Sexy Beast

( 1 )

Overview

Ben Kingsley becomes a raving, mad-dog gangster in the dramatic comedy Sexy Beast. Sporting a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, Fox has done a very good job at making sure this picture looks very clean and clear of any major defects or imperfections. The colors are all bright with the black levels appearing solid and evenly saturated. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 in English as well as Dolby 2.0 Surround in English. The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack is very enveloping with many instances of surround ...
See more details below
DVD (Wide Screen)
$13.64
BN.com price
(Save 9%)$14.99 List Price
Pick Up In Store

Pick Up In Store

Reserve and pick up in 60 minutes at your local store

Other sellers (DVD)
  • All (19) from $2.99   
  • New (15) from $8.99   
  • Used (4) from $2.99   

More About This Product

Overview

Ben Kingsley becomes a raving, mad-dog gangster in the dramatic comedy Sexy Beast. Sporting a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, Fox has done a very good job at making sure this picture looks very clean and clear of any major defects or imperfections. The colors are all bright with the black levels appearing solid and evenly saturated. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 in English as well as Dolby 2.0 Surround in English. The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack is very enveloping with many instances of surround sounds used throughout the film. All aspects of the dialogue, effects, and music are clear of any excessive distortion or hiss. Also included on this disc are subtitles in English and Spanish. Sexy Beast features a small but substantial array of extra materials, starting with a commentary track by actor Ben Kingsley and producer Jeremy Thomas. This is a very insightful commentary with lots of behind-the-scenes anecdotes and details. Also included on this disc is a short "making-of" featurette that includes a few clips from the film and interviews with the cast and crew, as well as a few theatrical trailers and a TV spot for Sexy Beast.
Read More Show Less

Special Features

Commentary by Ben Kingsley and producer Jeremy Thomas; featurette; domestic and international theatrical trailers; international TV commercial.
Read More Show Less

Editorial Reviews

Barnes & Noble - Kryssa Schemmerling
It’s not easy these days to come up with anything new in a gangster film, but first-time director Jonathan Glazer has done just that in Sexy Beast. The basic contours of the plot are familiar: Former crook Gal Ray Winstone, happily retired to a Spanish seaside villa with his beloved wife, ex-hooker Deedee Amanda Redman, is bullied by Don Ben Kingsley, a sinister cohort from his past, into committing a high-stakes heist back in their native England. The intensity of the performances and the vividness of the milieu, though, make the film bracing and fresh. Kingsley dazzles as a demonic thug so choked with rage that he’s a walking time bomb. Don viciously badgers Gal and Deedee with a nonstop stream of Cockney-accented vitriol, yet he reveals, beneath his repugnant exterior, glimmers of a warped human being that make him almost as pathetic as he is horrific. In contrast, Gal is a teddy bear who has grown soft and fat on a life of sun-baked bliss; and Winstone and Redman make their characters’ terror palpable as Don threatens to destroy their Spanish paradise. As riveting as Kingsley is, it is Winstone and Redman's quietly passionate performances that hold the film together. With their suntans, garish jewelry, and ostentatious dream house, Gal and Deedee look like gangster clichés; that their devotion to one another is so convincing and moving is among the film's refreshing surprises. Sexy Beast evokes inevitable comparisons to Guy Ritchie's heist films with its flashy, MTV-style camera work a former music video director, Glazer makes brilliant use of the Stranglers' raunchy, irresistible punk classic "Peaches" in the film’s opening scene, and when the action shifts to England, it succumbs to genre conventions. But when Glazer concentrates on his characters and the exploration of middle-aged marital love, this Beast is a beauty.
All Movie Guide - Jonathan Crow
The first half of Jonathan Glazer's psychological thriller Sexy Beast seems stolen straight out of Greek myth. At the film's outset, corpulent ex-gangland thug Gal and his wife, Dee Dee, are the picture of earthly contentment, living in their bone-white hacienda with a view of the sea and filling their days with basking by the pool and barbecues. Like a Fury descending on a hapless mortal, Don Logan descends on Gal and his Spanish Eden to cajole, badger, and bully him into helping on a big heist back in England. Gal and Dee Dee's dread and palatable tension over Don's imminent visit feels like an impending visit from the Grim Reaper. In the resulting psychological warfare, Gal -- whose bulky physique makes him look oddly feminine -- is utterly outmatched by Don (who looks like Anton LaVey in a leisure suit and who is a head shorter than his ursine adversary). Rigid, twitchy, and coiled, Don seems like he's one misspoken word away from an act of terrifying violence. Ben Kingsley is mesmerizing as Don Logan, who brings the act of swearing and verbal abuse to an exuberant art form. Unfortunately, once Don is dispatched halfway through the film, the movie seems to deflate. Once in Britain, Sexy Beast treads perilously close to the masturbatory camera trickery of a Guy Ritchie flick. Ian MacShane as Teddy Bass -- the architect of the heist and the uber-criminal of the movie -- conveys little of the menace and charisma of Don Logan. Of course, no one short of Darth Vader, Keyser Sose, or Satan himself could.
Entertainment Weekly - Owen Gleiberman
It brought back some of the excitement I felt nearly a decade ago watching Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert
1/2
I didn't know Kingsley had such notes inside him. Obviously, he can play anyone.
Boston Globe
Its mix of surrealism, coolly chic visuals, and juicy acting leapfrogs it ahead of most of the competition. Jay Carr

It brought back some of the excitement I felt nearly a decade ago watching Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.
Read More Show Less

Product Details

  • Release Date: 3/12/2002
  • UPC: 024543026747
  • Original Release: 2000

    • Rating:

  • Source: 20th Century Fox
  • Region Code: 1
  • Aspect Ratio: Theatre Wide-Screen (1.85.1)
  • Presentation: Wide Screen
  • Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • Language: English
  • Time: 1:29:00
  • Format: DVD
  • Sales rank: 15,111

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Alvaro Monje Enrique
Julianne White Jackie
James Fox Harry
Technical Credits
Roque Banos Score Composer
Hercules Bellville Associate Producer
Antonio Bloch Sound/Sound Designer
Lucy Boulting Casting
Jann Houllevigue Production Designer
Louis Mellis Screenwriter
Denise O'dell Co-producer
Kieron Phipps Asst. Director
David Scinto Screenwriter
John Scott Editor
Steve Simmonds Art Director
Louise Stjernsward Costumes/Costume Designer
Jeremy Thomas Producer
Read More Show Less

Scene Index

Side #1 --
0. Scene Selection
1. An Englishman in the Sun (Main Titles) [4:39]
2. A Boulder in the Pool [2:13]
3. Definitely Retired [3:55]
4. Gal's Dream [3:17]
5. Logan [1:49]
6. A Job for Teddy Bass [3:18]
7. Logan's Secret Love [1:48]
8. Yes or No? [2:11]
9. A Tense Evening [4:47]
10. A Psycho in the House [5:52]
11. No Smoking [1:48]
12. A Gangster Scorned [2:29]
13. Back to London [3:13]
14. Where's Logan? [1:11]
15. Where There's a Will... [2:59]
16. An Underwater Robbery [2:41]
17. Teddy's Errand [3:36]
18. The Payoff [:42]
19. Home Again [3:29]
20. End Titles [3:33]
Read More Show Less

Menu

Side #1 --
   Play
   Language Selection
      Languages: English 5.1 Surround
      Languages: English Dolby Surround
      Subtitles: English
      Subtitles: Spanish
      Subtitles: None
   Extra Features
      Commentary by Ben Kingsley and Jeremy Thomas
      Featurette
      Theatrical Trailer
      International Trailer
      International TV Spot
      Super Troopers Theatrical Trailer
      Waking Life Theatrical Trailer
      The Deep End Theatrical Trailer
Read More Show Less

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 5
( 1 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(1)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identity on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

 
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously
Sort by: Showing 1 Customer Review

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Totally Original !

    Sexy Beast is cool (opening scene), totally original (whole film), wild, gripping, tough, highly entertaining,,,, Ben Kingsley gives one of the best and meanest performances of his life; and that's saying alot. Though it should be stated that the rest of the cast is pitch-perfect in this neat spin on the heist story that emphasizes character and catalysts. Funny at times, riveting at others. The best part is that it is unpredictable, a total original.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Sort by: Showing 1 Customer Review