|
|
BACHELOR PARTY
There
is no denying that 1984's BACHELOR PARTY ($23) is lewd, crude,
rude and an absolute laugh riot. Since BACHELOR PARTY contains
something to offend almost everybody, those who are embracing political
correctness are certain to hate this particular movie. As for me, I love
BACHELOR PARTY and wouldn't change a frame of this hilarious sex
comedy. A pre-Oscar, post-BOSOM BUDDIES Tom Hanks stars in BACHELOR
PARTY as Rick, a school bus driver who has just asked his girlfriend
Debbie (Tawny Kitaen) to marry him. Of course, Rick's friends decide to
throw him the mother of all bachelor parties, containing the three necessary
ingredients- sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. On the same evening, Debbie's
friends throw her a bridal shower, which gets interrupted by the arrival
of two hookers intended for the bachelor party. This surprise gift comes
courtesy of Debbie's former boyfriend, who wants to make Rick look bad.
What follows is a hilarious night of pranks, mistaken identity, debauchery,
revenge, bestiality, chaos, vandalism, excessive drug use, loud music
and a tug of war with something on a bun that is a bit more than a foot
long hot dog. The non-Oscar winning members of the BACHELOR PARTY
cast includes Adrian Zmed, George Grizzard, Barbara Stuart, Robert Prescott,
William Tepper, Wendie Jo Sperber, Barry Diamond, Gary Grossman, Michael
Dudikoff, Bradford Bancroft, Martina Finch, Deborah Harmon, Tracy Smith
and Florence Schauffler.
20th
Century Fox Home Entertainment has made BACHELOR PARTY available
on DVD in a 1.85:1 wide screen presentation that has been enhanced for
playback on 16:9 displays. For a low budget comedy from the mid-1980s,
BACHELOR PARTY looks great on DVD. The transfer delivers an image
that is clean, bright and attractive. Certainly, there is some softness
and grain in the picture, which is related to the age of the movie and
production limitations. However, fans will be very pleased with the overall
image quality. Although the colors have that telltale 80's look, all of
the hues are strongly rendered and the flesh tones appear quite natural.
Blacks seem fine, although shadow detail is a bit wanting. Like good taste,
digital compression artifacts remain completely out of sight during the
presentation.
For
this release BACHELOR PARTY is offered with a new Dolby Digital
4.0 channel soundtrack. This is a fairly typical comedy mix, with dialogue
locked to the center, stereo music and a bit of fill coming from the surround
channels. The sound is fairly bright, but pleasing enough at reasonably
loud volume levels. Some background hiss becomes audible at higher levels,
but is never too bad. Dialogue reproduction is very clear, so there is
no chance of missing a single rib tickling vulgarity. English and French
monaural soundtracks are also encoded onto the DVD, as are English and
Spanish subtitles.
The
basic interactive menus provide access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as a theatrical trailer, plus ten minutes
of interview footage with the cast from 1984, which has been broken up
into various segments.
BACHELOR PARTY is
a tasteless movie that I loved when I saw it in 1984 and still love today.
Fox has done a great job with the DVD and I doubt a single fan will be
disappointed by the presentation. If love low humor, you'll want to own
your own copy of BACHELOR PARTY on DVD.
|
This DVD review
is brought to you by
THE CINEMA LASER

Bachelor
Party
|