Product Details

• Actors: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, James Franco, Alison Pill, Diego Luna
• Directors: Gus Van Sant
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed: French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Universal Studios
• DVD Release Date: March 10, 2009
• Run Time: 129 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (241 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001QUF3SW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,223 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #26 in Movies & TV > DVD > Gay & Lesbian
• Learn more about "Milk" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

When a famous person, like the nation's first openly gay male city supervisor, inspires an acclaimed book (The Mayor of Castro Street) and Oscar-winning documentary (The Times of Harvey Milk), a biopic can seem superfluous at best. Taking over from Oliver Stone and Bryan Singer, Gus Van Sant, whose previous picture was the more experimental Paranoid Park, directs with such grace, he renders the concern moot. Unlike Randy Shilts' biography, which begins at the beginning, Dustin Lance Black's script starts in 1972, just as Milk (Sean Penn, in a finely-wrought performance) and his boyfriend, Scott (James Franco, equally good), move from New York to San Francisco. Milk opens a camera shop on the Castro that becomes a safe haven for victims of discrimination, convincing him to enter politics. With each race he runs, Harvey's relationship with Scott unravels further. Finally, he wins, and the real battle begins as Milk takes on Proposition 6, which denies equal rights to homosexuals. He does what he can to rally politicians, like George Moscone (Victor Garber) and Dan White (Josh Brolin). While the mayor is willing, the conservative board member has reservations, and after Milk fails to back one of White’s pet projects, the die is cast, leading to the murder of two beloved figures. If Van Sant’s film captures Harvey in all his complexities (he was, for instance, a very funny man), Milk also serves as an enticement to grass-roots activism, showing how one regular guy elevated everyone around him, notably Cleve Jones (Emile Hirsch), the ex-street hustler who created the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial. Released in the wake of Proposition 8, California’s anti-gay marriage amendment, Milk is inspirational in the best way: one person can and did make a difference, but the struggle is far from over. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Get to Know the Cast From Milk

Sean Penn (Harvey Milk)

Josh Brolin (Dan White)

James Franco (Scott Smith)

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Stills from Milk (Click for larger image)

Product Description

His life changed history. His courage changed lives. Academy Awardr winner Sean Penn stars in this stirring celebration of Harvey Milk, a true man of the people. Based on the inspiring true story of the first openly gay man elected to major public office, this compelling film follows Milk's powerful journey to inspire hope for equal rights during one of the least tolerant times in our nation's history. With a stunning all-star cast including Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna and James Franco, it's the emotionally charged story that critics are hailing as the 'best film of the year!' (Clay Smith, The Insider).

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

110 of 130 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gay Struggle Personified February 10, 2009

By James Morris

Format:DVD

Gus Van Sant has always been an excellent if somewhat eclectic director. Although I have enjoyed his previous efforts, I was somewhat apprehensive when I heard he was undertaking a film biography of Harvey Milk. A gay figure of this importance, I thought, should be handled by someone a little more mainstream. Like many gay people, I am weary of gay-themed films that reach no one beyond a gay audience, and the message I would want to emerge from a film about Harvey Milk should be heard by everyone.

As if reading my mind, Mr. Van Sant has fashioned a film that is accessible to all, while approaching his subject with sharp focus and a singleness of purpose that is at once definitive and topical. A stunning achievement, MILK manages to make its point without ever being preachy or trite, while remaining as true to the facts as any film bio could ever hope to be.

The film opens with snippets of gay history that many young gay people, let alone a straight audience, may be shocked to discover. During the opening credits, a barrage of vintage film clips remind us that a scant 50 years ago, gay men, lesbians and transsexuals were subjected to violence, harassment, physical abuse, arrest and humiliation by the very people that most citizens look to for protection; i.e. the police and judicial authorities. The newsreel images of gay bar raids that open MILK project a surreal yet somehow eerily familiar atmosphere that seems to alternate between the bizarre and the barbaric. Many people today are not aware that, in the 1940's and 1950's, right here in the USA, gay people were arrested for simply patronizing a gay bar (newspaper headline: "Den of Perverts Busted"). Many of those arrested had their names and employers published in the morning paper (!), and often found themselves unemployed and unemployable, branded with the label of "deviate". It is this chilling fact of social injustice that clears the way for the film's swing into a very important piece of gay history.

Skillfully telling us the story of Milk's rise as a leader in the Castro Gay Community of San Francisco, Harvey Milk is seen throughout the film as a living, breathing flesh and blood person. Van Sant adroitly propels Sean Penn through a warts-and-all portrayal of a frail human being with an idealistic bent and a politician's savvy. As with any good film, it is difficult, if not impossible, to discern which is more impressive - the balance of a perfect cast and lovingly detailed direction weave their way through a seamless portrait of an important historical figure, yet we are somberly reminded that many people remember Harvey Milk solely for the "Twinkie" defense of his star-crossed killer. The end result is that gay audiences emerge from seeing this film with a sense of pride and purpose, while straight audiences leave with a better knowledge of who we (gay people) are, what we want, and what we are struggling for. By word of mouth I expected a thrilling cinematic experience; what I got was a surprisingly near-perfect motion picture and some of the best acting I've ever seen. I heartily recommend MILK to any straight person who wants to get a grasp on what the last 30 years of gay history were really all about, and any gay person who wants to feel good about themselves. MILK is a triumph. See it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant! March 13, 2009

By Ashley

Format:DVD

There's not much I can really add to the reviews that have already been given to this movie, so I'll simply echo its brilliance and importance and the way it grabs onto your attention, and your emotions, and never lets go. There is some amazing acting to be found here and no one over-acts or under-acts. Sean Penn was extremely deserving of his Oscar; I can't tell you how happy I was when his name was called, as when as when best original screenplay one the Oscar.

I really hope more people will give this movie a chance now that it's out on DVD. There are no more excuses to be made!

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars watered down 'milk' April 11, 2009

By Darryl K. Clark VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

i may be alone in my thoughts on this film. but before i get going, i want to say that i throughly enjoyed sean penn's work in this film. this performance is so thoroughly worked out and lived that it wipes out 'shanghai surprise'.

that said, i do not understand any praise given to gus van sant for doing the obvious. he has to be one of the most unimaginative directors in hollywood. and i feel the same way about the screenplay. when a film biography starts off flashing back, what's the point? why even try to tell a story, build climaxes? it's being done way too much and it's the easy way out. not to mention that the screenplay omits so much crucial information about the milk-moscone assasinations and just about anybody of color that may have been around the castro in the late 1960s and 1970s. the man that harvey kept calling 'tiger lily' (which wasn't funny after one time) and sylvester at the party just wasn't good enough.

if only the work had delved in to milk's failings more incisively besides some half-uttered remarks of self-awareness, if only he hadn't been portrayed as super-human because we know he wasn't and if only dan white's character had been portrayed with more impartiality. i'm surprised josh brolin got as much out of the man as written as he did.

the best thing about this film is that i want to see the documentary about harvey milk again. i hope that it will be made readily available so that those not so well-informed will have something more tangible and rich to think about when they think about harvey milk.