Best in Show (film)
Best in Show is a 2000 American mockumentary comedy film co-written by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy and directed by Guest. The film follows five entrants in a prestigious dog show, focuses on the surreal interactions among the various owners and handlers, as they travel to the show and compete during the show. There are short depictions of the characters six months after the show is over. Among the comedic aspects of the film are similarities between the personalities and characteristics of the owners and those of their dogs. Much of the dialogue was improvised. Many of the comic actors were involved in Guest's other films, including Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, Mascots; the film's score was composed by C. J. Vanston. Best in Show is presented as a documentary of five dogs and their owners destined to show in the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show, held in Philadelphia. Segments of the documentary continuously cycle among owners and handlers as each prepares to leave for the show, arrives at the hotel, prepares backstage, handles their dog's performance, appears in a post-show follow-up.
The owners and their dogs include: Gerry and Cookie Fleck, with their Norwich Terrier Winky -A middle-class couple from Florida, who run into monetary problems and are forced to sleep in the hotel's storage room when they arrive. Throughout the film, they encounter men. Meg and Hamilton Swan, with their Weimaraner Beatrice -An upper-class, stereotypical yuppie couple from Chicago, they think they are taking great care of Beatrice, going as far as taking her to a therapist after she sees Meg and Hamilton have sex. At the show, the Swans believe that Beatrice will become unnerved without her favorite toy, the "Busy Bee", frantically search for a replacement for it before the show. Harlan Pepper and his Bloodhound Hubert -The owner of a fishing goods store and an aspiring ventriloquist. An affable man who prides himself on being able to name nuts, Pepper's family has raised a variety of hounds for generations, Harlan continues the tradition by raising bloodhounds. Sherri Ann and Leslie Ward Cabot with their Standard Poodle Rhapsody in White -A two-time past winner of the show.
Sherri Ann is a trophy wife to her sugar daddy. They are assisted by trainer Christy Cummings who makes sure the dog is ready for the show, while Sherri Ann fixates on giving Christy a makeover and Leslie remains utterly oblivious. Over the course of the film, Sherri Ann and Leslie's sham marriage and Sherri Ann and Christy's romantic involvement becomes apparent. Scott Donlan and Stefan Vanderhoof and their Shih Tzu Miss Agnes -A campy gay couple, they take great pride in their dog, are confident that she will win the competition, they have a love of old movies, enjoy making fun of Christy Cummings, but are friendly to the other competitors the Flecks. The owners and their dogs all arrive in time for the show, hosted by dog expert Trevor Beckwith, oblivious "color" commentator Buck Laughlin. During the first round, Beatrice is disqualified when Hamilton cannot control her, but the other four dogs advance to the final round. Just before the finals, Cookie insists that Gerry take over for her.
Though the audience is awed by seeing Gerry's "two left feet" Winky takes Best in Show. Afterwards, the film explores. Gerry and Cookie are overcome with attention after the victory, they go on to record, in amusingly bad style, songs about terriers but discover to Gerry's frustration that the recording engineer is yet another of Cookie's ex-boyfriends. Sherri Ann and Christy have entered into a partnership and publish a magazine for lesbian owners of purebred dogs, called American Bitch. Harlan fulfills his dreams and becomes a ventriloquist, entertaining sparse crowds with a honky tonk song and dance number. Stefan and Scott are in the process of designing a calendar featuring Shih Tzu dogs appearing in scenes, with appropriate costume, from famous classic films, such as Gone with the Wind and Casablanca Hamilton and Meg Swan no longer have Beatrice, allowing them to enjoy a calmer, more loving partnership as well as a new dog named Kipper who they claim enjoys watching them make love; the starring dogs listed here are denoted by their registered names.
All have earned the title Ch. indicating they have qualified for a championship at a conformation show, with most qualifying at the Canadian Kennel Club Championship—hence the prefix Can. The breeder's kennel prefix, expressed in possessive form, precedes each dog's registered name; the registered name differs from the dog's call name, used to talk to the animal. In the example, Echobar Take Me Dancing's call name is "Peach". Can Ch. Arokat's Echobar Take Me Dancing - Beatrice the Weimaraner Can Ch. Urchin's Bryllo - Winky the Norwich Terrier Ch. Quiet Creek's Stand By Me - Hubert the Bloodhound Can Ch. Rapture's Classic - Miss Agnes the Shih Tzu Can Ch. Symarun's Red Hot Kisses - Tyrone the Shih Tzu Can Ch. Exxel's Dezi Duz
Actor
An actor is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film and television; the analogous Greek term is ὑποκριτής "one who answers". The actor's interpretation of their role—the art of acting—pertains to the role played, whether based on a real person or fictional character. Interpretation occurs when the actor is "playing themselves", as in some forms of experimental performance art. In ancient Greece and Rome, the medieval world, the time of William Shakespeare, only men could become actors, women's roles were played by men or boys. After the English Restoration of 1660, women began to appear on stage in England. In modern times in pantomime and some operas, women play the roles of boys or young men. After 1660 in England, when women first started to appear on stage, the terms actor or actress were used interchangeably for female performers, but influenced by the French actrice, actress became the used term for women in theater and film.
The etymology is a simple derivation from actor with -ess added. When referring to groups of performers of both sexes, actors is preferred. Actor is used before the full name of a performer as a gender-specific term. Within the profession, the re-adoption of the neutral term dates to the post-war period of the 1950 and'60s, when the contributions of women to cultural life in general were being reviewed; when The Observer and The Guardian published their new joint style guide in 2010, it stated "Use for both male and female actors. The guide's authors stated that "actress comes into the same category as authoress, manageress,'lady doctor','male nurse' and similar obsolete terms that date from a time when professions were the preserve of one sex.". "As Whoopi Goldberg put it in an interview with the paper:'An actress can only play a woman. I'm an actor – I can play anything.'" The UK performers' union Equity has no policy on the use of "actor" or "actress". An Equity spokesperson said that the union does not believe that there is a consensus on the matter and stated that the "...subject divides the profession".
In 2009, the Los Angeles Times stated that "Actress" remains the common term used in major acting awards given to female recipients. With regard to the cinema of the United States, the gender-neutral term "player" was common in film in the silent film era and the early days of the Motion Picture Production Code, but in the 2000s in a film context, it is deemed archaic. However, "player" remains in use in the theatre incorporated into the name of a theatre group or company, such as the American Players, the East West Players, etc. Actors in improvisational theatre may be referred to as "players". In 2015, Forbes reported that "...just 21 of the 100 top-grossing films of 2014 featured a female lead or co-lead, while only 28.1% of characters in 100 top-grossing films were female...". "In the U. S. there is an "industry-wide in salaries of all scales. On average, white women get paid 78 cents to every dollar a white man makes, while Hispanic women earn 56 cents to a white male's dollar, Black women 64 cents and Native American women just 59 cents to that."
Forbes' analysis of US acting salaries in 2013 determined that the "...men on Forbes' list of top-paid actors for that year made 21/2 times as much money as the top-paid actresses. That means that Hollywood's best-compensated actresses made just 40 cents for every dollar that the best-compensated men made." The first recorded case of a performing actor occurred in 534 BC when the Greek performer Thespis stepped onto the stage at the Theatre Dionysus to become the first known person to speak words as a character in a play or story. Prior to Thespis' act, Grecian stories were only expressed in song, in third person narrative. In honor of Thespis, actors are called Thespians; the male actors in the theatre of ancient Greece performed in three types of drama: tragedy and the satyr play. Western theatre developed and expanded under the Romans; the theatre of ancient Rome was a thriving and diverse art form, ranging from festival performances of street theatre, nude dancing, acrobatics, to the staging of situation comedies, to high-style, verbally elaborate tragedies.
As the Western Roman Empire fell into decay through the 4th and 5th centuries, the seat of Roman power shifted to Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. Records show that mime, scenes or recitations from tragedies and comedies and other entertainments were popular. From the 5th century, Western Europe was plunged into a period of general disorder. Small nomadic bands of actors traveled around Europe throughout the period, performing wherever they could find an audience. Traditionally, actors were not of high status. Early Middle Ages actors were denounced by the Church during the Dark Ages, as they were viewed as dangerous and pagan. In many parts of Europe, traditional beliefs of the region and time period meant actors could not receive a Christian burial. In the Early Middle Ages, churches in Europe began staging dramatized versions of biblical events. By the middle of the 11th century, liturgical drama had spread from Russia to Scandinavia
Nothing to Lose (1997 film)
Nothing to Lose is a 1997 American action comedy film starring Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence. The film was directed by Steve Oedekerk, who wrote the film and made a cameo appearance as a lip-synching security guard in the film; the film went on to gross over US$40 million at the box office. The theme song was "If I Had No Loot" by Tony! Toni! Toné!, but it was a remixed version of the song "Not Tonight"—performed by Lil' Kim and featuring Left Eye, Da Brat, Angie Martinez, Missy Elliott—that garnered the most attention from the soundtrack as it gained much airplay on television and radio and reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The film was shot at various locations in New Jersey; the main California locations were Los Angeles—including the U. S. Bank Tower for Nick's office—and Monrovia; the main location in New Jersey was Bloomfield. Advertising executive Nick Beam thinks his life is going well, until he returns home from work and finds his wife Ann having an affair with another man.
He deduces that the man is his boss, Philip Barlow, after finding a pair of cufflinks in the kitchen. On the edge of a nervous breakdown, Nick drives around the city until carjacker T. Paul jumps into his car and attempts to rob him. Turning the tables on his mugger, Nick drives him to the Arizona desert. After T. Paul robs a gas station, the pair devise a scheme to rob Philip in revenge for the affair. Nick knows the combination to a safe in his office containing a large amount of cash, as well as the best time to enter, where not to venture in the building. T. Paul knows the weaknesses of the security system, how to avoid the cameras, how to get through any electronic locks that they might encounter. Another criminal duo, Davis "Rig" Lanlow and Charles "Charlie" Dunt get blamed for the gas-station robbery and pursue the pair to Los Angeles; the duo hold them at gunpoint. After a brief confrontation, T. Paul manages to disarm them, but accidentally shoots Nick in the arm, they make their escape.
The next night, the pair execute their plan. During the robbery, Nick damages his boss' prize fertility statue and reveals himself to the security camera, taunting his boss about getting revenge; the pair prolongedly settle at a hotel. The situation worsens as Rig and Charlie, who swiped Nick's business card and followed them from Nick's office to the hotel, hold T. Paul up, steal the money and place T. Paul in a trap for Nick to deal with when he returns from the bar and from having sex with Danielle, a flower shop woman Nick met earlier. Nick calls Ann to confront her. Nick caught Ann's sister and her fiancee in bed when they came into town earlier than expected. Philip's cuff links were left over from a Christmas party and Ann left them out for Nick to return them to Philip. Overcome with remorse, Nick rescues T. Paul from his precarious predicament and they catch up with Rig and Charlie by chasing them into an alley. Nick shoots the gun out of Rig's hand and they leave them tied up for the police.
Nick insists on returning the money back to the safe, assuring T. Paul that nobody will bother to look at the tapes unless something is missing or damaged. T. Paul, who had planned on using the money to move his family out of their troubled neighborhood, gets into a fight with Nick and ends their partnership. T. Paul decides to walk home, while Nick drives home and reunites with Ann as he tells her what happened to him. Returning to his job, Nick is told Philip is reviewing the security tapes to investigate a burglar who vandalized his fertility statue. Nick races to his boss' office but he is too late to stop them, only to discover that the tape was recorded over right before the "burglar" removed his mask, that a man identifying himself as an electrician was allowed into the building earlier in the day. Nick goes to see T. Paul and confirms T. Paul recorded over the tape, saving Nick from losing the existence he himself was trying to escape. In return, Nick convinces Philip to hire an electrician responsible for the security system, so bypassed and offers T. Paul the job, which he accepts.
In the post-credit scene, a mailman shows up at the gas station in Arizona and returns the money that T. Paul stole. Tim Robbins as Nick Beam Martin Lawrence as Terrance Paul "T. Paul" Davidson John C. McGinley as Davis "Rig" Lanlow Giancarlo Esposito as Charles "Charlie" Dunt Michael McKean as Phillip "P. B" Barrow Kelly Preston as Ann Beam Susan Barnes as Delores Rebecca Gayheart as Danielle Samaria Graham as Lisa Davidson Marcus T. Paulk as Joey Davidson Penny Bae Bridges as Tonya Davidson Irma P. Hall as Bertha "Mama" Davidson Caroline Keenan as Ann's sister Patrick Cranshaw as Henry Steve Oedekerk as Security Guard Baxter Dan Martin as L. A. P. D. Sergeant Jim Meskimen as Business Suit Man Blake Clark as Gas Station Cashier Nothing to Lose was met with negative reviews from professional critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 28% of the critics has given the film a positive review based on 25 reviews with an average rating of 5.1/10. Phil Villarreal of the Arizona Daily Star gave the film a positive review and stated, "Tim Robbins' understated depression and Martin Lawrence's hyperactive ranting are the h
AfterMASH
AfterMASH is an American sitcom produced as a spin-off and continuation of M*A*S*H that aired on CBS from September 26, 1983, to May 31, 1985. The series takes place following the end of the Korean War and chronicles the adventures of three characters from the original series: Colonel Sherman T. Potter, Maxwell Klinger and Father John Mulcahy. M*A*S*H supporting cast-member Kellye Nakahara joined them, albeit off-camera, as the voice of the hospital's public address system. Rosalind Chao rounded out the starring cast as Soon-Lee Klinger, a Korean refugee whom Klinger met, fell in love with and married in the M*A*S*H series finale "Goodbye and Amen." In the one-hour pilot episode "September of'53/Together Again", Colonel Potter returned home from Korea to his wife Mildred in Hannibal, Missouri. He soon found physically forced retirement stifling, Mildred suggested he return to work. Potter was soon hired by the bombastic and bureaucratic hospital administrator Mike D'Angelo as the chief of staff at General Pershing Veteran's Hospital, located in the fictional River Bend, Missouri.
Max Klinger had found himself in trouble with the law in Toledo. Colonel Potter offered him a job as his administrative assistant. Klinger's nemesis at General General was D'Angelo's executive secretary Alma Cox, a mean-spirited woman, forever trying to "get the goods" on him, from rifling through his desk to giving him just one day to prepare for a civil service exam, the latter of which, despite her underhanded efforts, he still manages to pass. Father Mulcahy, whose hearing was damaged in the final episode of M*A*S*H, was suffering from depression and drinking heavily. Potter arranged for Mulcahy to receive an operation at another VA Hospital in St. Louis. After his hearing was surgically corrected, he stopped drinking and joined Potter and Klinger at "General General" as its Catholic chaplain. On hand was the idealistic and hungry young resident surgeon Gene Pfeiffer, attractive secretary Bonnie Hornbeck, who had an eye for Klinger, old-timer Bob Scannell who served under then-Sergeant Potter in World War I and was now a hospital resident of 35 years.
Unlike the other patients and staff who addressed Potter by his retired rank of colonel, Scannell called him "Sarge" at Potter's request. Halfway through the first season, Dr. Ron Boyer was introduced as a hardened veteran who lost a leg in Korea and had a hard time adjusting to civilian life. Despite only having signed on for two episodes, his character began appearing more toward the end of the season, so that Dr. Pfeiffer was pulled from the cast after Dr. Boyer's debut episode; the only other main character from the original series to appear on AfterMASH was Radar, who appeared in a first season two-part episode. As Potter and Mulcahy prepare to head to Iowa for Radar's wedding, Radar shows up in a panic at Potter's house in Missouri, believing his intended fiancée has cheated on him in "It Had to Be You." The Radar character appeared in a pilot called W*A*L*T*E*R, in which Radar moved from Iowa to St. Louis, after his wife left him on his wedding night, he became a police officer; the season included home scenes with the Potters, most notably when they were deluged with guests in "Thanksgiving of'53", Potter tried to keep the phone occupied so Klinger could not call his relatives, who were on the way over to surprise him.
One of the season's standout episodes was the Emmy-nominated "Fall Out", where Potter and Klinger considered leaving General General, but reconsidered when they linked the leukemia seen in a patient with exposure to atomic testing. The season closed in March with Klinger being arrested for decking a shady real estate agent as pregnant Soon Lee went into labor. In May, CBS announced. Season Two opened with Klinger escaping from the River Bend County Jail to attend the birth of his child and remaining a fugitive until a judge sent him to the psychiatric unit at General General, where Klinger feigned insanity to avoid prison and the Potters took in Soon Lee and the baby. Mike D'Angelo was transferred to Montana and was replaced by smarmy new administrator Wally Wainwright. Anne Pitoniak was brought in to replace Barbara Townsend as Mildred Potter. David Ackroyd was promoted to a regular cast member after multiple guest appearances in the second half of the first season. An attractive new psychiatrist, Dr. Lenore Dudziak, arrived to begin the daunting task of evaluating Klinger, while Potter was horrified that Wainwright assigned Alma Cox as his new secretary.
The recurring M*A*S*H character Colonel Flagg appeared in the second season, now working for an unspecified intelligence agency whose agents are authorized to carry sidearms in their shoes. Character actors Arliss Howard, Timothy Busfield, William Sadler and David Graf all appeared as patients. Only three other charact
Pee-wee's Big Adventure
Pee-wee's Big Adventure is a 1985 American adventure comedy film directed by Tim Burton in his full-length film directing debut and starring Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman with supporting roles provided by Elizabeth Daily, Mark Holton, Diane Salinger, Judd Omen. Reubens co-wrote the script with Phil Hartman and Michael Varhol. Described as a "parody" or "farce version" of the 1948 Italian classic Bicycle Thieves, it is the tale of Pee-wee Herman's nationwide search for his stolen bicycle. After the success of The Pee-wee Herman Show, Reubens began writing the script to Pee-wee's Big Adventure when he was hired by Warner Bros.. The producers and Reubens hired Burton to direct when they were impressed with his work on Vincent and Frankenweenie. Filming took place in both Texas; the film was released on August 1985, grossing over $40 million in North America. It developed into a cult film and has since accumulated positive feedback; the film was nominated for a Young Artist Award and spawned two sequels, Big Top Pee-wee and Pee-wee's Big Holiday.
Its financial success, followed by the successful Beetlejuice in 1988, prompted Warner Bros. to hire Burton as the director for the 1989 film Batman. Pee-wee Herman has a accessorized bicycle that he treasures and that his neighbor and enemy, Francis Buxton, covets. A bike shop employee, has a crush on Pee-wee, but he does not reciprocate it. Pee-wee's bike is stolen; the police tell Pee-wee. Pee-wee thinks Francis took it, confronts him. Francis' father convinces Pee-wee. Pee-wee offers a $10,000 reward for his bike. Francis, who did indeed pay to have someone steal the bike, is frightened by Pee-wee's relentlessness and pays to have it sent away. After holding an unsuccessful meeting to locate the bike, Pee-wee angrily rejects Dottie's offers of help. Desperate, he visits "Madam Ruby", a phony psychic. Ruby, inspired by the Al and Moe's Bargain Basement shop across the street, tells Pee-wee that his bike is in the basement of the Alamo Mission in San Antonio. Pee-wee hitchhikes to Texas, getting rides from Mickey.
At a truck stop, Pee-wee pays for his meal by washing dishes. He befriends a waitress who dreams of visiting Paris; as they watch the sunrise at a dinosaur museum, Pee-wee encourages her to follow her dreams, but Simone tells him about her jealous and large boyfriend, who disapproves. Andy tries to attack Pee-wee, who escapes onto a moving train and meets Hobo Jack. Pee-wee arrives at the Alamo, but learns at the end of a guided tour that the building does not have a basement. At a bus station, Pee-wee encounters Simone, who tells him that she and Andy broke up and she is on her way to Paris, she tells Pee-wee not to give up finding his bike. Pee-wee apologizes for his behavior. Andy resumes his attack. Pee-wee evades Andy at a rodeo by disguising himself as a rodeo bull rider. Forced to ride for real, Pee-wee receives a concussion. Pee-wee enters a biker bar for one large wine and to make a phone call, but the outlaw motorcycle club threatens to kill him after he accidentally knocks over their motorcycles.
Pee-wee makes a last request, dancing to the song "Tequila". His dance wins over the bikers. Pee-wee crashes his motorcycle afterwards. Pee-wee wakes up in a hospital and learns from a television news report that his bike is being used as a prop in a movie starring a bratty child named Kevin Morton. Pee-wee sneaks into Warner Bros. Studios and takes the bike, he is chased through several sets before escaping. Pee-wee discovers a burning pet shop and rescues the animals. Although the firefighters declare Pee-wee a hero, the police arrest him for his disruption at the studios. Pee-wee meets the president of Warner Bros. Terry Hawthorne, explains his journey to retrieve the bike. Hawthorne decides to drop the charges and make a special movie about Pee-wee and his bike, returned to him. At a drive-in theater, Pee-wee and Dottie attend the premiere of his biopic, an action movie starring James Brolin as "P. W. Herman" and Morgan Fairchild as Dottie; the two must retrieve a sport bike called the X-1, which contains an important microfilm and has been stolen by the Soviets.
Pee-wee has a cameo appearance as a hotel bellhop. At the drive-in, Pee-wee gives refreshments to all the people. Pee-wee encounters Francis, who tells reporters that he is Pee-wee's best friend who taught him how to ride. Francis claims to be knowledgeable about Pee-wee's bike, but accidentally catapults himself into the air using one of the bicycle's gadgets; as Pee-wee leaves the drive-in, Dottie asks. Pee-wee answers, "I don't have to see it, Dottie. I lived it." He and Dottie ride off together at the movie screen in silhouette. Michael Varhol who co-wrote the script with Reubens and Hartman cameos as a photographer. Director Tim Burton has an uncredited cameo as the street thug who confronts Pee-wee in a rainy back-alley. Other minor roles include Ed Herlihy as Mr. Buxton and Cassandra Peterson as the Biker Mama of Satan's Helpers. James Brolin portrays "P. W. Herman" and Morgan Fairchild is Dottie in the in-movie production about Pee-wee's life. Heavy metal band Twisted Sister, veteran comedy star Milton Berle cameo as themselves.
The film contains numerous "conceptual continuity" links to oth
M*A*S*H (TV series)
M*A*S*H is an American war comedy-drama television series that aired on CBS from 1972 to 1983. It was developed by Larry Gelbart, adapted from the 1970 feature film M*A*S*H, which, in turn, was based on Richard Hooker's 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors; the series, produced with 20th Century Fox Television for CBS, follows a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the "4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War. The show's title sequence features an instrumental-only version of "Suicide Is Painless," the original film's theme song; the show was created after an attempt to film the original book's sequel, M*A*S*H Goes to Maine, failed. The television series is the best-known of the M*A*S*H works, one of the highest-rated shows in U. S. television history. M * A * S * H aired weekly with most episodes being a half-hour in length; the series is categorized as a situation comedy, though it has been described as a "dark comedy" or a "dramedy" because of the dramatic subject matter.
The show is an ensemble piece revolving around key personnel in a United States Army Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in the Korean War. The "4077th MASH" was one of several surgical units in Korea. While the show is traditionally viewed as a comedy, many episodes had a more serious tone. Early seasons aired on network prime time while the Vietnam War was still going on, the show was forced to walk the fine line of commenting on that war while at the same time not seeming to protest it. For this reason, the show's discourse, under the cover of comedy questioned and grappled with America's role in the Cold War. Episodes were both plot- and character-driven, with several narrated by one of the show's characters as the contents of a letter home; the show's tone could move from silly to sobering from one episode to the next, with dramatic tension occurring between the civilian draftees of 4077th – Hawkeye, Trapper John, B. J. Hunnicutt, for example – who are forced to leave their homes to tend the wounded and dying of the war, the "regular Army" characters, such as Margaret Houlihan and Colonel Potter, who tend to represent patriotism and duty.
Other characters, such as Col. Blake, Maj. Winchester, Cpl. Klinger, help demonstrate various American civilian attitudes toward Army life, while guest characters played by such actors as Eldon Quick, Herb Voland, Mary Wickes, Tim O'Connor help further the show's discussion of America's place as Cold War war maker and peace maker. Through changes of personnel M*A*S*H maintained a constant ensemble cast, with four characters – Hawkeye, Father Mulcahy, Margaret Houlihan, Maxwell Klinger – on the show for all 11 seasons. Several other main characters departed or joined the program during its run, numerous guest actors and recurring characters were used; the writers found creating so many names difficult, used names from elsewhere. Note: Character appearances include double-length episodes as two appearances, making 260 in total; as the series progressed, it made a significant shift from being a comedy with dramatic undertones to a drama with comedic undertones. This was a result of changes in writing and production staff, rather than the cast defections of McLean Stevenson, Larry Linville, Wayne Rogers and Gary Burghoff.
Series co-creator and joke writer Larry Gelbart departed after Season 4, the first featuring Mike Farrell and Harry Morgan. This resulted in Farrell and Morgan having only a single season reading scripts featuring Gelbart's masterful comic timing, which defined the feel and rhythm of Seasons 1–4 featuring predecessors Rogers and Stevenson, respectively. Larry Linville and Executive Producer Gene Reynolds both departed at the conclusion of Season 5 in 1977, resulting in M*A*S*H being stripped of its original tight comedic foundation by the beginning of Season 6 — the debut of the Charles Winchester era. Whereas Gelbart and Reynolds were the comedic voice of M*A*S*H for the show's first five seasons, Alan Alda and newly promoted Executive Producer Burt Metcalfe became the new dramatic voice of M*A*S*H for Seasons 6–11. By the start of Season 8, the writing staff had been overhauled, with the departure of Gary Burghoff, M*A*S*H displayed a distinctively different feel, consciously moving between comedy and drama, unlike the seamless integration of its first five years.
The end of the Vietnam War in 1975 was a significant factor as to why storylines become less political in nature and more character driven. Several episodes experimented with the sitcom format: "Point of View" – shown from the perspective of a soldier with a throat wound "Dreams" – an idea of Alda's, where during a deluge of casualties, members of the 4077 take naps on a rotation basis, allowing the viewer to see the lyrical and disturbing dreams "A War For All Seasons" – features a story line that takes place over the course of 1951 "Life Time" – a precursor to the American television series 24, it utilizes the real time method of narrationAnother change was the infusion of story lines based on actual events and medical developments that materialized during the Korean War. Considerable research was done by the producers, including interviews with actual MASH surgeons and personnel to develop story lines roote
Bonnie and Clyde (film)
Bonnie and Clyde is a 1967 American biographical crime film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the title characters Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. Featured were Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons; the screenplay was written by Robert Benton. Robert Towne and Beatty provided uncredited contributions to the script; the soundtrack was composed by Charles Strouse. Bonnie and Clyde is considered a landmark film, is regarded as one of the first films of the New Hollywood era, since it broke many cinematic taboos and was popular with the younger generation. For some members of the counterculture, the film was considered to be a "rallying cry." Its success prompted other filmmakers to be more open in presenting violence in their films. The film's ending became iconic as "one of the bloodiest death scenes in cinematic history."The film received Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography. It was among the first 100 films selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
In the middle of the Great Depression, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker of Texas meet when Clyde tries to steal Bonnie's mother's car. Bonnie, bored by her job as a waitress, is intrigued by Clyde, decides to take up with him and become his partner in crime, they pull off some holdups, but their amateur efforts, while exciting, are not lucrative. The duo's crime spree shifts into high gear once they hook up with a dim-witted gas station attendant, C. W. Moss. Clyde's older brother Buck and his wife, Blanche, a preacher's daughter join them; the women dislike each other on first sight, their feud escalates. Blanche has nothing but disdain for Bonnie, Clyde and C. W. while Bonnie sees Blanche's flighty presence as a constant danger to the gang's survival. Bonnie and Clyde turn from pulling small-time heists to robbing banks, their exploits become more violent. When C. W. botches parking for a bank robbery, Clyde shoots the bank manager in the face after he jumps onto the slow-moving car's running board.
The gang is pursued by law enforcement, including Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, whom they capture and humiliate before setting him free. A raid catches the outlaws off guard, mortally wounding Buck with a shot to his head and injuring Blanche. Bonnie, Clyde and C. W. escape alive. With Blanche sightless and in police custody, Hamer tricks her into revealing C. W.'s name, up until now still only an "unidentified suspect." Hamer locates Bonnie, Clyde and C. W. hiding at the house of C. W.'s father Ivan Moss, who thinks the couple—and an ornate tattoo—have corrupted his son. The elder Moss strikes a bargain with Hamer: in exchange for leniency for the boy, he helps set a trap for the outlaws; when Bonnie and Clyde stop on the side of the road to help Mr. Moss fix a flat tire, the police in the bushes open fire and riddle them with bullets. Hamer and his posse come out of hiding, are shown looking pensively at the couple's bodies. Warren Beatty as Clyde Barrow Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker Michael J. Pollard as C.
W. Moss Gene Hackman as Buck Barrow Estelle Parsons as Blanche Barrow Denver Pyle as Frank Hamer Dub Taylor as Ivan Moss Gene Wilder as Eugene Grizzard Evans Evans as Velma Davis Mabel Cavitt as Bonnie's mother Denver Pyle, Dub Taylor, Gene Wilder, Evans Evans, Mabel Cavitt were in supporting roles. Actor Gene Wilder in his film debut portrayed one of Bonnie and Clyde's hostages, his girlfriend Velma Davis was played by Evans Evans, the wife of film director John Frankenheimer. The family gathering scene was filmed in Texas. Several local residents gathered to watch the film being shot; when the filmmakers noticed Mabel Cavitt, a local school teacher, among the people gathered, she was cast as Bonnie Parker's mother. The film was intended as a romantic and comic version of the violent gangster films of the 1930s, updated with modern filmmaking techniques. Arthur Penn portrayed some of the violent scenes with a comic tone, sometimes reminiscent of Keystone Kops-style slapstick films shifted disconcertingly into horrific and graphic violence.
The film showed strong influence by the French New Wave directors, both in its rapid shifts of tone, in its choppy editing, noticeable in the film's closing sequence. The first handling of the script was in the early 1960s. Influenced by the French New Wave writers and not yet completed, an early version was sent by its writers David Newman and Robert Benton to Arthur Penn, he was engaged in production decisions for the 1966 film The Chase and could not get involved in the script for Bonnie and Clyde. The writers sent their script to François Truffaut, renowned French director of the New Wave movement, who made contributions, he passed on the project, next directing Fahrenheit 451. At Truffaut's suggestion, the writers, much excited, approached filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard; some sources claim Godard refused. He purportedly took offense when would-be producer Norah Wright objected that that his desire was unreasonable, as the story took place in Texas, which had a warm climate year-round, her partner Elinor Jones claimed the two did not believe Godard was right for the project in the first place.
Godard's retort: « Je vous parle de cinéma, vous me parlez de météo. Au revoir. » After the 1968 Academy Awards, Godard sent Bent
