The Bootleg Files: Sticks and Bones

Posted on March 14, 2025 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 900: “Sticks and Bones” (1973 television film directed by Robert Downey Sr.).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It is a complicated story.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

This article represents the 900th entry in The Bootleg Files column celebrating films and television productions that can only be appreciated in either unauthorized presentations or in problematic public domain dupes. For those who are not familiar with this column’s history, it began on Film Threat in 2003 and appeared there on Fridays through 2015, when the site went offline. Although it was one of Film Threat’s most popular features, it was not invited back when Film Threat resumed publishing in 2017. Thankfully, Felix Vasquez Jr. – who was a colleague of mine on Film Threat – invited me to resume The Bootleg Files here on Cinema Crazed. And while the column has received some nasty comments – which is to be expected from any Internet publishing effort – it has received far more appreciative input from readers during these past 22 years. For those who turn up every Friday to read this column, I offer my deepest appreciation for your support and friendship.
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The Bootleg Files: The Apocalypse Now Workprint

Posted on September 27, 2024 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 880: “The Apocalypse Now Workprint” (five-hour version of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 classic).

LAST SEEN: On Internet Archive and YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Coppola doesn’t want this to be commercially released.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Nope.

I have a confession to make: I never liked “Apocalypse Now.” I’ve seen it several times, and with each new viewing I wished that my indifference to the film would be replaced with a sudden awakening of belated appreciation. I was hopeful that the longer “Apocalypse Now Redux” would trigger a positive response, but I found that more annoying than the original.
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Is Bob Hope Funny?

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Phil Hall

We’re off on the road to laughs as the always provocative Anthony “The Kingfish” Vitamia returns to the podcast for a wild, no-holds-barred debate on whether Bob Hope should be acclaimed a great comic or whether he was the source of more groans than guffaws.

The episode can be heard here.

“The Online Movie Show” is produced at the Platinum Wolfe Studios.

Across The Universe (2007) (DVD)

Posted on February 4, 2008 by Felix Vasquez

One of the benefits of being a hardcore Beatles fan is that I don’t really need to buy the covers of the best Beatles songs of all time presented in “Across the Universe.” Instead I have the entire soundtrack and much more in my grasp. Ain’t it sweet? “Across the Universe” gets a lot of guff for being that representation of the Beatles that wasn’t mean to be. It’s a movie, a mainstream movie, with a rather cliché story, but you know what? Fuck it. “Across the Universe” is an absolute masterpiece, a thrilling, chilling, and incredible musical experience that takes the best of the Beatles and transfers it into an awfully excellent romance and war time story under the direction of Julie Taymor who takes a movie and makes it into a cathartic experience for the fans.

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