Reach the Rock | |
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![]() VHS cover | |
Directed by | William Ryan |
Written by | John Hughes |
Produced by | John Hughes |
Starring | |
Cinematography | John J. Campbell |
Edited by | Gerald B. Greenberg |
Music by | John McEntire |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $4,960 |
Reach the Rock is a 1998 American comedy drama film directed by William Ryan and starring William Sadler and Alessandro Nivola. It was the last film to be written and produced by John Hughes before his death in 2009.
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A small-town troublemaker (Alessandro Nivola), directionless and alienated, ends up spending a night in a jail cell, where he and the police chief (William Sadler) engage in a battle of wills and wit.
Writer/producer John Hughes came up with the premise for Reach the Rock basing the character of Robin off "base kids" and "farm kids" he knew in his youth displaced by the transition of "rural communities" to "bedroom comunities" who while tough were also social outcasts among the wealthier residents of Chicago's North Shore. [4] Hughes compared the character of Robin to John Bender from The Breakfast Club calling him the natural evolution of Bender had he stayed with Molly Ringwald's character, Claire, and never moved on. [4]
Hughes originally offered the Reach the Rock script to director Chris Columbus at the same time he offered him Home Alone . Columbus opted to direct the latter. [5]
William Ryan, an assistant working under Hughes, would be given the script by Hughes to direct and although Ryan never directed again he did go on to run Hughes Entertainment. [6]
The soundtrack featured a compilation of Chicago-based post-rock artists, among them Tortoise and associated acts Bundy K. Brown, The Sea and Cake and John McEntire. It was released on Hefty Records, a label owned and operated by Hughes's son, John Hughes III. The film gets its title from a song by the band Havana 3am. [7] Reach the Rock would mark the final writing credit for Hughes in which he was the sole author. [7]
Filming took place in Chicago's Northwest Side as well as West Chicago from July through September 1996. [8] [9]
Richard Lightstone who worked on the film as a sound engineer stated the film was made out of contractual obligation Universal Studios who per the stipulations of a contract with Hughes were owed a film made by him. [10] Hughes only visited the set once and mainly left William Ryan in charge of the production. [10]
Universal Pictures gave Reach the Rock an extremely limited theatrical run in the United States on October 16, 1998 where the film only played in three theaters in three cities for a one week engagement grossing only $4,960. [9] [4] The film was given a home video release on July 27, 1999. [9]
The film received generally negative reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 38% based on reviews from 8 critics, with an average rating of 4.5/10. [11] Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film 1 out of 4 stars. He compared it negatively to Hughes' Planes, Trains and Automobiles , and complained that the movie was "very sad" and felt like it was playing "in slow motion." [12]
The Breakfast Club is a 1985 American indie teen coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes. It stars Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. The film tells the story of five teenagers from different high school cliques who serve a Saturday detention overseen by their authoritarian vice principal.
John Wilden Hughes Jr. was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He began his career in 1970 as an author of humorous essays and stories for the National Lampoon magazine. He went on in Hollywood to write, produce and sometimes direct some of the most successful live-action comedy films of the 1980s. He directed such films as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, She's Having a Baby, and Uncle Buck; and wrote the films National Lampoon's Vacation, Mr. Mom, Pretty in Pink, The Great Outdoors, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, Dutch, and Beethoven.
Home Alone is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes. The first film in the Home Alone franchise, the film stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, and Catherine O'Hara. Culkin plays Kevin McCallister, a boy who defends his suburban Chicago home from a home invasion by a pair of robbers after his family accidentally leaves him behind on their Christmas vacation to Paris.
Chris Joseph Columbus is an American filmmaker. Born in Spangler, Pennsylvania, Columbus studied film at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking. After writing screenplays for several teen comedies in the mid-1980s, including Gremlins, The Goonies, and Young Sherlock Holmes, he made his directorial debut with a teen adventure, Adventures in Babysitting (1987). Columbus gained recognition soon after with the highly successful Christmas comedy Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).
Judd Asher Nelson is an American actor. His acting roles include Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime in The Transformers: The Movie, John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Alec Newbury in St. Elmo's Fire, Alex in Cybermutt, Joe Hunt in Billionaire Boys Club, Nick Peretti in New Jack City, Billy Beretti in Empire, and Jack Richmond in the television series Suddenly Susan.
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Sixteen Candles is a 1984 American coming-of-age teen comedy film starring Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling, and Anthony Michael Hall. Written and directed by John Hughes in his directorial debut, it was the first in a string of films Hughes would direct, centering on teenage life. The film received positive reviews from critics and was a box-office success, earning $23.6 million against a $6.5 million budget, and launched Ringwald to fame.
Home Alone 3 is a 1997 American family comedy film directed by Raja Gosnell in his directorial debut, written and co-produced by John Hughes, and starring Alex D. Linz and Haviland Morris. A standalone sequel to Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), it follows Alex Pruitt, an 8-year-old boy who defends his home from a dangerous band of international criminals working for a terrorist organization. It is the third film in the Home Alone franchise, and the first not to feature actor Macaulay Culkin, director Chris Columbus, or composer John Williams; Gosnell had previously served as editor on the first two Home Alone films. It is also the final film in the Home Alone franchise to receive a theatrical release.
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is a 1989 American Christmas comedy film and the third installment in National Lampoon magazine's Vacation film series. Christmas Vacation was directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik, written and co-produced by John Hughes, and starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, and Randy Quaid with supporting roles by Miriam Flynn, William Hickey, Mae Questel, Diane Ladd, John Randolph, E.G. Marshall, Doris Roberts, Juliette Lewis, and Johnny Galecki.
The Clearing is a 2004 American thriller drama film and the directorial debut of film producer Pieter Jan Brugge. The film is loosely based on the real life kidnapping of Gerrit Jan Heijn that took place in the Netherlands in 1987. The screenplay was written by Justin Haythe.
Brooke Langton is an American actress. She starred as Samantha Reilly in the Fox prime time soap opera, Melrose Place (1996–1998) and as Angela Bennett in the USA Network thriller series, The Net (1998–99). Langton also was the female lead in the 2000 comedy film The Replacements. She later had significant guest roles on the NBC series Friday Night Lights and on Life, in which Langton played a district attorney.
William Peter Moseley is an English actor. He is known for his portrayal of the fictional character Peter Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia (2005–2010) trilogy, which won him a Kids' Choice Award, in addition to nominations for a Saturn Award and a Young Artist Award. He also played Prince Liam in the E! series The Royals (2015–2018).
Alessandro Antine Nivola is an American actor. He has been nominated for a Tony Award and an Independent Spirit Award and has won a Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Independent Film Award (BIFA), and the Best Actor Award at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival among others.
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