Adapted from Nathanael West’s scabrously funny 1939 novel, The Day of the Locust reunites the creative triumvirate of producer Jerome Hellman, director John Schlesinger, and screenwriter Waldo Salt, who had previously teamed up for Midnight Cowboy. Superficially, the two films would seem to be quite different. One is a contemporary tale shot documentary-style on the mean streets of late-’60s New York. The other is an exquisitely detailed period piece filmed largely on Paramount soundstages in L.A. Midnight Cowboy favors gritty realism, while The Day of the Locust descends into a kind of deranged surrealism. But the films are linked since they both focus on loners and outcasts, salaciously prod the seedy underbelly of their milieus, and expose the unforgiving flipside of the American Dream.
The biggest difference between the two films is that Midnight Cowboy mitigates its ultimately tragic denouement with a certain tenderness between its damaged protagonists.
The biggest difference between the two films is that Midnight Cowboy mitigates its ultimately tragic denouement with a certain tenderness between its damaged protagonists.
- 12/12/2023
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
Who will be included for the special “In Memoriam” segment for Sunday night’s Oscars 2022 ceremony? For almost all other Academy Awards productions since the 1990s, producers typically select 40-50 people from the various branches. The 2021 segment had close to 100 people in a particularly fast-paced three minutes that was not very well-received since many of them were only on screen for a second or two.
SEECelebrity Deaths 2022: In Memoriam Gallery
Previous Oscar winners from acting categories passing away since last year’s late April ceremony are Olympia Dukakis, William Hurt and Sidney Poitier. Past acting nominees include Ned Beatty, Sally Kellerman and Dean Stockwell.
Almost all of the dozens on the list below were Academy members, previous nominees/winners or both.
Louie Anderson (actor)
Ed Asner (actor)
Ned Beatty (actor)
Marilyn Bergman (composer)
Val Bisoglio (actor)
Robert Blalack (visual effects)
Peter Bogdanovich (director)
David Brenner (editor)
Leslie Bricusse (composer...
SEECelebrity Deaths 2022: In Memoriam Gallery
Previous Oscar winners from acting categories passing away since last year’s late April ceremony are Olympia Dukakis, William Hurt and Sidney Poitier. Past acting nominees include Ned Beatty, Sally Kellerman and Dean Stockwell.
Almost all of the dozens on the list below were Academy members, previous nominees/winners or both.
Louie Anderson (actor)
Ed Asner (actor)
Ned Beatty (actor)
Marilyn Bergman (composer)
Val Bisoglio (actor)
Robert Blalack (visual effects)
Peter Bogdanovich (director)
David Brenner (editor)
Leslie Bricusse (composer...
- 3/24/2022
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Jerome Hellman, an Oscar-winning producer of films such as “Midnight Cowboy” and “Coming Home,” has died. He was 92.
Hellman’s wife, Elizabeth Empleton Hellman, first told Deadline that he died on May 26, saying, “We will miss him terribly.” No cause of death was given. Hellman’s widow did not return TheWrap’s request for comment.
Jerome Hellman was a producer on seven films throughout his career between the 1960s and 1980s, and those movies earned a total of 17 Oscar nominations and six wins. He himself won an Oscar in 1969 when “Midnight Cowboy,” John Schlesinger’s X-rated drama starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, won Best Picture. The film was considered a long shot at the Oscars, considering its bleak subject matter of crime, prostitution and homosexuality, and he once told the Los Angeles Times that he was so certain they would lose that he hadn’t even prepared a speech.
Hellman’s wife, Elizabeth Empleton Hellman, first told Deadline that he died on May 26, saying, “We will miss him terribly.” No cause of death was given. Hellman’s widow did not return TheWrap’s request for comment.
Jerome Hellman was a producer on seven films throughout his career between the 1960s and 1980s, and those movies earned a total of 17 Oscar nominations and six wins. He himself won an Oscar in 1969 when “Midnight Cowboy,” John Schlesinger’s X-rated drama starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, won Best Picture. The film was considered a long shot at the Oscars, considering its bleak subject matter of crime, prostitution and homosexuality, and he once told the Los Angeles Times that he was so certain they would lose that he hadn’t even prepared a speech.
- 5/28/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Jerome Hellman, the producer behind “Midnight Cowboy” and “Coming Home,” died on Wednesday, his wife Elizabeth Empleton Hellman confirmed. He was 92.
His work on landmark films helped define the new Hollywood of the 1970s. From 1964 to 1986, Hellman collaborated with notable directors including John Schlesinger on “The Day of the Locust” and “Midnight Cowboy,” Irvin Kershner on “A Fine Madness,” Hal Ashby on “Coming Home,” Peter Weir on “The Mosquito Coast” and George Roy Hill on “The World of Henry Orient.”
On the 1969 best picture winner “Midnight Cowboy,” Hellman was known to have advocated for Dustin Hoffman despite Schlesinger’s wishes. The film, which was X-rated, broke ground by portraying homosexuality, prostitution and nudity on the big screen.
In 1979, Hellman was set to team up with Schlesinger again for “Promises in the Dark,” but when the director dropped out, Hellman took the reins and made the film his directorial debut.
That same year,...
His work on landmark films helped define the new Hollywood of the 1970s. From 1964 to 1986, Hellman collaborated with notable directors including John Schlesinger on “The Day of the Locust” and “Midnight Cowboy,” Irvin Kershner on “A Fine Madness,” Hal Ashby on “Coming Home,” Peter Weir on “The Mosquito Coast” and George Roy Hill on “The World of Henry Orient.”
On the 1969 best picture winner “Midnight Cowboy,” Hellman was known to have advocated for Dustin Hoffman despite Schlesinger’s wishes. The film, which was X-rated, broke ground by portraying homosexuality, prostitution and nudity on the big screen.
In 1979, Hellman was set to team up with Schlesinger again for “Promises in the Dark,” but when the director dropped out, Hellman took the reins and made the film his directorial debut.
That same year,...
- 5/28/2021
- by Ethan Shanfeld
- Variety Film + TV
Jerome Hellman, the producer of landmark films such as Midnight Cowboy and Coming Home has died. The Oscar winner’s wife, Elizabeth Empleton Hellman, confirmed Hellman’s May 26 passing saying simply, “we will miss him terribly.” He was 92.
Hellman’s films helped define the “New Hollywood” of the 1970s. He tended to work repeatedly with a circle of top-notch collaborators and the films Hellman produced came from iconic directors such as John Schlesinger, Hal Ashby, George Roy Hill, Irvin Kershner and Peter Weir.
That Hellman would win Best Picture for Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy in 1970 was, at the very least, improbable. Hellman was going through a tough divorce. The film was based on a little-known novel. Schlesinger didn’t think Dustin Hoffman was right to play Ratso Rizzo. But Hellman fought for the Graduate actor. Also, the film was X-rated and dealt with homosexuality, prostitution and a gritty slice of...
Hellman’s films helped define the “New Hollywood” of the 1970s. He tended to work repeatedly with a circle of top-notch collaborators and the films Hellman produced came from iconic directors such as John Schlesinger, Hal Ashby, George Roy Hill, Irvin Kershner and Peter Weir.
That Hellman would win Best Picture for Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy in 1970 was, at the very least, improbable. Hellman was going through a tough divorce. The film was based on a little-known novel. Schlesinger didn’t think Dustin Hoffman was right to play Ratso Rizzo. But Hellman fought for the Graduate actor. Also, the film was X-rated and dealt with homosexuality, prostitution and a gritty slice of...
- 5/28/2021
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Jerome Hellman, who won an Oscar for producing the only X-rated movie to ever win best picture, John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy, has died. He was 92.
Hellman died Wednesday at his home in South Egremont, Massachusetts, after a long illness, his wife, Elizabeth Hellman, told The Hollywood Reporter. He suffered a stroke 12 years ago, she said.
Hellman also received another best picture Oscar nom for producing Hal Ashby’s Coming Home (1978), winner of three Academy Awards.
He produced seven features during his career, also including George Roy Hill’s The World of Henry Orient (1964), Irvin Kershner’s A Fine Madness (1966),...
Hellman died Wednesday at his home in South Egremont, Massachusetts, after a long illness, his wife, Elizabeth Hellman, told The Hollywood Reporter. He suffered a stroke 12 years ago, she said.
Hellman also received another best picture Oscar nom for producing Hal Ashby’s Coming Home (1978), winner of three Academy Awards.
He produced seven features during his career, also including George Roy Hill’s The World of Henry Orient (1964), Irvin Kershner’s A Fine Madness (1966),...
- 5/28/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Jerome Hellman, who won an Oscar for producing the only X-rated movie to ever win best picture, John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy, has died. He was 92.
Hellman died Wednesday at his home in South Egremont, Massachusetts, after a long illness, his wife, Elizabeth Hellman, told The Hollywood Reporter. He suffered a stroke 12 years ago, she said.
Hellman also received another best picture Oscar nom for producing Hal Ashby’s Coming Home (1978), winner of three Academy Awards.
He produced seven features during his career, also including George Roy Hill’s The World of Henry Orient (1964), Irvin Kershner’s A Fine Madness (1966),...
Hellman died Wednesday at his home in South Egremont, Massachusetts, after a long illness, his wife, Elizabeth Hellman, told The Hollywood Reporter. He suffered a stroke 12 years ago, she said.
Hellman also received another best picture Oscar nom for producing Hal Ashby’s Coming Home (1978), winner of three Academy Awards.
He produced seven features during his career, also including George Roy Hill’s The World of Henry Orient (1964), Irvin Kershner’s A Fine Madness (1966),...
- 5/28/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
More than 50 years after it hit theaters and ushered in a new and more sexually daring style of on-screen entertainment, “Midnight Cowboy” continues to rank among the greatest American films ever made. It’s still the first and only best picture winner at the Oscars to be rated X, an indication of just how barrier-breaking the movie was when it debuted.
Now, a new documentary from Nancy Buirski will explore the behind-the-scenes odyssey to get the story of two small-time grifters produced, as well as the tumultuous era in which the movie was released and embraced. Glenn Frankel’s acclaimed book, “Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation and the Making of a Dark Classic,” will be the basis of the untitled film. “Midnight Cowboy” was directed by John Schlesinger and starred Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight. It focused on Ratso Rizzo, a tubercular con man, and Joe Buck, a wannabe street hustler,...
Now, a new documentary from Nancy Buirski will explore the behind-the-scenes odyssey to get the story of two small-time grifters produced, as well as the tumultuous era in which the movie was released and embraced. Glenn Frankel’s acclaimed book, “Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation and the Making of a Dark Classic,” will be the basis of the untitled film. “Midnight Cowboy” was directed by John Schlesinger and starred Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight. It focused on Ratso Rizzo, a tubercular con man, and Joe Buck, a wannabe street hustler,...
- 5/6/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Hollywood’s great re-awakening seems at hand. Sort of.
The cameras are rolling, the theaters are opening, the wannabe blockbusters have nailed new playdates. Even Bob Iger last week revealed his exit date, marking his kingdom’s new era.
But when the curtains rise, will the audience applaud?
Paradoxically, I was reading a new book this week that posed a metaphor for the Hollywood moment. Titled Shooting Midnight Cowboy, the book by Glenn Frankel portrayed the shadow of doom hovering over a movie about to start shooting 50 years ago. Its young director, John Schlesinger, was semi-suicidal because the critics had just savaged his latest picture. With Cowboy, had he again chosen the wrong cast and the wrong setting?
His studio seemed to share the young Brit’s paranoia. Fearful of its gay subtext and potential “X” rating, United Artists had cut his budget and reduced his pay to $100,000. His young star,...
The cameras are rolling, the theaters are opening, the wannabe blockbusters have nailed new playdates. Even Bob Iger last week revealed his exit date, marking his kingdom’s new era.
But when the curtains rise, will the audience applaud?
Paradoxically, I was reading a new book this week that posed a metaphor for the Hollywood moment. Titled Shooting Midnight Cowboy, the book by Glenn Frankel portrayed the shadow of doom hovering over a movie about to start shooting 50 years ago. Its young director, John Schlesinger, was semi-suicidal because the critics had just savaged his latest picture. With Cowboy, had he again chosen the wrong cast and the wrong setting?
His studio seemed to share the young Brit’s paranoia. Fearful of its gay subtext and potential “X” rating, United Artists had cut his budget and reduced his pay to $100,000. His young star,...
- 4/1/2021
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
“A Biography Of A Film”
By Raymond Benson
Lately there has been a new trend in film books that are more like biographies than simply non-fiction treatises on the making of a movie. A “biography of a film,” as critic Molly Haskell calls it, treats a particular motion picture in the same way a researcher would examine a person’s life—from the inception to its lasting influence and impact today, meticulously illustrating each step and examining the personnel involved along the way. The recent Space Odyssey by Michael Benson (a “biography” of 2001: A Space Odyssey) is a fine example.
Glenn Frankel’s Shooting Midnight Cowboy—Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic is one such biography of a film, and it is a magnificent tome. Besides dissecting the all-important sociological milieu that was in the background while Cowboy was being made,...
“A Biography Of A Film”
By Raymond Benson
Lately there has been a new trend in film books that are more like biographies than simply non-fiction treatises on the making of a movie. A “biography of a film,” as critic Molly Haskell calls it, treats a particular motion picture in the same way a researcher would examine a person’s life—from the inception to its lasting influence and impact today, meticulously illustrating each step and examining the personnel involved along the way. The recent Space Odyssey by Michael Benson (a “biography” of 2001: A Space Odyssey) is a fine example.
Glenn Frankel’s Shooting Midnight Cowboy—Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic is one such biography of a film, and it is a magnificent tome. Besides dissecting the all-important sociological milieu that was in the background while Cowboy was being made,...
- 4/1/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Aspiring young actors in New York in the 1960s came in many shapes and psyches. There were angry ones and cynical ones and sincere ones and intense ones. But there weren’t many joyful ones. The road was too hard and it was strewn with failure. “No one starts at the top in the theater,” Gene Hackman once said, “and the bottom is a very ugly place.”
Jon Voight was an exception. He was driven, compulsive and uneasy. But he also loved his work and his fellow actors, and he was confident that if he pushed himself hard enough and got a break or two along the way, he would succeed. The break he was waiting for was “Midnight Cowboy.”
More than 50 years later, Voight’s extraordinary talents as an actor have been overshadowed by his extreme right-wing politics — he’s called Donald Trump “our greatest president since Abraham Lincoln...
Jon Voight was an exception. He was driven, compulsive and uneasy. But he also loved his work and his fellow actors, and he was confident that if he pushed himself hard enough and got a break or two along the way, he would succeed. The break he was waiting for was “Midnight Cowboy.”
More than 50 years later, Voight’s extraordinary talents as an actor have been overshadowed by his extreme right-wing politics — he’s called Donald Trump “our greatest president since Abraham Lincoln...
- 3/15/2021
- by Glenn Frankel
- The Wrap
John Schlesinger’s adaptation of Nathanael West’s novel is one of the best ‘Hollywood on Hollywood’ pictures ever, even if it soaks everything about The Golden Age of Tinseltown in an acid bath of cynicism. The perverse dystopia of dreams and vice is beautifully rendered in every respect, and culminates in a finale that caught ordinary audiences by surprise. Is this an indictment of the shallow aims of America’s Fantasyland, or one misanthrope’s vision of self-loathing and apocalyptic wish fulfillment? Don’t look for anyone to root for, as even the benign characters are moral freaks. Karen Black, Burgess Meredith, Donald Sutherland and William Atherton give utterly original performances; [Imprint] has a secured a great new interview extra with Atherton.
The Day of the Locust
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 13
1975 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 144 min. / Street Date November 6, 2020 /
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Karen Black, Burgess Meredith, William Atherton, Geraldine Page, Richard Dysart, Bo Hopkins,...
The Day of the Locust
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 13
1975 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 144 min. / Street Date November 6, 2020 /
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Karen Black, Burgess Meredith, William Atherton, Geraldine Page, Richard Dysart, Bo Hopkins,...
- 11/28/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A half century ago, the 42nd Academy Awards was at a cultural crossroads as the ’60s came to a close, judging by its list of nominees and winners plucked from the year 1969. The members finally decided to give one of Hollywood’s most enduring legends, John Wayne, a Best Actor prize — basically, a career achievement honor — for his role as cowboy Rooster Cogburn, an aging gun for hire, in “True Grit.”
For some reason, the Duke never was cited for any of his iconic frontier characters including Ethan Edwards in 1956’s “The Searchers” or as Davy Crockett in 1960’s “The Alamo” — although he did compete as a producer for the year’s Best Picture prize that year. Wayne’s only other nomination as a male lead was in the 1949 war epic “Sands of Iwo Jima.”
Meanwhile, a different kind of shoot-’em-up was also in the running in the form...
For some reason, the Duke never was cited for any of his iconic frontier characters including Ethan Edwards in 1956’s “The Searchers” or as Davy Crockett in 1960’s “The Alamo” — although he did compete as a producer for the year’s Best Picture prize that year. Wayne’s only other nomination as a male lead was in the 1949 war epic “Sands of Iwo Jima.”
Meanwhile, a different kind of shoot-’em-up was also in the running in the form...
- 12/5/2019
- by Susan Wloszczyna
- Gold Derby
Pictures like Midnight Cowboy pulled everyone my age group into the movies, while the entire older generation likely stopped going to movies altogether. John Schlesinger’s masterpiece can boast a number of firsts, and deserves the high praise it receives from every angle — this was the epitome of progressive filmmaking circa 1969.
Midnight Cowboy
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 925
1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen/ 113 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 29, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro, Barnard Hughes, Ruth White, Jennifer Salt, Anthony Holland, Bob Balaban, Viva, Ultra Violet, Taylor Mead, Paul Morrissey, Pat Ast, Marlene Clark, Sandy Duncan, M. Emmet Walsh.
Cinematography: Adam Holender
Film Editor: Hugh A. Robertson
Production Design: John Robert Lloyd
Original Music: John Barry
Written by Waldo Salt, based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy
Produced by Jerome Hellman, Kenneth Utt
Directed by John Schlesigner
Midnight Cowboy is perhaps the...
Midnight Cowboy
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 925
1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen/ 113 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 29, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro, Barnard Hughes, Ruth White, Jennifer Salt, Anthony Holland, Bob Balaban, Viva, Ultra Violet, Taylor Mead, Paul Morrissey, Pat Ast, Marlene Clark, Sandy Duncan, M. Emmet Walsh.
Cinematography: Adam Holender
Film Editor: Hugh A. Robertson
Production Design: John Robert Lloyd
Original Music: John Barry
Written by Waldo Salt, based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy
Produced by Jerome Hellman, Kenneth Utt
Directed by John Schlesigner
Midnight Cowboy is perhaps the...
- 5/26/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Pierce Brosnan, who stars in AMC’s new Western series The Son, recently opened up about losing his wife and daughter to ovarian cancer. Look back on People’s 1992 cover story on the British actor, as he reflected on his wife’s memory four months after her death — and the profound impact she had on his life.
When His Agent Phoned Pierce Brosnan in early March to tell him that his latest film, The Lawnmower Man, was a box office hit—a Brosnan first—the 39-year-old Irish-born actor remembers how he “whooped and hollered” with his two boys, Christopher, 19, and Sean,...
When His Agent Phoned Pierce Brosnan in early March to tell him that his latest film, The Lawnmower Man, was a box office hit—a Brosnan first—the 39-year-old Irish-born actor remembers how he “whooped and hollered” with his two boys, Christopher, 19, and Sean,...
- 4/6/2017
- by People Staff
- PEOPLE.com
It's a shock to go back and watch "Midnight Cowboy" 45 years after its debut (on May 25, 1969) and see how raw and otherworldly it looks. After all, the X-rated Best Picture Oscar-winner has been so thoroughly assimilated into American pop culture that even kiddie entertainments like the Muppets have copied from it.
The tale of the unlikely friendship between naïve Texas gigolo Joe Buck (Jon Voight) and frail Bronx con man Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), "Midnight Cowboy" was initially considered so risqué that it's the only X-rated movie ever to win the Academy's top prize (though after it won, the ratings board reconsidered and gave the film an R). Still, the film featured two lead performances and a few individual scenes that were so iconic that homages (and parodies) have popped up virtually everywhere. (Most often imitated is the scene where Ratso, limping across a busy Manhattan street, is nearly...
The tale of the unlikely friendship between naïve Texas gigolo Joe Buck (Jon Voight) and frail Bronx con man Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), "Midnight Cowboy" was initially considered so risqué that it's the only X-rated movie ever to win the Academy's top prize (though after it won, the ratings board reconsidered and gave the film an R). Still, the film featured two lead performances and a few individual scenes that were so iconic that homages (and parodies) have popped up virtually everywhere. (Most often imitated is the scene where Ratso, limping across a busy Manhattan street, is nearly...
- 5/23/2014
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
Nick Dawson, former Managing Editor at Filmmaker, is serving as an advisor to what will be the first ever Hal Ashby documentary. With the blessing of the Ashby estate, Amy Scott will render a definitive portrait of the revered yet unsung director behind Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo, and Being There, to be titled Once I Was: The Hal Ashby Story. The Indiegogo video alone features appearances from John C. Reilly and Jane Fonda, with additional interviews with Robert Downey, Rudy Wurlitzer and Jerome Hellman still to come. Prizes include a plethora of prints from the Hashby estate, criterions, memberships to Cinefamily and Film Forum and […]...
- 5/21/2014
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Nick Dawson, former Managing Editor at Filmmaker, is serving as an advisor to what will be the first ever Hal Ashby documentary. With the blessing of the Ashby estate, Amy Scott will render a definitive portrait of the revered yet unsung director behind Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo, and Being There, to be titled Once I Was: The Hal Ashby Story. The Indiegogo video alone features appearances from John C. Reilly and Jane Fonda, with additional interviews with Robert Downey, Rudy Wurlitzer and Jerome Hellman still to come. Prizes include a plethora of prints from the Hashby estate, criterions, memberships to Cinefamily and Film Forum and […]...
- 5/21/2014
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Thanks to a heads up from Awards Daily I bring you the following video featuring what are said to be the 25 greatest unscripted lines in films... per YouTube user "mewlists" of course.
Personally I can't vouch for the accuracy of the video (using the word "unscripted" for some of these seems a bit wrong based on what I've read about them) and Jeff Wells over at Hollywood Elsewhere is already disputing the inclusion of Dustin Hoffman's Midnight Cowboy encounter with a cab as he uploaded the audio commentary by producer Jerome Hellman disputing Hoffman's claim that he improvised the line saying, "The taxi cab driver was an actor and the scene was carefully scripted."
As for the other 24 scenes, the complete list of films included goes like this... Being John Malkovich Caddyshack Dumb and Dumber The 40-Year-Old Virgin Good Will Huntin The Dark Knight Aliens Tootsie The Usual Suspects...
Personally I can't vouch for the accuracy of the video (using the word "unscripted" for some of these seems a bit wrong based on what I've read about them) and Jeff Wells over at Hollywood Elsewhere is already disputing the inclusion of Dustin Hoffman's Midnight Cowboy encounter with a cab as he uploaded the audio commentary by producer Jerome Hellman disputing Hoffman's claim that he improvised the line saying, "The taxi cab driver was an actor and the scene was carefully scripted."
As for the other 24 scenes, the complete list of films included goes like this... Being John Malkovich Caddyshack Dumb and Dumber The 40-Year-Old Virgin Good Will Huntin The Dark Knight Aliens Tootsie The Usual Suspects...
- 8/15/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
For the first in this brief series of controversial films rated Nc-17, we’re going back to 1969, the year after the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) created the modern U.S. movie rating system. When Midnight Cowboy was released, there was no Nc-17 rating. Instead, filmmakers whose movies were deemed too adult for an R rating, were left with the option of an X rating, or none at all.
Since the rating system is voluntary, a filmmaker can always refuse a rating from the MPAA, but unrated films in the U.S. stand slim chance for commercial success. In 1969, the X rating hadn’t been commandeered by the porn industry yet, so rather than edit the film down to an R, compromising the artistic vision of the film, director John Schlessinger went with X.
The history surrounding this film really turns on Schlessinger’s integrity as a filmmaker. Schlessinger...
Since the rating system is voluntary, a filmmaker can always refuse a rating from the MPAA, but unrated films in the U.S. stand slim chance for commercial success. In 1969, the X rating hadn’t been commandeered by the porn industry yet, so rather than edit the film down to an R, compromising the artistic vision of the film, director John Schlessinger went with X.
The history surrounding this film really turns on Schlessinger’s integrity as a filmmaker. Schlessinger...
- 12/13/2010
- by Alice gray
- SoundOnSight
Living in California celebrity enclave Malibu Colony really paid off for actor Bruce Dern - he landed a role in movie classic Coming Home following a neighbourhood scramble to complete the film when Al Pacino and director John Schlesinger quit the project.
The actor, who was Oscar nominated for his role in the 1978 Vietnam War movie, was a last-minute addition to the film - and feels he was only asked to take part because he was a neighbour of Schlesinger's replacement Hal Ashby.
Dern tells WENN Pacino and Schlesinger walked away from the film after two days of shooting, leaving producer Jerome Hellman desperate to replace them in less than a week - or risk studio bosses scrapping the project.
Dern recalls, "Jerry Hellman lived in Malibu Colony; I lived in Malibu Colony and Hal Ashby lived in Malibu Colony. Jerry went to Hal, gave him the script for Coming Home and said, 'Can you shoot Thursday?' He said, 'It's Tuesday night!' He said, 'What's the rush if I started Monday?' Hellman said, 'The rush is two other movies about Vietnam started last week - Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter - but I don't have explosions or war in my script.
"He said, 'I got the word 'home', and United Artists will shut my movie down if we don't continue on.' So, in 36 hours, Hal went to work.
"Jon Voight, who was playing my role, went up and played Pacino's role, Luke Martin. I lived on the same street as Hal, so he said, 'What about the Dernster for Captain Bob?' So in I come. (Co-star) Jane Fonda went along with it because she was kind of the silent producer of the piece and we marched right on through."
The film was destined to be a great success - Fonda and Voight won Best Actress and Actor Oscars, and Nancy Dowd, Waldo Salt and Robert C. Jones shared the Best Screenplay prize.
Dern adds, "That was another twist - the three writers had never met each other. They all three wrote individual scripts. Nancy Dowd was hired by Jane Fonda, who gave her $25,000 to write a triangular love story set in Vietnam. Waldo Salt, who had written Midnight Cowboy with Jerry Hellman, wrote the screenplay and had a stroke and was in an oxygen tank and couldn't write anymore, so Bob Jones, who was the editor on Coming Home and had been in Vietnam, took over and became the scriptwriter.
"The day after the Oscars Jerry Hellman called Jane Fonda and says, 'Who's Nancy Dowd - because we just got a call from the Writers Guild saying she gets equal credit and equal money for the script because she won the Oscar. What do we do about her because she wants a piece of the movie?' Jane said, 'Oh God, I forgot to tell you - she wrote the script!'"...
The actor, who was Oscar nominated for his role in the 1978 Vietnam War movie, was a last-minute addition to the film - and feels he was only asked to take part because he was a neighbour of Schlesinger's replacement Hal Ashby.
Dern tells WENN Pacino and Schlesinger walked away from the film after two days of shooting, leaving producer Jerome Hellman desperate to replace them in less than a week - or risk studio bosses scrapping the project.
Dern recalls, "Jerry Hellman lived in Malibu Colony; I lived in Malibu Colony and Hal Ashby lived in Malibu Colony. Jerry went to Hal, gave him the script for Coming Home and said, 'Can you shoot Thursday?' He said, 'It's Tuesday night!' He said, 'What's the rush if I started Monday?' Hellman said, 'The rush is two other movies about Vietnam started last week - Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter - but I don't have explosions or war in my script.
"He said, 'I got the word 'home', and United Artists will shut my movie down if we don't continue on.' So, in 36 hours, Hal went to work.
"Jon Voight, who was playing my role, went up and played Pacino's role, Luke Martin. I lived on the same street as Hal, so he said, 'What about the Dernster for Captain Bob?' So in I come. (Co-star) Jane Fonda went along with it because she was kind of the silent producer of the piece and we marched right on through."
The film was destined to be a great success - Fonda and Voight won Best Actress and Actor Oscars, and Nancy Dowd, Waldo Salt and Robert C. Jones shared the Best Screenplay prize.
Dern adds, "That was another twist - the three writers had never met each other. They all three wrote individual scripts. Nancy Dowd was hired by Jane Fonda, who gave her $25,000 to write a triangular love story set in Vietnam. Waldo Salt, who had written Midnight Cowboy with Jerry Hellman, wrote the screenplay and had a stroke and was in an oxygen tank and couldn't write anymore, so Bob Jones, who was the editor on Coming Home and had been in Vietnam, took over and became the scriptwriter.
"The day after the Oscars Jerry Hellman called Jane Fonda and says, 'Who's Nancy Dowd - because we just got a call from the Writers Guild saying she gets equal credit and equal money for the script because she won the Oscar. What do we do about her because she wants a piece of the movie?' Jane said, 'Oh God, I forgot to tell you - she wrote the script!'"...
- 5/10/2010
- WENN
Movie fans line up outside The Directors Guild Theater. (Photo: copyright Lee Pfeiffer/Cinema Retro)Alumni of a classic reunite: (L to R) John Barry, David V. Picker, Sylvia Miles, Jerome Hellman, Ann Roth and Adam Holender. (Photo: copyright Lee Pfeiffer/Cinema Retro)
By Lee Pfeiffer
Last night New York City became Hollywood-on-the-Hudson when The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hosted a 40th anniversary screening of Midnight Cowboy at The Directors Guild Theater. It was an extraordinary evening on every level. The program is part of the Monday Nights with Oscar series, which was created by Patrick Harrison of A.M.P.A.S. For years, Harrison has presented some of the most unique and memorable classic movie events the city has seen - and last evening was no exception. For the Midnight Cowboy tribute, some key members of the creative production team were reunited for an on-stage...
By Lee Pfeiffer
Last night New York City became Hollywood-on-the-Hudson when The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hosted a 40th anniversary screening of Midnight Cowboy at The Directors Guild Theater. It was an extraordinary evening on every level. The program is part of the Monday Nights with Oscar series, which was created by Patrick Harrison of A.M.P.A.S. For years, Harrison has presented some of the most unique and memorable classic movie events the city has seen - and last evening was no exception. For the Midnight Cowboy tribute, some key members of the creative production team were reunited for an on-stage...
- 3/17/2009
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from the A.M.P.A.S. New York office. Cinema Retro will cover this exciting and historic event and will post a report on the web site next week.
New York, NY – The 1969 Best Picture winner “Midnight Cowboy” will screen for New York audience as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “Monday Nights with Oscar®” series on Monday, March 16, at 7:30 p.m. at the Directors Guild of America Theatre in New York City. Academy Award®-winning producer Jerome Hellman will join Academy Award-nominated actress Sylvia Miles in a post-screening discussion. David V. Picker, the executive-in-charge at United Artist during the film’s development, will moderate the onstage conversation, which also will include actor Bob Balaban, cinematographer Adam Holender, composer John Barry and costumer designer Ann Roth.
“Midnight Cowboy” stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight as two...
New York, NY – The 1969 Best Picture winner “Midnight Cowboy” will screen for New York audience as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “Monday Nights with Oscar®” series on Monday, March 16, at 7:30 p.m. at the Directors Guild of America Theatre in New York City. Academy Award®-winning producer Jerome Hellman will join Academy Award-nominated actress Sylvia Miles in a post-screening discussion. David V. Picker, the executive-in-charge at United Artist during the film’s development, will moderate the onstage conversation, which also will include actor Bob Balaban, cinematographer Adam Holender, composer John Barry and costumer designer Ann Roth.
“Midnight Cowboy” stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight as two...
- 3/13/2009
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
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