News

Frank Griffin, who nosed out another makeup artist to work with Steve Martin on Roxanne, just one of the 20 movies they did together, has died. He was 95.

Griffin died Wednesday of cancer at his home in Studio City, his daughter Roxane Griffin, a veteran Hollywood hairstylist (Avatar, Transparent, 80 for Brady), told The Hollywood Reporter.

Frank Griffin started out in Hollywood as an actor and studio laborer before turning to makeup in the mid-1960s, and he went on to work on Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), Scarecrow (1973), Westworld (1973), Cinderella Liberty (1973), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Urban Cowboy (1980), Midnight Run (1988), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Vacation (1983), Revenge of the Nerds (1984) and Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985).

Survivors also include his sister Debra Paget, who starred in such films as Broken Arrow (1950), Love Me Tender (1956) — Elvis Presley’s first movie — and The Ten Commandments (1956).

His other two sisters were actresses as well: Lisa Gaye,...

For many years now Venice has been a respectful platform for those big-name directors of the 1970s and early ’80s who are happy to go back into the fray long after those juicy studio budgets dried up: Brian De Palma, William Friedkin, Paul Verhoeven, John Carpenter and — to a lesser extent — George Romero all found a home here for their late-period passion projects. Walter Hill, now 80, joins their ranks with an improbably youthful horse opera, and while it shows up the limitations of both writing and shooting a Western in the modern age, it’s nevertheless a wickedly enjoyable genre romp and full of violent surprises.

Hill dedicates his film to Budd Boetticher, which is a shame as it has already given critics permission not to think any harder...

Lawrence G. Paull, a production designer and art director whose work on the science fiction classic Blade Runner earned him an Oscar nomination and won a BAFTA Award, died Sunday in La Jolla, Calif. He was 81. No cause of death was given.

Paull had a long history in Hollywood, designing for such films as Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future (1985) and Romancing the Stone (1984) and Ron Underwood’s City Slickers (1991).

Blade Runner was a groundbreaking visual effort, winning Paull an Academy Award nomination for production design in 1982. The Oscar went to the creators of Gandhi, but Paull later won a BAFTA together with futurist Syd Mead and VFX inventor Douglas Trumbull. Three years later, Paull again was nominated for a BAFTA for his work on Back to the Future.

Born in Chicago in 1938, Paull graduated from the University of Arizona. He soon discovered that architecture was too conservative for him,...

Lawrence G. Paull, the production designer and art director who received an Oscar nomination for his work on the Ridley Scott sci-fi classic Blade Runner, died Sunday in La Jolla, California, a publicist announced. He was 81.

Paull's distinctive design style also can be seen in director Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future (1985) and Romancing the Stone (1984) and in Ron Underwood's City Slickers (1991), starring Billy Crystal and Jack Palance.

He also worked on Peter Fonda's The Hired Hand (1971); Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976), American Flyers (1985) and Another Stakeout (1993),...

Lawrence G. Paull, the production designer and art director who received an Oscar nomination for his work on the Ridley Scott sci-fi classic Blade Runner, died Sunday in La Jolla, California, a publicist announced. He was 81.

Paull's distinctive design style also can be seen in director Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future (1985) and Romancing the Stone (1984) and in Ron Underwood's City Slickers (1991), starring Billy Crystal and Jack Palance.

He also worked on Peter Fonda's The Hired Hand (1971); Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976), American Flyers (1985) and Another Stakeout (1993),...

Captain America has died. Not the spandex-clad Marvel superhero, but counterculture poster boy Peter Fonda, who shook up Hollywood and revolutionized the country’s sense of itself by co-writing, producing and starring in “Easy Rider” 50 years ago this summer — the same summer depicted in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.”

Culture was changing fast in 1969. Though Tarantino was hard on the hippies, “Easy Rider” — an existential biker picture in which Fonda’s Wyatt, with Dennis Hopper as wingman Billy, motors coast to coast with the Stars and Stripes on his back and drug money stashed in his shiny red, white and blue gas tank — was the first film to represent the younger generation’s anti-establishment attitudes, and its success pointed the way for the independent cinema movement that followed. The actors rejected mainstream values, struck out on their own and smoked actual pot on camera; rather than judging them for it,...

We asked Jared Moshe, who directed Peter Fonda in the 2017 A24 Western “The Ballad of Lefty Brown,” to share his memories of working with the late actor.

It was our first day of shooting on “The Ballad of Lefty Brown.” The sun had just dipped behind the mountains. As darkness descended, we raced to get our final shot. Despite the rush, the crew was buzzing with excitement. I wish I could say it was because of stunning image or a powerful moment of performance. No. Word had spread that Peter Fonda had landed in Montana.

I can’t think of another actor who occupies such a unique space in the history of cinema. On the one hand, Peter is a counterculture icon. Half of “Easy Rider.” The star of “The Wild Angels.” “The Trip.” On the other hand, he’s Hollywood royalty. Son of Henry. Brother of Jane. Father of Bridget.

The Easy Rider himself, Peter Fonda, was pushing 80 when he passed away early Friday morning — it was respiratory failure due to lung cancer that took him out. But that gamechanging 1969 movie made him immortal, freezing him in time as Wyatt, the stoned biker chasing an elusive freedom. Wearing a leather jacket (a large U.S. flag sewn across the back) on a Harley and going by the handle Captain America, Fonda rode into screen history by roaring through the American south in celebration of hippies, communes, drugs, free love, and...

Fifty years after the release of low-budget rebel odyssey “Easy Rider,” which pushed Hollywood into the ’70s and shook the foundations of Hollywood, writer-director-actor Peter Fonda has died of respiratory failure from lung cancer. The son of Hollywood star Henry Fonda and New York socialite Frances Seymour Brokaw was born 79 years ago in New York City. He is survived by his older sister, actress Jane Fonda, and his daughter, actress Bridget Fonda.

In a statement to People magazine, the family said Fonda “passed away peacefully on Friday morning, August 16 at 11:05am at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by family …In honor of Peter, please raise a glass to freedom.”

Said Jane Fonda: “I am very sad. He was my sweet-hearted baby brother. The talker of the family. I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days. He went out laughing.”

Fonda made a splash with his...

Fifty years after the release of low-budget rebel odyssey “Easy Rider,” which pushed Hollywood into the ’70s and shook the foundations of Hollywood, writer-director-actor Peter Fonda has died of respiratory failure from lung cancer. The son of Hollywood star Henry Fonda and New York socialite Frances Seymour Brokaw was born 79 years ago in New York City. He is survived by his older sister, actress Jane Fonda, and his daughter, actress Bridget Fonda.

In a statement to People magazine, the family said Fonda “passed away peacefully on Friday morning, August 16 at 11:05am at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by family …In honor of Peter, please raise a glass to freedom.”

Said Jane Fonda: “I am very sad. He was my sweet-hearted baby brother. The talker of the family. I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days. He went out laughing.”

Fonda made a splash with his...

Diane Ladd is remembering all the fond, and at times scary memories, she shared with Peter Fonda from the beginning of her career to the end of his.

Shortly after news broke that Fonda died on Friday, Ladd, 83, paid tribute to her longtime friend and costar, who she had worked with and come to personally know for more than five decades.

As she looked back on their friendship, Ladd noted how she starred alongside Fonda in her first film, Wild Angels in 1966, and serendipitously, had an opportunity to work with him again on The Last Full Measure, the final film before his death.

Celebrity fans and friends paid tribute Friday to Peter Fonda, the son of Henry Fonda and younger brother of Jane Fonda, who died in his home at age 79 on August 16. He is best known for playing the role of Wyatt in 1969’s “Easy Rider,” and he also starred in films like “Ulee’s Gold” and “The Hired Hand.” Friends, family and peers posted their tributes to the late countercultural icon.

“It is with deep sorrow that we share the news that Peter Fonda has passed away,” The Fonda family issued an exclusive statement to People magazine. “He passed away peacefully on Friday morning, August 16 at 11:05am at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by family. The official cause of death was respiratory failure due to lung cancer. In one of the saddest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our hearts.

Tony Sokol Aug 16, 2019

Peter Fonda was a counterculture film icon who gave John Lennon a bad trip but a great song.

Actor and director Peter Fonda died of respiratory failure due to lung cancer at his Los Angeles home on Friday, Aug. 16, his manager, Alan Somers, announced via Variety. The Oscar-nominated screenwriter and star of Easy Rider was 79.

“It is with deep sorrow that we share the news that Peter Fonda has passed away at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by family,” the Fonda family said in a statement. “In one of the saddest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our hearts. And, while we mourn the loss of this sweet and gracious man, we also wish for all to celebrate his indomitable spirit and love of life. In honor of Peter, please raise a glass to freedom.

Jane Fonda is mourning her brother Peter Fonda’s death — and celebrating his spirit.

Shortly after People confirmed that her little brother had died on Friday morning, the iconic actress, 81, spoke out about the tragedy and how she was coping with the loss.

Though Jane said that she was devastated by Peter’s passing, she also revealed that she had spent some alone time with him before his death and reassured everyone that her little brother “went out laughing.”

“I am very sad,” Jane said in a statement to People. “He was my sweet-hearted baby brother, the talker of the family.

Family says, “In honor of Peter, please raise a glass to freedom.”

Peter Fonda, a symbol of 1960s counterculture who co-wrote and starred alongside Dennis Hopper in the iconic Easy Rider, has died at his home in Los Angeles following a battle with lung cancer. He was 79.

Fonda, the son of Henry Fonda, younger brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget Fonda, earned two Oscar nominations in a career defined by Easy Rider – 50 years old this year – which celebrated the free-wheeling ethos of the 1960s as the United States careened into a darker odyssey in the decade that followed.

Family says, “In honor of Peter, please raise a glass to freedom.”

Peter Fonda, a symbol of 1960s counter-culture who co-wrote and starred alongside Dennis Hopper in the iconic Easy Rider, has died at his home in Los Angeles following a battle with lung cancer. He was 79.

Fonda, the son of Henry Fonda, younger brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget Fonda, earned two Oscar nominations in a career defined by Easy Rider – 50 years old this year – which toasted the free-wheeling ethos of the 1960s as the United States careened into a darker odyssey in the decade that followed.

(Fonda and Dennis Hopper in "Easy Rider") 

By Lee Pfeiffer

Peter Fonda, the actor, screenwriter, producer and director, has died at age 79 from lung cancer. His family represented one of America's most legendary acting dynasties. His father was Henry Fonda, his sister Jane Fonda and he was the father of actress Bridget Fonda. He and Jane had a fractured relationship with their father that ultimately saw them reconcile in Henry's later years. Their mother committed suicide when they were very young and they were initially told she had died of a heart attack. Peter almost died as a teenager when he accidentally shot himself in the stomach. He and Jane both found success as actors, following in their father's footsteps. Peter's early films found him in supporting roles but his breakthrough role as a leading man came in Roger Corman's 1966 biker film "The Wild Angels", which was made on...

Peter Fonda, who died Friday at age 79, was a member of a Hollywood royal family that included father Henry Fonda, sister Jane Fonda and his daughter Bridget Fonda. He also might have, along with Dennis Hopper, launched an entire Hollywood industry with their 1969 film Easy Rider, considered by many to mark the birth of modern indie cinema. The film, which made Fonda a counterculture hero, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

A two-time Oscar nominee — for the Easy Rider screenplay he co-wrote with Hopper and Terry Southern, and for his leading role in Ulee’s Gold almost 30 years later — Fonda was remembered today by the industry in which he spent his entire life.

Here’s a sampling:

R.I.P. Peter Fonda (1940-2019) pic.twitter.com/eKD2ahVQwS

— Film at Lincoln Center (@FilmLinc) August 16, 2019

My heart goes out to Jane over the loss of her brother. Peter Fonda was...

Jane Fonda, sister of Peter Fonda, has released a statement following his death today at the age of 79.

“I am very sad. He was my sweet-hearted baby brother,” Fonda said in the statement provided to Deadline. “The talker of the family. I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days. He went out laughing.”

The two-time Oscar nominee for Easy Rider, which he also produced and co-wrote, and Ulee’s Gold, died Friday morning of respiratory failure due to lung cancer. The son of legendary actor Henry Fonda and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda, was a part of the counterculture of the 1960s.

Following Easy Rider, Fonda starred in and directed The Hired Hand (1971), a feminist Western that his Pando Company made for Universal. Roger Ebert described it as “a languorously spiritual Western about a young man who grows up into responsibility.” He went on to direct...

Two-time Oscar nominee Peter Fonda, who became a counterculture icon when he co-wrote, produced and starred in seminal 1969 road movie “Easy Rider,” then showed Hollywood he could act about three decades later in “Ulee’s Gold,” died on Friday from lung cancer at his home in Los Angeles. He was 79.

His sister Jane Fonda said in a statement, “I am very sad. He was my sweet-hearted baby brother. The talker of the family. I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days. He went out laughing.”

His wife Parky released a statement on behalf of the family, saying “In one of the saddest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our hearts…And, while we mourn the loss of this sweet and gracious man, we also wish for all to celebrate his indomitable spirit and love of life.

Peter Fonda, the two-time, Oscar-nominated star of “Easy Rider” and more recently films such as “Ulee’s Gold” and the remake of “3:10 to Yuma,” has died, his manager confirmed to TheWrap. He was 79.

In a statement to People magazine, his family said that Fonda passed away of respiratory failure on Friday morning due to complications from lung cancer. Fonda was part of a family of Hollywood royalty, the son of Old Hollywood star Henry Fonda and the brother to Jane Fonda, as well as the father of Bridget Fonda.

“In one of the saddest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our hearts. As we grieve, we ask that you respect our privacy,” his family said in the statement to People. “And, while we mourn the loss of this sweet and gracious man, we also wish for all...

Peter Fonda, the son of Henry Fonda and the younger brother of Jane Fonda, has died, People confirms. He was 79.

Peter’s family confirmed the sad news in an exclusive statement to People on Friday and said that the two-time Oscar-nominee died after suffering respiratory failure due to lung cancer.

“It is with deep sorrow that we share the news that Peter Fonda has passed away,” the family said. “[Peter] passed away peacefully on Friday morning, August 16 at 11:05 a.m. at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by family.”

“The official cause of death was respiratory failure due to lung cancer,...

Bloom with Clint Eastwood in "High Plains Drifter".

Veteran actress Verna Bloom has died at age 80. Bloom made her screen debut as the female lead in Haskell Wexler's acclaimed 1969 film "Medium Cool". Her performance gained her much traction in the film industry and she went on to star opposite Clint Eastwood in "High Plains Drifter" and "Honkytonk Man". She also memorably appeared in director John Landis's "National Lampoon's Animal House" playing the dean's wife who had a penchant for bedding college students. Her other film credits include "Badge 373", "The Hired Hand", "The Last Temptation of Christ" and the Frank Sinatra TV movie "Pickup on Cherry Street". Click here for more.

Verna Bloom, who appeared in “Animal House” and worked with the likes of Martin Scorsese, died Jan. 9 in Bar Harbor, Maine, her rep confirmed to Variety. She was 80 years old.

The cause was complications of dementia, her family stated.

Although Bloom appeared extensively in theater and television, she is most noted for her film work. One of her memorable roles came in John Landis’ 1978 comedy “Animal House,” in which she appeared as the drunken, debauched wife of the beleaguered Dean Wormer. She also appeared in three films by Martin Scorsese — “Street Scenes 1970,” “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988), and “After Hours” (1985) — and two by Clint Eastwood: “High Plains Drifter” (1973) and “Honkytonk Man” (1982).

Bloom was born in Lynn, Mass., in 1938. After graduating from Boston University, she moved to Denver and started a local theater. Moving to New York in the mid-1960s, she starred as Charlotte Corday in the Broadway revival of “Marat/Sade” and,...

It’s the season for year-end lists, but one of 2018’s biggest albums is missing from nearly every major publication’s ranking: The soundtrack to Red Dead Redemption 2. Less than two weeks after the blockbuster video game’s release, Rockstar Games was estimated to have shipped 17 million copies to stores around the world. The company declined to provide more updates on the game’s sales numbers, but that initially reported total easily exceeds the numbers of chart-toppers like Drake’s Scorpion. And not only did millions upon millions of people...

Dennis Hopper’s legendary follow-up to Easy Rider ended his Hollywood directing career for at least fifteen years. Barely seen again after brief premiere bookings, it hasn’t built up a reputation as a suppressed masterpiece. So what is it exactly? A new spotless restoration gives a dazzling rebirth to Hopper’s Perú- filmed deconstruction of Hollywood. The astonishing number of notables in the cast list may in itself demand a viewing.

The Last Movie

Blu-ray

Arbelos

1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date November 13, 2018 / 39.99

Starring: Dennis Hopper, Stella García, Tomas Milian, Don Gordon, Julie Adams, Donna Baccala, Sylvia Miles, Rod Cameron, Severn Darden, Sam Fuller, Peter Fonda, Henry Jaglom, Michelle Phillips, Kris Kristofferson, Dean Stockwell, Russ Tamblyn, Clint Kimbrough, John Phillip Law, James Mitchum, Richard Rust, Toni Basil, Michael Anderson Jr.

Cinematography: László Kovács

Production design: Leon Ericksen

Film Editors: David Berlatsky, Antranig Mahakian, Dennis Hopper, [Alejandro Jodorowsky]

Original Music: Severn Darden,...

Review by Roger Carpenter

By 1971 Peter Fonda was an icon of the counterculture. He’d starred in the LSD quickie The Trip as well as the pioneering biker film The Wild Angels. He was fresh off of Easy Rider and ready to spread his wings and show the viewing public that he was more than a pot-smoking hippie biker with his directorial debut, The Hired Hand.

The Hired Hand tells the story of Harry, a wayward soul who married too early and took off to see the world with his two buddies, Arch (Warren Oates) and Dan (Robert Pratt). After years in the wilderness, the three determine to head to California and the Pacific Ocean, but Dan unexpectedly dies along the way and Harry (Peter Fonda) decides it’s time to head home, to the wife and infant daughter he left seven long years ago. But will she take Harry back,...

The Hired Hand will be available on Blu-ray September 18th From Arrow Academy

Having been at the forefront of America s here-and-now with Easy Rider and the counterculture movies of Roger Corman, Peter Fonda retreated to the past and the American West for his directorial debut, The Hired Hand.

Fonda plays Harry, a man who deserted his wife and child to explore the wide-open plains with his best friend Archie (Warren Oates). Tired of the life , he decides to finally return home in order to rekindle his marriage and reacquaint himself with his daughter.

Scripted by Alan Sharp, shot by Vilmos Zsigmond and with a standout score by folk musician Bruce Langhorne, The Hired Hand is a beautiful, elegiac picture that ranks alongside The Outlaw Josey Wales and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid as one of the finest Westerns the seventies had to offer.

Special Edition Contents

High Definition...

By Tim Greaves

The first of only three films for which Peter Fonda took up residence in the director's chair – the others being Idaho Transfer (1973) and Wanda Nevada (1979) – unconventional western The Hired Hand (1971)is the jewel of the triad. A couple of fleeting outbursts of violence aside, it's heavy on gentle drama and light on shoot-'em-up action, as such more a thinking man’s western than one whose white hats and blackguards are clearly defined from the outset and proceed to serve up a profusion of rapid-fire gunfights with bounteous squirts of ketchup.

Following an upsetting incident which prompts him to reflect on his life choices, drifter Harry Collings (Peter Fonda) informs his travelling companions Arch Harris (Warren Oates) and Dan Griffen (Robert Pratt) that he's decided to return home to the wife and daughter he deserted six years earlier. Before they can part ways Dan is shot by a...

While the holidays unfolded, we lost two of the greatest photographers to ever work in cinema, and it's only when you look back at the filmography they leave behind and the legacy they passed on to all the cameramen who worked under them and then went on to shoot films of their own that you understand the magnitude of what we've lost. There was a point in my own film education when I stopped going from actor to actor or from director to director in the way I was watching movies and spent a summer going from cinematographer to cinematographer, and doing that proved to be an education in the tricky definition of what we call "authorial voice" in film. I think it is only in collaboration that magic happens, and one of the people who has to be absolutely killing it for that to work is the cinematographer. The...

Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2014 discoveries”…

Heather McIntosh: MaddAddam Trilogy, Margaret Atwood. Volumina for Organ, György Ligeti. Mind Brains (Orange Twin Records)

Lavallee: In Z for Zachariah, Craig Zobel goes from a “Great World of Sound” (pardon the pun) to nothingness. How did you research dystopia, lifeless scapes and survivalism?

McIntosh: The score fits somewhere between pastoral and experimental. Research, I studied a lot of contemporary organ scores, like the Ligeti one above (not that the score really went that far out).

Lavallee: This is your second outing with Craig, your previous collaboration was the cringe worthy essay on victimization. In terms of instrument selection, what did you sprinkle onto Z?

McIntosh: For Compliance, it was cello driven. For Z for Zachariah, Cello is still there, but there is a larger chamber ensemble sound, pump organ, piano, choral ensemble, French horn, and a as always a sprinkling of electronic ambience.

From time to time we run across a gem that has nothing much to do with current cinema but worth sharing all the same. Someone called LadyPhantomThe has collected dozens...

Swashbuckling screenwriter behind Rob Roy, Ulzana's Raid and Night Moves

Alan Sharp, who has died of brain cancer aged 79, once claimed that as a screenwriter he was most interested in "moral ambiguity, mixed motives and irony", all of which are applicable to two of his best movies, the western Ulzana's Raid (1972), directed by Robert Aldrich, and the thriller Night Moves (1975), directed by Arthur Penn. Most of his screenplays were written in the 1970s and reflect the era in which America was suffering the effects of the Vietnam war and post-Watergate paranoia. This goes some way to explaining the bleakness and cynical sense of destiny in Sharp's films, which he called "existential melodramas".

He was born in Alyth, near Dundee. Although the majority of his scripts were set in the Us, where he lived for many years, Scotland remained pre-eminent in his character and culture. His script for Rob Roy (1995), a...

I had the pleasure of meeting novelist/screenwriter Alan Sharp while preparing the production notes for the 1983 Sam Peckinpah movie "The Osterman Weekend," which was to be the director's last. While that film did not mark either man's finest hour, Sharp was one of Hollywood's most respected screenwriters; he specialized in muscular western noir. He died last weekend at the age of 78 after a long illness. Born in Scotland, after writing a series of novels, Sharp wrote the screenplays for Peter Fonda's 1971 follow-up to "Easy Rider," "The Hired Hand," co-starring Fonda and Warren Oates; Robert Aldrich western "Ulzana's Raid" (1972), starring Burt Lancaster; Arthur Penn's iconic private eye thriller "Night Moves" (1975), starring Gene Hackman and Melanie Griffith; and Michael Caton-Jones' 1995 Highland outlaw epic "Rob Roy," starring Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange. Sharp also directed the...

Tuesday marked thirty years since the untimely passing of Warren Oates. The great, grizzled actor's work has fallen somewhat out of fashion these days -- few, bar perhaps Quentin Tarantino, name Sam Peckinpah or Monte Hellman, Oates' closest and most frequent collaborators, as influences. If you're familiar with him at all, it's likely from his parts as outlaw Lyle Gorch in "The Wild Bunch" or as Sgt. Hulka in Bill Murray comedy "Stripes." But for a time in the 1970s, Oates was Hollywood's go-to badass character actor, a man who everyone from Norman Jewison and William Friedkin to Steven Spielberg and Terrence Malick wanted to work with.

Born in Depoy, Kentucky in 1928, Oates discovered acting at the University of Louisville, and soon headed west to L.A. where he swiftly became a regular face in the golden era of TV westerns, including parts on "Rawhide," "Wanted: Dead or Alive," "Have Gun - Will Travel...

DVD Release Date: Feb. 28, 2012

Price: DVD $19.95

Studio: Cinema Libre

The lives, careers and friendship of legendary Hungary-born cinematographers László Kovács and Vilmos Zsigmond are examined in the 2008 documentary No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos,

László Kovács (r.) and Vilmos Zsigmond focus on their work in No Subtitles Necessary.

Both survivors of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Kovács and Zsigmond immigrated in poverty to America in the late 1950s, helping each other up the ladder out of the underbelly of Hollywood all the while holding onto their dreams. After ten years of no-budget toil, Kovács’s camera broke Hollywood’s rules with Easy Rider, directed by Dennis Hopper. Suddenly in demand, he recommended Vilmos to both Peter Fonda and Robert Altman, where Zsigmond poured his “poetic realism” into Fonda’s 1971 The Hired Hand and Altman’s 1971 McCabe & Mrs. Miller. The two cinematographers quickly became the go-to camera guys of the New Hollywood, ultimately yielding some 140 credits between them,...

Politically controversial actor Peter Fonda wed for the third time in Hawaii The actor, age 71, is famous for his iconic role in the film "Easy Rider." He also acted in smaller films like "The Hired Hand," the 1971 western Fonda starred in and directed, as well as the 1999 Steven Soderbergh film "The Limey," cast as a corrupt L.A. music producer. He married Margaret (Parky) DeVogelaere, 57, in Hawaii. It was the third trip to the altar for the son of the late Henry Fonda. Peter Fonda was most recently at the Cannes Film Festival, where he called President Obama a .f*cking traitor. and the Telegraph, reported he encouraged his own grandchildren to take up arms against...

Some cool stuff’s out there, but your gateway to it is right here.

If you didn’t catch up with out the latest guru blotter early this morning, head over there to find out all the latest in guru-related news, notes and glorious good stuff. It’s all worth checking up on, especially the John Sayles interview with the Av club.

But, really, the “must read” of the day goes to this and it is…well, I’ll let Joe explain:

Author and biographer Joe McBride turned us on to the fact that producer and film historian Dennis Bartok has started his own blog. And this week he’s up with a fascinating glimpse of Orson Welles shooting The Other Side of the Wind as observed by director Vincent Sherman’s son Eric, who worked for two weeks as a second cameraman on the still-unreleased feature, sort of a...

Listen up, you great big bubble-headed baboons, there’s guru updates herein.

Last week, Brian Trenchard-Smith celebrated a birthday. While he was busy shooting a new HBO/Cinemax series, Brian Salisbury at Hollywood.com took the opportunity to come up with a list of the essential Bts films. Check it out!

Ernest Dickerson directs the Lifetime network’s first foray into the actiuon thriller genre: The Last Man Standing, produced by Gale Ann Hurd. It’s on this Saturday and here’s a quick preview.

We got the first review of Trailers From Hell, Vol 2.

…the inclusion of Little Shop Of Horrors in widescreen goes a long way towards making up for the ‘main attraction’s’ fairly brief running time. The commentary from the various participants is also quite enjoyable, giving this disc a good bit of replay value. Fun stuff, let’s hope we see more releases in the line from Shout!

Book Signing With Peter Bart & Cameron Crowe

Sunday, June 12, 2011 – Harold And Maude

A book signing of Bart’s ‘Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob (and Sex)’ will be at 6:30 pm across the street at Every Picture Tells a Story, followed by a screening at 7:30 pm of Harold And Maude and discussion with Peter Bart and Almost Famous director Cameron Crowe.

A film journalist and Paramount executive who played a key role in the production of numerous touchstones of the 1970s, Peter Bart has been an integral part of the American film industry for decades. Under his vice presidency of production at Paramount Pictures, such classics as Rosemary’S Baby, True Grit, Harold And Maude, The Godfather, Paper Moon and Fun With Dick And Jane (which Bart personally produced) came to be. Bart’s career in film journalism is on par with his studio record, as...

Making the Movies has a good piece up called "The Four Types of Filmmaker". On first impression it feels spot on, apart from some arguable placements once they get around to naming names. They divvy filmmakers up into four groups: The Meticulous Master (obsessive, detailed... sometimes they take forever), The Prolific Pro (wide range of quality but constantly filming), The Irrepressible Entertainer (uneven but always serving the audience first), and the Reverent Referentialist (mashing up recycling and reconfiguring all their favorite movies and movie tropes). I'm simplifying -- it's worth reading for fuller explanations.

Masters, Pros, Entertainers, Referentialists

You could and I think should argue for a Fifth Type, "The Hired Hand", the men and women who work but aren't regularly labelled as "auteurs". This type only wows when the project feels just right for them in a way, or when the project itself has so much else going for it.

"We're not lost, we're just finding our way." I've heard nothing but good things about Kelly Reichardt's Oregon Trail western Meek's Cutoff, which premiered at Venice last year and has gone on to do well at other festivals. Michelle Williams stars as one member of a multi-family wagon train that is led into the wilderness by co-called frontier expert Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood). Check out the trailer for the film after the break. Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Will Patton and Shirley Henderson also appear in the film, which seems to have a spare, tense tone and shades of films as different from one another as The Ox-Bow Incident and Picnic at Hanging Rock, as well as of many '70s Westerns that prized atmosphere over violence, such as The Hired Hand. This looks like great stuff. Apple [1] has the trailer in HD. Oscilloscope releases the film on April 8. The...

Kelly Reichardt’s first foray into the Western genre, or period piece of any kind, Meek’s Cutoff, is what Jonathan Rosenbaum defined an Acid Western. This little known sub-genre refers to films like Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man, Monte Hellman’s Ride in the Whirlwind and The Shooting, Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Clint Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter and Hang ‘Em High, Peter Fonda’s The Hired Hand, and Don Siegel’s The Beguiled. This doesn’t even reference the Spaghetti Westerns like The Great Silence, Django, and The Big Gundown. Perhaps the most important reference point for Meek’s Cutoff though is Nicholas Ray’s Johnny Guitar. There are many impressive talking points about this film, however the one to single out is the way Reichardt handles perspective. While the film is technically an ensemble piece, the camera spends a disproportionate amount of...

The wonderful sci-fi geek site i09.com recently linked out to an La Times interview with producer Gary Kurtz, and i09 believed it to be the first time that Kurtz had spoken in-depth, on the record, about the creation of Star Wars and the issues he had with George Lucas during the making of The Empire Strikes Back that led to a massive falling out between the two creative partners.

Well, not so.

I’d done a massive interview with Kurtz back in 2002, which goes into a lot more detail about the falling out, plus Kurtz’s other work on American Graffiti and with Jim Henson on The Dark Crystal.

Here is that interview…

-Ken Plume

Originally Published November 11, 2002

In many projects, there are “unsung heroes”… people whose contributions are extensive, but have been overshadowed by the passage of time (or the bluster of others).

One of those “unsung heroes” is producer Gary Kurtz,...

A new documentary about film-maker Vilmos Zsigmond shows the risks he took filming secret footage of Soviet troops in Hungary

The visionary Hungarian-born cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond does not care, I suspect, to dwell in the emotional terrain of the past. Perhaps the roots of that lie in the dying embers of 1956, when Soviet troops invaded his homeland and crushed the Hungarian revolution. To look back then, as he fled Budapest with clandestinely shot footage, would have meant death. "We had to be careful," Zsigmond says, "because the Russians had killed people just for taking still photographs."

Zsigmond's life is the subject of a warmly received documentary by James Chressanthis called No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos, which has just reached Los Angeles. The Laszlo in question is the late, great cinematographer László Kovács, Zsigmond's spiritual brother and companion on that fateful flight to the Austrian border more than half a century ago,...