‘The Godfather’ series collected, restored

“The Godfather” never looked better — and that includes in theaters, director Francis Ford Coppola says in the new DVD set’s extra features.

After his first look at the digital restoration done for the DVDs and Blu-rays of “The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration,” Coppola says, “I was astounded at how beautiful it was, how rich the photography was. It’s even more beautiful-looking than I ever remembered.”

Viewers used to previous “Godfather” releases by Paramount will be surprised to see so much of the first movie set in golden tones. The color scheme directions came straight from the legendary cinematographer Gordon Willis, who consulted on the new “Godfather” box set.

Viewers also will be pleased to see some relief in the darkness so evident on previous releases — but of course these are dark movies, intended to be seen that way. The “Godfather” on Blu-ray is like watching a new film.

“There is only one way to print the ‘Godfather,’ and that is dark,” says Hollywood’s top restoration guy, Robert A. Harris, who reworked the first two films.

In addition to the director’s fine commentaries that appeared on the older DVDs, many extras have been ported over from “The Godfather Collection” of 2001. They’re terrific, no problem.

The new extras are on a separate disc: The best is a documentary, “Emulsional Rescue: Revealing The Godfather.” The restorers explain how the original negative of “The Godfather” had long been destroyed, and so they created a beautiful Frankenstein from elements rounded up from around the globe.

Read the DVD Spin Doctor review of the DVD and Blu-ray versions of “The Godfather” collection.

Perfect gift for: Anyone who ever quoted a line from these American classics. That’s about everyone over the age of 30. Gangster movie lovers. Francis Ford Coppola fans.

Buy “The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration Giftset” at Amazon now.

‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ returns

First, “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” wasn’t available at all on DVD.

Then, Time Warner had exclusive rights to the complete “U.N.C.L.E.” series for more than a year, selling its ambitious and exhaustive box set via its web site and those late-night TV ads.

Now, Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin are back in action — in video stores and on Amazon — via Warner Home Video. “The Man from U.N.C.L.E. : The Complete Series” makes a fantastic gift for guys who grew up in the Sixties, as well as spy action buffs.

Unlike so many action shows of the era, “U.N.C.L.E.” plays beautifully these days, at least episodes from the first two seasons. Vaughn says in the DVD box set’s extras, “The first year of shows were better. They were adventure and romance with a little bit of humor.

The show’s technique of having an “innocent” involved in the action brought in a swarm of notable guest actors that helped keep things fresh. For example, the black-and-white episode “The Never-Never Affair” enlisted Barbara Feldon as an U.N.C.L.E. secretary looking for fun and adventure. Cesar Romero played a suave bad guy from THRUSH (that’s like SPECTRE, Bond fans). The series always went for humor, but the action had its share of edge.

The quality of images is quite good on “The Man from U.N.C.L.E. : The Complete Collection,” including the early black and white shows.

The series ran from 1964-1968 and made stars of Robert Vaughn and David McCallum as they vamped on the secret agent craze set off by the James Bond movies. McCallum, the cool guy with the long hair, was treated like a Beatle when he tried to do a PR gig in Times Square (and had to flee).

“U.N.C.L.E.” returns packaged in a surprisingly well-made silver attache case that holds every episode from the series’ four seasons — that’s 105 shows including a quickie theatrical movie that ended up repurposed for TV. The many special features in “The Man from U.N.C.L.E. : The Complete Collection” include a 90-minute “reunion” with Vaughn and McCallum, who seem to be longtime pals.

Individual seasons of “U.N.C.L.E.” also are available separately.

Perfect gift for: Baby Boomers, spy guys, classic TV-on-DVD lovers.

Buy “The Man from U.N.C.L.E. : The Complete Series” from Amazon right now.

‘The Cosby Show’: 76 hours of memories

“The Cosby Show” kept America entertained — and its minds open — for eight seasons on NBC. Who’s to say if Barack Obama could have been elected president without the gentle social revolution that Cosby and his family of players carried into the nation’s living rooms each week.

“For all those people who said they didn’t know any black people like the Huxtables, all I can say is, ‘Will you watch the show now?’ ” Bill Cosby joked as the Obama family prepared to move into the White House.

In its earliest and best seasons, “The Cosby Show” was the best thing on television. We watched this batch of Cosby kids grow up to become fine young adults over the years, even if father didn’t always know best.

Now, fans can relive it all with First Look’s “The Cosby Show: 25th Anniversary Commemorative Edition,” a box set that corrects and surpasses the various videos of the series out there. The collection stretches from the first season’s wobbly classics to the classy finale, “And So We Commence.”

The box set, which comes in a thick black case reminiscent of that era’s VHS boxes, packs in 76 hours of content on 26 discs. The distributor promises “every episode — original, uncut broadcast versions …” a reference to the shortened shows (from syndication) previously released on DVD.

Video and audio are good enough. The box that holds all those memories is nicely done, if a bit dark.

Here are the key extras on the “Cosby Show” box set:

• A new interview with Cosby, running in two parts and adding up to an hour.
• “The Cosby Show: A Look Back,” the network special from 2002.
• Various bloopers
• “Cliff’s Parenting Tips” (a quickie with clips)
• A booklet with the pilot’s script and a small black cover that has a brief “letter from Cosby” to you, and a Hirschfeld drawing of the comic.

Perfect gift for: 1980s nostalgists, Generation X softies, TV-on-DVD collectors

Buy “The Cosby Show: 25th Anniversary Commemorative Edition” from Amazon.

Gifts for western fans: a DVD roundup

Once upon a time, westerns ruled TV primetime and the boxoffice. Much like the cop shows of today, they were the vehicle of choice for the best television writers.

On the big screen, of course, directors like John Ford, Howard Hawks and Sergio Leone combined art with commerce, leaving behind legacies as big as Monument Valley.

DVDs are only now starting to catch up with the many outstanding but little-known westerns of the 1940s-60s. The past year has seen a flood of titles from directors such as Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher.

Movie and TV westerns make great DVD gifts for men of the Greatest Generation and their Baby Boomers.

Here’s an honest dozen of the top western DVDs and Blu-rays.

The Films of Budd Boetticher: In westerns, “There’s John Ford and there’s Howard Hawks and there’s Budd Boetticher,” says director Taylor Hackford, who rolls out to honor the late filmmaker on Sony’s essential new five-DVD set. Boetticher did his best work with a series of 1950s B-movie westerns starring aging cowboy star Randolph Scott. These are dramatic plays as much as anything, played out by a campfire, with the men drinking coffee and a woman rustling up some grub. “You can look at them as one long extended movie,” says Boetticher fan Martin Scorsese, in the set’s generous extras.

Ford At Fox: For gift-givers with deep saddle pockets. This heavyweight Fox set contains 24 Ford films — many of them debuting on DVD. The tentpole film is “The Iron Horse” (1924), which received a major restoration and a new roots-style musical score. The movie about the railroading of young America is terrific, all sweep and action. The best-known films include “Drums Along the Mohawk” and “My Darling Clementine.” The set’s “Becoming John Ford” is the latest documentary on the father of the American western. For those who can’t handle the 12-pound set, there are smaller John Ford DVD sets featuring the best stuff.

The Furies: Anthony Mann’s emotionally deep and improbably entertaining western from 1950. The Shakespearean-style tale tells of a cattle barron (Walter Huston) and his feisty daughter (Barbara Stanwyck), who eventually go to war over their enormous ranch, the Furies. Mann is considered on of the great western directors; see this Criterion Collection release and see why.

3:10 to Yuma: The 1957 original, featuring one of Glenn Ford’s greatest roles as an outlaw who manages to outsmart everyone … except, perhaps, for a dirt-poor farmer. One of the few good things that came out of the blacklist were some great existential movies, like this one. Ultimately, it’s a film about the morality of lone justice. Terrific-looking images from the video wizards at Sony. Younger rough riders might appreciate the Russell Crowe/Christian Bale remake.

Gunsmoke: Paramount has done right by the classic western TV series, famously the longest running show in primetime. Matt Dillon, Miss Kitty and the good citizens of Dodge City enjoyed a two-decade ride across TV land. Paramount has celebrated the show with a series of DVD sets. The earliest seasons are a revelation, tough and hard with a sexy side that’s pretty surprising for the times. The show’s dramatic early success often is credited to its adult subject matter, unheard of in TV Westerns of the early 1950s.

The Sergio Leone Anthology: Contains the three great spaghetti westerns the Italian director made with Clint Eastwood, then a TV actor known only for “Rawhide.” They are “A Fistful of Dollars,” “For a Few Dollars More” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” The Anthology also includes the DVD debut of “Duck, You Sucker,” a three-hour oddity starring Rod Steiger and James Coburn. Solid extras and commentaries make this an essential DVD box set. If you’re just buying single discs, go with “A Fistful of Dollars” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

The John Wayne Western Collection: John Wayne’s belated Oscar came for 1969′s True Grit,” a rousing entertainment in which he created the one-eyed bounty hunter Rooster Cogburn. Kim Darby plays kid who sets out to avenge her father’s death, and drags along sputtering Cogburn. Not Wayne’s best, but a crowd-pleaser that seems to get better with age. Also essential: “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.”

The Searchers: The ultimate John Ford-John Wayne collaboration, with the Duke chasing down the Indians who kidnapped his niece (Natalie Wood). An American classic. Warner has released the film on Blu-ray and there is a newish double-disc DVD set.

More DVD westerns that’ll please any fan of the genre:

Cat Ballou: Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin star in this comic look at a bunch of misfits who take on the baddest outlaw of them all. Marvin plays both the bad guy and the washed-up gunslinger Fonda recruits to save the family land. A lot of fun.

Rawhide: Clint Eastwood’s rise to superstardom began with this fine hourlong western series. For seven seasons, “Rawhide” brought viewers along on a cattle drive that never seemed to end.

Have Gun Will Travel: Fans of intelligent Westerns shouldn’t miss Paramount’s resurrection of this Richard Boone series. The show, which ran on CBS for five seasons beginning in fall 1957, starred Boone as Paladin, a tough guy do-gooder who ran his one-man mercenary business out of a San Francisco hotel.

The Proposition: For the toughest guys on your list. A violent, thrilling visit to Australia’s Outback in the late 19th century. The rock star Nick Cave wrote the Aussie western and its soundtrack. Stars Danny Huston and Guy Pearce, both sensational.