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Three Businessmen Director: Alex Cox Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Widescreen Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 81 minutes Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2001-04-24 Buy from Amazon |
 "A duo's surreal search for sustenance"The film begins by showing us the grand old buildings of Liverpool, England. An old man walks in front of one of them and in the next shot enters Lime Street Station. You wouldn't think that this is relevant, but it is. In Alex Cox's Three Businessmen most things that are on view in the frame are relevant. Cox describes the film as "Buñuelian". You could say that it is something along the lines of one of the maestro's films, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeosie, because the two main protagonists have the same problem - they can't seem to find a meal and a place to eat. The two main protagonists in question are art dealers Bennie Reyes (Miguel Sandoval) and Frank King (Alex Cox). The two men meet while waiting for food in a hotel's dining room. The food doesn't arrive, and the eerie hotel is mysteriously empty, so the chaps go in search of a meal around Liverpool, which proves to be a difficult task as their search is thwarted constantly. Their crusade takes them into foreign locations, even though the men think they are in Liverpool throughout. It's a very enjoyable and inventive surreal film. The DVD picture is in widescreen and fine. The sound is in Dolby 2.0 and alright. The main menu is a static shot of the Three Businessmen and has the Debbie Harry song, "Ghost Riders in the Sky playing". There are eight chapters. The extras are just a commentary by director Alex Cox and writer/producer Tod Davies. It is an excellent commentary featuring amusing commercial interludes by Alex Cox. Tod Davies is good, too, explaining all the background on the making of the film. Funny, insightful and interesting. "A 2001 for the 21st Century"On it's face, Three Businessmen is the story of two men looking for dinner in a strange town. But, as Hitchcock might say, that is just the MacGuffin around which this tantilizing tale of the everyman lost in a world they have no way of understanding. The two stars, Miguel "The West Wing" Sandoval and director Alex Cox, accidently travel the world by public transport without noticing. They talk and try to get something to eat; they argue; they discuss; they mesmerize. And there is a connection to 2001 in here. The commentary by Cox and writer/producer Todd Davies is funny and informative. Like being stuck in the movie theater with two intellegent hecklers. Gosh this is a good movie. I watch it more often then almost any other movie in my collection. Watch it yourself. |
