Off The Menu – The Last Days Of Chasen’s (Documentary)
Picture: C+ Sound: B- Extras: B Film: B
It was as
legendary as the stars themselves in many respects, a place where the old
school Hollywood elite ate at, but even it would
not last forever. Off The Menu – The Last Days Of Chasen’s (1997) is a remarkable
portrait of one of the hottest locations Hollywood ever had. The high-class, ultra-professional restaurant
was especially favored by the likes of former MCA/Universal giant Lew Wasserman,
Alfred Hitchcock, a pre-President Ronald & Nancy Reagan, Frank Sinatra, and
the rest of the infamous Rat Pack just for starters. Lasting over half-a-century, the famed eatery
saw the rise, fall and rise again of the powerful filmmaking town.
Before their
recent success with the highly regarded American
Splendor, filmmakers Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini pulled off
a one-of-a-kind gem here, which starts out being about Chasen’s, then moves on
to the value of commitment, the changes in our society that are not necessarily
for the better, about wasted lives and lives lived. Cameras were never allowed in the restaurant,
so any footage here is area indeed and there are only snapshots and newspaper
clips that show the past. That is why
this is such a rare glimpse indeed. As
they say, better late than never.
The who’s
who extends to Jack Lemmon, Jay Leno, Sharon Stone, Jane Wyman, Donna Summer,
Rod Steiger, Fay Wray, Jimmy Stewart, and many others you may or may not
recognize, but know unless you are really in the know, you will never be able
to identify all the key people you see.
Chasen’s combination of exclusivity, service, great food, privacy and
atmosphere was a perfect match for the rich and powerful in tinseltown. We are lucky we have even this to see, as
this is really a privileged look into a private world. For every one of these we see, there are
hundreds we do not, unless we go there ourselves. Good show!
Although
this did originate on film, this is an older analog transfer of the materials
and it is a bit limited in detail and naturalness, though some brief footage
was shot on tape. It does not fare
better. All of it is full frame, but it
is going to take a digital High Definition transfer to really do justice to all
the dark scenes anyhow, so that brings us to the sound. This is a relatively recent recording, and is
here in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with some Pro Logic surrounds. The program is still interview-based, but has
a great use of music, form hit records to a surprisingly good score by Mark
Suozzo. Extras include two recipes from
the restaurant feature din the film, brief bio text on the co-directors, a
photo gallery, previews of many other Docurama titles, and a great audio
commentary update by the co-directors and former employee Raymond Bibool. It was he who helped them get the special
access to the place to begin with and turned out to be one of their most
interesting characters. The updates we
get in the commentary alone are especially great after you watch the main program,
because you want to know more. Get this
one soon.
- Nicholas Sheffo
