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Dean Riesner
Dean Riesner (November 3, 1918 – August 18, 2002) was an American film and television writer. Biography Riesner was born in New Rochelle, New York. His father, Charles Reisner, was a German American silent film director, and Dean began acting in films at the age of four as Dinky Dean. His most notable role was in Charlie Chaplin's 1923 film '' The Pilgrim''. His career at this young age ended because his mother wanted her son to have a real childhood. As an adult, his first job in films was as a co-writer of the 1939 Ronald Reagan movie ''Code of the Secret Service''. Riesner won an Oscar for directing ''Bill and Coo'' (1948), a feature film with a cast of real birds, costumed as humans, acting on the world's smallest film set. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Riesner worked primarily in television, including writing for '' Rawhide'' and the "Tourist Attraction" episode of '' The Outer Limits'', although he occasionally contributed to feature films like ''The Helen Morgan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of New York. Some residents refer to the city as '' New Ro'' or ''New Roc City''. History Etymology and early history The European settlement was started by refugee Huguenots (French Protestants) in 1688, who were fleeing religious persecution in France (such as '' Dragonnades'') after the king's revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Many of the settlers were artisans and craftsmen from the city of La Rochelle, France, thus influencing the choice of the name of "New Rochelle". 17th and 18th centuries Some 33 families established the community of ''La Nouvelle-Rochelle'' () in 1688. A monument containing the names of these settlers stands in Hudson Park, the original landing point of the Huguenots. Thirty-one years earlier, the Siwanoy In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Plains Drifter
''High Plains Drifter'' is a 1973 American Western film directed by Clint Eastwood, written by Ernest Tidyman, and produced by Robert Daley for The Malpaso Company and Universal Pictures. The film stars Eastwood as a mysterious stranger who metes out justice in a corrupt frontier mining town. The film was influenced by the work of Eastwood's two major collaborators, film directors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. In addition to Eastwood, the film also co-stars Verna Bloom, Mariana Hill, Mitchell Ryan, Jack Ging, and Stefan Gierasch. The film was shot on location on the shores of Mono Lake, California. Dee Barton wrote the film score. The film was critically acclaimed at the time of its initial release and remains popular. Plot A mysterious, unnamed stranger rides out of the desert into the isolated mining town of Lago in the American Old West. Three hired town security gunmen taunt and threaten him; he kills all three with little effort. When the attractive, blond townswoman C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horror Host
A horror host is a person who acts as the host or presenter of a program where horror films and low-budget B movies are shown on television or the Internet. Usually the host assumes a horror-themed persona, often a campy or humorous one. Generally there are breaks in the film where the host comments on various aspects of the movie. Many horror host shows also include skits involving the hosts themselves, sometimes with a sidekick or other supporting characters. History Early hosts The first television horror host is generally accepted to be Vampira. ''The Vampira Show'' featured mostly low budget suspense films, as few horror films had yet been released for television broadcast. Despite its short 1954-1955 run, ''The Vampira Show'' set the standard format for horror host shows to follow. Hosts were often plucked from the ranks of the studio staff. In the days of live television, it was not uncommon for the weather man or booth announcer to finish a nightly news broadcast and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maila Nurmi
Maila Elizabeth Syrjäniemi (December 11, 1922 – January 10, 2008), known professionally as Maila Nurmi, was an American actress who created the campy 1950s character Vampira. She was raised in Astoria, Oregon, where she worked in tuna and salmon canneries. She relocated to Los Angeles in 1940, with hopes of becoming an actress. After several minor film roles, she found success with her Vampira character, television's first horror host. Nurmi hosted her own series, ''The Vampira Show'', from 1954 to 1955, on KABC-TV. After the show's cancellation, she appeared in the 1959 cult film ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'', directed by Ed Wood. She is also billed as Vampira in the 1959 film ''The Beat Generation'', where she appears out of character and instead plays a beatnik poet. Nurmi also appeared in the 1959 crime film '' The Big Operator''. She was portrayed by Lisa Marie in Tim Burton's 1994 biopic, ''Ed Wood''. Early life Maila Nurmi was born to Onni Niemi (earlier Syrjäniemi), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fatal Beauty
''Fatal Beauty'' is a 1987 American action comedy thriller film directed by Tom Holland, and starring Whoopi Goldberg as Detective Rita Rizzoli, and Sam Elliott as Mike Marshak. The screenplay was written by Hilary Henkin and Dean Riesner. The original music score was composed by Harold Faltermeyer, of '' Top Gun'' fame. The film was marketed with the tagline "An earthquake is about to hit L.A. It's called Detective Rita Rizzoli." Plot Detective Rita Rizzoli (Whoopi Goldberg) an undercover narcotics police officer, stages an undercover buy with drug dealer Tito Delgadillo (Fred Asparagus). During the bust she sees her friend and informant Charlene (Cathianne Blore) being dragged out of the bar by her pimp and runs to her aid, thus alerting Delgadillo of her being an undercover cop. After saving Charlene and shooting the pimp, Rizzoli notices all the money used for the buy is missing. Delgadillo retreats to a warehouse in Los Angeles where a family of Asian immigrants is prepari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starman (film)
''Starman'' is a 1984 American science fiction romance drama film directed by John Carpenter that tells the story of a non-corporeal alien who has come to Earth and cloned a human body (portrayed by Jeff Bridges) in response to the invitation found on the gold phonograph record installed on the ''Voyager 2'' space probe. The original screenplay was written by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon, with Dean Riesner making uncredited re-writes. The film received positive reviews but faltered in its initial box office debut. Bridges was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role. It inspired the short-lived '' Starman'' television series in 1986. Plot The ''Voyager 2'' space probe, launched in 1977, carries a gold phonographic disk with a message of peace, inviting alien civilizations to visit Earth. The probe is intercepted by an alien planet which then sends a small scout vessel to establish first contact with Earth. Instead of greeting the alien craft, the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sting II
''The Sting II'' is a 1983 American comedy film and a sequel to ''The Sting'', again written by David S. Ward. It was directed by Jeremy Paul Kagan and stars an entirely original cast including Jackie Gleason, Mac Davis, Teri Garr, Karl Malden and Oliver Reed. Plot 1940 The Great Depression is over. King of the con men Fargo Gondorff is released from prison and reassembles his cronies for another con, out to avenge the murder of his lifelong pal and fellow con artist Kid Colors who was kidnapped, beaten, and then shot. Gondorff's young protege Jake Hooker attempts to pull a scam on wealthy "Countess Veronique," who instead pulls one on him and turns out to be a grifter herself named Veronica. Coming up with a boxing con, Gondorff's goal is to sting both Lonnegan, the notorious banker and gangster who wants revenge from a previous con, and Gus Macalinski, a wealthy local racketeer. One or both of them is behind Kid Colors' death. Hooker pretends to be a boxer who is about to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Das Boot
''Das Boot'' (, English: "The Boat") is a 1981 West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, and Klaus Wennemann. It has been exhibited both as a theatrical release and a TV miniseries (1985). There are also several different home video versions as well as a director's cut supervised by Petersen in 1997. An adaptation of Lothar-Günther Buchheim's 1973 German novel of the same name based on his experiences aboard , the film is set during World War II and follows ''U-96'' and its crew, as they set out on a hazardous patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. It depicts both the excitement of battle and the tedium of the fruitless hunt, and shows the men serving aboard U-boats as ordinary individuals with a desire to do their best for their comrades and their country. Development began in 1979. Several American directors were considered three years earlier before the film was shelved. D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mario Puzo
Mario Francis Puzo (; ; October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was an American author, screenwriter, and journalist. He is known for his crime novels about the Italian-American Mafia and Sicilian Mafia, most notably ''The Godfather'' (1969), which he later co-adapted into a film trilogy directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the first film in 1972 and for ''Part II'' in 1974. Puzo also wrote the original screenplay for the 1978 '' Superman'' film and its 1980 sequel. His final novel, '' The Family'', was released posthumously in 2001. Personal life Puzo was born in the Hell's Kitchen section of New York City to Italian immigrants from Pietradefusi, Province of Avellino, Campania. When Puzo was 12, his father, who worked as a trackman for the New York Central Railroad, was committed to the Pilgrim State Hospital insane asylum for schizophrenia, and his wife, Maria, was left to raise their seven children. He served in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five Academy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, two Palmes d'Or, and a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA). After directing ''The Rain People'' in 1969, Coppola co-wrote ''Patton'' (1970), which earned him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay along with Edmund H. North. Coppola's reputation as a filmmaker was cemented with the release of ''The Godfather'' (1972), which revolutionized the gangster genre of filmmaking, receiving strong commercial and critical reception. ''The Godfather'' won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay (shared with Mario Puzo). His film ''The Godfather Part II'' (1974) became the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Highly regarded by critics, the film ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Godfather Part III
''The Godfather Part III'' is a 1990 American crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from the screenplay co-written with Mario Puzo. The film stars Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy García, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, Bridget Fonda, George Hamilton, and Sofia Coppola. It is the third and final installment in ''The Godfather'' trilogy. A sequel to ''The Godfather'' (1972) and ''The Godfather Part II'' (1974), it concludes the fictional story of Michael Corleone, the patriarch of the Corleone family who attempts to legitimize his criminal empire. The film also includes fictionalized accounts of two real-life events: the 1978 death of Pope John Paul I and the Papal banking scandal of 1981–1982, both linked to Michael Corleone's business affairs. Coppola and Puzo's intended title for the film was ''The Death of Michael Corleone'', which Paramount Pictures rejected; Coppola considers the series to be a duology, while ''Part III'' serves as the epilogue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nick Nolte
Nicholas King Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tides''. He received Academy Award nominations for ''Affliction'' (1998) and ''Warrior'' (2011), and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for the 1976 miniseries '' Rich Man, Poor Man''. His other film appearances include '' The Deep'' (1977), ''Who'll Stop The Rain'' (1978), ''North Dallas Forty'' (1979), '' 48 Hrs.'' (1982), ''Teachers'' (1984), '' Down and Out in Beverly Hills'' (1986), ''Another 48 Hrs.'' (1990), ''Three Fugitives'' (1989), '' Everybody Wins'' (1990), '' Cape Fear'' (1991), ''Lorenzo's Oil'' (1992), '' I Love Trouble'' (1994), ''Blue Chips'' (1994), '' The Thin Red Line'' (1998), '' The Good Thief'' (2002), '' Hulk'' (2003), ''Hotel Rwanda'' (2004), ''Over the Hedge' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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