Don Movie Reviews

This is a real good movie. In the tradition of Tougher than
Leather, with Run-DMC. Some real Hip Hop flavors to enjoy.
And if you like L.L. Cool J, then this is the right movie
for you, I loved it. It's B-Boyish, it's hardcore, it's
down to earth, it's all that. It has lots of personality
and some great film shots, of how the streets really look.

This movie was very interesting...why it wasn't given a chance escapes my mind.

I THOUGHT THIS MOVIE WAS REALLY GREAT, SENSUAL, AND A REAL BACK STABBER. YOU NEVER KNEW WHO WAS PLAYIN' WHO, UNTIL THE VERY END. IT WAS ONE OF LL COOL J'S BEST FLICKS. I SUGGEST YOU BUY IT AND SEE FOR YOURSELF. IT'S A SHAME THIS MOVIE DIDN'T GET THE PROPER RESPECT FROM THE MOVIE INDUSTRY. I ALSO ENJOYED THE SOUNDTRACK. UNFORTUNATELY, I CAN'T FIND IT (YET). BUT I'LL KEPP ON SEARCHING. IF ANYONE KNOWS WHERE I CAN GET MY HANDS ON A COPY, JUST E-MAIL ME AT DDSTeach@MSN.COM

Boy! I like the series, even though there is not much of a story - but the english translation is the worst I have heard in a long time! The translator must have been realy in a bad moode when he did write the script - so much slang from nearly every character is way to much...

one of the most hilarious anime dvds ive ever seen because there are three girl... women i mean that would never get together now there in an elfish world transported by means that you will see and its up to striping elves that they will get back home very awesome...
I DEfinetly recomend IT
And very soon i hope to purchase the last part of this superb collection......

A great finish to the hilarious comedy, Those Who Hunt Elves. Three people from another world (ours) are accidently summoned to the elven world. Them and a T-74 tank. To get back home, they must find the five fragments of the spell that can take them home. Too bad the fragments are on the bodies of female elves!

More of the same hilarity, language, and elf-stripping as in Volume 1, this time with a conclusion. Bottom line: If you loved the first one, the second one is a must!

This classic cartoon was my absolute favorite as a kid. I thoroughly enjoyed it in my pajamas eating cereal and glued to the TV set early in the AM. While this digitally remastered version is well done, it lacks the true originality of the show. For instance, it is missing the intro 'Don't touch that dial! Watch this exciting seen from today's 4 part story of Underdog! Here it comes now!' It is also missing the segment clip of scenes from other shows that was in the middle of the original show 'You'll see all of this Underdog adventure, complete on today's show. And in weeks to come, you'll see exciting scenes like this:' Since it was in 4-part episodes originally, parts of the scenes are cut in order to remake it uninterrupted which tends to destroy the great suspense music as a part ends. Also, the credits are missing the part where the guy was pasting a poster on the wall and the cop points out the sign that says 'Post No Bills' The segments with the lyrics are complete and in original form, which is a great plus. It is sad that the lyrics and intro themes to the other cartoons affiliated with Underdog are not included. Wow, I am amazing myself how much I remember of this show which is 30+yrs old. Also, absent is the clip where the guy pulls the switch and the marqui says 'Scenes from Next Week's Show' And, eventhough a lot has been taken away from the original, I love this cartoon sooo much, I have to give you 4 stars for remaking it!

I picked up the Underdog Chronicles to add to my Underdog Collector's Edition DVD. Alas, this new DVD suffers from the same lack of completeness as the Collector's Edition. The cartoon episodes themselves are entertaining and remastered well (except for the audio sometimes, whose volume tends to fade out ever so slightly in places), but every one of the cartoons is missing the original title card and ending credits. All of the title cards have inexplicably been replaced by hokey _ad hoc_ opening titles that make no effort to match the look and feel of the original period. Why these glaring deletions to the body of work were made is unclear; the old title cards and credits contribute much to the nostalgic value of a collection like this, and to omit them detracts from the enjoyment of the experience. (A least the Underdog theme song is present in its several forms.)

Even worse, the auxiliary cartoons that accompanied the Underdog show (this DVD calls them "Cliffhanger Episodes") -- namely Tennessee Tuxedo, Go Go Gophers, Commander McBragg, etc. -- are missing their theme songs, title cards and credits. As a result, each cartoon ends abruptly (no outro music or The End card) and you're never quite sure if that's really the end of the cartoon, or if it has been truncated. I'd sure like to know who made these ... production decisions. They obviously know nothing about continuity or the difference between a great product and a mediocre one.

Still, I love Underdog so much, I've rated this product a 4. If you're not a fan of the series, the deficiencies I've noted probably won't annoy you as much as they did me. If you _are_ a fan of the series, you'll enjoy the cartoons despite the bad decisions made in transcribing them onto DVD.

But it could have been so much better.

The sound on ZOT is not very clear.... It might just be the film. The rest of the episodes are simply wonderful though... I even liked the mini story of Underdog that Joe Harris had made for his kids...

I am not into Go Go Gophers and such, so I skipped them, but those are for people who are fans of those... SORRY...

The Ticklefeather Machine was OK.... Not the best one of the bunch, but I did like the one about the famous painting and Shoeshine's true self is almost discovered...

In future volumes... I would like to see more photos of the people behind the photos, or old interviews on their opinions of Underdog... All in all another welcome addition to my Underdog collection....

This classic cartoon was my absolute favorite as a kid. I thoroughly enjoyed it in my pajamas eating cereal and glued to the TV set early in the AM. While this digitally remastered version is well done, it lacks the true originality of the show. For instance, it is missing the intro 'Don't touch that dial! Watch this exciting seen from today's 4 part story of Underdog! Here it comes now!' It is also missing the segment clip of scenes from other shows that was in the middle of the original show 'You'll see all of this Underdog adventure, complete on today's show. And in weeks to come, you'll see exciting scenes like this:' Since it was in 4-part episodes originally, parts of the scenes are cut in order to remake it uninterrupted which tends to destroy the great suspense music as a part ends. Also, the credits are missing the part where the guy was pasting a poster on the wall and the cop points out the sign that says 'Post No Bills' The segments with the lyrics are complete and in original form, which is a great plus. It is sad that the lyrics and intro themes to the other cartoons affiliated with Underdog are not included. Wow, I am amazing myself how much I remember of this show which is 30+yrs old. Also, absent is the clip where the guy pulls the switch and the marqui says 'Scenes from Next Week's Show' And, eventhough a lot has been taken away from the original, I love this cartoon sooo much, I have to give you 4 stars for remaking it!

I picked up the Underdog Chronicles to add to my Underdog Collector's Edition DVD. Alas, this new DVD suffers from the same lack of completeness as the Collector's Edition. The cartoon episodes themselves are entertaining and remastered well (except for the audio sometimes, whose volume tends to fade out ever so slightly in places), but every one of the cartoons is missing the original title card and ending credits. All of the title cards have inexplicably been replaced by hokey _ad hoc_ opening titles that make no effort to match the look and feel of the original period. Why these glaring deletions to the body of work were made is unclear; the old title cards and credits contribute much to the nostalgic value of a collection like this, and to omit them detracts from the enjoyment of the experience. (A least the Underdog theme song is present in its several forms.)

Even worse, the auxiliary cartoons that accompanied the Underdog show (this DVD calls them "Cliffhanger Episodes") -- namely Tennessee Tuxedo, Go Go Gophers, Commander McBragg, etc. -- are missing their theme songs, title cards and credits. As a result, each cartoon ends abruptly (no outro music or The End card) and you're never quite sure if that's really the end of the cartoon, or if it has been truncated. I'd sure like to know who made these ... production decisions. They obviously know nothing about continuity or the difference between a great product and a mediocre one.

Still, I love Underdog so much, I've rated this product a 4. If you're not a fan of the series, the deficiencies I've noted probably won't annoy you as much as they did me. If you _are_ a fan of the series, you'll enjoy the cartoons despite the bad decisions made in transcribing them onto DVD.

But it could have been so much better.

The sound on ZOT is not very clear.... It might just be the film. The rest of the episodes are simply wonderful though... I even liked the mini story of Underdog that Joe Harris had made for his kids...

I am not into Go Go Gophers and such, so I skipped them, but those are for people who are fans of those... SORRY...

The Ticklefeather Machine was OK.... Not the best one of the bunch, but I did like the one about the famous painting and Shoeshine's true self is almost discovered...

In future volumes... I would like to see more photos of the people behind the photos, or old interviews on their opinions of Underdog... All in all another welcome addition to my Underdog collection....

THE HOT, THE COOL AND THE VICIOUS (1976) has a much more complicated plotline than the average kung fu movie and boasts some intriguing touches not often found in the genre. Packed with incident, it's a skillful blend of police drama and western as it focuses on a small town security chief (and Northern Leg expert) and his efforts to arrest the son of the town boss, all while keeping an eye on a notorious killer (and Southern Fist fighter) who's arrived in town on a mystery mission. Eventually the town boss's partner in crime, the albino Mr. Lung, returns for the inevitable showdown.

Captain Lu, the Northern Leg expert, is played by Tan Tao Liang. The Southern Fist fighter is played by Wong Tao. After initial antagonism, the two team up to combat town boss Yuen (George Wang) and the blond-tressed Mr. Lung (played by the film's fight choreographer Tommy Lee). Also in the cast are three striking actresses, one of whom (Sun Chia Lin) plays a woman seeking revenge on Captain Lu and attacks him with weapons at various points.

The film's dizzying narrative is interspersed with fast and frequent kung fu bouts, one of which takes place in a deserted ghost town. Tan demonstrates his amazing leg power with satisfying regularity. Wong Tao fights well but also has dark matinee idol looks, sort of in the mold of Hollywood golden era swashbuckling star Tyrone Power. His character is something of a womanizer, a rare quirk for a kung fu hero. The film's stars and director (Lee Tso Nam) reunited for the similarly styled CHALLENGE OF DEATH (1978).

This movie probably has the best plot i've seen for a old school
kung fu movie. There is a great opening fight scene and there is just enough fights in the movie and the main villian tommy lee is cool as mutha and his voice is just scary. Don't listen to any bad reviews just buy it you will be thanking me, at a price of 15 dollars you can't go wrong this. Needs to be in every kung fu fans libary. The only complaint is it could have had a little more fighting in it but thats just nitpicking so get it now.

This movies set my standard for how all other kung fu movies were made.

This movie goes above the greats like The Five Deadly venoms and Snake fist fighter.

Get ready for a treat!

Well the movie pokes fun at every TV show and film genre there is here. The James Bond movies, Mission Impossible, the AOL merger, B-Science Fiction films,the live action Scooby Doo movie...everything. But it pretty much drowns in it's own satire with no script and going on Looney Tunes jokes that work in a seven minute cartoon, but not in a 90 minute picture. The casting just does not work. Jenna Elfman is not funny. Brendan Fraiser looks old and worn out, and Timothy Dalton spoofs 007 until we say "Enough already." It seems Warners has forgotten how to do Bugs Bunny right. Better off with the new DVD releases of Space Jam and Looney Tunes The Golden Collection.

Dante's homage to the late, great Chuck Jones ends up being somewhat hit and miss, especially due to the rather irritating villain played by Steve Martin, but the pacing is fast, the animation is spectacular, and there's enough great strandout moments (Area 52, the Louvre) to make up for the film's shortcomings. Both Jerry Goldsmith's score and Danny Elfman's niece are delicious.

I thought the movie could be better. They had some really funny scenes such as the Walmart Scene. Good way to sell...lol. From the moment you see Daffy get fired you know that you are in for a ride. There is no reason why Daffy should be thrown out. In this movie they had some really great actors which made the movie pretty good. I would have to say that the plot of the movie needed something more. Main plot save the world the second plot that was noticed save dad. There was another one which was get Daffy back into the movie. It is worth watching but I am not to sure that you should see it in the movie theaters.

Like all Playboy vidoes, the girls are pretty... because they wear lots of make-up. Ok, still, they look sexy, but the plot and "acting" are a total joke. Pretty boring after about 10 minutes. No action, no fascinating story, nothing to keep you entertained. If naked bodies excite you to no end, this is for you. If you are a true connoisseur of erotic art, stay away.

This was a good softcore video from Playboy/Image. They've done better, but this is still easy to recommend.

There's a little threadbare story to tie all the action together. The tone of the video is upbeat throughout. Nobody gets mad at anybody, nobody's life is in danger, and there are no bad guys.

The sex scenes were good, but I've seen better in other Playboy/Image videos. A lot of them seemed to end too soon... that is, there was no "climax", or it was so underplayed that I must have missed it. If these scenes had been longer and ended better, I would have given it a higher rating.

The actresses were all attractive. Holly Sampson was the real highlight for me. She is in two scenes. Catalina Larranaga has one scene that was excellent. Amber Karney, who I've never seen before, was in several scenes, and was good. She put a lot of energy into her performances.

This is a great "softcore" movie. Good looking actresses, decent plot and lots of hot scenes.

The illusion of reality is explored in Volume 7 of "The Twilight Zone." In "Perchance to Dream," written by Charles Beaumont from his own short story, Edward Hall (Richard Conte) tells his psychiatrist (John Larch) about nightmarish dreams in which Maya (Suzanne Lloyd), a carnival dancer, is trying to scare him to death. Because of a heart condition, if the dreams do not kill Hall, trying to stay awake will. Beaumont continues his exploration of dreams in "Shadow Play," which features a memorable performance by Dennis Weaver as Adam Grant, a condemned prisoner who will be executed. Grant insists he is having a recurring nightmare and that when he dies everyone else will cease to exist. In Rod Serling's "King Nine Will Not Return," Captain James Embry (Bob Cummings) wakes up besides the wreckage of his B-25 bomber, "King Nine," and frantically searches for his crew as odd visions persist. Inger Stevens and Leonard Strong turn in strong performances as Nan Adams and the title character in Serling's "The Hitch-Hiker," based on the radio play of that name by Lucille Fletcher. Following a blowout, Nan repeatedly sees the same hitch-hiker as she travels along the highway. Since this is, after all, the Twilight Zone, we all know the true identity of the hitch-hiker. The two Beaumont Zones are superior the pair of Serling efforts, although none of the four really qualify as outright classics. Still, this is an interesting "theme" volume in this DVD set.

Image is releasing these original Twilight Zone episodes NOT in the order of the original broadcast date (which I would've preferred), but rather in a way so that each volume contains episodes that have roughly similar themes. The result is often that the best episodes, mostly the earlier ones in the series' 5-season run, are scattered among different volumes.

Volume 7, however, is one of the better ones, since 3 of the 4 episodes selected are among the best in the series: "The Hitchhiker", "Perchance to Dream", "Shadow Play". The weakest of the 4 in my opinion is "King Nine will not Return" but many people like it and think it's one of the best also. All 4 episodes are about hallucinations or dreams that doom the protagonist.

Picture and sound qualities are superb throughout. The DVD also include extra material such as episode descriptions, biographical notes, and trivias.

It is hard to find TV stations that show TZ episodes these days, and even when they do, they sometimes don't show all the episodes (especially the 1-hour ones), and episodes are almost always edited for time. The TZ episodes on these volumes are uncut and uninterrupted; and for TZ fans they definitely worth collecting.

Programs like The Twilight Zone are a dead genre. Today's viewers aren't likely to watch a sci-fi show without expecting special effects and action scenes. TZ had no flashy effects and rapid actions, only IDEAS that provoke our thoughts and stimulate our imaginations.

This 7th volume of The Twilight Zone series on Digital Versatile (Video) Disc is another goodie.

Two of these four half-hour TZ episodes are a couple of the best in the Rod Serling series (in my view). Those being the fantastic "The Hitch-Hiker", starring the lovely Inger Stevens, and "Shadow Play" with Dennis Weaver.

This seventh disc in the series is a "can't miss" for me, along with volumes 2, 8, and 9 as well.

A disfiguring skin disease confines novelist Dan Dark (Robert Downey, Jr.) to a hospital bed for months. Embittered by his condition and paranoid about his wife's (Robin Wright Penn) fidelity, Dan hallucinates the plot of his first novel "The Singing Detective", replacing the characters in the novel with real people from his life. The resident psychiatrist (Mel Gibson) believes that the noir detective novel about a 1950's era "gumshoe that warbles" holds clues to Dan's paranoia and self-loathing. How much of the detective story reflects Dan's real life and how the two have become intermingled in his hallucinations remain to be seen as Dan slowly recovers.

"The Singing Detective" is adapted from the 1986 television miniseries of the same name, written by Dennis Potter, who also wrote the film's screenplay. The film defies categorization, and it may take the prize for the most genre-crossing film that I have seen. "The Singing Detective" is a mystery within a mystery, a comedy, a psychological drama, and a musical. Yes, a musical. The plot is nonlinear, jumping back and forth between Dan's ordeal in the hospital, his memories, and his hallucinations of various times and places. It takes the audience the better part of the film to figure out how it all fits together. In this way, the film is like a jigsaw puzzle of Dan's mind...a mystery to be unraveled. The other mystery is the one Dan's fictional detective is simultaneously trying to solve. I'm not sure why Dennis Potter made the detective a singer. This introduces a musical element into a story that is already so overcrowded that it can be difficult to decipher. "The Singing Detective" is the most overtly Freudian movie I've seen in ages. In fact, if there is any film to which it can be compared, it reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock's "Spellbound". Both films alternate between reality and stylized Freudian hallucinations. In both films, a man's past and his salvation, of which even he is not aware, are to be found in his hallucinations and the mystery solved with the help of a sympathetic psychoanalyst. Unlike "Spellbound", "The Singing Detective" could actually be called overbearing in its style, though.

"The Singing Detective" is genuinely hilarious at times. It elicited more than a few loud guffaws from the audience in my local theater. It's also to be commended for being clever and surprising. And Robert Downey, Jr. gives an impressive performance, as always. But the film's first act unfortunately does nothing to draw the audience into the story. On the contrary, it introduces some unattractive characters in a confusing manner and does more to put the audience off than anything. This may be attributable to the fact that "The Singing Detective" contains too much material for a film of this length, so it is obligated to dive right in instead of easing the audience into its frenetic mix of fantasy and reality. But if you get past the first half hour or so, it improves. Another element that is likely to alienate some of the film's audience is Dan's misogynistic tirades, which wore on my patience after a while. So I'm giving "The Singing Detective" a marginal recommendation. If you don't like non-linear methods of story-telling, garish imagery, and Freudian inferences, you won't like this film. If, on the other hand, you like (truly funny) cynical, vindictive, occasionally obscene humor and the aforementioned characteristics appeal to you, you might want to give "The Singing Detective" a try.

I have been following this film since prior to the shooting of the film. I am a faithful Downey fan and when I heard he would have the leading role in the movie version of Dennis Potter's mini-series I rented the mini-series to become familiar with the story.
It was a difficult story to follow and not too well received when it first was shown. It later became highly acclaimed. Ten years later, Dennis Potter wrote a film script, shortened it to a little under 2 hours (from the 6+ hours of the mini-series) and changed the venue from England to the United States, actually the Chicago area; the time period from the 40's to the 50's. The tone of the story line changed somewhat also as basically it is actually about Dennis Potter.....and in his final years, he bacame less cynical and less angry than the original Phillip Marlow (Potter)...he mellowed somewhat. Consequently, the film has a different feel as was Potter's intent. The script was not changed; only the location was changed to Los Angeles.

Robert Downey Jr. was brilliant....changing pace so smoothly from the psoriasis-ridden, hallucinating Dan Dark to the Private Detective who lip-syncs to the songs of the original artists of the 50's. It is a complicated story line, not a senseless blockbuster type with little substance, not meant for the non-thinking viewer. It was cast so well, Mel Gibson is fantastic as the psychiatrist, Dr Gibbon, Robyn Wright Penn, Carla Gugino and Katie Holmes were perfect in their roles. Katie Holmes part was small but with a huge impact...and she did it so well, as did the rest of the cast.

Keith Gordon's directing was masterful, the timing with the musical numbers, the settings going from brilliant, stark white in the hospital, to dark streets and interiors with bright red accents....fast paced humor.
The closing scenes were perfect, then a rare treat.....Mr Downey singing "In My Dreams", a 50's song written by Gene Vincent, during the closing credits. He has a wonderful voice...we need to hear more of him singing.

I have to give The Singing Detective 5 stars.....it was wonderful. I have seen it 3 times, the second time in Chicago along with the Carrier Achievement Award presentation to Robert Downey Jr. prior to the screening. That was a thrill!! I will see it again Fri. Nov. 7.

Anyone trying to compare this with the orginal mini-series will miss the whole point of the story....Potter did not intend it to be a condensed version, rather a new aspect of the story. Also, an interesting fact....after seeing Downey in "Chaplin", Potter said he felt Downey would be the one to portray the character of Dan Dark.

I think your appreciation of this movie may rise or fall depending on how endearing you find Downey's schtick, and whether you can abide musicals. I adore him, even dressed as a human pizza, and love musicals. I also adore Mel Gibson, who throws off his glamour to play a Downey's quirky shrink. The supporting cast is very excellently filled out with great actors, and we get to see almost all of them break into song! Yes, including Mel. The lipsyncing is not good, but I think that must be intentional, and managed to look past it.
So - Downey plays a dual role as a disfigured and helpless novelist and the hero of his novel, the titular singing detective. He doesn't sing while detecting, he does both mostly separately. We flash in and out of Downey's reality in a hospital and his hallucinations or his mental reliving of his novel, and occasional flashbacks to his youth. The detective stuff is great hard-boiled, sometimes well-worn, but often funny material. The humor is often wordy - puns and irony - and you want to catch every line. The closest comparison I can think of is Garrison Keillor's Guy Noir, kind of spoofy but respectful of the noir detective. It's a pity, but Downey's dialog is sometimes a bit unclear. There's also humor of absurdity - the songs, the hallucinations, the juxtapositions between worlds.
And there's stuff that's not so funny: sex, violence, and sexual violence. Your kids should not be watching this!

Volume 14 of "The Twilight Zone" offers four episodes of the celebrated television series written by Rod Serling, most of which deal in some way with approaching death or the last days of your life. Serling scripted "One for the Angels" especially for Ed Wynn, who plays Lew Bookman, a sidewalk pitchman who learns from Mr. Death (Murray Hamilton), that he will die at midnight. Bookman convinces Death to not take him until he completes the Big Pitch, a masterpiece of salesmanship that would be "one of the angels." "The Man in the Bottle" is a rather lackluster story of a curio shop owner, Arthur Castle (Luther Adler) who gives an old woman a dollar for a worthless bottle that turns out to have a genie (Joseph Ruskin), who declares he will grant four wishes. After wasting a wish on having a cracked display case fixed and having his wish for million dollars in cash not work out the way he planned, Arthur comes up with something he thinks is foolproof for his next wish: to be the ruler of a foreign country in the 20th century who cannot be voted out of office.

"The Arrival" features Harold J. Stone as Grant Sheckly, a FAA investigator who tries to solve the mystery of Flight 107, which arrives from Buffalo with no one on board. Sheckly, very proud of his perfect record of having solved every incident he has investigated in 22-years on the job, refuses to let this mystery beat him. Jack Klugman and Billy Mumy return once again to the Zone for "In Praise of Pip." Klugman is Max Phillips, an alcoholic bookie who learns that his son Pip (Bob Diamond) has been seriously wounded in Vietnam. Remorseful, Max returns $300 to a bettor and for his good deed gets a bullet from one of his boss's gunmen. Making his way to a closed amusement park, Max encounters his son Pip (Mumy) as a boy. However, this happy reunion takes a fatal twist at the end. This 1963 episode opened the fifth season of "The Twilight Zone" and may well be the first television episode to deal with American soldiers dying in Vietnam. This is the best episode on this disc, with a very moving climax. Once gain, this volume does not offer any classic Zones, but certainly has three solid episodes.

I won't waste space by describing the synopsis and content of the DVD and focus on the episodes itself. One for the Angels: 4 stars. The Man in the Bottle: 2 stars The arrival: 4 stars In Praise of Pip: 4 stars

Any one of these episodes could serve to demonstrate the craft as well as the concern for humanity that always permeated Rod Serling's writing; "In Praise of Pip" is a particulary powerful script. However, "One for the Angels" is my all-time favorite episode of The Twilight Zone. It has a very touching story and a beautifully-written script. Its protagonist, Lew Bookman (Ed Wynn) is an aging, unsuccessful sidewalk salesman whose gentle yet fun-loving nature makes him popular with the neighborhood children, and in particular with Maggie, a little girl whose life he eventually saves by sacrificing himself to "Mr. Death." I love how Wynn (a former vaudeville comedian -- you may also remember him as the laughing Uncle Albert in MARY POPPINS and as the voice of the Mad Hatter in Disney's ALICE IN WONDERLAND -- and a surprisingly effective dramatic actor) interacts with Maggie; he is like her uncle or grandfather. Some have pointed out that, because Wynn was not a "fast talker" (his manner of speaking was rather slow and deliberate), he is unconvincing in his "final sales pitch," in which he distracts Mr. Death and saves Maggie's life. I don't entirely agree with this view. The whole point of the story is that Bookman is NOT a great salesman but is loved by the children, and that this is what matters in the end. So it seems fitting that his delivery of the pitch does not sound smooth and practiced, but desperate, as though he is frantically improvising because he knows he must save Maggie. In other words, Bookman is too soft-spoken to have ever been a good salesman, but for the sake of a child he loves he can muster the energy for an effective pitch. I find Wynn's characterization entirely believable throughout the episode. Watch all three of the epidoes on this DVD. But especially watch "One for the Angels" for its story, its script, and its "star performance" by a wonderful actor, Ed Wynn.