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The Fortune
''The Fortune'' is a 1975 American black comedy film starring Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty, and directed by Mike Nichols. The screenplay by Carole Eastman (credited under the pseudonym Adrien Joyce) focuses on two bumbling con men who plot to steal the fortune of a wealthy young heiress, played by Stockard Channing in her first film starring role. Plot Nicky Wilson and Oscar Sullivan are inept 1920s scam artists in the Northeastern United States who see pay dirt in the guise of Fredericka Quintessa "Freddie" Bigard, the millionaire heiress to a sanitary napkin fortune. She loves the already married Nicky, but because the Mann Act prohibits him from taking her across state lines and engaging in immoral relations, he proposes that she marry Oscar and then carry on an affair with the man she wants. Oscar, who is wanted for embezzlement and anxious to get out of town, is happy to comply with the plan, although he intends to claim his spousal privileges after they are wed. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols (born Igor Mikhail Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theatre director and comedian. He worked across a range of genres and had an aptitude for getting the best out of actors regardless of their experience. He is one of 21 people to have won all four of the major American entertainment awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony (EGOT). His other honors included three BAFTA Awards, the Lincoln Center Gala Tribute in 1999, the National Medal of Arts in 2001, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2003 and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2010. His films received a total of 42 Academy Award nominations, and seven wins. Nichols began his career in the 1950s with the comedy improvisational troupe The Compass Players, predecessor of The Second City, in Chicago. He then teamed up with his improv partner, Elaine May, to form the comedy duo Nichols and May. Their live improv act was a hit on Broadway, and each of their three albums was no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. Located on the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coast of North America, the region borders Canada to its north, the Southern United States to its south, the Midwestern United States to its west, and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The Northeast is one of the four regions defined by the U.S. Census Bureau for the collection and analysis of statistics. The Census Bureau defines the region as including the six New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, and three lower North-Eastern states of New Jersey, New York (state), New York, and Pennsylvania. Some expanded definitions of the region include Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic locations such as Delaware, Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Washington, D.C. The regio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slapstick Comedy
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as saws and ladders. The term arises from a device developed for use in the broad, physical comedy style known as ''commedia dell'arte'' in 16th-century Italy. The " slap stick" consists of two thin slats of wood, which makes a "slap" when striking another actor, with little force needed to make a loud—and comical—sound. The physical slap stick remains a key component of the plot in the traditional and popular Punch and Judy puppet show. More contemporary examples of slapstick humor include ''The Three Stooges'', '' The Naked Gun'' and '' Mr. Bean''. Origins The name "slapstick" originates from the Italian ''batacchio'' or ''bataccio''—called the " slap stick" in English—a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in ''co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Satire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposing or shaming the perceived flaws of individuals, corporations, government, or society itself into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society. Satire may also poke fun at popular themes in art and film. A prominent feature of satire is strong irony or sarcasm—"in satire, irony is militant", according to literary critic Northrop Frye— but parody, burlesque, exaggeration, juxtaposition, comparison, analogy, and double entendre are all frequently used in satirical speech and writing. This "militant" irony or sarcasm often professes to approve of (or at least accept as natural) th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Day Of The Dolphin
''The Day of the Dolphin'' is a 1973 American science fiction thriller film directed by Mike Nichols and starring George C. Scott. Based on the 1967 novel '' Un animal doué de raison'' (lit. ''A Sentient Animal''), by French writer Robert Merle, the screenplay was written by American Buck Henry. Plot A brilliant and driven scientist, Jake Terrell, and his wife, Maggie, along with their small team, are training dolphins to communicate with humans at their remote island research facility. They teach Alpha ("Fa"), a dolphin they have raised in captivity for four years, to speak simple English. They introduce him to a female dolphin captured from the wild, whom they name Beta ("Bea"). Fa regresses to his "native language" for a while, but soon teaches Bea to understand English, too. Terrell's research is funded by the Franklin Foundation, headed by Harold DeMilo ( Fritz Weaver). An undercover government agent for hire, Curtis Mahoney ( Paul Sorvino), blackmails DeMilo to allow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catch-22 (film)
''Catch-22'' is a 1970 American satirical comedy war film adapted from the 1961 Catch-22, novel of the same name by Joseph Heller. In creating a black comedy revolving around the "lunatic characters" of Heller's satirical anti-war novel set at a fictional Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean base during World War II, director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Buck Henry (also in the cast) worked on the film script for two years, converting Heller's complex novel to the medium of film. The cast included Alan Arkin, Bob Balaban, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Italian actress Olimpia Carlisi, French comedian Marcel Dalio, Art Garfunkel in his acting debut, Jack Gilford, Charles Grodin, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, Austin Pendleton, Paula Prentiss, Martin Sheen, Jon Voight, and Orson Welles. Garfunkel's songwriting partner Paul Simon also appeared, but his scenes were cut. Plot Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Force North American B-25 Mitchell, B-25 Bombardier (air force), bomba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Begelman
David Begelman (August 26, 1921 – August 7, 1995) was an American film producer, film executive and talent agent who was involved in a studio embezzlement scandal in the 1970s. Life and career Begelman was born to a Jewish family in New York City. His father was a Manhattan tailor. Begelman was in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He then became a student at New York University. Following college, he worked in the insurance business. He worked at the Music Corporation of America ( MCA Inc.) for more than 11 years, starting in the mid-1950s, eventually becoming vice president. He left in 1960 to co-found the talent agency Creative Management Associates (CMA) with fellow MCA agent Freddie Fields. Their clients included Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Woody Allen, Gregory Peck, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Jackie Gleason and Fred Astaire. At CMA, Fields and Begelman pioneered the movie "package", where the talent agency put their stars, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shampoo (film)
''Shampoo'' is a 1975 American comedy film directed by Hal Ashby, and starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Tony Bill, and Carrie Fisher in her film debut. Co-written by Beatty and Robert Towne, the film follows a promiscuous Los Angeles hairdresser on 1968 United States presidential election, Election Day 1968, as he juggles his relationships with several women. The film is a satire focusing on the theme of sexual politics and late-1960s sexual and social mores. Plot On the eve of the 1968 United States presidential election, successful Beverly Hills hairdresser George Roundy meets with Felicia, one of his several clients/sexual partners, at his apartment. During sex, he receives a phone call from Jill, his naive, younger, up-and-coming actress girlfriend, who is suffering a panic attack, paranoid that an intruder is in her home. George rushes from his house to calm Jill, which frustrates Felicia. George's occupation and charisma have pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Towne
Robert Towne (born Robert Bertram Schwartz; November 23, 1934 – July 1, 2024) was an American screenwriter and director. He started writing films for Roger Corman, including '' The Tomb of Ligeia'' in 1964, and was later part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. Towne wrote and won an Academy Award for Roman Polanski's '' Chinatown'' (1974); starring Jack Nicholson, widely considered one of the greatest screenplays ever written, as well as its sequel, '' The Two Jakes'' (1990). For Hal Ashby, he penned the comedy-dramas '' The Last Detail'' (1973) and '' Shampoo'' (1975). He collaborated with Tom Cruise on the films '' Days of Thunder'' (1990), '' The Firm'' (1993) and the first two installments of the '' Mission: Impossible'' franchise (1996, 2000). Towne directed the sports dramas '' Personal Best'' (1982) and '' Without Limits'' (1998), the crime thriller '' Tequila Sunrise'' (1988), and the romantic drama '' Ask the Dust'' (2006). Early life Towne was born Robert Bert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Guest
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born 5 February 1948), known professionally as Christopher Guest, is a British-American actor, comedian, screenwriter and director. Guest has written, directed, and starred in his series of comedy films shot in mockumentary style. He co-wrote and acted in the rock satire '' This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984), and later directed a string of satirical mockumentary films such as '' Waiting for Guffman'' (1996), '' Best in Show'' (2000), '' A Mighty Wind'' (2003), '' For Your Consideration'' (2006), and '' Mascots'' (2016). His acting credits include roles in '' Death Wish'' (1974), '' Little Shop of Horrors'' (1986), '' The Princess Bride'' (1987), and '' A Few Good Men'' (1992). For one season (1984–85), he was a regular cast member on the long running NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live''. Guest holds a hereditary British peerage as the 5th Baron Haden-Guest, but has publicly expressed a desire to see the House of Lords ref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dub Taylor
Walter Clarence "Dub" Taylor Jr. (February 26, 1907 – October 3, 1994)Dub Taylor, 87, Actor in Westerns, The New York Times, October 5, 1994, Section B, Page 12 was an American character actor who from the 1940s into the 1990s worked extensively in films and on television, often in Westerns but also in comedies. He is the father of actor and painter Buck Taylor. Early life Taylor was born February 26, 1907, in Richmond, Virginia, the middle child of five children of Minnie and Walter C. Taylor Sr."The Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920" enumeration date January 15, 1920, Augusta City, Richmond County, Georgia. Digital copy of original census page, FamilySearch. Retrieved A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian Wolfe
Ian Marcus Wolfe (November 4, 1896 – January 23, 1992) was an American character actor with around 400 film and television credits. Until 1934, he worked in the theatre. That year, he appeared in his first film role and later television, as a character actor. His career lasted seven decades and included many films and TV series; his last screen credit was in 1990. Early years Born in Canton, Illinois, Wolfe studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Career Wolfe's stage debut came in ''The Claw'' (1919). His Broadway credits include ''The Deputy'' (1964), ''Winesburg, Ohio'' (1958), ''Lone Valley'' (1933), ''Devil in the Mind'' (1931), ''The Barretts of Wimpole Street'' (1931), ''Lysistrata'' (1930), ''The Seagull'' (1930), ''At the Bottom'' (1930), ''Skyrocket'' (1929), ''Gods of the Lightning'' (1928), and ''The Claw'' (1921). Wolfe made his film debut in '' The Barretts of Wimpole Street'' (1934). He appeared in many films, including '' Mutiny on the Bounty'' (193 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
