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Ruby
Columbia/Tri-Star // R // September 2, 2003
List Price: $24.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
THE MOVIE
Ruby seems to have been made for one reason and one reason only – to capitalize on Oliver's Stone success of JFK (which was released the previous year) with yet another movie about the conspiracy to assassinate the American President. But comparing the two movies is an exercise in futility. While JFK is a slick, well-made piece of cinema that raises some real questions about the assassination, Ruby only achieves success in relating the story of a stripper (played by Twin Peaks Sherilyn Fenn) who danced at Ruby's strip club…only to tell us in the end credits that the character has been completely fabricated for the purposes of the movie.
What we are left with then is a movie that takes some of the facts that we do know are true about Jack Ruby and weaves a whole lot of fabrication out of thin air around those facts. For example, we know that Ruby had some ties to both the mafia and the Dallas police. So this film takes those facts and puts Ruby in the middle of a plot between the heads of the major mafia families and the CIA to either kill Castro or Kennedy – which ever one they can get to first.
Because the movie puts so much emphasis on a fictional character – the stripper named Candy Cane – it's hard to believe half of the things that Ruby tries to present as fact, because almost all of them stem in one way or the other from Jack Ruby's relationship with this stripper that the movie ultimately tells us does not exist.
So while it's impossible to view Ruby as an accurate depiction of the man, how does it stand as a piece of entertainment? Well, it's not horrible…but it doesn't help that the movie automatically conjures up images of Stone's far superior JFK. But I did like Fenn's character a lot – perhaps because she was one that the writers of the movie felt free to develop in any way that they wished. In fact, all things considered, a movie about a stripper working at Jack Ruby's Carousel Club during the time of the Kennedy assassination would probably been far more interesting than attempting to do a biopic on Ruby at all – since so much of the man remains a mystery.
THE DVD
Video:
The video is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, and while the print does occasionally show a fleck of dirt or grain here and there, it is a pretty decent transfer. The flesh tones seem properly balanced, as does the overall color of the transfer. Considering not much else went into this DVD (read on!), Columbia/Tri-Star did a nice job with the transfer.
Audio:
The audio is presented in 2.0 Dolby, and it's just an average track. The sounds are clear and seem, for the most part, to be properly distributed, but nothing really stands out about the audio.
Extras:
Other than a chapter selection, the only extras here are Trailers for Ruby, Donnie Brasco and Little Nikita. The trailer for Donnie Brasco is in excellent shape, but the trailers for the other two film show a lot of age, dirt and grain – particularly the one for Little Nikita.
THE BOTTOM LINE
As pure entertainment, Ruby is probably worth a rental, but as a historical biopic, it has major flaws. Take a look at it for Sherilyn Fenn's performance, but don't use it as a source for your next history thesis.
Ruby seems to have been made for one reason and one reason only – to capitalize on Oliver's Stone success of JFK (which was released the previous year) with yet another movie about the conspiracy to assassinate the American President. But comparing the two movies is an exercise in futility. While JFK is a slick, well-made piece of cinema that raises some real questions about the assassination, Ruby only achieves success in relating the story of a stripper (played by Twin Peaks Sherilyn Fenn) who danced at Ruby's strip club…only to tell us in the end credits that the character has been completely fabricated for the purposes of the movie.
What we are left with then is a movie that takes some of the facts that we do know are true about Jack Ruby and weaves a whole lot of fabrication out of thin air around those facts. For example, we know that Ruby had some ties to both the mafia and the Dallas police. So this film takes those facts and puts Ruby in the middle of a plot between the heads of the major mafia families and the CIA to either kill Castro or Kennedy – which ever one they can get to first.
Because the movie puts so much emphasis on a fictional character – the stripper named Candy Cane – it's hard to believe half of the things that Ruby tries to present as fact, because almost all of them stem in one way or the other from Jack Ruby's relationship with this stripper that the movie ultimately tells us does not exist.
So while it's impossible to view Ruby as an accurate depiction of the man, how does it stand as a piece of entertainment? Well, it's not horrible…but it doesn't help that the movie automatically conjures up images of Stone's far superior JFK. But I did like Fenn's character a lot – perhaps because she was one that the writers of the movie felt free to develop in any way that they wished. In fact, all things considered, a movie about a stripper working at Jack Ruby's Carousel Club during the time of the Kennedy assassination would probably been far more interesting than attempting to do a biopic on Ruby at all – since so much of the man remains a mystery.
THE DVD
Video:
The video is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, and while the print does occasionally show a fleck of dirt or grain here and there, it is a pretty decent transfer. The flesh tones seem properly balanced, as does the overall color of the transfer. Considering not much else went into this DVD (read on!), Columbia/Tri-Star did a nice job with the transfer.
Audio:
The audio is presented in 2.0 Dolby, and it's just an average track. The sounds are clear and seem, for the most part, to be properly distributed, but nothing really stands out about the audio.
Extras:
Other than a chapter selection, the only extras here are Trailers for Ruby, Donnie Brasco and Little Nikita. The trailer for Donnie Brasco is in excellent shape, but the trailers for the other two film show a lot of age, dirt and grain – particularly the one for Little Nikita.
THE BOTTOM LINE
As pure entertainment, Ruby is probably worth a rental, but as a historical biopic, it has major flaws. Take a look at it for Sherilyn Fenn's performance, but don't use it as a source for your next history thesis.
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