Customer Reviews

The Commitments [VHS]

5 star:		(96)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

For the better part of four years, I've complained about this fantastic movie going in and out of print, but ALWAYS ONLY available in the lousy pan-and-scan (instead of widescreen) format.

This film, masterfully directed by the great British musical/drama cinematic maestro, Alan Parker (e.g., Evita, Angela's Ashes, Fame, etc.), deserved better treatment, and finally, let's thank the good executives at Fox Video for listening! A double-disk widescreen presentation with plenty of bonus features! Hooray!

Keep in mind that this is one of the greatest films ever made in the 1990s, so influential and original to the extent that it made the British Film Institute's list of the best 100 films ever made in Ireland and the British Isles during the last century. Yet eerily, I can only count on two hands the number of people who've seen it! This has gotta change!

Now the film is issued on DVD as it was meant to be seen -- in full stereo and widescreen glory. I like the fact that Fox Video gave this "little" picture a chance, that it heard the complaints from rabid fans for years and finally did something about it!...

"The Commitments" is a raucous and joyful celebration of music. It's a gloriously simple and lovable tale, told with passion, profanity, and a deep understanding of how music can infect even the most despairing life with joy. About time the movie got its proper release on DVD.

If you've never seen "The Commitments" because you cringe at the notion of white Dubliners singing American soul tunes, well, I hear ya. I fully expected watered-down music along the lines of Michael Bolton butchering Percy Sledge. However, I was wrong - the music, in the context of the movie, is pure and genuine, and performed by young actors who understand that you don't have to pretend to be anything you're not to get soul. Besides, Jimmy Rabbitte, the mastermind behind the band, gives them all a thoroughly convincing speech that assures the lads and lasses from Dublin that they, too, are qualified to sing soul.

The movie - well, it's wonderful. Hilarious, free, sometimes moving, life-affirming. I almost wish the movie let the characters develop a little more before the inevitable and mythical ending, but then Joey the Lips gently reminds me (and Rabbitte), "this way, it's poetry." He's right - this is the proper ending for these guys, and the movie.

The DVD offers some great extras, including a revealing making-of doc, where we learn that director Parker combed the nightclubs of Dublin nightly, looking for fresh talent. I also love the 10-years-later feature, where we get to revisit our old friends again. These are suitable extras for a movie that just plain makes you feel glad to be alive - how much more can you ask of a movie than that?

One of my all-time favorite films. If you love blues/R&B/soul, you'll find plenty to like in this film, even if you don't listen to anything else except the music. Andrew Strong is great as the "bollix-for-brains" lead singer of the Commitments, and was only 16 (!) when the film was made (shades of Johnny Lang!). But don't overlook some great performances by the female vocalists as well; "Natalie" (Maria Doyle) does a fantastic job with "I Never Loved a Man (the Way that I Love You)" and "Imelda" (Angeline Ball) really shows her stuff on "Chain of Fools"). The film also features great background classics by performers such as Delbert McClinton ("I've Got Dreams to Remember").

Yes, it's Irish, and you do have to listen closely in a few spots to understand the dialogue, but it's definitely worth the effort. The film is down-to-earth without being gritty or depressing, and accurately portrays the trials and tribulations of a band in the making. The music is superb, the dialogue is honest, funny and just wacko enough to be believable, and the plot (such as it is) doesn't really matter -- there's enough going on with the characters to keep things moving for the duration.

Recommended -- and when it comes out on DVD -- highly recommended.

an excellent movie with a talented cast--especially a surprisingly amazing 16/17 year old lead vocalist who
puts meat loaf and other vocal screechers to shame.
this guy actually has pipes!

by now you know what's great about the movie itself,
what you may NOT realize is that this dvd edition is
FULL-SCREEN, and is NOT in its ORIGINAL ASPECT RATIO.
unfortunately, i doubt there is the kind of 'willy
wonka and the chocolate factory' movement behind a
small relatively unknown gem like 'the commitments.'
'willy wonka' was recently, to much outrage, release
in fullscreen format, but the studio release an apology
and a street date for a widescreen edition.

were it a dvd with better sound quality (come on,
it's about music, after all) that wasn't cropped
into a fullscreen format, i would rate it 4 stars...

(i mean, would you want to have the original mona
lisa (or other favorite work of art) given to you,
but because you only have 8 x 10 frames, have somebody
cut an 8 x 10 section of the painting and frame it
for you? would you write a poem but have somebody
tell you, 'sorry, i only have room in our publication
for 5 lines of it--we'll just trim everything else'?
when are people going to realize that it's a waste
of movie buyers money to release any film in any
format other than its original aspect ratio? 'chariots
of fire' is another excellent example--only available
fullscreen. go figure...)

i would even rate this dvd higher than 4 stars
if there were any added features, bonuses, etc.
if you've got a clean vhs or laserdisc copy, stick
with that until they do this movie justice and release
a better than average dvd edition.

"The Commitments" is an exceptional movie that holds up very well through repeated viewings. It is exactly the kind of film you would want to own in your DVD collection, because you could enjoy it for many years. That's why I was very disappointed that the DVD version is available only as pan and scan (1.33:1 aspect ratio). This is the equivalent of taking a 5-channel audio theatrical release and making a DVD that's available only in mono sound.

As much as I like this film, I will not buy a DVD that has been degraded from the original theatrical release. Apparently the film companies don't yet understand what motivates buyers to pay extra for DVD quality and home theater systems. I hope that "The Commitments" will be available soon as a re-released DVD in its original 1.85:1 widescreen theatrical version.

Come on! The movie is five stars all the way, but the DVD is a huge disappointment. Why is this film, masterfully directed by the great British musical/drama cinematic maestro, Alan Parker (e.g., Evita, Angela's Ashes, Fame, etc.) NOT available on DVD in a widescreen format? It borders on being blasphemous and offensive. This is one of the greatest films ever made in the 1990s, so influential and original to the extent that it it even made the British Film Institute's top 100 list of the best films ever made in Ireland and the British Isles during the last 100 years! The Commitments was shot in widescreen, so what gives? What's the excuse for the "TV land" 1:33:1 aspect ratio decision? Heck, I can get that on a pay channel any day of the week and save a few bucks myself! My advice for you Amazonians out there is to add to the collective voices who clamor to see this film released the way it was intended to be seen. And that is with the full 2:35:1 aspect ratio -- letterboxed and in hi-fi digital stereo -- in all of its audio and visual glory. Otherwise, like "Fearless" (1993, by the great Australian director Peter Weir), another fabulous film goes to shameful waste on the DVD format because of a decision by some studio's video division to save a few bucks by sticking to the old VHS "pan and scan" schtick. Please add your voices to this review. Amazon.com and its loyal customers DO have pull and the more people who jump on the bandwagon, the more likely that sales of this great film on the DVD format will increase! Please!

Quite simply, this is one of my all-time favorite films. Based on the first book of Roddy Doyle's Dublin trilogy, The Commitments is more than a story of a bunch of Irish kids forming a soul band. From the harsh realities of poverty to the power of the Irish spirit, this movie is a portrait of life in working class Dublin, and is true to Doyle's book in every way. It is raw and irreverant, extremely funny but also poignant. One of the remarkable aspects of this film is the cast of virtual unknowns - all actually Irish, thank goodness. Andrew Strong, who plays the lead singer, was only about 16 when the movie was filmed, and he did his own vocals. In fact, the cast is extremely musically talented and appears on two very good soundtrack volumes. The one familiar face belongs to veteran actor Colm Meaney (Miles O'Brien on Star Trek TNG/DS9). Meaney also appears in the two other films from the trilogy, The Snapper and The Van. Rent them all and have an Irish film festival! If you want to be entertained with great soul music while being magically whisked away to Dublin, by all means buy this video so you can watch it over and over again.

I have thought about it and I have considered it and the bottom line is that the Commitments remain my favorite faux movie band. More than the Blues Brothers, Eddie & the Cruisers, Spinal Tap, Steel Dragon, Josie & the Pussycats, or even Mitch & Mickey, it is the hardest workin' band in Dublin that tops the list, even if they are just a cover band. I always suspected that this was the case, but now that the long awaited widescreen DVD of Alan Parker's 1991 film is finally in my hot little hands, any and all possible doubts are erased.

You do not really want to talk about "The Commitments" as having a plot, because the point is that it has a band. The arc of the film is the history of the band, which is created in the fertile and musically well-versed mind of Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins), who decides that what Ireland needs is a good soul band to gladden the hearts of the working class. This idea is met with grand skepticism by the band that Jimmy puts together, especially when he explains that: "The Irish are the blacks of Europe. Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. North Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin." But then Deco Cuffe (16-year-old Andrew Strong) starts singing with a voice that shines like a sober Joe Cocker in his prime and we start to sit up. When the band and the backup singers find the groove we are along for the rise and fall of the group that proclaims themselves to be "the Saviours of Soul."

Parker auditioned several thousand musicians and selected a dozen to become the Commitments, so in a real sense the band he put together for this film is not acting when it plays like a band that has been put together. Part of the fun is watching the piece fall into place, especially as the trio of backup singers (Maria Doyle, Angeline Ball, and Bronagh Gallagher) try to figure out what to be doing, both with their Irish pronunciation of "ride, Sally, ride" in "Mustang Sally" and their slinky bodies dressed in form fitting black. Of course all the boys in the bands are eyeing the girls every chance they get, but it is the old man of the group, Joey the Lips (Johnny Murphy), who the ladies seem to fancy to the amazement of the guys. The Commitments are coming apart even before they start playing together, but all that really matters in this film is the music they make when they stop fighting or before they start blowing up amps.

The film does save the best for last with the Commitments going out in a blaze of glory doing "Take Me to the River" and "Try a Little Tenderness" at their last gig. Strong's vocals are impressive, but the ladies get props for their covers of "Chain of Fools" and "I Can't Stand the Rain." There are also some nice musical gems when the band is not on stage, such as when they all start singing "Destination Anywhere" one night on the bus home and when piano player Steven Clifford (Michael Aherne) plays "Whiter Shade of Pale" on the massive organ at church. Check out the bonus disc for Arkins getting a chance to show he can sign in a music video performance of "Treat Her Right," as well as the standard featurette on the making of the film and am update on what everybody is doing today. Oh, Terry, if only Brother Rabbitte was putting the band back together.

"The Commitments" is a FANTASTIC movie about a working class "Irish Soul Band." It follows the rise from nothing to greatness to nothing once again. Brilliant dialog, great acting and realistic characters make for an engaging, fun movie. I wish I could really go out and see this band play! The only thing keeping it from a full 5 stars is the DVD version. If there was ever a movie that really needed "Widescreen" to get the point across, this would be it. Just surprising to not find a widescreen transfer out there on DVD. The visuals of this movie are so stunning, I feel as though I am missing something watching it in full frame...

I just bought this movie for my Wife for xmas, being one of her favorites, we were looking forward to watching it, however, the disc itself is severly lacking in quality.

1. No Widescreen? Criminal on a new DVD these days.

2. No Digital 5.1 surround sound? Musicals are a must for the digital treatment.

3. Extra's? Very basic behind the scenes stuff, nothing spectacular.

So much could have been done with this excellent film, but unfortunately it hasnt, buy it if you love the film, but dont expect all the extra's, or you will be sorely disapointed.