Buttmunker

I see the original DVD is "discontinued" on Amazon which, in my mind, means a "Special Edition" may be eminent.

Any truth to that? What's the word on the street? I'm on the cusps of ordering it "used."

Buttmunker

This film is second on Greatest Billy Bob Thornton performances, by the way. A Special Edition should be planned, giving the respect needed to honor Thornton (the first, hands-down, being Sling Blade).

ChristianB

Paramount has discontinued a ton of catalogue product. I heard something along of the lines of 1500+ titles...

Disappointing.

NoirFan

That might have been the case a few years ago. In 2010, "discontinued" means "discontinued."

smurr05

GREAT film IMO! Bill Paxton was great in this as well. I thought his best performance was in Frailty-

Living Deadpan

Especially going by the Chinatown Centennial Edition, in which the discontinuation was almost immediately after the special edition.

MTRodaba2468

As others have said, I doubt it. It's an excellent film, but frankly, I don't see it being popular enough in Paramount's eyes to warrant a Special Edition release.

albert_m

I love this film. it deserved (and deserves) more attention and respect. Excellent thriller.

Buttmunker

maybe not, but I see it as being popular enough to keep in circulation. They have sub-standard Thornton films in circulation, so why not one that's an Oscar-nominated movie?

I don't believe they would just take it out of print and leave it out of print. Billy Bob Thornton (as well as Bill Paxton and Bridget Fonda) are still viable and highly regarded actors.

bdots48

Sorry for being a little off topic, but as far as Billy Bob goes what I've always wished for is a director-cut of his All the Pretty Horses which was supposed to be about 4 hours long.

MTRodaba2468

The African Queen finally got released on the format this year, 13 years after DVDs hit the market. Wings has never been released on DVD in R1. Both are Best Picture winners (interestingly enough, from Paramount).

Not to mention, it's a fact that catalog sales have dropped in recent years. I work in a video store, and I can say that I've probably had one request for this movie in the 6+ years I've worked there. If you go down to your local Wal*Mart, I highly doubt you'll see any copies, unless it's in the $5 bin (assuming they still have one). Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see an SE release, as I'm a fan of both Billy Bob and Sam Raimi. However, I just don't think it's likely.

Pizza

That's where i bought my copy. Like everyone else, I doubt this is being re-released any time soon. Maybe Paramount will do a DVD-R program. (Although, I hope not.)

tylergfoster

It annoys me that they chose to do a double feature of The Gift and...Kiss the Girls. Dur. Isn't the logical thing to do double features of A Simple Plan and The Gift, and of Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider?

Pizza

Yes. Obviously, people running the show are clueless on what they market, don't care or all of the above.

MrSmearkase

I sort of wish that distributors would offer DVD-R programs in which you could assemble your own double (or triple) features. It really annoys me when I see a film paired with something other than it's sequel.

The Reaper

One of my favorite films of all time. I'm sure Paramount will get around eventually to releasing this on Blu-ray, probably to tie into another of Raimi's films. Maybe then, we'll get some special features and maybe a corresponding dvd, who knows.

MTRodaba2468

While I wouldn't want them to go the DVD-R route, admittedly, I wish the studios would be a bit smarter when it comes to releasing Double Feature packages.

beebs

I got this one from the library recently. I hadn't seen it since I'd rented it on VHS after seeing it in the theaters. It's a shame this is a barebones release as there seems like there are a number of great stories behind this one.

Seeing this one makes me think it got the greenlight purely because it is Fargo-esque... but the book (published in 1994) had been a property well before Fargo hit in 1996. The book is set in Northern Ohio starting in December... but it is filmed in Minnesota, like Fargo was. That perhaps was a Fargo inspired move. Also, the Cohen Brother's and Raimi are anything but strangers (Raimi is credited with the story credit for Hudsucker Proxy and appeared in bit roles in that movie and Miller's Crossing.)

Watching the movie it is impossible to miss how everyone in the movie's story works to get Paxton's lead off the hook for the bad things that happen. His wife talks him into all manner of things so it's not his fault. Lou, the third man out, makes things easy. Thorton's role as the brother has the biggest freebie of the bunch at the end. The lead role had been crafted for a star who would be involved but still teflon in terms of evil and blame. Classic Hollywood leading role stuff -- it would make a great example for a new edition of William Goldman's book on Hollywood script writing.

There's some interesting star hopping associated with this one as well. The script seems like a tweaked star vehicle to me... something that can get you an award, possibly. (Thorton got an Oscar nom as did the script.) According to IMDB, Nick Cage was at one point attached as the lead. I suppose that could have worked out. Supposedly Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis at another point -- I'd say earlier when the book first hit as in '94 Pitt was fresh off True Romance and Kalifornia. Lewis was just in Natural Born Killers then as well as working with Pitt in Kali. That's classic Hollywood matchmaking there.

That said, the story plays out well. The pacing is perfect and script is tight. Good thriller.