In 1992, Woody Allen and Mia Farrow--heretofore the Lunt and Fontanne of Hollywood on the Hudson--went public with a media-saturated battle over Allen's affair with Farrow's adopted daughter. Only a few months later, Allen released this film, starring himself and Farrow acting out a virtually identical plot line: an unhappy marriage begins to crumble when the husband strays with a much younger woman (in this case, one of his students, played by Juliette Lewis).
Brimming with the energy, passion and music that rocked a nation, Hair is an entertaining and powerful tribute to the turbulent spirit of the '60s. Brilliantly recreated by Oscar-winning director Milos Forman and screenwriter Michael Weller, this vibrant screen version of the Broadway phenomenon ranks "among the best film musicals" (The Hollywood Reporter). Fresh from the farm, Claude Bukowski (Savage) arrives in New York City for a date with the Army Introduction Board, only to walk into a hippie 'happening' in Central Park and fall in love with the beautiful Sheila (D'Angelo).
All aboard for runaway action and suspense in this riveting masterpiece from writer/director Michael Crichton! Starring Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland and Lesley-Anne Down, it's a "spine-tingling and suavely performed adventure," (The Hollywood Reporter) based on history's first train robbery. Filmed by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth, this "ingenious" (Variety) and "wonderful" (Gene Shalit) crime caper delivers mile-a-minute thrills and breathtaking excitement.
After the release of Withnail & I, British writer-director Bruce Robinson continued his satirical assault on British culture with this fiendishly funny rant, the title of which can be taken figuratively and literally as an object lesson in the art of consumer manipulation. Nobody dupes consumers better than Dennis Bagley (Richard E. Grant); his genius in crafting seductive ad campaigns has earned him a country estate, countless awards, an admiring boss, a loving wife (Rachel Ward), and, well, a gigantic boil on his shoulder that's like a throbbing zit from hell.
After her brilliant career in a comedy duo with Mike Nichols, Elaine May made tentative progress as a director, making only four films between 1971 and 1987 (her last being the disastrous but underrated Ishtar). Released in 1972, The Heartbreak Kid (from a screenplay by Neil Simon) is widely considered her best work from behind the camera, and it's still one of the most accomplished--but least recognized--comedies of the 1970s.
Jane Fonda was so respected as a serious actress that her comedy chops sometimes were overlooked. But it should be remembered that her first real hits (Barefoot in the Park, Cat Ballou) were comedies. This underrated 1977 outing also played for laughs, though it had social-satire underpinnings that still ring true. Fonda and George Segal play an upwardly mobile couple in the time before yuppies--think of them as protoyuppies. But their status-oriented existence suffers what could be a fatal blow when hubby is maneuvered out of his job.
Figuring the answers to the mystery lie in the old Simmons mansion, so Luther Heggs (Knotts) visits the estate at the witching hour of midnight. Certain he's seen a ghost, Luther writes a story which makes front page news-and brings on a libel suit from the mansion's owner. When the trial judge orders an investigation=and no apparition appears-Luther is branded a fraud. That is, until he and his devoted girlfriend team up to uncover the mystery of the hauntings-and the true murderer-in this timeless comedy classic.
Three days in the summer of 1863, at a place called Gettysburg. Based on Michael Shaara's book The Killer Angels, this film takes a refreshingly slow, thorough approach to the intricacies of battle. In ordinary circumstances, those intricacies might seem of importance only to fans of military strategy or Civil War enthusiasts, yet in Gettysburg they come across as the very stuff of life, death, and unexpected heroism.
The Front is both a comic delight and perhaps the most graceful act of show business revenge in cinema history. Written by, directed by, and starring various talents blacklisted during the McCarthy-era witch hunts of the 1950s entertainment industry, the film stars Woody Allen as Howard, a cashier and bookie approached by blacklisted television-writer Alfred (Michael Murphy) to act as a "front," i.e., the alleged author of Alfred's works. The scam proves hugely successful.
A group of unemployed Yorkshire steelworkers hopes to replenish their empty wallets and boost their flagging morale by following in the footsteps of the Chippendale's strippers. These guys are hardly what you would think of as buff, and few can even dance. They simply take these problems in stride, because these are men with a plan--displaced, unemployed, and feeling suffocated by the women in their lives, they just want to earn a little respect.
