Laserdisc Title: "BULLETS OVER BROADWAY"
Edition: Letterbox Edition (Single Disc)
Directed By: Woody Allen
Starring: Jim Broadbent, John Cusack, Harvey Fierstein, Chazz Palminteri, Mary-Louise Parker, Rob Reiner
Awards: ---Nominated for 7 Academy Awards---
Production / Year: 1994 Miramax Films
Running Time: 95 Minutes / Color
Audio Format: Digital Sound, Dolby Surround, Stereo, CX Encoded
Video Format: LTBX (1.85:1), NTSC, CLV (Extended Play)
Miscellaneous Features: Rated R, Closed Captioned
Distributed By: Image Entertainment
Catalog / Spine Number: 4368 AS

IMPORTANT: This is a 12-inch Diameter Laserdisc, which is NOT the same as DVD and cannot be played on a DVD player!

Cosmetic Condition:
Disc (s): Excellent - Hardly noticeable to very light to very minor hairline surface swirls or light fingerprint marks
Jacket: Very Good - Normal shelf wear, few creases, slightly worn-out corners or edges and small splits middle of left and bottom spines

Synopsis:

One of Woody Allen's best films of the '90s, Bullets over Broadway stars John Cusack as a virtual Woody surrogate, a neurotic, Jazz Age writer whose new play sounds wooden and unrealistic to a low-level mobster (Chazz Palminteri) assigned to watch over his boss's actress-girlfriend (Jennifer Tilly). When the hood starts contributing better story ideas and dialogue than what the official playwright can conjure, questions (not unlike those of Amadeus) about the price we pay to make art at the expense of other responsibilities are intriguingly raised. Palminteri gives a very interesting performance as the enforcer waking up to the desperate (and almost feminine) demands of his own creative psyche, and Dianne Wiest (who won an Oscar), Tracey Ullman, Jim Broadbent, and Jennifer Tilly are very funny together playing the ensemble cast of Cusack's play.

Departing from the modern realism of 'Interiors,' 'Annie Hall,' and 'Hannah and Her Sisters,' director Woody Allen uses old-time, deliciously over-the-top Broadway to execute with brilliant precision themes concerning the artist, his art, and the motivation to create. In a problematic but never unexciting performance, John Cusack is David Shayne, a play-write living in New York City in the midst of a stable relationship whilst directing a play found to be pretentiously unrealistic. He casts two generally wonderful actors, the melodramatic but passionate Helen Sinclair (a hilarious Dianne Wiest in a brilliant, Oscar-winning performance), and finally, a gangster's girlfriend, Olive Neal (Jennifer Tilly), who simply cannot act...at all. Every word she speaks is painfully bland and obnoxious, and she can't even recognize a few of the more complicated ones (she has a bit of trouble reading "masochistic"). David has no choice but to cast her, though, lest he face the mob and/or lose all financial support for the play. In addition to her obnoxious...erm...stage presence, she brings along Cheech (Chazz Parliminteri), a body guard who often contradicts David's directorial decisions and dialogue.

This storyline could have easily been played off as farce. But under the hands of master auteur Allen, it is obvious that art, theme and credible side-splitting comedy are first and foremost on his mind at all times. Through dinner conversation, casual walks through a serene park, and wonderfully portrayed rehearsals, Allen harnesses this potentially absurd setting with a grace that allows emphasis on the crucial themes concerning all that surrounds an artist's yearning to capture life at its brightest and darkest moments.

THIS IS NOT A DVD!!! THIS IS A 12" LASERDISC AND WILL NOT PLAY IN A DVD PLAYER

Thanks for checking my other auctions!
eCrater ID Verified!