THE BEACH BOYS AN AMERICAN FAMILY, 2 vhs videos, FREDERICK WELLER, KEVIN DUNN

Description

These are 2 "For Your Consideration" video tapes.  The videos were not issued sealed.  The videos have never been viewed and are in near mint condition.
If you want this movie on 2 DVDs, please let me know.
This movie re-creates the life stories of the members of the rock group "The Beach Boys. The film focuses primarily on the Wilson brothers and their parents, but also includes stories about the rest of members of the band. A two-part television movie special. 3 hours long.
I thought it was amazingly done. Great movie. It was well worth the 2 parts. Fred Weller played Brian Wilson exactly as how it should have been done. Everything was perfect.
Review from the Toronto Sun ....
John Stamos has produced the ultimate tribute to the band -- The Beach Boys: An American Family.
The miniseries chronicles the early years of Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, their cousin, Mike Love and their friend, Al Jardine, who created a whole new surf sound in the 1960s with songs such as California Girls, Good Vibrations and Fun, Fun, Fun.
Years before breaking through on General Hospital and later as a sitcom stud on Full House, Stamos grew up a huge fan of the Beach Boys in California.
"I always dreamed of sitting in with them," he says on the phone from his Malibu home. "You know -- being at one of their concerts and hearing, 'The drummer has broken his arm and does anybody know the songs?' "
Stamos' dream came true in the mid-'80s when the young soap star was coaxed on stage at a Washington concert to drum during an encore. Sixteen years later, he still is drumming in Mike Love's touring version of the band.
Now 36 and married to supermodel Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, the actor says he wanted to produce a movie that treated the band with respect.
"All I ever saw were all these hard-hitting biographies on them," he says. "The bullet points are like, 'Brian went crazy, and he took drugs and they all hated each other.' At least with this movie you see why these guys did some of the things they did."
The villain in the piece is the Wilson boys' abusive father, Murray, played by Kevin Dunn. Jealous of the boys' success, Murray almost single-handedly sabotaged their career.
"I think the stuff that he did back then still affects them to this day," Stamos says. "That's how powerful his influence was over them."
Stamos' original plan was to play Dennis, the only member of the group who actually surfed, and who drowned in 1983. "He was one of those great legendary rock 'n' roll heroes," Stamos says.
But by the time he finally had a deal with ABC to produce the miniseries, together with Storyline Entertainment's Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Annie, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella), Stamos felt he was too old to play his hero.
"I was so bummed out," he says. "I fired myself. It was a terrible day."
Instead, newcomer Nick Stabile won the role, with relative unknowns Frederick Weller (Brian), Ryan Northcott (Carl), Matt Letscher (Mike Love) and Ned Vaughn (Al Jardine) rounding out the close-as-clones cast.
"Mike Love says watching Letscher is scary -- he feels like he's watching himself," Stamos says.
Brian Wilson, the group's musical leader until he cracked up in the late '60s, also has given his thumbs up -- much to Stamos' surprise.
"I didn't know if it was going to be the best thing for him to see. But apparently, he thought it was fine."
Ultimately, Stamos hopes the movie portrays the band as survivors. "That's really the basic moral of the story for me," he says. "They made it through all this crap and dysfunction because of the music, first and foremost."
Stamos suggests the Beach Boys can be seen as a metaphor for the American family of the 1960s.
"I think the whole country was going through a dark time. There was the Vietnam War and all the assassinations -- and then there was this music you could listen to to find some happiness in an otherwise dark day. Certainly, for the band at least, the only way they could survive was through that music
Jessica Shannon .... Concert Girl
Kevin Dunn (I) .... Murry Wilson
Fred Weller .... Brian Wilson
Alley Mills .... Audree Wilson
Nick Stabile .... Dennis Wilson
Emmanuelle Vaugier .... Suzanne Love
Ryan Northcott .... Carl Wilson
Matthew Letscher .... Mike Love
Ned Vaughn .... Al Jardine
Dublin James .... Dave Marks
Jesse Caron .... Bruce Johnston
Amy Van Horne .... Marilyn Rovell
Jad Mager .... Nik Venet
Eric Matheny .... Chuck Britz
Harris Laskaway .... Voyle Gilmore