Movie fans can be easily duped when a well-known marquee actor is featured prominently on a movie poster or promotional material for an upcoming, highly anticipated project, only to find that said actor is barely in the movie. When Francis Ford Coppola released an all-new director's cut of his psychedelic war film "Apocalypse Now," billed famously as "Apocalypse Now Redux," Harrison Ford's name suddenly appeared on the poster as the fifth-billed actor right behind Dennis Hopper and Laurence Fishburne. Does anyone even remember Harrison Ford originally being in "Apocalypse Now?"
Another misdirect that comes to mind is the final poster for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." While Drew Struzan's artwork doesn't feature Luke, Mark Hamill's name is second-billed right between Ford's name and the illustrious Carrie Fisher. "Star Wars" fans all know how that one turned out. By the time "Apocalypse Now" arrived in theaters in 1979, Ford...
Another misdirect that comes to mind is the final poster for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." While Drew Struzan's artwork doesn't feature Luke, Mark Hamill's name is second-billed right between Ford's name and the illustrious Carrie Fisher. "Star Wars" fans all know how that one turned out. By the time "Apocalypse Now" arrived in theaters in 1979, Ford...
- 12/14/2022
- by Drew Tinnin
- Slash Film
Apocalypse Now in 4K? After The Wild Bunch this is one title likely to get me to invest in a new format. Francis Coppola & John Milius’ Vietnam War epic may not be perfect, but it’s one of the most exciting movie experiences ever and one of the top achievements of the first film school generation of moviemakers. The release is agreeably all-inclusive: the original Road Show cut and the two revised versions are here along with the excellent making-of feature Hearts of Darkness. Re-tooled and polished up for picture and audio, this qualifies as a prime audio show-off disc too.
Apocalypse Now Final Cut
4K Ultra-hd + Blu-ray + Digital
Lionsgate
1979, 2001, 2019 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 147, 196, 183 min. / 40th Anniversary Edition / 1979 70mm Road Show cut, 2001 Redux cut, 2019 Final Cut versions / Street Date August 27, 2019 /
Starring: Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, Albert Hall, Harrison Ford, Dennis Hopper, G.D. Spradlin,...
Apocalypse Now Final Cut
4K Ultra-hd + Blu-ray + Digital
Lionsgate
1979, 2001, 2019 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 147, 196, 183 min. / 40th Anniversary Edition / 1979 70mm Road Show cut, 2001 Redux cut, 2019 Final Cut versions / Street Date August 27, 2019 /
Starring: Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, Albert Hall, Harrison Ford, Dennis Hopper, G.D. Spradlin,...
- 3/6/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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
Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter at the Academy Awards Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter on the Oscars' Red Carpet Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter sported matching hairdos upon their arrival at the 2011 Academy Awards ceremony held on Feb. 27 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Tim Burton's global blockbuster Alice in Wonderland, in which Helena Bonham Carter is one of the featured players (as the Red Queen), won Oscars for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction. Bonham Carter was a Best Supporting Actress nominee for Tom Hooper's The King's Speech (as another queen, Elizabeth). Helena Bonham Carter: Career boosted by Oscar nomination Helena Bonham Carter's film career began in earnest in James Ivory's 1986 Best Picture Oscar nominee A Room with a View, in which she romanced Julian Sands. She kept on working without creating too much of a stir – e.g., Lady Jane,...
- 4/25/2015
- by D. Zhea
- Alt Film Guide
Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson on the Oscars' Red Carpet Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson at the Academy Awards Eli Wallach and wife Anne Jackson are seen above arriving at the 2011 Academy Awards ceremony, held on Sunday, Feb. 27, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The 95-year-old Wallach had received an Honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards in November 2010. See also: "Doris Day Inexplicably Snubbed by Academy," "Maureen O'Hara Honorary Oscar," "Honorary Oscars: Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo Among Rare Women Recipients," and "Hayao Miyazaki Getting Honorary Oscar." Delayed film debut The Actors Studio-trained Eli Wallach was to have made his film debut in Fred Zinnemann's Academy Award-winning 1953 blockbuster From Here to Eternity. Ultimately, however, Frank Sinatra – then a has-been following a string of box office duds – was cast for a pittance, getting beaten to a pulp by a pre-stardom Ernest Borgnine. For his bloodied efforts, Sinatra went on...
- 4/24/2015
- by D. Zhea
- Alt Film Guide
By Alex Simon
For the one person on the planet who's never see the Godfather films--spoilers Ahead.
Few characters in film history have displayed the cunning, charm and utter moral ambiguity as that of Tom Hagen, the Corleone family lawyer in Francis Coppola’s first two Godfather films. In Mario Puzo’s novel, as well as the film adaptation, it’s revealed that Hagen (played by Robert Duvall) was found living on the street as an 11 year-old by pre-teen Sonny Corleone (played in the film as an adult by James Caan) and unofficially adopted by Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) as one of their own. Puzo’s novel reveals that Don Vito never formally adopted Tom, as he felt it would have been disrespectful to the boy’s real family, who were torn apart by their father’s alcoholism.
Throughout both films, Hagen remains the voice of reason and rational thinking,...
For the one person on the planet who's never see the Godfather films--spoilers Ahead.
Few characters in film history have displayed the cunning, charm and utter moral ambiguity as that of Tom Hagen, the Corleone family lawyer in Francis Coppola’s first two Godfather films. In Mario Puzo’s novel, as well as the film adaptation, it’s revealed that Hagen (played by Robert Duvall) was found living on the street as an 11 year-old by pre-teen Sonny Corleone (played in the film as an adult by James Caan) and unofficially adopted by Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) as one of their own. Puzo’s novel reveals that Don Vito never formally adopted Tom, as he felt it would have been disrespectful to the boy’s real family, who were torn apart by their father’s alcoholism.
Throughout both films, Hagen remains the voice of reason and rational thinking,...
- 4/15/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
In October of 2010, Sound on Sight asked me to do my first commemorative piece on the passing of filmmaker Arthur Penn. I suspect I was asked because I was the only one writing for the site old enough to have seen Penn’s films in theaters. Whatever the reason, it was an unexpectedly rewarding if expectedly bittersweet experience which led to a series of equally rewarding but bittersweet experiences writing on the passing of other filmdom notables.
I say rewarding because it gave me a nostalgic-flavored chance to revisit certain work and the people behind it; a revisiting which often brought back the nearly-forgotten youthful excitement that went with an eye-opening, a discovery, the thrill of the new. Writing them has also been bittersweet because each of these pieces is a formal acknowledgment that something precious is gone. A talent may be perhaps preserved forever on celluloid, but the filmography...
I say rewarding because it gave me a nostalgic-flavored chance to revisit certain work and the people behind it; a revisiting which often brought back the nearly-forgotten youthful excitement that went with an eye-opening, a discovery, the thrill of the new. Writing them has also been bittersweet because each of these pieces is a formal acknowledgment that something precious is gone. A talent may be perhaps preserved forever on celluloid, but the filmography...
- 12/24/2011
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Peter Gent, the man who penned the novel that inspired cult 1979 sports movie North Dallas Forty, has died of complications from pulmonary disease.
Gent, a sportsman who played football for the Dallas Cowboys in the late 1960s, died on Friday at his home in Bangor, Michigan. He was 69.
He was drafted by basketball team the Baltimore Bullets after college, but instead chose to follow a short-lived football career with the Cowboys.
His experiences inspired his gritty, breakout 1973 novel North Dallas Forty, which drew praise for exposing the locker room world of the sport.
Gent co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation, which starred Nick Nolte, Mac Davis and G.D. Spradlin.
It wasn't his only literary success - Gent also wrote the novels Texas Celebrity Turkey Trot, The Franchise and The Last Magic Summer. He also penned a sequel to his literary debut, North Dallas After Forty.
Gent, a sportsman who played football for the Dallas Cowboys in the late 1960s, died on Friday at his home in Bangor, Michigan. He was 69.
He was drafted by basketball team the Baltimore Bullets after college, but instead chose to follow a short-lived football career with the Cowboys.
His experiences inspired his gritty, breakout 1973 novel North Dallas Forty, which drew praise for exposing the locker room world of the sport.
Gent co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation, which starred Nick Nolte, Mac Davis and G.D. Spradlin.
It wasn't his only literary success - Gent also wrote the novels Texas Celebrity Turkey Trot, The Franchise and The Last Magic Summer. He also penned a sequel to his literary debut, North Dallas After Forty.
- 10/2/2011
- WENN
Character actor who portrayed smarmy politicians, sadistic generals and unspeakable authoritarian figures
There is a scene in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather: Part II (1974) that crystallises the entire film career of the character actor Gd Spradlin, who has died aged 90. As the corrupt senator Pat Geary, Spradlin asks the mafia boss Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) for a bribe, so that he can grant gaming licences to the "family" for several casinos in Nevada. During the meeting, Geary launches into an attack on the Corleones, a name he pronounces with derision. "I intend to squeeze you. I don't like your kind of people. I don't like to see you come out to this clean country with oily hair and trussed up in those silk suits trying to pass yourselves off as decent Americans. I'll do business with you, but the fact is I despise you masquerading in the dishonest way you pose yourself.
There is a scene in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather: Part II (1974) that crystallises the entire film career of the character actor Gd Spradlin, who has died aged 90. As the corrupt senator Pat Geary, Spradlin asks the mafia boss Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) for a bribe, so that he can grant gaming licences to the "family" for several casinos in Nevada. During the meeting, Geary launches into an attack on the Corleones, a name he pronounces with derision. "I intend to squeeze you. I don't like your kind of people. I don't like to see you come out to this clean country with oily hair and trussed up in those silk suits trying to pass yourselves off as decent Americans. I'll do business with you, but the fact is I despise you masquerading in the dishonest way you pose yourself.
- 8/16/2011
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Spradlin gave a memorable performance in his brief appearance in Apocalypse Now.
Character actor G.D. Spradlin, who portrayed gruff, no-nonsense tough guys, died last week at the age of 90. Spradlin had a a commanding screen presence and his most memorable roles include a corrupt U.S. senator in The Godfather Part II and the U.S. Army general who sends Captain Willard on his secret mission to kill Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. For more click here...
Character actor G.D. Spradlin, who portrayed gruff, no-nonsense tough guys, died last week at the age of 90. Spradlin had a a commanding screen presence and his most memorable roles include a corrupt U.S. senator in The Godfather Part II and the U.S. Army general who sends Captain Willard on his secret mission to kill Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. For more click here...
- 7/31/2011
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Character actor G.D. Spradlin has died at his home in California at the age of 90.
Spradlin, who was famed for playing authority figures, passed away of natural causes at his ranch in San Luis Obispo on Sunday, according to his grandson.
Starting his career as a lawyer, before working as an independent oil producer, Spradlin didn't start acting until he was in his 40s, when producer Fred Roos cast him in TV shows I Spy and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
He went on to play a corrupt senator in The Godfather: Part II and a general in Apocalypse Now, as well as roles in Ed Wood and The Long Kiss Goodnight.
The actor also directed two movies, The Only Way Home and Outside In, both released in 1972.
He is survived by his wife, Frances, two daughters and five grandchildren.
Spradlin, who was famed for playing authority figures, passed away of natural causes at his ranch in San Luis Obispo on Sunday, according to his grandson.
Starting his career as a lawyer, before working as an independent oil producer, Spradlin didn't start acting until he was in his 40s, when producer Fred Roos cast him in TV shows I Spy and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
He went on to play a corrupt senator in The Godfather: Part II and a general in Apocalypse Now, as well as roles in Ed Wood and The Long Kiss Goodnight.
The actor also directed two movies, The Only Way Home and Outside In, both released in 1972.
He is survived by his wife, Frances, two daughters and five grandchildren.
- 7/26/2011
- WENN
He was the corrupt senator with the dead Vegas hooker in his bed in The Godfather Pt 2. He sent Martin Sheen upriver in Apocalypse Now and was the Tom Landry-like coach in North Dallas 40. G.D. Spradlin was an accomplished, intense character actor who popped up frequently throughout the ’70s and ’80s and whose other credits include Zabriskie Point (1970) and Tim Burton’s Ed Wood (1994). Apparently Spradlin was a millionaire oil company exec who wandered into acting on a lark after he was well into his 40′s. Spradlin died at his cattle ranch in California this morning at age 90.
From The La Times:
Gervase Duan “G.D.” Spradlin, a character actor best known for playing authority figures in television and films, including “The Godfather: Part II” and “Apocalypse Now,” has died. He was 90.
Spradlin died of natural causes at his cattle ranch in San Luis Obispo on Sunday, said his grandson,...
From The La Times:
Gervase Duan “G.D.” Spradlin, a character actor best known for playing authority figures in television and films, including “The Godfather: Part II” and “Apocalypse Now,” has died. He was 90.
Spradlin died of natural causes at his cattle ranch in San Luis Obispo on Sunday, said his grandson,...
- 7/26/2011
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
More sad news to pass along from Old Hollywood: veteran character actor G.D. Spradlin died in his San Luis Obispo cattle ranch on Sunday from natural causes. He was 90. Spradlin -- who was such a successful independent oil producer in Oklahoma during the 1950s that he retired in 1960 -- began acting in the late '60s with roles on television series like Gomer Pyle, I Spy and Dragnet, and broke out following his appearance as slimy senator Pat Geary in The Godfather Part II. Ahead, remember Spradlin by watching his best Godfather moment.
- 7/25/2011
- Movieline
On Saturday, March 26th, the Directors Guild of America hosted another event in celebration of their 75th Anniversary. Last month, they honored George Lucas with a screening of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) and discussion between Lucas and Christopher Nolan. This time, the DGA hosted a panel honoring Lucas's benefactor, Francis Ford Coppola. Unlike the Lucas event, the DGA did not screen one of Coppola's many feature films, but asked three directors, David O'Russell (Three Kings, The Fighter), Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, Thirteen), and Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood) to prepare short reels of some of their favorite scenes as a spring board for discussion. Each director's selections were fairly classical while also featuring some oddities: Hardwicke picked ten minutes from Apocalypse Now (1979), P.T. Anderson chose a selection from The Conversation (1974), my personal favorite of Coppola's films, and an odder choice, Youth Without Youth...
- 3/28/2011
- by Drew Morton
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