The cast of season 5 of “Leverage” lives on in Blu-Ray and DVD. ©TNT.
By ANGELA DAWSON
Front Row Features
A couple of new titles are available on home video that may be worth checking out.
The original 1958 version of the horror classic “The Fly,” is out on Blu-ray from Twentieth-Century Fox Studio Classics. When a scientist (David Hedison) attempts to transfer matter through space, things go horrifically wrong and two grotesque man-fly hybrids are created. Now, with the head of a fly and a wing in place of one of his arms, the scientist desperately hopes that he, his wife (Patricia Owens) and his brother (Vincent Price) can capture the other mutant and reverse the experiment.
Shot for less than $500,000, the film was a box office hit when it was released in 1958, trapping $3 million in grosses. Hedison insisted on wearing the fly head mask himself (instead of having a stand-in do it). The mask was custom-designed to fit his head. Produced and directed by Kurt Neumann, “The Fly” was written by James Clavell based on a short story by George Langelaan.
Special features on the Blu-ray include commentaries with Hedison and film historian David Del Valle, a biography of Price, a featurette called “Fly Trap: Catching a Classic” and Fox Movietone News. The hit movie spawned two sequels and a 1986 remake by David Cronenberg, starring Jeff Goldblum.
The fifth and final season of the TNT series “Leverage” is available on DVD. The drama revolves around a five-person team of data-gathering experts who avenge the wealthy and powerful on behalf of their wronged clients.
Timothy Hutton headlines the cast, which also includes Gina Bellman, Aldis Hodge, Christian Kane and Beth Riesgraf.
In the final season, the team is forced to face changing personal dynamics within the group as the relationship between Parker (Riesgraf) and Hardison (Hodge) heats up, and Hutton’s Nate, the leader, continues to struggle with inner demons. Among their assignments, they target a conniving shipping executive (guest star Cary Elwes), a wealthy scientist, an ex-hockey-player-turned-team owner (Treat Williams), a corrupt restaurateur and a corrupt businessman (Matthew Lillard). The team also encounters their nemesis, insurance-investigator-turned-Interpol-agent Jim Sterling (Mark Sheppard).
This four-disc set from Twentieth-Century Fox includes audio commentary on all episodes, deleted scenes and a gag real.
