"Copland" on BLU RAY - A Review Of James Mangold's 1997 Film - Now Reissued In 2011 On A 15th Anniversary 'Collector's Series' BLU RAY...

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"…One Of The Good Guys…" – Copland (2011 15^th Anniversary Edition) on BLU RAY

Rewatching "Copland" on BLU RAY - you're struck by a few things. First - what a top movie this is - and the reputation it's gained as such since its 1997 release - is fully justified.

Second - is the astonishing cast. I count more than 15 world-class actors - Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Janeane Garofalo, Robert Patrick, Michael Rapaport, Annabella Sciorra, Noah Emmerich, Cathy Moriarty, John Spencer (of The West Wing), Peter Berg (of Chicago Hope), Robert John Burke and Terry Serpico (of Rescue Me), Malik Yoba (of Defying Gravity and Alphas), Bruce Altman (of Damages and Blue Bloods), Paul Calderon (of Hostages and Law & Order), Vincent Laresca (of Weeds and 24), Frank Vincent, Edie Falco, Arthur J. Nascarella, John Ventimiglia and Tony Sirico (all of The Sopranos) - there's even Blondie's Debbie Harry as a bar owner. Yet despite that formidable array of acting chops - it's all over for the lot of them the moment Sylvester Stallone steps onto the screen - in what has to be a career best for him.

Our Sly plays Freddy Heflin - a lumbering New Jersey cop who is coasting through his job as local town Sheriff. Freddy lives in Garrison, New Jersey (population 1280) - off jurisdiction home to many of New York's Transit Cops who moved there in the Seventies when crime threatened to engulf the Big Apple. Freddy stands over a pinball machine on his friendless birthday in the all Blue '4 Aces' Bar - dutifully overlooking an NYPD bag being passed between yet another cop Gary Figgis and a female badge at a nearby table (Ray Liotta and Edie Falco). "That's Freddy!" Gary reassures the nervous Bertha. "He's my guy! He's cool!" Gary smiles - he'll have no problem keeping the sedate Heflin under control.

Freddy is overweight and almost deaf in one ear from an automobile accident involving a sinking car that flew off a bridge he happened to be sitting under as a young man. His only real heartbeat-uptake comes from Liz Randone (Annabella Sciorra) - the beauty queen he pulled from the submerged Buick by smashing the side of his head against the passenger door window to get her free. But Liz went on to marry Joey (Peter Berg) - a drunken womanizer who is sleeping with Rose Donlan (Cathy Moriarty)- wife of the town's real power cop - Ray Donlan (Harvey Keitel). Liz smiles as Freddy returns a turtle teddy bear she left on top of her car bringing her kid home from school (an excuse to call on her door) - but she endures Freddy rather than embracing him in her arms.

One night at 2 a.m. in New York City - the 3-7 Cop Crew is getting wasted in a nightclub called Scores - when decorated Officer Murray "Super Boy" Babitch (Michael Rapaport) leaves and gets into his car with one too many drinks taken. But entering the George Washington Bridge he gets sideswiped by two blacks in a sports car that are clearly high - and worse - laughing at him. An angry chase ensues - and thinking a long black steering wheel lock is a sawn-off shotgun - Babitch gives pursuit and fires shots from his handgun. The two cars collide head on in the middle of the GWB - and when the dust settles - both lowlifes are dead. Soon half of Garrison's finest are on the scene trying to control the mayhem led by Leo Crasky (John Spencer) and Ray Donlan (Keitel). One of their cop posse called Jack Rucker (Robert Patrick of Terminator fame) plants a gun in the floor area of the mashed up sports car  - but a black Ambulance Medic who has already swept the vehicle - sees the white boy's ploy and a fist-fight ensues. Babitch feeling his whole life is about to fall apart - puts his hands to his bloodied head - panics - and it 'seems' like he jumps off the bridge into the cold Hudson below when no one but Uncle Ray is looking. The next morning Freddy Heflin is reading THE DAILY NEWS in Garrison - reporting that after stopping two drug dealers - a young hero cop has taken his own life for fear of a judicial system that will destroy him for trying to do his job. But then after a random speeding stop with his newly appointed assistant Cindy Betts (Garofalo) - Freddy lets the unmarked cop car go but sees the scared Babitch in the back seat being spirited away by 'friends' in the force. But neither Freddy nor his Deputy Bill (Noah Emmerich) say anything to anyone about what they know.

Meanwhile uptown and heading up the Internal Affairs Bureau (the I.A.B.)- Moe Tilden (Robert DeNiro) suspects that Super Boy's body is never going to be found because he didn't jump. So he goes out to Garrison Town and in a local Danish shop meets fellow cops Ray and Frank (Harvey Keitel and Arthur J Nascarella) whom he knew from Academy days. Barely disguised verbal jabs ensue and Ray Donlan utters the word 'rat' under his breath as investigator Moe Tilden leaves with a coffee.

Moe then meets with Freddy the local Sheriff - and in a conversation indicates that the massively attended funeral for hero-cop Babitch is a staged farce. "We buried a suit today! How do you feel about that?" he probes the man he suspects still has a conscience somewhere beneath that massive broken frame. "Ambivalence is a disease..." Tilden says. Moe tries harder to reach the Sheriff by putting another thought directly into Freddy's one good ear - unless the body of Super Boy turns up in the river soon - the case being crushed by The Mayor (with mob connections to the town of Garrison) is not going to hold. It's only a matter of time before the young Babitch goes the same way Gary Figgis' partner Sergeant Tunney went a few years back - dead and buried to cover up more local lies. A series of events then unfold that rattle Freddy - and their presumptions that he'll simply roll over on everything begins to gnaw at him - until it becomes obvious that he must man up and take in Babitch to face the I.A.B. inquest in New York City. But first Freddy has to get the scared white kid out of the town jail without both of them getting killed - and without the back-up of officers too scared and too loyal to kingpin Ray Donlan to help...

Although the dialogue is constantly brutal (and convincing for it) - "Copland" is not all 'f' words either. The scene where Stallone and Sciorra finally come together in his home to the Springsteen songs "Stolen Car" and "Drive All Night" (both from his 1980 double album "The River") is both tender and beautifully judged. The acting too is uniformly brilliant. Keitel is all power corrupted (lets a fellow officer fall from a TV aerial who's been soiling his sheets at home), DeNiro is the driven investigator trying to bring truth back to the force and Liotta is a cocksure wiseass cop - until a fire-bombing he arranged goes drastically wrong. The sweating jerky Michael Rapaport as Babitch is superb too - suspecting that his life is not just screwed but in danger from his 'pals'. All are fabulous. But its Stallone's journey back to being a real man and doing what's right that keeps you glued. He put on pounds for the part, pulled back the macho and allowed himself to be sappy at times - he is magnificent in the role and deserved 2nd Oscar glory.

Defaulted to Full Screen Aspect (no bars top or bottom) - the 2011 15th Anniversary Collector's Series BLU RAY picture quality is a huge improvement over the DVD (and previous much-derided BLU RAY incarnations - use Barcode 5060223761770 to get the right issue). So many scenes are properly clear now - even indoors and at night (the party sequence when Babitch realizes what's being planned for him). There are good extras too in the shape of an 'Urban Western' Making Of, Deleted Scenes, Storyboarding of the Shoot Out and a feature-length Commentary by Writer/Director James Mangold. Audio is HTD-HD Master Audio Surround 5.1 and Subtitles are English and English For The Hard Of Hearing. Special mention should also go to Howard Shore's superb brass refrain that gives certain scenes enormous added power.

"Copland" is a bit a wee gem frankly. Make room for this morality tale in your Darkness On The Edge Of Town...

"Corman’s World – Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 2011 Alex Stapleton Documentary Film...

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"…Hassled By The Man!" – Corman's World on BLU RAY

Take a look at this list of Actors – Jack Nicholson, Tommy Lee Jones, Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Bruce Dern, William Shatner, Lee Van Cleef, Dick Miller, Charles Bronson, Vincent Price, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Harvey Keitel, David Carradine, Pam Grier and Mamie Van Doren… 

Or this list of Directors, Writers and Producers – Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Peter Bogdanovich, John Sayles, Joe Dante, Paul W.S. Anderson, Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, Jonathan Demme, Gale Anne Hurd and Francis Ford Coppola…

What have they all got in common? The answer is Producer, Writer, Director, Mentor, Career-Break Giver, Cheapskate and Sordid Exploitation B-Movie Legend - ROGER CORMAN. So why don’t you know this? Well that’s what Alex Stapleton’s 2011 documentary film "Corman's World" is about.

It begins in the late Forties with two horrid years in the American Navy where Cadet Roger William Corman from Detroit, Michigan wilfully goes up against every order and gets a ludicrously high amount of demerits. He cannot stand authority of any kind. Roger then takes a job for 8 weeks reading crappy scripts at 20th Century Fox – says screw this – and decides in 1954 to make a film of his own – a black and white called "Monster From The Ocean". He does everything himself and on a budget of nothing minus zero (they show hilarious footage of his glowing one-eyed monster) and our boy’s off and running. Some decades later and at the sprightly age of 82 - there’s a staggering 384 more films where they came from (and he’s Directed 55 of them). And in between all that our heros has managed to procure a loving and talented wife Julie and four kids…and millions of movie-going admirers (many of whom are now Industry giants).

What’s fascinating about this fabulous story is the huge number of genuine stars Corman knew and gave a break too – and who take time out to acknowledge this. Jack Nicholson in particular - who seems to owe his stunning career to the man – is so witty and self-deprecating that he’s worth the price of admission alone. Ron Howard is characteristically generous too (got his first Director’s spot under Corman) and has hilarious anecdotes about dangerous stunts in borrowed cars. Genius Writers and Directors John Sayles and Peter Bogdanovich give insightful glimpses into Corman’s sometimes cavalier yet utterly driven personality – always sticking it to 'the man'. While "Boxcar Bertha" gave Martin Scorsese and his troop of stunning actors an outing and the maestro his first Director’s Chair.

But what really tickles the funny bones is the endless parade of film clips - exploitation movies you haven’t seen in decades – or not at all. Most were made without safety or permits - where an explosion is pretty much mandatory – where crass is good – and if it can be made for less than the dollar price of Scrooge’s underwear – then that’s even better. Blood spatters, cleavage pops, hoodlums do what hoodlums do, monsters invade from outer space (Lee Van Cleef sorts out a mutant bug with a canister blowtorch), crocodiles chomp on limbs, massively endowed ladies ponce about on the planet Venus with telepathy but very few clothes…and cars eat people…all of it thoroughly delightful.

But in between all this B-Movie/Drive-In fodder are moments of breakthrough – 1962's "The Intruder" – a serious film about racism down South starring a first part for William Shatner that nearly got all involved killed. And while his flicks might have been the wrong side of pump-action nudity drivel – his tastes were for proper art-house films of the European and World schools. So Corman used his distribution company ‘New World Pictures’ to give Fellini, Bergman, Truffaut and Akira Kurosawa movies their only American releases.

Corman also made eight Edgar Allen Poe films with Vincent Price including "The Pit And The Pendulum", "The Masque Of The Red Death" and "The House Of Usher" which are now revered as classics of the Horror genre. He used genuine Hells Angels in the biker movie "The Wild Angels" (the character Heavenly Blues gives the quote that titles this review), spoke to the teenagers of America with the Sixties culture flick "The Trip" (popped LSD to be authentic) and followed that nugget with the biggest independent cult film hit of all time – "Easy Rider" - which made global superstars of Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper.

But not to leave crass behind - for the Seventies - we get the Downton Abbey pleasant "Women In Cages", the University Challenge brain-teaser "Death Race 2000", the very nice boy clean-haircuts of The Ramones in "Rock & Roll High School" and vein nibbling fishy in the artistically fulfilling "Piranha". What a man and what a life!

The 30-minutes of Bonus Features have extended interviews and special messages to the great man. Aspect ratio is Full Screen and of course varies with the Source while Audio is a Basic 2.0. There are no subtitles.

In some respects - to blab and reveal more - is to do you the viewer - an injustice. Suffice to say that "Corman's World" is one of those cool insider peeks at the history of 'alternate' movies and the independent side of Hollywood. But perhaps like the chipper curmudgeon himself – this wonderfully uplifting and funny documentary is largely unknown and criminally under-appreciated.

Juts don’t let this BLU RAY gem go unacknowledged in your household…or we may have to send some killer vixens around with chainsaws and open blouses…