You’re A Big Boy Now Blu Ray Review (Warner Archive Collection)

You’re a Big Boy Now is a 1966 comedy written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola (The Rain People, The Cotton Club, The Conversation, Megalopolis, The Rainmaker, Apocalypse Now, Peggy Sue Got Married, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and The Godfather Trilogy). It’s based on the novel by David Benedictus. Francis Ford Coppola’s thesis at U.C.L.A. film school. Coppola originally approached Roger Corman to produce this. It was shot in 29 days. The budget was only $800,000 and it still lost money after it’s release. Bernard Chanticleer (played by: Peter Kastner from Delta House, Frightmare, and Time Warp) is known as “Big Boy” lives in New York. He has to deal with his overbearing mother Margery (played by: Geraldine Page from Hondo, The Bride, and The Pope of Greenwich Village) and his disapproving father I.H. (played by: Rip Torn from the Men in Black franchise, 30 Rock, A Stranger is Watching, The Beastmaster, Dolly Dearest, Extreme Prejudice, and Robocop III). Bernard finally moves out on his own to a place run by the nosy Miss Nora Thing (played by: Julie Harris from The Haunting, East of Eden, Knots Landing, and The Dark Half). He is obsessed with actress Barbara Darling (played by: Elizabeth Hartman from The Beguiled, Full Moon High, and Walking Tall). Amy Partlett (played by: Karen Black from Cut and Run, Trilogy of Terror, House of a 1000 Corpses, Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies, Mirror Mirror, Out of the Dark, It’s Alive III, Five Easy Pieces, and Invaders from Mars) confesses to Bernard that she has a crush on him. His friend Raef Del Grado (played by: Tony Bill from Castle Keep, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Barb Wire, and Less than Zero) says Amy is a sure thing and Barbara is a challenge for the ambitious virgin. Bernard’s mother tries to keep her son away from Amy. Bernard somehow gets a shot with his dream girl Barbara. Things get really confusing for him, he now must decide what to do with his new busy life. What will he do with this crazy love triangle???? You’re a Big Boy Now starts out really strong but it runs out of gas during the 2nd half. It had so much potential but unfortunately it doesn’t live up to it. Francis Ford Coppola takes a stab at the comedy genre here. It’s wild that this was his thesis for film school, it has the most impressive one of all time when it comes to that. He even throws in some footage of his horror film Dementia 13 in this which is pretty cool to see in this. It’s solid script, most of these characters are really bizarre which I enjoy because it makes it stand out more when it comes to coming of age comedy. Lead actor Peter Kastner is decent but I think this would have been even better with someone else because he’s severely outshined by his supporting cast. Elizabeth Hartman steals the show as actress Barbara Darling. She’s the best thing about You’re a Big Boy Now. Karen Black is excellent as the other love interest Amy Partlett. Both women are so much better than Kastner but his awkward chemistry works with both. The rest of the talented supporting cast includes Rip Torn, Geraldine Page, Julie Harris, Tony Bill, Dolph Sweet, and Michael Dunn. It kinda has hints of The Graduate but a way weirder version. It has a nice soundtrack which increases the overall feel of everything in You’re a Big Boy Now. It’s just average but it’s still worth checking out at least once. It wasn’t easily available before so it’s nice to see it get this kind of home video release from the Warner Archive Collection. Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from the Warner Archive Collection! This 1080p (1.85:1) transfer is from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative. It’s a massive upgrade compared to the older DVD that I seen a long time ago. I honestly never expected this one to look this good, it’s definitely the best it’s ever going to look on home video. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. For being an older somewhat independent 60’s feature, this actually sounds great. All of the dialogue is very clean, the comedy is elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has a “Theatrical Trailer”. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!