The life and work of American director John G. Avildsen is thoroughly examined in this detailed filmography and critical study. Each of the most significant films made by the Oscar-winning Avildsen is given a separate chapter, including such critical successes as Joe and Save the Tiger, and box-office blockbusters Rocky and its sequels and the Karate Kid series. The authors' observations on these and other titles--some well known, others less familiar--are enhanced by extensive production notes, and by commentary from John G. Avildsen himself. Cinema historian Jean Bodon of Sam Houston State University provides a foreword.
The 1980s is remembered as a time of big hair, synthetic music, and microwave cookery. It is also remembered as the heyday of conservative politics, socioeconomic inequality, and moral panics. It is dichotomously remembered as either a nostalgic age of innocence or a regressive moral wasteland, depending on who you ask, and when. But, most of all, it is remembered. In retro fashion trends, in '80s-based film and television narratives, and through countless rebooted movies, video games, superheroes, and even political slogans imploring us to Make America Great Again (Again). More than merely a historical period, "the '80s" has grown into a contested myth, ever-evolving through the critical and expressive lens of popular culture. This book explores the many shapes the '80s mythos has taken across a diverse array of media. Essays examine television series such as Stranger Things, Cobra Kai, and POSE, films such as Dallas Buyers Club, Summer of '84, and Chocolate Babies, as well as video games, pop music, and toys. Collectively, these essays explore how representations of the 1980s influence the way we think about our past, our present, and our future.
The life and work of American director John G. Avildsen is thoroughly examined in this detailed filmography and critical study. Each of the most significant films made by the Oscar-winning Avildsen is given a separate chapter, including such critical successes as Joe and Save the Tiger, and box-office blockbusters Rocky and its sequels and the Karate Kid series. The authors' observations on these and other titles--some well known, others less familiar--are enhanced by extensive production notes, and by commentary from John G. Avildsen himself. Cinema historian Jean Bodon of Sam Houston State University provides a foreword.
For a time in the 1970s, New York City seemed to many to be genuinely on the cusp of collapse. Plagued by rampant crime, graft, catastrophic finances, and crumbling infrastructure, it served as a symbol for the plight of American cities after the convulsions of the 1960s. This tale of urban blight was reinforced wherever one looked—whether in the news media (memorably captured in the infamous New York Daily News headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead”) or the countless movies that evoked the era’s uniquely gritty sense of dread. The Taking of New York City is a history of both New York and some of the decade’s most definitive films, including The French Connection (1971), the first two Godfather movies (1972 & 1974), Taxi Driver (1976), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and many more. It was also an era in which the city wrestled with the racial tensions still threatening the tear the nation apart, never more so than in “Blaxploitation” classics such as Shaft (1971) and Super Fly (1972). These films depicted the city that never sleeps as a grim, violent place overridden with muggers, pimps, and killers. Projected at drive-ins and inside their local movie houses, rural America saw New York as a nightmare: a vile dystopia where the innocent couldn't rely on the local law enforcement, who were seemingly all on the take. If one took Hollywood's word for it, the only way a person was able to find justice in 1970s New York City was by grabbing a gun and meting it out themselves. Author Andrew Rausch meticulously separates fact and fiction in this illuminating book. Attentive to the ways that New York’s problems were exaggerated or misrepresented, it also gives an unvarnished look at just how bad things could get in the “Rotten Apple”—and how movies told that story to the country and the world.
The entertainment world lost many notable talents in 2017, including iconic character actor Harry Dean Stanton, comedians Jerry Lewis and Dick Gregory, country singer Glen Campbell, playwright Sam Shepard and actor-singer Jim Nabors. Obituaries of actors, filmmakers, musicians, producers, dancers, composers, writers, animals and others associated with the performing arts who died in 2017 are included. Date, place and cause of death are provided for each, along with a career recap and a photograph. Filmographies are given for film and television performers.
A 50 page Companion Booklet To The Spoken Word Album. Writer/Director Walter Hill, well-known for his westerns (The Long Riders, Geronimo, Wild Bill, Deadwood, Broken Trail), tells the story of a shootout that occurred in Newton, Kansas in 1871 and its legendary aftermath of violence and controversy. "The Cowboy Iliad reaches back to the spoken tradition of storytelling - designed to have no simple resolution, but a mix of history, nostalgia and speculation. And, of course, we wanted to honor the tradition of the Western... In other words, Bobby Woods and I had a couple of shooters and made a record." - Walter Hill As heard on The Cowboy Iliad Spoken Word Album. Hill makes his recording debut at the age of 77, and, for the first time, his writing is presented using his own voice. Hill began his film career as screenwriter, notably working with filmmakers Sam Peckinpah (The Getaway) and John Huston (The MacKintosh Man). He made his own directorial debut in 1975 with Hard Times starring Charles Bronson and James Coburn. In the years following he directed many films, including The Driver, The Warriors, Southern Comfort, 48 HRS., Streets Of Fire, Red Heat, Johnny Handsome, Last Man Standing, Bullet To The Head, and most recently The Assignment. Hill also served as a co-writer and co-producer on the first three Alien films. Recently, Hill has written three graphic novels published in Paris by Rue de Sèvres; Balles Perdues, Corps et Âme, and Le Specimen. The Cowboy Iliad is written by Walter Hill. The album is produced by Bobby Woods with music performed by Les Deux Love Orchestra.The album is released by Heart Times Coffee Cup Studios and available on Amazon, Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, and everywhere records are streamed and sold.
The complete works of Chris Matthews, from his penetrating biographies—Jack Kennedy; Kennedy and Nixon; & Tip and the Gipper— to the trenchant political analysis of American; Hardball; & Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think. Tip and the Gipper is a magnificent personal history of a time when two great political opponents served together for the benefit of the country. Chris Matthews was an eyewitness to this story as a top aide to Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill. Kennedy and Nixon: John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon each dreamed of becoming the great young leader of their age. First as friends, then as bitter enemies, they were linked by a historic rivalry that changed both them and their country. Jack Kennedy: What was he like, this man whose own wife called him "that elusive, unforgettable man"? In this New York Times bestselling biography, Chris Matthews answers that question with the verve of a novelist. American: People have often wondered what makes America truly great. In American, Matthews explores the best America stands for and portrays our country as a beacon for the modern world. Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think: In this memoir spanning the Cold War to the Clinton years, Matthews describes his "God and Country" Catholic school education in Philadelphia, complete with air-raid drills and his early enthusiasm for politics. He shares with us his life's adventures and his three decades deep in the "belly of the beast" of American politics. Hardball: Chris Matthews has spent a quarter century on the playing field of American politics—from right-hand man of Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, to host of NBC's highest rated cable talk show Hardball. In this revised and updated edition of his political classic, he offers fascinating new stories and reveals the inside rules that govern the game of power.
For over 50 years, Albert R. Broccoli's Eon Productions has navigated the ups and downs of the volatile British film industry, enduring both critical wrath and acclaim in equal measure for its now legendary James Bond series. Latterly, this family run business has been crowned with box office gold and recognised by motion picture academies around the world. However, it has not always been plain sailing. Changing financial regimes forced 007 to relocate to France and Mexico; changing fashions and politics led to box office disappointments; and changing studio regimes and business disputes all but killed the franchise. And the rise of competing action heroes has constantly questioned Bond's place in popular culture. But against all odds the filmmakers continue to wring new life from the series, and 2012's Skyfall saw both huge critical and commercial success, crowning 007 as the undisputed king of the action genre. Some Kind of Hero recounts this remarkable story, from its origins in the early '60s right through to the present day, and draws on hundreds of unpublished interviews with the cast and crew of this iconic series.
Known for his visual style as well as for his experimentation in virtually every genre of narrative cinema, award-winning director Sidney J. Furie also has the distinction of having made Canada's first ever feature-length fictional film in English, A Dangerous Age (1957). With a body of work that includes The Ipcress File (1965), Lady Sings the Blues (1972), and The Entity (1982), he has collaborated with major stars such as Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Robert Redford, and Michael Caine, and his films have inspired some of Hollywood's most celebrated directors, including Stanley Kubrick and Quentin Tarantino. In this first biography of the prolific filmmaker, author Daniel Kremer offers a comprehensive look at the director's unique career. Furie pioneered techniques such as improvisation in large-scale film productions, and sometimes shot his films in sequence to develop the characters from the ground up and improve the performers' in-the-moment spontaneity. Not only has Stanley Kubrick acknowledged that Furie's The Boys in Company C (1978) informed and influenced Full Metal Jacket (1987), but Martin Scorsese has said that he considers The Entity to be one of the scariest horror films of all time. However, Furie was often later criticized for accepting lowbrow work, and as a result, little serious study has been devoted to the director. Meticulously researched and enhanced by Kremer's close relationship with the filmmaker, this definitive biography captures the highs and lows of an exceptional but underexamined career, taking readers behind the scenes with a director who was often ahead of his time.
WITH AN INTERVIEW WITH MARGARET KEANE The full screenplay by award-winning Ed Wood writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski for acclaimed director Tim Burton's film Big Eyes, starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. A rare close-up look into a corner of the 1950s and '60s art world and a perfectly observed account of a dysfunctional marriage, Big Eyes tells the true story of Margaret Keane, an artist who lived and worked in virtual slavery while her husband, Walter, gained fame and fortune passing himself off as the creator of his wife's wildly popular paintings. The story of their toxic relationship would culminate in a Hawaiian courtroom, as Margaret ultimately fights to save her name and reclaim her art, during a heated public court battle. This edition, illustrated with photos throughout, contains the complete screenplay, an afterword by the screenwriters, and an interview with Margaret Keane, the real-life subject of Big Eyes, by Tyler Stallings.
