Herman Raucher, the best-selling author and screenwriter who earned an Oscar nomination for the coming-of-age classic Summer of ’42 and wrote the script for the thought-provoking Watermelon Man, has died. He was 95.
Raucher died Thursday of natural causes at Stamford Hospital in Stamford, Connecticut, his daughter Jenny Raucher told The Hollywood Reporter.
Raucher, who started out in live television, penned the screenplays for two Anthony Newley-starring films: Sweet November (1968), directed by Robert Ellis Miller and also featuring Sandy Dennis, and Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969), featuring Joan Collins.
He also was given inspiration from Bobbie Gentry’s 1967 hit song to write the screenplay to Ode to Billy Joe (1976), a love story that starred Robby Benson and Glynnis O’Connor and was helmed by Max Baer Jr.
With the Robert Mulligan-directed Summer of ’42 (1971) in postproduction, someone came up with the idea of Raucher writing a...
Raucher died Thursday of natural causes at Stamford Hospital in Stamford, Connecticut, his daughter Jenny Raucher told The Hollywood Reporter.
Raucher, who started out in live television, penned the screenplays for two Anthony Newley-starring films: Sweet November (1968), directed by Robert Ellis Miller and also featuring Sandy Dennis, and Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969), featuring Joan Collins.
He also was given inspiration from Bobbie Gentry’s 1967 hit song to write the screenplay to Ode to Billy Joe (1976), a love story that starred Robby Benson and Glynnis O’Connor and was helmed by Max Baer Jr.
With the Robert Mulligan-directed Summer of ’42 (1971) in postproduction, someone came up with the idea of Raucher writing a...
- 1/3/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The reaction was always the same. During my high school days, I must have seen “Wait Until Dark” five times during its theatrical release. Audrey Hepburn was appealing, of course, but the main attraction for me was Alan Arkin’s chilling portrayal of a psycho sadist who, in the course of reclaiming a misdirected heroin shipment, terrorizes a blind woman in her apartment. Late in the 1967 thriller, the distressed damsel temporarily gets the upper hand by stabbing her tormentor. But as she walks away, the psycho leaps back into her kitchen and grabs her ankle.
And every time he did this, every time I saw “Wait Until Dark,” people in the audience screamed. Really, really loudly. Like, louder than the folks around me in a theater seven years later during the first jump-scare in “Jaws.”
While reading the online obituaries and social media tributes as the sad news of Arkin’s death spread,...
And every time he did this, every time I saw “Wait Until Dark,” people in the audience screamed. Really, really loudly. Like, louder than the folks around me in a theater seven years later during the first jump-scare in “Jaws.”
While reading the online obituaries and social media tributes as the sad news of Arkin’s death spread,...
- 7/1/2023
- by Joe Leydon
- Variety Film + TV
Alan Arkin won his Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine Oscar-winning US actor Alan Arkin has died at the age of 89, his family have confirmed.
In a statement, his sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony said: “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
Arkin's film career stretched back to Fifties and was first nominated for an Best Actor Oscar in 1967 for Norman Jewison's The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming and again, in 1969, for his leading role in Robert Ellis Miller's The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter. But it wasn't until Sundance breakout hit Little Miss Sunshine that he finally got his hands on a statuette, being named Best Supporting Actor for his role scene-stealing role as a foul-mouthed grandad. He was also Oscar-nominated...
In a statement, his sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony said: “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
Arkin's film career stretched back to Fifties and was first nominated for an Best Actor Oscar in 1967 for Norman Jewison's The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming and again, in 1969, for his leading role in Robert Ellis Miller's The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter. But it wasn't until Sundance breakout hit Little Miss Sunshine that he finally got his hands on a statuette, being named Best Supporting Actor for his role scene-stealing role as a foul-mouthed grandad. He was also Oscar-nominated...
- 6/30/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The US actor won an Oscar for ‘Little Miss Sunshine’.
US actor Alan Arkin, who won an Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine, has passed away at the age of 89.
The cause of death has not been announced but his three sons, including fellow actors Matthew and Adam, said in a joint statement: “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
Arkin made his film debut in Norman Jewison’s 1966 war comedy The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming...
US actor Alan Arkin, who won an Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine, has passed away at the age of 89.
The cause of death has not been announced but his three sons, including fellow actors Matthew and Adam, said in a joint statement: “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
Arkin made his film debut in Norman Jewison’s 1966 war comedy The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming...
- 6/30/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Alan Arkin, the versatile actor who finally won an Oscar — for Little Miss Sunshine — after making a career of disappearing into characters with turns that could be comic, chilling or charming, has died. He was 89.
His sons, Adam, Matthew and Anthony, announced the news in a joint statement. “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man,” they said. “A loving husband, father, grand and great-grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
He had heart trouble and died Thursday at his home in San Marcos, California.
In his first significant role in a feature, Arkin received a rare best actor Oscar nomination for work in a comedy when he played a Russian sailor whose submarine is marooned off the coast of a New England fishing village in Norman Jewison’s The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming (1966).
Two years later,...
His sons, Adam, Matthew and Anthony, announced the news in a joint statement. “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man,” they said. “A loving husband, father, grand and great-grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
He had heart trouble and died Thursday at his home in San Marcos, California.
In his first significant role in a feature, Arkin received a rare best actor Oscar nomination for work in a comedy when he played a Russian sailor whose submarine is marooned off the coast of a New England fishing village in Norman Jewison’s The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming (1966).
Two years later,...
- 6/30/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Alan Arkin, who won an Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine, was nominated for Argo and two other films, scored six Emmy noms and won a Tony Award, died Thursday at his home in San Marcos, CA. He was 89.
The news was announced Friday morning by his sons, actors Adam, Matthew and Anthony, in a joint statement. Matthew Arkin told The New York Times that his father had suffered from heart ailments.
The statement read: “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
Related: Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries
In addition to his Oscar-winning film work, Arkin won a Tony Award for acting in Enter Laughing) and was Tony-nominated for directing The Sunshine Boys. He also was nominated for a half-dozen Emmy Awards spanning 53 years,...
The news was announced Friday morning by his sons, actors Adam, Matthew and Anthony, in a joint statement. Matthew Arkin told The New York Times that his father had suffered from heart ailments.
The statement read: “Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.”
Related: Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries
In addition to his Oscar-winning film work, Arkin won a Tony Award for acting in Enter Laughing) and was Tony-nominated for directing The Sunshine Boys. He also was nominated for a half-dozen Emmy Awards spanning 53 years,...
- 6/30/2023
- by Zac Ntim and Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Cinematography retrospectives are the way to go—more than a thorough display of talent, it exposes the vast expanse a Dp will travel, like an education in form and business all the same. Accordingly I’m happy to see the Criterion Channel give a 25-film tribute to James Wong Howe, whose career spanned silent cinema to the ’70s, populated with work by Howard Hawks, Michael Curtz, Samuel Fuller, Alexander Mackendrick, Sydney Pollack, John Frankenheimer, and Raoul Walsh.
Further retrospectives are granted to Romy Schneider (recent repertory sensation La piscine among them), Carlos Saura (finally a chance to see Peppermint frappe!), the British New Wave, and groundbreaking distributor Cinema 5, who brought to U.S. shores everything from The Man Who Fell to Earth and Putney Swope to Pumping Iron and Scenes from a Marriage.
September also yields streaming premieres for the recently restored Bronco Bullfrog, Ang Lee’s Pushing Hands,...
Further retrospectives are granted to Romy Schneider (recent repertory sensation La piscine among them), Carlos Saura (finally a chance to see Peppermint frappe!), the British New Wave, and groundbreaking distributor Cinema 5, who brought to U.S. shores everything from The Man Who Fell to Earth and Putney Swope to Pumping Iron and Scenes from a Marriage.
September also yields streaming premieres for the recently restored Bronco Bullfrog, Ang Lee’s Pushing Hands,...
- 8/22/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
October’s here and it’s time to get spooked. After last year’s superb “’70s Horror” lineup, the Criterion Channel commemorates October with a couple series: “Universal Horror,” which does what it says on the tin (with special notice to the Spanish-language Dracula), and “Home Invasion,” which runs the gamut from Romero to Oshima with Polanski and Haneke in the mix. Lest we disregard the programming of Cindy Sherman’s one feature, Office Killer, and Jennifer’s Body, whose lifespan has gone from gimmick to forgotten to Criterion Channel. And if you want to stretch ideas of genre just a hair, their “True Crime” selection gets at darker shades of human nature.
It’s not all chills and thrills, mind. October also boasts a Kirk Douglas repertoire, movies by Doris Wishman and Wayne Wang, plus Manoel de Oliveira’s rarely screened Porto of My Childhood. And Edgar Wright gets the “Adventures in Moviegoing” treatment,...
It’s not all chills and thrills, mind. October also boasts a Kirk Douglas repertoire, movies by Doris Wishman and Wayne Wang, plus Manoel de Oliveira’s rarely screened Porto of My Childhood. And Edgar Wright gets the “Adventures in Moviegoing” treatment,...
- 9/24/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Sondra Locke, the Oscar-nominated actress who made six movies with Clint Eastwood before their relationship disintegrated and she sued him for palimony and then fraud, has died. She was 74.
Locke died Nov. 3 at her home in Los Angeles of cardiac arrest stemming from breast and bone cancer, according to her death certificate, which was obtained by the Associated Press.
The blond, waifish actress made her onscreen debut in stunning fashion, earning her Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of the teenager Mick Kelly opposite Alan Arkin in Robert Ellis Miller's The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968),...
Locke died Nov. 3 at her home in Los Angeles of cardiac arrest stemming from breast and bone cancer, according to her death certificate, which was obtained by the Associated Press.
The blond, waifish actress made her onscreen debut in stunning fashion, earning her Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of the teenager Mick Kelly opposite Alan Arkin in Robert Ellis Miller's The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968),...
- 12/13/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sondra Locke, the Oscar-nominated actress who made six movies with Clint Eastwood before their relationship disintegrated and she sued him for palimony and then fraud, has died. She was 74.
Locke died Nov. 3 at her home in Los Angeles of cardiac arrest stemming from breast and bone cancer, according to her death certificate, which was obtained by the Associated Press.
The blond, waifish actress made her onscreen debut in stunning fashion, earning her Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of the teenager Mick Kelly opposite Alan Arkin in Robert Ellis Miller's The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968),...
Locke died Nov. 3 at her home in Los Angeles of cardiac arrest stemming from breast and bone cancer, according to her death certificate, which was obtained by the Associated Press.
The blond, waifish actress made her onscreen debut in stunning fashion, earning her Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of the teenager Mick Kelly opposite Alan Arkin in Robert Ellis Miller's The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968),...
- 12/13/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Robert Ellis Miller, the veteran director of films including 1968’s The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and 1983’s Reuben, Reuben, died Friday. He was 89.
He had been living at the Motion Picture & Television Country House in Woodland Hills, Calif., since the death of his wife, documentarian Pola Miller (nee Chasman), two years ago.
Miller’s film version of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, the 1940 Carson McCullers novel about a deaf man’s relationship with a teenage girl in 1930s Georgia, starred Alan Arkin and introduced an unknown Sondra Locke to the screen. Both received Oscar nominations for their...
He had been living at the Motion Picture & Television Country House in Woodland Hills, Calif., since the death of his wife, documentarian Pola Miller (nee Chasman), two years ago.
Miller’s film version of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, the 1940 Carson McCullers novel about a deaf man’s relationship with a teenage girl in 1930s Georgia, starred Alan Arkin and introduced an unknown Sondra Locke to the screen. Both received Oscar nominations for their...
- 1/31/2017
- by Stephen Galloway
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Dean Jones: Actor in Disney movies. Dean Jones dead at 84: Actor in Disney movies 'The Love Bug,' 'That Darn Cat!' Dean Jones, best known for playing befuddled heroes in 1960s Walt Disney movies such as That Darn Cat! and The Love Bug, died of complications from Parkinson's disease on Tue., Sept. 1, '15, in Los Angeles. Jones (born on Jan. 25, 1931, in Decatur, Alabama) was 84. Dean Jones movies Dean Jones began his Hollywood career in the mid-'50s, when he was featured in bit parts – at times uncredited – in a handful of films at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer In 2009 interview for Christianity Today, Jones recalled playing his first scene (in These Wilder Years) with veteran James Cagney, who told him “Walk to your mark and remember your lines” – supposedly a lesson he would take to heart. At MGM, bit player Jones would also be featured in Robert Wise's...
- 9/2/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ron Moody as Fagin in 'Oliver!' based on Charles Dickens' 'Oliver Twist.' Ron Moody as Fagin in Dickens musical 'Oliver!': Box office and critical hit (See previous post: "Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' Actor, Academy Award Nominee Dead at 91.") Although British made, Oliver! turned out to be an elephantine release along the lines of – exclamation point or no – Gypsy, Star!, Hello Dolly!, and other Hollywood mega-musicals from the mid'-50s to the early '70s.[1] But however bloated and conventional the final result, and a cast whose best-known name was that of director Carol Reed's nephew, Oliver Reed, Oliver! found countless fans.[2] The mostly British production became a huge financial and critical success in the U.S. at a time when star-studded mega-musicals had become perilous – at times downright disastrous – ventures.[3] Upon the American release of Oliver! in Dec. 1968, frequently acerbic The...
- 6/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Lots of festivals are happening around the Austin/Central Texas area over the next week. The 18th annual Cine Las Americas fest got underway last night and will continue through Sunday. Featured films, in categories that include narrative and documentary feature and short films, screen at Marchesa Hall, The Mexican American Cultural Center and at Jones Auditorium on the campus of St. Edward's University. All selected titles either contain English subtitles or screen in English. The festival focuses on work from the Us, Canada, Latin America, and the Iberian Peninsula.
The 8th annual Off-Centered Film Festival also kicked off last night. The partnership between Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and Alamo Drafthouse has a theme of "yacht rockin'" this year and they're raising money for The National Wildlife Federation. In addition to the yearly short film competition, they'll be showing the Marx Brothers classic Monkey Business, Joon-ho Bong's The Host...
The 8th annual Off-Centered Film Festival also kicked off last night. The partnership between Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and Alamo Drafthouse has a theme of "yacht rockin'" this year and they're raising money for The National Wildlife Federation. In addition to the yearly short film competition, they'll be showing the Marx Brothers classic Monkey Business, Joon-ho Bong's The Host...
- 4/24/2015
- by Matt Shiverdecker
- Slackerwood
Jane Fonda: From ‘Vietnam Traitor’ to AFI Award and Screen Legend status (photo: Jason Bateman and Jane Fonda in ‘This Is Where I Leave You’) (See previous post: “Jane Fonda Movies: Anti-Establishment Heroine.”) Turner Classic Movies will also be showing the 2014 AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony honoring Jane Fonda, the former “Vietnam Traitor” and Barbarella-style sex kitten who has become a living American screen legend (and healthy-living guru). Believe it or not, Fonda, who still looks disarmingly great, will be turning 77 years old next December 21; she’s actually older than her father Henry Fonda was while playing Katharine Hepburn’s ailing husband in Mark Rydell’s On Golden Pond. (Henry Fonda died at age 77 in August 1982.) Jane Fonda movies in 2014 and 2015 Following a 15-year absence (mostly during the time she was married to media mogul Ted Turner), Jane Fonda resumed her film acting career in 2005, playing Jennifer Lopez...
- 8/2/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Jane Fonda movies on TCM: ‘The China Syndrome,’ ‘Klute,’ and Jean-Luc Godard drama ‘Tout Va Bien’ among highlights (photo: Jane Fonda in ‘Klute’) Turner Classic Movies’ 2014 "Summer Under the Stars" kicked off earlier today, August 1, with a day-long series of Jane Fonda movies. Still reviled by American right-wingers because of her 1972 trip to North Vietnam while the United States was at war with that country — she was photographed seated on an anti-aircraft battery — but admired by others for her liberal views, anti-war activism, and human rights advocacy, the two-time Best Actress Academy Award winner has enjoyed a highly eclectic film career, eventually becoming a rarity among rarities: Jane Fonda is the child of a film star (Henry Fonda) who not only became a film star in her own right, but who went on to become an even bigger screen legend than her famous parent. (See also: Jane Fonda “Summer Under...
- 8/2/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Mickey Rooney was earliest surviving Best Actor Oscar nominee (photo: Mickey Rooney and Spencer Tracy in ‘Boys Town’) (See previous post: “Mickey Rooney Dead at 93: MGM’s Andy Hardy Series’ Hero and Judy Garland Frequent Co-Star Had Longest Film Career Ever?”) Mickey Rooney was the earliest surviving Best Actor Academy Award nominee — Babes in Arms, 1939; The Human Comedy, 1943 — and the last surviving male acting Oscar nominee of the 1930s. Rooney lost the Best Actor Oscar to two considerably more “prestigious” — albeit less popular — stars: Robert Donat for Sam Wood’s Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) and Paul Lukas for Herman Shumlin’s Watch on the Rhine (1943). Following Mickey Rooney’s death, there are only two acting Academy Award nominees from the ’30s still alive: two-time Best Actress winner Luise Rainer, 104 (for Robert Z. Leonard’s The Great Ziegfeld, 1936, and Sidney Franklin’s The Good Earth, 1937), and Best Supporting Actress nominee Olivia de Havilland,...
- 4/9/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: May 28, 2013
Price: DVD $24.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Olive Films
Tom Conti stars in Reuben, Reuben.
Tom Conti (The Tempest) received a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his performance in the 1983 film comedy Reuben, Reuben.
Conti is Gowan McGland, a creatively blocked Scottish poet who ekes out a day-to-day existence by exploiting the generosity of strangers in an affluent New England suburb. His trick is to recite his verse to various arts groups and women’s clubs, bedding other men’s wives, and, hell, even steal tips from waiters at expensive restaurants. It’s not much of a life, but that’s all he has, until he meets and falls for young co-ed Geneva Spofford (Kelly McGillis, The Innkeepers). While Geneva has strong feelings too, she has everything to lose from a relationship with a drunken deadbeat poet who’s unable to hold a job.
Directed by Robert Ellis Miller,...
Price: DVD $24.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Olive Films
Tom Conti stars in Reuben, Reuben.
Tom Conti (The Tempest) received a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his performance in the 1983 film comedy Reuben, Reuben.
Conti is Gowan McGland, a creatively blocked Scottish poet who ekes out a day-to-day existence by exploiting the generosity of strangers in an affluent New England suburb. His trick is to recite his verse to various arts groups and women’s clubs, bedding other men’s wives, and, hell, even steal tips from waiters at expensive restaurants. It’s not much of a life, but that’s all he has, until he meets and falls for young co-ed Geneva Spofford (Kelly McGillis, The Innkeepers). While Geneva has strong feelings too, she has everything to lose from a relationship with a drunken deadbeat poet who’s unable to hold a job.
Directed by Robert Ellis Miller,...
- 4/1/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
This article is dedicated to Andrew Copp: filmmaker, film writer, artist and close friend who passed away on January 19, 2013. You are loved and missed, brother.
****
Looking at the Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the film year 2012, the one miss that clearly cries out for more attention is Liam Neeson’s powerful performance in Joe Carnahan’s excellent survival film The Grey, easily one of the best roles of Neeson’s career.
In Neeson’s case, his lack of a nomination was a case of neglect similar to the Albert Brooks snub in the Best Supporting Actor category for the film year 2011 for Drive(Nicolas Winding Refn, USA).
Along with negligence, other factors commonly prevent outstanding lead acting performances from getting the kind of critical attention they deserve. Sometimes it’s that the performance is in a film not considered “Oscar material” or even worthy of any substantial critical attention.
****
Looking at the Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the film year 2012, the one miss that clearly cries out for more attention is Liam Neeson’s powerful performance in Joe Carnahan’s excellent survival film The Grey, easily one of the best roles of Neeson’s career.
In Neeson’s case, his lack of a nomination was a case of neglect similar to the Albert Brooks snub in the Best Supporting Actor category for the film year 2011 for Drive(Nicolas Winding Refn, USA).
Along with negligence, other factors commonly prevent outstanding lead acting performances from getting the kind of critical attention they deserve. Sometimes it’s that the performance is in a film not considered “Oscar material” or even worthy of any substantial critical attention.
- 2/27/2013
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
With the Academy Awards for the 2011 film year in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to take a look at one of the event’s most consistently fascinating categories: Best Supporting Actor. The most interesting story in the category this year isn’t who got nominated, it’s who didn’t. More specifically, Albert Brooks was completely robbed of a nomination for his performance as film producer turned lethal gangster Bernie Rose in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive.
As much as I’d like to say I was surprised by this, considering both the quality of performance and Brooks’ slew of nominations from other critical circles, in light of the Academy’s history of overlooking outstanding supporting performances, I simply can’t.
Following is a chronological look at a number of performances richly deserving of a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination.
In some cases, the performances are in films...
As much as I’d like to say I was surprised by this, considering both the quality of performance and Brooks’ slew of nominations from other critical circles, in light of the Academy’s history of overlooking outstanding supporting performances, I simply can’t.
Following is a chronological look at a number of performances richly deserving of a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination.
In some cases, the performances are in films...
- 5/23/2012
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
The veteran Scottish actor has always been a smoothie, and now he's showing off his moves in Streetdance 2. He talks to us about salsa, stardom – and being the oldest person on set
In the middle of Streetdance 2, a breakdance crew storms a Parisian bar to show off their moves. They flex and writhe as the music thumps. On the edge of the circle, away from the sweat and the fury, Tom Conti leads a partner through a gentle spot of salsa.
"It really wasn't about dancing," says the 71-year-old of his awkward turn on the boards. "It was about the connection between man and woman. The streetdancers don't connect with each other, they just do phenomenal acrobatics. There's no sex, really."
Conti doesn't like to dance. He has trouble with the tango, spurns the quickstep. He turned down Strictly Come Dancing ("I'd make a total arse of myself"), but he likes music,...
In the middle of Streetdance 2, a breakdance crew storms a Parisian bar to show off their moves. They flex and writhe as the music thumps. On the edge of the circle, away from the sweat and the fury, Tom Conti leads a partner through a gentle spot of salsa.
"It really wasn't about dancing," says the 71-year-old of his awkward turn on the boards. "It was about the connection between man and woman. The streetdancers don't connect with each other, they just do phenomenal acrobatics. There's no sex, really."
Conti doesn't like to dance. He has trouble with the tango, spurns the quickstep. He turned down Strictly Come Dancing ("I'd make a total arse of myself"), but he likes music,...
- 3/30/2012
- by Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Toni Collette in Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' Little Miss Sunshine (top); Peter O'Toole in Roger Michell's Venus (middle); Eddie Murphy, Beyoncé Knowles, Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose in Bill Condon's Dreamgirls (bottom) Hal Holbrook, Ruby Dee: Oscar Veterans 2007 Alan Arkin Alan Arkin won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as an untactful heroin-addicted grandfather in Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' sleeper hit Little Miss Sunshine. Arkin had been previously nominated for two other Academy Awards, both in the Best Actor category: Norman Jewison's comedy The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966) and Robert Ellis Miller's heavy drama The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968). Peter O'Toole Peter O'Toole was nominated as Best Actor for Roger Michell's Venus. Even though that was O'Toole's eighth Academy Award nomination — and his first...
- 2/18/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Dick Berg, a prominent television writer and producer whose career ranged from live TV to movies of the week and longform programming, died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles after a brief illness. He was 87.
His producing credits range from "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater" to the detective series "Checkmate" to the miniseries "Space" and "The Martian Chronicles."
With his wife of 63 years, Barbara, he also headed something of a modern-day Hollywood dynasty. Their sons are Icm chairman and CEO Jeff Berg, author A. Scott Berg, music producer and executive Tony Berg and producer and manager Rick Berg.
"More than anybody I can think of in television, my father proved to be extremely successful on a commercial level without every compromising quality," Scott Berg said. "It wasn't just that he had a great eye for talent -- especially writers -- but he really knew how to get the best out of everybody.
His producing credits range from "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater" to the detective series "Checkmate" to the miniseries "Space" and "The Martian Chronicles."
With his wife of 63 years, Barbara, he also headed something of a modern-day Hollywood dynasty. Their sons are Icm chairman and CEO Jeff Berg, author A. Scott Berg, music producer and executive Tony Berg and producer and manager Rick Berg.
"More than anybody I can think of in television, my father proved to be extremely successful on a commercial level without every compromising quality," Scott Berg said. "It wasn't just that he had a great eye for talent -- especially writers -- but he really knew how to get the best out of everybody.
- 9/2/2009
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Maybe we could have waited awhile longer.
After five years of bruising lawsuits and ownership changes that delayed the release of ''Brenda Starr, '' the film that limps into a limited release this week hardly warrants the fuss.
This live-action version of Dale Messick's 50-year-old comic strip is a slight and forgettable action comedy. By now ''Brenda Starr'' should have been a dusty video shelf-item, rented occasionally to entertain undemanding family audiences.
In a few more months it will fulfill that destiny. Triumph has little hope of attracting any kind of theatrical response other than from the insatiably curious.
Brooke Shields is certainly glamorous enough as the red-headed reporter-cum-clothes horse. And Timothy Dalton cuts a dashing figure as her mysterious admirer and helpmate, Basil St. John.
But a multitude of writers force the humor at every turn. Director Robert Ellis Miller pushes even harder for farcical action to wearying effect.
The only glimmer of a potentially amusing satirical film lies in the comic-strip ambiance provided by John J. Lloyd's production design and in a provocative character played by Tony Peck, the illustrator who draws the strip and somehow becomes entangled in the heroine's escapades.
But rather than playing with the intriguing possibilities of an artist getting involved with his fictional creation, Miller and the writers allow Peck's character to become a third wheel to the romance between Brenda and Basil.
The filmmakers compound the missed opportunities in not fully deploying fiery Diana Scarwid, who plays a rival reporter.
The story about Brenda's hot pursuit of a Nazi scientist in the South American jungle is thinner than a ''Saturday Night Live'' skit.
Bob Mackie's terrific '40s costumes worn by Shields are decked out with more imagination. Indeed some sequences come together for the express purpose of displaying Mackie's creation. At least that opportunity wasn't missed.
BRENDA STARR
Triumph Releasing
Producer Myron A. Hyman
Director Robert Ellis Miller
Executive producer John D. Backe, Alana H. Lambros
Screenplay Jenny Wolkind, Noreen Stone, James David Buchanan
Based on the comic strip by Dale Messick
Director of photography Freddie Francis
Production designer John J. Lloyd
Music Johnny Mandel
Editor Mark Melnick
Costumes for Brooke Shields Bob Mackie
Costume designer Peggy Farrell
Animation Japhet Asher
Color
Cast:
Brenda Starr Brooke Shields
Basil St. John Timothy Dalton
Mike Randall Tony Peck
Libby (Lips) Lipscomb Diana Scarwid
Newspaper editor Charles Durning
Police Chief Eddie Albert
Vladimir Jeffrey Tambor
Luba June Gable
Prof. Von Kreutzer Henry Gibson
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
After five years of bruising lawsuits and ownership changes that delayed the release of ''Brenda Starr, '' the film that limps into a limited release this week hardly warrants the fuss.
This live-action version of Dale Messick's 50-year-old comic strip is a slight and forgettable action comedy. By now ''Brenda Starr'' should have been a dusty video shelf-item, rented occasionally to entertain undemanding family audiences.
In a few more months it will fulfill that destiny. Triumph has little hope of attracting any kind of theatrical response other than from the insatiably curious.
Brooke Shields is certainly glamorous enough as the red-headed reporter-cum-clothes horse. And Timothy Dalton cuts a dashing figure as her mysterious admirer and helpmate, Basil St. John.
But a multitude of writers force the humor at every turn. Director Robert Ellis Miller pushes even harder for farcical action to wearying effect.
The only glimmer of a potentially amusing satirical film lies in the comic-strip ambiance provided by John J. Lloyd's production design and in a provocative character played by Tony Peck, the illustrator who draws the strip and somehow becomes entangled in the heroine's escapades.
But rather than playing with the intriguing possibilities of an artist getting involved with his fictional creation, Miller and the writers allow Peck's character to become a third wheel to the romance between Brenda and Basil.
The filmmakers compound the missed opportunities in not fully deploying fiery Diana Scarwid, who plays a rival reporter.
The story about Brenda's hot pursuit of a Nazi scientist in the South American jungle is thinner than a ''Saturday Night Live'' skit.
Bob Mackie's terrific '40s costumes worn by Shields are decked out with more imagination. Indeed some sequences come together for the express purpose of displaying Mackie's creation. At least that opportunity wasn't missed.
BRENDA STARR
Triumph Releasing
Producer Myron A. Hyman
Director Robert Ellis Miller
Executive producer John D. Backe, Alana H. Lambros
Screenplay Jenny Wolkind, Noreen Stone, James David Buchanan
Based on the comic strip by Dale Messick
Director of photography Freddie Francis
Production designer John J. Lloyd
Music Johnny Mandel
Editor Mark Melnick
Costumes for Brooke Shields Bob Mackie
Costume designer Peggy Farrell
Animation Japhet Asher
Color
Cast:
Brenda Starr Brooke Shields
Basil St. John Timothy Dalton
Mike Randall Tony Peck
Libby (Lips) Lipscomb Diana Scarwid
Newspaper editor Charles Durning
Police Chief Eddie Albert
Vladimir Jeffrey Tambor
Luba June Gable
Prof. Von Kreutzer Henry Gibson
Running time -- 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 4/16/1992
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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