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Sticks and Bones | |
---|---|
Created by | David Rabe |
Based on | Sticks and Bones by David Rabe |
Screenplay by | Robert Downey Sr. |
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 | August 17, 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]
Robert John Downey Jr. is an American actor. His films as a leading actor have grossed over $14 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. Downey's career has been characterized by some early success, a period of drug-related problems and run-ins with the law, and a surge in popular and commercial success since the late 2000s. In 2008, Downey was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. From 2013 to 2015, he was listed by Forbes as Hollywood's highest-paid actor.
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".
David Alan Grier is an American comedian and actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, Grier gained popularity playing multiple roles in the American sketch comedy television series In Living Color (1990–1994) and Reverend Leon Lonnie Love on the Fox comedy series Martin (1993–1997). In 2004, Grier was ranked no. 94 on Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups.
David Oswald Nelson was an American actor. He was the older brother of musician Ricky Nelson.
Ernest Thompson is an American writer, actor, and director. He won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for On Golden Pond, an adaptation of his own play of the same name.
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.
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, television, and film 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.
American actor Robert Downey Jr. made his acting debut in 1970's Pound, directed by his father Robert Downey Sr., at the age of five. In the 1980s, Downey was considered a member of the Brat Pack after appearing in the films Weird Science with Anthony Michael Hall (1985), Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield (1986), Less than Zero with Andrew McCarthy (1987), and Johnny Be Good again with Hall (1988). Downey also starred in the films True Believer (1989) and Chances Are (1989), and was a regular cast member on the late-night variety show Saturday Night Live in 1985.
The Raleigh Cigarette Program was an American old-time radio comedy program that starred comedian Red Skelton.