'Pleasantville' DVD restores TV magic

When I was younger, I used to dream of living in the 1950s, when my parents were kids - although I will say that the 1950s of the early 1990s television series "Brooklyn Bridge" seemed more appealing to me than the bland WASPiness of "Leave it to Beaver." Everything appeared so much simpler then. No global warming or AIDS epidemic, white picket fences, unlocked doors, the security of the future being just that: The future, unknown, untested and unspoiled.

In "Pleasantville," David (Tobey Maguire) dreams of that same place; in fact, he visits it every day after school in the TV Time network staple "Pleasantville" (show within the movie, billed as "24 hours chock full of warm family values") where they use words like "swell" and "keenest" with abandon and there is an endless supply of mom-baked cookies, while David's reality is filled with a nerdy existence, a bad complexion, divorcing parents and teachers who constantly drill into him how much t

Courtesy of New Line Tobey Maguire tells it to the mayor.

he world he's growing up in sucks.

David's sister, Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) is a slut-in-training who is "from the cool side of the uterus" according to her friends. During a vicious fight over the remote control (David wants, no, needs to watch a "Pleasantville" marathon while Jen is planning an MTV-chaperoned date with a popular jock), Don Knotts shows up as a TV repairman from hell. He gives them a special remote that sends them into Pleasantville, where they assume the roles of Bud and Mary Sue Parker, characters reminiscent of the kids from "The Donna Reed Show." If this little turn of events sounds like the bomb "Stay Tuned," it isn't; if it sounds like the inverse of "The Truman Show," it is.

The appearance of these two '90s teens in the '50s world causes a revolution in Pleasantville that at first shocks and dismays David, but he eventually comes to realize that progress is power. The changes are touched off by two key scenes, as writer/director Gary Ross tells on the excellent commentary track included on the DVD. The first is Jennifer-as-Mary Sue going out with Skip; the second is David-as-Bud showing up late for work only to find Mr. Johnson (Jeff Daniels) practically wiping a hole through the counter because he doesn't know what else to do. What these characters all learn, Ross tells us, is that free will exists.

The disc also includes an isolated score audio track, as well as a commentary by composer Randy Newman. Both commentary tracks are fascinating, especially the director's. Ross talks early on about his penchant for taking high concept ideas and seeking out the subversive, complicated, human elements behind them (he also wrote "Big" - kid trapped in man's body - and "Dave" - president has stroke and is replaced by lookalike). Everything is kicked off by a color adjustment instruction set on how to make sure your TV will display the color and black/white sequences correctly.

There is a lot of subtle humor to be found in "Pleasantville." There is a lot of biblical imagery, as well, as the Edenic Pleasantville existence is changed, for better or for worse, forever by the '90s interlopers. Pleasantville becomes a town revolutionized by sex, by thought, by reality, where characters and real people alike realize that change is possible and the world is what you, not some crummy TV writer, make it.

I wonder now if growing up 40 years ago I would have known that I was living in the TV cliche I longed for. It's a fairy tale, really. You see, David gets the luxury that none of us have: living in a time gone by with the knowledge of this time. That's what "Pleasantville" is - it's a film about a place that probably never actually existed, but it looks oh so appealing. David finds out about it first hand and discovers that maybe the present isn't so bad after all, and that maybe a world without color isn't a world worth living in.

04-09-99