Monty Python's Life Of Brian - The Immaculate Edition [Blu-ray]

List Price: $28.95 Discount Price: $14.99

Customer Reviews:

Sad and troubling story of a sadistic Southern bigot [Posted on 2001-10-18]
Produced in 1991, and based on the novel by Peter Dexter, this film which was produced for theaters but wound up on HBO, stars Dennis Hopper as a sadistic Southern bigot in the late 1940s. Not only does he cruelly abuse his wife in a most humiliating way, he goes to the home of a poor black family to collect a debt and viciously shoots a woman several times and murders her 12-year old daughter. His lawyer, played by Ed Harris, defends him at his trial but gradually becomes disgusted with his client and befriends and then romances Hopper's wife, played by Barbara Hershey. Only tragedy can result from this; it is just a matter of how and when.

All performances are excellent, especially that of Hopper, who again plays the perfect villain. He's deranged and sinister, far beyond even the tolerated racism of the time, and his cruelty knows no bounds. His performance sent chills down my spine, as I stayed glued to the small screen holding my breath as the story unfolded. Darnita Henry played the role of the young girl with a combination of terror and innocence that endeared her to my heart. I identified with her and mourned her death with a sense of revulsion at the casual way in which Dennis Hopper perceives it. Tina Lifford, the young girl's mother who survives the attack, gives a fine performance as she testifies in court with a quiet dignity. The audience knows the truth and then sees the horror of the twisted justice meted out at that time. This film is sad, without a shred of humor or hope. It is not a pleasant experience and left me upset and troubled. But yet I recommend it to those not afraid of the emotional catharsis. Just be forewarned.

a real downer [Posted on 2002-04-15]
In case you missed the last 100 movies out of Hollywood on racism in the south---here's another one. Although it does remind us of the sickness history has taught us about,especially around the period the movie is set in(circa 1949),it is too shocking brutal and unforgiving to offer any hope,let along enjoyment.Dennis Hopper's performance is fantastic!He is sadistic and paranoid and eventually pathetic.Hersey and Harris are excellent as they almost always are.The problem lies with the pattness of the movie.It's the familiar plot taken a little(or a lot)further for the shock value.I don't think I like this director and the screenplay might have been done by one of those slasher/gore types.The two stars are for the performances and that's about it.

A hidden, crude, poignant and remarkable work! [Posted on 2005-07-26]
First at all: you may argue the racism in movies have reached the saturation point, and may be you decide to pass down this offer. But let me tell you that this criterion may shadow the possibility to watch one of the most potent and admirable performances in years of an enviable cast.
Consider the Dennis Hopper's performance. I think Dennis has made through his career, six outstanding portraits: Hoosiers,The American friend,Blue Velvet, Black widow, True Romance and this one. Second argument Ed Harris as the implacable investigator is superb too. Third: Barbara Hershey makes a penetrating and brilliant acting as the sensitive wife of Hopper.
Finally,the script by itself: we have a crude and terrible drama in the forties: Hopper plays a role of a convinced racist (and facist too, if you want)who considers the brutal murder means less tha nothing. His out of mind actions are so enrooted in the most stinking beliefs and prejuices.
The sequence of the crime is plenty of high caliber realism and dramatic intensity that makes us to remind Parker's Mississippi burning, but the best is yet to come when the fury, rage and sick obsession becomes gradually in a true state mind, deeply neurotic and obsesive. His familiar relationship is just sinking; his progresive process isolation is told with superb handle camera.
I recommend this work due its undeniable virtues. Tension, hard to follow story due the merciless argument but plenty of good sequences.

CLASSIC! [Posted on 2008-09-04]
OK, so it's no Holy Grail, but if you're a fan (or even a partial fan) of Monty Python, this is pure pleasure. If for nothing else but the final song, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. Not for the easily offended, as Monty Python take shots at every Christian tenet they can. Absolutely hilarious, in a totally blasphemous and disgusting way.

IMHO, the funniest film ever [Posted on 2008-09-04]
The Python's most complete work. Packed with one-liners, a good plot, real pathos at the end and a message, "You don't need me, you don't need anyone!" which has even more relevance now than when it was originally released.

Should be compulsory viewing

Click here for more details and discount information...

Similar Products:
Monty Python's the Meaning of Life	Monty Python and the Holy Grail [Blu-ray]	The Adventures of Baron Munchausen [Blu-ray]	Run Lola Run [Blu-ray]	The Monty Python Box Set (Monty Python & The Holy Grail/ And Now For Something Completly Different/ The Adventures of Baron Munchausen)