Rating: 
Summary: Phil Hartman
Review: This movie was VERY VERY funny in my opinion Phil hartman was great.
Rating: 
Summary: Where is Volume two?
Review: This volume clearly shows how wonderfully unique Phil Hartman was. My favorite skit on this DVD was Unfrozen Cave Man Lawyer. I would like to see at least another volume or two from the SNL archives on Phil. I don't believe they even scratched the surface of his best past performances. Some of the videos shown here were just snippits of performances.
Rating:
Summary: The Best of The Best!
Review: Unfortunetely, I came to know Phil's work after his death and never saw any of his SNL work. Since the reruns don't run in any order on the networks that air them, I wanted to see the best of his work. After much trouble finding this video (Amazon, by the way, was the only place I could find it conveniently), I was thrilled to receive it in a matter of days. It was great to see so many of his legendary skits and many older ones that they reruns may not air. I loved his impersonation of Phil Donahue. His classics are great too: the annal retentive chef, unfrozen caveman lawyer and, of course, Clinton. This has everything you could want. The only thing I wish they would have included more of is his hosting SNL. Just great! Highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Missing Phil
Review: Well I still get upset when I think of the terrible circumstances surrounding the death of Phil Hartman. His talents were so great and we were robbed of him in his prime. A lot of us know Phil from his hillarious work on the Simpsons where he provides the voices of many characters including Lynall Hutz and Troy McClure... Some of us however were priveledged enough to see him in his element... Saturday Night Live. Phil had the ability to do hundreds of voices and play more characters than you can count... Some of his more memorable ones are displayed on this video including Discover the World of Science, Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer and my personal favourite The very funny King and I skit... Guarenteed to make you laugh.
I miss Phil he made the whole world laugh and this video is a tribute to how great the man really was.
Rating:
Summary: 3 1/2 Stars; Could've Been Better
Review: When Phil Hartman was murdered by his wife, he left behind something that nobody could take from him - his legacy. As possibly "Saturday Night Live's" most versatile star, he was a major influence on later, equally great castmembers Will Ferrell and Darrell Hammond (who is the only castmmebrs whose Bill Clinton impersonation matched up to Hartman). As always, when he died, Lorne and company decided it was time to put together a tribute show as they did for Chris Farley. The resulting "The Best Of Phil Hartman" was mixed at best. The first half is hilarious. Here, he gest to show up his versatillity in such roles as Frank Sinatra ("The Sinatra Group"), Bill Clinton ("Clinton At McDonald's"), Peter Graves ("Discover The World Of Science"), Phil Donahue ("Donahue"), and "Barbara Bush (don't know name of sketch, but features Nancy Reagan (Jan Hooks) trying to take back the White House). Also, there's a great montage of his impressions. He became so well known for playing Bill Clinton, people forget that his repetoire included Ted Kennedy, Andy Griffith, Telly Savalas, Michael Caine and even Jesus. Also, there's his infamous "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer" and one, the "Weekend Update' "All Drug Olympics". But after this, the dvd falters. While "Cooking With The Anal Retentive Chef" "Succinctly Speaking", and the touching closer "Love Is A Dream" are worth viewing, the second montage (don't know what it's about), "On Broadway", "Ann Boleyn" and "Robot Repair" rank among the worst "SNL" skecthes ever. Is this dvd worth viewing? Yes. But is it perfect? By all means, no. How could it have been better? First, they could've taken out the entire second half (with the eexception of "Anal Retentive Chef", "Succinctly Speaking", and "Love Is A Dream") and replaced it with the "Sinatra Duets" sketch, another Clinton one, and a montage of his voiceovers. I think Phil Hartman deserves a best - of, volume 2.
Rating:
Summary: A Definite Keeper
Review: While this compilation is not as consistently funny as the Will Farrell ones, it definitely has its moments. Thought he did a great imitation of Donahue (banging the mike on his head, while waiting for an answer was a good touch). The funniest bit (I thought) was the 'Robot Presents' skit. Every time it came back with another title for the show, and the robot explaining that the title doesn't reflect what the shows about, I laughed harder and harder. When he came back with 'Let's Fix, Robots', I literally fell off the couch, because I was laughing so hard! And the Anne Boleyn skit was very well written....especially when she keeps asking what will happen to her head after she is killed (Phil: your body will then be folded up and shot out of a canon....Candice: will my head then be shot at my body?). I also throughly enjoyed the nice sendoff at the end, with him and Jan Hooks imitating an elderly couple, thinking back to their younger days. And knowing he never made it to old age makes it especially touching. I'm not sure, but I think that's Bing Crosby's voice he's singing to.
Some sketches I thought dragged was Clinton in McDonalds. The Barbara Bush skit didn't work, and the Sinatra skit was so-so. The worst one was the opening with Adm. Stockdale....ugh, that couldn't get over fast enough.
So, all in all, a definite keeper. It's nice that you can just fast forward thru the bad stuff, and watch the funny bits.
| 
