Search - Gloria on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG Content Advisory: Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language Movie Release: 1980 DVD Release: 02/25/2003 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Edition: Restored/Remastered Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French, Korean, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 1 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Members Wishing: 5 Genres: Drama, Crime, Crime Drama, Gangster Film

Gloria (Gena Rowlands), a self-involved woman in her forties who was once a mobster's mistress, is asked to look after Philip (Juan Adames), the son of her Mafia-connected Puerto Rican neighbors. This temporary set-up becomes permanent when the neighbors are killed in a mob hit. Philip has in his possession a diary containing a record of illegal Mafia activities; thus the boy is as good as dead unless Gloria takes decisive action. With Philip in tow, Gloria leads the hit men on a frantic chase around Manhattan, and during the various gunfire exchanges, more than holds her own. Offering to exchange the diary for the boy's life, Gloria is rebuffed by the vendetta-driven assassins. Where once she was content squirreling herself away in her lonely apartment, Gloria now must face a lifetime on the run. Directed on a more commercial level than was customary for John Cassavetes (with a subversive streak of self-parody in the bargain), Gloria served as an excellent showcase for Cassavetes' wife Gena Rowlands. The film won the Golden Lion Award at the 1980 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gena Rowlands - Gloria Swenson
John Adames - Phil Dawn
Buck Henry - Jack Dawn
Julie Carmen - Jeri Dawn
Lupe Garnica - Margarita Vargas

It's surprising that someone at Columbia TriStar even knew they owned John Cassavetes' Gloria -- the 1980 movie, starring Gena Rowlands, virtually disappeared from view within a decade of its release; it barely made it to laserdisc, and was supplanted in most people's memories by the 1999 remake starring Sharon Stone and directed by Sidney Lumet. Apart from its other attributes, Cassavetes' movie is now a panorama of a city (New York) that -- in retrospect -- was headed for disaster, its social fabric fraying in from the edges at the end of the 1970s, as seen in the background of most of the major scenes. The movie is still an overlong drama that suffers from its maker's excesses, but it has a hypnotic quality as well that's impossible to ignore. The DVD looks better than the movie even did in theaters, the non-anamorphic letterboxed image (1.85:1) presenting Fred Schuler's photography in a richness and depth that makes every shot sing, and the aerial photography in the opening sequence (by Peter Garbarini) is almost worth the price of admission. The audio has been mastered at a very healthy volume, which gives Bill Conti's aggressive score (highlighted by Tommy Tedesco's acoustic guitar and Tony Ortega's saxophone) full play along with the dialogue (which is kept to a minimum -- indeed, this could almost be presented as a silent movie with a synchronized score). The 121-minute movie gets 28 well-chosen chapter markers and opens automatically on a very straightforward menu with the play option in the default position. There are also full-screen trailers for Little Nikita and The Odessa File, and a selection of Korean, French, Spanish, and English subtitles. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide