The Big Brass Ring

The Big Brass Ring

The Big Brass Ring
List Price: $27.95
Our Price: $0.01
You Save: $27.94 (100%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD details


(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD details

Actor: Ewan Stewart, Irčne Jacob, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Hawthorne, William Hurt
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 104 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-01-11
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures

DVD Reviews of The Big Brass Ring

DVD Review: I Failed To Grasp It
Summary: 2 Stars

This film's trailer informs us that 'Big Brass Ring' was written by Orson Welles three years before his death and it was his final unproduced screenplay. Seeing as how he never got to write/direct and act in it, perhaps it should have sat on the shelf. At it's core it's a twisty and complex political thriller about a man desperately trying to hide his past from a reporter who, aided by the man's former mentor, threatens to bust it wide open. But director George Hickenlooper and co-writer F.X. Feeney bury the story in too many complicated plot twists and odd touches like child pornography, drag queen spies headquartered on a riverboat, a pet monkey with terrible gas and other distracting elements that take away from an otherwise strong story. As a result the whole film seems unfocused and hard to keep up with let alone care about. This is especially true in terms of the acting. It's disappointing to see reliable actors like William Hurt, Miranda Richardson and Nigel Hawthorne going about their roles without a sense of passion or focus. This film is such a disaster that Welles and companion Oja Kodar's names should have been spared from it.

Missouri senator Blake Pellarin (Hurt) is running for Governor as an Independent candidate. With one week left before people go to the polls everyone is desperate to get a hold of him. This includes Democrats and Republicans who want him to join their side and the media who want to know if Governor is the first step on the way to a long term political career. Former political reporter turned entertainment reporter Cela Brandini (Irene Jacob) is especially eager to track Pellarin down. She has been interviewing his former mentor Kim Mennaker (Hawthorne in the role Welles intended for himself), a failed politician himself. Mennaker has emerged from a self imposed exile to reveal truths about Blake's childhood and how he may or may not have played a part in the disappearance of his younger brother. Blake's rich wife (Richardson) wants to silence Mennaker before he can do any more damage to her man but she soon finds out that her vast reserves of money are useless in shutting Mennaker up. He wants the public to know the truth about their candidate. When Pellarin and Mennaker finally meet face to face neither reacts the way you'd expect.

As the film progresses things get more and more complicated as the flashbacks pile up showing Blake, his brother and Mennaker over the course of the boys' adolescence. Serious stuff, like the child porn and switched identities, are shown but I could never distinguish one brother from the other due to the actors close resemblance to one another. Trying to watch the film a second time to solve all the unanswered questions, I finally gave up. Hickenlooper is a great documentary filmmaker who's directed films like 'Hearts Of Darkness', 'Mayor Of The Sunset Strip' and the docudrama 'Factory Girl', but at least you could follow those films since he focused on the characters and their inner thoughts rather than pile on the plot twists. It's a shame that previews touted this as some kind of event, Welles' last unproduced screenplay finally making it to the screen, since the end result is so unsatisfying. There's the possibility of a good film in here somewhere but I guess that part actually stayed on the shelf.
More The Big Brass Ring reviews:
1

Description of The Big Brass Ring

Orson Welles wrote The Big Brass Ring in the early 1980s--his last attempt to create a commercial Hollywood film--but the dynamic, rich screenplay was never produced. Nearly two decades later, independent filmmaker and documentarian George Hickenlooper (Hearts of Darkness) purchased and rewrote Welles' script, updating the tale of an independent presidential candidate in the cynical post-Watergate years to a more modest gubernatorial race in the media-saturated 1990s. The generally reserved William Hurt is excellent as the firebrand candidate whose secret, repressed past is dredged up when estranged father figure and political rebel Nigel Hawthorne (in a wry, flamboyant performance) reappears on the eve of the election. While the world's attention is focused on a political contest between two independents, Hurt searches his soul to come to peace with the compromises and sacrifices of his youth.

Where Welles' script is suffused with the melancholy sense of loss of an old man looking back on past mistakes, the film is brightened with the hope and possibilities of a younger man looking ahead to unlimited possibility. Hurt gives his best performance in decades as a man whose confidence is cracked by guilt. Less convincing is French beauty Irčne Jacob as an international reporter while Miranda Richardson, though excellent, gets lost as the story sidesteps her sad alcoholic character. We'll never know what Welles could have done with his story, but Hickenlooper delivers a handsome, compelling drama. --Sean Axmaker

Bestsellers in DVD
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] ImageThe Story of Jeremiah [VHS]
Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS] ImageWresting With God [VHS]
by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops: $19.99
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS] ImageStudy Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]
Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops: $44.00
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS] ImageTempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]
HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops: $9.98
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/Party Video [VHS] ImageTempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]
HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Strike the Original Match [VHS] ImageStrike the Original Match [VHS]
New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops: $14.95
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] ImageMedjugorje 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 2008 ImageMayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008
by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops: $1,463.24
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single User ImagePediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single User
by Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops: $1,463.24
Cost Accounting [VHS] ImageCost 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
Basic Instinct - Director's Cut (Ultimate Edition) ImageBasic Instinct - Director's Cut (Ultimate Edition)
Lions Gate; Release date: 2006-03-14; DVD
Best price: $4.63
Price in other shops: $9.98
Silent Witness ImageSilent Witness
Lions Gate; Release date: 2001-01-02; DVD
Best price: $3.69
Price in other shops: $9.98
The Blue Butterfly ImageThe Blue Butterfly
MONTEREY HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2006-05-23; DVD
Best price: $8.60
Price in other shops: $24.95
House of the Dead ImageHouse of the Dead
LIONS GATE HOME ENT.; Release date: 2004-01-27; Published: 2004-01-01; DVD
Best price: $3.03
Price in other shops: $9.98
Powder Blue ImagePowder Blue
BIEL,JESSICA; Release date: 2009-05-26; Published: 2009-05-01; DVD
Best price: $2.78
Price in other shops: $14.98
Big Brass Ring the ImageBig Brass Ring the
by Orson Welles
Black Spring Press; Published: 1991-11-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.00
Varian's War ImageVarian's War
Showtime Entertainment; Release date: 2002-06-18; DVD
Best price: $7.93
Price in other shops: $14.98
Spy Games ImageSpy Games
Lions Gate; Release date: 2000-07-11; DVD
Best price: $5.70
Price in other shops: $14.98
Incognito ImageIncognito
Incognito; Release date: 2004-06-01; DVD
Best price: $69.99
Victory ImageVictory
Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2012-01-06; DVD
Best price: $8.57
Price in other shops: $19.98
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners