Adapted from Larry McMurtry’s bittersweet 1966 novel of the same name by McMurtry and director Peter Bogdanovich, The Last Picture Show delineates the quiet, desperate lives of the citizens of Anarene, Texas, from November 1951 to October 1952. The film is a pure Janus-headed product of the New Hollywood. Bogdanovich pours the new wine of sexual frankness available to filmmakers after the inauguration of the MPAA ratings system into old bottles borrowed from the cellars of classic Hollywood cinema, namely those older films’ expressive visual grammar and obliquely suggestive dialogue.
As an erstwhile film critic and historian, Bogdanovich drew formal and technical inspiration from his years spent programming films from Hollywood’s Golden Age at MoMA. He also solicited advice from houseguest Orson Welles when it came to shooting the film in black and white, and employing long, unbroken takes rather than break up important scenes. As Welles reportedly put it:...
As an erstwhile film critic and historian, Bogdanovich drew formal and technical inspiration from his years spent programming films from Hollywood’s Golden Age at MoMA. He also solicited advice from houseguest Orson Welles when it came to shooting the film in black and white, and employing long, unbroken takes rather than break up important scenes. As Welles reportedly put it:...
- 11/15/2023
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
Celebrity cinematographers are exceedingly rare. More often than not, credit for a film’s visual assembly goes to its director, while DPs can be overlooked. Roger Deakins, typically as famous as the directors with whom he works, is an exception. The legendary lensman is ranked fifth in our combined Best Cinematography Oscar odds for “Empire of Light,” his latest project under Sam Mendes. The movie stars Olivia Colman as Hilary, a lonely cinema manager living on the British coast. A chance at fleeting happiness arrives in the form of Stephen (Micheal Ward), a young man who gets a job at the theater. Their May-December romance is complicated by personal and broader political factors at the turn of the ’80s.
See ‘Empire of Light’ cinematographer Roger Deakins: ‘You’re trying to create a reality that all fits together as a whole’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
Comparing “Empire of Light” to “1917”—Mendes and Deakins’ previous collaboration,...
See ‘Empire of Light’ cinematographer Roger Deakins: ‘You’re trying to create a reality that all fits together as a whole’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
Comparing “Empire of Light” to “1917”—Mendes and Deakins’ previous collaboration,...
- 1/23/2023
- by Ronald Meyer
- Gold Derby
John Sturges’ 1965 film flaunts Cold War thrills and Strangelovian plot turns worthy of an Alistair MacLean novel – which is just where the story came from. It’s a typically solid Sturges production with prime work from cinematographer Robert Surtees and composer Jerry Goldsmith. Star George Maharis is a colorless leading man but vets Richard Basehart, Anne Francis and Dana Andrews flesh out the cast nicely.
The post The Satan Bug appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post The Satan Bug appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 12/9/2022
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
John Sturges’ Road Show comedy western has more in common with 1941 than The Magnificent Seven, but Kino has MGM’s new remaster and the visual result is spectacular. The Ultra Panavision 70 epic is still a favorite of fans of out-of-control Hollywood filmmaking. Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton, Pamela Tiffin and a huge cast lead the charge for a convoy of frontier whisky. It’s all in a fine spirit of madcap fun. . . so where are the big laughs?
The Hallelujah Trail
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 156 165 min. / Street Date December 13, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton, Pamela Tiffin, Donald Pleasence, Brian Keith, Martin Landau, John Anderson, Tom Stern, Robert J. Wilke, Dub Taylor, Whit Bissell, Helen Kleeb, Val Avery, Hope Summers, John Dehner (narrator).
Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Art Direction: Carey Odell
Costumes: Edith Head
Film Editor: Ferris Webster
Original Music: Elmer Bernstein...
The Hallelujah Trail
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 156 165 min. / Street Date December 13, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton, Pamela Tiffin, Donald Pleasence, Brian Keith, Martin Landau, John Anderson, Tom Stern, Robert J. Wilke, Dub Taylor, Whit Bissell, Helen Kleeb, Val Avery, Hope Summers, John Dehner (narrator).
Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Art Direction: Carey Odell
Costumes: Edith Head
Film Editor: Ferris Webster
Original Music: Elmer Bernstein...
- 11/29/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Peter Bogdanovich — whose “The Last Picture Show” and “Paper Moon” solidified his reputation as one of the most important filmmakers in the New Hollywood of the ’70s, but whose personal life threatened to overshadow his career behind the camera — has died, Variety has confirmed. He was 82.
The director also had acting roles on such shows as “The Sopranos,” on which he recurred as Dr. Melfi’s psychotherapist; “The Simpsons”; and as a DJ in Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2.”
Wildly prolific and celebrated early on, then mired in hubris-laced scandal when he became involved with two of his leading ladies — the first for whom he left his wife, the second a Playboy centerfold killed by her husband — Bogdanovich nevertheless remained busy directing, writing and acting through his late years, and emerged, like Martin Scorsese, as a scholarly champion of old-school American moviemakers.
Like his peers of the French New Wave,...
The director also had acting roles on such shows as “The Sopranos,” on which he recurred as Dr. Melfi’s psychotherapist; “The Simpsons”; and as a DJ in Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2.”
Wildly prolific and celebrated early on, then mired in hubris-laced scandal when he became involved with two of his leading ladies — the first for whom he left his wife, the second a Playboy centerfold killed by her husband — Bogdanovich nevertheless remained busy directing, writing and acting through his late years, and emerged, like Martin Scorsese, as a scholarly champion of old-school American moviemakers.
Like his peers of the French New Wave,...
- 1/6/2022
- by Steve Chagollan
- Variety Film + TV
John Sturges’ first color western is a tightly organized and unpretentious winner about a stern Union prison warden and a Confederate prisoner teaming up to fight an Apache enemy … wait, that sounds familiar. William Holden and Eleanor Parker strike sparks out on the ruddy mesas, while Sturges has a field day with the amazing Death Valley scenery and a highly original action scene. ‘Realistic escapism?’ It’s like a formula for future action cinema. And the ads didn’t let us forget: it all looks sensational in glowing Ansco Color.
Escape from Fort Bravo
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1953 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date May 18, 2021 / 21.99
Starring: William Holden, Eleanor Parker, John Forsyth, William Demarest, William Campbell, Polly Bergen, Richard Anderson, Carl Benton Reid, John Lupton, Howard McNear, Glenn Strange.
Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Film Editor: George Boemler
Original Music: Jeff Alexander
Written by Frank Fenton from the story Rope’s End...
Escape from Fort Bravo
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1953 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date May 18, 2021 / 21.99
Starring: William Holden, Eleanor Parker, John Forsyth, William Demarest, William Campbell, Polly Bergen, Richard Anderson, Carl Benton Reid, John Lupton, Howard McNear, Glenn Strange.
Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Film Editor: George Boemler
Original Music: Jeff Alexander
Written by Frank Fenton from the story Rope’s End...
- 5/15/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Roger Deakins is back in the Best Cinematography Oscar race for the first time since his win for “Blade Runner 2049” (2017) with Sam Mendes‘ “1917.” His long-awaited victory was on his 14th nomination and if he nabs a 15th, he’ll tie for second place for most nominations.
Robert Surtees is currently in sole possession of second-place honors, amassing 15 bids over his nearly five-decade career. He won for “King Solomon’s Mines” (1950), “The Bad and the Beautiful” (1952) and “Ben-Hur” (1959). Leon Shamroy and Charles Lang hold the category record at 18 nominations each. Shamroy has a record four wins, which he shares with 10-nominee Joseph Ruttenberg, having triumphed for “The Black Swan” (1942), “Wilson” (1944), “Leave Her to Heaven” (1945) and “Cleopatra” (1963). Lang prevailed once, taking home the prize on his second nomination for “A Farewell to Arms” (1932).
See Can Roger Deakins win the Best Cinematography Oscar again so soon after long overdue first victory?
At the moment,...
Robert Surtees is currently in sole possession of second-place honors, amassing 15 bids over his nearly five-decade career. He won for “King Solomon’s Mines” (1950), “The Bad and the Beautiful” (1952) and “Ben-Hur” (1959). Leon Shamroy and Charles Lang hold the category record at 18 nominations each. Shamroy has a record four wins, which he shares with 10-nominee Joseph Ruttenberg, having triumphed for “The Black Swan” (1942), “Wilson” (1944), “Leave Her to Heaven” (1945) and “Cleopatra” (1963). Lang prevailed once, taking home the prize on his second nomination for “A Farewell to Arms” (1932).
See Can Roger Deakins win the Best Cinematography Oscar again so soon after long overdue first victory?
At the moment,...
- 12/12/2019
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
“Don’t worry. Some of the best movies are made by people working together who hate each other’s guts.”
Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas in The Bad And The Beautiful (1952) is available on Blu-ray from Warner Archives. It can be ordered Here
Appearances are everything in Hollywood. So when conniving moviemaker Jonathan Shields realizes few mourners will show up for the funeral of his equally conniving father, he knows what to do: hire extras. Kirk Douglas gives a magnetic, Oscar®-nominated performance as Shields, who turns talent, charisma and ruthlessness into film success, stomping on careers and creating enemies along the way. Vincente Minnelli directs this winner of five Academy Awards® that’s more than a compelling insider’s look at Tinseltown: It’s an opportunity for buffs to guess which real-life stars and moguls inspired the roles played by Douglas, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Best Supporting Actress Gloria Grahame and more.
Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas in The Bad And The Beautiful (1952) is available on Blu-ray from Warner Archives. It can be ordered Here
Appearances are everything in Hollywood. So when conniving moviemaker Jonathan Shields realizes few mourners will show up for the funeral of his equally conniving father, he knows what to do: hire extras. Kirk Douglas gives a magnetic, Oscar®-nominated performance as Shields, who turns talent, charisma and ruthlessness into film success, stomping on careers and creating enemies along the way. Vincente Minnelli directs this winner of five Academy Awards® that’s more than a compelling insider’s look at Tinseltown: It’s an opportunity for buffs to guess which real-life stars and moguls inspired the roles played by Douglas, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Best Supporting Actress Gloria Grahame and more.
- 11/27/2019
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
One of Vincente Minnelli’s best is this glamorous ‘Hollywood Looks At Hollywood’ exposé of sin and conniving among the actors, directors and producers that make Quality Entertainment for us unglamorous nobodies. It’s overstated and often grossly overacted but still carries a grandiose charm. Lana Turner gets to play an idealized version of herself. Gloria Grahame generates additional heat, and for her trouble walked away with an Oscar. And composer David Raksin contributes one of his most melodic music scores — the main theme is a winner, right up there with his Laura. CineSavant runs amuck critiquing the way MGM’s movie slams Hollywood creatives, while pretending that the studio bigwigs are infallible Gods.
The Bad and the Beautiful
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1952 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 118 min. / Street Date November 19, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame, Gilbert Roland,...
The Bad and the Beautiful
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1952 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 118 min. / Street Date November 19, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame, Gilbert Roland,...
- 11/19/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In celebration of its 100th anniversary, the American Society of Cinematographers has released a list of the 100 best shot films of the 20th century.
This list was released to "showcase the best of cinematography as selected by professional cinematographers.” Here's how the list was put together:
The process of cultivating the 100 films began with Asc members each submitting 10 to 25 titles that were personally inspirational or perhaps changed the way they approached their craft. “I asked them — as cinematographers, members of the Asc, artists, filmmakers and people who love film and whose lives were shaped by films — to list the films that were most influential,” Fierberg explains. A master list was then complied, and members voted on what they considered to be the most essential 100 titles.
Here's a little sizzle reel that was cut together showcasing some of the films on the list:
It's hard to argue with the Top 10 films,...
This list was released to "showcase the best of cinematography as selected by professional cinematographers.” Here's how the list was put together:
The process of cultivating the 100 films began with Asc members each submitting 10 to 25 titles that were personally inspirational or perhaps changed the way they approached their craft. “I asked them — as cinematographers, members of the Asc, artists, filmmakers and people who love film and whose lives were shaped by films — to list the films that were most influential,” Fierberg explains. A master list was then complied, and members voted on what they considered to be the most essential 100 titles.
Here's a little sizzle reel that was cut together showcasing some of the films on the list:
It's hard to argue with the Top 10 films,...
- 1/9/2019
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
The Collector
Blu ray – All Region
Indicator/Powerhouse
1965/ 1.85:1 / Street Date September 24, 2018
Starring Terence Stamp, Samantha Eggar
Cinematography by Robert Surtees, Robert Krasker
Directed by William Wyler
German-born William Wyler was a storyteller who asked the audience not to understand him too quickly. A notorious perfectionist, he was a masterful old-school director of enduring entertainments distinguished by thoughtfulness and, a rare trait for the times, ambiguity.
At their best, Wyler’s films were acutely observed slices of American life, particularly concerning its ongoing civil wars – Davis treading on Southern decorum in Jezebel, Dana Andrew’s bitter post-war abasement in The Best Years of Our Lives and the deal-breaking social gulf between the would-be lovers of Roman Holiday. In The Collector, those class conflicts get the horror movie treatment.
Frederick Clegg, the gaunt loner lurking at the edges of Wyler’s psycho-thriller, is the very model of the modern Incel. Emotionally...
Blu ray – All Region
Indicator/Powerhouse
1965/ 1.85:1 / Street Date September 24, 2018
Starring Terence Stamp, Samantha Eggar
Cinematography by Robert Surtees, Robert Krasker
Directed by William Wyler
German-born William Wyler was a storyteller who asked the audience not to understand him too quickly. A notorious perfectionist, he was a masterful old-school director of enduring entertainments distinguished by thoughtfulness and, a rare trait for the times, ambiguity.
At their best, Wyler’s films were acutely observed slices of American life, particularly concerning its ongoing civil wars – Davis treading on Southern decorum in Jezebel, Dana Andrew’s bitter post-war abasement in The Best Years of Our Lives and the deal-breaking social gulf between the would-be lovers of Roman Holiday. In The Collector, those class conflicts get the horror movie treatment.
Frederick Clegg, the gaunt loner lurking at the edges of Wyler’s psycho-thriller, is the very model of the modern Incel. Emotionally...
- 9/30/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
The curtain is falling on the MGM musical, and Gene Kelly’s final song and dance at the studio is for a Paris-set show biz tale about a dancing star and his trio of showgirls. Actually, the comedy and the actresses get more attention than does Kelly. The gimmick is a Rashomon– like clash of conflicting testimony, but we prefer to concentrate on the sexy dancing and Kay Kendall’s hilarious drunk act. Who thought a boozy beauty wailing opera songs would be funny?
Les Girls
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 114 min. / Cole Porter’s Les Girls / Street Date April 17, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.9
Starring: Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall, Taina Elg, Jacques Bergerac, Leslie Phillips, Henry Daniell, Patrick Macnee.
Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Film Editor: Ferris Webster
Costumes: Orry-Kelly
Choreography: Jack Cole
Original Music: Cole Porter, arranged and orchestrated by Alexander Courage, Adolph Deutsch, Skip Martin
Written...
Les Girls
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 114 min. / Cole Porter’s Les Girls / Street Date April 17, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.9
Starring: Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall, Taina Elg, Jacques Bergerac, Leslie Phillips, Henry Daniell, Patrick Macnee.
Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Film Editor: Ferris Webster
Costumes: Orry-Kelly
Choreography: Jack Cole
Original Music: Cole Porter, arranged and orchestrated by Alexander Courage, Adolph Deutsch, Skip Martin
Written...
- 4/14/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Blown up to Road Show spectacular dimensions, a fairly modest idea for a comedy western became something of a career Waterloo for director John Sturges. But it’s still a favorite of fans thrilled by fancy 70mm-style presentations. A huge cast led by Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton and Pamela Tiffin leads the charge on a whisky-soaked madcap chase. It’s all in a fine spirit of fun. . . so where are the big laughs?
The Hallelujah Trail
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 155 min. / Street Date February 27, 2018 / available through the Olive Films website / 24.95
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton, Pamela Tiffin, Donald Pleasence, Brian Keith, Martin Landau, John Anderson, Tom Stern, Robert J. Wilke, Dub Taylor, Whit Bissell, Helen Kleeb, Val Avery, Hope Summers, John Dehner.
Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Film Editor: Ferris Webster
Original Music: Elmer Bernstein
Written by John Gay from the novel by William Gulick
Executive...
The Hallelujah Trail
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 155 min. / Street Date February 27, 2018 / available through the Olive Films website / 24.95
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton, Pamela Tiffin, Donald Pleasence, Brian Keith, Martin Landau, John Anderson, Tom Stern, Robert J. Wilke, Dub Taylor, Whit Bissell, Helen Kleeb, Val Avery, Hope Summers, John Dehner.
Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Film Editor: Ferris Webster
Original Music: Elmer Bernstein
Written by John Gay from the novel by William Gulick
Executive...
- 3/3/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Albert Bettcher, a cameraman who worked on The Graduate, Batman, Blade Runner and Three Stooges movies during a career that spanned nearly a half-century in Hollywood, has died. He was 97.
A recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Camera Operators in 1990, Bettcher died Dec. 21 at his home in Pasadena, his daughter Nancy Hurley announced.
On The Graduate (1967), Bettcher served as a hand-held cameraman for director Mike Nichols and cinematographer Robert Surtees and pulled off a particularly difficult scene — the one where the camera "acts" as Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) as he...
A recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Camera Operators in 1990, Bettcher died Dec. 21 at his home in Pasadena, his daughter Nancy Hurley announced.
On The Graduate (1967), Bettcher served as a hand-held cameraman for director Mike Nichols and cinematographer Robert Surtees and pulled off a particularly difficult scene — the one where the camera "acts" as Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) as he...
- 1/19/2018
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
By John M. Whalen
In MGM’s 1958 Western “The Law and Jake Wade,” Robert Taylor rides down from the Sierra Nevada mountains early one morning into a small town and busts his old partner-in-crime, Clint Hollister (Richard Widmark), out of the hoosegow. Hollister is a nasty guy. Not satisfied with escaping a hanging, to Jake’s dismay, he clubs the sheriff and shoots a couple of people out in the street while he and Jake make their getaway. Jake has to take his rifle away from him to keep from killing more people.
Back up in the mountains Clint wants to ride on with Jake but Jake says no. He busted Clint out of jail because he figured he owed him for doing the same thing for him once. Now they’re even. Clint doesn’t agree. There’s that matter of the $20,000 they stole on their last job together.
In MGM’s 1958 Western “The Law and Jake Wade,” Robert Taylor rides down from the Sierra Nevada mountains early one morning into a small town and busts his old partner-in-crime, Clint Hollister (Richard Widmark), out of the hoosegow. Hollister is a nasty guy. Not satisfied with escaping a hanging, to Jake’s dismay, he clubs the sheriff and shoots a couple of people out in the street while he and Jake make their getaway. Jake has to take his rifle away from him to keep from killing more people.
Back up in the mountains Clint wants to ride on with Jake but Jake says no. He busted Clint out of jail because he figured he owed him for doing the same thing for him once. Now they’re even. Clint doesn’t agree. There’s that matter of the $20,000 they stole on their last job together.
- 11/9/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Many of MGM’s productions were scraping bottom in 1958, yet the studio found one more acceptable western vehicle for their last big star still on contract. Only-slightly corrupt marshal Robert Taylor edges toward a showdown with the thoroughly corrupt Richard Widmark in an economy item given impressive locations and the sound direction of John Sturges.
The Law and Jake Wade
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Robert Taylor, Richard Widmark, Patricia Owens, Robert Middleton, Henry Silva, DeForest Kelley, Henry Silva, Burt Douglas, Eddie Firestone.
Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Film Editor: Ferris Webster
Written by William Bowers from a novel by Marvin H. Albert
Produced by William B. Hawks
Directed by John Sturges
As the 1950s wore down, MGM was finding it more difficult to properly use its last remaining big-ticket stars on the steady payroll, Cyd Charisse and Robert Taylor. Cyd...
The Law and Jake Wade
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 86 min. / Street Date September 12, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Robert Taylor, Richard Widmark, Patricia Owens, Robert Middleton, Henry Silva, DeForest Kelley, Henry Silva, Burt Douglas, Eddie Firestone.
Cinematography: Robert Surtees
Film Editor: Ferris Webster
Written by William Bowers from a novel by Marvin H. Albert
Produced by William B. Hawks
Directed by John Sturges
As the 1950s wore down, MGM was finding it more difficult to properly use its last remaining big-ticket stars on the steady payroll, Cyd Charisse and Robert Taylor. Cyd...
- 9/2/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
70mm is back! Thanks to Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan, one of the oldest and grandest traditions in Hollywood is making a comeback after years of financial setbacks and near-extinction. As Nolan has said many times, shooting in 70mm proved an immersive and more textured experience than any other form of cinema (side note: The 70mm film process actually uses 65mm film stock, which is printed onto 70mm film for projection purposes).
Read More: ‘Dunkirk’: 9 Things You Need to Know About Christopher Nolan’s WWII Blockbuster
Due to the costly nature of film and theaters’ lack of 70mm projectors, it’s been quite a challenge to get to a place where Tarantino and Nolan can make entire features using 65/70mm, but the preservation of film is turning in their favor. This month, “Dunkirk” will give audiences the chance to see what happens when Nolan makes an...
Read More: ‘Dunkirk’: 9 Things You Need to Know About Christopher Nolan’s WWII Blockbuster
Due to the costly nature of film and theaters’ lack of 70mm projectors, it’s been quite a challenge to get to a place where Tarantino and Nolan can make entire features using 65/70mm, but the preservation of film is turning in their favor. This month, “Dunkirk” will give audiences the chance to see what happens when Nolan makes an...
- 7/12/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Cinematographer Fred J. Koenekamp, who won an Oscar for his work on The Towering Inferno, died May 31, the American Society of Cinematographers confirmed. He was 94. Koenekamp began his decades-long career in cinematography in the camera department at Rko Studios. He spent 19 years working on camera crews with noted cinematographers, including Joseph Ruttenberg, John Alton, Robert Surtees, and Frank Phillips. In 1963, Koenekamp worked as a camera operator on the…...
- 6/9/2017
- Deadline
Cinematographer Fred J. Koenekamp, who won an Oscar for his work on The Towering Inferno, died May 31, the American Society of Cinematographers confirmed. He was 94. Koenekamp began his decades-long career in cinematography in the camera department at Rko Studios. He spent 19 years working on camera crews with noted cinematographers, including Joseph Ruttenberg, John Alton, Robert Surtees, and Frank Phillips. In 1963, Koenekamp worked as a camera operator on the…...
- 6/9/2017
- Deadline TV
This past weekend, the American Society of Cinematographers awarded Greig Fraser for his contribution to Lion as last year’s greatest accomplishment in the field. Of course, his achievement was just a small sampling of the fantastic work from directors of photography, but it did give us a stronger hint at what may be the winner on Oscar night. Ahead of the ceremony, we have a new video compilation that honors all the past winners in the category at the Academy Awards
Created by Burger Fiction, it spans the stunning silent landmark Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans all the way up to the end of Emmanuel Lubezki‘s three-peat win for The Revenant. Aside from the advancements in color and aspect ration, it’s a thrill to see some of cinema’s most iconic shots side-by-side. However, the best way to experience the evolution of the craft is by...
Created by Burger Fiction, it spans the stunning silent landmark Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans all the way up to the end of Emmanuel Lubezki‘s three-peat win for The Revenant. Aside from the advancements in color and aspect ration, it’s a thrill to see some of cinema’s most iconic shots side-by-side. However, the best way to experience the evolution of the craft is by...
- 2/6/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Bancroft & Maclaine reminisce in The Turning PointBest Shot 1977 Party. Chapter 2
The Turning Point (1977)
Directed by: Herbert Ross
Cinematography by: Robert Surtees
When The Turning Point is remembered today, on the rare occasion that you hear it name-checked, it is nearly always in connection to its status as Oscar's all time loser (11 nominations without a win). That "achievement" was later shared when Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple (1985) met the same Oscar fate, entering the competition as a very big ticket and coming away empty-handed. It's surely no coincidence that both films are women's pictures. Oscar has grown increasingly wary of films about and for women over their 88 year history; that's not a mark on the films themselves but a stain on film culture and the Oscars. 1977 was in some significant ways, the very last Oscar year to be dominated by women. The sole "boys" movie up for the top prize was Star Wars,...
The Turning Point (1977)
Directed by: Herbert Ross
Cinematography by: Robert Surtees
When The Turning Point is remembered today, on the rare occasion that you hear it name-checked, it is nearly always in connection to its status as Oscar's all time loser (11 nominations without a win). That "achievement" was later shared when Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple (1985) met the same Oscar fate, entering the competition as a very big ticket and coming away empty-handed. It's surely no coincidence that both films are women's pictures. Oscar has grown increasingly wary of films about and for women over their 88 year history; that's not a mark on the films themselves but a stain on film culture and the Oscars. 1977 was in some significant ways, the very last Oscar year to be dominated by women. The sole "boys" movie up for the top prize was Star Wars,...
- 7/28/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Watch the movies. Pick a shot. join us! You can see all the past episodes here.
Tuesday Evening, July 19th
Zootopia (2016, Howard, Moore, Bush. 108 minutes)
It's the second biggest global hit of the year and now that it's available for home viewing let's have a second look at this delightful animated comedy about a utopia threatened when predators go wild again.
Best Shot Special: Mon Jul 24- Fri Jul 29th
Oscar Battles: Best Cinematography 1977
Close Encounters Vilmos Zsigmond
Islands In The Stream Fred J Koenekamp
Julia Douglas Slocombe
Looking For Mr Goodbar William A Fraker
Turning Point Robert Surtees
Choose one or more of Oscar's 1977 Cinematography nominees for your "Best Shot" pleasure. We'll reajudicate the cinematography Oscar battle of 1977 over the final week of July. If this sounds crazy, please note that 1977 happens to be our "Year of the Month" and four of those five titles were also nominated for...
Tuesday Evening, July 19th
Zootopia (2016, Howard, Moore, Bush. 108 minutes)
It's the second biggest global hit of the year and now that it's available for home viewing let's have a second look at this delightful animated comedy about a utopia threatened when predators go wild again.
Best Shot Special: Mon Jul 24- Fri Jul 29th
Oscar Battles: Best Cinematography 1977
Close Encounters Vilmos Zsigmond
Islands In The Stream Fred J Koenekamp
Julia Douglas Slocombe
Looking For Mr Goodbar William A Fraker
Turning Point Robert Surtees
Choose one or more of Oscar's 1977 Cinematography nominees for your "Best Shot" pleasure. We'll reajudicate the cinematography Oscar battle of 1977 over the final week of July. If this sounds crazy, please note that 1977 happens to be our "Year of the Month" and four of those five titles were also nominated for...
- 7/16/2016
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
What can you say to such success? Mike Nichols and Buck Henry's sex satire defined 'the generation gap' for the sixties. Dustin Hoffman sprang forward from obscurity and Katharine Ross was the object of California desire. Anne Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson freed the image of the 'complicated woman' from the clutches of the Production Code Stone Age. The broad comedy scores with every joke, and there's a truth beneath all the odd things that ought not to work. The Graduate Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 800 1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date February 23, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross, William Daniels, Murray Hamilton, Elizabeth Wilson, Buck Henry, Brian Avery, Walter Brooke, Norman Fell, Alice Ghostley, Marion Lorne, Eddra Gale, Richard Dreyfuss, Mike Farrell, Elisabeth Fraser, Donald F. Glut, Elaine May, Lainie Miller, Ben Murphy. Cinematography Robert Surtees Film Editor Sam O'Steen Production Design Richard Sylbert...
- 2/27/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Jesus Loves You More Than You Will Know”
By Raymond Benson
Although it has been released before on Blu-ray, the “Criterion treatment” is always welcome for a classic, well-known film such as The Graduate. Quite simply, it’s one of the most beloved pictures of the 60s, one that hit a nerve in the public consciousness. It helped define those wildly changing years at the end of the decade, illustrating how the country’s youth rebelled against an established society that they were expected to join. The Graduate is a landmark of the New Hollywood movement that took over the studios in those years and held reign through the 70s.
Director Mike Nichols, fresh from his success as a debut helmsman for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), gave us a romantic comedy unlike anything we’d seen previously—mainly because of the radically daring casting of an unknown actor named Dustin Hoffman.
By Raymond Benson
Although it has been released before on Blu-ray, the “Criterion treatment” is always welcome for a classic, well-known film such as The Graduate. Quite simply, it’s one of the most beloved pictures of the 60s, one that hit a nerve in the public consciousness. It helped define those wildly changing years at the end of the decade, illustrating how the country’s youth rebelled against an established society that they were expected to join. The Graduate is a landmark of the New Hollywood movement that took over the studios in those years and held reign through the 70s.
Director Mike Nichols, fresh from his success as a debut helmsman for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), gave us a romantic comedy unlike anything we’d seen previously—mainly because of the radically daring casting of an unknown actor named Dustin Hoffman.
- 2/8/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Techno-thriller fans have been waiting a long time for a good disc of action ace John Sturges' sci-fi espionage suspenser. George Maharis, Richard Basehart, Anne Francis and Dana Andrews must stop a madman who has snatched a full battery of deadly bio-warfare viruses from a super-secret government lab. Each flask can wipe out an entire city, and one of them will kill every living thing on the planet. The Satan Bug Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 114 min. / Street Date September 22, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring George Maharis, Richard Basehart, Anne Francis, Dana Andrews, John Larkin, Richard Bull, Frank Sutton, Edward Asner, Simon Oakland, John Anderson, James Hong, Hari Rhodes, Henry Beckman, Harry Lauter, Tol Avery, Russ Bender, James Doohan, Harold Gould, Carey Loftin. Cinematography Robert Surtees Film Editor Ferris Webster Original Music Jerry Goldsmith Written by Edward Anhalt, James Clavell from the novel by Ian Stuart (Alistair MacLean...
- 9/22/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
By winning the Best Cinematography Oscar for a second year in a row, "Birdman" director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki has joined a truly elite club whose ranks haven't been breached in nearly two decades. Only four other cinematographers have won the prize in two consecutive years. The last time it happened was in 1994 and 1995, when John Toll won for Edward Zwick's "Legends of the Fall" and Mel Gibson's "Braveheart" respectively. Before that you have to go all the way back to the late '40s, when Winton Hoch won in 1948 (Victor Fleming's "Joan of Arc" with Ingrid Bergman) and 1949 (John Ford's western "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"). Both victories came in the color category, as the Academy awarded prizes separately for black-and-white and color photography from 1939 to 1956. Leon Shamroy also won back-to-back color cinematography Oscars, for Henry King's 1944 Woodrow Wilson biopic "Wilson" and John M. Stahl...
- 2/23/2015
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Hitfix
And the Oscar goes to ... some dude on eBay, and now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is going after the relative of an actual winner.A guy named Robert Surtees won an Oscar in 1953 for cinematography for the "The Bad and the Beautiful." Robert is now dead, and his daughter-in-law, Carol, apparently needs some cash, because she put the statue up on eBay and there was indeed a market ... she sold it...
- 12/16/2014
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
If I had to make a list of the ten film directors who I think most influenced my own standards of what filmmaking can be and should be, Mike Nichols would be on that list, if only for the first two films he made. And it may seem strange to say that I admire how he survived making those masterworks, but early success can destroy even the greatest talent because of the expectations it creates, and Nichols somehow managed it in a way that many other talented people have not. That is not to say that the rest of his work is not worth that kind of consideration and discussion. It's just that Nichols came out of the gate with two genuine, no-debate masterpieces, two films that crackle with life, two films that are so visually adept that they are humbling, two films packed with performances that go beyond good...
- 11/20/2014
- by Drew McWeeny
- Hitfix
Given Peter Jackson and James Cameron's current embrace of high-frame-rate, there's an added importance to Fox's restoration of the roadshow "Oklahoma!," which opens the TCM Classic Film Fest tonight at the Tcl Chinese IMAX Theater. In addition to being shot in Todd-ao large format, the beloved 1955 musical from Rodgers & Hammerstein also experimented with 30 frames to solve the flickering problem and to better stave off competition from TV. The result is almost holographic. Fox's Schawn Belston (together with Foto-Kem and Chace Audio) have done a glorious job of adding the luster and grandeur back to "Oklahoma!" Granted, because of Fred Zinnemann's overly theatrical and sometimes static direction, it's not up there with "The King and I," "Carousel," or "The Sound of Music." But visually Robert Surtees' cinematography is stunning, thanks to both the larger format and the higher frame rate. And Agnes de Mille's revolutionary "Dream Ballet...
- 4/10/2014
- by Bill Desowitz
- Thompson on Hollywood
In Hit Me With Your Best Shot, an open source series if you will, movie-lovers are asked to select their choice for the pre-selected movie's finest visual moment. Movies are both communal and private experiences so its rewarding to look at them through multiple sets of eyes. This week's film is Vincente Minnelli's Hollywood-on-Hollywood drama The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) which holds the odd distinction of winning the most Oscars ever (5) without a corresponding nomination in the Best Picture category. (The Academy was weird about the Movies About Movies genre that year since they practically ignored the all time classic Singin' in the Rain) The most deserved of Tbatb's historic five Oscars was surely for its stunning black & white cinematography by Robert Surtees, an enduring presence in Oscar's roll call from the mid 40s through the late 70s.
I think you'll really like these nine pieces on the movie...
I think you'll really like these nine pieces on the movie...
- 8/22/2013
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
By Lee Pfeiffer
Years before Michael Cimino released his Socialist-themed Western Heaven's Gate, director Stanely Kramer took a less heavy-handed approach with his 1973 film Oklahoma Crude. Unlike Cimino's dark and message-laden epic, however, Kramer made the political aspects of his film secondary to the lighthearted tone of the story. Faye Dunaway, seen here in the least glamorous role of her career, plays Lena Doyle, a bitter, man-hating independent woman who is determined to make a success of her wildcat oil drilling venture on the plains of Oklahoma during the early 1900s. Beset by the frustration of consistently having her rig dig up dirt instead of oil, she also has to contend with a bigger threat: a major oil company is determined to seize her land by hook or by crook. When she turns down the offer of a buyout from their cut throat representative (Jack Palance), the oil company moves...
Years before Michael Cimino released his Socialist-themed Western Heaven's Gate, director Stanely Kramer took a less heavy-handed approach with his 1973 film Oklahoma Crude. Unlike Cimino's dark and message-laden epic, however, Kramer made the political aspects of his film secondary to the lighthearted tone of the story. Faye Dunaway, seen here in the least glamorous role of her career, plays Lena Doyle, a bitter, man-hating independent woman who is determined to make a success of her wildcat oil drilling venture on the plains of Oklahoma during the early 1900s. Beset by the frustration of consistently having her rig dig up dirt instead of oil, she also has to contend with a bigger threat: a major oil company is determined to seize her land by hook or by crook. When she turns down the offer of a buyout from their cut throat representative (Jack Palance), the oil company moves...
- 12/18/2012
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Timothy Bottoms Gets His Pound Of Flesh
By
Alex Simon
Timothy Bottoms became an overnight sensation at the height of the so-called “Easy Riders and Raging Bulls” era, after landing the leading role in The Last Picture Show (1971), Peter Bogdanovich’s film about the social and sexual rites of small town Texans in the early 1950s. Internationally acclaimed for his portrait of Sonny, a sensitive kid struggling to find his way in the harsh landscape of post-war America, the then-twenty year-old Bottoms suddenly found himself not only in-demand as a rising young star, but a major celebrity, as well, with younger brothers Sam (who co-starred in The Last Picture Show), Joseph and Ben following in their older brother’s footsteps, making names for themselves on stage and screen. Bottoms reprised the role of Sonny for Picture Show's 1990 sequel, Texasville.
After another triumphant turn with the lead in James Bridges’ The Paper Chase...
By
Alex Simon
Timothy Bottoms became an overnight sensation at the height of the so-called “Easy Riders and Raging Bulls” era, after landing the leading role in The Last Picture Show (1971), Peter Bogdanovich’s film about the social and sexual rites of small town Texans in the early 1950s. Internationally acclaimed for his portrait of Sonny, a sensitive kid struggling to find his way in the harsh landscape of post-war America, the then-twenty year-old Bottoms suddenly found himself not only in-demand as a rising young star, but a major celebrity, as well, with younger brothers Sam (who co-starred in The Last Picture Show), Joseph and Ben following in their older brother’s footsteps, making names for themselves on stage and screen. Bottoms reprised the role of Sonny for Picture Show's 1990 sequel, Texasville.
After another triumphant turn with the lead in James Bridges’ The Paper Chase...
- 5/22/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
In the early 1950s, as the big studio system breathed its last, Hollywood produced a succession of classic Tinseltown fables: Sunset Boulevard, In a Lonely Place, Singin' in the Rain, The Barefoot Contessa, A Star Is Born and, right in the middle, The Bad and the Beautiful, made in 1952 and back in the cinemas to accompany a Minnelli retrospective at the Nft. Though directed with Minnelli's characteristic delicacy, this is essentially a producer's film, made by John Houseman, one of the great figures of 20th-century American theatre and cinema. Houseman's first Hollywood job was supervising the script of Citizen Kane, his second was working for David O Selznick. In The Bad and the Beautiful, Houseman applies a similar structure, intelligence and suavity to a ruthless Hollywood genius much like Selznick as he brought to Charles Foster Kane.
An old-style Hollywood studio boss (Walter Pidgeon) brings together a movie star (Lana Turner...
An old-style Hollywood studio boss (Walter Pidgeon) brings together a movie star (Lana Turner...
- 4/23/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Considering it's where most of us (bar the weird home-schooled kids) spend our crucial formative years, where we have our first fights, our first loves, our first tentative steps into adulthood, it's no surprise that high school has long been a popular setting for movies. A range of genres (though generally leaning towards comedy) have taken place in those hallways, particularly from the 1980s onwards, when John Hughes, among others, made an entire career out of the lives and loves of 15-18 year olds.
The latest film to head back to class is "21 Jump Street" (review here) the big-screen reboot of the '80s TV show, which stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as youthful-looking cops who are sent back to high school in order to bust a drug-running ring. While you might assume this to be another lazy remake, you'd be very wrong, as Tatum, Hill, co-writer Michael Bacall,...
The latest film to head back to class is "21 Jump Street" (review here) the big-screen reboot of the '80s TV show, which stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as youthful-looking cops who are sent back to high school in order to bust a drug-running ring. While you might assume this to be another lazy remake, you'd be very wrong, as Tatum, Hill, co-writer Michael Bacall,...
- 3/15/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
Since January 27, Geoff Manaugh of the widely acclaimed Bldgblog has been hosting Breaking Out and Breaking In: A Distributed Film Fest of Prison Breaks and Bank Heists, "an exploration of the use and misuse of space in prison escapes and bank heists, where architecture is the obstacle between you and what you're looking for." The idea is to have anyone and everyone watch the films, wherever we may be, and then discuss them at Bldgblog: "It's a 'distributed' film fest; there is no central venue, just a curated list of films and a list of days on which to watch them. There's no set time, no geographic exclusion, and no limit to the food breaks or repeated scenes you might require. And it all leads up to a public discussion at Studio-x NYC on Tuesday, April 24." Discussions opened so far: Renoir's Grand Illusion (1937), Bresson's A Man Escaped (1956), John Sturges...
- 2/27/2012
- MUBI
Clint Eastwood's longtime collaborator Bruce Surtees has died at the age of 74.
The Oscar-nominated cinematographer passed away last Thursday, according to Variety. No more details about his death were known as WENN went to press.
Surtees was the son of legendary Hollywood cinematographer Robert L. Surtees, who won Oscars for King Solomon's Mines, The Bad and the Beautiful, and the epic Ben Hur, and he is best known for his extensive work with Eastwood.
He made 14 films with the veteran actor/director, including 1971's Dirty Harry, and Eastwood chose Surtees as his director of photography when he made his directorial debut on Play Misty for Me in 1971.
Surtees won an Oscar nomination in 1975 for his work on Bob Fosse's Lenny Bruce biopic Lenny and his other film credits include Risky Business and Beverly Hills Cop.
The Oscar-nominated cinematographer passed away last Thursday, according to Variety. No more details about his death were known as WENN went to press.
Surtees was the son of legendary Hollywood cinematographer Robert L. Surtees, who won Oscars for King Solomon's Mines, The Bad and the Beautiful, and the epic Ben Hur, and he is best known for his extensive work with Eastwood.
He made 14 films with the veteran actor/director, including 1971's Dirty Harry, and Eastwood chose Surtees as his director of photography when he made his directorial debut on Play Misty for Me in 1971.
Surtees won an Oscar nomination in 1975 for his work on Bob Fosse's Lenny Bruce biopic Lenny and his other film credits include Risky Business and Beverly Hills Cop.
- 2/27/2012
- WENN
Ben Johnson isn't exactly what one would call a movie icon; Johnson isn't even a Western icon, despite his presence in numerous Old (and not-so-Old) West movies during his 50+-year career. Johnson's semi-obscurity today is a great reason to celebrate Turner Classic Movies' devoting one whole day to him as part of its "Summer Under the Stars" film series. [Ben Johnson Movie Schedule.] TCM will be presenting 12 Ben Johnson movies, including one premiere, the 1957 Western War Drums, directed by Viennese filmmaker Reginald Le Borg (Voodoo Island, Sins of Jezebel), and starring former Tarzan Lex Barker. The movie sounds like a hoot: Mexican gal Riva (Joan Taylor, actually from Geneva, Illinois) is wanted and desired by both a white trader (Johnson) and an Apache chief named Mangas Coloradas (Barker). Barker playing an Apache should be, ahem, interesting enough, but one named Mangas Coloradas? Here's wondering if that translates as "Colored Mangoes." Anyhow, War Drums sounds like a must-see.
- 8/11/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
I was teaching at the University of Texas when this movie appeared, and the fact that virtually every one of my students told me that their small home town was exactly like the film's dying Texas township is testimony to its truthfulness. Bogdanovich's masterpiece, it's an elegy for a vanishing America, set in 1951 and using the local cinema to great effect as a metaphor for the community in which blue-collar teenagers Timothy Bottoms and Jeff Bridges are about to graduate from high school on their way to nowhere. Ben Johnson won an Oscar as the movie house's owner (a man of probity rather like Melvyn Douglas in Hud, also based on a novel by Texan writer Larry McMurtry), as did Cloris Leachman as the sad wife of a high school basketball coach. All the music comes from radio sets or a jukebox, and Robert Surtees's monochrome photography is magnificent.
- 4/16/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
In the wake of Richard Ayoade’s excellent teen drama, Submarine, it seems fitting to revisit one of the greatest coming-of-age films of all time with a new digital restoration of Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 classic The Last Picture Show that screens at the BFI on re-release from today, before moving across arthouse cinema’s across the country. Bogdanovich along with the likes of Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian de Palma and William Friedkin made up the new wave of counterculture Hollywood film makers in the early 1970s, although unlike his illustrious company, Bogdanovich’s career dwindled to almost nothing as a filmmaker with one critical and commercial failure after another, before eventually becoming a biographer on other great’s careers (such as Orson Welles).
Yet his one masterpiece alongside their many, will forever keep it’s place in cinematic history.
The year is 1951 in a tiny backwater Texas town.
In the wake of Richard Ayoade’s excellent teen drama, Submarine, it seems fitting to revisit one of the greatest coming-of-age films of all time with a new digital restoration of Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 classic The Last Picture Show that screens at the BFI on re-release from today, before moving across arthouse cinema’s across the country. Bogdanovich along with the likes of Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian de Palma and William Friedkin made up the new wave of counterculture Hollywood film makers in the early 1970s, although unlike his illustrious company, Bogdanovich’s career dwindled to almost nothing as a filmmaker with one critical and commercial failure after another, before eventually becoming a biographer on other great’s careers (such as Orson Welles).
Yet his one masterpiece alongside their many, will forever keep it’s place in cinematic history.
The year is 1951 in a tiny backwater Texas town.
- 4/16/2011
- by Matt Conn
- Obsessed with Film
It’s easy to forget what an exceptional film debut Cybill Shepherd made in The Last Picture Show. Jacy Farrow is one of the most capricious screen sirens in cinema history. She's part dream and part nightmare.
Peter Bogdanovich’s second feature is an equally exceptional film which certainly hasn’t diminished with age. Robert Surtees’ exquisite photography looks even richer with this beautiful digital restoration print.
The Last Picture Show is forty years old and it’s almost scary to realise it. Strange to think the fresh-faced twenty-somethings in the cast are now pushing sixty and seventy. Mixing the visual tones of black and white 1950s cinema with a post-sexual revolution stance, the film works both as a youth picture and an exploration of repression and half-lived lives in Eisenhower era America - a period so often romanticised on screen.
It possesses a sexual frankness and sharp wit too.
Peter Bogdanovich’s second feature is an equally exceptional film which certainly hasn’t diminished with age. Robert Surtees’ exquisite photography looks even richer with this beautiful digital restoration print.
The Last Picture Show is forty years old and it’s almost scary to realise it. Strange to think the fresh-faced twenty-somethings in the cast are now pushing sixty and seventy. Mixing the visual tones of black and white 1950s cinema with a post-sexual revolution stance, the film works both as a youth picture and an exploration of repression and half-lived lives in Eisenhower era America - a period so often romanticised on screen.
It possesses a sexual frankness and sharp wit too.
- 4/12/2011
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
Park Circus has created this new quad movie poster for the film's re-release.
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Park Circus film distributors in the UK:
The Last Picture Show
Director's Cut
Restored & Back in Cinemas
Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, The Last Picture Show will return to cinema screens in Sony Pictures’ newly restored digital version of Peter Bogdanovich’s Director's Cut. Based on acclaimed writer Larry McMurtry’s novel and featuring a talent-laden cast, led by Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd and Timothy Bottoms, the title is a study of life in a small Texas town during the 1950s, and how characters' lives intertwine. This frank, bittersweet drama of social and sexual mores follows the exploits and coming-of-age of two high school football stars. With its unforgettable swimming pool scene, the film involved the acting debut for the young Shepherd, who plays the town’s equally...
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Park Circus film distributors in the UK:
The Last Picture Show
Director's Cut
Restored & Back in Cinemas
Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, The Last Picture Show will return to cinema screens in Sony Pictures’ newly restored digital version of Peter Bogdanovich’s Director's Cut. Based on acclaimed writer Larry McMurtry’s novel and featuring a talent-laden cast, led by Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd and Timothy Bottoms, the title is a study of life in a small Texas town during the 1950s, and how characters' lives intertwine. This frank, bittersweet drama of social and sexual mores follows the exploits and coming-of-age of two high school football stars. With its unforgettable swimming pool scene, the film involved the acting debut for the young Shepherd, who plays the town’s equally...
- 3/24/2011
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Once upon a time Peter Bogdanovich was one of the most exciting American film-makers. The Last Picture Show, his true classic, is being re-released in select UK cinemas from 15th April by Park Circus.
The film formed a key work of the 1970s “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls” era written about in Peter Biskind’s notorious book. Now’s your chance to see it on the big screen.
From the press release:
Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, The Last Picture Show will return to cinema screens in Sony Pictures’ newly restored digital version of Peter Bogdanovich’s Director’s Cut. Based on acclaimed writer Larry McMurtry’s novel and featuring a talent-laden cast, led by Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd and Timothy Bottoms, the title is a study of life in a small Texas town during the 1950s, and how characters’ lives intertwine. This frank, bittersweet drama of social and sexual mores...
The film formed a key work of the 1970s “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls” era written about in Peter Biskind’s notorious book. Now’s your chance to see it on the big screen.
From the press release:
Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, The Last Picture Show will return to cinema screens in Sony Pictures’ newly restored digital version of Peter Bogdanovich’s Director’s Cut. Based on acclaimed writer Larry McMurtry’s novel and featuring a talent-laden cast, led by Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd and Timothy Bottoms, the title is a study of life in a small Texas town during the 1950s, and how characters’ lives intertwine. This frank, bittersweet drama of social and sexual mores...
- 3/23/2011
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
Jeff Bridges is in talks with director Peter Bogdanovich about a second sequel to the American classic The Last Picture Show (the first being Texasville).
According to The Collider Jeff Bridges had this to say at the the Tron: Legacy press junket:
“I was just in Texas with Peter [Bogdanovich] and we’re looking at doing the next installment…there’s actually five books that Larry McMurtry wrote about those characters and so we’ve done two and we wanna do the next thing. I don’t know if that’s ever happened before, every 20 years going back and doin’ that. So that’s something I’m hopin’ will come about.”
“Doing [a sequel] with Tron was a wonderful experience, especially having [Steven] Lisberger on board, the guy who wrote it and directed it. And I got to do that with another movie, The Last Picture Show, twenty years later we did Texasville.”
The Last Picture Show...
According to The Collider Jeff Bridges had this to say at the the Tron: Legacy press junket:
“I was just in Texas with Peter [Bogdanovich] and we’re looking at doing the next installment…there’s actually five books that Larry McMurtry wrote about those characters and so we’ve done two and we wanna do the next thing. I don’t know if that’s ever happened before, every 20 years going back and doin’ that. So that’s something I’m hopin’ will come about.”
“Doing [a sequel] with Tron was a wonderful experience, especially having [Steven] Lisberger on board, the guy who wrote it and directed it. And I got to do that with another movie, The Last Picture Show, twenty years later we did Texasville.”
The Last Picture Show...
- 11/22/2010
- by Staff
- SoundOnSight
What a superb film The Graduate (1967) is. No matter how many times I watch it, every line of dialogue, every scene, every song is spot on. It's a meticulously constructed, funny, truthful and uplifting coming-of age tale that's surely Dustin Hoffman's defining moment. Others may well cite Midnight Cowboy or even Rain Man, but for me he's Benjamin Braddock, the awkward and profoundly worried graduate facing an expectant and daunting post college world. You may have noticed I have somewhat strong feelings about this movie, so if you're looking for some sort of alternate retrospective take on Mike Nichols' landmark movie, look elsewhere.
The shy, intelligent "track star" Benjamin Braddock has graduated and is struggling with the unbearable pressure from his proud parents and their friends. Lauded by all, the intense attention is bewildering. Despite the best possible start in life and with his whole future ahead of him,...
The shy, intelligent "track star" Benjamin Braddock has graduated and is struggling with the unbearable pressure from his proud parents and their friends. Lauded by all, the intense attention is bewildering. Despite the best possible start in life and with his whole future ahead of him,...
- 9/11/2010
- Screen Anarchy
2010 Best Actor Academy Award-winner Jeff Bridges.
Editor’s Note: Congratulations to Jeff Bridges for finally getting his props with last night's win for "Crazy Heart"! He's now officially lost the title of "Most Underrated Actor of His Generation." In the spirit of Jeff's victory, we at The Interview thought it appropriate to share this article, which originally appeared in the July 1999 issue of Venice Magazine. Enjoy, and well-done, Jeff!
Building Bridges
By
Alex Simon
Jeff Bridges is arguably the most underrated great American actor since the late Robert Ryan. A performer of incredible range, whose myriad of characterizations over the past 30 years leave the filmgoer with a continued sense of awe and admiration, Bridges' refusal to fit a mold on-screen might be the very thing that has kept him from becoming a conventional movie star. It's also the thing that has kept his work so fascinating, and so brilliant.
Born...
Editor’s Note: Congratulations to Jeff Bridges for finally getting his props with last night's win for "Crazy Heart"! He's now officially lost the title of "Most Underrated Actor of His Generation." In the spirit of Jeff's victory, we at The Interview thought it appropriate to share this article, which originally appeared in the July 1999 issue of Venice Magazine. Enjoy, and well-done, Jeff!
Building Bridges
By
Alex Simon
Jeff Bridges is arguably the most underrated great American actor since the late Robert Ryan. A performer of incredible range, whose myriad of characterizations over the past 30 years leave the filmgoer with a continued sense of awe and admiration, Bridges' refusal to fit a mold on-screen might be the very thing that has kept him from becoming a conventional movie star. It's also the thing that has kept his work so fascinating, and so brilliant.
Born...
- 3/9/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
By David Savage
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
Among the famed director's hand-picked choices: Hitchcock's 1959 classic North By NorthwestThe New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, one of the last surviving revival cinemas in the United States, is hosting legendary filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich as their next guest in their popular director programming series, beginning January 21st and continuing through the 31st.
The first week of double-feature bills will be devoted to Bogdanovich’s own features from the 70’s and 80’s, starting with his own cut of the Oscar-honored The Last Picture Show (1971) with What’s Up Doc? (1972); then screening a new 35mm print of his own cut of Mask (1985) with Paper Moon (1973). At midnight on the 24th the director will be also screening an archival print of his 1968 directorial debut, Targets, with Boris Karloff, which is rarely screened or broadcast.
The second week will consist of Bogdanovich’s own hand-picked classics,...
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
Among the famed director's hand-picked choices: Hitchcock's 1959 classic North By NorthwestThe New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, one of the last surviving revival cinemas in the United States, is hosting legendary filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich as their next guest in their popular director programming series, beginning January 21st and continuing through the 31st.
The first week of double-feature bills will be devoted to Bogdanovich’s own features from the 70’s and 80’s, starting with his own cut of the Oscar-honored The Last Picture Show (1971) with What’s Up Doc? (1972); then screening a new 35mm print of his own cut of Mask (1985) with Paper Moon (1973). At midnight on the 24th the director will be also screening an archival print of his 1968 directorial debut, Targets, with Boris Karloff, which is rarely screened or broadcast.
The second week will consist of Bogdanovich’s own hand-picked classics,...
- 1/16/2009
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.