Lost Highway (Universal, $19.98) — "Lost Highway," which begins when a couple's life is disrupted by the arrival of videotapes showing their home under surveillance, marked a turning point in avant-garde director David Lynch's career. It and his films since, with the exception of the aptly titled "The Straight Story," explore our deepest desires through increasingly blurred lines between reality and dreams.
Although a decade old, "Lost Highway" holds up well — not even its distinctively claustrophobic rock soundtrack sounds dated. Bill Pullman stars as Fred, a jazz saxophonist whose relationship with his redheaded wife Renee, played by Patricia Arquette, Mr. Lynch shows to be troubled almost without words. One of those mysterious tapes eventually shows him murdering her, although Fred insists he's innocent. On Death Row, Fred inexplicably turns into Pete (Balthazar Getty), a young auto mechanic. Having done nothing wrong, Pete is set free, but he soon meets his own version of Miss Arquette, this one a blonde named Alice. She proves just as dangerous as the other in this psychological thriller that's part noir and all David Lynch.
This is the first time "Lost Highway" has been available on DVD in the U.S. — you previously had to order a copy from Canada. It comes, alas, without a single extra.
The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder: John, Paul, Tom & Ringo (Shout! Factory, $24.99) — The late Tom Snyder, on his path-breaking late-night talk show "Tomorrow," might have come off as a pretty cool customer. What this DVD release proves, though, is that he had nothing on the Beatles.
This two-disc set features three separate interviews with three of the Beatles. The biggest draw is the first. As Mr. Snyder noted in the show that aired Dec. 9., 1980, John Lennon was murdered the night before, and the host's April 25, 1975, show turned out to be Mr. Lennon's last televised interview. Before replaying that interview in its entirety as a tribute, "Tomorrow" played one excerpt from it, in which Mr. Lennon talks about how much easier it is to walk the streets now that Beatlemania has passed — he gets the odd fan asking for his autograph, but that's about it. It's chilling to watch knowing that Mr. Lennon was killed by one of those autograph seekers.
Among the many topics Mr. Snyder and Mr. Lennon discuss — and "Tomorrow" segments sometimes came across more as conversations than interviews — is the evergreen question of why the greatest band of all time decided to call it quits. "We didn't break up because we weren't friends. We just broke up out of sheer boredom," Mr. Lennon revealed. "And boredom creates tension."
The band members had gotten any fighting out of their system in the early days, when Mr. Lennon said Paul McCartney was always the more popular among the girls in the dance clubs of Liverpool. Speaking of girls, Mr. Snyder, displaying little knowledge of the Beatles' back story, asks if groupies already existed when the band was in its heyday. "Yes, they were great," Mr. Lennon says, laughing.
The topic seems to be of great interest to the host — he grills Mr. McCartney and his wife, Linda, about it several times, to their clear discomfort. This talk aired on Dec. 20, 1979, when Mr. McCartney's new band, Wings, was enjoying great success, but it is disappointingly conducted by satellite. From London, Paul and Linda talk about taking their children on the road with them, and Mrs. McCartney explains how she got started as a (much-maligned) keyboardist with the band: "Paul just showed me middle C and said, 'You learn the rest.' "
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