Product: Going All the Way (1997)
Rating: 5.0
A great film becomes a DVD heavy on extra features!
Ignore Leonard Maltin's whiney review! Mark Pellington's "Going All the Way" is ANYTHING but a "familiar seeming" coming of age story! In fact, ignore the synopsis on this very DVD package that describes the film as a "romantic comedy"! Although the characters may have sex on their minds, there is not much real "romance" to be found in this particular tale! Based on Dan Wakefield's 1971 novel of the same name, "Going All the Way" is a somewhat darkly-shaded character study of two unlikely friends in 1950's Indianapolis. One of the charcters, Sonny Burns (played by "Saving Private Ryan's" Jeremy Davies), is the complete antithesis of a glamorous Hollywood leading man, and Davies completely brings to life the character described Wakefield's original book. His brooding, half-mumbled performance perfectly captures Sonny's underlying anger, confusion, and insecurity. Actress Amy Locane (who previously appeared in "School Ties") also shines in a smaller part as Sonny's longsuffering girlfriend Buddy Porter. Although she does not have an over-abundance of dialogue, Locane conveys a lot of emotion with her expressive eyes and facial expressions...and as it turns out in the end, Buddy is probably the most "with it" character in this entire story. This new DVD release is a virtual tresure trove for fans of this film! The original rough cut of "Going All the Way" ran 3 hours and 10 minutes, and was cut down to less than 2 hours for its theatrical release. The DVD provides us with well over an hour of that "missing" footage, presented here as "deleted scenes". In fact the first deleted scene is an entire 45 minute subplot that was excised from the film. (Fans of Wakefield's novel will recognize this section as the tale of Gunner Castleman's ill-fated beard!). This lengthy outttake alone makes the DVD worth owning! Some of the other "missing footage" shows us that Sonny's mother (played by film veteran Jill Clayburg) played a bigger part in the original storyline, as did Gunner's sassy girlfriend Marty (played convincingly by British accress Rachel Weisz), and Locane's character Buddy. There is also a more graphic take of the scene involving Sonny's attempted suicide, and it will probably be a little too intense for some viewers! A little less satisfying than the extensive "outtakes reel" is director Mark Pellington's commentary track, spoken in a deep monotonous voice. Pellington does give some useful insights into the film, but he also has the habit of saying "we shot this on location", without ever telling us WHERE the location is! The director also fails to talk about the relation of the music to the film, although many of the 50's-era tunes heard on the soundtrack draw obvious lyrical parallels to the action on screen. (See Sonny and Gayle's "love scene" together for a great example of this.) Pellington mostly just comments on the performances on the actors, and how he could have shot scenes differetly. In fact Pellington reveals on the commentary track that he plans to re-edit and re-release "Going All the Way" within the next few years, adding some voice-over narration from Davies, and restoring some of the lost footage for an extended "directors cut". Does this mean that I'll have another "Going All the Way" DVD to buy a few years down the road? That's OK, this unique film is well worth it!