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The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (film)
''The St. Valentine's Day Massacre'' is a 1967 American gangster film based on the 1929 mass murder of seven members of the Northside Gang (led by George "Bugs" Moran) on orders from Al Capone. The picture was directed by Roger Corman, written by Howard Browne, and starring Jason Robards Jr. as a remarkably slender Capone, Ralph Meeker as Moran, George Segal as Peter Gusenberg, and David Canary as Frank Gusenberg. Corman, better known as a director and producer of low-budget B movies, was given his largest budget to date (estimated at $2.5 million) and the backing of 20th Century Fox to realize what he described as "the most accurate, authentic gangster film ever".Corman p 126 With a voiceover narration by Paul Frees, the film depicts in detail the events leading up the massacre in a docudrama-style, with many authentic historical details. A young Bruce Dern plays one of the victims of the massacre, and Jack Nicholson has a bit part as a gangster. Also featured are Jan Merli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works that have an already-established critical reputation, such as his cycle of low-budget cult films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. In 1964, Corman—admired by members of the French New Wave and '' Cahiers du Cinéma''—became the youngest filmmaker to have a retrospective at the Cinémathèque Française, as well as in the British Film Institute and the Museum of Modern Art. He was the co-founder of New World Pictures, the founder of New Concorde and is a longtime member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2009, he was awarded an Honorary Academy Award "for his rich engendering of films and filmmakers". Corman is also famous for distributing in the U.S. many foreign directors, such as Federico Fellini (Ital ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Gusenberg
Peter Gusenberg a.k.a. "''Goosey''" (September 22, 1888 – February 14, 1929) and his brother Frank were German-American contract killers and members of Chicago's North Side Gang, the main rival to the Chicago Outfit. Peter Gusenberg participated in an infamous attack on Al Capone during a vicious gang war. Early life Peter Gusenberg Jr. was born at the Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois to Peter Sr. and his wife. He was the firstborn of three sons and the namesake of his father Peter Gusenberg (Gusenberger) Sr. who was a first generation Roman Catholic emigrant from Gusenburg, a municipality in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany and his wife. His parents moved into a home at 434 Roscoe Street in Lakeview, Chicago where Peter lived with his brothers Frank (October 11, 1893 Chicago, Illinois) along with their youngest brother Henry who later moved to 5507 Bernice Avenue, Portage Park, Chicago. In 1901, when Peter Jr. was twelve ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, that originated in the city's South Side in the early 1910s. It is part of the larger Italian-American Mafia. The Outfit rose to power in the 1920s under the control of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone and the period was marked by bloody gang wars for control of the distribution of illegal alcohol during Prohibition. Since then, the Outfit has been involved in a wide range of criminal activities, including loansharking, illegal gambling, prostitution, extortion, political corruption and murder. Capone was convicted of income tax evasion in 1931 and the Outfit was next run by Paul Ricca. He shared power with Tony Accardo from 1943 until his death in 1972; Accardo became the sole power in the Outfit upon Ricca's death and was one of the longest sit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the United States and Europe, particularly in major cities such as Berlin, Buenos Aires, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York City, Paris, and Sydney. In France, the decade was known as the ''années folles'' ("crazy years"), emphasizing the era's social, artistic and cultural dynamism. Jazz blossomed, the flapper redefined the modern look for British and American women, and Art Deco peaked. In the wake of the military mobilization of World War I and the Spanish flu, President Warren G. Harding " brought back normalcy" to the United States. The social and cultural features known as the Roaring Twenties began in leading metropolitan centres and spread widely in the aftermath of World War I. The spirit of the Roaring Twenties was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Organized Crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a form of illegal business, some criminal organizations, such as terrorist groups, rebel forces, and separatists, are politically motivated. Many criminal organizations rely on fear or terror to achieve their goals or aims as well as to maintain control within the organization and may adopt tactics commonly used by authoritarian regimes to maintain power. Some forms of organized crime simply exist to cater towards demand of illegal goods in a state or to facilitate trade of goods and services that may have been banned by a state (such as illegal drugs or firearms). Sometimes, criminal organizations force people to do business with them, such as when a gang extorts money from shopkeepers for "protection". Street gangs may ofte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo Gordon
Leo Vincent Gordon (December 2, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American character actor and screenwriter. During more than 40 years in film and television he was most frequently cast as a supporting actor playing brutish bad guys but occasionally played more sympathetic roles just as effectively.Magers, Boyd, Characters and Heavies', westernclippings.com, retrieved December 1, 2012 Early life and career Gordon was born in Brooklyn in New York City on December 2, 1922. Reared by his father in dire poverty, Gordon grew up during the Great Depression. He left school in the eighth grade, went to work in construction and demolition, and then joined the New Deal agency, the Civilian Conservation Corps, in which he participated in various public works projects. After the United States entered World War II in 1941, Gordon enlisted in the U.S. Army, in which he served for two years and received an honorable discharge. Gordon was in southern California where he and a cohort attemp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Miller
Richard Miller (December 25, 1928 – January 30, 2019) was an American character actor who appeared in more than 180 films, including many produced by Roger Corman. He later appeared in the films of directors who began their careers with Corman, including Joe Dante, James Cameron, and Martin Scorsese, with the distinction of appearing in every film directed by Dante. He was known for playing the beleaguered everyman, often in one-scene appearances. Miller's main roles in films included ''Gremlins'', '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch'', ''Explorers'', ''Piranha'', ''The Howling'', ''A Bucket of Blood'', ''The Little Shop of Horrors'', '' Not of This Earth'', '' Chopping Mall'', ''Night of the Creeps'', ''The Terminator'', ''The 'Burbs'', ''Small Soldiers'' and '' Quake''. Early life Miller was born on Christmas Day, 1928, in The Bronx, New York, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Rita (Blucher), an opera singer, and Ira Miller, a printer. He served a tour of duty in the United ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jan Merlin
Jan Merlin (born Jan Wasylewski, April 3, 1925 – September 20, 2019) was an American character actor, television writer, and author. Early years Born Jan Wasylewski and reared in New York City, Merlin was of Polish ancestry. He attended the Grace Church School for Boys before dropping out to join the Navy. He later graduated from the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. During World War II, he enlisted in the United States Navy and became a torpedoman. Career After Merlin's discharge, he worked in summer stock beginning in 1946, and then enrolled in the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater, making his Broadway debut in 1949 in '' Mister Roberts'' starring Henry Fonda. His professional acting career, which spanned more than five decades, included performances in stage plays on and off Broadway, radio dramas, live and filmed episodes of television series, and more than 30 feature motion pictures. His most recent performances were in live radio dramas broa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bit Part
In acting, a bit part is a role in which there is direct interaction with the principal actors and no more than five lines of dialogue, often referred to as a five-or-less or under-five in the United States, or under sixes in British television, or a walk-on part with no dialogue. A bit part is higher than that of an extra and lower than that of a supporting actor. An actor who regularly performs in bit roles, either as a hobby or to earn a living, is referred to as a bit player, a term also used to describe an aspiring actor who has not yet broken into supporting or leading roles. Unlike extras, who do not typically interact with principals, actors in bit parts are sometimes listed in the credits. An exception to this practice is the cameo appearance, wherein a well-known actor or other celebrity appears in a bit part; it is common for such appearances to be uncredited. In MGM's 1951 screen version of the musical ''Show Boat'', the role of the cook Queenie ( Frances E. Will ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous accolades throughout his career which spanned over five decades, including three Academy Awards. His most known and celebrated films include '' Chinatown'' (1974), '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (1975), '' The Shining'' (1980), and ''The Departed'' (2006). He has also directed three films, including ''The Two Jakes'' (1990), a sequel to ''Chinatown''. His twelve Academy Award nominations make Nicholson the most nominated male actor in the Academy's history. He has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice, once for ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (1975) and once for ''As Good as It Gets'' (1997); he also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Terms of Endearment'' (1983). He is one of only three male actors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable natures. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver Bear for Best Actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' Coming Home'' (1978) and the Academy Award for Best Actor for ''Nebraska'' (2013). He is also a BAFTA Award, two-time Genie Award, and three-time Golden Globe Award nominee. A member of The Actors Studio, he rose to prominence during the New Hollywood era, through roles in films such as '' They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' (1969), ''The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant'' (1971), ''The Cowboys'', '' Silent Running'', and ''The King of Marvin Gardens'' (all 1972). Other notable films include ''The Great Gatsby'' (1974), ''Posse'' (1975), '' Family Plot'' (1976), '' Black Sunday'' (1977), ''The Driver'' (1978), ''Tattoo'' (1981), ''That Championship Seas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Docudrama
Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typically strive to adhere to known historical facts, while allowing some degree of dramatic license in peripheral details, such as when there are gaps in the historical record. Dialogue may, or may not, include the actual words of real-life people, as recorded in historical documents. Docudrama producers sometimes choose to film their reconstructed events in the actual locations in which the historical events occurred. A docudrama, in which historical fidelity is the keynote, is generally distinguished from a film merely " based on true events", a term which implies a greater degree of dramatic license; and from the concept of "historical drama", a broader category which may also encompass entirely fictionalized action taking place in histor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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