How 9/11 led to making of ‘Catch a Fire’

Although it barely made a ripple at the box office last fall, the drama “Catch a Fire” (Universal, $30) features a strong performance from Derek Luke as Patrick Chamusso.

In the early 1980s apartheid South Africa, Chamusso was an apolitical husband and father who had a good job as an oil refinery foreman and was a soccer coach. But after he is unjustly arrested by the white South African government and accused of a terrorist act against the refinery, he escapes from prison and becomes a radicalized terrorist for the military wing of the African National Congress. Tim Robbins is equally effective as the security chief who tortures Chamusso.

Included on the DVD are deleted scenes and strong commentary from director Phillip Noyce, who discusses why the terrorists attacks of 9/11 led him to this project, as well as producer Robyn Slovo and writer Shawn Slovo -- their late father Joe Slovo led the military wing of the ANC -- the real Chamusso, and actors Robbins and Luke.

“Open Season” (Sony, $29), the first release from Sony Pictures Animation, revolves around the misadventures of Boog (Martin Lawrence), a domesticated 900-pound bear and a hyperactive wild mule deer (Ashton Kutcher) named Elliot.

Extras are geared toward small fry and adults with the interactive “Wheel of Fortune” Forest Edition game, several behind-the-scenes featurettes, a cute new short titled “Boog and Elliot’s Midnight Bun Run,” deleted scenes and lively commentary from directors Jill Culton and Roger Allers, co-director Anthony Stacchi and producer Michelle Murdocca.

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Also new

“Lucky Louie -- The Complete First Season” (HBO, $30): A more apt subtitle of this two-disc set would be “The Complete Series” because HBO canceled the ribald, forgettable sitcom after one season. Stand-up comic Louis C.K. stars as a part-time mechanic in a muffler shop who spends most of his day playing Mr. Mom to his 4-year-old daughter while his wife works full-time as a nurse. Extras include the unaired 13th episode, four commentary tracks and a look at a week in the life of the show.

“Madame Curie” (Warner, $20): During the 1940s, MGM teamed Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon in a series of handsome, prestige films, including the 1942 best picture Oscar winner, “Mrs. Miniver,” as well as this thoughtful, well-crafted 1943 historical drama chronicling how the scientists Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium. The film, which is narrated by “Lost Horizon” novelist James Hilton, features early appearances by Robert Walker, Margaret O’Brien and Van Johnson. The disc also includes the Oscar-nominated short, “Romance of Radium.”

“Band of Angels” (Warner, $20): Clark Gable, then an old-looking 56, gives it his Rhett Butler best in this 1957 potboiler in which he plays a Southern plantation owner who buys and then falls in love with the beautiful daughter (Yvonne DeCarlo) of a plantation owner upon whose death she was sold into slavery. Sidney Poitier, who plays Gable’s foreman, walks away with the film directed by Raoul Walsh.

And: A pair of Doris Day vehicles, “Caprice” and “Do Not Disturb” (Fox, $20 each); “Looker” (Warner, $20), written and directed by the author Michael Crichton, concerns a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon (Albert Finney) investigating the murders of several of his patients; “The Silence of the Lambs Collector’s Edition” (MGM, $27); “The Marine -- Unrated Edition” (Fox, $30); “The Motel” (Palm, $25).

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susan.king@latimes.com