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Brady Home Movies

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A Techtite Review

The Show : Brady Home Movies was originally a CBS special, created by Susan "Cindy Brady" Olsen. It received excellent ratings, due to its amusing behind the scenes look of the Brady cast, as seen via film taken by Super-8 cameras (given as a gift from Robert "Mike Brady" Reed, to each cast member!). Now, this special is available on DVD, for posterity, re-edited, and with added footage that you probably never saw before.

All surviving castmates give anecdotes of their experiences during the time these films were shown, including the actors who played Cindy, Jan, Peter, Bobby, Greg, and of course, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! Raw footage (the original film reels, uncut) of 5 of the cast's home movies are shown later on the DVD version of this special, including the home movies of Robert Reed, Barry Williams, Mike Lookinland, Eve Plumb, and Susan Olsen. Florence Henderson hosts the special, which even includes Ann B. Davis, who has some interesting Super-8 home movie clips to share as well. Additional footage is shown, as filmed by the late Robert Reed, who died of AIDS complications in 1992. A fitting tribute is given for this late leader of the Brady clan.

There isn't much to say in way of script or storyline of the show, which is part of its charm. Each of the films of the Brady Kids, for example, is a vintage look into the mind of a young Hollywood kid given a camera for the first time; we get to see them all ham it up and have a ball, behind the scenes, and totally out of character. Robert Reed's movies, shown later in the program, seem to show how much he felt like a real father to these kids; you'd never know that these clips weren't taken by a parent, if you weren't told it in advance. Anecdotes before and after these clips are equally amusing, including the now infamous tale of Florence Henderson's "date" with Barry Williams!

In the end, this is admittedly a DVD solely for the fans of the show. However, for such fans, what a DVD this is! There's not much more that Rhino Home Video could have offered on one disc, for any fan. The special even includes snippets of certain cast members' careers, both before and after the show, including the children's work in toy commercials, right on up to Maureen "Marcia" McCormick's current country singing career (an excerpt from one of her songs on-stage is offered). What more could any fan want to look for?

The DVD : Admittedly, this is pretty much it for additions on this disc, though there is an interesting additional interview segment, of the two youngest cast members of the show, Susan Olsen and Mike Lookinland. This added footage is interesting, though a bit disappointing, when compared to the rest of the disc. During this added interview, there are no additional film clips shown, and it's basically just the two of them shown sitting at a table, discussing old times. This may or may not be worth anything to avid fans of the series, though it doesn't matter either way; they'll be more than interested in the footage throughout the rest of the disc.

	Final Rating : Large Crater. While the show itself might not be on everyone's favorites list, it is still interesting to see the whole Brady family, completely out of character!
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The "Brady Bunch Home Movies" special is also available on VHS! Click Here to Order...

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