Displaying items by tag: 1969

“Paint Your Wagon is remembered as a standalone oddity in the careers of Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood.” — Matthew Kennedy, author of Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the golden anniversary of the release of Paint Your Wagon, the Oscar-nominated cinematic interpretation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical which starred Lee Marvin (Cat Ballou, Point Blank), Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry, Unforgiven) and Jean Seberg (Pendulum, Airport).

Paint Your Wagon — directed by Joshua Logan (South Pacific, Camelot) and which also featured Harve Presnell (The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Fargo) and Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian, Fast Times at Ridgemont High) — opened 50 years ago this month. For the occasion, The Bits features an historical reference listing of the film’s major-market roadshow engagements and a Q&A with film historian Matthew Kennedy, who discusses the film’s virtues, shortcomings and legacy. [Read on here...]

After a bit of an absence from the site, my annual Scream for a Week column makes its return with a batch of new great titles!

It’s been a few months since I’ve been able to do one of these, due mostly to some site work preventing me from doing so. Instead of mixing it up with both old and new content like before, I’ll be covering several recent releases instead.

Scream Factory has been putting out so much great content lately that it’s been a bit difficult to keep up with. Regardless, here’s a grouping of their more recent titles that we haven’t covered here at The Bits previously, with more to come in the future. [Read on here…]

Welcome back to my Dailies feature, Pick-Ups!

It’s designed to feature older Blu-ray and DVD releases that we haven’t gotten around to reviewing until now (sorry about that!), as well as highlight select international releases and other unique titles on disc.

I try to do this column on a weekly basis, so be sure to check back regularly for more titles that are worthy of your attention.  [Read on here...]

We’re kicking off the day here at The Bits with a pair of new Blu-ray reviews from yours truly.

First up is a look at FUNimation’s brand new Cowboy Bebop: The Complete Series release – the standard edition on Blu-ray. If you’re a fan of the series, picking this one up is a no-brainer. Not only is it one of the best anime of all time, FUNimation’s new release features best-available A/V quality, nearly all the extras from the previous DVD editions, and some new bonus content too.

The second review is something pretty cool: A few of you may recall that, in my review of Warner’s Batman: The Complete Series – Limited Edition, I mentioned a great documentary on actor Adam West that’s as good or better than anything included in Warner’s BD box set. I’m happy to say that this documentary – James E. Tooley’s Starring Adam West – is finally available for purchase on its own on both Blu-ray and DVD (here at this website) and I’ve had the chance to review it here. If you’re a fan of classic TV Batman, it’s well worth a look.  [Read on here…]