Saving Grace | |
---|---|
Directed by | Robert M. Young |
Written by | Robert M. Young Richard Kramer David S. Ward (as Joaquin Montana) Tom Conti |
Based on | the Novel by Celia Gittelson |
Produced by | Herbert F. Solow |
Starring | Tom Conti Fernando Rey Erland Josephson Giancarlo Giannini Donald Hewlett Patricia Mauceri Marta Zoffoli Edward James Olmos |
Cinematography | Reynaldo Villalobos |
Edited by | Peter Zinner |
Music by | William Goldstein |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 112 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $18,209 |
Saving Grace is a 1986 comedy-drama film directed by Robert M. Young, produced by Herbert F. Solow, and starring Tom Conti, Giancarlo Giannini and Edward James Olmos. It is based on a novel by Celia Gittelson with screenplay by Richard Kramer and David S. Ward under a different name.
It was the last film to be distributed by Embassy Pictures.
A year after his election, a youthful pope (Conti) longs to be involved in ordinary people's lives again, as he was when he was a priest. During an audience, the Pope communicates with a young deaf mute girl whose village has no priest. Accidentally locked out of the Vatican, the Pope travels to the small impoverished and demoralized village, his identity concealed by his beard growth. He realizes that the people need to rebuild a dilapidated aqueduct but, more importantly, that they must regain their community spirit and self-sufficiency. Without expertise and, initially, only the help of some street-wise orphans, he starts construction. All this is watched skeptically by a mysterious neighbour and opposed by local thugs led by Ciolino (Olmos) whose ill-gotten gains depend on the village remaining overly dependent on outsiders.
The movie was shot in Italy: in the cities of Rome, Mantua and the ghost town of Craco. [1]
Saving Grace premiered in the United States on May 2, 1986, and in the Philippines on April 11, 1987. [2]
Walter Goodman of The New York Times said, "There's no more engaging actor around than Tom Conti, but not even he, with the assistance of such notables of international moviedom as Giancarlo Giannini, Erland Josephson and Fernando Rey, can lift Saving Grace out of its slough of sentiment." [3]
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Hanks's films have grossed more than $4.9 billion in North America and more than $9.96 billion worldwide, making him the fourth-highest-grossing actor in North America. He has received numerous honors including the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2014, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the French Legion of Honor both in 2016, as well as the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2020.
Giancarlo Giannini is an Italian actor and voice actor. He won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in Love and Anarchy (1973) and received an Academy Award nomination for Seven Beauties (1975). He is also a four-time recipient of the David di Donatello Award for Best Actor.
Seven Beauties is a 1975 historical black comedy drama Italian film written and directed by Lina Wertmüller and starring Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, and Shirley Stoler.
Tommaso Antonio Conti is a Scottish actor. Conti has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and two Golden Globe Awards.
Thomas Edward Sizemore Jr. was an American actor. Born in Detroit, Michigan, he started his career with supporting appearances in Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Lock Up (1989), and Blue Steel (1990). These appearances led to more prominent roles in films like Passenger 57 (1992), True Romance (1993), Striking Distance (1993), Natural Born Killers (1994), Strange Days (1995), Heat (1995), and The Relic (1997).
Walter Stacy Keach Jr. is an American actor, active in theatre, film and television since the 1960s. Keach first distinguished himself in Off-Broadway productions and remained a prominent figure in American theatre across his career, particularly as a noted Shakespearean. He is the recipient of several theatrical accolades, four Drama Desk Awards, two Helen Hayes Awards and two Obie Awards for Distinguished Performance by an Actor. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Arthur Kopit's 1969 production of Indians.
Love and Anarchy is a 1973 Italian film directed by Lina Wertmüller and starring Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato. The story, set in Fascist Italy before the outbreak of World War II, centers on Giannini's character, an anarchist who stays in a brothel while preparing to assassinate Benito Mussolini. Giannini's character falls in love with one of the women working in the brothel. This film explores the depths of his emotions concerning love, his hate for fascism, and his fears of being killed while assassinating Mussolini.
Mimic is a 1997 American science fiction horror film directed by Guillermo del Toro, written by del Toro and Matthew Robbins based on Donald A. Wollheim's short story of the same name, and starring Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Josh Brolin, Charles S. Dutton, Giancarlo Giannini and F. Murray Abraham.
Fever Pitch is a 1985 American drama film written and directed by Richard Brooks and starring Ryan O'Neal, Giancarlo Giannini, Chad Everett, John Saxon, and Catherine Hicks. The film marked Brooks's final film before his death in 1992. The original score was composed by Thomas Dolby.
Swept Away is a 2002 adventure romantic comedy film written and directed by Guy Ritchie; it is a remake of Lina Wertmüller's 1974 Italian film of the same name. The film stars Ritchie's then-wife Madonna and Adriano Giannini with a supporting cast featuring Bruce Greenwood, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Elizabeth Banks.
Lovers and Liars is a 1979 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Monicelli and starring Goldie Hawn and Giancarlo Giannini. It is Hawn's only foreign film. It was released in the United States in February 1981.
Robert Milton Young was an American film and television director, cinematographer, screenwriter, and producer. Young was considered a trailblazer in the independent filmmaking sector and for frequently casting Edward James Olmos in his movies, directing him in Alambrista! (1977), The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982), Saving Grace (1986), Triumph of the Spirit (1989), Talent for the Game (1991), Roosters (1993), Slave of Dreams (1995), and Caught (1996). He produced Olmos's directorial debut, American Me (1992).
Stuart Rosenberg was an American film and television director whose motion pictures include Cool Hand Luke (1967), Voyage of the Damned (1976), The Amityville Horror (1979), and The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984). He was noted for his work with actor Paul Newman.
Blood Red is a 1989 Western film directed by Peter Masterson, and starring Eric Roberts, Giancarlo Giannini, Burt Young, Lara Harris and Dennis Hopper. It was filmed and completed in 1986, but was released three years later. Part of the filming for Blood Red occurred at the Picchetti Brothers Winery in Cupertino, California.
True Confessions is a 1981 American neo-noir crime drama film directed by Ulu Grosbard and starring Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall as the brothers Spellacy, a priest and police detective. Produced by Chartoff-Winkler Productions, it is adapted from the novel of the same name by John Gregory Dunne, loosely based on the Black Dahlia murder case of 1947. Dunne wrote the screenplay with his wife, novelist Joan Didion. The film was released on September 25, 1981, receiving generally positive reviews from critics.
American Dreamer is a 1984 American romantic comedy-thriller film directed by Rick Rosenthal from a script by Ann Biderman, David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf. It stars JoBeth Williams and Tom Conti.
Joshua is a 2002 American drama film based on the novel of the same name by Joseph F. Girzone. It was produced by Crusader Entertainment LLC and directed by Jon Purdy.
Heavenly Pursuits is a 1986 Scottish comedy film written and directed by Charles Gormley and starring Tom Conti, Helen Mirren, and David Hayman. Set in Glasgow, Scotland, the film is about a teacher at a Catholic school whose students are searching for two more miracles that would promote the late Edith Semple to sainthood. A nonbeliever himself, the teacher's scepticism is challenged when he becomes involved in seemingly miraculous events.
Lili Marleen is a 1981 West German drama film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder that stars Hanna Schygulla, Giancarlo Giannini, and Mel Ferrer. Set in the time of the Third Reich, the film recounts the love affair between a German singer who becomes the darling of the nation, based on Lale Andersen, and a Swiss conductor, based on Rolf Liebermann, who is active in saving his fellow Jews. Though the screenplay uses the autobiographical novel Der Himmel hat viele Farben by Lale Andersen, her last husband, Arthur Beul, said the film bears little relation to her real life.
Ping Pong is a 1986 British comedy mystery film directed by Po-Chih Leong. It stars David Yip, Lucy Sheen, and Robert Lee. The film was produced by Picture Palace Films for Film Four International. Sheen in her debut role plays Elaine Choi, a law clerk brought in to carry out the will of a prominent restaurateur. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
Our Lenten Offering