Homage (film)

Last updated
Homage
Directed by Ross Kagan Marks
Screenplay by Mark Medoff
Based onThe Homage That Follows
by Mark Medoff
Produced byElan Sassoon
Mark Medoff
Starring Blythe Danner
Frank Whaley
Sheryl Lee
Cinematography Tom Richmond
Edited by Kevin Tent
Music by W. G. Snuffy Walden
Release date
  • November 24, 1995 (1995-11-24)(San Francisco)
Running time
96 minutes [1]
97 minutes [2] [3]
100 minutes [4] [5]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Homage is a 1995 American crime thriller drama film written by Mark Medoff, directed by Ross Kagan Marks and starring Blythe Danner, Frank Whaley and Sheryl Lee. [1] It is based on Medoff's play The Homage That Follows. [4] Director Marks was a nominee for the Grand Jury Prize for Drama at the Sundance Film Festival.

Contents

Plot

The film opens with Archie holding a gun over Lucy and shooting her dead while her mother Katherine looks on in horror at the ranch they are all at. Archie is arrested and many headlines are made over Lucy's tragic death. Archie while in jail, plots his strategy with his lawyer. He taunts the deputy watching him with racial slurs and stereotypes. The movie flashes back to Archie first showing up at the ranch looking to apply for the farmhand position. Katherine considers herself lucky to get Archie and hires him immediately. He finds out Katherine's daughter is Lucy Samuel from the TV show "Banyon's Band" and is shocked. She comes and Archie immediately sees the hostile estranged relationship Lucy and Katherine have. He tries to mend the burned bridges between them and get Lucy interested in him. He writes a tailor-made star-vehicle screenplay for her entitled "The Journey to Galaxy Sixteen". She finds it schlocky and perverted and refuses. She rebuffs him. One morning when she is using the toilet, Archie is taking down the screens down to clean them and sees her. The relationship is more strained. Lucy tells Katherine. Archie angrily confronts Lucy and they fight.

Deputy Gilbert and Lucy have a romantic history and she runs into him one night at the local honky-tonk called "Cowboys" where the bar welcomes Lucy back to town. They dance together. She takes Deputy Gilbert out into the field at the ranch and dances seductively for him. She goes home and drops bit of cookies into her mouth and opens up to Archie, while drunk. She acts semi-flirtatious and asks Archie to rub her belly. His hand travels up her sweater and she snaps out of it and walks off.

Archie reads Lucy's diary and begins stripping off his clothes and mastorbates, fantasizing she is with him. Lucy and Katherine make up. Archie feels threatened and interferes. He confesses that he read Lucy's diary. He quotes an angry hateful passage he read in Lucy's journal and she informs her mother. Katherine asks him to leave the ranch as well as Lucy and Katherine. Archie is crestfallen. But she also asks to take the job offer Archie has received. Archie pulls a gun on Lucy and demands she give herself to him. She runs off, he chases her and shoots her dead. Katherine attempts to intervene, but Archie does not comply.

Archie pleads with Katherine to think of him as "her future", but she walks off in disgust. Archie is sure he will get off on a plea of insanity. Deputy Gilbert is worried that Archie will as well and opens the cell, throws Archie his keys and shoots Archie dead to make it look like self-defense and an attempted jailbreak. Archie's former lawyer Smith remarks he knows what happened--giving up Deputy Tellez's testimony, but knows the truth.

Katherine goes back to teaching to take her mind off all the tragedy and move on with her life.

Cast

Release

The film was released at the Roxie Theater on November 24, 1995. [5]

Reception

Roger Ebert awarded the film two and a half stars. [6] John Petrakis of the Chicago Tribune awarded the film one and a half stars. [3]

Variety gave the film a negative review: "But the story provides no real rooting interest, and the creepiness of the material tries one’s patience." [1]

TV Guide also gave the film a negative review: "This arty, overbaked melodrama entirely fails to transcend its source material, Mark Medoff's pretentious stage play The Homage That Follows." [7]

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times also gave the film a negative review and wrote, "Homage is too long, too repetitive, and too much of its dialogue is too literary for the screen." [2]

Stephen Holden of The New York Times also gave the film a negative review and wrote, "Like many movies adapted from plays, Homage is often overbearingly speechy. The movie tries to pump up the energy by punctuating the monologues with zooming metallic sound effects worthy of "Hard Copy." But if the director, Ross Kagan Marks, intended these shock tactics as a commentary on tabloid television and its audience, the technique only comes across as a jarring affectation." [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blythe Danner</span> American actress (born 1943)

Blythe Katherine Danner is an American actress. Accolades she has received include two Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Izzy Huffstodt on Huff (2004–2006), and a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress for her performance in Butterflies Are Free on Broadway (1969–1972). Danner was twice nominated for the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for portraying Marilyn Truman on Will & Grace, and the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her roles in We Were the Mulvaneys (2002) and Back When We Were Grownups (2004). For the latter, she also received a Golden Globe Award nomination.

<i>The Great Santini</i> 1979 film by Lewis John Carlino

The Great Santini is a 1979 American drama film written and directed by Lewis John Carlino. It is based on the 1976 novel by Pat Conroy. The film stars Robert Duvall, Blythe Danner, and Michael O'Keefe.

<i>Sylvia</i> (2003 film) 2003 British film

Sylvia is a 2003 British biographical drama film directed by Christine Jeffs and starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Daniel Craig, Jared Harris, and Michael Gambon. It tells a story based on the real-life romance between prominent poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. The film begins with their meeting at Cambridge in 1956 and ends with Sylvia Plath's suicide in 1963.

<i>Dracula: Dead and Loving It</i> 1995 film by Mel Brooks

Dracula: Dead and Loving It is a 1995 comedy horror film directed by Mel Brooks and starring Leslie Nielsen. It is a spoof of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula and of some of the story's well-known adaptations. Brooks co-authored the screenplay with Steve Haberman and Rudy De Luca. He also appears as Dr. Van Helsing. The film's other stars include Steven Weber, Amy Yasbeck, Peter MacNicol, Harvey Korman, and Anne Bancroft.

<i>Lovin Molly</i> 1974 film by Sidney Lumet

Lovin' Molly is a 1974 American drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Anthony Perkins, Beau Bridges, Blythe Danner in the title role, Ed Binns, and Susan Sarandon. The film is based on Larry McMurtry's second novel, Leaving Cheyenne (1963). Prior to release, the film was also known as Molly, Gid, and Johnny and The Wild and The Sweet.

<i>Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel</i> 1987 film

Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel is a 1987 Canadian television miniseries film. A sequel to the 1985 miniseries Anne of Green Gables, it is based on Lucy Maud Montgomery's novels Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, and Anne of Windy Poplars. The story follows Anne Shirley as she leaves Green Gables in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, to teach at a prestigious ladies' college in New Brunswick. The main cast from the original film reprised their roles, including Megan Follows, Jonathan Crombie, Colleen Dewhurst, Patricia Hamilton, and Schuyler Grant.

<i>Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story</i> 2000 Canadian TV series or program

Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story is a 2000 miniseries television film, and the third installment in a series of four films. The film was highly anticipated among fans of Anne of Green Gables, and was the most controversial and heavily criticized of the three film adaptations written and produced by Kevin Sullivan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert Blythe</span> Fictional character

Gilbert Blythe is a character in Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series of novels.

<i>Nosferatu the Vampyre</i> 1979 film by Werner Herzog

Nosferatu the Vampyre is a 1979 gothic horror film written and directed by Werner Herzog. It is set primarily in 19th-century Wismar, Germany and Transylvania, and was conceived as a stylistic adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, taking the title, setting and titular character's design from F. W. Murnau's 1922 film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. The picture stars Klaus Kinski as Count Dracula, Isabelle Adjani as Lucy Harker, Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Harker, and French artist-writer Roland Topor as Renfield. There are two different versions of the film, one in which the actors speak English, and one in which they speak German.

Guilty Conscience is a 1985 American television film, produced by Robert A. Papazian, written by Richard Levinson and William Link, directed by David Greene, starring Anthony Hopkins, Blythe Danner and Swoosie Kurtz. The film score was composed by Billy Goldenberg. It premiered on April 2, 1985 on CBS.

<i>Anne of Green Gables</i> (1934 film) 1934 film by George Nicholls, Jr.

Anne of Green Gables is a 1934 American comedy drama film directed by George Nicholls, Jr., based upon the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Dawn O'Day, who portrayed the title character in the film, changed her stage name to Anne Shirley, which she was billed as for this and all subsequent roles. The film was a surprise hit, becoming one of four top-grossing films RKO made that year as noted in The R.K.O. Story, published by Arlington House.

We Were the Mulvaneys is a 2002 American drama television film directed by Peter Werner and starring Beau Bridges, Blythe Danner and Tammy Blanchard. It is based on the book of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates. The script was written by Joyce Eliason, Peter Silverman, and Nancy Dalton Silverman. The film tells the story of a middle-class family that is torn apart when a traumatic event happens to one of the teenage children. Like the book, the film is narrated by the family's youngest son, Judd.

<i>All the Pretty Horses</i> (film) 2000 Western film

All the Pretty Horses is a 2000 American Western film produced and directed by Billy Bob Thornton, based on Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name, and starring Matt Damon and Penélope Cruz. It premiered on December 25, 2000 to mostly negative reviews. It grossed $18 million worldwide on a $57 million budget.

Dick Richards is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Known as a storyteller and an "actor’s director", Richards worked with Robert Mitchum, Gene Hackman, Martin Sheen, Blythe Danner, Catherine Deneuve, Alan Arkin, Wilford Brimley, and many others.

Mark Medoff was an American playwright, screenwriter, film and theatre director, actor, and professor. His play Children of a Lesser God received both the Tony Award and the Olivier Award. He was nominated for an Academy Award and a Writers Guild of America Best Adapted Screenplay Award for the film script of Children of a Lesser God and for a Cable ACE Award for his HBO Premiere movie, Apology. He also received an Obie Award for his play When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? Medoff's feature film Refuge was released in 2010.

<i>Mad City</i> (film) 1997 film by Constantin Costa-Gavras

Mad City is a 1997 American thriller drama film directed by Costa-Gavras, written by Tom Matthews based on a story by Matthews and Eric Williams, and starring Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta, with a supporting cast featuring Mia Kirshner, Alan Alda, Blythe Danner, Ted Levine, Raymond J. Barry and Larry King. This is Costa-Gavras's first English-language film since Music Box. The title comes from a nickname of Madison, Wisconsin, where it originally was going to be set, and was used for its multiple meanings.

<i>The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas</i> (film) 1982 film by Colin Higgins

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a 1982 American musical comedy film co-written, produced and directed by Colin Higgins. An adaptation of the 1978 Broadway musical of the same name, the film stars Burt Reynolds, Dolly Parton, Jim Nabors, Charles Durning and Dom DeLuise.

<i>Hearts of the West</i> 1975 film by Howard Zieff

Hearts of the West, released in Europe as Hollywood Cowboy, is a 1975 American comedy film directed by Howard Zieff, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Jeff Bridges, Andy Griffith, Blythe Danner, and Alan Arkin. A remake of 1932’s Make Me a Star, its story revolves around a wannabe Western writer who finds himself cast as a leading man in several 1930s Hollywood B-movie Westerns.

<i>Ill See You in My Dreams</i> (2015 film) Film by Brett Haley

I'll See You in My Dreams is a 2015 American comedy-drama film directed, co-written, and co-produced by Brett Haley. It stars Blythe Danner, Martin Starr, Sam Elliott, Malin Åkerman, June Squibb, Rhea Perlman, and Mary Kay Place.

Ross Kagan Marks is an American filmmaker and professor at New Mexico State University.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Variety Staff (December 31, 1994). "Homage". Variety. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Thomas, Kevin (September 20, 1996). "'Homage' Brings Fame Down to Earth". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Petrakis, John (August 2, 1996). "FLAWED 'HOMAGE' RESORTS TO TIRED USE OF FLASHBACK". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Holden, Stephen (May 17, 1996). "Homage". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  5. 1 2 LaSalle, Mick (November 24, 1995). "Celebrity Can Be Murder / 'Homage' explores what turns a fan into a killer". San Francisco Gate. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  6. ↑ Ebert, Roger (August 2, 1996). "Homage". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Homage Reviews". TV Guide. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.