The group’s success was short-lived, disbanding in 1965 since then the music and Ray’s legacy has been largely underrecognized, with Ray passing away in 2012. 2 on the charts in 1963, the same year JFK was assassinated. Ray herself was a member of the Bronx-based American girl-group the Jaynetts, known for their hit “Sally Go ’round the Roses” that reached No. Entwined with Ray’s vocals, Williams shows monochromatic tiles shifting on the screen, an eerily empty stage in changing light, viewed from above, Ada Ray just out of reach. Hanson does serve as a tour guide through the Pittsburgh locations where the film was shot, and, on a separate track, discusses how he chose each of the songs heard in the film and how Bob Dylan became involved in the project.In Intermission, Williams calls forth funk and soul singer Ada Ray through the haunting layering of Ray’s song “I No Longer Believe in Miracles” (1962). Film Critics Assn.’s best actor award for his warm, funny performance as a tenured professor and writer going through a midlife crisis.
Lurie and Allen supply the funny, incisive commentary.Īn audio commentary track from director Curtis Hanson and star Michael Douglas would have added immeasurably to the DVD viewing experience of “Wonder Boys” (Paramount, $30). Featured in the excised footage is an entire subplot involving Allen’s father, a former Republican governor (Philip Baker Hall), who tries to commit suicide in order not to embarrass his daughter over the fact that he was once involved in graft. Writer-director Lurie, a former film critic, supplies commentary on the plethora of deleted scenes. The disc includes a wide-screen transfer, production notes, the trailer, talent files and a serviceable HBO “making of” documentary. Jeff Bridges, also an Oscar nominee, plays the food-obsessed president, and an unrecognizable Gary Oldman is the Republican congressman intent on thwarting Allen’s nomination. Joan Allen is an Academy Award contender for her work as a senator with a “past” who is now a candidate for vice president. Still, the “making-of” documentary that originally aired on HBO is better than average, and several of Crowe’s cover stories from Rolling Stone can be read on the disc.ĭreamWorks’ DVD of Rod Lurie’s taut political thriller “The Contender” ($27) is chock-full of goodies. The disc cries out for a commentary track from Crowe, but alas, one will have to wait for a “special edition” for the writer-director’s insights. Yet the digital edition is disappointing. Crowe has been nominated for an Oscar for his delightful original screenplay-a nostalgic, semiautobiographical coming-of-age comedy about a teenage reporter for Rolling Stone magazine in the early ‘70s. The two-disc set features production stills, a deleted scene, a “making of” documentary that was produced in 1965 and a more recent documentary featuring interviews with Heston, who plays John the Baptist Max Von Sydow, who stars as Christ and several members of the production crew.Ĭameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous” (DreamWorks, $27) was one of the best-reviewed films of 2000.
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