Trailer Not on the DVD: Just One of the Guys (1985, Lisa Gottlieb)

From the mid-'80s onward, when The Beastmaster wasn't on HBO ("Hey, Beastmaster's On!"), one could always count on an afternoon airing of Just One of the Guys, a textbook example of a the film that doesn't perform for very long at the box office, but ends up being seen by an entire generation via home video and pay cable. I get kick out of the film and the trailer attempting to get a little mileage out of the success of another Columbia Pictures property, The Karate Kid, and being a fan of Elvis Costello, I dig the reference to the musician in the same line of dialogue. The unmatted DVD does not include this trailer, which appears to have been placed on a VHS release of a comparable Columbia title at some point:

Trailer Not on the DVD: Private School (1983, Noel Black)

It's interesting to see how this trailer attempts to position Michael Zorek's Bubba Beauregard as the next Bluto Blutarsky. Didn't quite work out for the success of the film or Zorek's career. The former actor is now better known for parading his young children around to get their pictures snapped with celebrities. It's certainly not the finest moment for Cates, Modine, or director Noel Black who, in what must have seemed like a previous lifetime, directed the superb small-town psychological thriller Pretty Poison. :

TV Spot Not on the DVD: Star 80 (1983, Bob Fosse)

Not only is this film not available on DVD in Region 1 in its O.A.R., but there is no trailer. There is / was a widescreen Australian disc, but it was also trailer-less. Whenever I see Eric Roberts on Celebrity Rehab I hope for a recovery and a late-career return to form that matches the intensity and talent the young Roberts displayed in King of the Gypsies, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Runaway Train, and, especially, Star 80. This is a tough film and performance to view and the vile nature of Roberts' character probably hurt his career as much as it helped it, but there's no denying it's great acting. Does the music at the beginning of this tv spot remind anyone else of Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells"? :

Trailer Not on the DVD: Racing With the Moon (1984, Richard Benjamin)

Apologies for the dodgy sound:

Trailer Not on the DVD: Charley Varrick (1973, Don Siegel)

I sure do love this trailer's emphasis on the film's secondary title: "The Last of the Independents." While the Region 1 (non-widescreen) DVD does not include a trailer, some foreign DVDs of this film do appear to contain a trailer, though I'm not sure if it's this particular one. I have a British DVD (widescreen), but it includes only production stills as an extra feature:

Trailer Not on the DVD: Against All Odds (1984, Taylor Hackford)

This a different trailer from the one that appears on the DVD. It sounds like v.o. legend Don LaFontaine voicing it; the trailer on the DVD has a different v.o. artist and includes music from Blue Thunder on the soundtrack. :

Trailer Not on the DVD: Heavy Metal (1981, Gerald Potterton)

This looks to be the original 1981 trailer updated with new onscreen text for the 1996 home video premiere. Frequent trailer v.o. artist Percy Rodrigues did uncredited work as the voice of the Loc-nar in the film, but I don't think this is him voicing the trailer. However, one of the participants in the DVD documentary on the film indicates that it is. Anyone know the definitive answer? :

Not So Obscure Trailer, but Still MIA on DVD: The Keep (1983, Michael Mann)

This looks like it came straight from a film source rather than an old VHS. Listen for the great v.o. proclaiming 70mm and 6-track Dolby Stereo in selected theaters. :

Trailer Not on the DVD: North Dallas Forty (1979, Ted Kotcheff)

Trailer Not on the DVD: Frantic (1988, Roman Polanski)

...nor on the Blu-ray:

Chirashi Files: The Exterminator

Chirashi Files: Christiane F.

I used to have to have the riveting book upon which the film was based, but it was sadly lost in an apartment flood several years back. Unfortunately, the U.S. edition of the book is long out of print. The film has never been treated very well in this country, either. The VHS release from Media was dubbed into English and the only DVD released in Region 1 was Image's dubbed, non-anamorphic disc. The non-anamorphic British disc from Second Sight features the original German soundtrack with English subtitles, in addition to production notes and lobby cards; this is the version I own.



I have this LP, but no turntable to play it, or any of my hundreds of others records, at the moment. I like what I hear from these two clips, but then I'd have a soft spot for anything with a vaguely disco - Post-Punk beat and female German vocals laid over it. Both songs are reminiscent of some of my favorite Post-Punk acts: the Au Pairs, the Raincoats, Delta 5, Gang of Four, PiL, Kleenex / Liliput, the Slits, the Pop Group, Essential Logic, and others of that ilk.