| Altars of the World | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Lew Ayres |
Release date |
|
Running time | 150 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $85,000 |
Altars of the World is a 1976 American documentary film. The film was created as a shorter version of the 1955 American documentary Altars of the East. Altars of the World was the last recipient of the Golden Globe Award for Best Documentary Film before the award was retired in 1977.
Altars of the World is about the various religions of the world including Islam, Jainism and Sikhism. [1] Throughout the documentary, the film features the religious practices and locations of global religions while providing interviews. [2]
Actor Lew Ayres claimed he was inspired to create a film about world religions in the mid-1950s after having a religious experience with God. Originally titled Altars of the East, the documentary had a budget of $85,000 and took two years to be completed. Ayers and film technician Bob Duncan spent the first year filming the documentary while Ayers took another year to edit the film. [3] An additional two years of filming was conducted in the mid-1970s after Ayers chose to create a shorter version of Altars of the East in 1973. [1]
Altars of the East was released in 1955 as a nine hour long trilogy of films. [1] Ayres released a version of Altars of the East reduced to a two and a half hour film under the name Altars of the World in 1976. [2] After the documentary's theatrical debut on January 30, 1976, [4] Altars of the World was later split into two VHS tapes titled Altars of the World: The Western Religions and Altars of the World: The Eastern Religions. Both of these tapes were released on May 25, 1999. [5] [6] DVD copies of the documentary were made available on December 9, 2003. [4]
On the VHS tapes, Rob Ferrier of AllMovie said The Western Religions would be interesting for people who wanted to learn about the global influence of religion. [7] On the other hand, Ferrier's colleague Clarke Fountain felt The Eastern Religions would be useful for viewers studying religious similarities but not for others learning about Christian based faiths. [8]
Altars of the World was awarded the 1977 Golden Globe Award for Best Documentary Film. [9] It was the last documentary to be presented this Golden Globe award when the category was discontinued in 1977. [10] [11]
Jeffrey Leon Bridges is an American actor. He is known for his leading man roles in film and television. In a career spanning over seven decades he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award in addition to nominations for three BAFTA Awards and two Emmy Awards. In 2019 he was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award.
Johnny Belinda is a 1948 American drama film, directed by Jean Negulesco, based on the 1940 Broadway stage hit of the same name by Elmer Blaney Harris. The play was adapted for the screen by writers Allen Vincent and Irma von Cube.
Lewis Frederick Ayres III was an American actor whose film and television career spanned 65 years. He is best known for starring as German soldier Paul Bäumer in the film All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and for playing Dr. Kildare in nine films. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Johnny Belinda (1948).
Alan Wolf Arkin was an American actor and filmmaker. In a career spanning seven decades, he received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for six Emmy Awards.
Diary of a Mad Housewife is a 1970 American comedy-drama film about a frustrated wife portrayed by Carrie Snodgress. Snodgress was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe award in the same category. The film was adapted by Eleanor Perry from the 1967 novel by Sue Kaufman and directed by Perry's then-husband Frank Perry. The film co-stars Richard Benjamin and Frank Langella.
Jason Nelson Robards Jr. was an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he gained a reputation as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill. Robards received numerous accolades and is one of 24 performers to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting having earned competitive wins for two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Emmy Award. He was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1979, and earned the National Medal of Arts in 1997, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1999.
Richard Stuart Linklater is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993); the Before trilogy of romance films: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013); the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003); the adult animated films Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (2022); the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014); and the comedy film Everybody Wants Some!! (2016).
Bryce Dallas Howard is an American actress and television director. Howard is the first daughter of filmmaker Ron Howard and writer Cheryl Howard. She attended the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, left in 2002 to take roles on Broadway but graduated in 2020. While portraying Rosalind in a 2003 production of As You Like It, Howard caught the attention of director M. Night Shyamalan, who cast her as a blind girl in the thriller The Village (2004). She later secured the starring role of a naiad in Shyamalan's fantasy film Lady in the Water (2006).
Primal Fear is a 1996 American legal mystery crime thriller film directed by Gregory Hoblit, based on the 1993 novel of the same name by William Diehl, and written by Steve Shagan and Ann Biderman. It stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, John Mahoney, Alfre Woodard, Frances McDormand and Edward Norton in his film debut. The film follows a Chicago defense attorney who believes that his altar boy client is not guilty of murdering a Catholic archbishop.
Running on Empty is a 1988 American drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Naomi Foner and starring River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Christine Lahti, and Martha Plimpton. It was produced by Lorimar Film Entertainment. It is the story of a counterculture couple on the run from the FBI, and how one of their sons starts to break out of this fugitive lifestyle.
Something for Joey is a 1977 American made-for-television sport drama film about the relationship between college football player John Cappelletti, and his younger brother Joey. Other cast members included Geraldine Page, Linda Kelsey and Steve Guttenberg. It appeared on the CBS television network.
Bolero is a 1984 American romantic drama film written and directed by John Derek and starring Bo Derek. The film centers on the protagonist's sexual awakening and her journey around the world to pursue an ideal first lover who will take her virginity.
The Golden Globe Award for Best Documentary Film is a Golden Globe Award that was introduced for the 11th Golden Globe Awards, followed by the 30th Golden Globe Awards before discontinuation after the 34th Golden Globe Awards. The award was first given to A Queen is Crowned (1953), which details the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. It was last given to Altars of the World (1976).
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is a 2007 American documentary film about competitive arcade gaming directed by Seth Gordon. It follows Steve Wiebe in his attempts to take the high score record for the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong from Billy Mitchell. The film premiered at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival and was released in U.S. theaters in August 2007. It received positive reviews.
The Wrecking Crew is an American documentary film directed by Denny Tedesco, son of guitarist Tommy Tedesco. It covers the story of the Los Angeles–based group of session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, famed for having played on numerous hit recordings throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. The film premiered at the 2008 South by Southwest Film Festival.
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress and filmmaker. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. She has also earned numerous honors such as the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2013 and the Honorary Palme d'Or in 2021.
Jack Nicholson is an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter who made his film debut in The Cry Baby Killer (1958). Nicholson is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation. He is also one of the most critically acclaimed: his 12 Academy Award nominations make him the most nominated male actor in the Academy's history. He is also a Kennedy Center Honoree and a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award.
Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are frequent collaborators in cinema, with DiCaprio appearing in six feature films and one short film made by Scorsese since 2002. The films explore a variety of genres, including historical epic, crime, thriller, biopic, comedy and western. Several have been listed on many critics' year-end top ten and best-of-decade lists.