Product Details

• Actors: Tom DeLay, Ronnie Earle
• Directors: Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: Brave New Films
• DVD Release Date: May 23, 2006
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000F9UEK2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,919 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Big Buy - Tom Delay's Stolen Congress" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

About the Actor

Mark Birnbaum is a veteran producer, director, editor and cameraman. With partner Jim Schermbeck, Birnbaum is the director/producer of the critically acclaimed documentary Larry v. Lockney, which chronicles Texas cotton farmer Larry Tannahill’s fight against mandatory drug testing in his son's school. The film made its broadcast premiere on the PBS program P.O.V., and will air later this year on LinkTV.

Jim Schermbeck is a native Texan with a life long passion for politics and film. He worked for over two decades as a community organizer, focusing on environmental health issues in the Dallas Fort Worth area. While fighting to keep Dallas free of toxic waste, Schermbeck pursed filmmaking in his spare time and volunteered to work on campaigns for both reform Democratic and Republican candidates.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wake up America!, May 25, 2006

By 

Marvilla - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Buy - Tom Delay's Stolen Congress (DVD)

I won't mention any names, but one of the reviewers obviously didn't watch this film because they were too busy nitpicking the film technique to even get the message. No, this film is not as action-packed as say Mission Impossible 3 or have all the Noir element intact like Brick, but if you really want to learn about how our government works, put down your civics book and watch this film. And if you watch it, I mean really watch it, it should piss you off. While we're busy writing film reviews, politicians like Tom Delay are stealing our Congress and undoing the very fabric of our country by promoting corporate greed and the neo-con agenda. And I don't care which side of the political fence you straddle, it's time to get informed, ask questions and have a voice in our government. This film is entertaining, informative and one of a few films finally zeroing in on what's going wrong with America. If all you care about is film technique, go to film school; and if you really care about what's happening in our country, then watch this film!

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Variety Review, May 25, 2006

By 

Clayton - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Buy - Tom Delay's Stolen Congress (DVD)

Joe Leydon, writing for Variety on May 17th:

Documakers Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck methodically assemble a damning case against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, the pugnacious Texas Republican and former House majority leader who has been indicted on campaign fund-raising charges.

Chief asset of the pic is its easy-to-grasp explanation of his alleged crime: DeLay (who, not surprisingly, refused to be interviewed by the filmmakers) is charged with breaking a Texas law that prohibits corporate donations to individual candidates.

Specifically, DeLay stands accused of using the Republican National Committee to more or less launder contributions from companies as diverse as Bacardi USA and Sears Roebuck so GOP candidates for the Texas Legislature could receive funding during the 2002 election, then, with a Republican majority, radically redraw district boundaries to facilitate the election of Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004.

Interviewees include syndicated columnist Molly Ivins and populist commentator Jim Hightower, veterans of several other docs that view Texas politics as a contact sport. But the real star of the pic clearly is folksy Democratic D.A. Ronnie Earle, who comes off as sincerely aggrieved, if a tad self-righteous, while sounding personally offended by political corruption.

Vaguely malevolent images of DeLay are superimposed on billboards and sides of buildings as Birnbaum and Schermbeck make little effort to disguise their distaste for their titular subject.

Even so, the scrappy small-budget pic remains persuasive throughout, and occasionally offers "Gotcha!" moments that are laugh-out-loud funny. Chief among the highlights: a CNN interview in which DeLay, mildly pressed by Wolf Blitzer, quickly backs away from his claim that Earle's investigation has been supported (if not mandated) by the Democratic National Committee.

Docu was well into production long before DeLay's April 4 announcement that he will not seek re-election -- and, indeed, will resign his House seat -- but includes this and other up-to-date info in a smoothly incorporated coda.

Artful use of B footage and a jazzy score by John Bryant and Frank Hames enhance the pic's noirish flavor.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars There Has Been Too Much Delay Already, January 22, 2007

By 

Edwin C. Pauzer (New York City) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Big Buy - Tom Delay's Stolen Congress (DVD)

This DVD catalogues the rise of Tom Delay from Texas backbencher to US Congressional power broker to his indictment and downfall.

What makes Delay so special or infamous is his reform of congress for the worse. He parceled out money for votes, demanded that lobbying firms contribute money and hire republicans before he would even entertain their interests. (Some would call this bribery or conflict of interest. In our congress it's called business as usual.) He held votes open long after the normal voting period, and brought bills to the floor for vote without legislators even having a chance to read them.

He "gerrymandered" Texas redistricting in a deliberate attempt to gain republican seats in congress. He managed to pull this off despite Texas legislators fleeing across the Oklahoma border so that a quorem could not be mustered. The hammer lost that round but eventually muscled his way to victory, and got more republicans elected.

Delay's undoing was his insistence on corporate sponsorship (money) to his political action committee called Trmpac. This was patently illegal in a state that already has weak campaign laws. His reaction was to mount a campaign against the prosecutor that was unsuccessful. Finally, Delay resigns in disgrace and vows to help republicans win. His only hope was the people of Texas would re-elect a republican to his old seat. Even in this, Texans had apparently had enough of his shenanigans and elected a democrat.

This story may interest those fascinated with Delay, or for those who know very little about him. But it is clear that this is a low-budget production. A couple of times my attention wondered, and I found myself pressing the back button.

It is worth a look, and you can always resell it. So, don't delay.