DVD reviews

Inundated by The Brady Bunch

New release has 75 hours of live and animated features

Gather ‘round, kiddos, for this review of The Brady-est Brady Bunch TV & Movie Collection will, as never before, attempt to make sense of this unkillable DVD piece of pop culture iconography. REVIEW

Your humble reviewer was in the thick of STUART things when The Brady GALBRAITH IV Bunch, the 1969-74 family sitcom, staked its claim onto the American consciousness, and can offer a bit perspective those generations, just before and since, can’t quite reconcile.

But before we do that, let’s first point out that this compact if unruly boxed DVD set, with a total running time of around 75 hours (!) of material includes

with one notable exception just about everything Brady-related one might possibly ever want: the original series; The Brady Kids animated spin-off; The Brady Girls Get Married TV movie and its short-lived sitcom follow-up, The Brady Brides; A Very Brady Christmas, a later TV reunion film and its series follow-up, The Bradys; the two Brady Bunch theatrical features satirizing the original show, as well as The Brady Bunch in the White House, a third satire so bad that it went straight to TV; and Growing Up Brady, a sentimental TV movie adaptation of co-star Barry Williams’s making-of/autobiography.

What’s missing, of course, is The Brady Bunch Hour, the awesomely bad musical variety series guaranteed to turn one’s brain into cottage cheese, a series so mind-bogglingly weird it must be seen to be believed. That short-lived series, however, was produced by Sid & Marty Krofft Productions, not by Paramount Television. Theoretically it could have licensed it from the former, but that’s OK.

Some personal background: Like most kids growing up in the early 1970s, I didn’t watch The Brady Bunch during its primetime network run. Not many did. It ranked near the bottom of the ratings during its first and final seasons, and even at its peak never broke into the Top 30, let alone the Top 10. I think I caught all or parts of an episode twice.

However, after its five-season run ended, The Brady Bunch immediately went into syndication. Boy, howdy, did it go into syndication. In the Detroit TV market where I lived, The Brady Bunch at its peak aired at least 15 times per week, twice back-to-back in the afternoons, and then again at 7 pm. (I think it also aired once or twice over the weekend.) Like it or not, an entire generation of American children were pretty much stuck watching The Brady Bunch.

And because they were run and rerun into the ground, their very unavoidability seared our collective consciousnesses with “Oh! My nose!”

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Bobby’s infatuation with Jesse James, Cousin Oliver, “pork chops and applesauce,” “Marcia! Marcia! Marcia’s” big date with Davey Jones, Greg wiping out on his surfboard in Hawaii, etc., etc.

These weren’t great moments of television comedy-drama. Rather, an entire generation of kids memorized them alongside their New Math and the Pledge of Allegiance.

But was The Brady Bunch any good? Writers of the earlier Leave It to Beaver had a much better grasp of the concerns of ordinary kids, their relationships to one another, their parents, and the outside world. Brady Bunch, the creation of producer Sherwood Schwartz, was more slapstick- and wisecrack-oriented.

The Brady Bunch might not have been as surreally unreal as Gilligan’s Island, Schwartz’s other contribution to American pop culture, but The Brady Bunch sure had its moments. (In fairness, The Brady Bunch was, clearly, “inspired” by the spring 1968 movie Yours, Mine, and Ours, a similarly innocuous comedy starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball as widowed single parents raising 10 and eight children, respectively, who decide to get married. That film asked us to believe the nearly 60-year-old Lucy would give birth to yet another baby, so the lack of credibility had, at least, some precedent.)

Like that movie, The Brady Bunch started out in its first season overdosing on sickly-sweet sentimentality in the worst sense but, as the kids got a bit older (if not exactly hipper), the series took on a life of its own, and became harmlessly amusing, if rarely genuinely good.

And, yet, for my generation the show is almost like a fictitious, American pop culture counterpart to Michael Apted’s nearly concurrent Up documentary series, seven-year-interval films following British children of the late1950s. Apted began interviewing them in 1964 (for Seven Up), with the most recent installment, 64 Up, airing just last month.

Similarly, the Bunch has never really gone away. Though their last in-character appearance was nearly 30 years ago, the six former Brady Kids reunited yet again for the HGTV series A Very Brady Renovation, scheduled to premiere this fall.

In this sense, all that is Brady is, at least for this reviewer, rather like attending a high school reunion. I may not hold particularly fond memories of that part of my life, but it would be kind of neat to visit the old school again, reunite with a few of surviving teachers and alarmingly dwindling number of former classmates, if only for a few hours.

Familiarity breeds affection, and even if at its most banal the sets, the hairstyles, and the hijinks of those crazy kids and their goofy maid are nothing if not warmly familiar. I hadn’t seen an episode of the original show since, probably, the late-1970s, but the memories surely came flooding back, and it’s interesting to see all the various permutations the original concept took in the years since.

The Brady Kids (1972-73), a Filmation animated series for Saturday mornings featuring all the original kids (and their accompanying voices) but no adults; and the ill-fated variety show notwithstanding, combined with the syndication success of the original series airing nonstop throughout the decade kept the Brady brand alive. After Schwartz’s reunion film Rescue from Gilligan’s Island (1978) shocked the industry with a 52% Nielsen Rating (the highest rated TV-movie of all-time, in fact), a Brady Bunch reunion of their own, in spite of the disastrous variety series, became inevitable.

The Brady Girls Get Married (1981) is perhaps unique in the history of television. The 90-minute reunion film featured the entire original cast (for the only time after the original series ended). It was shot on film and goes through the usual paces.

However, after Marcia (Maureen McCormick) and Jan (Eve Plumb) actually get married and the show seems to be reaching its obvious conclusion, everything shifts in the last half-hour to the siblings’ anticlimactic antics as newly marrieds, on a set that, suspiciously, looks like a standard three-camera sitcom family room. (The first hour of the show is a one-camera, 35mm job, like the original series.)

My guess is that the show was originally conceived as a one-hour special, but then Schwartz talked the network into letting him add another 25 minutes that would serve as a backdoor pilot. Sure enough, the series that followed, The Brady Brides, was exactly that, a typical sitcom filmed before a studio audience. It lasted only seven episodes.

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Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of ska in the 1990s

For a few years in the mid to late history of ska music, specifically the ‘90s, ska music was everywhere, third-wave era of the ‘90s. powered by breakout acts like No After establishing ska’s present-day Doubt, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, general anonymity, the film, narrated Sublime and Reel Big Fish. by Tim Armstrong, lead singer of

The infectious sound, powered by famed ska-punk band Rancid, offers fast tempos and trademark up an excellent history of horn instruments, grew out of an underground scene clustered in areas like Orange County, California, to become a DVD REVIEW the genre, from its roots in Jamaica,through its migration to England, and eventually its influence in America, where the thirdmassive trend in music, wave bands developed. but as quickly as it took its leading place in FRANK Though not a hardcore fan, I’ve pogo’d at a popular music, it became an afterthought, and RIZZO III Pietasters show, and yet there was plenty I worse yet a joke, burning learned about from this brightly before flaming out. documentary, particularly about the

That’s the story told in Pick It Up, a original development of the genre

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Buck-O-Nine is one of the bands featured in Pick It Up – Ska in the ‘90s.

in Jamaican dance halls, and the regional growth of the bands. And after charting the climb to popularity, the matter-of-fact way the film lays out what led to the crash is clear-eyed and enlightening.

Looking back, it’s obvious what was happening, but the virtual vanishing of a genre still feels unusual.

Admittedly, the power of nostalgia is strong with this movie, as it’s great to hear from the people behind bands like The Aquabats, Save Ferris and Less than Jake, and listen to their memories of the music that was so much a part of younger days.

There’s a very clear perspective here, and no one will accuse Pick It Up of being anything other than pro-ska.

Taking small detours into associated topics like the roles of race and gender in ska, a burgeoning international scene and the problems of having large bands help round out the story of a primarily white, suburban art form, which, unfortunately, laid the

groundwork for the nu-metal that followed it.

But in the end, this is a celebration of feel-good party music, not a takedown of the genre.

Directed by Taylor Morden (who coincidentally made a documentary about one of my favorite bands of the ‘90s, The Refreshments), Pick It Up oozes style, from the attractively-shot talking heads to the delightfully styleappropriate animation, which helps make what’s an interesting story all the more compelling.

It’s the rare documentary that can get away with a joke cameo as the punchline to an anecdote, but Morden sticks the landing impressively, in keeping the irreverent tone of the movie. It’s obvious the film has a lot of love for the music and the people who make it, and that ensures it represents exactly what ska was and is.

For someone who has listened to ska since the third wave’s peak, Pick It Up is definitely speaking to the choir (or the horn section), but if you’re unaccustomed to the upbeat sound of the genre, you couldn’t ask for a better introduction.

A history lesson told with style and the backing of some great music, this film adroitly chronicles the growth of ska to its mainstream breakout, and all the factors that led to it returning to its underground roots almost as quickly as it sprung to prominence. You don’t need to be a ska fan to enjoy this peek at a musical moment in time, as the personalities and storylines are engaging, but if you owned a Pietasters CD, its going to be that much better.

A cannibal movie with taste

Jungle Holocaust (special edition) Aka Cannibal World/The Last Survivor Code Red, $19.99

Ruggero Deodato towers over the short-lived cannibal genre like a malignant god. I’m sure he’s a decent person overall, and this early entry into the canon is a fine film as such things go. Artistic, DVD REVIEW brisk, and at times truly KURT thrilling, Jungle DAHLKE Holocaust is somewhat light on people getting killed and eaten on camera, a staple of the cannibal movie diet, but it makes up for that in both degradation and animal killing.

Robert (Massimo Foschi) Harper’s small plane crash-lands in the godforsaken jungle with his peppy, drunken pilot, buddy Rolf (Ivan Rassimov), and the pilot’s girlfriend.

It’s interesting to note the focus on the cursed, hated status of the jungle, as that filmic attitude extends toward its inhabitants. So feared are they, that when the girlfriend leaves the plane at night to pee, and immediately starts to scream, the helpful men all restrain each other from going out to help.

As often happens when stranded in a jungle, things go to shit, resulting in Harper’s capture by a tribe of cannibals who want only to humiliate him in as many ways as possible while torturing and killing live animals.

Deodato and cinematographer Marcello Masciocchi construct a well-oiled machine, conveying the scale and menace of the jungle with carefully crafted, beautifully framed shots.

Those aspects are doubled-down on when poor Harper meets the tribe. As he’s carried down a verdant canyon, the tribespeople loom above him, jeering from ledges like a crazed jury.

If those shots don’t have enough visual flair, those from inside the tribe’s giant cave hideout will have you convinced. It’s a perfect blend of natural and human-inspired awe and terror.

So it goes for the rest of the film; shots are beautiful and terrible, effectively agitating, while the pacing and editing are top-notch.

The plot is a little thin, however.

Harper is mocked, stripped, fondled and pissed-upon. His fate is hinted at when the tribesmen drag out a living crocodile, stab it in the head, then proceed to cut it stem-to-stern, disemboweling it while it’s still alive. But that’s about it. Will Harper escape the same fate, with the helping hand of a tribeswoman (Me Me Lai) with breast implants?

You may never want to know.

It’s always hard to watch animals suffer for our pleasure, even if Deodato just assumed we’d want it. (This genuine carnage does certainly add an air of reality to the other gory bits, including a climactic feast that should satisfy most gore-hounds.)

But for all that, Jungle Holocaust is a fine cannibal movie. It’s brisk, beautiful, and barbaric.

Deodato’s themes may be simplistic, and at best ethnocentric as hell, but that’s what you’d expect.

This new, unrated Blu-ray release is recommended on the basis of its position as a competently directed movie in a genre where that’s a rarity. As a new release of a movie released on Blu-ray one year ago, by the same company, with fewer extras this time around, I’m at a loss.

The earlier special edition is still available, it’s just more expensive. I guess it comes down to whether you want to pay 10 dollars more for a commentary track and slip-cover. If not, this is the release for you!

The holocaust arrives, swinging its machete to chop down jungle fronds, in an HD scan from 2017, culled from several vault elements, and put together with extensive color correction. If this sounds familiar, it’s

because it doesn’t appear there has been any upgrade since the 2019 Bluray edition.

The unrated cut comes in a 2.35:1 ratio, which takes full advantage of great, ominous cinematography. The image clarity ranges due to shooting conditions and print elements. Grain appears at times, especially in darker scenes, but well-lit scenes deliver pretty sparkly clarity and detail.

A little bit of scratching and speckling occurs upon occasion, for you sharp-eyed viewers, but it’s not distracting.

Colors appear quite natural, and boy is there a lot of nature on display. Naked natives, with natural skin tones and dried mud that looks quite real. Blood, both real and fake, is brilliant red. Jungle greens are rich, and black levels hold detail well. 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio is on the whole just fine. The use of multiple vault elements (of necessity) reveals some skips and jumps in audio early on. The issues are minor and resolve themselves quite early on, but it is noticeable in the early going. For the rest, there is a little bit of hiss here and there, but dialog is overall clear, and music is mixed well.

Two Interviews are ported over from the 2019 release; 20 minutes with Massimo Foschi, and 6 minutes with Ivan Rasimov. Rasimov presents an imposing figure, in counterpoint to the clunky interviewer. Foschi takes the full 20 minutes to deliver 13-minutes worth of remembrances, as he struggles to find the right words in English.

It becomes painful to slog through quickly, they ought to have let him speak in Italian and added subtitles.

The Original Theatrical Trailer is presented, as is the R-Rated Version of the movie. I’m not sure what-all differences there are between the two cuts. The R-rated version is not animalcruelty-free, that’s for sure, as the poor crocodile is thoroughly dispatched in both cuts.

Final Thoughts: Jungle Holocaust reps Ruggero Deodato’s early entry in the cannibal sub-genre. It’s callous, cruel and quite competent, featuring gorgeous photography and a compelling pace, despite having a slight plot. While there is plenty of gross degradation, and an ethnocentric (at best) attitude, the gut munching doesn’t reach the heights of later cannibal movies. However, the animal cruelty is all there, so if you don’t want to see living animals tortured and slaughtered, move on.

Also, this release is identical to Code Red’s 2019 Blu-ray of the movie, minus an extra or two, such as a commentary track, but it’s 10 bucks cheaper, so there’s that. If you shelled out in 2019, skip this. If you are on a budget, (this version currently retails for $19.99) this is more-or-less Recommended for cannibal completists.