''The Last Angry Man'' is a 1959
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
that tells the story of a television producer who profiles the life of a physician. It stars
Paul Muni
Paul Muni (born Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund; September 22, 1895– August 25, 1967) was an American stage and film actor who grew up in Chicago. Muni was a five-time Academy Award nominee, with one win. He started his acting career in ...
(in his last film appearance),
David Wayne
David Wayne (born Wayne James McMeekan, January 30, 1914 – February 9, 1995) was an American stage and screen actor with a career spanning over 50 years.
Early life and career
Wayne was born in Traverse City, Michigan, the son of Helen M ...
,
Betsy Palmer
Betsy Palmer (born Patricia Betsy Hrunek; November 1, 1926 – May 29, 2015) was an American actress, who was known as a regular supporting film and Broadway actress and television guest star, as a panelist on the game show ''I've Got a Secret'' ...
,
Billy Dee Williams
William December Williams Jr. (born April 6, 1937) is an American actor. He appeared as Lando Calrissian in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, first in the early 1980s for ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) and ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), and thirt ...
(in his film debut), and
Godfrey Cambridge
Godfrey MacArthur Cambridge (February 26, 1933 – November 29, 1976) was an American stand-up comic and actor. Alongside Bill Cosby, Dick Gregory, and Nipsey Russell, he was acclaimed by ''Time'' in 1965 as "one of the country's foremost celeb ...
.
The movie was scripted by
Richard Murphy from the novel by
Gerald Green
Gerald Green (born January 26, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League. He was drafted by the Boston Celtics with the 18th overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft. Know ...
(who also adapted it), and was directed by
Daniel Mann
Daniel Chugerman (August 8, 1912 – November 21, 1991), known professionally as Daniel Mann, was an American stage, film and television director.
Originally trained as an actor by Sanford Meisner, between 1952 and 1987 he directed over 31 feat ...
.
The movie was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actor
The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The ...
(Paul Muni) and
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (
Carl Anderson,
William Kiernan).
The film was remade in 1974 as an ''
ABC Movie of the Week
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
'' with
Pat Hingle in the lead role.
Plot
As the fiercely dedicated general practitioner who tries to help the sick, the poor, and the unfortunate in his decrepit neighborhood, Dr. Sam Abelman is a testy old man who faces life without compromise and Woodrow Thrasher is a troubled television executive fighting to preserve his career.
Cast
*
Paul Muni
Paul Muni (born Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund; September 22, 1895– August 25, 1967) was an American stage and film actor who grew up in Chicago. Muni was a five-time Academy Award nominee, with one win. He started his acting career in ...
as Dr. Samuel "Sam" Abelman
*
David Wayne
David Wayne (born Wayne James McMeekan, January 30, 1914 – February 9, 1995) was an American stage and screen actor with a career spanning over 50 years.
Early life and career
Wayne was born in Traverse City, Michigan, the son of Helen M ...
as Woodrow "Woody" Thrasher
*
Betsy Palmer
Betsy Palmer (born Patricia Betsy Hrunek; November 1, 1926 – May 29, 2015) was an American actress, who was known as a regular supporting film and Broadway actress and television guest star, as a panelist on the game show ''I've Got a Secret'' ...
as Anna Thrasher
*
Luther Adler
Luther Adler (born Lutha Adler; May 4, 1903 – December 8, 1984) was an American actor best known for his work in theatre, but who also worked in film and television. He also directed plays on Broadway.
Early life and career
Adler was born on ...
as Dr. Max Vogel
*
Claudia McNeil
Claudia McNeil (August 13, 1917 – November 25, 1993) was an American actress known for premiering the role of matriarch Lena Younger in both the stage and screen productions of ''A Raisin in the Sun''.
She later appeared in a 1981 productio ...
as Mrs. Quincy
*
Joby Baker
Joseph N. "Joby" Baker (born March 26, 1934) is a Canadian-born actor and painter.
Career
Baker was born in Montreal, Quebec. An early role in his career was in a 1958 episode of ''The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show'', "Ronnie Makes A Recor ...
as Myron Malkin
*
Joanna Moore
Joanna Moore (born Dorothy Joanne Cook, November 10, 1934 – November 22, 1997) was an American film and television actress, who, between 1956 and 1976, appeared in 17 feature films and guest-starred in nearly a hundred television series episod ...
as Alice Taggart
* Nancy R. Pollock as Sarah Abelman
*
Billy Dee Williams
William December Williams Jr. (born April 6, 1937) is an American actor. He appeared as Lando Calrissian in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, first in the early 1980s for ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) and ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), and thirt ...
as Josh Quincy
*
Robert F. Simon
Robert Frank Simon (December 2, 1908 – November 29, 1992) was an American character actor.
Earlier years
Simon began acting with Mansfield's Community Players organization when he worked as a clerk in a meat market. Following that experience ...
as Lyman Gatting
*
Dan Tobin
Daniel Malloy Tobin (October 19, 1910 – November 26, 1982) was an American supporting actor on the stage, in films and on television. He generally played gentle, urbane, rather fussy, sometimes obsequious and shifty characters, often with a c ...
as Ben Loomer
Reception
Paul S. Cowan of ''
The Harvard Crimson
''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...
'' wrote that the film "combines some of the finest motion picture effects with many of the worst."
''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' wrote that the lead actor "gives a superlative performance."
See also
*
List of American films of 1959
The American films of 1959 are listed in a table of the films which were made in the United States and released in 1959. The film '' Ben-Hur'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture, among winning a record-setting eleven Oscars.
A–B
C–D ...
References
External links
*
*
*
1959 drama films
1959 films
American drama films
Columbia Pictures films
American black-and-white films
Films scored by George Duning
Films about physicians
Films about television
Films based on American novels
Films directed by Daniel Mann
Films set in Brooklyn
1950s English-language films
1950s American films
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