Customer Reviews

Story of Jim Jones - Guyana Tragedy

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The above reviewer lambastes the DVD quality. I bought this anyway. Although a far cry from hi def, the video was more than watchable. The movie itself is so riveting the you get lost in it and don't notice any flaws in the DVD. Powers Boothe gives a performance of a lifetime (although just about everything he does is a performance of a lifetime). It is impossible to watch this without being touched deeply.
Aristotle said that the purpose of tragedy is to produce a catharsis in the viewer. This movie does that and then some.

This is an excellent movie. However, the quality of the video is questionable, with bits of specks and those "cue blips" in the upper right corner of your screen (color is not bad, but needs to be touched up). The audio sounds okay, but it could use a remastering. Actually both the video and audio need to be cleaned up so that it will look and sound a lot better. This movie is worth watching, though, and you get so into the movie that you just tune out the visual imperfections. My mom and I have this movie on a VHS tape that we recorded from Encore's Movie Plex channel some years ago on LP mode, and the picture and sound quality is sharper. A+ for an excellent movie and the actors, but the quality of the picture and sound get a C+. To whoever released this movie, please work on improving the sound and picture.

This is a made for TV movie true story of a preacher that had a cult following that later committed mass suicide by drinking what everyone thinks was purple cyanide-laced Kool-Aid but it was actually a brand called Flavor-Aid.

To this day you might here someone say something like "He's drinking the purple Kool-Aid" when talking about a blind following of another person's sayings or teachings.

This might be the reason the Kool-Aid man is red and not purple. You have to feel sorry for Kool-Aid. It wasn't even their product in the movie or real life!

Made for TV in the late 70s early 80s three-channel days was in many ways much less restrictive that it is today. The N-word and F-word (the three-letter one) are used in serious context several times.

This was a powerful TV broadcast in its time. Right up there with "Roots". Powers Boothe looked exactly like the real Jim Jones when he put those sun glasses on.

Had Powers Boothe chosen to use his powers for evil instead of good he could have had the same cult church following. To say Powers Boothe was convincing in the role of Jim Jones is an understatement. He was Jim Jones. Boothe won an Emmy Award for this. He deserved to win every TV and movie award out there.

The 2008 DVD release from Alpha Home Entertainment is the most horrible quality DVD I have ever bought. It's also edited and missing SIX-MINUTES of content. It's dollar store DVD quality.

I also own the 1986 unedited release from VCII Home Video and its a much cleaner and brighter copy of the film on two VHS tapes that runs the full 3-hours and 10-minutes. Watch that version if you can find it.

This was one of the first shows I had kept on vidio, and was so glad to see it available on DVD. Powers Booth was simply amazing, as was the rest of the cast and entire production. For its age, the quality is as good as one might expect. Still much better then a VHS at 6 hour speed.

I watch the movie and it was good. But they need to remaster this DVD again because the picture is not quite right. It shows good but the picture looks like it is been bootlegg. I admit i love this movie and at the end it was sad the way jim jones had tricked them and used them. Not to mention physically abused them. Also having sex with under aged women. Plus he is a coward to, and i can't believe they looked up to that peice of trash that claimed himself that he is god. Now that is disgusting. The movie is great, but this DVD needs a lot of work. I'm only giving it 4 stars because of the movie itself and not DVD meterial. Thanks Amazon!


Dee Smalls
Decatur GA.

This movie has been re-released about 4x now and each time the quality of the DVD is terrible. I don't know why it cannot be remastered and then released, it would do really well if it was as this is an excellent movie.

Buyer should beware that the quality of this DVD is terrible. The sound is very muffled and the video is terrible with many jumps and gaps. It looks like someone taped it off of TV and then let the tape sit in the basement for 30 years. I can't emphasize enough how awful the quality of this DVD is.

This is a tough one to rate. The movie is fantastic. The DVD quality is poor.

Powers Booth stars as Jim Jones, the People's Temple cult leader who lead his followers to commit murder and mass suicide in the late 1970's. Casting is excellent, as is the portrayal of Jone's rise and ultimate fall in his self-made Guyana jungle community named Jonestown.

My only complaint is with the quality of the DVD. Nothing has been digitally remastered. It's as if a novice recorded the TV-run program onto a DVD. The colors are faded and the sound slightly muted. There are white streaks and snow throughout.

There are no extra feature bonuses, no behind-the-scene interviews, nothing we've come to expect on DVDs.

Despite the poor DVD quality, this gripping movie is sure to keep the viewer spellbound. Were I rating only the movie I would give it five stars.

the movie was just as good as the first time i saw it powers booth does a great job portraying a crazy man

Yes, per previous viewers, the quality is not good, but I had no problems with visual or sound. The story is a good one and you will have no problem viewing this video. Its a good story and one everyone should see. I didnt have to "turn up the volume" or sit close to the TV. its more like a home movie but again, you will no problems viewing this video and getting the full impact of this tragic story.