Good news. They confirmed that they have the money and will be getting my unit to me shortly. Still so anxious though.

Be sure to rent it (if possible, European edition, American was considerably watered down).

Well, even the ones you rent are the European editions. The "American" edition you refer to was a re-edit (not by Terry) for broadcast television that had a "happy" ending. That one is actually pretty hard to find (thank goodness).

The best way to see it is via the Criterion Collection DVD release. It's a 3-disc set, and it includes both Terry's original edit, and the broadcast television edit that Terry had nothing to do with.

The hero is a small wheel in some kind of cross botween Kafka's Process, Orwell's 1984 and a satire on contemporary bureaucracy. Due to computer error he becomes prosecuted, and is helped by a guerilla plumber...

... played in a cameo role by Robert DeNiro: "Remember, we're all in this together."

Actually, to clarify, the hero is a clerk who discovers the error after the victim of the error is already dead. It turns out that the very person they were trying to prosecute is the guerilla plumber. The error comes up because of a typo: the last name "Buttle" gets swapped for "Tuttle", and a man loses his life because of it. I have a co-worker named Tuttle who's never seen the film, and has been queried by more than one Gilliam fan about it.

There's a neat commentary track by Gilliam on the Criterion DVD. He describes how he originally wanted that "typo" at the beginning of the film to come about. His vision was to have a huge special effects shot of a tiny beetle in the Brazilian rain forest. The beetle is disturbed by these huge machines which gobble up the trees. The camera follows the beetle into the air, while it flies by the factory which processes the trees into paper. Then it follows the paper to where it's turned into a printed newspaper. Then the newspaper is delivered to the office where the teletype machine is running. The beetle flies into the office, where a man kills it with the newspaper, it falls into the teletype machine, and the typo is generated. Only the very last part actually made it into production (they didn't have the budget for that special effects shot).

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Tony Fabris

The best way to see it is via the Criterion Collection DVD release. It's a 3-disc set, and it includes both Terry's original edit, and the broadcast television edit that Terry had nothing to do with.

Thanks for the pointer. It's on its way from amazon.com.

Cheers!

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
Q#5196, MkII#80000376, 18GB green

Thanks for the pointer. It's on its way from amazon.com.

You did get the Criterion release, right? There's a standard DVD release as well that's not the special 3-disc set. Assuming you got the right one, definitely check out the commentary track by Gilliam. Very interesting.

My only complaint about both DVD releases is that they're not anamorphic.

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Tony Fabris

"The "American" edition you refer to was a re-edit (not by Terry) for broadcast television that had a "happy" ending."

If I may just Geek-out here for a second. This is not entirely true. There was the "love conquers all" version made for TV, that had a happy ending. But there was as well an American theatrical release version that was only subtly different than the UK version. Namely the credits with Sam fading into the clouds at the end... Oh, and the "My God, it works" punchline. I bought the Criterion Collection version of Brazil (possibly my favorite movie ever) and have to agree. It's a must for any fan.

In fact the clincher for me was in the inclusion of the "love conquers all" disc. In college, I had a small party to celebrte the airing of my favorite movie on broadcast TV. Imagine my horror to discover that not only was it edited for TV, they added huge sections of plot! Changing the whole story! Arggg!

For years afterwards I was livid over that. Many I have told of this attrocity, but few have witnessed it. Now, thanks to Criterion, I have 3 DVD's of Brazil history... The only thing that would have made this collection better would be the inclusion of the US theatrical release version, but perhaps that would have been overkill...

Now if they would just start releasing the David Lynch catalogue...

{/geek-out}

Brian H. Johnson
MK2 36GB Blue
"Soy un perdedor..."

You did get the Criterion release, right? There's a standard DVD release as well that's not the special 3-disc set.

Yes, you mean this one, right?

Assuming you got the right one, definitely check out the commentary track by Gilliam. Very interesting.

Of course, that's why I bought it (at $52 including standard shiping). 'The 'ordinary' one is available in my local video store.

Cheers!

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
Q#5196, MkII#80000376, 18GB green

Funny that so many people here are also Brazil nuts. Wonder what makes so many geeks fans of Gilliam-esque movies... Have you guys checked out Caro and Jeunet's catalog as well? They made movies like "City of Lost Children" or "La Cité des enfants perdus" and "Delicatessen". Very Gilliam-esque (visual in that sort of way).

If you haven't, I recommend it.

- Jon

Have you guys checked out Caro and Jeunet's catalog as well? They made movies like "City of Lost Children" or "La Cité des enfants perdus" and "Delicatessen". Very Gilliam-esque (visual in that sort of way).

By all means! However, as in music, my cinematographical tastes are quite ecclectic. Pitty we will have to wait several years for storage to grow large and cheap enough for video version of some of empeg's OEM projects...

Cheers!

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
Q#5196, MkII#80000376, 18GB green

Yes, you mean this one, right? ...Of course, that's why I bought it (at $52 including standard shiping). 'The 'ordinary' one is available in my local video store.

Yup, that's the one. Among the first things I bought to go with my DVD player.

From the other tangent on this thread: I haven't stumbled across "City of Lost Children" in a video store yet, I may just have to break down and order it from Amazon. Being a Gilliam fan, I'm very interested in seeing it.

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Tony Fabris

Ok, this thread has taken a serious tangent, but I have one more recommendation... NETFLIX!!!

Nuf' said.

- Jon

no kidding.... i never thought my post would turn into this!

Good news is I got my Empeg. Now the fun!