The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas (1982/Umbrella Entertainment/PAL Region 4 DVD Import)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D
Film: C+
PLEASE NOTE: This DVD set can only be
operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Four/4
PAL format software and can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment at the website address provided at the end of the review.
Though
many seem to forget this, Colin Higgins’ big screen version of the hit stage
Musical The Best Little Whorehouse In
Texas (1982) was one of that year’s biggest films and made the top ten with
stronger box office than expected.
Critics attacked it and more than a few were shocked by its lite erotic
content, but Universal expected a big hit (maybe bigger than they had here) and
had many good reasons for believing this.
Burt
Reynolds was still one of the biggest box office starts around, but little did
anyone know at the time that this would be the end of his run of giant box
office glory, made worse by personal attacks from an emerging Religious Right
anxious to cleanse liberal good ole’ boys from any Southern discourse. Dolly Parton seemed to be on the road to box
office glory herself, all the more so by reteaming with her 9 To 5 director on this film. Urban
Cowboy had just been a smash box office hit, including a huge hit
soundtrack and Dolly was one of the music genre’s biggest stars.
Needless
to say the film did not lose money, but it did not work out overall. Why?
Maybe because the screenplay the original plays co-writers Larry L. King
and Peter Masterson with Higgins had trouble juggling the comedy, sexuality,
storyline and musical numbers. The
choreography is not bad here, but in the year of MTV, it seemed old fashioned,
especially in the Urban Cowboy
era. The money is on the screen and both
Burt and Dolly were in prime form, yet it seems the chemistry and magic never
reaches the peak it should have.
Dom
DeLuise is probably on screen longer as Melvin than he should have been and his
work here is not up to his best work with the likes of Mel Brooks. Jim Nabors does an amusing job narrating and
co-starring as a deputy to Reynolds’ sheriff, but he is not as funny as he
usually is either. Charles Durning
steals just about every scene he is in, Robert Mandan holds his own, Lois
Nettleton makes a fine showing and Noah Beery Jr. is Edsel. The supporting cast, including the gals at
the house, are convincingly cast as well.
However,
the film so lost as more of a late 1970s time capsule (up to the time it was
released, Dukes Of Hazzard and Hee Haw were still on the air as hits)
that maybe if it had been released sooner, it would have been a different film
and we’d be talking differently about it.
Proof of this is that the film did manage to produce one classic.
Along
with the original music from the play by Carol Hall, two Parton-penned songs
were added to the storyline and one for potential Oscar consideration. One of them was her original version (written
before the film was made) of I Will
Always Love You, later a mega-hit for Whitney Houston (from another film, The Bodyguard, of all things, also from
a script written in the 1970s) and the song remains as popular and well-known
as ever.
Though
not a great musical film, it has its moments and yes, they are talking about
remaking it. In this case, that could
(for a change) yield interesting results, but would a new version sand the edge
off of the original?
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image was shot in real anamorphic Panavision
by William A. Fraker and does look good, with a particular desire apparently to
look like Seven Brides For Seven
Brothers in its compositions. Color
is good, but this is a transfer that is soft on the fine detail. The original theatrical sound was 4-track
magnetic stereo, but this version only offers Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. Not bad, but it sounds like we are missing
some sound and Pro Logic mode does not make up for this much and Patrick
Williams music also deserves to be heard more clearly. There are no extras.
As noted
above, you can order this PAL DVD import exclusively from Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
