Claudine
by John Berry
List Price:
Our Price: $4.28
You Save: $5.70 (57%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.97 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: David Kruger, Diahann Carroll, James Earl Jones, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Tamu BlackwellDirector: John Berry
Brand: Fox
Cinematographer: Gayne Rescher
Editor: Louis San Andres
Producer: Dick Di Bona
Producer: Hannah Weinstein
Producer: J. Lloyd Grant
Writer: Lester Pine
Writer: Tina Pine
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 92 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-01-14
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of Claudine
DVD Review: Great idea for a movie, if someone ever really makes it
Summary: 3 Stars
I collect blaxploitation films because I enjoy the messages they portray. I realize the filmmakers were trying to make money, but many were also trying to be "gritty" and "raw" and "honest" about depicting what was happening in the black community in the 1970's. When a film really does that, you can enjoy and learn from it even when it displays negative messages...because we all walk away realizing something should be changed. That said--and admitting that Claudine was obviously seeking to be that kind of movie, lancing at the welfare system for being inefficient and standing in the way of true love--here's why it isn't successful at being that kind of movie, even after trying so hard to be:
The love story, as one reviewer has already pointed out, moves way too fast. It's too easy to slip into feeling like, "so THAT's why this lady has 6 kids by 4 fathers; bucket of chicken, bottle of wine, that's all it takes." If we want to feel compassion for her, that she's doing all she can, we need to see her with some self-control in this area too. We know she has some; she gets herself up and goes secretly to work as a maid each morning. I know what goes on between adults, but if it had gone on a little later, I could respect her struggle a little more and not feel quite as much like she brought a lot of her trouble on herself.
The language is gratuitously obscene. I'm not a prude, but cursing in movies is placed there to indicate strong emotion in a scene. Great, fine. But that many times in a row in some of the scenes? Okay, OKAY, I get it, strong emotion...now, stop cussing each other out and give me some dialogue that moves the story along. If all you have is a string of 4-letter words, we've got a bad scriptwriter, actors ad-libbing badly, or both. Not compelling as cinema, and certainly not something the whole family should watch or that should be shown on TV, as a few reviewers have suggested. Having the kids do it was definitely not cool. We will never watch this movie with my daughter in the room.
The crass commercialism every time a music cue comes up was particularly annoying. They were REALLY pushing this soundtrack album. Even when you see them put on records during the Father's Day party in their home, you hear another track from Gladys Knight & The Pips, straight from the album. I love soul music from the '60's and '70's as much as I like blaxploitation films, but after this movie I didn't want the soundtrack; they'd overdone it. It created a surreal impression that this was the only music that ever existed in their world, which was just one more thing contributing to the artificial feel of the movie. And I can't think of one thing I heard during the movie that was by Curtis Mayfield, though he gets a credit. As much as I like GK & Pips, I was sure tired of them by the end of this DVD.
It was fun to see Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs before he became Freddie Washington on "Welcome Back, Kotter". But the whole vasectomy subplot was a rabbit trail we could have done without. We get that he is an angry young black man; this scene added nothing to the story. It was a setup for Claudine to deliver the lines about "why would you do this to yourself, this is what the white man is trying to do to you..." but just isn't believable, or necessary, by the late point in the movie that it occurs, and only makes it run longer. We already got that message when she and Rupe visit the welfare office earlier, though not in those words.
I admire that they tried to tell this story, and in spite of its shortcomings (of which I've listed four, but there are more), I recognize what they were trying to do. In fact, it did enlighten me some on the issue; part of my own growing up years were spent in a poor white neighborhood with a lot of welfare recipients, and some of the same problems. If someone ever really got down to making it without being so heavy-handed, it might be a great premise for a movie.
I bought it because I'm trying to see as many of the movies of this genre as I possibly can, and it is better than some. Since 20th Century Fox did it, there was at least some professionalism on the technical side...but even here, the soundtrack could have been fixed so you could understand the dialogue when the characters were mumbling (which seemed to happen often). To make my collection complete, I'm keeping it, but it's not one I'll return to often, like "Shaft" or "Superfly". 92 minutes seems like 3 hours when I run this film. See it once, get beat over the head with its message, then you can move on to the next one.
Description of Claudine
CLAUDINE - DVD MovieBestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
CrooklynNBC Universal; Release date: 1999-02-23; Published: 1999-02-01; DVD
Best price: $4.37
Price in other shops:
A Piece of the ActionCOSBY,BILL; Release date: 2004-01-13; DVD
Best price: $8.96
Price in other shops:
A Soldiers StoryIMG; Release date: 2010-12-07; DVD
Best price: $4.88
Price in other shops:
The Women of Brewster Place (Uncut Edition)TAG; Release date: 2011-02-08; DVD
Best price: $8.26
Price in other shops:
Carmen JonesFox; Release date: 2002-01-22; DVD
Best price: $4.54
Price in other shops:
Let's Do It AgainCOSBY/POITIER; Release date: 2004-01-13; DVD
Best price: $24.78
Cornbread, Earl and Me/ Cooley HighMGM; Release date: 2009-09-01; DVD
Best price: $7.23
Price in other shops:
Lackawanna BluesHBO HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2005-08-23; DVD
Best price: $2.71
Price in other shops:
Uptown Saturday NightWarner Brothers; Release date: 2004-01-13; DVD
Best price: $6.88
Price in other shops:
SparkleWarner Brothers; Release date: 2007-01-02; DVD
Best price: $3.82
Price in other shops: