Product Details

• Actors: T.K. Carter, Khandi Alexander, Sean Nelson, Clarke Peters, Glenn Plummer
• Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: HBO Video
• DVD Release Date: July 22, 2003
• Run Time: 360 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00009ATJZ
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,271 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #13 in	Movies & TV > Television > HBO > HBO Films
  #25 in	Movies & TV > African American Cinema
  #53 in	Movies & TV > Television > Miniseries

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The bleak reality of drug addiction is captured with unflinching authenticity in The Corner, an excellent, reality-based HBO miniseries. Having lived on the streets of West Baltimore, Maryland, where this compelling drama takes place, actor-director Charles S. Dutton knows the territory, physically, socially, and emotionally, and his compassionate approach is vital to the series' success. Dutton cares for his characters deeply enough to give them a realistic shred of hope, even when hope is consistently dashed by the ravages of addiction. This is, at its root, a family tragedy, focusing on errant father Gary (T.K. Carter, in a heartbreaking performance) a once-successful investor trapped in a tailspin of heroin dependency. His estranged wife Fran (Khandi Alexander) was the first to get hooked, and she's struggling to get clean, while their 15-year-old son DeAndre (Sean Nelson, from the indie hit Fresh) deals drugs, temporarily avoiding their deadly allure while facing the challenge of premature fatherhood.

Through revealing flashbacks and numerous local characters, we see the explicit fallout of addiction, and while violence occasionally erupts, its constant threat is secondary to Dutton's dramatic vision, which remains steadfastly alert to the humanity and neglected potential of these lost and searching souls. The Corner is, essentially, the civilian flipside of HBO's equally laudable series The Wire, which approaches a similar neighborhood from a police-squad perspective. Performances are uniformly superb, details are uncannily perfect, and for all of its human horror, The Corner is riveting, not depressing. A closing interview with the characters' real-life counterparts bears witness to the fact that these lives--with inevitable exceptions--need not be lost forever. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description
The Corner presents the world of Fayette Street using real names and real events. The miniseries tells the true story of men women and children living amid the open-air drug markets of West Baltimore. It chronicles a year in the lives of 15-year-old DeAndre McCullough his mother Fran Boyd and his father Gary McCullough as well as other addicts and low-level drug dealers caught up in the twin-engine economy of heroin and cocaine. HBO(R) original Miniseries 6 one-hour episodes: 1. Gary's Blues 2. DeAndre's Blues 3. Fran's Blues 4. Dope Fiend Blues 5. Corner Boy Blues 6. Everyman's BluesRunning Time: 360 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 026359908224

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HBO Has it Together -- THE CORNER is a Masterpiece, October 8, 2006

By	Birdman (Minnetonka, MN USA) - See all my reviews

Before viewing this miniseries, I had only read the book (of the same name) by David Simon and Edward Burns published in 1997. Still, the world of decaying neighborhoods, the havoc of street drugs and hopelessness among the disadvantaged has deepened in the Bush era. It took an ingenious director like Charles Dutton to recount one family's troubled history gripping miniseries that doesn't miss a beat. And he's selected a cast of relative unknowns who assume their roles with dead-on realism

The film follows a year in the life of one impoverished family against the backdrop of their neighborhood during the 1990's a drug-ridden quarter-mile from Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Dutton, like Simon and Burns, dwells on the humanity of his cxharacters and the universal themes of their day-to-day struggles. You needn't have been an alcoholic or drug addict to enter the hearts of these people or understand how they swing between hope and hopelessness.

As political commentary, THE CORNER couldn't be more timely, especially in its grasp of urban education, inner city commmunties, underage pareenthood and America's Dickensian juvenile justice system. Viewing what these potentially gifted people endure, viewers may ask how many good people we discard because of our cultural myopia, institutional racism and apathy.

The core performance here is T.K. Dutton's "Gary" -- the father of his broken family. The ways in which he struggles to overcome present shame in light of past success is something most of us will recognize -- race aside -- if not today, then tomorrow.

There is no score to speak of except for Corey Harris's blues track which occurs on splash screens and during the credits for each of six episodes. Dutton frames each episode with interviews of different principal characters to evoke the feel of a documentary, and he more than succeeds.

Dutton understands the lives of these characters because he grew up in their neighnorhood and experienced first-hand the dissolution of life on these corners -- where red tops and spider bags are the basis of life and death. He knows that the pain of addiction is potent, but not always as devastating as the cruelties of the real world "clean."

Every facet of this production suggests HBO should rebroadcast THE CORNER on its tenth anniversary. You wil laugh, weep, wince and cheer; and when it's over, you will hate to leave these good people.

While there are segments that are bleak, Dutton didn't intend to shock. He wanted to remind us that these men and women are fully human, and that --like Gary-- we have the potential to stumble, too. We might be doomed to the Corner but for the grace of God.

Five glowing stars for the DVD set -- and the book on which it's based.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An honest to goodness Masterpiece!, July 31, 2003

By	Phil T. Miller "Phil" (Midland, MI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Seldom do you find a film that makes you feel as close to the characters as this one does. If I could put into words the range of emotion you will feel when viewing this series, you would purchase this set without hesitation.

Though it is true that this is not for everyone, those who can deal with the harshest realities of life will be blown away by the gritty "in your face" approach of this Mini-Series. You will find yourself hoping with all your heart that Gary or Fran will "straighten up" and get it together, only to realize that they are not pillars of strength and are sometimes doomed to fail, even before they start. The most disappointing thing about the series is that it ends. As you progress through the episodes you will gradually begin to dread the inevitable end, and it will leave you hungry for more.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent! It's about time., June 18, 2003

By	Tanisha Ross "tink32" (chicago,IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Like others reviewing this film I have been waiting a long time for this to be released and to have it come out on dvd is a real treat.This is the best depiction of in the hood drug addiction I have ever seen.It's real and not commercialized like Hollywood urban films are.It's not about gangs and thugs shooting each other up. It's about going against the odds and making the best out of the life that was given to us.I see this as an important document that makes you think and feel what it is like to be bound by addiction in more ways than one.Masterfully directed, there's something here for everyone to relate to.You don't have to be Black,you don't have to live in the hood, being human is enough to understand everything that goes on in this film.Very entertaining.