Orchestra
An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families, including bowed string instruments such as the violin, viola and double bass, brass instruments such as the horn, trumpet and tuba, woodwinds such as the flute, oboe and bassoon, percussion instruments such as the timpani, bass drum, snare drum and cymbals, each grouped in sections. Other instruments such as the piano and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone, as may the concert harp and, for performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments. A full-size orchestra may sometimes be called philharmonic orchestra; the actual number of musicians employed in a given performance may vary from seventy to over one hundred musicians, depending on the work being played and the size of the venue. The term chamber orchestra refers to smaller-sized ensembles of about fifty musicians or fewer. Orchestras that specialize in the Baroque music of, for example, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, or Classical repertoire, such as that of Haydn and Mozart, tend to be smaller than orchestras performing a Romantic music repertoire, such as the symphonies of Johannes Brahms.
The typical orchestra grew in size throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, reaching a peak with the large orchestras called for in the works of Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler. Orchestras are led by a conductor who directs the performance with movements of the hands and arms made easier for the musicians to see by use of a conductor's baton; the conductor sets the tempo and shapes the sound of the ensemble. The conductor prepares the orchestra by leading rehearsals before the public concert, in which the conductor provides instructions to the musicians on their interpretation of the music being performed; the leader of the first violin section called the concertmaster plays an important role in leading the musicians. In the Baroque music era, orchestras were led by the concertmaster or by a chord-playing musician performing the basso continuo parts on a harpsichord or pipe organ, a tradition that some 20th century and 21st century early music ensembles continue. Orchestras play a wide range of repertoire, including symphonies and ballet overtures, concertos for solo instruments, as pit ensembles for operas and some types of musical theatre.
Amateur orchestras include those made up of students from an elementary school or a high school, youth orchestras, community orchestras. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ὀρχήστρα, the name for the area in front of a stage in ancient Greek theatre reserved for the Greek chorus; the typical symphony orchestra consists of four groups of related musical instruments called the woodwinds, brass and strings. Other instruments such as the piano and celesta may sometimes be grouped into a fifth section such as a keyboard section or may stand alone, as may the concert harp and electric and electronic instruments; the orchestra, depending on the size, contains all of the standard instruments in each group. In the history of the orchestra, its instrumentation has been expanded over time agreed to have been standardized by the classical period and Ludwig van Beethoven's influence on the classical model. In the 20th and 21st century, new repertory demands expanded the instrumentation of the orchestra, resulting in a flexible use of the classical-model instruments and newly developed electric and electronic instruments in various combinations.
The terms symphony orchestra and philharmonic orchestra may be used to distinguish different ensembles from the same locality, such as the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. A symphony orchestra will have over eighty musicians on its roster, in some cases over a hundred, but the actual number of musicians employed in a particular performance may vary according to the work being played and the size of the venue. Chamber orchestra refers to smaller-sized ensembles; the term concert orchestra may be used, as in the BBC Concert Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. The so-called "standard complement" of doubled winds and brass in the orchestra from the first half of the 19th century is attributed to the forces called for by Beethoven; the composer's instrumentation always included paired flutes, clarinets, bassoons and trumpets. The exceptions to this are his Symphony No. 4, Violin Concerto, Piano Concerto No. 4, which each specify a single flute. Beethoven calculated the expansion of this particular timbral "palette" in Symphonies 3, 5, 6, 9 for an innovative effect.
The third horn in the "Eroica" Symphony arrives to provide not only some harmonic flexibility, but the effect of "choral" brass in the Trio movement. Piccolo and trombones add to the triumphal finale of his Symphony No. 5. A piccolo and a pair of trombones help deliver the effect of storm and sunshine in the Sixth known as the Pastoral Symphony; the Ninth asks for a second pair of horns, for reasons similar to the "Eroica".
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City is the largest city in the U. S. state of Missouri. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the city had an estimated population of 488,943 in 2017, making it the 37th most-populous city in the United States, it is the central city of the Kansas City metropolitan area, which straddles the Kansas–Missouri state line. Kansas City was founded in the 1830s as a Missouri River port at its confluence with the Kansas River coming in from the west. On June 1, 1850 the town of Kansas was incorporated. Confusion between the two ensued and the name Kansas City was assigned to distinguish them soon after. Sitting on Missouri's western boundary, with Downtown near the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, the modern city encompasses some 319.03 square miles, making it the 23rd largest city by total area in the United States. Most of the city lies within Jackson County, but portions spill into Clay and Platte counties. Along with Independence, one of its major suburbs, it serves as one of the two county seats of Jackson County.
Other major suburbs include the Missouri cities of Blue Springs and Lee's Summit and the Kansas cities of Overland Park and Kansas City. The city is composed of several neighborhoods, including the River Market District in the north, the 18th and Vine District in the east, the Country Club Plaza in the south. Kansas City is known for its long tradition of jazz music and culture, for its cuisine, its craft breweries. Kansas City, Missouri was incorporated as a town on June 1, 1850, as a city on March 28, 1853; the territory straddling the border between Missouri and Kansas at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers was considered a good place to build settlements. The Antioch Christian Church, Dr. James Compton House, Woodneath are listed on the National Register of Historic Places; the first documented European visitor to Kansas City was Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont, the first European to explore the lower Missouri River. Criticized for his response to the Native American attack on Fort Détroit, he had deserted his post as fort commander and was avoiding French authorities.
Bourgmont lived with a Native American wife in a village about 90 miles east near Brunswick, where he illegally traded furs. To clear his name, he wrote Exact Description of Louisiana, of Its Harbors and Rivers, Names of the Indian Tribes That Occupy It, the Commerce and Advantages to Be Derived Therefrom for the Establishment of a Colony in 1713 followed in 1714 by The Route to Be Taken to Ascend the Missouri River. In the documents, he describes the junction of the "Grande Riv des Cansez" and Missouri River, making him the first to adopt those names. French cartographer Guillaume Delisle used the descriptions to make the area's first reasonably accurate map; the Spanish took over the region in the Treaty of Paris in 1763, but were not to play a major role other than taxing and licensing Missouri River ship traffic. The French continued their fur trade under Spanish license; the Chouteau family operated under Spanish license at St. Louis in the lower Missouri Valley as early as 1765 and in 1821 the Chouteaus reached Kansas City, where François Chouteau established Chouteau's Landing.
After the 1804 Louisiana Purchase and Clark visited the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers, noting it was a good place to build a fort. In 1831, a group of Mormons from New York settled in, they built the first school within Kansas City's current boundaries, but were forced out by mob violence in 1833 and their settlement remained vacant. In 1833 John McCoy, son of missionary Isaac McCoy, established West Port along the Santa Fe Trail, 3 miles away from the river. In 1834 McCoy established Westport Landing on a bend in the Missouri to serve as a landing point for West Port. Soon after, the Kansas Town Company, a group of investors, began to settle the area, taking their name from an English spelling of "Cansez." In 1850, the landing area was incorporated as the Town of Kansas. By that time, the Town of Kansas and nearby Independence, had become critical points in the United States' westward expansion. Three major trails – the Santa Fe, Oregon – all passed through Jackson County. On February 22, 1853, the City of Kansas was created with a newly elected mayor.
It had an area of 0.70 square miles and a population of 2,500. The boundary lines at that time extended from the middle of the Missouri River south to what is now Ninth Street, from Bluff Street on the west to a point between Holmes Road and Charlotte Street on the east; the Kansas City area was rife with animosity just prior to the U. S. Civil War. Kansas petitioned the U. S. to enter the Union as a free state that did not allow slavery under the new doctrine of popular sovereignty. Missouri had many slaves, slavery sympathizers crossed into Kansas to sway the state towards allowing slavery, at first by ballot box and by bloodshed. During the Civil War, the city and its immediate surroundings were the focus of intense military activity. Although the First Battle of Independence in August 1862 resulted in a Confederate States Army victory, the Confederates were unable to leverage their win in any significant fashion, as Kansas City was occupied by Union troops and proved too fortified to assault.
The Second Battle of Independence, which occurred on October 21–22, 1864 as part of Sterling Price's Missouri expedition of 1864 resulted in a Confederate triumph. Once again their victory proved hollow, as Price was decisively defeated in the pivotal Battle of Westport the next day ending Confederate e
Lonesome Dove (miniseries)
Lonesome Dove is an American epic Western adventure television miniseries directed by Simon Wincer. It is a four-part adaptation of the 1985 novel of the same name by Larry McMurtry and is the first installment in the Lonesome Dove series; the novel was based upon a screenplay by Peter Bogdanovich and McMurtry, intended to star John Wayne, James Stewart and Henry Fonda, but the film was never made after John Ford advised Wayne against it. The eventual television miniseries stars Tommy Lee Jones; the series was broadcast by CBS from February 5 to 8, 1989, drawing a huge viewing audience, earning numerous awards, reviving both the television western and the miniseries. An estimated 26 million homes tuned in to watch Lonesome Dove, unusually high numbers for a Western at that time; the western genre was considered dead by most people. By the show's end, it had earned huge ratings and revamped the entire 1989–1990 television season. A favorite with audiences, as well as critics, Lonesome Dove garnered many awards.
At the 1989 Emmy Awards, the miniseries had 18 nominations and seven wins, including one for director Simon Wincer. Lonesome Dove won two Golden Globes, for Best Miniseries and Best Actor in a Miniseries. Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae and Captain Woodrow F. Call, two famous former Texas Rangers, run a livery in the small dusty Texas border town of Lonesome Dove. Gus loves women, but he's twice a widower, Call is somewhat of a workaholic. Working with them are Joshua Deets, a black tracker and scout from their Ranger days, Pea Eye Parker, another former Ranger who works hard but isn't bright, Bolívar, a retired Mexican bandit, their cook. Living with them is Newt Dobbs, a 17-year-old whose mother was a prostitute named Maggie and whose father may be Call; the story begins in the small south Texas town of Lonesome Dove, on the Rio Grande, as Jake Spoon, a former Texas Ranger and comrade of Gus and Call's, shows up after an absence of more than ten years. He reveals that he is a fugitive after having accidentally shot the dentist and mayor of Fort Smith, Arkansas, in a bar-room gunfight.
The dentist/mayor's brother happens to be July Johnson. Reunited with Gus and Call, Jake's glowing description of Montana inspires Call to gather a herd of cattle and drive them there, attracted by the notion of settling pristine country. Gus is less enthusiastic, pointing out that they are getting old and that they are Rangers and traders, not cowboys, but he changes his mind when he realises Lonesome Dove has little left to offer him by way of excitement, now that much of the land has been "civilized". At the continued insistence of the dentist's widow, Sheriff Johnson sets off in pursuit of Spoon, accompanied by his young stepson Joe who travels at the request of Joe's mother and Sheriff Johnson's wife Elmira. Once her son and husband have left for Texas, Elmira leaves Fort Smith for Ogallala, Nebraska, to meet up with her first husband and Joe's father, Dee Boot. Sailing up the Arkansas River on a whiskey boat, she falls in with a group of buffalo hunters. Meanwhile, the men of Lonesome Dove make preparations for their adventure north, including stealing 2,500 horses and cattle from across the Rio Grande in Mexico, befriending two lost Irish immigrants and Sean O'Brien, being joined by nearly all of the male citizens of the town.
Before leaving, Gus returns to fetch his livery sign and say farewell to his pigs, who end up following him anyway. Back in Fort Smith, Peach insists that Roscoe Brown, July's timid deputy, has to find July not only to inform him that his wife's run off, but that she is pregnant. Jake decides not to travel with the herd because he promises to take the town's only prostitute, Lorena "Lorie" Wood, to San Francisco via Denver; some time the group survive a huge dust storm, but Sean, one of the Irishmen, is attacked by water moccasins while crossing the Nueces River. The young Irishman soon succumbs to his numerous snakebites, is buried. While travelling through a forest in east Texas, Roscoe encounters Janey, a young girl fleeing from an old abusive "owner"; as they travel together they are robbed. Meanwhile, Johnson's wife Elmira arrives by boat at Bent's Fort and sets off overland across the plains with two hunters she has befriended. Meanwhile, the camp's cook refuses to cross the river after Sean O'Brien's mishap, so Gus and Call head into San Antonio in search of a new cook.
They soon find Po Campo, who gets the job after impressing Gus and Call not only with his cooking, but with his attitude. On the way back, Gus catches up with Lorie, whom Jake has abandoned in order to go gambling in Austin. Before he returns and Lorie encounter Blue Duck, a notorious Mexican/Indian bandit from Gus and Call's Ranger days. After Gus sends Newt over to Lorie's camp to guard her, Blue Duck knocks Newt unconscious, kidnaps Lorie, attempts to sell/barter her to a gang of Comanchero bandits camped on the Llano Estacado. Knowing that Gus is in pursuit, Blue Duck asks the Comancheros to kill Gus when he arrives, with Lorie being their reward. Gus and the bandits engage in a brief gun battle that turns into a stalemate. Gus, having killed his horse for cover on the flat plains, is pinned down by the bandits' gunfire until nightfall, when Sheriff Johnson's party arrives and scares them off. Johnson, despite Gus's protests, joins Gus in the rescue of Lorie; the pair ride to a hilltop above the Comancheros' camp.
After a brief one-sided gunfight, in which Gus kills all of Blue Duck's gang, Lorie is rescued. But while Gus and Johnson are away, Blue Duck uses his knife to kill deputy Roscoe, and
Red Dawn
Red Dawn is a 1984 American war film directed by John Milius, with a screenplay by Kevin Reynolds and Milius. It stars Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Jennifer Grey, Ben Johnson, Harry Dean Stanton, Ron O'Neal, William Smith, Powers Boothe, it was the first film to be released in the US with a PG-13 rating. The film is set in an alternate history timeline in which the United States is invaded by the Soviet Union and its Cuban and Nicaraguan allies. However, the onset of World War III is in the background and not elaborated; the story follows a group of American high school students who resist the occupation with guerrilla warfare, calling themselves "Wolverines", after their high school mascot. The United States has become strategically isolated after several European nations withdraw from NATO. At the same time, the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact partners aggressively expand their sphere of influence. In addition, the Ukrainian wheat harvest fails. On a September morning, in the small town of Calumet, Colorado, a local high school teacher pauses when he sees Soviet paratroopers landing in a nearby field.
The paratroopers open fire. Pandemonium follows. In downtown Calumet and Soviet troops are trying to impose order after a hasty occupation. Cuban Colonel Bella instructs the KGB to go to a local sporting goods store and obtain the records of the store's gun sales on the ATF's Form 4473, which lists citizens who have purchased firearms. Brothers Jed and Matt Eckert, along with their friends Robert, Danny and Aardvark, flee into the wilderness after hastily equipping themselves at the sporting goods store owned by Robert's father. While on the way to the mountains, they run into a Soviet roadblock, but are saved by an attacking U. S. Army UH-1 helicopter gunship. After several weeks in the forest, they sneak back into town, they speak to him through the fence. The kids visit the Masons and learn that they are behind enemy lines in "occupied America". Robert's father is revealed to have been executed because of the missing inventory from his store; the Masons charge Jed and Matt with taking care of their two granddaughters and Erica.
After killing Soviet soldiers in the woods, the youths begin an armed resistance against the occupation forces, calling themselves "Wolverines", after their high school mascot. The occupation forces try reprisal tactics, executing groups of civilians following every Wolverine attack. During one of these mass executions, the fathers of Jed and Aardvark are killed. Daryl's father, Mayor Bates, tries to appease the occupation authorities. Despite the reprisal tactics the occupation forces get nowhere; the Wolverines find a downed American pilot, Lt. Col. Andrew Tanner, who informs them of the current state of the war: several American cities, including Washington, D. C. were destroyed by nuclear strikes. The middle third of the U. S. has been taken over, but American counterattacks have halted Soviet advances along the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River and the lines have stabilized. The only remaining U. S. allies, the UK and People's Republic of China, are militarily crippled. Concerned about nuclear fallout, both sides refrain from the further use of nuclear weapons.
Tanner assists the Wolverines in organizing raids against the Soviets. Soon after, in a visit to the front line and Aardvark are killed in the crossfire of a tank battle. Daryl is caught by the Soviets after being turned in by his collaborating father. Using threats of torture, KGB officers force Daryl to swallow a tracking device release him to rejoin the guerrillas. Spetsnaz are sent into the mountains carrying portable radio triangulation equipment, but are ambushed by the Wolverines; the group trace the source of the signal to Daryl, who confesses and pleads for mercy, but is executed by Robert, along with a captured Soviet soldier. The remaining Wolverines are ambushed by Mi-24 helicopter gunships, Robert and Toni are killed. Jed and Matt attack the Soviet headquarters in Calumet to distract the troops while Danny and Erica escape; the plan works. Though Colonel Bella comes across the brothers, he is unable to bring himself to kill them and lets them go; the brothers reach a bench in the park where they spent time as kids, holding each other as they die.
Danny and Erica reach the frontier of Free America. In the closing scene, a plaque is seen with Partisan Rock in the background; the rock is fenced off and an American flag flies nearby. The plaque reads:... In the early days of World War III, guerrillas – children – placed the names of their lost upon this rock, they fought here alone and gave up their lives, so "that this nation shall not perish from the earth." The film was called Ten Soldiers and was written by Kevin Reynolds. It was set in the near future as a combined force of Russians and Cubans launched an invasion of the Southwestern US. Ten children take to the hills when their small town is captured and they turn into a skilled and lethal guerrilla band. Producer Barry Beckerman read the script, and, in the words of Peter Bart, "thought it had the potential to become a tough, taut, "art" picture made on a modest budget that could b
Los Angeles
Los Angeles the City of Los Angeles and known by its initials L. A. is the most populous city in California, the second most populous city in the United States, after New York City, the third most populous city in North America. With an estimated population of four million, Los Angeles is the cultural and commercial center of Southern California; the city is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity and the entertainment industry, its sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles is the largest city on the West Coast of North America. Los Angeles is in a large basin bounded by the Pacific Ocean on one side and by mountains as high as 10,000 feet on the other; the city proper, which covers about 469 square miles, is the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the country. Los Angeles is the principal city of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second largest in the United States after that of New York City, with a population of 13.1 million. It is part of the Los Angeles-Long Beach combined statistical area the nation's second most populous area with a 2015 estimated population of 18.7 million.
Los Angeles is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States, with a diverse economy in a broad range of professional and cultural fields. Los Angeles is famous as the home of Hollywood, a major center of the world entertainment industry. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index and 9th in the Global Economic Power Index; the Los Angeles metropolitan area has a gross metropolitan product of $1.044 trillion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. Los Angeles hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics and will host the event for a third time in 2028; the city hosted the Miss Universe pageant twice, in 1990 and 2006, was one of 9 American cities to host the 1994 FIFA men's soccer World Cup and one of 8 to host the 1999 FIFA women's soccer World Cup, hosting the final match for both tournaments. Home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California.
The city was founded on September 4, 1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood; the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California assured the city's continued rapid growth; the Los Angeles coastal area was settled by the Chumash tribes. A Gabrieleño settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning "poison oak place". Maritime explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area of southern California for the Spanish Empire in 1542 while on an official military exploring expedition moving north along the Pacific coast from earlier colonizing bases of New Spain in Central and South America.
Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2, 1769. In 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. On September 4, 1781, a group of forty-four settlers known as "Los Pobladores" founded the pueblo they called El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles,'The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels'; the present-day city has the largest Roman Catholic Archdiocese in the United States. Two-thirds of the Mexican or settlers were mestizo or mulatto, a mixture of African and European ancestry; the settlement remained a small ranch town for decades, but by 1820, the population had increased to about 650 residents. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the historic district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street, the oldest part of Los Angeles. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, the pueblo continued as a part of Mexico.
During Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta California's regional capital. Mexican rule ended during the Mexican–American War: Americans took control from the Californios after a series of battles, culminating with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847. Railroads arrived with the completion of the transcontinental Southern Pacific line to Los Angeles in 1876 and the Santa Fe Railroad in 1885. Petroleum was discovered in the city and surrounding area in 1892, by 1923, the discoveries had helped California become the country's largest oil producer, accounting for about one-quarter of the world's petroleum output. By 1900, the population had grown to more than 102,000; the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, under the supervision of William Mulholland, assured the continued growth of the city. Due to clauses in the city's charter that prevented the City of Los Angeles from selling or providing water from the aqueduct to any area outside its borders, many adjacent city and communities became compelled to annex themselves into Los Angeles.
Los Angeles created the first municipal zoning ordinance in the United States. On September 14, 1908, the Los Angeles City Council promulgated residential and industrial land use zones; the new ordinance established three residential zones of a single type, where industrial uses were
Conan the Destroyer
Conan the Destroyer is a 1984 American sword and sorcery/adventure film directed by Richard Fleischer, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mako Iwamatsu reprising their roles as Conan and Akiro the wizard, respectively. The cast includes Grace Jones, Wilt Chamberlain, Tracey Walter, Olivia d'Abo, it is the sequel to Conan the Barbarian. The film grossed $31 million in the US. Conan and his companion, the thief Malak, are confronted by Queen Taramis of Shadizar, she tests their combat ability with several of her guards. Satisfied, she tells Conan, he refuses her, but when she promises to resurrect his lost love, Conan agrees to the quest. He is to escort the Queen's niece, Jehnna, a virgin, destined to restore the jeweled horn of the dreaming god Dagoth. Conan and Malak are joined by the captain of Taramis's guard. Bombaata has secret orders to kill Conan; the gem is secured in the fortress of a powerful wizard, so Conan seeks the help of his friend, the Wizard of the Mounds. Akiro has been captured by a tribe of cannibals, must first be rescued.
The adventurers encounter Zula, a powerful bandit warrior being tortured by vengeful villagers. Freeing Zula at Jehnna's request, Conan accepts the indebted warrior's offer to join their quest; the adventurers travel to the castle of Thoth-Amon. As they camp for the night, the wizard kidnaps Jehnna; the others wake in time to see the bird enter the castle. Sneaking in through a water gate, they search the castle, but Conan is separated from the group, the others are forced to watch him battle a fierce man-beast. Conan mortally wounds the creature, revealed as another form of Thoth-Amon. With the wizard's death, the castle begins forcing the group's hasty retreat, they drive them off. Bombaata feigns ignorance about the attack; the gem reveals the location of the jeweled horn. Jehnna expresses romantic interest in Conan, but he rebuffs her and declares his devotion to Valeria, they reach an ancient temple. Jehnna obtains it, he learns. They are attacked by the priests. A secret exit is revealed. Despite this treachery and his allies escape from the priests and trek to Shadizar to rescue Jehnna.
Malak shows them a secret route to the throne room. Conan kills him in combat. Zula impales the Grand Vizier; the rising Dagoth becomes distorted from a beautiful human form into a monstrous entity. Dagoth kills Taramis attacks Conan. Zula and Malak are effortlessly swept aside by the entity. Grappling with the monster, Conan tears out Dagoth's horn, weakening the creature enough to kill it; the newly crowned Queen Jehnna offers each of her companions a place in her new court: Zula will be the new captain of the guard, Akiro the queen's advisor, Malak the court jester. Jehnna offers Conan marriage and the opportunity to rule the kingdom with her, but he declines and departs to find further adventures and his own place in the world; when John Milius, director of Conan the Barbarian, was unavailable, Dino De Laurentiis suggested Richard Fleischer to his daughter Raffaella De Laurentiis, producing Conan the Destroyer. Fleischer had made Barabbas and Mandingo for Dino De Laurentiis. Conan the Barbarian made about $40 million at the U.
S. box office when it was released in 1982 with an R-rating, an additional $50 million in other markets. Because Universal Pictures and producer Dino De Laurentiis thought it would have been more successful if it had been less violent, they wanted to tone down the violence in the sequel. Conan the Destroyer received an R-rating like its predecessor, but the film was recut to secure a PG-rating. Fleischer delivered a movie, less violent than the first, although some scenes of violence have bloody results. Carlo Rambaldi created the Dagoth monster. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mako Iwamatsu, who played the Wizard of the Mound and narrator in the first film, return from the first film, Mako's character is now named. Sven-Ole Thorsen, who played Thorgrim in the first film returned, but this time he had to cover his face with a mask, as he was playing a different character. Singer Grace Jones performed the last of her tribe; this was the first major role for seven-foot, one-inch-tall basketball player Wilt Chamberlain and the debut of Olivia d'Abo, who played the petulant teenaged princess.
David L. Lander was cast to play the foolish thief Malak, but due to his deteriorating health from the onset of multiple sclerosis, he was forced to quit the project, the part was recast with Tracey Walter. André the Giant was not credited in the film, as he was in costume. Conan the Destroyer was the fourth film on which British director of photography Jack Cardiff worked with Fleischer. Cardiff had photographed The Vikings, Crossed Swords, Amityville 3-D for the director, they worked together twice more on Million Dollar Mystery, Fleischer’s last film, the short Call from Space, shot in the 65-mm Showscan process. Cardiff’s other notable films inclu
The Blue Lagoon (1980 film)
The Blue Lagoon is a 1980 American romantic survival drama film directed by Randal Kleiser from a screenplay written by Douglas Day Stewart based on the 1908 novel of the same name by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The film stars Christopher Atkins; the music score was composed by Basil Poledouris and the cinematography was by Néstor Almendros. It tells the story of two young children marooned on a tropical island paradise in the South Pacific. With neither the guidance nor the restrictions of society, emotional feelings and physical changes arise as they reach puberty and fall in love; the film contained a substantial amount of sexual content, both main characters were depicted in the nude. This was controversial. A body double was used for all of her nude scenes and her breasts remained covered in frontal shots; the Blue Lagoon was theatrically released on June 1980 by Columbia Pictures. The film was panned by the critics, who disparaged its screenplay and execution and Shields's performance, although Almendros's cinematography received praise.
In spite of criticism, the film was a commercial success, grossing over $58 million on a $4.5 million budget, becoming the ninth highest grossing film of 1980 in North America. The film received a significant amount of awards attention, it was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, Almendros received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Atkins was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor, Shields won the inaugural Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress. In the early Victorian period, two young cousins and Emmeline Lestrange, a galley cook, Paddy Button, survive a shipwreck in the South Pacific and reach a lush tropical island. Paddy cares for the children and forbids them by "Law" from going to the other side of the island, as he had found remains from bloody human sacrifices on an altar, he warns them against eating a deadly scarlet berry. Several years Paddy dies after a drunken binge. Now alone, the children rebuild their home.
Years pass and they grow into tall, strong teenagers. They live in their hut, spending their days fishing and diving for pearls. Richard and Emmeline begin to fall in love; this is stressful for them on human sexuality. Emmeline is frightened by her first menstrual period. Richard becomes physically attracted to Emmeline, but she does not reciprocate his feelings, inciting Richard to go off alone and masturbate. A ship appears for the first time in years; as a result, the ship passes by without noticing them. When Richard angrily confronts Emmeline about this, she tells him that the island is their home now and they should stay, to Richard's disbelief. Emmeline sees the altar, she associates the blood on the altar with the blood of Christ's crucifixion. She comes to the conclusion that the altar is God, tries to persuade Richard to go to the other side of the island to pray with her. Richard is shocked at the idea of breaking the Law, they insult each other and Emmeline reveals she knows about his masturbating and threatens to tell her Uncle Arthur about it.
They throw coconuts at each other and she hits him on the head. Following the fight, Richard kicks Emmeline out of their hut. Emmeline accidentally steps on a stonefish. Sick and weak, she pleads with Richard to "take her to God." Richard carries her to the other side of the island and places her on the altar, offering a prayer to God. Emmeline recovers and Richard admits his fear of losing her. After Emmeline regains her ability to walk, they go skinny dipping in the lagoon and swim to shore. Still naked and Emmeline discover sexual intercourse and passionate love, they make love from on. Emmeline becomes pregnant. Richard and Emmeline are stunned when they feel the baby move inside her and assume that it is her stomach causing the movements. Emmeline gives birth to a baby boy. Emmeline learns how to feed him as the baby instinctively starts suckling; the young parents teach Paddy how to swim and build things. A ship led by Richard's father Arthur approaches the island and sees the family playing on the shore.
When they notice the ship, they walk away instead of signalling for help. As they are covered in mud, their appearance is difficult to determine and Arthur assumes that they are natives. One day, the family takes the lifeboat to visit their original homesite. Richard finds bananas for them, leaving Emmeline and Paddy with the boat. Emmeline does not notice. Emmeline and Paddy drift away and Paddy tosses one of the oars out. Unable to reach the oar, Emmeline shouts to Richard and he swims to her, followed by a shark. Emmeline throws the other oar at the shark, striking it and giving Richard time to get into the boat, they are unable to retrieve the oars without risking a shark attack. They paddle with their hands to no avail. After drifting for days and Emmeline awake to find Paddy eating the berries he had picked. Hopeless and Emmeline eat the berries as well, lying down to await death. A few hours Arthur's ship finds them. Arthur asks, "Are they dead?" The captain answers, "No, sir. They're asleep".
The movie was a passion pr
