ThiefHott Too much of everything

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

stalzz64 Yet another poor tape-to-DVD transfer done 'on the cheap'!! There are several companies selling this 1978 TV film, because Sherwood Schwartz, the 'GILLIGAN' creator obviously doesn't retain the copyright to this Gilligan project! I'm glad to finally see this reunion TV movie on DVD, but damn, the quality is poor! Yes, it's obviously poorly edited, and I dunno what the deal was to get to show this on DVD! They obviously don't care about the quality! OK,.... so it only cost me a dollar!!!! I'm so glad the Gilligan series is finally seeing an 'official' release on DVD!!!! It's an old favorite of mine! I have found several TV episodes/old TV movies/theatrical films for 1 dollar on DVD, and it's cool to have them even if the quality stinks, but....Again, why must we endure this assembly line garbage DVD quality? I feel badly for the producers and artists of the original works. They got ripped off because somebody didn't think these TV shows/TV Movies/Movies were good enough to retain the copyrights so we could see a decent DVD copy of 'em!!!!Oh well....So goes the usual money grubbing in the entertainment business!!!! There is a disturbing trend amongst the 'quickie' DVD manufacturers, and it kinda stinks! They obtain use/rights of old TV shows/movies that have expired copyrights, and then transfer them to DVD's and sell them for next to nothing! I bought it for a dollar brand new!

Peter (fineanimal) As a youngster and lifelong fan of Gilligan's Island, I still recall my excitement when I first learned that Rescue From Gilligan's Island was going to be shown on television. I also remember my profound disappointment when I finally saw the show: it wasn't particularly funny.Now, some 25 years later, I found myself purchasing this movie on DVD anyway, for two reasons: To enjoy sweet memories of youth when TV humor was simply good fun and didn't even pretend to be anything more, and because it only cost $5.99. Well, what can I say? I was disappointed again because, again, it wasn't particularly funny. Yet I am still very glad I now own this movie on DVD. How can that be?For all the abuse Gilligan's Island has taken over the years from "serious" humorists, the fact remains that the show appeals to everyone's desire for real friendship and camaraderie, without all the drama of real life. The original show was just plain fun to watch. And frankly, so is Rescue From Gilligan's Island, despite its many, many flaws.I know it is anathema to say so, but this movie would have scored much higher if only it had included a laugh track, as did the original TV series. The laugh track itself creates the illusion of camaraderie with an audience, and that was always part of the appeal of Gilligan's Island. So I found myself pretending to hear the original laugh track every time the cast told a joke (i.e., constantly), and lo--the film was much more palatable!On the bright side, losing the laugh track made me realize just how good these actors really were, and how great an ensemble they comprised. After all, the original cast never heard the roaring laughter the audience heard as the actors playing the castaways fired one asinine line after another between ludicrous slapstick action sequences. Without a laugh track, for example, the actors portraying Russian spies in this movie behaved beyond reproach; they were simply painful to watch. But then again, so was Wrongway Felman, Harold Hecuba, and other visitors to the island, without a laugh track. It is precisely because this ensemble was so good that they managed to score with such silly humor every time in the finished product. That takes talent (and guts, I suspect). For this reason more than anything else, I truly missed Tina Louise as Ginger: no one could adequately replace a member of such a tight ensemble. Kudos to Judith Baldwin for trying, however. Thurston and Lovely Howell are hilarious characters even without the laugh track.Overall, as another reviewer observed, the value of this film is that it provides a trip down the most pleasant stretch of memory lane. It would be wrong, however, not to mention the unforgivable production of this DVD. The sound is bad, a few jump cuts are embarrassing to watch, and the video has frequent static bars like you would see on an old, worn videotape. Shame on the production company. Shame on you!Bottom line: If you don't appreciate the Gilligan's Island TV series you will hate this movie with a capital "H", with good reason. But for those of you who get misty just thinking about Gilligan, the Skipper and company, Rescue From Gilligan's Island will help you feel like a kid again for 90 minutes, with good reason. A cast featuring Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, Bill Murray and other notable comics simply couldn't even come close to pulling off the feat this underrated ensemble pulled off time and time and time again for years, for no better reason than to make all of us feel good for a half hour each week.

Flamio THIS FLICK WAS GREAT IF YOU LOVED THE SHOW AND THE CHARACTERS! 23yrs ago to see them all minus Tina (I don't know how lucky I was) Louise, was just fantastic. Ya, it was a little camp but big deal, so was the show. From seeing the rescue, to seeing what they were doing after being rescued, and to seeing them get shipwrecked again, brought a tear to my heart! A 10 all the way!!!!! What a tight group of friends that I grew up watching! Good clean fun! FLAMIO

aesgaard41 "After fifteen years... we're finally... rescued!" The Skipper choked on the words almost unable to say them as if he couldn't believe it. So do we as this the most successful television movie finally rescues those seven...... well, six anyway, Judith Baldwin had done away with Tina Louise and hypnotized the Castaways to think she was Ginger. Just kidding, Louise had held out till the last minute on doing the movie and then refused to do it. The show had reputedly damaged her career and she had finally gotten it back when this was going to be made. Her absence and Baldwin trying to be like her are the only things wrong with this movie as the castaways realize being rescued means leaving each other and that their time on the island was better than they had thought; this is more of what the movie should have been about. There is too much time spent on the sub-plot of Russian spies, a holdover from some of the episodes, which drags down this movie and a failure to show the celebrity status that would have logically occurred if seven real people had been suddenly rescued after being legally thought deceased. Think of what has happened to the cast of the first "Survivor." I would have figured at least the Skipper and Gilligan would have done commercial endorsements. "Running from cannibals and headhunters on the island, I always made sure I wore my Sprint-fast Air-soled Sneakers !" Gilligan would scream through the brush. Instead, we are subjected to the same cartoon-like humor and comedy that the series had turned into by the end of the series. Very little time is spent exposing the culture shock the castaways have returning to society and then the movie rushes straight into its meandering, obviously dated and clichéd sub-plot of spies and secret microfilm. Another overall drawback on the movie is the limited budget. It was all done rather cheaply with a rather noticeable Hollywood tank being used to float the huts on and a studio back lot being used as civilization. Even with the cast showing their age, and Tina Louise conspicuously absent, the movie is a joy to see but for the nostalgia factor. Maybe you can go home again, but I for one wouldn't mind seeing a big screen version of the series go into updating and expanding upon this movie for the present rather than trying to recreate the series itself!