Melvin and Howard (1980)

[oildude]

Melvin and Howard (1980) will arrive on Blu-ray on April 16, 2019, from Twilight Time. This will be a limited edition of 3000 copies.

From IMDb...The story of hard-luck Melvin E. Dummar, who claimed to have received a will naming him an heir to the fortune of Howard Hughes

Directed by Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, Something Wild (1986), Caged Heat)

Starring Jason Robards, Paul Le Mat, and Mary Steenburgen

Music by Bruce Langhorne (Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker)

Cinematography by Tak Fujimoto (The Silence of the Lambs, Gladiator, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Devil in a Blue Dress)





Trailer

Melvin And Howard - YouTube

[Fred Sliman]

Couldn’t be happier to hear this! A most-wanted for ages and a real gem from a great year.

[RodChester]

Is this the prequel to Hobbs and Shaw? It’s about their dads right?

[Nicage22]

Originally Posted by Fred Sliman

Couldn’t be happier to hear this! A most-wanted for ages and a real gem from a great year.

Same here. I have been waiting a long time for this movie to be released on blu-ray, so marvelous news indeed.

[Aunt Peg]

What are the chances the Blu Ray will have the commentary from Demme?

[I KEEL YOU]

Originally Posted by Aunt Peg

What are the chances the Blu Ray will have the commentary from Demme?

Good news! I just happened to search the Screenarchives.com website and found out that they made a page for this release. It states this:

Special Features: Isolated Music & Effects Track / Audio Commentary with Director Jonathan Demme and Production Designer Toby Rafelson / Original Theatrical Trailer

They also posted the artwork:



https://www.screenarchives.com/title...D-HOWARD-1980/

[oildude]

Pre-Orders begin Wednesday, April 3, 2019, at 4 PM EST

Where to buy (or pre-order):

• Twilight Time website: http://www.twilighttimemovies.com

• Screen Archives Entertainment: http://www.screenarchives.com

“American moviemaking of a most expansive, entertaining kind. Sharp, engaging, very funny” (Vincent Canby, The New York Times) – and the winner of top 1980 film honors including Best Picture (National Society of Film Critics), Best Director/Jonathan Demme (National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics), Best Screenplay/Bo Goldman (Academy Award®, National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics), and Best Supporting Actress/Mary Steenburgen (Academy Award®, Golden Globe, Los Angeles Film Critics, National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics) – now triumphantly cruising down the hi-def Blu-ray highway!

Special Features: Isolated Music & Effects Track / Audio Commentary with Director Jonathan Demme and Production Designer Toby Rafelson / Original Theatrical Trailer

[FragnitoM]

Has anyone else had theirs shipped? Mine stil hasn’t and still says awaiting fulfillment. This is my first pre-order so I don’t know how quickly they ship from release date

[RFK]

I received an email on 4/19 that mine has been shipped!

[FragnitoM]

I’m not an expert on AV stuff but curious what other people think of the transfer. Kind of disappointed. Didn’t feel like much of an improvement over the universal DVD at times but some of the night scenes in the beginning looked so bad the blacks looked pixelated. I guess it’s worth having the Demme commentary

[coachlynn]

I was shocked to see no subtitles on this (or The Big Fix.) Except for a few early releases, I thought subtitles were a given, glad I checked (I own tons of their movies.) Very disappointed, hope this isn't a trend. No subtitles, no sale.

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by FragnitoM

I’m not an expert on AV stuff but curious what other people think of the transfer. Kind of disappointed. Didn’t feel like much of an improvement over the universal DVD at times but some of the night scenes in the beginning looked so bad the blacks looked pixelated.

The transfer is very poor. Shame.

[The Great Owl]

During a brief nighttime stop beside a desert highway in Nevada, Melvin, a working class dreamer played by Paul Le Mat, encounters an old disheveled motorcyclist and kindly drives him to Las Vegas, reacting with good-natured suspicion when the man, played by Jason Robards, identifies himself as the multimillionaire, Howard Hughes. During the years that follow, the unlucky but forever upbeat Melvin strives time and time again to live the American Dream by way of get-rich-quick schemes, despite shuffling from one job to another through two marriages to the same woman, played by Mary Steenburgen, a third marriage to a co-worker, played by Pamela Reed. and a seemingly endless series of vehicle repossessions. After the death of Howard Hughes, however, the lives of our determined optimist and his family are turned upside down by a media circus due to his claims that he has received the last will and testament of the wealthy eccentric.

The 1980 comedy drama, Melvin and Howard, directed by Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia) and based on the real-life scandal of Melvin E. Dummar, plays out like a feature-length incarnation of The Twilight Zone episode, “Mr. Bevis”, about a happy-go-lucky misfit who is visited by a guardian angel. Thanks to its convincing examinations of consumerism culture and the understated effectiveness of its cast, it landed Academy Award wins for its screenplay and for the incredible supporting actress performance of Steenburgen.

Both sides of the socioeconomic coin are scrutinized in full during the first sequence through a comparison between Melvin, who is cheerfully genial as he sings a Christmas song that he himself wrote, and Howard Hughes, whose personality has been eroded by suspicion and cynicism. Money does not buy happiness, and happiness is a choice that sometimes requires effort. Paul Le Mat's Melvin, even while failing at every grasp for small scores, is an embodiment of the quote, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans”. The charm of this screen story is that he alone seems to understand this as others around him succumb to exasperation. I love his line, "We're not poor. Broke, maybe, but not poor."

In addition to the powerhouse performances of Le Mat (American Graffiti) and Steenburgen (Back to the Future Part III), viewers are treated to a plethora of memorable small parts, courtesy of Robards, Reed, Michael J. Pollard, Chip Taylor, Elizabeth Cheshire, Charles Napier, Dabney Coleman, and others. Joe Spinell (Maniac, Rocky) appears as the manager of a club where Steenburgen's character works as a go-go dancer. Classic film noir legend Gloria Grahame (The Big Heat, It's a Wonderful Life) has a small part as the mother of Steenburgen's character. Be on the lookout for Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith, who starred in Demme's directorial debut, Caged Heat, as a hospital patient in a split-second scene. Of course, we cannot leave out Melvin E. Dummar himself, who shows up as a bus depot worker.

On this Twilight Time Blu-ray, Melvin and Howard does not live up to demo disc standards, and is marked by DVD-quality softness, but the end result is filmic enough during key scenes for one's enjoyment. It is tough to gauge the technical presentation, since I have no prior experience watching the movie, but I am just happy to have it on home video in the first place. I love the commentary track.

[raphph]

Absolute travesty of blocky encoding on this. Especially in the beginning scenes.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by raphph

Absolute travesty of blocky encoding on this. Especially in the beginning scenes.

Yep the opening 10-15 min are almost unwatchable, although I think it may be a combination of bad encoding and some weird artifacting also baked into the master?

[raphph]

Originally Posted by nitin

Yep the opening 10-15 min are almost unwatchable, although I think it may be a combination of bad encoding and some weird artifacting also baked into the master?

Possibly. If that were baked into the master I'd have been tempted to refuse it on behalf of Twilight Time. Disgraceful quality. And it's so noticeable.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by raphph

Possibly. If that were baked into the master I'd have been tempted to refuse it on behalf of Twilight Time. Disgraceful quality. And it's so noticeable.

Almost looks like someone tried to digitally brighten parts of the really dark opening scenes, but in a very poor way.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by nitin

Almost looks like someone tried to digitally brighten parts of the really dark opening scenes, but in a very poor way.

I'm not surprised since most of the 2019 TT releases are mastered in a low gamma ("The Snake Pit", "The Big Fix", "The Whole Town's Talking" just to name a few).

[raphph]

Originally Posted by nitin

Almost looks like someone tried to digitally brighten parts of the really dark opening scenes, but in a very poor way.

That's exactly what it looks like - I am gobsmacked that they didn't replace the disk...and that more people haven't kicked up a fuss...

[dylrichard02]

I wish this would get a remastered release with interviews with Paul Le Mat and Mary Steenburgen it possible. I really like this movie, but only have the DVD, sounds like a good thing I didn't seek out the TT blu-ray.