This Is Spinal Tap (DVD Commentary Track) Reviewed by Bruce Cantwell Spinal Tap was ahead of their time when they lampooned the relatively obscure art form of the rock 'n roll documentary. Even for those who hadn't seen THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME or Martin Scorsese's THE LAST WALTZ couldn't help but feel that this comic assault was dead on target. Several years ago, THIS IS SPINAL TAP was reissued on CD-ROM, offering the novel utility of quickly skipping to your favorite scenes. Now its DVD incarnation stands as the greatest validation of the new medium yet released. The commentary track by David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) gives us the opportunity to revisit the film from an entirely new perspective. For fans of the film who have seen it more than once and know all of the jokes, the comical observations that the embittered band offer up are up to the comic standards of the original. We learn that the band members have grown older but no wiser. They believe that Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) was out to do a hatchet job from the beginning. Why did there always seem to be a camera around when something went wrong and never when something went right? They're surprised to find their old manager Ian Faith (Tony Hendra) with his hands in his own pockets for a change. The wealth of unused scenes included on the DVD demonstrate the discipline that must have been required in keeping the comic gem that is THIS IS SPINAL TAP lean. It's fun to get a glimpse of how the characters behaved in between the scenes that are in the original film. Though they don't add to the narrative flow, and would have thrown off the movie's timing, they work well as isolated comedy sketches. The full versions of the music videos for GIMME SOME MONEY, LISTEN TO THE FLOWER PEOPLE, AND BIG BOTTOM, are wonderful indictments of the early days of music videos and HELL HOLE, with its obligatory sleazy women and outrageous situations (a tailcoat wearing Nigel Tufnel standing beside his butler in a cement swimming pool while being pursued by a dwarf with a briefcase) could have inserted ZZTop or David Lee Roth.	Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/bruce20/public_html/myenvoy/movies/reviews/spinal_tap.php3 on line 29 Warning: include(http://myenvoy.com/movies/side.php3) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/bruce20/public_html/myenvoy/movies/reviews/spinal_tap.php3 on line 29 Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://myenvoy.com/movies/side.php3' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php') in /home/bruce20/public_html/myenvoy/movies/reviews/spinal_tap.php3 on line 29
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