The Heat Is Gone

Three of the summer’s biggest movies--”Shaft,” “Gone in 60 Seconds” and “Scary Movie”--have been transformed into three tepid DVDs.

“Shaft” (Paramount, $30) is John Singleton’s slick, violent remake of the 1971 classic that now stars Samuel L. Jackson as the supercool detective, John Shaft. The run-of-the-mill DVD features the wide-screen version of the film, the trailer, two music videos, standard cast and crew interviews, and a passable “making of” featurette, “Shaft: Still the Man.”

Even less impressive is the digital edition of “Scary Movie” (Dimension, $30), director Keenen Ivory Wayans’ totally tasteless spoof of such teen horror flicks as “Scream” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” The comedy, which was co-written and stars his younger brothers Marlon and Shawn, turned out to be the surprise hit of the summer, raking in more than $150 million. The DVD includes the wide-screen version of the farce, a typical behind-the-scenes documentary and six deleted scenes that sink to new depths in gross-out humor.

The DVD of producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s overwrought remake of the 1974 car chase classic, “Gone in 60 Seconds” (Touchstone, $30), at least has some fun behind-the-scenes documentaries on how the breathtaking climatic chase sequence featuring Nicolas Cage and a vintage Mustang called Eleanor was accomplished. There’s also a short but interesting interview with Bruckheimer, who discusses why his main objective as a producer is to entertain the masses. A lot of viewers, though, will probably cringe when he compares Michael Bay, the director of “Armageddon” and “The Rock,” to Oscar-winning David Lean of “Lawrence of Arabia” fame.

The disc also includes a highlight reel of the action scenes, a look at how the cast trained and a music video featuring the Cult.

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The award-winning first season

of HBO’s wonderful mob series, “The Sopranos,” arrives this week on HBO video ($100) and DVD ($100). All 13 episodes of the hit show--which stars James Gandolfini as a troubled New Jersey Mafioso, Lorraine Bracco as his shrink, Edie Falco as his wife and the late Nancy Marchand as his evil mother--are presented in wide-screen format.

The four-disc DVD also includes a 77-minute interview with creator and executive producer David Chase, conducted by director-actor Peter Bogdanovich, who appears in the second season as Bracco’s shrink.

Shot on “The Sopranos” kitchen set, with Bogdanovich relying too often on his notes, the interview explores every aspect of the series, from its inception--the show was originally for Fox--to the casting, the mapping out of the episodes and the complaints from the Italian Anti-Defamation League. (But why did Chase, who has salt-and-pepper colored hair, decide to dye his hair a reddish brown for the interview?)

Other DVD extras include two passable behind-the-scenes featurettes and an episodic index with previews and recaps.

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The crown jewel of new offerings this week is Paramount’s disc of Francis Ford Coppola’s haunting 1974 drama, “The Conversation” ($30).

Nominated for three Oscars, including best film--it lost to Coppola’s “The Godfather Part II”--this mesmerizing, compelling character study stars Gene Hackman as a legendary surveillance expert in San Francisco who finds himself getting too involved in a case. The strong, colorful supporting cast includes the late John Cazale (best known as Fredo in the first two “Godfather” movies), Allen Garfield, Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest and Robert Duvall. “The Conversation” also boasts an evocative piano score from David Shire, who was then Coppola’s brother-in-law.

The DVD features the wide-screen version of the film, the original trailer and a featurette from 1974 that offers a lot of insight into how Coppola works on the set with his actors.

Coppola and Walter Murch--who edited the film, created the sound montage and was the sound re-recordist--supply first-rate separate audio commentaries.

Coppola relates how he began writing the script for “The Conversation” in the mid-’60s, right around the time director Michelangelo Antonioni released “Blowup,” his classic thriller about a photographer who believes he sees a murdered body in one of his photographs. Coppola tried to get it made after filming 1969’s “The Rain People,” but no one was interested in doing a deliberately paced character drama.

Only after the studio’s success with him on “The Godfather,” he says, did Paramount step forward with the money to make “The Conversation,” which he squeezed in before beginning production on “The Godfather Part II.”

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For the kiddies, there’s the new made-for-video “Air Bud: World Pup” (Disney, $20 on video; $30 on DVD). This sequel to “Air Bud” and “Air Bud: Golden Receiver” finds the adorable golden retriever Buddy not only becoming a soccer champ, but also a daddy. The film features cameos by 1999 World Cup champions Brandi Chastain, Briana Scurry and Tisha Venturini. The DVD includes a music video and a production featurette.

Disney is also releasing a DVD set of all three “Air Bud” movies ($90).

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Broadway musical buffs will get a kick out of “Carol Channing & Pearl Bailey on Broadway” (Image, $25), a 1969 ABC musical comedy special. Channing originated the role of Dolly Levi in the Jerry Herman musical, “Hello, Dolly!,” and at the time this special was taped, Bailey was starring in her own version of the legendary show on Broadway. The two gals gab, crack wise and sing up a storm. Bailey is a delight, but Channing tends to go overboard in her solo bit. Wait until you see her do her impression of Marlene Dietrich! Also included on the DVD are a few outtakes and flubs.