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The Distinguished Gentleman
''The Distinguished Gentleman'' is a 1992 American political comedy film starring Eddie Murphy. The film was directed by Jonathan Lynn. In addition to Murphy, the film stars Lane Smith, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Joe Don Baker, James Garner, Victoria Rowell, Grant Shaud, Kevin McCarthy, Charles S. Dutton, Victor Rivers, Chi McBride, Sonny Jim Gaines, and Noble Willingham. The film's plot is centered on politics, specifically what members of Congress and lobbyists do to get what they want in Washington, D.C. This is the first film of Eddie Murphy not to be distributed by Paramount Pictures. Plot A Florida con man named Thomas Jefferson Johnson schemes to use the passing of the longtime Congressman from his district, Jefferson Davis "Jeff" Johnson (who died of a heart attack while having sex with his secretary), to get elected to the United States Congress as a freshman Congressman, where the money flows from lobbyists. Omitting his first name, and abbreviating his middle name, he cal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steven Chorney
Steven Chorney (born 1951 in Washington, D.C.) is an American artist, graphic designer and illustrator with a primary focus in the motion picture industry.Artinsights Magazine, Exclusive Interview with Steven Chorney, October 2009 http://www.artinsightsmagazine.com/ArtInsights_magazine/Steve_Chorney.html Biography Early life and career Steven Chorney was born in 1951 in Washington, DC. Raised in Buffalo, NY, and having no formal art education, Chorney moved to Southern California in 1971 to pursue his dream of becoming a visual artist. "My father was trained as a commercial artist in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It may be said that he made the largest impact on my decision to follow this chosen field."Chuck Redux, Interview with Steven Chorney--Movie Poster & TV Campaign Artist, March 10, 2009 http://blog.chuckjones.com/chuck_redux/2009/03/interview-with-steven-chorneymovie-poster-campaign-artist.html Chorney landed a position with a small independent agency on the Sunset Stri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Touchwood Pacific Partners
Touchwood Pacific Partners I was an American film financing limited partnership formed by The Walt Disney Company in 1990 for its then three production companies, Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures, but owned by Yamaichi General Finance Co., the general partner and a Yamaichi Securities affiliate, and about 50 limited partners. The partnership was the first Japanese sourced major film financing for Disney and the largest Japanese financing outside of a outright purchase of a film studio. Terms Disney has received better terms with Touchwood than with their previous funding partnerships, Silver Screen. The Partnership offers a lower interest than Silver Screens due to the lower Japanese interest rates in 1990. Also, there are no guarantees regarding the minimum financial performance of the financed films. Disney's Buena Vista Pictures Distribution receives a 30% fee before any money goes to a Disney—-Touchwood joint venture. After the joint vent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Campaign Finance Reform In The United States
Campaign finance laws in the United States have been a contentious political issue since the early days of the union. The most recent major federal law affecting campaign finance was the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002, also known as " McCain- Feingold". Key provisions of the law prohibited unregulated contributions (commonly referred to as "soft money") to national political parties and limited the use of corporate and union money to fund ads discussing political issues within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary election; However, provisions of BCRA limiting corporate and union expenditures for issue advertising were overturned by the Supreme Court in '' Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life''. Contributions, donations or payments to politicians or political parties, including a campaign committee, newsletter fund, advertisements in convention bulletins, admission to dinners or programs that benefit a political party or polit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Name Recognition
In politics, name recognition is the ability a voter has to identify a candidate's name due to a certain amount of previous exposure through various campaigning methods. It can be described as the awareness voters have about specific candidates resulting from various forms of campaign advertising. Some of the advertising methods used by candidates running for various offices are creating posters, making yard signs, bumper stickers and attempting to get media exposure, are a few examples of how they achieve this. Though candidates can achieve high name recognition and exposure, this does not necessarily mean that the average voter has a good understanding of their ideologies, positions and stances on political issues. Effects The ability of a citizen to recognize a candidate's name can impact the effect of their voting behavior and which candidates they select when casting their ballots. Exposure to a candidate's name, with or without the conscious awareness of the name recognit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lobbying
In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which usually involves direct, face-to-face contact, is done by many types of people, associations and organized groups, including individuals in the private sector, corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or advocacy groups (interest groups). Lobbyists may be among a legislator's constituencies, meaning a voter or bloc of voters within their electoral district; they may engage in lobbying as a business. Professional lobbyists are people whose business is trying to influence legislation, regulation, or other government decisions, actions, or policies on behalf of a group or individual who hires them. Individuals and nonprofit organizations can also lobby as an act of volunteering or as a small part of their normal job. Govern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Senators and representatives are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a governor's appointment. Congress has 535 voting members: 100 senators and 435 representatives. The U.S. vice president has a vote in the Senate only when senators are evenly divided. The House of Representatives has six non-voting members. The sitting of a Congress is for a two-year term, at present, beginning every other January. Elections are held every even-numbered year on Election Day. The members of the House of Representatives are elected for the two-year term of a Congress. The Reapportionment Act of 1929 establishes that there be 435 representatives and the Uniform Congressional Redistricting Act requires t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Con Man
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ..intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men') at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". Terminology Synonyms include con, confidence game, confidence scheme, ripoff, scam, and stratagem. The perpetrator of a confidence trick (or "con trick") is often referred to as a confidence (or "con") man, con-artist, or a "grifter". The shell game dates back at least to Ancient Greece. Samuel Thompson (1821–1856) was the original "confidence man". Thompson was a clumsy swindler who asked his victims to express confidence in him by giving him money or their watch rather than gaining their confidenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest film studio in the United States (behind Universal Pictures), and the sole member of the Major film studio, "Big Five" film studios located within the city limits of Los Angeles. In 1916, film producer Adolph Zukor put 24 actors and actresses under contract and honored each with a star on the logo. In 1967, the number of stars was reduced to 22 and their hidden meaning was dropped. In 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital form only. The company's headquarters and studios are located at 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, California. Paramount Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, Motion Picture Associ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noble Willingham
Noble Henry Willingham, Jr. (August 31, 1931 – January 17, 2004) was an American television and film actor who appeared in more than thirty films and in many television shows, including a stint opposite Chuck Norris in ''Walker, Texas Ranger''. Early life Willingham was the son of railroad worker and farmer Noble Henry Willingham, Sr, and Ruby Ladelle (née Speights). He was born in the small town of Mineola, in Wood County east of Dallas, Texas. After graduating in 1953 from North Texas State College in Denton, he earned a master's degree in educational psychology from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Willingham served in the United States Army during the Korean War. Career Willingham taught government and economics at Sam Houston High School in Houston before he followed his dream of becoming an actor. He auditioned for a part in ''The Last Picture Show'' (1971), which was filmed in Texas. He won the role, which led to another appearance, in '' Paper Moon'' (1973). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chi McBride
Kenneth "Chi" McBride ( ; born September 23, 1961) is an American actor. He has appeared in films, where he is known primarily as a character actor, and in television, where he has had numerous starring roles. In film, he has played prominent roles including ''The Frighteners'' (1996), '' Gone in 60 Seconds'' (2000), ''I, Robot'' (2004), '' Waiting...'' (2005), ''Let's Go to Prison'' (2006), and ''Draft Day'' (2014). On television, he was high school principal Steven Harper on the series ''Boston Public'', Emerson Cod on ''Pushing Daisies'', Detective Laverne Winston on the Fox drama '' Human Target'', Detective Don Owen in the short-lived CBS crime drama '' Golden Boy'', and Captain Lou Grover in '' Hawaii Five-0''. Early life McBride was born in Chicago, Illinois, from which his stage name derives. He was raised in the Seventh-day Adventist religion and attended Shiloh Academy, now known as Chicago SDA Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist school. McBride originally planned to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Garner
James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including ''The Great Escape (film), The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Chayefsky's ''The Americanization of Emily'' (1964) with Julie Andrews; ''Cash McCall'' (1960) with Natalie Wood; ''The Wheeler Dealers'' (1963) with Lee Remick; ''Darby's Rangers'' (1958) with Stuart Whitman; Roald Dahl's ''36 Hours (1965 film), 36 Hours'' (1965) with Eva Marie Saint; Raymond Chandler's ''Marlowe (1969 film), Marlowe'' (1969) with Bruce Lee; ''Support Your Local Sheriff!'' (1969) with Walter Brennan; Blake Edwards's ''Victor/Victoria'' (1982) with Julie Andrews; and ''Murphy's Romance'' (1985) with Sally Field, for which he received an Academy Award for Best Actor, Academy Award nomination. He also starred in several television series, including popular roles such as Maverick (TV series)#James Garner as Bret Maverick, Bret ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the oldest genres in film and it is derived from the classical comedy in theatre. Some of the earliest silent films were comedies, as slapstick comedy often relies on visual depictions, without requiring sound. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1930s, comedy films took another swing, as laughter could result from burlesque situations but also dialogue. Comedy, compared with other film genres, puts much more focus on individual stars, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to the film industry due to their popularity. In '' The Screenwriters Taxonomy'' (2017), Eric R. Williams contends that film genres are fundamentally based upon a film's atmosphere, character, and story. Therefore the labels "drama" and "comedy" ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
