Home Theater: Raging Bull: Special Edition and Wonderfalls

By Bob Grimm

Raging Bull: Special Edition

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A few years back, my brother spent a ton of money to get me the Raging Bull laserdisc for my birthday. It cost him hundreds of dollars to procure me something that would wind up in my closet at present, unwatched and antique. With the release of this excellent DVD, I'm thinking my brother's laserdisc gift will make the pilgrimage from my closet to eBay.

Raging Bull is largely regarded as the best movie of the '80s, and I think it's the best film study ever on how jealousy and selfishness can ruin lives. Robert De Niro plays real-life former middleweight champion boxer Jake LaMotta, a man who could dish out severe punishments in the ring but, for some sick reason, craved severe punishments in return.

De Niro, who won the Oscar, went through a legendary body transformation. Filming was shut down as he traveled to Italy and put on 60 pounds by eating pasta, pancakes and cheesecake. Scorsese had to shorten the workdays upon De Niro's return to filming because his physicality restricted him.

I remember my father renting this one for me to watch at home. He had heard it was a little rough, but my mom was out of town on vacation and we could get away with watching an R-rated flick without her around. By the time De Niro was screaming profanities in his prison cell, my father had to excuse himself from the room, telling me I could finish the movie if I wanted to but he couldn't take it anymore. (This is a guy who taught high school in New York with all those foul-mouthed kids, so the language would have to be pretty bad to force him out of the room.)

The DVD can be purchased alone or as part of The Martin Scorsese Film Collection, which also contains The Last Waltz, New York, New York and Boxcar Bertha.

Special features: Viewers can watch the film with commentaries by the always entertaining Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker, a "Cast and Crew" commentary that doesn't include any of the lead actors (still a good listen) and a "Storytellers" commentary that features the real LaMotta. Getting to hear LaMotta tell his boxing stories while struggling to breathe through his nose is DVD greatness. A second disc contains a series of documentaries that go into great detail on the making of the film, as well as a documentary on LaMotta himself.

Short-lived Wonderfalls reborn on DVD

Wonderfalls

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Fox canceled this decent series after airing just four episodes. It follows the travails of a Brown University graduate (the too-charming Caroline Dhavernas) who can only get a job working a souvenir counter at Niagara Falls after getting her degree. Puppets and toy animals speak to her, sending her sage advice and turning her into a sort of clairvoyant prophet who helps people in turmoil.

The show works in large part due to Dhavernas' tremendous screen presence, and it's surprising the Fox canned it with 13 episodes ready for air. Now fans of the first four shows get to see the entire series, and each episode offers its own quirky rewards. The four that aired happened to be the best, but the nine that were denied are far better than the average junk that dominates network broadcasting these days. The immediate success of this DVD has spawned talks about a future film based on the series, so that should make fans happy.

Special features: Not much here but a couple of cast and crew commentaries that are routine and a preview documentary that explains the origins of the show. The true value of this package comes in getting all of the shows into your collection.