Bring home ‘The Four Seasons’ on Blu-ray

Category: Blu-ray's and DVD's

In 1981 a star-studded cast joined together for a fun comedy. The Four Seasons is funny, sensitive, and endearing. The story of three couples that spend their vacations together is interspersed with the music from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to enhance the opening of each season as the six people trek to different parts of the world.

Alan Alda is Jack and Carol Burnett is his wife Kate. Jack Weston is Danny and Rita Moreno is his wife Claudia. Len Cariou is Nick and Sandy Dennis is his wife Anne. Bess Armstrong enters the scene after the first season in the story.

The couples are unique. Jack and Kate are professionals with a sense of purpose and an equal sense of family. Danny is a hypochondriac and Claudia always says what she thinks without any filter. Nick is having a mid-life crisis and is frustrated with his wife who is always indecisive.

In spring the couples travel to upstate New York. The thing about these vacations is the food they always prepare. They pair their outings with special dinners and the planning begins months prior to their vacations.

In the summer they go to the Virgin Islands for a cruise. This time Anne is not among them. Instead, Nick has brought his new girlfriend Ginny (Armstrong), a young, nubile woman who brings out the ire in the women and the virility in the men. While sailing is not their best endeavor, they manage the boat nevertheless, seasickness and all.

In the autumn they travel to New England to visit their daughters at college. Alda’s real-life daughters Beatrice and Elizabeth play the girls. Jack and Kate’s daughter is an outgoing young woman with a lot of pep. Nick and Anne’s daughter is the opposite. She is morose and never able to smile. While the adults try to deal with their own personal issues, the girls add additional strain to the vacation.

And finally in the winter the three couples go to a ski lodge in Vermont. It’s a cozy atmosphere but they all seem to explode in emotional outbursts. Broken and sprained bones, neuroses and more add to the fun of this season.

For these forty-something adults, their seasonal vacations together add up to some humorous times and some whacky endeavors. It’s definitely a cute movie with the seven different personalities meshing together most of the time. On many occasions they do get on each other’s nerves with plenty of underlying hostility and even outright vengeance. Viewers will undoubtedly enjoy at least one of the couples as they maneuver their way through a year of trials and tribulations.

Each of the couples has their own charm, however Burnett and Alda are especially delightful to watch. Their interplay is priceless.

The Four Seasons was written and directed by Alan Alda. It is rated PG and is now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment industry for over 25 years. She also writes about products and travel. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as Internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, is the entertainment correspondent for Good Day Orange County, and has her own TV show, Beyond the Red Carpet, on Village Television in Orange County. She is a longstanding member of the Television Critics Association, was a longstanding member of the Los Angeles Press Club, and is accredited by the MPAA. Follow her on Twitter.