Search - Big Wednesday on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG Content Advisory: Questionable for Children, Adult Language, Adult Humor Movie Release: 1978 DVD Release: 07/09/2002 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 59 mins Studio: Warner Home Video Members Wishing: 6 Genres: Drama, Reunion Films, Buddy Film, Sports Drama

Jan-Michael Vincent plays a self-destructive beach bum to whom surfing is a Zen experience. We first meet Vincent in the devil-may-care 1960s, in the company of his carefree buddies William Katt and Gary Busey. The boys reunite ten years later, after one has served time in Vietnam. The beach is still there, the waves still break upon the shore, and towards the end of the film, the characters become people that we truly care about. Barbara Hale, the real-life mother of costar William Katt, makes a piquant supporting appearance. Cut from 129 minutes to 104 for its pay-cable release, Big Wednesday is also known as Summer of Innocence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jan-Michael Vincent - Matt
William Katt - Jack
Gary Busey - Leroy
Patti D'Arbanville - Sally
Lee Purcell - Peggy Gordon

Warner Brothers' DVD edition of Big Wednesday serves up this John Milius epic in a suitably attractive edition that throws in a few nice bonuses to sweeten the deal. The disc's letterboxed anamorphic transfer captures the film's expansive 2.35:1 scope and further benefits from a handsome remastering job that brings out all the lush color and epic sweep of Bruce Surtee's cinematography. In terms of audio, Big Wednesday offers a nice Dolby Surround soundtrack as well as a French-language mono soundtrack. The extras are limited but mostly worthwhile: the cast and crew filmographys are disappointingly skimpy but an interesting theatrical trailer shows what a hard sell this complex drama must have been. The disc also offers a commentary track by John Milius: he recorded this track alone, so it suffers from occasional gaps of silence and some rambling that might have been curtailed if there had been a moderator to keep things on track. That said, this commentary is well worth the time for the film's fans because Milius offers up several interesting bits of background info, including how the film's autobiographically-tinged story began its life as a novel and the technical challenges involved in shooting the film's stunning surfing sequences. All in all, this modestly-priced DVD of Big Wednesday offers a great way for both fans and neophytes to enjoy this underrated cult favorite on home video. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide