Dead Poets Society (Special Edition)
by Peter Weir
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Ethan Hawke, Gale Hansen, Josh Charles, Robert Sean Leonard, Robin WilliamsDirector: Peter Weir
Brand: DIS
Cinematographer: John Seale
Editor: William M. Anderson
Producer: Duncan Henderson
Producer: Paul Junger Witt
Producer: Steven Haft
Producer: Tony Thomas
Writer: Tom Schulman
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 128 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-01-10
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
Product features:
- Academy Award(R)-winner Robin Williams delivers a brilliant performance in one of Hollywood's most compelling and thought-provoking motion pictures. Williams portrays passionate English professor John Keating who, in an age of crew cuts, sports coats, and cheerless conformity, inspires his students to live life to the fullest, exclaiming . "Carpe Diem, lads! Seize the day. Make your lives ext
Movie Reviews of Dead Poets Society (Special Edition)
Movie Review: This film will inspire you to make your life extraordinary!
Summary: 5 Stars
This film had the brilliant timing of being released in the summer before my Senior year in high school. Though I didn't watch it until it came to the $1 theater in the fall of 1989, by that point, I had already been in a government class with a teacher who was nearly exactly like the one Robin Williams played. For that reason, and many more, this film quickly became one of my all-time favorite films (only "The Sound of Music" endears me more).
I have a well worn copy of this film on VHS and waited to buy it on DVD because I suspected that Touchstone would re-release another version with more bells and whistles. They did so with "Beaches", another film I was glad not to buy the first DVD version. I've been waiting for a special edition DVD that features deleted scenes, interviews, and most important...a director's commentary track. This dvd is well worth the wait and I can finally replace my VHS copy.
Though Robin Williams was nominated for Best Actor with this film, he is actually a supporting character to the boys he inspires with his unconventional teaching. His Mr. Keating is a new teacher who soon gets into trouble for breaking out of the box of teaching methods, as he tries to get his students to challenge their thinking and ways of viewing the world. Memorable scenes include the marching in the courtyard as a lesson in nonconformity; standing atop his desk for a new perspective; the ripping out of Mr. Jay Evans Pritchard's rhyme and meter measurement theory; and the moment he is able to draw out a shy student's inner poet (I especially love the line "truth like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold").
The cinematography and location is absolutely perfect. So enamored of this film in my "impressionable age" that I made a pilgrimage to St. Andrews School in Middleton, Delaware and took a roll of photos, with me acting out some of the scenes (like Niwanda's refusal to march in the courtyard; and the phonecall from God at the podium of the chapel). The film really does bring out a magic and I would suspect that St Andrews School benefitted from the film. It really is beautiful there in person (if you go, go in the fall).
Though this film was criticized by some Christian groups during the 1990 Academy Awards for its "humanism", I guess if inspiring people to think for themselves and having the courage to go against the flow is considered "humanist", what does that say about Christianity? I can see Mr. Keating as an atheist, though it really isn't spelled out. His unconventional ways of teaching runs against the standard and rigid structure of tradition, so it's not surprising that he becomes the scapegoat for the resulting tragedy when one student goes against his parents' wishes.
Everytime I watch this film, I receive an initial burst of inspiration that feels too good to let go. With the tributes to Henry David Thoreau ("sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone," Mr. Keating tells his students) and Walt Whitman ("a sweaty tooth madman"), you'll want to make sure you have copies of both "Leaves of Grass" and "Walden" to read when you finish watching. It also says something about the quality of this film when "School Ties" and "The Emperor's Club" came out. Both films were inevitably compared to "Dead Poets Society", and while there is no comparison ("Dead Poets" remains the standard bearer), imitation is supposedly the sincerest form of flattery.
So, if you love this film as much as I do and want to see the imitators, watch: "School Ties", "Renaissance Man", "The Emperor's Club", "Sarafina!", "Dangerous Minds", "Mona Lisa Smile", and "Summer School"...all films about a teacher having an impact on his/her students. But make no mistake, they'll never make a film as perfect as "Dead Poets Society".
Summary of Dead Poets Society (Special Edition)
Synopsis: 0Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: PG
Street Date: 01/10/06
Wide Screen: no
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: yes
LanguageENGLISH
Foreign Film: no
Subtitlesno
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: no
Re-Release: yes
Packaging: Sleeve Please note: This supplier will be closed on 11/24, 11/25, 12/26, 1/2 for the holidays. The shipping cut off is 12/10 to try and have the products delivered by Christmas.
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