Boulevard of Broken Dreams | |
---|---|
Directed by | Pino Amenta |
Written by | Frank Howson |
Produced by | Frank Howson |
Starring | John Waters Penelope Stewart Kim Gyngell Andrew McFarlane Kevin Miles |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Hoyts |
Release date |
|
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Budget | AU$2 million [1] [2] |
Box office | AU$126,359 (Australia) [3] |
Boulevard of Broken Dreams is a 1988 Australian film. It was the first movie from Boulevard Films.
A successful Australian writer discovers he has cancer and returns home to Melbourne to be with his estranged wife and daughter.
The film was inspired by the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story "Babylon Revisited". [4]
Producer-writer Frank Howson met Pino Amenta when discussing a possible mini-series about Les Darcy. That was never made but they decided to collaborate on this film. [1]
The original choice for the lead was John Hargreaves but when he was signed on another project Amenta suggested casting John Waters, who had just made Nancy Wake for the director. [4]
Howson later said, "It was the first film we'd done, and it was made with a lot of commercial requirements because we weren't in the position to just make a film and hope for the best. We set out to make a film that would do well here and internationally." [5]
Among these decisions was the ending. Originally, John Waters' character was to get on a plane to Los Angeles without anyone knowing that he returned home to die. In the final film, though, he was reunited with his wife and child. [5]
Howson placed a great emphasis on music for the movie:
We recorded a great deal of those songs in LA with people like Richie Havens, Dan Hill, and Marc Jordan. On most Australian productions, the soundtrack tends to be done last and usually at a stage when they have almost run out of money. It suffers as a result. To me, the soundtrack is one of the most important things for the emotional balance of a film. [6]
The soundtrack album was released in 1988 through CBS. It earned songwriters Frank Howson, John Capek, Beeb Birtles and David Scofield a nomination for the 1989 ARIA Award for Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album.
John Waters earned an AFI Award for Best Actor and the film was popular enough for Boulevard Films to secure funding for a further five movies. [1] Reviews were mostly poor. [7]
According to Filmink "Melbourne has rarely looked more beautiful than in this movie, which has a fabulous cast and story full of potential... but is let down by its scripting." [8]
Big Time is the first conventional live album by American musician Tom Waits, featuring performances from two shows on Waits' 1987 tour. The album was released less than a year later on Island Records. While Big Time was the first released recording of public concert performances by Waits, it was not strictly his first live release: his 1975 Nighthawks at the Diner was a live performance before an audience that was conducted entirely within a recording studio.
Little River Band (LRB) are a rock band formed in Melbourne, Australia, in March 1975. The band achieved commercial success in both Australia and the United States. They have sold more than 30 million records; six studio albums reached the top 10 on the Australian Kent Music Report albums chart including Diamantina Cocktail and First Under the Wire, which both peaked at No. 2. Nine singles appeared in the top 20 on the related singles chart, with "Help Is on Its Way" (1977) as their only number-one hit. Ten singles reached the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Reminiscing" their highest, peaking at No. 3.
John Russell Waters is an English-born Australian film, theatre and television actor, singer, guitarist, songwriter, and musician. He is the son of Scottish actor Russell Waters. John Waters has been in the industry for over 50 years, and was part of the Australian children's television series Play School for 18 years.
Marc Wallace Jordan is an American-born Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, session musician, and actor. Covering a wide variety of genres, he has written songs for a number of well-known artists, including Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Cher, Bette Midler, Chicago, and Josh Groban. He was named best producer with Steven MacKinnon at the Juno Awards in 1994 for "Waiting for a Miracle" from Reckless Valentine. In early 2014, Jordan was named Chair of Slaight Family Music Lab at Norman Jewison's Canadian Film Centre.
Beeb Birtles is an Australian musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has been a member of various Australian groups including Zoot (1967–71), Mississippi (1972–74), Little River Band (1975–83) and Birtles Shorrock Goble (2002–07). He has also worked as a solo artist, including releasing an album, Driven by Dreams (2000). In 2004, Birtles and other members of the classic line-up of Little River Band were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
Broken Blossom is the fourth studio album by American singer Bette Midler, her second album release in 1977 and her fifth on the Atlantic Records label. Just as Midler's three previous studio albums Broken Blossom includes songs from a wide variety of genres, ranging from Edith Piaf's signature tune "La vie en rose", Phil Spector-esque covers of Billy Joel's "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" and Harry Nilsson's "Paradise" and hard rock like Sammy Hagar's "Red", to a jazzy duet with Tom Waits, "I Never Talk to Strangers", and a rendition of "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes", originally from Walt Disney's 1950 film version of Cinderella. The album reached No. 51 on Billboard's album chart.
Anthology 3: Rarities is a compilation album of mainly covers, by Australian singer John Farnham. The album was released in Australia on 10 November 1997, and is the third of a three disc anthology set. The album features a live 'Swing Version' of "You're the Voice" performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the grand opening of Crown Casino, as well as duets with Australian country vocalist Smoky Dawson and Taiwanese singer Chiu.
Graeham George Goble, is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as a founding member of Australian rock group Little River Band and Birtles Shorrock Goble.
Frank Michael Howson was an Australian theatre and film director, screenwriter, and singer. He directed Flynn (1996) on the early life of Errol Flynn and Hunting (1991). Howson, with Peter Boyle, helped establish Boulevard Films which produced thirteen films from Boulevard of Broken Dreams (1988) to Flynn; besides producing for Boulevard Films, Howson often wrote scripts and directed.
Backstage is a 1988 Australian film starring American singer Laura Branigan. The film was written and directed by Academy Award nominee Jonathan Hardy, who had also written Breaker Morant.
Big Time is a 1988 American musical film directed by Chris Blum.
Hunting is a 1991 Australian drama film written and directed by Frank Howson, starring John Savage, Kerry Armstrong and Guy Pearce.
Rebel is a 1985 Australian musical drama directed by Michael Jenkins and starring Matt Dillon, Debra Byrne, and Bryan Brown. It is set in World War Two.
Heaven Tonight is a 1990 Australian film.
Boulevard Films was an Australian production company which made a number of movies in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many which were set against a background of the entertainment industry.
What the Moon Saw is a 1990 Australian film directed by Pino Amenta. The first of five films Boulevard Films made following the success of Boulevard of Broken Dreams (1988), it was based on Howson's memories of being a child actor in the theatre.
Flynn is an Australian film about the early life of Errol Flynn, focusing on his time in New Guinea starring Guy Pearce in the title role.
Beyond My Reach is a 1990 Australian film starring Terri Garber. It was shot in Melbourne and Los Angeles.
"Soldier of Fortune" is a song written by John Capek and Marc Jordan, and first released by the Manhattan Transfer on their 1983 album Bodies and Souls. Australian pop singer John Paul Young released his version in October 1983 as the lead single from his seventh studio album One Foot in Front (1984). The song peaked at number 17 on the Australian Kent Music Report and stayed on the chart for 19 weeks.
Stephen Frank Housden is an English-born Australian musician. He joined the rock group Little River Band (LRB) in 1981 on lead guitar and vocals and ceased performing with them in 2006. Previously, Housden had worked as a session musician for various Australian artists. During the 1970s he was a member of Stevie Wright's band and Marcia Hines' touring and session bands. Housden released his debut solo album, New World Groove, in 1993.