Product Details

• Actors: Dean Martin, Lucille Ball, Bill Cosby, Bing Crosby, Rowan & Martin
• Directors: Greg Garrison
• Format: Collector's Edition, NTSC, Color, Full Screen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Guthy-Renker Entertainment
• Run Time: 60.0 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000CEQKOE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,988 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Join Dean Martin and his guests - Ann-Margaret, Jack Benny, Goldie Hawn, Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Newhart, Jimmy Stewart, Dom De Luise, Victor Borge, Orson Welles, Frank Sinatra and more in the wild and crazy antics of his world famous variety show.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sorry, folks, but this DVD is just OK at best--and no cigar..., March 3, 2006

By 

Matthew G. Sherwin (last seen screaming at Amazon customer service) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Greg Garrison Presents - The Best of the Dean Martin Variety Show (Special Edition) (DVD)

As another Amazon reviewer notes, this DVD is just one of a large collection of a DVD set. Notice how many stars are "featured" on this one hour DVD? It must be about nine or ten. That's simply not enough time for the producers of the DVD to do much more than just provide what I would call "extended clips" from the performances each great artist did on Dean's show. I suppose if you're really into the show you would certainly have to buy at least all 23 DVDs to then have a complete set--a complete set of extended clips, that is!

The picture is fair; they could have reproduced it better. The sound quality is rather good. The packaging is cheap but the artwork is not bad and there are a few notes about the show in general provided for us.

If you just want a brief overview then this is for you. But for the serious fan who wants so badly to remember these great performances you're going to be disappointed and agree with me that this is a mediocre effort. Too bad!

74 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Special Edition is NOT the entire set, December 20, 2005

By 

Jim C. "jimnsusan" (Ames, IA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greg Garrison Presents - The Best of the Dean Martin Variety Show (Special Edition) (DVD)

This DVD is the first of twenty three (1 of 23) DVDs in the collection. It is NOT the entire set. It offers segments of the show that involved the guests listed, NOT the entire shows in which the guests appeared. Each DVD contains approximately 60 minutes of guest appearances.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dino Deserves Better--And So Do His Fans, April 8, 2008

By 

DL Minor "movie maven" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greg Garrison Presents - The Best of the Dean Martin Variety Show (Special Edition) (DVD)

I have to agree with the reviewers here and take Greg Garrison and Company to task for the way in which this product has been offered to the general public.

Like many people I have very fond memories of sixties and seventies television, which as a kid I happily watched with my family and friends. Next to sitcoms and cartoons my favorites were the variety shows, and The Dean Martin Show was one of the very best.

So I was delighted to learn that all these years later The Dean Martin Show was being re-released, but my delight has turned to disappointment as I see how it has been packaged.

Is there a reason (beyond the screamingly obvious) why shows like this keep getting sliced and diced into "volumes" featuring annoyingly truncated segments, not to mention mere highlights and clips, of great performances by classic entertainers? What will it take before companies like Guthy-Renker realize that the buying public is sick and tired of such obnoxious practices?

I am not really a Dino "fanatic"-- I was a little girl in my first years of grammar school when his variety show debuted and was a junior in high school when it ended--but as I've gotten older I've come to appreciate Dean Martin's unique charm and talent, and to love and admire the best of his amazing body of work, from his frenzied Martin and Lewis period to the swingin' Rat Pack high life to his long and varied solo actor-singer years.

The Dean Martin Show was wonderful, capturing Dino at his easygoing best (especially in zany comedy bits with performers like Bob Newhart, Dom Deluise, Jonathan Winters, Don Rickles and Paul Lynde, who knew just how to play against their host's loopy, warmly playful shtick). Martin and his impressive roster of Golden Age of Hollywood guests deserve so much better than these clip and paste job "volumes"--and so do we.

Put the full season DVDs of The Dean Martin Show out there (and do it soon please) and we'll buy them. Until then Garrison and Guthy-Renker are not getting another penny of my money!