Been trying to find “Circle of Iron” with David Carradine for a couple years now. Long out of print and too obscure for video rental. The Ebay copies are going for $100 
The Point on DVD or VHS. It’s out of print and I’d prefer a DVD, so I’m trying to avoid the e-bay route.
I don’t care if it’s narrated by Dustin Hoffman or Ringo Starr.
My vote:
Rock and Roll High School, starring The Ramones.
I recall seeing this on sale on DVD in the first month that DVD machines went on sale. I had a vague idea that I should buy it, but I wasn’t sure that DVDs would take off, and they were $900 at the time. Now I regret not buying it, it is out of print. And it will remain out of print. It will never ever be released again in the post-Columbine era.
Hmmm…I think I’ve seen that on A&E. At four in the morning. So it sould be on again eventually, since A&E repeats their film library ad nauseum.
I’ve always want to see “Titicutt Follies”. I recently overheard somebody saying he saw a copy availiable for $600, so I’m a bit discouraged.
Musicals:
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth
Gene Kelly and Judy Garland
These seem like obvious candidates for DVD, especially the great Astaire/Rogers movies. I would all but kill for a boxed set of deluxe versions of Top Hat, Swing Time, The Gay Divorcee, and The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle.
Eraserhead, of course. Everybody wants to see this movie, but it’s almost impossible to find without resorting to eBay measures.
I also think Return of the Living Dead deserves a rerelease, preferably with a special edition DVD.
Once Upon A Time In The West desperately needs a DVD rerelease. The only version I’ve seen is a video full-frame transfer. Sacrilege!
A final movie that doesn’t deserve a rerelease, but I want to see it again, Student Bodies. A horrible, horrible horror movie spoof, which I found obviously hilarious.
“Click”
“Did you just hang up?”
“No, I just said ‘click’.”
I rented that a few years back; my guess is that there are assorted video stores that carry it, but… <shrug> We (my store) were just lucky to stumble on it…
I am getting really sick of only having Star Wars on VHS and LD. I think a DVD edition is much needed, and I am sure that it will happen sooner or later. Also, Night of the Lemmures, a sci-fi movie about gigantic rabits attacking a city, is pretty tough to find.
nitpick – It’s Night of the Lepus/. “Lepus” is “rabbit”. This movie has the distinction of being one of the very few to star an out-of-Star-Trek deForrest Kelley.
A & E, huh? I’m there all the time. will have to check it out. thanks betenoir
I was going to add Barefoot Gen (Hadashi no Gen), which has been out of print on VHS for some time. Looks like it has just been released on DVD, though. Now if I could just find a copy of the translated manga.
I’d like to see {b]The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The Eighth Dimension, All That Jazz**, and 1776 released on DVD. The latter particularly deserves a special edition which includes “Cool, Considerate Men,” which was cut from the theatrical release.
I read yesterday on a DVD review site that Citizen Kane is finally being released in a deluxe DVD package this fall.
Yippee Yippee joy joy, happily dancing about the room…
Although you can’t order Bunny Lake is Missing or rent it, there are some copies apparently, floating around, and I just scored one on e-bay (and, tho’ I lost out on 3 other copies that have recently been offered, I’m paying $10 less, too)
The High and the Mighty (1954).
This is considered by some to be “the first disaster film”. I haven’t done any research to back up that claim (indeed, there were a couple of Titanic movies out – I think to qualify as a “disaster film” the story has to be fictitious), but it’s the first I remember seeing. They used to show it at least once a year on teevee when I was a kid in the 1970s. If you look at such films as The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, or the Airport series, The High and the Mighty predates those films by a couple of decades. The movie was based on a novel by Ernest K. Gann, but I haven’t read it.
The story is about a crusty old pilot (John Wayne) and a planeload of passengers who take off for Hawaii. I don’t remember, but I think John Wayne’s character was a recovering alcoholic. There is a problem with the airplane as it reaches the point of no return and it’s up to John Wayne’s character to save the plane and the passengers.
This is a great classic film that is a favourite among pilots who were old enough to see it, and I’m sure it would be a good seller; but RatBastard Productions – I mean Batjac Productions – won’t release it. I’ve heard there are some copyright or restoration issues, but I haven’t been able to find out what the problem is. I called Batjac a year or so ago and was given a terse reponse by the receptionist: “It’s not available and we don’t know when it will be available. [click of the phone being disconnected]”
I would love for this film to be released on DVD.
(I’d also like to see To Have and Have Not released on DVD. I already have that one on VHS.)
I wish someone would rerelease Giorgio Moroder’s Metropolis. I also wish they’s show The Singing Detective on PBS. I’ve heard a lot about it, but I really don’t want to pay $80 just to see it.
The Rocking Horse Winner, an excellent feature-length adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s short story, exists in only one form that I am aware of: a single videotape (Janus films) in a local college audiovisual dept. I have looked for this flick in my big movie catalogs, online, google, you name it. It is nowhere to be found!
Unless one of you finds it and tells me… 
Koyaanisquatsi is no longer being produced. Apparently, there’s some issues with copyrights that have yet to be resolved. You can get it on video eBay, or you can go to the official Koyaanisquatsi site and shell out $200 for an autographed DVD of the film, which is about what you’d pay for it on eBay on video (no joke, unless you can find a Beta copy or some other odd-ball format). Part of the price is supposed to go and help fight the legal costs associated with freeing up the rights.
I’d like to see “Until the End of the World” on DVD, “Two Moon July”, “1984,” all the original Warner Bros. cartoons, the “Austin City Limits” with Tom Waits, the narrated version of “Blade Runner” (Hey! I like it and the non-narrated one, okay?) the various Pink Floyd concerts which have been released on video, the “Dave Allen At Large” TV series, to name just a few.
Better get your TV taping done now, folks, as rumor has it that once the new HDTV standard gets set and everybody switches over to it, the signal will have a “copyright protection” feature in it, which will prohibit you from taping anything that’s being broadcast. Nice, huh? Because the stuff that I want to tape will be stuff that they’ll never release on DVD or video.
I have a 16mm print I might part with. It has a slight reddish tint and some scratches, but it’s complete. E-mail me if you’re interested.
A few I’m eagerly awaiting…and awaiting…and awaiting:
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Hairspray, due out later this year as part of a John Waters three-pack, which I remember will include Pecker and I think Serial Mom (or was it Sweetie?).
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Black Lizard, or Kurotokage, a wonderfully trippy 1968 Japanese film scripted by Mishima and shot in some of the most hypersaturated color east of “Umbrellas of Cherbourg.” It’s really a stunner, the highest camp - about a notorious club-impresiario-cum-jewel-thief-cum-murderess, portrayed by Japan’s leading drag artist. Re-released in theatres in about 1992/93, it made it to VHS but quickly dropped out of sight. Deserves a restoration.
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Metropolis. I understand there are some terribly complicated copyright issues. There’s a $9.99 DVD version available at Target, and it’s so awful you wanna cry. I’m afraid it may be years before we get a better one.
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The director’s cut version of Apocalypse Now, subject of an Arts & Leisure article in today’s NY Times. Sounds incredible - 53 minutes restored, including a whole character exised from the original release. The buzz: one of the few “director’s cut” versions actually deserving attention, and a considerable improvement over the original.
Ohh!
Maybe somebody can help me find this one…
There was a live-action made-for-TV Disney movie made sometime in the early 1970’s called A Girl Named Hank. It was about the adventures of the neighborhood tomboy-type girl and the crush she finally gets on her best friend. The movie was originally broadcast on the old Sunday night “Wonderful World of Disney” TV show, so I guess it would be about an hour long.
I already tried to find this online and have come up with nothing so far. Can anyone advise?
Thanks!