Chilly Scenes of Winter [VHS]

Chilly Scenes of Winter [VHS]
by Joan Micklin Silver

Chilly Scenes of Winter [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: Gloria Grahame, John Heard, Kenneth McMillan, Mary Beth Hurt, Peter Riegert
Director: Joan Micklin Silver
Producer: Mark Metcalf
Producer: Griffin Dunne
Cinematographer: Bobby Byrne
Writer: Joan Micklin Silver
Editor: Cynthia Scheider
Producer: Amy Robinson
Writer: Ann Beattie
Edition: VHS Tape
Format: Color, NTSC
Running Time: 92 minutes
Release Date: 1993-01-27
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

VHS Movie Reviews of Chilly Scenes of Winter [VHS]

Movie Review: ALL RIGHT, WHERE'S THE DVD? JOHN HEARD, I LOVE YOU!
Summary: 5 Stars

This film needs to legally released on dvd NOW because it is an original, extremely well-written portrait of a man in love, and the forever underrated John Heard gives the best performance I have ever seen in a romantic film. John Heard is so sharp and funny; it is a delight to watch him in every frame of this. I watched this back to back with Cutter's Way (and Cat People the night before), and this man deserved to be a big big star rather than waddling around in tv shows and second rate movies I've glanced at over the years. He is really one of our finest actors. Mary Beth Hurt is also quite good as the object of his obsession. Look for Peter Riegert (and his hair - whoa!) and a young Griffin Dunne who also co-produced this when he was only in his twenties. I bought an old used VHS of this and the picture is worn and wobbly; I know new releases are always top priority, but more of these 70s and 80s small movies need some attention, too. Many people are begging for the dvd release here, on IMDB, many places, and I want to add my voice - PUT CHILLY SCENES OF WINTER ON DVD NOW, PLEASE!

Movie Review: Beg for a DVD release!
Summary: 5 Stars

Maybe it's just my age (baby boomer), but this edgy romantic comedy from 1979 has such wit and charm, it has always had a very special place in my heart. John Heard plays a somewhat lost, slightly wounded romantic, and Mary Beth Hurt is the perfect companion he meets while she's separated from the husband she never should have married. They are brought to life from Ann Beattie's novel with such commitment, it's a joy. The secondary characters, every single one, are all such a treat as well. The late Ken McMillan and Gloria Grahame, Peter Riegert when he was just starting out, they're all wonderful. Find a copy of this movie and enjoy!

Movie Review: A nostalgic view of love in the 1970s
Summary: 3 Stars

If you see this film today under its original title, "Chilly Scenes of Winter", you will probably be most struck by watching two part players from "The Sopranos" -- John Heard and Peter Reigert -- in their youth with long hair. Both play middle aged patsies in the HBO crime series. The other thing that will strike most viewers is that the heroine's husband once played "the maestro" on "Seinfeld".

What I think you will not understand is how realistic this film is about love in the 1970s, when love meant lack of commitment and possibly trying it out with several people at a time. In this regard Hurt's character, "Charles", is the metaphor for lovelorn men in that era. Charles spends the entirety of the movie not getting over the breakup with his girlfriend "Laura" (played by Mary Beth Hurt) who he saw while she was still married to the masetro character.

There is little that is great or terrific in this movie other than its realistic view of 1970s love, during a time when people weren't conditioned to hate homosexuals and everyone believed in the cliche that it's OK if it's legal and doesn't hurt anyone. This movie shows it does hurt people, emotionally as well as physically.

Movie Review: Loved The Original Ending
Summary: 5 Stars

This is one of my favorite films of all time. The original ending is the only way for the film to end. There are those of us out there who really do believe in fate and happily ever after. I am one of them. If you ever get the chance to see the original, see it! Head Over Heels is what it was called when I saw it on HBO nearly 25 years ago (not the Chilly Scenes of Winter, how did that title come about?), anyway, is a very emotional and intellectual film. A+A+A+A+ Long live the romantics in the world. Will SOMEONE release this film in it's original version!

Movie Review: AN OVERLOOKED CONTEMPORARY CLASSIC
Summary: 5 Stars

This is one of the best films few people have heard of! I don't know about some people, but I LIKED the new ending of the re-edited version. I mean, happy endings are nice and all that, but sometimes things just don't wrap up neatly and I thought this ending really fit the film as a whole. Although I would be interested in seeing Silver's original cut. You know, MGM could prepare a special DVD containing Ms. Silver's original cut on Side 1 and the re-edit on Side 2. But it will never happen. And it's a shame. It would be the perfect candidate for MGM's "Contemporary Classics" series.

John Heard, where are you? You seemed to disappear from film. Such a good, understated performance deserved Oscar recognition. But of course, unless the pic is a hit, you don't get nominations. How else to account for this year's lackluster selection?

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Summary of Chilly Scenes of Winter [VHS]

John Heard plays Charles, a sardonic civil servant who can't seem to get over his breakup with Laura (Mary Beth Hurt). While listening to his mother describe how she's thinking of killing herself, Charles begins to reflect on how the relationship started. From there, the movie flashes back and forth between his present obsessiveness and the ups and downs of his two months with Laura. The rambling but entertaining progress of Chilly Scenes of Winter is sprinkled with sharp, satirical portraits of the other people in Charles's life, including his mother (the great B-movie actress, Gloria Grahame), who wallows in her offhand madness, and his roommate, Sam (Peter Riegert), an unemployed womanizer. But the movie's greatest strength is its warts-and-all portrait of Charles himself. He's funny, but his humor often slides into hostility; he's affectionate, but his attentions sometimes turn neurotic and possessive. The movie doesn't condemn him, but it doesn't let him off the hook, either, and Heard's performance manages to be both charming and dismaying. The result is a gentle, sometimes painful, but always honest comedy about the messy details of relationships that has developed a passionate cult following. Chilly Scenes of Winter is based on the novel of the same name by Anne Beattie, who has a cameo as a waitress. --Bret Fetzer

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