DVD commentaries: Most informative and most entertaining?

Sideways has a great commentary track. The two stars are almost as funny as the film itself.

 

The commentary for the 1978 Superman film by director Richard Donner and writer Tom Mankiewicz is a riot. Just Donner's opening discussion about dealing with a difficult Marlon Brando (as "Jor-El") is priceless.

Donner says: "Brando and I had many initial arguments as to whether he would wear a wig with the 'Superman spit curl' on the front. Up to the day of shooting, he adamantly refused to do it." (Pauses until the first close-up of Brando hits the screen.) "You can see who won that argument."

That had me on the floor.

 

Bruce Campbell in his commentaries for the "Evil Dead" films in which he starred. This guy is hilarious!

 

Some, but by no means all. The worst has got to be the Star Wars Definitive Collection set. Bear in mind that this cost $250 in the early 90s - the commentary only covers a few chapters in each film, perhaps only a couple per side - and that's it - you have to fast-forward to the relevant chapters, necessitating having the chapter guide in front of you. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is also a bit like this.

On the other hand, there are many when they talk all the way through - Danny De Vito does a great one on Hoffa (where he introduces the track by saying 'Ah, so we meet again, Laserdisc maniacs!'), the Hughes Brothers do an interesting one on Dead Presidents Criterion, I could go on. Quite often they do just launch in though. Still, in some ways I prefer to listen to commentaries on Laserdisc, perhaps just because a disc change is a perfect opportunity to take a break and have a coffee!

Tom

 

I'll say Citizen Kane as well with Ebert. It's like a film class. I'm no film historian, barely ever listen to more than 5 minutes of a commentary, but he knew his stuff, kept it very interesting and I enjoyed it as much as the film, gaining new appreciation for the movie. his Casablanca commentary was good but not as perfect as Kane. I want to hear his Dark City commentary since his initial review with Siskel got me to seek the film out in the theater, but I'll wait for the long promised directors cut.

Knowing how much he loves The Third Man, I wish he'd do one for that!

 

Another good horror movie commentary is the one for ultra-lo-budget cult film Last House on Dead End Street. Director Roger Watkins and a fanzine writer whose name I forget establish a good banter, with lots of humour and detail on the film and its making. It's also interesting to hear Watkins bitch about how much he dislikes the movie, which was butchered by its distributors and only ever shown in a seriously mauled form with lots of sync problems.

 

His work on Casablanca is very good too.

 

I like director John Frankenheimer's commentaries, but I will admit to being biased because I'm a fan of his work (at least the majority of it). Frankenheimer had terrific recall of his projects going back to 1960, and I like his speaking style. Plus, he didn't just kiss $ss.

I think about 12 of JF movies currently on DVD have a director's commentary. I wish he had a chance to do more before he died. At least a few of his DVD commentaries were sourced from 1990s laserdisc releases.

My favourite JF commentaries;
- Manchurian Candidate (1962)
- The Train (1964)
- Seconds (1966)
- French Connection II (1975)
- Ronin (1997)

Vancouver sh.tv member Darcy (pigwhisperer) has been subjected to too many Frankenheimer film fests at my house. But I'm guessing he's at least thankful I haven't included a night of just listening to the commentary tracks

I've also enjoyed the commentaries I've heard by Scorsese, Taylor Hackford, Ridley Scott, as well as the different commentaries on the Spinal Tap DVDs (MGM and Criterion).

I think many of the other Criterion commentaries (Hitchcock films, The Third Man, Kurosawa films) are very informative, even if they are a little dry.

My all time favourite commentary is the Criterion Silence Of The Lambs, featuring Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Jonathan Demme and FBI profiler John Douglas. The Criterion DVD has been out of print for several years, but it's worth the search.

And I'll look for the commentary tracks recommended by other in this thread. Thanks...

 

For sheer entertainment, director Abel Ferrara's commentary on The Driller Killer is priceless. A clear degenerate, highlights include his audible drooling during the lesbian shower scene, and walking out shortly before the end credits when he discovers the fade at the finale has been changed.

 

Really? I've never thought of Ebert as a buffoon--he's always demonstrated a deep understanding and love for movies in every thing I've ever read by him.

His appearence on "At the Movies" (or "Siskel and Ebert") is another issue entirely...that was about one-upmanship.

 

My favs:

Ridley Scott-Blade Runner, Alien
Roger Ebert-Citizen Kane
Robert Harris and Herbert Coleman-Vertigo
Richard Donner and Tom M.-Superman/Superman II
Michael Mann-Heat
David Fincher-Zodiac: Director's Cut

 

One of the funniest things that I've ever heard was on Siskel and Ebert. Siskel went on and on and on and on about how awful a film was. He panned the actors, director, plot, script etc... When he was finally finished with his tirade the camera switched over to Roger Ebert who commented, "You obviously liked this movie a lot more than me."

Cheers,
Chris

 

The first Resident Evil film has a great funny commentary. Mila is a pisser.

 

Another vote for Roger Ebert on Citizen Kane. He really gives the viewer a huge appreciative sense for how brilliant that film is.

 

Most of the commentaries on the James Bond DVDs contain plenty of information, but are presented in a less-than-ideal manner... they're comprised mostly of interview clips with a variety of people, so the comments very rarely (if ever) relate to what's happening on-screen. I believe the Star Wars DVDs had the same type of commentaries, which was a little disappointing. I prefer the tracks where someone is actually sitting down and watching the film while they talk about it.

 

Most informative and entertaining: Allen Coulter, Hollywoodland
John Hughes, Ferris Bueller's Day Off(especially the museum scene)​

 

The Spinal Tap commentaries - both the actors' and the characters' - are fun, as are the various Monty Pythons.

 

Agreed! I sought out the old, out of print DVD just for this commentary (which was not included in the later Special Edition).

 

Another vote for Roger Ebert's commentary tracks on both CITIZEN KANE and CASABLANCA. I already appreciated both movies, but his commentary tracks gave me insight that I'd never have gotten on my own.

Another commentary track that really made me appreciate a film was on the HIGN NOON Criterion Edition LaserDisc with Howard Suber. I still keep that disc around just for the commentary track which sadly wasn't ported over to the DVD issues.

Harry

 

Interesting:

Amarcord (The Criterion Collection)

Being largely ignorant of Italian history and culture, this DVD commentary was absolutely essential for a deeper understanding and appreciation of this film.

The DVD commentary is simply brilliant, providing incredibly poignant and concise context for scenes that, while superficially entertaining, are actually embedded with deep symbolism and intelligence.

Entertaining:

Tropic Thunder - Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Ben Stiller commenting, in and out of character, might be even funnier than the movie.

Road House (Collector's Edition) - Kevin Smith (Despite having no involvement with this movie in any way)

Shawn of the Dead

Hot Fuzz

 

Criterion pioneered the "compilation" commentary - of course, they pioneered ALL commentaries! - and I like them. I don't see running as preferable to compiled, honestly. I understand why people like the notion of the running chat, but for me, as long as I get good info from the commentary, I don't care how it was created.

I've had to sit through far too many boring running commentaries to be biased one way or the other!

 

The Blair Witch Project: Book Of Shadows commentary is interesting because the director basically explains that the movie we got wasn't the movie he wanted us to see.

Joel Schumacher's Batman And Robin commentary is one long apology.

 

Not sure it was THAT extreme! From my review:

"Schumacher doesn’t come out and tell us he thinks the movie stinks, but he launches no defense as he acknowledges the attacks it received. He often lets us know that the studio wanted a “kid-friendly” film. He also gets into the financial obligations related to product placement and tells us how a desire for marketable toys influenced aspects of the production. Schumacher ultimately takes the blame for the flick’s problems, but he makes sure we know that a lot of elements were out of his hands."

Agree that the "BWP2" commentary was a pretty frank look at what went wrong for the director...

 

Both informative and entertaining are the commentaries Herschel Gordon Lewis does for his '60s gore exploitation movies. The movies are generally terrible, but Lewis is highly entertaining on the commentary tracks, discussing with Something Weird Video owner Mike Vraney the ins and outs of making the films, and the challenges of low-budget moviemaking back in those days more generally.

 

Unfortunately, due to cancer (of the thyroid, I believe), Ebert can no longer speak.