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Robert Benton
Robert Douglas Benton (born September 29, 1932) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is best known as the writer and director of the film ''Kramer vs. Kramer'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. He had previously written the screenplay (with David Newman) for the film ''Bonnie and Clyde''. Early life Benton was born in Waxahachie, Texas, the son of Dorothy (née Spaulding) and Ellery Douglass Benton, a telephone company employee. He attended the University of Texas and Columbia University. Career In 1959, he co-wrote the book ''The IN and OUT Book'' with Harvey Schmidt, published by The Viking Press. He was the art director at ''Esquire'' in the early 1960s. Benton won the Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director for ''Kramer vs. Kramer'' (1979) and Best Original Screenplay for '' Places in the Heart'' (1984). Benton garnered three additional Oscar nominations: two for Best Original Screenpla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waxahachie, Texas
Waxahachie ( ) is the seat of government of Ellis County, Texas, United States. Its population was 41,140 in 2020. Etymology Some sources state that the name means "cow" or "buffalo" in an unspecified Native American language. One possible Native American origin is the Alabama language, originally spoken in the area of Alabama around Waxahatchee Creek by the Alabama-Coushatta people, who had migrated by the 1850s to eastern Texas. In the Alabama language, ''waakasi hachi'' means "calf's tail" (the Alabama word ''waaka'' being a loan from Spanish ''vaca''). That there is a Waxahatchee Creek near present-day Shelby, Alabama, suggests that Waxahachie shares the same name etymology. Many place names in Texas and Oklahoma have their origins in the Southeastern United States, largely due to forced removal of various southeastern Indian tribes. The area in central Alabama that includes Waxahatchee Creek was for hundreds of years the home of the Upper Creek moiety of the Muscoge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twilight (1998 Film)
''Twilight'' is a 1998 American neo-noir thriller film directed by Robert Benton, written by Benton and Richard Russo, and starring Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, Gene Hackman, Reese Witherspoon, Stockard Channing, and James Garner. The film's original score was composed by Elmer Bernstein. It received mixed reviews from critics and was a box office bomb, grossing $15.1 million against its $20 million budget. Plot Aging private detective Harry Ross, an ex-cop, is working on a case to return 17-year-old runaway Mel Ames to her parents' home. He tracks down Mel and her sleazy boyfriend, Jeff Willis, at a Mexican resort. During a struggle, Mel accidentally shoots Harry with his pistol, striking him in the upper thigh. The plot picks up two years later, when Ross is living in Southern California in the guest quarters of Mel's wealthy parents, Jack and Catherine Ames. They are former movie stars, now in the twilight of their careers. Jack is dying of cancer, which i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
It's A Bird
English auxiliary verbs are a small set of English verbs, which include the English modal verbs and a few others. Although definitions vary, as generally conceived an auxiliary lacks inherent semantic meaning but instead modifies the meaning of another verb it accompanies. In English, verb forms are often classed as auxiliary on the basis of certain grammatical properties, particularly as regards their syntax. They also participate in subject–auxiliary inversion and negation by the simple addition of ''not'' after them. History of the concept In English, the adjective ''auxiliary'' was "formerly applied to any formative or subordinate elements of language, e.g. prefixes, prepositions." As applied to verbs, its conception was originally rather vague and varied significantly. Some historical examples The first English grammar, ''Pamphlet for Grammar'' by William Bullokar, published in 1586, does not use the term "auxiliary", but says, All other verbs are called verbs-neuter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Human Stain (film)
''The Human Stain'' is a 2003 drama film directed by Robert Benton. Its screenplay, by Nicholas Meyer, is based on the novel of the same name by Philip Roth. The film stars Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Gary Sinise, and Ed Harris. Plot In the late 1990s, writer Nathan Zuckerman (Gary Sinise) has settled in a lakeside New England cabin following his second divorce and a battle with prostate cancer. His quiet life is interrupted by Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins), a former dean and professor of classics at local Athena College, who was forced to resign after being accused of making a racist remark in class. Coleman's wife died suddenly following the scandal, and he wants to avenge his loss of career and companion by writing a book about the events with Nathan's assistance. The project is placed on the back burner when Coleman has an affair with Faunia Farley (Nicole Kidman), a considerably younger, semi-literate woman who supports herself by working menial jobs, including at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Bathgate (film)
''Billy Bathgate'' is a 1991 American biographical gangster film directed by Robert Benton Robert Douglas Benton (born September 29, 1932) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is best known as the writer and director of the film ''Kramer vs. Kramer'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Adapted S ..., starring Loren Dean as the title character and Dustin Hoffman as real-life gangster Dutch Schultz. The film co-stars Nicole Kidman, Steven Hill, Steve Buscemi, and Bruce Willis. Although Billy is a fictional character, at least four of the other characters in the film were real people. The screenplay was adapted by British writer Tom Stoppard from E.L. Doctorow's 1989 Billy Bathgate, novel of the same name. Doctorow distanced himself from the film for the extensive deviations from the book. It received negative reviews and was a box office bomb, grossing a mere $15.5 million against its $48 million budget. Plot Billy Behan (Loren Dean) is a p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The House On Carroll Street
''The House on Carroll Street'' is a 1988 American neo-noir film directed by Peter Yates, and starring Kelly McGillis, Jeff Daniels, Mandy Patinkin, and Jessica Tandy. Set in 1950s New York City, it follows a photojournalist who, blacklisted after refusing to disclose names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, stumbles upon a plot to smuggle Nazi war criminals into the United States. Plot Emily Crane, a picture editor for ''Life'' magazine, is fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee. She then takes a part-time job as companion/reader to an old lady. One day she overhears noisy argument in a neighboring house. Outside, she eavesdrops through an open window. One of the occupants is the committee's main senate prosecutor, Ray Salwen. The elderly man he is talking to speaks only German; a younger man named Stefan, whom Emily had earlier asked for directions, is interpreting their confrontation. Emily meets Stefan on the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nadine (1987 Film)
''Nadine'' is a 1987 American crime comedy film written and directed by Robert Benton and starring Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger. Plot It's 1954 in Austin, Texas, and a slightly pregnant Nadine Hightower ( Kim Basinger) is in a lot of trouble. She's gone to sleazy photographer Raymond Escobar's (Jerry Stiller) studio to reclaim some photos from him because they were "lots more artistic than I bargained for." Escobar assures her that he knows Hugh Hefner and she will certainly make it to the top. But Nadine has second thoughts, as she wants her photos, and when she goes back to the studio to retrieve them, gets caught up in the middle of a murder scene. She grabs an envelope with her name on it and hightails it out of there. Unfortunately, she gets the wrong pictures. She has stolen plans for a new highway development that ends up in the hands of her estranged husband Vernon (Jeff Bridges), a handsome, wise-mouthed bum who owns a bar called the Blue Bonnet which no one goes to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Still Of The Night (film)
''Still of the Night'' is a 1982 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Robert Benton and starring Roy Scheider, Meryl Streep, Joe Grifasi, and Jessica Tandy. It was written by Benton and David Newman. Scheider plays a psychiatrist who falls in love with a woman (Streep) who may be the psychopathic killer of one of his patients. The film is considered as an overt homage to the films of Alfred Hitchcock, emulating scenes from many of his movies: a bird attacks one character (as in '' The Birds''), a scene takes place in an auction (as in ''North by Northwest''), someone falls from a height (as in ''Vertigo'' and a number of other films), stuffed birds occupy a room (as in '' Psycho''), and an important plot point is the interpretation of a dream (as in '' Spellbound''). Meryl Streep's hair is styled much like Eva Marie Saint's was in ''North by Northwest'', and the town of Glen Cove features in both films. Jessica Tandy also features both in this film, and in ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bad Company (1972 Film)
''Bad Company'' is a 1972 American Western film directed by Robert Benton, who also co-wrote the film with David Newman. It stars Barry Brown and Jeff Bridges as two of a group of young men who flee the draft during the American Civil War to seek their fortune and freedom on the unforgiving American frontier. Later classified by critics as an "acid western", ''Bad Company'' attempts in many ways to demythologize the American West in its portrayal of young men forced by circumstance and drawn by romanticized accounts to forge new lives for themselves on the wrong side of the law. Their initial eagerness to be outlaws soon abates, however, when the boys are confronted with the realities of preying on others in a nation ravaged by war and exploitation. The film is often credited with inspiring the name of the classic rock band of the seventies Bad Company which according to Paul Rodgers (the bands singer) is incorrect and the name is in fact taken from an illustration in a Victo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
What's Up, Doc? (1972 Film)
''What's Up, Doc?'' is a 1972 American romantic screwball comedy film released by Warner Bros., directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, and Madeline Kahn. It was intended to pay homage to comedy films of the 1930s and 1940s, especially ''Bringing Up Baby'', and Warner Bros. Bugs Bunny cartoons. ''What's Up, Doc?'' was a success, and became the third-highest grossing film of 1972. It won the Writers Guild of America (WGA) 1973 " Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen" award for Buck Henry, David Newman and Robert Benton. ''What's Up, Doc?'' was ranked number 61 on the list of the 100 greatest American comedies published by the American Film Institute (AFI), number 68 on the AFI's list of 100 greatest love stories in American cinema, and number 58 on the list of the WGA's 101 Funniest Screenplays published by the Writers Guild of America. The film was very loosely based on the novel '' A Glimpse of Tiger'' by Herman Raucher. Plot Dr. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
There Was A Crooked Man
"There Was a Crooked Man" is an English nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 1826. Origin The rhyme was first recorded in print by James Orchard Halliwell in 1842: :There was a crooked man and he went a crooked mile, :He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile; :He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse, :And they all liv'd together in a little crooked house. It gained popularity in the early twentieth century.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 340. One legend suggests that this nursery rhyme originated in the once prosperous wool merchant’s village of Lavenham, about 70 miles northeast of London, having been inspired by its multicolored half-timbered houses leaning at irregular angles as if they are supporting each other. Other sources state that the poem originates from British history, specifically the period of the Scottish Stuart King Charles I o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wanderlust (2006 Film)
''Wanderlust'' is a 2006 documentary film on road movies and their effect on American culture. Cast In alphabetical order * Allison Anders as Herself * Eszter Balint archive footage as Eva ('' Stranger Than Paradise'', 1984) * Jeanine Basinger as Herself * Robert Benton as Himself * Laurie Bird archive footage as the Girl ('' Two-Lane Blacktop'', 1971) (uncredited) * Karen Black archive footage as Herself * Peter Bogdanovich as Himself * Albert Brooks archive footage as David Howard (''Lost in America'', 1985) * Jeff Brouws as Himself * William S. Burroughs archive footage as Tom the Priest (''Drugstore Cowboy'', 1989) * Alfonso Cuarón as Himself * Kat Dennings as Lila * Matt Dillon voice also archive footage * Richard Edson archive footage as Eddie ('' Stranger Than Paradise'', 1984) * Chris Eyre as Himself * Peter Fonda archive footage * Monte Hellman as Himself * Arthur Hiller as Himself * Dennis Hopper as Himself also archive footage * Callie Khouri as Herself * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
