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Murder By Contract
''Murder by Contract'' is a 1958 American film noir crime film directed by Irving Lerner. Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Ben Maddow did uncredited work on the film. Centering on an existentialist hit man assigned to kill a woman, the film is often praised for its spare style and peculiar sense of cool. Though not widely seen at the time of its release, it finally appeared on DVD, included in the boxed set "Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics, Vol. 1 (The Big Heat / 5 Against the House / The Lineup / Murder by Contract / The Sniper)," released November 3, 2009. The film has exerted an influence on American cinema, most notably on director Martin Scorsese, who famously cited ''Murder by Contract'' as "the film that has influenced immost." Plot and main character Plot synopsis Claude (Vince Edwards) is a disaffected man who, in search of fast money to purchase a $28,000 house, decides to become a contract killer for a Mr. Brink. After proving his worth by killing targets in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irving Lerner
Irving Lerner (March 7, 1909, New York City – December 25, 1976, Los Angeles) was an American filmmaker. Biography Before becoming a filmmaker, Lerner was a research editor for Columbia University's Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, getting his start in film by making documentaries for the anthropology department. In the early 1930s, he was a member of the Workers Film and Photo League, and later, Frontier Films. He made films for the Rockefeller Foundation and other academic institutions, becoming a film editor and second-unit director involved with the emerging American documentary movement of the late 1930s. Lerner produced two documentaries for the Office of War Information during WW II and after the war became the head of New York University's Educational Film Institute. In 1948, Lerner and Joseph Strick shared directorial chores on a short documentary, ''Muscle Beach''. Lerner then turned to low-budget, quickly filmed features. When not hastily making his own thrillers, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herschel Bernardi
Herschel Bernardi (October 30, 1923 – May 9, 1986) was an American actor and singer. He is best known for his supporting role in the drama television series ''Peter Gunn'' (1958–1961) and his leading role in the comedy television series ''Arnie'' (1970–1972). The two series earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination and two consecutive Golden Globe Award nominations. On stage, Bernardi appeared in many Broadway musicals. He was nominated for two Tony Awards for his performances in the original production of '' Zorba'' and the 1981 revival of '' Fiddler on the Roof''. Biography Born in New York City, the younger son of Berel Bernardi and Helen Bernardi, Herschel was appearing on the stages of 2nd Avenue with his acting family before he could talk. In the 1930s, Bernardi appeared in the Yiddish films of Edgar G. Ulmer and was later among those actors who made the transition from Yiddish language films to English language films. Herschel was the brother of Jack Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson contributed notably to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, Ellipsis (narrative device), ellipses, and sparse use of scoring have led his works to be regarded as preeminent examples of Minimalism, minimalist film. Much of his work is known for being tragic in story and nature. Bresson is among the most highly regarded filmmakers of all time. He has the highest number of films (seven) that made the 2012 ''Sight & Sound'' critics' poll of the 250 greatest films ever made. His works ''A Man Escaped'' (1956), ''Pickpocket (film), Pickpocket'' (1959) and ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' (1966) were ranked among the top 100, and other films like ''Mouchette'' (1967) and ''L'Argent (1983 film), L'Argent'' (1983) also received many votes. Jean-Luc Godard once wrote, "He is the French cinema, as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Dostoevsky is the Russian novel and Mozart is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, Éric Rohmer, and Jacques Demy. He was arguably the most influential French filmmaker of the post-war era. According to AllMovie, his work "revolutionized the motion picture form" through its experimentation with narrative, continuity editing, continuity, film sound, sound, and cinematography, camerawork. His most acclaimed films include ''Breathless (1960 film), Breathless'' (1960), ''Vivre sa vie'' (1962), ''Contempt (film), Contempt'' (1963), ''Bande à part (film), Band of Outsiders'' (1964), ''Alphaville (film), Alphaville'' (1965), ''Pierrot le Fou'' (1965), ''Masculin Féminin'' (1966), ''Weekend (1967 film), Weekend'' (1967), and ''Goodbye to Language'' (2014). During his early career as a film critic f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''stenos'' (narrow) and ''graphein'' (to write). It has also been called brachygraphy, from Greek ''brachys'' (short), and tachygraphy, from Greek ''tachys'' (swift, speedy), depending on whether compression or speed of writing is the goal. Many forms of shorthand exist. A typical shorthand system provides symbols or abbreviations for words and common phrases, which can allow someone well-trained in the system to write as quickly as people speak. Abbreviation methods are alphabet-based and use different abbreviating approaches. Many journalists use shorthand writing to quickly take notes at press conferences or other similar scenarios. In the computerized world, several autocomplete programs, standalone or integrated in text editors, based on w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wild One
''The Wild One'' is a 1953 American crime film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. The picture is most noted for the character of Johnny Strabler, portrayed by Marlon Brando, whose persona became a cultural icon of the 1950s. ''The Wild One'' is considered to be the original outlaw biker film, and the first to examine American outlaw motorcycle gang violence. The supporting cast features Lee Marvin as Chino, truculent leader of the motorcycle gang "The Beetles". The film's screenplay was based on Frank Rooney's short story "Cyclists' Raid", published in the January 1951 ''Harper's Magazine'' and anthologized in '' The Best American Short Stories 1952''. Rooney's story was inspired by sensationalistic media coverage of an American Motorcyclist Association motorcycle rally that got out of hand on the Fourth of July weekend in 1947 in Hollister, California. The overcrowding, drinking and street stunting were given national attention in the July 21, 1947, iss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Guitar
''Johnny Guitar'' is a 1954 American Western film directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Ernest Borgnine and Scott Brady. It was produced and distributed by Republic Pictures. The screenplay was adapted from a novel of the same name by Roy Chanslor. In 2008, ''Johnny Guitar'' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Plot On the outskirts of a wind-swept Arizona cattle town, an aggressive and strong-willed saloonkeeper named Vienna maintains a volatile relationship with the local cattlemen and townsfolk. Not only does she support the railroad being laid nearby (the cattlemen oppose it), but she permits "The Dancin' Kid" (her former amour) and his confederates to frequent her saloon. The locals, led by John McIvers and egged on by Emma Small (a onetime rival of Vienna for the Dancin' Kid's affections) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Asphalt Jungle
''The Asphalt Jungle'' is a 1950 American film noir heist film directed by John Huston. Based on the 1949 novel of the same name by W. R. Burnett, it tells the story of a jewel robbery in a Midwestern city. The film stars Sterling Hayden and Louis Calhern, and features Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, and John McIntire. Marilyn Monroe also appears, in one of her earliest roles. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards. In 2008, ''The Asphalt Jungle'' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Plot When criminal mastermind Erwin "Doc" Riedenschneider is released from prison after seven years, he visits a bookie named Cobby in an unnamed Midwestern river city. Doc needs $50,000 to hire three men—a safecracker, a driver, and a hooligan—to pull off a huge jewel robbery. Cobby arranges a meeting between Doc and Alonzo Emmerich, a high-living ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cisco Houston
Gilbert Vandine "Cisco" Houston (August 18, 1918 – April 29, 1961) was an American folk singer and songwriter, who is closely associated with Woody Guthrie due to their extensive history of recording together. Houston was a regular recording artist for Moses Asch's Folkways recording studio. He also performed with such folk/blues musicians as Lead Belly, Sonny Terry, Woody Guthrie and the Almanac Singers. Biography Early life Gilbert Vandine Houston was born in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, on August 18, 1918, the second of four children. His father, Adrian Moncure Houston, was a sheet-metal worker. The family moved to California while Houston was still young, and he attended school in Eagle Rock, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. During his school years, Houston began to play the guitar, having picked up an assortment of folk songs from his family. It is reported that Houston was regarded as highly intelligent during his time at school, despite the nystagmus tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Davis Roberts
Davis Roberts (born Robert A. Davis, March 7, 1917 – July 18, 1993) was an American character actor whose career spanned five decades, from the late 1940s until just before his death in 1993. He started out making films in the 1940s and 1950s and expanded into television work in the following decades. Davis was known for his dignified portrayals which were often in contrast to prevailing stereotypical roles. He played the role of Dr. Caldwell in three episodes in the second and third seasons of the NBC-TV sitcom series ''Sanford and Son'', and as Dr. Ozaba in the 1968 episode "The Empath" in the original ''Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek'' series. He was active off-screen as well, serving several terms on the western advisory board of Actors' Equity Association. As one of the officers of Beverly Hills-Hollywood Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP he helped present the first NAACP Image Award, Image Awards in 1967. Deat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steven Ritch
Steven Ritch (26 December 1921 – 20 July 1995) was an American actor, perhaps best known for his lead role in the 1956 film '' The Werewolf''. Early life Steven Ritch was born on December 26, 1921, in Providence, Rhode Island. Career Ritch's career ran from 1950 to 1962, and he had 45 acting credits in films and television. He also worked as a screenwriter in feature films and television. He wrote the screenplay for the 1957 film '' Plunder Road'', as well as acting in the movie, delivering a "stand-out performance as a nervous wheelman", according to '' CinemaScope''. Later life Ritch died on July 20, 1995, in Rogue River, Oregon, aged 73. Selected filmography *''Destination Murder'' (1950) as Waiter *''Siren of Bagdad'' (1953) as A Soldier *''Valley of the Head Hunters'' (1953) as Lt. Barry *''Conquest of Cochise'' (1953) as Tukiwah *'' The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd'' (1953) as Barrett *''The Battle of Rogue River'' (1954) as Indian *''Massacre Canyon'' (1954) as Bla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Mell
Joseph Mell (June 23, 1915 – August 31, 1977) was an American film and television actor. He was known for starring as Burt Stone in the 1971 film ''The Ski Bum''. Mell died in August 1977 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 62. Partial filmography *''Hollywood Story'' (1951) - Sylvester (uncredited) *''When Worlds Collide'' (1951) - Glen Spiro (uncredited) *'' The Big Night'' (1951) - Mr. Ehrlich, Store Owner (uncredited) *'' Just This Once'' (1952) - Mr. Green (uncredited) *'' The Sniper'' (1952) - Joe, Presser (uncredited) *''Deadline – U.S.A.'' (1952) - Lugerman (uncredited) *''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952) - Projectionist (uncredited) *''The Atomic City'' (1952) - Dr. Gus Schwambach (uncredited) *''Kid Monk Baroni'' (1952) - Gino Baroni *''Young Man with Ideas'' (1952) - Municipal Judge (uncredited) *''Actor's and Sin'' (1952) - George Murry *''Sally and Saint Anne'' (1952) - Mr. Shapiro (uncredited) *'' Monkey Business'' (1952) - Barber (uncredited) *''My Man a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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