Product Details

• Actors: Tom Waits, Michael L. Blair, Ralph Carney, Greg Cohen, Marc Ribot
• Directors: Chris Blum
• Writers: Tom Waits, Kathleen Brennan
• Producers: Catherine Peacock, Chris Blackwell, Luc Roeg, Lucy Phillips
• Format: NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Delta Library Compan
• VHS Release Date: August 22, 1990
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301464834
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,375 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars so sought after...., July 19, 2004

By 

Gretchen Crookes "gcookies" (Hollywood, CA (USA)) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Big Time [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I am tired of the blank looks I receive when asking about this video. I think we all are. How can we get together and petition the dvd/video release of this wonderful performance? Who is in charge here? I count myself lucky to have viewed it once. It seems rather hateful to withold from new Tom Waits fans, much less those of us who can't get enough.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greatest concert films ever..., September 1, 2004

By 

dvdtrkr (San Diego CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Time [VHS] (VHS Tape)

There are 3 concert films in the 80s which come to mind as being "great": "Stop Making Sense"(Talking Heads), "Home of the Brave"(Laurie Anderson) and "Big Time".

There have been different eras in Tom's career, the folk troubadour, the "barfly" jazz lounge singer, and later on a oft-namedropped singer-songwriter who plays "weird" instruments, at this time (1988) he was wrapping up a "trilogy" of Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, and Frank's Wild Years, which was a play in Chicago by Gary Sinese's Steppenwolf theater group. However, this isn't "Frank's Wild Years", even though it's divided into different parts. It's "Big Time", an entity unto itself..

Like "Stop Making Sense", the director has you up close to Tom and the band, keeping the viewer's attention fixed on Tom and his actions. You know the audience is there, but you don't see much of them. A lot of times, you are moving out of the live footage into different scenarios used mostly in between the songs (the doorman, the ticket taker, etc), making you realize that this is a movie more than a concert film at times.

I haven't watched the film in a while (less than a year), but I remember the CD has different songs than the film does, and have gotten confused about what wound up in the film. But I do remember "Ruby's Arms" and "Red Shoes" being the only "old" songs on either.

Disappointments are only that a DVD hasn't been released of the film, although there have been film showings of "Big Time" in the San Fran area. The CD has a clean, crisp, sharp sound to it, and the VHS is (from what I can tell) mono and hissy, and the VHS cover (the movie poster and CD cover are better) is very 80s and garish. If they make a DVD, hopefully there's some home movie footage of how they put it together. It definitely warrants a commentary by the director and Tom. It should also include the Island-era music videos as an "extra" (there's about 8-10, at most) and hopefully there are more live clips to sate the appetite of Raindogs everywhere. It was a great era for Tom to reinvent himself as a true original, and one that should be available to people who are just beginning to discover him, as long as those who have been long time fans. It's an essential for new and old Waits fans.

It's "time" is long overdue for a proper DVD release (hopefully they can do a limited screening in theaters through the country)... It's been "way down in the hole" for too long. Don't let "strange weather" hold you back from
picking up the CD, either.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clap Hands, everybody..., December 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Big Time [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Long time Tom Waits fan am I, grieving because this masterwork of his melodic chaos and onstage genius isn't on DVD. THIS IS A VOID that must be filled. The soundtrack CD doesn't have all the songs from the movie, and is but a fishnet tease.