I’m not going to mince words for you; yes, a former leader has passed away today at the age of 84. The leader was former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, who was sworn in as PM by the Governor-General due to controversial circumstances in 1975, had not been a very effective PM compared to past and recent PMs such as Bob Hawke, Robert Menzies and even John Howard, and was eventually defeated in the year 1983 after almost 8 years of service, where Fraser and his Liberals would be brought down by a record-breaking 24-point swing conducted by eventual Labor PM Bob Hawke. But in the end, Malcolm would at least get the job done right (which included the ‘Turn On the Lights’ slogan when he became the PM, and be the one to introduce an Australian plescibite for a new National Anthem). So, why is he mentioned, and what does he have to do with this episode?
Well, the movie I’m going to talk shares similarities, as it is about two candidates that were gunning for the Presidential role in High School. It would be known that only one could win, due to a controversial hand of interference, though. The film is none other than one of my favourite films: Election. And I found it at the place that always houses videocassettes in Vinnies of Brookvale.
…The VHS Surprises…
While the film was released through Paramount Home Entertainment in 2000, it was originally part of the CIC Home Video company outside of America, and was teamed with Universal Pictures when the company first began in 1982, where it first began as 'Rigby-CIC Video', and would evolve into 'CIC-Taft Video', then 'CIC Video'. The company managed to stay strong and get with the times, right until the turn of the millennium, where it would finally be retired. In the supposed hearings, Universal would get the Spielberg-founded Dreamworks company, whilst Paramount would virtually get everything else from CIC, which includes the blue text, the warning screen, the ‘future video releases’ bumper, the polaroid seal (which did appear on the Election VHS copy I own, by the way), and even the ‘Video Piracy’ warning. Only Roadshow lasted longer in the Home Video industry by five-six years.
Credit goes to FLEMISHDOG for the featured logos. None of them feature any of the CIC logos.
Moving on, the videocassette is encased in a yellow big-box plastic cover, featuring the poster itself. Here in Australia, it is rated MA15+, which is somewhat a fair cop, given the language and personal moments of excitement. It also carries two quotes from critics on the cover:
As the videocassette is opened, it is in surprisingly good condition; the top and front stickers are intact, the barcode label (Top Video Albion - T10962), the Blockbuster sticker, and – as I pointed out earlier – the CIC polaroid seal. My best theory with this is that CIC was still around by the time Election would be placed on VHS, but were unceremoniously finished and Paramount would subsequently take over and finish the VHS.
The videocassette begins with the traditional CIC warning which is placated on a black/blue background, but seeing that it is a Paramount VHS, it moves either to the movie, or the previews. In this case, it cuts to the previews, which starts with a series of women (such as Audrey Hepburn, Demi Moore, Sally Field, and for some reason, Angelica from Rugrats) which is set to the tune “I Would Do Anything For Love”. The promo is revealed to be ‘Take Home the Woman of Your Dreams’.
Credit goes to philby71 for the promo. As mentioned earlier, the VHS copy I own was released by Paramount, hence it does not feature the CIC logo at the beginning.
The VHS continues as normal, beginning with ‘Future Video Releases’, and we start off with The General’s Daughter (Rated MA, featuring John Travolta and James Woods), which is to be available on video in the month of May. The next segues to The Young Adventures of Indiana Jones (starring the late River Phoenix), which was a collaboration with LucasFilms, and feature a series of collections, such as the High Adventure Years, the Secret Service Years, and the Comic Years. This is, by far, the longest preview on this VHS, beating the ‘Take Home the Woman of Your Dreams’ preview.
The next feature a series of items from MTV; the first being ‘Dead Man on Campus’ (Rated M), the next being ‘Varsity Blues’ (Rated M), then two TV shows from MTV – Beavis and Butthead (Rated M), and Celebrity Deathmatch (Rated PG). I had to talk about the items briefly because all of a sudden, it started flickering before it would stop when it reached TV show previews. It might be a bad omen to watch this while eating an apple, which I unfortunately did when the movie began. And before we see the movie, we get another visit with the ‘Video Piracy’ warning. I already talked about it in Clerks, so let’s move on.
Credit goes to electronman32k for this promo.
And after 16-odd minutes of previews, the movie finally begins, and let me just say that I’ve loved every moment of the film from start to finish. I’ve enjoyed the four main characters – apart from Tracy and Mr. McAllister, there were also the Metzler siblings in Paul (a gullible yet popular figure) and Tammy (a supposedly-closeted lesbian or bisexual) – who each play a key part in the High School election and the way the movie was told through them. I’ve enjoyed every single ounce of the dark humour. I’ve enjoyed Jim McAllister’s (played by ‘Ferris Bueller’ Matthew Broderick) attempts to take down Tracy, and I even enjoyed the apple motifs.
The way the apples are used by the director (who was Alexander Payne) were to imply trouble ahead (especially when Mr McAllister won the ‘Apple Teacher Award’ a record three times at the time), so the only troubles for this VHS were the slight chews in the tape, when Tracy’s accomplishments were about to be introduced, and when then-President Paul celebrates by taking his family out to dinner and seeing Mr McAllister by an off chance. And when the movie ends, the videocassette has nothing more to show.
But when there’s movie about a series of comedic errors that seem endless, how can one blame the VHS ending abruptly when the movie is that good? I sure can’t. And that’s how high I regard this movie. So, if you ever come across a one-word film made by Paramount called ‘Election’, take that chance and rent, or possibly buy, the movie, whether it is on VHS, DVD or any other kind of modern format these days. You’ll won’t regret this movie advice; I promise you.
Final Score
VHS Cover: 8/10 – Featuring the movie poster and the quotes, yet also the two missing stickers, is why it gets an 8.
Videocassette: 10/10 – The perfect videocassette that has everything it needed at the time.
Quality: 8/10 – Apart from slight chews in the Videocassette, no other problems to record.
Warning: 8.5/10 – Maintains the CIC Video warning and the ‘Video Piracy’ warning, which remains informative.
Logo: 5/10 – Given that the movie logo appears when the movie began, it costs the VHS a chance of getting a full score.
Previews/Other Features: 8.5/10 – A total of six previews, and the ‘Take Home the Woman of Your Dreams’ preview is more than enough.
Final Score: 48/60 – Great. To mimic Jim McAllister, ‘that’s a great VHS for you.’
And now, in honour of Malcolm Fraser, I shall close the episode with the current anthem of Australia. Something that the Fraser government has chosen ultimately due to the public in 1977, yet wasn't adopted by Australia until seven years later…
Credit goes to Anthems & Honors Music for the anthem. Farewell, Malcolm. You've done your job when it mattered.
Well, the movie I’m going to talk shares similarities, as it is about two candidates that were gunning for the Presidential role in High School. It would be known that only one could win, due to a controversial hand of interference, though. The film is none other than one of my favourite films: Election. And I found it at the place that always houses videocassettes in Vinnies of Brookvale.
…The VHS Surprises…
While the film was released through Paramount Home Entertainment in 2000, it was originally part of the CIC Home Video company outside of America, and was teamed with Universal Pictures when the company first began in 1982, where it first began as 'Rigby-CIC Video', and would evolve into 'CIC-Taft Video', then 'CIC Video'. The company managed to stay strong and get with the times, right until the turn of the millennium, where it would finally be retired. In the supposed hearings, Universal would get the Spielberg-founded Dreamworks company, whilst Paramount would virtually get everything else from CIC, which includes the blue text, the warning screen, the ‘future video releases’ bumper, the polaroid seal (which did appear on the Election VHS copy I own, by the way), and even the ‘Video Piracy’ warning. Only Roadshow lasted longer in the Home Video industry by five-six years.
Credit goes to FLEMISHDOG for the featured logos. None of them feature any of the CIC logos.
Moving on, the videocassette is encased in a yellow big-box plastic cover, featuring the poster itself. Here in Australia, it is rated MA15+, which is somewhat a fair cop, given the language and personal moments of excitement. It also carries two quotes from critics on the cover:
- “A Nearly Flawless Film. A Sharp and Merciless Comedy” – Kenneth Turan (Los Angeles Times)
- “A winner. Very funny… terrific movie!” – Joe Siegel (Good Morning America)
As the videocassette is opened, it is in surprisingly good condition; the top and front stickers are intact, the barcode label (Top Video Albion - T10962), the Blockbuster sticker, and – as I pointed out earlier – the CIC polaroid seal. My best theory with this is that CIC was still around by the time Election would be placed on VHS, but were unceremoniously finished and Paramount would subsequently take over and finish the VHS.
The videocassette begins with the traditional CIC warning which is placated on a black/blue background, but seeing that it is a Paramount VHS, it moves either to the movie, or the previews. In this case, it cuts to the previews, which starts with a series of women (such as Audrey Hepburn, Demi Moore, Sally Field, and for some reason, Angelica from Rugrats) which is set to the tune “I Would Do Anything For Love”. The promo is revealed to be ‘Take Home the Woman of Your Dreams’.
Credit goes to philby71 for the promo. As mentioned earlier, the VHS copy I own was released by Paramount, hence it does not feature the CIC logo at the beginning.
The VHS continues as normal, beginning with ‘Future Video Releases’, and we start off with The General’s Daughter (Rated MA, featuring John Travolta and James Woods), which is to be available on video in the month of May. The next segues to The Young Adventures of Indiana Jones (starring the late River Phoenix), which was a collaboration with LucasFilms, and feature a series of collections, such as the High Adventure Years, the Secret Service Years, and the Comic Years. This is, by far, the longest preview on this VHS, beating the ‘Take Home the Woman of Your Dreams’ preview.
The next feature a series of items from MTV; the first being ‘Dead Man on Campus’ (Rated M), the next being ‘Varsity Blues’ (Rated M), then two TV shows from MTV – Beavis and Butthead (Rated M), and Celebrity Deathmatch (Rated PG). I had to talk about the items briefly because all of a sudden, it started flickering before it would stop when it reached TV show previews. It might be a bad omen to watch this while eating an apple, which I unfortunately did when the movie began. And before we see the movie, we get another visit with the ‘Video Piracy’ warning. I already talked about it in Clerks, so let’s move on.
Credit goes to electronman32k for this promo.
And after 16-odd minutes of previews, the movie finally begins, and let me just say that I’ve loved every moment of the film from start to finish. I’ve enjoyed the four main characters – apart from Tracy and Mr. McAllister, there were also the Metzler siblings in Paul (a gullible yet popular figure) and Tammy (a supposedly-closeted lesbian or bisexual) – who each play a key part in the High School election and the way the movie was told through them. I’ve enjoyed every single ounce of the dark humour. I’ve enjoyed Jim McAllister’s (played by ‘Ferris Bueller’ Matthew Broderick) attempts to take down Tracy, and I even enjoyed the apple motifs.
The way the apples are used by the director (who was Alexander Payne) were to imply trouble ahead (especially when Mr McAllister won the ‘Apple Teacher Award’ a record three times at the time), so the only troubles for this VHS were the slight chews in the tape, when Tracy’s accomplishments were about to be introduced, and when then-President Paul celebrates by taking his family out to dinner and seeing Mr McAllister by an off chance. And when the movie ends, the videocassette has nothing more to show.
But when there’s movie about a series of comedic errors that seem endless, how can one blame the VHS ending abruptly when the movie is that good? I sure can’t. And that’s how high I regard this movie. So, if you ever come across a one-word film made by Paramount called ‘Election’, take that chance and rent, or possibly buy, the movie, whether it is on VHS, DVD or any other kind of modern format these days. You’ll won’t regret this movie advice; I promise you.
Final Score
VHS Cover: 8/10 – Featuring the movie poster and the quotes, yet also the two missing stickers, is why it gets an 8.
Videocassette: 10/10 – The perfect videocassette that has everything it needed at the time.
Quality: 8/10 – Apart from slight chews in the Videocassette, no other problems to record.
Warning: 8.5/10 – Maintains the CIC Video warning and the ‘Video Piracy’ warning, which remains informative.
Logo: 5/10 – Given that the movie logo appears when the movie began, it costs the VHS a chance of getting a full score.
Previews/Other Features: 8.5/10 – A total of six previews, and the ‘Take Home the Woman of Your Dreams’ preview is more than enough.
Final Score: 48/60 – Great. To mimic Jim McAllister, ‘that’s a great VHS for you.’
And now, in honour of Malcolm Fraser, I shall close the episode with the current anthem of Australia. Something that the Fraser government has chosen ultimately due to the public in 1977, yet wasn't adopted by Australia until seven years later…
Credit goes to Anthems & Honors Music for the anthem. Farewell, Malcolm. You've done your job when it mattered.