Pleasantville (New Line Platinum Series) | 
| Director: Gary Ross
Actors: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, Reese Witherspoon, William H. Macy
Studio: New Line Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $1.20
You Save: $13.78 (92%)
New (70) Used (95) Collectible (2) from $1.20
Rating:  383 reviews
Sales Rank: 1316
Format: Ac-3, Anamorphic, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
DVD Layers: 2
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 124 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5 x 0.6
MPN: TRNDN4728D
ISBN: 6305308659
UPC: 794043472824
EAN: 9786305308652
ASIN: 6305308659
Theatrical Release Date: October 23, 1998
Release Date: June 1, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Fantastical writer Gary Ross (Big, Dave) makes an auspicious directorial debut with this inspired and oddly touching comedy about two '90s kids (Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon) thrust into the black-and-white TV world of Pleasantville, a Leave It to Beaver-style sitcom complete with picket fences, corner malt shop, and warm chocolate chip cookies. When a somewhat unusual remote control (provided by repairman Don Knotts) transports them from the jaded real world to G-rated TV land, Maguire and Witherspoon are forced to play along as Bud and Mary Sue, the obedient children of George and Betty Parker (William H. Macy and Joan Allen). Maguire, an obsessive Pleasantville devotee, understands the need for not toppling the natural balance of things; Witherspoon, on the other hand, starts shaking the town up, most notably when she takes basketball stud Skip (Paul Walker) up to Lover's Lane for some modern-day fun and games. Soon enough, Pleasantville's teens are discovering sex along with--gasp!--rock & roll, free thinking, and soul-changing Technicolor. Filled with delightful and shrewd details about sitcom life (no toilets, no double beds, only two streets in the town), Pleasantville is a joy to watch, not only for its comedy but for the groundbreaking visual effects and astonishing production design as the town gradually transforms from crisp black and white to glorious color. Ross does tip his hand a bit about halfway through the film, obscuring the movie's basic message of the unpredictability of life with overloaded and obvious symbolism, as the black-and-white denizens of the town gang up on the "coloreds" and impose rules of conduct to keep their strait-laced town laced up. Still, the characterizations from the phenomenal cast--especially repressed housewife Allen and soda-shop owner Jeff Daniels, doing some of their best work ever--will keep you emotionally invested in the film's outcome, and waiting to see Pleasantville in all its final Technicolor glory. --Mark Englehart
Product Description
LIFE IMITATES ART WHEN TWO MODERN-DAY TEENAGERS GET SUCKED INTO THE TOO-PERFECT, BLACK-AND-WHITE WORLD OF A 1950S SITCOM. TRAPPED AND TRYING TO FIND A WAY HOME, THE TWO FIND THEMSELVES BRINGING COLOR TO THE LIVES OF PLEASANTVILLE'S RIGID, NAIVE TOWNSPEOPLE.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 378 more reviews...
 A Wonderful Film May 6, 2009
Neo
This is one of my all time favorite films. I think anyone that enjoys Art will find something to appreciate in watching this. This is one of my favorite DVD's -- now bring on the Blu-ray release! This film deserves it.
Spring time in Pleasantville January 20, 2009
Rama Rao (Morgantown, WV USA)
This movie was written, produced, and directed by Gary Ross, who also produced another successful movie, Seabiscuit (2003). Pleasantville is a comedy drama in which two teenagers; David Wagner (Tobey Maguire) and his twin sister Jennifer Wagner (Reese Witherspoon) physically move-back in time to 1950s into a town called the Pleasantville, which is actually a setting for a 1950s television show (shown in black and white).
David Wagner and his sister Jennifer are two different individuals. Jennifer is concerned mainly with relationships and popularity, while David spends most of his spare time on the couch, watching television. While their mother (Jane Kaczmarek) is on vacation with her boyfriend, Jennifer and David fight for the control of TV, then a mysterious TV repairman (Don Knotts) shows up uninvited, and quizzes David on Pleasantville before giving him a strange-looking remote control which transports them back in time into Pleasantville in the Parkers' living room. They acquire the roles of two teenagers in the family of George (William H. Macy) and Betty Parker (Joan Allen) who have two children of same age; Bud and Mary Sue Parker. The setting says it all; the town is conservative, women stayed at home, took care of home and children, and men went to work. Typically teenage dating is limited to going to a movie and eating at local burger joint. Holding hands is perhaps the most romantic and sexual behavior practiced at that time. Jennifer gets bored with life and introduces her boyfriend Skip (Paul Walker) into a fast lane promoting sexual promiscuity. Soon the entire town comes to know that all teenagers of town are hanging out at Lover's Lane. The town start to change; large size beds become available in stores, colored paints show up on walls, and the women start to gossip. People in Pleasantville begin to explore hidden abilities and revel in their new freedoms. Mr. Johnson (Jeff Daniels), the owner of local burger joint, and the boss of Bud Parker begins to paint, and Betty Parker always had a "soft corner" for Johnson. She finds out about the "happenings" in town by having a conversation with her daughter Mary Sue. The conversation is intimate and personal;
Betty Parker: Mary Sue?
Jennifer: Yeah?
Betty Parker What goes on up at Lover's Lane?
Jennifer: What do you mean?
Betty Parker: Well, you hear these things lately... kids spending so much time up there. Uh, is it holding hands? That kind of thing
Jennifer: Yeah! That and...
Betty Parker: What?
Jennifer: It doesn't matter.
Betty Parker: No, I wanna know.
Jennifer: Well, sex.
Betty Parker: Oh. What's sex?
[After Mary Sue explains to Betty about sex]
Jennifer: Are you okay?
Betty Parker: Um, yes. It's, uh, just that your father would never do anything like that.
Jennifer: Ahhhh.
Betty Parker: Mmm.
Jennifer Well, you know, Mom, there are other ways to enjoy yourself... without Dad.
Betty Parker peruses her inner side, to be romantic and to be herself soon revolts against the daily chores and leaves her husband and start having an affair with Johnson, and his nude painting of Betty Parker posted on the wall of his diner makes the town real angry. Mayor Big Bob and the men of town are disgusted at the decay of moral values declare the "Pleasantville Code of Conduct", a list of rules preventing people from playing loud music, or using paint colors other than black, white or gray. Eventually Bud Parker makes his father and the mayor, understand that they have hidden feelings they must pursue that and live "freely." Betty and George make up and Bud goes back into the future, his original home. Some of the critical dialogues (conversations) are cleverly written. In one conversation in which George persuades Betty to change to old traditional ways, the conversation is as follows:
Betty Parker [Betty is in color (signifies liberated woman), George is still black & white (signifies conservative)]: George, look at me. Look at my face. That meeting is not for me.
George Parker: You'll put on some make-up.
Betty Parker: I don't want to put on make-up.
George Parker: It'll go away. It goes away.
Betty Parker: [firmly] I don't want it to go away (meaning she doesn't want to change her liberated look and she wants to keep it).
The movie ends with a shot of Betty and George reunited (sitting side by side); however, when Betty turns to look at her husband she sees Johnson, a some what bold move on the part of writers and the director. In spite if making up with her husband she expresses her true feelings for Johnson with whom she is clearly in love. This is an excellent movie; at times it gets very sensual, but tackles some old values in a gentle and sometimes clever conversation. This film is highly recommended.
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LOTS OF FUNNY GAGS THROUGHOUT THE FILM December 8, 2008
Harold Wolf (Wells, IN United States)
If you like light comedy with a silly plot, this is one to buy. If, like me, you remember the 1950s, then you will laugh-out-loud through this movie. Just seeing the set brings back fond memories. The silly gags about the safer, innocent, quieter, sheltered, family value days of yesteryear are an absolute joy. You know, like Father Knows Best, Ozzie and Harriett, and Lucy.
Don Knotts, a TV repair man, is funny again, and brings back memories of his Mayberry run. The intentional switches from B&W to color, and back, and isolated color in B&W scenes, and the reversal is often funny in itself.
Warning: If you are too young and can't look back on days when you looked silly compared to contemporary standards; then you may not enjoy this movie. Pleasant viewing for all to opt for "Pleasantville." And, golly gee, like cool man, the price is about equal to a rental cost. Groovy!
Loved it October 12, 2008
J.L.A. (Missouri United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I know it's kinda leftist and preachy, but I loved it and it touched something inside me. So I'm a bleeding-heart liberal...whatever. But the movie does make some great points about the stiff and unrealistic crap the 50's tried to paint everyone into. (80's kid here...but I've seen plenty of 50's TV and I know my history) I love the idea of this film and how...just as in the real world...as color TV came to be...so did a more open minded world. I've read some negative reviews and most just complain about the ideals this film portray...but hey...it's a free country for a reason folks. I do appreciate that most reviewers admit the acting and effects of this film are good...it's just a great film all around IMO and I would recommend it to anyone...regardless of your political ideals. Try putting those aside while watching. Either way it will spark a reaction and that is what art is all about.
Filmic Metaphor: Seeing Ourselves In Our Movies September 19, 2008
Jerry Rodriguez (Corpus Christi, Texas)
Pleasantville is more than just a small-town piece of Americana trapped in a time warp that is fixated on the conservatively clean-cut 1950's, it is a small fictional town that finds itself struggling with social issues that are all too real and timeless for those who continue to struggle with their divisive influences. Racism, bigotry, artistic and intellectual censorship, conformity without question or debate, non-conformity with purpose and hope, and the struggle for individuality are all beautifully and sensitively illustrated though filmic metaphors and touching performances in this family film. Whether you are one who has always found comfort and security conforming to the assertive voices and visions of others or know the personal struggle of leaving comfort to secure and assert your own voice and vision in a world that doesn't always agree, this is a poignant film that is highly capable of striking a chord in the hearts of us all.
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