​The Warner Archive Blu-ray release of the 1977 Neil Simon comedy 'the goodbye girl' aptly proves both that sometimes they come back and that you can go home again. Archive digging this one out of the vault 40 years after your not-so-humble reviewer having the thrill of being out on a school night (and experiencing agony of missing "Welcome Back Kotter" to do so) to watch the film in a theater shows that this one easily passes the test of time.


Richard Dreyfuss earning the distinction of being the youngest man to win the Best Actor Oscar for "goodbye" is the tip of the iceberg regarding the accolades for this film. The Golden Globes and BAFTA also grant him best actor status for that role. Further, the film is the Golden Globes choice for Best Picture and Best Screenplay. That organization additionally awards Marsha Mason the Best Actress honor.


The following YouTube clip of the theatrical trailer for "goodbye" provides a nice sense of the basis for the aforementioned fuss.

The tagline "everyone deserves a chance at finding happiness" for the 2016 gay-themed drama perfectly sums up the theme of this low-key tale of conversion therapy. The March 14, 2017 breaking glass pictures DVD release of the film is must-see for any family struggling with issues related to having a gay teen; it simply is a well-told story for the rest of us.


Seeing Tom "Luke Duke" Wopat as insensitive widowed dad Richard and Gregory "Gonzo" Harrison as religion-based conversion Dr. Gallagher add an '80stastic element to the movie. Dreamy 20-something Michael Grant keeps up with the veterans in his portrayal of James at 19.


The following YouTube clip of the "Fair Haven" trailer highlights the performances and shows how it delivers its message with a light touch.

Wopat and Grant have some of their best moments during the uber-awkward homecoming of James. The walk of shame from the bus to the family truck relates to being fresh out of a long-term stay at a conversion therapy facility. Richard is none too proud of his boy, and James looks as if he is returning from war.


Former piano prodigy James learns on the short ride to the family apple orchard in Vermont that Richard has spent the money set aside for tuition at the acclaimed Berklee School of Music in Boston on the operating expenses of  the orchard that his father started. Richard noting with only a slight edge in his voice that other expenses included the therapy further establishes the dynamics in the Grant family. Another aspect of this subtlety is that several scenes in addition to the homecoming show that the character named Richard can be a total dick.


The aforementioned low-key vibe of the film continues with James being a typical t-shirt and jeans wearing farm boy whose drab bedroom looks like the personal space of an all-American boy-next-door. He is much more Clark Kent than high-school drama club queen. One strongly suspects that our hero has never heard of Ethel Merman or Carol Channing.


Well-placed flashbacks of the therapy provide context for the present-day activity. For example, James soon encountering former boyfriend/fellow t-shirt and jeans guy Charlie triggers a scene in which Gallagher gently asks James if he has been intimate with another man.


The scenes with Gallagher further establish that his kind and gentle approach is to counsel his "patients." He understands the nature of their desires and provides a safe place for them to discuss them and for him to convince them why they are wrong. His idea of success is to substitute homosexual desires with heterosexual ones but does not seem consider with the corresponding damage to the psyche.


Other drama comes in the form of James seeing if the daughter of a preacher man can reach and teach him. Their awkward first date and not much better subsequent interaction shows that James is trying very hard to please his father and society but that his heart is not in it. One also feels sorry for the daughter regarding the ultimate possibility of an unhappy marriage to James, who does not show her much affection and spends most weekends with Charlie under a pretense.


A related issue with its own form of repression is a struggle that many kids from rural backgrounds face. Richard feels strongly that James stay at home and devote his entire life to the orchard, but James desperately wants to be a concert pianist regardless of whether he shares his bed with a man, a woman, or no one.


The symbolism regarding the element of how ya gonna keep 'em on the farm extends to a real-life Oliver and Lisa Douglas yuppie couple who want to buy the orchard to convert it to an organic operation. The response of stubborn and old-world Richard is that apples are already organic because they grow out of the ground; James sees the offer as a way out and recognizes that the times they are a changin'.


Less subtle symbolism exists regarding this tale of sin and temptation being set in an apple orchard.


The subtlety and realism continues to the climatic final scenes. An event that forces every player to come to terms with their new reality changes the lives of each of them. Just as in real life, no one gets everything that he or she wants but achieves adequate happiness to keep going.


This discussion illustrates that, like virtually every breaking DVD release, "Fair Haven" is notable for avoiding most gay film stereotypes. One can easily image a film about conversion therapy to be either high camp or a melodrama and for James and Charlie to be doe-eyed twinks who prance around the orchard in short denim cut-offs and Daisy Duke shirts that are barely buttoned and cinched at the waist. Instead, we get the much more substantive story of a man who has already lost his wife at a relatively young age and has a son who is a good kid but has desires that Dad can neither understand nor accept.


The bushel of breaking extras this time include an in-studio music video of Wopat, 35 minutes of cast interviews that begin with Wopat discussing his childhood on a Midwest farm, and both deleted scenes and a look behind-the scenes.

Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing provides children of the '70s a dinomite treat in publishing "Run, Holly, Run!," which is the memoir of "The Land of the Lost" star Kathy Coleman. This compelling tale of childhood stardom and related family drama, post-fame ups and downs, and apt survival story hits real and virtual shelves on May 9 2017.


For the benefit of folks unversed in the awesomeness of '70s-era Saturday morning television, "Land" is a groovy 1974-77 Sid and Marty Krofft live-action series. The show initially centers around Park Ranger Rick Marshall, who is enjoying the most famous "routine (rafting) expedition" when "the greatest earthquake ever known" plummets Marshall and his teen offspring Holly and Will into the titular prehistoric creatures laden area.Coleman plays wholesome tomboy Holly.


This literal cradle-to-present auto-biography begins with the February 18, 1962 birth of our survivor. We quickly learn that she still is the youngest of her 10 siblings and is associated with a touch of conceivable scandal. This coverage of her early life additionally includes a passage that is a reasonable and gracious version of the "Don't call me Ricky" incident involving former child star Rick Schroder roughly a decade after his '80s-era "Silver Spoon" fame.


Consistent with the armchair psychology in a May 2015 Unreal TV post on the psyche of child stars, Coleman soon becomes a young performer who is the sole breadwinner in her family. The associated costs include pressure to keep getting cast, dealing with truly the mother of all stage moms, and contending with the responses of the other kids when she attends a traditional school.


A personal favorite story from the entire book is Coleman sharing the glee of her and the other children in a commercial when their adult co-stars start cursing several takes into filming an advertisement for a product. This is so hilarious that your not-so-humble reviewer unconsciously mutters "f**king Cheez-its" under his breath on seeing two displays of that snack in a grocery store the day after reading the related experience of Coleman.


Another memorable pre "Lost" gig for Coleman has her being the youngest member of the "Up With People" style chorus "The Mike Curb Congregation." The memorable venues of the latter include Disneyland, which returns to haunt Coleman later in life.


Coleman delights fans of (tragically discontinued) Quisp cereal and (equally missed) "Schoolhouse Rock" in quickly getting to the topic of "Lost." Much of this relates to the prior friendship (and future "its complicated" relationship) between Coleman and co-star Phil Paley. Paley is the portrayor of friendly missing link ape-boy Cha-ka. The reported bond of these two relates to the co-child stars' adventures pulling pranks on the set and being the only students at the on-set school.


Having the privilege of interviewing Will portrayor/theme song performer Wesley Eure and maintaining correspondence with this righteous dude for a short period after that makes learning that he is an ideal big brother figure awesome. A highlight of this is learning of the playful on-set competition between Coleman and Eure. A fall-on-the-floor funny story revolves around Eure pouncing on Coleman.


Learning that Rick portrayor Spencer Milligan affirmatively fills a void in the life of fatherless Coleman is awesome for "Lost" fans. Discovering that the actor who plays the brother of Rick fills the role of creepy uncle is as distressing as learning that Milligan is as righteous as Eure is exciting.


The post "Lost" portion of "Run" is the stuff of which compelling primetime soaps (and page-turner Hollywood memoirs) is made. The adventures in the actual and figurative chapters that follow include Coleman having an upsetting initial sexual encounter that a second encounter that outwardly is the thing of which softcore porn is made but is endearing and special.


The adult life of Coleman includes marriages to two princes who turn out to ogres, having two outwardly and internally beautiful boys, working at fast food restaurants and discount stores to pay the bills, being homeless, and periods in which she does her best to drown her sorrows.


The award for best story in the entire book goes to a tale (no pun intended) of Coleman still being anxious after being rescued from her second husband deserting her (again, no pun intended) in the desert. Coleman being anxious after reaching a seeming safe place prompts her savior to dump a litter of puppies on her to relax her.


The final chapter in this saga that is one of the greatest adventures even known revolves an aptly (but sadly) lost documentary on a "Lost" cast reunion. The circumstances behind the filming and the possibility of seeing this holy grail to the aforementioned children of the '70s affirms the themes of "Run" that we must endure folks in our lives who are not so nice and that there always is hope for a happy ending.


The overall message of the tough life lessons that the adult Coleman learns is that money can be a blessing or a curse but never should be a priority in itself. She (like Holly) further demonstrates the importance of perseverance and a positive attitude.