"Director: Billy Crystal"

• Mr Saturday Night | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £21.72   |  Saving you £-11.73 (-117.40%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Comedian Billy Crystal invested a life's worth of experience into his directorial debut, starring in and cowriting it as well. Mr. Saturday Night is a fascinating alternate biography of the career he never had. From the 1920s to the 90s, the movie uses flashbacks to follow a comedian's turbulent journey from making the family laugh, to stardom, to retirement. Buddy Young Jr (Crystal) and his brother Stan (David Paymer) show us the decidedly unfunny behind-the-scenes family events that can bolster or destroy an act. It's unfortunate that the flip side of Buddy's comic face is a viciously cruel streak. Distanced from his daughter and with Stan's need to move on, the contemporary segments are tinged with tragedy. They're assisted immeasurably by some impressive old-age make-up (which so often fails), transforming Crystal into an unrecognisable cantankerous creature. The gags come thick and fast; there are numerous cameos and the good-natured tone of the movie make it universally appealing. If only more acts from Saturday Night Live had been handled as well. On the DVD: Mr. Saturday Night is a standard transfer with no frills in 4:3 and stereo. The extras package offers a series of mini-interviews that are interesting in themselves, but inexplicably repeated in the accompanying five-minute featurette. --Paul Tonks

• 61 | Blu Ray | (07/06/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.57

  One was the Yankees' best loved player, the other was their most valuable. In the summer of 1961, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle took on Babe Ruth's record, the 1927 single-season 60 home run slam. It would be a summer that no one who knows baseball would forget. As the summer of 1961 unfolds, both Maris and Mantle find themselves approaching Babe Ruth's benchmark of 60 home runs. Facing mounting pressure from the media and the stands, they both know there's only room for one winner. The peopl.

• Mr. Saturday Night | DVD | (17/08/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Buddy Young was the comic's comic loved by everyone. Now playing to miniscule crowds in nursing homes it seems like everybody but Buddy realizes that he should retire. Studded with witty one-liners and rapid-fire routines Mr. Saturday Night follows the rise fall and partial comeback of the fictional Buddy Young Jr. (Billy Crystal) who though achieving some degree of fame never quite reaches the top rung of the business. After alienating his new agent his brother/ manager and the rest of the family it's time to decide what's more important comedy or family.