O.C. AND STIGGS (1987)
Label: Radiance Films
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 109 Minutes 34 Seconds
Audio: English PCM 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Audio: English PCM 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Robert Altman
Cast: Daniel Jenkins, Neill Barry, Jane Curtin, Paul Dooley, Jon Cryer, Tina Louise, Cynthia Nixon, Dennis Hopper, Martin Mull, Melvin Van Peebles
O.C. and Stiggs is a 1987 American teen comedy satire directed by Robert Altman (Nashville), based on two misanthropic characters that were originally featured in a series of stories published in National Lampoon magazine. The Phoenix, Arizona based highschoolers Oliver Cromwell Oglivie (Daniel H. Jenkins, The Irishman), also known as "O.C.", and his best pal Mark Stiggs (Neill Barry, Amityville 3-D), spend their summer carrying out a vendetta of pranks and crimes against their middle-class, right-winger conservative neighbor Mr. Schwab (Paul Dooley, Sixteen Candles), who runs an insurance company and is directly responsible for O.C.'s grandfather, a retired police detective played by Ray Walston (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), being forcibly committed to a retirement home. As a consequence gramps will soon be put in a home, and since the oldster is his legal guardian O.C. is doomed to move to Arkansas to live with his white trash relatives.
It's a wild and somewhat frustrating watch, meant to be an anti-80s teen comedy, but our teen protagonists are not especially likable delinquents, which I guess is part and parcel of the anti part-80s teen comedy equation. It's also a bit of a shaggy dog of a flick. As with most Altman flicks we get quite a stunning ensemble cast, among them we ave Jane Curtin (Coneheads) as Schwab's alcoholic wife whose main character trait seems to be drinking from hidden and disguised booze bottles stashed around their suburban home, while Jon Cryer (Dudes) plays the Schwab's milquetoast son who reads porn mags while he sleepwalks. We also get Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet) riffing on his character from Apocalypse Now, as Sponson, a Nam vet, complete with dialogue and music cues lifted straight from Coppola's film, including a storm the beach sequence with Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” blaring, even a nod to The Doors "The End" pops up. Filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles (Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song) shows up as Wino Bob, a homeless character the teens look to for sage advice, and other notable cast members include Cynthia Nixon (Little Darlings), Tina Louise (Gilligan's Island) shows up as a nurse, funnyman Martin Mull (Clue), and perhaps oddest of all, baseballer turned sportscaster turned actor Bob Uecker (Major League).
As with all 80s teen comedies there's problematic humor here regarding homosexuality with an effeminate gay couple played by Louis Nye (Zotz!) and Dan Ziskie (Adventures in Babysitting), and ethnic stereotypes, wether that be the wise black man trope with Melvin Van Peebles or Schwab's soon-to-be Asian son-in-law played by Victor Ho, however, I would say that Altman designed these stereotypes to be more commentary on the comedies he was lampooning, building the punchlines to subvert the stereotypes. Another fun aspect is their vehicle of choice, going out of their way to purchase a rundown Studebaker Champion, a real eyesore, made uglier with he modification of a hydraulically-suspended body they call the "Gila Monster"
The anarchic teens revenge against Schwab includes storming his daughter Lenore's (Laura Urstein) marriage to Frankie Tang (Victor Ho) with an uzi, and later turn the Schwab's home into an impromptu homeless shelter, ending with the aforementioned Apocalypse Now helicopter raid on the Schwab's home where O.C. and Stiggs find themselves in a gun battle with Schwab in his subterranean nuclear fallout shelter.
Perhaps, not surprisingly an Altman-esque anti-teen comedy did not go over well at the studio, while the filming was completed in '83 it was not released theatrically till 87, sitting on the shelf for four years before being rather unceremoniously dumped into a handful of cinemas where it was chewed on by the critics unfavorably. Watching it now I honestly did not find it an easy watch, if you're looking for National Lampoon's Animal House sort of raunchy teen-sex comedy it's not quite that, it's a satire of that, only Altman style. It's nihilistic and chaotic, there are very few truly sympathetic characters to latch onto, and that's sort of the point, the 80s were not that great, and the end result might not be Altman perfection, but as a wild subversion of the slobs vs snobs teen-comedy trope, well, it is pretty dang entertaining, and quite the curio in Altman's back catalog.
Audio/Video: O.C. and Stiggs (1985) makes it's U.S. Blu-ray debut from Radiance Films in 1080p HD frame din the original 2.35:1 widescreen, sourced from a HD master supplied by Park Circus, having been restored by MGM. The image looks solid, its not perfection, as grain levels can fluctuate and swam throughout, particularly during the optically printed opening credit sequences, and softness does creep in from time to time, but generally the image is nicely detailed with pleasing textures throughout. The mis-80s colors have a nice blush to them, and black levels are solid. Audio comes by way of English PCM 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The track is clean and free of hiss or distortion, the often overlapping dialogue is always intelligible, or at lest as intelligible as designed, and the score and diegetic music from Nigerian jùjú singer King Sunny Adé and His African Beats sound terrific.
Onto the extras, we start off with the 129-min The Water is Finally Blue - The Untold Story of Robert Altman’s O.C. and Stiggs: A new documentary on the making of the film by writer Hunter Stephenson featuring audio-only interviews with actors Daniel Jenkins, Neill Barry, Paul Dooley, Martin Mull, and Tiffany Helm, plus producer Peter Newman, and production manager Allan F. Nicholls. it's an interesting doc, created using only new and archival audio interviews, offering some fun stories about the making of the film, with some behind-the-scenes footage, stills, and animation playing over the audio interviews.
We also get an 11-min Interview with camera operator Robert Reed Altman (2023), the son of director Robert Altman who shot several of Altman's films, going nto some nice detail about howe the King Sunny Adé concert scene.There is also a Gallery of rare photos from the collection of the University of Michigan, several hundred of them in fact.
The single-disc limited edition of 3000 release arrives in full-height Scanavo packaging with Removable OBI Strip leaving packaging free of certificates, the Reversible Wrap features original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow, and inside is a Limited Edition 32-page booklet featuring new writing by critic Brad Stevens and archival writings by Robert Altman about the film and his approaches to filmmaking regarding the frame, sound and actors, as well as a interview excerpt from the Book Altman on Altman wherein he says the O.C. and Stiggs "was a suspect project from the beginning". The booklet also contains cast, crew and release credits, plus notes about the transfer.
Special Features:
- The Water is Finally Blue - The Untold Story of Robert Altman’s O.C. and Stiggs: A new documentary on the making of the film by writer Hunter Stephenson featuring audio interviews with stars Daniel Jenkins, Neill Barry, Paul Dooley, Martin Mull, Tiffany H (02:08:47)
- New interview with camera operator Robert Reed Altman (2023, 11:21)
- Gallery of rare photos from the collection of the University of Michigan
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
- Limited edition 32-page booklet featuring new writing by critic Brad Stevens and archival writings by Robert Altman about the film and his approaches to filmmaking
- Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
I give much love to Radiance Films for bringing this previously somewhat hard-to-come-by flick from Robert Altman's filmography a rather wonderful Blu-ray release with some terrific extras that dig deep into the production.
Screenshots from the Radiance Films Blu-ray:
Buy it!
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