Badass correspondent Moises Chiullan reported this morning that Elaine May‘s Ishtar will be issued exclusively on Bluray on 1.4.11, bypassing DVD entirely. I’ve run two or three stories about the travails of Ishtar, but the best was posted on 1.8.10.
I’ve no idea why the Powerhouse/Indicator Bluray of Ishtar has been cancelled, but I do know this is the second time that the release of an Ishtar Bluray has been blocked, as the same thing happened in 2012.
With N.Y. Times reporter Brooks Barnes having drawn an analogy between John Carter‘s box-office crash and the great financial Ishtar disaster of 1987 (i.e., “Ishtar Lands on Mars“) and journos tweeting about Ishtar over the last day or so, it bears repeating that the Great Ishtar Bluray Delay saga, which I reported about last April, … Read more
By my sights the two biggest Bluray embarassments of 2011 were (a) the Great Ishtar Delay Saga (which I explained in detail on 4.26.11) and (b) the Great West Side Story “Fade to Black During the Overture” MGM Home Video Snafu (which I reported on 10.25.11).
Given the general…well, at least marginal view that Elaine May‘s Ishtar (1987) is better than its rep and is actually hilarious in portions, it seems odd that today, 22 years after its catastrophic release, there’s no domestic DVD available. (A tape was released in 1994, but no DVD was ever pressed.) Think about that for … Read more
With the Ishtar Bluray finally out, it’s permissible to re-post a 33-month-old riff on the oppressively dull jacket art: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment design guy: “So what about the Ishtar Bluray jacket art? I’ve roughed out some ideas.” SPHE marketing director: “No ideas. Boilerplate. Use the art from the VHS. Tweak it or re-do the … Read more
After roughly two and three-quarter years of bizarre, byzantine delays, the Great Ishtar Bluray Delay Release Saga will finally conclude on Tuesday, August 6th, when Sony Home Entertainment’s Bluray will “street.” That day will sadly mark the end of a special time in the life of yours truly and Hollywood Elsewhere, as I came into … Read more
Manhattan-based film curator Miriam Bale has called to complain about my having described a recent press release statement that the delayed Ishtar Bluray is “impending” as “apparent conjecture” on her part. I was told by 92Y’s Sarah Morton that the term “impending release” came from Bale, but Bale says it was Elaine May‘s “people” who … Read more
Some have been following the great Ishtar Bluray Delay saga since last January, but most haven’t so let’s recap the chronology. But first let’s report the latest, which is that earlier today the 92nd Street Y announced “a rare screening and discussion” with Ishtar director-writer Elaine May on Tuesday, 5.17 at 7:15 pm. The 92Y … Read more
Watching my Ishtar Bluray the other night led me to Peter Biskind‘s September 2010 Vanity Fair piece about the making of that misbegotten (but now forgiven in most quarters) 1987 film. And while I’ve read Biskind’s Beatty autobiography and should have some memory of this, I came upon an anecdote that sank in because it … Read more
My Canadian-bought Ishtar Bluray arrived today. Watching it now, smiling, going with it, chuckling now and then. It’s a comedy, yes, but you have to forget about it being one. Laugh or don’t laugh, but either way it’s Ishtar — one of the best faintly funny farces ever made. About delusion, middle-aged failure, life without … Read more
An HE friend from Canada bought a copy of the Ishtar Bluray a day or two ago, and has generously offered to snag a copy for yours truly and send it along by mail. Sony Home Video’s recent decision to delay the release date until May or thereabouts was very last-minute and obviously didn’t prevent … Read more