42nd Street Forever, Vol. 2: The Deuce

For years, I've wanted to see Joe Dante's legendary The Movie Orgy -- a 7-hour assembly of movie trailers, compiled in the late '60s -- but, for now, I'm content to settle for 42nd Street Forever. In fact, in many ways, 42nd Street Forever, Vol. 1 (which was released last November) and Vol. 2 make for a preferable alternative. While many great trailers came out of the '50s and '60s, there's no doubt that the best trailers ever made were made in the '70s. Like 42nd Street Forever, Vol. 1, The Deuce compiles two solid hours of memorably ridiculous trailers (56 in total), the best of which come from that incredible decade in American exploitation cinema. On the back of the case, The Deuce is described as "the greatest party DVD ever." Frankly, I couldn't agree more.

What's most effective about this disc is its all-over-the-map variety. I could sit through hours of biker film trailers, but Synapse's seemingly random juxtapositions of many other genres is even more effective. You really don't know what's gonna pop-up next. Right from the start, we jump from the grim sleaze of Abel Ferrara's Ms. 45 and the pre-Billy Jack biker chaos of Tom Laughlin's Born Losers to the semi-credible Paul Schrader-scripted drama Rolling Thunder and the Warren Oates good ol' boy drive-in classic Dixie Dynamite. As the disc continues, thematic blocks start to emerge -- blaxploitation, sexploitation, spysploitation -- but the overall diversity is extremely impressive (though the sword-and-sandal and monster movie sections don't really fit the overall vibe).

Aside from its raw, unquestionable entertainment value, there are two obvious benefits to this disc: 1) it should introduce viewers to some worthwhile, forgotten classics (ie. The Pom Pom Girls, Pick-up) and 2) it should provide all the deterrent necessary to prevent you form watching some of the duds (ie. The Guy From Harlem, The Last of the Secret Agents?).

The fact is, some films are better in concise, bite-sized, 2-minute packages. Since exploitation trailers tend to emphasize a film's most interesting and unusual moments, these trailers should save you a great deal of time that might otherwise be spent sifting through the films themselves. I haven't seen every one of these films, but I can say with some certainty that few of them could ever equal the mind-blowing genius of their trailers, particularly Stingray, Kenner, When Women Had Tails, The Curious Female, and Helga.

Best of all, every one of these trailers is presented in anamorphic widescreen. They may be scratched and dirty as hell -- I wouldn't have it any other way -- but they look just like they would if projected in a theatre. Rarely has any disc captured the pleasures of low rent aesthetics as effectively as this one. If you have friends, beer, and pizza, you're only missing one ingredient: 42nd Street Forever. -- Jonathan Doyle