Fun City Editions

[kidglov3s]

Originally Posted by Mose Harper

January 1 and you've already started the year off with a bang announcing a title that was previously rumored to be held by Criterion.

I had an inkling when Jeremy was announced and Rancho Deluxe was being talked up.
Now, with the announcement of Smile I'm pretty much certain- Fun City is the label I've been dreaming for ever since this format finally got up to speed about twelve years ago.

It combines everything I loved about Vinegar-Syndrome's production and product presentation quality, with the kind of catalog titles I actually give a squirt about.

I wish nothing but strong, steady success for this label and will do my part towards that as often, or as soon, as finances allow.

Can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

I haven't been this excited about a title slate since 11-13 Warner Archive days.

[jstxanothrxstory]

Seems like Jeremy has been delayed to March 2, instead of January 26.

[Bradsdadg]

Originally Posted by jstxanothrxstory

Seems like Jeremy has been delayed to March 2, instead of January 26.

Saw that as well. Hopefully it will be good to go in March. I've really been excited to get this one

[bergman864]

Originally Posted by jstxanothrxstory

Seems like Jeremy has been delayed to March 2, instead of January 26.

Sucks that I can't get it this month, but at least I can shift that money to something else I want for now.

[gimmeshelter]

SMILE is a nice surprise- looking forward to that one. Also saw that JEREMY was delayed, but what really messed me up was re-reading the special features and realizing Mike McPadden is on the commentary track

[jah13]

Yes, it seems like JEREMY might be one of the last McPadden commentaries to hit the market, but it was one of the first he recorded and the first one he and Kat Ellinger recorded together. So sad that we won't be able to collaborate further. Mike was a big supporter of Fun City Editions and, not coincidentally, he was a true son of Fun City.

Originally Posted by gimmeshelter

SMILE is a nice surprise- looking forward to that one. Also saw that JEREMY was delayed, but what really messed me up was re-reading the special features and realizing Mike McPadden is on the commentary track

[jah13]

Originally Posted by jstxanothrxstory

Seems like Jeremy has been delayed to March 2, instead of January 26.

Alas, COVID / USPS shipping issues intervened and necessary materials didn't get where they needed to get to in order to make the January deadline.

[kidglov3s]

Originally Posted by jah13

Alas, COVID / USPS shipping issues intervened and necessary materials didn't get where they needed to get to in order to make the January deadline.

Maybe this explains why, in general, the studios aren't trying to compensate for the lack of new titles with catalog releases, something I've thought about but without considering the supply chain aspect.

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by gimmeshelter

SMILE is a nice surprise- looking forward to that one. Also saw that JEREMY was delayed, but what really messed me up was re-reading the special features and realizing Mike McPadden is on the commentary track

Originally Posted by jah13

Yes, it seems like JEREMY might be one of the last McPadden commentaries to hit the market, but it was one of the first he recorded and the first one he and Kat Ellinger recorded together. So sad that we won't be able to collaborate further. Mike was a big supporter of Fun City Editions and, not coincidentally, he was a true son of Fun City.

Mike McPadden is the main reason I pre-ordered Jeremy. I used the $5 email code on that one earlier.

Additionally picked these two up at VS, using the subscriber discounts:

The House of Usher
The AGFA Horror Trailer Show

[jah13]

Thanks for ordering JEREMY! Mike, Ben Reiser and I discussed JEREMY on their podcast 70 Movies We Saw in the ‘70s just a couple weeks before Mike’s death.

Originally Posted by Katatonia

Mike McPadden is the main reason I pre-ordered Jeremy. I used the $5 email code on that one earlier.

Additionally picked these two up at VS, using the subscriber discounts:

The House of Usher
The AGFA Horror Trailer Show

[bergman864]

I ordered I Start Counting when the site reopened. I'm so looking forward to that one.

I'll order Jeremy a little closer to release (pair it with other similar release time titles). Looking forward to that as well.

[Sternhalma Weinstein]

Originally Posted by jah13

What’s left?

Okay, I really just meant Mazes and Monsters, hah

[jah13]

Originally Posted by Sternhalma Weinstein

Okay, I really just meant Mazes and Monsters, hah

Thanks for narrowing it down. Some good NYC footage in this one, as I recall.

[kieranx]

Originally Posted by iamnoone

Yes, LAST SUMMER is a mess as far as materials go. There appears to be many variations of the film, and apparently no good sources for all of it. I saw the 16mm Australian print at the Cinematheque, and it's missing several scenes from the Key Video, but also includes uncut parts and even completely new scenes not in any other version, including one scene with Richard Thomas' drunken father, played by The Waltons Ralph Waite, which I had never seen before. But the Australian print is missing a bunch as well. I don't know what has aired on TCM, but I do know for a fact that George Feltenstein at Warner has wanted to get this out for years now, as he is a big fan of the film. I'm guessing it's got to still be an element issue.

At this point, I would accept a hybrid cut using whatever they have, the Australian edited print with extra stuff, whatever Warner may have themselves, and even VHS inserts from Key if that's all there is. I know Warner are perfectionists, but at this point, none of us are getting any younger, and this film has a limited audience to begin with, so WB could give us all they can get. And if something turns up better later, we can double dip. I think I bought "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" three times from them because of improvements. It's no big deal.

Has anyone gotten the Kino blu of Diary of a Mad Housewife? That's another one where there are versions with other footage (one including the scenes used in the television cut). I have both bootlegs of that, and I have two bootlegs of Last Summer, the R/X version and the PG/R version. I'm rather bummed that Kino wound up w/ Diary because I'd rather see it go to a label who isn't such a mass production/throw it out on a disc type company. I know many of the major players are gone, but I would be interested to hear what Frank Langella had to say. And with Last Summer, I know two of the actors have made appearances with the film in Los Angeles when it screened various places, and I even interviewed one of them when I wrote my piece on Perry for Keyframe.

[kieranx]

Originally Posted by jah13

Thanks for narrowing it down. Some good NYC footage in this one, as I recall.

Not a Chris Makepeace film, but are you familiar with Rivals from (I believe) 1972 w/ Robert Klein, Joan Hackett and Scott Jacoby? Lots of great NYC footage in that. Code Red put it out on DVD a while back, but it never had a blu ray release. Bizarre, but quite compelling movie.

I love watching movies set in NYC. My favorite thing to do when watching is to look for movie theater marquees to see if I can see what was playing and identify the movie theater.

I was working on film where I needed to try and find footage of a NYC transit bus with a particular ad on it from late 1973. I swear I watched every movie and went through every bit of Super 8 footage posted up on YouTube and every archival footage piece of NYC around that time and I never got it. I think a year or two after the film came out, it turned up online in an episode of Kojak!

[beamish13]

Originally Posted by kieranx

Has anyone gotten the Kino blu of Diary of a Mad Housewife? That's another one where there are versions with other footage (one including the scenes used in the television cut). I have both bootlegs of that, and I have two bootlegs of Last Summer, the R/X version and the PG/R version. I'm rather bummed that Kino wound up w/ Diary because I'd rather see it go to a label who isn't such a mass production/throw it out on a disc type company. I know many of the major players are gone, but I would be interested to hear what Frank Langella had to say. And with Last Summer, I know two of the actors have made appearances with the film in Los Angeles when it screened various places, and I even interviewed one of them when I wrote my piece on Perry for Keyframe.

Contrary to popular belief, Last Summer never received an ‘X’ rating in 1969. Mad Housewife did have a very distinct network television version that Perry prepped, and I hope Indicator, which is working on their own Blu, will release it. Then again, many of those Universal
TV masters burned in the 2008 vault fire.

I was disappointed with no Langella or Benjamin on the Kino disc, too. Benjamin came to an American Cinematheque screening of The Last of Sheila in 2019.

I believe someone is prepping a biography of Frank Perry that might come out this year. Fingers crossed; I’m so happy that
him and Eleanor Perry are getting their due

[kieranx]

Originally Posted by beamish13

Contrary to popular belief, Last Summer never received an ‘X’ rating in 1969. Mad Housewife did have a very distinct network television version that Perry prepped, and I hope Indicator, which is working on their own Blu, will release it. Then again, many of those Universal
TV masters burned in the 2008 vault fire.

I was disappointed with no Langella or Benjamin on the Kino disc, too. Benjamin came to an American Cinematheque screening of The Last of Sheila in 2019.

I have a homemade bootleg that combines both versions of Diary of a Mad Housewife. It's too long, but still a fascinating watch. The best that can be said about Kino is with some of their titles, it's better than nothing.

[kidglov3s]

Originally Posted by iamnoone

Yes, LAST SUMMER is a mess as far as materials go. There appears to be many variations of the film, and apparently no good sources for all of it. I saw the 16mm Australian print at the Cinematheque, and it's missing several scenes from the Key Video, but also includes uncut parts and even completely new scenes not in any other version, including one scene with Richard Thomas' drunken father, played by The Waltons Ralph Waite, which I had never seen before. But the Australian print is missing a bunch as well. I don't know what has aired on TCM, but I do know for a fact that George Feltenstein at Warner has wanted to get this out for years now, as he is a big fan of the film. I'm guessing it's got to still be an element issue.

At this point, I would accept a hybrid cut using whatever they have, the Australian edited print with extra stuff, whatever Warner may have themselves, and even VHS inserts from Key if that's all there is. I know Warner are perfectionists, but at this point, none of us are getting any younger, and this film has a limited audience to begin with, so WB could give us all they can get. And if something turns up better later, we can double dip. I think I bought "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" three times from them because of improvements. It's no big deal.

Back to Fun City, definitely in for Rancho Deluxe and Smile, wow, both great! "Drying Up the Streets" - now that's another obscurity that I'd snatch up in an instant. Keep up the great work, and selections! Fun City could also be labeled Forgotten Gems, and I mean that in the best possible way.

I'll never get over WA announcing this film, airing it on TCM, saying there are elements problems, NOT PUTTING THE TCM MASTER ON THEIR STREAMING SERVICE THOUGH? WHY? WHY? WHY? (repeat for every essentially unwatchable title that has a rights sorted master of any sort controlled by a major studio ready to go gathering dust)

[jah13]

Would love to be able to do something about LAST SUMMER, but that’s for WB to sort out.

Anyone here familiar with the footage that is unique to the television version of RANCHO DELUXE that the IMDb alludes to?

[jah13]

Heard of RIVALS, but haven’t seen it.

Was this a Jobriath ad you were looking for? Amazing to think of that record being advertised on an NYC bus.

Originally Posted by kieranx

Not a Chris Makepeace film, but are you familiar with Rivals from (I believe) 1972 w/ Robert Klein, Joan Hackett and Scott Jacoby? Lots of great NYC footage in that. Code Red put it out on DVD a while back, but it never had a blu ray release. Bizarre, but quite compelling movie.

I love watching movies set in NYC. My favorite thing to do when watching is to look for movie theater marquees to see if I can see what was playing and identify the movie theater.

I was working on film where I needed to try and find footage of a NYC transit bus with a particular ad on it from late 1973. I swear I watched every movie and went through every bit of Super 8 footage posted up on YouTube and every archival footage piece of NYC around that time and I never got it. I think a year or two after the film came out, it turned up online in an episode of Kojak!