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Sticks and Bones | |
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Created by | David Rabe |
Written by | David Rabe (original play) Robert Downey Sr. (screenwriter) |
Directed by | Robert Downey Sr. |
Starring | Tom Aldredge Cliff DeYoung Anne Jackson Brad Sullivan |
Theme music composer | Jack Nitzsche |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producer | Joseph Papp |
Editor | Bud S. Smith |
Running time | 105 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | CBS |
Release | 17 August 1973 |
Sticks and Bones is a television film adapted from the Tony Award-winning play of the same title by David Rabe. The black comedy focuses on David, a blind Vietnam War veteran who finds himself unable to come to terms with his actions on the battlefield and alienated from his family because they neither can accept his disability nor understand his wartime experience. Rabe explores the conflicted feelings of many civilians during the era by parodying the ideal American family as it was portrayed on the television sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet . Beneath the perfect facade of the playwright's fictional Nelson family are layers of prejudice, bigotry, and self-hatred that are peeled away slowly as they interact with their physically and emotionally damaged son and brother.
Sticks and Bones was the second play in Rabe's Vietnam trilogy, following The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and preceding Streamers . A veteran himself, he wrote it while a graduate student at Villanova University, where it was staged in 1969. The off-Broadway production, directed by Jeff Bleckner, opened on November 7, 1971 at Joseph Papp's Public Theater, where it ran for 121 performances. The cast included David Selby as David, Tom Aldredge as Ozzie, Elizabeth Wilson as Harriet, and Cliff DeYoung as Rick.
In 1973, Robert Downey Sr. wrote the teleplay for and directed a CBS television film based on Rabe's play. [1] The cast included DeYoung as David, Aldredge as Ozzie, and Anne Jackson as Harriet (for TV the parents were renamed "Andy" and "Ginger"). [2] The subject matter was so controversial that 94 of the network's affiliates refused to broadcast the film. [3]
David Paul Boreanaz is an American actor, television producer, and director known for playing the roles of vampire-turned-private investigator Angel on The WB/UPN Buffy the Vampire Slayer supernatural drama (1997–2003) and its spinoff Angel (1999–2004); FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth, a homicide investigator, on the Fox television crime procedural comedy-drama series Bones (2005–2017); and United States Navy SEAL Master Chief Special Warfare Operator Jason Hayes in the CBS/Paramount+ military drama series SEAL Team (2017–present).
Oswald George Nelson was an American actor, filmmaker, musician, and bandleader. He originated and starred in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, a radio and television series with his wife Harriet and two sons David and Ricky Nelson.
Streamers is a play by David Rabe.
Harriet Nelson was an American actress. Nelson is best known for her role on the sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from October 3, 1952, to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television, where it continued its success, initially running simultaneously on radio and TV. In terms of seasons, it was the longest running live-action sitcom in U.S. television history until It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia surpassed it on December 1, 2021. The series starred the entertainment duo of Ozzie Nelson and his wife, singer Harriet Nelson, and their sons, David and Ricky. Don DeFore had a recurring role as the Nelsons' neighbor "Thorny".
Robert Martin Culp was an American actor and screenwriter widely known for his work in television. Culp earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy (1965–1968), the espionage television series in which co-star Bill Cosby and he played secret agents. Before this, he starred in the CBS/Four Star Western series Trackdown as Texas Ranger Hoby Gilman in 71 episodes from 1957 to 1959. The 1980s brought him back to television as FBI Agent Bill Maxwell on The Greatest American Hero. Later, he had a recurring role as Warren Whelan on Everybody Loves Raymond, and was a voice actor for various computer games, including Half-Life 2. Culp gave hundreds of performances in a career spanning more than 50 years.
Robert Alan Morse was an American actor. Morse started his career as a star on Broadway acting in musicals and plays before expanding into film and television. He earned numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
David Oswald Nelson was an American actor. He was the older brother of musician Ricky Nelson.
Thomas Ernest Aldredge was an American television, film and stage actor.
David William Rabe is an American playwright and screenwriter. He won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1972 and also received Tony Award nominations for Best Play in 1974, 1977 (Streamers) and 1985 (Hurlyburly).
Paul Hartman was an American dancer, stage performer and television actor.
Barry Gordon Livingston is an American television and film actor, known for his role as Ernie Douglas on the television series My Three Sons (1963–72). He is the younger brother of actor/director Stanley Livingston, who played Ernie's older brother "Chip" on the show.
Sticks and Bones is a 1971 play by David Rabe. The black comedy focuses on David, a blind Vietnam War veteran who finds himself unable to come to terms with his actions on the battlefield and alienated from his family because they neither can accept his disability nor understand his wartime experience. Rabe explores the conflicted feelings of many civilians during the era by parodying the ideal American family as it was portrayed on the television sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Beneath the perfect facade of the playwright's fictional Nelson family are layers of prejudice, bigotry, and self-hatred that are peeled away slowly as they interact with their physically and emotionally damaged son and brother.
Elizabeth Welter Wilson was an American actress whose career spanned nearly 70 years, including memorable roles in film and television. In 1972 she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role in Sticks and Bones. Wilson was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2006.
Jeff Bleckner is an American theatre and television director.
The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel is a play by David Rabe.
In the Boom Boom Room is a play by David Rabe. The play follows a young go-go dancer who has a difficult relationship with her parents.
Bradford Ernest Sullivan was an American character actor on film, stage and television. He was best known for playing the killer Cole in The Sting, hockey goon Mo Wanchuk in Slap Shot, mobster George in The Untouchables (1987) and the gruff Henry Wingo in The Prince of Tides (1991).
The Vietnamization of New Jersey is a 1976 play written by American playwright Christopher Durang.
The Raleigh Cigarette Program was an American old-time radio comedy program that starred comedian Red Skelton.