Search - Bandits [Special Edition] on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG-13 Content Advisory: Mild Violence, Adult Situations, Profanity Movie Release: 2001 DVD Release: 04/02/2002 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV,Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English, French, Spanish Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 3 mins Studio: MGM Total Copies: 92 Genres: Comedy, Crime, Romantic Comedy, Crime Comedy, Buddy Film

Director Barry Levinson follows up the low-budget An Everlasting Piece (2000) with another comedy, this one of the homegrown variety from former Twin Peaks (1990) TV series writer Harley Peyton. Bruce Willis stars as suave bank robber Joe, who has escaped from prison with his hypochondriac buddy Terry (Billy Bob Thornton). Together, the two men have devised a clever scheme to take a bank officer hostage the night before a heist, then simply escort the executive to work early the next morning when they clean out the vault. Their ingenious methods have led to the men becoming media darlings dubbed "the Sleepover Bandits," but all Joe and Terry want is to make a nice pile of money before crossing the Mexican border to a life of freedom and legitimacy. Their quest gets more complicated when Terry is struck by a car driven by Kate Wheeler (Cate Blanchett), a bored housewife who's then forced to join their crime spree. Soon both Joe and Terry are in love with Kate and she with them, realizing that the two friends put together pretty much equal the perfect man. Bandits co-stars Troy Garity, son of actress Jane Fonda. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Bruce Willis - Joe Blake
Billy Bob Thornton - Terry Collins
Cate Blanchett - Kate Wheeler
Troy Garity - Harvey Pollard
Brian F. O'Byrne - Darill Miller

MGM's DVD of the 40-million-dollar screwball comedy heist caper Bandits leaves a few things to be desired for something labeled a "special edition." While the film looks and sounds great in the expected high quality anamorphic transfer, there is no commentary by director Barry Levinson or stars Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett -- a standard by now. Actually, Blanchett does offer commentary during the brief alternate ending, which is basically one sight gag she insisted be shot for the fade-out. On the other hand, two features are rather surprisingly in-depth: the "Creating Scene 71 Featurette," a detailed description by Levinson, writer Harley Peyton, producer Michael Birnbaum, and the stars of the largely improvised love scene between Willis and Blanchett; and the deleted scenes, which are actually entire unused sequences, a few of them being pretty interesting. A "making of" documentary is, happily, hype-free and shows lots of behind-the-camera action including one unedited stunt showing Willis' and Thornton's doubles crashing through a plate glass door. The menu screen gives you a choice of toggling between Willis and Thornton. Choose Willis and you see and hear a Willis scene on the menu page, pick Thornton and you get a close-up of his character in all his paranoid grandeur. It's no big deal, but it's a nice touch. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide