| |
|
directed by: Tinto Brass, Bob Guccione, Giancarlo Lui starring: Malcolm McDowell, Peter O'Toole, Helen Mirren, Teresa Ann Savoy, Guido Mannari  Grab Discount Price: $19.99 Prices subject to change.Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1Audience Rating: Unrated Binding: DVD Brand: Image Entertainment EAN: 0014381416022 Format: Color, DVD-Video, Original recording remastered, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Analysis Film Releasing Corporation Manufacturer: Analysis Film Releasing Corporation Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Analysis Film Releasing Corporation Release Date: October 02, 2007 Running Time: 156 minutes Studio: Analysis Film Releasing Corporation Theatrical Release Date: February 15, 1980 Sales Rank: 943 MPN: IMED4160D Related Items:
Editorial Review: Description: Before Rome. Before Gladiator. The most controversial film of all time as you've never experienced it before! Combining lavish spectacle and top award-winning stars, this landmark production was shrouded in secrecy since its first day of filming. Now, this unprecedented special edition presents a bolder and more revealing Caligula than ever before, with a beautiful new high-definition transfer from recently uncovered negative elements and hours of never-before-seen bonus material! From the moment he ascends to the throne as Emperor, Caligula enforces a reign like no other as power and corruption transform him into a deranged beast whose deeds still live on as some of the most depraved in history. Malcolm McDowell (NBC's top-rated Heroes, Rob Zombie's Halloween, A Clockwork Orange, Time After Time, If..., Cat People and O Lucky Man), Helen Mirren: 2007 Academy Award & Golden Globe Winner for The Queen; 2007 Emmy & Golden Globe winner for HBO's Elizabeth I; star of hit TV series Prime Suspect and films including National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Calendar Girls, Excalibur, The Mosquito Coast, and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover), Peter O'Toole (Lawrence of Arabia, The Lion in Winter, The Ruling Class, My Favorite Year, Venus, The Stunt Man), John Gielgud (Gandhi, The Elephant Man, Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, Alfred Hitchcock's Secret Agent, and Academy Award-winning role in Arthur). Supporting cast includes a wide array of European cult actors including Teresa Ann Savoy (Salon Kitty), John Steiner (Mario Bava's Shock), Leopoldo Trieste (Cinema Paradiso), Mirella D'Angelo (Tenebrae), Paolo Bonacelli (Mission: Impossible III) and Adriana Asti (The Best of Youth). Discount Shopping: Remember the dumbstruck, jaw-dropped expressions on "Springtime for Hitler's" shocked opening-night audience in Mel Brooks's original film of The Producers? That will no doubt be your face through much of the two-and-a-half-hour running time of this infamous 1979 pornographic epic that was a (Penthouse) pet project of publisher Bob Guccione. That's not necessarily a bad thing. But don't take our word for it. Listen to Helen Mirren--yes, the Oscar-winning Queen herself--who stars as Caesonia, Caligula's third wife and "the most promiscuous woman in Rome" (and in this film's salacious vision of Pagan Rome, that is saying something). In her very gracious, thoughtful and candid audio commentary that alone is worth the price of this set, she remarks, "I think it's a movie that is unlike any other, which is difficult to achieve." And for those of a more prurient bent, she adds, "It has an awful lot of bottoms." Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) gives a brave and fearless performance as Caligula, the hated and feared emperor corrupted by absolute power and no doubt voted Most Likely to Be Assassinated. The film unflinchingly charts his plummet into madness and the brutality of his reign in scenes of hardcore sex and violence that cannot be described here ("I can't watch," Mirren cries to her interviewers over one scene in which unfortunate characters are beheaded by a blade-spinning combine. "I can't even listen to it"). Caligula is also a career curiosity for author Gore Vidal, who wrote the original screenplay, but later demanded his name be removed from the credits, and venerable actors Peter O'Toole, appearing briefly as the syphilitic Emperor Tiberius Caesar, and John Gielgud as Nerva, a Senator who'd rather take his own life than "live with this reptile." This controversial film's tortured history is untangled in a very helpful booklet that is packaged along with this set's three discs. One is hard-pressed to think of a more reviled film graced with such a gala presentation, but Caligula's defenders and the curious will be amply rewarded with both the original uncut theatrical version of the film and a re-edited alternate version. Supplementary material includes an hour of deleted footage, a pretentious "making of" documentary made during the film's production and a new interview with director Tinto Brass, whose softcore tendencies clashed with Guccioni's more extreme vision (Brass did not have final cut, allowing Guccione to insert more explicit footage into the film). McDowell contributes his own lively audio commentary. "God help us," he groans as the film begins, but by its bloody conclusion, he proclaims he has "no regrets at all" about making the film. Caligula, Mirren maintains, is "an irresistible mix of art and genitals." And you've got to hand it to Guccione. Especially in these politically correct times, it is still strong and scandalous stuff. --Donald Liebenson Average Rating:
 Rating:  - One Major InaccuracyYou are probably tired of comments on this movie. It is basically a Penthouse porno hiding behind an older version of the same movie. Since I am used to hard core, I didn't flinch during most of the sex scenes. However, I was not happy with on major historical inaccuracy of the flick. Claudius, the successor to Caligual was portrayed and a slobbering idiot with an almost mentally retarded character. This was a tremendous injustice. Claudius was, according to the historians, a very ... Read More Rating:  - Fellini is betterThe only thing worth seeing in this crappy ,booooooring! porn movie are the costumes designed by the great Danilo Donati. And even he was sleep walking thru this dreck as he had already done Fellini's "Satyricon" and just fell back on that concept. So get "Satyricon" instead. It's really about the same thing (Is "Caligula" about anything really?), is more historically convincing (tho' hardly accurate), in Italian (a great help in creating a cultural reference), and just a better ride into the ... Read More Rating:  - Before "Rome", before "Gladiator", there was "Caligula"...This has to be one of the most unusual films ever made. From Penthouse magazine's Bob Guccione and Director Tinto Brass, "Caligula" is basically a high production porn film... with lasvish sets and costumes, this film is somewhat shocking and even a little disturbing. With nearly two and a half hours of male and female nudity, and serveral hardcore sex scenes thrown in, this is a somewhat creepy film. This is not a bad films, it just is not a great films. "Caligula" is the kind of movie you need see ... Read More Rating:  - WHAT THE HELL DID YOU EXPECT?Okay, so this movie has Helen Helen Mirren, John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole, and Malcom MacDowell...but were you expecting a classic screen version of Gore Vidal's literate account of the corrupting influence of power, performed by the brillance of English theatre talent. Are you on drugs?! Penthouse Magazine is the producer of this thing. In any case, apart from the porno scene additions, this movie does have legs, if you can commit yourself to believing that it's somewhat Fellini-esque in its portrayal ... Read More Rating:  - dvd reviewI am a true history buff. After watching the story of Caligula on the History Channel, I decided to buy the movie. I was truly disappointed. The story line was weak and riddled with strong vulgar sex scenes that were unnecessary as to WHO or WHAT Caligula was or was about. Although Caligula was sexually perverted, the movie never went into great detail as to WHY he was that way. If it had explained the young Caligula in greater depth instead of concentrating on his sexual deviances, then maybe the ... Read More Browse for similar items by category:
|