George Armitage | |
|---|---|
 Armitage in 1988 | |
| Born | George Brendan Armitage March 2, 1942 Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Director, writer, producer, actor |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Children | Brent Armitage |
George Brendan Armitage (born March 2, 1942) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed the films Miami Blues (1990) and Grosse Pointe Blank (1997). He worked frequently with Roger Corman.
Armitage was born in Hartford, Connecticut. His mother was a writer who wanted to get into movies, so they moved to Beverly Hills in 1956, when Armitage was 13. [1]
"What a culture shock", he reflected later. "I’m still reeling. In Connecticut there wasn’t a hot rod in sight. Out here it was people racing up and down the street, building their own cars—it was teenage paradise, the kids were running everything." [2] He attended UCLA where he majored in economics and political science. While waiting for his real estate license to come through, Armitage entered the film industry in 1965 via the mail room at 20th Century Fox. [2] He later said:
I have a very personal relationship to film. I've gone to films all the time since I was a kid. I thought I could have some fun trying to make them. I always thought I was pretty close to what people were thinking. There's lots of tricks to be played, things to be done in film. Film is so close to the way the mind works – the way the mind communicates with itself. Film is a dream, an emotional coda. [3]
Armitage later recalled, "The counterculture movement had begun, and the people running Fox, especially in the television division, were these 30-ish hipsters, kind of jazz guys. Suddenly I was a person, being 20 or 21, who could explain to them what was going on, and I became very valuable on the lot." [1]
In 1966 Armitage became an associate producer on Peyton Place , "primarily to deal with the young kids on the show, to help them loop their lines." [3] Armitage recalls his period at Fox as an "incredible experience... I went from producer to producer all over the lot pitching ideas, I created series, I wrote a couple of things for television and, about that time, started writing screenplays. [2]
Armitage worked as associate producer on Judd for the Defense and created a TV series and tried to co-produce a TV movie but neither went beyond script stage.[ citation needed ]
Armitage met brothers Roger and Gene Corman at Fox while they were making The St Valentine's Day Massacre :
The commissary was a place called the "Gold Room" where the producers would go. They were all sort of mothballed, but they still had energy enough to snob the television people, who were making High Noon , Lost in Space , Batman . The movie producers would sit on the other side of the room from the TV people. This left the TV people with nobody else to snob, so they would snob Roger Corman... And that really pissed me off, because I was a fan of his. So I began to visit him on the set and the whole thing, and told him about the conflict that was going on, and he got a kick out of that. [2]
Armitage left Fox in 1967 to focus on movies. He wrote a script called Carrot Butts about animated cartoon characters coming to life. This was sent to the Cormans, who liked it but could not get financing. Roger Corman suggested a film in which “Everybody over thirty died” prompting Armitage to write Gas-s-s-s , [2] impressing Corman enough to allow Armitage to write and direct Private Duty Nurses . Corman also optioned an Armitage script, Coming Together. [4]
In 1972, he wrote and directed Hit Man , which was acclaimed in John Cribbs' Obscure Genius series. [5]
In 1975, Armitage was quoted in an article as saying:
I try to follow the Hollywood sports – to see who's winning. It doesn't seem the best system to make films that are both interesting and commercial, but it's the only one that works, at least for me. I think there must be other ways but I can't think of them. It's all new to me, even after ten years. I would like to see more courage and imagination, of course. That's something to look for. [3]
In 1976 he directed Vigilante Force . The picture was not a large success and Armitage's career then became bogged down in "development hell", apart from the movie Hot Rod. [6] Armitage spend the 1980s mostly writing screenplays which were never made. [2]
In 1990 Armitage wrote and directed the film Miami Blues . [7] In 1997 Armitage directed the film Grosse Pointe Blank starring John Cusack and Minnie Driver. [8]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Gas-s-s-s | No | Yes | Associate |
| Private Duty Nurses | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 1972 | Night Call Nurses | No | Yes | No |
| Hit Man | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 1975 | Darktown Strutters | No | Yes | No |
| 1976 | Vigilante Force | Yes | Yes | No |
| 1990 | The Last of the Finest | No | Yes | No |
| Miami Blues | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 1997 | Grosse Pointe Blank | Yes | No | No |
| 2004 | The Big Bounce | Yes | No | Yes |
Unmade screenplays
| Year | Title | Description | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | Carrott Butts | Pitched to Roger Corman | [2] |
| 1970 | Coming Together | [9] | |
| 1970s | Trophy | Story of two police departments who end up in a shooting war | |
| 1975 | Pochantonas Revenge | About a miracle staged by a stunt man and special effects person to raise a small town's spirit | [3] |
| Tantruma | For producer Paul Lazarus about a man looking for a woman from his past |
Acting roles
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Gas-s-s-s | Billy The Kid |
| 1971 | Von Richthofen and Brown | Wolff |
| 1974 | Caged Heat | Driver |
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Monty Nash | No | Yes | Episode "Brother Zachary" |
| 1979 | Hot Rod | Yes | Yes | TV movie |
| 1996 | The Late Shift | No | Yes |
Roger William Corman was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he was known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film.
The Trip is a 1967 American psychedelic film released by American International Pictures, directed by Roger Corman and written by Jack Nicholson. It was shot on location in and around Los Angeles, including on top of Kirkwood in Laurel Canyon, the Hollywood Hills, and near Big Sur, California, over three weeks in March and April 1967. Peter Fonda stars as a young man who experiences his first LSD trip.
Grosse Pointe Blank is a 1997 American black comedy film directed by George Armitage from a screenplay by Tom Jankiewicz, D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink and John Cusack. It stars Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin and Dan Aykroyd and follows the story of assassin Martin Q. Blank (Cusack), who returns to his hometown of Grosse Pointe, Michigan to attend a high school reunion. The film's score was composed by Joe Strummer, former member of the punk rock band the Clash; the film's soundtrack contains a number of popular and alternative punk rock, ska and new wave songs.
The Wild Angels is a 1966 American independent outlaw biker film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Made on location in Southern California, The Wild Angels was the first film to associate actor Peter Fonda with Harley-Davidson motorcycles and 1960s counterculture. It inspired the biker film genre that continued into the early 1970s.
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is a 1967 American gangster film based on the 1929 mass murder of seven members of Chicago's Northside Gang on orders from Al Capone. The picture was directed by Roger Corman, written by Howard Browne, and starring Jason Robards as Capone, Ralph Meeker as Moran, George Segal as Peter Gusenberg, and David Canary as Frank Gusenberg.
Miami Blues is a 1990 American neo-noir black comedy crime drama film directed by George Armitage, based on the novel of the same name by Charles Willeford. It stars Alec Baldwin, Fred Ward and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Jim Wynorski is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. Wynorski has been making B-movies and exploitation movies since the early 1980s, and has directed over 150 feature films. His earliest films were released to film theaters, but his later works have predominantly been released through the cable or straight-to-video market. He often works under pseudonyms such as "Jay Andrews," "Arch Stanton," "H.R. Blueberry," "Tom Popatopolis," and "Noble Henry." His adult films often spoof popular horror movies: Cleavagefield, for example, parodies Cloverfield, The Bare Wench Project parodies The Blair Witch Project, and Para-Knockers Activity parodies Paranormal Activity.
Gas-s-s-s is a 1970 American post-apocalyptic black comedy film directed by Roger Corman, and produced and released by American International Pictures. The plot follows survivors of an accidental military gas leak involving an experimental agent that kills everyone on Earth over the age of 25. The subtitle alludes to the 1968 quote "it became necessary to destroy the town to save it" attributed to a U.S. Army officer after the Battle of Bến Tre in Vietnam.
Charles Byron Griffith was an American screenwriter, actor, and film director. He was the son of Donna Dameral, radio star of Myrt and Marge, along with Charles' grandmother, Myrtle Vail, and was best known for writing Roger Corman productions such as A Bucket of Blood (1959), The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), and Death Race 2000 (1975).
Alex Gordon was a British film producer and screenwriter.
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is a 1977 American psychological drama film directed by Anthony Page from a screenplay by Gavin Lambert and Lewis John Carlino, based on the 1964 novel by Joanne Greenberg. The film stars Bibi Andersson, Kathleen Quinlan, Sylvia Sidney, Martine Bartlett, Lorraine Gary, Signe Hasso, Susan Tyrrell, and Diane Varsi. It follows a mentally ill teen who struggles between fantasy and reality, escaping to her own imaginary world.
Rock All Night is a 1957 crime drama film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Distributed by American International Pictures, it is based on a 25-minute television episode of The Jane Wyman Show from 1955 called "The Little Guy." It stars Dick Miller, Russell Johnson and Abby Dalton. It co-stars Mel Welles, Ed Nelson and Clegg Hoyt. The film was released as a double feature with Dragstrip Girl.
Machine-Gun Kelly is a 1958 film noir directed by Roger Corman that chronicles the criminal activities of the real-life gangster George "Machine Gun" Kelly. Despite its small budget, the film received positive critical reviews.
Five Guns West is a 1955 Western film set during the American Civil War directed by Roger Corman. It was Corman's first film as director although he had already made two as producer. It was the second film released by the American Releasing Company, which later became American International Pictures.
Steve Carver was an American film director, producer, and photographer.
A Time for Killing is a 1967 Western film directed originally by Roger Corman but finished by Phil Karlson. Filmed in Panavision and Pathécolor, it stars Glenn Ford, George Hamilton, Inger Stevens, and Harrison Ford in his first credited film role.
Private Duty Nurses is a 1971 American film written and directed by George Armitage. It is a sequel to The Student Nurses (1970) for New World Pictures. Roger Corman says they got the idea for the title after being sent a letter of complaint about the first film from the Private Duty Nurses Association.
Eat My Dust! is a 1976 American action comedy film written and directed by Charles B. Griffith, and starring Ron Howard.
Thomas Anthony Jankiewicz was an American screenwriter. Jankiewicz was best known for penning the 1997 film Grosse Pointe Blank, starring John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin, and Dan Aykroyd. Grosse Pointe Blank tells the story of an assassin, played by John Cusack, who returns to his hometown for his 10-year high school reunion.
Ashley Sidaway is a writer, producer and editor working in film and television. His films include Rainbow, Battle of the Brave (Nouvelle-France) and Joy Division as well as the long-running BBC TV series Best Of British.
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