DVD Report

''Risky Business'' Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay on a Chicago El train in a scene from the movie.

New Releases | Tom Russo

'Risky' mix of teen comedy and hypnotic sensuality

In checking out the new 25th anniversary reissue of "Risky Business" (1983), you won't find the most succinct take on the film's staying power coming from Tom Cruise or Rebecca De Mornay or writer-director Paul Brickman. It's actually Bronson Pinchot, the junior accountant to Cruise's junior entrepreneur, who notes, "It may have been about teenagers, but you don't look at it and say, 'That's a movie for 17-year-olds.' " Brickman's storytelling is still impressive in its ability to mix youth-resonating touches like Cruise's tighty-whitey boogie-down with the universally hypnotic sensuality of his physical encounters with De Mornay. (How many teen comedies can silence a room like that El scene, or even aspire to?) In a new commentary track, Cruise, Brickman, and producer Jon Avnet reflect on their delicate balancing of sexuality and humor. "Even the marketing was a struggle," says Brickman, recalling a poster concept with a caricatured Cruise in bed, surrounded by girls and getting showered with money. Brickman's memo to marketing: "You're still thinking 'Porky's' here." Cruise modestly attributes the underwear scene's iconic quality to its truthfulness, while at another point, Avnet and Brickman quiz him about whether the character of Jerry Maguire was in some sense "Risky's" Joel grown to adulthood. Not coincidentally, a half-hour retrospective features interview bits with "Jerry Maguire" director Cameron Crowe and other devotees in addition to the cast and crew. For a look at how early the chemistry clicked between Cruise and De Mornay, check out a 15-minute screen test segment, with Cruise still sporting his beefy physique and flawed smile from "The Outsiders." And a director's cut of the film's final scene dispenses with the studio-mandated banter that has always rankled Brickman, instead keeping the dialogue as coolly minimalist as a pair of Ray-Bans. (Warner, $19.97; Blu-ray, $28.99)

"GIGI" (1958)

In a turn-of-the-century world that expects her to have only one sort of relationship with Parisian millionaire Louis Jordan, mistress-to-be Leslie Caron yearns for true love. Vincente Minnelli's Oscars-ruling musical remains amazingly endearing for a story with a prostitution theme, despite the way Maurice Chevalier's signature "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" has dated - creepily. Caron's debut opposite Gene Kelly in "An American in Paris," also directed by Minnelli, gets a companion release.

Extras: Caron supplies new commentary and interview material on each disc. A highlight: She remembers confronting "Gigi" producer Arthur Freed about dubbing her singing, only for Freed to leave her waiting in his office while he hightailed it home. "But it's true," she says diplomatically, "it's a very unprofessional voice." (Warner, $20.97 each)

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS" (1982)

As a meditation on the vagaries of celebrity, this early Diane Lane flick comes across as a few kernels of hard truth wrapped in a popcorn ball of silliness. The divertingly unpolished story casts Lane, Laura Dern, and Marin Kanter as a small-town, all-girl punk band whose skunk-streak dye jobs and '80s stagewear catapult them to cult status they can't sustain. The movie will get your attention with Lane's sneering, and keep it with camp moments such as her post-flameout walk of shame from a newsroom interview - in black briefs and fishnets. Members of the Sex Pistols and the Clash play a punk act on the same bill.

Extras: Commentary by Lane and Dern, along with another track by director Lou Adler ("Up in Smoke"). (Rhino, $19.95)

"NOISE" (2008)

Indie filmmaker Henry Bean ("The Believer") manages to spin a clear pet peeve into an entire feature with his story of a New York family man (Tim Robbins) whose obsession with silencing car alarms turns him into a vigilante vandal ("The Rectifier," to tabloid readers). Given the subject matter, Bean strives harder than necessary for added idiosyncrasy - Hegel and Odysseus references? Really? - but Robbins is well cast, and there's also the sidelight of William Hurt sporting red hair and a bad accent as a Giuliani-esque mayor.

Extras: Commentary by Bean; cast and crew interviews. (Anchor Bay, $26.97)

Documentary DVD | Ty Burr

A rebellious spirit fuels 'Young at Heart'

The premise of "Young@Heart" sounds much too cute to tolerate. A documentary about a choir of old-timers bashing out rock songs like the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated"? Good for a quick horselaugh on YouTube, maybe. Yet the film's a delight - a paean to harnessing punk's energy to rage and dancing against the dying of the light. Director Stephen Walker trains his camera on the Young@Heart Chorus of Northampton, an organization started by choir director Bob Cilman in 1982 as a way to give the members of an elderly housing project something to do. Somewhere along the way the puckish Cilman started introducing rock classics to the mix. "After 'Do Wah Diddy Diddy,' things weren't the same," he deadpans. The movie follows the preparations for a 2006-07 tour of New England, the West Coast, and Ireland. Cilman introduces the new material: Sonic Youth's "Schizophrenia," the Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime," Allen Toussaint's "Yes We Can Can." The choir's expressions say it all: shock, confusion, and a lust for challenge. Cilman has his hands full. There are pockets of rebellion, as in high school. The movie fans out into the choir members' lives with friendly curiosity, nosing in as the men and women struggle and gripe and tease each other. The difficulties of aging - let alone aging with grace - are never glossed. The humor is scraped clean of self-pity.

"Young@Heart" is sloppily made at times and it comes close to wearing out its welcome, but you can't blame Walker for not wanting to let his subjects go. And as the movie progresses, a viewer begins to understand why: These people are literally singing for their lives. Suddenly the trite lyrics of "Fix You" ache with portent: "When you try your best, but you don't succeed/ When you get what you want, but not what you need/ When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep/ Stuck in reverse."

Against such every mournful moment, though, is a scornful laugh. Late in the film, after the choir has heard some tragic news, they perform Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" in the yard of a minimum-security prison. The scene boomerangs beyond metaphor and back into real life; singers and convicts alike seem to access what's happening at every level. In "Young@Heart," the prison is old age, and every song's a jailbreak.

Extras: Deleted scenes, music videos, featurettes. (Fox, $27.98)

Documentary DVD | Ty Burr

The contradictions of David Lynch

"Lynch (one)" may be the documentary David Lynch (above) wants, but I'm not sure it's the one he or we deserve. Made by someone who calls himself blackANDwhite, a longtime member of the director's inner circle who prefers to remain pseudonymous (it's not Lynch), the film's definitely worth a look if you've followed the maverick filmmaker on his termite's path through the pop-culture consciousness. Even die-hard fans, though, may want more than this movie is willing to give.

Shot in a baker's dozen of film stocks, digital styles, focal planes, and color schemes, the movie captures Lynch at random moments leading up to and surrounding the filming of 2006's "Inland Empire." Lynch is an American original, at times a surrealist twin of Gary Cooper: rangy and confident, a cigarette forever dangling from his lips. The anecdotes he relates always have a dark undertow, like a description of his idyllic hometown that ends with an infestation of red ants.

Despite his public persona of a folksy genius, the documentary gives us just enough glimpses of the director in action to reveal a surprisingly harsh on-set taskmaster, with the impatience of an artist, the command of a born leader, and a pungent vocabulary at odds with his devotion to Transcendental Meditation. "Lynch (one)" exposes these contradictions without investigating them, perhaps not wanting to displease the boss. This is the first in a planned trilogy about the director; maybe blackANDwhite is saving the big picture for later. (Absurda, $29.95)

ALSO THIS WEEK

"MADE OF HONOR" (2008)

Patrick Dempsey finds himself asked to be (how progressive!) maid of honor for best pal Michelle Monaghan, but grappling with his newfound feelings for her. Pleasant, but hardly the "Grey's" moonlighting gig that "Enchanted" was.

Extras: Filmmaker commentary. (Sony, $28.96; Blu-ray, $38.96)

"SNOW ANGELS" (2008)

Writer-director David Gordon Green ("Undertow") finds endless sources of small-town drama in the lives of an awkward high schooler (Michael Angarano, "24") and the troubled adults all around him, including waitress Kate Beckinsale and ne'er-do-well husband Sam Rockwell. (Warner, $28.98)

"THE LOVE GURU" (2008)

Mike Myers struggles to stay relevant as a caricature of Chopra-esque self-help experts. Justin Timberlake does better as a Quebecois hockey stud. No wonder there's already talk of an "Austin Powers 4."

Extras: Featurettes; outtakes. (Paramount, $26.99; two-disc version, $36.99; Blu-ray, $39.99)

"SPEED RACER" (2008)

The DVD parade of summer movie misfires officially gets underway with the Wachowski Brothers' hyperactivation of the Japanese cartoon import. The computer-generated effects don't feel dazzling so much as relentless, running right over a cast that includes Emile Hirsch and Matthew Fox.

Extras: Production featurettes. (Warner, $28.98; Blu-ray, $35.99)

REISSUE

"THE MAN ON THE EIFFEL TOWER" (1949)

Is '40s noir technically still noir when it was shot in vintage-postcard color? Or when it plays out in the City of Lights? No matter, dogged inspector Charles Laughton and gentleman psycho Franchot Tone play an entertaining game of cat and mouse. (Kino, $19.95)

FOREIGN

"THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE. . ." (1953)

French director Max Ophuls's visually ambitious classic follows the unanticipated consequences of Danielle Darrieux's thoughtless decision to sell the earrings given to her by husband Charles Boyer. Ophuls's "La Ronde" (1950) and "Le Plaisir" (1952) are also reissued.

Extras: Film scholar commentary; interviews with Ophuls collaborators. (Criterion, $39.95 each)

TELEVISION

"THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR": THE BEST OF SEASON 3 (1968-69)

Tom and Dick get political as they push the boundaries of the '60s variety show format - further than anyone even realized, as shown by this set's assortment of originally censored segments.

Extras: On-camera intros by Tom and Dick, and audio perspectives by Tom; unaired Robert F. Kennedy appearance; much more. (Time Life, $49.95)

"PETER COOK AND DUDLEY MOORE:

THE BEST OF WHAT'S LEFT OF 'NOT

ONLY. . . BUT ALSO. . .' " (1965-70)

Moore and Cook ("Bedazzled") ad-lib their way through this early sketch comedy showcase, only partially salvaged from the BBC archives.

Extras: Retrospective featurette. (BBC Video, $24.98)

Capsules are written by Tom Russo and titles are in stores Tuesday unless otherwise specified.