Goldie Hawn's giggly starmaking turn in a vintage TV series and one of her daughter's recent romantic comedies bookend the latest in DVD releases:
"The Best of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" (Rhino, 1968-70, not rated, $49.95, three discs). Fans old enough to remember this groundbreaking comedy-variety show know that it helped make stars of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin, and the comedy team of Dan Rowan & Dick Martin were the on-camera driving force. But it was perhaps most famous for its non-stop array of non-sequiturs and one-liners, along with satirical (and silly) political commentary on the times (flower-power, the Vietnam War, etc.).
Often the show's comic business was quite funny, and sometimes it was just off the wall. Some of the biggest stars in show business (and politics) appeared as guests, and many more would simply show up for a close-up, saying something goofy. Among those you'll see in this set are Cher, John Wayne, Jack Lemmon, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Jack Benny, Michael Caine and many more — including President Richard Nixon, famously saying, "Sock it to me."
The catch-phrases are oddly memorable — "You bet your sweet bippy," "Look that up in your Funk & Wagnall's," announcer Gary Owens' saying the show is from "beautiful downtown Burbank." As are the regular skits — the little old lady (Ruth Buzzi) on the park bench, hitting the dirty old man (Arte Johnson) with her purse, the cocktail party with go-go dancers in bikinis and slogans painted on their bodies.
This three-disc collection (in a clever box that replicates the series' "joke wall") is actually composed of six complete episodes from the 1968, '69 and '70 seasons (the show ran on NBC for five years), along with contemporary interviews with Owens, Buzzi and Johnson. The shows include Hawn's first, the first episode that saw Sammy Davis Jr. doing a "Here come da judge" skit and much more. (With optional laugh tracks!)
Yes, it's nostalgia. But it's also quite funny. And it's the first of what Rhino promises will be many in a series of such volumes. May the fickle finger of fate make it so.
Extras: Full frame, cast interviews, etc.
"What's Up, Doc?" (Warner, 1972, G. $19.99). If I were to make a list of movies I consider the funniest of all time, this would be in the top 10.
Director Peter Bogdanovich and stars Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal (along with a bevy of seasoned comic character actors) took on the daunting task of trying to create a hilarious homage to the 1930s screwball comedies of Howard Hawks ("Bringing Up Baby," "Ball of Fire"). And somehow they succeeded, with rapid-fire banter, classic slapstick situations and a great chase through San Francisco's Chinatown. (All three would try to do it again with various films over the next couple of decades, but they wouldn't even come close to the magic of this one.)
O'Neal is an absent-minded musicologist at a San Francisco convention with his fianc´ (the wonderful Madeline Kahn, in her first film). Streisand is a career student who's been kicked out of several colleges. When she spies O'Neal in a hotel, it's love at first sight — for her. He's just more and more confused. Throw in spies, jewel thieves, lookalike luggage and a bevy of loony characters (young Randy Quaid among them), and you have a gem of a farce.
This one just gets funnier with repeat viewings.
Extras: Widescreen, audio commentary (Bogdanovich at his anecdotal best), scene-specific commentary (Streisand), vintage making-of documentary, trailer, etc.
"I Love Lucy: Season One Volume Seven" (Paramount, 1952, b/w, not rated, $14.99).
"I Love Lucy: Season One Volume Eight" (Paramount, 1952, b/w, not rated, $14.99).
The real treat on these discs is the classic Vitameatavegimin routine in "Lucy Does a Commercial." It's still hilarious some 51 years later. Other episodes are also good, as Lucy is locked in a freezer, tries to stop gossiping and — in another classic — believes that she and Ricky aren't really married. (The language-translation scene is a riot.) Another wonderful pair of additions to the first-season DVDs.
Extras: Full frame, making-of documentary (Vol. 8), bloopers, special footage, production notes, "My Favorite Husband" Radio shows, etc.
"How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" (Paramount, 2003, PG-13, $29.99). Kate Hudson has a sparkling personality that serves her well in romantic comedies, and viewers of a certain age will be forgiven for recognizing that she has a lot of her mother, Goldie Hawn.
Sadly, just as Hawn spent much of her career making lame farces that wasted her talent, so is Hudson in danger of repeating that fate. Here's hoping she finds her own "Private Benjamin" soon.
Meanwhile, in "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," Hudson plays a magazine writer who excels at fluff but aspires to serious essays. (Maybe she should get together with Jim Carrey's "Bruce Almighty" character, who suffers from a similar plot device.) Hudson tackles the title story and picks Matthew McConaughey as her target, unaware that he has also picked her as the object of a bet about whether he can make a woman fall in love with him during the same 10-day period.
The film is far too contrived, calculated and mean-spirited; worse, it's just not funny.
Next up for Hudson is the Merchant-Ivory romantic comedy "Le Divorce"; cross your fingers.
Extras: Widescreen, audio commentary, making-of documentaries, deleted scenes, music video, etc.
E-MAIL: hicks@desnews.com