| | |  | Childrens & Family | Home » » Christine (Special Edition) | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | An eerie, twisted love story of a teenager and his obsessively jealous 1958 Plymouth Fury —- as only Stephen King can tell it! Christine is a red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury who seduces 17-year-old Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon). She demands his complete and unquestioned devotion and when outsiders seek to interfere, they become the victims of Christine's horrifying wrath. This special edition is packed with added features. Starring Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Harry Dean Stanton, Christine Belford. A Stephen King classic. | | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton | | Director:
| John Carpenter | | Format:
| Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC | | Language:
| English | | Subtitle:
| English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Thai | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| Sony Pictures | | Run Time:
| 110 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| September 28, 2004 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 148 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 You can't do a book-to-film adaptation any better than this.Sep 02, 2010
Stephen King's 1983 novel "Christine" was adapted to film and released in the same year. Placed in the hands of the brilliant John Carpenter with a budget of $9,700,000, the result was ultimately the best adaptation of a book to film I've yet seen, and one of my favorite movies of all time. There are few better ways, in a movie theater at least, to spend 110 minutes of your life.
I won't carry on long about the differences between the standard DVD and this special edition, but I always buy the special edition of a film I like. Some have little in the way of extras, but I found "Christine" did not leave me wanting in terms of additional content, either. The list of cut scenes is enjoyable to watch, much as the film itself, and it's always fun to find out how a film like this was made.
"Christine" has an opening that gets attention right away. A car motor, no doubt a powerful one, starts up, revs to a roar a few times, then idles and shuts off as the preliminary credits roll. We then witness a scene on a Detroit assembly line in 1957, in which George Thorogood's "Bad To the Bone" is brilliantly chosen as the background song and Christine herself, the only red Plymouth on the line, claims her first victim. See, while it is implied in the book that Roland LeBay's 1958 Plymouth Fury was simply a custom Plymouth early on, this made-to-order '58 Fury is bad right from the very beginning in the film.
We soon meet Dennis Guilder and Arnold Cunningham, who have been good friends for years. After a scuffle in auto shop class that is broken up by the brilliantly-played Mr. Casey, the two are soon heading home when they pass by- we don't see what at first. But whatever it is, it grabs Arnie's attention right away, and he demands Dennis go back. Within moments Arnie is running his hands across the bodywork of a rusted but somehow familiar Plymouth, which appears to have been quitely decaying for not just decades but centuries (if that were possible) in a rather unkempt front yard. Dennis is unimpressed, and can hardly believe it when Arnie jumps right up and buys the car from the late owner's brother, George LeBay. See, ol' George must have gotten along with his brother Roland a whole lot better in the film, since he talks of the car much as Roland did. Dennis' attempts to dissuade Arnie fail, as do those of his domineering parents. Their refusal to allow the barely running Plymouth in their driveway introduces us to the cheery and personable Will Darnell, owner of a local junkyard and garage, who after a rant over the car's horrible exhaust allows Arnie to keep the car there.
The acting in this film is as good as you could ask for. Keith Gordon and John Stockwell perform superbly as Arnold Cunningham and Dennis Guilder respectively. To name all of the actors who I believe did their jobs well would result in me naming the entire cast, one by one. But my favorites beyond the lead cast were Robert Prosky (Darnell), Roberts Blossom "George LeBay", and Harry Dean Staunton as "Rudolph Junkins".
Witnessing Arnie's transformation from a downtrodden nerd to a hard-eyed, lean fella who nobody crosses is really something, and the film portrays all this very well. People step forward and attempt to harm Arnie, or worse, attempt to harm Christine, and all who make any transgressions suffer terribly. The scene in which Christine rebuilds herself before Arnie's eyes is one of the most brilliantly done moments in film I have yet to witness. This was before the kind of special effects and CGI we take for granted today. In 1983, John Caprenter mounted devices all over one of the Plymouths used to portray Christine and overall destroyed the car, then played all the footage backwards. Genius. The scenes in which Christine takes revenge on those foolish enough to cross her are some of the most gripping in the film, made all the better by the wonderfully-done soundtrack. I very much enjoyed the moment where the unfortunate Moochie Welch sees a rebuilt Christine idling, and calls out to Arnie, who he assumes is inside. "Hey, you ain't mad, are you?" Oh, I don't know about Arnie... but Christine is more than just mad. Considering she forces herself up a narrow loading dock and rams Moochie so hard paint is embedded in his bones (as Junkins tells us later) I'd say Christine a lot more than just mad.
Consider, also, the amount of time Christine takes in running down her victims. The boys responsible for beating her up in the garage one night suffer most grieviously, and in each case she takes far longer to get rid of them than she'd really have to. But unlike many films where the villian foolishly takes extra time with getting rid of an enemy, Christine simply draws it out, takes her time, but never once fails to get her revenge.
Tensions mount in the Cunningham household as one could expect, and Dennis and Arnie's ex-girlfriend Leigh destroy her in Darnell's garage in a dramatic duel to the death between the regenerating 1958 Fury and a bulldozer. Christine's liking for classic 50's music I very much enjoyed, and even as the bulldozer runs her down she's blasting "Rock and Roll is Here to Stay" and struggling to get loose.
The ending of the film is superbly done. I know I must sound dreadfully repetetive in so widely praising the film, but it's true. I have few if any complaints at all, none very significant. Anyway, the end of the film shows Dennis, Leigh and Detective Junkins looking at the crushed cube that used to be Christine, lamenting Arnie's demise during the battle in the garage. "Some things can't be helped. Some people, too." Junkins notes. Just then, we hear rock and roll playing, seeming to come from the remains of Christine. The look on the three people's faces, and the look on the face of the construction worker who has the radio on his shoulder as he walks by, is priceless. "I hate rock and roll." Leigh hisses.
Soon, the three turn to leave, and the camera zooms in on the ruined, crushed remains of the evil Plymouth. A piece, possibly of the grille, bends ever so slightly back and forth.
As if a car like Christine could be stopped so easily.
Cut to "Bad to the Bone" and the credits. Very nicely done.
"Christine" is adapted from book to film with a kind of skill and respect for the original work that I have yet to see surpassed. To fully adapt the book to film would result in a work lasting over four hours, and Carpenter clearly recognized that. Yet in many cases, I have been inclined to howl over the carelesness with which a director changed the work from one form to another. Not here. I regret the omission of so many subplots and details, but ultimately the final work is so good that I enjoyed it about as much as I did the book itself. "Christine" is a movie that I could not only like but love even if I had never read the book it is adapted from, nor ever heard of that most excellent writer, Stephen King. The movie can be appreciated from all angles: as a masterful adaption of written to visual form, as a John Carpenter-directed film, as a Stephen King movie, and simply as a stand-alone film. I cannot think of a time when I have enjoyed going to see a movie more. Among Stephen King film adaptations and among films in general, for me at least, "Christine" is as good as it gets.
Christine the movieJul 26, 2010
I recieved the DVD Christine and viewed it immedaitely. It was good condition and recieved in timely manner. Enjoyed it very much.
If only the actual car had this many "extras"May 08, 2010
As someone who really loved the film instantly upon seeing it when it first hit the local theater back in the early '80's, I'd almost been as captivated more by the mysteries behind the film's making than the intense hold the that subject matter of the film had on me. If you have ever wondered just how did those special effects get coordinated, why the at-the-time unknown actors were chosen for the leading roles, or what was the backstory behind how to adapt the Steven King book into a workable screenplay, then you are likely to really enjoy the special features section. For me, watching the many deleted scenes were also enjoyable as there was some decent footage that didn't make the original cut. If you are a fan of Carpenter, the car, and/or the movie, there's plenty available in this DVD to make it worth your time and money.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
"Carpenter Classic!"Apr 20, 2010
Keith Gordon, John Stockwell and Alexandra Paul star in John
Carpenter's 1983 horror film based on Stephen King's novel.
A teen gets possessed by his 1958 Plymouth Fury that kills
people. This is a great film and this special edition has good
picture and sound plus cool extras. I highly recommend this
80's Carpenter classic.
ChristineApr 05, 2010
I enjoyed the movie and the extra scenes were great. A classic. Definitely worth seeing.
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