1.
Sundance Film Festival
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The Sundance Film Festival, a program of the Sundance Institute, is an American film festival that takes place annually in Park City, Utah. With 46,660 attendees in 2016, it is the largest independent film festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the 2017 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to January 29,2017. Sundance began in Salt Lake City in August 1978, as the Utah/US Film Festival in an effort to more filmmakers to Utah. It was founded by Sterling Van Wagenen, John Earle, the 1978 festival featured films such as Deliverance, A Streetcar Named Desire, Midnight Cowboy, Mean Streets, and The Sweet Smell of Success. The festival also highlighted the work of filmmakers who worked outside the Hollywood system. The jury of the 1978 festival was headed by Gary Allison, and included Verna Fields, Linwood G. Dunn, Katharine Ross, Charles E. Sellier Jr. Mark Rydell, and Anthea Sylbert. More than 60 films were screened at the festival that year, also that year, the first Frank Capra Award went to Jimmy Stewart. The festival also made a profit for the first time, in 1980, Catania left the festival to pursue a production career in Hollywood. Several factors helped propel the growth of Utah/US Film Festival, first was the involvement of actor and Utah resident Robert Redford, who became the festivals inaugural chairman. By having Redfords name associated with the festival, it received great attention, secondly, the country was hungry for more venues that would celebrate American-made films as the only other festival doing so at the time was the USA Film Festival in Dallas. Response in Hollywood was unprecedented as major studios did all they could to contribute their resources, in 1981, the festival moved to Park City, Utah, and changed the dates from September to January. It was called the US Film and Video Festival, in 1984, the now well-established Sundance Institute, headed by Sterling Van Wagenen, took over management of the US Film Festival. The branding and marketing transition from the US Film Festival to the Sundance Film Festival was managed under the direction of Colleen Allen, Allen Advertising Inc. by appointment of Robert Redford. In 1991 the festival was renamed the Sundance Film Festival, after Redfords character The Sundance Kid from the film Butch Cassidy. The majority of the screenings, including the festivals premieres. The 2013 Sundance London Festival was held April 25–28,2013, Sundance London 2014 took place on April 25–27,2014 at the O2 arena. The Sundance London 2015 Festival was cancelled in an announcement on January 16,2015, Sundance London will return to London in 2016 from June 10–12 at Picturehouse Cinema in Londons West End
2.
The 400 Blows
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The 400 Blows is a 1959 French drama film, the debut by director François Truffaut, it stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, and Claire Maurier. One of the films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. Written by Truffaut and Marcel Moussy, the film is about Antoine Doinel, filmed on location in Paris and Honfleur, it is the first in a series of five films in which Léaud plays the semi-autobiographical character. The 400 Blows received numerous awards and nominations, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director, the OCIC Award, the film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing in 1960. The 400 Blows had a total of 4,092,970 admissions in France, making it Truffauts most successful film in his home country. The 400 Blows is widely considered one of the best French films in the history of cinema, in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics poll of the greatest films ever made, Antoine Doinel is a young boy growing up in Paris during the 1950s. Misunderstood by his parents for playing truant from school and stealing, the boy finally quits school after being caught plagiarizing Balzac by his teacher. He steals a typewriter from his stepfathers work place to finance his plans to leave home, the stepfather turns Antoine over to the police and Antoine spends the night in jail, sharing a cell with prostitutes and thieves. During an interview with the judge, Antoine’s mother confesses that her husband is not Antoine’s biological father, Antoine is placed in an observation center for troubled youths near the seashore. A psychologist at the center probes reasons for Antoines unhappiness, which the youth reveals in a series of monologues. One day, while playing football with the boys, Antoine escapes under a fence and runs away to the ocean. He reaches the shoreline of the sea and runs into it, the film concludes with a freeze-frame of Antoine, and the camera optically zooms in on his face, looking into the camera. The English title is a translation of the French but misses its meaning, as the French title refers to the idiom faire les quatre cents coups. On the first prints in the United States, subtitler and dubber Noelle Gillmor gave the film the title Wild Oats, before seeing it, some people thought the film covered the topic of corporal punishment. The semi-autobiographical film reflects events of Truffauts and his friends lives, in style, it expresses Truffauts personal history of French film, with references to other works—most notably a scene borrowed wholesale from Jean Vigos Zéro de conduite. Truffaut dedicated the film to the man who became his father, André Bazin. Besides being a study, the film is an exposé of the injustices of the treatment of juvenile offenders in France at the time. It was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 32nd Academy Awards, the film holds a very rare 100% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 54 reviews
3.
Antoine and Colette
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Antoine and Colette is the second film — a short — in François Truffauts series about Antoine Doinel, the character he follows from boyhood to adulthood through five films. The third is the feature film Stolen Kisses, Antoine Doinel — and Jean-Pierre Léaud, the actor who played him throughout all five films — had made his screen debut in 1959 with Truffauts first film, The 400 Blows. Antoine and Colette catches up with Antoine as a solitary 20-year-old who works at Phillips manufacturing LPs to support himself. He lives in a room by himself in Place Clichy, listening to opera and classical music and spending time with René. One day, while attending a Berlioz Music Programme with René, he spots Colette, a school student. Colette is his own age, but unlike Antoine has a warm, Antoine forms a strong friendship with Colette and, eventually, also her parents who begin to treat him as if he were a part of their family. Although she continues to him kindly, it slowly becomes apparent that she is not interested in him romantically. He sulks about this and at first refuses to see her and it is clear that her family still consider him a surrogate son and are possibly hoping for something romantic to happen between the two teenagers. All of these hopes are dashed, however, when the pretty Colette is met at the front door by an older man and her parents and Antoine look helplessly on as she disappears off with her date. They are all left to watch television, doinels adventures follow with Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board and Love on the Run. Truffaut had just finished Jules and Jim in 1962 when he was approached by film producer Pierre Roustang for his omnibus film project Love At Twenty. Truffaut was influential in helping to select Shintarô Ishihara, Marcel Ophüls, Renzo Rossellini, Antoine and Colette is a largely autobiographical work, based on seventeen-year-old Truffauts infatuation with an unconventional beauty named Liliane Litvin. Truffaut met Litvin at the Cinémathèque Française and quit his job as a welder, like Antoine, he took an apartment across the street from hers so that he could monitor her activities. However, she was not interested in him nor in any of his friends
4.
Battle Beyond the Stars
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Battle Beyond the Stars, intended as a Magnificent Seven in outer space, is based on The Magnificent Seven, the Western remake of Akira Kurosawas film Seven Samurai. The screenplay was written by John Sayles, the score was composed by James Horner, the farmers of the peaceful planet Akir are threatened by the space tyrant Sador and his army of mutants, the Malmori. Sadors huge ship carries a weapon called a Stellar Converter, which turns planets into small stars and he threatens to use the Converter unless the planet submits to him when he returns in several days. Zed, the last Akira warrior, is old and nearly blind and he suggests they hire mercenaries to protect the planet. Lacking valuable resources, they can only offer food and shelter in payment, unable to go himself, Zed offers his ship for the job if they can find a pilot. The ship is fast and well-armed but, despite its AI navigation and tactical computer Nell, Shad, a young man who has piloted the ship and is well-known to Nell, volunteers for the recruiting mission. Shads first stop is the Hephaestus space station, which repairs androids, expecting to find weapons, Shad instead finds only two humans among the androids, Doctor Hephaestus, kept on life support, and his beautiful daughter Nanelia. The doctor attempts to force Shad to mate with his daughter, Shad doesnt want to abandon his people, and escapes, with Nanelia following in her own ship. Although she has no weapons, her highly advanced computer systems might be useful, the two split up to look for more mercenaries. Shad comes across Space Cowboy, a truck driver from Earth. Shad learns that Cowboy is late delivering a shipment of guns to a planet which, as they watch. Lacking the fuel to carry the weapons home, Cowboy offers to them to Akir. Shad talks him into teaching the Akira to use the guns, later, Shad meets a set of five alien clones who share a group consciousness named Nestor. They admit their life is dull, since their whole race shares one mind. In order to be entertained, they have sent five members to join Shads cause, Nestor does not require payment, saying they are completely self-sufficient. Next, Shad recruits Gelt, an assassin who is so well known he cant show his face on any civilized planet. Gelt offers his services in trade for the ability to live peacefully hiding among the Akira, gelts spaceship is highly maneuverable and well armed. On his way back to Akir, Shad is approached by Saint Exmin and she is a headstrong woman looking to prove herself in battle
5.
Jimmy T. Murakami
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Teruaki Jimmy Murakami was an American animator and film director with a long career working in numerous countries. Among his best-known works are the adaptations of the Raymond Briggs books When the Wind Blows. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for The Magic Pear Tree, as a child, Murakami was interned with his family at the Tule Lake War Relocation Center in northern California. Murakami attended Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, and worked as an animator at UPA in Burbank, following a short stint with Toei Animation in Tokyo, Murakami joined TVC in London in 1960. He returned to Los Angeles in 1965, and established Murakami Wolf Productions, Murakami then moved to Ireland in 1971 and established Quarteru Films. Murakami formed Murakami-Wolf Films with Fred Wolf and he also directed the music video for King of the Mountain, the single from Kate Bushs album Aerial. In 1989, with his former partner Fred Wolf, he established Murakami Wolf Dublin to produce the hit animation series “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Jimmy Murakami - Non Alien was premiered in Dublin at the 2010 IFI Stranger than Fiction Film Festival
6.
Before Stonewall
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Before Stonewall, The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community is a 1984 American documentary film about the LGBT community prior to the 1969 Stonewall riots. It was narrated by author Rita Mae Brown, directed by Greta Schiller, co-directed by Robert Rosenberg, and co-produced by John Scagliotti and Rosenberg and it premiered at the 1984 Toronto Festival of Festivals and was released in the United States on June 27,1985. In 1999, producer Scagliotti directed a companion piece, After Stonewall, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film has been selected to be shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016. Before Stonewall was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival, in 1987, the film won Emmy Awards for Best Historical/Cultural Program and Best Research. In 1989, it won the Festivals Plate at the Torino International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, before Stonewall at the Internet Movie Database Before Stonewall at AllMovie
7.
Blood Simple
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Blood Simple is a 1984 American neo-noir crime film written, edited, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The films title derives from the Dashiell Hammett novel Red Harvest, in which the term blood simple describes the addled, in 2001, a Directors cut was released. It ranked #98 on AFIs 100 Years.100 Thrills, the film also placed #73 on Bravos 100 Scariest Movie Moments. The film opens with a short voice-over monologue voiced by M. Emmet Walsh as various images of the Texas landscape are shown, the film then shifts to a conversation between Abby and Ray in a car as it drives through a heavy downpour at night. They seem to be discussing Abbys bad marriage and Ray indicates that hes driving her to Houston, but instead of driving Abby to Houston, Ray drives to a motel and they have sex. We later find out that Julian Marty, who owns a Texas bar, has suspected Abbys affair with Ray, one of his bartenders, when Visser reports back to Marty, he teases him about being cuckolded. The morning after their tryst, Marty makes a silent phone call to Ray, the following day Ray goes to the bar to collect his earnings, two weeks worth of work, but instead confronts Marty and quits his job. Marty threatens Rays life and advises him not to trust Abby, Marty then hires Visser to kill the couple. Visser suggests he take a trip to Corpus Christi to establish an alibi. He then breaks into Rays home, steals Abbys gun, Visser presents an edited photo of their fake corpses to Marty, who dumps four dead fish on his desk. Marty goes to the bathroom to vomit, then opens the safe to give Visser his $10,000 fee, Visser then shoots Marty with Abbys gun in a double cross, leaving her gun at the scene as evidence that she killed Marty. But he accidentally leaves his lighter and does not realize that Marty has stolen one of the incriminating photographs. Ray returns to the bar to get his last paycheck and accidentally kicks Abbys gun and he finds a motionless Marty and decides to cover up the murder, which he assumes Abby has committed. He cleans up the blood and disposes of evidence in a backyard incinerator, while Ray is driving down a lonely country road at night to dispose of the body he sees that Marty is still alive and stops the car and runs into a field. When he catches his breath and returns to the car, Marty is out of the car slowly crawling down the road, Ray struggles to get him back into the car as a truck approaches. The scene jumps to Ray digging a grave in a plowed field. As he throws dirt onto Martys body, Marty pulls the gun out and tries twice to shoot Ray, Ray takes the gun and buries Marty alive. Ray calls Abby from a booth and tells her he loves her
8.
Coen brothers
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Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen, collectively referred to as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody and their best-reviewed works include Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, True Grit, and Inside Llewyn Davis. The brothers write, direct, and produce their films jointly, although until The Ladykillers, Joel received sole credit for directing and they often alternate top billing for their screenplays while sharing film credits for editor under the alias Roderick Jaynes. The duo also won the Palme dOr for Barton Fink, and were nominated for Fargo, the Coen brothers have written a number of films that neither of the two directed. Ethan is also a writer of stories, theater. Their films No Country for Old Men, A Serious Man, Joel and Ethan Coen were born and raised in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Their mother, Rena, was an art historian at St. Cloud State University, when they were children, Joel saved money from mowing lawns to buy a Vivitar Super 8 camera. Together, the brothers remade movies they saw on television, with a kid, Mark Zimering. Their first attempt was a romp entitled Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go, cornel Wildes The Naked Prey became their Zeimers in Zambia, which also featured Ethan as a native with a spear. Joel Coen has said, in regards to whether our background influences our film making, theres no doubt that our Jewish heritage affects how we see things. Joel and Ethan graduated from St. Louis Park High School in 1973 and 1976 and they both also graduated from Bard College at Simons Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Joel then spent four years in the film program at New York University. Ethan went on to Princeton University and earned a degree in philosophy in 1979. His senior thesis was a 41-page essay, Two Views of Wittgensteins Later Philosophy, Joel has been married to actress Frances McDormand since 1984. They adopted a son from Paraguay, named Pedro McDormand Coen and she also did a voice-over in Barton Fink. Ethan married film editor Tricia Cooke in 1990 and they have two children, daughter Dusty and son Buster Jacob, who goes to Vassar College. Both couples live in New York, after graduating from New York University, Joel worked as a production assistant on a variety of industrial films and music videos. He developed a talent for film editing and met Sam Raimi while assisting Enda Ruth Paul in editing Raimis first feature film, in 1984, the brothers wrote and directed Blood Simple, their first commercial film together
9.
Boxcar Bertha
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Boxcar Bertha is a 1972 American film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a adaptation of Sister of the Road, a pseudo-autobiographical account of the fictional character Bertha Thompson. It was Scorseses second feature film, the film tells the story of Bertha Thompson and Big Bill Shelly, two train robbers and lovers who are caught up in the plight of railroad workers in the American South. When Bertha is implicated in the murder of a wealthy gambler, julie Corman researched female gangsters and came across the story of Boxcar Bertha. Martin Scorsese was hired to direct on the strength of his first feature and he was given the lead actors, including Barbara Hershey, David Carradine, and Barry Primus, and a shooting schedule of 24 days in Arkansas. The Reader Railroad was used for the train scenes, Scorsese makes a cameo in the film as one of Berthas clients during the brothel montage. List of American films of 1972 Boxcar Bertha at the Internet Movie Database Boxcar Bertha at AllMovie Boxcar Bertha at the TCM Movie Database Boxcar Bertha at Rotten Tomatoes
10.
Brady's Escape
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Hosszú vágta is a Hungarian film directed by Pál Gábor. Under the name Bradys Escape was released in English in the United States in 1984, the movie starred John Savage and Kelly Reno. Savage played the part of an Air Force pilot, shot down over German-controlled Hungary during World War II, Reno played the part of a cowboy-idolizing teenager. Hosszú vágta at the Internet Movie Database
11.
The Brother from Another Planet
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The Brother from Another Planet is a 1984 science fiction film written, directed and edited by John Sayles. It stars Joe Morton as The Brother, an alien and escaped slave who, while fleeing Another Planet, has crash-landed and it has been also described as a film in the Afrofuturism genre. Upon arrival in Ellis Island, the Brother displays psychic powers, the Brother also has telekinetic powers but, unable to speak, he struggles to express himself and adjust to his new surroundings, including a stint in the Job Corps at a video arcade in Manhattan. The Brother has escaped enslavement on the planet he comes from and this is made evident in the film when he is in a museum with a young boy. He points to an illustration, displayed in the museum, depicting an enslaved African American who is running away, and then points to himself, indicating a similarity. While the Brother does not speak, much of the consists of other characters blabbing on to him, seemingly unaware. This can be interpreted as a commentary on how self-absorbed people are, Sayles describes this movie as being about the immigrant experience of assimilation. He spent part of his MacArthur Fellows genius grant on the film, vincent Canby called it a nice, unsurprising shaggy-dog story that goes on far too long but singled out Joe Mortons sweet, wise, unaggressive performance. The Brother from Another Planet at the Internet Movie Database The Brother from Another Planet at AllMovie The Brother from Another Planet film preview at YouTube
12.
Cutter's Way
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Cutters Way is a 1981 thriller directed by Ivan Passer. The film stars Jeff Bridges, John Heard, and Lisa Eichhorn, the screenplay was by Jeffrey Alan Fiskin, based on the novel Cutter and Bone by Newton Thornburg. One rainy night, Richard Bones car breaks down in an alleyway and he spots a large, mysterious car in the distance. A man dumps something into a garbage can, at first, Bone thinks nothing of it and proceeds to meet his friend, Alex Cutter. The next day, a girl is found brutally murdered in the same alleyway where Bone abandoned his car. When Bone spots the man he thinks is the murderer in a parade later that day – local tycoon J. J, cord – Cutter begins to take an interest in the mystery that unfolds. His interest soon becomes a theory that develops into a troublesome investigation with his skeptical friend. Gurian eventually informed Fiskin that he had bought the rights to the novel Cutter and Bone, Fiskin, who had little money, stole a copy of the book to read. In a 1981 interview, he said of the novel, The set-ups great, but the last half of the book is an instant replay of Easy Rider. You cannot make an out of this. Gurian agreed and hired Fiskin to write the screenplay, gurian arranged for the studio EMI to back the film financially, with Robert Mulligan to direct and Dustin Hoffman to play Alex Cutter. However, a conflict forced Hoffman to leave the project. This prompted Mulligan to leave as well, and EMI to pull its money, gurian took the film to United Artists, where the studios vice president, David Field, became interested in backing it. Gurian gave Fiskin a list of directors, Ivan Passers name was the one the screenwriter did not recognize. Fiskin and United Artists executives screened Passers Intimate Lighting and agreed he was the man to direct Cutter, Passer was already involved with another film, but chose to do Cutter and Bone instead after reading Fiskins script. The initial budget was to be $3.3 million, but then Field learned that United Artists would only produce the movie if the budget were reduced to $3 million and that a name star be cast. The studio liked Jeff Bridges work in the dailies for Michael Ciminos Heavens Gate and insisted on him for Cutter, Passer cast John Heard after seeing him in a Joseph Papp Shakespeare in the Park production of Othello. The studio wanted a star, but the director insisted on Heard, Lisa Eichhorn was cast as Mo after she auditioned with Bridges
13.
Day for Night (film)
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Day for Night is a 1973 French film directed by François Truffaut. It stars Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Pierre Léaud, in English, the technique is called day for night, and is the films English title. In between are several small vignettes chronicling the stories of the crew-members and the director, Ferrand who tangles with the problems one deals with when making a movie. Behind the camera, the actors and crew go through several romances, affairs, break-ups, the production is especially shaken up when one of the secondary actresses is revealed to be pregnant. Finally, Alexandre dies on the way to hospital after a car accident, cast notes, Author Graham Greene makes a cameo appearance as an insurance company representative, billed under the name Henry Graham. One of the themes is whether or not films are more important than life for those who make them. The film opens with a picture of Lillian and Dorothy Gish, the films title in French could be read as Lennui américain, Truffaut wrote elsewhere of the way French cinema critics inevitably make this pun of any title which uses nuit. The film is considered one of Truffauts greatest films. For example, it is one of two Truffaut films featured on Time magazines list of the 100 Best Films of the Century and it has also been called the most beloved film ever made about filmmaking. Jean-Luc Godard walked out of Day for Night in disgust, Truffaut responded with a long letter critical of Godard, and the two former friends never met again. The film was screened out of competition at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, the film won the 1974 BAFTA Award for Best Film and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Valentina Cortese was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and Truffaut for the Academy Award for Directing
14.
John Schlesinger
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John Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director, and actor. He won an Academy Award for Best Director for Midnight Cowboy, Schlesinger was born in London, into a middle class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician. After St Edmunds School, Hindhead, Uppingham School and Balliol College, Oxford, Schlesingers acting career began in the 1950s and consisted of supporting roles in British films such as The Divided Heart and Oh. Rosalinda. and British television productions such as BBC Sunday Night Theatre, The Adventures of Robin Hood and he began his directorial career in 1956 with the short documentary Sunday in the Park about Londons Hyde Park. In 1959, Schlesinger was credited as exterior or second unit director on 23 episodes of the TV series The Four Just Men and his first two fiction films, A Kind of Loving and Billy Liar were set in the North of England. A Kind of Loving won the Golden Bear award at the 12th Berlin International Film Festival in 1962 and his third feature film, Darling, tartly described the modern, urban way of life in London and was one of the first films about swinging London. Schlesingers next film was the period drama Far from the Madding Crowd, both films featured Julie Christie as the female lead. Schlesingers next film, Midnight Cowboy, was internationally acclaimed, a story of two hustlers living on the fringe in the bad side of New York City, it was Schlesingers first film shot in the US, and it won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture. During the 1970s, he made an array of films that were mainly about loners, losers and people outside the world, such as Sunday Bloody Sunday, The Day of the Locust, Marathon Man. In Britain, he did better with films like Madame Sousatzka, other later works include An Englishman Abroad, the TV play A Question of Attribution, The Innocent and The Next Best Thing. Schlesinger also directed Timon of Athens for the Royal Shakespeare Company, from 1973, he was an associate director of the Royal National Theatre, where he produced George Bernard Shaws Heartbreak House. He also directed operas, beginning with Les contes dHoffmann and Der Rosenkavalier. Schlesinger admitted to having voted for all three political parties in the UK at one time or another. Schlesinger was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to film in 1970, in 2003, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California Walk of Stars was dedicated to him. Schlesinger underwent a heart bypass in 1998, before suffering a stroke in December 2000. He was taken off life support at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs on 24 July 2003 and he was survived by his partner of over 30 years, photographer Michael Childers. A memorial service was held on 30 September 2003
15.
The Hit (1984 film)
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The Hit is a 1984 British road crime film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Hurt, Terence Stamp, Laura del Sol and Tim Roth. The film was Stamps first starring role in over a decade, the title music is provided by Roger Waters and Eric Clapton. Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia performed the soundtrack music, the film was released on DVD by The Criterion Collection in April 2009. London gangster Willie Parker gives evidence against his criminal compatriots in return for a generous offer from the police. Ten years later, Parker lives in retirement in Spain until four Spanish youths kidnap him. In the course of the kidnapping they also murder a Spanish policeman who has assigned to guard Parker. At least three of the youths are then killed by a bomb in a briefcase handed to them by Braddock, Braddock is a world-weary professional killer, while Myron is his hot-blooded apprentice. Parker quickly adopts a carefree demeanour, claiming hes had ten years to accept death as a simple part of life. Parker intentionally reveals his identity to Harry, ultimately forcing the hit men to kidnap Maggie, the group heads toward the French border intending to reach Paris, where the kingpin against whom Parker testified is waiting for his arrival. All the while, Parker sows discord between the two hit men, causing a number of violent incidents that keep the police hot on their trail, a senior police inspector follows the trail of bodies. While stopping at a bar, Myron is laughed at by some men while he is ordering beers. Myron has developed a fondness for Maggie and begins protecting her from Braddock, Braddock takes Maggie with him to get petrol for the car. Maggie tries to alert the station attendant to her plight, resulting in Braddock shooting the attendant dead and they return to find Myron has fallen asleep and allowed Parker to slip away. Braddock finds him gazing at a waterfall and confronts him about his lack of concern over his impending death, Parker reminds Braddock that death is inevitable for all and quotes John Donnes poem Death Be Not Proud. The next day, Braddock drives to a hillside and announces that hes scrapped the plans to go to Paris. Suddenly afraid, Parker insists that he cant die until he goes to Paris, Braddock levels a pistol at him and shoots him in the back as he flees. He then turns the pistol on Myron and kills him, Maggie surprises him and they wrestle over the gun. During the struggle, Braddock fires the last shot into the air and knocks Maggie unconscious, without bullets, he lets Maggie live, the police locate Maggie and the two bodies
16.
The Killing Fields (film)
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The Killing Fields is a 1984 British drama film about the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, which is based on the experiences of two journalists, Cambodian Dith Pran and American Sydney Schanberg. The adaptation for the screen was written by Bruce Robinson, the score was written by Mike Oldfield. In the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, during May 1973, the Cambodian national army is fighting a war with the Khmer Rouge. Dith Pran, a Cambodian journalist and interpreter for The New York Times, awaits the arrival of reporter Sydney Schanberg at the citys airport, Schanberg takes a cab to his hotel where he meets up with Al Rockoff. Pran meets Schanberg later and tells him that an incident has occurred in a town, Neak Leung, allegedly, Schanberg and Pran go to Neak Leung where they find that the town has been bombed. Schanberg and Pran are arrested when they try to photograph the execution of two Khmer Rouge operatives and they are eventually released and Schanberg is furious when the international press corps arrives with the U. S. Army. Two years later, in 1975, the Phnom Penh embassies are being evacuated in anticipation of the arrival of the Khmer Rouge, Schanberg secures evacuation for Pran, his wife and their four children. However, Pran insists that he would stay behind to help Schanberg, the Khmer Rouge move into the capital, ostensibly in peace. During a parade through the city, Schanberg meets Rockoff and they are later met by a detachment of the Khmer Rouge, who immediately arrest them. The group is taken through the city to an alley where prisoners are being held. Pran, unharmed because he is a Cambodian civilian, negotiates to spare the lives of his friends and they do not leave Phnom Penh, but instead retreat to the French embassy. Informed that the Khmer Rouge have ordered all Cambodian citizens in the embassy to be handed over and fearing the embassy will be overrun, Pran is turned over to the Khmer Rouge and is forced to live under their totalitarian regime. Several months after returning to New York City, Schanberg is in the midst of a campaign to locate Pran. In Cambodia, Pran has become a forced labourer under the Khmer Rouges Year Zero policy, Pran is also forced to attend propagandist classes where many undergo re-education. As intellectuals are made to disappear, Pran feigns simple-mindedness, eventually, he tries to escape, but is recaptured. In 1976 Sydney Schanberg is awarded a Pulitzer prize for his coverage of the Cambodian conflict, at the acceptance dinner he tells the audience that half the recognition for the award belongs to Pran. Later in the restroom, he is confronted by Rockoff, who accuses him of not doing enough to locate Pran. Schanberg defends his efforts, saying that he has contacted every humanitarian relief agency possible in the time since Prans disappearance, Rockoff suggests that Schanberg subtly pressured Pran to remain in Cambodia because Pran was so vital to Schanbergs work
17.
Mrs. Soffel
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It was filmed on location in and around the Serez family farm in Mulmer, Ontario, as well as Wisconsin and establishing shots in Pittsburgh. The jail sequences were filmed in both the Allegheny County Courthouse and old Allegheny County Jail, the film was entered in the 35th Berlin International Film Festival. Kate Soffel is the wife of a Pittsburgh prison warden in 1901, after several months of being sick in bed for no discernible reason that doctors can figure out, she suddenly regains her strength. She visits inmates to read Bible scripture to them and meets Ed Biddle and his brother Jack, mrs. Soffel falls in love with Ed and enables him and Jack to escape, smuggling bar-cutting blades to him at the prison. They go on the run together, with tragic results
18.
Not for Publication
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For the 1951-52 DuMont television series, see Not for Publication. Not for Publication is a 1984 screwball comedy film directed by Paul Bartel and it premiered at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival before being acquired for distribution by Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment. David Naughton, Laurence Luckinbill, Alan Rosenberg, and Alice Ghostley also appear, lois Thornedyke, the daughter of a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, writes a scandal column for a New York city tabloid. She gets a chance to upgrade her career when she uncovers a conspiracy reaching into city government at the time she is being romanced by the citys Mayor. Lois and her quirky sidekicks pit naivete against evil and go undercover, unfortunately, what they discover is not for publication. Lois is a reporter at a newspaper, a paragon of yellow journalism that she is determined to turn back to its first incarnation as The New York Enforcer. While TV Guide offered even wider praise saying The story is wildly improbable, the dialog is inventive and the characters bizarre, and it all smacks of those cult movies that will have a long life in the Saturday night midnight shows around the country. Not for Publication at the Internet Movie Database Not for Publication at AllMovie Not for Publication at Rotten Tomatoes
19.
Paris, Texas (film)
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Paris, Texas is a 1984 drama film directed by Wim Wenders and starring Harry Dean Stanton, Dean Stockwell, Nastassja Kinski, and Hunter Carson. The screenplay was written by L. M. Kit Carson and playwright Sam Shepard, the cinematography was by Robby Müller. The film was a co-production between companies in France and West Germany, and was filmed in the United States, the plot focuses on an amnesiac who, after mysteriously wandering out of the desert, attempts to reconnect with his brother and seven-year-old son. He and his son end up embarking on a voyage through the American Southwest to track down his long-missing wife. The film unanimously won the Palme dOr at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival from the jury, as well as the FIPRESCI Prize. The film has released on DVD and Blu-ray by the Criterion Collection. Travis Henderson is walking alone across a vast South Texas desert landscape, looking for water, he enters a saloon and collapses. He is treated by a doctor, but does not speak or respond to questions, the doctor finds a phone number on Travis, calls the Los Angeles number, and reaches his brother, Walt Henderson, who agrees to pick him up. When Walt arrives in Texas, he discovers that Travis is gone, when he finds him wandering alone, Walt tells his silent brother that he will take him back to Los Angeles. They stop at a motel, but Travis wanders off again, Walt finds him, and the two drive to a diner, where Walt begins to question the still silent Travis more forcefully about his disappearance. Walt and his wife, Anne, have not heard from Travis in four years, after Travis abandoned his son Hunter, Walt and Anne took care of him for four years. Travis is visibly moved by the mention of his son, when Travis refuses to fly, Walt rents a car, and the brothers begin a two-day road trip back to Los Angeles. The next day, as the two continue their journey, Travis shows Walt a weathered photograph of a vacant lot. He explains that he purchased the property in Paris, Texas, when they arrive in Los Angeles, Travis meets Anne and the son whom he abandoned four years earlier. Hunter is uncomfortable around this stranger who is his father, Walt shows some old home movies, hoping to evoke good memories and help break the ice between the father and son. The movies show Travis with his wife, Jane, and their young son, in the coming days, the relationship between Travis and his son slowly grows, and a bond of trust between the two starts to develop. Anne tells Travis that although she has not heard from Hunters mother for a long time and she reveals the name of the bank in Houston, where the deposits are made. Travis becomes determined to find his lost wife, and when he tells his son that he plans to travel to Houston to find his mother, Travis and Hunter leave for Texas without telling Walt and Anne
20.
Stranger Than Paradise
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The film features a minimalist plot in which the main character, Willie, has a cousin from Hungary named Eva. Eva stays with him for ten days before going to Cleveland, Willie and his friend Eddie eventually go to Cleveland to visit Eva. This film is entirely in single long takes with no standard coverage. The film is a story about Willie, who lives in New York City. In the first act, Willies cousin Eva comes from Hungary to stay with him for ten days because Aunt Lotte, Willie at first makes it clear that he does not want her there. He even orders Eva to speak English for the ten-day period, however, Willie soon begins to enjoy her company. This becomes especially true when Eva steals food items from a store and gets a TV dinner for Willie. He ends up buying her a dress, which she later discards, after ten days, Eva leaves, and Willie is clearly upset to see her go. Eddie, who had met Eva previously, sees her right before she goes, the second act starts a year later and opens with a long take showing Willie and Eddie winning a large amount of money by cheating at a game of poker. Willie decides, because of all the money they now have and they decide to go to Cleveland to see Eva. However, when they get there they are just as bored as they were in New York and they end up tagging along with Eva and a friend, Billy, to the movies. They play cards with Willie and Evas aunt and they eventually decide to go back to New York. The final act begins with Willie and Eddie, on their way back to New York and they turn around and rescue Eva. The three of them get to Florida and get a room at a motel, the two men leave Eva in the Motel-room and end up losing all of their money on dog races. Eva wanders outside in the windy bleak rainy afternoon to the beach--which appears not much more appealing than the windy bleak snowy Lake Erie scene from which they fled, when they come back Eva is annoyed. At this point, Willy and Eddie decide to go back, Willie refuses to let Eva come along, so she goes out on the beach for a walk. Given her flamboyant wide-brimmed straw hat, she is mistaken by a carrier to be a dealer waiting to be paid. She goes back to the motel, leaves some of the money for Willie and Eddie, Willie and Eddie, having won all of their money back at the horse races, return to the motel, and find Eva is gone
21.
The Times of Harvey Milk
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The film was directed by Rob Epstein, produced by Richard Schmiechen, and narrated by Harvey Fierstein, with an original score by Mark Isham. In 2012, this film was deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant by the United States Library of Congress, the Times of Harvey Milk documents the political career of Harvey Milk, who was San Franciscos first openly gay supervisor. Other politicians including San Francisco mayor George Moscone, and Moscones successor, the movie opens with a tearful Feinstein delivering her announcement to the media that Moscone and Milk had been assassinated by Dan White. Also featured in the film is schoolteacher Tom Ammiano, who would go on to be a member of the California State Assembly. The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1984, a digitally restored version of the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection in March 2011
22.
Desert Hearts
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Desert Hearts is a 1985 American romantic drama film directed by Donna Deitch. The screenplay written by Natalie Cooper is an adaptation of the 1964 lesbian-themed novel Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule, the film stars Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau with a supporting performance by Audra Lindley. The film was released theatrically in the United States on March 7,1986 and it was released in the United Kingdom on June 6,1986. In 1959, Vivian Bell, a 35-year-old English professor at Columbia University in New York City, travels to Reno to establish residency in Nevada and she stays at a guest house ranch for women who are waiting for their divorces to be finalized. The guest ranch is owned by Frances Parker, Vivian meets Cay Rivvers, a younger, free-spirited sculptor whom Frances loves as if she were her mother. Cay works at a casino as an operator in Reno. When Vivian arrives, Cay notices her immediately, and the controlled and elegant Vivian, in turn, is taken aback by Cays boldness. Cay reveals that she has had relationships with women in the past, Frances jealously notices that Vivian is becoming a bigger and bigger part of Cays life, and resents her for it, afraid that Cay will leave her and the ranch, and she will be left alone. Frances sees Cay as her family, even though Cay is not her actual child. When everyone attends an engagement party for Cays best friend and co-worker, Silver, Cay drives a drunken Vivian to see Lake Tahoe afterwards, Vivian returns the kiss passionately and is so surprised by her response to Cays advance that she begs Cay to take her home. When they return to the ranch in the morning, Frances has Vivians bags. Cay leaves the ranch immediately, and Vivian transfers to a room at the Riverside Casino for the rest of her stay. After some days apart, both Cay and Vivian are clearly confused and hurt, Cay goes to visit Vivian at the hotel and overcomes Vivians resistance to making love with her, and they start a relationship. With the impending finalization of Vivians divorce, the two must sort out the future of their relationship. Vivian is afraid of people in her academic circle will think of her being in a relationship with another woman. At Silvers wedding, Vivian and Cay are in attendance, Frances and Cay are brought back together, in the final scene, after Vivians divorce has become finalized, she packs up and goes to the train station to return to New York. Cay accompanies her to the station, and as the train is pulling out, Vivian convinces Cay to come with her, at least as far as the next station. In 1979, Donna Deitch was searching for a story about a romance that was mainstream
23.
Restless Natives
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Restless Natives is a 1985 comedy film directed by Michael Hoffman and starring Vincent Friell, Joe Mullaney, and Ned Beatty. Filmed in Scotland, the story follows the adventures of two men who don masks and hold up tourist coaches in the Highlands. These modern highwaymen become local folk heroes as well as a tourist attraction in themselves, the soundtrack features music by Big Country. It was released on CD for the first time on the 1998 Big Country collection Restless Natives & Rarities, the film performed well at the box office in Scotland but struggled to make an impact elsewhere. Restless Nation Restless Natives at the Internet Movie Database
24.
The Trip to Bountiful
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The Trip to Bountiful is a 1985 film starring Geraldine Page, John Heard, Carlin Glynn, Richard Bradford and Rebecca De Mornay. Geraldine Page won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Carrie Watts, the movie was adapted by Horton Foote from his play of the same name. The Bountiful of the title is a fictitious Texas town, although set in Houston, Texas, the movie was filmed by director Peter Masterson in Dallas. The film features an all-star cast including John Heard and Geraldine Page, redford featuring Will Thompsons Softly and Tenderly sung by Grammy-award winner Cynthia Clawson. The film won the Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for Best Writing and her son and daughter-in-law both know that the town has long since disappeared, due to the Depression. Old Mrs. Watts is determined to outwit her son and bossy daughter-in-law and she eventually boards a bus to a town near her childhood home. On the journey, she befriends a girl traveling alone and reminisces about her younger years and her son and daughter-in-law eventually track her down, with the help of the local police force. The local sheriff, moved by her yearning to visit her girlhood home, the town is deserted, and the few remaining structures are derelict. Mrs. Watts learns that the last occupant of the town, and she is moved to tears as she surveys her fathers land and the remains of the family home. Having confronted their common history in Bountiful, the three commit to live peacefully together. They begin their drive back to Houston, on April 12,2005, MGM released The Trip to Bountiful on DVD in region 1 US in both a widescreen and a full-frame format on a two-sided disc
25.
Trouble in Mind (film)
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It was directed and written by Alan Rudolph, and stars Kris Kristofferson, Keith Carradine, Geneviève Bujold, and Lori Singer, with an out-of-drag appearance by Divine. The story starts off with the world-weary 1920s blues standard Trouble in Mind and ends with a song of love and reassurance, the opening line is I wouldnt say no to a woman or a job. The movie flips between reality and unreality in a variety of ways, with the time, language and setting unclear, the leading characters all display traits of the opposite of what they seem to be. There are déjà vus and some uncanny look-alike side characters that turn up in times and places. The four main characters convene by ones and pairs, get involved with one another, are joined by others, in the mysterious metropolis of Rain City, a former policeman, Hawk, is out of prison after serving eight years on a murder rap. He returns to his former hangout, Wandas Cafe, run by his former love, new arrivals in town are the down on his luck, Coop, his naive wife Georgia and their baby boy, Spike. In desperate need of money, Coop goes to work for a gangster, Solo, Hawk, meanwhile, begins to develop a protective and even romantic attachment to Georgia, who is hired by Wanda to be a waitress. Coop runs afoul of the mob boss in town, Hilly Blue, peter R. Tromp provided music as Divine’s strolling violinist. In the Chinatown restaurant scene Tromp performed Pachelbel’s Canon in D and J. S, during scenes filmed at the Seattle Art Museum Tromp performed Telemann’s Fantasia No. 6, “Autumn” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Biber’s Passacaglia, tromp’s appearance and music in Trouble in Mind were uncredited. Rain City was constructed out of Seattle locations, largely older areas on the edges of downtown and it was entered into the 36th Berlin International Film Festival. Factory released a 25th Anniversary DVD of the film, Trouble in Mind at the Internet Movie Database Trouble in Mind at AllMovie
26.
Valley Girl (film)
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Valley Girl is a 1983 American romantic comedy film directed by Martha Coolidge, and stars Nicolas Cage, Deborah Foreman, Michelle Meyrink, Elizabeth Daily, Cameron Dye and Michael Bowen. The American release of Valley Girl was April 29,1983, the plot is loosely based on Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet. At the end of a trip with her friends, Loryn, Stacey. Later that day at the beach, Julie trades shy glances with a man in the distance. That night, at a party at Suzis house, Julie locks eyes with Randy and they hit it off well, especially after Julie learns that Randy was the young man at the beach earlier. Tommy is jealous, and tries to bed Loryn and he fails and gets his cronies to eject Randy and Fred from the party. Undaunted, Randy sneaks back into the house, and hides in a bathroom shower. Randy waits in the shower for Julie to enter the bathroom as various partygoers come and go, talking about and trying to have sex, when Julie eventually does enter, Randy convinces her to leave the party with him. Julie brings a very reluctant Stacey along for the ride with Randy, while at Randys favorite Hollywood nightclub, Julie and Randy rapidly grow closer as Stacey continually rebuffs Freds advances. Julies friends, dismayed by her relationship with Randy, pressure her to drop him, Julie asks her father for advice, and he kindly tells her that she should follow her heart. Despite this, Julie reconciles with Tommy and later dumps Randy, a heartbroken Randy gets severely drunk, makes out with his ex-girlfriend, and nearly gets into a fight with a gang of low riders before Fred saves him. Fred chides Randy for moping over Julie, but tells him that he needs to fight if he wants her back. After Randy flits about the Valley for the few days just so he can get a glimpse at Julie. A subplot involves Suzi and her stepmother, Beth, vying for the attention of a boy named Skip, at her party, Suzi tells Beth, who is chaperoning, about Skip, who she likes and hopes will show up. When Skip does arrive, Beth finds herself attracted to him, Skip is also attracted to Beth and goes out of his way to go to see her without Suzi finding out. One day, Skip enters Suzis house, apparently looking for Beth and he goes upstairs and finds a woman in the shower in Beths bedroom. Skip and this woman, whose face is not shown, are shown making love. Another woman arrives home and goes upstairs, the bedroom door opens, Beth enters, and only then it is shown that Suzi was in the shower and in bed with Skip
27.
84 Charing Cross Road (film)
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84 Charing Cross Road is a 1987 British-American drama film directed by David Jones. The play has two characters, but the dramatis personae for the film were expanded to include Hanffs Manhattan friends. In 1949, Helene Hanff is in search of obscure classics and she notices an ad in the Saturday Review of Literature placed by antiquarian booksellers Marks & Co, located at the titular address in London. She contacts the shop, where chief buyer and manager Frank Doel fulfills her requests and their correspondence includes discussions about topics as diverse as the sermons of John Donne, how to make Yorkshire pudding, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the coronation of Elizabeth II. Hanff postpones visiting her English friends until too late, Doel dies in December 1968 and she finally visits Charing Cross Road and the vacant shop in the summer of 1971. Smith-Cameron as Ginny Connie Booth as the Lady from Delaware Tony Todd as Demolition Worker The film was shot on location in London, London settings include Buckingham Palace, Soho Square, Trafalgar Square, St Jamess, Westminster, White Hart Lane in Tottenham and suburban Richmond. Manhattan settings include Central Park, Madison Avenue, and Saint Thomas Church, interiors were filmed at Lee International Studios and Shepperton Studios in Surrey. In his review in The New York Times, Vincent Canby called it a movie guaranteed to put all teeth on edge. A movie of such unrelieved genteelness that it one long to head for Schraffts for a double-gin martini, straight up. Variety described it as a film on several counts, one of the most notable being Anne Bancrofts fantastic performance in the leading role. Brings Helene Hanff alive in all her dimensions, in the process creating one of her most memorable characterizations, roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times observed, The film is based on a hit London and New York play, which was based on a best-selling book. Given the thin and unlikely subject matter, that already is a series of miracles, and yet there are people who are pushovers for this material. I read the book and I saw the play and now I am reviewing the movie, Miss Fiske. was the librarian at the Urbana Free Library when I was growing up. She never had to talk to me about the love of books because she simply exuded it and she would have loved this movie. Sitting next to her, I suspect, I would have loved it, but Miss Fiske is gone now, and I found it pretty slow-going on my own. Gene Siskel, in his review for The Chicago Tribune, wrote and it should be irresistible to anyone able to appreciate the goodness of its spirit and its spirited characters. The film enjoyed a positive reception, and has a fresh 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In its opening weekend in the U. S. the film grossed $24,350 at one theater, the total U. S. box office was $1,083,486
