Wild Hogs (Widescreen Edition)
by Walt Becker
List Price:
Our Price: $4.74
You Save: $10.25 (68%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.50 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, Ray Liotta, Tim Allen, William H. MacyDirector: Walt Becker
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
Producer: Amy Sayres
Producer: Anson Downes
Producer: Brian Robbins
Producer: Darice Rollins
Producer: John G. Scotti
Producer: Linda Favila
Writer: Brad Copeland
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.40:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
Published: 2007-08-01
DVD Release Date: 2007-08-14
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Model: 05373600
Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
DVD Reviews of Wild Hogs (Widescreen Edition)
DVD Review: It's about The Road, baby...
Summary: 4 Stars
Over the weekend, I spent some time surfing through some reviews of the motorcycle movie "Wild Hogs." In case you missed it, the story line revolves around four middle-aged buddies (played by Tim Allen, William H. Macy, Martin Lawrence, and John Travolta) who, urged on by a desperate John Travolta, embark on a cross-country motorcycle ride.
The posted reviews were uniformly negative and disparaging, something I found puzzling. I saw the movie and enjoyed it, although I suffered from sore ribs from the almost constant laughter. Intrigued, I read several, trying to figure out what I had missed. Then it dawned on me.
They didn't get it.
It was ridiculously easy to determine where on the political scale these reviewers resided. Their ideological myopia caused them to completely miss the point, and the charm, of this movie.
Let me first establish my bona fides. I returned to motorcycle riding some 16 years ago and since then have racked up almost 300,000 miles of seat time. Those years are populated with 700-mile days, 1,000-mile weekends, and trips that have covered this country from Maine to Georgia and from the Atlantic shores to the deserts of Nevada. I've come to understand, in an almost spiritual way, what The Magic of riding is all about, especially what it means to middle-aged men, of which I are one.
First off, the arty set will not "get" this movie. There are no love scenes artistically shot in light and shadow; there are no political causes, no readily identifiable evil Republicans upon which to vent their hate. The movie is shot in some beautiful country (most of which I recognized from my trips), but there aren't any large corporations polluting, or clear-cutting, or killing Native Americans. There's plenty of alcohol, but no drugs. Since these are de rigueur elements mandatory for those folks, there's really no "hook" for them. Nowhere in any of the pouty, "I'm above this nonsense" bleating over this film was there any hint of discovery re: the real point of the story.
Middle-aged men are fighting a losing battle these days. In a culture where feminists rage about equality and strength, we're still called upon to deal with spiders, rodents, and strange noises in the night. We try to treat them with fairness and equality, only to get our heads torn off when we fail to open car doors for them. Society denigrates the successful among us, then summarily equates our character with our job descriptions. (Think I'm exaggerating? Eavesdrop on a group of women sometime. When talking about men, the first two questions are always: "What's his name?" And "What does he do?")
Mainly though, it's the age thing. We blossomed during the Woodstock era, when it was okay to lead with your glands and a sense of adventure. But then something terrible happened. We grew up. We had children. We acquired mortgages and responsibilities. We lost our hair. Now we find ourselves in our 50's, squeezed out of the "wanna do's" of life by the "have to do's." Everything hurts, especially in the morning. We find ourselves athletically outdone by the youngsters we used to "school" on the courts or in the fields. We begin to hear ourselves described as "that older guy."
We feel trapped.
Trapped by the passage of time and the four walls of circumstance. And the sudden realization that, as Captain Picard once said, "there are fewer days ahead than there are behind." This has been difficult for us. In the 60's, we swore we would never get old, or if we did get old, we wouldn't act our advanced age. So now, we find ourselves reaching for that last bit of freedom; of excitement, before the bulb of our lives irrevocably dims forever.
That's what this movie is about.
Motorcycle ownership demographics have demonstrated an interesting shift over the past 10 years. The median age for a motorcycle owner is now 44. That's years, buddy boy. For the Harley-Davidson crowd it's even worse. The median age for them is over 50. Why? Why is it that at the point in our lives when our reflexes have slowed, our eyes have dimmed, and our prostates have....whatever prostates do...have we turned to motorcycles?
Because in those magical times when we are alone with the road and an unexplored horizon, the years fall away. The burdens and responsibilities are lifted and for a few, brief, precious moments in time, we are once again free...and young. We're no longer victims of circumstance; we are masters of our destiny. We have nowhere to be and all the time in the world to get there.
In the four main characters, we find parts of ourselves. In Travolta's role, we find that wealth can so often be the breeding ground for failure. In Allen's role, we see a man struggling with the relevancy of his chosen profession, striving to make it seem more vital and less mundane than it actually is. In Lawrence's character, we see the bitter reality of a failed dream; and after reaching for that personal success, enduring the harsh experience of once again being normal and knuckling under to those who knew all along that we would fail. And in Macy's character, we see what happens when we think we're better than we actually are, and so submerged in our jobs that we miss the life that is passing us by. Yes, we cringed when the guys threw their cellphones away, because we know how horribly difficult it is to cut those umbilicals that bind us to our everyday prisons.
What the reviewers I've read have missed about this movie, is that this story is about us. We love this movie because we see on the screen is what we have in our hearts. To quote Martin Lawrence, "Do you feel me, baby?"
Yes, the story could have more polish, and the dialogue could have been smoother, but our lives could be smoother and more polished as well. It's not Macbeth, or King Lear, or even The Piano; but it was never meant to be. It's simply four guys rediscovering the essence of their masculinity, and making that discovery with a bike, a road, and a horizon to ride to.
The other complaint is about the perceived homophobia in this show. Again, they missed the point. We were raised by the greatest generation. Our fathers taught us that homosexuality was a betrayal of our manhood, and we believed them. That's not a political statement; it's a statement of fact. Remember that these guys were searching for their own manhood. Gay just didn't fit in. Doesn't mean its wrong or immoral or anything else. It just didn't work for them.
But in the reviewers complaints I hear a bit of narrow-minded parochialism. Close your eyes and remember the campground scene. Got it? Good. Now, change the cop to a heterosexual. Change the four men bikers to women. Now replay the dialogue. What do you hear now? Sexual harassment. If he had been standing over partially clad women, he'd be the stuff of nightmares. A predator with a badge of authority, miles from help.
It's amazing how a set of behaviors can move from perfectly normal to terrifyingly evil simply by changing the context.
Bottom line here is that those who are looking for great drama, or classical writing, don't bother seeing Wild Hogs. Like riding a motorcycle, if you need to have it explained, you'll never understand.
But if you're a boomer, and you see your life slipping away, drowning in the clutches of circumstance, and you yearn for one more taste of freedom, you need to see this movie. Your heart will thank you.
Description of Wild Hogs (Widescreen Edition)
Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy star in Wild Hogs, the hysterically funny comedy about four weekend-warrior friends who decide to rev up their ho-hum suburban lives with a cross-country motorcycle adventure. They don their leathers, fire up their hogs and throw caution and their cell phones to the wind as they hit the open highway. A lot can happen on the road to nowhere, including a run-in with the bad-to-the-bone Del Fuegos, a real biker gang who don?t take kindly to the wannabes. Filled with hilarious misadventures, screwball situations and madcap mayhem, this laugh-out-loud comedy is a movie your whole family will go hog wild over.Bestsellers 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
Ghost Rider (Widescreen Edition)Marvel Kids; Release date: 2007-06-12; Published: 2007-06-01; DVD
Best price: $3.40
Price in other shops:
The WaterboyBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 1999-03-16; DVD
Best price: $4.92
Price in other shops:
Beyond the LawLions Gate; Release date: 2001-08-14; DVD
Best price: $4.32
Price in other shops:
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro ManSony; Release date: 2001-02-06; DVD
Best price: $4.98
Price in other shops:
RV (Widescreen Edition)WILLIAMS,ROBIN; Release date: 2006-08-15; Published: 2006-08-01; DVD
Best price: $3.96
Price in other shops:
Easy Rider (Special Edition)Sony; Release date: 1999-12-07; DVD
Best price: $7.88
Price in other shops:
The Wild OneBRANDO,MARLON; Release date: 1998-11-10; DVD
Best price: $7.90
Price in other shops:
Old Dogs (Single-Disc Widescreen)Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2010-03-09; Published: 2010-03-01; DVD
Best price: $4.97
Price in other shops:
Paul Blart: Mall CopSony; Release date: 2009-05-19; DVD
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
Grown UpsSON; Release date: 2010-11-09; DVD
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops: