Robert Chartoff
Robert Irwin Chartoff (August 26, 1933 – June 10, 2015) was an American film producer and philanthropist. Early life and education Chartoff was born on August 26, 1933 in New York City, the son of Bessie and William Chartoff. His family was Jewish. He graduated from Union College in 1955, followed by Columbia University Law School. Career Chartoff produced more than 30 movies, including the '' Rocky film series'' boxing series. He and fellow producer Irwin Winkler won an Academy Award for Best Picture for its 1976 debut film, ''Rocky''. Philanthropy Chartoff established the RC Charitable Foundation in 1990 to award grants to international schools and other child agencies. He served as its President. The RC Charitable Foundation gives grants awards to the Buddha Educational Trust. He served on the Community Advisory Board of the Younes and Soraya Israel Studies Center at UCLA. Personal life Chartoff's first wife was Phyllis Raphael, with whom he had three children – Jen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to its climate, beaches, and hospitality industry. It has a diverse economy, hosting headquarters of companies such as Hulu, Universal Music Group, Lionsgate Films, and The Recording Academy. Santa Monica traces its history to Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica, granted in 1839 to the Sepúlveda family of California. The rancho was later sold to John Percival Jones, John P. Jones and Robert Symington Baker, Robert Baker, who in 1875, along with his Californio heiress wife Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker, founded Santa Monica, which incorporated as a city in 1886. The city developed into a seaside resort during the late 19th and early 20th cen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (film)
''The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight'' is a 1971 American crime comedy film directed by James Goldstone and written by Waldo Salt, based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Jimmy Breslin, which in turn was based on the life of gangster Joe Gallo. The film stars Jerry Orbach, Leigh Taylor-Young, Jo Van Fleet, Lionel Stander, Robert De Niro and Irving Selbst. The film was released on December 22, 1971, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Plot Kid Sally Palumbo (Jerry Orbach) grows jealous of his older, mobster boss Baccala (Lionel Stander), who has little respect for the crew Palumbo commands. Baccala allows Kid Sally to supervise a six-day bicycle race (for the purposes of keeping the money generated), and among the 12 Italian cyclists brought into the city is Mario Trantino (Robert De Niro), a budding thief. When the bicycle race does not take place due to outside interference, Sally is demoted to serving Baccala as a chauffeur, and Trantino stays in New York City to run his own cons, i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Comes A Horseman
''Comes a Horseman'' is a 1978 American Western drama film starring Jane Fonda, James Caan, Jason Robards, and Richard Farnsworth, directed by Alan J. Pakula. Set in the American West of the 1940s but not a typical Western, it tells the story of two ranchers (Caan and Fonda) whose small operation is threatened both by economic hardship and the expansionist dreams of a local land baron (Robards). Plot It's the 1940s, near the end of World War II in the American West. The setting is a large, fertile valley ideal for grazing cattle. Rancher Jacob W. Ewing's (Jason Robards) family has lived in the valley for generations, and his dream is to control all of it and preserve it from those - farmers and oilmen, for example - who would use the land for other purposes. Visiting J.W. is wealthy oil executive Neil Atkinson, whose late father was J.W.'s good friend and financial backer; the Atkinsons helped J.W. buy out neighboring ranchers, taking advantage of their financial problems (oft ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Valentino (1977 Film)
''Valentino'' is a 1977 American biographical film co-written and directed by Ken Russell and starring Rudolf Nureyev, Leslie Caron, Michelle Phillips, and Carol Kane. It is loosely based on the life of silent film actor Rudolph Valentino, as recounted in the book ''Valentino, an Intimate Exposé of the Sheik'', written by Chaw Mank and Brad Steiger. The genesis of ''Valentino'' began with producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, who began developing the project in 1975. Russell was selected to direct, and he co-wrote the film with Mardik Martin. Told through flashback following Valentino's 1926 death, the screenplay focuses heavily on Valentino's relationships with several women, chiefly his second wife Natacha Rambova, as well as addressing the published rumors of his alleged homosexuality. Filming of ''Valentino'' was originally planned to occur in Los Angeles, but Russell chose to film in Spain and England's Elstree Studios instead due to budgetary issues. Principal pho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
New York, New York (1977 Film)
''New York, New York'' is a 1977 American musical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Mardik Martin and Earl Mac Rauch based on a story by Rauch. It is a musical tribute, featuring new songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb as well as jazz standards, to Scorsese's home town of New York City, and stars Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro as a pair of musicians and lovers. The story is "about a jazz saxophonist (De Niro) and a pop singer (Minnelli) who fall madly in love and marry;" however, the "saxophonist's outrageously volatile personality places a continual strain on their relationship, and after they have a baby, their marriage crumbles," even as their careers develop on separate paths. The film marked the final screen appearance of actor Jack Haley. Plot On V-J Day in 1945, a massive celebration in a New York City nightclub is underway, music provided by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. While there, selfish and smooth-talking saxophone player Jimmy Doyle (De Niro) m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Nickelodeon (film)
''Nickelodeon'' is a 1976 comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, and stars Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds and Tatum O'Neal. According to Bogdanovich, the film was based on true stories told to him by silent film directors Allan Dwan and Raoul Walsh. It was entered into the 27th Berlin International Film Festival. Plot In 1914, Leo Harrigan (Ryan O'Neal) goes from being a lawyer to a writer and then to a film director while having problems, such as being hopelessly smitten with Kathleen Cooke. Whilst directing a scene of his friend Buck rising in a balloon, Kathleen gets trapped in a rope and is hoisted in a most undignified level. They keep filming including the balloon crashing onto a moving train. As the footage is excellent, they incorporate it into the film and rewrite the story to fit. Kathleen therefore accidentally becomes the leading lady. Due to Kathleen's life being saved by Buck in the balloon they are now engaged. After shooting a scene where they get married they dr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Peeper (film)
''Peeper'' is a 1975 American mystery comedy film directed by Peter Hyams and starring Michael Caine as Leslie C. Tucker, a bungling private investigator. It was a send-up of 1940s film noir. ''Peeper'' was a box-office failure that jeopardized Hyams's career and almost prevented him from obtaining funding to produce ''Capricorn One ''Capricorn One'' is a 1978 British-produced American thriller film in which a reporter discovers that a supposed Mars landing by a crewed mission to the planet has been faked via a conspiracy involving the government and—under duress—the c ....'' Plot The film is set in Los Angeles in 1947. A criminal on the run from hired killers comes to the office of a private detective named Tucker and asks Tucker to find a daughter he left at an orphanage in 1918. The man has a substantial amount of money that he wants to give the girl. Tucker's search leads him to two sisters, daughters of a rich Beverly Hills widow. Tucker is sure one of the sisters i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Breakout (1975 Film)
''Breakout'' is a 1975 action film from Columbia Pictures starring Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Robert Duvall, John Huston, Sheree North and Randy Quaid. Bronson and Ireland, the lead actor and actress, were married in real life. The film is notable for giving the usually serious Bronson a more comedic, lighthearted role. Plot Harris Wagner (Huston) frames Jay Wagner (Duvall). In order to keep him silent, Jay is incarcerated in a Mexican prison. Jay's wife Ann (Ireland) is unhappy at this turn of events and hires a Texas bush pilot in Brownsville, Texas, Nick Colton (Bronson) and his partner Hawk (Quaid), to fly into the prison and rescue her husband. The first attempts don't work, so Colton quickly learns how to pilot a helicopter. While Hawk and accomplice Myrna (North) feign a rape to distract the prison guards, Colton pilots a helicopter into the prison complex, Wagner boards the helicopter, and they escape. The group (Colton, Hawk, Myrna, Wagner) return to Texas i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
The Gambler (1974 Film)
''The Gambler'' is a 1974 American crime drama film written by James Toback and directed by Karel Reisz. It stars James Caan, Paul Sorvino and Lauren Hutton. Caan's performance was widely lauded and was nominated for a Golden Globe. Plot Axel Freed is an English professor in New York City with a gambling addiction that begins to spiral out of control. In the classroom, Freed inspires his college students with his interpretations of Fyodor Dostoevsky's work. In his personal life, Axel has the affection of the beautiful Billie and the admiration of his family, including his mother, Naomi, who is a doctor, and his grandfather, a wealthy businessman. Axel's gambling has left him with a huge debt. His bookie, a mafioso known as Hips, likes the professor personally but threatens grave consequences if he does not pay it soon. When Billie, having been informed by Axel that he owes $44,000, questions the wisdom of her associating with him, Axel confidently tells her she loves his life's ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
S*P*Y*S
''S*P*Y*S'' is a 1974 American spy comedy film directed by Irvin Kershner and starring Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland and Zouzou. The film was screened at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, but it was not entered into the main competition. Plot Following an accident where two KGB agents are mistakenly killed during a failed attempt to help a Russian athlete's defection to the West, the head of CIA in Paris stipulates an agreement with his Russian counterpart to have two American agents killed in order to avoid retaliation. The choice falls on Bruland, an uptight agent passionate about his job and on the promotion ladder, and Griff, a somehow cynical and disillusioned courier. When the two men discover the plot, they form an uneasy alliance to try to escape, eventually getting involved with a French anarchist group and an independent French agent. Cast * Elliott Gould as Griff * Donald Sutherland as Bruland * Zouzou as Sybil (as Zou Zou) * Joss Ackland as Martinson * Xavier Géli ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Busting
''Busting'' is a 1974 American crime film directed by Peter Hyams in his theatrical directorial debut, starring Elliott Gould and Robert Blake as Los Angeles police detectives. It was the main inspiration for the cop series ''Starsky & Hutch'', which premiered in 1975 and, like this film, also featured Antonio Fargas. Plot summary Keneely and Farrell are detectives with the LAPD vice squad. Although they show great talent for breaking up prostitution and drug rings, many of these enterprises are protected by crime boss Carl Rizzo, who exerts his influence throughout the city and the department. Evidence is altered before trial, colleagues refuse to help with basic policework, and the detectives are pushed to pursue other cases—mostly stakeouts on gay bars and public lavatories. After personally confronting Rizzo, Keneely and Farrell are brutally beaten while investigating one of his prostitutes. Frustrated but without any legal options, they resort to harassing Rizzo and his ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Up The Sandbox
''Up the Sandbox'' is a 1972 American comedy-drama film directed by Irvin Kershner and starring Barbra Streisand. Paul Zindel's screenplay, based on the novel by Anne Roiphe, focuses on Margaret Reynolds, a bored, young wife and mother who slips into increasingly bizarre fantasies. The cast includes David Selby, Paul Benedict, George S. Irving, Conrad Bain, Isabel Sanford, Lois Smith, Jacobo Morales playing a character who closely resembles Fidel Castro, and Stockard Channing in her film debut. Plot Margaret Reynolds, a young wife and mother of two, severely bored with her day-to-day life in New York City and neglected by her husband Paul (David Selby), discovers that she is pregnant again. She does not tell her husband at first, and instead she finds refuge in her outrageous fantasies: being sexually pursued by a Central American dictator modeled on Fidel Castro, imagined confrontations with her husband and mother, an anthropological visit to an African tribe that promises a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |