Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
11 used & new from CDN$ 10.14

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
"Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (Widescreen)"
 
See larger image
 

"Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (Widescreen)"

Starring: Dave Hoover, George Mendonça Director: Errol Morris MPAA Rating: PG
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 16.95
Price: CDN$ 15.49 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
You Save: CDN$ 1.46 (9%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.

Only 5 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Ordering for Christmas? To ensure delivery by December 24 to Toronto, Ottawa, or Montreal, choose Express at checkout. Read more about holiday shipping.

10 new from CDN$ 10.14 1 used from CDN$ 13.96

Frequently Bought Together

"Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (Widescreen)" + Gates of Heaven + Vernon, Florida
Total List Price: CDN$ 59.05
Price For All Three: CDN$ 53.47

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: "Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (Widescreen)" DVD ~ Errol Morris

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details

  • Gates of Heaven DVD ~ Errol Morris

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details

  • Vernon, Florida DVD ~ Errol Morris

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details


Product Details


Product Description

From Amazon.com

George, Dave, Ray, and Rodney. Not a singing group, but four real-life individuals dedicated to controlling the entities that don't take kindly to their efforts. George Mendonca is a topiary gardener who spends his time taming tendrils of plant life into animal shapes. Why? Because he can, and apparently it's no easy job. One slip of the clipper and a green and leafy body part can go bye-bye for years. Dave Hoover takes on big cats under the big top. An admirer of the famous lion tamer, Clyde Beatty, Dave comes out of the lion ring covered with sweat. Not from working hard, but from hand-trembling fear. Ray Mendez, a mole-rat expert, waxes eloquently about the social structure of these sightless, hairless natural wonders who wear their teeth on the outside of their lips. But if you want to see a real wacko at work, watch Rodney Brooks, a robotics expert who is convinced our extinction will be the first step in a takeover of tin men.

In Fast, Cheap & Out of Control, documentarian Errol Morris proves that the weird and obscure are just as interesting as the rich and famous. Morris tries to add depth to his subjects with his out-of-control editing technique, which after a while becomes an annoying distraction; these guys are fascinating enough all by themselves. The blare of the background music is also a bit much. Despite these shortcomings, though, if you like taking a voyeuristic peek into other people's lives, Fast, Cheap & Out of Control gives you plenty to look at. --Luanne Brown



Review

Not the study of loose women or binge drug users one might expect from the title, Fast, Cheap & Out of Control is an engaging, if meandering, take on four quirky men whose unconventional jobs are their lives. Their earnest devotion is priceless, and acclaimed documentarist Errol Morris captures them at work with all manner of loving camerawork. Especially ethereal in its beauty are the shots of George Mendo sculpting the shrubs with his hedge clippers, which covers for the fact that he's the most reticent of the four subjects. The others more than make up for it with their eager, enlightening job descriptions, which the images flesh out expertly. Even at a scant 80 minutes, however, the film feels a little long because of its lack of forward momentum. Morris intercuts the scenes with great fluidity, but without identifiable purpose. Fast, Cheap & Out of Control also feels a little self-important when it tries too hard to suggest a connection between the four jobs and a framing device of circus footage, which looks nice but doesn't seem to amplify the themes. Still, these are minor quibbles; the dominant impression of Fast, Cheap & Out of Control is of stylish documentary filmmaking that reflects outside-the-box thinking. One can sense the kinship Morris feels for his subjects, since he himself is at the top of his own unique craft. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Gates of Heaven

Gates of Heaven

DVD ~ Errol Morris
4.5 out of 5 stars (2)  CDN$ 18.99
Mr. Death: The Rise & Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr.

Mr. Death: The Rise & Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr.

DVD ~ Errol Morris
4.3 out of 5 stars (18)  CDN$ 13.99
Fog Of War

Fog Of War

DVD ~ Errol Morris
4.2 out of 5 stars (73)  CDN$ 16.95
Vernon, Florida

Vernon, Florida

DVD ~ Errol Morris
5.0 out of 5 stars (2)  CDN$ 18.99
Standard Operating Procedure

Standard Operating Procedure

3.5 out of 5 stars (2)  CDN$ 24.49
Explore similar items

 

Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews

 
4.0 out of 5 stars compelling, Dec 29 2005
By Ian R. Mcmurray "japanese student" (okinawa, japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
this movie had a strong effect on me, but i also saw more in it than just the desire to control things. the 4 subjects really reflect different aspects of life.
the lion tamer is a bit scary, in that he violently intimidates beasts. the gardener is amazingly skilled, but laments that he has no apprentice. when he dies, his 'art' will dissappear. the mole rat man describes a mammal that literally changes due to its social position (like insects), offering a scary social idea when applied to humans, who also have highly specialized social positions. the robotics researcher believes all organic things are a series of 'yes/no' sensors, and dreams of making a robot cockroach, requiring about 6 million (?) sensors. this idea is also scary when applied to humans, as if humans are souless organic computers, just a series of programmings.
all 4 subjects offer a wildly different take on the human condition, and all strike me as true. i don't give it 5 stars, because it is long and meandering, but it is definitely a great film.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent documentary, Jun 23 2004
By David Bonesteel (Fresno, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Documentarian Errol Morris points his lens at four men who are attempting to exert control over and wrest meaning from the raw stuff of nature through highly idiosyncratic means. They include a topiary gardener, a lion tamer, an expert on the naked mole rat (the only mammal that has the same social organization as insects), and a roboticist. They each discuss the intricacies of their individual callings; the parallels and recurring themes that emerge result in a rather touching meditation on man's drive to impose control on his environment.

It is also worth noting that each of these men is clearly happy, at least when working. In this way, they show us how to be truly alive--find your passion, let it consume you, and don't worry whether the reviewer for Amazon.com thinks you are a weirdo.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4.0 out of 5 stars Field guide to the nerds, Feb 2 2004
By wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
Well, not really. This is, however, a field study of men passionate about some self-taught, arcane body of knowledge. It really does come across like those nature shows where the camera has intruded into the lives of wild animals. (Yes, the subjects are all men. Why no women might be an interesting conversation, but irrelevant here.)

One of the subjects is in fact a fan of an exotic "mole rat", a social mammal with a distinctly non-mammalian society. He studies that animal almost the way the movie studies him. Other analogies emerge - the roboticist wants to create societies of robots much more like the mole rats' than like human societies. The gardener is another creator, sculpting menageries from living plants. The lion tamer is likewise intent on understanding and shaping the living beings with which he interacts. He, like the mole rat researcher, tries to understand the mind that lives in a very non-human brain.

The editing of this movie is patchy and quirky, but that is part of its charm. There's no action here, no plot, just four real characters. They are characters much larger than life. They are passionate about what they do, and their joy in their chosen fields is unmistakable. Maybe that is the movie's point - to prove that such joy exists and to give it a human face, four times over.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Not Good.
'Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control' was a film I lost interest in very quickly. I turned it off after about 30 minutes.
Published on Jul 1 2004 by Dhaval Vyas

3.0 out of 5 stars A Review Haiku by Todd Marrone
Compelling premise
that never gets off the ground,
you'll only watch once.
Published on Dec 16 2003 by Todd Marrone

4.0 out of 5 stars Artistically Well-Done:
During the first few moments of this film, it is a little hard to really appreciate the story. What these three characters (a wild animal trainer, a gardner who sculpts wild... Read more
Published on Nov 8 2003 by Michael Gordon

4.0 out of 5 stars wild editing, interesting characters.
a story of four guys who have very fascinating things to say about some relatively obscure fields. vague connections between their fields are made, and that was interesting, but... Read more
Published on Jun 8 2003 by Martin

4.0 out of 5 stars Strange, Yet Fascinating
This intriguing documentary takes a look into the lives of some strange and interesting people. Like GENGHIS BLUES, it examines people that you might never encounter -- or perhaps... Read more
Published on Dec 1 2002 by Ibochild

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful study of four men's life work
Fast, Cheap and Out of Control is an engagingly intertwined documentary of how a topiary gardener, lion tamer, mole rat biologist and robot scientist attempt to interact with and... Read more
Published on Oct 1 2002 by Bukkene Bruse

Only search this product's reviews



Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject













i.e., each DVD must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.