The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.: The Complete Series

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• Box set; Closed-captioned; Color; Dolby; DVD; Subtitled; NTSC

Mud Creek, Texas, is about to get all shook up. When mysterious deaths plague the Shady Rest retirement home, it's up to an aging, cantankerous "Elvis" (Bruce Campbell) and a decrepitand black"JFK" (Ossie Davis) to defeat a 3,000-year-old-Egyptian mummy with a penchant for sucking human souls! Can the King show the world that he can still take care of business?Don Coscarelli directs and Bruce Campbell stars as the King of Camp in this intentionally over-the-top schlockfest. Bubba Ho-Tep is partially about Elvis Presley and partially about the title character, an Egyptian cowboy zombie, but mostly it is about camp. The movie is equal parts story and back story. We learn through narration and flashback how Elvis didn't really die, ending up instead in a rest home in East Texas with! JFK (played by Ossie Davis), who was dyed black and had his brain removed, presumably for reasons of national security. Campbell and Davis realize that something strange is going on when their rest-home compatriots start dropping off suspiciously. The whole movie leads up to a final showdown to the death with the Egyptian cowboy zombie who has been sucking the souls of their fellow residents because he thought no one would notice. The movie unfolds a bit slowly; it is, after all, a geriatrics-fight-Egyptian-cowboy-zombie movie. However, one wishes this self-conscious movie's pacing took its cue from the atypically fast-moving zombie instead of from the senior-citizen Elvis and JFK. In the end, though, Campbell is flawless as the aged King; his accent, intonations, glasses, and trademark karate are at the same time sincere and over the top. --Brian SaltzmanMud Creek, Texas, is about to get all shook up. When mysterious deaths plague the Shady Rest retirement ho! me, it's up to an aging, cantankerous "Elvis" (Bruce Campbell)! and a d ecrepitand black"JFK" (Ossie Davis) to defeat a 3,000-year-old-Egyptian mummy with a penchant for sucking human souls! Can the King show the world that he can still take care of business? Don Coscarelli directs and Bruce Campbell stars as the King of Camp in this intentionally over-the-top schlockfest. Bubba Ho-Tep is partially about Elvis Presley and partially about the title character, an Egyptian cowboy zombie, but mostly it is about camp. The movie is equal parts story and back story. We learn through narration and flashback how Elvis didn't really die, ending up instead in a rest home in East Texas with JFK (played by Ossie Davis), who was dyed black and had his brain removed, presumably for reasons of national security. Campbell and Davis realize that something strange is going on when their rest-home compatriots start dropping off suspiciously. The whole movie leads up to a final showdown to the death with the Egyptian cowboy zombie who has been sucking the sou! ls of their fellow residents because he thought no one would notice. The movie unfolds a bit slowly; it is, after all, a geriatrics-fight-Egyptian-cowboy-zombie movie. However, one wishes this self-conscious movie's pacing took its cue from the atypically fast-moving zombie instead of from the senior-citizen Elvis and JFK. In the end, though, Campbell is flawless as the aged King; his accent, intonations, glasses, and trademark karate are at the same time sincere and over the top. --Brian SaltzmanDon Coscarelli directs and Bruce Campbell stars as the King of Camp in this intentionally over-the-top schlockfest. Bubba Ho-Tep is partially about Elvis Presley and partially about the title character, an Egyptian cowboy zombie, but mostly it is about camp. The movie is equal parts story and back story. We learn through narration and flashback how Elvis didn't really die, ending up instead in a rest home in East Texas with JFK (played by Ossie Davis), who was dyed! black and had his brain removed, presumably for reasons of na! tional s ecurity. Campbell and Davis realize that something strange is going on when their rest-home compatriots start dropping off suspiciously. The whole movie leads up to a final showdown to the death with the Egyptian cowboy zombie who has been sucking the souls of their fellow residents because he thought no one would notice. The movie unfolds a bit slowly; it is, after all, a geriatrics-fight-Egyptian-cowboy-zombie movie. However, one wishes this self-conscious movie's pacing took its cue from the atypically fast-moving zombie instead of from the senior-citizen Elvis and JFK. In the end, though, Campbell is flawless as the aged King; his accent, intonations, glasses, and trademark karate are at the same time sincere and over the top. --Brian SaltzmanSomething evil is stirring in the small mining town of Gold Lick, and it's not happy. Guan-di, the Chinese protector of the dead with a strange affinity for bean curd, has been awakened by reckless teenagers, and now hi! s bloody crusade to wipe out the town's entire population can only be stopped by one man - Bruce Campbell (the guy who starred in all three Evil Dead movies and Bubba Ho-tep), B-move star and deadbeat ex-husband extraordinaire, who's recruited to be their unwitting savior. Thinking the whole scenario's a publicity prank, Bruce is distracted from his mission by a hot mom and fan boys aplenty-- but when our hero has to face off against a dark force more fearsome than a Hollywood agent, the laughs and screams start flying!

Includes Collectible 24-page MY NAME IS BRUCE comic book inside

Special Features:
-Feature-length commentary with director/actor Bruce Campbell and producer Mike Richardson
-Documentary: Heart of Dorkness The Making of My Name is Bruce
-Featurettes: Bruce On..., Beyond Inside the Cave: The Making of CaveAlien 2, Kif s Korner, Awkward Moments with Kif, Love Birds, Hard Truth News from Hollywood The Real Bruce Campbell
-CaveAlien 2 ! Trailer, My Name is Bruce Trailer
-Poster Art Gallery, Prop! s Art Ga llery, Photo GalleryCult film and TV star Bruce Campbell (Burn Notice) lampoons his own B-movie legacy with My Name is Bruce, an agreeably goofy horror-comedy which pits him--well, a version of him, anyway--against a malevolent Asian spirit in order to save a die-hard fan. Campbell also directed Bruce, and brings a loose, kitchen-sink vibe to the proceedings, which has teenager and die-hard Bruce Campbell fan Jeff (Taylor Sharp) kidnap his idol in order to save his small town from an ancient Chinese demon. Unfortunately, the movie Bruce Campbell is a broken-down, booze-swilling reprobate who lacks even an ounce of the insouciant charm of his screen persona in Evil Dead 2 or the Hercules series, and proves woefully inadequate in dispelling the monster. But as films ranging from Cat Ballou and My Favorite Year to Galaxy Quest and Three Amigos! have proven, the unwavering belief of a fan can bring out the h! ero in even the worst heel, and Bruce rises to the occasion in the picture's final third. Obviously, Bruce is slated towards fans of Campbell's eccentric screen c.v., and aficionados will undoubtedly appreciate the endless slew of nods to his previous films, as well as cameos by many of his co-stars, including Ted Raimi in multiple roles (one of which is a Chinese gentleman that gives Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's a run for his money in the stereotype department). Campbell himself remains the movie's chief selling point; his knack for physical humor (read: self-abuse) and pulpy line readings have lost none of their charm, which does much to override some of the flick's flotilla of stale gags. Campbell's sense of humor is also given free reign on the commentary track, which he shares with producer Mike Richardson; the DVD, which comes with a 24-page comic book adaptation from Dark Horse, also includes an amusing making-of featurette, as well as a ! spoofy tell-all mockumentary on the "real" Bruce Campbell, and! a trail er for the atrocious film-within-a-film, Cavealien 2. -- Paul Gaita

Stills from My Name is Bruce (Click for larger image) The companion book to the popular moving starring Bruce Campbell as Elvis and Ossie Davis as JFK, stuck in an East Texas old folks home, faces off against a redneck mummy. Includes the original novella that the film was based on, the shooting script, an introduction by author Joe R. Lansdale and director Don Coscarelli. Also includes several stills from the film.Based ! on the Bram Stoker Award nominee short story by cult author Joe R. Lansdale, Bubba Ho-tep tells the "true" story of what really did become of Elvis Presley. We find Elvis (Bruce Campbell) as an elderly resident in an East Texas rest home, who switched identities with an Elvis impersonator years before his "death", then missed his chance to switch back. Elvis teams up with Jack (Ossie Davis), a fellow nursing home resident who thinks that he is actually President John F. Kennedy, and the two valiant old codgers sally forth to battle an evil Egyptian entity who has chosen their long-term care facility as his happy hunting grounds.The world's favorite western/sci-fi/comedy/action cult hit rides again! Here on 8 discs is the complete series about Brisco (Bruce Campbell), a tough-as-rawhide cowpoke, debonair ladies' man and Harvard-educated smarty-britches who roams from Frisco to Jalisco in pursuit of outlaws who killed his father...and in search of a mysterious orb possessing ! out-of-this world powers. Hot lead and cool anachronisms await! Brisco as he and his sidekicks - including Comet, the intellectual equine who doesn't know he's a horse - fight for justice in the way, way, way-out West. Put your boots in your stirrups, your tongue in your cheek and join the fun. Let's play cowboys and aliens.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Documentary
Featurette
Other
Documentaries:The History of Brisco County: A behind-the-scenes documentary with cast and creator.
Featurette:1.) "Tools of the Trade" - mini featurettes on special aspects of the show narrated by Bruce Campbell. 2.) "A Brisco County Writer's Room" - Roundtable discussion with the writers & producers fo Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
Other:1.) "A Reading From The Book of Bruce" 2.) "Brisco's Book of Coming Things" - interactive menu launching mini-featurettes about the signature references to futuristic elements of the show, narrated by Bruce Campbell.

A science fiction-Wester! n and comedy-drama with echoes of The Wild Wild West and Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.: The Complete Series is uniquely entertaining. Anchored by the comically heroic style of likable B-movie actor Bruce Campbell, Adventures lasted one television season in 1993-94. But it left behind a full 27 episodes (including two two-part stories) full of classic TV Western production values and a running storyline that resembles The X-Files after awhile.

Campbell plays Brisco County Jr., a bounty hunter and son of a legendary U.S. marshal (R. Lee Ermey) gunned down by the villainous John Bly (Billy Drago) and his band of misfits. The younger Brisco is hired by a consortium of businessmen to protect their interests from the likes of Bly, and while he's dedicated to that cause, Brisco is also determined to avenge his father's murder. Helping him do a little of both is a fussy attorney, Socrates Poole (Christian Clemen! son); a rival bounty hunter, Lord Bowler (Julius Carry); a wac! ky inven tor, Professor Wickwire (John Astin); and a sultry saloon singer, Dixie (Kelly Rutherford). Rockets, mysterious orbs, and superhuman strength are some of the delightfully out-of-their-element phenomena that find themselves alongside more conventional cowpoke ingredients, including a horse so smart he can chew the ropes binding Brisco's hands. For the most part, the stories stand alone. But as the season progresses, a lot of things get weirder, albeit in a good way: the truth about Bly and his connection to a golden orb everyone wants, for example, are certainly unexpected. But the show is always dazzling, often satiric ("Oy!" Dixie exclaims when Brisco outlines the steps involved in stopping a runaway wagon they're trapped within), yet heartening in an old-fashioned way. Special features include Campbell's reading of a chapter about the series in his autobiography. --Tom Keogh