CRISTOPHER LEE - DRACULA (1)

PAUL NEWMAN - WEEKS TO LIVE ?

Paul Newman has 'weeks to live'

Reuters

Paul Newman has reportedly told friends and family he wants to die at home after being told he only has "a few weeks to live".
The Hollywood superstar - who is thought to be suffering from terminal lung cancer - has now finished his chemotherapy sessions and has told wife Joanne Woodward and the couple's three daughters that he wants to spend his final days at his home rather than the New York cancer hospital where he was being treated.
A close family friend told the MailOnline website: "Paul didn't want to die in the hospital. Joanne and their daughters are beside themselves with grief."
The 83-year-old actor - who co-owns a motor racing team - has reportedly started getting his business affairs in order in preparation for his death.
The friend added: "He gave a prized car - a Ferrari with his racing number 82 on it - to a long-time pal. The sudden move angered his children. It's especially hard for them to come to grips with what's going on.
"The word they've been given is that he has only a few weeks to live."
As well as three daughters with Joanne, to who he has been married since 1958, Paul has two daughters with ex-wife Jackie Witte.
Paul is widely considered to be one of the greatest actors in Hollywood, having starred in classic movies including ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', ‘The Sting', ‘The Hustler' and ‘Cool Hand Luke'.
Throughout his career, Paul has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won one of the prestigious awards for his role in ‘The Color of Money' in 1986.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF - THE FILM

Fiddler on the Roof is the 1971 film version of the Broadway musical of the same name. It was directed by Norman Jewison. The film won three Academy Awards, including one for arranger-conductor John Williams. It was nominated for several more, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Chaim Topol as Tevye, and Best Supporting Actor for Leonard Frey, who played Motel the Tailor (both had originally acted in the musical; Topol as Tevye in the London production and Frey in a minor part as the rabbi's son). The decision to cast Topol as Tevye instead of Zero Mostel was a somewhat controversial one, as the role had originated with Mostel and he had made it famous.

Recording was done at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England. Most of the exterior shots were done in Croatia: in Mala Gorica, Lekenik, and Zagreb.

The film follows the plot of the stage play very closely, although it omits the songs "Now I Have Everything" and "The Rumor". It takes place in the Jewish village of Anatevka in Tsarist Russia in 1905 and centers on the character of Tevye, a poor milkman, and his daughters' marriages. As Tevye says in the introductory narration, the Jews have relied upon their traditions to maintain the stability of their way of life for centuries; but as times change, that stability is threatened on the small scale by Tevye's daughters' wishes to marry men not chosen in the traditional way by the matchmaker, and on the large scale by pogroms and revolution in Russia.

Cast

Chaim Topol as Tevye
Norma Crane as Golde
Leonard Frey as Motel Kamzoil
Molly Picon as Yente
Paul Mann as Lazar Wolf
Rosalind Harris as Tzeitel
Michele Marsh as Hodel
Neva Small as Chava
Paul Michael Glaser as Perchik
Ray Lovelock as Fyedka
Elaine Edwards as Shprintze
Candy Bonstein as Bielke
Shimen Ruskin as Mordcha
Zvee Scooler as Rabbi
Louis Zorich as Constable
Tutte Lemkow as the Fiddler (His playing was overdubbed by Isaac Stern).

Synopsis

The film centers on the family of Tevye, a Jewish milkman in the village of Anatevka (probably in the Pale of Settlement) in Tsarist Russia. Tevye breaks the fourth wall by talking at times directly to the audience or to the heavens (to God) for the audience's benefit. Much of the story is also told in musical form.

Tevye is terribly poor despite working hard, as are most of the Jews in Anatevka. He and his wife, Golde, have five daughters, which is another burden for Tevye to shoulder (as he cannot afford a dowry to marry them off). Life in the shtetl of Anatevka is very hard and Tevye speaks not only of the difficulties of being poor but also of the Jewish community's constant fear of harassment from their non-Jewish neighbors.

The film begins with Tevye explaining to the audience that what keeps the Jews of Anatevka going is the balance they achieve through obedience to their ancient traditions. He also explains that the lot of the Jews in Russia is as precarious as a fiddler on a roof: trying to eke out a pleasant tune while not breaking their necks. The fiddler appears throughout the film as a metaphoric reminder of the Jews' ever-present fears and danger. While in town, Tevye meets Perchik, a student with modern religious and political ideas (he is clearly a Marxist). Tevye invites Perchik to live with him and his family in exchange for Perchick tutoring his daughters.

Through Yente the matchmaker, Tevye arranges for his oldest daughter, Tzeitel, to marry the only wealthy Jewish man in Anatevka, Lazar Wolf the butcher. However, Tzeitel is in love with her childhood sweetheart, Motel the tailor, and begs her father not to make her marry the much older butcher. Tevye reluctantly agrees and, despite the humiliation suffered by Lazar Wolf, Tzeitel and Motel arrange to be married. At the wedding, an argument breaks out between the guests over whether a girl should be able to choose her own husband. Perchik addresses the crowd and says that since they love each other it should be left for the couple to decide. He creates further controversy when he asks Tevye's daughter Hodel to dance with him, crossing the barrier between the men and women. Eventually, the crowd warms up to the idea and the wedding proceeds with great joy. Suddenly, a mob of local peasants arrive and begin a pogrom, attacking the Jews and their property.

Later, as Perchik prepares to leave Anatevka to work for the revolution, he tells Hodel that he loves her, and she agrees to marry him. When they tell Tevye, he is furious that they have decided to marry without his permission, and with Perchik leaving Anatevka, but he eventually relents because they love each other. Weeks later, when Perchik is arrested in Kiev and exiled to Siberia, Hodel decides to travel to join him there.

Meanwhile, Tevye's third daughter, Chava, has been flirting with a young Russian man, Fyedka, and eventually works up the courage to ask Tevye to allow her to marry him. In a soliloquy, Tevye concludes that while he could accept his older daughters' choosing their own husbands, he cannot countenance Chava marrying a non-Jew, in effect abandoning the Jewish faith, and forbids her to associate with him, but she elopes with him and marries in a Russian Orthodox Church.

Finally, the Jews of Anatevka are notified that the Russian government will force the Jews to leave the village; they have three days to pack up and leave. Tevye and his family and friends begin packing up to leave, heading variously for New York, Chicago, Palestine, and other places they know nothing about. Just before the credits, Tevye spots the fiddler and motions to him to come along. The film ends with a long, slow shot of the Jews walking out of their former village at sunset.

Awards

The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) in 1972. It also won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.

External links

Official site
Fiddler on the Roof at the Internet Broadway Database
Fiddler on the Roof at the Internet Movie Database
Fiddler on the Roof at Allmovie
Fiddler on the Roof at the TCM Movie Database

STARDUST MEMORIES

Stardust Memories is a 1980 film written and directed by Woody Allen. Allen considers this to be one of his best films in addition to The Purple Rose of Cairo and Match Point.[1] Considered by some to be an homage to 8½ by Federico Fellini, the film is shot in black-and-white in the style of Fellini's surrealist films of the 1960s.

It examines the semi-autobiographical story of a famous filmmaker, played by Allen, who is plagued by fans who prefer his "earlier, funnier movies" to his more recent artistic efforts, while he tries to reconcile his conflicting attraction to two very different women, the earnest, intellectual Daisy (Jessica Harper), and the more maternal Isobel (Marie-Christine Barrault) while being haunted by memories of his ex-girlfriend, the mercurial Dorrie (Charlotte Rampling). The conflict between the maternal, nurturing woman and the earnest, usually younger one, is a recurring theme in Allen's films. It was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award for "Best Comedy written directly for screen".

Like many of Allen's films, Stardust Memories incorporates several jazz recordings and includes classic performances by such jazz notables as Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt, and Chick Webb.

Cast

The film featured Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, Marie-Christine Barrault, Daniel Stern, Tony Roberts, Amy Wright, Judith Roberts, and Helen Hanft.

Among the extended cast members were an ingenue named Sharon Stone, in her first film appearance; future political commentator Alan Colmes (Hannity & Colmes, the Fox News Channel), in his first role; a young Brent Spiner, later famous as Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation; Laraine Newman of Saturday Night Live fame; and Allen's ex-wife Louise Lasser.

Controversy

Allen denies that this film is biographical and regrets that audiences interpreted it as such.[2]

The film sharply divided both audiences and critics, and to this day it provokes strong reactions, with some Allen fans proclaiming it his best picture and perhaps just as many classing it among his worst.[3][4]

Box office

Stardust Memories opened in North America on September 26, 1980 to on onslaught of bad reviews. At 29 theatres, it grossed $326,779 ($11,268 per screen) in its opening weekend. The film failed to attract more than Woody Allen's loyal fanbase in the long run, and it grossed a modest $10,389,003 by the end of its run. The film's budget was $10 million, so it likely made a profit after foreign revenue was taken into account.[5]

References

Allen, Woody; Stig Björkman (1994). Woody Allen on Woody Allen: In Conversation with Stig Björkman. New York: Grove Press.

1-^ Lax, Eric (2007). Conversations With Woody Allen. Alfred A. Knopf.
2-^ Nichols, Mary P. (1998). Reconstructing Woody: Art, Love, and Life in the Films of Woody Allen. Rowman & Littlefield, 4.
3-^ Maslin, Janet. "The Acid Humor of Woody Allen's 'Stardust Memories'", The New York Times, September 26, 1980.
4-^ Stardust Memories: About the DVD. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
5-^ Stardust Memories. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.

External links

Stardust Memories at the Internet Movie Database
In depth review of Stardust Memories

RADIO DAYS

Radio Days is a 1987 film directed by Woody Allen. The film looks back on American family life during the Golden Age of Radio.

Allen narrates the stories of his youth, although he is never seen by the audience. The young Allen is portrayed onscreen by Seth Green as "Joe".

Synopsis

The Narrator (Woody Allen) tells us how the radio influenced his childhood in the days before the TV. In the New York City of the late 1930s to the New Year of 1944, this coming-of-age tale mixes the Narrator's experiences with contemporary anecdotes and urban legends of the radio stars.

Even though the Narrator's Jewish-American family lives modestly in the Queens neighborhood of Rockaway Beach, each member finds in radio shows an escape from reality through the gossip of celebrities, sports legends of the day, crooners, etc. For the Narrator, the action adventurers on the radio (one of them based on The Shadow) inspire him, as he daydreams about his attractive replacement teacher, movie stars, and World War II. Meanwhile, the story of an aspiring radio star's (Mia Farrow) career is also told, along with the tale of the Narrator's aunt Bea (Dianne Wiest) and her search for love.

The musical score features classic songs from the 1930s and 40s, which play an important part in the plot. Even Orson Welles's famous radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds has an important role in Bea's life.

While having similarities to both Manhattan and Fellini's Amarcord, this film is Woody Allen's homage to his beloved New York City.

Awards and nominations

1988 Academy Awards (Oscars)
Nominated – Best Achievement in Art Direction: Art Direction: Speed Hopkins — Set Decoration: Carol Joffe, Leslie Bloom, George de Titta, Jr.
Nominated – Best Original Screenplay: Woody Allen

1988 BAFTA Film Awards
Won – Best Costume Design : Jeffery Kurland
Won – Best Production Design: Santo Loquasto
Nominated – Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Dianne Wiest
Nominated – Best Editing: Susan E. Morse
Nominated – Best Film: Robert Greenhut, Woody Allen
Nominated – Best Screenplay Original: Woody Allen
Nominated – Best Sound: Robert Hein, James Sabat, Lee Dichter

1988 Writers Guild of America Awards
Nominated – WGA Screen Award for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: Woody Allen

External links

Radio Days at the Internet Movie Database
[hide]
v • d • eFilms directed by Woody Allen
1960s
What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966) · Take the Money and Run (1969)
1970s
Men of Crisis: The Harvey Wallinger Story (1971) · Bananas (1971) · Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972) · Sleeper (1973) · Love and Death (1975) · Annie Hall (1977) · Interiors (1978) · Manhattan (1979)
1980s
Stardust Memories (1980) · A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982) · Zelig (1983) · Broadway Danny Rose (1984) · The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) · Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) · Radio Days (1987) · September (1987) · Another Woman (1988) · New York Stories (1989) · Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
1990s
Alice (1990) · Shadows and Fog (1992) · Husbands and Wives (1992) · Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) · Bullets Over Broadway (1994) · Don't Drink the Water (1994) · Mighty Aphrodite (1995) · Everyone Says I Love You (1996) · Deconstructing Harry (1997) · Celebrity (1998) · Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
2000s
Small Time Crooks (2000) · The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) · Hollywood Ending (2002) · Anything Else (2003) · Melinda and Melinda (2005) · Match Point (2005) · Scoop (2006) · Cassandra's Dream (2007) · Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Days"

THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX

The Flight of the Phoenix is a 1964 novel by Elleston Trevor and a 1965 film adaptation. The plot involves the crash of a transport aircraft in the middle of a desert and the survivors' desperate attempt to save themselves.
The film was directed by Robert Aldrich, and stars James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Ernest Borgnine, Hardy Krüger, George Kennedy, Dan Duryea, Ronald Fraser and Ian Bannen.

Plot

Pilot Frank Towns (James Stewart) and navigator Lew Moran (Richard Attenborough) are ferrying a mixed bag of passengers out of the Sahara, among them oil workers, a couple of British soldiers and a German who was visiting his brother. An unexpected sandstorm forces the aircraft down, damaging it, killing two of the men, and severely injuring a third.

The survivors wait for rescue but begin to worry as the storm has blown them far off course, away from where searchers would look for them. After several days, Captain Harris (Peter Finch) marches towards a distant oasis together with another passenger. His aide Sergeant Watson (Ronald Fraser) feigns a leg injury and does not join Harris. Days later, Harris barely manages to return to the crash site.

As the water begins to run out, Heinrich Dorfmann (Hardy Krüger), a precise, arrogant German aeronautical engineer, proposes a radical solution. He claims they can rebuild a new aircraft from the wreckage, using the only working engine and adding skids to take off. They set to work.

At one point they spot a party of nomadic Arabs. Captain Harris decides to ask them for help, but Sergeant Watson refuses to accompany him. Instead, the doctor (Christian Marquand) - a person familiar with the local Arab dialect - goes with him. The next day, Towns finds their looted bodies, throats cut, and the nomads gone.

Later, Towns finds out that Dorfmann's job is designing model aircraft, not real, full-scale ones. Afraid of the effect on morale, he and Moran keep their discovery secret, though they now believe Dorfmann's plan is doomed. However, they turn out to be wrong. The aircraft is reborn, like the mythical Phoenix. It flies the passengers, lying on the wings, to an oasis and civilization.

Production

Locations

Principal photography started 26 April 1965 at the 20th Century-Fox Studios and 20th Century-Fox Ranch, California. Other filming locations, simulating the desert, were Buttercup Valley, Arizona and [[Pilot Knob Mesa, California. The flying sequences were all filmed at Pilot Knob Mesa near Winterhaven, located in Imperial Valley, California on the northern fringes of Yuma, Arizona.

Aircraft used

In 2005, Hollywood aviation historian Simon Beck identified the aircraft used in the film:
Fairchild C-82A Packet, N6887C - flying shots.
Fairchild C-82A Packet, N4833V - outdoor location wreck.
Fairchild C-82A Packet, N53228 - indoor studio wreck.
Fairchild R4Q-1 Flying Boxcar (the USMC C-119C variant), BuNo. 126580 - non-flying Phoenix prop.
Tallmantz Phoenix P-1, N93082 - flying Phoenix aircraft.
North American O-47A, N4725V - second flying Phoenix.

The C-82As were from Steward-Davies Inc. at Long Beach, CA, while the O-47A came from the Air Museum – Planes of Fame in California. The R4Q-1 was purchased from Allied Aircraft of Phoenix, AZ. The aerial camera platform was a B-25J Mitchell, N1042B, which was also used in the 1970 film Catch-22. The flying sequences were flown by Paul Mantz and Frank Tallman, co-owners of the Tallmantz Aviation.

A famous racing/stunt/movie pilot and collector of warplanes, Paul Mantz was flying the Tallmantz Phoenix P-1, the machine that was "made of the wreckage", in a low level pass in front of the cameras when he caught a skid on a hillock. The movie model crashed and broke apart, killing Mantz and seriously injuring stuntman Bobby Rose onboard.[1]

Although principal photography "wrapped" on 13 August 1965, in order to complete filming, a North American O-47A N4725V from the Planes of Fame Air Museum (Claremont, California) was modified and used as a flying Phoenix stand-in. With the canopy removed, a set of skids attached to the main landing gear as well as ventral fin added to the tail, made it a visual look-a-like. Filming using the O-47A was completed in October/November 1965. It appears in the last flying scenes, painted to look like the earlier Phoenix P-1.

The final production utilized a mix of footage that included the O-47A, the "cobbled-together" Phoenix and Phoenix P-1.

Reception

Critically acclaimed as a tense, character-driven study of men in adversity, The Flight of the Phoenix was nominated for two Academy Awards: Ian Bannen for Supporting Actor and Michael Luciano for Film Editing.

See also

Coffman engine starter, the starter system which uses an explosive cartridge to supply gas pressure. In the film, Towns and Dorfmann have a big argument on how to use their few remaining cartridges to try to start the engine of the rebuilt aircraft.

References

Notes

1^ Check-Six.com - The Final Flight of the Phoenix

Bibliography

Cox, Stephen. It's a Wonderful Life: A Memory Book. Nashville, Tennessee: Cumberland House, 2003. ISBN 1-58182-337-1.
Eliot, Mark. Jimmy Stewart: A Biography. New York: Random House, 2006. ISBN 1-4000-5221-1.
Hardwick, Jack and Schnepf, Ed. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies." The Making of the Great Aviation Films. General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
The Jimmy Stewart Museum Home Page. The Jimmy Stewart Museum Home Page. Retrieved: 18 February 2007.
Jones, Ken D., McClure, Arthur F. and Twomey, Alfred E. The Films of James Stewart. New York: Castle Books, 1970.
Munn, Michael. Jimmy Stewart: The Truth Behind The Legend. Fort Lee, New Jersey: Barricade Books Inc., 2006. ISBN 1-56980-310-2.
Pickard, Roy. Jimmy Stewart: A Life in Film. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. ISBN 0-312-08828-0.
Robbins, Jhan. Everybody's Man: A Biography of Jimmy Stewart. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1985. ISBN 0-399-12973-1.
Thomas, Tony. A Wonderful Life: The Films and Career of James Stewart. Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1988. ISBN 0-8065-1081-1.

External links

The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) at the Internet Movie Database

The Sheila Variations: RIP, Shelley Winters

The Sheila Variations: RIP, Shelley Winters

MARATHON MAN

Marathon Man is a 1974 paranoid thriller novel by William Goldman. In 1976 it was made into a film of the same name starring Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, and Roy Scheider and directed by John Schlesinger.

Plot introduction

The story is about a former Nazi SS dentist from Auschwitz, Dr. Christian Szell (inspired by Josef Mengele, the last doctor in charge of Auschwitz II), now residing in Paraguay (changed to Uruguay for the movie), trying to smuggle a large quantity of diamonds out of the U.S. after the death of his brother. This involves an ultra-secret intelligence agency called "The Division." The plot revolves around Thomas "Babe" Levy, a history graduate student at Columbia University and runner who is haunted by the suicide of his father, which was caused by the witchhunts of McCarthyism decades earlier. Thomas also has a brother, who unbeknownst to him works for this secret governmental body.

Both the novel and the film contain a graphic depiction in which Szell tortures Babe by drilling into his teeth, without anesthetic, and repeatedly asking the question, "Is it safe?" Babe does not know what the question means nor the identity of his inquisitor. The dentist offers him oil of cloves as positive inducement to cooperate. The quote "Is it safe?" was ranked #70 on the "100 Years...100 Movie Quotes" list. The quote was humorously parodied near the end of the ZAZ spoof, Hot Shots!.

JUDITH - A DRAMA WITH SOPHIA LOREN

Judith is a 1966 drama film made by Command Productions, Cumulus Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Daniel Mann, produced by Kurt Unger from a screenplay by John Michael Hayes based on the story by Lawrence Durrell. The music score was by Sol Kaplan and the cinematography by John Wilcox.

The film stars Sophia Loren,Peter Finch and Jack Hawkins with Hans Verner, Frank Wolff, Shraga Friedman, André Morell, Zaharira Harifai, Terence Alexander and Daniel Ocko.

Plot

In Palestine shortly before the end of the British mandate, the Haganah has learnt that a former German tank commander, General Gustav Schiller (Hans Verner), is teaching the Arabs batle tactics, but they are unable to locate him. Then they learn of the existence of his Jewish former wife, Judith Auerbach Schiller (Sophia Loren), and arrange for her to be smuggled into Palestine via the port of Haifa. She is placed in the care of Aaron Stein (Peter Finch), a Haganah commander, at a Kibbutz.

Schiller abandoned his wife during the war and took away their son. She was then sent to the Dachau concentration camp, where she was forced to serve in an officers' brothel, but survived.
Judith does not take kindly to the rigours of kibbutz life, and is unable to tell them anything about Schiller, but Stein hopes that she can at least identify him. He "suggests" that she ask the local army commander, Major Lawton (Jack Hawkins), to help her. Judith travels to Haifa to see him and pleads with him to hand over the file on Schiller - which he eventually does. It turns out that Schiller was last known to be in Damascus, Syria.

Judith, Stein and a colleague are smuggled into Damascus and after days of searching, they find Schiller. As they are about to capture him, Judith shoots and wounds him. Schiller is smuggled back to Palestine and interrogated, but he refuses to give any information. Left alone with Judith, he pleads for mercy. But as the kibbutz comes under attack by Arab forces, he finally reveals the battle plans, and also tells Judith that he knows the whereabouts of their son. The room in which he is being kept is bombed and Schiller is killed.

External links

Judith at the Internet Movie Database

THE DELTA FORCE

The Delta Force is a 1986 action film starring Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin as leaders of an elite squad of special forces troops based on the real life U.S. Army Delta Force unit. It was directed by Menahem Golan and featured Martin Balsam, Joey Bishop, Robert Vaughn, Steve James, Robert Forster, Shelley Winters, and George Kennedy. The film was produced in Israel.
The Delta Force was Lee Marvin's last film.

Plot synopsis

A group of Lebanese terrorists hijack American Travelways Boeing 707 (ATW) Flight 282 that is on a flight from Athens, Greece to Rome, Italy and then to New York City.

Taking all passengers and crew hostage, the group, the pro-Khomeini New World Revolutionary Organization, led by Abdul Rifi (Robert Forster), forces pilot Roger Campbell (Bo Svenson) to fly the plane to Beirut, Lebanon, where they make demands to the United States government that, if not met, will result in the death of the hostages.

As a compromise, the terrorists release the women and children passengers. The remaining hostages are transported to a militant controlled area of Beirut. Using a sympathetic Greek Orthodox Priest, Israeli Army Intelligence prepares an operation to free the hostages.

The U.S. quickly responds by sending in Delta Force, an elite counter-terrorism unit led by Major Scott McCoy (Chuck Norris) and Colonel Nick Alexander (Lee Marvin), to rescue the hostages.

Successfully infiltrating the terrorist compound, they kill the terrorists, rescue the hostages, and flee to the safety of Israel on the ATW jetliner, before returning to the U.S on a C-130 transport plane.

Filming locations

The movie was filmed entirely in Israel, making use of Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus's newly opened GG Israel Studios facility in Jerusalem. The Beirut, Tel-Aviv and Athens airport sequences in the film were filmed at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel-Aviv. In some sequences, Hebrew lettering and Israeli Police emblems are visible on some of the supposed Lebanese airport barriers.

The military aircraft (notably the Hercules C-130) used in the film was on loan from the Israeli Air Force. The lease arrangement was similar to that used for Iron Eagle.

Historical connections

The hijacked flight in the movie bears many resemblances with the real-life hijack of TWA Flight 847 in 1985:

The route is Cairo-Athens-Rome.

In the film, the flight's final destination is New York. However, Flight 847's final destination was London.

Two terrorists took over the flight, the third one being arrested in Athens.

The flight was diverted to Beirut and Algiers.

The lead flight attendant (played in the movie by Hanna Schygulla) was of German descent and was asked by a hijacker to single out the Jewish passengers on board.

Upon landing, one of the hostages, a United States Navy diver, was shot.

The fictional airline in the movie, ATW (American Travelways), is an anagram of TWA (Trans World Airlines).

The hostage rescue operation was inspired by Operation Entebbe, which was conducted by Israeli commandos in 1976. It was the subject of another movie by Menahem Golan, Mivtsa Yonatan (released in English as Operation Thunderbolt), in 1977.

The beginning of the film replicated Operation Eagle Claw, the aborted attempt to rescue American hostages held at the U.S. Embassy in Iran in 1980. The movie inaccurately displays the cause of the aborting of the mission. In the film a helicopter appears to be smoking and then suddenly explodes — possibly the result of a crash landing — upon which the Delta Force choose to evacuate the area. The reality was that two of the helicopters failed to turn up at Desert One, while one of the six helicopters that made it had a mechanical failure. It was at this point that the CO of Delta Force chose to scrub the mission and return the following night. During this phase a collision occurred between one of the RH-53D choppers and a C-130 being used as an on-the-ground refuelling station for the helicopters, killing 5 Air Force personnel and 3 Marines.

External links

The Delta Force at the Internet Movie Database

MONSIEUR KLEIN

Monsieur Klein (Mr. Klein) is a French 1976 film directed by Joseph Losey, with Alain Delon starring in the title role.

Synopsis

It is 1942, the war is in full swing and France is occupied by the Nazis. To Robert Klein, however, these events are of little concern. As an art dealer, he makes a nice profit off the situation of the Jews, who are selling their possessions in a hurry to leave the country. He holds no political affinities and chooses to remain indifferent. All this changes when one day, a Jewish newspaper is accidentally delivered to his address, and Klein discovers there is another Robert Klein residing in Paris, a Jew sought by the police. When the other Klein cannot be found, authorities grow suspicious and the art dealer is forced to offer proof of his French heritage. Before long he's entangled in a quest to track down his elusive namesake and find out what happened.

Symbolism and allusions

Although Losey integrates historical elements (such as the Rafle du Vel'd'Hiv) into the film, it is more than a reconstruction of the life and status of the Jews under the Vichy regime.

The relationship of the film with the works of the writer Franz Kafka has often been noted: the link with The Metamorphosis, telling of the brutal and sudden transformation of a man into a cockroach, with The Castle, which describes a search for one's own identity by way of getting to know "the other", or with The Trial, which sees an accused man become an outlaw of society.

Awards

The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival but lost to Taxi Driver. However, Monsieur Klein did win the César Award for Best Film while Losey won the César Award for Best Director. Alexandre Trauner won the César Award for Best Production Design, and in addition the film was nominated for Césars in four other categories.

JAKOB THE LIAR

Jakob the Liar is a 1999 black comedy film directed by Peter Kassovitz and starring Robin Williams, Alan Arkin, Liev Schreiber, Hannah Taylor-Gordon, and Bob Balaban.
The movie is set in 1944 in a ghetto in Poland, in the times of the Holocaust. The movie is based on the book by Jurek Becker about World War II Jewish Ghetto life. It's also a remake of the German DEFA film from 1975.

Plot

In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being falsely accused of being out after curfew. While waiting for the German Kommandant, Jakob overhears a German radio broadcast about Russian troop movements. Returned to the ghetto, the shopkeeper shares his information with a friend and then rumors fly that there is a secret radio within the ghetto. Jakob uses the chance to spread hope throughout the ghetto by continuing to tell favorable tales of information from "his secret radio." Jakob, however, has a real secret in that he is hiding a young Jewish girl who escaped from a camp transport train. These lies keep hope and humor alive among the ghetto inhabitants. The Germans learn of the mythical radio, however, and begin a search for the resistance hero who dares operate it.

See also

List of Holocaust films

External links

Jakob the Liar at the Internet Movie Database
Jakob the Liar at Rotten Tomatoes

DANNY KAYE

Danny Kaye (January 18, 1913 – March 3, 1987)[1] was an American award-winning actor, singer and comedian.

Biography

Early life

Born David Daniel Kaminsky to Jewish Ukrainian immigrants in Brooklyn, Kaye became one of the world's best-known comedians. He spent his early youth attending Public School 149 in East New York, Brooklyn, before moving to Thomas Jefferson High School, but he never graduated. He learned his trade in his teen years in the Catskills as a tummler in the Borscht Belt.

Career

Danny Kaye made his film debut in a 1935 comedy short entitled Moon Over Manhattan. In 1937 he signed with New York-based Educational Pictures for a series of two-reel comedies. Kaye usually played a manic, dark-haired, fast-talking Russian in these low-budget shorts, opposite young hopefuls June Allyson or Imogene Coca. The Kaye series ended abruptly when the studio shut down permanently in 1938.

Kaye scored a personal triumph in 1941, in the hit Broadway comedy Lady in the Dark. His show-stopping number was "Tchaikovsky", by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, in which he sang the names of a whole string of Russian composers at breakneck speed, seemingly without taking a breath.

His feature film debut was in producer Samuel Goldwyn's Technicolor 1944 comedy Up in Arms, a remake of Goldwyn's Eddie Cantor comedy Whoopee! (1930). Goldwyn agonized over Kaye's ethnic, Borscht-belt looks and ordered him to undergo a nose job. Kaye refused, and Goldwyn found another way to brighten Kaye's dark features by lightening his hair, giving him his trademark redheaded locks. Kaye's rubber face and fast patter were an instant hit, and rival producer Robert M. Savini cashed in almost immediately by compiling three of Kaye's old Educational Pictures shorts into a makeshift feature, The Birth of a Star (1945).

Kaye starred in several movies with actress Virginia Mayo in the 1940s, and is well known for his roles in films such as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), The Inspector General (1949), On the Riviera (1951) co-starring Gene Tierney, White Christmas (1954, in a role originally intended for Fred Astaire, then Donald O'Connor), Knock on Wood (1954), The Court Jester (1956), and Merry Andrew (1958). Kaye starred in two pictures based on biographies, Hans Christian Andersen (1952) about the Danish story-teller, and The Five Pennies (1959) about jazz pioneer Red Nichols. His wife, writer/lyricist Sylvia Fine, wrote many of the witty, tongue-twisting songs Danny Kaye became famous for. Some of Kaye's films included the theme of doubles, two people who look identical (both played by Danny Kaye) being mistaken for each other, to comic effect. The Kaye-Fine marriage, as was the case with many spouses who worked together in the high-pressure world of film-making, was sometimes stormy.

During World War II, the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated rumors that Kaye dodged the draft by manufacturing a medical condition to gain 4-F status and exemption from military service. FBI files show he was also under investigation for supposed links with Communist groups. None of the allegations was ever substantiated, and he was never charged with any associated crime.[2]

Other projects

Kaye starred in a radio program of his own, The Danny Kaye Show, on CBS in 1945-1946. Despite its clever writing (by radio legend Goodman Ace, Sylvia Fine, and respected playwright-director Abe Burrows) and performing cast (including Eve Arden, Lionel Stander, and Big Band leader Harry James), the show lasted only a year.

Kaye was sufficiently popular that he inspired imitations:

The 1946 Warner Bros. cartoon Book Revue had a lengthy sequence with Daffy Duck impersonating Kaye singing "Carolina in the Morning" with the Russian accent that Kaye would affect from time to time.

Satirical songwriter Tom Lehrer's 1953 song "Lobachevsky" was based on a number that Kaye had done, about the Russian director Konstantin Stanislavski, again with the affected Russian accent. Lehrer mentioned Kaye in the opening monologue, citing him as an "idol since childbirth".
When he appeared at the London Palladium music hall in 1948, he "roused the Royal family to shrieks of laughter and was the first of many performers who have turned English variety into an American preserve." Life magazine described his reception as "worshipful hysteria" and noted that the royal family, for the first time in history, left the royal box to see the show from the front row of the orchestra.

He hosted the 24th Academy Awards in 1952. The program was broadcast only on radio. Telecasts of the Oscar ceremony would come later.

He hosted his own variety hour on CBS television, The Danny Kaye Show, from 1963 to 1967. During this period, beginning in 1964, he acted as television host to the annual CBS telecasts of MGM's The Wizard of Oz. Kaye also did a stint as one of the What's My Line? Mystery Guests on the popular Sunday night CBS-TV quiz program. Kaye later served as a guest panelist on that show.

He guest-stared much later in his career in episodes of The Muppet Show, The Cosby Show and in the 1980s remake of The Twilight Zone.

Kaye was the original owner of baseball's Seattle Mariners along with his partner Lester Smith from1977 to 1981. Prior to that, the lifelong fan of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers recorded a song called "The D-O-D-G-E-R-S Song (Oh really? No, O'Malley!)", describing a fictitious encounter with the San Francisco Giants, which was a hit during those clubs' real-life pennant chase of 1962. That song is included on one of the Baseball's Greatest Hits compact disc's.

During the 1950s, Kaye also acted in a pantomime production of Cinderella, in Sydney, Australia, where he played the role of "Buttons", Cinderella's stepfather's servant, and also Cinderella's friend. In the 1970s Kaye injured his leg during the run of the Richard Rodgers musical Two by Two, but went on with the show, cavorting on stage from a wheelchair.

In many of his movies, as well as on stage, Kaye proved to be an able actor, singer, dancer and comedian. He showed quite a different and serious side as Ambassador for UNICEF and in his dramatic role in the memorable TV movie Skokie, in which he played a Holocaust survivor. Before his death in 1987, Kaye demonstrated his ability to conduct an orchestra during a comical, but technically sound, series of concerts organized for UNICEF fundraising. Kaye received two Academy Awards -- an honorary award in 1955 and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1982.

In 1980, Kaye hosted and sang in the 25th Anniversary of Disneyland celebration, and hosted the opening celebration for Epcot in 1982 (EPCOT Center at the time), both of which were aired on prime-time American television.

In his later years he took to entertaining at home as chef — he had a special stove installed in his patio — and specialized in Chinese cooking. The library at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York is named for him.

He also had a longstanding interest in medicine and was permitted to observe surgery on several occasions.[3]

The bench at Danny Kaye's grave in Kensico Cemetery

Kaye died in 1987 from a heart attack, following a bout of hepatitis. He left a widow, Sylvia Fine, and a daughter, Dena. He is interred in the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. His grave is adorned with a bench that contains friezes of a baseball and bat, an aircraft, a piano, a flower pot, musical notes, and a glove.

Throughout his life, Kaye donated to various charities.

Working alongside UNICEF's Halloween fundraiser founder, Ward Simon Kimball Jr., the actor educated the public on impoverished children in deplorable living conditions overseas and assisted in the distribution of donated goods and funds.

Kaye was enamored by music. While he often claimed an inability to read music, he was quite the conductor. Kaye was often invited to conduct symphonies as charity fundraisers. Over the course of his career he raised over US$5,000,000 in support of musicians pension funds.[4]

Personal life

Some sources claim that Kaye and Laurence Olivier had a 10-year affair in the 1950s, while Olivier was still married to Vivien Leigh.[5] A biography of Leigh states that their affair caused her to have a breakdown.[6] The affair has been denied by Olivier's official biographer, Terry Coleman. He also had a long-term affair with Eve Arden in the 1940s.[7]

Honors and awards

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1981)
Asteroid 6546 Kaye

Filmography

Film

Moon Over Manhattan (1935)
Dime a Dance (1937)
Getting an Eyeful (1938)
Cupid Takes a Holiday (1938)
Money on Your Life (1938)
Up in Arms (1944)
The Birth of a Star (compilation of 1937-38 short subjects) (1945)
Wonder Man (1945)
The Kid from Brooklyn (1946)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
Screen Snapshots: Out of This World Series (1947)
A Song Is Born (1948)
It's a Great Feeling (1949)
The Inspector General (1949)
On the Riviera (1951)
Hans Christian Andersen (1952)
Assignment Children (1954)
Knock on Wood (1954)
Screen Snapshots: Hula from Hollywood (1954)
White Christmas (1954)
Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Beauty (1955)
The Court Jester (1956)
Screen Snapshots: Playtime in Hollywood (1956)
Merry Andrew (1958)
Me and the Colonel (1958)
The Five Pennies (1959)
The Millionairess (1960)
On the Double (1961)
The Man from the Diner's Club (1963)
The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969)
Skokie (1981)

Television

Autumn Laughter (1938)
The Danny Kaye Show with Lucille Ball (1962)
The Danny Kaye Show (1963-967)
Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971) (voice)
An Evening with John Denver (1975)
Pinocchio (1976)
Peter Pan (1976)
The Muppet Show (1978)
An Evening with Danny Kaye (1981)
Skokie (1981)
The New Twilight Zone: "Paladin of the Lost Hour" (1985)
The Cosby Show: "The Dentist" (1986)

References

1-^ Tony Woolway. "Danny Kaye Dies, Aged 74", icWales, 4 Mar 1987. Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
2-^ Freedom of Information/Privacy Act Section. Subject: Danny Kaye. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
3-^ Gottfried, Martin (1994). Nobody's Fool: The Lives of Danny Kaye. New York; London: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671864947.
4-^ Biography of Danny Kaye. The Kennedy Center. Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
5-^ Spoto, Donald (1992). Laurence Olivier: A Biography. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0060183152.
6-^ Capua, Michelangelo (2003). Vivien Leigh: A Biography. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0786414979.
7-^ Gottfried, Martin (1994). Nobody's Fool: The Lives of Danny Kaye. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671864947.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye at the Internet Movie Database
Danny Kaye Tribute and fan website
Tribute to Danny Kaye in The Court Jester
Royal Engineers Museum Danny Kaye in Korea 1952
"Parnell of the Palladium," Willi Frischauer, Oct. 24, 1948, p. X3. The London Palladium and Kaye's reception.