Search - 20th Century Fox Best Actor Collection (In Old Arizona/The King and I/Patton/Harry and Tonto/Wall Street) on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 4/24/2020...

Wall Street - A classic with Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas. A must for Wall Street fans!

The King and I - A musical classic featuring a very young Yul Brynner! A must watch!

Patton - A classic that some love!

A good collection of performances reaching back to the dawn

calvinnme | 11/02/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fox is releasing Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress collections all in the same week with each set containing five films. This one is a fairly interesting collection of films.

The earliest entry "In Old Arizona" (1928) was filmed in a year in which practically no surviving sound films exist, and those few that do the average person would find stiff and boring beyond endurance. Warner Baxter picked up the Best Actor Oscar for 1928-1929 for his performance as the Cisco Kid. This was the first sound picture to be shot outdoors. Fox got to this milestone first because they started the talkie revolution using a sound-on-film system rather than the very fussy Vitaphone system, and this gave Fox the mobility that studios using Vitaphone did not have. The movie is mainly interesting today from a technical viewpoint. I found the photography beautiful and the realistic sound for the time impressive, but the story will probably not be engaging to modern viewers.

The King and I (1956) has Yul Brynner winning an Oscar for his performance as the King of Siam in one of the last great classic musicals from the 40's and 50's. It is probably the role he is best remembered for and a role he reprised many times onstage.

Patton (1970) was a Best Picture Oscar winner as well as winning a Best Actor Oscar for George C. Scott as General Patton. This is one of those best picture decisions that has held up over time. I still think it was the best film of its year and I can't imagine anyone but Scott playing the enigmatic general.

Harry and Tonto (1973) - This film is typical of many of the thoughtful films made in the early 1970's about finding oneself and the meaning of life. In this case it is Art Carney that won the Best Actor Oscar as Harry Coombes, a retired teacher in his seventies who hits the open road with his cat (Tonto) after the building he has lived in for years is torn down. It marked a kind of renaissance in Carney's career, and for a few years afterward he had quite a few appearances on TV.

Wall Street (1987) - Michael Douglas won his Best Actor Oscar for playing Gordon Gekko, a financial Genghis Khan who is never through dismantling large companies and selling off the remains at a profit. This film is really about Charlie Sheen as Bud Fox, Gekko's eager protege until Gekko sets his sights on the company Bud's father works for, and Bud has a choice to make."