America Lost and Found: The BBS Story (Head / Easy Rider / Five Easy Pieces / Drive, He Said / The

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Reviewer: westernbuff
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Really happy with this provider
Review: Thanks, item as described and arrived promptly and very well-packaged

Reviewer: Bob
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Thank You Criterion!
Review: I hadn’t heard about this collection until i ran a search for Head on Blu Ray here at Amazon. At first I was ecstatic that it was on Blu Ray but dismayed that it was only available as part of a collection. When I saw the other films included coupled with the price being right i decided to buy it. I have now watched all the films and wasn’t disappointed. Criterion does an excellent job with the HD transfers and the extras on each film.Head was a lost gem I first saw on the CBS Late Movie in the early 1970s. To understand it, it helps to have some background about the Monkees and the myths surrounding them, as well as their desire to be taken seriously as a 1960s rock group. I already owned the Rhino DVD version, which professed that the 1:33 to 1 aspect ratio was original intended version. Nothing could be further from the truth; here it is presented in its original 1:78 to 1 aspect ratio (16:9 in the parlance of our times). The extras are very informative as is the commentary by Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz. Finally, an honorable version of this wonderful cult film!I have seen Easy Rider several times over the years; the last time I saw it was a DVD presentation and I found it to be somewhat dated. However, due to the excellent HD transfer I was less focused on the lingo of the day and more on Laszlo Kovac’s excellent cinematography. It’s amazing how great the film looks with a proper transfer and it gave me a greatly renewed interest. Again, the extras are top-notch and very informative. It’s equally impressive how much “bang for the buck” BBS got from all their films.Five Easy Pieces was another film I already owned on DVD but again, this version looks wonderful.The Last Picture Show is one of my favorite 1970s films and I never owned it before now. Again, the extras are excellent and the transfer is impeccable.I had never seen the remaining films. A Safe Place and Drive, He Said were my least favorites though they are certainly interesting curious from the era. Sometimes films like these require repeated viewings to be fully appreciated though the acting in each were superb and both were original and imaginative. The King of Marvin Gardens was excellent and I’m surprised it didn’t do well in its theatrical release years ago. Still, Criterion gave all the Class A treatment with high quality HD transfers and informative, interesting extras.Criterion must be commended for their great efforts on this set. It’s well worth purchasing and will provide several hours of viewing pleasure.

Reviewer: A. Wolverton
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The Best Nicholson Film You’ve Never Seen
Review: The film opens with Nicholson in a tight shot talking to someone. We aren’t sure at first to whom he’s talking or why. From that opening scene I was hooked. Nicholson is a radio personality (David) who one day gets a phone call from his brother Jason (Bruce Dern) who is in jail. Jason is basically a big-time loser who has been trying all his life to make something big happen. His latest scheme is to encourage his brother to join him and his female companions (played by Ellyn Burstyn and Julia Anne Robinson) in Atlantic City while contemplating the purchase of an island near Hawaii. Many strange events happen along the way, not the least of which finds the two women competing for Jason’s affection. A very strange scene occurs involving a fire on the beach. Without giving too much away, I will say that this is a turning point that has tremendous impact later in the story. So few films today have even slightly interesting characters. These characters are so vivid and interesting that you can’t help but be intrigued, wondering what’s going to happen next. Each scene seems to have no rhyme or reason, until finally the pieces fall into place. When the pieces do come together, you realize that you’ve witnessed something very unique, original, and haunting.The four leading actors are all at the top of their form. I have never seen Nicholson timid, unsure, or at a loss for words before. Dern is hopelessly reckless. Robinson is an innocent in an evil environment. Burstyn is perfect as the key to the whole story, which is one that I’ll never forget. You’ll think about this quiet little film long after the credits are over.

Reviewer: Jeff the Zombie
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: 70’s Film School in a Box
Review: It goes without saying that few studios would have the courage to produce a blu-ray and dvd boxed set featuring seven films representing the full creative output of a single production company. But the Criterion Collection is committed to film scholarship and preservation, so we have the ambitious release of America Lost and Found: The BBS Story, a seven-film collection featuring some well-remembered classics (Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and The Last Picture Show), some forgotten films of the New Hollywood period (Drive, He Said, A Safe Place and The King of Marvin Gardens), and The Monkees sole big-screen outing (Head), all produced by the team behind BBS Productions. Yet as America Lost and Found makes the case, the creative explosion in American cinema that occurred in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s would not have happened if not for the contributions of Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, who parlayed their financial success with The Monkees television show into seminal film production company BBS. And as disparate as some of the films in this set are, they are all critical in understanding the success and ultimate demise of BBS.First, it’s worth noting that nearly every film in this collection gets the full Criterion treatment — supplemental extras, commentary tracks and a first-class transfer to HD. Although Drive, He Said and A Safe Place are put together on a single disk, they are treated better than some of more bare bones titles Criterion has released over the past twenty years. The packaging is flawless, with each volume in the set receiving a cover based on the film’s original movie poster. In addition, a thick book provides essays on BBS and the films included in the collection. If you are at all interested in graphic design, this set is a real showpiece, especially when compared with so many dull studio blu-ray and dvd releases. At $70 (on Amazon), you’re getting each film for $10 — as most Criterion releases retail for $25- 30, this is an incredible bargain. Even with the weaker films in the set, it’s hard not to feel like you’re getting more than your money’s worth.The set opens up with Head, which is overly indulgent and almost unwatchable. Suffice it to say, Criterion gives it a richer treatment than it deserves, including a stellar HD transfer and a full suite of supplements. Although Head is interesting in terms of its style and cinematography, it is presented as sort of an acid trip version of The Monkees television show, with the band members leaping from disconnected episode to disconnected episode. Except each episode is something akin to a nightmare someone had about the tv series. This description probably sounds cooler than the movie really is. However, the extras are very illuminating, particularly the documentary featuring director Bob Rafelson, who is unapologetic about his less than promising debut film. Of course, he has a right to be unapologetic, because he would go on to make Five Easy Pieces, one of the most important American films of the 1970’s.Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider is a film I grew up very aware of, but never actually sat through in its entirety. My father was a fan and even taped it off of HBO in the 1980’s, which I always took as a reason to stay away. This was a mistake, as Easy Rider is a phenomenal film, worthy of the “classic” status it has held since its release. The plot is simple enough — two hippies, Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Hopper), make a huge amount of money on a cocaine deal, stow the cash and head across the country to retire in Florida. This brings the two across the southwest and the south, where they stay at a commune, pick up a Texan ACLU attorney played by Jack Nicholson, go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans and meet two groups of hippie-hating hillbillies. What could have been a glorious celebration of sixties era counterculture is instead a more somber examination of the counterculture’s failure to achieve the immediate cultural transformation they longed for. The supplemental materials do an excellent job of illuminating the creation of the film, and also allow us to see the creative and personal strains between Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda and co-writer Terry Southern. Laszlo Kovacs’ cinematography (arguably the first film to intentionally use lens flairs and other “dirty” camera techniques four decades before J.J. Abrams made them a cliche) looks especially amazing in the HD transfer.The third film in the set is another I hadn’t seen before — Bob Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces. In it, Jack Nicholson stars as Bobby Dupea, a childhood piano prodigy disillusioned with his life and his family. The film opens with Dupea working in a Texas oil field and living with his girlfriend, waitress Rayette, played by Karen Black. Bobby is incredibly unhappy with his life and holds Rayette in great contempt, but when he learns about his father’s recent illness, he and Rayette head to the Dupea’s family homestead on an island in Washington State. The film is stark and bleak, really investigating Bobby’s disillusionment and inability to find happiness. In many ways, Five Easy Pieces sets the tone for almost all American independent cinema to come, featuring an alienated loner trying to make sense of it all. The supplements offer a look at the many collaborations between Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafelson, and really put Rafelson into context as one of the seminal filmmakers in the American New Wave.The fourth disc includes both Drive, He Said and A Safe Place. The pair are probably the weakest in the package and the least notable, mostly because they stand as artifacts of their era. Serving as Jack Nicholson’s directorial debut, Drive, He Said focuses primarily on the campus counterculture and a star basketball player, while A Safe Place is a largely incomprehensible and overambitious film about the psyche of Tuesday Weld. Neither are worth watching, although it should be noted that both transfers are as exceptional as the rest in the set.Peter Bogdanovich’s classic The Last Picture Show fills the fourth disc in the set. As interesting as many of the included films are, this one is easily the best, surpassing both Five Easy Pieces and Easy Rider. Bogdanovich would go on to make many films after, but his career would never again see a film like The Last Picture Show. Following a group of kids stuck in a dusty west Texas town, The Last Picture Show applies a European cinematic aesthetic to a classic American coming of age story. The transfer is phenomenal — the black and white cinematography has made the leap to 1080p with nary a blemish to report. It appears that most of the extras are from previous editions, but if you want this film on Blu-Ray, this is probably the best way to get it.The final disc is dedicated to Robert Rafelson’s The King of Marvin Gardens, a character piece focused on two brothers played by Jack Nicholson and Bruce Dern. Despite some stunning cinematography from Lazlo Kovacs, King of Marvin Gardens is not a particularly successful film. David (Nicholson), a Philadelphia-based late-night radio host finds himself pulled back into the orbit of his charismatic huckster older brother Jason (Dern). Jason has set himself up in Atlantic City and is working a Hawaiian land deal, where he hopes to open a resort. With him are two women — one middle aged, the other in her twenties — who both appear to be Jason’s girlfriends. He tries to entice David into joining his scam, but ultimately finds himself careening towards a tragedy of his own invention. The King of Marvin Gardens is definitely in the same mold as Drive, He Said and A Safe Place — two films that, while visually interesting, are not exactly comprehensible or engaging from a story perspective. Like the other discs in the set, The King of Marvin Gardens features a phenomenal transfer, though the extras are somewhat light — two brief featurettes about the making of the film, and a scene-specific commentary from Rafelson.All and all, one could easily call America Lost and Found: The BBS Story “70’s Film School in a Box.” Not all the films included in the set are particularly compelling or worth owning on their own, but together they comprise an important archive that gives the viewer a much clearer picture of a critical turning point in American cinema, making a strong case for the influence of Robert Rafelson on the creation of New Hollywood cinema. Unlike Copolla’s failed American Zoetrope project (yes, I know all of his films were produced under that moniker — but the original idea of a San Francisco-based studio failed after THX1138), Rafelson and his associates actually succeeded in producing seven films and one documentary outside of the American studio system. Though not always successful, they were incredibly influential and would provide the template for the independent cinema revival of the 1990’s. Anyone interested in the fertile 1970’s should take a look at this excellent collection.

Reviewer: asmk
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: livré en VO, cela donne une vison juste de cette oeuvre.Nicholson est égal à lui même.A conseiller pour une approche des années 70-80 vue sous un autre angle

Reviewer: Jan Møller
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: It’s always a great pleasure to recieve a package from All Your Music. Especially this one.Jan Moeller. Denmark

Reviewer: Mr_E_from_E
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: “The king of Marvin Gardens” ist ein inhaltlich dunkel gehaltenes Drama von 2 grundverschiedenen Brüdern, die aber beide mit dem Leben nicht klarkommen.Die stark charakterzentrierte Story dieser beiden Verlierer, gespielt vom alten Traumpaar Jack Nicholson und Bruce Dern, setzt der Director B. Rafelson atmosphärisch dicht gestaltet und mit einem negativem Grundton konsequent um. Der Streifen verabschiedet sich komplett vom alten Traum von Besitz und Freiheit, er zeigt klar das US-amerikanische Durchschnittsleben der 1970er. Zählt gewiss zu den besten des Genres “New Hollywood”!

Reviewer: DM
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This collection of Americana films is as varied as can be and has some amazing little gems in it, particularly the film HEAD featuring the Monkees. The film is brilliantly shot, the colour impeccable, and the sound truly amazing. The soundtrack will inspire you if you like 60’s psychedelic rock.You cannot deny the other films in this lot as well Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces as well as one of my favourite films, The Last Picture Show. This is a must own collection of Criterion films if you are a fan of the Criterion releases.

Reviewer: Massimo S.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: perfect all!

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