Missing [2 Discs] [Special Edition] [Criterion Collection]

Director: Constantin Costa-Gavras Constantin Costa-Gavras

Overview

"Missing, Costa-Gavras's first American production (though it was shot in Mexico with a largely French crew), was one of his most powerful and accessible works, a typically astute political essay that is rooted in the emotionally compelling tale of a man searching for his missing son with the help of his daughter-in-law, and twenty-five years after its original release Missing receives a superb presentation on DVD in this edition from the Criterion Collection. Missing has been given a widescreen transfer to disc, letterboxed at 1.85:1 on conventional televisions and enhanced for anamorphic playback on 16x9 monitors. Ricardo Aronovich's cinematography is beautifully rendered on this DVD, capturing the simple color schemes and elegant framings with impeccable skill, and the film has rarely if ever looked better. The audio has been mastered in Dolby Digital Mono, preserving the original sound mix, and the fidelity is superb, with an admirable clarity and presence. The dialogue is primarily in English, with some Spanish sequences; this release features optional English subtitles, but no multiple language options. As usual, Criterion have included a robust portion of relevant supplementary materials with this package, filling a whole second disc. Two interviews with Costa-Gavras are featured: one a short chat taped for a television news program in 1982, the other recorded for the film's French DVD release in 2006. Joyce Horman, the real-life widow of Charles Horman (and portrayed by Sissy Spacek in the film), appears in an interview exclusive to this release. The movie's genesis is discussed in a short documentary, Producing Missing, which includes interviews with producers Sean Daniel, Edward Lewis and Mildred Lewis, as well as Thomas Hauser, whose book The Execution of Charles Horman was the basis for the screenplay. Another short documentary, Pursuing Truth, is dominated by an interview with Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archive as he talks about efforts to document the Charles Horman case and America's involvement in the coup that overthrew Chilean president Salvador Allende in 1973. Excerpts from a French television report on the 1982 Cannes Film Festival are also included, which features interviews with star Jack Lemmon, Costa-Gavras and three real-life figures portrayed in the film -- Ed Horman, Joyce Horman and Terry Simon. And footage from a 2002 event honoring the film's contribution in exposing international human rights violations includes short speeches from Costa-Gavras, Joyce Horman, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron, John Shea, Chis Lemmon (speaking on behalf of his late father Jack Lemmon) and host Gabriel Byrne. The package also includes the film's original theatrical trailer and a 38-page booklet with essays by Michael Wood and Terry Simon, a 1982 interview with Costa-Gavras and a 1982 press release from the U.S. State Department denying several allegations about the nation's involvement in the Chilean coup as portrayed in the film. Criterion's release of Missing honors this film as a impassioned polemic as well as a beautiful, absorbing work of filmmaking, and it's the definitive home video release of this picture."

Product Details

Release Date:	10/21/2008
UPC:	0715515031820
Original Release:	1982
Rating:	PG
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	2:02:00
Sales rank:	775

Special Features

Theatrical trailer; Video interviews with Costa-Gavras, Joyce Horman (wife of Charles Horman), producers Edward and Mildred Lewis and Sean Daniel, and Thomas Hauser, author of The Execution of Charles Horman, the film's source; Video interviews from the 1982 Cannes Film Festival with Costa-Gavras, Jack Lemmon, Ed Horman (father of Charles), and Joyce Horman; Video interview with Peter Kornbluh, author ofThe Pinochet File, examining declassified documents concerning the 1973 military coup in Chile and the case of Charles Horman; Highlights from the 2002 Charles Horman Truth Project event honoring Missing, with actos Sissy Spacek, John Shea, and Melanie Mayron, among others

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jack Lemmon	Ed Horman
Sissy Spacek	Beth Horman
John Shea	Charles Horman
Melanie Mayron	Terry Simon
Charles Cioffi	Capt. Ray Tower
David Clennon	Consul Phil Putnam
Richard Venture	US Ambassador
Jerry Hardin	Col. Sean Patrick
Richard Bradford	Carter Babcock
Joe Regalbuto	Frank Teruggi
Keith Szarabajka	David Holloway
John Doolittle	David McGeary
Janice Rule	Kate Newman
Ward Costello	Congressman
Hansford Rowe	Senator
Tina Romero	Maria
Richard Whiting	Statesman
Martin Lasalle	Paris
Terry Nelson	Col. Clay
Robert Hitt	Peter Chernin
Félix González	Rojas
M.E. Rios	Mrs. Duran
Jorge Russek	Espinoza
Edna Nochoechea	Pia
Alan Penwrith	Samuel Roth
Alex Camacho	Silvio
M. Avilla Comacho	Doctor
Kimberly Farr	Young Woman
Elizabeth Cross	Ann,Hotel Manager
Gary Richardson	Embassy Operator
Josephina Echanova	Doctor
Robert Johnstreet	Bob
Lynda Spheeris	Woman in US Embassy,Woman (State Department)
Jorge Mancilla	Airport Captain
Gerardo Vigil	Sexy Soldier
Mario Valdez	Laundry Officer
Jaime Garza	Young Man at Stadium
Joe I. Tompkins	Marine Officer,Marine Officer
John Fenton	Carlos
Wallis Nicita	Actor
Felix Gonzalez	Rojas
Jacqueline Evans	Woman (Ford Foundation)
Vangelis	Composer

Technical Credits

Constantin Costa-Gavras

Edward Lewis

Donald Stewart

John Nichols

Constantin Costa-Gavras	Director,Screenwriter
Peter Guber	Executive Producer
Edward Lewis	Producer,Producer,Screenwriter
Jon Peters	Executive Producer
Albert Whitlock	Special Effects
Donald Stewart	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Albert J. Whitlock	Special Effects
John Nichols	Screenwriter
José Garcia	Sound/Sound Designer
Daniel Brisseau	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

The Greek director Constantin Costa-Gavras is famous for political thrillers such as Z. His films that followed Z, most notably State of Seige, were also crafty and powerful denunciations of entrenched corruption in European powers. Missing was his first American film. Based on the true story of Charles Horman as told in the book by Thomas Hauser, Missing is both an indictment of government oppression and a tense, stirring look at the generation gap of the 1960s and 1970s. Horman was a writer who disappeared in an American-backed Chilean coup. In the film, the country is an unnamed Latin American nation, but there is no mistaking the script's scathing attack on the United States government and its accomplices. The film focuses on the struggles of Horman's hippie wife (Sissy Spacek) and strict conservative father (Jack Lemmon) to find him and gain his release. Costa-Gavras has no use for the maudlin sentiment that normally accompanies such generational conflicts in movies; Lemmon and Spacek forge their unlikely alliance under fire. Both give superb performances, with Lemmon showing the dramatic talent that had long been neglected for comic roles.