Cry-Baby (1990) - Blu-ray Review

Details: By Loron Hays; 26 February 2019

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Cry Baby (1990) - Blu-ray Review

A single tear is all it takes for this dude to land all the ladies. His name is Cry-Baby and this is his story . . . with guitars!

The motorcycles! The music! The Squares! The Drapes! And all the raging hormones! It’s 1954 again in Roger Waters’ classic teenage musical, Cry-Baby. It has been ages since I last saw Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker (Johnny Depp) serenade Allison Vernon-Williams (Amy Locane) in his attempt to cross social lines and woo the girl of his dreams and, let me tell you, not a beat is off in this incredibly campy and wildly funny send-up of all things frilly and pin-up worthy.

"From the comic expressions to the costumes, Cry-Baby scores wide grins and big laughs and then, thanks to the vocals of James Intveld and Rachel Sweet, two rockabilly crooners, the music takes us all over the radio dial."

Wade Walker is the son of the previously electrocuted Alphabet Bomber. No one in Baltimore gives him the time of day and so he cries from one eye only, unable to let go of the past. He pals around town with the rest of The Drapes: Ricki Lake as Pepper Walker, Traci Lords as Wanda Woodward, Kim McGuire as Mona "Hatchet-Face" Malnorowski, and Darren E. Burrows as Milton Hackett. Together, they rule THE COOL of the school with their rock and their roll attitudes and, late into the night, with their band, torching dancehalls with their songs.

But, with the help of Susan Tyrrell as Ramona Rickettes and Iggy Pop as Belvedere Rickettes and Turkey Point party, Wade and The Drapes are on a mission to break through the social norms of the town and, as he attracts the eye of a “Square” named Allison, show that the undesirable part of this town are people, too. But it won’t be easy. And, yeah, Cry-Baby, who always gets the girl – even the ones he doesn’t want like Lenora Frigid (Kim Webb) – isn’t going to let a small thing like jail time get in his way of wooing his blonde ambition. {googleads}

Co-starring Polly Bergen and featuring great Troy Donahue, Joe Dallesandro, Joey Heatherton, David Nelson, Willem Dafoe, and Patricia Hearst, Cry-Baby might just be John Waters best film. That being said, it certainly is a GREAT companion piece to Hairspray. And, if it is not his best film, it certainly is one of his craziest. The film, parts of it shot at Maryland’s Enchanted Forest amusement park, never takes itself seriously and works to create one memorable musical number after another. Cry Baby (1990) - Blu-ray Review

And it starts with the zany right off the bat with a fantastic opening sequence showcasing the entire “teenage” cast in their respective lines at the school getting their vaccinations. From the comic expressions to the costumes, Cry-Baby scores wide grins and big laughs and then, thanks to the vocals of James Intveld and Rachel Sweet, two rockabilly crooners, the music takes us all over the radio dial.

Cry-Baby, in all its musical glory, is now available on blu-ray thanks to Universal.

4 beers

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MPAA Rating: PG-13.
Runtime: 98 mins
Director: John Waters
Writer: John Waters
Cast: Johnny Depp, Ricki Lake, Amy Locane
Genre: Comedy | Musical
Tagline: Too young to be square... Too tough to be shocked... Too late to be saved.
Memorable Movie Quote: "There's nothing the matter with my face. I got character!"
Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date: April 6, 1990
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: February 19, 2019
Synopsis: Eisenhower is President. Rock 'n' Roll is king. And Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker is the baddest hood in his high school. Johnny Depp heads up a supercool cast as the irresistible bad boy whose amazing ability to shed one single tear drives all the girls wild - especially Allison Vernon Williams (Amy Locane), a rich, beautiful "square" who finds herself uncontrollably drawn to the dreamy juvenile delinquent and his forbidden world of rockabilly music, fast cars and faster women. It's the hysterical high-throttle world of 1954 in director John Waters' outrageous musical comedy.

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Cry Baby (1990) - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Universal Studios
Available on Blu-ray - February 19, 2019
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH; French
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0; French: DTS 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Universal presents Cry-Baby in a strong 1080p transfer, the film has never before looked this crisp. Colors are vivid and fine details are noticeable. The city skies are a true black and the land is full of edges and concrete jungles. Skin tones are warm. Occasionally, the red tones overcompensate in some areas, but a sharp-looking release nonetheless. The faithful English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is an incredible accompaniment to the feature.

Supplements:

Commentary:

John Waters provides a FANTASTIC commentary.

Special Features:

Nothing new. Everything has been ported over from the previous DVD release. That being said, there is a really good making of featurette that, while in SD, does give us a good view of the making of the movie.