Stevie (1978 film)

Last updated

Stevie
Stevie (1978 film).png
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert Enders
Screenplay by Hugh Whitemore
Based on Stevie
by Hugh Whitemore
The works of Stevie Smith
Produced byRobert Enders
Starring
Cinematography Freddie Young
Edited by Peter Tanner
Music by Patrick Gowers
Production
companies
Distributed by
  • Enterprise Pictures Limited (United Kingdom)
  • First Artists (United States)
Release dates
  • 30 August 1978 (1978-08-30)(MWFF)
  • 13 September 1978 (1978-09-13)(Los Angeles)
Running time
102 minutes
Countries
  • United Kingdom [1]
  • United States [1]
LanguageEnglish

Stevie is a 1978 biographical drama film produced and directed by Robert Enders from a screenplay by Hugh Whitemore, based on Whitemore's 1977 play of the same name. [2] The film stars Glenda Jackson, Trevor Howard, Mona Washbourne and Alec McCowen.

Contents

Synopsis

The film is about the life of British poet Stevie Smith and centres on Smith's relationship with her aunt, with whom she lived for many years in a house in Palmers Green, London. [3]

Cast

Release

Stevie had its world premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival on 30 August 1978. The film was released in Los Angeles on 13 September 1978 by First Artists. After The Samuel Goldwyn Company acquired the distribution rights from First Artists, the film was released in New York City on 19 June 1981. [1] It was distributed by Hoyts in Australia and by Universal Pictures internationally.

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 60% based on 10 reviews. [4] Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert rated the film four out of four stars and wrote that "it contains one of Glenda Jackson's greatest performances. She knows this character well. [...] She does what great actors can do: She takes a character who might seem uninteresting, and makes us care deeply about the uneventful days of her life." [5] Linda Deutsch, writing for the Associated Press, stated: "Stevie is a rare, exquisite little movie which grows in stature as it lingers in memory", and continued, "Glenda Jackson, in another of those amazing portrayals which make her an actress beyond compare, turns Stevie's rather humdrum existence into a dazzling study of love, anguish and small savored moments of joy." [6]

Accolades

AwardCategoryNominee(s)ResultRef.
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Best Supporting Actress Mona Washbourne Won [7]
British Academy Film Awards Best Supporting Actress Nominated [8]
Golden Globe Awards Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Glenda Jackson Nominated [9]
Best Supporting Actress Mona WashbourneNominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actress Won [a] [10]
National Board of Review Awards Top Ten Films Won [11]
Best Actress Glenda JacksonWon
Best Supporting Actress Mona WashbourneWon
National Society of Film Critics Awards Best Supporting Actress Nominated [12]
New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Actress Glenda JacksonWon [13]
Best Supporting Actress Mona WashbourneWon

Notes

Related Research Articles

<i>Lenny</i> (film) 1974 American biographical drama film by Bob Fosse

Lenny is a 1974 American biographical drama film about the comedian Lenny Bruce, starring Dustin Hoffman and directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Julian Barry is based on his play of the same name.

<i>A Touch of Class</i> (film) 1973 film by Melvin Frank

A Touch of Class is a 1973 British romantic comedy film produced and directed by Melvin Frank and starring George Segal, Glenda Jackson, Hildegard Neil, Paul Sorvino and K Callan. The film tells the story of a couple having an affair, who find themselves falling in love. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, with Jackson winning Best Actress.

<i>Moonstruck</i> 1987 film by Norman Jewison

Moonstruck is a 1987 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison and written by John Patrick Shanley. It stars Cher as a widowed Italian American woman who falls in love with her fiancé's hot-tempered, estranged younger brother, played by Nicolas Cage. The supporting cast includes Danny Aiello, Olympia Dukakis and Vincent Gardenia.

<i>Arthur</i> (1981 film) 1981 film by Steve Gordon

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 young woman from Queens. It was the sole film directed by Gordon, who died in 1982 of a heart attack at age 44.

<i>Round Midnight</i> (film) 1986 film by Bertrand Tavernier

Round Midnight is a 1986 American musical drama film directed by Bertrand Tavernier and written by Tavernier and David Rayfiel. It stars Dexter Gordon, with a soundtrack by Herbie Hancock. The title comes from Thelonious Monk's 1943 composition "'Round Midnight", which is featured in this film in a Hancock arrangement.

<i>Mona Lisa</i> (film) 1986 film by Neil Jordan

Mona Lisa is a 1986 British neo-noir crime drama film about an ex-convict who becomes entangled in the dangerous life of a high-class call girl. The film was written by Neil Jordan and David Leland, and directed by Jordan. It was produced by HandMade Films and stars Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, and Michael Caine.

<i>Interiors</i> 1978 film by Woody Allen

Interiors is a 1978 American drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. It stars Kristin Griffith, Mary Beth Hurt, Richard Jordan, Diane Keaton, E. G. Marshall, Geraldine Page, Maureen Stapleton, and Sam Waterston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John McTiernan</span> American filmmaker

John Campbell McTiernan Jr. is an American retired filmmaker. He is best known for his action films, including Predator (1987), Die Hard (1988), and The Hunt for Red October (1990). His later well-known films include the action-comedy-fantasy film Last Action Hero (1993), the action film sequel Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), the heist-film remake The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), and The 13th Warrior (1999). His last completed feature film was the mystery-thriller Basic, released in 2003.

<i>Gregorys Girl</i> 1981 Scottish film

Gregory's Girl is a 1980 Scottish coming-of-age romantic comedy film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn and Clare Grogan. The film is set in and around a state secondary school in the Abronhill district of Cumbernauld.

<i>Seems Like Old Times</i> (film) 1980 film by Jay Sandrich

Seems Like Old Times is a 1980 American comedy film starring Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn, and Charles Grodin, directed by Jay Sandrich and written by Neil Simon. It was the only theatrical film directed by Sandrich, who was best known for his television sitcom directing work. It follows Nick Gardenia, a writer who is forced to rob a bank and becomes a fugitive, leaving him to seek help from his ex-wife Glenda Parks, a public defender. Her current husband, Ira Parks, is the Los Angeles County district attorney, who harbors a jealous disdain towards Nick.

<i>My Summer of Love</i> 2004 British film

My Summer of Love is a 2004 British drama film directed by Paweł Pawlikowski and co-written by Pawlikowski and Michael Wynne. Based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Helen Cross, the film explores the romantic relationship between two young women from different classes and backgrounds. Working class Mona, whose once-hotheaded brother Phil became a born-again Christian in prison, meets upper middle class Tamsin who suffers from a lack of love in her family. Filmed in West Yorkshire, the film went on to win a BAFTA.

<i>Plenty</i> (film) 1985 film by Fred Schepisi

Plenty is a 1985 American drama film directed by Fred Schepisi and starring Meryl Streep. It was adapted from David Hare's play of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mona Washbourne</span> English actress (1903–1988)

Mona Lee Washbourne was an English actress of stage, film, and television. Her most critically acclaimed role was in the film Stevie (1978), late in her career, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award.

The 47th New York Film Critics Circle Awards honored the best filmmaking of 1981. The winners were announced on 21 December 1981 and the awards were given on 31 January 1982.

<i>Beyond Therapy</i> (film) 1987 film by Robert Altman

Beyond Therapy is a 1987 American comedy film written and directed by Robert Altman, based on the 1981 play of the same name by Christopher Durang. It stars Julie Hagerty, Jeff Goldblum, Glenda Jackson, Tom Conti, and Christopher Guest.

Stevie is a 1977 play by Hugh Whitemore, about the life of poet Stevie Smith. The play's two-week, pre-London engagement was at the Theatre Royal, Brighton. The production opened March 23, 1977, at the Vaudeville Theatre with Glenda Jackson as English poet and novelist Stevie Smith and featured Mona Washbourne and Peter Eyre. It was directed by Clifford Williams.

The 53rd National Board of Review Awards were announced on December 15, 1981.

<i>84 Charing Cross Road</i> (film) 1987 film by David Hugh Jones

84 Charing Cross Road is a 1987 British-American drama film directed by David Jones, and starring Anne Bancroft, Anthony Hopkins, Judi Dench, Mercedes Ruehl, and Jean De Baer. It is executive produced by Bancroft's husband, Mel Brooks. The screenplay by Hugh Whitemore is based on a play by James Roose-Evans, which itself is an adaptation of the 1970 epistolary memoir of the same name by Helene Hanff — a compilation of letters between Hanff and Frank Doel dating from 1949 to 1968. Several characters who are not in the play were added for the film, including Hanff's Manhattan friends and Doel's wife Nora.

<i>Marat/Sade</i> (film) 1966 British film by Peter Brook

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, usually shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1967 British film adaptation of Peter Weiss' play Marat/Sade. The screen adaptation is directed by Peter Brook, and originated in his theatre production for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The English version was written by Adrian Mitchell from a translation by Geoffrey Skelton.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Stevie (1978)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  2. Stevie (1978)
  3. "Movie Review: Stevie" New York Times, 19 June 1981. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  4. "Stevie". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  5. Ebert, Roger (2007). Roger Ebert's Four-Star Reviews 1967–2007 . Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 727. ISBN   978-0-7407-7179-8.
  6. Deutsch, Linda (2 September 1981). "'Stevie': An exquisite movie". The Desert Sun . No. 25. p. B5 via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  7. "BSFC Winners: 1980s". Boston Society of Film Critics . 27 July 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  8. "BAFTA Awards: Film in 1979". BAFTA . 1979. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  9. "Stevie – Golden Globes". HFPA . Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  10. "L.A. critics rate 'Coming Home' best". The Spokesman-Review. 23 December 1978. Retrieved 28 December 2017 via Google News Archive.
  11. "1981 Award Winners". National Board of Review . Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  12. "Past Awards". National Society of Film Critics . 19 December 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  13. "1981 New York Film Critics Circle Awards". Mubi . Retrieved 14 September 2022.