Search - Billy Bathgate on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Profanity Movie Release: 1991 DVD Release: 10/08/2002 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Edition: Dual Layered Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 47 mins Studio: Walt Disney Video Members Wishing: 6 Genres: Crime, Period Film, Gangster Film, Coming-of-Age

In this film version of E. L. Doctorow's -Billy Bathgate, Loren Dean plays the title character, a street-smart kid who inveigles his way into the confidence of 1930s gangster Dutch Schultz (Dustin Hoffman). Billy is ordered to look after Schultz' new moll, Drew Preston (Nicole Kidman), while Dutch fends off tax evasion charges and such up-and-coming rivals as Lucky Luciano (Stanley Tucci). Even though they know they're playing with dynamite, Billy and Drew fall in love. In attempting to escape Schultz' wrath, Billy succeeds only in putting himself in the thick of a gun battle between his boss and Luciano. When "Charley Lucky" emerges triumphant, Billy is forced once again to rely on his wits to escape being sent to the bottom of the briny in a cement overcoat. Bruce Willis shows up in an extended cameo as Dutch Schultz' former business associate. Billy Bathgate was adapted for the screen by British playwright Tom Stoppard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dustin Hoffman - Dutch Schultz
Nicole Kidman - Drew Preston
Loren Dean - Billy Bathgate
Bruce Willis - Bo Weinberg
Steven Hill - Otto Berman

Robert Benton's big screen adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's novel Billy Batahgate comes to DVD with a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital 5.1. There are no subtitles, but the soundtrack is closed-captioned. There are no supplemental materials of any consequence. This Disney/Buena Vista release does a fine job with the technical aspects of the film, but there is nothing else that can be recommended about it. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide