Orlandi

The cover photo to this disc shows a woman ripping the clothes off her lover. That's how we know that the Adagio Sostenuto from Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 is about sex. So goes the logic here. But the disc's droopy account of the Entr'acte to Act III of Bizet's Carmen by Lorin Maazel and Orchestre National de France lights no fire. The Adagio from Vivaldi's Mandolin Concerto in D major has been piped into shopping malls for too many years for it to awaken much beyond the urge to buy shower curtains and blue jeans. Pianist Rudolf Buchbinder is pretty convincing in his account of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Op. 27, and much has been made of the work's dedication to the lovely 17-year-old Countess Giulietta Giucciardi. As to the Adagietto from Mahler's Fifth Symphony, I always thought it was about something other than sex. Silly me! --Gwendolyn Freed

1. Piano Concerto No.2: Adagio Sostenuto 2. Carmen: Entracte To Act 3 3. Mandolin Concerto In D Major: Adagio 4. String Quartet No. 2: Notturno 5. Piano Sonata Op.27 No.2 'Moonlight': Adagio Sostenuto 6. Oboe Concerto, Op.9 No. 2: Adagio 7. Spartacus: Adagio 8. Daphnis et Chloe: Lever du Jour 9. Symphony No. 5: Adagietto 10. Le Carnaval des Animaux: Le Cygne (The Swan) 11. Symphony No. 5: Adagio 12. Prelude Op. 28 No. 4 In E Minor 13. The Firebird: Berceuse 14. Kinderszenen: Dreaming 15. Bolero 16. Suite In D Major: Air

This terrific Walter Hill Western follows the careers of the James and Younger brothers--and uses the nifty idea of casting actual clans of acting siblings in the roles. Thus, the James brothers are played by James and Stacy Keach; the Youngers by David, Keith, and Robert Carradine; the Millers by Randy and Dennis Quaid; and the Fords by Christopher and Nicholas Guest. Hill, working with an evocative Ry Cooder score, creates a film that is at once breathtakingly exciting and elegiac in its treatment of these post-Civil War outlaws. The Keaches in particular bring a surprising dignity to the roles of Frank and Jesse James, while David Carradine is a hoot as Cole Younger--and the Quaids mimic real life (as it was for them then) in their battles as the Miller brothers. Bloody, to be sure, but also bloody good. --Marshall Fine

Jesse James and his gang of outlaws ride again in this "extraordinary" (LA Herald-Examiner) western that pulsates with hard-driving action and electrifying drama. Four sets of acclaimed actor brothersDavid, Keith and Robert Carradine, James and Stacy Keach, Dennis and Randy Quaid, and Christopher and Nicholas Guesteach depict real-life siblings in emotionally charged portrayals of the Old West's legendary bandits.The notorious James-Younger gang is the most famous group of outlaws in the country, robbing banks, trains and stagecoaches with a sense of daring that makes them folk heroes throughout the land. But when the mighty Pinkerton detective agency swears to track them down, these criminals must face an awesome enemy that will stop at nothing to see them behind bars...or dead! Only through the strength of their loyalty and blood ties can the outlaws hope to survive the brutal pursuits, unexpected betrayals and blistering showdowns that mark the end of their dangerous ride.

Humphrey Bogart's final screen role was in this 1956 film by Mark Robson (Home of the Brave), about a cynical sportswriter who becomes a press agent and sees firsthand how badly boxers are used and manipulated by crooked managers. The story finds Bogart's character waffling about the ethics surrounding the exploitation of an overrated fighter who will earn money for his handlers in the short term, then be tossed onto the scrap heap. This is a very tough tale written by Budd Schulberg and shot with determined unromanticism; the boxing sequences are among the most striking and violent ever committed to film. Jan Sterling plays Bogart's wife, who watches him vacillate about whether to expose the fight syndicate as a racket. --Tom Keogh

Peter Yates's 1968 cop drama has its existentialist pretensions, but there is something seductive about its strained seriousness and Steve McQueen's intentionally stoic performance as a San Francisco police detective on the trail of a murderer. A couple of key action sequences boost the film's stature, the most memorable of which is a vertiginous car chase that Yates almost approaches as a dance. Jacqueline Bisset provides window dressing as Bullitt's girlfriend--worried about how much his job strips away his humanity--and Robert Vaughan is almost reptilian as an opportunistic politician. --Tom Keogh

San Francisco has been the setting of a lot of exciting movie car chases over the years, but this 1968 police thriller is still the one to beat when it comes to high-octane action on the steep hills of the city by the Bay. The outstanding car chase earned an Oscar for best editing, but the rest of the movie is pretty good, too. Bullitt is a perfect star vehicle for cool guy Steve McQueen, who stars as a tenacious detective (is there any other kind?) determined to track down the killers of the star witness in an important trial. Director Peter Yates (Breaking Away) approached the story with an emphasis on absolute authenticity, using a variety of San Francisco locations. Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Duvall appear in early roles, and Robert Vaughn plays the criminal kingpin who pulls the deadly strings of the tightly wound plot. --Jeff Shannon

Bluray Disc