The Carpetbaggers (film)
The Carpetbaggers is a 1964 American drama film directed by Edward Dmytryk, based on the best-selling novel The Carpetbaggers by Harold Robbins, starring George Peppard as Jonas Cord, a character based loosely on Howard Hughes, Alan Ladd in his last role as Nevada Smith, a former western gunslinger turned actor. Carroll Baker, Martha Hyer, Bob Cummings, Elizabeth Ashley star; the film is a landmark of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, venturing further than most films of the period with its heated sexual embraces and sadism between men and women, much like the novel, where "there is sex and/or sadism every 17 pages". Filmed in 35mm Panavision, this was one of the first movies to be blown up to 70mm for premiere screening; the Carpetbaggers was released in April 1964. Two years after this film, Steve McQueen played Ladd's character in a Western prequel entitled Nevada Smith; every generation has its modern carpetbaggers, its adventurers who gamble everything to stand head and shoulders above other men.
Among them could be a creative giant, a do-gooder, a tyrant or a plunderer — a man who leaves his personal brand on everything and everyone he touches. I guess in the past generation it could have been someone like the fictional and fabulous Jones Cord Junior — the best or the worst — depending on how much you imagined he might have hurt you… or how much you believed he helped you; the legend of Jonas spanned two decades and it began that April morning in the nineteen twenties... in the sky over the Nevada desert." Jonas Cord Jr. becomes one of America's richest men in the early twentieth century, inheriting an explosives company from his late father. Jonas resents his alcoholic father bitterly and is psychologically scarred from the death of an insane twin brother. Afraid that his brother's insanity is carried in the bloodline, Jonas avoids romantic commitments and doesn't want children of his own, he hates for anyone to call him "Junior" - or to call him "crazy" - with his reckless ways and wild money-making schemes.
Jonas buys up all the company stock including some held by Nevada Smith, a former western gunslinger. Once a wanted man named Max Sand, Nevada changed his name. In his new identity, Nevada had raised Jonas in the absence of his father. However, Jonas has uncovered the truth about Nevada's past. Jonas Cord Jr. pays off his father's young widow, Rina Marlowe, a shapely blonde. She was his first girlfriend, much adored, in his naive youth; when he introduced her to his father, the elder Cord had promptly married her. Bitter and vengeful, Jonas carries on with his stepmother behind his father's back, in an ongoing love/hate relationship, he despises her for marrying his father for money. Rina is portrayed as a sexually assertive gold-digger and expert manipulator of men, but she can't get the best of Jonas. Rina takes the money and moves to Paris, partying her way through the Roaring Twenties, ending up penniless but still beautiful. Jonas becomes his wealth grows. Flying across the country, always busy with new deals and schemes, he lives in hotel suites, with no permanent home though he now owns his father's house.
A hard drinker and womanizer, Jonas makes no time for leisurely enjoyment of his wealth. Avoiding true friendship, he looks for the inside angle, using people to make money no matter how it hurts them. Jonas soon destroys a business rival named Winthrop seduces and marries the man's daughter Monica. Vivacious and unconventional at first, Monica seems to enjoy Cord's free-wheeling lifestyle. However, after many exhausting business trips, Monica wants to settle down and have a home and children. Dismayed, Jonas cruelly abandons her, he offers no explanation except that he thought she wanted that loveless life. Monica hangs on for years, aware of Cord's troubled youth, hoping. Jonas arranges a nasty set-up to force the divorce, he invites Monica to his hotel room and she arrives eagerly, expecting a reconciliation. Instead, through the door deliberately left open, she sees Jonas kissing Rina, his sexy stepmother, in a way that leaves no doubt of their relationship. Crushed, Monica gives Jonas his divorce discovers she's pregnant with his child.
After the birth, Jonas visits her. Monica tells him to leave their newborn daughter alone. Years pass with no contact between them. Meanwhile, Nevada Smith finds work in western films becoming a popular cowboy hero. Rina resurfaces, pursuing Nevada, who now has money, she persuades Jonas to finance Nevada's project, a script about his former outlaw life, in which he will star. This gives Jonas an interest in the Bernard Norman company, the second-rate studio that produces Nevada's films, plus creative control over the resulting movie. Norman and Jonas argue get into a fistfight over casting. Jonas demands. Jonas hires Dan Pierce, Nevada's agent, to work for him in public relations. Dan will expand Rina's role, while diminishing Nevada's part. Furious, Bernard Norman vows revenge for humiliation suffered, but Rina becomes a big star, the main asset of his company, she continues to party. To spite Jonas, Rina marries Nevada, now considered a has-been. Jonas offers several times to buy the film company.
Dan Pierce, although he works for Jonas, approaches Norman as studio head with bad news. Rina, drinking
Steve Reeves
Stephen Lester Reeves was an American professional bodybuilder and philanthropist. He was famous in the mid-1950s as a movie star in Italian-made peplum films, playing the protagonist as muscular characters such as Hercules and Sandokan. At the peak of his career, he was the highest-paid actor in Europe. From 1959 through 1964, Reeves went on to appear in a string of sword and sandal movies shot on small budgets and, although he is best known for his portrayal of Hercules, he played the character only twice: in the 1957 film and its 1959 sequel Hercules Unchained. By 1960, Reeves was ranked as the number-one box-office draw in twenty-five countries around the world. Born in Glasgow, Montana in 1926, Reeves moved to California at age 10 with his mother Goldie Reeves after his father Lester Dell Reeves died in a farming accident. Reeves developed an interest in bodybuilding at Castlemont High School and trained at Ed Yarick's gym in Oakland, California. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the United States Army during World War II, served in the Philippines.
After his military service Reeves attended California Chiropractic College in San Francisco. He reigned as Mr. America of 1947, Mr. World of 1948, Mr. Universe of 1950, he was contacted by an agent. Reeves moved to New York where he studied acting under Stella Adler, but after arguments he was refunded his tuition, he studied instead at the Theodora Irvin School of the Theatre. He began performing a vaudeville act with a comedian named Dick Burney. One of Cecil B. De Mille's talent scouts had him tested for Samson and Delilah. Reeves received a seven-year contract with Paramount. Reeves says de Mille wanted to cast him in the lead role, but told Reeves he had to lose 15 pounds in order to look convincing on-camera. Reeves says he tried to lose the weight and worked on his acting in preparation for the role over three months. De Mille told him he was going to give the role to Victor Mature. In 1949 he filmed a Tarzan-type television pilot called Kimbar of the Jungle, in 1950 became Mr. Universe. Reeves appeared on television in Stars Over Hollywood in the episode "Prison Doctor" with Raymond Burr.
He appeared on the TV series Topper. In 1954, Reeves had a small supporting role as a cop in the Ed Wood film Jail Bait, it earned him his Screen Actors Guild card. "I had a suit on at all times," he recalled. "I had a tie. Only took my shirt off once; those were the days, huh?"The same year Reeves was in the MGM musical Athena, playing the boyfriend of Jane Powell's character. These two films are the only ones. Reeves guest-starred on The George Gracie Allen Show as the owner of a gym. On December 17, 1954, Reeves guest-starred in the ABC sitcom Where's Raymond?, starring Ray Bolger as Raymond Wallace, a song-and-dance man. Reeves played a well-built office employee whom Wallace sees in the company of Wallace's girlfriend, Susan. In 1955 Reeves appeared on two Broadway shows and The Camp. Pictures of Reeves' costume test for the lead in Li'l Abner can be found on the web, he decided to quit acting and worked for American Health Studios in public relations, opening up fitness studios. In Italy, director Pietro Francisci wanted to make a film about Hercules but could not find anyone suitable to play the role.
His daughter recommended Reeves on the basis of his appearance in Athena and Francisci offered him the role and a plane ticket to Italy. Reeves at first did not think he was serious but agreed and flew to Italy to make the film, his fee was $10,000. Hercules was a low-budget epic based loosely on the tales of Jason and the Argonauts, though inserting Hercules into the lead role; the film proved popular in Europe. What made it an international sensation was when US distribution rights were bought by Joe E. Levine who spent over $1 million promoting it, turning the film into a major box-office success, grossing $5 million in the United States in 1959; however this did not happen until Reeves had made four more films in Europe. The first of these was a sequel to Hercules Unchained, again directed by Pietro Francisci. Reeves was paid the same fee, although his wage would double from on; this film was another huge success, being the third most popular film in Britain in 1960. Nonetheless Reeves would not play Hercules again, despite his identification with the role.
Reeves' third film as star was The White Warrior, based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy. He played Hadji Murad, a 19th-century Chechen chieftain who led his warriors in a fight against the invading Russians. Reeves was in Terror of the Barbarians playing Emilio, about the Lombard invasion of Italy. American International Pictures bought US rights and retitled it Goliath and the Barbarians, with Reeves' character renamed "Goliath"; the film earned $1.6 million in North America during its initial release where it was double billed with Sign of the Gladiator Reeves was Glaucus Leto in The Last Days of Pompeii, based on the novel by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton. It co-starred Christine Kaufmann and Fernando Rey and was directed by Sergio Leone. During the filming, Reeves had dislocated his shoulder; the injury would be aggravated by his stunt work in each s
The Graduate
The Graduate is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The film tells the story of 21-year-old Benjamin Braddock, a recent college graduate with no well-defined aim in life, seduced by an older woman, Mrs. Robinson, falls in love with her daughter Elaine; the film was released on December 22, 1967, received positive reviews and grossed $104.9 million in the U. S. and Canada. With the figures adjusted for inflation, the film's gross is $789 million, making it the 22nd highest-ever grossing film in the U. S. and Canada. It was nominated in six other categories. In 1996, The Graduate was selected for preservation in the U. S. National Film Registry as being "culturally or aesthetically significant." The film was placed at number 7 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list in 1998. When AFI revised the list in 2007, the film was moved to number 17.
In 1967, Benjamin Braddock, aged 21, has earned his bachelor's degree from a college on the East Coast and has returned home to a party celebrating his graduation at his parents' house in suburban Los Angeles. Benjamin, visibly uncomfortable as his parents deliver accolades and neighborhood friends ask him about his future plans, evades those who try to congratulate him. Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's law partner, insists. Benjamin is coerced inside to have a drink and Mrs. Robinson attempts to seduce him, she invites him up to her daughter Elaine's room to see her portrait and enters the room naked, making it clear that she is available to him. Benjamin rebuffs her but a few days he clumsily organizes a tryst at the Taft Hotel. Benjamin spends the remainder of the summer drifting around in the pool by day, purposefully neglecting to select a graduate school, seeing Mrs. Robinson at the hotel by night, he discovers that Mrs. Robinson have nothing to talk about. However, after Benjamin pesters her one evening, Mrs. Robinson reveals that she entered into a loveless marriage when she accidentally became pregnant with Elaine.
Both Mr. Robinson and Benjamin's parents encourage him to call Elaine, but, in private, Mrs. Robinson forbids it. Benjamin takes Elaine on a date but tries to sabotage it by ignoring her, driving recklessly and taking her to a strip club. After Elaine runs out of the strip club in tears, Benjamin has a change of heart, realizes how rude he has been to her, discovers that Elaine is someone with whom he is comfortable. In search of a late-night drink they visit the Taft hotel but when the staff greet Benjamin as "Mr. Gladstone" Elaine guesses that he has been having an affair with a married woman and accepts his assurances that the affair is now over. To preempt a furious Mrs. Robinson, who threatens to tell Elaine her version of their affair, Benjamin tells Elaine that the married woman was her mother. Elaine is distraught and returns to Berkeley. Benjamin tries to talk to her, she reveals that her mother's story is that he raped her while she was drunk, refuses to believe that her mother seduced Benjamin.
After pestering her to marry him for several days, Benjamin begins to make inroads with Elaine. However, Mr. Robinson arrives at Berkeley after learning about the affair, confronts Benjamin at his rooming house, threatens to put him behind bars if Benjamin sees his daughter again. Mr. Robinson forces Elaine to drop out of college and takes her away to marry Carl, a classmate with whom she had been involved. Returning to Pasadena in search of Elaine, Benjamin breaks into the Robinson home but encounters Mrs. Robinson, she tells him he will not be able to stop the wedding and calls the police claiming that her house is being burgled. Benjamin visits Carl's fraternity brothers who tell him that the wedding is in Santa Barbara, California that morning, he arrives just as Elaine is married. He bangs on the glass at the back of the church and screams out "Elaine!" repeatedly. After a brief hesitation, Elaine screams out "Ben!" and starts to run toward him. A brawl ensues as guests try to stop Benjamin from leaving together.
Elaine manages to break free from her mother, who slaps her. Benjamin manages to keep the guests at bay by jamming a large cross into the doors of the church. Both he and Elaine run into the street to flag down a passing bus and take the back seat. Although elated at their victory, the pair become uncomfortable as they journey towards an uncertain future. Nichols' first choice for Mrs. Robinson was French actress Jeanne Moreau; the idea behind this was that in the French culture, the "older" women tended to "train" the younger men in sexual matters. There were numerous actors tested for, or who wanted, roles in the film. Doris Day turned down an offer because the nudity required by the role offended her. Joan Crawford inquired as to play the part, while Lauren Bacall and Audrey Hepburn both wanted the role. Patricia Neal turned down the film as she had recovered from a stroke and did not feel ready to accept such a major role. Geraldine Page turned it down. Other actors considered for the part included Claire Bloom, Angie Dickinson, Sophia Loren, Judy Garland, Rita Hayworth, Susan Hayward, Anouk Aimee, Jennifer Jones, Deborah Kerr, Eva Marie Saint, Rosalind Russell, Simone Signoret, Jean Simmons, Lana Turner, Eleanor Parker, Anne Baxter and Shelley Winters.
Angela Lansbury asked about playing the p
Escape from New York
Escape from New York is a 1981 American post-apocalyptic science-fiction action film co-written, co-scored and directed by John Carpenter. The film is set in what was the near-future year of 1997, in a crime-ridden United States that has converted Manhattan Island in New York City into the country's maximum security prison; when Air Force One is hijacked by terrorists and crashes into New York City, ex-soldier and federal prisoner Snake Plissken is given 24 hours to rescue the President of the United States. Carpenter wrote the film in the mid-1970s in reaction to the Watergate scandal. After the success of Halloween, he had enough influence to begin production and filmed it in St. Louis, Missouri on an estimated budget of $6 million. Debra Hill and Larry J. Franco served as the producers; the film was co-written by Nick Castle, who had collaborated with Carpenter by portraying Michael Myers in Halloween. Escape from New York was released in the United States on July 10, 1981; the film received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success, grossing over $25 million at the box office.
The film was nominated for four Saturn Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film and Best Direction. The film became a cult classic and was followed by a sequel, Escape from L. A., directed and written by Carpenter and starred Russell but was much less favorably received. In 1988, following a 400% increase in crime, the United States government has turned Manhattan into a giant maximum-security prison. A 50-foot containment wall surrounds the island, routes out of Manhattan have been dismantled or mined, while armed helicopters patrol the rivers, all prisoners there are sentenced to life, with no means of leaving. In 1997, NATO is engaged in an escalating war with the Soviet Union across much of Europe, which threatens to imminently become a global nuclear holocaust. While traveling to a peace summit between the United States and the Soviet Union, Air Force One is hijacked by a domestic terrorist posing as a stewardess; the President is given a tracking bracelet and his briefcase handcuffed to his wrist — a move which could defuse hostilities and bring peace between the Superpowers.
He makes it to an escape pod, lands in Manhattan just before Air Force One crashes, killing everyone else aboard. Police are dispatched to rescue the President. However, the right-hand man of the Duke of New York warns them that the Duke has taken the President hostage, that he will be killed if any further rescue attempts are mounted. Commissioner Bob Hauk offers a deal to Snake Plissken, a former Special Forces soldier convicted of attempting to rob the Federal Reserve in Denver, Colorado: if Snake rescues the President and retrieves the cassette tape, Hauk will arrange a presidential pardon. To ensure his compliance, Hauk has Plissken injected with micro-explosives that will rupture Snake's carotid arteries within 22 hours. Snake is sent into Manhattan in a stealth glider. Snake tracks the President's life-monitor bracelet to a vaudeville theater, only to find it on the wrist of an insane old man. Convinced that the President has been killed, he radios Hauk, only to be told that he will be shot down if he tries to come back out empty-handed.
Soon afterwards he meets "Cabbie," a long-serving New York taxi-driver, driving the streets of Manhattan for 30 years and somehow managed to remain in the city after its conversion to an open prison. Cabbie takes Snake in his armored taxi cab to Harold "Brain" Hellman, an adviser to the Duke and a former associate of Snake's, a brilliant engineer and has established a base in New York Central Library with an oil-pumping engine and a small refinery, which keeps the remainder of the city's cars and machinery running. Hellman betrayed Snake during a long-ago robbery plot and Snake is tempted to shoot him, but Brain tells Snake that the Duke plans to unify the gangs in a mass exodus across the guarded Queensboro Bridge, using the President as a human shield and a map Brain has created to avoid the landmines. Snake backs off, but forces Brain and his girlfriend Maggie to lead him to the Duke's compound at Grand Central Terminal, he is captured by the Duke's men. While Snake is forced to fight in a deathmatch with Slag, a prisoner and Maggie kill Romero and flee with the President.
As Snake kills Slag, the Duke rallies his gang to chase them. Snake, Brain and the President race to the World Trade Center in an attempt to use Snake's glider to escape from Manhattan. After a group of crazies destroy it, the group returns to the street and encounters Cabbie, who offers to take them across the bridge; when Cabbie reveals that he has the secret tape, the President demands it. The Duke pursues the group onto the bridge in his customized Cadillac, setting off mines as he tries to catch up. With Brain navigating through the minefield, Snake manages to avoid most of the explosives, but the cab hits a mine and is blown in half, killing Cabbie; as the group flees on foot, Brain is killed. Maggie refuses to leave him, she stands in the middle of the road, shooting at the Duke's car until he runs her down, killing her. Snake and the President reach the perimeter wall, the guards raise the President on a rope; the Duke opens fire on the wall, killing the guards and forcing Snake to dive for cover, but the President shoots the Duke dead with one of th
This Is Spinal Tap
This Is Spinal Tap is a 1984 American mockumentary film directed and co-written by Rob Reiner. It stars Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer as members of the fictional British heavy metal band Spinal Tap, Reiner as Marty Di Bergi, a documentary filmmaker who follows them on their American tour; the film satirizes the behavior and musical pretensions of rock bands and the hagiographic tendencies of rock documentaries such as Gimme Shelter, The Song Remains the Same, The Last Waltz. Most of its dialogue was improvised and dozens of hours were filmed; this is Spinal Tap received positive reviews, but was only a modest success upon its initial release. However, it found greater success and amassed a cult following after it was released on VHS. In 2002, it was deemed "culturally or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress, was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry. Filmmaker Marty Di Bergi follows the British rock group Spinal Tap on their 1982 United States concert tour to promote their new album Smell the Glove.
The band comprises childhood friends David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel on vocals and guitar, bassist Derek Smalls, keyboardist Viv Savage, drummer Mick Shrimpton; the band found early success as the Thamesmen with their single "Gimme Some Money", before changing their name and achieving a minor hit with the flower power anthem "Listen to the Flower People", transitioning to heavy metal. Several of their previous drummers died in strange circumstances: spontaneous human combustion, a "bizarre gardening accident", choking on someone else's vomit. Several of the band's shows are canceled because of low ticket sales, major retailers refuse to sell Smell the Glove because of its sexist cover art. Tensions arise between their manager Ian Faith. David's girlfriend Jeanine, a manipulative yoga and astrology devotee, joins the group on tour and participates in band meetings, influencing their costumes and stage presentation; the band's distributor opts to release Smell the Glove with an black cover without consulting the band.
Despite their manager convincing the band that it would have a similar appeal to the White Album, the album fails to draw crowds to autograph sessions with the band. Nigel suggests staging a lavish show, asks Ian to order a Stonehenge megalith. However, rushing a sketch on a napkin, mislabels its dimensions; the group blames Ian, when David suggests Jeanine should co-manage the group, Ian quits. The tour continues, rescheduled into smaller venues. Nigel is marginalized by David. At their next gig, at a United States Air Force base, Nigel is upset by an equipment malfunction and quits mid-performance. At their next gig, in an amphitheater at an amusement park, the band finds their repertoire is limited without Nigel, improvise an experimental "Jazz Odyssey", poorly received. At the last show of the tour and Derek consider exploring old side projects, such as a musical theatre production about Jack the Ripper. Before they go on stage, Nigel appears to tell them that their song "Sex Farm" has become a major hit in Japan, that Ian wants to arrange a tour there.
As the band performs, David invites Nigel onstage. With Faith reinstalled as manager, Spinal Tap performs a series of sold-out shows in Japan, despite the loss of drummer Mick, who explodes onstage. Michael McKean and Christopher Guest met while in college in New York City in the late 1960s, played music together, they worked with Harry Shearer and Rob Reiner on a TV pilot in 1978 for a sketch comedy show called The TV Show, which featured a parody rock band called Spinal Tap. During production of that sketch McKean and Guest began to improvise, inventing characters that became David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel. Guest had played guitar under the name "Nigel Tufnel" on Michael McKean and David Lander's album Lenny and the Squigtones; the entire film was shot over a period of about five weeks. The visit to Elvis Presley's grave was filmed in a park in Altadena, with a mock-up of the grave site; the band sings "Heartbreak Hotel" because, the only Elvis song for which producer Karen Murphy could obtain rights.
Rob Reiner procured $60,000 from Marble Arch Productions to write a screenplay with McKean and Shearer, based on the Spinal Tap characters. They realized after a few days of writing that no script could capture the kind of movie they wanted to make, so they decided instead to shoot a short demo of the proposed film, they shopped the demo around to various studios but had no takers, until television writer-producer Norman Lear decided to back the project. All dialogue in the film is improvised. Actors were given outlines indicating where scenes would begin and end and character information necessary to avoid contradictions, but everything else came from the actors; as as possible, the first take was used in the film, to capture natural reactions. Reiner wanted to list the entire cast as writers on the film to acknowledge their contributions, but the Writers' Guild objected, so only he, Guest, McKean, Shearer received writing credit. Veteran documentary cameraman Peter Smokler worked as cinematographer on the film.
Smokler had great instincts for camera placement on set, according to Reiner, is responsible for the film's handheld cinéma vérité style—although the cinematographer did not understand what was supposed to be funny about the movie. With Smokler behind the camera, the film was shot not as a feature film, but as a documentary, without
Carnal Knowledge
Carnal Knowledge is a 1971 American comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Jules Feiffer. It stars Jack Nicholson, Art Garfunkel, Ann-Margret, Candice Bergen; the story follows the sexual exploits of two Amherst College roommates over a 25-year period, from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. Sandy is passive, while Jonathan Fuerst is tough and aggressive. Sandy idolizes women, he uses the term "ballbuster" to describe women as emasculating teases whose main pleasure is to deny pleasure to men. Since each man's perspective of womanhood is extreme and self-serving, neither is able to sustain a relationship with a woman; the film has three parts. Part I occurs when Jonathan are college roommates. Part II follows the men several years after college. In the final part, the men have become middle-aged. In the beginning and Jonathan are discussing women, what kind appeals to each. Sandy wants a woman, intellectual. Jonathan is more interested in a woman's physical attributes. Sandy shyly meets Susan at an on-campus event and they begin dating.
Although they enjoy each other's company, Susan is reluctant to enter into a physical relationship. Unbeknownst to Sandy, she is pursued by Jonathan, they have sex. Jonathan tries to convince Susan not to have sex with Sandy, but after some delays, Susan is having sex with Sandy. Part I ends with Jonathan breaking up. Part II finds Sandy married to Susan, while Jonathan is still searching for his "perfect woman." Jonathan now defines perfection by a woman's bust figure. Jonathan begins a relationship with Bobbie, a beautiful woman who fulfills all of Jonathan's physical requirements. However, Jonathan berates Bobbie for being shallow. Jonathan finds that this purely physical relationship is no more satisfying than his previous relationship with Susan. Bobbie leaves her job at Jonathan's suggestion, she becomes depressed, spending long hours doing nothing but sleeping in the apartment she shares with Jonathan. The relationship deteriorates. Jonathan berates Bobbie for not cleaning up the apartment while he is out working a nine-to-five job all day.
He claims that he doesn't understand why breakups always have to end with "poison." Sandy's relationship with Susan is faring no better. Sandy is dissatisfied and bored with the physical part of their relationship though he and Susan "do all the right things." He relates how they are "patient with each other" and concludes with a statement that sex is not "meant to be enjoyable with a person you love." He says that being in bed with Susan as she tells him what to do is like taking orders on a short-order drill. Sandy and Susan end their relationship, he begins dating Cindy next. Sandy, Cindy and Bobbie find themselves together at Jonathan's apartment, where Jonathan suggests to Sandy that they trade partners, to "liven things up a bit." Sandy goes to the bedroom looking for Bobbie. Cindy dances with Jonathan and reprimands him for attempting to bed her with Sandy nearby, but indicates she is open to seeing him on his own, saying he should contact her at a more appropriate time. In the meantime, upset by an earlier fight with Jonathan about her desire to get married, Bobbie has attempted suicide.
She is found by Sandy. Part III opens with now-middle-aged Jonathan presenting a slideshow entitled "Ballbusters on Parade" to Sandy and his 18-year-old girlfriend, Jennifer; the slideshow consists of pictures of Jonathan's various loves throughout his life. He skips awkwardly over a slide of Susan, but not before Sandy notices, he shows an image of Bobbie, saying they are divorced and had one child together, he is paying her alimony. Jennifer leaves in tears. Sandy idolizes his new lover, explaining that "she knows worlds which I cannot begin to touch yet." Jonathan believes. Time passes. Jonathan is alone. A prostitute is with him, they go through a ritual dialogue about male/female relationships, a script written by Jonathan. At the end, the prostitute recites a monologue praising his power and "perfection," which has become the only way Jonathan can now get an erection. Jack Nicholson as Jonathan Fuerst Arthur Garfunkel as Sandy Candice Bergen as Susan Ann-Margret as Bobbie Rita Moreno as Louise Carol Kane as Jennifer Cynthia O'Neal as Cindy The script was written as a play.
Jules Feiffer sent it to Mike Nichols. The script contains numerous four-letter words, some of which were heard on the screen before this time; the changes in the morals of American society of the 1960s and 1970s and the general receptiveness by the public to frank discussion of sexual issues was sometimes at odds with local community standards. A theatre in Albany, showed the film. On January 13, 1972, the local police served a search warrant on the theatre, seized the film. In March 1972, the theatre manager, Mr. Jenkins, was convicted of the crime of "distributing obscene material", his conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court of Georgia. On June 24, 1974, the U. S. Supreme Court found that the State of Georgia had gone too far in classifying material as obscene in view of its prior decision in Miller v. California, 413 U. S. 15, overturned the conviction in Jenkins v. Georgia, 418 U. S. 153 (197
Watership Down (film)
Watership Down is a 1978 British animated adventure-drama film, written and directed by Martin Rosen and based on the novel Watership Down by Richard Adams. It was financed by a consortium of British financial institutions and was distributed by Cinema International Corporation in the United Kingdom. Released on 19 October 1978, the film was an immediate success and it became the sixth most popular film of 1979 at the UK box office, it features the voices of John Hurt, Richard Briers, Harry Andrews, Simon Cadell, Nigel Hawthorne and Roy Kinnear, among others, was the last film work of Zero Mostel, as the voice of Kehaar the gull. The musical score was by Malcolm Williamson. Art Garfunkel's hit song "Bright Eyes", written by songwriter Mike Batt features. In Lapine language mythology, the world was created by the god Frith. All animals were grass eaters; the rabbits multiplied, their appetite led to a food shortage. Frith was scoffed at. In retaliation, Frith gave special gifts to every animal, making some into predators to control the rabbits.
Satisfied that El-Ahrairah has learned his lesson, Frith gives rabbits the gifts of speed and cunning. In the present, in a warren near Sandleford, a rabbit seer named Fiver has an apocalyptic vision and takes his older brother Hazel to beg the chief to evacuate; the chief dismisses them, orders Captain Holly, the head of the warren's Owsla police force, to stop those trying to leave. Fiver, Bigwig, Pipkin, Dandelion and Violet manage to escape, passing a sign confirming that a residential development is coming, they journey through the woods, avoiding several dangerous situations until Violet – the group's only doe – is killed by a hawk. The others meet Cowslip, who invites them to his warren, where a farmer leaves Cowslip's group ample vegetables, they are grateful. Bigwig follows. Bigwig's friends manage to free him, Fiver learns that the farmer is protecting and feeding Cowslip's warren so that he can snare rabbits for his own meals; the group returns to its journey. The rabbits discover Nuthanger Farm.
Before they can free the females, the farm cat and dog chase them away. They are found by Captain Holly, who recounts the destruction of Sandleford by humans and vicious rabbits called the "Efrafans". Fiver finds the hill he envisioned, Watership Down, where the group settles in with Hazel as their chief, they befriend an injured black-headed gull, who flies out in search of does. The rabbits return to Nuthanger in a failed attempt to free the does. Fiver follows a vision of the mythical Black Rabbit to his injured brother. Kehaar returns and, while pecking out buckshot from Hazel's leg, reports of the many does at the large Efrafa warren. Captain Holly describes it as a dangerous totalitarian state. Bigwig is made an Owsla officer by the cruel chief, General Woundwort. Bigwig recruits several potential escapees to his cause, including Blackavar and Hyzenthlay. With Kehaar's help, the escapees find a boat to float down the river; that night, Kehaar leaves for his homeland with the gratitude of the warren.
Efrafan trackers find Watership Down. Woundwort rejects Hazel's offer of peace and demands that all deserters must be turned over or Watership Down will be wiped out. While the Watership rabbits barricade their warren, Fiver slips into a trance, in which he envisions a dog loose in the woods, his mumblings inspire Hazel to lead it to the Efrafans. Hazel unties the dog while Blackberry and Hyzenthlay bait it into following them. Meanwhile, the Efrafans break through the warren's defences. Woundwort slays Blackavar battles with Bigwig; when the dog arrives and attacks the Efrafan soldiers, Woundwort fearlessly confronts the dog. No trace of Woundwort is found. Several years an elderly Hazel is visited by the Black Rabbit, who invites him to join his own Owsla, assuring him of Watership Down's perpetual safety. Reassured, Hazel dies peacefully, his spirit follows the Black Rabbit through the woodland and trees towards the Sun, which metamorphoses into Frith, the afterlife, as Frith's advice to El-Ahrairah is heard once more.
Production of the film began in 1975 and was to be directed by John Hubley, who left after disagreements with the film's producer Martin Rosen. His work can still be found in the film, most notably in the "fable" scene, he was replaced by his directorial debut. After the genesis story, rendered in a narrated simple cartoon fashion, the animation style changes to a detailed, naturalistic one. There are concessions to render the animals anthropomorphic only to suggest that they have human voices and minds, some facial expressions for emotion, paw gestures; the animation backgrounds are watercolors. Only one of the predators, the farm cat Tab, is given the rest remaining mute; the backgrounds and locations Efrafa and the nearby railway, are based on the diagrams and maps in Richard Adams's original novel. Most of the locations in the movie either exist or were based on real spots in Hampshire and surrounding areas. Although the film is faithful to the novel, several changes were made to the storyline to decrease overly detailed complexity and improve the pace and flow of the plot.
In addition, the order in which some events occur is re-arranged. Unlike many an
