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Gran Via Productions
Mark Johnson (born December 27, 1945) is an American producer. Johnson won the Academy Award for Best Picture for producing the 1988 film ''Rain Man''. Early life Johnson was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Dorothy (née King), a realtor, and Emery Johnson, who worked in the air cargo business. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1971. Career Johnson first became involved in show business in 1965, as an actor playing the sheriff's deputy in the Spanish "Spaghetti Western" ''Brandy'', directed by Jose Luis Borau. He spent ten years of his youth in Spain, where he worked as a movie extra in films such as Franklin Schaffner's ''Nicholas and Alexandra'' and David Lean's ''Dr. Zhivago''. His early experiences led to small acting roles in the European western ''Ride and Kill'' and the 1964 drama '' The Thin Red Line''. After earning an undergraduate degree in Drama from the University of Virginia and an MA in Film Scholarship from the University of Iowa, Johnson ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peabody Awards
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and online media. The awards were conceived by the National Association of Broadcasters in 1938 as the radio industry’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prizes. Programs are recognized in seven categories: news, entertainment, documentaries, children's programming, education, interactive programming, and public service. Peabody Award winners include radio and television stations, networks, online media, producing organizations, and individuals from around the world. Established in 1940 by a committee of the National Association of Broadcasters, the Peabody Award was created to honor excellence in radio broadcasting. It is the oldest major electronic media award in the United States. Final Peabody Award winners are selected unanimously by the prog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Brink's Job
''The Brink's Job'' is a 1978 American crime comedy drama film directed by William Friedkin and starring Peter Falk, Peter Boyle, Allen Garfield, Warren Oates, Gena Rowlands, and Paul Sorvino. It is based on the Brink's robbery of 1950 in Boston, and the book about it, ''Big Stick-Up at Brinks'' by Noel Behn, where about 2.7 million dollars in cash, checks, and government securities was stolen. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction ( Dean Tavoularis, Angelo P. Graham, Bruce Kay and George R. Nelson). The film basically uses true facts (and participant names) from the case, although several actual details are omitted or elided together in order to tell a compact story within the film's running time. Plot Small-time Boston crook Tony Pino tries to make a name for himself. He and his five associates pull off a robbery whenever they can. Tony stumbles across the fact that the Brink's security procedures are incredibly lax. He and his gang easily rob over $100 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bugsy
''Bugsy'' is a 1991 American biographical crime drama film chronicling the life of American mobster Bugsy Siegel and his relationship with Virginia Hill. It is directed by Barry Levinson, written by James Toback, and stars Warren Beatty as Siegel and Annette Bening as Hill. The supporting cast includes Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould, Bebe Neuwirth, and Joe Mantegna. ''Bugsy'' was given a limited released by TriStar Pictures on December 13, 1991, followed by a theatrical wide release on December 20, 1991. It received generally positive reviews from critics and was a minor box office hit, grossing $49.1 million on a $30 million budget. It received ten nominations at the 64th Academy Awards (including for Best Picture and Best Director) and won two: Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama. Plot In 1941, gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, who had partnered in crime since childhood with Meyer Lansky and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diner (1982 Film)
''Diner'' is a 1982 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Barry Levinson. It is Levinson's screen-directing debut, and the first of his "Baltimore Films" tetralogy, set in his hometown during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s; the other three films are ''Tin Men'' (1987), ''Avalon'' (1990), and ''Liberty Heights'' (1999). It stars Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Paul Reiser, Kevin Bacon, Timothy Daly and Ellen Barkin and was released on March 5, 1982. The film follows a close-knit circle of friends who reunite at a Baltimore diner when one of them prepares to get married. Plot In 1959 Baltimore, friends Modell, Eddie, Shrevie, Boogie, and Fenwick attend a Christmas dance before driving to their usual late-night haunt, Fell’s Point Diner. On the way, Fenwick stages a fake car accident, to his friends' annoyance. Boogie, a hairdresser and law student, has laid a $2,000 bet on a basketball game, and declines his family friend Bagel’s offer to call off th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avalon (1990 Film)
''Avalon'' is a 1990 American drama film written and directed by Barry Levinson and starring Armin Mueller-Stahl, Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth Perkins, Joan Plowright, and Elijah Wood. It is the third in Levinson's semi-autobiographical tetralogy of "Baltimore films" set in his hometown during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: ''Diner'' (1982), ''Tin Men'' (1987), and ''Liberty Heights'' (1999). The film explores the themes of Jewish assimilation into American life, through several generations of a Polish immigrant family from the 1910s through the 1950s. The film was released to critical acclaim, and was nominated for four Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. Plot It is the late 1940s and early 1950s, and much has happened to the family of Polish Jewish immigrant Sam Krichinsky since he first arrived in America in 1914 and eventually settled in Baltimore. Television is new. Neighborhoods are changing, with more and more families moving to the suburbs. Wallpaper has been Sam's prof ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Young Sherlock Holmes
''Young Sherlock Holmes'' (also known with the title card name of "''Young Sherlock Holmes and the Pyramid of Fear''") is a 1985 American mystery adventure film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Chris Columbus, based on the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The film depicts a young Sherlock Holmes and John Watson meeting and solving a mystery together at a boarding school. The film is notable for being the first full-length movie to feature a completely computer-generated character. This was a landmark moment in special effects history and influenced other future films such as ''Toy Story''. Plot A young John Watson transfers from his school in the country to London’s Brompton Academy, where Sherlock Holmes befriends him immediately. Holmes’ mentors there include Rupert Waxflatter, an eccentric retired professor to whom the school has given a large attic space for his inventions, which include a flying machine. Waxflatter's niece, Elizabeth, and Hol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toys (film)
''Toys'' is a 1992 American fantasy comedy film directed by Barry Levinson, co-written by Levinson and Valerie Curtin, and starring Robin Williams, Michael Gambon, Joan Cusack, Robin Wright, LL Cool J, and Jamie Foxx in his feature film debut. Released in December 1992 in the United States, and March and April 1993 in the United Kingdom and Australia, respectively, the film was produced by Levinson's production company Baltimore Pictures and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Despite appearing somewhat juvenile at first glance, the film received a PG-13 rating from the MPAA for some language and sensuality. The film was a box-office failure at the time of its release, despite its cast and filmmaking. Director Barry Levinson was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Director (losing to David Seltzer for ''Shining Through''). The film did, however, receive Oscar nominations for Art Direction (losing to ''Howards End'') and Costume Design (losing to '' Bram Stoker's Dracula''). It wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tin Men
''Tin Men'' is a 1987 American comedy film written and directed by Barry Levinson, produced by Mark Johnson, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Danny DeVito, and Barbara Hershey. It is the second of Levinson's tetralogy "Baltimore Films", set in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: ''Diner'' (1982), ''Tin Men'' (1987), ''Avalon'' (1990), and ''Liberty Heights'' (1999). Plot Ernest Tilley and Bill "BB" Babowsky are rival door-to-door aluminum siding salesmen in Baltimore, Maryland in 1963, an era when "tin men," as they are called, will do almost anything—legal or illegal—to close a sale. BB is a smooth-talking con-artist who scams naive and comely young women with his sales pitches, while Tilley is a hapless loser. They first meet when BB, driving his new Cadillac off the lot, backs into Tilley's own Cadillac. Though Tilley had the right of way, each man blames the other, and an escalating feud erupts between them. After BB smashes Tilley's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Natural
''The Natural'' is a 1952 novel about baseball by Bernard Malamud, and is his debut novel. The story follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked after being shot by a woman whose motivation remains mysterious. The story mostly concerns his attempts to return to baseball later in life, when he plays for the fictional New York Knights with his self-made bat "Wonderboy". Based upon the bizarre shooting incident and subsequent comeback of Philadelphia Phillies player Eddie Waitkus, the story of Roy Hobbs takes some poetic license and embellishes what was truly a strange, but memorable, account of a career lost too soon. Apart from the fact that both Waitkus and fictional Hobbs were shot by women, there are few if any other similarities. It has been alternately suggested by historian Thomas Wolf that the shooting incident might have been inspired by Chicago Cubs shortstop Billy Jurges, who was shot by a showgirl with whom he was romantically linked, but there ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Good Morning, Vietnam
''Good Morning, Vietnam'' is a 1987 American war comedy film written by Mitch Markowitz and directed by Barry Levinson. Set in Saigon in 1965, during the Vietnam War, the film stars Robin Williams as a radio DJ on Armed Forces Radio Service, who proves hugely popular with the troops, but infuriates his superiors with what they call his "irreverent tendency". The story is loosely based on the experiences of AFRS radio DJ Adrian Cronauer. Most of Williams' performances that portrayed Cronauer's radio broadcasts were improvisations. The film was released by Buena Vista Pictures (under its Touchstone Pictures banner) to critical and commercial success; for his work in the film, Williams won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. The film is number 100 on the American Film Institute's " 100 Years...100 Laughs" list, containing 100 movies conside ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baltimore Pictures
Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American filmmaker, comedian and actor. Levinson's best-known works are mid-budget comedy drama and drama films such as ''Diner'' (1982); ''The Natural'' (1984); ''Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987); '' Bugsy'' (1991); and ''Wag the Dog'' (1997). He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Rain Man'' (1988). In 2021, he co-executive produced the Hulu miniseries '' Dopesick'' and directed the first two episodes. Early life Levinson is of Russian-Jewish descent. After growing up in Forest Park, Baltimore and graduating from Forest Park Senior High School in 1960, Levinson attended Baltimore City Community College and American University in Washington, D.C. at the American University School of Communication, where he studied broadcast journalism. He then moved to Los Angeles to work as an actor and writer and performed comedy routines. Levinson at one time shared an apartment with would-be drug smuggler (and subject of the movie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barry Levinson
Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American filmmaker, comedian and actor. Levinson's best-known works are mid-budget comedy drama and drama films such as '' Diner'' (1982); ''The Natural'' (1984); ''Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987); '' Bugsy'' (1991); and ''Wag the Dog'' (1997). He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Rain Man'' (1988). In 2021, he co-executive produced the Hulu miniseries '' Dopesick'' and directed the first two episodes. Early life Levinson is of Russian-Jewish descent. After growing up in Forest Park, Baltimore and graduating from Forest Park Senior High School in 1960, Levinson attended Baltimore City Community College and American University in Washington, D.C. at the American University School of Communication, where he studied broadcast journalism. He then moved to Los Angeles to work as an actor and writer and performed comedy routines. Levinson at one time shared an apartment with would-be drug smuggler (and subject of the movie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
