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Hooper (film)
''Hooper'' is a 1978 American action comedy film directed by Hal Needham and starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jan-Michael Vincent, Brian Keith, Robert Klein, James Best and Adam West. The film serves as a tribute to stuntmen and stuntwomen in what was at one time an underrecognized profession. At the time of filming, Field and Reynolds were in a relationship, having met on the set of ''Smokey and the Bandit'' the previous year. Plot Sonny Hooper (Burt Reynolds) is the stunt coordinator on the action film ''The Spy Who Laughed at Danger'', directed by Roger Deal (Robert Klein) and starring Adam West (playing himself). Sonny's antics and wisecracks are a trial for the egotistical director and his officious but cowardly assistant, Tony (Alfie Wise). Years of numerous "gags" and his use of alcohol and painkillers are beginning to take their toll. Sonny lives with his girlfriend Gwen Doyle (Sally Field), whose father Jocko (Brian Keith) is a retired stuntman. Sonny is coerced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hal Needham
Hal Brett Needham (March 6, 1931 – October 25, 2013) was an American stuntman, film director, actor, writer, and NASCAR team owner. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with actor Burt Reynolds, usually in films involving fast cars, such as ''Smokey and the Bandit'' (1977), '' Hooper'' (1978), ''The Cannonball Run'' (1981) and ''Stroker Ace'' (1983). In his later years, Needham moved out of stunt work, and focused his energy on the world land speed record project. In 2001, Needham received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Taurus World Stunt Awards, and in 2012, he was awarded a Governors Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Early years Needham was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Edith May (née Robinson) and Howard Needham. He was the youngest of three children. Raised in Arkansas and Missouri, Needham served in the United States Army as a paratrooper during the Korean War, worked as a treetopper (an arborist who performs tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quadriplegic
Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or total loss of function in the arms, legs, trunk, and pelvis; paraplegia is similar but affects the thoracic, lumbar, and sacral segments of the spinal cord and arm function is spared. The paralysis may be flaccid or spastic. A loss of sensory function can present as an impairment or complete inability to sense light touch, pressure, heat, pinprick/pain, and proprioception. In these types of spinal cord injury, it is common to have a loss of both sensation and motor control. Signs and symptoms Although the most obvious symptom is impairment of the limbs, functioning is also impaired in the trunk and pelvic organs. This can lead to loss or impairment of controlling bowel and bladder, sexual function, digestion, breathing and other auton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Janet Maslin
Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin helped found the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York. She is president of its board of directors. Education Maslin graduated from the University of Rochester in 1970 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. She began her career as a rock music critic for ''The Boston Phoenix'' and became a film editor and critic for them. She also worked as a freelancer for ''Rolling Stone'' and worked at ''Newsweek''. Career Maslin became a film critic for ''The New York Times'' in 1977. From December 1, 1994, she replaced Vincent Canby as the chief film critic. She continued to review films for ''The Times'' until 1999. Her film-criticism career, including her embrace of American independent cinema, is discussed in the documentary ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang. Although the name "Rotten Tomatoes" connects to the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes in disapproval of a poor stage performance, the original inspiration comes from a scene featuring tomatoes in the Canadian film ''Léolo'' (1992). Since January 2010, Rotten Tomatoes has been owned by Flixster, which was in turn acquired by Warner Bros in 2011. In February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes and its parent site Flixster were sold to Comcast's Fandango. Warner Bros. retained a minority stake in the merged entities, including Fandango. History Rotten Tomatoes was launched on August 12, 1998, as a spare-time project by Senh Duong. His objective in creating Rotten Tomatoes was "to create a site where people can get access to reviews from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Review Aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users can view the reviews, selling information to third parties about consumer tendencies, and creating databases for companies to learn about their actual and potential customers. The system enables users to easily compare many different reviews of the same work. Many of these systems calculate an approximate average assessment, usually based on assigning a numeric value to each review related to its degree of positive rating of the work. Review aggregation sites have begun to have economic effects on the companies that create or manufacture items under review, especially in certain categories such as electronic games, which are expensive to purchase. Some companies have tied royalty payment rates and employee bonuses to aggregate scores, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Wars (film)
''Star Wars'' (retroactively titled ''Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope'') is a 1977 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas, produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the first film in the '' Star Wars'' film series and fourth chronological chapter of the " Skywalker Saga". Set "a long time ago" in a fictional universe where the galaxy is ruled by the tyrannical Galactic Empire, the story focuses on a group of freedom fighters known as the Rebel Alliance, who aim to destroy the Empire's newest weapon, the Death Star. Luke Skywalker becomes caught in the conflict while learning the ways of a metaphysical power known as "the Force" from Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. The cast includes Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Peter Mayhew. Lucas had the idea for a science-fiction film in the vein of '' Flash Gordon'' aro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1978 In Film
The year 1978 in film involved some significant events. Highest-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1978 released films by box office gross in the United States and Canada are as follows: Events * February 6 – David Begelman resigns as president of Columbia Pictures. * March 1 – Charlie Chaplin's coffin is stolen from a Swiss cemetery three months after burial. After recovery a few weeks later, the casket is sealed in a concrete vault prior to reburial. * March – Leigh Brackett completes the first draft for ''The Empire Strikes Back'', but dies only two weeks later. * June – Daniel Melnick becomes head of Columbia Pictures after the David Begelman scandal. * June 4 – '' Grease'', starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, has its world premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. It becomes the highest-grossing musical ever and Paramount Pictures' highest-grossing film. * July 20 – Alan Hirschfield is fired as president and CEO of Columbia Pictures. He is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. One of the "New Hollywood" directors, Bogdanovich started as a film journalist until he was hired to work on Roger Corman's ''The Wild Angels'' (1966). After that film's success, he directed his own film ''Targets'' (1968), which received critical acclaim. He gained widespread recognition and further acclaim for his coming-of-age drama ''The Last Picture Show'' (1971). The film received eight Academy Awards, Academy Award nominations, including for the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Picture, with Bogdanovich receiving nominations for Academy Award for Best Director, Best Director and Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Ben Johnson (actor), Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman winning Academy Awards, Oscars for their supporting roles. Following ''The Last Picture Show'', he directed the screwball comedy ''What's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety (magazine)
''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based in Los Angeles, to cover the motion-picture industry. ''Variety.com'' features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, cover stories, videos, photo galleries and features, plus a credits database, production charts and calendar, with archive content dating back to 1905. History Foundation ''Variety'' has been published since December 16, 1905, when it was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering theater and vaudeville with its headquarters in New York City. Silverman had been fired by ''The Morning Telegraph'' in 1905 for panning an act which had taken out an advert for $50. As a result, he decided to start his own publication "that ouldnot be influenced by advertising." With a loan of $1,500 from his father- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lawrence Gordon (producer)
Lawrence Gordon (born March 25, 1936) is an American producer and motion picture executive. He specializes in producing action-oriented films and other genres. Some of his most popular productions include ''Predator'' (1987), ''Die Hard'' (1988), ''Die Hard 2'' (1990), ''Predator 2'' (1990), ''Point Break'' (1991), ''Boogie Nights'' (1997), '' Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' (2001), and ''Prey'' (2022). Life and career Gordon was raised in a Jewish family in Belzoni, Mississippi. He graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans. After moving to Los Angeles he began his producing career in 1964 working for Aaron Spelling and became writer and associate producer on the TV series '' Burke's Law''. He quickly moved up the ranks and worked as an executive producer at ABC and at Screen Gems. In the 1970s he was a key executive at American International Pictures and received credit as executive producer on John Milius's ''Dillinger'' (1973). He left as worldwide production head in 1973 t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamont Johnson
Ernest Lamont Johnson Jr. (September 30, 1922 – October 24, 2010) was an American actor and film director who has appeared in and directed many television shows and movies. He won two Emmy Awards. Early years Johnson was born in Stockton, California, the son of Ruth Alice ( née Fairchild) and Ernest Lamont Johnson, who was a realtor. He attended Pasadena Junior College and UCLA and was active in theatrical productions at both schools. Acting When he was 16, Johnson began his career in radio, eventually playing the role of Tarzan in a popular syndicated series in 1951. He also worked as a newscaster and a disc jockey. Johnson was also one of several actors to play Archie Goodwin in ''The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe'', opposite Sydney Greenstreet on NBC Radio. He then turned to films and television, first as an actor, then as a director. Directing Johnson's directing debut came in 1948 with the play ''Yes Is For a Very Young Man'' in New York. His television ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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