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:
Timothy Hutton,
Timothy Hutton,
Maury Chaykin,
more...
:
Timothy Hutton,
James Tolkan
see all cast/crew...
: Not Rated
: A&E Home Video
: Television, Crime, Crime TV, Crime TV
: English
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Nero Wolfe: Season 2 (Disc 1 of 5) (2002)
As legendary as Sherlock Holmes and Watson, the brilliant, curmudgeonly Nero Wolfe and his dapper sidekick Archie Goodwin use their wit, inventiveness and flair to solve the most perplexing crimes. His imperious "seventh of a ton" lodged firmly behind his desk, Nero Wolfe rarely leaves his Manhattan brownstone, preferring instead to spend a few hours a day attending to his beloved orchid collection or feasting on the sumptuous meals prepared by his Swiss chef. Archie Goodwin is his stalwart legman, a stylish, street-smart sleuth who uncovers the clues -- as well as the bodies -- that let Wolfe unravel the most confounding mysteries. Sex, lies, blackmail, and murder are just part of the job when our heroes take on a case. Faithfully adapted from the best-selling novels by Rex Stout, the complete second season of A&E's critically acclaimed series, Nero Wolfe, stars Maury Chaykin (The Sweet Hereafter) and Oscar® winner Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People).
Nero Wolfe: Season 2 (Disc 2 of 5) (2002)
Maury Chaykin returns as wealthy, eccentric, ill-tempered, self-indulgent, and insufferably brilliant private detective Nero Wolfe, with Timothy Hutton as his wisecracking, skirt-chasing assistant and legman, as the A&E series bearing the blanket title A Nero Wolfe Mystery enters its second season. As in season one, most of the episodes are directly based on the original Nero Wolfe novels written by Rex Stout between 1934 and 1975. All of the episodes are ample demonstrations of the keen deductive and analytical skills of the overweight protagonist, who specializes in solving seemingly unsolvable crimes -- but only when he feels like doing so. The season opens with the two-part "Death of a Doxy," directed by series regular Timothy Hutton, in which Archie must explain the presence of a corpse in his apartment. In a later two-parter, "Motherhunt," Wolfe ignores his precious prize-winning orchids and rare beers long enough to track down the mother of an abandoned infant. Also spread over two episodes is "Too Many Clients," the title of which should be self-explanatory (Wolfe's many clients are the lovers of a libidinous murder victim). And in the final two-parter of the season, "The Silent Speaker," the case at hand is the death of a representative from the National Industrial Association. Curiously, the season ends with a rare single, self-contained episode: "Immune to Murder," in which Wolfe's talents as a gourmet chef are brought into play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Nero Wolfe: Season 2 (Disc 3 of 5) (2002)
Maury Chaykin returns as wealthy, eccentric, ill-tempered, self-indulgent, and insufferably brilliant private detective Nero Wolfe, with Timothy Hutton as his wisecracking, skirt-chasing assistant and legman, as the A&E series bearing the blanket title A Nero Wolfe Mystery enters its second season. As in season one, most of the episodes are directly based on the original Nero Wolfe novels written by Rex Stout between 1934 and 1975. All of the episodes are ample demonstrations of the keen deductive and analytical skills of the overweight protagonist, who specializes in solving seemingly unsolvable crimes -- but only when he feels like doing so. The season opens with the two-part "Death of a Doxy," directed by series regular Timothy Hutton, in which Archie must explain the presence of a corpse in his apartment. In a later two-parter, "Motherhunt," Wolfe ignores his precious prize-winning orchids and rare beers long enough to track down the mother of an abandoned infant. Also spread over two episodes is "Too Many Clients," the title of which should be self-explanatory (Wolfe's many clients are the lovers of a libidinous murder victim). And in the final two-parter of the season, "The Silent Speaker," the case at hand is the death of a representative from the National Industrial Association. Curiously, the season ends with a rare single, self-contained episode: "Immune to Murder," in which Wolfe's talents as a gourmet chef are brought into play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Nero Wolfe: Season 2 (Disc 4 of 5) (2002)
Maury Chaykin returns as wealthy, eccentric, ill-tempered, self-indulgent, and insufferably brilliant private detective Nero Wolfe, with Timothy Hutton as his wisecracking, skirt-chasing assistant and legman, as the A&E series bearing the blanket title A Nero Wolfe Mystery enters its second season. As in season one, most of the episodes are directly based on the original Nero Wolfe novels written by Rex Stout between 1934 and 1975. All of the episodes are ample demonstrations of the keen deductive and analytical skills of the overweight protagonist, who specializes in solving seemingly unsolvable crimes -- but only when he feels like doing so. The season opens with the two-part "Death of a Doxy," directed by series regular Timothy Hutton, in which Archie must explain the presence of a corpse in his apartment. In a later two-parter, "Motherhunt," Wolfe ignores his precious prize-winning orchids and rare beers long enough to track down the mother of an abandoned infant. Also spread over two episodes is "Too Many Clients," the title of which should be self-explanatory (Wolfe's many clients are the lovers of a libidinous murder victim). And in the final two-parter of the season, "The Silent Speaker," the case at hand is the death of a representative from the National Industrial Association. Curiously, the season ends with a rare single, self-contained episode: "Immune to Murder," in which Wolfe's talents as a gourmet chef are brought into play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Nero Wolfe: Season 2 (Disc 5 of 5) (2002)
Maury Chaykin returns as wealthy, eccentric, ill-tempered, self-indulgent, and insufferably brilliant private detective Nero Wolfe, with Timothy Hutton as his wisecracking, skirt-chasing assistant and legman, as the A&E series bearing the blanket title A Nero Wolfe Mystery enters its second season. As in season one, most of the episodes are directly based on the original Nero Wolfe novels written by Rex Stout between 1934 and 1975. All of the episodes are ample demonstrations of the keen deductive and analytical skills of the overweight protagonist, who specializes in solving seemingly unsolvable crimes -- but only when he feels like doing so. The season opens with the two-part "Death of a Doxy," directed by series regular Timothy Hutton, in which Archie must explain the presence of a corpse in his apartment. In a later two-parter, "Motherhunt," Wolfe ignores his precious prize-winning orchids and rare beers long enough to track down the mother of an abandoned infant. Also spread over two episodes is "Too Many Clients," the title of which should be self-explanatory (Wolfe's many clients are the lovers of a libidinous murder victim). And in the final two-parter of the season, "The Silent Speaker," the case at hand is the death of a representative from the National Industrial Association. Curiously, the season ends with a rare single, self-contained episode: "Immune to Murder," in which Wolfe's talents as a gourmet chef are brought into play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Disc 1 contains:
- DEATH OF A DOXY (Double Episode)
- THE NEXT WITNESS
- DIE LIKE A DOG
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| Better direction than the series
by marleigh
January 1, 2006 - 7:59 PM PST
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I've already reviewed the series. If you'd like to see my take on the whole thing, check out my other review. Here, I'd like to point out some things about this particular DVD.
First off, this is the bonus disc for the second series collection. It has a letterbox version of the episode "The Silent Speaker" from disc 4, an entirely forgettable "Making of" featurette, and short text biographies of the two main actors. The only reason to rent this is because it contains the movie "The Golden Spiders." This movie came before the series. In fact, it was the popularity of "The Golden Spiders" that caused A&E to order a twelve episode series. The movie is better.
The main reason the movie was better is the direction is better. I've always had issues with the direction. Timothy Hutton, who also plays Archie Goodwin, may be a great actor, but his direction is amateur. Under his direction the characters often seem like caricatures of themselves. It's still fun, but the characters never quite seem real, a little too flat and overacted. In the movie, suddenly these were three dimensional people I could picture living in New York. The signature quirky camerawork and style is present, but never got in the way of the characters.
Timothy Hutton is a fantastic actor, but he needs to stay in front of the camera, not behind. This movie shows how the series could be transported from merely good to completely brilliant. |
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