), and he has lyrical support from Kristin Chenoweth's crystal-clear singing. Director Jeff Bleckner has a maddening tendency to cut away from the crucial moment of a scene, but the atmosphere of small-town Iowa is ably created. Adding zip is Molly Shannon, hilarious as chief busybody Mrs. Shinn. In short, the "Think System" still works. --Robert Horton

From the executive producers of the Academy Award(R)-winning musical CHICAGO (Best Picture, 2002) comes a fresh interpretation of an all-time classic. Featuring some of the most beloved songs in history, THE MUSIC MAN "is impossible to resist" raves TV Guide. Con man "Professor" Harold Hill (Tony Award winner Matthew Broderick, 1995 Best Actor, Musical) arrives in River City, Iowa, promising that he can teach the small town's children how to play in a magnificent marching band. It's all part of a big swindle, but falling in love with the town librarian (Kristin Chenoweth) wasn't part of the deal. Also starring Victor Garber and Molly Shannon, THE MUSIC MAN is an irresistible production the whole family will enjoy.

The Beast

The master of sea terror, Peter Benchley, returns with another salty tale of aquatic mayhem! Rocked by mysterious deaths and disappearances, a small fishing village looks to Whip Dalton (Emmy nominee William L. Petersen) to get to the bottom of it. Little do they know that the hungry beast that hunts their waters is a blood-thirsty giant squid.

White Water Summer

Welcome Back, Kotter (Television Favorites Compilation)

Take a time-trip back to the wide lapels and bell bottoms of the '70s in one of that decade's biggest comedy hits! Teacher Gabe Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) returns to his former high school teaching the remedial class--of which he had been a member--known as the "sweathogs." But for some reason the lovable losers and delinquents of Buchanan High accept their new teacher as they provide a nonstop string of laughs on Welcome Back Kotter. This compilation brings you the hit series for the first time ever on DVD!Running Time: 132 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 012569408425 Manufacturer No: 4084

Welcome to DVD, Mr. Kotter. Born of Gabe Kaplan's stand-up comedy reminiscences, this 1975 series stars the Marxist (as in Groucho) comedian as a teacher who returns to the tough Brooklyn high school of his youth to teach students who are as unmotivated and undisciplined as he was. If Ron Paillo, as "village schmendrik" Arnold Horshack was Kotter's class clown, then John Travolta, as Vinnie Barbarino, the dim leader of the Sweathogs, became this series' "Most Likely to Succeed" star pupil. He gets extra credit for graduating from Teen Beat idol to A-list movie star, and seeing him at the beginning of his roller coaster career is the main fascination. Not to take anything from the rest of the cast, including Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs as Freddie "Boom Boom Washington," Robert Hegyes as self-described "flim-flam man" Juan Epstein, the late John Sylvester White as curmudgeon Mr. Woodman, who remembers Kotter from his delinquent days; and Marcia Strassman (displaying an off-center Diane Keaton quality) as Mrs. Kotter, whose main purpose seems to be an audience for Kotter's jokes that open each episode. This collection contains six episodes from the series' first three seasons: "One Flu Over the Cuckoo's Nest"; "Father Vinnie"; "Sweatside Story"; "I'm Having Their Baby"; "The Deprogramming of Arnold Horshack"; and "Goodbye, Mr. Kripps," something of a Very Special Episode in which Vinnie blames himself for a teacher's heart attack. Welcome Back, Kotter is grade-A nostalgia, but points are taken off for lack of commentary or interviews with Kaplan or any other members of the ensemble who aren't John Travolta. Casting memo to Ice Cube, who is reportedly preparing a big screen remake: Philip Baker Hall for Mr. Woodman! After that, you're on your own. --Donald Liebenson

Rear Window

Serving in Silence: The Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer

Experience this multiple Emmy® Award-winning film about one woman's fight against the military's anti-gay policy. Starring five-time Academy Award® nominee* Glenn Close and two-time Emmy® Award winner Judy Davis (2001 Outstanding Lead Actress 'Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows') SERVING IN SILENCE is both an inspirational tale of courage and conviction and a touching and beautiful love story.After serving in the military for more than twenty years including a tour of duty in Vietnam Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer (Close) had seen her share of battles. But nothing could prepare her for the fight ahead: an intensely personal struggle against the U.S. Army when she is discharged for being a lesbian. With the support of her partner Diane (Davis) Cammermeyer undertakes an against-all-odds battle against the Army's policy. But to do so she must risk everything: her career her privacy and even the love of her family.*1989 Best Actress Dangerous Liaisons; 1988 Best Actress Fatal Attraction; 1985 Best Supporting Actress The Natural; 1984 Best Supporting Actress The Big Chill; 1983 Best Supporting Actress The World According to GarpSPECIAL FEATURES: Featurette: 1996 GLAAD Media Awards Featurette: Hollywood Premiere - January 23 1995 Featurette: Silent No More - Behind the Scenes of Serving in SilenceSystem Requirements:Running Time 92 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 043396145214 Manufacturer No: 14521

Glenn Close won an Emmy for her portrayal of Margarethe Cammermeyer in this 1995 made-for-television film. An army medical officer in line for a career promotion during the first Bush Administration, but suddenly faced discharge proceedings after admitting to being a lesbian, the real-life Cammermeyer became a focus of national attention on the issue of gays in the military. This sensitive production focuses on Cammermeyer's decision to fight institutional bigotry and the way her family and that of her longtime partner, Diane Divelbess (Judy Davis, who also won an Emmy), rally to support these good people. The script by Alison Cross captures the sad irony of doing everything right--serving one's country, taking care of the people in one's life--yet still being treated like a pariah for entirely irrational reasons. A bit of dismissible controversy arose about a discreet kiss between the principals, but for the most part this film is designed to win over the hearts and minds of a broad audience with its sheer humanity. --Tom Keogh

Black River

High Lonesome (True Stories Collection TV Movie)

In a town ruled by racial prejudice, only a boy had the courage to take a stand. Oscar®-winner LOUIS GOSSETT, JR. (An Officer and a Gentleman) and JOSEPH MAZZELLO (Jurassic Park) head the cast of this compelling and intense drama. USA, the 1930s. Walter Osgood is the only black man left in the town of High Lonesome. He's lost almost everything dear to him, including his wife and son. But no one in High Lonesome will speak out to defend Walter's rights when the town unites to drive him away from the community. Except for one person - a young boy named Charlie. Not only does Walter's extraordinary friendship with Charlie teach the boy the true meaning of love and courage, but it is also a dramatic flashpoint which forces the townspeople to confront their own cruel prejudices.