The Waltons Movie Collection (A Wedding on Walton's Mountain / Mother's Day / A Day for Thanks / A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion / Wedding / Easter)

The Waltons Movie Collection (A Wedding on Walton's Mountain / Mother's Day / A Day for Thanks / A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion / Wedding / Easter) Review

The Waltons Movie Collection (A Wedding on Walton's Mountain / Mother's Day / A Day for Thanks / A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion / Wedding / Easter) Feature

• Honesty. Integrity. Family. Stories of a family's - and a nation's - yesteryear continue in six Reunion Movies. Set in the 1940s are A Wedding on Walton's Mountain (will Erin have a change of heart?), Mothers' Day on Walton's Mountain (honoring the person everyone turns to when crises arise) and A Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain (with Robert Wightman as John-Boy). Taking place in the 1960s and

The Waltons Movie Collection (A Wedding on Walton's Mountain / Mother's Day / A Day for Thanks / A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion / Wedding / Easter) Overview

Honesty. Integrity. Family. Stories of a family's - and a nation's - yesteryear continue in six Reunion Movies. Set in the 1940s are A Wedding on Walton's Mountain (will Erin have a change of heart?), Mothers' Day on Walton's Mountain (honoring the person everyone turns to when crises arise) and A Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain (with Robert Wightman as John-Boy). Taking place in the 1960s and featuring Richard Thomas as John-Boy are A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion (as a nation mourns the death of JFK), A Walton Wedding (no big-city Manhattan nuptials for John-Boy) and A Walton Easter (Happy 40th, John and Olivia!). Six warm Walton memories are yours to share. For fans of the family-friendly classic TV series, this 3-disc set features six made for television holiday-themed movies.

The Waltons Movie Collection (A Wedding on Walton's Mountain / Mother's Day / A Day for Thanks / A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion / Wedding / Easter) Specifications

Who says you can't go home again? Throughout six post-series reunion movies, the Walton home still stands, "generous in its love, filled with memories, and always ready to welcome us." From the first gathering of the far-flung mountain clan in A Wedding on Walton's Mountain (1982) to the final goodnights in A Walton Easter (1997), these uplifting and heartwarming films are quality time spent with one of America's favorite TV families. Each film amounts to a Very Special Episode of the top-rated, Emmy-winning TV series, rich with family milestones (weddings and births), and crises that will test and reaffirm the family credos of hard work, common sense, and faith. Most of the original cast is back. The late Will Geer, as Grandpa Walton, is sadly absent, and Ellen Corby, who suffered a stroke in 1977, plays a diminished role as Grandma Walton. The character of John-Boy, the aspiring writer whose reminiscences of life on Walton's Mountain were the heart of the series, is absent in the first two films and is portrayed by Richard Wrightman in A Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain. With all due respect, we know John-Boy, we consider John-Boy to be a friend, and you, Mr. Wrightman, are no John-Boy. No, that would be Richard Thomas, who won an Emmy for his iconic role, and makes a welcome return in A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion (1993), which jumps ahead nearly two decades to 1963, the same time frame as the third season of Mad Men. Suffice to say, different worlds, as witness the charming scene in A Walton Wedding (1995) in which the wedding party sings "Bicycle Built for Two" while seeing off John-Boy and his bride. There is a circle-of-life satisfaction to the final film in the set, A Walton Easter, in which John (Ralph Waite) and Olivia (the ageless Michael Learned) celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary, and John-Boy contemplates returning to Walton's Mountain for good. "There's so much more out there beyond Walton's Mountain," a no-good former boyfriend cajoles the now-betrothed Erin in A Wedding on Walton's Mountain. But as these six films, celebrations of home and hearth brimming with life and unconditional love, remind us, why would you ever want to leave? --Donald Liebenson

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American Graffiti (Collector's Edition) (High School Reunion Collection)

American Graffiti (Collector's Edition) (High School Reunion Collection) Review

This movie will take you back to the fun times of the early 1960s.

Director George Lucas lived it in the early 1960s in Modesto, California.

If you were a teenager or young adult during the late 1950s and early 1960s, then you're sure to remember the kind of fun that teenagers and young adults had back then - going to drive-ins, drive-in movies, drag racing, cruising, etc. It seemed like everything that was fun seemed to revolve around cars. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but there is some truth to it. People back then worshipped their cars just like people today worship their computers, blackberries, and other technological gadgets. In this era society was cleaner and safer. The middle class prospered. Jobs were plentiful and paid well. Wealth was distributed more evenly. A person could work at the same company for 30-40 years and retire with a pension. Generally speaking, most people were decent people with morals and values. People weren't nearly as greedy as they are now. Illegal drugs were rare in society. Radicalism was at a minimum. America was still in an age of innocence. To quote Bill Maher, "The early '60s were the '50s. There really wasn't much radicalism going on".

My mother was a teenager in the 1950s and in her early 20s in the early 1960s. She always used to talk at great length about all the fun times she had as a teenager cruising Woodward Ave. near Detroit, going to drive-ins, drive-in movies, going on dates, the rock music of that time period, etc. and how the young people of today missed out on all the fun and can't relate to what she did as a teenager. She always proudly said she had 78 boyfriends before she met my father, and a lot of that resulted from cruising. She was a fan of American Graffiti and used to mention it quite frequently and said it is an accurate depiction of what cruising was like in the '50s and early '60s.

If you're someone who lived these fun times back then, then you can relate to this movie, as this movie is set in September 1962 in the area of Modesto, California. Even if you weren't alive back then, you can appreciate this movie. The basic plot is this: It is September 1962 and it is the last night of summer before everybody goes to college. There are actually four stories that are all happening simultaneously (classic George Lucas style - think of the Star Wars movies), but in this movie, they're not related to each other. You'll see scenes showing cruising, school dances, drag racing, drive-ins, and many mischievious acts. Kids out to have a good time before they enter the real world and go their separate ways. The movie takes place almost entirely at night, from sunset to sunrise the next day.

This movie stars Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss, Suzanne Somers, Mackenzie Phillips, Paul LeMat, Candy Clark, Charles Martin Smith, and legendary disc jockey Wolfman Jack.

This movie is LOADED with rock 'n roll songs from that era. The music starts at the beginning of the movie and never really ends. There are a total of 41 songs that can be heard throughout the movie, and all are big hits from the '50s and early '60s. There is no actual musical score, no background situational music. Instead, the rock songs ARE the soundtrack. Everything from Buddy Holly to Bill Haley & The Comets to The Beach Boys to Chuck Berry, this movie has it all.

This DVD comes with excellent extras, particularly the documentary called The Making Of American Graffiti. It has in-depth interviews with director George Lucas, executive producer Francis Ford Coppola, and nearly all the cast members. It runs about 1 1/2 hours. The stories are very interesting, particularly the stories about the mistakes that were made in the movie, but were kept in the movie by George Lucas. There are also production photographs, the theatrical trailer, and never-before-seen screen tests of the cast.

I can relate to this movie, at least somewhat. Every year near my hometown there is an event called the Woodward Dream Cruise, a car cruise on the third Saturday of every August where people cruise down Woodward Ave. near Detroit in their classic cars from yesteryear. It's a huge event that easily attracts over a million people and is even televised locally. I've been to all 16 of them, from 1995 to 2010. This event was invented to bring back the nostalgia of cruising down Woodward Ave. in the '50s and '60s. Radio stations play songs from that era all day long. Myself, I listen to my hard rock and heavy metal while driving. Generational gap!

But you see? People yearn for this sort of thing. People want to at least pretend to escape back to a time when America was more innocent, safer, more prosperous, cleaner, more secure, had nicer people, far less greedy, and when people weren't so obsessed with chasing the buck as they are now. That's why we've got a national drive-in chain called Sonic. People want to be taken back in time, even if it's just for an hour. I even went to a drive-in movie a few years ago in the parking lot of the now unused Pontiac Silverdome. I hadn't done that since the '70s, because they all disappeared.

So, if you're somebody who lived what is portrayed in American Graffiti, this movie should bring a smile to your face. If you're a younger person, you need to see this movie, and I'll bet you'll like it.

American Graffiti (Collector's Edition) (High School Reunion Collection) Overview

A look at one hectic night in the life of a group of high school friends just before they go off to college, jobs, or the army.

American Graffiti (Collector's Edition) (High School Reunion Collection) Specifications

Here's how critic Roger Ebert described the unique and lasting value of George Lucas's 1973 box-office hit, American Graffiti: "[It's] not only a great movie but a brilliant work of historical fiction; no sociological treatise could duplicate the movie's success in remembering exactly how it was to be alive at that cultural instant." The time to which Ebert and the film refers is the summer of 1962, and American Graffiti captures the look, feel, and sound of that era by chronicling one memorable night in the lives of several young Californians on the cusp of adulthood. (In essence, Lucas was making a semiautobiographical tribute to his own days as a hot-rod cruiser, and the film's phenomenal success paved the way for Star Wars.) The action is propelled by the music of Wolfman Jack's rock & roll radio show--a soundtrack of pop hits that would become as popular as the film itself. As Lucas develops several character subplots, American Graffiti becomes a flawless time capsule of meticulously re-created memory, as authentic as a documentary and vividly realized through innovative use of cinematography and sound. The once-in-a-lifetime ensemble cast members inhabit their roles so fully that they don't seem like actors at all, comprising a who's who of performers--some of whom went on to stellar careers--including Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, and Paul Le Mat. A true American classic, the film ranks No. 77 on the American Film Institute's list of all-time greatest American movies. --Jeff Shannon

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Sixteen Candles (High School Reunion Collection)

Sixteen Candles (High School Reunion Collection) Review

When I was younger, I would watch Sixteen Candles on "regular" t.v. (no cable) to just hear a song - True by Spandeau Ballet. I realized that i never watched the real version of the movie so on a whim i decided to add this to my collection. I'm so glad I did. I still love the scene at the dance but it was so much better to get this edition with all the behind the scenes info and interviews from the cast. It seemed especially timely after seeing the Molly Ringwald & others honoring John Hughes at the Oscars this year.

Sixteen Candles (High School Reunion Collection) Overview

It's Samantha Baker's sweet sixteen birthday and no one in her family remembers the occasion. She's a typical teen, enduring creepy freshman, spoiled siblings, confused parents and the Big Blonde on campus who stands between her and the boy of her dreams.
Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: R
Street Date: 09/02/03
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
Language: ENGLISH
Foreign Film: noSubtitles: no
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: no
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve

Sixteen Candles (High School Reunion Collection) Specifications

Molly Ringwald established herself as the teen queen of the '80s in this fresh comedy. The movie is a day in the life of Samantha, whose 16th birthday is turning out to be anything but sweet. All the traumas of teendom come down on one long day, which sees Samantha surrounded by dithery relatives, mooning over a high school hunk, and pursued by a sawed-off Lothario. Sixteen Candles marked the directing debut of John Hughes, and its goofy energy displayed a promising talent with a great ear for high school lingo ... a promise neglected since Hughes became, after Home Alone, a one-man entertainment industry. There are some pretty crass moments (Why the stereotype of the foreign-exchange student from Asia?), but Ringwald's steady appeal smoothes over the rough spots. As the pubescent, self-styled lady-killer, Anthony Michael Hall turns in a hilarious portrait of a young swinger; he and Ringwald would reteam with Hughes for The Breakfast Club, another key teen picture of the decade. --Robert Horton

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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 12, 2010 20:12:04