George Armitage, the director of Grosse Pointe Blank and Miami Blues, as well as a close collaborator of Roger Corman’s, has died. He was 82.
George Armitage entered the business in the ‘70s but it took a while to find his footing. That came with 1990’s Miami Blues, which starred Alec Baldwin as a criminal fresh out of prison posing as a cop with a stolen police badge. Armitage would develop his mixture of crime and comedy later that decade with 1997’s Grosse Pointe Blank with John Cusack and Minnie Driver.
Even though he was a buddy of Corman’s, it does feel like George Armitage is too rarely mentioned in the list of notable directors who got their start working under him. But we can’t ignore where he got his start. George Armitage met Roger Corman at just the right time in the 1960s. In 1971, Corman hired him to write Gas-s-s,...
George Armitage entered the business in the ‘70s but it took a while to find his footing. That came with 1990’s Miami Blues, which starred Alec Baldwin as a criminal fresh out of prison posing as a cop with a stolen police badge. Armitage would develop his mixture of crime and comedy later that decade with 1997’s Grosse Pointe Blank with John Cusack and Minnie Driver.
Even though he was a buddy of Corman’s, it does feel like George Armitage is too rarely mentioned in the list of notable directors who got their start working under him. But we can’t ignore where he got his start. George Armitage met Roger Corman at just the right time in the 1960s. In 1971, Corman hired him to write Gas-s-s,...
- 2/22/2025
- by Mathew Plale
- JoBlo.com
Armitage was also responsible for the 1972 blaxploitation remake of Get Carter, made during his time working for Roger Corman
George Armitage, director of 90s indie hits Grosse Pointe Blank and Miami Blues, as well as Hit Man, the 70s blaxploitation remake of Get Carter, has died aged 82. Variety reported he died on 15 February in Playa del Rey in California.
Armitage started out in TV, working on the celebrated TV soap opera Peyton Place, then broke into features via Roger Corman’s micro-budget studio New World in the late 1960s. He subsequently specialised in crime films: Grosse Pointe Blank, which starred John Cusack and Minnie Driver, was his biggest commercial hit, and his final directorial credit was the Elmore Leonard adaptation The Big Bounce in 2004.
George Armitage, director of 90s indie hits Grosse Pointe Blank and Miami Blues, as well as Hit Man, the 70s blaxploitation remake of Get Carter, has died aged 82. Variety reported he died on 15 February in Playa del Rey in California.
Armitage started out in TV, working on the celebrated TV soap opera Peyton Place, then broke into features via Roger Corman’s micro-budget studio New World in the late 1960s. He subsequently specialised in crime films: Grosse Pointe Blank, which starred John Cusack and Minnie Driver, was his biggest commercial hit, and his final directorial credit was the Elmore Leonard adaptation The Big Bounce in 2004.
- 2/22/2025
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
George Armitage, the filmmaker behind Miami Blues and Grosse Pointe Blank, has died at the age of 83. His son, Brent Armitage, confirmed that he passed away on February 15 in Playa del Rey, California.
Armitage’s career in Hollywood began in the 1960s and spanned decades. He directed and wrote films that combined crime, action, and humor, earning a reputation for his approach to storytelling.
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1942, Armitage moved to Los Angeles in 1957. He studied political science at UCLA while developing an interest in filmmaking. His first industry job was in the mailroom at 20th Century Fox, leading to a role as an associate producer on Peyton Place in 1967.
His transition to feature films came after connecting with producer Roger Corman. Armitage wrote Gas-s-s-s or It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It (1970), a satirical youth comedy. This led to more work with Corman,...
Armitage’s career in Hollywood began in the 1960s and spanned decades. He directed and wrote films that combined crime, action, and humor, earning a reputation for his approach to storytelling.
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1942, Armitage moved to Los Angeles in 1957. He studied political science at UCLA while developing an interest in filmmaking. His first industry job was in the mailroom at 20th Century Fox, leading to a role as an associate producer on Peyton Place in 1967.
His transition to feature films came after connecting with producer Roger Corman. Armitage wrote Gas-s-s-s or It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It (1970), a satirical youth comedy. This led to more work with Corman,...
- 2/22/2025
- by Naser Nahandian
- Gazettely
George Armitage, who co-wrote and directed the Alec Baldwin-starring Miami Blues and helmed another 1990s black comedy, Grosse Pointe Blank, starring John Cusack, has died. He was 83.
Armitage died Feb. 15 in Playa del Rey, California, his son, Brent Armitage, announced.
As was the case with many others, Armitage got a big career boost in the early 1970s from legendary B-movie producer Roger Corman at New World Pictures.
Armitage also wrote and directed MGM’s Hit Man (1972), starring Bernie Casey and Pam Grier, and United Artists’ Vigilante Force (1976), starring Kris Kristofferson and Jan-Michael Vincent. Both those films were produced by Roger’s brother, Gene Corman.
Miami Blues (1990), based on the series of Hoke Moseley books by author Charles Willeford, featured Baldwin as Frederick J. Frenger Jr., who steals the badge and gun of a veteran cop (Fred Ward as Moseley) and embarks on an outrageous crime spree with a hooker...
Armitage died Feb. 15 in Playa del Rey, California, his son, Brent Armitage, announced.
As was the case with many others, Armitage got a big career boost in the early 1970s from legendary B-movie producer Roger Corman at New World Pictures.
Armitage also wrote and directed MGM’s Hit Man (1972), starring Bernie Casey and Pam Grier, and United Artists’ Vigilante Force (1976), starring Kris Kristofferson and Jan-Michael Vincent. Both those films were produced by Roger’s brother, Gene Corman.
Miami Blues (1990), based on the series of Hoke Moseley books by author Charles Willeford, featured Baldwin as Frederick J. Frenger Jr., who steals the badge and gun of a veteran cop (Fred Ward as Moseley) and embarks on an outrageous crime spree with a hooker...
- 2/22/2025
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
George Armitage, the film director best known for the 1996 crime thriller/comedy “Grosse Pointe Blank” and the 1990 neo-noir “Miami Blues,” died Saturday, his son announced Friday. He was 82; no cause of death was made public.
Born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1942, Armitage moved with his mother to Beverly Hills at age 13 and attended UCLA. He began his career in entertainment working in the mail room at 20th Century Fox and, rising quickly, became an associate producer on “Peyton Place” in 1966 when he was still only 23 years old.
He made the jump to films later in the decade, writing the script for the 1970 Roger Corman film “Gas-s-s-s” before making his directorial debut with “Private Duty Nurses” the same year. He wrote the script for a sequel, “Night Call Nurses” in 1972 and that same year also wrote and directed “Hit Man” starring Bernie Casey.
Other films he wrote and directed include “Vigilante Force...
Born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1942, Armitage moved with his mother to Beverly Hills at age 13 and attended UCLA. He began his career in entertainment working in the mail room at 20th Century Fox and, rising quickly, became an associate producer on “Peyton Place” in 1966 when he was still only 23 years old.
He made the jump to films later in the decade, writing the script for the 1970 Roger Corman film “Gas-s-s-s” before making his directorial debut with “Private Duty Nurses” the same year. He wrote the script for a sequel, “Night Call Nurses” in 1972 and that same year also wrote and directed “Hit Man” starring Bernie Casey.
Other films he wrote and directed include “Vigilante Force...
- 2/22/2025
- by Ross A. Lincoln
- The Wrap
George Armitage, who directed, wrote and produced films including “Grosse Pointe Blank” and “Miami Blues,” died Saturday in Playa del Rey, his son Brent confirmed. He was 83.
Raised in Hartford, Conn., Armitage started out in the 20th Century Fox mailroom before becoming associate producer on the long-running series “Peyton Place” in the 1960s. He met Roger Corman on the Fox lot and moved into feature films, writing the Corman-produced 1970 comedy “Gas! – Or – It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It.”
He continued making films for Corman and his brother Gene Corman, moving into directing with “Private Duty Nurses.” The 1972 Blaxploitation film “Hit Man,” which he directed and co-wrote, starred Pam Grier and Bernie Casey. Next up was “Vigilante Force,” with Kris Kristofferson and Jan-Michael Vincent, and the TV movie “Hot Rod.”
“Kaplan, Demme, Dante, Arkush and me… We were making little 45 Rpm rock ’n’ roll movies.
Raised in Hartford, Conn., Armitage started out in the 20th Century Fox mailroom before becoming associate producer on the long-running series “Peyton Place” in the 1960s. He met Roger Corman on the Fox lot and moved into feature films, writing the Corman-produced 1970 comedy “Gas! – Or – It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It.”
He continued making films for Corman and his brother Gene Corman, moving into directing with “Private Duty Nurses.” The 1972 Blaxploitation film “Hit Man,” which he directed and co-wrote, starred Pam Grier and Bernie Casey. Next up was “Vigilante Force,” with Kris Kristofferson and Jan-Michael Vincent, and the TV movie “Hot Rod.”
“Kaplan, Demme, Dante, Arkush and me… We were making little 45 Rpm rock ’n’ roll movies.
- 2/22/2025
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
George Armitage, the director known for Hit Man (1972), Miami Blues (1990) and Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), has died. He was 82.
The writer, director and producer died last Saturday, Deadline has confirmed with his former agency Gersh. A cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
Born Dec. 13, 1942 in Hartford, Connecticut, Armitage moved to Beverly Hills with his family as a child. After majoring in political science and economics at UCLA, he found himself breaking into the film industry, working in the mail room at 20th Century Fox while waiting for his real estate license to come through.
Within a year, Armitage was an associate producer on the ABC soap Peyton Place. “It was an incredible experience,” he recalled in 2015.
“There was a producer there named Everett Chambers who would work on a number of films with John Cassavetes, he was usually helpful,” said Armitage. “This was just at the time when the fortysomething...
The writer, director and producer died last Saturday, Deadline has confirmed with his former agency Gersh. A cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
Born Dec. 13, 1942 in Hartford, Connecticut, Armitage moved to Beverly Hills with his family as a child. After majoring in political science and economics at UCLA, he found himself breaking into the film industry, working in the mail room at 20th Century Fox while waiting for his real estate license to come through.
Within a year, Armitage was an associate producer on the ABC soap Peyton Place. “It was an incredible experience,” he recalled in 2015.
“There was a producer there named Everett Chambers who would work on a number of films with John Cassavetes, he was usually helpful,” said Armitage. “This was just at the time when the fortysomething...
- 2/22/2025
- by Glenn Garner
- Deadline Film + TV
While now considered a cult classic, one of John Cusack's more underrated movies nearly ended in disaster, as recalled by his co-star in it. The Golden Globe nominee first broke out in the world of coming-of-age films in the '80s, featuring in everything from John Hughes' Sixteen Candles to his breakout leading turn in the teen romantic dramedy Say Anything.... The years since have seen Cusack expand his talents to a wide variety of genres, including the Nicolas Cage-co-starring action thriller Con Air, the adaptation of Stephen King's 1408 and the blockbuster disaster thriller 2012.
In addition to this on-screen work, Cusack has often been a key figure behind the camera on his movies, including co-writing and producing a number of his projects. Some of his more notable include the 2000 film adaptation of High Fidelity, which earned him his Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor — Motion Picture Musical or Comedy,...
In addition to this on-screen work, Cusack has often been a key figure behind the camera on his movies, including co-writing and producing a number of his projects. Some of his more notable include the 2000 film adaptation of High Fidelity, which earned him his Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor — Motion Picture Musical or Comedy,...
- 12/21/2024
- by Grant Hermanns
- ScreenRant
“The Silence of the Lambs” executive producer Gary Goetzman has been a major player in Hollywood for the last four decades (especially after he followed that Best Picture-winner by co-founding Playtone with Tom Hanks in 1998), but many in and around the film industry were unfamiliar with his story until Paul Thomas Anderson made a movie about it. “That was some version of my story, at least,” Goetzman chuckled when I asked him about “Licorice Pizza” during a recent Zoom interview from his office in Los Angeles, where he’s putting the finishing touches on “Masters of the Air,” a high-altitude Apple miniseries in the tradition of “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific.” “So many events in ‘Licorice Pizza,’ are true, but everything around it is kind of not.”
Specifics notwithstanding, Anderson’s coming-of-age comedy — set in the San Fernando Valley circa 1973 and starring Cooper Hoffman as 15-year-old “Gary Valentine” — certainly...
Specifics notwithstanding, Anderson’s coming-of-age comedy — set in the San Fernando Valley circa 1973 and starring Cooper Hoffman as 15-year-old “Gary Valentine” — certainly...
- 8/18/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Two years ago, during the lockdown, I wrote that I had become addicted to those little bird-box libraries that make walking here something of a literary pilgrimage.
I’m still addicted. And almost two months ago, just before the writers strike began, I made a charming discovery–that one of my neighbors is a Very Famous Writer– all thanks to his sidewalk library.
The writer will remain unnamed, because privacy is something to be respected, even by reporters. But here’s the short form:
About four o’clock one afternoon, before the dog-crowd comes out, I felt a need for one of those short, head-clearing walks. A good target, I figured, would be a spot some blocks away, where somebody or other was maintaining what I’d long thought was the best little library in town. I won’t give titles, because some of those might tip the owner’s identity.
I’m still addicted. And almost two months ago, just before the writers strike began, I made a charming discovery–that one of my neighbors is a Very Famous Writer– all thanks to his sidewalk library.
The writer will remain unnamed, because privacy is something to be respected, even by reporters. But here’s the short form:
About four o’clock one afternoon, before the dog-crowd comes out, I felt a need for one of those short, head-clearing walks. A good target, I figured, would be a spot some blocks away, where somebody or other was maintaining what I’d long thought was the best little library in town. I won’t give titles, because some of those might tip the owner’s identity.
- 6/11/2023
- by Michael Cieply
- Deadline Film + TV
A couple months after spotlighting the world’s greatest actress, the Criterion Channel have taken a logical next step towards America’s greatest actress. May (or: next week) will bring an eleven-film celebration of Jennifer Jason Leigh, highlights including Verhoeven’s Flesh + Blood, Miami Blues, Alan Rudolph’s Mrs. Parker, her directorial debut The Anniversary Party, and Synecdoche, New York, and a special introduction from Leigh. Another actor’s showcase localizes directorial collaborations: Jimmy Stewart’s time with Anthony Mann, an eight-title series boasting the likes of Winchester ’73 and The Man from Laramie. Two more: a survey of ’80s Asian-American cinema (Chan Is Missing being the best-known) and 14 movies by Seijun Suzuki.
That would be enough for one month (or two), but No Bears and Cette maison will have their streaming premieres, while Criterion Editions offers the Infernal Affairs trilogy (plus its packed set), Days of Heaven, and the aforementioned Chan Is Missing.
That would be enough for one month (or two), but No Bears and Cette maison will have their streaming premieres, while Criterion Editions offers the Infernal Affairs trilogy (plus its packed set), Days of Heaven, and the aforementioned Chan Is Missing.
- 4/20/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
(Welcome to Best Actor Ever, an ongoing series where we explore the careers and performances of the greatest performers to ever grace the screen.)
There is not an actor in the history of moving pictures who has been more egregiously taken for granted by her industry than Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Critics have always had her back. The New York Times' Janet Maslin got it from the jump when she singled Leigh out as "the only thing worth seeing" in her film debut "Eyes of a Stranger." The better-than-average 1981 slasher film set the tone for Leigh's career in that she plays a victim. Her character is a blind-deaf mute whose condition was brought on by being kidnapped and raped at an early age. The 19-year-old Leigh projects sweetness and innocence, but this young woman is all serrated edges. Because she isn't just a victim. She's a survivor.
Roger Ebert was also an early admirer of Leigh,...
There is not an actor in the history of moving pictures who has been more egregiously taken for granted by her industry than Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Critics have always had her back. The New York Times' Janet Maslin got it from the jump when she singled Leigh out as "the only thing worth seeing" in her film debut "Eyes of a Stranger." The better-than-average 1981 slasher film set the tone for Leigh's career in that she plays a victim. Her character is a blind-deaf mute whose condition was brought on by being kidnapped and raped at an early age. The 19-year-old Leigh projects sweetness and innocence, but this young woman is all serrated edges. Because she isn't just a victim. She's a survivor.
Roger Ebert was also an early admirer of Leigh,...
- 3/24/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Martin McDonagh’s cult hit man feature comes to 4K looking extremely good: fans of low-key black humor and droll sentimentality, kinda-like-the-Coens, kinda-like-Tarantino, love this picture. Cute characterizations from Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson & Ralph Fiennes bring light to a ‘killers with a heart’ story. It keeps us watching to see what happens next, that’s for sure. And when’s the last time that 13th century European art and architecture figured so heavily in a mob saga?
In Bruges
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
2008/ Color / 2:39 widescreen / 107 min. / Street Date September 27, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 39.95
Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy, Thekla Reuten, Ciarán Hinds, Zeljko Ivanek, Jordan Prentice.
Cinematography: Eigil Bryld
Production Designer: Michael Carlin
Art Director: Chris Lowe
Film Editor: Jon Gregory
Original Music: Carter Burwell
Produced by Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin
Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh
How can we fairly...
In Bruges
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
2008/ Color / 2:39 widescreen / 107 min. / Street Date September 27, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 39.95
Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy, Thekla Reuten, Ciarán Hinds, Zeljko Ivanek, Jordan Prentice.
Cinematography: Eigil Bryld
Production Designer: Michael Carlin
Art Director: Chris Lowe
Film Editor: Jon Gregory
Original Music: Carter Burwell
Produced by Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin
Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh
How can we fairly...
- 10/1/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Fred Ward, a prolific actor best known for roles in The Right Stuff, Tremors, Miami Blues, True Detective and many others, died May 8. He was 79.
His death was announced by his publicist. No cause or place of death was disclosed.
Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery
Ward, a San Diego native, began his professional career with small roles in 1970s episodic television before making a strong impression in his breakthrough film Southern Comfort, directed by Walter Hill and released in 1981. Two years later, he’d star as astronaut Gus Grissom in the hit film The Right Stuff.
Featured roles would quickly follow, including in such films as Silkwood, Swing Shift, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Tremors, Henry & June, the Robert Altman movies The Player and Short Cuts Errol Morris’ The Dark Wind and Michael Apted’s Thunderheart. He starred in and exec-produced the 1990 film Miami Blues, directed by...
His death was announced by his publicist. No cause or place of death was disclosed.
Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery
Ward, a San Diego native, began his professional career with small roles in 1970s episodic television before making a strong impression in his breakthrough film Southern Comfort, directed by Walter Hill and released in 1981. Two years later, he’d star as astronaut Gus Grissom in the hit film The Right Stuff.
Featured roles would quickly follow, including in such films as Silkwood, Swing Shift, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Tremors, Henry & June, the Robert Altman movies The Player and Short Cuts Errol Morris’ The Dark Wind and Michael Apted’s Thunderheart. He starred in and exec-produced the 1990 film Miami Blues, directed by...
- 5/13/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Fred Ward, iconic character actor and star of films like “The Right Stuff,” “Tremors,” “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins,” “Miami Blues,” and “Henry & June,” has died. He passed away on Sunday, May 8, as confirmed by his representatives. The Golden Globe winner was also known for starring in Robert Altman films like “The Player” and “Short Cuts.”
Fred Ward is survived by his wife of 27 years, Marie-France Ward, and his son, Django Ward.
On screens since the early 1970s after serving in the U.S. Air Force and stints as an order cook, boxer, and a lumberjack in Alaska, Ward was known for his versatility in both comic and dramatic roles. He could play author Henry Miller in “Henry & June,” the world’s first Nc-17 movie, or a dirt bike rider in “Timerider: The Aventure of Lyle Swann.” But his first major role came in Clint Eastwood’s 1979 “Escape from Alcatraz...
Fred Ward is survived by his wife of 27 years, Marie-France Ward, and his son, Django Ward.
On screens since the early 1970s after serving in the U.S. Air Force and stints as an order cook, boxer, and a lumberjack in Alaska, Ward was known for his versatility in both comic and dramatic roles. He could play author Henry Miller in “Henry & June,” the world’s first Nc-17 movie, or a dirt bike rider in “Timerider: The Aventure of Lyle Swann.” But his first major role came in Clint Eastwood’s 1979 “Escape from Alcatraz...
- 5/13/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Director Mike Hodges’ Get Carter is the quintessential hard-boiled British crime film. Remarkably influential, it paved the way for like-minded fare such as The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa. Michael Caine plays Jack Carter, a ruthless London mobster who travels back to his Newcastle hometown to investigate the death of his brother… and woe betide anyone who stands in the way of this cooly efficient killer. The film underperformed at the box office due to poor promotion but is now recognized as one of the finest thrillers of the decade. MGM was fond of blaxploitation remakes, and George Armitage’s 1972 Hit Man borrows a lot from Get Carter, but it wasn’t until 2000 that an actual remake arrived, starring Sylvester Stallone, to dismal effect.
The post Get Carter appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Get Carter appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 12/17/2021
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
The 37th edition of Miami Dade College's Miami Film Festival returns to downtown Miami with more than 125 feature films, documentaries, and short films from 30 countries, screening March 6-15. This year's edition opens with The Burnt Orange Heresy (pictured), directed by Giuseppe Capotondi and starring Mick Jagger, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Debicki, and Claes Bang. It's the fifth screen adaptation of the late Miami noir novelist Charles Willeford; the festival will also screen a 35mm print of another Willeford adaptation, George Armitage's Miami Blues, starring Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh, to mark the film's 30th anniversary. The festival closes with Cristina Constantini and Kareem Tabsch's documentary Mucho Mucho Amor, about the late Puerto Rican astrologer Walter Mercado, a flamboyant figure who charmed many with his televised horoscopes....
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 2/4/2020
- Screen Anarchy
Freshly divorced from American-International Pictures, Roger Corman leaps into the filmic mainstream with a fairly large-scale World War One aviation picture. He competes with the big studios but retains his nonconformist attitude: his retelling of the story of the Red Baron fixates on the theme of the death of chivalry in combat. For his star player Corman picks John Phillip Law, whose on-screen persona is a good fit for one of the first warrior aces of the sky.
Von Richthofen and Brown
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: John Phillip Law, Don Stroud, Barry Primus, Corin Redgrave, Stephen McHattie, Hurd Hatfield
Robert La Tourneaux, Ferdy Mayne, Peter Masterson, Clint Kimbrough, George Armitage.
Cinematography: Michael Reed
Film Editor: Alan Collins
Original Music: Hugo Friedhofer
Written by John William Corrington, Joyce H. Corrington
Produced by Gene Corman, Jimmy T. Murakami
Directed by...
Von Richthofen and Brown
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 97 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: John Phillip Law, Don Stroud, Barry Primus, Corin Redgrave, Stephen McHattie, Hurd Hatfield
Robert La Tourneaux, Ferdy Mayne, Peter Masterson, Clint Kimbrough, George Armitage.
Cinematography: Michael Reed
Film Editor: Alan Collins
Original Music: Hugo Friedhofer
Written by John William Corrington, Joyce H. Corrington
Produced by Gene Corman, Jimmy T. Murakami
Directed by...
- 5/14/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Sam Rockwell is worth seeing in anything, no matter how dire the circumstances in which the acting dynamo might find himself trapped. But Blue Iguana makes the freshly minted Oscar winner (for his totally worthy performance in Three Billboards) work way too hard to cut through the film’s blatant stupidity and buffet of clichés. Blue Iguana desperately seeks to be one of those artfully disreputable crime thrillers with a B-movie kick that’s hard to resist (think: Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild and George Armitage’s Miami Blues). I think not.
- 8/23/2018
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
As we edge into a world where Hollywood blockbusters threaten to consume every weekend in every theater in every country throughout the world, it's a relief to sit back, relax, and watch Vigilante Force (1976), which is far more entertaining than I ever could have imagined. Released on a sparkling Blu-ray by Kino Lorber in September 2015 (and it's still available!), the disc features a fabulous audio commentary by director George Armitage with filmmaker Elijah Drenner (That Dick Miller, a very good documentary). I enjoyed the film so much that I immediately watched it again so I could listen to the audio commentary, which is a great bonus because Armitage is genuinely witty and warm, and Drenner prompts him with the type of questions that...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 3/21/2018
- Screen Anarchy
Gas-s-s-s – Or – It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It.
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1970 / Color / 1:85 widescreen/ 79 min. / Street Date October 18, 2016 / Gas-s-s-s / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring: Elaine Giftos, Robert Corff, Cindy Williams, Bud Cort, Ben Vereen, Tally Coppola, Lou Procopio.
Cinematography: Ron Dexter
Film Editor: George Van Noy
Original Music: Country Joe and the Fish
Written and Produced by George Armitage
Directed by Roger Corman
Roger Corman finally accepted himself as an iconic filmmaker for this, his final show for A.I.P.. Barely released and long considered a failure, Gas-s-s-s – Or – It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It sees Corman and his writer associate George Armitage attempting a Mad magazine- like amalgam of all the counterculture trends of the late 1960s. That tactical mistake becomes eighty minutes of unfocused and unfunny satire. Armitage’s script and dialogue might occasionally hit some serendipitous notes,...
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1970 / Color / 1:85 widescreen/ 79 min. / Street Date October 18, 2016 / Gas-s-s-s / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring: Elaine Giftos, Robert Corff, Cindy Williams, Bud Cort, Ben Vereen, Tally Coppola, Lou Procopio.
Cinematography: Ron Dexter
Film Editor: George Van Noy
Original Music: Country Joe and the Fish
Written and Produced by George Armitage
Directed by Roger Corman
Roger Corman finally accepted himself as an iconic filmmaker for this, his final show for A.I.P.. Barely released and long considered a failure, Gas-s-s-s – Or – It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It sees Corman and his writer associate George Armitage attempting a Mad magazine- like amalgam of all the counterculture trends of the late 1960s. That tactical mistake becomes eighty minutes of unfocused and unfunny satire. Armitage’s script and dialogue might occasionally hit some serendipitous notes,...
- 1/17/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
B-movie titan Roger Corman has a storied history of giving some of the most revered filmmakers of this generation their start in Hollywood from Martin Scorsese and James Cameron to more outre favorites like Penelope Spheeris and George Armitage. In fact, Corman was such a prolific mentor that retroactively, this group of filmmakers has been affectionately dubbed alumni of the ‘Roger Corman Film School’. The extensive history has been written about by dozens of outlets over the years, and even inspired books like Entertainment Weekly critic Chris Nashawaty’s 2013 oral history.
Among those hallowed alumni, Francis Ford Coppola stands near the top. And now, courtesy of a kind Youtube account, and i09 who dug up the video, we have our look at Coppola’s lost first film, Battle Beyond the Sun. This isn’t Coppola’s only collaboration with Corman (see another here), but it’s a fascinating curio nonetheless.
Among those hallowed alumni, Francis Ford Coppola stands near the top. And now, courtesy of a kind Youtube account, and i09 who dug up the video, we have our look at Coppola’s lost first film, Battle Beyond the Sun. This isn’t Coppola’s only collaboration with Corman (see another here), but it’s a fascinating curio nonetheless.
- 11/3/2015
- by Michael Snydel
- The Film Stage
The advertising promised a surfeit of sleaze -- but the film is a superior thriller about a real-life, low-rent serial killers from back in the late 1940s. Tony Lo Bianco and the great Shirley Stoler are Ray and Martha, mixed-up lovers running a Merry Widow racket through the personals ads in romance magazines. Leonard Kastle's film is dramatically and psychologically sound, while the disc extras detail the true crime story, which is far, far, sleazier. The Honeymoon Killers Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 200 1969 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 107 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date September 29, 2015 / 39.95 Starring Shirley Stoler, Tony Lo Bianco, Mary Jane Higby, Doris Roberts, Kip McArdle, Marilyn Chris, Dortha Duckworth, Barbara Cason, Ann Harris Cinematography Oliver Wood Film Editor Richard Brophy, Stanley Warnow Music Gustav Mahler Produced by Warren Steibel Written and Directed by Leonard Kastle
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The ad campaign for this crime shocker...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The ad campaign for this crime shocker...
- 9/29/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Tom Sommerlatte’s debut Summers Downstairs (Im Sommer wohnt er unten) was picked by the audience at this year’s Oldenburg International Film Festival (Sep 16-20) for the German Independence Award.
The French-German co-production, handled internationally by Arri Worldsales, premiered in the Berlinale’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino sidebar in February, won Best Feature Film at the Achtung Berlin! festival in April, and was the opening film of Filmfest Schwerin in May.
There were double honours for Sommerlatte at the closing night gala on Sunday (Sep 20) when the nomination jury for the European Film Awards’ European Discovery - Prix Fipresci announced that Summers Downstairs had been chosen as one of five finalists.
The Seymour Cassel Award - in honour of one of Oldenburg’s aficianados - was shared this year for the first time between two actors: actress Sarah Silverman for her performance in I Smile Back and former European Shooting Star Nikola Rakočević for his role in...
The French-German co-production, handled internationally by Arri Worldsales, premiered in the Berlinale’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino sidebar in February, won Best Feature Film at the Achtung Berlin! festival in April, and was the opening film of Filmfest Schwerin in May.
There were double honours for Sommerlatte at the closing night gala on Sunday (Sep 20) when the nomination jury for the European Film Awards’ European Discovery - Prix Fipresci announced that Summers Downstairs had been chosen as one of five finalists.
The Seymour Cassel Award - in honour of one of Oldenburg’s aficianados - was shared this year for the first time between two actors: actress Sarah Silverman for her performance in I Smile Back and former European Shooting Star Nikola Rakočević for his role in...
- 9/21/2015
- by [email protected] (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Director Mike Hodges’ Get Carter is the quintessential hard-boiled British crime film. Remarkably influential, it paved the way for like-minded fare such as The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa. Michael Caine plays Jack Carter, a ruthless London mobster who travels back to his Newcastle hometown to investigate the death of his brother… and woe betide anyone who stands in the way of this cooly efficient killer. The film underperformed at the box office due to poor promotion but is now recognized as one of the finest thrillers of the decade. MGM was fond of blaxploitation remakes, and George Armitage’s 1972 Hit Man borrows a lot from Get Carter, but it wasn’t until 2000 that an actual remake starred Sylvester Stallone, to dismal effect.
- 9/2/2015
- by TFH Team
- Trailers from Hell
In today's roundup of news and views: Revisiting Luc Moullet’s Une Aventure de Billy le Kid and René Clément’s Forbidden Games, interviews with Jonas Mekas and George Armitage, another new book on Orson Welles, ranking 52 films by Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí's Un Chien Andalou as a video game, Andy Warhol's Screen Tests in Time Square, a Bertrand Bonello retrospective, remembering René Féret, photographs by Wim Wenders and an outstanding cast for Xavier Dolan's next film: Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, Vincent Cassel, Nathalie Baye and Gaspard Ulliel. » - David Hudson...
- 4/29/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
In today's roundup of news and views: Revisiting Luc Moullet’s Une Aventure de Billy le Kid and René Clément’s Forbidden Games, interviews with Jonas Mekas and George Armitage, another new book on Orson Welles, ranking 52 films by Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí's Un Chien Andalou as a video game, Andy Warhol's Screen Tests in Time Square, a Bertrand Bonello retrospective, remembering René Féret, photographs by Wim Wenders and an outstanding cast for Xavier Dolan's next film: Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, Vincent Cassel, Nathalie Baye and Gaspard Ulliel. » - David Hudson...
- 4/29/2015
- Keyframe
When Pulp Fiction opened in theaters 20 years ago today, the mainstream moviegoing audience was introduced to a dynamic new Hollywood talent. Quentin Tarantino was a 31-year-old hipster whose formal film education never rose much higher than working as a clerk in a Manhattan Beach video store. A walking encyclopedia of film history who fetishized some of the more obscure genres, Tarantino had a gift for dialog and his own visual toolbox that expanded the language of cinematic storytelling. Pulp Fiction was the culmination of a two-year stretch where the director went from Nobody to Wunderkind, beginning with the Sundance premiere...
- 10/14/2014
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
Good news, Netflix’s very funny looking original animated show BoJack Horseman featuring the voices of Will Arnett, Aaron Paul and Alison Brie will appear on Netflix on Friday 22nd August just in time to binge watch over the bank holiday weekend.
From what I have seen so far it looks promising but then so did Hemlock Grove. Expect a full report next week. In related news, Netflix have announced a whole slate of stand-up comedy exclusive to its service after the success of the recent Aziz Ansari special. So the likes of Chelsea Handler, Jim Jefferies, Bill Cosby, Bill Burr and Chelsea Peretti will be adding stand up shows to streaming between now and December. I have only heard of a couple of these acts but there again one of the best things to do with an hour to spare is browse Netflix for its plentiful supply of stand-up...
From what I have seen so far it looks promising but then so did Hemlock Grove. Expect a full report next week. In related news, Netflix have announced a whole slate of stand-up comedy exclusive to its service after the success of the recent Aziz Ansari special. So the likes of Chelsea Handler, Jim Jefferies, Bill Cosby, Bill Burr and Chelsea Peretti will be adding stand up shows to streaming between now and December. I have only heard of a couple of these acts but there again one of the best things to do with an hour to spare is browse Netflix for its plentiful supply of stand-up...
- 8/18/2014
- by Chris Holt
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Here’s another installment featuring Joe Dante’s reviews from his stint as a critic for Film Bulletin circa 1969-1974. Our thanks to Video Watchdog and Tim Lucas for his editorial embellishments!
Nurses‑make‑out saga is passable fodder for drive‑ins, with mild nudity values for ogling by the soft‑core male contingent. Rating: R.
This sequel to the recent and fairly successful The Student Nurses again mixes TV soap opera plotting, youth clichés and sex, but this time out the formula fizzles. Exuding a general aura of familiarity, the dreary New World Pictures release will have to settle for lower‑berth dual billing in those situations where its forerunner paid off. Best prospects are in drive‑in slottings. The writing‑directing chores herein were entrusted to George Armitage, a Roger Corman protégé (he wrote Gas‑S‑S) making his directorial bow. Apart from one or two mild attempts at parodying the genre,...
Nurses‑make‑out saga is passable fodder for drive‑ins, with mild nudity values for ogling by the soft‑core male contingent. Rating: R.
This sequel to the recent and fairly successful The Student Nurses again mixes TV soap opera plotting, youth clichés and sex, but this time out the formula fizzles. Exuding a general aura of familiarity, the dreary New World Pictures release will have to settle for lower‑berth dual billing in those situations where its forerunner paid off. Best prospects are in drive‑in slottings. The writing‑directing chores herein were entrusted to George Armitage, a Roger Corman protégé (he wrote Gas‑S‑S) making his directorial bow. Apart from one or two mild attempts at parodying the genre,...
- 5/20/2014
- by Joe Dante
- Trailers from Hell
Just when you thought you’d seen everything… here comes another 55 insane trailers to whip you into a frenzy in this collection of sick, depraved and hysterically brilliant movie previews from the golden age of Grindhouse cinema in Grindhouse Trailer Classics 4.
Following the successful and critically-acclaimed release of Grindhouse Trailer Classics 1, 2 & 3, Nucleus Films will once again take you on trip back to the “gory days” of cult and exploitation cinema with their latest unseen compilation of audacious theatrical trailers from the sleazy cinematic sub-genre known as “grindhouse”.
I’m a Huge fan of this series (check out this pic of my signed copies of the first 3 releases) so I’m super-excited to see what stupefyingly awesome trailers this collection has to offer. According to the press release, all of the trailers in this collection have been sourced from ultra-rare 35mm prints, many of which haven’t been seen since they...
Following the successful and critically-acclaimed release of Grindhouse Trailer Classics 1, 2 & 3, Nucleus Films will once again take you on trip back to the “gory days” of cult and exploitation cinema with their latest unseen compilation of audacious theatrical trailers from the sleazy cinematic sub-genre known as “grindhouse”.
I’m a Huge fan of this series (check out this pic of my signed copies of the first 3 releases) so I’m super-excited to see what stupefyingly awesome trailers this collection has to offer. According to the press release, all of the trailers in this collection have been sourced from ultra-rare 35mm prints, many of which haven’t been seen since they...
- 4/16/2014
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
The Overlooked Hotel is a new column in which we throw the spotlight behind the front line, champion those unfairly lost in the shallow focus of fame and feed the hungry underdogs.
Our second guest in the Hotel is George Armitage’s 1997 none more black comedy comedy Grosse Pointe Blank.
John Cusack may occasionally slum it in by-the-numbers films (2012, Serendipity, America’s Sweethearts – discuss), but when he is really applying himself he is amongst the most accomplished actors working today. Endearing, personable, yet edgy enough to convincingly portray characters as diverse as Craig Schwartz, Roy Dillon and Robert Hansen, Cusack’s best work has perhaps tended to feature in the lesser-known, unheralded films on his CV, which is where we come in. More to the point, that is where Grosse Pointe Blank comes in.
Released in cinemas in 1997, Grosse Pointe Blank has Cusack’s fingerprints all over it. He starred in it,...
Our second guest in the Hotel is George Armitage’s 1997 none more black comedy comedy Grosse Pointe Blank.
John Cusack may occasionally slum it in by-the-numbers films (2012, Serendipity, America’s Sweethearts – discuss), but when he is really applying himself he is amongst the most accomplished actors working today. Endearing, personable, yet edgy enough to convincingly portray characters as diverse as Craig Schwartz, Roy Dillon and Robert Hansen, Cusack’s best work has perhaps tended to feature in the lesser-known, unheralded films on his CV, which is where we come in. More to the point, that is where Grosse Pointe Blank comes in.
Released in cinemas in 1997, Grosse Pointe Blank has Cusack’s fingerprints all over it. He starred in it,...
- 2/26/2014
- by Dave Roper
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
I made my Slim Pickings joke last week and this week, I got nothing. Things are a bit better this week anyway with a nice mixture of the new, the old and the quirky independent that has gone straight to VOD.
I imagine things will pick up massively into December as Now TV adds Iron Man 3 and Oz: The Great and Powerful and then the other service providers try and compete.
For now though below are the films to look out for this week, Enjoy!
Mama (2013)
The latest horror film to borrow Guillermo Del Toro’s name in order to present itself, is this ghost story from director Andres Muschietti. Jessica Chastain plays a woman who reluctantly becomes foster-mother to her partners’ two nieces after they are recovered from living feral in the wilderness. The problem is the girls were looked after by something nasty in the woods and...
I imagine things will pick up massively into December as Now TV adds Iron Man 3 and Oz: The Great and Powerful and then the other service providers try and compete.
For now though below are the films to look out for this week, Enjoy!
Mama (2013)
The latest horror film to borrow Guillermo Del Toro’s name in order to present itself, is this ghost story from director Andres Muschietti. Jessica Chastain plays a woman who reluctantly becomes foster-mother to her partners’ two nieces after they are recovered from living feral in the wilderness. The problem is the girls were looked after by something nasty in the woods and...
- 11/25/2013
- by Chris Holt
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 7 Nov 2013 - 07:02
Our journey through the half-remembered, underappreciated films of the 1990s continues. Here, we look to 1997...
Dominated by the box office behemoth that was James Cameron's Titanic, 1997 was a year of high drama and outlandish special effects. The Lost World: Jurassic Park brought with it a new batch of genetically revived dinosaurs, George Lucas dug his original Star Wars trilogy out of the cupboard and added new (controversial) computer-generated sequences, while Nicolas Cage and John Travolta did impressions of one another and fired guns in John Woo's delirious action movie, Face/Off.
It was a varied year for movies, for sure, particularly by 21st century standards; it's difficult to imagine a British feel-good comedy about amateur male strippers (The Full Monty) getting into the year's 10 highest grossing films these days. But among all those winners, there had to be some...
Our journey through the half-remembered, underappreciated films of the 1990s continues. Here, we look to 1997...
Dominated by the box office behemoth that was James Cameron's Titanic, 1997 was a year of high drama and outlandish special effects. The Lost World: Jurassic Park brought with it a new batch of genetically revived dinosaurs, George Lucas dug his original Star Wars trilogy out of the cupboard and added new (controversial) computer-generated sequences, while Nicolas Cage and John Travolta did impressions of one another and fired guns in John Woo's delirious action movie, Face/Off.
It was a varied year for movies, for sure, particularly by 21st century standards; it's difficult to imagine a British feel-good comedy about amateur male strippers (The Full Monty) getting into the year's 10 highest grossing films these days. But among all those winners, there had to be some...
- 11/6/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
After all the debates, controversies, and stereotype accusations have cleared, looking back on Blaxploitation cinema today it’s easy to see healthy portions of the crime and action genres. Using these genres and the struggles of the black community, these films were created for those that wanted to see African American characters on the big screen not taking shit from the man, “getting over”, and–above all else—being the heroes in movies. In the documentary Baad Asssss Cinema, Samuel L. Jackson gives his take on the heroes of Blaxploitation: “We were tired of seeing the righteous black man. And all of a sudden we had guys who were…us. Or guys who did the things we wanted those guys to do.”
The unsung supporting players in these films that backed Fred Williamson and Pam Grier and many other stars were people acting and making a living off of it.
The unsung supporting players in these films that backed Fred Williamson and Pam Grier and many other stars were people acting and making a living off of it.
- 12/4/2012
- by Gregory Day
- SoundOnSight
Taxi Driver, North by Northwest, The Manchurian Candidate, JFK – there's a rich history of assassinations in American film. But what's the difference between the accidental killer and the glamorously rebellious hitman?
It was Monday 31 March 1981, coming up to 2.30pm, and John Hinckley was fidgeting by the Florida Avenue entrance of the Washington Hilton, catching the attention of a police lieutenant who stopped to stare over at him. Hinckley jostled with reporters too, complaining that the press were always getting in the way, before finding a place to stand among the TV cameras. It drizzled, off and on, and the sidewalk was damp. His speech inside finished, President Reagan came out of the hotel, flanked by security men, acknowledging the few onlookers across the street and the small crowd of pressmen on the sidewalk beside him. For a moment, Hinckley asked himself the question: "Should I do this or not?" A journalist shouted to the president,...
It was Monday 31 March 1981, coming up to 2.30pm, and John Hinckley was fidgeting by the Florida Avenue entrance of the Washington Hilton, catching the attention of a police lieutenant who stopped to stare over at him. Hinckley jostled with reporters too, complaining that the press were always getting in the way, before finding a place to stand among the TV cameras. It drizzled, off and on, and the sidewalk was damp. His speech inside finished, President Reagan came out of the hotel, flanked by security men, acknowledging the few onlookers across the street and the small crowd of pressmen on the sidewalk beside him. For a moment, Hinckley asked himself the question: "Should I do this or not?" A journalist shouted to the president,...
- 10/4/2012
- by Michael Newton
- The Guardian - Film News
A Planet Fury-approved selection of notable genre releases for August.
Jaws (1975) Universal Blu-ray/DVD/Digital combo Available Now
Steven Spielberg’s classic thriller has been painstakingly restored from the original film elements. Amity Island has never been so beautiful. The movie itself seems to improve with age, with amazing performances and scenes that still manage to unnerve — Susan Backlinie’s death at the beginning is truly one of the most horrifying ever portrayed onscreen. Making this a true “special edition” is the long-awaited release of The Shark Is Still Working, an expansive documentary on the making and the impact of the 1975 film. All of the surviving cast and crew are interviewed along with several minutes of never-before-seen footage.
Special Features:
*Digitally remastered and fully restored from high resolution 35mm original film elements.
*Digital Copy of Jaws
*UltraViolet Copy of Jaws
*The Shark Is Still Working: The Impact & Legacy...
Jaws (1975) Universal Blu-ray/DVD/Digital combo Available Now
Steven Spielberg’s classic thriller has been painstakingly restored from the original film elements. Amity Island has never been so beautiful. The movie itself seems to improve with age, with amazing performances and scenes that still manage to unnerve — Susan Backlinie’s death at the beginning is truly one of the most horrifying ever portrayed onscreen. Making this a true “special edition” is the long-awaited release of The Shark Is Still Working, an expansive documentary on the making and the impact of the 1975 film. All of the surviving cast and crew are interviewed along with several minutes of never-before-seen footage.
Special Features:
*Digitally remastered and fully restored from high resolution 35mm original film elements.
*Digital Copy of Jaws
*UltraViolet Copy of Jaws
*The Shark Is Still Working: The Impact & Legacy...
- 8/22/2012
- by Bradley Harding
- Planet Fury
Beginning with The Student Nurses in 1970 and culminating with The Candy Stripe Nurses in ’74, these softcore sex films appealed to a broad audience and helped start an entire subgenre: the young nympho professionals. Thanks to the boxoffice success of The Student Nurses, (the first title ever released by New World Pictures), films surrounding the sexual exploits of stewardesses, teachers and every other female-dominated occupation became ubiquitous throughout the decade.
What set the Corman Nurse titles apart from the rest was the surprising social and political commentary that was often intertwined within the sexual escapades. Indeed, several of the nurse films touched upon such weighty issues as abortion, civil rights, pollution, drug addiction and group therapy. Corman was a shrewd businessman and knew what kind of hot button topics would appeal to the young exploitation audience.
He would essentially give young filmmakers free reign with the script, as long as they delivered certain non-negotiable elements.
What set the Corman Nurse titles apart from the rest was the surprising social and political commentary that was often intertwined within the sexual escapades. Indeed, several of the nurse films touched upon such weighty issues as abortion, civil rights, pollution, drug addiction and group therapy. Corman was a shrewd businessman and knew what kind of hot button topics would appeal to the young exploitation audience.
He would essentially give young filmmakers free reign with the script, as long as they delivered certain non-negotiable elements.
- 4/7/2012
- by Bradley Harding
- Planet Fury
The New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles is one of those movie theaters that film fans must visit at some point in their life. Maybe it's not the prettiest theater in the world, but the tickets are cheap, the popcorn is cheap, and it regularly has some of the best, if not the best, repertory screenings imaginable, mostly in double features. Now, for their 2011 season, they've decided to kick it off the Wright way. The Edgar Wright way. The New Bev will play host to over two weeks of films programmed by director Edgar Wright. They did it three years ago and now, the director of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (which will screen as one marathon) is back for The Wright Stuff II. Wright has chosen twenty films to play over 18 days beginning January 14 and most of the films are specially themed double features.
- 1/3/2011
- by Germain Lussier
- Slash Film
Looks like we might be jammin' soon, mon. According to Deadline, another Bob Marley biopic is in the works. I've never been a huge fan of Marley but I am curious about his life. Although it sounds like a good idea there's one hiccup that could ground this plane before it ever takes off.Deadline has more:Ash’s feature will concentrate on the year Marley spent living in London in 1977. This was a crucial year for Marley. He’d fled Jamaica after an attempt was made on his life; the year ended with him sustaining a soccer injury which eventually triggered full-blown cancer. It was the year of punk rock; in London Marley hung out with the Sex Pistols. It was also the year of his legendary Rainbow Theatre gig. Crucially, he also started an affair with Jamaican beauty queen Cindy Breakspeare, who had just been crowned Miss World. Ash...
- 8/21/2010
- LRMonline.com
Bernie Casey strides purposefully through Hit Man, his flamboyant hat tilted at a rakish angle over a graying Afro, his ex-professional-football player frame squeezed into a series of tight trousers. If he emerges as Hit Man’s hero, it’s only because his brutally efficient enforcer qualifies as marginally less evil than the human parasites around him. Miami Blues and Grosse Pointe Blank director George Armitage directed this 1972 blaxploitation adaptation of Jack’s Return Home, the Ted Lewis novel that previously inspired the seminal British gangster film Get Carter. He strands Casey’s grittily charismatic protagonist in some of ...
- 6/23/2010
- avclub.com
Neil Labute will write and direct an adaptation of "The Burnt Orange Heresy," Charles Willeford's crime novel set in the world of modern art, with William Horberg ("The Kite Runner") producing.According to Variety, the project re-teams Labute with Horberg after the duo worked on the remake of "Death at a Funeral."Willeford's novel, set in Palm Beach, centers on a corrupt art critic's attempts to arrange an interview with a legendary but reclusive French painter.Horberg noted that he was an associate producer on "Miami Blues," another Willeford adaptation, bringing the project to Jonathon Demme and George Armitage at the start of his career. He was an executive producer on "Milk" and is currently executive producing "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark"...
- 8/19/2009
- by Adnan Tezer
- Monsters and Critics
The Big Bounce
Opens
Friday, Jan. 30
Hollywood's rediscovery of novelist Elmore Leonard, a prime source for Westerns before he turned to tales of crime and bottom-feeding opportunists, has resulted in cinematic riches ranging from "52 Pick-Up" and "Get Shorty", to "Out of Sight" and "Jackie Brown".
"The Big Bounce", culled from his 1969 novel, will never join the ranks of great Leonard screen adaptations. It's too loose and casual, all too willing to trade the writer's trademark wit and literary mischief for slapstick comedy. While its theatrical career will be short, its shelf life in video/DVD should be better. Late at night, when one craves undemanding, forgettable amusement, "The Big Bounce" should provide enough bounce to entertain.
Jack Ryan, a migrant worker with a flexible sense of morality and a penchant for getting into trouble, drifted through several of Leonard Early's crime novels, usually set in Leonard's hometown of Detroit or parts of rural Michigan. George Armitage, who has directed movies set in Michigan ("Grosse Point Blank") and tropical climes ("Miami Blues"), clearly prefers the latter. He and writer Sebastian Gutierrez transpose the story from a Michigan resort town to the North Shore of Hawaii's Oahu. This adds surfing, exotic scenery and a tropical decadence one associates with Somerset Maugham's short stories set in the South Seas. However, this tourist destination lacks the ambiance of a backwater community, where corruption and venality can easily flourish.
Owen Wilson plays Jack, who in the movie's opening sequence cold-cocks his foreman (Vinnie Jones) on a construction job with a baseball bat. When he gets out of jail 30 days later, Bob Jr. (Charlie Sheen), a flunky for the shady real estate developer Ray Ritchie (Gary Sinise) who hired him, warns Jack to vanish from the island, advice Jack cheerfully ignores.
Surprisingly, a district judge (Morgan Freeman) offers Jack a job as caretaker for a seaside retreat he owns. As if this weren't enough of a lure to stay on, Jack spies Ray's mistress, Nancy Hayes (Sara Foster), a lithe, thrill-seeking beauty who specializes in breaking hearts and get-rich-quick schemes. Wisely, Jack doesn't trust her further than he can throw her. Unwisely, he is eager to gather her into his arms anyway.
"The Big Bounce" doesn't play out in the manner of current caper films. Leonard stories pay more attention to character and milieu and less to building to a heart-pounding climax. Sometimes things don't happen
other times, characters change their minds or see a setup coming before getting trapped.
Armitage plays this one for laughs. Clearly lacking any conviction or much interest in these characters, the director lets his actors goof around in their roles. Wilson and Foster trade quips and dares, dress and undress -- preferably after sneaking into houses or boats they believe to be unoccupied -- but never take the story seriously. Freeman ambles through the movie, giving his scenes no more energy than they deserve.
Sheen and Jones have funny moments as the villain's dumb and dumber assistants. Bebe Neuwirth is an inspired choice to give sass to the cliche of the alcoholic, disillusioned wife of the nasty developer. Meanwhile, Sinise is barely in the movie. Harry Dean Stanton and Willie Nelson drop by to lend scrappy charm to a scene or two. And whenever the action grows stale, which is all too frequently, Armitage cuts to surfers riding giant waves at Waimea or Turtle Bay.
Island melodies waft through George S. Clinton's bouncy score. Cinematographer Jeffrey L. Kimball and designer Stephen Altman emphasize the vivid colors and luxurious abodes in the still relatively unspoiled surfers' paradise.
THE BIG BOUNCE
Warner Bros. Pictures
Shangri-La Entertainment presents a Material Films production
Credits:
Director: George Armitage
Writer: Sebastian Gutierrez
Based on the novel by: Elmore Leonard
Producers: Steve Bing, Jorge Saralegui
Executive producers: Zane Weiner, Brent Armitage
Director of photography: Jeffrey L. Kimball
Production designer: Stephen Altman
Music: George S. Clinton
Costume designer: Betsy Cox
Editors: Brian Berdan, Barry Malkin.
Cast:
Jack Ryan: Owen Wilson
Walter Crewes: Morgan Freeman
Nancy Hayes: Sara Foster
Bob Jr.: Charlie Sheen
Ray Ritchie: Gary Sinise
Lou Harris: Vinnie Jones
Joe Lurie: Willie Nelson
Alison Ritchie: Bebe Neuwirth
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating PG-13 Kate Bosworth
Pete: Topher Grace
Tad Hamilton: Josh Duhamel
Richard Levy the Driven: Nathan Lane
Richard Levy the Shameless: Sean Hayes
Henry: Gary Cole
Cathy Feely: Ginnifer Goodwin
Angelica: Kathryn Hahn
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Friday, Jan. 30
Hollywood's rediscovery of novelist Elmore Leonard, a prime source for Westerns before he turned to tales of crime and bottom-feeding opportunists, has resulted in cinematic riches ranging from "52 Pick-Up" and "Get Shorty", to "Out of Sight" and "Jackie Brown".
"The Big Bounce", culled from his 1969 novel, will never join the ranks of great Leonard screen adaptations. It's too loose and casual, all too willing to trade the writer's trademark wit and literary mischief for slapstick comedy. While its theatrical career will be short, its shelf life in video/DVD should be better. Late at night, when one craves undemanding, forgettable amusement, "The Big Bounce" should provide enough bounce to entertain.
Jack Ryan, a migrant worker with a flexible sense of morality and a penchant for getting into trouble, drifted through several of Leonard Early's crime novels, usually set in Leonard's hometown of Detroit or parts of rural Michigan. George Armitage, who has directed movies set in Michigan ("Grosse Point Blank") and tropical climes ("Miami Blues"), clearly prefers the latter. He and writer Sebastian Gutierrez transpose the story from a Michigan resort town to the North Shore of Hawaii's Oahu. This adds surfing, exotic scenery and a tropical decadence one associates with Somerset Maugham's short stories set in the South Seas. However, this tourist destination lacks the ambiance of a backwater community, where corruption and venality can easily flourish.
Owen Wilson plays Jack, who in the movie's opening sequence cold-cocks his foreman (Vinnie Jones) on a construction job with a baseball bat. When he gets out of jail 30 days later, Bob Jr. (Charlie Sheen), a flunky for the shady real estate developer Ray Ritchie (Gary Sinise) who hired him, warns Jack to vanish from the island, advice Jack cheerfully ignores.
Surprisingly, a district judge (Morgan Freeman) offers Jack a job as caretaker for a seaside retreat he owns. As if this weren't enough of a lure to stay on, Jack spies Ray's mistress, Nancy Hayes (Sara Foster), a lithe, thrill-seeking beauty who specializes in breaking hearts and get-rich-quick schemes. Wisely, Jack doesn't trust her further than he can throw her. Unwisely, he is eager to gather her into his arms anyway.
"The Big Bounce" doesn't play out in the manner of current caper films. Leonard stories pay more attention to character and milieu and less to building to a heart-pounding climax. Sometimes things don't happen
other times, characters change their minds or see a setup coming before getting trapped.
Armitage plays this one for laughs. Clearly lacking any conviction or much interest in these characters, the director lets his actors goof around in their roles. Wilson and Foster trade quips and dares, dress and undress -- preferably after sneaking into houses or boats they believe to be unoccupied -- but never take the story seriously. Freeman ambles through the movie, giving his scenes no more energy than they deserve.
Sheen and Jones have funny moments as the villain's dumb and dumber assistants. Bebe Neuwirth is an inspired choice to give sass to the cliche of the alcoholic, disillusioned wife of the nasty developer. Meanwhile, Sinise is barely in the movie. Harry Dean Stanton and Willie Nelson drop by to lend scrappy charm to a scene or two. And whenever the action grows stale, which is all too frequently, Armitage cuts to surfers riding giant waves at Waimea or Turtle Bay.
Island melodies waft through George S. Clinton's bouncy score. Cinematographer Jeffrey L. Kimball and designer Stephen Altman emphasize the vivid colors and luxurious abodes in the still relatively unspoiled surfers' paradise.
THE BIG BOUNCE
Warner Bros. Pictures
Shangri-La Entertainment presents a Material Films production
Credits:
Director: George Armitage
Writer: Sebastian Gutierrez
Based on the novel by: Elmore Leonard
Producers: Steve Bing, Jorge Saralegui
Executive producers: Zane Weiner, Brent Armitage
Director of photography: Jeffrey L. Kimball
Production designer: Stephen Altman
Music: George S. Clinton
Costume designer: Betsy Cox
Editors: Brian Berdan, Barry Malkin.
Cast:
Jack Ryan: Owen Wilson
Walter Crewes: Morgan Freeman
Nancy Hayes: Sara Foster
Bob Jr.: Charlie Sheen
Ray Ritchie: Gary Sinise
Lou Harris: Vinnie Jones
Joe Lurie: Willie Nelson
Alison Ritchie: Bebe Neuwirth
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating PG-13 Kate Bosworth
Pete: Topher Grace
Tad Hamilton: Josh Duhamel
Richard Levy the Driven: Nathan Lane
Richard Levy the Shameless: Sean Hayes
Henry: Gary Cole
Cathy Feely: Ginnifer Goodwin
Angelica: Kathryn Hahn
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 7/9/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Big Bounce
Opens
Friday, Jan. 30
Hollywood's rediscovery of novelist Elmore Leonard, a prime source for Westerns before he turned to tales of crime and bottom-feeding opportunists, has resulted in cinematic riches ranging from "52 Pick-Up" and "Get Shorty", to "Out of Sight" and "Jackie Brown".
"The Big Bounce", culled from his 1969 novel, will never join the ranks of great Leonard screen adaptations. It's too loose and casual, all too willing to trade the writer's trademark wit and literary mischief for slapstick comedy. While its theatrical career will be short, its shelf life in video/DVD should be better. Late at night, when one craves undemanding, forgettable amusement, "The Big Bounce" should provide enough bounce to entertain.
Jack Ryan, a migrant worker with a flexible sense of morality and a penchant for getting into trouble, drifted through several of Leonard Early's crime novels, usually set in Leonard's hometown of Detroit or parts of rural Michigan. George Armitage, who has directed movies set in Michigan ("Grosse Point Blank") and tropical climes ("Miami Blues"), clearly prefers the latter. He and writer Sebastian Gutierrez transpose the story from a Michigan resort town to the North Shore of Hawaii's Oahu. This adds surfing, exotic scenery and a tropical decadence one associates with Somerset Maugham's short stories set in the South Seas. However, this tourist destination lacks the ambiance of a backwater community, where corruption and venality can easily flourish.
Owen Wilson plays Jack, who in the movie's opening sequence cold-cocks his foreman (Vinnie Jones) on a construction job with a baseball bat. When he gets out of jail 30 days later, Bob Jr. (Charlie Sheen), a flunky for the shady real estate developer Ray Ritchie (Gary Sinise) who hired him, warns Jack to vanish from the island, advice Jack cheerfully ignores.
Surprisingly, a district judge (Morgan Freeman) offers Jack a job as caretaker for a seaside retreat he owns. As if this weren't enough of a lure to stay on, Jack spies Ray's mistress, Nancy Hayes (Sara Foster), a lithe, thrill-seeking beauty who specializes in breaking hearts and get-rich-quick schemes. Wisely, Jack doesn't trust her further than he can throw her. Unwisely, he is eager to gather her into his arms anyway.
"The Big Bounce" doesn't play out in the manner of current caper films. Leonard stories pay more attention to character and milieu and less to building to a heart-pounding climax. Sometimes things don't happen
other times, characters change their minds or see a setup coming before getting trapped.
Armitage plays this one for laughs. Clearly lacking any conviction or much interest in these characters, the director lets his actors goof around in their roles. Wilson and Foster trade quips and dares, dress and undress -- preferably after sneaking into houses or boats they believe to be unoccupied -- but never take the story seriously. Freeman ambles through the movie, giving his scenes no more energy than they deserve.
Sheen and Jones have funny moments as the villain's dumb and dumber assistants. Bebe Neuwirth is an inspired choice to give sass to the cliche of the alcoholic, disillusioned wife of the nasty developer. Meanwhile, Sinise is barely in the movie. Harry Dean Stanton and Willie Nelson drop by to lend scrappy charm to a scene or two. And whenever the action grows stale, which is all too frequently, Armitage cuts to surfers riding giant waves at Waimea or Turtle Bay.
Island melodies waft through George S. Clinton's bouncy score. Cinematographer Jeffrey L. Kimball and designer Stephen Altman emphasize the vivid colors and luxurious abodes in the still relatively unspoiled surfers' paradise.
THE BIG BOUNCE
Warner Bros. Pictures
Shangri-La Entertainment presents a Material Films production
Credits:
Director: George Armitage
Writer: Sebastian Gutierrez
Based on the novel by: Elmore Leonard
Producers: Steve Bing, Jorge Saralegui
Executive producers: Zane Weiner, Brent Armitage
Director of photography: Jeffrey L. Kimball
Production designer: Stephen Altman
Music: George S. Clinton
Costume designer: Betsy Cox
Editors: Brian Berdan, Barry Malkin.
Cast:
Jack Ryan: Owen Wilson
Walter Crewes: Morgan Freeman
Nancy Hayes: Sara Foster
Bob Jr.: Charlie Sheen
Ray Ritchie: Gary Sinise
Lou Harris: Vinnie Jones
Joe Lurie: Willie Nelson
Alison Ritchie: Bebe Neuwirth
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating PG-13 Kate Bosworth
Pete: Topher Grace
Tad Hamilton: Josh Duhamel
Richard Levy the Driven: Nathan Lane
Richard Levy the Shameless: Sean Hayes
Henry: Gary Cole
Cathy Feely: Ginnifer Goodwin
Angelica: Kathryn Hahn
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Friday, Jan. 30
Hollywood's rediscovery of novelist Elmore Leonard, a prime source for Westerns before he turned to tales of crime and bottom-feeding opportunists, has resulted in cinematic riches ranging from "52 Pick-Up" and "Get Shorty", to "Out of Sight" and "Jackie Brown".
"The Big Bounce", culled from his 1969 novel, will never join the ranks of great Leonard screen adaptations. It's too loose and casual, all too willing to trade the writer's trademark wit and literary mischief for slapstick comedy. While its theatrical career will be short, its shelf life in video/DVD should be better. Late at night, when one craves undemanding, forgettable amusement, "The Big Bounce" should provide enough bounce to entertain.
Jack Ryan, a migrant worker with a flexible sense of morality and a penchant for getting into trouble, drifted through several of Leonard Early's crime novels, usually set in Leonard's hometown of Detroit or parts of rural Michigan. George Armitage, who has directed movies set in Michigan ("Grosse Point Blank") and tropical climes ("Miami Blues"), clearly prefers the latter. He and writer Sebastian Gutierrez transpose the story from a Michigan resort town to the North Shore of Hawaii's Oahu. This adds surfing, exotic scenery and a tropical decadence one associates with Somerset Maugham's short stories set in the South Seas. However, this tourist destination lacks the ambiance of a backwater community, where corruption and venality can easily flourish.
Owen Wilson plays Jack, who in the movie's opening sequence cold-cocks his foreman (Vinnie Jones) on a construction job with a baseball bat. When he gets out of jail 30 days later, Bob Jr. (Charlie Sheen), a flunky for the shady real estate developer Ray Ritchie (Gary Sinise) who hired him, warns Jack to vanish from the island, advice Jack cheerfully ignores.
Surprisingly, a district judge (Morgan Freeman) offers Jack a job as caretaker for a seaside retreat he owns. As if this weren't enough of a lure to stay on, Jack spies Ray's mistress, Nancy Hayes (Sara Foster), a lithe, thrill-seeking beauty who specializes in breaking hearts and get-rich-quick schemes. Wisely, Jack doesn't trust her further than he can throw her. Unwisely, he is eager to gather her into his arms anyway.
"The Big Bounce" doesn't play out in the manner of current caper films. Leonard stories pay more attention to character and milieu and less to building to a heart-pounding climax. Sometimes things don't happen
other times, characters change their minds or see a setup coming before getting trapped.
Armitage plays this one for laughs. Clearly lacking any conviction or much interest in these characters, the director lets his actors goof around in their roles. Wilson and Foster trade quips and dares, dress and undress -- preferably after sneaking into houses or boats they believe to be unoccupied -- but never take the story seriously. Freeman ambles through the movie, giving his scenes no more energy than they deserve.
Sheen and Jones have funny moments as the villain's dumb and dumber assistants. Bebe Neuwirth is an inspired choice to give sass to the cliche of the alcoholic, disillusioned wife of the nasty developer. Meanwhile, Sinise is barely in the movie. Harry Dean Stanton and Willie Nelson drop by to lend scrappy charm to a scene or two. And whenever the action grows stale, which is all too frequently, Armitage cuts to surfers riding giant waves at Waimea or Turtle Bay.
Island melodies waft through George S. Clinton's bouncy score. Cinematographer Jeffrey L. Kimball and designer Stephen Altman emphasize the vivid colors and luxurious abodes in the still relatively unspoiled surfers' paradise.
THE BIG BOUNCE
Warner Bros. Pictures
Shangri-La Entertainment presents a Material Films production
Credits:
Director: George Armitage
Writer: Sebastian Gutierrez
Based on the novel by: Elmore Leonard
Producers: Steve Bing, Jorge Saralegui
Executive producers: Zane Weiner, Brent Armitage
Director of photography: Jeffrey L. Kimball
Production designer: Stephen Altman
Music: George S. Clinton
Costume designer: Betsy Cox
Editors: Brian Berdan, Barry Malkin.
Cast:
Jack Ryan: Owen Wilson
Walter Crewes: Morgan Freeman
Nancy Hayes: Sara Foster
Bob Jr.: Charlie Sheen
Ray Ritchie: Gary Sinise
Lou Harris: Vinnie Jones
Joe Lurie: Willie Nelson
Alison Ritchie: Bebe Neuwirth
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating PG-13 Kate Bosworth
Pete: Topher Grace
Tad Hamilton: Josh Duhamel
Richard Levy the Driven: Nathan Lane
Richard Levy the Shameless: Sean Hayes
Henry: Gary Cole
Cathy Feely: Ginnifer Goodwin
Angelica: Kathryn Hahn
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 1/30/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Variety reports that Gary Sinise has joined Owen Wilson and Morgan Freeman in The Big Bounce, the Elmore Leonard novel adaptation that is being directed by George Armitage and produced by Shangri-La Entertainment for Warner Bros. Sinise will play the character Ray Ritchie, a development magnate bent on corrupting native Hawaiian traditions to construct a North Shore hotel.
- 9/10/2002
- IMDbPro News
Variety reports that Morgan Freeman will star opposite Owen Wilson in The Big Bounce, a Warner Bros. project based on Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name. Wilson will play a charming drifter who hooks up with a criminally minded beauty while trying to decide if he can trust a powerful local figure, portrayed by Freeman. Principal photography is scheduled to begin Oct. 28. George Armitage (Grosse Pointe Blank) will direct.
- 8/23/2002
- IMDbPro News
Film review: 'Grosse Pointe Blank'
High school reunions are tough, especially if you're hiding something, as is the case in "Grosse Pointe Blank", starring John Cusack as Martin Q. Blank, a reluctant attendee to his 10-year reunion. A dark and very erratic comedy, "Blank" might fill in some seats for Buena Vista based on Cusack's casual charms, but the thin scenario ultimately implodes because of its lack of original firepower.
Cusack's insouciant manner is well-suited to the role of Blank, a lone-wolf personality who has prospered as a paid assassin. Martin's nimble sense of morality allows him to depersonalize his profession. Still, it's taking a psychological toll: He is getting sloppy with his hits and this is making some of his clients, as well as his rivals, a bit on the edgy side. Goaded by his secretary (Joan Cusack) as well as prompted by his fearful shrink (Alan Arkin) who simply wants him out of town and as far away as possible, Martin journeys to suburban Detroit for some auld lang syne at his 10-year reunion.
Unfortunately, a phalanx of four screenwriters (Tom Jankiewicz, D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack) can't some up with much original material on the awkwardness of a high school reunion for a chap in Martin's line of work.
We're presented with a lackluster batch of prototypical geeks and nerds, including the class bully as well as the usual sort of sellout who has made it big in local business.
Yet, the thinly drawn characters are so lame that Cusack's comic potential in putting them down is not properly developed. In short, the film's subversive sensibility is done in by its ultraconventionality.
Overall, the film centers on Cusack's attempt to reromance his prom date (Minnie Driver) who hosts a local radio show. In general, there's not much impetus for them to get together, so the scenario drifts into petty grievances each had with the other during high school. Ultimately, this comedy degenerates into a shoot-em-up in which the story's lack of wit is masked by sheer firepower (like the worst of action movies).
Despite the thin material and underwritten scripting, "Grosse Pointe Blank" does shell out some belly laughs, mainly some witty, offbeat dialogue that Cusack delivers with his shaggy snazz. While Cusack is not used to the full extent of his comic powers, other players acquit themselves well, particularly Arkin as a frazzled psychiatrist and Joan Cusack as the hit man's stressed-out assistant.
Under George Armitage's slack direction, "Grosse Pointe Blank" flounders, with wide patches of drone-on hysterics. The technical contributions, however, are strong, especially cinematographer Jamie Anderson's sizzlingly sinister lighting and Joe Strummer's smartly nasty musical score.
GROSSE POINTE BLANK
Buena Vista
Hollywood Pictures presents
In association with Caravan Pictures
A Roger Birnbaum & Roth/Arnold production
in association with New Crime Prods.
A George Armitage film
Producers Susan Arnold, Donna Arkoff Roth, Roger Birnbaum
Director George Armitage
Screenwriters Tom Jankiewicz,
D.V. DeVincentis,
Steve Pink, John Cusack
Story Tom Jankiewicz
Executive producers Jonathan Glickman,
Lata Ryan
Co-producers John Cusack, Steve Pink
Director of photography Jamie Anderson
Production designer Stephen Altman
Editor Brian Berdan
Costume designer Eugenie Bafaloukos
Music Joe Strummer
Casting Junie Lowry Johnson,
Ron Surma
Color/stereo
Cast:
Martin Q. Blank John Cusack
Debi Newberry Minnie Driver
Dr. Oatman Alan Arkin
Grocer Dan Aykroyd
Marcella Joan Cusack
Lardner Hank Azaria
McCullers K. Todd Freeman
Mr. Newberry Mitchell Ryan
Running time -- 106 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Cusack's insouciant manner is well-suited to the role of Blank, a lone-wolf personality who has prospered as a paid assassin. Martin's nimble sense of morality allows him to depersonalize his profession. Still, it's taking a psychological toll: He is getting sloppy with his hits and this is making some of his clients, as well as his rivals, a bit on the edgy side. Goaded by his secretary (Joan Cusack) as well as prompted by his fearful shrink (Alan Arkin) who simply wants him out of town and as far away as possible, Martin journeys to suburban Detroit for some auld lang syne at his 10-year reunion.
Unfortunately, a phalanx of four screenwriters (Tom Jankiewicz, D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack) can't some up with much original material on the awkwardness of a high school reunion for a chap in Martin's line of work.
We're presented with a lackluster batch of prototypical geeks and nerds, including the class bully as well as the usual sort of sellout who has made it big in local business.
Yet, the thinly drawn characters are so lame that Cusack's comic potential in putting them down is not properly developed. In short, the film's subversive sensibility is done in by its ultraconventionality.
Overall, the film centers on Cusack's attempt to reromance his prom date (Minnie Driver) who hosts a local radio show. In general, there's not much impetus for them to get together, so the scenario drifts into petty grievances each had with the other during high school. Ultimately, this comedy degenerates into a shoot-em-up in which the story's lack of wit is masked by sheer firepower (like the worst of action movies).
Despite the thin material and underwritten scripting, "Grosse Pointe Blank" does shell out some belly laughs, mainly some witty, offbeat dialogue that Cusack delivers with his shaggy snazz. While Cusack is not used to the full extent of his comic powers, other players acquit themselves well, particularly Arkin as a frazzled psychiatrist and Joan Cusack as the hit man's stressed-out assistant.
Under George Armitage's slack direction, "Grosse Pointe Blank" flounders, with wide patches of drone-on hysterics. The technical contributions, however, are strong, especially cinematographer Jamie Anderson's sizzlingly sinister lighting and Joe Strummer's smartly nasty musical score.
GROSSE POINTE BLANK
Buena Vista
Hollywood Pictures presents
In association with Caravan Pictures
A Roger Birnbaum & Roth/Arnold production
in association with New Crime Prods.
A George Armitage film
Producers Susan Arnold, Donna Arkoff Roth, Roger Birnbaum
Director George Armitage
Screenwriters Tom Jankiewicz,
D.V. DeVincentis,
Steve Pink, John Cusack
Story Tom Jankiewicz
Executive producers Jonathan Glickman,
Lata Ryan
Co-producers John Cusack, Steve Pink
Director of photography Jamie Anderson
Production designer Stephen Altman
Editor Brian Berdan
Costume designer Eugenie Bafaloukos
Music Joe Strummer
Casting Junie Lowry Johnson,
Ron Surma
Color/stereo
Cast:
Martin Q. Blank John Cusack
Debi Newberry Minnie Driver
Dr. Oatman Alan Arkin
Grocer Dan Aykroyd
Marcella Joan Cusack
Lardner Hank Azaria
McCullers K. Todd Freeman
Mr. Newberry Mitchell Ryan
Running time -- 106 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 3/24/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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