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Payback (1999 Film)
''Payback'' is a 1999 American neo-noir action thriller film written and directed by Brian Helgeland in his directorial debut, and starring Mel Gibson, Gregg Henry, Maria Bello, Lucy Liu, Deborah Kara Unger, David Paymer and James Coburn. It is based on the novel '' The Hunter'' by Donald E. Westlake using the pseudonym Richard Stark, which had earlier been adapted into the 1967 film '' Point Blank''. During post-production, Helgeland was removed by Gibson and the producers, who rewrote and reshot substantial portions of the film, including a different third act and a new villain played by Kris Kristofferson. This version of the film was released by Paramount Pictures on February 5, 1999, and received mixed reviews from critics. In 2006, Helgeland issued a director's cut, entitled ''Payback: Straight Up'', that differs substantially from the version released by the studio. This new version received a more positive reception, and is generally considered superior to the theat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Helgeland
Brian Thomas Helgeland (born January 17, 1961) is an American screenwriter, film producer, and director. He is best known for writing the screenplays for the films '' L.A. Confidential'' (1998) and '' Mystic River'' (2003). He wrote and directed the films '' 42'', a biopic of Jackie Robinson; and ''Legend'', about the rise and fall of the infamous London gangsters, the Kray twins. His work on ''L.A. Confidential'' earned him the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Early life Helgeland was born in Providence, Rhode Island, to Norwegian immigrants Aud-Karin and Thomas Helgeland. He was raised in nearby New Bedford, Massachusetts. He majored in English at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth before following his father's work in fishing scallop. A particularly cold winter day in 1985 made Helgeland consider finding another job. He was fascinated by a book about film schools. With a love for movies, Helgeland decided to seek a career in film. He applied for the film sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Onion
''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is currently based in Chicago, but originated as a weekly print publication on August 29, 1988, in Madison, Wisconsin. ''The Onion'' began publishing online in early 1996. In 2007, they began publishing satirical news audio and video online as the '' Onion News Network''. In 2013, ''The Onion'' stopped publishing its print edition and launched Onion Labs, an advertising agency. ''The Onion'' was then acquired three times, first by Univision in 2016, which later merged ''The Onion'' and its several other publications into those of Gizmodo Media Group. This unit was sold in 2019 to Great Hill Partners, forming a new company named G/O Media. Then, in April 2024, G/O Media sold ''The Onion'' to Global Tetrahedron, a firm newly created by former Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson, which revived the print edition in August that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Duke
William Henry Duke Jr. (born February 26, 1943) is an American actor, director, and producer. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke works primarily in the action and crime drama genres often as a character related to law enforcement. As a director, he is known for his works dealing in the Black American experience, and has been called the "Godfather of African American Cinema." Duke began his career as a theatre actor, before making his film debut as aspiring revolutionary Abdullah Mohammed Akbar in the ensemble comedy Car Wash (film), ''Car Wash'' (1976). Frequently a character actor, he has starred opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in ''Commando (1985 film), Commando'' (1985) and ''Predator (film), Predator'' (1987), and has appeared in films like ''American Gigolo'' (1980), ''Bird on a Wire (film), Bird on a Wire'' (1990), ''Menace II Society'' (1993), ''Payback (1999 film), Payback'' (1999), ''X-Men: The Last Stand'' (2006), and ''Mandy (2018 film), Mandy'' (2018). In tel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parker (Stark Novels Character)
Parker is a fictional character created by American novelist Donald E. Westlake. A professional robber specializing in large-scale, high-profit crimes, Parker is the main protagonist of 24 of the 28 novels Westlake wrote under the pseudonym Richard Stark. Writing style Westlake wrote under many pseudonyms as well as his own name, but the Richard Stark pseudonym was notable both for the sheer amount of writing credited to it (far more than any other except Westlake's real name itself), as well as for Stark's particular style of writing, which was colder, darker, less sentimental, and less overtly humorous than Westlake's usual prose. For a period in the late 1960s, the Stark name was more well-known and more lucrative for Westlake than his real name. According to Westlake, he chose the name "Richard Stark" for actor Richard Widmark, whose performance in the film '' Kiss of Death'' impressed Westlake: "part of the character's fascination and danger is his unpredictability. He's f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internal Affairs (law Enforcement)
Internal affairs (often known as IA) is a division of a law enforcement agency that investigates incidents and possible suspicions of crime, criminal and professional misconduct attributed to members of the parent force. It is thus a mechanism of limited self-governance, "a police force policing itself". The names used by internal affairs divisions vary between agencies and jurisdictions; for example, they may be known as the internal investigations division (usually referred to as IID), professional standards or responsibility, inspector general, inspector or inspectorate general, internal review board, or similar. Due to the sensitive nature of this responsibility, in many departments, officers employed in an internal affairs unit are not in a detective command but report directly to the head of internal affairs who themselves typically report directly to the head of the parent agency, or to a board of civilian commissioners. Internal affairs investigators are generally bound ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dominatrix
A dominatrix ( ; or dominatrices ), or domme, is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. The BDSM practice is called female dominance, or femdom. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily limit the genders of her Submissive (BDSM), submissive partners. Dominatrices are popularly known for inflicting physical pain on their submissive subjects, but this is not done in every case. In some instances erotic humiliation is used, such as verbal humiliation or the assignment of humiliating tasks. Dominatrices also make use of other forms of Servitude (BDSM), servitude. Practices of domination common to many BDSM and other various sexual relationships are also prevalent. A dominatrix is typically a paid professional (''pro-domme'') as the term ''dominatrix'' is little-used within the non-professional BDSM scene. Terminology and etymology ''Dominatrix'' is the feminine form of the Latin ''dominator'', a ruler or lord, and was original ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Triad (organized Crime)
A triad ( zh, t=三合會, s=三合会, hp=sān hé huì, cy=sāam hahp wúi) is a Chinese transnational organized crime syndicate based in Greater China with outposts in various countries having significant overseas Chinese populations. The triads originated from secret societies formed in the 18th and 19th centuries, some influenced by white lotus societies of the 14th century, with the intent of overthrowing the foreign then-ruling Qing dynasty. In the 20th century, triads were enlisted by the Kuomintang (KMT) during the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republican era to attack political enemies, including assassinations. Following the founding of the People's Republic of China and subsequent crackdowns, triads and their operations flourished in Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese communities. Since the Chinese economic reform, triads and other triad-like "black societies" re-emerged in mainland China. In modern times, triads overseas have been reported to have conne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Confidence Trick
A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men') at the expense of their victims (the ' marks')". Terminology Other terms for "scam" include confidence trick, con, con game, confidence game, confidence scheme, ripoff, stratagem, finesse, grift, hustle, bunko, bunco, swindle, flimflam, gaffle, and bamboozle. The perpetrator is often referred to as a scammer, confidence man, con man, con artist, grifter, hustler, or swindler. The intended victims are known as marks, suckers, stooges, mugs, rubes, or gulls (from the word ''gullible''). When accomplices are e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combined arms, implementing its own infantry, artillery, aerial, and special operations forces. The U.S. Marine Corps is one of the six armed forces of the United States and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. The Marine Corps has been part of the United States Department of the Navy since 30 June 1834 with its sister service, the United States Navy. The USMC operates installations on land and aboard sea-going amphibious warfare ships around the world. Additionally, several of the Marines' tactical aviation squadrons, primarily Marine Fighter Attack squadrons, are also embedded in Navy carrier air wings and operate from the aircraft carriers. The history of the Marine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, moving away from the polished Nashville sound and toward a more raw, introspective style. Some of his most famous songs include "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times (song), For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night", all of which became hits for other artists. Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas; the family relocated to San Mateo, California during his childhood and he was briefly drafted into military service in the early 1960s. After one single for Epic Records, Kristofferson was signed by Monument Records in 1969. Throughout his career, he recorded a total of 10 albums for Monument, two albums for Mercury Records, one album each for Justice Records and Atlantic Records, and two albums each for New West Records and KK Records. In Septe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Point Blank (1967 Film)
''Point Blank'' is a 1967 American crime film directed by John Boorman, starring Lee Marvin, co-starring Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn and Carroll O'Connor, and adapted from the 1963 crime noir pulp novel '' The Hunter'', the first in the Parker series of crime novels written by Donald E. Westlake under the nom de plume of Richard Stark. Boorman directed the film at Marvin's request and Marvin played a central role in the film's development. The film grossed over $9 million in theatrical rentals in 1967 and has since gone on to become a cult classic, eliciting praise from such critics as film historian David Thomson. In 2016, ''Point Blank'' was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry. Plot Walker works with his friend Mal Reese to rob a major crime operation, ambushing the courier on deserted Alcatraz Island. After counting the money, Reese shoots ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's own. Many pseudonym holders use them because they wish to remain anonymous and maintain privacy, though this may be difficult to achieve as a result of legal issues. Scope Pseudonyms include stage names, user names, ring names, pen names, aliases, superhero or villain identities and code names, gamertags, and regnal names of emperors, popes, and other monarchs. In some cases, it may also include nicknames. Historically, they have sometimes taken the form of anagrams, Graecisms, and Latinisations. Pseudonyms should not be confused with new names that replace old ones and become the individual's full-time name. Pseudonyms are "part-time" names, used only in certain contexts: to provide a more clear-cut separation between one's privat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
