Garth Craven, the British-born sound and film editor and second-unit director whose credits included six Sam Peckinpah features, as well as Turner and Hooch, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Legally Blonde, has died. He was 84.
A resident of Malibu, Craven died May 20 after he suffered a medical emergency while flying back to Los Angeles from a safari in Namibia, his daughter, Willow Kalatchi, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Craven collaborated with the maverick director Peckinpah on Straw Dogs (1971), The Getaway (1972), Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), The Killer Elite (1975) and Convoy (1978).
He worked with fellow editor Roger Spottiswoode on the first three of those films, and when Spottiswoode graduated to director, they partnered on the features Shoot to Kill (1988), Turner and Hooch (1989) and Air America (1990) and on two HBO telefilms: 1989’s Third Degree Burn and 1993’s And the Band Played On.
Craven also cut Gaby: A True Story...
A resident of Malibu, Craven died May 20 after he suffered a medical emergency while flying back to Los Angeles from a safari in Namibia, his daughter, Willow Kalatchi, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Craven collaborated with the maverick director Peckinpah on Straw Dogs (1971), The Getaway (1972), Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), The Killer Elite (1975) and Convoy (1978).
He worked with fellow editor Roger Spottiswoode on the first three of those films, and when Spottiswoode graduated to director, they partnered on the features Shoot to Kill (1988), Turner and Hooch (1989) and Air America (1990) and on two HBO telefilms: 1989’s Third Degree Burn and 1993’s And the Band Played On.
Craven also cut Gaby: A True Story...
- 8/22/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film and sound editor Garth Craven, who edited films including “Legally Blonde” and got his start in film editing with Sam Peckinpah’s “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,” died May 20 in Barcelona. He was 84.
His death was only recently announced by his daughter Willow.
Craven not only worked in the cutting room but also in sound departments and served as second unit director on several films. At the beginning of his career, Craven worked on Federico Fellini’s fantasy drama “Satyricon” (1969) in the sound editing department, which served as his introduction to filmmaking.
Back in England, he continued working on films in London. Resuming his work in the sound department, Craven received a BAFTA for the critically acclaimed romantic drama “The Go-Between” (1971) directed by Joseph Losey.
He eventually became a frequent collaborator and friend of Peckinpah. Craven worked as a sound consultant on “The Getaway,” a sound editor on “Straw Dogs,...
His death was only recently announced by his daughter Willow.
Craven not only worked in the cutting room but also in sound departments and served as second unit director on several films. At the beginning of his career, Craven worked on Federico Fellini’s fantasy drama “Satyricon” (1969) in the sound editing department, which served as his introduction to filmmaking.
Back in England, he continued working on films in London. Resuming his work in the sound department, Craven received a BAFTA for the critically acclaimed romantic drama “The Go-Between” (1971) directed by Joseph Losey.
He eventually became a frequent collaborator and friend of Peckinpah. Craven worked as a sound consultant on “The Getaway,” a sound editor on “Straw Dogs,...
- 8/21/2023
- by Jaden Thompson
- Variety Film + TV
Blood, gore and the smell of gunpowder! Sam Peckinpah’s booze-soaked Odyssey sends Warren Oates on a grisly fool’s errand to retrieve a rotting, fly-bitten… oh, just read the title will ya? Resolutely sordid and debased, and soaked in ugly exploitation values, the tale of ‘Machete Bennie’ nevertheless scores as Peckinpah’s last successful movie — if Edgar Allan Poe went crazy locked in a room with rotting corpses, he might have come up with this idea.
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo García
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date , 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber, Gig Young, Helmut Dantine, Emilio Fernández, Kris Kristofferson, Chano Urueta, Jorge Russek, Enrique Lucero, Janine Maldonado, Richard Bright, Sharon Peckinpah, Garner Simmons.
Cinematography: Álex Phillips Jr.
Film Editors: Garth Craven, Dennis E. Dolan, Sergio Ortega, Robbe Roberts
Original Music: Jerry Fielding
Written by Sam Peckinpah,...
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo García
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date , 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber, Gig Young, Helmut Dantine, Emilio Fernández, Kris Kristofferson, Chano Urueta, Jorge Russek, Enrique Lucero, Janine Maldonado, Richard Bright, Sharon Peckinpah, Garner Simmons.
Cinematography: Álex Phillips Jr.
Film Editors: Garth Craven, Dennis E. Dolan, Sergio Ortega, Robbe Roberts
Original Music: Jerry Fielding
Written by Sam Peckinpah,...
- 2/20/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
An Encore Edition. Peckinpah's macabre South of the border shoot 'em up is back for a second limited edition, with a new commentary. It's still a picture sure to separate the Peckinpah lovers from the auteur tourists - it's grisly, grim and resolutely exploitative, but also has about it a streak of grimy honesty. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia Blu-ray Twilight Time Encore Edition 1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 112 min. / Street Date September, 2016 / available through Screen Archives Entertainment / 29.95 Starring Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber, Gig Young, Helmut Dantine, Emilio Fernández, Kris Kristofferson, Chano Urueta, Jorge Russek, Enrique Lucero, Janine Maldonado, Richard Bright, Sharon Peckinpah, Garner Simmons. Cinematography Álex Phillips Jr. Art Direction Agustín Ituarte Film Editors Garth Craven, Dennis E. Dolan, Sergio Ortega, Robbe Roberts Original Music Jerry Fielding Written by Sam Peckinpah, Gordon T. Dawson, Frank Kowalski Produced by Martin Baum, Helmut Dantine, Gordon T. Dawson Directed by...
- 10/4/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Opens
Thursday, Dec. 25
The new "Peter Pan" is outfitted with lush period costumes, elaborately romanticized sets, flamboyant wigs, wondrous props, animatronic animals, a melodic symphonic score, dazzling effects achieved through computer graphics, animation, bluescreens and wires and sparkling cinematography that integrates those effects seamlessly. Yet the film never really takes off.
You root for Peter and his gang to rediscover the magic of one of the most charming children's stories ever conceived, a story that has tickled audiences' imaginations for nearly a century. But the film suffers from uneven acting, an over-reliance on production values and an uncertainty over how dangerous the children's adventures should be.
Younger children, especially those who don't know "Peter Pan" from a frying pan, may enjoy the lavishly produced fairly tale with its pirates, Indians and Lost Boys. But the age cutoff, where such enjoyment drops precipitously, probably hits in early adolescence. The film should open strongly both here and overseas, but its inability to reach out to teen or adult audiences will surely harm its boxoffice chances.
The first "Peter Pan" movie is believed to have been made in 1924, two decades after the debut of J.M. Barrie's play and four years before he published the story as a novel. In this version, writer-director P.J. Hogan (who rewrote Michael Goldenberg's screenplay) hews close to the letter of Barrie's tale. He even casts a real boy as its eponymous hero instead of falling back on the long-standing tradition of using a lithe, young woman.
While many of the actors perform as though cast in a stage version, where they are very much playing to the last rows, there are solid performances here. Jason Isaacs, rather one-note-ish as Mr. Darling, the children's bumbling father, gives his other role, that of top pirate Captain Hook, a virile villainy and sexy swagger. As Wendy Darling, Rachel Hurd-Wood, in her professional acting debut no less, quite miraculously manages to charm and beguile, capturing the exact moment when a girl is in transition between child and young woman. As Peter, the boy who will never grow up, Jeremy Sumpter performs the physical stunts with boyish energy but also delivers tender moments where Peter must reveal his loneliness and vulnerability.
Extravagantly wasted, though, are three fine actresses. The worst is France's rising star Ludivine Sagnier, who as the jealous little fairy Tinker Bell is utterly mislaid by the movie. Olivia Williams is mostly required to sleep in front of an open window, awaiting the return of her "kidnapped" children. And Lynn Redgrave overdoes a newly created role of the children's Aunt Millicent, a character that never quite fits comfortably into the tale.
As always, Wendy's nighttime storytelling to her two brothers, John (Harry Newell) and Michael (Freddie Popplewell), leads to an awfully big adventure when Peter Pan, who listens outside their nursery window, lures the trio from their beds to a flight over the rooftops of London to Neverland. Here they encounter the Lost Boys, a curious tribe of Indians (much de-emphasized in this PC version), dangerous mermaids and, of course, a raucous though ineffectual band of pirates headed by Captain Hook.
By relentlessly pitching this film to children, though, Hogan and his collaborators overlook the sophistication, wit and even the oddness -- the children's nanny is a large dog, for Pete's sake! -- of the original work. Nor does the film make any attempt to render the obscure vocabulary and clever asides flung at adult readers by Barrie into cinematic terms. The adventures themselves lack any sense of thrill or jeopardy. Peter -- who, after all, is named after a Greek god -- should be something of a subversive, even disruptive figure, but Hogan and company stick too closely to the Disneyesque version.
There are a few fun additions, like Captain Hook having not one deadly hook in place of his lost hand but an array of sharp devices as the occasion demands. But the filmmakers' determination to leave nothing to the imagination and unwillingness to find ways to refreshen the Barrie story for a new generation keep this "Peter Pan" firmly rooted to the ground.
PETER PAN
Universal Pictures
Columbia Pictures/Universal PIctures/Revolution Studios present a Douglas Wick-Lucy Fisher-Allied Stars production
Credits:
Director: P.J. Hogan
Screenwriters: P.J. Hogan, Michael Goldenberg
Based on the play and books by: J.M. Barrie
Producers: Lucy Fisher, Douglas Wick, Patrick McCormick
Executive producers: Mohamed Al Fayed, Gail Lyon, Jocelyn Moorhouse
Director of photography: Donald M. McAlpine
Production designer: Roger Ford
Music: James Newton Howard
Co-producers: Gary Alelson, Craig Baumgarten
Costume designer: Janet Patterson
Editors: Garth Craven, Michael Kahn
Cast:
Mr. Darling/Captain Hook: Jason Isaacs
Peter Pan: Jeremy Sumpter
Wendy Darling: Rachel Hurd-Wood
Aunt Millicent
Lynn Redgrave
Smee: Richard Briers
Mrs. Darling: Olivia Williams
Tink: Ludivine Sagnier
Sir Edward Quiller Couch: Geoffrey Palmer
Running time -- 113 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Thursday, Dec. 25
The new "Peter Pan" is outfitted with lush period costumes, elaborately romanticized sets, flamboyant wigs, wondrous props, animatronic animals, a melodic symphonic score, dazzling effects achieved through computer graphics, animation, bluescreens and wires and sparkling cinematography that integrates those effects seamlessly. Yet the film never really takes off.
You root for Peter and his gang to rediscover the magic of one of the most charming children's stories ever conceived, a story that has tickled audiences' imaginations for nearly a century. But the film suffers from uneven acting, an over-reliance on production values and an uncertainty over how dangerous the children's adventures should be.
Younger children, especially those who don't know "Peter Pan" from a frying pan, may enjoy the lavishly produced fairly tale with its pirates, Indians and Lost Boys. But the age cutoff, where such enjoyment drops precipitously, probably hits in early adolescence. The film should open strongly both here and overseas, but its inability to reach out to teen or adult audiences will surely harm its boxoffice chances.
The first "Peter Pan" movie is believed to have been made in 1924, two decades after the debut of J.M. Barrie's play and four years before he published the story as a novel. In this version, writer-director P.J. Hogan (who rewrote Michael Goldenberg's screenplay) hews close to the letter of Barrie's tale. He even casts a real boy as its eponymous hero instead of falling back on the long-standing tradition of using a lithe, young woman.
While many of the actors perform as though cast in a stage version, where they are very much playing to the last rows, there are solid performances here. Jason Isaacs, rather one-note-ish as Mr. Darling, the children's bumbling father, gives his other role, that of top pirate Captain Hook, a virile villainy and sexy swagger. As Wendy Darling, Rachel Hurd-Wood, in her professional acting debut no less, quite miraculously manages to charm and beguile, capturing the exact moment when a girl is in transition between child and young woman. As Peter, the boy who will never grow up, Jeremy Sumpter performs the physical stunts with boyish energy but also delivers tender moments where Peter must reveal his loneliness and vulnerability.
Extravagantly wasted, though, are three fine actresses. The worst is France's rising star Ludivine Sagnier, who as the jealous little fairy Tinker Bell is utterly mislaid by the movie. Olivia Williams is mostly required to sleep in front of an open window, awaiting the return of her "kidnapped" children. And Lynn Redgrave overdoes a newly created role of the children's Aunt Millicent, a character that never quite fits comfortably into the tale.
As always, Wendy's nighttime storytelling to her two brothers, John (Harry Newell) and Michael (Freddie Popplewell), leads to an awfully big adventure when Peter Pan, who listens outside their nursery window, lures the trio from their beds to a flight over the rooftops of London to Neverland. Here they encounter the Lost Boys, a curious tribe of Indians (much de-emphasized in this PC version), dangerous mermaids and, of course, a raucous though ineffectual band of pirates headed by Captain Hook.
By relentlessly pitching this film to children, though, Hogan and his collaborators overlook the sophistication, wit and even the oddness -- the children's nanny is a large dog, for Pete's sake! -- of the original work. Nor does the film make any attempt to render the obscure vocabulary and clever asides flung at adult readers by Barrie into cinematic terms. The adventures themselves lack any sense of thrill or jeopardy. Peter -- who, after all, is named after a Greek god -- should be something of a subversive, even disruptive figure, but Hogan and company stick too closely to the Disneyesque version.
There are a few fun additions, like Captain Hook having not one deadly hook in place of his lost hand but an array of sharp devices as the occasion demands. But the filmmakers' determination to leave nothing to the imagination and unwillingness to find ways to refreshen the Barrie story for a new generation keep this "Peter Pan" firmly rooted to the ground.
PETER PAN
Universal Pictures
Columbia Pictures/Universal PIctures/Revolution Studios present a Douglas Wick-Lucy Fisher-Allied Stars production
Credits:
Director: P.J. Hogan
Screenwriters: P.J. Hogan, Michael Goldenberg
Based on the play and books by: J.M. Barrie
Producers: Lucy Fisher, Douglas Wick, Patrick McCormick
Executive producers: Mohamed Al Fayed, Gail Lyon, Jocelyn Moorhouse
Director of photography: Donald M. McAlpine
Production designer: Roger Ford
Music: James Newton Howard
Co-producers: Gary Alelson, Craig Baumgarten
Costume designer: Janet Patterson
Editors: Garth Craven, Michael Kahn
Cast:
Mr. Darling/Captain Hook: Jason Isaacs
Peter Pan: Jeremy Sumpter
Wendy Darling: Rachel Hurd-Wood
Aunt Millicent
Lynn Redgrave
Smee: Richard Briers
Mrs. Darling: Olivia Williams
Tink: Ludivine Sagnier
Sir Edward Quiller Couch: Geoffrey Palmer
Running time -- 113 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 1/29/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Julia Roberts doesn't walk down the aisle in "My Best Friend's Wedding", but she'll sure leave plenty of boxoffice bouquets for Sony in this mainstream romancer. A bittersweet, modern-love morsel, this scrumptious drama should touch moviegoers' hearts in this action-gorged summer.
As most guys will attest, today's woman doesn't really know what she wants, and this is certainly the case with Julianne (Roberts), who has been fickle in love and charted a heady course of serial relationships. But she's approaching 28, and she pacted with Michael (Dermot Mulroney) that if they ever got this far up in years, they'd marry each other.
Well, Michael has found someone else: The new woman (Cameron Diaz) is beautiful, brainy and sweet. Best yet, dear old dad is a filthy-rich sports mogul.
Not too surprisingly, Julianne is dumbfounded by Michael's engagement and shatteringly jealous. She sets out to win him back, but, alas, she only has four days until the wedding. As a longtime girlfriend, Julianne has certain advantages: She knows how to play Michael's numbers, and she's not above some rather brazen deceits.
While her guiles and wiles are amusing, it's at this point that Ronald Bass' screenplay takes some unfortunate missteps; namely, we don't know who to root for. Do we want Julianne to get back together with her beau, or do we want him to marry the delectable woman who has said "yes" to his proposal? In this day of commitment-phobe relationships, this is, perhaps, a credible quandary, but it's one that offers up no easy romantic resolutions. Should we root for Julianne to quash a wonderful woman's marriage? Not necessarily.
While the plot line has some unsettling pitfalls, this contemporary comedy sparkles with some shrewd insights into the pitfalls of women who are too sophisticated for their own good, "My Best Friend's Wedding" is a generally adorable story potion, albeit not blessed with the classic bone structure that one might hope. In general, Bass' scenario is kind and fair-minded, and while it doesn't wind up in the grand tradition of romantic comedy, it's an overall pleasing morsel. Special credit to director P.J. Hogan for drenching this "Wedding" in the most sumptuous technical delectations.
Roberts' performance as the scattered Julianne is completely winning. She brings a credible, conflicted nature to her performance, which makes it particularly endearing. But as Roberts' special beau, Mulroney is disappointingly dowdy.
MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING
Sony Pictures Releasing
TriStar Pictures
A Jerry Zucker/Predawn production
Producers Jerry Zucker, Ronald Bass
Director P.J. Hogan
Screenwriter Ronald Bass
Executive producers Gil Netter, Patricia Whitcher
Director of photography Laszlo Kovacs
Production designer Richard Sylbert
Editors Garth Craven, Lisa Fruchtman
Costume designer Jeffrey Kurland
Music James Newton Howard
Music supervisor Bonnie Greenberg
Casting David Rubin
Color/stereo
Cast:
Julianne Potter Julia Roberts
Michael O'Neal Dermot Mulroney
Kimmy Wallace Cameron Diaz
George Downes Rupert Everett
Walter Wallace Philip Bosco
Joe O'Neal M. Emmet Walsh
Samantha Newhouse Rachel Griffiths
Amanda Newhouse Carrie Preston
Running time -- 105 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
As most guys will attest, today's woman doesn't really know what she wants, and this is certainly the case with Julianne (Roberts), who has been fickle in love and charted a heady course of serial relationships. But she's approaching 28, and she pacted with Michael (Dermot Mulroney) that if they ever got this far up in years, they'd marry each other.
Well, Michael has found someone else: The new woman (Cameron Diaz) is beautiful, brainy and sweet. Best yet, dear old dad is a filthy-rich sports mogul.
Not too surprisingly, Julianne is dumbfounded by Michael's engagement and shatteringly jealous. She sets out to win him back, but, alas, she only has four days until the wedding. As a longtime girlfriend, Julianne has certain advantages: She knows how to play Michael's numbers, and she's not above some rather brazen deceits.
While her guiles and wiles are amusing, it's at this point that Ronald Bass' screenplay takes some unfortunate missteps; namely, we don't know who to root for. Do we want Julianne to get back together with her beau, or do we want him to marry the delectable woman who has said "yes" to his proposal? In this day of commitment-phobe relationships, this is, perhaps, a credible quandary, but it's one that offers up no easy romantic resolutions. Should we root for Julianne to quash a wonderful woman's marriage? Not necessarily.
While the plot line has some unsettling pitfalls, this contemporary comedy sparkles with some shrewd insights into the pitfalls of women who are too sophisticated for their own good, "My Best Friend's Wedding" is a generally adorable story potion, albeit not blessed with the classic bone structure that one might hope. In general, Bass' scenario is kind and fair-minded, and while it doesn't wind up in the grand tradition of romantic comedy, it's an overall pleasing morsel. Special credit to director P.J. Hogan for drenching this "Wedding" in the most sumptuous technical delectations.
Roberts' performance as the scattered Julianne is completely winning. She brings a credible, conflicted nature to her performance, which makes it particularly endearing. But as Roberts' special beau, Mulroney is disappointingly dowdy.
MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING
Sony Pictures Releasing
TriStar Pictures
A Jerry Zucker/Predawn production
Producers Jerry Zucker, Ronald Bass
Director P.J. Hogan
Screenwriter Ronald Bass
Executive producers Gil Netter, Patricia Whitcher
Director of photography Laszlo Kovacs
Production designer Richard Sylbert
Editors Garth Craven, Lisa Fruchtman
Costume designer Jeffrey Kurland
Music James Newton Howard
Music supervisor Bonnie Greenberg
Casting David Rubin
Color/stereo
Cast:
Julianne Potter Julia Roberts
Michael O'Neal Dermot Mulroney
Kimmy Wallace Cameron Diaz
George Downes Rupert Everett
Walter Wallace Philip Bosco
Joe O'Neal M. Emmet Walsh
Samantha Newhouse Rachel Griffiths
Amanda Newhouse Carrie Preston
Running time -- 105 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 6/11/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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