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Mike Hodges
Michael Tommy Hodges (29 July 1932 – 17 December 2022) was a British screenwriter, film and television director, playwright and novelist. His films as writer/director include ''Get Carter'' (1971), ''Pulp'' (1972), ''The Terminal Man'' (1974) and '' Black Rainbow'' (1989). He co-wrote and was the original director on '' Damien: Omen II''. As director, his films include ''Flash Gordon'' (1980) and ''Croupier'' (1998). Early life Hodges was born in Bristol on 29 July 1932, and was raised in Salisbury and Bath. He qualified as a chartered accountant and spent two years of national service on the lower deck of a Royal Navy minesweeper. Career Hodges found a job in British television as a teleprompter operator. The job allowed him to observe the workings of the studios, and gave him time to start writing scripts. One of these scripts was ''Some Will Cry Murder'', written for ABC's ''Armchair Theatre'' series. Although never performed, it served to get him enough writing com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in South West England. The wider Bristol Built-up Area is the eleventh most populous urban area in the United Kingdom. Iron Age hillforts and Roman villas were built near the confluence of the rivers Frome and Avon. Around the beginning of the 11th century, the settlement was known as (Old English: 'the place at the bridge'). Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and was historically divided between Gloucestershire and Somerset until 1373 when it became a county corporate. From the 13th to the 18th century, Bristol was among the top three English cities, after London, in tax receipts. A major port, Bristol was a starting place for early voyages of exploration to the New World. On a ship out of Bristol in 1497, John Cabot, a Venetia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ABC Weekend TV
ABC Weekend TV was the popular name of the British broadcaster ABC Television Limited, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one of the " Big Four" companies that between them produced the majority of ITV networked programmes during this period. Originally created as Associated British Cinemas (Television) Ltd, ABC was one of a number of commercial television companies established during the 1950s by cinema chain companies, in an attempt to safeguard their business by becoming involved with television, which was taking away their cinema audiences. In this case, the parent company was the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) — owner of ABC Cinemas — which initially did not wish to become involved with the new broadcasting system, but was persuaded to do so by the Independent Television Authority (ITA) and the manager of its Pathé News subsidiary Howard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. His films have ranked highly in critical polls such as that of ''Cahiers du Cinéma'' and ''Sight & Sound'', which lists his 1963 film '' '' as the 10th-greatest film. Fellini's best-known films include ''La Strada'' (1954), ''Nights of Cabiria'' (1957), ''La Dolce Vita'' (1960), ''8½'' (1963), ''Juliet of the Spirits'' (1965), the "Toby Dammit" segment of ''Spirits of the Dead'' (1968), ''Fellini Satyricon'' (1969), ''Roma'' (1972), '' Amarcord'' (1973), and ''Fellini's Casanova'' (1976). Fellini was nominated for 16 Academy Awards over the course of his career, winning a total of four in the category of Best Foreign Language Film (the most for any director in the history of the award). He received an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Chaplin (writer)
Michael Chaplin (born 1951 in County Durham) is an English theatre, radio, television and non-fiction writer and former television producer and executive. He grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne where he now lives and works again. After graduating from Cambridge University in 1973 with a degree in history he trained as a reporter on '' The Journal'' newspaper in Newcastle upon Tyne and then became the paper's Health Correspondent. In 1977 he moved to London, becoming successively a researcher, producer, director and executive producer in London Weekend Television's current affairs and documentaries department. Among his many credits there was as editor of the cult arts/lifestyle show ''South of Watford'' which helped to establish the TV careers of its successive presenters, Ben Elton and Hugh Laurie. He then produced the ITV drama series ''Wish Me Luck'' about female secret agents in France during World War II which aired on ITV between 1988-1990. In 1989 he became Head of Drama and A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dandelion Dead
''Dandelion Dead'' is a British TV mini-series produced by LWT for ITV that aired in two parts on 6 and 13 February 1994. It tells the true story of Herbert Rowse Armstrong, a solicitor in the provincial town of Hay-on-Wye, Wales, who was convicted and hanged in May 1922 for the murder of his wife and the attempted murder of a fellow solicitor and business rival, Oswald Martin. The series starred Michael Kitchen as Major Armstrong, Sarah Miles as Catherine Armstrong, David Thewlis as Oswald Martin and Lesley Sharp as Constance, Martin's wife. It was directed by Mike Hodges and won a BAFTA in 1995. As well as telling the main story of Major Armstrong's crimes, the series develops the courtship of Martin and his wife and shows the effects of events on Armstrong's children. Cast * Michael Kitchen as Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong * Sarah Miles as Catherine Armstrong * David Thewlis as Oswald Martin * Lesley Sharp as Constance 'Connie' Martin, née Davies * Peter Vaughan as Doc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and political freedom, often delving into the deeper philosophical thematics of society. Stoppard has been a playwright of the National Theatre and is one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation. Stoppard was knighted for his contribution to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997. Born in Czechoslovakia, Stoppard left as a child refugee, fleeing imminent Nazi occupation. He settled with his family in Britain after the war, in 1946, having spent the previous three years (1943–1946) in a boarding school in Darjeeling in the Indian Himalayas. After being educated at schools in Nottingham and Yorkshire, Stoppard became a journalist, a drama critic and then, in 1960, a playwright. Stoppard's most prominent plays include ''R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2003 Film)
''I'll Sleep When I'm Dead'' is a 2003 British crime film directed by Mike Hodges, from a screenplay by Trevor Preston. The film bears striking similarities to Hodges' directorial debut, the classic 1970 crime drama ''Get Carter''. Both films feature men who return to their former hometowns to investigate the death of a brother who has died under mysterious circumstances. Plot Davey Graham arrives at an upper-class party to sell drugs to a woman named Stella. As he leaves, Stella's date watches him and makes a call on his mobile phone. Outside the party, three men are waiting for Davey in a black Range Rover, including a car dealer named Boad. The men follow Davey around London, finally attacking him just as he heads home. Two of the men wait for Davey as Boad lurks down an alley. Both men grab him and one of them holds his hand over his mouth to muffle his cries for help. They drag him off the street and into a garage, where they hold him down as Boad rapes him. At dawn, Dav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Prayer For The Dying
''A Prayer for the Dying'' is a 1987 thriller film about a former IRA member trying to escape his past. The film was directed by Mike Hodges, and stars Mickey Rourke, Liam Neeson, Bob Hoskins, and Alan Bates. The film is based on the 1973 Jack Higgins novel of the same name. Plot The film begins with a small IRA team, including Martin Fallon (Mickey Rourke) and Liam Docherty (Liam Neeson), watching as two British Army Land Rovers approach the roadside bomb they have set for them. At the last minute, a school bus overtakes the army vehicles and detonates the bomb as it passes, killing the children. After most of the team escape the scene pursued by the soldiers, Fallon travels to London in a bid to escape the past. In London, he is approached by a contact who asks him to take on one last job on behalf of local gangster Jack Meehan (Alan Bates) and his brother Billy Meehan (Christopher Fulford). They offer Fallon money, a passport and passage to the US if he kills a rival gangste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Crichton
John Michael Crichton (; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavily feature technology and are usually within the science fiction, techno-thriller, and medical fiction genres. His novels often explore technology and failures of human interaction with it, especially resulting in catastrophes with biotechnology. Many of his novels have medical or scientific underpinnings, reflecting his medical training and scientific background. Crichton received an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1969 but did not practice medicine, choosing to focus on his writing instead. Initially writing under a pseudonym, he eventually wrote 26 novels, including: ''The Andromeda Strain'' (1969), ''The Terminal Man'' (1972), '' The Great Train Robbery'' (1975), '' Congo'' (1980), ''Sphere'' (1987), '' Jurassic Park'' (1990), '' Rising Sun'' (19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film icon. He has received various awards including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. As of February 2017, the films in which Caine has appeared have grossed over $7.8 billion worldwide. Caine is one of only five male actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting in five different decades. He has appeared in seven films that featured in the British Film Institute's 100 greatest British films of the 20th century. In 2000, he received a BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to cinema. Often playing a Cockney, Caine made his breakthrough in the 1960s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euston Films
Euston Films is a British film and television production company. It was originally a subsidiary company of Thames Television, and operated from 1971 to 1994, producing various series for Thames, which were screened nationally on the ITV network. The most famous Euston Films productions include ''Van der Valk'' (1973), ''The Sweeney'' (1975–1978), ''Minder'' (1979–1994), ''Quatermass'' (1979), ''Danger UXB'' (1979), and ''Reilly, Ace of Spies'' (1983). ''The Sweeney'' had two feature film spin-offs, ''Sweeney!'' and ''Sweeney 2'', which were also produced by Euston. In 2014, Euston Films was revived as a production company by the owner of Thames, Fremantle. History The idea for Euston Films dated back to 1965, when writer Trevor Preston and directors Jim Goddard and Terry Green were working at ABC Television. They produced a detailed proposal for a specialist production unit that shot dramas on 16mm film, rather than standard videotape. The company was founded in 1971 when t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
