Kino Lorber Studio Classics has unveiled the details of their May 2021 Blu-Ray releases including works from such icons as Natalie Wood, Marlon Brando, George Segal, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Alda, James Garner, Rock Hudson and more. Get all the details on this incredibly packed lineup below:
THE LAST MARRIED COUPLE IN AMERICA
Street Date: 5/4/21
Synopsis: Screen legends Natalie Wood (Love with the Proper Stranger) and George Segal (Where’s Poppa?) star in The Last Married Couple in America—a contemporary comedy that addresses the divorce epidemic that has been sweeping the country head on. Mari (Wood) and Jeff (Segal) are a happily married couple in Beverly Hills whose recently divorced friends make them feel like they are missing out by remaining married. To add to their woes, Jeff’s best friend (Richard Benjamin, Scavenger Hunt) fixes him up with dates while Mari’s best friend (Valerie Harper, Blame It on Rio) is chasing Jeff all while a plumber turned X-rated star (Dom DeLuise, Haunted Honeymoon) wants to use their house for a wild party. Written by John Herman Shaner (Goin’ South), directed by Gilbert Cates (I Never Sang for My Father) and co-starring Bob Dishy (Lovers and Other Strangers) and Priscilla Barnes (TV’s Three’s Company).
Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Lee Gambin | Theatrical Trailer | Optional English Subtitles
Street Date: 5/4/21
Synopsis: It’s Alan Alda (Betsy’s Wedding) versus Hollywood in the writer/director/star’s hilarious comedy about moviemaking in a small town. College history professor Michael Burgess’ (Alda) life and town are turned upside down when a film company arrives to make a movie out of his best-selling book on the American Revolution. To Professor Burgess’ horror, the leading man (Michael Caine, Blame It on Rio) is a philandering adventurer, the movie’s director (Saul Rubinek, Nixon) wants to turn his historic novel into a youth-oriented lusty romp and the female star (Michelle Pfeiffer, Married to the Mob) is so obsessed by Alda’s heroine, he begins to fall in love with the zany actress. Brimming with charm and gentle humor and co-starring Bob Hoskins (Hollywoodland), Lois Chiles (Death on the Nile), Linda Thorson (Tara King of TV’s The Avengers) and Lillian Gish (The Whales of August), Sweet Liberty is a delightful comic confection!
Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian/Filmmaker Daniel Kremer and Film Historian/Biographer Nat Segaloff | Theatrical Trailer | Optional English Subtitles
Street Date: 5/4/21
Synopsis: Featuring chart-topping music, Cool as Ice stars recording artist Vanilla Ice in his exciting motion picture debut. Johnny (Vanilla Ice) is a freewheeling, motorcycle-riding musician who rolls into a small town with his band. There he meets Kathy (Kristin Minter, TV’s ER), a high school honor student who catches his eye and his heart. Can a “good” girl like Kathy fall for such a “bad” guy? It’s modern romance with a beat in this fast-paced film with stunning visual style and a hit soundtrack. Directed by David Kellogg (Inspector Gadget).
Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Joshua Nelson | Theatrical Trailer | Optional English Subtitles
THE HOT SPOT (SPECIAL EDITION)
Synopsis: Brand New 2K Master, Color Graded and Approved by Cinematographer Ueli Steiger! From Dennis Hopper, the legendary director of Easy Rider, The Last Movie, Out of the Blue, Colors and Backtrack, comes this torrid and erotic neo-noir starring Don Johnson (Dead Bang), Virginia Madsen (Candyman) and Jennifer Connelly (Career Opportunities). Exploding in a series of suspenseful twists and passionate encounters, this ingenious film will keep you guessing until its final, shocking climax. Harry Maddox (Johnson) is a handsome drifter who is not above larceny to make ends meet. After staging a daring daylight robbery at a local bank, he receives an alibi from an unexpected ally: Dolly Harshaw (Madsen), a sexy and mysterious local woman who has her own plans for him. But when Harry falls for another beautiful woman (Connelly), he incurs Dolly’s wrath and finds himself caught in a maze of jealousy, betrayal and murder in which escape is impossible… and danger is the ultimate aphrodisiac. Beautifully shot by Ueli Steiger (The Day After Tomorrow) and co-starring William Sadler (Die Hard 2), Charles Martin Smith (The Untouchables), Jerry Hardin (Wolf Lake), Barry Corbin (My Science Project), Jack Nance (Eraserhead) and Virgil Frye (Revenge of the Ninja), The Hot Spot also features outstanding music from such blues and jazz legends as John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis and Taj Mahal.
Bonus Features: Brand New 2K Master – Color Graded and Approved by Cinematographer Ueli Steiger | NEW Interview with Co-Star Virginia Madsen | NEW Interview with Actor William Sadler | NEW Audio Commentary by Entertainment Journalist and Author Bryan Reesman | Theatrical Trailer | Dual-Layered BD50 Disc | Optional English Subtitles
Synopsis: From Budd Boetticher, the outstanding director of Red Ball Express, Wings of the Hawk, 7 Men from Now, The Tall T and Ride Lonesome, comes this classic western starring screen legends Robert Ryan (Day of the Outlaw) and Rock Hudson (Showdown). Post-Civil War Texas hosts a classic tale of brother against brother. After returning from the war, Dan Hammond (Ryan) sees his high hopes fall apart under the pressure of gambling debts. He turns to a life of crime, pitting him against his younger brother Neil (Hudson), the new local marshal. The stupendous cast also includes Julie Adams (Bend of the River), Raymond Burr (Pitfall), John McIntire (Rough Night in Jericho), James Arness (TV’s Gunsmoke), Dennis Weaver (Duel at Diablo) and Judith Braun (Red Ball Express).
Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Toby Roan | Theatrical Trailer | Optional English Subtitles
Synopsis: Screen legend Fred MacMurray (Gun for a Coward, Double Indemnity) stars as John Coventry, the leader of a gang of robbers trying to escape across the Mexican border. The outlaws manage to elude the law and navigate the rough terrain, but the flight comes to a dangerous halt in the mysterious abandoned town of Quantez. As their enemies get closer, tempers flare, betrayals set in and lines are drawn between the men. Ruthless criminals end up as heroes and villains plunge further into despair in this suspenseful, action-packed western. Wonderfully directed by Harry Keller (The Female Animal) and co-starring Dorothy Malone (Pillars of the Sky), James Barton (The Shepherd of the Hills), Sydney Chaplin (Limelight), John Gavin (Midnight Lace), John Larch (Play Misty for Me) and Michael Ansara (Texas Across the River).
Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Toby Roan | Theatrical Trailer | Optional English Subtitles
Street Date: 5/11/21
Synopsis: Screen legend James Garner (Support Your Local Sheriff) stars in this story of love, honor and loyalty, featuring Shirley Jones (Elmer Gantry), C. Thomas Howell (Grandview, U.S.A.), G.D. Spradlin (The Hunting Party), James Cromwell (Babe) and Jenilee Harrison (TV’s Three’s Company). Sergeant-Major Zack Carey (James Garner) is completing his final stint of duty at a post in a small southern town. After defending a prostitute (Harrison), he finds himself doing battle with the town’s maniacal sheriff (Spradlin). When the sheriff jails Zack’s son Billy (Howell) on a phony drug charge, the sergeant takes justice into his own hands—with help from his personal World War II Sherman tank! Written by Dan Gordon (Gotcha!, Passenger 57) and directed by television veteran Marvin J. Chomsky (Holocaust).
Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary by Entertainment Journalist and Author Bryan Reesman | 4 Radio Spots (2 in English & 2 in Spanish) | Theatrical Trailer | Dual-Layered BD50 Disc | Optional English Subtitles
Street Date: 5/11/21
Synopsis: From Peter Hunt, the acclaimed director of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Gold, Shout at the Devil, Death Hunt and Assassination, comes this action-packed sequel to the 1978 smash hit. Berlin’s notorious Spandau Prison holds Rudolf Hess (Laurence Olivier, Marathon Man), the only surviving Nazi leader in captivity. Hess knows secrets that could blast the civilized world apart, but he will only talk if he’s free. The best in the business are hired—mercenaries of legend who are adept at building armies, pulling off coups and generally changing the shape of the emergent nations of the Third World. Lead by John Haddad (Scott Glenn, The Challenge, Man on Fire), the team is back for their most spectacular rescue mission ever! The stellar cast includes Barbara Carrera (Never Say Never Again), Edward Fox (Force 10 from Navarone), Robert Webber (The Dirty Dozen), Ingrid Pitt (Where Eagles Dare), Stratford Johns (Salome’s Last Dance) and Patrick Stewart (X-Men).
Bonus Features: Brand New 2K Master | NEW Audio Commentary by Filmmaker/Historian Steve Mitchell and Combat Films: American Realism Author Steven Jay Rubin | NEW Interview with Co-Star Barbara Carrera | Dual-Layered BD50 Disc | Optional English Subtitles
Synopsis: He’ll Love You to Death! Baxter, a sociopathic bull terrier, stars in this chilling French horror film that blends thrills and black comedy into a truly original tale. The inner thoughts of the brooding Baxter reveal that he is quite unhappy with his situation—living with an elderly woman (French screen legend Lise Delamare, the star of the Jean Renoir classic, La Marseillaise) who is afraid of him. In search of his ideal master, he successfully plots how to do away with her—and attempts a similar plan when he becomes dissatisfied with his next owner. It’s not long before the ingenious Baxter finds the perfect guardian—a lonely, introverted boy whose macabre interest in Hitler’s personal life helps turn the all-too-willing canine into a thoroughbred killing machine. Top critic Vincent Canby (The New York Times) called Baxter “One of the Best Films of the Year.”
Bonus Features: Audio Commentary by Filmmaker Mark Savage | Trailers | Optional English Subtitles
Synopsis: A Rankin/Bass Animagic Classic! Join young Hans Christian Andersen as he daydreams his way to adventure through his most famous fairytales. In The Little Mermaid, everyone’s favorite girl of the sea (Hayley Mills) must triumph over the evil Sea Witch (Tallulah Bankhead) with a little help from Father Neptune (Burl Ives). In The Emperor’s New Clothes, a pair of villainous tailors (Victor Borge and Terry-Thomas) create a surprising new outfit for a gullible king (Ed Wynn). The fun continues with Oscar-winner Patty Duke as Thumbelina, Ray Bolger as the Pieman, Boris Karloff as a sinister rat, Margaret Hamilton as the mean Mrs. Klopplebobbler and much more in this timeless kid’s classic filmed in both live-action and ‘Animagic’ by Rankin/Bass, the creators of Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Wacky World of Mother Goose.
Bonus Features: Audio Commentary by Rankin/Bass Historian and Author Rick Goldschmidt with Film Historian Lee Gambin | Trailers | | Optional English Subtitles
THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY
Street Date: 5/25/21
Synopsis: The Higher the Stakes, the Higher the Terror! Screen greats Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront) and Richard Boone (The War Lord) star in this taut psychological thriller that examines the darkest impulses of the human psyche. A gang of four professional criminals brazenly kidnaps a wealthy teenage girl (Pamela Franklin, The Innocents) from an airport in Paris in a meticulous plan to extort money from the girl’s father. Holding her prisoner in an isolated beach house, the gang’s scheme runs perfectly until their personal demons surface and lead to a series of betrayals that culminate in a furious and explosive climax. The film that Time called “a keenly conducted seminar in the poetics of psychological terror” is a must-see for Brando fans. Co-written, produced and directed by Hubert Cornfield (Pressure Point) and co-starring Rita Moreno (West Side Story), Jess Hahn (Bad Man’s River) and Al Lettieri (Mr. Majestyk).
Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Tim Lucas | Audio Commentary by Director Hubert Cornfield | TRAILERS FROM HELL with Joe Dante | Theatrical Trailer | Dual-Layered BD50 Disc | Optional English Subtitles
Street Date: 5/25/21
Synopsis: Restored in 4K! Something Funny Is Happening on This Freeway! From John Schlesinger, the legendary director of Midnight Cowboy, The Day of the Locust, Marathon Man, The Falcon and the Snowman and The Believers, comes this hilarious road comedy with an all-star cast. Welcome to Ticaw, Florida, a tiny town just off the highway with big dreams of attracting huge tourist dollars. But when construction of the new freeway leaves them without a crucial exit ramp, the desperate townsfolk decide to take motor matters into their own hands. Now with the help of a water-skiing elephant, a rampaging rhino, some well-placed explosives and an invasion of very odd travelers, this busy freeway is about to take one extremely strange detour. Starring Beau Bridges (The Landlord), Hume Cronyn (Lifeboat), Beverly D’Angelo (Finders Keepers), William Devane (Rolling Thunder), George Dzundza (Basic Instinct), Teri Garr (Miracles), Howard Hesseman (Amazon Women on the Moon), Geraldine Page (The Beguiled), David Rasche (Delirious), Daniel Stern (The Milagro Beanfield War) and Jessica Tandy (Still of the Night).
Bonus Features: Brand New 4K Master | NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian/Filmmaker Daniel Kremer and Film Historian/Biographer Nat Segaloff | Theatrical Trailer | Dual-Layered BD50 Disc | Optional English Subtitles
Street Date: 5/25/21
Synopsis: From Richard Fleischer, the acclaimed director of The Narrow Margin, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Vikings, Compulsion, The Don Is Dead and Mr. Majestyk, comes this wild and wacky comedy in the tradition of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Scavenger Hunt. There are millions hidden somewhere nearby… and these wild and crazy people will do almost anything to find it. In a dingy diner somewhere in the southwest desert, a former White House aide takes a seat at the counter, orders a bowl of chili and suddenly drops dead of a heart attack. But before he dies, he reveals to the rest of the customers that he’s hidden $4 million in embezzled loot on four different bridges throughout Arizona. Now a frantic pack of cash-crazed strangers—including a pair of nerdy newlyweds, a family of snooty yuppies, a sexy girl group, professional wrestlers, bumbling federal agents and one very deranged ranger—will speed off by land, sea and air on an insane race for riches. How far will they go in the ultimate dash for cash? Written by Tim Metcalfe (Revenge of the Nerds), Miguel Tejada-Flores (Screamers) and Rudy De Luca (Transylvania 6-5000) and starring Eddie Deezen (Grease), Tom Bosley (TV’s Happy Days), Rick Overton (Eight Legged Freaks), Rich Hall (TV’s Not Necessarily the News), Kevin Pollak (The Usual Suspects), H.B. Haggerty (Deathsport), Rudy De Luca (High Anxiety) and Playboy playmate Penny Baker.
Bonus Features: NEW Audio Commentary by Entertainment Journalist and Author Bryan Reesman | Theatrical Trailer | Dual-Layered BD50 Disc | Optional English Subtitles
Street Date: 5/25/21
Synopsis: They Stole his pride and destroyed his family… now he’ll do whatever it takes to get justice! Buck Matthews (Gary Busey, Lethal Weapon, Silver Bullet) returns to his rural hometown after serving time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, wanting only to live in peace with his beloved wife and daughter. But that peace is irrevocably shattered when a sinister biker gang begins terrorizing the townspeople. When Buck’s brave attempt to protect his family from the vicious marauders results in tragedy, he embarks on a one-man war against his evil foes… and even though he’s outnumbered and outgunned, he won’t give up until the last body drops. Directed by cult filmmaker Richard C. Sarafian (Vanishing Point, Sunburn) and co-starring Yaphet Kotto (Live and Let Die, Alien), William Smith (Any Which Way You Can, Seven), Seymour Cassel (King of the Mountain, Rushmore) and Bert Remsen (Inside Moves, Borderline). Now watch Eye of the Tiger for the first time in HD, from a 2K scan of the Interpositive. The soundtrack includes the #1 hit song Eye of the Tiger by Survivor and Gravity by the godfather of soul, James Brown.
Bonus Features: Theatrical Trailer | Optional English Subtitles
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
