If you're a law-abiding citizen with no experience of life behind bars, a good prison movie is a window into a harsh world far removed from regular day-to-day life. There is something so intense about the idea of incarceration that makes it great for drama, and also lends itself to symbolism and metaphor beyond the usual narrative beats of violent inmates, old lags, sadistic screws, and suspenseful escapes.
I recently had a discussion around this with a friend regarding "The Shawshank Redemption." He keeps his kids well away from any screen violence while I have watched the movie with my seven-year-old daughter. Why, he wanted to know, did I think a film containing brutal beatings, suicide, and sexual assault was suitable for her? Well, we skipped some of the darker stuff, and I felt the story's overall message of resilience, hope, and friendship was the important thing, reflected in how...
I recently had a discussion around this with a friend regarding "The Shawshank Redemption." He keeps his kids well away from any screen violence while I have watched the movie with my seven-year-old daughter. Why, he wanted to know, did I think a film containing brutal beatings, suicide, and sexual assault was suitable for her? Well, we skipped some of the darker stuff, and I felt the story's overall message of resilience, hope, and friendship was the important thing, reflected in how...
- 8/23/2022
- by Lee Adams
- Slash Film
Hollywood director and screenwriter who won an Oscar for Dog Day Afternoon
In Sunset Boulevard, William Holden's character remarks: "Audiences don't know somebody sits down and writes a picture. They think the actors make it up as they go along." Given the difficulties in quantifying their contributions, screenwriters seldom get the recognition they deserve. Frank Pierson, who has died aged 87, wrote the screenplays for 10 films but his reputation rests on Cat Ballou (1965), Cool Hand Luke (1967) and Dog Day Afternoon (1975), all of which gained him Academy Award nominations, with the last of them winning the Oscar for best original screenplay.
Yet most of the plaudits for Dog Day Afternoon went to Sidney Lumet, the director, and Al Pacino, the star. Pierson, whose work had as much to do with structure and character as dialogue, shaped the script from a Life magazine article about a bungled bank robbery that took place...
In Sunset Boulevard, William Holden's character remarks: "Audiences don't know somebody sits down and writes a picture. They think the actors make it up as they go along." Given the difficulties in quantifying their contributions, screenwriters seldom get the recognition they deserve. Frank Pierson, who has died aged 87, wrote the screenplays for 10 films but his reputation rests on Cat Ballou (1965), Cool Hand Luke (1967) and Dog Day Afternoon (1975), all of which gained him Academy Award nominations, with the last of them winning the Oscar for best original screenplay.
Yet most of the plaudits for Dog Day Afternoon went to Sidney Lumet, the director, and Al Pacino, the star. Pierson, whose work had as much to do with structure and character as dialogue, shaped the script from a Life magazine article about a bungled bank robbery that took place...
- 7/26/2012
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
It would be enough for anyone’s obituary to contain the fact that they wrote the script for Dog Day Afternoon and won an Oscar for it. But Frank Pierson’s life included much more than that, encompassing other big writing jobs, directing and being the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He died yesterday at the age of 87.Pierson worked in movies and TV for more than 50 years, starting his career in advertising before moving to work on the Western series Have Gun Will Travel.His early efforts in movies saw him make a name for himself almost immediately, crafting the script for 1965’s Cat Ballou and 1967’s The Happening. And then he jumped to the next level, co-writing Cool Hand Luke with novelist Donn Pearce.The director’s chair beckoned for the adaptation of John Le Carre’s thriller The Looking Glass War, and...
- 7/23/2012
- EmpireOnline
Check out the first look image of Marc Warren in the stage adaptation of ‘Cool Hand Luke’. Warren will star in a new adaptation in the West End based on Donn Pearce’s novel and we think Mr Warren looks pretty cool as ‘old blue eyes‘.
If you’re not aware of the 1967 movie, it’s the story of a WWII veteran turned convict & rebel, set in a prison camp. So expect hard physical labour, lots of shouting by prison guards and the piece’s protagonist to be one of those play-by-my-own-rules kinda blokes we all like to pretend we are like. We’re particularly interested to see if Warren has to eat 50 eggs a night like in that famous scene from the film and if that comes armed with a rather unpleasant aroma as a side effect.
The production opens at the Aldwych Theatre on Monday 3rd October, with previews from the 23rd September.
If you’re not aware of the 1967 movie, it’s the story of a WWII veteran turned convict & rebel, set in a prison camp. So expect hard physical labour, lots of shouting by prison guards and the piece’s protagonist to be one of those play-by-my-own-rules kinda blokes we all like to pretend we are like. We’re particularly interested to see if Warren has to eat 50 eggs a night like in that famous scene from the film and if that comes armed with a rather unpleasant aroma as a side effect.
The production opens at the Aldwych Theatre on Monday 3rd October, with previews from the 23rd September.
- 6/15/2011
- by Matt Hamm
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Release Date: Sept. 9
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Writers: Donn Pearce, Frank Pierson
Cinematographer: Conrad Hall
Starring: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Harry Dean Stanton, Strother Martin
Studio/Run Time: Warner Home Video, 126 mins.
Newman has aged well
Stuart Rosenberg's 1967 classic Cool Hand Luke has left a heavy footprint in our pop-culture conscience. A sampling of its many iconic moments includes Boss Godfrey's mirrored aviators, the hardboiled-egg-eating contest and Strother Martin drawling, "What we've got here is a failure to communicate." But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Newly remastered on DVD and Blu-ray, this deluxe edition features a "making-of" documentary and audio commentary from writer Eric Lax. But it's Paul Newman's exhilaratingly understated performance as the existential title character that anchors the film. Unlike Brando or Redford, Newman was a master at softening his masculinity without sacrificing virility. His anti-authoritarianism quietly burns as he first spars then bonds with his fellow prison-camp inmates,...
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Writers: Donn Pearce, Frank Pierson
Cinematographer: Conrad Hall
Starring: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Harry Dean Stanton, Strother Martin
Studio/Run Time: Warner Home Video, 126 mins.
Newman has aged well
Stuart Rosenberg's 1967 classic Cool Hand Luke has left a heavy footprint in our pop-culture conscience. A sampling of its many iconic moments includes Boss Godfrey's mirrored aviators, the hardboiled-egg-eating contest and Strother Martin drawling, "What we've got here is a failure to communicate." But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Newly remastered on DVD and Blu-ray, this deluxe edition features a "making-of" documentary and audio commentary from writer Eric Lax. But it's Paul Newman's exhilaratingly understated performance as the existential title character that anchors the film. Unlike Brando or Redford, Newman was a master at softening his masculinity without sacrificing virility. His anti-authoritarianism quietly burns as he first spars then bonds with his fellow prison-camp inmates,...
- 11/12/2008
- Pastemagazine.com
This upcoming September 9, 2008, Warner Home Entertainment will be releasing the 1967 classic “Cool Hand Luke” staring Paul Newman. The Deluxe Edition will be avaliable in both formats Standard and Blu-ray. Newly remastered, the film includes a set of all new featurettes, including “The Making of Cool Hand Luke,” a profile of novelist, co-screenwriter and the real “Cool Hand Luke” Donn Pearce, and Luke, a poetic documentary showing one day of film production on a country road near Stockton, California. The was nominated for four Academy Awards in 1968 – for Best Music Score, Best Screenplay, Best [...]...
- 8/26/2008
- by The Critic
- SmartCine.com
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