Customer Reviews

Lucy & Desi: Home Movie [VHS]

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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By FAR, the best film about America's famous couple of the 1950's TV. If you are a fan of Lucille Ball and/or Desi Arnaz, you owe it to yourself to see this wonderful and warm film. The program is a documentary hosted by Lucie Arnaz. It is not a movie featuring people portraying the Lucy and Desi. It features some extraordinary home video of Lucy, Desi and family - at the pool, in the yard! It is 10 times better then any other "Lost Lucy" or other Lucy program I have seen. It focuses of the lives of two people that made America laugh - all the while struggling in their personal lives. I don't think you will find a better program about this incredible couple. New generations to come will no doubt watch "I Love Lucy" reruns and laugh! This is the story of the people behind those great laughs.

I have read many books and watched several videos/documentaries on Lucille Ball in an effort to better understand her life and further celebrate her comedic genius, and I've got to say that this was the best purchase of them all. "Lucy and Desi" is a fine, objective look at a troubled, but supremely talented and well-loved pair. While most other tapes I watched had the same pictures and clips, this one was full of things I had never seen or heard before. There are many, many interviews, and to anyone who has seriously studied Ball and Arnaz's lives, many names will be familiar. The tidbits they provide are alternately funny and heartbreaking. That brings me to the one reservation I have regarding this production. For anyone who thinks Lucy and Desi were just like their alter egos, the Ricardos, and would like to hang on to that myth, don't watch this film. Though it is a loving look, it doesn't shirk from revealing the dark areas of their personalities as well. Personally, I think this objective approach is important and should be commended, but when I first began to study Lucy, I was greatly shocked by the pain and unhappiness in her life, and it temporarily altered my unbridled enjoyment of "I Love Lucy". Just a warning. Still, any Lucy lover who is prepared for a few hard truths should thoroughly enjoy this fascinating, well-made treat.

This documentary which digs deep into the private lives of legendary comic husband-and-wife team Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz is certainly remarkable. The information has been thoroughly researched, home movies are shown dating back to the early forties and late fifties, and even love letters written by the two to each other are shown. Also interwoven are comprehensive looks at their professional careers. Also included are interviews with relatives, children (the documentary is hosted by daughter Lucie Arnaz), and Hollywood friends and associates.

However, there is a great deal of bittersweet drama in their stories, especially during the beginning of the lives of both. Ball's father died when she was three, she did not get on with her stepfather, and her family endured legal hardships for several years when her grandfather was sued for accidentally allowing minors to shoot a gun. Arnaz's family fled Cuba and watched their house burn down during the Cuban Revolution of 1933. Ball and Arnaz meet in Hollywood and wed, but there is always an underlying suggestion of philandering on Arnaz's part.

In the early fifties, when the "I Love Lucy" show began, and Ball had her two children, both Ball and Arnaz became consumed by work. Arnaz would spend time with the children, but also drink. Ball is portrayed as a constant workaholic. It is during this part of the show that there is a lot of uneasy candor on the part of Ms. Arnaz and interviewees about Ball's difficulty being a mother, and Ball comes off sounding very unsentimental and hard. Even more difficult to swallow is the candor involving the eventual breakup of the two told by Ms. Arnaz and her brother, Desi Jr.

The documentary ends on a very bittersweet note, with several interviewees recounting that both thought it terrible that things worked out as they did, but there is a little complacency for the viewer, because the last home movie shown in the film is Ball and Arnaz in a pool in the early eighties, playing with their first grandchild, Simon. However, eerily dramatic scoring, some literally frightening stories and photographs, and the difficult unravelling of the story may make some "Lucy" fans uneasy. Be warned.

This is the best biography I have ever seen about television's most loved couples. It is good to know that Lucie wanted to share her parents' most intimate home movies with their devoted public. I have seen this bio a hundred times but I just can't get enough of them. The chemistry they had was unbounded and although it was the opposite off screen, they still loved and cared for each other until they died. I love the movies of their wedding, and the song "Forever Darling". I also love the scene at the end with Lucy and Desi in the pool with their first grandson. That was the last home movie of them together. You could tell that they still loved and cared for one another immensely. I love when Lucy messes up Desi's hair! That is so cute. I bet Lucie and Desi Jr. were happy to see that their parents really did love each other deep down inside and never stopped loving ech other. I mean if your ex-husband kept sending you a bouquet of you favorite flowers on your birthday until the year you died, I'd call that love, wouldn't you! A great thing to own for any Lucy fan!

This was video is the best one out there about America's favorite couple. It tells you all about Lucy & desi's personal life.
Although it was a very good video it was also very disturbing to hear some of the things that happend between Lucy & Desi. Lucy & Desi's life was NOTHING like the Ricardo's life. Lucy & Desi started the I Love Lucy show so they could be together and to save there marrage (Lucie arnaz explains), but it did neither. All it did was brought pleasure to the world but for Lucy & desi's life, it just made everything worse. I think the most disturbing thing that i heard was when Lucie arnaz (while trying to hold back the tears) said " I remember my mother leaning over my father (desi) say "I wish you were dead" ".
There was a some-what lighter side, even after Lucy & desi divorced they never ever ever stoped loveing each other. On there wedding anniversary Desi would send Lucy flowers!
My favorite scene is at the end, the last home video of Lucy & desi together in the pool with there first grandson fooling around. while the video at the same time included a lot of information, it was also VERY sad to hear what went on in Lucy & Desi's personal life. It left me with tears in my eyes and an understanding of the REAL Lucy & Desi.

We all know Lucy and Desi as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. But not many know about Lucy and Desi. This movie goes behind the scenes of Americas most famous couple. It was produced by their very own daughtor, Lucie Arnaz. You get to see the real thing and how Lucy and Desi ever met and how and why I Love Lucy ever started. You get to see what they really were like and why things happened the way they did. A great movie for any Lucy fan. This video is worth the money; for true Lucy lovers.

Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill has done a marvelous job with this documentary. Unlike most "Biography"-type interview programs, you realize that the interviewees here (family, friends, co-workers) are actually talking to Lucie herself about her parents in the early days of their marriage. They reveal the Lucy and Desi they remembered, warts and all. Many times it's far from pleasant. The video transfers of the Arnazes personal color home movies are masterfully done. Thank God they survived the years and Lucie graciously decided to share them with the millions of fans who adored her parents. Thank you, Lucie and Desi Jr. I love Lucy's kids, too.

This movie did an excellent job of describing the relationship between Lucille and Desi. It was, however, very sad. The pair was almost the exact opposite of the Ricardos. The interviews with family members and friends combined with the home movies set to music made the movie very worth while.

This is one of the greatest documentaries I've ever seen, but if you're a hard-core Lucy-Desi fan, beware. While this video shows great home movies and interviews with family friends, it also tells the bad side of the "Ricardos" - a lot of things that many of us would really rather not know. For example, there is a scene where daughter Lucie speaks of seeing her mother "leaning over Desi with her long red finger nails poised at him, saying 'I wish you were dead'." There is also vast description of Desi's affairs and alcoholism. Sadly, everyone interviewed concludes that Lucy and Desi never got over loving each other, which led to them both being exiled and bitter in their final years. There is a lighter, but still sad, moment at the end, which shows a home movie of Lucy and Desi in their 70's, playing with their grandson, bickering lovingly like the Ricardos did on their show. This movie is a must-have for every fan, but it made me cry, and left me with a very down-trodden feeling.

This is a wonderful, informative, and moving documentary by their daughter Lucie Arnaz and her husband Laurence Luckinbill. It follows Lucy and Desi from their childhoods to their deaths. It includes rare home movies and wonderful interviews from those that worked with them and their families. The must interesting and touching statements come from their children Desi Jr., and Lucie.