Three items of note on DVD today. First off, the massive Ford At Fox boxed set is probably the most comprehensive assemblage of one filmmaker's work ever released in one place, containing such previously released touchstones of John Ford's career as My Darling Clementine and The Grapes Of Wrath, plus previously hard-to-find items such as Judge Priest, plus a huge assemblage of silents such as The Iron Horse plus plus plenty of documentation to put it all in context. As the title states, this only includes Ford's output at Twentieth Century-Fox, so later efforts like The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance are not included. Nonetheless, the detail and loving care with which this project has been assembled puts similar efforts by other video distributors--most notably, Warners' pick-and-choose Stanley Kubrick box--very much to shame. The list price for this, it should be noted, is three hundred bucks...but if you're a Ford obsessive, worth every penny.
Next, a reissue of my favorite Martin Scorsese picture, 1977's underappreciated New York, New York. Scorsese once stated this story of the rocky romance between a singer and saxophone player in the post-W W II era was an attempt to make a movie that would look as though it had been co-directed by Vincente Minnelli and John Cassavetes. He succeeded admirably well, the film's often dazzling surface matched by an almost unbearable intensity as it charts the downward spiral of its love story. Stunning performances by Robert DeNiro and Liza Minnelli, gorgeous design and camerawork and several original songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb all contribute to the greatest movie ever made about the inevitable problems of neurotic artistic types in love. (Not that, koff koff, I'm speaking from personal experience or anything...)
Finally, SNL: Season Two reminds us of the time when Saturday Night Live ceased being a late-night experiment and became, briefly, one of the greatest shows in TV history. The departure of Chevy Chase, the arrival of Bill Murray, the flowering of Michael O'Donoghue's talent ("The Little Engine That Died" segment of Mr. Mike's Least-Loved Bedtime Tales is, for my money, one of the greatest pieces of comic writing ever), a document of its time ("Let's Kill Gary Gilmore For Christmas"), amazing guest hosts (Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, Jodie Foster, Sissy Spacek, Shelly Duvall), unbelievable music (John Prine, Ry Cooder, The Band, Paul Simon, Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Neil Innes...Holy crap! It's like they hired me to book the music!) and above all, a clear desire to do something good, to astonish, to raise the bar. It doesn't always work, and some sketches are more squirm-inducing than anything else, but this season and the next would represent a show trying for greatness, and occasionally succeeding. A treasure--too bad it couldn't last.
