Islands in the Stream

Rating:
Summary: Careful
Review: Caveat emptor: Note, this is the surfing picture (as you can tell from the cover art) and NOT the Franklin Schaffner movie starring George C. Scott and Claire Bloom, as Amazon's "Technical Details" section suggests.

I only wish to crikey it was the Schaffner film; it's one of the few credible movie adaptations of Ernest Hemingway, in my view. A limited edition laserdisc of the Schaffner film was released a number of years ago by Paramount Home Video, but given Paramount's sad-sack release record on DVD - and the fact that the Schaffner film never was that big a seller on laserdisc - my guess is we'll have to wait a while yet.

The laserdisc version was pressed in a gorgeous 2:35.1 aspect ratio, by the way, as the original movie was filmed in scope, by longtime Schaffner collaborator Fred Koenekamp (Koenekamp also shot Patton for Schaffner, which also starred George C. Scott, as I'm sure you know). The VHS version of the movie was pan-and-scanned (and compressed during the opening titles!) to fit the regular dimensions of a TV screen, and it looked ridiculous. If Paramount ever gets around to doing the DVD version - and I have my doubts - hopefully it will be in its original theatrical aspect ratio.

Hope this helps everyone. I'm not a surfing aficionado per se, but I'm sure the surfing movie will look swell (sorry) on DVD.

Rating:
Summary: The Surfing Legacy Continues!!!
Review: In 1966 a young filmmaker named Bruce Brown was able to capture the beauty and power of surfing as had never been done before. That film was The Endless Summer and with it began a never-ending interest in the sport and lifestyle of surfing. Then with his son Dana, he created the classic films The Endless Summer II and The Endless Summer Revisited, leading Dana Brown to create his own style and success with his current film Step Into Liquid. Now this timeless filmmaking legacy is carried on as Wes Brown (son of Dana and grandson of Bruce) and T.J. Barrack transport us to the beautifully magnificent waves of Tahiti starring three Time Men's World Champion Tom Curren and six Time Consecutive Women's World Champion (and "Step into Liquid" star, "Blue Crush") Layne Beachley. With their new film Islands in the Stream, the next wave of surf film classics has begun.

Rating:
Summary: Islands In The Stream: The Eternal Beauty of the Ocean
Review: Jerry Goldsmith, in "Islands In The Stream," proved to me that film music can be as beautiful, complex and lasting as classical music. I can not imagine the movie without Goldsmith's music; the actions and characters so woven togther in the themes written for them. Beyond all the action of the film, always, a constant sea theme, a rising and falling of waves, powerful and subtle at the same time, dwarfing almost the human story. Yet Goldsmith is so masterly that he weaves the themes of the Boys, the Woman, the Journey, and the theme of deep loss and regret. There are strains of the folk song "Jamaican Farewell," that is magically turned into the threat of a shark attack. I have many favorite Goldsmith film scores and this is the one I admire the most; it stands on its own, carries the movie, under-rated by the way. I can't imagine how viewers could'nt respond to its themes of love, family, loss, redemtion, mortality, and all brilliantly underscored by Jerry Goldsmith's unforgetable music score. He has scored so many varied works that it is easy to lose track of his great body of musical works. If you have to buy a few of Goldsmith,s film scores, I highly recommend starting with this, "The Islands In The Stream," a score that captures the raptures of nature and tones of regret like no other piece of film music I've listened to in years.