Jack Nicholson may have played numerous iconic villains throughout his long-standing career, but this movie probably started the actor’s vicious path in the cinema not less than 60 years ago.
Being a true hidden gem in Nicholson’s abundant filmography, the 1966 Western was quick to become a cult classic of the genre, yet it initially faced some major problems that would’ve easily let it sink into oblivion.
Directed by Monte Hellman, The Shooting now is an easy option to pick on the streaming, but back in the day things got to be much more complicated when it came to the movie’s performance in the theaters.
Released in 1966, The Shooting follows two men, Willet and Coley, portrayed by Warren Oates and Will Hutchins respectively, who are hired by a mysterious woman to keep her safe on the way to a town that lies across the several-mile-long desert. The woman...
Being a true hidden gem in Nicholson’s abundant filmography, the 1966 Western was quick to become a cult classic of the genre, yet it initially faced some major problems that would’ve easily let it sink into oblivion.
Directed by Monte Hellman, The Shooting now is an easy option to pick on the streaming, but back in the day things got to be much more complicated when it came to the movie’s performance in the theaters.
Released in 1966, The Shooting follows two men, Willet and Coley, portrayed by Warren Oates and Will Hutchins respectively, who are hired by a mysterious woman to keep her safe on the way to a town that lies across the several-mile-long desert. The woman...
- 5/19/2024
- by benjamin-patel@startefacts.com (Benjamin Patel)
- STartefacts.com
"Saturday Night Live" might be a late-night show in New York, but since it airs before 10 p.m. in some regions it has to abide by the FCC's quirky rules on "indecent and profane" content. Swearing is a capital crime; in 1981, Charles Rocket was fired immediately after he accidentally dropped an F-bomb on air. Sex and nudity are also big danger zones; the 1988 sketch "Nude Beach" with Matthew Broderick, in which the word "penis" is uttered dozens of times, was permitted to air following a fierce debate within NBC's Broadcast Standard Department, and resulted in 46,000 complaints and the loss of multiple sponsors.
Fortunately for this "SNL" season 49 finale sketch, which stars guest host Jake Gyllenhaal as Fred in a twisted spin on "Scooby-Doo," violence on TV is basically a blood-soaked free-for-all with almost no limits.
Musical guest Sabrina Carpenter co-stars as Daphne, with regular cast members Mikey Day...
Fortunately for this "SNL" season 49 finale sketch, which stars guest host Jake Gyllenhaal as Fred in a twisted spin on "Scooby-Doo," violence on TV is basically a blood-soaked free-for-all with almost no limits.
Musical guest Sabrina Carpenter co-stars as Daphne, with regular cast members Mikey Day...
- 5/19/2024
- by Hannah Shaw-Williams
- Slash Film
When first-time documentary director Leonard Manzella premieres his award-winning “Shoe Shine Caddie” at the Portobello Film Festival in London on September 16, it will represent a kind of return to the former actor’s roots in the international film scene.
A professional family therapist for the past 30 years in California, Manzella’s earlier career began when the native Angeleno left Los Angeles for Rome in 1968 “when everything was burning.” In his early 20s and armed with “no contacts and about $50 bucks in my pocket,” a fortuitous introduction to American actor Brett Halsey got Manzella into movies, first as an extra and eventually as a leading man.
Halsey, who landed in Rome in the ‘60s and worked steadily in Euro crime thrillers and in the burgeoning spaghetti western scene, often toiled under the moniker Montgomery Ford and Leonard Manzella became famous as Leonard Mann.
“I went to Rome to study political science,...
A professional family therapist for the past 30 years in California, Manzella’s earlier career began when the native Angeleno left Los Angeles for Rome in 1968 “when everything was burning.” In his early 20s and armed with “no contacts and about $50 bucks in my pocket,” a fortuitous introduction to American actor Brett Halsey got Manzella into movies, first as an extra and eventually as a leading man.
Halsey, who landed in Rome in the ‘60s and worked steadily in Euro crime thrillers and in the burgeoning spaghetti western scene, often toiled under the moniker Montgomery Ford and Leonard Manzella became famous as Leonard Mann.
“I went to Rome to study political science,...
- 9/15/2023
- by Steven Gaydos
- Variety Film + TV
Gary Kent, the actor, director and stunt performer who also served as one of the inspirations for Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth character in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” died on May 25 in Austin, Texas, The Austin Chronicle confirmed. He was 89.
Kent began his career as a seasoned stunt performer after to traveling to Los Angeles in 1958. Ahead of doubling for Jack Nicholson in Monte Hellman’s “Ride in the Whirlwind” and “The Shooting,” Kent worked in film production offices and acted on the side, appearing in “Legion of the Doomed,” “King of the Wild Stallions,” “Battle Flame,” “The Thrill Killers” and “The Black Klansman.”
Soon after his stuntman debut in 1965, Kent appeared as a gas tank worker in Peter Bogdanovich’s debut feature film “Targets,” then worked on “Hell’s Bloody Devils,” “The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant” “Angels’ Wild Women” and Richard Rush’s “Psych-Out,” racking up injuries along the way.
Kent began his career as a seasoned stunt performer after to traveling to Los Angeles in 1958. Ahead of doubling for Jack Nicholson in Monte Hellman’s “Ride in the Whirlwind” and “The Shooting,” Kent worked in film production offices and acted on the side, appearing in “Legion of the Doomed,” “King of the Wild Stallions,” “Battle Flame,” “The Thrill Killers” and “The Black Klansman.”
Soon after his stuntman debut in 1965, Kent appeared as a gas tank worker in Peter Bogdanovich’s debut feature film “Targets,” then worked on “Hell’s Bloody Devils,” “The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant” “Angels’ Wild Women” and Richard Rush’s “Psych-Out,” racking up injuries along the way.
- 5/26/2023
- by Charna Flam
- Variety Film + TV
Gary Kent, the iconic B-movie stunt performer, actor and director who worked with Peter Bogdanovich, Richard Rush and Monte Hellman and served as an inspiration for Brad Pitt’s character in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, has died. He was 89.
Kent died Thursday evening at an assisted care facility in Austin, his son Chris Kent told The Hollywood Reporter.
Kent suffered two of his most painful injuries as a stunt performer in Rush films. He sliced up his arm on broken glass during a barfight fracas in Hells Angels on Wheels (1967) and was run over by an out-of-control motorcycle in The Savage Seven (1968), where he shared scenes with Penny Marshall.
His half-century stunt career came to an end on the set of Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) when he tumbled down a hill and damaged his leg, but he kept at it as a stunt coordinator, working as recently...
Kent died Thursday evening at an assisted care facility in Austin, his son Chris Kent told The Hollywood Reporter.
Kent suffered two of his most painful injuries as a stunt performer in Rush films. He sliced up his arm on broken glass during a barfight fracas in Hells Angels on Wheels (1967) and was run over by an out-of-control motorcycle in The Savage Seven (1968), where he shared scenes with Penny Marshall.
His half-century stunt career came to an end on the set of Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) when he tumbled down a hill and damaged his leg, but he kept at it as a stunt coordinator, working as recently...
- 5/26/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Writer, director and actor Michael Showalter joins hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss his favorite movies.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)
The Baxter (2005)
Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015)
Runaway Daughters (1994)
Clueless (1995)
Bagdad Cafe (1987)
Coda (2021)
The Long Goodbye (1973) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Jaws (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Do The Right Thing (1989)
Sugarbaby (1985)
City Slickers (1991)
Attack! (1956) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Paris, Texas (1984) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
Pretty In Pink (1986)
Escape From New York (1981) – Neil Marshall’s trailer commentary
Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986)
The Warriors (1979)
The Thing (1982) – Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Christine (1983)
Crossing Delancey (1988)
Annie Hall (1977) – Robert Weide’s trailer commentary
When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
The Fugitive (1993)
The Big Sick (2017) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Between The Lines...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)
The Baxter (2005)
Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015)
Runaway Daughters (1994)
Clueless (1995)
Bagdad Cafe (1987)
Coda (2021)
The Long Goodbye (1973) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Jaws (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Do The Right Thing (1989)
Sugarbaby (1985)
City Slickers (1991)
Attack! (1956) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Paris, Texas (1984) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
Pretty In Pink (1986)
Escape From New York (1981) – Neil Marshall’s trailer commentary
Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986)
The Warriors (1979)
The Thing (1982) – Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Christine (1983)
Crossing Delancey (1988)
Annie Hall (1977) – Robert Weide’s trailer commentary
When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
The Fugitive (1993)
The Big Sick (2017) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Between The Lines...
- 4/5/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
The late American indie film auteur Monte Hellman was fond of a quote from Jean Cocteau that poetically summed up the fate of any real work of art: “A work of art should also be ‘an object difficult to pick up.’ It must protect itself from vulgar pawing, which tarnishes and disfigures it. It should be made of such a shape that people don’t know which way to hold it, which embarrasses and irritates the critics, incites them to be rude, but keeps it fresh. The less it’s understood, the slower it opens its petals, the later it will fade.”
Cocteau’s dictum certainly applies to Hellman’s 1971 film, “Two-Lane Blacktop.” It opened its petals 50 years ago today and still confounds not only the critics but its fans and friends, including the film’s unit publicist Beverly Walker, whose groundbreaking campaign for the film included getting Esquire magazine...
Cocteau’s dictum certainly applies to Hellman’s 1971 film, “Two-Lane Blacktop.” It opened its petals 50 years ago today and still confounds not only the critics but its fans and friends, including the film’s unit publicist Beverly Walker, whose groundbreaking campaign for the film included getting Esquire magazine...
- 7/7/2021
- by Steven Gaydos
- Variety Film + TV
On the release of what was to be the late Monte Hellman’s final feature film in 2011, critic Steve Erickson noted “Monte Hellman is the ultimate outlaw filmmaker.”
A decade earlier, filmmaker-critic Kent Jones wrote that “anything written in America about Monte Hellman … cinema’s most under-appreciated great director … must be a defense.”
Decades before Jones’ astute assessment, film critic David Thomson had noted, “No system could digest the willful arbitrariness of Monte Hellman’s best films,” which is probably as clear an explanation of why Hellman made only one Hollywood Studio film in a directing career that stretched from 1959 to 2011 and included stints as Jack Nicholson’s filmmaking partner and Quentin Tarantino’s directorial debut enabler-producer.
That assessment of Hellman’s importance, that notion that a defensive posture is the inevitable position of the Hellman fan and the idea that Hellman’s Hollywood Failure was his greatest success, all...
A decade earlier, filmmaker-critic Kent Jones wrote that “anything written in America about Monte Hellman … cinema’s most under-appreciated great director … must be a defense.”
Decades before Jones’ astute assessment, film critic David Thomson had noted, “No system could digest the willful arbitrariness of Monte Hellman’s best films,” which is probably as clear an explanation of why Hellman made only one Hollywood Studio film in a directing career that stretched from 1959 to 2011 and included stints as Jack Nicholson’s filmmaking partner and Quentin Tarantino’s directorial debut enabler-producer.
That assessment of Hellman’s importance, that notion that a defensive posture is the inevitable position of the Hellman fan and the idea that Hellman’s Hollywood Failure was his greatest success, all...
- 4/22/2021
- by Steven Gaydos
- Variety Film + TV
Monte Hellman, the filmmaker behind movies like Two-Lane Blacktop, The Shooting, and Cockfighter, has died. He suffered a fall in his home on April 19, and died the next day. He was 93 years old. Variety brought word of Hellman’s death, and the outlet described the filmmaker as a “maverick” and a “cult” director. He was […]
The post ‘Two-Lane Blacktop’ Director Monte Hellman Dies at Age 91 appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘Two-Lane Blacktop’ Director Monte Hellman Dies at Age 91 appeared first on /Film.
- 4/21/2021
- by Ben Pearson
- Slash Film
Influential instead of famous, brilliant in a way for which his medium has little remaining use, Monte Hellman died yesterday at 91. It was heartening, if not a bit surprising all the same, to see my Twitter feed instantly and unanimously alight with praise for the director, whose filmography is often distilled to one sui generis classic and considered an object of intense interest for true believers otherwise.
Whatever that implies, it’s hard to recommend a filmography with less reservation—Hellman’s cinema is immediately identifiable for its vision of rugged, roughshod masculinity, accessible with its use of iconic figures, and (at the risk of underlining this point too sharply) always invigorates in its sense of discovering some well-kept secret.
Some cursory searches reveal a good number readily streaming. So long as you don’t mind the occasional ad break, your first step is Tubi, which hosts his Jack Nicholson...
Whatever that implies, it’s hard to recommend a filmography with less reservation—Hellman’s cinema is immediately identifiable for its vision of rugged, roughshod masculinity, accessible with its use of iconic figures, and (at the risk of underlining this point too sharply) always invigorates in its sense of discovering some well-kept secret.
Some cursory searches reveal a good number readily streaming. So long as you don’t mind the occasional ad break, your first step is Tubi, which hosts his Jack Nicholson...
- 4/21/2021
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Monte Hellman and his dog Kona. Monte Hellman, cult director of The Shooting (1966), Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) and Road to Nowhere (2010) has died. Hellman spoke with Notebook on several occasions about his films, decrying the committee-designed quality of new films while staying true to his own long-held principles: "I am aware of continually breaking rules." Léos Carax's first English-language film, the musical Annette, will be opening the 74th Cannes Film Festival on July 6th. The film will simultaneously be released in French cinemas. Two other Cannes titles have also been announced, having been selected for last year's postponed edition of the festival: Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch and Paul Verhoeven's Benedetta. Steven Soderbergh is undertaking the overwhelming creative task of staging this year's Oscars ceremony. As Soderbergh says, the project is "the walking...
- 4/21/2021
- MUBI
Influential director Monte Hellman, whose 1971 film Two-Lane Blacktop starring musicians James Taylor and Dennis Wilson became a counterculture cult classic, died Tuesday. He was 91.
His death at Eisenhower Health hospital in Palm Desert followed a fall at his home, his daughter, producer Melissa Hellman, told The New York Times.
While not as well known as other directors of the New Hollywood of the late ’60s and early ’70s, Hellman was nonetheless influential. His sparse Two-Lane Blacktop , a post-Easy Rider character study about two street racers became a cornerstone among American existentialist road movies.
Hellman worked with the best actors of that New Hollywood generation, including Jack Nicolson and Warren Oates. He made his feature debut like so many other filmmakers of his generation – on a Roger Corman film, in his case called Beast From Haunted Cave.
His death at Eisenhower Health hospital in Palm Desert followed a fall at his home, his daughter, producer Melissa Hellman, told The New York Times.
While not as well known as other directors of the New Hollywood of the late ’60s and early ’70s, Hellman was nonetheless influential. His sparse Two-Lane Blacktop , a post-Easy Rider character study about two street racers became a cornerstone among American existentialist road movies.
Hellman worked with the best actors of that New Hollywood generation, including Jack Nicolson and Warren Oates. He made his feature debut like so many other filmmakers of his generation – on a Roger Corman film, in his case called Beast From Haunted Cave.
- 4/21/2021
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Monte Hellman, the film director who earned a cult following with movies like Two-Lane Blacktop and Ride in the Whirlwind, died Tuesday at Eisenhower Medical Center in Palm Springs, California, after a fall in his home. His daughter, Melissa Hellman, confirmed his death to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 91.
Hellman was well regarded for his genre films, such as his 1964 war drama Back Door to Hell, 1966’s pair of Westerns The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind (both starring Jack Nicholson), and the acclaimed road movie Two-Lane Blacktop starring James Taylor and Dennis Wilson.
Hellman was well regarded for his genre films, such as his 1964 war drama Back Door to Hell, 1966’s pair of Westerns The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind (both starring Jack Nicholson), and the acclaimed road movie Two-Lane Blacktop starring James Taylor and Dennis Wilson.
- 4/21/2021
- by Claire Shaffer
- Rollingstone.com
Monte Hellman, the maverick director of such films as “Two-Lane Blacktop,” “The Shooting” and “Road to Nowhere,” died April 20 at Eisenhower Medical Center in Palm Desert, Calif., following a fall in his home on April 19. He was 91.
Hellman was a cult director who was widely admired within the industry, earning such fans as Quentin Tarantino; they liked his down-and-dirty storytelling, which featured poetic flourishes amid his genre films.
After working as an editor’s apprentice at ABC, he made his directing debut with the 1959 “Beast From Haunted Cave,” produced by Roger Corman. He became part of the Corman stable of veterans who learned how to get maximum impact on minimum budget. Other Corman alumni include Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard.
Hellman worked with Jack Nicholson in the 1960s, including two films shot back-to-back in the Philippines, “Back Door to Hell” and “Flight to Fury.” Hellman and Nicholson reteamed on two Westerns,...
Hellman was a cult director who was widely admired within the industry, earning such fans as Quentin Tarantino; they liked his down-and-dirty storytelling, which featured poetic flourishes amid his genre films.
After working as an editor’s apprentice at ABC, he made his directing debut with the 1959 “Beast From Haunted Cave,” produced by Roger Corman. He became part of the Corman stable of veterans who learned how to get maximum impact on minimum budget. Other Corman alumni include Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard.
Hellman worked with Jack Nicholson in the 1960s, including two films shot back-to-back in the Philippines, “Back Door to Hell” and “Flight to Fury.” Hellman and Nicholson reteamed on two Westerns,...
- 4/20/2021
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Monte Hellman, the maverick director and protege of Roger Corman who helmed the existential cult classics The Shooting and Two-Lane Blacktop, died Tuesday. He was 91.
Hellman died at Eisenhower Health hospital in Palm Desert a week after he had fallen in his home, his daughter, Melissa Hellman, a producer, told The Hollywood Reporter. “He was my best friend,” she said.
Cahiers du Cinema, the influential French magazine, once called Hellman the most gifted American filmmaker of his generation, and critics likened the idiosyncratic director to Michelangelo Antonioni and Sam Fuller.
Hellman collaborated several times with Jack Nicholson and made four films ...
Hellman died at Eisenhower Health hospital in Palm Desert a week after he had fallen in his home, his daughter, Melissa Hellman, a producer, told The Hollywood Reporter. “He was my best friend,” she said.
Cahiers du Cinema, the influential French magazine, once called Hellman the most gifted American filmmaker of his generation, and critics likened the idiosyncratic director to Michelangelo Antonioni and Sam Fuller.
Hellman collaborated several times with Jack Nicholson and made four films ...
- 4/20/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Monte Hellman, the maverick director and protege of Roger Corman who helmed the existential cult classics The Shooting and Two-Lane Blacktop, died Tuesday. He was 91.
Hellman died at Eisenhower Health hospital in Palm Desert a week after he had fallen in his home, his daughter, Melissa Hellman, a producer, told The Hollywood Reporter. “He was my best friend,” she said.
Cahiers du Cinema, the influential French magazine, once called Hellman the most gifted American filmmaker of his generation, and critics likened the idiosyncratic director to Michelangelo Antonioni and Sam Fuller.
Hellman collaborated several times with Jack Nicholson and made four films ...
Hellman died at Eisenhower Health hospital in Palm Desert a week after he had fallen in his home, his daughter, Melissa Hellman, a producer, told The Hollywood Reporter. “He was my best friend,” she said.
Cahiers du Cinema, the influential French magazine, once called Hellman the most gifted American filmmaker of his generation, and critics likened the idiosyncratic director to Michelangelo Antonioni and Sam Fuller.
Hellman collaborated several times with Jack Nicholson and made four films ...
- 4/20/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Jack Nicholson has had a long career playing brooding rebels, crazed villains and sneering charmers on screen. Soon he’ll star opposite Kristen Wiig in a remake of “Toni Erdmann.” He’s a fixture of American cinema and the Lakers courtside seating. For his 80th birthday, we aimed to rank all of Jack’s major, already iconic roles, from worst to best.
“Man Trouble” (1992)
“Man Trouble” is a ridiculous screwball crime comedy in which Nicholson and Ellen Barkin get upstaged by horny dogs. It seems impossible the same guy who did “Five Easy Pieces” made this.
“A Safe Place” (1971)
This bizarre, formless ’70s relic based on a play stars Tuesday Weld and Orson Welles opposite Nicholson about a girl living a fantasy in which she never grows up.
“The Terror” (1963)
Nicholson gives a stiff performance in this Roger Corman picture opposite Boris Karloff, but he gets to kiss a woman who transforms into a corpse.
“Man Trouble” (1992)
“Man Trouble” is a ridiculous screwball crime comedy in which Nicholson and Ellen Barkin get upstaged by horny dogs. It seems impossible the same guy who did “Five Easy Pieces” made this.
“A Safe Place” (1971)
This bizarre, formless ’70s relic based on a play stars Tuesday Weld and Orson Welles opposite Nicholson about a girl living a fantasy in which she never grows up.
“The Terror” (1963)
Nicholson gives a stiff performance in this Roger Corman picture opposite Boris Karloff, but he gets to kiss a woman who transforms into a corpse.
- 4/3/2021
- by Tim Molloy and Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Almodóvar regular Javier Cámara brings a wonderful richness to his portrayal of Colombian professor and campaigner Héctor Abad Gómez
Javier Cámara is the Spanish actor with the gentle, open, everyman face who has been a stalwart repertory player for Pedro Almodóvar for around 20 years, particularly in the mysterious and beautiful 2002 film Talk to Her; Cámara unforgettably played Benigno, the nurse tending to a young woman in a coma, believing that he must always talk to her. Now he gives a wonderful richness and warmth to this very affecting movie, directed by Fernando Trueba; it is based on the true story of Héctor Abad Gómez, the Colombian public-health activist and prominent government critic who in 1987 was shot dead in Médellin by far-right paramilitaries. It is adapted from the 2005 memoir of Gómez by his son, the now prominent Colombian author Héctor Abad Faciolince, entitled El Olvido Que Seremos (which is the movie...
Javier Cámara is the Spanish actor with the gentle, open, everyman face who has been a stalwart repertory player for Pedro Almodóvar for around 20 years, particularly in the mysterious and beautiful 2002 film Talk to Her; Cámara unforgettably played Benigno, the nurse tending to a young woman in a coma, believing that he must always talk to her. Now he gives a wonderful richness and warmth to this very affecting movie, directed by Fernando Trueba; it is based on the true story of Héctor Abad Gómez, the Colombian public-health activist and prominent government critic who in 1987 was shot dead in Médellin by far-right paramilitaries. It is adapted from the 2005 memoir of Gómez by his son, the now prominent Colombian author Héctor Abad Faciolince, entitled El Olvido Que Seremos (which is the movie...
- 3/25/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
If the action-fueled, hit genre films “Bonnie and Clyde” in 1967 and “Easy Rider” in 1969 were the shotgun blasts whose breakout success opened the filmmaking doors for what became known as “The New Hollywood,” 1970’s “Five Easy Pieces” actually better represented the kind of film that the era’s aspiring young directors, producers, writers and actors were dreaming of making in those heady, hopeful days.
It’s been 50 years since Bob Rafelson’s powerful, perceptive drama about a young man torn between a life of white privilege and high culture in the Northwest and a more earthy, elemental existence in the oilfields of Bakersfield, scored critical raves and four Oscar nominations; for best picture, Jack Nicholson’s lead performance as Bobby Dupea, Karen Black’s supporting turn as his lovely but not exactly Mensa-contending waitress girlfriend Rayette, and Carole Eastman’s still dazzling, still wise and worldly screenplay.
You don’t...
It’s been 50 years since Bob Rafelson’s powerful, perceptive drama about a young man torn between a life of white privilege and high culture in the Northwest and a more earthy, elemental existence in the oilfields of Bakersfield, scored critical raves and four Oscar nominations; for best picture, Jack Nicholson’s lead performance as Bobby Dupea, Karen Black’s supporting turn as his lovely but not exactly Mensa-contending waitress girlfriend Rayette, and Carole Eastman’s still dazzling, still wise and worldly screenplay.
You don’t...
- 9/12/2020
- by Steven Gaydos
- Variety Film + TV
HBO is out with its list of everything new coming to HBO in January, and everything leaving.
Highlights include “The New Pope,” out Jan. 13. Starring Jude Law, it’s a continuation of the 2016 series “The Young Pope.”
There’s also “The Outsider,” out Jan. 12. Based on Stephen King’s bestselling novel, it stars Jason Bateman, Cynthia Erivo and Ben Mendelsohn.
“Avenue 5,” about a luxury space-traveling company, is out Jan. 19, along with season 10 of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
Here’s the full list for January:
Jan. 1
American Animals
Casi famoso (Almost Famous) (2019)
Vaca (2018)
Another Stakeout (1993)
Arthur (1981)
Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)
Cat People (1982)
College (2008)
Fast Five (Extended Version) (2011)
Filly Brown (2013)
Galaxy of Terror (1981)
Head Office (1986)
The Hitcher (1986)
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer (2011)
Les Misérables (2012)
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012)
Mr. Holland’s Opus (1996)
Odd Jobs (1986)
The Odd Couple II (1998)
Rock the Kasbah (1991)
The Russia House (1990)
Scary Movie 3 (2003)
Seventh Son (3015)
The Shooting...
Highlights include “The New Pope,” out Jan. 13. Starring Jude Law, it’s a continuation of the 2016 series “The Young Pope.”
There’s also “The Outsider,” out Jan. 12. Based on Stephen King’s bestselling novel, it stars Jason Bateman, Cynthia Erivo and Ben Mendelsohn.
“Avenue 5,” about a luxury space-traveling company, is out Jan. 19, along with season 10 of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
Here’s the full list for January:
Jan. 1
American Animals
Casi famoso (Almost Famous) (2019)
Vaca (2018)
Another Stakeout (1993)
Arthur (1981)
Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)
Cat People (1982)
College (2008)
Fast Five (Extended Version) (2011)
Filly Brown (2013)
Galaxy of Terror (1981)
Head Office (1986)
The Hitcher (1986)
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer (2011)
Les Misérables (2012)
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012)
Mr. Holland’s Opus (1996)
Odd Jobs (1986)
The Odd Couple II (1998)
Rock the Kasbah (1991)
The Russia House (1990)
Scary Movie 3 (2003)
Seventh Son (3015)
The Shooting...
- 12/31/2019
- by Margeaux Sippell
- The Wrap
Gary Kurtz, a producer on “Star Wars” and “The Empire Strikes Back,” has died. He was 78.
According to a statement by The Kurtz/Joiner Archive, the producer died from cancer on Sunday in North London, England.
“Gary Kurtz, Star Wars producer passed away on Sunday the 23rd of September at 4.47 p.m. after living with Cancer for the last year,” read the statement. “We have him to thank for these wonderful memories that he made for us all. Gary Kurtz helped to create the force and it is with us always. Gary Kurtz left behind Clare Gabriel, Tiffany Kurtz, Melissa Kurtz, and Dylan Kurtz. Our thoughts are with his family.”
Also Read: Gary Kurtz, 'Star Wars' and 'The Empire Strikes Back' Producer, Dies at 78
Actor Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in various “Star Wars” films, tweeted Monday: “Rip Gary Kurtz. A great filmmaker and man has just passed. Without him...
According to a statement by The Kurtz/Joiner Archive, the producer died from cancer on Sunday in North London, England.
“Gary Kurtz, Star Wars producer passed away on Sunday the 23rd of September at 4.47 p.m. after living with Cancer for the last year,” read the statement. “We have him to thank for these wonderful memories that he made for us all. Gary Kurtz helped to create the force and it is with us always. Gary Kurtz left behind Clare Gabriel, Tiffany Kurtz, Melissa Kurtz, and Dylan Kurtz. Our thoughts are with his family.”
Also Read: Gary Kurtz, 'Star Wars' and 'The Empire Strikes Back' Producer, Dies at 78
Actor Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in various “Star Wars” films, tweeted Monday: “Rip Gary Kurtz. A great filmmaker and man has just passed. Without him...
- 9/24/2018
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
This time on the podcast, Scott is joined by David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett to discuss Monte Hellman’s The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind.
In the midsixties, the maverick American director Monte Hellman conceived of two westerns at the same time. Dreamlike and gritty by turns, these films would prove their maker’s adeptness at brilliantly deconstructing genre. Shot back-to-back for famed producer Roger Corman, they feature overlapping casts and crews, including Jack Nicholson in two of his meatiest early roles. The Shooting, about a motley assortment of loners following a mysterious wanted man through a desolate frontier, and Ride in the Whirlwind, about a group of cowhands pursued by vigilantes for crimes they did not commit, are rigorous, artful, and wholly unconventional journeys to the Old West.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes
Purchase the Film
Roger Corman and Monte Hellman discuss the films...
In the midsixties, the maverick American director Monte Hellman conceived of two westerns at the same time. Dreamlike and gritty by turns, these films would prove their maker’s adeptness at brilliantly deconstructing genre. Shot back-to-back for famed producer Roger Corman, they feature overlapping casts and crews, including Jack Nicholson in two of his meatiest early roles. The Shooting, about a motley assortment of loners following a mysterious wanted man through a desolate frontier, and Ride in the Whirlwind, about a group of cowhands pursued by vigilantes for crimes they did not commit, are rigorous, artful, and wholly unconventional journeys to the Old West.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes
Purchase the Film
Roger Corman and Monte Hellman discuss the films...
- 12/11/2017
- by Scott Nye
- CriterionCast
Alec Bojalad Dec 19, 2019
We have the highlights of what's coming and going from HBO Now and HBO Go in January 2020.
A new year will eventually mean a new HBO with the release of HBO Max. But for now HBO Now and HBO Go continue on and are putting their best foot forward with the HBO new releases for January 2020.
Comedy is the name of the game for the HBO originals in January 2020. Larry David returns as Curb Your Enthusiasm season 10 premieres on January 19. Veep creator Armando Iannucci takes his satirical ways to space with Avenue 5 the same night. The New Pope is...sort of a comedy and arrives on January 13. The Stephen King series The Outsider is very much not a comedy but it will come to HBO on January 12 all the same.
The list of movies coming to HBO in January 2020 are surprisingly action-packed as well. John Wick...
We have the highlights of what's coming and going from HBO Now and HBO Go in January 2020.
A new year will eventually mean a new HBO with the release of HBO Max. But for now HBO Now and HBO Go continue on and are putting their best foot forward with the HBO new releases for January 2020.
Comedy is the name of the game for the HBO originals in January 2020. Larry David returns as Curb Your Enthusiasm season 10 premieres on January 19. Veep creator Armando Iannucci takes his satirical ways to space with Avenue 5 the same night. The New Pope is...sort of a comedy and arrives on January 13. The Stephen King series The Outsider is very much not a comedy but it will come to HBO on January 12 all the same.
The list of movies coming to HBO in January 2020 are surprisingly action-packed as well. John Wick...
- 8/21/2015
- Den of Geek
Despite transparent light and searing heat, all seems frozen. Something clings to the landscape. Amidst Joshua trees and sagebrush, an ineffable presence surrounding even the stinkbugs. This is where George Stevens—who once said that Utah’s western desert ranges “look more like the Holy Land than the Holy Land”—filmed The Greatest Story Ever Told. Soon thereafter, a younger man breathing that same numinous air made a very different kind of movie. In fact, Monte Hellman made two: The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind, displaced and gritty, eternally unblessed, a diptych belonging to the Western, yet standing at a slight angle to it in the same breath. Monte Hellman entertains a few questions on this perennial state of unblessedness, and the peculiar tone of what are, in my opinion, misnomered movies—his “Existential Westerns.” And here, I’m after the concrete processes that actually drive Hellman’s characters,...
- 7/13/2015
- by Daniel Riccuito
- MUBI
While David Cairns is spending the week with the work of René Clément, it's Errol Morris Week at Grantland. Also in today's roundup of news and views: Early television work by Tim Burton and David Cronenberg. D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation at 100. Erich Kuersten argues that The Terror (1963), begun on a whim by Roger Corman and completed by Francis Ford Coppola and Monte Hellman, "is part one of a very strange textural existential genre meltdown Hellman trilogy" that would be followed by The Shooting (1966) and Two-Lane Blacktop (1971). Charles Mudede writes about spending a week in a hotel room with Michael Pitt. And more. » - David Hudson...
- 3/4/2015
- Keyframe
While David Cairns is spending the week with the work of René Clément, it's Errol Morris Week at Grantland. Also in today's roundup of news and views: Early television work by Tim Burton and David Cronenberg. D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation at 100. Erich Kuersten argues that The Terror (1963), begun on a whim by Roger Corman and completed by Francis Ford Coppola and Monte Hellman, "is part one of a very strange textural existential genre meltdown Hellman trilogy" that would be followed by The Shooting (1966) and Two-Lane Blacktop (1971). Charles Mudede writes about spending a week in a hotel room with Michael Pitt. And more. » - David Hudson...
- 3/4/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Once Upon A Time In The Existential West
By Raymond Benson
I never had a chance to see these two legendary westerns that were made back-to-back in the mid-1960s, presented by Roger Corman, directed and co-produced by Monte Hellman, and starring a young Jack Nicholson (among others), for they were elusive. I’d heard they were quirky, moody, and very different takes on the western genre, so I was excited to hear that The Criterion Collection was releasing both pictures as a double-bill on one Blu-ray disc. Now you, too, can view these strange little movies in all of their high definition glory.
Hellman was one of the few directors that producer Corman would let helm pictures for his studio, which at that time was famous for low-budget horror films, youth-in-rebellion pictures, and, later, rock ‘n’ roll counterculture flicks. Jack Nicholson was also involved with Corman since the late fifties,...
By Raymond Benson
I never had a chance to see these two legendary westerns that were made back-to-back in the mid-1960s, presented by Roger Corman, directed and co-produced by Monte Hellman, and starring a young Jack Nicholson (among others), for they were elusive. I’d heard they were quirky, moody, and very different takes on the western genre, so I was excited to hear that The Criterion Collection was releasing both pictures as a double-bill on one Blu-ray disc. Now you, too, can view these strange little movies in all of their high definition glory.
Hellman was one of the few directors that producer Corman would let helm pictures for his studio, which at that time was famous for low-budget horror films, youth-in-rebellion pictures, and, later, rock ‘n’ roll counterculture flicks. Jack Nicholson was also involved with Corman since the late fifties,...
- 12/1/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
In July of 1964, director Monte Hellman and actor Jack Nicholson went to the Philippines to shoot two war movies back to back: Flight to Fury, which Nicholson also wrote, and Back Door to Hell. By June of 1965, Hellman and Nicholson had shot two more movies, the Westerns The Shooting (written by future Five Easy Pieces scribe Carole Eastman under the pseudonym Adrien Joyce) and Ride in the Whirlwind (scripted by Nicholson). Four movies in twelve months, and not one of them shows any sense of a director straining against limitations of time and money. To the contrary, The Shooting is a flat-out masterpiece, a […]...
- 11/17/2014
- by Jim Hemphill
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
In July of 1964, director Monte Hellman and actor Jack Nicholson went to the Philippines to shoot two war movies back to back: Flight to Fury, which Nicholson also wrote, and Back Door to Hell. By June of 1965, Hellman and Nicholson had shot two more movies, the Westerns The Shooting (written by future Five Easy Pieces scribe Carole Eastman under the pseudonym Adrien Joyce) and Ride in the Whirlwind (scripted by Nicholson). Four movies in twelve months, and not one of them shows any sense of a director straining against limitations of time and money. To the contrary, The Shooting is a flat-out masterpiece, a […]...
- 11/17/2014
- by Jim Hemphill
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Oct. 7, 2014
Price: DVD $24.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Raro Video/Kino
Everett McGill is the 19th Century sailor known as Iguana
Everett McGill (TV’s Twin Peaks) stars in Monte Hellman’s (Road to Nowhere, The Shooting) strange, rarely-seen 1988 adventure film Iguana.
McGill portrays a grotesquely disfigured harpooner known as “Iguana,” who is severely mistreated by his fellow sailors on a whaling ship in the 19th century. One night, Iguana escapes and takes up residence on a remote island, where he makes himself the absolute ruler declares war on mankind. Anyone unfortunate enough to wind up on the island with Iguana is then subjected to his cruel tyranny….
Awarded the Filmcritica “Bastone Bianco” Award (Special Mention) at the Venice Film Festival, Iguana also features Michael Madsen (The Brazen Bull), Fabio Testi (Letters to Juliet) and Maru Valdivieso in its cast.
Bonus features on the Blu-ray and DVD include a...
Price: DVD $24.95, Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Raro Video/Kino
Everett McGill is the 19th Century sailor known as Iguana
Everett McGill (TV’s Twin Peaks) stars in Monte Hellman’s (Road to Nowhere, The Shooting) strange, rarely-seen 1988 adventure film Iguana.
McGill portrays a grotesquely disfigured harpooner known as “Iguana,” who is severely mistreated by his fellow sailors on a whaling ship in the 19th century. One night, Iguana escapes and takes up residence on a remote island, where he makes himself the absolute ruler declares war on mankind. Anyone unfortunate enough to wind up on the island with Iguana is then subjected to his cruel tyranny….
Awarded the Filmcritica “Bastone Bianco” Award (Special Mention) at the Venice Film Festival, Iguana also features Michael Madsen (The Brazen Bull), Fabio Testi (Letters to Juliet) and Maru Valdivieso in its cast.
Bonus features on the Blu-ray and DVD include a...
- 9/29/2014
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Nov. 11, 2014
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
Jack Nicholson in the 1966 western The Shooting.
In 1966, the maverick American director Monte Hellman (Two-Lane Blacktop, Road to Nowhere) conceived of two westerns at the same time – The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind.
Dreamlike and gritty by turns, the two films would prove their maker’s adeptness at brilliantly deconstructing genre. As shot back-to-back for famed producer Roger Corman (The Wild Angels), they feature overlapping casts and crews, including Jack Nicholson (Chinatown) in two of his meatiest early roles.
The Shooting, about a motley assortment of loners following a mysterious wanted man through a desolate frontier; and Ride in the Whirlwind, about a group of cowhands pursued by vigilantes for crimes they did not commit, are rigorous, artful, and wholly unconventional journeys into the American West.
Criterion’s double-feature DVD and Blu-ray editions of the films include the following...
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
Jack Nicholson in the 1966 western The Shooting.
In 1966, the maverick American director Monte Hellman (Two-Lane Blacktop, Road to Nowhere) conceived of two westerns at the same time – The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind.
Dreamlike and gritty by turns, the two films would prove their maker’s adeptness at brilliantly deconstructing genre. As shot back-to-back for famed producer Roger Corman (The Wild Angels), they feature overlapping casts and crews, including Jack Nicholson (Chinatown) in two of his meatiest early roles.
The Shooting, about a motley assortment of loners following a mysterious wanted man through a desolate frontier; and Ride in the Whirlwind, about a group of cowhands pursued by vigilantes for crimes they did not commit, are rigorous, artful, and wholly unconventional journeys into the American West.
Criterion’s double-feature DVD and Blu-ray editions of the films include the following...
- 8/19/2014
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Criterion has announced their November slate of releases and among them is Frank Capra's romantic-comedy classic It Happened One Night and Blu-ray upgrade of Michelangelo Antonioni's L'avventura and Sydney Pollack's Tootsie starring Dustin Hoffman. First off, and most exciting as far as I'm concerned, is Capra's It Happened One Night, which I speculated previously would be added to the collection sooner rather than later. Starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, this is an all-timer in terms of romantic comedies and Criterion is delivering it with an all new 4K digital restoration, new conversation between critics Molly Haskell and Phillip Lopate, the 1997 feature-length documentary Frank Capra's American Dream, Capra's first film, the 1922 silent short The Ballad of Fisher's Boarding House, the American Film Institute's tribute to Capra from 1982 and the film's trailer. The release arrives on November 18. The other title I'm excited about is Antonioni's L'avventura, the...
- 8/15/2014
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
By Ellie Kotapish
Prepare yourself for jaw-dropping tales and a night in Austin with five of the most daring men in Hollywood. Starting in the 1960s, these "Danger Gods" have been performing stunts of extreme levels for many years. But they are capable of more than just crashing cars and freefalling from tall buildings.
I had a sneak preview of what's to come at Friday night's "Our Dinner with the Danger Gods" event, as special guest Gary Kent (pictured at right in his early stuntman days) discussed revolutionary cinema in the 1970s along with his experience as a stuntman and filmmaker.
Counterculture takeover:
The '60s were a time of revolution in the streets as well as the studios. This change is evident not only in the content of the films but also in the filmmakers themselves. Kent entered into this counterculture takeover fully aware of this "new energy," as he described it.
Prepare yourself for jaw-dropping tales and a night in Austin with five of the most daring men in Hollywood. Starting in the 1960s, these "Danger Gods" have been performing stunts of extreme levels for many years. But they are capable of more than just crashing cars and freefalling from tall buildings.
I had a sneak preview of what's to come at Friday night's "Our Dinner with the Danger Gods" event, as special guest Gary Kent (pictured at right in his early stuntman days) discussed revolutionary cinema in the 1970s along with his experience as a stuntman and filmmaker.
Counterculture takeover:
The '60s were a time of revolution in the streets as well as the studios. This change is evident not only in the content of the films but also in the filmmakers themselves. Kent entered into this counterculture takeover fully aware of this "new energy," as he described it.
- 9/26/2013
- by Contributors
- Slackerwood
Following are some supplemental sections featuring notable director & actor teams that did not meet the criteria for the main body of the article. Some will argue that a number of these should have been included in the primary section but keep in mind that film writing on any level, from the casual to the academic, is a game of knowledge and perception filtered through personal taste.
****
Other Notable Director & Actor Teams
This section is devoted to pairings where the duo worked together at least 3 times with the actor in a major role in each feature film, resulting in 1 must-see film.
Terence Young & Sean Connery
Must-See Collaboration: From Russia with Love (1962).
Other Collaborations: Action of the Tiger (1957), Dr. No (1962), Thunderball (1965).
Director Young and actor Connery teamed up to create one of the very best Connery-era James Bond films with From Russia with Love which features a great villainous performance by Robert Shaw...
****
Other Notable Director & Actor Teams
This section is devoted to pairings where the duo worked together at least 3 times with the actor in a major role in each feature film, resulting in 1 must-see film.
Terence Young & Sean Connery
Must-See Collaboration: From Russia with Love (1962).
Other Collaborations: Action of the Tiger (1957), Dr. No (1962), Thunderball (1965).
Director Young and actor Connery teamed up to create one of the very best Connery-era James Bond films with From Russia with Love which features a great villainous performance by Robert Shaw...
- 7/14/2013
- by Terek Puckett
- SoundOnSight
“A small band of efficient, dedicated, highly trained warriors can defeat any number of rabble. That’s my theory of filmmaking.”
—Roger Corman
What sort of creature is 21st century cinema going to be? Two-headed beast or tentacular jellyfish? Branded or brain-dead entertainment? Elitist pastime or popular food for thought? To be on the safe side and remind future generations of the genetic foundations of this untamed living being called cinema, at the venerable age of 87 year-old, Roger Corman has opened his own YouTube channel. From king of the drive-in to elder librarian of the digital cinematheque of Babel, Corman’s protean genius is anything but nostalgic. Instead of mourning the cyclical “death of cinema” the legendary producer keeps injecting new life and ideas into the changing shape of films. While his output has significantly decreased throughout the years his relevance has not, nor, it would appear, has his maverick spirit.
—Roger Corman
What sort of creature is 21st century cinema going to be? Two-headed beast or tentacular jellyfish? Branded or brain-dead entertainment? Elitist pastime or popular food for thought? To be on the safe side and remind future generations of the genetic foundations of this untamed living being called cinema, at the venerable age of 87 year-old, Roger Corman has opened his own YouTube channel. From king of the drive-in to elder librarian of the digital cinematheque of Babel, Corman’s protean genius is anything but nostalgic. Instead of mourning the cyclical “death of cinema” the legendary producer keeps injecting new life and ideas into the changing shape of films. While his output has significantly decreased throughout the years his relevance has not, nor, it would appear, has his maverick spirit.
- 7/2/2013
- by Celluloid Liberation Front
- MUBI
Ready, Set, Fund is a column about crowdfunding and related fundraising endeavors for Austin and Texas independent film projects.
It's not often that biographical documentaries portray lesser-known behind-the-scenes movie professionals, but novelist and film journalist Joe O'Connell is capturing key player Gary Kent in his film project Love & Other Stunts, which is currently funding on Indiegogo through Wednesday, February 27. Kent has contributed to over 100 films in his 50-plus years in the film industry as a stuntman, actor, director, and writer. He's been a stunt double for Jack Nicholson and Robert Vaughan and was stunt coordinator for Richard Rush's Hell’s Angels On Wheels and Don Coscarelli's Bubba Ho-tep, as well as acting in noir Westerns such as The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind.
Love & Other Stunts covers not only Kent's film career, but his personal life from the release of his memoir Shadows and Light: Journeys...
It's not often that biographical documentaries portray lesser-known behind-the-scenes movie professionals, but novelist and film journalist Joe O'Connell is capturing key player Gary Kent in his film project Love & Other Stunts, which is currently funding on Indiegogo through Wednesday, February 27. Kent has contributed to over 100 films in his 50-plus years in the film industry as a stuntman, actor, director, and writer. He's been a stunt double for Jack Nicholson and Robert Vaughan and was stunt coordinator for Richard Rush's Hell’s Angels On Wheels and Don Coscarelli's Bubba Ho-tep, as well as acting in noir Westerns such as The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind.
Love & Other Stunts covers not only Kent's film career, but his personal life from the release of his memoir Shadows and Light: Journeys...
- 2/12/2013
- by Debbie Cerda
- Slackerwood
What's Jack Nicholson's secret? Maybe it's the eyebrows, hovering like ironic quotation marks over every line reading. Maybe it's the hooded eyes, which hold the threat of danger or the promise of joviality -- you're never sure which. Same with that sharklike grin. Or maybe it's the voice, which has evolved over the years from a thin sneer to a deep rumble, but is always precisely calibrated to provoke a reaction. Put them all together, and they say: "I am a man to be reckoned with. Ignore me at your peril." Nicholson, who turns 75 on April 22, is often criticized for relying on his bag of tricks, for just showing up and doing Jack Nicholson (though indeed, he often seems to have been hired precisely for that purpose). But he's also capable of burrowing deep into a character, finding his wounded heart, and revealing the ugly truth without fear or vanity.
- 4/21/2012
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
Tuesday marked thirty years since the untimely passing of Warren Oates. The great, grizzled actor's work has fallen somewhat out of fashion these days -- few, bar perhaps Quentin Tarantino, name Sam Peckinpah or Monte Hellman, Oates' closest and most frequent collaborators, as influences. If you're familiar with him at all, it's likely from his parts as outlaw Lyle Gorch in "The Wild Bunch" or as Sgt. Hulka in Bill Murray comedy "Stripes." But for a time in the 1970s, Oates was Hollywood's go-to badass character actor, a man who everyone from Norman Jewison and William Friedkin to Steven Spielberg and Terrence Malick wanted to work with.
Born in Depoy, Kentucky in 1928, Oates discovered acting at the University of Louisville, and soon headed west to L.A. where he swiftly became a regular face in the golden era of TV westerns, including parts on "Rawhide," "Wanted: Dead or Alive," "Have Gun - Will Travel...
Born in Depoy, Kentucky in 1928, Oates discovered acting at the University of Louisville, and soon headed west to L.A. where he swiftly became a regular face in the golden era of TV westerns, including parts on "Rawhide," "Wanted: Dead or Alive," "Have Gun - Will Travel...
- 4/6/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
Chicago – The year was 1959, and the film was “The Diary of Anne Frank,” based on the 1955 Pulitzer Prize winning stage play, which in turn was adapted from the famous diaries of a young girl hiding from Nazi occupiers in WWII Holland. Two actresses, Millie Perkins (Anne) and Diane Baker (her sister Margot), made their movie debuts in this renowned film.
The director of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” the celebrated George Stevens, led a nationwide search for the lead teenage actress to portray Anne, after Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood and Susan Strasberg (Anne in the original play) passed on the role. The film won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress (Shelley Winters), Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography, and was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Director.
Millie Perkins and Diane Baker were participating in the “Hollywood Celebrities and Memorabilia Show” in September when they talked to HollywoodChicago.com.
The director of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” the celebrated George Stevens, led a nationwide search for the lead teenage actress to portray Anne, after Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood and Susan Strasberg (Anne in the original play) passed on the role. The film won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress (Shelley Winters), Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography, and was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Director.
Millie Perkins and Diane Baker were participating in the “Hollywood Celebrities and Memorabilia Show” in September when they talked to HollywoodChicago.com.
- 1/7/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
I was recently afforded the opportunity to talk to Alex Stapleton, the director of the wonderful documentary Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (review here) about the many sides of the “schlock king” Roger Corman. Through a tenuous phone connection (I do have an At&T iPhone and live in New York City, after all), we discussed the process of making this film, how she got roped into doing crew on a Corman movie, Jack Nicholson‘s lounging gear, and doing interviews from the barber’s chair. The Film Stage’s questions are in bold, Alex’s responses follow.
Is there going to be a big premiere out there?
Well we had our kind of fancy premiere at Lacma [Los Angeles County Museum of Art], actually as a part of Film Independent’s series that they were running with Elvis Mitchell. So that was kind of our fancy night. So we will have on the 16th of December,...
Is there going to be a big premiere out there?
Well we had our kind of fancy premiere at Lacma [Los Angeles County Museum of Art], actually as a part of Film Independent’s series that they were running with Elvis Mitchell. So that was kind of our fancy night. So we will have on the 16th of December,...
- 12/15/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Penelope Ann Miller, The Artist Best Picture: The Artist Best Foreign-Language Film: Incendies Best Director: Martin Scorsese for Hugo Best Actor: Brad Pitt for Moneyball Best Actress: Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks for Drive Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids Best Ensemble Cast: Carnage Best Screenplay: Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin for Moneyball Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki for The Tree of Life Best Documentary: Project Nim Best Animated Film: Rango Best Film Editing (awarded in memory of Karen Schmeer): Christian Marclay for The Clock Best New Filmmaker (awarded in memory of David Brudnoy): Sean Durkin for Martha Marcy May Marlene Best Use of Music in a Film (tie): Drive and The Artist Best Film Series All Roads Lead to Nowhere The Films of Monte Hellman (Hfa) American Punk (Hfa) The Complete Henri-Georges Clouzot (Hfa) Noir Nights (ArtsEmerson...
- 12/11/2011
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Two-lane Blacktop (Masters of Cinema) is to be released in the UK on Blu-ray & Ltd Edition Blu-ray Steelbook on 23 January 2012. We have 3 copies of the Blu-ray to give away to our readers.
With the melancholy open-road epic Two-Lane Blacktop, American auteur Monte Hellman (The Shooting, Cockfighter, and the recent Road to Nowhere) poeticised the beautiful, terrible rootlessness of his nation in the era of Vietnam. Funded by Universal in a bid to recreate the success of Easy Rider – by giving a number of filmmakers $1m and final cut – Hellman’s effort is now regarded as one of the key films of the New Hollywood renaissance of the early 1970s.
While driving eastward on Route 66, two rival car owners – The Driver (singer-songwriter James Taylor) and The Mechanic (Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys) in a souped-up, drag-racing ’55 Chevy, and a middle-aged braggart (Warren Oates) in a gleaming Gto – begin to...
With the melancholy open-road epic Two-Lane Blacktop, American auteur Monte Hellman (The Shooting, Cockfighter, and the recent Road to Nowhere) poeticised the beautiful, terrible rootlessness of his nation in the era of Vietnam. Funded by Universal in a bid to recreate the success of Easy Rider – by giving a number of filmmakers $1m and final cut – Hellman’s effort is now regarded as one of the key films of the New Hollywood renaissance of the early 1970s.
While driving eastward on Route 66, two rival car owners – The Driver (singer-songwriter James Taylor) and The Mechanic (Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys) in a souped-up, drag-racing ’55 Chevy, and a middle-aged braggart (Warren Oates) in a gleaming Gto – begin to...
- 12/1/2011
- by Matt Holmes
- Obsessed with Film
I interviewed director Monte Hellman about his recent film Road to Nowhere, future projects and his thoughts on daydreaming:
Neal Dhand: What is the current status of Road to Nowhere? Is it still making any theatrical rounds?
Monte Hellman: Opening in Japan around the first of the year. We’ve only really scratched the surface with countries. It’s played France of course, and Portugal, Israel, West Africa, Brazil, Italy.
Nd: How has it been received?
Mh: The French have always been friendly to my movies. The reception critically has been about 50/50 in France. It’s doing so much better than that in the Us and I never expected that. I remember Two-Lane Blacktop was about 50/50. I think we’re somewhere around 80% on Rotten Tomatoes and not all of the critics are up there yet.
Nd: There’s a definite synchronicity in your filmography. The Shooting, Ride in the Whirlwind,...
Neal Dhand: What is the current status of Road to Nowhere? Is it still making any theatrical rounds?
Monte Hellman: Opening in Japan around the first of the year. We’ve only really scratched the surface with countries. It’s played France of course, and Portugal, Israel, West Africa, Brazil, Italy.
Nd: How has it been received?
Mh: The French have always been friendly to my movies. The reception critically has been about 50/50 in France. It’s doing so much better than that in the Us and I never expected that. I remember Two-Lane Blacktop was about 50/50. I think we’re somewhere around 80% on Rotten Tomatoes and not all of the critics are up there yet.
Nd: There’s a definite synchronicity in your filmography. The Shooting, Ride in the Whirlwind,...
- 9/30/2011
- by Neal Dhand
- SoundOnSight
For a self-described "reactionary" filmmaker, Monte Hellman is remarkably forward-thinking. Road to Nowhere (reviewed here), his first feature since 1989, is a film shot digitally that's partly about cinema in the digital age; from its very first shot—where a character pops a DVD-r with the film's title on it into a laptop—on, Road to Nowhere is a film about the slipperiness of digitally created, manipulated and viewed images. Written by longtime Hellman collaborator Steve Gaydos, it stars Shannyn Sossammon as Laurel, an inexperienced actress who is cast in a true crime drama also called Road to Nowhere (directed by one “Mitchell Haven” and written by one “Stephen Gates”); in this film-within-a-film, Laurel plays femme-fatale-ish Velma Duran, though the whole thing is ambiguous enough (in terms of structure, characterization, aesthetics, etc.) that at least one character begins to suspect that Laurel and Duran are in fact the same person.
Hellman is erudite and easygoing.
Hellman is erudite and easygoing.
- 7/26/2011
- MUBI
This weekend, Monte Hellman‘s “Road To Nowhere” opens. Somehow, no one has acknowledged that this is an event; Hellman, the vaunted director of “Two Lane Blacktop” and “The Shooting,” hasn’t made a movie since 1989. Things are a bit different this time around, as Hellman is working with much more unconventional material, with “Road To Nowhere” focusing on a murder-mystery happening in a movie-within-a-movie, with actors playing multiple roles within two separate storylines that keep dovetailing into each other. If you ask Hellman, who still believes, “No explanations, no apologies, and above all, no refunds,” this elaborate structure was more…...
- 6/11/2011
- The Playlist
If Monte Hellman never made another film after Two-Lane Blacktop—a 1971 road movie about men who love driving their cars down the open road so much, they either don’t notice or don’t care that it stretches to oblivion—he could have retired knowing he’d still be talked about today. Some films are reputations unto themselves, even though Hellman did interesting, sometimes startlingly good work like The Shooting and Cockfighter both before and after his most famous effort. He worked sporadically in the years after Blacktop, and then not at all, seeming to settle into a career ...
- 6/9/2011
- avclub.com
Kelly Reichardt's beautifully shot western is a powerful evocation of the hardships endured on the Oregon Trail
Roughly defined, the western is violent entertainment about the American frontier experience set west of the Mississippi, south of the 49th Parallel and north of the Rio Grande between 1840 and the beginning of the first world war. Some films happening outside this particular area and time scale or not involving gunfights and physical conflict might be called pre-westerns, post-westerns, modern-westerns or, more vaguely, "sort of westerns". The term "anti-western" was also used for a while to describe movies that seemed to reject or even despise the conventions of the genre, though for much of the western's history many film-makers have been doing precisely that in the name of historical and psychological realism.
Kelly Reichardt's impressive Meek's Cutoff is set in 1845 on the recently created Oregon Trail that took wagon trains through...
Roughly defined, the western is violent entertainment about the American frontier experience set west of the Mississippi, south of the 49th Parallel and north of the Rio Grande between 1840 and the beginning of the first world war. Some films happening outside this particular area and time scale or not involving gunfights and physical conflict might be called pre-westerns, post-westerns, modern-westerns or, more vaguely, "sort of westerns". The term "anti-western" was also used for a while to describe movies that seemed to reject or even despise the conventions of the genre, though for much of the western's history many film-makers have been doing precisely that in the name of historical and psychological realism.
Kelly Reichardt's impressive Meek's Cutoff is set in 1845 on the recently created Oregon Trail that took wagon trains through...
- 4/16/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Jack Nicholson wasn’t particularly good looking, muscular or indeed an early screen success story when he won his colourful, breakthrough supporting role, at the age of 32, in Dennis Hopper’s 1969′s road-trip classic Easy Rider. But his remarkable presence in that film and future prominent roles in Five Easy Pieces, Carnal Knowledge, The Last Detail, and Chinatown along with his Oscar winning turn in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest subsequently cemented him as one of the finest leading actors of the era.
Some 40 years (and 40 odd films… including iconic turns in The Shining, Batman, A Few Good Men and The Departed) later, even in semi-retirement, the legendary 73 year old with the killer grin, is still considered an undisputed king of the screen. And here are 50 reasons why I think he could just be the greatest living actor today.
1. Charisma
Jack Nicholson is one of the most charismatic actors in the business.
Some 40 years (and 40 odd films… including iconic turns in The Shining, Batman, A Few Good Men and The Departed) later, even in semi-retirement, the legendary 73 year old with the killer grin, is still considered an undisputed king of the screen. And here are 50 reasons why I think he could just be the greatest living actor today.
1. Charisma
Jack Nicholson is one of the most charismatic actors in the business.
- 3/19/2011
- by Oliver Pfeiffer
- Obsessed with Film
(Distributed by Screen Media, 3 Backyards opens theatrically in NYC at the IFC Center on Friday, March 11, 2011. Visit the film’s official website to learn more.)
What do you want from a film experience? If I am going to schlep into Manhattan and pay money for a ticket I want the large-screen experience to be something specifically cinematic. I don’t need any William Castle-like “transmedia” gimmicks or 3D to prod me into the seat. I just need to know that I will be in the hands of a director who understands that narrative cinema can operate in a space far beyond the mechanics of plot and dialogue. Eric Mendelsohn’s 3 Backyards is that type of film.
3 Backyards is a truly ambitious and inventive work that speaks not only through acting and plot, but through Mendelsohn’s savvy directorial control of music, lensing and pacing. The film’s stylistic choice...
What do you want from a film experience? If I am going to schlep into Manhattan and pay money for a ticket I want the large-screen experience to be something specifically cinematic. I don’t need any William Castle-like “transmedia” gimmicks or 3D to prod me into the seat. I just need to know that I will be in the hands of a director who understands that narrative cinema can operate in a space far beyond the mechanics of plot and dialogue. Eric Mendelsohn’s 3 Backyards is that type of film.
3 Backyards is a truly ambitious and inventive work that speaks not only through acting and plot, but through Mendelsohn’s savvy directorial control of music, lensing and pacing. The film’s stylistic choice...
- 3/10/2011
- by Mike Ryan
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The Alamo Drafthouse Ritz and Lamar are going to be buzzing during SXSW this year. From March 11-19, we’re pretty much doing nonstop movie screenings of the newest and most exciting indie and foreign films at the fest. Badgeholders, you’re already all set to enjoy the glory that is the SXSW Film Festival. But even if you don’t have a badge, you can still get in on the fun! Austinites, you can still get individual tickets at the door for every event that doesn’t sell out.
That piece of information is particularly handy once the music portion of the fest starts, on March 15. Especially at the South Lamar theatre, lines start to thin out and these awesome movies will be open to locals film buffs who don’t have badges.
Because of that, we’ve compiled a list of some of the must-see movies of SXSW...
That piece of information is particularly handy once the music portion of the fest starts, on March 15. Especially at the South Lamar theatre, lines start to thin out and these awesome movies will be open to locals film buffs who don’t have badges.
Because of that, we’ve compiled a list of some of the must-see movies of SXSW...
- 3/4/2011
- by Daniel Metz
- OriginalAlamo.com
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