Product Details

• Actors: Ed Begley Jr., Dana Carvey, Jean Cromie, Chazz Dominguez, Fran Drescher
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: September 12, 2000
• Run Time: 83 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (385 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305922748
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,691 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Director Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) solemnly alerts us to the glory that was Spinal Tap in his introduction to this "rockumentary" about the legendary British heavy-metal group, featuring lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), lead singer David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), and a succession of drummers whose careers were cut short by spontaneously combusting on their stool, drowning in somebody else's vomit, or otherwise perishing in untimely fashion. Under DiBergi's studious interrogation, the band and their familiars retrace the band's evolution from head-bopping Mersey Beat poseurs to head-banging metal poseurs, each change in musical direction or tonsorial chic having little effect on the surviving trio's sublime idiocy. For, as St. Hubbins (he's the "deep" one, relatively speaking) sagely observes, "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever."

Happily for us, director Reiner, who developed the underlying story line with Guest and former Credibility Gap pranksters McKean and Shearer, stays squarely on the right side of the line, even as his writer-actors remain hilariously trapped on the other side. In lieu of a formal shooting script, the quartet created an extensive and detailed band history ripe with the sort of dead-pan detail that hard-core rock historians and screwball aficionados will savor on countless replays; with the three Tap members also musicians themselves, the "band" developed its stage act under the unsuspecting noses of L.A. club denizens, who accepted them as just as loud, flashy, sexist, and obvious as any other mullet-tressed, leather-garbed brigade of guitar slingers, circa 1984. The resulting footage thus manages to lob its punch lines and build its characters (including some thinly veiled character assassinations of various industry folks) with a loose, tossed-away verve rooted in the improvisational approach. This Is Spinal Tap remains the funniest, and most truthful, look at rock culture ever filmed and a personal best for all involved. --Sam Sutherland

Product Description

You're about to get personal with one of music history's greatest and loudest heavy metal bands, Spinal Tap! Whether or not you're a die-hard fan of the group, you'll love this detailed "rockumentary" of Engand's legendary Spinal Tap. Acclaimed commercial director Marty DiBergi takes you behind the scenes for an intimate look at a band whose time has come and gone and come again and.... Through interviews, rare footage and lots of musicincluding classic Tap tunes like "Big Bottom" and "Hell Hole"you'll get acquainted with David St. Hubbins (lead guitar), Nigel Tufnel (lead guitar), Derek Smalls (lead bass) and every drummer who ever livedand diedfor this renowned rock band. Be a part of the sights, sounds and smells of this celebrated heavy metal phenomenon. It's an experience you'll never forget.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

206 of 223 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Criterion does it again., January 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: This Is Spinal Tap - Criterion Collection (DVD)

Just about anybody reading this review has probably seen "This is Spinal Tap" as many times as the band has changed drummers. What you really want to know is whether the DVD extras are worth the price. YES. Theatrical trailers about cheese rolling festivals, David St. Hubbins with strait hair in an early short that eventually evolved into the film, Rob Reiner begging people to show the movie in their theaters, deleted scenes that develop and explain the cold sores the band keeps ending up with, and the bloody demise of Janine (well, we can dream can't we?) all this and more can be yours for the low low price of...whatever. Anyway, if you're a Tap fan and you've got a DVD player, get this disc. If you're a Tap fan and you've got this disc, get a DVD player. If you're a Tap fan without the disc or a DVD player, talk your rich buddy with all the cool home theater equipment into buying this disc, then watch it at his place and eat all the potato chips in the house. If you're not a Tap fan, you can get a copy of "The Sound of Music" around here somewhere, I'm pretty sure. I've always thought of Derrick Smalls as kind of a short hairy version of Julie Andrews anyway.

83 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mime is money!, February 4, 2001

By	Lynwood E. Hines (Saint George, SC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: This Is Spinal Tap (Special Edition) (DVD)

Superb (m/r)ockumentary of the semi-fictitious band "Spinal Tap", made up of Michael McKean ("Lenny", soul mate of Squigy, on the TV series "Laverne & Shirley"), Christopher Guest (actor/director of "Waiting for Guffman"), Harry Shearer (performs voices of 22 different characters on "The Simpsons"), and a random selection of ever-changing drummers. The movie is a tongue-in-cheek parody of washed-up hard rock bands that still think they are God's gift to the universe. The inspired idiocy borders on genius at times, lending weight to Michael's observation that there is a "fine line between stupid and clever".

The DVD is simply amazing. For starters, everything is in character. From the style of the main menu title screen, to the menu voice-overs by the band, and extending through all of the extra material included on the DVD, the personas of the band (and the fictitious director as well) are maintained with perfect consistency.

What makes this all the more amazing is the shear quantity of extras on the disk. For starters, there is about an hour of "deleted" scenes provided. In addition, there are numerous music videos, TV commercials (fake I presume???), and trailers. And as if that weren't enough, there is also a commentary track throughout the entire film with the band members, completely in character, being as hilariously idiotic as they are in the film. The Spinal Tap commentary track is easily the most entertaining commentary in my extensive DVD library.

The DVD medium is put to splendid use as well. Menu transitions are computer animations inspired by some of the film's funniest moments. Each menu plays a different "Tap" song, giving you access to a decent percentage of the sound track. And, just as importantly, the animations are not overdone; the menus are still easy to use, and the transitions only take a few seconds.

Overall, this DVD is a great value, and provides a vast amount of material not available in the VHS version. If you are a Tap fan, or would like to be, you NEED this DVD!

Movie
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Originality: A
Creativity: A
Complexity/Depth: B-
Relevance/Message: B
Artistic Merit: A
Overall Entertainment Value: A

DVD
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Transfer Quality: A
Extras: A+
Use of Medium: A

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I have watched many DVD's, but this one takes the cake., October 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: This Is Spinal Tap - Criterion Collection (DVD)

Not only one of the funniest films ever, but the best "mockumentary" about rock'n roll ever made. Every rock band in the world, whether famous or not, will have at one time or another, quoted a line out of "Tap" & got a giggle during rehearsals. The DVD is another story. A dream for all Spinal Tap freaks. Not just commentary by the band AND the director AND hillarious trailers AND the Hell Hole video AND the famous 20 minute "demo" of the movie BUT ALSO over an hour of unbelievable outtakes!!!!! Never has there been a DVD of such quantity & quality. ALL DVD's should be put together like this. Mrs Presley!?