Product Details

• Actors: Dean Martin, Goldie Hawn, Jack Benny, Ella Fitzgerald, Victor Borge
• Language: English
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000ICZZC8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #142,695 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Garrison Packaging Passe', January 18, 2008

By 

Red Wood "film producer" (Omaha, NE.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best of the Dean Martin Variety Show - Special Edition (VHS Tape)

This is a review of the complete 'Best of Dean Martin...' sets. I'm not critiquing any specific volume, so I apologize in advance that this review is found on every one. However, since my review is for all buyers and not just those of a certain volume, this seems necessary.
'The Dean Martin Show'(1965-74) was a favorite of mine as a child &, outside of the vaudeville slapstick, it still holds up pretty well. As for the packaging, however, Martin's longtime assistant, Greg Garrison, has edited this whole thing together with no consideration to content or style: on e. volume, excerpts from all nine seasons are poorly tossed together, with the jump from time periods being extremely jarring & the style of the show completely lost. Included are reminiscences from guest stars of the show, but these are poorly edited into the format, looking more like cheap quality early 80s videos. A friend of mine, who also likes 60s TV, was just horrified when he saw this mishmash.
So, basically, if you're someone who just wants to see the show and has no concerns on how you view it, these'll possibly be fine. Contrarily, if you have fond memories of the show and its style, which Martin worked hard on, you'd probably do better waiting for a better package. A season by season release, as most TV offers now, is long overdue.
The real culprit here is Guthy-Renker, who has the rights to the show. It's an extremely dated company that does this very same thing to all programs to which they received the rights, such as 'The Carol Burnett Show' & 'Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'. I believe 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour' has had this same problem, but handled by a different mishandler.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intro intensive Special Edition, July 24, 2010

By 

Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Best of the Dean Martin Variety Show - Special Edition (VHS Tape)

This Special Edition VHS differs from the rest of the series in one respect: celebrities intro and often narrate during every segment presented.


Videotapes of THE BEST OF THE DEAN MARTIN VARIETY SHOW (2001) were once available from GUTHY-RENKER via a TV infomercial. There are 30 individual one-hour compilations in this series, which has since become somewhat of a collectible. (Note: these are highlights only, not complete programs.)

Title card seen here was also used as THE DEAN MARTIN SHOW LP cover. Audio is clean mono. Colors in these dubs of well-preserved tape excerpts are vibrant.

CONTENTS of Special Edition--
Orson Welles opens; "She's My Kind Of Girl"; Welles on Dean's closet; montage of famous guests who emerge from it
Bob Newhart on no rehearsals; he intros 1965 skit where Dean can't stop laughing at him
Dom De Luise intros Goldie Hawn's first appearance ("Dum-dums of America")
Welles on station breaks; Dean in magician's cabinet for his only "break" spot
Producer/director Greg Garrison on Dean's singing style; Happy blues medley with Gene Kelly
Jimmy Stewart intros doctor skit with Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon
Jimmy on segment where he does celebrity impressions
Gene Kelly intros Dean's Ding-a-lings segment, pretty girls who play 'musical questions' with Dean
Roy Rogers calls a square dance that Dean can't keep with
Jack Benny's Ding-a-lings compete with Dean's
Victor Borge on his 'lyrics with punctuation marks' medley with Dean
Medley with Ann-Margret
Newhart intros skit: Kay Medford, Ken Lane, Ruth Buzzi, Frank Sinatra and Dean (New Year's Eve show)
Finale- celebrity medley montage: Dean with Andrews Sisters, Ella Fitzgerald, Gordon McRae, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Frank Sinatra
Credits

5.0 out of 5 stars awesome, December 27, 2011

By 

Maria Elayna Polhemus (Dover Plains, New York United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Best of the Dean Martin Variety Show - Special Edition (VHS Tape)

This is a wonderful dvd. It makes you remember how fun variety shows were. If you are looking for a dvd that offers pure state of the art zany, this would be the one to get. I totally recommend it.