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The Good Wife
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List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $13.49
Your Save: $ 1.49 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Starring: Rachel Ward, Bryan Brown, Steven Vidler, Sam Neill, Jennifer Claire
Directed By: Ken Cameron
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780792851684
Format: Anamorphic
ISBN: 0792851684
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2001-12-26
Running Time: 98
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: 1987-05-14
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Editorial Reviews:
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Unbridled passions sear under the hot Australian sun in this smoldering tale of desperation, betrayal and redemption. Breathtakingly beautiful to watch, this "well made and well acted" (Leonard Maltin) drama stars Rachel Ward (Against All Odds), Bryan Brown (Cocktail) and Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) in a haunting story of lost opportunities and unrequited love. Marge (Ward), a sensuous but proper wife, lives with her quiet lumberjack husband Sonny (Brown) in a remoteAussie town. Lonely and unfulfilled, Marge develops an attractionand then an obsessionfor thetown's sexy new bartender, Neville (Neill). And when Neville acts on Marge's desires, he unleashes her insatiable sexual appetite. But word of her infidelity catches and spreads like wildfire throughtheir small town leaving Sonny with no choice but to squelch the flames or lose everything he's got!
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: One of those Underrated Gems
Comment: Winner of one Australian Film Institute award (Best Achievement in Costume Design) and nominated for five others (including Best Actor for Bryan Brown), this film from 1987 is a quiet masterpiece. It submits itself to its characters, permitting the actors to do their work without a lot of clutter. Rachel Ward (winner of Best Actress at the Tokyo International Film Festival) was beautiful as the painfully naive Marge Hills, a woman who desired romance beyond what her humdrum reality could provide. She's introduced to us on her knees at chores, with other events quick to follow that tell us she's a person whose true value is taken for granted, leaving her isolated in a practical world. Aware of an inexpressible longing, she escapes through tabloids with far-out stories of faraway places. This is only briefly but vividly touched upon before the story heats up. She makes a bad decision that weakens her already dreamy grasp of reality, and with it, her relationship with her husband. Sam Neill is excellent as the oily bartender Neville Gifford, hiding his disdain for women behind his smarmy urbanity. Marge's emotional decline in pursuit of this completely unlikable debaucher is hard to watch.
Seeing this only once back when it was new, I was so touched by it, I've thought of it over the span with special favor. It's not a title you see on shelves anywhere, so you're not going to get an opportunity to buy it on impulse. It was on my wish list for a long time, and I just recently decided to spring for it. Every bit as affective as it was twenty years ago, it was a very good looking film, to boot. The nomination for cinematography was definitely deserved, and made an already fine story a pleasure to watch again. I wouldn't mind seeing it in Blu-ray. It's got that look.
The DVD itself has no special features, other than the original theatrical trailer and previews. None of that matters to me, but if it matters to you, it's worth noting. It's a beautiful film, and anyone who appreciates, without being judgmental, how and why we can complicate things is sure to enjoy it. It's a nuanced drama, for sure.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "Good Wife" is actually Bad Wife
Comment: I agree with m.h.r. Bbettina that it is strange that this movie got more than 2 stars from other reviewers, let alone even one, in my opinion. Admittedly, I didn't see the whole thing but from what I did see, it was enough to develop some intense dislike for the characters, especially for Rachel Ward's desperate, love-obsessed character, Marge Hills, and Sam Neill's character, Neville Gifford. The plot wasn't anything to call home about but I would imagine it was developed to describe broken, unfaithful homes back in 1930s Australia or some homes in general, back in those days (and maybe for homes nowadays). The scene with the husband's brother, Sugar Hills, and the wife having sex was very strange, especially with the husband, Sonny, consenting to any of it and even listening in on it. If anything, from my point of view, I would think that the only person of any integrity and interest in the movie besides the women in town who were worried about Ward's marriage and were doing their best to intervene and help out whenever they can is the long-suffering husband. He's probably also the best-looking man in the whole movie, so it was confusing why Marge would find Neville attractive in any way, other than the fact that she was attracted to the forbidden (infidelity). So if you're not a fan of people breaking their vows and committing adultry, skip this movie. It doesn't show the ideal "good wife"; instead, it shows the image of a bad, love-obsessed, trying-to-be-unfaithful wife. In fact, maybe, it's better that everyone just avoid this movie altogether. If you want to see some healthy drama, the Lifetime channel shows some really good flicks, and plus, you can save a buck or two.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Independent Film
Comment: Rachel Ward takes this movie over. She owns it. She has matured as an actress and this piece shows her evolution as a first rate performer. Why oh why oh why haven't we seen more of her. Her subleties are magnificent. Bryan Brown, as her husband, has a quieter role and, as always, he delivers. What can you say about these two - thank god they found each other.
This film has all the artsiness of the very best independent films.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Good Wife=bad
Comment: I dont see how this movie got anything over 2 stars. It was just plain odd. The phsycho wife sleeps with her husbands goofy, childish brother because "one man is like any other" in her opinion. It is obvious that the husband (the only character that I cared even a little about)is hurt by her willingness to sleep with his brother but says OK because its what his wife wants. Then, the wife see's Sam Niell, whom I could not find one thing attractive about, and becomes obsessed with him to the point where she leaves her home and faithful, ever patient husband, and moves into town to stalk this bartenders every move 24 hours a day from across the street. The ending was almost fitting, I just wish the train had run over her and that her husband would move on to a woman who deserved him.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Good Wife (could be better)
Comment: Set in 1939 in Australia, a woman (Rachel Ward) is mostly happily married to a good provider, but is bored in bed. She falls for a local bartender (Sam Neill), who seems to be the Lothario type. But when she literally throws herself at him, he tosses her away. Her doggedly faithful husband takes her back. The potential for something really excellent is here, but nothing comes of it. The characters are too zombie-like to prompt us very much to care about them.
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