The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is a 1974 Canadian comedy-drama film directed by Ted Kotcheff, and adapted by Mordechai Richler and Lionel Chetwynd from Richler’s novel of the same name. It stars Richard Dreyfuss as the title character, a brash young Jewish Montrealer who embarks on a string of get-rich-quick schemes in a bid to gain respect. The cast also features Micheline Lanctôt, Randy Quaid, Joseph Wiseman, Denholm Elliott, Joe Silver and Jack Warden.
Heartaches is a 1981 Canadian comedy film written by Terence Heffernan and directed by Donald Shebib. It stars Margot Kidder, Annie Potts, Winston Rekert and Robert Carradine. The movie is about two young women who form an unlikely friendship on a bus ride to Toronto.
Pete Kelly's Blues is a 1955 musical crime film based on the 1951 radio series of the same name. It was directed by and starred Jack Webb in the title role of a bandleader and musician. Janet Leigh is featured as party girl Ivy Conrad, and Edmond O'Brien as a gangster who applies pressure to Kelly. Peggy Lee portrays alcoholic jazz singer Rose Hopkins. Ella Fitzgerald makes a cameo as singer Maggie Jackson. Lee Marvin, Martin Milner, and Jayne Mansfield also make early career appearances.
Geoff Pevere is a Canadian lecturer, author, broadcaster, teacher, arts and media critic, currently the program director of the Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival in Toronto. He is a former film critic, book columnist and cultural journalist for the Toronto Star, where he worked from 1998 to 2011. His writing has appeared in several newspapers, magazines and arts journals, and he has worked as a broadcaster for both radio and television. He has lectured widely on cultural and media topics, and taught courses at several Canadian universities and colleges. In 2012, he contributed weekly pop culture columns to CBC Radio Syndication, which were heard in nearly twenty markets across Canada. He has also been a movie columnist and regular freelance contributor with The Globe and Mail.
Jayne Eastwood, also credited as Jane Easton or Jane Eastwood, is a Canadian actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles as Anna-Marie Biddlecoff in Finders Keepers (1984), Judy the Waitress in The Santa Clause (1994), Mrs. White in the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise (2002-2023), Mrs. Borusewicz in Chicago (2002), Lucy Decker in Welcome to Mooseport (2004) and Miss Wimsey in Hairspray (2007).
Donald Everett Shebib was a Canadian film and television director. Shebib was a central figure in the development of English Canadian cinema who made several short documentaries for the National Film Board of Canada and CBC Television in the 1960s before turning to feature films, beginning with the influential Goin' Down the Road (1970) and what many call his masterpiece, Between Friends (1973). He soon became frustrated by the bureaucratic process of film funding in Canada and chronic problems with distribution as well as a string of box office disappointments. After Heartaches (1981), he made fewer films for theatrical release and worked more in television.
Cayle Vivian Chernin was a Canadian actress, writer, and producer born in Glace Bay, on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. She began her career with a small, but important, role in Donald Shebib's Canadian film Goin' Down the Road (1970). She later produced award-winning documentaries, and acted in film, television and theatre; when she returned to acting in the 2000s, having become better known as a filmmaker she initially used the stage names Cayle-Lorraine Sinclair or Lorraine Sinclair in her acting roles, before reverting back to Cayle Chernin in the late 2000s.
Doug McGrath is a Canadian actor whose most notable role was that of "Peter" in the acclaimed Canadian film Goin' Down the Road (1970) and its sequel Down the Road Again (2011). He also played in acclaimed Canadian films Wedding in White (1972), The Hard Part Begins (1973), the original Black Christmas (1974), Russian Roulette (1975) and Coming Out Alive (1980). He had a supporting role as a gym teacher in the cult comedy Porky's (1981), and also played roles in The Escape Artist (1982), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), the Australian comedy The Return of Captain Invincible (1983), Always (1989) and Ghosts of Mars (2001).
Between Friends is a 1973 Canadian crime film directed by Donald Shebib. It was entered into the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival, and was featured in the Canadian Cinema television series which aired on CBC Television in 1974.
Paul Bradley was a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Joey in the classic Canadian film Goin' Down the Road.
William Fruet is a Canadian film and television director, playwright and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut with the drama Wedding in White (1972), based on a play he had also written. The film won Best Picture at the Canadian Film Awards in 1973.
Down the Road Again is a 2011 Canadian drama film written and directed by Donald Shebib. The film is the sequel to Shebib's 1970 film Goin' Down the Road.
Good Times, Bad Times is a 1969 Canadian short television documentary film created by Donald Shebib with narration by John Granik featuring interviews with veterans intercut by wartime footage. Shebib's presentation of war and the social status of Canada's veterans is blunt and "non-romanticized". The film was well-received and is Shebib's most distinguished short film. It won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Feature Length Documentary.
Second Wind is a 1976 Canadian sport comedy film, directed and edited by Don (Donald) Shebib, written by Hal Ackerman, and produced by James Margellos. This was the first feature film starring role for actor James Naughton, who portrays a stock broker whose new jogging hobby turns into an obsession to excel at long distance running, straining his career and his relationship with his wife.
Rip-Off: Trying To Find Your Own Thing is a 1971 Canadian slice of life teen comedy film directed and co-edited by Don (Donald) Shebib, written by William Fruet, and produced by Bennett Fode, about the misadventures of four high school friends in their graduating year who make valiant but unsuccessful attempts to impress their school friends, especially the girls, trying filmmaking, forming a rock band, and starting a commune on a piece of land inherited by Michael. The film features a score by Gene Martynec and Murray McLauchlan.
The 22nd Canadian Film Awards were held on October 3, 1970 to honour achievements in Canadian film. The ceremony was hosted by broadcaster Bill Walker.
Change of Heart is a 1993 Canadian-British family road movie directed and co-produced by Donald Shebib, based on a story by Shebib and Terence Heffernan. The film stars newcomer Sarah Campbell Jeremy Ratchford, and veteran Canadian actors Barbara Hamilton and Heath Lamberts.
The Ascent is a 1994 American war adventure film directed by Donald Shebib. The film is an adaptation of a memoir by a then Italian prisoner of war in 1942 British East Africa who challenges his English captor in a climb of Mount Kenya.
The Fighting Men is a 1977 Canadian survival television film directed by Donald Shebib, produced by John Trent, and written by Tony Sheer, later released in theatres.
Nightalk is a 2022 Canadian thriller drama film, directed by Donald Shebib. It stars Ashley Bryant as Brenda, a police officer investigating the murder of a young woman; after learning that the woman was active on an online dating application called Nightalk, she joins the application under cover only to be drawn into a relationship with Tom, the primary suspect.
