Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32939 in DVD
• Released on: 1998-03-31
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.com
When Karen Carpenter died on February 4, 1983 at the age of 32, more than one generation mourned. Karen and her brother, Richard, had achieved monumental success as purveyors of soft-rock soulfulness, aided by their wholesome, wistful looks. After all, these were the hard-rocking, disco-throbbing '70s, yet with classics like "Close to You," "Rainy Days and Mondays," and "We've Only Just Begun," the pair blurred the lines of musical class. But no one knew--or at least talked about--Karen's debilitating bouts of bulimia and ongoing battle against the ravaging effects of anorexia. Close to You: Remembering the Carpenters is more a gracious memento than a documentary and presents a rather biased view, heavily influenced by Richard's opinion and commentary. Beginning with the duo's early major success, winning a Battle of the Bands at the Hollywood Bowl, it's a quick trip through the salad years including the first record deal with Herb Alpert's A&M Records. Alpert calls his initial listen to the Carpenters' demo tape "love at first hear." That appears to be true for everyone who came into contact with them, as band members, songwriters Burt Bacharach and Paul Williams, and singer Petula Clark readily testify. The hits and the TV specials are reviewed, too, but something feels missing from this glimpse, which barely scratches the surface. It's obvious to anyone watching the film that Karen, who really wanted to be known as a drummer who sang, not the other way around, was in immense pain and terribly conflicted. Yet by the final credits, we know little more about her than we did before. She remains an enigma and this peek at her life--and Richard's--feels too protective of her memory to tell the whole truth. --Paula Nechak

Customer Reviews

Wonderful
I can't even think of how many times I have watched this wonderful rememberance of Karen Carpenter and the career with Richard. It is moving to say the least. If your a true fan you must have this. You will watch it over and over. Karen is an inspiration to me in more ways than one. Her voice has never been matched and never will be in my opinion.
This has wonderful clips of many things they have done together as well as their battles. Many of the reviews have told pretty much everything but this is my 2 cents.
Karen...your voice lives on forever in our hearts...we miss you.

It carries a full load of the history and charm of Carpenters.
I would like to give not 5Stars but 10Stars to this DVD. An image is beautiful and there are also many precious scenes. A sound is also excellent.
It is also interesting that the famous various persons concerned also sometimes appear. The song of Karen is beautiful and the arrangement of Richard is wonderful. There are so many hit songs of theirs that they do not count and go out.
Their special edition was telecast even in Japan last month. Much more materials are included in this DVD from it. I also got to know that Richard was playing the piano of Japanese-made YAMAHA for the first time. Although two commercials were recorded with the additional material, I thought as a Japanese that I was glad for it to be Japanese chocolate and soda pop.
It is an image in which the scene which held the concert in front of President Nixon is also precious in the White House.
Anyhow, it is altogether moving from the beginning to the last. This is likely to be set to one of the treasures of mine.

Karen and Richard
I remember their singing in the seventies but didn't pay as much attention to them then. Times change and after playing their album I realize how good they really were.