The Fabulous Baker Boys

• Cat.no: CCD 8233
• Cert: 15
• Running time: 109 minutes
• Year: 1989
• Pressing: 2000
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 16 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: None
• Widescreen: 1.77:1
• 16:9-enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 5
• Price: £9.99
• Extras : Scene index, Trailer, Featurette, Interviews
  

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  Director:

  Steve Cloves

  (H)

Producers:

Screenplay:

Steve Kloves

Music:

Cast:

Jack Baker: Jeff Bridges (Against All Odds, American Heart, Arlington Road, The Big Lebowski, Blown Away, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Fearless, The Fisher King, Heaven’s Gate, King Kong, The Last Picture Show, The Mirror Has Two Faces,Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, The Vanishing (1993), White Squall, Wild Bill)
Susie Diamond: Michelle Pfeiffer (The Age of Innocence, Batman Returns, Dangerous Liaisons, Dangerous Minds, Deep End of the Ocean, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Frankie and Johnny, Grease 2, Ladyhawke, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, One Fine Day,The Russia House, Scarface, Tequila Sunrise, A Thousand Acres, To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, Up Close and Personal, The Witches of Eastwick, Wolf)
Frank Baker: Beau Bridges (The 5th Musketeer, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Rocketman)

The Fabulous Baker Boysare two brothers, womaniser Jack (Jeff Bridges) and his elder brother,married Frank (Beau Bridges), who have been playing the piano togetherin bars and restaurants for the past 31 years. However, after all this time,the same old patter and the same old tunes just aren’t enough any more andthey hire a singer.

After a disastrous set of auditions, their last hope lies in the talentedSuzie Diamond (Michelle Pfeiffer, looking a lot better than she doesnow) whose singing abilities shine through and resurrect the Baker’s career.All good things come to an end though and as Frank goes home to actually spendtime with his wife when this New Year’s Eve come round, affections are letloose between the other two which causes ruptions and spells the beginning ofthe end for the partnership.

This excellent film only has a couple of slow points, but excels at givingyou a brief, personal insight into each of their lives. It also provides someperfect onscreen chemistry between all three with some excellent onliners.

Before Suzie’s opening gig, Frank paces about and comments to Jack,“I’m a little wound up, tonight”, to which Jack replies,“You’re a fucking alarm clock (!)”

At her first stage appearance, in front of many elderly and impressionablepeople, she couldn’t use the microphone and after Frank tells her to flick theswitch, her voice only comes on *very loud* and clear when the last two wordsare spoken from, “What fucking switch?!”

Afterwards Frank complains to Jack, “She said ‘fucking’ ! I can’tbelieve she said ‘fucking’ on stage”, to which she replies,“I said it okay, I didn’t *DO* it!”

Finally, a comedic situation that arises more than once when Frank bugsJack for one thing or another.

Jack (three times before taking action): “I’m going to hit you Frank”
Frank (surprised): “You hit me!”
Jack (calmly): “I told you I was going to hit you (!)”

There’s also a nice cameo from Jennifer Tilly as one of the would-besingers, Blanche ‘Monica’ Moran.

Presented in an anamorphic 16:9 ratio, the print used is superb and only marredby a handful of small artifacts that aren’t any particular reason to stop youfrom buying this disc. The average bitrate is a so-so 4.56Mb/s, hovering aroundthat mark.

The sound quality is first-rate with all the musical numbers coming acrossperfectly in surround sound.

An excellent film with sound and picture quality to match. There’s not muchin the way of extras that you’ll go back to again and again, but I’d still bepleased with an anamorphic widescreen film for a mere tenner and this fitsthe bill just right.

Anyone thinking of buying the Region 1 disc should note it costs $30, similarto this disc’s original £20 price, but it’s not even anamorphic.

Buy now! The end.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALL