O.C. and Stiggs Blu Ray Review (Radiance Films)

O.C. and Stiggs is a 1985 buddy comedy produced and directed by Robert Altman (Popeye, The Player, Short Cuts, The Delinquents, Brewster McCloud, The Long Goodbye, Nashville, Thieves Like Us, Kansas City, Gosford Park, Images, and M*A*S*H). It was written by Ted Mann (Deadwood, Crash, Homeland, Civil Wars, Space Truckers, Miami Vice, and NYPD Blue) and Donald Cantrell. It was produced by Peter Newman (The Squid and the Whale, Angels in New York, Smoke, Blue in the Face, Zebrahead, Lord of the Flies, Space Truckers, and Lulu on the Bridge). It’s based on National Lampoon magazine in 1982’s “Utterly Monstrous, Mind-Roasting Summer of O.C. and Stiggs”. It was finished in 1984 but it wasn’t released until 1987. The budget was $7,000,000 and it only grossed $29,815 worldwide at the box office. O.C. (played by: Daniel Jenkins from Law and Order, The Irishman, Coin Heist, Veep, City on a Hill, Joshua, Blue Bloods, and Glory) and Stiggs (played by: Neill Barry from Amityville 3-D, Fatal Beauty, Heat, Spenser: For Hire, Murder She Wrote, and House) are a pair of sharp teens who carry out a vendetta against middle-class neighbour Randall Schwab (played by: Paul Dooley from Sixteen Candles, Popeye, Hairspray, Shameless, Strange Brew, Stephen King’s Golden Tales, and Going Berserk) as his insurance company has cancelled O.C’s Gramps (played by: Ray Walston from Of Mice and Men, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Popeye, The Sting, and Popcorn) retirement policy and caused all kinds of problems!!!!! O.C. and Stiggs tried to take advantage of the popularity of the buddy comedies in the 80’s. They did some test screenings in 84 when it was originally finished and apparently they were complete nightmares. They weren’t getting any good feedback at all so they say it on the shelves for 3 years until they gave it a quick limited theatrical run that went nowhere. Director Robert Altman was very talented and he did some real gems during his career but he always knew that this wasn’t one of them. They wanted him to make something similar to something like Porky’s but he didn’t enjoy those types of movies so he made his version more of a parody rather than a copy. O.C. and Stiggs was based on a story that was in National Lampoon magazine. The screenwriters tried to expand that short story but there wasn’t enough for a full length so it’s heavily padded with all kinds of nonsense. Daniel Jenkins is decent as O.C., he’s a slacker looking for some revenge for his grandpa. Neill Barry is solid as Stiggs. He helps O.C. with his plans and they are out there making all kinds of trouble. See, this is the biggest issue with this 80’s comedy. It’s bad casting when it comes to the leads here. They are not awful or anything but they just don’t stand out at all. They are just honestly beyond average which hurts this because they are all over it. Luckily, it’s loaded with talent when it comes to it’s supporting cast which includes Ray Walston, Paul Dooley, Jon Cryer (Pretty in Pink), Jane Curtin (Coneheads), Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet), Melvin Van Peebles (Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song), Martin Mull (Clue), Bob Uecker (Major League franchise), Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City), Tina Louise (Gilligan’s Island), Tiffany Helm (Friday the 13th: A New Beginning), Laura Lanoil (Once Bitten), Donald May (The Edge of Night), Carla Borelli (Falcon Crest), Alan Autry (Southern Comfort), Louis Nye (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Dan Ziskie (Adventures in Babysitting), Nina Van Pallandt (American Gigolo), and Caroline Aaron (Sleepless in Seattle). O.C. and Stiggs has plenty of familiar faces in it, that’s what makes it better than it should be. Dennis Hopper is very similar to his Apocalypse Now role here. This one is more random than just following a story. It’s nothing but several wild situations back to back. This duo only knows chaos, they are begging for issues when they around. They don’t come off as the cool antiheroes like most characters at the same time as this, they go more obnoxious. It doesn’t work well, they just end up being annoying after a little bit. Regardless, O.C. and Stiggs keeps itself very entertaining so it’s a fun experience. It takes the audience to multiple different scenarios that are over the top but it doesn’t slow down. It fits with National Lampoon’s style but it’s through the vision of the established Robert Altman so it becomes it’s own atmosphere. It’s an oddball production that just uses whatever it can to grab attention. It has some hilarious moments and I liked how it ended. This could have been so much better but I don’t regret watching it at all. It’s much different than your typical 80’s comedies. It has potential for solid replay value to it for it’s entertainment alone. It’s just something that you turn your brain off and have some fun!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Radiance Films! This 1080p (2.35:1) transfer is from a brand new restoration from Park Circus. This is the first time that I’ve ever seen O.C. and Stiggs but I did some research on it. I compared this to it’s previous DVD and TV versions, this brand new Blu Ray blows them away. It’s huge improvement, I’m not sure if this will ever look better than this on home video. Several unique locations are used here in this sharp upgrade. It has an English: LPCM 2.0 Mono track on the disc. The soundtrack pops and shines the most when it comes to the audio. All of the dialogue is crisp, the adventures are elevated, and the music has a huge boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has the brand new almost 129 minute full length documentary “The Water is Finally Blue: The Untold Story of the Making of O.C. and Stiggs” narrated by writer Hunter Stephenson (Hot Sugar’s Cold World). It has conversations with Daniel Jenkins, Neill Barry, Paul Dooley, Martin Mull, Tiffany Helm, Stephen Altman, Victor Ho, Josh Karp, Allan F. Nicholls, and Peter Newman. It doesn’t actually show any of the interviews, it’s all through audio with various visuals in the background while this 80’s production is being discussed. They call it the punk rock version of those comedies. They say the studios wanted a John Hughes style teen movie but they got the complete opposite on purpose with this when it was all finished. They go over how this film was developed and put together. They bring up the original stories that inspired the 80’s comedy. It was first offered to Mike Nichols and he actually suggested Eddie Murphy as the lead. They went through a few options but it ended with the talented Robert Altman. They all share how they got involved with this. It had some major actors that auditioned for this that didn’t get the gig which is beyond surprising because it would have changed this so much. The lead actors tell how it was like landing this comedy from director Robert Altman. They both went for something unusual and that’s what helped them get their roles. It didn’t feel like all of their competition. This documentary stays honest and true to itself, they break down what happened and all the potential It had. They wanted to make this a franchise and they planned 2 additional sequels if this was a success but unfortunately it wasn’t. They thought after Animal House, this was going to go somewhere far. It has a little over 11 minute “Interview” with Robert Reed Altman. He’s the son of the late great director. He was a camera operator on several of his projects over the years including O.C. and Stiggs. He worked on around 17 films during his career. He was excited to experience the National Lampoon comedy. He says it originally didn’t get great reviews but it’s grown to have it’s own fan base since then. He talks about his father always enjoying humor. He chats about how they got some of those big locations in this. He shares his memories and his responsibilities on it. There’s some great personal behind the scenes stories from this. It has a little over 3 minute “Gallery” courtesy of the University of Michigan. It has reversible artwork and a high quality 32 page booklet. This is a limited edition to 3000 copies. It’s still available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!