About this product

Product Information

Ray is heavy-drinking high school baseball umpire whose life veered off the rails some time ago and shows no sign of getting back on track. Ray slumps to his lowest ebb one night as some pranksters from the high school vandalize his home, but he manages to catch one of the fleeing boys, Dave, as he tries to escape the scene. Dave cleans up the mess in a bid to escape criminal charges, and the two men strike up an unusual friendship full of deep conversation and endless soul searching; their relationship is further developed as they attend RayÆs high-school reunion, with Dave pretending to be his son.

Product Identifiers

EAN5060126870104

eBay Product ID (ePID)59529052

Product Key Features

ActorTimothy Hutton, Sally Kirkland, Nick Nolte, Trevor Morgan

Aspect Ratio16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen

Film/TV TitleOff the Black

DirectorJames Ponsoldt

Release Year2007

FormatDVD

LanguageEnglish

FeaturesWidescreen, Director's Commentary\Making of Off the Black\Interviews with Cast and Director\Stills Gallery

GenreDrama

Run Time92 Mins

Additional Product Features

Certificate15

Number of Discs1

Additional InformationVeteran actor Nick Nolte puts his explosive personal life behind him for a while, returning to what he does best with OFF THE BLACK. Nolte stars as Ray, a weathered high school baseball umpire whose life veered off the rails some time ago and shows no sign of getting back on track. Nolte slips into the role with consummate ease, and you can almost smell the alcohol on his breath as Ray drunkenly wheezes through the first half-hour of director James PonsoldtÆs inaugural feature. Ray slumps to his lowest ebb one night as some pranksters from the high school vandalize his home, but he manages to catch one of the fleeing boys, Dave (Trevor Morgan), as he tries to escape the scene. Dave cleans up the mess in a bid to escape criminal charges, and the two men strike up an unusual friendship full of deep conversation and endless soul searching; their relationship is further developed as they attend RayÆs high-school reunion, with Dave pretending to be his son. <BR><BR><BR><BR>Ponsoldt provides a suitably snug small-town backdrop for Nolte and Morgan to work in, and occasionally dips into a pool of impressive supporting players--including Timothy Hutton as DaveÆs father and Rosemarie DeWitt as RayÆs enigmatic friend--to bolster the interaction between the leads. The emotional pasts of Ray and Dave are carefully unravelled, and although the storyline is far from original, PonsoldtÆs film is a worthy exercise, thanks to the impressive acting and interplay from Nolte and Morgan.

ReviewsUSA Today - Great story. Great performance., Variety - A terrific performance from Nick Nolte

ScreenwriterJames Ponsoldt

Sound sourceDolby Digital 5.1

Movie/TV TitleOff The Black