This week's new spotlight DVDs:

Bonnie and Clyde (Warner Bros.)

"They're young, they're in love and they kill people," goes one of the more effective taglines in Hollywood history. This week's top pick is of course a defining film of the antiestablishment 1960s, one that helped transform both American popular movies and the way American audiences "read" popular movies. This 1967 gangster opus, inspired by the legendary Depression-era bandits and lovers, was a surprise sensation as it imported stylistic punch from the French New Wave while at the same time taking the spaces out of the phrase "sex and violence."

A myth-maker both on and behind the screen, it was shocking in '67 and today remains fresh as a thrilling, often darkly funny, and exquisitely made classic. It still hits us with an ending that, in the modern argot, ain't nuttin' like a gangsta party. Critic David Thomson, in his retrospective appreciation in L.A. Weekly, observes that "death was their best moment; it was when they looked in each other's eyes with rapture and knew that machine-gun bullets were the trigger for the shuddering orgasm they longed for." As Glenn Erickson puts it in his consideration of this new DVD, the final scene's "blast of psychic overkill ushered in a new era of explicit violence for mainstream movies.... Forty years later, in a culture grown even more bloodthirsty, Bonnie and Clyde has retained its kick." Finally, Roger Ebert closes his "Great Movies" piece on Bonnie and Clyde with, "When I saw it, I had been a film critic for less than six months, and it was the first masterpiece I had seen on the job. I felt an exhilaration beyond describing. I did not suspect how long it would be between such experiences, but at least I learned that they were possible."

Naturally Faye and Warren will always be remembered as Bonnie and Clyde's glamorous celebrity outlaw lovers. As the new DVD extras point out, Beatty also went on bended knee as the film's never-say-die producer, championing this radical and disturbing creation before an industry ready to kill it, dump the body, and forget it had ever breathed. His persistence paid off when Bonnie and Clyde turned into a commercial and ultimately critical smash for Warner Brothers, picking up ten Oscar nominations that included wins for supporting actress Estelle Parsons and cinematographer Burnett Guffey. And let's not forget the terrific work we get here from director Arthur Penn, editor Dede Allen, and a cast of relative unknowns such as Gene Hackman, Michael J. Pollard, Denver Pyle, and Gene Wilder in his big-screen debut one year before The Producers and four years before he became Willy Wonka.

For the film's 40th (more or less) anniversary, Warner Bros. has given Bonnie and Clyde a fully restored and remastered new release, and -- boy howdy! -- it's a thing of beauty. The image is rich and sharp and just shy of flawless. Various purchase options offer a assortment of extras. The "Two-Disc Special Edition" hands us a superb new documentary about the production, Revolution! The Making of Bonnie and Clyde, by Laurent Bouzereau. It's presented in three parts -- "Bonnie and Clyde's Gang" (22 minutes), "The Reality and Myth of Bonnie and Clyde" (24 mins.), and "Releasing Bonnie and Clyde" (18 mins.) -- and features new reminiscences from Beatty, Dunaway, Hackman, Pollard, Parsons, director Penn, screenwriter Robert Benton, editor Dede Allen, creative consultant Robert Towne, Morgan Fairchild (Faye Dunaway's stand-in), costume designer Theadora Van Runkle, art director Dean Tavoularis, press agent Mick Guttman, and L.A. Confidential director Curtis Hanson (who, as a young photographer, had a hand in landing Faye Dunaway in the role of Bonnie Parker; Hanson's "payment" was being allowed to shadow the crew in Texas during production).

Another worthwhile documentary here is a History Channel biography of the real-life couple, Love and Death: The Story of Bonnie and Clyde (43 mins.). Turns out that when they met, Clyde was only 20 years old and Bonnie was 19. The doc includes film footage shot on-site at their death car, which is been so riddled with bullets that it's falling apart (like the bodies glimpsed inside it). We also see their bodies laid out ("fans" tried to cut pieces off Clyde's corpse), then shots of the funeral, which was a public spectacle with thousands of people lined up to goggle at a morbid piece of history. Finally, rounding out the Two-Disc Special Edition are two deleted scenes (minus their audio, which has been lost, but subtitled from the shooting script), the teaser and theatrical trailers, and Warren Betty Wardrobe Tests (7 mins.).

The handsomely packaged "Ultimate Collector's Edition" holds all that plus a 36-page book, a reproduction of the original pressbook, and a mail-in poster offer. The Blu-ray disc reproduces the "Ultimate Collector's Edition" with all the video material on a single disc. DVD Beaver has posted a review of the Blu-ray edition, with specs and screenshots.

Warner Bros. Pictures' Gangsters Collection Vol. 3
Want even more gangsters, girls, and gun fights? Warner Brothers serves us well with Gangsters Collection Vol. 3, collecting six rat-a-tat titles from the heyday of gangster films. This latest group of crime genre classics, three making their first U.S. home video appearance, stars some of Hollywood's top tough guys -- James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and Humphrey Bogart. The films have been given brand new transfers from newly restored film elements. The DVDs also include the always-welcome "Warner Night at the Movies" extras such as rarely seen Warner Bros. shorts, vintage newsreels and classic cartoons, plus original theatrical trailers. The discs are available individually and bundled together in the boxed set:

Picture Snatcher (1933) -- James Cagney portrays Danny Kean, a gangster looking to reform himself -- after a stretch behind bars -- with a new career as a tabloid newspaper photographer. He's also fallen for Patricia Nolan (Patricia Ellis), the daughter of the cop who put him away (Robert Emmett O'Connor). Dad is less than impressed with Kean's new career and none too happy about his daughter's budding relationship. Danny and his editor (Ralph Bellamy) may be selling papers, but is Danny able to sell Dad? Some of the photographs featured in the movie were recreated from sensational images of a 1928 electrocution that were printed in the New York Daily News. Special Features -- Vintage theatrical trailer: I Loved A Woman; classic WB short: Plane Crazy; WB cartoon: Wake Up The Gypsy In Me.

Lady Killer (1933) -- In one of his more comedic efforts, Cagney plays Dan Quigley, a former con artist who goes to Hollywood to hide out and ends up becoming a star. Making it in show business may have its perks, but it also puts him in the spotlight and in jeopardy of being recognized by the thugs he ran away from. By turns, Lady Killer is a filmmaking spoof, a crime thriller and a character study. With Cagney's vitality out front, it's definitely greater than the sum of its parts. The likable cast includes Mae Clarke, his co-star from Public Enemy (part of the first Warner Bros. Gangster Collection) and the recipient of the famous grapefruit. Special Features -- Two exclusive WB shorts: The Camera Speaks and Kissing Time; original theatrical trailer; WB cartoon: The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives.

Smart Money (1931) -- Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney were teamed up for the only time in their careers in Smart Money. Robinson has the larger part of a small-town barber who fancies himself a big-time gambler. He travels to the Big City carrying ten grand from backers at home with his younger brother (Cagney), who comes along as his bodyguard. Unfortunately Robinson has a weakness for beautiful blondes, which means trouble with a capital T. Watch closely in the first reel for an unbilled appearance by Boris Karloff as a dope pusher. Smart Money was Oscar nominated for Best Original Screenplay: Special Features -- Theatrical trailer: Other Men's Women; two WB shorts: George Jessel and His Art Choir and The Smart Set-Up; WB cartoon: Big Man From the North.

Black Legion (1937) -- Factory worker Frank Taylor (Humphrey Bogart in one of his early starring roles) believes that he has missed out on a deserved promotion when it is instead given to a Polish immigrant. Angry and looking for a scapegoat, he is an ideal mark for the Black Legion, an underground "Pro American" group that wants to get rid of immigrants and racial minorities through violent means. Frank joins, and with his new friends he dons black robes and drives the Polish family from their home. His aim achieved, Frank gets his job, but soon the Legion begins to take up more of his time and money, and turns his character darker and darker. Co-starring Ann Sheridan, Black Legion was inspired by a real case and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Special Features -- Theatrical trailer: The Perfect Specimen, two WB shorts: Hi De Ho and Under Southern Stars; authentic newsreel; WB cartoon: Porky and Gabby.

Mayor of Hell (1933) -- Five members of a teenage gang, including leader Jimmy Smith (Frank Darro), are sent to the state reformatory, ruled with an iron fist by a callous warden. Soon, Patsy Gargan (Cagney) -- a former gangster -- arrives, having been appointed Deputy Commissioner as a political favor. Gargan falls for activist nurse Dorothy (Madge Evans) and, inspired by her, takes over the administration to reform the reformatory and institute some formerly ignored basic Roosevelt-era principles, like humane treatment and democracy. Special Features -- four exclusive theatrical trailers: The Kennel Murder Case, The Mayor of Hell, Crime School, and Hell's Kitchen; WB Short: The Audition; WB cartoon: The Organ Grinder.

Brother Orchid (1940) -- Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart made five films together and Brother Orchid is the only one in which neither is killed! In this gangster comedy, Little John Sarto (Robinson), returns from Europe where he was hoping to find some "class" and finds his old mob has been taken over by Jack Buck (Bogart). Barely escaping an attempt on his life by the new regime, Sarto takes refuge in the monastery of the "Little Brothers of the Flower," pretending he's interested in becoming a monk so that the Brothers will let him stay while he plots his revenge. However, the kindness of the monks gradually changes him and he resolves to turn over a new leaf and reject his violent past. Special Features -- Theatrical trailer: It All Came True; WB short: Henry Busse and His Orchestra; Two exclusive WB cartoons: Busy Bakers and Slap Happy Pappy.

Wristcutters: a Love Story (Lionsgate)
Fans of Richard Donnie Darko Kelly still bitter about Southland Tales could do a lot worse than to check out Wristcutters, from Croatian-born director Goran Dukic. This deadpan little comedy/road-movie/romance is set in the afterlife where suicides end up after they off themselves. As purgatories go, it's pretty depressing: you can't smile, you still work the same crappy job, and the "hot as balls" landscape is a perpetual expanse reminiscent of the more depressing stretches of Nevada under fluorescent lighting. In other words, it's a lot like life, "just a little bit worse." The voiceover from Zia (Patrick Fugit, Almost Famous), just after draining his wrists into the sink because his girlfriend dumped him, asks "Who could think of a better punishment, really?" Along with his Russian drinking buddy Eugene (Shea Whigham), Zia hits the dusty road in Eugene's beater of a car -- which has, incidentally, a dimensional black hole beneath the passenger seat. Shannyn Sossamon is Mikal, a hitchhiker they pick up. She's an afterlife newbie who's there, she claims, on a technical error -- her O.D., you see, was not deliberate. So she's looking for the mythical (or are they?) People In Charge.

Things take a turn for the weird(er) when the Oz-like trio stop at Kneller's Happy Campers, a roadside community where casual miracles are just life as usual. Caretaking the joint is Kneller, played by none other than Tom Waits, and there's nobody on the planet better for the role. Can Mikal be the girl for Zia even though his quest is to find his ex, who offed herself a month after he did and, evidence suggests, is somewhere nearby? The plot goes a bit off-track at the climax, with an underdeveloped section about a would-be Messiah (Will Arnett, underused) and a really big miracle he has planned. Still, Wristcutters: a Love Story is well-made and often charming. It's recommended for fans of lightweight "quirky" indies with black (really more of a charcoal gray) humor. Fans of Six-String Samurai will find Wristcutters to be so similar in style and tone that the two movies would make a pretty cool double feature.

Lionsgate delivers Wristcutters: a Love Story on DVD with an enjoyable and informative audio commentary track by director Dukic, actor Patrick Fugit, and producers Mikal Portnoi Lazarev and Tatiana Kelly. Their production of this low-cost indie was peppered with found locations (such as an abandoned theme park that became the Kneller's Happy Campers site), and happenstance such as a dead body on the beach. Also here are some brief behind-the-scenes featurettes, including Fugit's on-set photo gallery, and ten deleted scenes -- a couple of which should have remained in the final cut.

Midsomer Murders (Fan site: The Definitive Midsomer Guide) (Acorn Media)
Attention, mystery fans! Acorn Media, our favorite go-to distributor of British TV on DVD, has released ten years' worth of Midsomer Murders, the addictive British detective drama that has aired since 1997. In the U.S., the series has been seen on A&E and The Biography Channel. Based on a series of crime novels by author Caroline Graham, Midsomer Murders follows unflappable Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby, played with wit and panache by John Nettles, as he solves the bizarre puzzles that disturb the idyllic rural villages dotting the map of Midsomer, a picturesque English county.

The series reinvigorates the traditional English "cozy" mystery formula with a modern setting, flashes of wry humor, and inventive, often macabre murders, such as a man pelted to death by catapulted wine bottles while his invalid wife looks on from the manor house window, or an actor cutting his throat on stage after somebody replaced the play's prop razor with a real one. The ghastly deeds contrast sometimes amusingly with the pastoral settings (given names such as Badger's Drift and Strangler's Wood) and genteel country estates where, apparently, everyone has a secret and a motive for foul doings. Throughout these 100-minute episodes, the familiar tropes of Agatha Christie-style paperbacks -- stabbbings, bludgeonings, poisonings, mad vicars, lost wills, lovers' trysts, secret identities, hidden parentage, buried treasures, revenge schemes, and so on -- are freshened up with first-rate performances from a sterling cast playing eccentric characters. Nettles gave up a career in the Royal Shakespeare Company to play likable, hardworking family man Tom Barnaby, and Shakespeare's loss is our gain.

Like making your way through a bag of good English crisps, watching Midsomer Murders is too irresistibly enjoyable to stop after just one. A testimonial to the series comes from my wife, who last week while laid up with the flu discovered Midsomer Murders to be ideal "comfort food" viewing while recuperating. She's now a die-hard fan.

Acorn Media produces Midsomer Murders in two boxed sets. Holding all of Series One through Four (30 hours on 19 discs), Midsomer Murders - The Early Cases Collection restores the episodes to their original U.K. broadcast order. These include the five mysteries adapted from the novels of Caroline Graham, as well as the next 13 original stories inspired by her characters. Six of the episodes, including the first two in the series, were adapted by writer Anthony Horowitz (Foyle's War, Poirot, Robin of Sherwood). Guest stars include Orlando Bloom, Anna Massey, and Prunella Scales. The first two seasons come with a letterboxed (1.66:1 non-anamorphic) image, followed by the remaining seasons presented in 1.75:1 widescreen that's anamorphically enhanced. Special Features include an essay by John Nettles, a Midsomer map, production notes, behind-the-scenes featurettes, a Caroline Graham biography, and cast filmographies. The 19th disc holds exclusive bonus material: Super Sleuths, a documentary about the show's first decade, featuring John Nettles, Caroline Graham, writer Anthony Horowitz, and others. Sold separately, Midsomer Murders - Set 10 brings us episodes 40-43 from Series Eight (2004/2005).

This week Acorn Media also streets Suburban Shootout - The Complete First Series, a satirical black comedy television series that's promoted as Britain's up-the-ante answer to Desperate Housewives. In 2006 the first series of Suburban Shootout aired in the UK and in the United States on Oxygen. (Official site, Oxygen site.) The smell of newly-mown grass, the sight of blooming flowerbeds, the clatter of automatic gunfire.... Welcome to Little Stempington, a posh London 'burb where the ladies care more about turf wars than topsoil. Amelia Bullmore (Cracker), Anna Chancellor (Four Weddings and a Funeral), and Felicity Montague (Bridget Jones's Diary) star in this clever, energetic, and wickedly satirical Britcom about warring gangs of vigilante housewives. The set holds the complete first season of eight episodes. Extras include a behind-the-scenes program, text cast filmographies, and audio commentaries on all eight episodes by the cast and crew.

Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains (Sony)
Written and directed by Jonathan Demme, Man from Plains is a 2007 vérité-style documentary chronicling three months of former President Jimmy Carter's tour across America to publicize his new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. The 83-year-old former president won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development," and in the film his quiet competence, compassion, faith, humility, courage, and intelligence shine through as a reminder that such presidents are possible.

The Kite Runner (DreamWorks)
Marc Forster's film of Khaled Hosseini's novel -- about two boys in the prewar Afghanistan of 1978 -- arrives with two "making of" featurettes plus a commentary from Foster, Hosseini, and screenwriter David Benioff.

The Mist (Genius Entertainment and the Weinstein Company)
Frank Darabont's effective horror movie (based on a Stephen King story) comes in a single-disc edition and a two-disc "collector's edition." The two-disc DVD set comes with a Darabont commentary, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes documentaries, and another presentation of the entire movie -- this time in black and white, which Darabont explains in an intro is his preferred way of showing the movie. Over at Pop Matters, Bill Gibron in a contemplative look at The Mist says the two-disc DVD 'furthers the film's spell."

Walk the Line - Extended Cut (20th Century Fox)
The well-received 2005 Johnny Cash biopic is back with 17 minutes of additional material. The good news is that the additions are seamless and make for a richer final cut. Moreover, this two-disc set comes with enough extras to pack a Cash fan's guitar case. Some are carried over from the previous two-disc edition, while others are new for this release. The returning extras are the director's commentary by James Mangold; the featurettes "Folsom: Cash and the Comeback," "Celebrating the Man in Black: The Making of Walk the Line," and "Ring of Fire: The Passion of Johnny & June"; and extended musical numbers collected as "Johnny Cash Jukebox" (now eight songs with optional introductions by writers, musicians, and people involved with the production giving background on the songs). The new extras are two deleted scenes, featurettes -- "Becoming Cash/Becoming Carter," "Sun Records & the Johnny Cash Sound," "The Cash Legacy," and "Cash and His Faith" -- and trailers.

Alain Delon: 5-Film Collection (Turner Classic Movies) (Lionsgate)
The handsome French "rebel" actor Delon (Wikipedia, Official site) stars in five signature films:

• A provocative French thriller, Diaboliquement Votre (Diabolically Yours) (1967) places a wealthy man (Delon) at the center of an extraordinary plot after a car crash leaves him unable to remember who he is. With his wife (Senta Berger) convinced he is faking amnesia, he sets out to discover who and why someone wants him to believe he is going crazy and should end his life.
• In La Piscine (The Swimming Pool) (1969), a chilling portrait of male rivalry and jealousy reunites real-life lovers Alain Delon and Romy Schneider as a couple on vacation at a villa near St. Tropez. When her ex-love shows up unexpectedly with his beautiful teenage daughter (Jane Birkin), it creates a dangerous love triangle between the grown-ups that leads to deadly consequences.
• The dark, intricate melodrama La Veuve Couderc (The Widow Couderc) (1971) explores the possibility of love between a young man and older woman. Simone Signoret plays a contented widow who allows a handsome stranger (Delon) to move in and work on her farm. Their secret affair and plans for the future take a dramatic turn when he succumbs to her jealous sister-in-law's seductive daughter.
• In Le Gitan (The Gypsy) (1975), a long-suffering gypsy (Delon) sets out to steal from the rich to provide sustenance to his fellow gypsies, all of them desperate and treated like trash by French society. Constantly outwitting the authorities as he moves deftly from place to place with the help of accomplices, this king of beggars ultimately cannot break the endless chain of displacement -- his people's sad destiny.
• Sensual, dark, and thought-provoking, Notre Historie (Our Story) (1984)is an unpredictable tale of obsessive love starring Delon as a middle-aged alcoholic whose life is turned upside down by a train ride. Sitting alone in a compartment as he reflects on the emptiness of his world, a beautiful woman (Nathalie Baye) suddenly enters, makes love to him and just as suddenly leaves the train, compelling him to follow her.

Totaling 8 1/2 hours, the films are transferred to five discs from good widescreen source prints. Audio is French Dolby Digital stereo with subtitle options in English or Spanish. The ever-reliable DVD Beaver provides tech specs and ample screenshots.

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