Beaches (1988)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Drama	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1988
Running Time	118:22 (Case: 125)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (66:15)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Gary Marshall
Studio Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	Bette Midler Barbara Hershey John Heard Lainie Kazan Spalding Gray
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$24.95	Music	Georges Delerue

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Spanish Swedish Norwegian Danish Finnish Spanish Titling	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	No

    If there's one thing children do well it's make friends quickly. Anyone who has gone on a summer holiday when they were young will know how it works. Usually you'd make friends with the kids of other families that were vacationing in the same spot and at the end of the summer maybe you'd exchange addresses with the intention of keeping in touch. Sometimes you did, sometimes you didn't but even if you did, it would only be for a few letters and in the end the contact would drift away and become part of the many fond (usually) memories that would every now and again drift into your mind with the thought "gee, that was a good summer". However, there are some friends that you meet that become part of your life forever, that you keep in contact with no matter what the miles between you are. This is the story of Hillary Essex and the friend she makes when she was 11.

    Hillary Essex is well-off. On vacation in Atlantic City, she is pampered, stays at a 'ritzy' motel and even runs up an expense account at the motel's ice cream parlour (in her father's name of course). All of this should be paradise for an 11 year old, but not for Hillary. A paucity of interaction with those of her own age leaves Hillary despondent in a time that would normally be looked upon as the happiest of one's life. But a chance meeting with another 11 year old named Cecilia 'CC' Bloom will change all that. 'CC' has a love for song and a personality that says 'Look at Me!'. With her mother Leona, 'CC' tries out for parts in local theatre and whatever else may require the talents of an exuberant young songstress. It's under the boardwalk at the beach where Hillary first meets 'CC', full of enthusiasm and excitement in contrast to Hillary's downcast demeanour. But, like young people often do, the pair become fast friends despite their difference in class ('CC' is far from well-off)  and the two have the time of their lives together in just a short time. Before Hillary's Aunt Vespa takes her away ('CC' looks like trouble), Hillary makes 'CC' vow to keep in touch and she agrees. So this is the story of two girls, then women who strive to make themselves into what they wish to be. Sometimes it's a futile struggle, sometimes a success with the bittersweet moments and events that pepper life.

She might say...

    What a wonderful story!  This is what true friendship is like. We all have our ups and downs, conflicts and jealousies, but in the end it's the enduring love for each other, our caring and faithfulness that endures and this film delivers this message better than any. It's a story of two young girls who grow up to be part of each other's lives. They share the good times, the bad, the love and ultimately the kind of care and devotion that we should all strive to emulate. Yes, the characters have some flaws, but then they, as we are, are human and mistakes are part of the human experience. It's how we deal with these mistakes and trials that show our true character and this film is an example of just how two people might deal with their lot in life. There is something here for everyone; laughs, drama, song, great acting and of course a great story. A great film that no one should miss.

He might say...

    What a crock!  Forced at gunpoint to watch this crap, I also had to be physically restrained from gouging my eyes out of my head with a stick after watching even 10 minutes of this monstrosity. This is the worst type of film and why they keep making them is beyond me. Okay, so we have the story of two girls who meet, grow up and get together when they're older, only to get on each other's nerves and 'break up' (not in any sort of lesbian sense - that would be too interesting). And then we have to follow their 'supposed' interesting lives where they fall for the same guy, then there's the jealousy bit where each thinks that the other is better off than the other. At the end of it all who cares? No action, no fights, no explosions, no sex (please, a film about girls and no sex? No loss, though as neither of the two main actress' are all that hot), just a lot of talking. If I want to watch a film with a lot of talking I'll watch something by Quentin Tarantino like Reservoir Dogs or even Jackie Brown which even for me had quite a bit of yakking, but at least we got to see someone get shot. But this mess? Why would anyone even bother? Don't let anyone talk you into watching this. It's complete crap.

Perhaps a voice of reason...perhaps

    Truth be told, this is indeed the mother of all 'chick flicks'. 'One chick flick to rule them all' one might say. For those who haven't seen this yet, the question is probably 'Is it any good?'. Especially for the guys the question will be 'Is it really that bad?'. The answer, in my opinion is that this film isn't all that bad. It's watchable and tells a nice story about two friends and their life, but I found the downside to be that this film didn't really flesh out the characters who we were supposed to follow and become attached to. This is really important for a film that depends on character development and interaction to carry the whole story. The performances are good with the ever-popular Bette Midler as the irrepressible 'CC' Bloom and Barbara Hershey (seen in the fantastic film Lantana in 2001) as Hillary Essex, but we get far less development here than would be expected. It's interesting to think how a director such as Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) would have handled this film, which would have been about an hour longer and a lot more explicit in terms of sex and conflict but could have brought a depth of story that is missing here. Don't get me wrong. I'm definitely not the typical bloke whose afraid to show his emotions. I'm known to shed the odd tear when evoked by the right promptings (E.T., Titanic, Telstra commercials, etc.), but this one failed to draw me into the characters, to make me empathize with them and it seemed too formulaic with its friendship-growth-conflict-tragedy-resolution-redemption type of story. It's been done before and better. Still, this is one film that has remained in the memories of many. For some, it's a character piece about the the trials and joys of life between two life-long friends. For others it's a film to be avoided at all costs. This was more so a decade ago when this film first came to video and since then many have come that fit the same bill (Boys on the Side and The First Wives Club as examples). Still, this is the mother of all 'chick flicks' and girls will continue to love it, guys to hate it. It is really up to you to determine who's right. This reviewer's opinion? It's okay...just. But then, I'm a bloke.

Video

    This film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with 16x9 enhancement. This looks to be the original aspect ratio although I couldn't find any direct evidence to support that fact. There is some very slight cropping of the credits to the left of the screen at the beginning of the film (4:56), but this was an isolated case with what looked to be a full image visible throughout the film.

    Sharpness here is reasonable, though there is quite a bit of soft focus (frost lens) used on some of the characters, mainly 'CC' Bloom (as played by Bette Midler). A prime example of this technique is seen at 39:01 with an image whose softness is in direct contrast to the scene before. It's not really an artefact, but noticeable nonetheless. Shadow detail here is fairly good with some darker scenes quite clear and visible. There was some low level noise visible with an example at 43:53 but this wasn't a real problem for the majority of the film.

    Colour use during this film is quite natural throughout with the scenes depicting the Off Broadway theatre conveying all the exaggerated colour intended. The colour as displayed on this disc is also quite good with only a very slight fading seeming to be evident on the print used for the transfer. This may have been the original state of the film as screened theatrically, but I've seen this slight fading on many 80s vintage films and this looks to be much the same. There is a bit of chroma noise visible at 69:25 although I didn't find it to be as prevalent as I thought it would be.

    MPEG artefacts didn't seem to be a bother for this disc with a fairly reasonable job done in the compression department. Despite the lack of extras, the distributors have taken the opportunity to format this disc RSDL which gives the data a bit of room to breathe. Aliasing is a real problem with this title with quite a few examples visible throughout the picture such as at 1:17 in the stands, 27:08 on the headlights, 35:34 among the buildings and 83:58-84:05 everywhere. As predicted, this transfer features special pest star edge enhancement with frequent scene stealing and specific examples at 30:40 around the windows and 35:33 around the buildings. Telecine wobble gets the occasional guernsey and is visible on the Touchstone Pictures logo at the very beginning of the film. It is also visible at time during the feature but not to a huge extent. There are the occasional nick and fleck visible during the program, but not enough to distract.

    There are English subtitles as well as others available on this DVD with the English being fairly accurate, although not word for word.

    This film is formatted RSDL with the layer change taking place at 66:15 near the start of Chapter 6. This is a very good spot for a layer change with this reviewer missing it the first time around. It takes place in a very still and silent spot with even my early generation DVD player making it almost unnoticeable.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio for this disc is as important as the video and we have a very reasonable transfer here.

    There are 2 audio track available here, these being English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks.

    As I stated before, the audio, and particularly the dialogue quality here is of utmost importance and this disc doesn't fail to deliver. The spoken (and sung) word is always clear and audible with no issues of note. There is some odd delayed front channel crosstalk audible at 50:29 and a strange echo at 101:07 but these seemed like isolated cases and didn't distract unduly.

     Audio sync for the most part was reasonable with some slight issues with some of the obvious lip synching such as at 19:10 during the singing but this wasn't too bad.

     Music for the film was composed by prolific film scorer Georges Delerue whose credits include such films as the Oliver Stone classic Platoon, Steel Magnolias, Black Robe and Joe Versus the Volcano (another classic). Georges passed away in 1992 with just under 300 films to his credit. Of course, any film featuring Bette Midler would have to feature some of her work and this film is no exception with Bette contributing several numbers such as Under the Boardwalk, The Glory of Love and of course Wind Beneath My Wings. All suit the film and contribute to the storyline.

     This disc presents the audio in Dolby Digital 5.1 in both English and Spanish. Despite this fact, this sounds like a derived 5.1 mix that has little more dynamic that the usual Dolby Pro Logic sound that would have accompanied the VHS release. A clean mix, but without any obvious or memorable passages. The rears contribute some minor atmospheric sound with the subwoofer contributing in a small way to the front mains by backing up some of the music. It's always nice to get a 5.1 mix from a film that was only previously available in 2.0, but it's even better when all 6 channels have something to do, which is not the case here.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     Here's the thing...no extras. Not even a trailer. Zilch. Get Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey and Director Garry Marshall in a room with a microphone during a screening of the film. One would have thought that this would be the least they could have done. Buena Vista should have gone the whole hog on this one and made a Special Edition with all the supplementary material available to do justice to this film once and for all. Sadly, not this time.

Menu

     After the initial start-up and language selection, we are taken to a Main Menu which is silent, static and 16x9 enhanced. Our limited options are:

• Scene Selection (static images with no chapter titles)
• Set Up (select English or Spanish audio and a choice of 6 subtitles)
• Play

     That's all, folks.

    There is no content difference between the Region 1 disc and the one available here in Region 4, however, we do get a few things our American cousins miss out on.

     Region 1 misses out on:

• RSDL formatting
• English and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes.
• Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch and Finnish subtitles

     Region 4 misses out on:

• English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded audio track

     Region 4 is the clear winner out of these two discs with what would have to be a better package altogether. A 5.1 mix, RSDL formatting, more language options, a PAL transfer and local affordability eclipse the Region 1 disc in terms of quality.

    With a formula we've all see before, this film still draws attention probably due to its stars (mainly Bette Midler). Told in flashback fashion, I thought that Bette actually did a better job in a later film of hers, For The Boys in which she played opposite James Caan, a superior film to this while covering some of the same ground (life-adversity-tragedy-triumph). Still, it isn't all that bad and shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. One thing is for certain - this is the 'One 'chick flick' to rule them all'. Girls, do a deal with your guy: he'll watch this, but first you have to watch xXx with Vin Diesel. And you have to watch xXx first because you always fall asleep during our films.

    The video is just okay with quite a bit of aliasing visible.

    The audio is good with a 5.1 mix that serves the film without any wow factor.

    The extras? There are none.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall