The Bronx Is Burning
by Jeremiah Chechik
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DVD details
Actor: Daniel Sunjata, John Turturro, Oliver PlattDirector: Jeremiah Chechik
Brand: Team Marketing
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Dolby, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 360 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-09-25
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Color: Multi
Studio: Espn
Product features:
- Officially Licensed
- Highest Quality Recording
- Derek Jeter Majestic MLB Home Pinstripe Replica New York Yankees Youth Jersey
- New York Yankees 2008 Wall Calendar
- New York Yankees 101 (101 My First Team-Board-Books)
- New York Yankees Authentic MLB Knit Hat
DVD Reviews of The Bronx Is Burning
DVD Review: Now They Belong To The Ages
Summary: 3 Stars
Jonathan Mahler's acclaimed 2005 book (described, strangely, as a "novel" in the on-screen credit here) was an ambitious chronicle of the turbulent year of 1977 in New York City. A reader could open it at random and find himself immersed in the bitterly contested Democratic mayoral primary, the city's deepening fiscal crisis, the Con Ed blackout and subsequent night of looting, the rise of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid culture, the city's increasingly assertive and visible gay community, the cresting of disco and the restive undercurrents of punk. The Yankees' place in Mahler's narrative was as a first among equals; the team served to encapsulate New York's strife, bellicosity, internecine squabbles, and penchant for self-sabotage, but also its rich heritage, its inspiring tenacity, its enduring capacity for excellence.
ESPN's eight-part miniseries both attempts and achieves considerably less than Mahler's tour de force of pop history. I am reminded, oddly, of the film adaptation of another sprawling "New York as it was then" book, E. L. Doctorow's RAGTIME, the Milos Forman film of which promoted a single important narrative thread (the story of Coalhouse Walker) to the diminution or exclusion of several others. Not surprisingly, with ESPN footing the bill, this is a miniseries about baseball. Actors have not been cast to portray Bella Abzug, Ed Koch, and Mario Cuomo; the mayoral race is dealt with in flurries of vintage news clips. The blackout is in, as a minor diversion, but Murdoch and his media machinations are out altogether, as is almost anything that makes a feint at sociological commentary. The one non-Yankee topic that does get significant screen time is the murder spree of David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam (or the "44-Caliber Killer," as he was initially dubbed). Unfortunately, separated from a context that would lend purpose to them (i.e., part of a broader examination of the year in New York), the Sam scenes are the weakest in the series. The reenactments of the murders compare unfavorably with similar but more frightening and intense ones in ZODIAC, while the scenes of dogged and/or ranting cops and journalists trying to make sense of the case are standard-issue procedural crime drama. In the early episodes, baseball comedy/drama and serial-killer terror alternate in such bewilderingly random fashion that I wondered if younger viewers would be expecting the stories to intersect somehow ("Does the Son of Sam end up killing one of the Yankees' wives?").
In the long stretches when the series is what it wants most to be -- a none-too-deep but colorful and affectionate soap-opera dramatization of the '77 Yankees' season, focusing on a combustible triumvirate of big personalities with unresolved daddy issues (team owner George Steinbrenner, manager Billy Martin, and star slugger Reggie Jackson) -- it is enjoyable and even addictive. Having missed the series in first run, I devoured the eight episodes on DVD, having great fun watching even as I catalogued shortcomings: all of the above noted; some poor F/X work in the stadium scenes, betraying budget restrictions; woeful force-feeding of exposition (listen and wince at the terrible line meant to educate the uninitiated on Martin's history and accomplishments as a Yankee player, in his first phone-call scene with Steinbrenner). The enterprise is elevated by one brilliant performance: though the script barely scrapes the self-destructive, tragic side of Martin, and thus deprives the actor of some opportunities, John Turturro's uncanny impersonation of this difficult man is both forceful and poignant, a reminder that great acting can fill in a number of blanks. Put another way, one haunted, dead-eyed look over the rim of a glass compensates for the loss of whole pages of a Jonathan Mahler's elucidating prose. As Steinbrenner, Oliver Platt executes the broad material given him as well as anyone could have; he plays to the hilt the single side of Steinbrenner allowed him, and clearly enjoys himself. Daniel Sunjata fitfully taps into Reggie Jackson's magnetism and contradictory nature. In smaller roles, Kevin Conway has perfect pitch as Steinbrenner's long-suffering underboss, the savvy Gabe Paul, weary of the day-to-day bickering and pettiness of the less secure egos around him, but always keeping that jaundiced eye on the long-withheld prize of a World Series ring. As no-bull Yankee captain/catcher Thurman Munson, Erik Jensen is exceptionally well cast in his looks and also has the supporting-actor gift of suggesting an interesting life taking place off-screen; he and this character deserve a TV-movie of their own. A deadpan discussion between Munson and Martin, on the occasion of the former's 100th home run, culminates in a bigger laugh than I have gotten from any network sitcom in years. The series, in general, is usually at its best in the humorous moments -- see also a discussion between Mickey Rivers and Yogi Berra on the possibilities of Jesus Christ as baseball star.
The bonus disc contains an assortment of deleted scenes (most of them wise deletions) and Webisode ephemera; present-day interviews (weirdly presented in a dewy-lyrical, Hallmark-card style) with Steinbrenner, Jackson, and the late Martin's son; and featurettes on the Martin/Jackson Fenway dugout brawl and on Reggie's infamous "I Am The Straw That Stirs The Drink" interview in SPORT magazine, which made clubhouse life more difficult for him early in his Yankee tenure. He and the reporter, Robert Ward, reiterate their long-held and irreconcilable positions on what was said and in what context. Those of us who were children in 1977 can look at the gas-guzzler cars and the outdated hairstyles and clothes (especially in the news clips) and realize with a start that all of this must be as strange and remote to the youth of today as footage of World War II victory celebrations was to us at the time. I cannot conclude without praising the music, good for an additional half a star all by itself, from the swaggering vintage funk over the opening credits (this would have fit perfectly as a TV theme song of the era) to the inspired choice of spiky Ramones tunes for the linking montages of headlines and on-field action. "Hey, ho, let's go," indeed.
Description of The Bronx Is Burning
In the summer of 1977, New York was a city in crisis. Paralyzed by a citywide blackout, political strife and the Son of Sam killing spree, the Big Apple was burning. Rising out of this troubled urban landscape to bring hope and inspiration came one of baseball s most storied franchises, The New York Yankees. Emmy® Award-winner John Turturro (O Brother, Where Art Thou?), Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominee Oliver Platt ("The West Wing") and Daniel Sunjata ("Rescue Me") star in The Bronx is Burning, an ESPN Original Entertainment presentation of the amazing-but-true story of how the New York Yankees single-handedly helped raise the spirits of a city in a time of darkness and uncertainty. Bonus Features:
Outtakes, Deleted & Extended Scenes
Stories of 77 Featurettes
- The Fenway Brawl
- The Straw That Stirs the Drink
The Bronx is Burning Webisodes
On the Set Featurette
Extended Interviews
- Reggie Jackson
- George Steinbrenner
- Billy Martin Jr.
- John Turturro
Complete Stats for the 1977 Yankees Including ALCS and World Series Box Scores
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