The “Mystic River” three-disc set provides a feature-length audio commentary by Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon, who talk informally about their experiences as actors in general and in making this movie in particular. They periodically dispense tidbits of information I found worthwhile—for example, how quiet Eastwood’s sets were and how he normally shoots everything in only one or two takes—but to my way of thinking they didn’t have anything like two-and-a-quarter hours of material. It’s a shame there’s no commentary from any of the other four key actors (Penn, Fishburne, Harden, and Linney), and I would also liked to have heard from director Eastwood, screenwriter Helgeland, and novelist Lehane. I hope someday there’ll be another DVD version of “Mystic River” where this great movie will get the commentary track it deserves.
Disc 2 of the three-disc set is a DVD that contains two making-of documentaries. I thought the longer of the two, which runs 22 minutes, was somewhat better, although it’s a pretty standard making-of: clips plus brief remarks by Eastwood, Helgeland, Lehane, Penn, Robbins, Bacon, Fishburne, Harden, and Linney. I thought the most amusing remark came from Fishburne: “Laura Linney is playing Sean Penn’s wife, and Marcia Gay in playing Tim Robbins’ wife. Well, I play Kevin Bacon’s wife.” It appeared to me the shorter documentary, which runs 11 minutes, was nothing more than a rehashed condensation of the longer one.
Actually, the heart of the Disc 2 bonus materials consists of three 2003 interviews on “The Charley Rose Show”: a 42-minute interview Rose did with Eastwood on October 8, a 50-minute interview with Robbins on October 13, and a 19-minute interview with Bacon on December 26. My favorite by far was the interview with Eastwood, who’s directed such diverse films as “Bird” (1988), “Unforgiven” (1992), and “The Bridges of Madison County” (1995). I also found worthwhile some of the interview with Robbins, who starred in “The Player” (1992) and in “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994) and directed “Dead Man Walking” (1995). Rose spends several minutes discussing with Robbins some of the ramifications of his speaking out against the Iraq War, but both men seemed (understandably) guarded on this topic, rendering this part of the interview much less interesting than I expected it might be.
Disc 3 of the three-disc set is a CD containing the “Mystic River” soundtrack music, which was composed by the multi-talented Clint Eastwood. I enjoyed listening to the melancholy, often jazz-inflected, music, which is performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus with Lennie Niehaus conducting.
Warner Brothers has released three different DVD versions of “Mystic River”. There’s the three-disc set described here, but there are also two single-disc versions with no extras, one widescreen, the other full screen. Keep in mind that at video rental stores, you’re likely to find only the bare-bones single-disc versions. Below I’ve listed all the special features found on the three-disc “Mystic River” DVD set.
DVD Details:
Three-Disc Set (Two DVDs + Music CD)
Disc 1
- Feature Film, Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1), Color
- Feature Run Time: 2 Hours 18 Minutes
- MPAA Rating: R for Language and Violence
- English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
- French 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
- English Subtitles
- French Subtitles
- Spanish Subtitles
- Audio Commentary by Actors Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon
Disc 2
- Documentary: “Mystic River: Beneath the Surface” (23 min.)
- Documentary: “Mystic River: From Page to Screen” (11 min.)
- “The Charlie Rose Show” Interview: Clint Eastwood (42 min.)
- “The Charlie Rose Show” Interview: Tim Robbins (50 min.)
- “The Charlie Rose Show” Interview: Kevin Bacon (19 min.)
- Theatrical Teaser
- Theatrical Trailer
- French Subtitles
Disc 3
- Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD (Music Composed by Clint Eastwood)
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