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It's not what you'd call high art, but there are some highly enjoyable moments in this nicely packaged box set, featuring nine complete shows (plus ample bonus material) spread out over three discs.
Beginning as a summer replacement in 1971, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour earned its own regular time slot that same year, running for three straight seasons and then returning in 1976 (as The Sonny & Cher Show), after the couple's divorce. The show's formula, which had already been established both onstage and on the small screen (their '69 pilot episode is among the extra features), includes plenty of music (duets, Cher's solo performances in typically outlandish Bob Mackie gowns, various guest shots); lots of shtick (consisting mostly of Cher's put-downs of the minimally talented but good-natured Sonny); and sketches and skits (ranging from lame to inspired, including a mock-opera based on All in the Family and starring Metropolitan Opera tenor Robert Merrill as a warbling Archie Bunker). Guests range from the obvious (TV stalwarts like Harvey Korman, Ruth Buzzi, and Don Knotts) to the downright weird (then-California governor Ronald Reagan). It's all fairly middlebrow, but Sonny & Cher's unpretentious, unself-conscious charm carries it; and once in a while everything congeals into one surreally entertaining package, like the '72 show featuring the Jackson 5 (led, of course, by Michael, who was then 14 and still apparently normal), who are followed to the stage by Reagan (telling jokes, sort of) and singer-actor Howard Keel, veteran of numerous movie musicals.
Bonus features include 2003 audio commentary by a nostalgic Cher, interviews with the producers, the '69 pilot, bios, discographies, and a show history. The DVD set also comes with a music-only CD, featuring live performances of "The Beat Goes On" and "I Got You Babe." --Sam Graham
Customer Reviews:
I enjoyed them more than I thought I would........2007-07-25
Good stuff. Some of the skits go on too long, but I enjoyed seeing the two of them together again. Although, it's unfortunate that the episodes are not in stereo. The musical numbers suffer because of this.
Cher's commentary on Discs 1 and 2 are about 23 minutes each, and only 8 minutes in length on Disc 3. I liked them all, even though they only totalled less than an hour in length.
Also of note, are two producer commentary tracks that are about 18 minutes each. I liked them as well.
In addition, here are the songs Sonny and Cher sing on the Barbara McNair show (17 minutes worth, and yes, the show is in color):
-"What Now My Love"
-"Danny Boy" (extra slow, boring version-sung by Cher)
-Medley: "The Beat Goes On"; "All I Really Wanna Do"; "Sing C'est La Vie"(or whatever it's called?); "Babe" (1 minute long) and then once again "The Beat Goes On".
Cue, "The Beat Goes On". Audience applauds. Fade to black.
Variety TV Show Gold.......2007-01-04
If you haven't seen a TV variety show, this is the one to see. Music, comedy and technical effects of the day made this show a "must see."
Not what I expected.......2006-12-11
Sonny and Cher were one of the best variety show duos ever to inhabit TV land, so I was saddened that this DVD collections is not really the "best" that they've done.
Don't get me wrong, there are many great clips in here... but... the producers of this DVD package have decided to include full shows (with lots of boring stuff I didn't really care about) instead of concentrating on the star, Cher!
What I would like to see is a 'best of' compilation with all the best guest-stars, musical numbers, outfits, etc...
The Ultimate Variety Show.......2006-11-30
As far as I'm concerned, these two set the bar for the slew of variety shows that followed in the 70's (though I'm well aware there were predecessors). Their opening song and banter were always entertaining. The skits were actually funny (most of the time) and who didn't love the medley portion of the show (complete with matching outfits and Sonny busting out some lame dance moves). They had really good writers, regulars (including Steve Martin and Teri Garr), great guest stars, and groovy clothes that put the Brady Bunch to shame. Little Chastity closed out the show with them, and it was just a nice little, sweet family (little did we know).
However, as an elementary aged child at the time, I had an odd crush on Sonny Bono (which to this day I will never live down with the family). I get a big kick out of watching this 70's time capsule (and call me crazy, but I still thik Sonny was a cute little guy). My only complaint is that they didn't put the show out in individual seasons. I realize it's hard to get the rights to the music, but I'd love to at least see the 1st three seasons in their entirety....I can do without the post divorce show (though the skits were funny--it didn't gel). Shame it didn't work out between these two--they worked really well together during their relationship.
"Set is Fabulous with the Exception of Final Season!".......2006-05-14
I have been wanting to buy this set for a long, long time since I grew up anxiously awaiting each and every episode of The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour AND the Cher Show. Since I hadn't seen any of the episodes (like commentator Cher) since their original run in the early seventies,I noticed some good (and bad) stuff about the show.
The first season was a dress rehearsal in many ways; the editing was sloppy and continual "laughing" breakups from the lead couple during most of the skits got to be annoying after awhile. The best season seemed to be in 1973 with the episodes where Chastity comes out at the start of each show and newsworthy skits are performed on a cartoon train. You don't see the "cue cards" in the audience as much during the opening singing and monologues and Cher's vocals and delivery are more polished than in the first season especially. Sonny still stinks however (LOL) ... can't seem to act without looking off to the side to read his lines off the cue cards which director Art Fisher should have done something about but obviously didn't for one reason or another.
My favorite segements of the show are the "Vamp number," Lady Luck (another type of "Vamp sequence" in Season 3 ), Laverne at the Laundromat. (Cher was SO FUNNY along with Terri Garr and this showed her natural inclination towards comedy and acting) I really enjoyed watching a manic Sonny share the spotlight with "the hippest woman on earth" during the musical performances with their band backing them(which the final reunion season lacked incidentally)-their medley of "Brother Loves Traveling Salvation Show" and "Tamborine Man"-SO COOL!!!! On the sour side the "Opera" skits with Morgan Freeman annoyed the heck out of me as well as Sonny's Pizza. Cher's solos were very good-faves include "Half Breed," "Way of Love," and "Am I Blue?"
The first two discs were good to great especially disc 2!!
My only complaint is the chemistry and work on Disc 3 and the show they did after both their solo shows went off the air. They lacked the chemistry of the earlier shows playing it safe (of course they were divorced but they could have worked a little harder for an audience and ratings) the opening songs were only fair, the "Cutesie News" was totally stupid, liked the "War of the Sexes" with Sonny acting the sissy man he was (LOL) and Cher being very K.D. Lang....haha!! This season did not have them singing together which I really missed and Cher's solo's had her dressed to the nine's in typical Bob Mackie extravagant outfits but song selections for her were mediocre at best.
I loved Sonny and Cher-wish the CHER SHOW would come out in it's entirety as I thought she did a GREAT JOB on her own and that it was better than Sonny and Cher actually and more relaxed in many ways. She underestimated herself I think-however I would love to see all the original Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour episodes-Seasons 1 to 3 on disc-I will pass on the last show they did together. It just showed indifference and the writing and rapport was just not the same.
No offense to this great site but I would never pay almost 50 bucks for this-got it for half that somewhere else-maybe I'd pay it for for all the shows but not for nine episodes.
Description
Born Losers: The first film in which the character Billy Jack ever appeared. Tom Laughlin had written Billy Jack back in the 1950's, but couldn't get anyone interested in a film about Indians - half-breed or otherwise. Tom Laughlin toned down the Indian and political themes in order to get Born Losers made. It became a very successful independent film! Billy Jack: The film that broke the mold. Billy Jack was, once again, the largest grossing independent film of all time. People saw Billy Jack 25 times or more than any movie in history until Star Wars. From the karate to the Native American spirituality, to the Freedom School, to the racial tolerance, few films have ever been this successful or stuck their necks out so far. The Trial of Billy Jack: The Trial of Billy Jack not only broke every box-office record for its day, it forever changed the way motion pictures were distributed. It was for the release of The Trial of Billy Jack that Tom Laughlin created the mega-multiple release that included the first-ever use of national TV advertising for a motion picture. Billy Jack Goes To Washington: Perhaps the most controversial film of all. Twenty years before Senators like Bradley, Rudman, Cohen, and Pell quit saying the U.S. Senate is so corrupt it doesn't work anymore, Billy Jack Goes to Washington told a story straight out of the headlines. At the Washington premiere one Senator exploded, vowing to do everything in his power to make sure Billy Jack Goes to Washington was never released.
Customer Reviews:
A Good Set.......2007-08-14
Supposing that you want a set of Billy Jack Movies, this is a good one. For a while, in that era of sartorial horrors known as the 70s, Billy Jack was a very popular film franchise. This collection of all four movies is a great boon for fans. Those who are not fans would have no interest anyway.
The series morphed a great deal over its run. BORN LOSERS took place in Southern California and involved a man protecting a rape victim from bikers. The rest move the story to Arizona and add Indian mysticism to the basic plot of an honest guy protecting others.
The series also varies quite a bit in quality. Production values were worse early on but the films were better. That too is a familiar story.
Individual Synopses appear below:
BORN LOSERS
This was the movie that started the Billy Jack franchise of the early 70s and it is definitely a product of that era in everything from costume to style to dialog to location.
Tom Laughlin plays Billy Jack, a mysterious loner who is part Indian and recently released from the Special Forces in Vietnam. He is trying to get along in southern California but is handicapped with such traits as a conscience. He gets arrested on "vigilante" charges when he saves a young boy from being beaten to death by a biker gang. This puts him off of the good citizenship ideal.
This same motorcycle gang mentioned before has more to its activities than just beating kids bloody. It also like such recreational pastimes as rape. When a group of girls is hospitalized after a particularly brutal rape, the DA desperately wants at least one of them to press charges but all of the girls are frightened of retaliation. The gang victimizes each one further to ensure their silence.
On of the girls is spunkier than the rest. She decides to prosecute and the gang comes after her. She runs straight into Billy Jack's arms and Billy Jack stiffens her resolve and helps to protect her when the local sheriff proves unable to do so.
The action in this movie is understated by today's standards and the fights are really laughable. They do make their points, though and the point of the movie is not action but justice.
BILLY JACK
This is the second of the Billy Jack Series.
It is a few years later (than BORN LOSERS) and Billy Jack is now living on an Indian reservation in Arizona. On the same reservation, there is an experimental school that is short on rules, long on the counter-culture and even longer on hacking off the officials of the local town.
Billy Jack acts as sort of an unofficial protector for the school. He makes a strange compatriot for the head of the school. She is a pacifist who will endure practically anything, including rape, to keep from using violence. Billy Jack, on the other hand, is a former green beret and doesn't hesitate to use violence when necessary.
Tensions build between the school and the town and things come to a head when the runaway daughter of a corrupt deputy sheriff funs off to the school. The deputy wants her back and is willing to do anything to get her, including frame and/or kill innocent people. While Billy tries to protect and, occasionally, avenge, he becomes the target of officialdom and a fugitive.
This story is no more complex than that of the first movie. Neither is it any better acted. Even so, there is something compelling about it.
THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK
BILLY JACK closed with Billy being arrested for manslaughter. This film opens with an extremely long sequence featuring the director of the school Billy was protecting in the last installment, recounting a long list of grievances to a reporter. In this sequence, virtually every hippie stereotype and left wing cause is aired. Intermingled with this retrospective diatribe are flashbacks of Billy Jack's legal trial and prison sentence.
The "trial" referred to in the title does not seem to be the legal one mentioned above. After being released from prison, Billy undergoes a personal trial, replete with Indian mysticism. He is seeking to become a less violent person. This is the backdrop for the real point of the film.
All events lead up to staging a massacre at the school similar in nature to the historic one at Kent State University. The movie is virtually a tribute to those who lost their lives. Little else is accomplished in terms of story or drama.
The movie makes some valid and even good points about the politics of the day and indicts justs about everything associated with "The Establishment". It also back a few losing points of view. Whether these points of view are agreed with or not, however, the film could have been much stronger and made its point better.
This is a very long film. That made it proportionally more difficult to sit through. It is propaganda of its time. It has germs of truth within but those germs are lost with the sledgehammer method of delivering the message.
BILLY JACK GOES TO WASHINGTON
The basic story is right out of the Jimmy Stewart classic. A senator dies and, in a politically pandering move, Billy Jack is appointed as the replacement. The Senior senator wants to make sure that nothing remotely political gets put on his plate. Billy Jack decides to sponsor a bill for a youth camp and the senior senator encourages him, thinking it will keep him out of his hair. Everything falls to pieces, though, when Billy reveals the location of his proposed camp. A nuclear power plant is secretly being proposed for the site. This puts him at odd with the powers that be and results in a titanic struggle of good vs. evil. It just gets nastier when Billy refuses to knuckle under to intimidation.
There are a few differences from the original movie. The bogeyman here is nuclear power and, more generally, politicians. Also, this being a Billy Jack movie, there are the obligatory martial arts scenes starring the newly minted senator.
The movie gets some things right. It is appropriately cynical about Washington and politicians. It portrays corruption as the norm and it does so believably. It also makes an effort to use some sentimental imagery and footage to stir up patriotic feelings. It does not work with this cast.
This is nowhere near as good as the Jimmy Stewart movie but it is quite watchable. It is also much better than THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK.
A classic collection.......2007-08-10
You have to admire Laughlin's passion for this character. Just listen to the commentary on any disk. Granted the films are extremely dated, but there is an undercurrent of contemporary attitudes toward our government, war and Americans in general. While you may not agree with Laughlin's liberal leanings, you have to admire the fact that a film this critical of the establishment can be freely made in this country. Politics aside, the film Billy Jack is the best in the collection but all the films have merit. I recommend this collection especially if you like films from the seventies.
Great movies.......2007-08-01
If you're a Billy Jack fan you'll love this! It's got 4 movies and a bonus disc. It's all put together in one case. You also can't beat the price!
Billy Jack Collection.......2007-07-21
A big 'Thank you!' to Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor for putting this collection together.
Great "Ultimate"Collection!!!.......2007-05-26
The Billy Jack series ALL-in-one DVD is fantastic! I know people have complained about: Billy Jack Goes to Washington; BUT IT TOO IS A WELL WRITTEN, WELL DIRECTED, AND A WELL ACTED MOVIE! The problem is, Billy Jack's attitudes of so profoundly mis-trusting governmental authority as in his previous movies is not the same in the Washinton movie. The Washington movie has Billy Jack trusting at least one Senator because of that Senator's relationship with Billy Jack's father before he was found dead( just like in: Mr. Smith Goes To Washington), however if this trust had existed for as long as it was implied, Billy Jack would have called on this Senator's assistance in the previous movies... So its like, 'where did this come from?'. Taken by itself a wonderful remake!!!
DVD:
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- Steven Seagal Collection
- The Backyardigans - Into the Deep
- The Big Heat
- The Devil's Own
- The Errol Flynn Signature Collection, Vol. 2 (The Charge of the Light Brigade / Gentleman Jim / The Adventures of Don Juan / The Dawn Patrol / Dive Bomber)
- The Fifth Element (Remastered) [Blu-ray]
- The Glimmer Man
- The Great Train Robbery
- The Last Time
DVD
DVD
General
| Comedy
| Genres
| DVD
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