A video gift guide for dads

T here’s no better way to spend Father’s Day than watching a movie or TV series with your dad. This year there’s plenty of new releases to choose from, including testosterone-fueled series like “Game of Thrones” and “Gunsmoke,” as well as vintage actioners such as “The Seven-Ups” and “Gun Crazy.”

Here’s a look at 10 of the best new releases guaranteed to make your dad a happy man on Father’s Day:

Escape Plan (2014, Lionsgate, R, $23):

Now on 4K, this good, old-fashioned prison-break picture stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone as convicts determined to escape an ultrasecret, high-tech lock-up called “the Tomb.” There’s a convoluted backstory which doesn’t quite work, but essentially this is all about the grizzled vets matching wits with a young whippersnapper of a warden (Jim Caviezel). After all these years, Schwarzenegger and Stallone are still fun to watch in an actioner that delivers one crazy jolt after another.

Gun Crazy (1950, Warner Archive, unrated, $20):

A precursor to “Bonnie and Clyde,” this incendiary crime thriller, now on Blu-ray, is still mesmerizing decades after its initial release. John Dall stars as a gun-obsessed veteran who makes the mistake of falling in love with a sharp-shooting bad girl (Peggy Cummins), who lures him into a life of crime. Not only does director Joseph H. Lewis put you in the driver’s seat, right alongside the doomed outlaws, but he connects the dots between violence and lust in a way that feels astonishingly modern. Dall and Cummins rank as one of the most provocative couples in cinema: they make you believe they belong together like a gun and ammunition.

The Seven-Ups (1973, Twilight Time, PG, $30):

Something of an unofficial sequel to “The French Connection,” this gritty cop thriller stars Roy Scheider as a detective overseeing a secret task force that busts culprits whose offenses guarantee seven years or more in prison. Dispensing with legalities like warrants, Scheider and company run all kinds of shady sting operations, at least until one of their own takes a bullet from a mobster. Scheider once again proves he’s one of the most underrated leading men of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but it’s an astonishing, eye-popping car chase through the mean streets of Manhattan which really distinguishes this hard-boiled suspenser.

better than ever on 4K, John McTiernan’s tightly wound thriller ranks as one of the best action extravaganzas of all time. Bruce Willis delivers a definitive performance as a blue-collar everyman who singlehandedly battles an army of international thieves in hopes of saving his wife (Bonnie Bedelia) after she’s taken hostage. “Die Hard’ spawned scores of imitators, as well as more expansive and chaotic sequels, but the original remains surprisingly fresh and exciting. Yippee-ki-yah.

Jerry Lewis 10 Films (1953-1965, Paramount, unrated, $28):

You can’t beat the price on this collection of Lewis classics, ranging from “The Stooge”

to “The Family Jewels.” While the set doesn’t include any of his collaborations with Dean Martin, all of his solo masterpieces are here, including “The Bellboy,” “Cinderfella” and “The Nutty Professor.”

The Kentuckian (1955, Kino, unrated, $25):

Burt Lancaster made his directorial debut with this underrated western, which smartly examines themes of independence and domestication.

Lancaster plays an adventurer who, along with his son, is bound for the wide open spaces of Texas. But along the way he allows his brother (John McIntire) to talk him into becoming a businessman. Lancaster squeezes surprising depth out of the father/son relationship while serving up oodles of action scenes, including a thrilling battle between Lancaster and a whip-wielding Walter Matthau (in his film debut).

Saving Private Ryan 20th Anniversary (1998, Paramount, R, $25):

Directed by Steven Spielberg, this classic World War II movie arrives on 4K looking and sounding better than ever. The plot is deceptively simple: an eight-man Army squad (Ed Burns, Vin Diesel, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Jeremy Davies, Giovanni Ribisi) led by a battle-weary captain (Tom Hanks) is sent behind enemy lines to rescue Private James Ryan (Matt Damon), a paratrooper whose three older brothers have been killed in combat. Expect to be blown away all over again.

Jurassic Park - 25th Anniversary Collection (19932015, Universal, PG-13, $80):

Thanks to this new 4K set, your Dad can relive the saga of dinosaurs run amok. Beginning with Steven Spielberg’s original pair of releases, and continuing on with Joe Johnson’s threequel and Colin Trevorrow’s 2015 reboot, the lesson is simple: don’t mess with Mother Nature. Not surprisingly, the original remains the best entry, thanks to a number of indelible moments, including the sight of a scientist (Sam Neill) running away from a herd of gallimimuses and a raptor making a meal of a greedy lawyer. Created through a mixture of computergenerated animation and electronically controlled models, the creatures of “Jurassic Park” rank right up there with King Kong and the sharks of “Jaws” as cinema’s scariest, most lifelike monsters.

Gunsmoke - The Thirteenth Season, Volume 1 (1967, Paramount, unrated, $45):

There’s 15 thrilling episodes on tap from TV’s second-longest running series of all time. (“The Simpsons” just took the top prize). Presented in color, this season was one of the best, with episodes revolving around vigilante uprisings, greedy cattle barons and a murder case that paints Marshal Dillon (James Arness) as the prime suspect.

Game of Thrones - The Complete First Season (2011, HBO, unrated, $65):

While your dad awaits the final batch of episodes to pop up on HBO, you can revisit the first season in eye-popping 4K. Right from the get-go, the series does a masterful job of creating complex, unpredictable characters as they vie for power in the treacherous Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Series creators Dan Weiss and David Benioff also hit paydirt with their cast, which includes such indelible performers as Sean Bean, Mark Addy, Lena Headey, Nikolaj CosterWaldau, Jennifer Ehle and Peter Dinklage. Game on.

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