The Hot Spot comes to Blu-Ray (and Idolmaker too)

[Monterey Jack]

Damn, more prime Jennifer Connelly in HD!



Now we just need Career Opportunities in HD.

[AndyDursin]

Oh yes.....YES.....from Jen's heyday!

[Monterey Jack]

I've never actually seen the movie (tried to put it in my Netflix queue recently, but the DVD is long OOP and expensive), but I'll blind-buy for the right price.

[AndyDursin]

Well I can't say how good it is because it's been years since I've seen it....but Connelly AND Virginia Madsen topless together (in the same scene!)...that was as good as it got for a high school kid looking for titillating R-rated entertainment. (I think it ranked as a 4-star essential in the "Bare Facts Nude Video Guide"

[Monterey Jack]

On a double-feature disc with Killing Me Softly




Haven't seen either film, but high-def nudity from J-Co, Virginia Madsen and Heather Graham... I just hope the transfers are up to snuff.

[AndyDursin]

Never heard of KILLING ME SOFTLY -- that's a weird choice by Shout...but they're kind of making some odd choices at times (COHEN AND TATE...on Blu-Ray? why???).

Looking forward to HOT SPOT though!

[AndyDursin]

I just watched THE HOT SPOT...the Madsen-Connelly topless shot is gold...but the film, which I never really liked when I was in high school, is worse than I remember. Boring, poorly directed by Dennis Hopper and not much fun. The Heather Graham movie is awful, and if anything, worse. I had to fast forward through both of them. The transfers are fine -- but I'd pass on this set.

Funny though, I watched THE IDOLMAKER and loved it!

[DavidBanner]

I always get The Hot Spot confused with The Long Hot Summer. Way different projects, I know. But they both fall into that "Don Johnson 80s movie with Hot in the Title" riff for me. Thankfully I don't confuse them with "Dead Bang", which was the moment that I figured that Johnson's best work was on the small screen...

I'm curious about the Blu of The Idolmaker. I have that on my pre-order list from my local Blu-ray supplier. I've long been frustrated that the movie was never given any love on DVD. The only edition released to my knowledge was a 4x3 pan&scan bare bones release. I was able to hunt down and acquire a used laserdisc of the movie in widescreen, with a commentary by Taylor Hackford, one that he told me in 2006 that he had done for Criterion. But I have a feeling that the new Blu does not include Hackford's commentary or anything else along those lines. Andy, can you confirm this?

One of these days, I really need to digitize the various laserdisc commentaries I have. It's the one way I can still make use of them if I want to watch the better picture presentation on Blu-ray and still retain the content I paid oodles for back in the day. (I did keep all those Criterion lasers for a reason...)

[AndyDursin]

David, THE IDOLMAKER does have Hackford's commentary. He mentions the laserdisc release so it has to be the same track as that one. There's a trailer and a photo gallery but no other extras. The transfer is pretty good, obviously worth it as an upgrade from DVD and laserdisc (goes without saying).

I had never seen the film before -- I thought it was great. Ray Sharkey is amazing in the film, what a tragedy the rest of his life was such a mess. Great to see young Joey Pants and Peter Gallagher too. Good Jeff Barry score also! I'll be putting the review up later this week.

One of these days, I really need to digitize the various laserdisc commentaries I have. It's the one way I can still make use of them if I want to watch the better picture presentation on Blu-ray and still retain the content I paid oodles for back in the day. (I did keep all those Criterion lasers for a reason...)

You definitely should. I've ported over numerous commentaries to DVD. I especially savor Ray Bradbury's talks on THE HALLOWEEN TREE and SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, which also had the cinematographer and effects designer on there -- it's fascinating to hear them talk about what they changed from the original shoot and what was re-edited. I also have copies of the Criterion Bonds that were withdrawn, that I obtained from a friend of mine. Some of them are floating out there as mp3's online...in fact there are a couple of torrents that are nothing but commentaries from various laserdiscs that never made it to DVD or Blu-Ray.

[DavidBanner]

I'm very glad they included Taylor's commentary for the Blu. It's a good one. The movie showed just how good an actor Ray Sharkey was, and what a waste he made of his life.

Apropos of this topic, at the lowest point of his troubles in the mid-80s, Sharkey showed up for a quick cameo on Miami Vice ("Tale of the Goat", to be specific) and he was TERRIBLE. About a year later, he popped up on Crime Story as Britell and did a lot better. Looked like he'd cleaned up for a brief time - long enough to do Crime Story and then his great performance on Wiseguy as Sonny Steelgrave.

Part of the fun of The Idolmaker is that Peter Gallagher actually performs his own songs. And you have the great moments of Ray Sharkey negotiating in a restaurant while making his own salad dressing, and of Sharkey screaming at the concert promoter after the disastrous mob scene. Hackford says in the commentary that for those scenes they needed to do raffles and prizes to keep the crowds there all day, since they had so little money to pay them... And of course there's the great National Bandstand scene - one of the featured girls in the crowd with the pigtails grew up to be a makeup artist on a TV show I worked for a while.

I too have the banned Criterion Bond commentaries in mp3 form. They're a SCREAM. About five minutes in and you can tell why the Broccolis were not going to sit quietly about them. I have another 20 or so Criterion and other lasers with commentaries that never came over. Things like Midnight Cowboy, Tootsie, The Magnificent Ambersons, etc. At some point, I need to connect my computer to the output on the receiver and just hit record. Given that I already paid plenty for the lasers, and that this is specifically for my personal use, I have no hesitation regarding ripping here. It's not piracy if I already own the discs and I'm just finding a more convenient way to store my content.

[AndyDursin]

Looked like he'd cleaned up for a brief time - long enough to do Crime Story and then his great performance on Wiseguy as Sonny Steelgrave.

I never watched Wiseguy (I think I was in 7th or 8th grade when it was at its apex), and when I looked into watching it on DVD recently, I read it's another Cannell show ruined with music edits. I guess there's some story arc they didn't even bother putting on DVD because music was so involved. WHAT A WASTE!! Ugh.

[DavidBanner]

Wiseguy is something you could write a whole column about, both in terms of its cast and what happened with the DVD releases.

Basically, the DVDs are mostly accurate to the aired versions of the episodes, but in one specific case that I remember, the music was replaced - "Nights in White Satin" was pulled out of a key moment in the climactic episode with Sharkey. But other than that, the eps are as I remembered them from the 80s. Most of the arcs were brought to DVD, including the ones with Ray Sharkey and Kevin Spacey in the first season (which really was the whole first season), and the ones with Fred Dalton Thompson and with Jerry Lewis, Anthony Denison and Ron Silver in the second season. The final arc of the second season, about Dead Dog Records, with Tim Curry and Paul Winfield as rival music producers, was not brought to DVD. And frankly the 3rd season of the show was not worth the time to watch it.

Its initial concept was a good one, and they played it out as far as it could go - with the best parts really being in the first year and a few more good moments following in the second. Even with the music replacement on the one episode, there's still plenty of good stuff to see if you ever want to look up those discs. A great Ray Sharkey performance, vintage Jonathan Banks all through the first year, and an early performance by Kevin Spacey, from before anyone knew who he was.

[AndyDursin]

I will track it down. That is an amazing roster of talent.

[Monterey Jack]

I've never actually seen the movie (tried to put it in my Netflix queue recently, but the DVD is long OOP and expensive), but I'll blind-buy for the right price.

Finally watched The Hot Spot, which is currently available for free On Demand (in HD, even). While the Connelly/Madsen nudity definitely made this a trouser-tightening experience (had I seen this as a teenager, I probably wouldn't have left my room for a month ), it's a fairly mundane exercise in neo-noir, neither as sexy or engrossing as something like Body Heat or even the underrated China Moon (another flick which was On Demand a little while back...good George Fenton score on that, and 90's Madeline Stowe naked was something else ). And I want to ogle either of the leading actresses again, there are plenty of clips and screencaps online to peruse for free.

[Monterey Jack]

Hot Spot is getting a re-issue from Kino, from a new 4K restoration.