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Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
Cult Epics Indiegogo Campaign For “Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle To Chabrol Written by Jeremy Richey Hardcover Book” + Sylvia Kristel 1970s Collection 4x Blu-ray set.
Los Angeles, CA (April 2021)
For Immediate Press release.
Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle To Chabrol
A trailblazing figure in film and popular culture, Netherlands native Sylvia Kristel became one of the biggest stars in the world as Emmanuelle in 1974. Alongside her most famous role, directed by Just Jaeckin, a little-known fact is that Sylvia Kristel also appeared in over 20 films between 1973 and 1981 featuring exceptional work with some of the greatest directors in film history including Walerian Borowczyk, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Roger Vadim and Claude Chabrol. Now the story of Sylvia’s astonishing career in the '70s is told in Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol, written by Jeremy Richey. Featured are new interviews with Just Jaeckin,...
Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
Cult Epics Indiegogo Campaign For “Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle To Chabrol Written by Jeremy Richey Hardcover Book” + Sylvia Kristel 1970s Collection 4x Blu-ray set.
Los Angeles, CA (April 2021)
For Immediate Press release.
Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle To Chabrol
A trailblazing figure in film and popular culture, Netherlands native Sylvia Kristel became one of the biggest stars in the world as Emmanuelle in 1974. Alongside her most famous role, directed by Just Jaeckin, a little-known fact is that Sylvia Kristel also appeared in over 20 films between 1973 and 1981 featuring exceptional work with some of the greatest directors in film history including Walerian Borowczyk, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Roger Vadim and Claude Chabrol. Now the story of Sylvia’s astonishing career in the '70s is told in Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol, written by Jeremy Richey. Featured are new interviews with Just Jaeckin,...
- 4/16/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Jean-Jacques Annaud – recipient of this year’s EnergaCamerimage Director Duo Award along with his collaborator, Dp Jean-Marie Dreujou – always knew he wanted to be a filmmaker. Born during World War II, the future director got his first Brownie camera at age 7, and his first 35mm still camera at 10. By the time he turned 11, he was shooting 8mm films. “I didn’t want to play with my friends when I got home from school,” he recalls. “I immediately went to edit my films.”
After receiving diplomas from France’s two top film schools – now known as the Louis Lumiere school and La Femis – his teachers offered him up as an assistant to commercial producers, launching him into a career as director of more than 400 TV spots – after which he segued into feature films.
His collaborations with Dreujou include “Two Brothers” (2002), a poignant tale of two tigers struggling against captivity and human...
After receiving diplomas from France’s two top film schools – now known as the Louis Lumiere school and La Femis – his teachers offered him up as an assistant to commercial producers, launching him into a career as director of more than 400 TV spots – after which he segued into feature films.
His collaborations with Dreujou include “Two Brothers” (2002), a poignant tale of two tigers struggling against captivity and human...
- 11/13/2018
- by Peter Caranicas
- Variety Film + TV
Robert De Niro picks up a gun once again as a highly paid spy-mercenary-thief hired for a bit of international larceny, the robbing of a courier of some undisclosed secrets of one kind or another. Juicing up a Melville- like stoic crime fantasy with superb car stunt work puts director John Frankenheimer back in the game, with a worthy project.
Ronin
Blu-ray
Arrow Video USA
1998 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 122 min. / Street Date August 29, 2017 / Available from Arrow Video 39.95
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Sean Bean, Stellan Skarsgard, Skipp Sudduth, Michael Lonsdale, Jan Triska, Jonathan Pryce.
Cinematography: Robert Fraisse
Film Editor: Tony Gibbs
Original Music: Elia Cmiral
Written by J.D. Zeik, David Mamet (as Richard Weisz)
Produced by Frank Mancuso Jr.
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Ronin is something of a last gasp for the Mancuso-era United Artists (MGM), a lavishly appointed all-on-location major action picture directed by a great...
Ronin
Blu-ray
Arrow Video USA
1998 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 122 min. / Street Date August 29, 2017 / Available from Arrow Video 39.95
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Sean Bean, Stellan Skarsgard, Skipp Sudduth, Michael Lonsdale, Jan Triska, Jonathan Pryce.
Cinematography: Robert Fraisse
Film Editor: Tony Gibbs
Original Music: Elia Cmiral
Written by J.D. Zeik, David Mamet (as Richard Weisz)
Produced by Frank Mancuso Jr.
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Ronin is something of a last gasp for the Mancuso-era United Artists (MGM), a lavishly appointed all-on-location major action picture directed by a great...
- 8/15/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Ronin Starring Robert DeNiro and directed by John Frankenheimer will be available from Arrow Academy on August 28th.
Ronin: Noun, historical. A samurai who no longer serves a daimyo, or feudal lord.
From director John Frankenheimer (Reindeer Games, The Manchurian Candidate) comes Ronin, a pulse-pounding, action-packed crime thriller featuring an all-star cast headlined by Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver, Heat) and Jean Reno (Léon: The Professional).
On a rain-swept night in Paris, an international crack team of professional thieves assembles, summoned by a shady crime syndicate fronted by the enigmatic Deirdre (Natascha McElhone, The Devil’s Own). Their mission: to steal a heavily guarded briefcase from armed mobsters, its contents undisclosed. But what begins as a routine heist soon spirals into chaos, with the group beset by a series of double-crosses and constantly shifting allegiances, and it falls to world-weary former CIA strategist Sam (De Niro) and laconic Frenchman...
Ronin: Noun, historical. A samurai who no longer serves a daimyo, or feudal lord.
From director John Frankenheimer (Reindeer Games, The Manchurian Candidate) comes Ronin, a pulse-pounding, action-packed crime thriller featuring an all-star cast headlined by Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver, Heat) and Jean Reno (Léon: The Professional).
On a rain-swept night in Paris, an international crack team of professional thieves assembles, summoned by a shady crime syndicate fronted by the enigmatic Deirdre (Natascha McElhone, The Devil’s Own). Their mission: to steal a heavily guarded briefcase from armed mobsters, its contents undisclosed. But what begins as a routine heist soon spirals into chaos, with the group beset by a series of double-crosses and constantly shifting allegiances, and it falls to world-weary former CIA strategist Sam (De Niro) and laconic Frenchman...
- 8/9/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Director John Frankenheimer.
I'm often asked which, out of the over 600 interviews I've logged with Hollywood's finest, is my favorite. It's not a tough answer: John Frankenheimer.
We instantly clicked the day we met at his home in Benedict Canyon, and spent most of the afternoon talking in his den. A friendship of sorts developed over the years, with visits to his office for screenings of the old Kinescopes he directed for shows like "Playhouse 90" during his salad days in live television during the 1950s.
We hadn't spoken for nearly a year in mid-2002 when the phone rang. It was John, who spoke in what can only be described as a "stentorian bark," like a general. "Alex!" he exclaimed. "John Frankenheimer." He could sense something was amiss with me. It was. My screenwriting career had stalled. My marriage was progressing to divorce. I had hit bottom. John knew that...
I'm often asked which, out of the over 600 interviews I've logged with Hollywood's finest, is my favorite. It's not a tough answer: John Frankenheimer.
We instantly clicked the day we met at his home in Benedict Canyon, and spent most of the afternoon talking in his den. A friendship of sorts developed over the years, with visits to his office for screenings of the old Kinescopes he directed for shows like "Playhouse 90" during his salad days in live television during the 1950s.
We hadn't spoken for nearly a year in mid-2002 when the phone rang. It was John, who spoke in what can only be described as a "stentorian bark," like a general. "Alex!" he exclaimed. "John Frankenheimer." He could sense something was amiss with me. It was. My screenwriting career had stalled. My marriage was progressing to divorce. I had hit bottom. John knew that...
- 7/6/2015
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Hotel Rwanda
This review was written for the festival screening of Hotel Rwanda.
Following on the promise of his 1996 directorial debut, Some Mother's Son, writer-director Terry George delivers a compelling dramatization of a Rwandan man's quiet heroics in the midst of his country's 1994 civil war.
Both tough and tender, the movingly rendered production often strikes a devastating chord without resorting to any of the manipulative string-pulling known to accompany movies about "men who made a difference."
But the film's biggest secret weapon is a commanding turn by the always-reliable Don Cheadle as selfless hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina. Required to appear in virtually every scene, Cheadle impressively carries the entire picture, delivering the kind of note-perfect performance that's absolutely deserving of Oscar consideration.
With the right kind of marketing, Hotel Rwanda has the crowd-stirring potential to generate solid awards season business.
When we first meet Cheadle's Rusesabagina, the eager-to-please manager of a posh hotel caters to his important guests with precision hospitality. He knows whose checked briefcases should be returned containing a couple of bottles of good scotch, just in case he may need a little assistance down the road.
Paul is required to cash in on those stockpiled favors a lot sooner than anticipated when tension between his country's Hutu extremist and Tutsi populations erupts into an all-out blood bath.
Amidst all the slaughter (three months later one million people would be killed), Paul turns the luxurious, Belgian-owned Hotel Mille Collines into a shelter not only for his own wife and family, but also to shield hundreds and hundreds of Tutsi refugees who were being hunted down and massacred.
Only slightly less shameful is the general indifference his country's plight is met with by the rest of the world, leaving Rusesabagina to call upon his rapidly dwindling resources to save as many lives as he can until a promised United Nations rescue materializes.
Despite the socio-political context, the film also functions as an effective romantic drama centered around the moving relationship shared by Rusesabagina and his wife Tatiana (equally well-played by Sophie Okonedo), a woman of similar resolve.
Rounding out the fine performances are Nick Nolte as a sympathetic but essentially powerless UN officer and Joaquin Phoenix as a photojournalist who becomes emotionally involved with a Rwandan woman.
Reminiscent of The Killing Fields in its blend of unflinching realism (actually staged in South Africa) and human drama, Hotel Rwanda also calls to mind the work of Jim Sheridan, with whom George collaborated on In the Name of the Father and The Boxer.
Those production values are reinforced by the immediacy of Robert Fraisse's cinematography and by Andrea Guerra's evocative, multi-layered score.
United Artists
A United Artists presentation in association with Lions Gate Entertainment
A South Africa/United Kingdom/Italy co-production in association with The Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa
A Miracle Pictures/Seamus production in association with Inside Track
Credits:
Director: Terry George
Screenwriters: Terry George, Keir Pearson
Producers: Terry George, A. Kitman Ho
Executive producers: Hal Sadoff, Martin F. Katz, Duncan Reid, Sam Bhembe
Director of photography: Robert Fraisse
Production designer: Johnny Breedt
Editor: Naomi Geraghty
Costume designer: Ruy Filipe
Music: Andrea Guerra.
Cast:
Paul Rusesabagina: Don Cheadle
Tatiana: Sophie Okonedo
Jack: Joaquin Phoenix
Colonel Oliver: Nick Nolte
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA Rating: not yet rated...
Following on the promise of his 1996 directorial debut, Some Mother's Son, writer-director Terry George delivers a compelling dramatization of a Rwandan man's quiet heroics in the midst of his country's 1994 civil war.
Both tough and tender, the movingly rendered production often strikes a devastating chord without resorting to any of the manipulative string-pulling known to accompany movies about "men who made a difference."
But the film's biggest secret weapon is a commanding turn by the always-reliable Don Cheadle as selfless hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina. Required to appear in virtually every scene, Cheadle impressively carries the entire picture, delivering the kind of note-perfect performance that's absolutely deserving of Oscar consideration.
With the right kind of marketing, Hotel Rwanda has the crowd-stirring potential to generate solid awards season business.
When we first meet Cheadle's Rusesabagina, the eager-to-please manager of a posh hotel caters to his important guests with precision hospitality. He knows whose checked briefcases should be returned containing a couple of bottles of good scotch, just in case he may need a little assistance down the road.
Paul is required to cash in on those stockpiled favors a lot sooner than anticipated when tension between his country's Hutu extremist and Tutsi populations erupts into an all-out blood bath.
Amidst all the slaughter (three months later one million people would be killed), Paul turns the luxurious, Belgian-owned Hotel Mille Collines into a shelter not only for his own wife and family, but also to shield hundreds and hundreds of Tutsi refugees who were being hunted down and massacred.
Only slightly less shameful is the general indifference his country's plight is met with by the rest of the world, leaving Rusesabagina to call upon his rapidly dwindling resources to save as many lives as he can until a promised United Nations rescue materializes.
Despite the socio-political context, the film also functions as an effective romantic drama centered around the moving relationship shared by Rusesabagina and his wife Tatiana (equally well-played by Sophie Okonedo), a woman of similar resolve.
Rounding out the fine performances are Nick Nolte as a sympathetic but essentially powerless UN officer and Joaquin Phoenix as a photojournalist who becomes emotionally involved with a Rwandan woman.
Reminiscent of The Killing Fields in its blend of unflinching realism (actually staged in South Africa) and human drama, Hotel Rwanda also calls to mind the work of Jim Sheridan, with whom George collaborated on In the Name of the Father and The Boxer.
Those production values are reinforced by the immediacy of Robert Fraisse's cinematography and by Andrea Guerra's evocative, multi-layered score.
United Artists
A United Artists presentation in association with Lions Gate Entertainment
A South Africa/United Kingdom/Italy co-production in association with The Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa
A Miracle Pictures/Seamus production in association with Inside Track
Credits:
Director: Terry George
Screenwriters: Terry George, Keir Pearson
Producers: Terry George, A. Kitman Ho
Executive producers: Hal Sadoff, Martin F. Katz, Duncan Reid, Sam Bhembe
Director of photography: Robert Fraisse
Production designer: Johnny Breedt
Editor: Naomi Geraghty
Costume designer: Ruy Filipe
Music: Andrea Guerra.
Cast:
Paul Rusesabagina: Don Cheadle
Tatiana: Sophie Okonedo
Jack: Joaquin Phoenix
Colonel Oliver: Nick Nolte
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA Rating: not yet rated...
- 2/2/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Notebook
The latest Nicholas Sparks weeper to go Hollywood (see also "Message in a Bottle" and "A Walk to Remember"), "The Notebook" is a particularly soppy romance about a pair of teenagers in love during the summer of 1940-something.
While there's certainly a place in the season's blockbuster release schedule for a quieter, gentler film, mercilessly plodding pacing, problematic character motivations and a fundamental lack of chemistry between the two star-crossed lovers in question don't do a lot to help its cause.
Even the sturdy work of old pros James Garner and Gena Rowlands (in the film's parallel modern-day plotline) can only go so far to help solidify this puddle of mush, which screened this week at the Seattle International Film Festival and opens commercially next month.
Boxoffice prospects for this Hallmark Channel fare would seem iffy.
Thanks to the presence of star Mandy Moore, 2002's syrupy "A Walk to Remember" managed to draw a young teenage female audience that generated respectable numbers. Here, with "Notebook"'s extended period flashbacks, the New Line release skews more toward the kind of older audiences who complain about movies not being made like they used to but will not necessarily run out to see one that claims to be that very thing.
During her proper Southern family's summer vacation in the idyllic coastal town of Seabrook, N.C., (played by Charleston, S.C.), Allie Hamilton ("Mean Girls" co-star Rachel McAdams) catches the eye of local working-class boy Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) at a carnival, and he'll stop at nothing to get her to agree to going out on a date with him.
The two hit it off, much to the glaring disapproval of Allie's parents (Joan Allen and David Thornton), who play a part in breaking up the relationship, as do the outbreak of World War II and various other circumstances.
Those developments, like the rest of Allie and Noah's story, unfold through the mellifluous renderings of James Garner's Duke, who regularly reads the contents of a notebook to an Alzheimer's-afflicted woman (Gena Rowlands) during regular visits to her nursing home.
Naturally there is much more to the Garner-Rowlands relationship than what at first meets the eye, and, thanks to all the less-than-subtle signaling done by director Nick Cassavetes ("John Q") and screenwriters Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi, those details are revealed a lot sooner than intended.
Cassavetes also is fond of achingly prolonged dialogue sequences that keep stopping the film cold dramatically, especially in the face of all that attention-draining flashback business and voice-over narration.
Although Gosling, who excels at playing tortured characters, and McAdams are fine in their respective roles, there's little evidence of Sparks' required sparks between them even with the inclusion of a couple of prudently lit sex scenes that feel gratuitously out of place.
That leaves Garner and Cassavetes' mom, Rowlands, to do the bulk of the emotional lifting, and they deliver the film's few earned tugs at the tear ducts.
Visually, the picture has the desired "On Golden Pond" shimmer thanks to cinematographer Robert Fraisse's nostalgic, sun-burnished compositions.
The Notebook
New Line
New Line Cinema presents a Gran Via production
Credits:
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Screenwriter: Jeremy Leven
Adaptation: Jan Sardi
Based on the novel by: Nicholas Sparks
Producers: Mark Johnson, Lynn Harris
Executive producers: Toby Emmerich, Avram Butch Kaplan
Director of photography: Robert Fraisse
Production designer: Sarah Knowles
Editor: Alan Heim
Costume designer: Karyn Wagner
Music: Aaron Zigman
Cast:
Noah Calhoun: Ryan Gosling
Allie Hamilton: Rachel McAdams
Duke: James Garner
Allie Calhoun: Gena Rowlands
Lon: James Marden
Fin: Kevin Connolly
John Hamilton: David Thornton
Martha Shaw: Jamie Anne Brown
Sarah Tuffington: Heather Wahlquist
Frank Calhoun: Sam Shepard
Anne Hamilton: Joan Allen
MPAA rating: PG-13
Running time -- 121 minutes...
While there's certainly a place in the season's blockbuster release schedule for a quieter, gentler film, mercilessly plodding pacing, problematic character motivations and a fundamental lack of chemistry between the two star-crossed lovers in question don't do a lot to help its cause.
Even the sturdy work of old pros James Garner and Gena Rowlands (in the film's parallel modern-day plotline) can only go so far to help solidify this puddle of mush, which screened this week at the Seattle International Film Festival and opens commercially next month.
Boxoffice prospects for this Hallmark Channel fare would seem iffy.
Thanks to the presence of star Mandy Moore, 2002's syrupy "A Walk to Remember" managed to draw a young teenage female audience that generated respectable numbers. Here, with "Notebook"'s extended period flashbacks, the New Line release skews more toward the kind of older audiences who complain about movies not being made like they used to but will not necessarily run out to see one that claims to be that very thing.
During her proper Southern family's summer vacation in the idyllic coastal town of Seabrook, N.C., (played by Charleston, S.C.), Allie Hamilton ("Mean Girls" co-star Rachel McAdams) catches the eye of local working-class boy Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) at a carnival, and he'll stop at nothing to get her to agree to going out on a date with him.
The two hit it off, much to the glaring disapproval of Allie's parents (Joan Allen and David Thornton), who play a part in breaking up the relationship, as do the outbreak of World War II and various other circumstances.
Those developments, like the rest of Allie and Noah's story, unfold through the mellifluous renderings of James Garner's Duke, who regularly reads the contents of a notebook to an Alzheimer's-afflicted woman (Gena Rowlands) during regular visits to her nursing home.
Naturally there is much more to the Garner-Rowlands relationship than what at first meets the eye, and, thanks to all the less-than-subtle signaling done by director Nick Cassavetes ("John Q") and screenwriters Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi, those details are revealed a lot sooner than intended.
Cassavetes also is fond of achingly prolonged dialogue sequences that keep stopping the film cold dramatically, especially in the face of all that attention-draining flashback business and voice-over narration.
Although Gosling, who excels at playing tortured characters, and McAdams are fine in their respective roles, there's little evidence of Sparks' required sparks between them even with the inclusion of a couple of prudently lit sex scenes that feel gratuitously out of place.
That leaves Garner and Cassavetes' mom, Rowlands, to do the bulk of the emotional lifting, and they deliver the film's few earned tugs at the tear ducts.
Visually, the picture has the desired "On Golden Pond" shimmer thanks to cinematographer Robert Fraisse's nostalgic, sun-burnished compositions.
The Notebook
New Line
New Line Cinema presents a Gran Via production
Credits:
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Screenwriter: Jeremy Leven
Adaptation: Jan Sardi
Based on the novel by: Nicholas Sparks
Producers: Mark Johnson, Lynn Harris
Executive producers: Toby Emmerich, Avram Butch Kaplan
Director of photography: Robert Fraisse
Production designer: Sarah Knowles
Editor: Alan Heim
Costume designer: Karyn Wagner
Music: Aaron Zigman
Cast:
Noah Calhoun: Ryan Gosling
Allie Hamilton: Rachel McAdams
Duke: James Garner
Allie Calhoun: Gena Rowlands
Lon: James Marden
Fin: Kevin Connolly
John Hamilton: David Thornton
Martha Shaw: Jamie Anne Brown
Sarah Tuffington: Heather Wahlquist
Frank Calhoun: Sam Shepard
Anne Hamilton: Joan Allen
MPAA rating: PG-13
Running time -- 121 minutes...
- 7/9/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'Keys to Tulsa'
Gramercy's "Keys to Tulsa" might also be titled "Tulsaville". It's a swirling, saucy mix of Southwestern intrigue and turpitude. Headed by a first-rate ensemble cast, including Mary Tyler Moore and James Coburn, "Keys'" roiling dramatics are unfortunately short-changed by an atonal ending and some abrupt shifts in story emphasis.
Overall, select-site viewers may savor its thick and saucy atmospherics despite the thick-and-thin narrative.
In this oily saga, Eric Stoltz stars as Richter Boudreau, a self-admitted "black sheep son of a black sheep," who despite his smug outsider sensibility finds himself smack-dab back in the privileged world he so cavalierly disdains. Like "Dallas" and other gushy potboilers, "Tulsa" is aswirl with trouble and outfitted with bigger-than-life characters where everyone not only has hidden agendas but knows how to play them out with the most skilled and cunning virtuosity.
The more "normal" people who keep up the front -- including Richter's mother (Moore), who's on her umpteenth marriage -- are also pretty lethal.
The plot itself gushes around a bizarre and somewhat convoluted blackmail scheme that Richter finds himself embroiled in. Although he prides himself on his smarts, he soon finds he's matched against some crazed and cunning foes. Thematically and stylistically, "Keys to Tulsa" is Okie Gothic, awash with the dense delirium of yarns one usually associates with the Deep South. Credit goes to producer-director Leslie Greif for infusing "Tulsa" with its musty, murky tones.
The look is especially vital: kudos to production designer Derek R. Hill, whose opulently decadent look clues us to the inner beings of the characters, and to cinematographer Robert Fraisse for the harsh hues.
Unfortunately, the narrative's somewhat fractured nature -- vacillating between sardonic humor and soap operatics -- is, alas, an oil-and-water mix.
The acting is, perhaps, "Tulsa"'s strength, with Stoltz delivering a wonderfully conflicted performance as the braggadociousbut boondoggled "black sheep." Moore is a delight as his amoral, high-society, serial-marrying mother, while Coburn flashes his wily menace as a bartender you don't mess with. Dudded up in a neo-Elvis look, James Spader is spookily threatening as a cross-wired wacko.
KEYS TO TULSA
Gramercy Pictures
Producers Leslie Greif, Harley Peyton
Director Leslie Greif
Screenwriter Harley Peyton
Based on the novel by Brian Fair Berkey
Executive producers Michael Birnbaum
Peter Isacksen
Line producer Elliot Rosenblatt
Co-producer Guy J. Louthan
Director of photography Robert Fraisse
Music Stephen Endelman
Production designer Derek R. Hill
Editors Eric L. Beason, Louis F. Cioffi
Michael R. Miller
Costume designer Marie France
Casting Fern Champion, Mark Paladini
Sound mixer Lance Hoffman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Richter Boudreau Eric Stoltz
Trudy Cameron Diaz
Louise Brinkman Randy Graff
Preston Liddy Dennis Letts
Cynthia Boudreau Mary Tyler Moore
Billy Josh Ridgway
Bedford Shaw Marco Perella
Harmon Shaw James Coburn
Ronnie Stover James Spader
Vicky Michaels Stover Deborah Kara Unger
Running time -- 113 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Overall, select-site viewers may savor its thick and saucy atmospherics despite the thick-and-thin narrative.
In this oily saga, Eric Stoltz stars as Richter Boudreau, a self-admitted "black sheep son of a black sheep," who despite his smug outsider sensibility finds himself smack-dab back in the privileged world he so cavalierly disdains. Like "Dallas" and other gushy potboilers, "Tulsa" is aswirl with trouble and outfitted with bigger-than-life characters where everyone not only has hidden agendas but knows how to play them out with the most skilled and cunning virtuosity.
The more "normal" people who keep up the front -- including Richter's mother (Moore), who's on her umpteenth marriage -- are also pretty lethal.
The plot itself gushes around a bizarre and somewhat convoluted blackmail scheme that Richter finds himself embroiled in. Although he prides himself on his smarts, he soon finds he's matched against some crazed and cunning foes. Thematically and stylistically, "Keys to Tulsa" is Okie Gothic, awash with the dense delirium of yarns one usually associates with the Deep South. Credit goes to producer-director Leslie Greif for infusing "Tulsa" with its musty, murky tones.
The look is especially vital: kudos to production designer Derek R. Hill, whose opulently decadent look clues us to the inner beings of the characters, and to cinematographer Robert Fraisse for the harsh hues.
Unfortunately, the narrative's somewhat fractured nature -- vacillating between sardonic humor and soap operatics -- is, alas, an oil-and-water mix.
The acting is, perhaps, "Tulsa"'s strength, with Stoltz delivering a wonderfully conflicted performance as the braggadociousbut boondoggled "black sheep." Moore is a delight as his amoral, high-society, serial-marrying mother, while Coburn flashes his wily menace as a bartender you don't mess with. Dudded up in a neo-Elvis look, James Spader is spookily threatening as a cross-wired wacko.
KEYS TO TULSA
Gramercy Pictures
Producers Leslie Greif, Harley Peyton
Director Leslie Greif
Screenwriter Harley Peyton
Based on the novel by Brian Fair Berkey
Executive producers Michael Birnbaum
Peter Isacksen
Line producer Elliot Rosenblatt
Co-producer Guy J. Louthan
Director of photography Robert Fraisse
Music Stephen Endelman
Production designer Derek R. Hill
Editors Eric L. Beason, Louis F. Cioffi
Michael R. Miller
Costume designer Marie France
Casting Fern Champion, Mark Paladini
Sound mixer Lance Hoffman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Richter Boudreau Eric Stoltz
Trudy Cameron Diaz
Louise Brinkman Randy Graff
Preston Liddy Dennis Letts
Cynthia Boudreau Mary Tyler Moore
Billy Josh Ridgway
Bedford Shaw Marco Perella
Harmon Shaw James Coburn
Ronnie Stover James Spader
Vicky Michaels Stover Deborah Kara Unger
Running time -- 113 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 4/7/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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