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Released by: Twilight Time
Released on: July 14, 2015
Writer/Director: Steve Kloves
Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Jeff Bridges, Beau Bridges, Jennifer Tilly, Ellie Raab, Xander Berkeley
Year: 1989
Purchase From Screen Archives
The Movie:
Brothers Jack and Frank Baker (Jeff and Beau Bridges) make their living, as they have for fifteen years, playing lounge standards on twin pianos at various Seattle-area hotels. Business is on the wane, however, so they take on former professional "escort" Susie Diamond (Michelle Pfeiffer) as a vocalist in an effort to get their income back on track. Things pick up some, but complications ensue when ladies' man Jack puts the moves on Susie while Frank is home dealing with a family emergency.
Michelle Pfeiffer's first professional appearance was a five-word bit part on a 1978 episode of ABC's Fantasy Island. A period of equally unremarkable work followed, perhaps most regrettably a recurring role as "The Bombshell" on ABC's Delta House, a one-season sitcom adapted from National Lampoon's Animal House.
By 1980, Pfeiffer had transitioned from forgettable TV work to forgettable film work. But her "Michelle Who?" days drew to a close in 1982 with her starring role opposite Maxwell Caulfield in Grease 2. Although the film was panned to high heaven, and deservedly so, Pfeiffer was not. The New York Times' Janet Maslin's reaction was typical: "The one improvement [over the first film] is Michelle Pfeiffer, who can't sing as prettily as Olivia Newton-John but who can certainly outdo her in every other department. … [T]hough she is a relative screen newcomer, Miss Pfeiffer manages to look much more insouciant and comfortable than anyone else in the cast."
Pfeiffer's following role, as Elvira Montana in Brian De Palma's successful love-it-or-hate-it remake of Scarface (1983), placed her at the front-and-center of public awareness, and she spent the remainder of the eighties navigating her way toward (but not quite reaching) Oscar territory; she received a 1988 Best Supporting Actress nomination for Dangerous Liaisons (losing to ditzy Geena Davis in The Accidental Tourist) and a Best Actress nod in 1989 for The Fabulous Baker Boys (for which she was beat out by crotchety, lovable old Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy). She did take home a BAFTA for the first film and a Golden Globe (among a slew of other prestigious awards) for the second, however, which some would call even more impressive.
Baker Boys also marks the sophomore writing and directorial debut effort of Steve Kloves, who has since kept the bills paid by writing all but one of the Harry Potter screenplays. He won the British Film Institute's Sutherland Trophy for this one, and his work—and the film overall—was both highly praised upon its release and reasonably successful at the box office.
With the perspective of hindsight, though, today's viewer might wonder why. Not that the film is awful; it isn't. It's very well acted and, Janet Maslin's opinion aside, Pfeiffer emerges as a perfectly competent singer. The problem—which, granted, won't be a problem for everyone—is that, stellar performances aside, the film is about three not-very-likable people doing not much of anything interesting. Everything that happens is believable, but it's also predictable, painted in the broadest strokes from routine beginning to aimless conclusion. And while the fairly steady barrage of f-bombs in the dialogue arguably fits the characters, it's also weirdly out of place in a film that otherwise seems made to appeal to the one demographic (older people nostalgic for "Golden Age" cinema) most likely to be offended by bad language.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Fabulous Baker Boys comes to Blu-ray in 1080p high-definition via Twilight Time courtesy of a 20th Century Fox/MGM transfer. The film has been placed on an MPEG-4 AVC-encoded disc with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Given its relative length as well as the number of extras, Twilight Time has sensibly utilized a 50GB BD, though the transfer has some minor flaws, not the least of which is its general softness. Detail is moderate to good but almost never great, and there are mild instances of dirt and debris in the original elements, though these are not nearly to the level that some reviewers have suggested. Colors are mostly excellent and naturalistic, and grain looks organic. Unfortunately, black levels are not as deep as they should be, and nighttime sequences exhibit some crush. All that said, the film still looks better than it ever has on home video, and most fans will undoubtedly be pleased by it.
Twilight Time has utilized a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track for the film's primary soundtrack as well as for the isolated score. The audio proves to be solid; dialogue is clear and the score crisp. Pfeiffer's fairly good singing voice comes through loud and clear. There are no compression issues, but for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing, there are optional English subtitles. As for that isolated score, it proves the perfect way to listen to the songs without the ambient effects. Not content to leave it at that, Twilight Time has included an audio commentary from cinematographer Michael Ballhaus (Bram Stoker's Dracula, 1992; The Age of Innocence, 1993), which had been recorded for the original DVD release of the film in the late '90s. Ballhaus doesn't just focus on the film's framing or lighting; he also deconstructs the film itself and how the direction reflects character development and so on. He's also fairly self-deprecating. A second commentary, this time featuring TT's usual historians Nick Redman and Julie Kirgo (who also wrote the liner notes for the eight-page insert), hosts the film's writer/director, Steve Kloves. Redman moderates while Kirgo and Kloves engage in a back-and-forth chat about the film and various incidental subjects. Kloves' invaluable insights are an asset to this limited-edition release. The commentary doesn't sound artificial or rehearsed; it comes across as a lighthearted but interesting conversation. When Kloves and Kirgo move a little too far astray of the film, Redman reels them back in with carefully orchestrated questions.
The Blu-ray release of The Fabulous Baker Boys comes with some nice extras. There are over twenty minutes of deleted footage, most of which looks older than it actually is because of the nature of the elements. It's terrific that these scenes have been included, though one can easily see why they were left on the cutting room floor. They contribute little by way of character development or setting of mood, yet they offer greater insight into Kloves' vision.
Twilight Time has also included their standards: an onscreen listing of their films as well as an MGM 90th Anniversary trailer, which accompanies all titles licensed from the studio.
Rounding out the extras is the theatrical trailer for The Fabulous Baker Boys, which runs two minutes and forty-seven seconds.
The Final Word:
Overall, The Fabulous Baker Boys is a mildly interesting diversion. It's neither terrible nor great, though it does offer strong performances, particularly from Pfeiffer and the Brothers Bridges. Twilight Time's release of Fox/MGM's original transfer is, like the film itself, not terrible but not great either, though it offers a marked improvement over previous home video release of the title. All that said, an isolated score, two commentaries, several deleted scenes, and the original theatrical trailer make this a must-own for diehard fans.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
