Audio commentary tracks (good/bad/interesting)

It's a dying breed. DVDs often don't come with special features anymore and the rental versions don't have them at all. Most rent online or at Redbox with the rental versions so they don't ever get special features. Studios don't put effort into recording commentaries or special features since it only reaches 2% of the population who actually buys the disc.

r1 I didn't know that. That's a real shame. I can't help thinking what a great resource many of these are for film students and anyone interested in film in general. I guess in the end it'll mainly just be done by companies like Criterion.

The worst ones, in my experience, are by academics, usually. I have a copy of 'Rio Bravo' with a commentary that cuts between John Carpenter and Richard Schickel. The former is very interesting and engaging, whereas Schickel is extremely dull. I usually prefer commentaries with just one person as it ends up being more focused, but another good one that comes to mind is Charles Busch and John Epperson on 'What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?'

John Waters can always be counted on for a good commentary track.

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory reunites the five kids for commentary and it's terrific.

Amy Heckerling and Cameron Crowe give a great commentary on Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

The commentaries on D.A. Pennebaker's documentaries are usually all great. Very informative.

Alan Parker does good commentaries on his films when he does do them (Fame, The Commitments, Shoot the Moon)

Pamela Sue martin, Carol Lynley and Stella Stevens did a commentary track on The Poseidon Adventure that was fun, but it got very repetitive.

Some recent terrible commentaries:

Adrian Lyne on Foxes- spends the entire two hours saying- I haven't seen this film in 30 years. I don't remember what happens. Then what the fuck are you doing this for?

The Legend of Hell House- a mix of people, none of which had anything interesting to say

The Rose- Mark Rydell was super boring. I didn't last the first hour.

William Friedkin's commentaries are deadly. All he does is tell you exactly what you're seeing on screen.

I bought the special edition of "Singin' in the Rain" the other week and though I haven't listened to it yet, the audio commentary must qualify as one of the ones with the most people on it: Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, Cyd Charisse, Kathleen Freeman, Stanley Donen, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Baz Luhrmann and Rudy Behlmer.

I usually liked DVD extras like featurettes, deleted scenes and alternate endings.

Rarely got into the audio commentary because I don't watch a movie more than once usually (no time) and they're kind of distracting to me, even if I've seen the movie before.

Agree that some of the ones for campy films are pretty good. I think Lypsinka and John Waters did ones for 'Valley Of The Dolls', 'The Bad Seed' .........someone did one for 'Mommy Dearest' too I believe.

It is sad that with most people (including myself) now streaming, those are lost features. I can't even remember the last time I rented or bought a DVD (even a used DVD purchase).

I make films and I insist on doing commentary for the DVDs. The last one, the distributor was quite apathetic about including it and wasn't going to pay for it, so I went out of pocket and recorded on my own (I have a small home studio, so it was a small cost) because I feel they're important to have, and I had more to say about the topic that I wasn't able to get into the film.

Run Lola Run has the director and star doing a joint commentary. They used to be a couple and the commentary includes a lot of sniping at each other. It's pretty entertaining.

A psychologist who studies serial killers does a commentarty track for Silence of the Lambs and it is so deadly dull (no pun). He sucks all the fun out of the movie.

Thank you R6 for taking the time to record a commentary for your movies.

I love the commentaries, especially on old movies. Whether so-called 'serious films' such as TOKYO STORY, or SUNSET BOULEVARD, or lighter comedies and musicals like CALL ME MADAM or THE GANG'S ALL HERE, I listen to them again and again. More often than not, I find them to be insightful and informative.

And yes, the commentary on WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE is a must-listen

I was disappointed in the commentary for Criterion's DVD of The Red Shoes, but only because Moira Shearer really seemed to hate the movie and had nothing but complaints about it.

The worst: Paul Verhoven and Arnold Schwarzenegger on Total Recall. Nothing interesting to say and hard to decipher accents to boot.

It surprises me the number of commentaries where the participants aren't the least bit prepared. They haven't watched the film in ages, they don't know what to say (or they repeat the same thing five times), and they spend half the movie in silence.

Why are you there??

For me, the best commentaries provide a good mix of observations on technique, historical background, and good gossip!

I agree they are all worthy features ........... Imagine all of the great commentaries that are lost because the stars are deceased. The studios should compensate all of the individuals associated with a film to record a commentary within a few years of filming and keep them in studio for later release if they don't want to do them immediately. Same with the other features like deleted scenes, alternate endings and featurettes.

Imagine a Joan Crawford-Bette Davis commentary on WHTBJ

Burnt Offerings- Karen Black, Director Dan Curtis, (I think) Screenplay Writer William F. Nolan.

Curtis and Mrs. Black seemd to be in a booth while Nolan sounded like he was sitting outside the booth in the hallway. Everytime Nolan said something Curtis would shut him down. Mrs. Black talked about Bette Davis and Lee Montgomery warmly. The funny thing was that they talked more about Joan Hackett who wasn't even in the film than they did about Oliver Reed who pretty much was the lead character. The lack of Oliver Reed mentions spoke volumes about what they thought of him.

I love commentaries. John Waters did one for Mommie Dearest. For Dead Ringer, Charles Busch and Boze Hadley did a duo and it's a hoot. Ted Casablanca and the Gideon Girl herself do a duo on Valley.

The original War of the Worlds has some good ones as do Creature from the Black Lagoon and other Universal classic horror films.

Not a movie but for the very last episode of Felicity, Keri Russell was pretty entertaining with her commentary.

Jodie Foster's "Contact" is very good, probably the best. Enjoyed Brooke Shield's commentary on "The Blue Lagoon".

The cast on TITANIC is excellent, but the cast on Willy Wonka is the most fun to listen to.

Patty McCormack's commentary on The Bad Seed was very good.

Alexander Payne's commentary for Election is quite good.

Some director commentaries are better than film classes but the vast majority are mainly ass-kissing and shot-outs to crew members. ZZZzzzzZZZZzzzzz

David Fincher's commentary are very good.

Ian Salamander's commentaries are homophobic.

Rocky Horror has a drunk Riff Raff and Magenta which is fun.

There's TWO different Boogie Nights DVDs....one of them has commentary where PT Anderson is bitchy about Burt Reynolds.

Agree with Friedkin being the worst....just narrates. Robert Altman wasn't good at them either.

Bogdanovich can be interesting and...very Bogdanovichy (windy and self-important) too.

I used to love them but I have lost a lot of interest in many things of late. My boyfriend doesn't even consider such things when he buys a DVD, in fact I was telling him about the original ending of a movie that he loved and what the ending was meant to mean and he said that I ruined it for him.

Another vote for Robert Altman's commentaries being disappointing!

[quote]Imagine all of the great commentaries that are lost because the stars are deceased.

That's an excellent thought. I wonder who would have done great ones. Hitchcock would have been great, I think. I've been watching Douglas Sirk films lately and the various quotes of his I've read about film-making show how intelligent and how thoughtful and insightful he was about the process.

Julian Fellowes' commentary for Gosford Park is one of the best ones out there. Witty and informative. Altman was surprisingly vapid.

I enjoyed the LOTR commentaries - there is almost too much to listen to on those DVDs.

Most commentaries can be listened to on high speed. That is how I do it.

The ability to be entertaining on an audio commentary track is an entirely different skill from the ability to act, write, or direct. A lot of actors are personally quite boring and lost without a script. Directors are not always the optimal people to provide insightful commentary on their own work unless they happen to be articulate and compelling speakers with lots to say about film in general (e.g., Scorsese) or unusually charming and funny (John Waters).

I love commentaries!

I also liked Julian Fellowes on Gosford Park; Anthony Minghella's commentary on Talented Mr Ripley; Paul Schrader does an intro for Bresson's Pickpocket which is good and there is also a very good commentary by a film scholar; Ciao Manhattan and Two-Lane Backdrop are a little slow going as films but the commentaries on both make them better. There is very good film historian commentary on The Rules of the Game and M - they really situate it in the era which makes you appreciate it more. I learned a lot about murders in Germany at that time and the media on the M commentary. I just watched Eisenstein's "Strike" and there is a very good little documentary film with a fim historian discussing his films and film and innovation of Russian cinema at that time. The commentary on Revolutionary Road is very good, too.

Todd Haynes's commentary to 'Far From Heaven' is pretty interesting. He spends a majority of the time talking about Sirk, unsurprisingly; but he does tell us some interesting stuff about the making of the film and lots about the actors and the cinematographer, the costume designer, Elmer Bernstein's amazing score, etc.

Most disappointing to me: Barbra Streisand's on "What's Up Doc?"

It's about ten minutes and she makes a point of distancing herself from a film (one of her best) she doesn't even remember. "I just did what I was told." "Oh, I didn't remember that." "Oh, that's funny." CUT

R32 No wonder Babs wants to forget "Doc", it was stolen out from under her by Madeline Kahn.

R32 But Bogdonovich's commentary on the same DVD is one of the best.

yes, I like that one, too, R31. I will have to listen to that, R34

Bruce Campbell's commentary on the original Evil Dead movie is great. Informative and funny. I also enjoyed the cast and crew commentary on Bound (a movie that probably doesn't get a lot of play here, for some reason ;) ) once the annoying "sex expert" stopped talking. Jennifer Tilly dominates, but she's pretty funny. It's a good caper film, too.

I enjoy listening to a lot of the commentary on episodes of Futurama. A lot of hidden jokes I may not have caught during viewing, a lot of scientific and mathematical discussion too (Futurama and Simpsons both had a lot of math majors and PhDs in the writing staff).

R20 Election is one of my favourite films, I'll have to check if my DVD copy has the commentary if it is that good.

Anyone else here a fan of rifftracks?

[quote]Most disappointing to me: Barbra Streisand's on "What's Up Doc?"

I haven't actually heard it, but from all reports, Streisand's commentary on YENTL is insufferable. Not that we should have expected anything else.

People aren't buying DVDs anymore, which is why studios no longer have money to make smaller films.

It is a pity that collateral damage will be the loss of these commentaries, some of which could be very helpful to film historians.

The one for The People vs Larry Flynt is excellent and fascinating. It's Woody Harrelson, Milos Forman, Courtney Love & Ed Norton (who were then engaged I believe). Larry Flynt himself has a few sentences in there too, if I remember correctly. They all have very strong personalities and it's interesting to hear about the making of the film itself (Forman is clearly a master), as well as their thoughts on censorship, pornography, religion, society, etc.

The Goonies commentary is fun. You see the actors in present day (although now it's over a decade old). The guy who played Chunk looks great now.

[quote]People aren't buying DVDs anymore, which is why studios no longer have money to make smaller films.

Surely the massive profits they make from the current endless run of huge budget lucrative franchises and the saturation of comic books films can partially go into making smaller films? I get the impression that the bigger problem is that with the current situation above as it is, the only films they're interested in are ones that are almost certain to make incredible profits.

R42: The other issue that is compounding the problem is that the "big" pictures the studios count on for most of their money are costing tens of millions of dollars more than they used to cost.

[quote]Most disappointing to me: Barbra Streisand's on "What's Up Doc?"

Her commentary for Star Is Born is excellent & I'm not a huge fan of hers, but I am (ducks) a fan of this film.

She also did a commentary for Up The Sandbox that I enjoyed but she did not say a word or even acknowledge the lead actor, who's in nearly every scene. Made me wonder about him and them.

Oh, I remembered one that should be sought out (though it's be out of print now, but easily gettable used for cheap). John Hughes did his one and only commentary ever on the original Ferris Bueller's Day OFF DVD release. The ones that are out now (the anniversary and blu ray) do not have it. It's pretty good, actually. It was interesting and kept me listening all the way through, but it's the voice of someone who made a lot of treasured films and was pretty much a recluse, so if you're a fan, seek it out.

I've been listening to various Roger Corman commentaries recently. He's pretty great. He doesn't have a huge amount to say, as such, and you get the impression that he never prepares beforehand, but he's still quite informative and he always talks very quietly so it feels kind of intimate and he tends to repeat himself over the different commentaries, but it's all great. He's Roger Corman!

I was recently reading a thing by Alex Cox where he said that Universal had asked Cox for various elements to put on the DVD of REPO MAN as extras, including a commentary, but Cox says they didn't want to pay anything for any of it, so he refused. That's why the Universal DVD of the film is a bare bones one, whereas other releases like the Criterion or Anchor Bay one have various things on them. It's depressing that a company as big as Universal treat their films and the people who made them so cheaply.

I could be making this up in my head, but I think the commentary for "The Sweetest Thing" is hilarious because the director and Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate and Selma Blair are recording it the Monday after the movie came out and bombed critically and financially. They're obviously all three sheets to the wind and continue drinking during the commentary. Its sort of hilarious.

Also, the movie is nowhere near as terrible as people said it was, I seem to recall.

The writer being shut out is par for the course, R14.

Friedkin isn't always a stiff--his interviews for the documentary about making The Boys in the Band were engaging and informative. The guy is a walking museum of film history. The play by play is an art form that being a director doesn't necessarily train you for. It's like being a sportscaster, providing info in digestible bits while keeping pace with the narrative.

Natalie Portman has some weird comments on the audio commentary for Garden State. I wonder if that's the only she's ever recorded?

If I really like a movie and decide to buy the DVD, I look for the version with the most 'extras' on it.

Commentaries and behind the scene footage or making ofs gives you additional info about what director/writer/actor thought about the story and the intention. I find movie making fascinating because of all the elements that get involved to tell a story and visually presenting it on screen.

The commentary on A Hard Day's Night is wonderful. All the old timers who worked on the film, but not, sadly, Richard Lester. One of the worst I've heard was Streisand's commentary on What's Up, Doc? She made trite, obvious, uninteresting comments throughout the entire thing. Sean William Scott, btw, is really good at the audio comment thing. He gets into the spirit of it.

Sorry, commentary, not comment.

Julianne Moore has done some good commentaries for The Hours and The End of the Affair.

I generally like all the Eddie Muller ones for film noirs and the Sylvia Stoddard ones for classic films.

Weirdly, the first one that popped into my brain was Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughan talking about Wedding Crashers. Their occasional riffing was almost funnier than the film, which I only sort of liked. There was a great bit where they talked about obviously one of their characters had gone to therapy for a bit but only learnt enough psychobabble to be dangerous and hurt other people with his new-found knowledge. I think it was the breakfast scene after they crash the wedding where they meet the senator and the girls.

I also enjoy the Kenneth Geist commentaries on All Above Eve and A Letter to Three Wives. He does half of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir but the other half is the dull Jeanine Basinger.

accompanying link provides criterion collection bonus audio commentary / you download an mp3 and play along while viewing your copy / a film fan making it available for others.........

Does anyone listen to commentary at normal speed or do we all do them 1-1/2x?

Nora Ephron's commentary on You've Got Mail. I can't even watch the movie without it anymore. It's almost my version of ASMR. There's lot of talk of books, bookstores, the internet, coffee, New York, cheese, cheese shops...

Jim and Marilyn Lovell's commentary on whichever Apollo 13 two disc set I have is amazing as well.

I'm going to miss commentaries.

David Fincher is always funny, smart and bitchy in his commentaries.

The Wild Bunch has a dedicated following. The guys on the commentary track are themselves producers who've gone to the filming locations, studied Peckinpah and looooove this movie. I think it's a great western. It was fun listening to people who were [italic]that[/italic] into it. Similarly, a Fistful of Dollars has a commentary from Sir Christopher Frayling. He didn't convince me that this is a great movie, but I enjoyed listening to someone who was that into the movie and knew that much about it.

Listening to Robert Pattinson continually talk shit about his acting, while Kristen Stewart is being serious and then having Catherine Hardwick in the middle to balance them out was pretty funny.

And I think the commentary for She's The Man was a fun one too. The rest of the cast were making fun of Channing constantly. Little did they know....

I agree on the Willy Wonka commentary. Apparently the two girls were both crushing on Charlie during filming. Also, the John Waters commentary on Mommie Dearest is priceless. We learn that Kathleen Turner, like Joan, plunged her face in ice water while working on Serial Mom.

I believe that Martin Scorsese did a track for My Fair Lady, but I've never heard it. I know he loves musicals, but this doesn't seem like the kind of movie musical he would like. Is there anywhere one can find these commentaries?

I seem to remember Carrie Fisher's one for Postcards from the Edge is funny.

Years ago I tried listening to the commentary on Waiting For Guffman by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy but it was very dry and not as entertaining as I was hoping.

Similarly Paul Reubens' and Tim Burton's commentary on Pee-Wee's Big Adventure was a slog to get through.

Some of my favorites:

Andrew Fleming - Bad Dreams (1988)

Craig Zadan and Dean Pitchford - Footloose (1984)

Rick Rosenthal - Bad Boys (1983)

Take a drink every time Tamra Davis says "crazy" in her commentaries for Billy Madison and Half Baked.

Mike Nichols commentary track for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf is quite good, occasionally funny and very informative.

Another vote for John Waters and "Mommie Dearest" - he spends the whole time defending Joan, it's great.

The Spinal Tap commentary is also good, they are in character as the band while discussing it.

Tori Amos - Fade to Red

One of the Moonlighting episodes (Season 3 I think) had commentary from stars Cybill Shepherd, Bruce Willis and show creator Glenn Gordon Caron. At one point in the commentary, Bruce starts referencing his big box office hits (Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, etc), and Cybill immediately follows him by name dropping The Last Picture Show. Very awkward.

I think it was another episode with just Shepherd and Caron where she breaks down and starts crying for no apparent reason, and you can hear the “WTF” in Caron’s voice.

I love audio commentary tracks and film historian Frank Thompson does some of the best, IMHO. Intelligent, but funny and lots of great stories. He works a lot with William Wellman Jr, (the director’s son) so he’s on many of the Wellman reissues like WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD, TRACK OF THE CAT and the just-released BEAU GESTE restoration, which is fantastic, BTW.

My personal favorite Thompson commentary track is on the bizarre Bela Lugosi movie, WHITE ZOMBIE... the one on Kino. It’s a great blend of history and humorous behind-the-scenes stuff.

Another excellent David Fincher commentary is on Chinatown. He’s joined by Robert Towne who wrote the script. It’s on YouTube.

thanks 72 for Chinatown commentary / is there an index or easy way to access similar audio tracks on youtube for worthwhile films ... thanks in advance

Love this thread. Thank you to everyone who contributed.

I have a DVD of Hitchcock's NOTORIOUS that has two commentary tracks, one by 'Hitchcock scholar' Marian Keane that is very academic but I love it and her voice is kind of hypnotic; I often play it to fall asleep.

The Simpsons DVD commentary is mandatory if you’re a Simpsons fan.

I thought that this was a cool idea. I didn't love Knives Out enough to see it twice but I'm sure superfans were thrilled by this commentary. I could definitely see something like this taking off for a Star Wars movie or some other blockbuster.

If cinemas ever re-open, of course.

Liza has done commentary on some of her parents' stuff and it is FABULUSH.

On the audio commentary for "Screwballs" (an 80s sex comedy), the director outed actor Alan Deveau (who played Howie Bates; the Pee Wee from Porky's-esque nerd). He was in a couple of other sex comedies from the same director. Alan went on to become a set dresser.

Any commentary track from directors Michael Mann ("Heat," in particular) or John Frankenheimer ("The Manchurian Candidate" or "Ronin," in particular) are just exceptional. They are at the top of my list for recommendations.

There are four or five different commentary tracks for each of the "The Lord of the Rings" extended editions, and they are all good. The cast commentary is particularly endearing, with much laughter and stories shared.

The various commentary tracks for "Alien" and "Aliens" are entertaining.

If you're a cinematography buff, Roger Deakin's commentary on "1917" is fascinating. He talks through all the details of creating the "one shot" look and all the practical effects.

There is a brutal commentary track for "The Sum of All Fears" with the director and author Tom Clancy. It starts out with the director saying, "I'm Phil Alden Robinson and I'm the director of the movie. And I'm pleased and honored to be joined by Tom Clancy." Clancy then chuckles and says, "I'm Tom Clancy. I wrote the book that they ignored." He proceeds to eviscerate the movie. It's incredible.

Film critic Richard Schickel recorded an engaging commentary for "Unforgiven." Roger Ebert recorded a good track for "Casablanca."

There is an amazing commentary track with Kevin Smith and his longtime producing partner for "Road House." It's everything you'd hope for from a Kevin Smith commentary. Smith also recorded a great commentary for "Donnie Darko" with the director. At one point, Smith jokes, "It's becoming clear to me that you have no fucking idea what your movie is about!"

There is a commentary for "Rounders" featuring five real-life professional poker players that is pretty fun (if you're into poker).

I can probably come up with more, but let's be honest... no one is gonna go track these down just because of my post, haha

A lot of the ones with film scholars and historians grate my nerves a bit, because they can be a little dry and lacking in humor. It feels more like attending a boring lecture in college.

John Waters always delivers great commentaries for his own films and for others. Wes Craven did great commentaries, too. He had such a soothing, calming voice. The most recent commentary on Halloween with John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis is fantastic and Curtis is especially funny and charming. She also did another great one on H20 with Steve Miner where she's equally amusing.

Teen Witch, of all movies, has a great commentary with most of the cast on the Blu-Ray and it feels like going to a really fun party filled with old friends. A lot of those cast reunion commentaries are great and you feel like you're in the room with them.