Ron Moody as Fagin in 'Oliver!' based on Charles Dickens' 'Oliver Twist.' Ron Moody as Fagin in Dickens musical 'Oliver!': Box office and critical hit (See previous post: "Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' Actor, Academy Award Nominee Dead at 91.") Although British made, Oliver! turned out to be an elephantine release along the lines of – exclamation point or no – Gypsy, Star!, Hello Dolly!, and other Hollywood mega-musicals from the mid'-50s to the early '70s.[1] But however bloated and conventional the final result, and a cast whose best-known name was that of director Carol Reed's nephew, Oliver Reed, Oliver! found countless fans.[2] The mostly British production became a huge financial and critical success in the U.S. at a time when star-studded mega-musicals had become perilous – at times downright disastrous – ventures.[3] Upon the American release of Oliver! in Dec. 1968, frequently acerbic The...
- 6/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'The Fixer' movie with Alan Bates, Dirk Bogarde and Ian Holm (background) 'The Fixer' movie review: 1968 anti-Semitism drama wrecked by cast, direction, and writing In 1969, director John Frankenheimer declared that he felt "better about The Fixer than anything I've ever done in my life." Considering Frankenheimer's previous output – Seven Days in May, the much admired The Manchurian Candidate – it is hard to believe that the director was being anything but a good P.R. man for his latest release. Adapted from Bernard Malamud's National Book Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (itself based on the real story of Jewish brick-factory worker Menahem Mendel Beilis), The Fixer is an overlong, overblown, and overwrought contrivance that, albeit well meaning, carelessly misuses most of the talent involved while sadistically abusing the patience – and at times the intelligence – of its viewers. John Frankenheimer overindulges in 1960s kitsch John Frankenheimer...
- 5/13/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
First Law
Mads Mikkelsen ("Hannibal," "Casino Royale") is set to star in Diego Rafecas' drama "First Law". Set in the jungles of Argentina, Armand Assante and Adriana Barraza co-star.
Based on a true story, the plot centers on two brothers — one under the wing of a shaman, the other working for a corrupt corporation — who must choose where their loyalties lie when their ancestral home faces destruction. [Source: Deadline]
The Fixer
Melissa Leo will join James Franco in Ian Olds' "The Fixer", a film based on the novel by Bernard Malamud. Filming takes place in California and Morocco this Summer.
Franco plays a war journalist who has been in Afghanistan but suddenly finds himself doing crime reporting in Northern California. [Source: Showbiz 411]
Sylvie's Love
Larenz Tate ("Rescue Me") will star in and produce Eugene J. Ashe's "Sylvie's Love" which is set against New York's jazz scene in the late-50s and early-60s.
Mads Mikkelsen ("Hannibal," "Casino Royale") is set to star in Diego Rafecas' drama "First Law". Set in the jungles of Argentina, Armand Assante and Adriana Barraza co-star.
Based on a true story, the plot centers on two brothers — one under the wing of a shaman, the other working for a corrupt corporation — who must choose where their loyalties lie when their ancestral home faces destruction. [Source: Deadline]
The Fixer
Melissa Leo will join James Franco in Ian Olds' "The Fixer", a film based on the novel by Bernard Malamud. Filming takes place in California and Morocco this Summer.
Franco plays a war journalist who has been in Afghanistan but suddenly finds himself doing crime reporting in Northern California. [Source: Showbiz 411]
Sylvie's Love
Larenz Tate ("Rescue Me") will star in and produce Eugene J. Ashe's "Sylvie's Love" which is set against New York's jazz scene in the late-50s and early-60s.
- 2/7/2014
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
‘Montezuma’: Steven Spielberg next movie (or at least a Spielberg movie some time in the future)? Will Steven Spielberg next tackle the life and times of Aztec king Montezuma, from a screenplay by none other than former Hollywood Ten member Dalton Trumbo? If so, that won’t be the first time that Spielberg has adapted a Trumbo screenplay (more on that below). Anyhow, following Lincoln, which earned Spielberg his seventh Best Director Academy Award nomination, the Jaws, E.T., Schindler’s List, and Saving Private Ryan filmmaker has had his name attached to — and then detached from — a couple of projects. First, there was Drew Goddard’s adaptation of Daniel H. Wilson’s novel Robopocalypse, which isn’t a RoboCop spin-off but a sci-fier about a smart robot who reaches the (perfectly logical) conclusion that the only way to save the planet is to get rid of human beings. Robopocalypse,...
- 1/6/2014
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Dirk Bogarde: ‘Victim’ star took no prisoners in his letters to Dilys Powell Letters exchanged between film critic Dilys Powell and actor Dirk Bogarde — one of the most popular and respected British performers of the twentieth century, and the star of seminal movies such as Victim, The Servant, Darling, and Death in Venice — reveals that Bogarde was considerably more caustic and opinionated in his letters than in his (quite bland) autobiographies. (Photo: Dirk Bogarde ca. 1970.) As found in Dirk Bogarde’s letters acquired a few years ago by the British Library, among the victims of the Victim star (sorry) were Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave (Julia), a "ninny" who was “so utterly beastly to [Steaming director Joseph Losey] that he finally threw his script at her face”; and veteran stage and screen actor — and Academy Award winner — John Gielgud (Arthur), who couldn’t "understand half of Shakespeare" despite being renowned for his stage roles in Macbeth,...
- 9/23/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The episode title, "At The Codfish Ball," is a Shirley Temple song from the 1936 movie Captain January (video below) about all the different fish "from the herring to the whale" going down to a jamboree, at the bottom of the sea. In their own jamboree, old and new characters come together for multiple gatherings of fish: Megan cooks Dover sole, they eat fish at the Heinz dinner, Stan finished the shrimp in the office, and Sally picks at her fish at the American Cancer Society dinner aka the Codfish Ball. Unlike the intimacy of the past few, this episode zooms out to show us a wider view, bringing in a great crew: my favorite characters Glen and Mona, Peggy's mother (who's great I just like her less), and Megan's communist and sexpot French parents Dr. Emile and Marie Calvet. Let's party.
Megan's parents and Don's kids are staying at the Draper lovenest.
Megan's parents and Don's kids are staying at the Draper lovenest.
- 5/1/2012
- by Samantha Zalaznick
- Aol TV.
The episode title, "At The Codfish Ball," is a Shirley Temple song from the 1936 movie Captain January (video below) about all the different fish "from the herring to the whale" going down to a jamboree, at the bottom of the sea. In their own jamboree, old and new characters come together for multiple gatherings of fish: Megan cooks Dover sole, they eat fish at the Heinz dinner, Stan finished the shrimp in the office, and Sally picks at her fish at the American Cancer Society dinner aka the Codfish Ball. Unlike the intimacy of the past few, this episode zooms out to show us a wider view, bringing in a great crew: my favorite characters Glen and Mona, Peggy's mother (who's great I just like her less), and Megan's communist and sexpot French parents Dr. Emile and Marie Calvet. Let's party.
Megan's parents and Don's kids are staying at the Draper lovenest.
Megan's parents and Don's kids are staying at the Draper lovenest.
- 5/1/2012
- by Samantha Zalaznick
- Aol TV.
One of the doctors I’ve worked with once asked me “What’s it like to be a writer?”
I guarantee that every single one of the columnists here at ComicMix has been asked that question, or a form of it, quadrillions of times.
The mother of one of my daughter’s friends: “Where do you get your ideas?”
A co-worker at my day job: “So what do you do? They give you the comic and you put the words in those balloons?”
An old boyfriend: “You get paid for that?”
My mother on the phone, back when I was a full-time freelancer: “What do you do all day? How can you sit in your pajamas until 3:00 in the afternoon?
Mom on the phone again: “I’m sorry to bother you. Are you typing?”
The answers:
“What’s it like to be a doctor?” (Cracking wise.)
“I don’t know.
I guarantee that every single one of the columnists here at ComicMix has been asked that question, or a form of it, quadrillions of times.
The mother of one of my daughter’s friends: “Where do you get your ideas?”
A co-worker at my day job: “So what do you do? They give you the comic and you put the words in those balloons?”
An old boyfriend: “You get paid for that?”
My mother on the phone, back when I was a full-time freelancer: “What do you do all day? How can you sit in your pajamas until 3:00 in the afternoon?
Mom on the phone again: “I’m sorry to bother you. Are you typing?”
The answers:
“What’s it like to be a doctor?” (Cracking wise.)
“I don’t know.
- 12/5/2011
- by Mindy Newell
- Comicmix.com
Cliff Robertson passed away Saturday in Stony Brook, NY. The Oscar winner was 88. In 1969, Robertson took home the gold beating out Alan Arkin ("The Heart is a Lonely Hunter"), Peter O'Toole ("The Lion in Winter"), Alan Bates ("The Fixer), and Ron Moody ("Oliver!"). But Robertson's performance in "Charly" was deemed the best of the year (see clip below).
In 2002's "Spider-Man," Robertson, playing Uncle Ben, uttered the famous line that became the crux of the franchise -- "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility."
Here's more on the brilliant life of Cliff Robertson from the NY Daily News:
Robertson, a native of La Jolla, California, had already won an Emmy when he had his moment of big-screen recognition in 1968 -- 13 years after his feature debut in "Picnic." Though he played JFK as a young naval officer in "Pt 109 " - released five months before Dealey Plaza -- and gave an icy...
In 2002's "Spider-Man," Robertson, playing Uncle Ben, uttered the famous line that became the crux of the franchise -- "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility."
Here's more on the brilliant life of Cliff Robertson from the NY Daily News:
Robertson, a native of La Jolla, California, had already won an Emmy when he had his moment of big-screen recognition in 1968 -- 13 years after his feature debut in "Picnic." Though he played JFK as a young naval officer in "Pt 109 " - released five months before Dealey Plaza -- and gave an icy...
- 9/12/2011
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
The Fixer Review – Part I Most of those monologues are given to leading man Alan Bates, as The Fixer is set up as a showcase for the respected film and stage actor then near the peak of his popularity following leads in prestigious productions such as Silvio Narizzano's Georgy Girl and John Schlesinger's Far from the Madding Crowd. As Bates' contracts apparently stipulated that he must take his clothes off at least once in each of his films, in The Fixer we do get to see him in the buff in one scene; but naked or clothed — and in spite of his Best Actor Academy Award nomination — he is never convincing as anything but a well-educated Englishman. Granted, Yakov is a literate man who is well versed in Espinoza and who speaks flawless Russian (that he learned by reading pronunciation books), but none of that explains how this...
- 2/6/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Fixer (1968) Direction: John Frankenheimer Cast: Alan Bates, Dirk Bogarde, Georgia Brown, Hugh Griffith, Elizabeth Hartman, Ian Holm, David Opatoshu, David Warner, Carol White Screenplay: Dalton Trumbo; from Bernard Malamud's 1966 novel Oscar Movies Alan Bates, Ian Holm (background), Dirk Bogarde, The Fixer In 1969, director John Frankenheimer declared that he felt "better about The Fixer than anything I've ever done in my life." Considering Frankenheimer's previous output — Seven Days in May, the much admired The Manchurian Candidate — it is hard to believe that the director was being anything but a good PR man for his latest release. Adapted from Bernard Malamud's National Book Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (which itself was based on the real story of Jewish bricklayer Mendel Beiliss), The Fixer is an overlong, overblown, and overwrought contrivance that, albeit well meaning, carelessly misuses most of the talent involved while sadistically abusing the patience (and at...
- 2/6/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Maurice Jarre, who wrote the hauntingly lovely "Lara's Theme" for "Dr. Zhivago" as well as the sweeping score for the epic "Lawrence of Arabia," has died. He was 84.
Jarre died in his home in Las Angeles, where he had lived for decades, Bernard Miyet, a friend of the composer and leader of the French musicians guild Sacem, said Monday. No cause of death was given.
"The world of film music is mourning one of its last great figures," Miyet said. "As well as his talent, Maurice Jarre cultivated an eternal good nature, a way of living and a simplicity that became legendary."
Jarre won three Academy Awards for best score for his work on the David Lean films "Lawrence of Arabia," "Dr. Zhivago" and "Passage to India." He also earned six other Oscar nominations for best score for "Sundays and Cybele," "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean," "Messenger of God,...
Jarre died in his home in Las Angeles, where he had lived for decades, Bernard Miyet, a friend of the composer and leader of the French musicians guild Sacem, said Monday. No cause of death was given.
"The world of film music is mourning one of its last great figures," Miyet said. "As well as his talent, Maurice Jarre cultivated an eternal good nature, a way of living and a simplicity that became legendary."
Jarre won three Academy Awards for best score for his work on the David Lean films "Lawrence of Arabia," "Dr. Zhivago" and "Passage to India." He also earned six other Oscar nominations for best score for "Sundays and Cybele," "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean," "Messenger of God,...
- 3/30/2009
- by By Duane Byrge
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Actor Alan Bates, who came to fame as one of British cinema's "angry young men" of the 60s and whose heralded stage and screen career was marked by a love of acting as opposed to fame, died Saturday night in London after a long battle with cancer; he was 69. Educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Bates indeed helped launch the genre of angry young men plays by starring in John Osbourne's Look Back in Anger in 1956, which started him on a stage career that was marked by innumerable roles created by classic playwrights. His first major film role in 1960 was opposite none other than Laurence Olivier in Osbourne's The Entertainer, in which Bates and a young Albert Finney played the sons of Olivier's shabby vaudevillian. Roles in Whistle Down the Wind, A Kind of Loving and The Running Man followed, but it was Bates' two successive performances in Zorba the Greek and Georgy Girl that helped make him a film star; the former film, in which he played a repressed Englishman opposite Anthony Quinn's life-affirming Zorba, received a Best Picture nomination. Bates himself received a Best Actor nomination for John Frankenheimer's The Fixer (1968), and a year later earned more fame and a bit of notoriety for Ken Russell's erotic adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love, in which he wrestled naked with Oliver Reed. Notable film roles also included Far From the Madding Crowd, An Unmarried Woman, The Rose and his turn as Claudius in Mel Gibson's Hamlet. Bates also won a Tony award in 2002 for Turgenev's Fortune's Fool and was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1995 and knighted last year. Most recently, Bates was seen onscreen in the thriller The Sum of All Fears, Robert Altman's Oscar-winning Gosford Park and this year's drama The Statement. Bates, whose son Tristan died in 1990 and wife Victoria Ford died in 1992, is survived by two brothers, son Benedick, and a granddaughter. --Prepared by IMDb staff...
- 12/28/2003
- IMDb News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.