Product Description
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The top rated series from HISTORY returns to DVD!
There is no better example of today's pawnbrokers than the
Harrison family's Gold and Silver Pawn shop on the outskirts of
Las Ve - the modern day Mecca for people in need of quick
cash. Three generations of Harrison men clash with friendly
camaraderie over items from classic cars to samurai s. Here,
everything has a history, and everything has a price. And you
never know what's going to walk through the door. PAWN STARS:
VOLUME 4 features 16 episodes never-before released on DVD
including a wide variety of eclectic items for the Harrisons to
haggle over like Colonel Sanders' suit, a competition dragster
racecar and an Abraham Lincoln campaign ribbon.
PAWN STARS: VOLUME 4 includes 16 fan-favorite episodes on two
discs:
DISC 1: Cornering the Colonel / Ready, Set, Pawn / The Eagle Has
Landed / Like a Rolling Chum / Hello Nurse / Chumdog Millionaire
/ Gone With The Schwinn / Bare s
DISC 2: Never Surrender / Honest Abe / Monkey Business / Packing
Heat / Luck of the Draw / Houdini's Handcuffs / Pedal to the
Metal / Case Closed
.com
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These installments of the History Channel's proto-series about
average joes selling their stuff to a crew of pedigreed
pawnbrokers are taken from seasons three and four, in keeping
with the release strategy of other episodes. Though it seems an
insignificant detail, it should be made clear to the many Pawn
Stars fanatics out there that these discs don't represent seasons
four and five, but rather are a selection of 16 "fan favorites."
To quote a review of other DVD volumes, Pawn Stars is sort of
like Antiques Roadshow in Ve, or Antiques Roadshow on crack.
People come in to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop with treasure or
t from their closets or garages and hope to walk away with
wads of cash. How much they get is usually a lot less than what
they expect. That's because the shop is run with tight iron fists
by the Harrison clan, three generations of wheeler-dealers who
drive hard bargains. The boss is Rick Harrison, a burly,
take-no-prisoners type who is the Pawn Stars equivalent of Paul
Teutul Sr. on the long-running Discovery Channel reality show
American Chopper. Rick's her Richard Benjamin Harrison--a.k.a.
"the Old Man"--cofounded the shop with his son and conveys the
aura of godher to the operation in many ways. Rick's son Corey
goes by the moniker "Big Hoss" and plays an important role in
business operations that was like Paul Jr.'s on American Chopper.
The fourth key staff member and the one who takes on dramatic
duties similar to one of Shakespeare's fools is the knuckleheaded
yet lovable lardo Austin "Chumlee" Russell, who was Corey's
childhood friend. The tension in the show is often built to
overheated levels when the haggling sets in, and it relies
heavily on the rtunistic placement of commercial breaks as
cliffhangers. The device makes DVD viewing feel somewhat
repetitive, but the show is as creatively paced as any reality
series that focuses on a family dynamic or a similar concept.
Storage Wars certainly comes to mind, as does the quasi Pawn
Stars spinoffs Auction Hunters, Counting Cars, Auction Kings, and
Cajun Pawn Stars. Each episode is fairly predictable, but that
doesn't mean there's no cause for addictive or binge viewing.
Some of the items that are brought in for the Harrisons' review
on these two two-disc volumes are life-sized Darth Maul and Jar
Jar Binks figures, a possible Stradivarius violin, a check signed
by mob boss Carlo Gambino, a pair of mint-condition 1990 Air
Jordan V sneakers, a blackjack table from the defunct Stardust
Casino, a 1936 Rolex watch once owned by Bernie Madoff, and a hat
supposedly worn by John Wayne. That barely scratches the surface
of the variety of objects brought in for appraisal. The Harrisons
know a lot about pretty much everything, but when they don't,
they bring in a revolving cast of experts to provide details
about provenance and worth. But an item is only valuable to the
Pawn Stars if someone else wants to buy it. Observing the
calculating eye and the haggling skills on display is all part of
the fun. The other part of the fun is the interplay between the
shop's staff, which is played almost entirely for laughs and
rarely feels extemporaneous. But even though some moments may be
scripted, the Harrisons have been at it long enough to make it
work--for the cameras and their wallets. --Ted Fry
