Ordinary People is a 1980 American drama film directed by Robert Redford in his feature directorial debut. The screenplay by Alvin Sargent is based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Judith Guest. The film follows the disintegration of a wealthy family in Lake Forest, Illinois, following the accidental death of one of their two sons and the attempted suicide of the other. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, and Timothy Hutton.
Terms of Endearment is a 1983 American family comedy-drama film directed, written, and produced by James L. Brooks, adapted from Larry McMurtry's 1975 novel of the same name. It stars Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Jeff Daniels, and John Lithgow. The film covers 30 years of the relationship between Aurora Greenway (MacLaine) and her daughter Emma (Winger).
As Good as It Gets is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by James L. Brooks, who co-wrote it with Mark Andrus. The film stars Jack Nicholson as a misanthropic, bigoted, and obsessive–compulsive novelist, Helen Hunt as a single mother with a chronically ill son, and Greg Kinnear as a homosexual artist. The film premiered in Regency Village Theatre on December 6, 1997, and was released in theaters on December 25, 1997, and was a critical and box office hit, grossing $314.1 million on a $50 million budget.
Arthur is a 1981 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Steve Gordon. It stars Dudley Moore as Arthur Bach, a drunken New York City millionaire who is on the brink of an arranged marriage to a wealthy heiress but ends up falling for a common working-class girl from Queens. It was the sole film directed by Gordon, who died in 1982 of a heart attack at age 44.
Hoffa is a 1992 American biographical crime drama film directed by Danny DeVito and written by David Mamet, based on the life of Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa. Most of the story is told in flashbacks before ending with Hoffa's mysterious disappearance. The story makes no claim to be historically accurate, and in fact is largely fictional. Jack Nicholson plays Hoffa, and DeVito plays Robert Ciaro, an amalgamation of several Hoffa associates over the years. The film features John C. Reilly, Robert Prosky, Kevin Anderson, Armand Assante, and J. T. Walsh in supporting roles. The original music score was composed by David Newman. The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox and released on December 25, 1992. The film received predominantly mixed reviews and grossed just $29 million against its $35 million budget, with critics being polarized over Nicholson's performance and criticizing the film's story.
Prick Up Your Ears is a 1987 British film, directed by Stephen Frears, about the playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell. The screenplay was written by Alan Bennett, based on the 1978 biography by John Lahr. The film stars Gary Oldman as Orton, Alfred Molina as Halliwell, Wallace Shawn as Lahr, and Vanessa Redgrave as Peggy Ramsay.
Husbands is a 1970 American comedy-drama film written and directed by John Cassavetes. It stars Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk, and Cassavetes as three middle class men in the throes of a midlife crisis following the death of a close friend.
Ironweed is a 1987 American drama film directed by Héctor Babenco. It is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by William Kennedy, who also wrote the screenplay. It stars Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, with Carroll Baker, Michael O'Keefe, Diane Venora, Fred Gwynne, Nathan Lane and Tom Waits in supporting roles. The story concerns the relationship of a homeless couple: Francis, an alcoholic, and Helen, a terminally ill woman during the years following the Great Depression. Major portions of the film were shot on location in Albany, New York, including Jay Street at Lark Street, Albany Rural Cemetery, St. Joseph's Church, and the Miss Albany Diner on North Broadway. Despite mixed reviews and being a box-office bomb, Ironweed received two nominations at the 60th Academy Awards, Best Actor, and Best Actress.
Tempest is a 1982 American adventure comedy-drama romance film directed by Paul Mazursky. It is a loosely based, modern-day adaptation of the William Shakespeare play The Tempest. The picture features John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Raúl Juliá and Molly Ringwald in her feature film debut.
The Iceman Cometh is a 1973 American drama film directed by John Frankenheimer. The screenplay, written by Thomas Quinn Curtiss, is based on Eugene O'Neill's 1946 play of the same name. The film was produced by Ely Landau for the American Film Theatre, which from 1973 to 1975 presented thirteen film adaptations of noted plays.
Drive, He Said is a 1971 American independent film directed by Jack Nicholson, in his directorial debut, and starring William Tepper, Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Robert Towne and Henry Jaglom. Based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Jeremy Larner, the film follows a disenchanted college basketball player who is having an affair with a professor's wife, as well as dealing with his counterculture roommate's preoccupation with avoiding the draft in the Vietnam War. The film features supporting performances by David Ogden Stiers, Cindy Williams, and Michael Warren. The screenplay was adapted by Larner and Nicholson, and included uncredited contributions from Terrence Malick.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a 1975 American psychological drama film directed by Miloš Forman, based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey. The film stars Jack Nicholson, who plays a new patient at a mental institution, alongside Louise Fletcher, who plays an austere nurse. It features a supporting cast of Will Sampson, Danny DeVito, Sydney Lassick, William Redfield, as well as Christopher Lloyd and Brad Dourif in their film debuts.
Martin Scorsese is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and film historian whose career spans more than fifty years. To date, Scorsese has directed twenty-seven feature length narrative films, seventeen feature-length documentary films, and has co-directed one anthology film.
American actor and producer Morgan Freeman has had a prolific career on film, television and on the stage. His film debut was as an uncredited character in the Sidney Lumet–directed drama The Pawnbroker in 1964. Freeman also made his stage debut in the same year by appearing in the musical Hello, Dolly! He followed this with further stage appearances in The Niggerlovers (1967), The Dozens (1969), Exhibition (1969), and the musical Purlie (1970–1971). He played various characters on the children's television series The Electric Company (1971–1977). Freeman subsequently appeared in the films Teachers in 1984, and Marie in 1985 before making his breakthrough with 1987's Street Smart. His role earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Two years later he appeared in war film Glory (1989), and starred as Hoke Coleburn in the comedy-drama Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Freeman won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in the latter and also earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
American actor, director, and producer Robert Duvall has had an extensive career in film and television since he first appeared in an episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre in 1959. His television work during the 1960s includes Route 66 (1961), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1962), The Twilight Zone (1963), The Outer Limits (1964), The F.B.I. (1965–1969), and The Mod Squad (1969). He was then cast as General Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1979 miniseries Ike. In 1989, he played Augustus "Gus" McCrae alongside Tommy Lee Jones in the epic Western adventure television miniseries Lonesome Dove. The role earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. Three years later, he portrayed Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader Joseph Stalin in the television film Stalin (1992), which earned him another Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Film.
Robert Mitchum (1917–1997) was an American actor who appeared in over 110 films and television series over the course of his career. He is ranked 23rd on the American Film Institute's list of the 50 greatest American screen legends of all time. His first credited named role was as Quinn in the 1943 western Border Patrol. That same year he appeared in the films Follow the Band, Beyond the Last Frontier, Cry 'Havoc' and Gung Ho! as well as several Hopalong Cassidy films including Colt Comrades, Bar 20, False Colors, and Riders of the Deadline. In 1944, he starred in the western Nevada as Jim "Nevada" Lacy, and a year later in the film West of the Pecos as Pecos Smith. During the 1940s, he was also cast in the film noirs Undercurrent (1946), Crossfire (1947), Out of the Past (1947) and The Big Steal (1949). Mitchum was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a world-weary soldier in the 1945 film The Story of G.I. Joe, which received critical acclaim and was a commercial success.
Faye Dunaway is an American actress who appeared in over seventy films, thirty television shows, thirteen plays and two music videos. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses of her generation, she was one of the leading actresses during the golden age of New Hollywood. After her film debut The Happening, she starred in the gangster film Bonnie and Clyde, in which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She starred with Steve McQueen in The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). In 1969, she co-starred with Kirk Douglas in Elia Kazan's drama The Arrangement. The following year, she starred with Dustin Hoffman in Little Big Man. In 1970, her performance in Jerry Schatzberg's experimental drama Puzzle of a Downfall Child earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama. She portrayed Milady de Winter in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974).
Werner Herzog is a German filmmaker whose films often feature ambitious, sometimes mad protagonists with impossible dreams. Herzog's works span myriad genres and mediums, but he is particularly well known for his documentary films, which he typically narrates.
