Kino Lorber Studio Classics has unveiled the details of their December 2021 Blu-Ray releases including works from such icons as Alfred Hitchcock, Marlon Brando, Elliott Gould, Charles Bronson, Alan Alda, Carol Burnett, Meryl Streep and more. Get all the details on this incredibly packed lineup below:
HARD TARGET ( SPECIAL EDITION 4K UHD & BLU-RAY)
Street Date: 12/7/21
Synopsis: The legendary “Muscles from Brussels” Jean-Claude Van Damme (No Retreat, No Surrender, Kickboxer) teams up with world-famous action director John Woo (The Killer, Hard Boiled, Face/Off) and executive producer Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spider-Man) for this electrifying thriller. Chance Boudreaux (Van Damme) is the target of an evil mercenary (Lance Henriksen, Aliens) who recruits combat veterans for the “amusement” of his clients—bored tycoons who will pay a half a million dollars to stalk and kill the most challenging prey of them all: Man. So when beautiful Natasha Binder (Yancy Butler, TV’s Witchblade) hires Chance in search of her missing father, she gets more than she bargained for. Screenwriter Chuck Pfarrer (Darkman) takes “The Most Dangerous Game” and laces it with dark humor and slam-bang action for the hard-hitting Hard Target, featuring Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy), Kasi Lemmons (The Silence of the Lambs) and Wilford Brimley (The Thing).
Bonus Features: Brand New 4K Restoration of the Unrated International Cut – From a 4K Scan of the Original Camera Negative! | NEW Interview with Director John Woo | NEW Interview with Actor Lance Henriksen | NEW Interview with Actress Yancy Butler | NEW Interview with Stunt Coordinator Billy Burton | NEW Audio Commentary by Action Film Historians Brandon Bentley and Mike Leeder | Theatrical Trailer (Newly Restored in HD) | 5.1 Surround & 2.0 Lossless Stereo | Optional English Subtitles
Street Date: 12/7/21
Synopsis: From Allan Arkush, the acclaimed director of the cult classics Hollywood Boulevard, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School and Heartbeeps, comes this raucous musical comedy that invites you to get crazy… and say goodbye to your brain! It’s December 31, 1982, and Saturn Theater owner Max Wolfe is attempting to stage the biggest rock and roll concert of all time. But things aren’t going right. His doctor tells him he might have a fatal disease; his nephew and his arch-rival are in cahoots; a crazed fire inspector is spraying the audience with foam; and someone is trying to kill him and blow up the theater. Of course, these are secondary problems compared to those posed by the crazy rock and roll performers themselves. The gags come fast and furious from the truly insane cast that includes Allen Garfield, Daniel Stern, Gail Edwards, Miles Chapin, Ed Begley Jr., Stacey Nelkin, Bill Henderson, Lou Reed, Howard Kaylan, Lori Eastside, Lee Ving, John Densmore, Robert Picardo, Bobby Sherman, Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, Clint Howard, Linnea Quigley, Dick Miller and the great Malcolm McDowell as debauched rock star Reggie Wanker.
Bonus Features: Brand New 2K Master – Approved by Director Allan Arkush | NEW Audio Commentary by Director Allan Arkush, Filmmaker Eli Roth and Filmmaker/Historian Daniel Kremer | THE AFTER PARTY: A NEW 76-Minute Documentary Featuring Malcom McDowell, Daniel Stern, Howard Kaylan, Stacy Nelkin, Gail Edwards, Lori Eastside and the Nada Band, Lee Ving, Allan Arkush, Screenwriter Danny Opatoshu and many other crew members who share their excitement and joy in making the movie that trace the origins of GET CRAZY, plus anecdotes and many photos | World Premiere Music Video 1: GET CRAZY Theme Song by Sparks (1983 Made for MTV) | World Premier Music Video 2: NOT GONNA TAKE IT NO MORE: Lori Eastside & the Nada Band (1983 Made for MTV) | World Premier Music Video 3: NOT GONNA TAKE IT NO MORE: Lori Eastside & the Nada Band (2021 Return Performance of the Original Song) | TRAILERS FROM HELL with Allan Arkush | FAN FICTION: Punk Podcasters NO DOGS IN SPACE create life stories and discographies for Reggie Wanker, Lori Eastside & the Nada Band and Piggy | Theatrical Trailer
NUMBER SEVENTEEN (SPECIAL EDITION)
Street Date: 12/7/21
Synopsis: From the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, comes Number Seventeen, a gem of a comedy-thriller from the legendary director’s early years in the British film industry. In an empty London house, a hobo named Ben (Leon M. Lion) looks for shelter—but instead finds a corpse. When a detective (John Stuart) shows up, he questions Ben, but is interrupted when a girl (Ann Casson) falls through the roof. Her father has vanished, and she’s received an inscrutable telegram that mentions both the house and a missing necklace. Soon more suspicious characters turn up, all looking for the necklace, and none of them who they claim to be. With its exhilarating climactic chase sequence and masterful mix of suspense, scares and humor, Number Seventeen is pure, classic Hitchcock!
Bonus Features: 4K Restoration by the BFI | Introduction by Noël Simsolo | NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian and Critic Peter Tonguette | Hitchcock/Truffaut: Icon interviews Icon (Audio) | Hitchcock: The Early Years – Documentary | Trailers
Street Date: 12/7/21
Synopsis: From Ernst Lubitsch, the iconic director of Trouble in Paradise, The Merry Widow, Angel, Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife and Ninotchka, comes the Pre-Code drama Broken Lullaby, the most emotionally powerful film in the master’s extraordinary oeuvre. French violinist Paul Renard (Phillips Holmes, An American Tragedy) has returned from World War I triumphant, but is haunted by the death of a German soldier at his hands. Determined to make amends, he travels to the dead man’s hometown and meets his former fiancée, Elsa (Nancy Carroll, The Kiss Before the Mirror), and grieving father (Lionel Barrymore, Duel in the Sun). Rather than reveal his true identity, Paul tells the two that he was a former friend of the deceased soldier. As Elsa and Paul draw closer and the family embraces him as one of their own, Paul’s conscience is torn between revealing his past guilt and embracing a future he never knew possible. While Lubitsch put his sophisticated touch on many of filmdom’s greatest comedies, he also showed his brilliant command of drama with the beautifully crafted, profoundly moving Broken Lullaby.
THE LONG GOODBYE (SPECIAL EDITION)
Street Date: 12/7/21
Synopsis: Elliott Gould (Busting, The Silent Partner) gives one of his best performances as a quirky, mischievous Philip Marlowe in this fascinating and original send-up of Raymond Chandler’s classic detective story from maverick filmmaker Robert Altman (McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Nashville). Co-starring Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell and Henry Gibson with a screenplay by Leigh Brackett (The Big Sleep, The Empire Strikes Back), The Long Goodbye is a gloriously inspired subversion of the film noir genre with the “sun-baked Sodom” of 1970s Hollywood as its backdrop. Private eye Philip Marlowe (Gould) faces the most bizarre case of his life, when a friend’s apparent suicide turns into a double murder involving a sexy blonde, a disturbed gangster and a suitcase full of drug money. But as Marlowe stumbles toward the truth, he soon finds himself lost in a maze of sex and deceit—only to discover that in L.A., if love is dangerous… friendship is murder.
Bonus Features: Brand New 4K Master | NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Tim Lucas | Rip Van Marlowe: Featurette with Robert Altman and Elliott Gould | Vilmos Zsigmond Flashes THE LONG GOODBYE: Featurette | David Thompson on Robert Altman: Featurette | Tom Williams on Raymond Chandler: Featurette | Maxim Jakubowski on Hard Boiled Fiction: Featurette | American Cinematographer 1973 Article with Animation | TRAILERS FROM HELL with Josh Olson | Radio Spots | TV Spots | Two Theatrical Trailers
Street Date: 12/7/21
Synopsis: Cinema’s most rugged tough guy, Charles Bronson (Violent City, Death Wish), stars as Vince Majestyk, an ex-con and Vietnam vet whose efforts to run a farm are thwarted by narrow-minded locals and corrupt cops. But when a Mafia hit man (Al Lettieri, The Getaway) destroys Majestyk’s crop, the farmer’s fuse is finally blown. With his rifle in hand and his girlfriend (Linda Cristal, The Perfect Furlough) at the wheel, he goes after the syndicate assassin. And from high-speed back-road chases to an explosive backwoods confrontation, mobster and maverick stalk each other: two of a kind, antagonists to the death. Directed by Hollywood ace Richard Fleischer (The Vikings, The Don Is Dead) and written by the legendary Elmore Leonard (52 Pick-Up, Out of Sight), Mr. Majestyk features wonderful supporting turns by Lee Purcell (Big Wednesday), Paul Koslo (The Stone Killer) and Taylor Lacher (Devil Times Five).
Bonus Features: Brand New 2K Master | Audio Commentary by Film Historian Paul Talbot, Author of the BRONSON’S LOOSE! Books | Interview with Director of Photography Richard H. Kline (14:00) | Interview with Actress Lee Purcell (27:56) | TV Spots | Theatrical Trailer
Street Date: 12/7/21
Synopsis: Meet the long and short of L.A.’s vice squad… Keneely (Elliott Gould, The Long Goodbye) is the lanky one… Farrel (Robert Blake, In Cold Blood) is the short one… they may not be the best cops in town, but they sure are the toughest. Stand by for plenty of action in this fast-paced thriller that marked the impressive debut of writer and director Peter Hyams who later went on to make Capricorn One, Outland and Running Scared. Gould and Blake play a pair of Los Angeles cops who find themselves in a bitter conflict with their corrupt superiors as they wage a two-men war against crime czar Carl Rizzo (Allen Garfield, The Organization). And even when they’re demoted after a hair-raising shootout, the two dedicated cops are ready to break every rule in the book to bring their quarry to justice. The stellar cast includes Antonio Fargas (Across 110th Street), Michael Lerner (Barton Fink), Sid Haig (Pit Stop), Cornelia Sharpe (Serpico) and William Sylvester (2001: A Space Odyssey).
Bonus Features: Audio Commentary by Director Peter Hyams | Audio Commentary with Star Elliott Gould and Film Critic Kim Morgan | Theatrical Trailer
Synopsis: September 5, 1972. The darkest day in sports history. Some 900 million sports fans tune in to watch the Olympics on TV. Instead, they see the most shocking scenes unfold… screen legend William Holden (The Devil’s Brigade, Breezy) and Shirley Knight (The Group, Juggernaut) turn this real-life catastrophic event into a mesmerizing story of suspense, anger and disbelief. The perpetrators wear tracksuits, but they are anything but athletes. Known as “Black September,” these Arab terrorists storm the Olympic village before dawn and take the Israeli team hostage. They make their demands as the minutes tick by. But from this point on, it isn’t about who takes home the gold. It’s about who comes home at all. Franco Nero (The Mercenary), Anthony Quayle (The Tamarind Seed) and Richard Basehart (The Satan Bug) co-star in this pulse-pounding TV movie from veteran director William A. Graham (Change of Habit) based on Serge Groussard’s book The Blood of Israel.
Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian/Screenwriter Gary Gerani | Includes both the 1.33:1 TV Ratio and the 1.78:1 Theatrical One | Theatrical Trailer
FILM NOIR: THE DARK SIDE OF CINEMA V
BECAUSE OF YOU/OUTSIDE THE LAW/THE MIDNIGHT STORY
Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary for BECAUSE OF YOU by Film Historian Samm Deighan | NEW Audio Commentary for OUTSIDE THE LAW by Film Historian Richard Harland Smith | NEW Audio Commentary for THE MIDNIGHT STORY by Professor and Film Scholar Jason A. Ney | Theatrical Trailers for All Three Features
Street Date: 12/14/21
Synopsis: Screen greats Marlon Brando (The Night of the Following Day), David Niven (Separate Tables) and Shirley Jones (Elmer Gantry) star in Bedtime Story, the classic comedy caper about two cunning conmen on the French Riviera. The caddish Freddy Benson (Brando) enjoys setting up elaborate ruses to seduce women. The suave Lawrence Jameson (Niven) likes to pose as a prince to swindle the wealthy. When the two men meet, each perceives the other as an interloper and a threat. Upon the arrival of vacationing soap heiress Janet Walker (Jones), the two sweet-talking scoundrels compete to trick her out of both her clothes and her fortune. Written by Stanley Shapiro (Pillow Talk) and Paul Henning (Lover Come Back), directed by Ralph Levy (Do Not Disturb), and later remade as 1988’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Bedtime Story is the funniest story ever put between covers!
Bonus Features: Brand New 2K Master | NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson | Theatrical Teaser (Newly Restored) | 2 Theatrical Trailers (Newly Restored)
Street Date: 12/14/21
Synopsis: Tony Randall (The Odd Couple), Burl Ives (The Big Country) and Barbara Eden (Harper Valley P.T.A.) conjure up laughs and magic in The Brass Bottle—an enchanting comedy classic that inspired the hit TV series that made Eden an icon, I Dream of Jeannie. When architect Harold Ventimore (Randall) buys an antique Arabian bottle at auction, he ends up freeing the centuries-imprisoned genie, Fakrash (Ives). Forever indebted and ready to serve his new master, Fakrash grants Harold his every wish. But things quickly go from bad to worse when his beautiful fiancée (Eden) discovers a herd of camels living in his garage, belly dancers in his house, and a pack of elephants marching through the streets! Now the whole town thinks that he’s gone off the deep end, and Harold has got to make everything right and convince his fiancée that he’s not crazy. Wonderfully directed by Harry Keller (The Female Animal), this tale of a madcap genie and his zany antics will grant your wish for comedy!
Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary by Author/Film Historian Lee Gambin – Includes Exclusive Interview with Star Barbara Eden | Theatrical Trailer
Street Date: 12/14/21
Synopsis: Alan Alda (The Mephisto Waltz) and Barbara Harris (A Thousand Clowns) co-star with acting royalty Meryl Streep (Silkwood) in The Seduction of Joe Tynan, the critically acclaimed hit about a senator with presidential ambitions and the price he has to pay. Alda, who also wrote the screenplay, is Joe Tynan, a decent, hardworking senator whose job in Washington keeps him away from his wife (Harris) and family. Matters become even more complicated when he begins to develop a relationship with a civil rights activist (Streep) in this political drama where power and principles, like love and marriage, collide. Directed by Jerry Schatzberg (Puzzle of a Downfall Child, The Panic in Needle Park) and produced by Martin Bregman (Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon), this richly nuanced, finely acted film also features Rip Torn (Time Limit), Melvyn Douglas (Angel), Charles Kimbrough (TV’s Murphy Brown) and Carrie Nye (The Group).
Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary by Entertainment Journalist and Author Bryan Reesman | Theatrical Trailer
Street Date: 12/14/21
Synopsis: Through winter, spring, summer and fall… somehow these friends have survived them all! In this heartfelt comedy about three 40-something couples who frequently vacation together, life’s ups and downs take their toll. Their perfect dynamic is forever changed when one friend leaves his wife for a much younger woman. The lines are drawn when they are forced to take sides regarding the new couple, reminding us that friendship is like the seasons—forever changing. Written, directed and starring Alan Alda (Sweet Liberty, Betsy’s Wedding), this hit romantic comedy also stars Carol Burnett (The Front Page), Len Cariou (A Little Night Music), Sandy Dennis (The Indian Runner), Rita Moreno (The Night of the Following Day), Jack Weston (Fuzz) and Bess Armstrong (High Road to China).
Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary by Entertainment Journalist and Author Bryan Reesman | Theatrical Trailer
REVENGE OF THE SHOGUN WOMAN 3-D
Street Date: 12/14/21
Synopsis: From Mei-Chun Chang, the director of Dynasty, comes this eye-popping martial-arts extravaganza set near the turn of the 18th century in China. Thirteen women train to become nuns after they are ravaged by bandits. A mastery of kung fu is required before the women finish their training, and after they leave the temple the nuns head out for vengeance. Starring Ying Bai, Shirley Han and Shisuen Leong, Revenge of the Shogun Women, also known as 13 Nuns, delivers chop-socky 3-D action in spades! Restored in 3-D by 3-D Film Archive!
Bonus Features:
Street Date: 12/7/21
Synopsis: Directed by Canadian horror pic helmer William Fruet (House by the Lake, Funeral Home, Spasms), this 80s horror flick blends gore with an endearing 50s style over-sized killer bug. Steve Railsback (Helter Skelter, Lifeforce) turns in a great performance as Detective Jim Bishop, who must find a way to stop a giant monstrous insect that’s eating people in a quarantined hospital before it procreates and spreads a deadly infection it’s carrying. Code Red now brings you this big bug B-movie also known as INSECT in glorious HD.
Bonus Features: HD Transfer from the Original Uncut 35mm Negative | Trailers
Street Date: 12/7/21
Synopsis: Enter the high-octane world of off-road racing! Joe Don Baker (Walking Tall, Golden Needles, Speedtrap) is “Walkaway” Madden, a reckless race car driver who tends to walk away from crashes without a scratch. Susan Sarandon (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Thelma & Louise, Speed Racer) is C.C. Wainwright, a tenacious photojournalist who joins Walkaway on the Manila 1000, a three-day, off-road race through the Philippine jungle. Buckle up for a wild and hilarious ride—you gotta be tough to win… and crazy to try! Larry Hagman (TV’s I Dream of Jeannie and Dallas), Alan Vint (Macon County Line), real-life racer Parnelli Jones (Gone in 60 Seconds) and Playboy playmate Daina House (The Great Smokey Roadblock) round out the stellar cast of this super-charged ’70s thrill ride bursting with big stunts and even bigger laughs!
Bonus Features: Brand New 2K Master | Theatrical Trailer
Synopsis: Should a priest tell his congregation what they want to hear instead of the truth? Mass Appeal stars screen legend Jack Lemmon (Save the Tiger, The China Syndrome, Missing) as Father Tim Farley, a complacent priest in a wealthy suburban parish who drives a Mercedes and cracks jokes from the pulpit. When idealistic Mark Dolson (Željko Ivanek, The Sender, In Bruges), a radical seminarian, accuses him of “song and dance theology,” the result is a head-on clash that teaches each man the true meaning of faith. Outstanding performances from Lemmon, Ivanek and Charles Durning (True Confessions, The Rosary Murders) as an inflexible monsignor make Mass Appeal a humorous and compelling duel of conscience and compromise. Directed by TV and film veteran Glenn Jordan (Only When I Laugh, The Buddy System).
Bonus Features: Theatrical Trailer
Street Date: 12/14/21
Synopsis: Dr. Ramzi (Danny Gochnauer), a deviant who enjoys torturing his patients, is killed by a fellow doctor and buried in the basement of a mental health facility. Twenty years later, the hospital is up and running again and a “Jane Doe” (Cheryl Lawson) arrives at the institute with amnesia. Upon her arrival, a major earthquake rocks the building and unearths the now undead Dr. Ramzi and his legion of zombie patients so he can continue his work. Starring Jeremy Slate (The Devil’s Brigade) and co-written and directed by cult filmmaker Brett Leonard (The Lawnmower Man, Hideaway, Virtuosity).
Bonus Features: 2K Scan from the Original Camera Negative | On-Camera Interview with Stars Cheryl Lawson, Jeremy Slate, Co-Writer/Director Brett Leonard and Co-Writer/Producer Gimel Everett | Trailers
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
