A few months ago, I was hoping that Stan & Ollie would be playing in local theaters in Gallup, New Mexico. Unfortunately, it never did, so I resigned myself to wait for the movie to come out on DVD/Blu-ray.
My Blu-ray of Stan & Ollie (along with a 10-disc collection of "essential" Laurel and Hardy films) arrived in today's mail.
I just finished watching it and the extras. My verdict: the wait was worth it!
Not since Martin Landau portrayed an aging Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood has two actors became past stars of the screen with such perfection. Steve Coogan (as Stan Laurel) and John C. Reilly (as Oliver Hardy) performed their roles flawlessly. I could not find anything to fault them with (not that I was looking for any). Their performances along with excellent make-up work transformed them as Stan and Ollie. They even got their voices down excellently.
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| Above, the videos that arrived today. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
The movie takes place in 1952 when the aging comedy team went to the United Kingdom on a theatrical personal appearance tour and to do a promised movie. The movie deal fell through and Oliver Hardy came down ill with a mild heart attack. This was the "last hurrah" for the team.
It was a crime that neither Coogan and Reilly won Academy Awards for their performances. They deserved it as much as, and maybe even more so, than Martin Landau did for Ed Wood. And Landau deservedly won his Oscar.
One nice touch came during the final credits. Clips of the real Laurel & Hardy were shown as the credits rolled.
My grade: A+.
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