Good Will Hunting (1997) [DVD9] [1998]

Robin Williams won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck nabbed one for Best Original Screenplay, but the feel-good hit Good Will Hunting triumphs because of its gifted director, Gus Van Sant. The unconventional director (My Own Private Idaho, Drugstore Cowboy) saves a script marred by vanity and clunky character development by yanking soulful, touching performances out of his entire cast (amazingly, even one by Williams that's relatively schtick-free). Van Sant pulls off the equivalent of what George Cukor accomplished for women's melodrama in the '30s and '40s: He's crafted an intelligent, unabashedly emotional male weepie about men trying to find inner-wisdom.

Matt Damon stars as Will Hunting, a closet math genius who ignores his gift in favor of nightly boozing and fighting with South Boston buddies (co-writer Ben Affleck among them). While working as a university janitor, he solves an impossible calculus problem scribbled on a hallway blackboard and reluctantly becomes the prodigy of an arrogant MIT professor (Stellan Skarsgård). Damon only avoids prison by agreeing to see psychiatrists, all of whom he mocks or psychologically destroys until he meets his match in the professor's former childhood friend, played by Williams. Both doctor and patient are haunted by the past, and as mutual respect develops, the healing process begins. The film's beauty lies not with grand climaxes, but with small, quiet moments. Scenes such as Affleck's clumsy pep talk to Damon while they drink beer after work, or any number of therapy session between Williams and Damon offer poignant looks at the awkward ways men show affection and feeling for one another. –Dave McCoy






MOVIE:
DIRECTOR: Gus Van Sant
COUNTRY: USA
YEAR: 1997

Cast & Credits

Cast
Will Hunting Matt Damon
Sean Maguire Robin Williams
Chuckie Sullivan Ben Affleck
Prof. Gerald Lambeau Stellan Skarsgård
Skylar Minnie Driver
Morgan O'Mally Casey Affleck


Credits
Director Gus Van Sant
Screenplay Matt Damon, Ben Affleck
Cinematography Jean-Yves Escoffier
Editing Pietro Scalia







DVD:
DVD RELEASE: December 8, 1998
STUDIO: Miramax
SYSTEM: NTSC
SCREEN: 1.85:1
COLOR
AUDIO: English Dolby Digital 5.1
SUBTITLES: English
RUNTIME (MOVIE): 126 minutes


EXTRACTION:
ENGINE: DVD Decrypter
DVD: 1 Full Dual-Layer DVD
FILE EXTENSION: Image (.ISO) + MDS file
FILE SIZE: 7.94 GB
SCANS HQ PDF(800 DPI): 8 MB

INFO:

AMAZON
WIKIPEDIA
IMDB


Special Features

• Commentary Track
• Deleted Scenes
• Trailer
• TV Spots
• Production Feature
• Behind the Scenes Featurette
• Academy Awards Montage
• Music Video