Don't discount the discount racks

Used to be that the cheap movies in the aisle displays at your friendly neighborhood Alco or Wal-Mart store were -- for lack of a better term -- the cheap movies. I can remember perusing racks full of titles in the public domain. A few are fresher in my mind than others, and not just because they were the eight different versions of "It's A Wonderful Life."

To wit, I can remember seeing the box art for an apparently (even proudly) violent Italian-made gangster flick starring Jack Palance, what appeared to be a horror movie with a grue-splattered Telly Savalas staring grimly from the glossy box, and many, many editions of cartoon collections starring luminaries such as Popeye, Superman and Betty Boop, often crowding each other for premium space on the cover (or perhaps attempting to reach further than that, wanting to move into the premium space far, far away from the cover).

Nowadays, though, right along side copies of "Laser Mission" (starring that two-fisted action duo of Brandon Lee and Ernest Borgnine) and "Abraxas" (with former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura - and Jim Belushi!), you can find special editions of recent Oscar winners like "Fargo," "The Untouchables," or "Braveheart," all of which were at (legitimately) "practically giving it away" prices.

This is the kind of thing a movie lover like me can really get behind. I have at home a copy of the classic adventure film "The Great Escape," bought for 5 bucks at Wal-Mart. While it isn't a super-deluxe edition of the movie, it still looks and sounds fantastic -- to my mind, these low-cost editions are a great way to start building a collection of classic movies. (I'm still kicking myself that I didn't take home that copy of "Pride of the Yankees" that I carried around the store for about two hours one afternoon.)

Granted, not everything on the shelves approaches greatness, but in today's economy, when everyone is watching their budgets and looking to stretch their entertainment dollar, there are some terrific -- and even surprising - options now available.