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Product Description

Martin Mirkheim is bound for greatness - even if nobody else thinks so - in this fast and funny look at fame, fortune and the pursuit of the American Dream from executive producer Martin Scorsese. Griffin Dunne is Martin, a small-time guy with big-time schemes. Inspired by a late-night cable TV philosopher (Dennis Hopper), Martin becomes so convinced that his destiny involves producing an overblown screen epic, he's oblivious to the fact that his life is falling apart around him. Still, hounded by the IRS, hassled by his wife (Rosanna Arquette) and harassed by hangers-on (Ethan Hawke), Martin pursues his dream, heading for Manhattan and hooking-up with a wacky screenwriting receptionist (Illeana Douglas), a karaoke-crazed New York businessman (Christopher Walken) and a mod-squad, speed-rapping street king (John Turturro). Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Illeana Douglas, Ethan Hawke, Dennis Hopper, John Turturro and Christopher Walken.

Product details

Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.33:1
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ R (Restricted)
Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.25 inches; 3.2 Ounces
Media Format ‏ : ‎ Color, NTSC
Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 31 minutes
Release date ‏ : ‎ April 25, 2000
Actors ‏ : ‎ Dunne, Arquette, Douglas
Language ‏ : ‎ English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
Studio ‏ : ‎ Live / Artisan
ASIN ‏ : ‎ 6305813019
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1

Best Sellers Rank: #131,057 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #22,665 in Drama DVDs

Customer Reviews:
3.9 30 ratings

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Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5

30 global ratings

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BrendanC

It's an Adventure

Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2022

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Caught this at its first public screening at Angelina on Houston Street. What a trip and I'm relieved to see positive reviews here. What a terrific script. I'm sure it would be trashed by General public.

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great film, -- inexcusably horrible DVD

Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2006

Verified Purchase

This film deserves four, maybe even five stars. I love films about "making it" in the entertainment industry, and this is a hilarious comedy about trying to raise money for an indie film. A steller cast, from Dennis Hopper, to Christopher Walker, to Illeana Douglass, to John Turturro, to star Giffin Dunne. And fine cameos by Martin Scorsese, Rosanna Arquette, and Ethan Hawke.

SEARCH AND DESTORY is to film financing what LIVING IN OBLIVION is to film production. I love this indie film and have seen it many times. But why did they release this CRAPPY DVD VERSION?

* It's FULL SCREEN. Indie film fans are especially particular about seeing the whole film, which means wide screen.

* There are NO SPECIAL FEATURES. Not even a trailer. With all these stars, surely there could have been an interview or something. Not only that, there's ...

* NO MENU. Nothing. No chapter sections. Nothing. You pop in the DVD, then go straight to the full screen film, then that's it.

Why release a great film like this in such a crappy DVD package? Perhaps because the studio wants to DOUBLE DIP. You know what I mean. They release a crappy DVD first, then when everyone who "must have" this film has bought one, they release a Special Two Disc Edition. An indie film like this, with so many indie stars, is a natural for this treatment.

So this is yet another example of how studios RIP OFF DVD customers. Other examples include...

* Crappy fall-apart DVDs that scratch easily, thus limiting the number of used DVDs on the market (studios earn nothing on used DVDs).

* DVDs which FORCE YOU you to sit through long FBI Warnings and endless trailers, thus STEALING YOUR TIME.

This SEARCH AND DESTORY DVD isn't guilty of those two offenses; instead it's guilty of dumping a BARE-BONES, FULL SCREEN version, so as to DOUBLE DIP with a decent, wide screen, two-disc version later on.

Great film. Horrid DVD.

6 people found this helpful

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Barnaby M. Hazen

underated

Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great flick. Very strange--kind of a parody of things like Scientology and the like--"Strength needs no excuse." Walken, Griffin Dunne, Dennis Hopper, Ileana Douglass--all great performances. Based on a play that would have been great to see. This got trashed by Hollywood critics and it only goes to show what I think of that culture.

2 people found this helpful

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hempy

Great talent wasted .

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2019

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Poor directing and a loose script wasted the talents of some very good actors . See the other 2 star ratings for more detail .

Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2013

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I AM NOT "NEW YOUR QUICK" I THINK I MISSED A LOT OF IN JOKES, BUT THAT'S O.K.
I'M NOT DESTROYED BY THAT.

Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2017

Verified Purchase

scenes between Griffin Dune and Dennis Hopper, Ethan Hawke, Christopher Walken, John Turturro, Illeanna Douglass, et al are (IMO) some of the funniest ever scripted. I never figured out who won in the end.

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Bruce Halpin

one of the craziest movies you'll see

Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2013

Verified Purchase

this movie, directed by artist david salle, has some really funny weird scenes. if you like dennis hopper you should get this. highly recommended.

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2013

Great dry humor, some splendid performances, quirky plot idea, some interesting photography. A bit European some might say. Unique in some respects. A "smart" film.

But right, not for everyone. For one thing -- my personal perspective -- a lot of the humor for me depended on some what I will call "insider awareness." That is, I have seen people get sucked into following these late night types of motivational gurus with cult-like devotion. They come out looking like enthusiastic wackos, to my eye. The principle characters in the film got this type across recognizably -- so lets call it dark humor. But if you have been lucky enough to have not been exposed to this social phenomenon directly through people you have known, maybe it will not mean so much. Admittedly some film stars are well known to have gotten involved in popular "motivational cults" and can get pretty strange, but the public may not see the nuances from a distance. The film "The Master" takes this on somewhat for one cult in particular but is almost too kind in terms of how these sorts of cults can affect followers. Maybe afraid of getting sued or harassed!!!! On the other hand "Search and Destroy" being a comedy is not really analytic and one should not expect that and should allow it some "poetic license."

I should say again that the humor is rather dry (good) and I had to stop and remind myself that the Cohen Brothers did not do this one.

I should also say that I don't think the film was a one trick pony that depended on the viewer being closely familiar with the motivational seminar/books subculture in America. There were enough quirky scenes and performances and interesting photography for the indy or foreign film viewer to enjoy. Christopher Walken makes another home run. I loved Illeana Douglas. Others were fine.

But ... the sound quality could have been better or subtitles could have been added. Also I wish it had had a commentary track.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

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d w de jong

this great movie, i once copied from a tvbroadcast but ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 23, 2015

Verified Purchase

this great movie, i once copied from a tvbroadcast but lost that copy but i every time remember it, and so i looked for it through amazon and found it and within about a week it arrived on a brandnew dvd.
the past is pointless, still, it's refreshing to watch this again.

Chrisdows Primeros

85 Minuten Langeweile

Reviewed in Germany on October 6, 2013

Verified Purchase

Ich habe mir den Film aus zwei Gründen gekauft: 1. Christopher Walken und 2. wegen des Produzenten Martin Scorsese.
Zusätzlich war natürlich das weitere Schauspielerkontingent richtig gut, sodaß man von einem mindestens passablen Film ausgehen konnte.
Und dann die Enttäuschung: bis auf 4 Schmunzler hatten wir 85 Minuten tödliche Langeweile. Wirre Story, komische Kameraführung, diffuse Handlungswechsel sowie ein nicht deffinierbares Ende .... wofür hat sich der Altmeister Scorsese und die Mimengarde da hergegeben ?
Ich kann nicht verstehen, wie man solch einen Mist auf den markt bringen kann. Absolut Hände weg von dieser DVD !!!

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