The Tempest (1998 film)

Last updated
The Tempest
The Tempest (1998 film).jpg
Based onThe Tempest
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Jack Bender
Starring Peter Fonda
Music by Terence Blanchard
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producers Jack Bender
Bonnie Raskin
Producer James Bigwood
Cinematography Steve Shaw
Editor Stephen Lovejoy
Running time85 minutes
Production companies Bonnie Raskin Productions
NBC Studios
Original release
ReleaseDecember 13, 1998 (1998-12-13)

The Tempest is a 1998 American drama television film directed by Jack Bender. It is a modernized adaptation of the William Shakespeare play The Tempest set in Mississippi during the American Civil War starring Peter Fonda as Gideon Prosper, a character based on Shakespeare's Prospero.

Contents

Plot

Gideon Prosper, a Southern enslaver, is forced off his plantation by his younger brother Anthony before the American Civil War's outbreak. Surviving in the Mississippi bayou, Prosper uses magic that he learned from one of the people he enslaved to protect his teenage daughter and to assist the Union.

Cast

Production

Filming took place at Cypress Gardens, and other locations in, and around, Charleston, South Carolina. [1]

Broadcast

The film was broadcast on NBC at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, December 13, 1998. [2]

Reception

In his 2001 book Shakespeare in the Movies: From the Silent Era to Today, author Douglas Brode wrote, "Jack Bender's film emerged as yet another offbeat variation on Will's theme, but with the Bard's immortal poetry entirely excised." [3]

In a negative review for the Los Angeles Times , reviewer Daryl H. Miller wrote, "A miscalculation of epic proportions, this revision of one of the Bard's masterworks is at times laugh-out-loud awful, at times offensive." [4]

In a negative review for People , reviewer Terry Kelleher wrote, "The low-key style that served Fonda so well in his Oscar-nominated Ulee's Gold role doesn't work for Prosper/Prospero, who needs a charisma that the actor can't provide. The script gives Fonda two lines of actual Shakespeare at the end, and we admit he seems less than comfortable with the language." [2]

In a review for Variety , reviewer Laura Fries wrote, "What makes this production universally appealing is that it lacks the pretenses that usually come with a literary-based telepic. Writer James Henerson plays on such '90s issues as lost faith, selfishness, vengeance and loyalty to propel this Civil War-era saga." [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prospero</span> Character in William Shakespeares The Tempest

Prospero is a fictional character and the protagonist of William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, whose usurping brother, Antonio, had put him to sea on a "rotten carcass" of a boat to die, twelve years before the play begins. Prospero and Miranda had survived and found exile on a small island. He has learned sorcery from books, and uses it while on the island to protect Miranda and control the other characters.

<i>Return to the Forbidden Planet</i> Musical

Return to the Forbidden Planet is a jukebox musical by Bob Carlton based on the 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet, which, in turn, is loosely based on Shakespeare's play The Tempest. The show features a score of 1950s and 1960s rock and roll classics and dialogue largely adapted from well-known passages from Shakespeare.

Caliban, son of the witch Sycorax, is an important character in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.

<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> (1936 film) 1936 film by George Cukor

Romeo and Juliet is a 1936 American film adapted from the play by William Shakespeare, directed by George Cukor from a screenplay by Talbot Jennings. The film stars Leslie Howard as Romeo and Norma Shearer as Juliet, and the supporting cast features John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone, and Andy Devine.

<i>Prosperos Books</i> 1991 British film by Peter Greenaway

Prospero's Books is a 1991 British avant-garde film adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, written and directed by Peter Greenaway. Sir John Gielgud plays Prospero, the protagonist who provides the off-screen narration and the voices to the other story characters. As noted by Peter Conrad in The New York Times on 17 November 1991, Greenaway intended the film “as an homage to the actor and to his 'mastery of illusion.' In the film, Prospero is Shakespeare, and having rehearsed the action inside his head, speaking the lines of all the other characters, he concludes the film by sitting down to write The Tempest.”

<i>A Midsummer Tempest</i> 1974 fantasy novel by Poul Anderson

A Midsummer Tempest is a 1974 alternative history fantasy novel by Poul Anderson. In 1975, it was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and the Nebula Award for Best Novel and won the Mythopoeic Award.

<i>The Tempest</i> (Sullivan) Suite of incidental music for Shakespeares play composed by Arthur Sullivan

The Tempest incidental music, Op. 1, is a set of movements for Shakespeare's play composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1861 and expanded in 1862. This was Sullivan's first major composition, and its success quickly brought him to the attention of the musical establishment in England.

<i>The Tempest</i> (1979 film) 1979 British drama film

The Tempest is a 1979 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name. Directed by Derek Jarman, produced by Don Boyd, with Heathcote Williams as Prospero, it also stars Toyah Willcox, Jack Birkett, Karl Johnson and Helen Wellington-Lloyd from Jarman's previous feature, Jubilee (1977).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sycorax</span> Character in Shakespeares The Tempest

Sycorax is an unseen character in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest (1611). She is a vicious and powerful witch and the mother of Caliban, one of the few native inhabitants of the island on which Prospero, the hero of the play, is stranded.

<i>The Mock Tempest</i> 1674 play by Thomas Duffet

The Mock Tempest, or the Enchanted Castle is a Restoration era stage play, a parody by Thomas Duffet; it premiered in 1674, and was first printed in 1675 by the bookseller William Cademan. In creating his farce, Duffet's target was not Shakespeare's famous play, but the adaptation of it that John Dryden and Sir William Davenant wrote in the 1660s. According to critic Michael West, "There are frequent nautical metaphors, and 'more noyse and terrour than a Tempest at Sea'...."

Ariel (<i>The Tempest</i>) Character in The Tempest

Ariel is a spirit who appears in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Ariel is bound to serve the magician Prospero, who rescued him from the tree in which he was imprisoned by Sycorax, the witch who previously inhabited the island. Prospero greets disobedience with a reminder that he saved Ariel from Sycorax's spells, and with promises to grant Ariel his freedom. Ariel is Prospero's eyes and ears throughout the play, using his magical abilities to cause the tempest in Act One which gives the play its name, and to foil other characters' plots to bring down their master.

The Tempest (Stormen), Op. 109, is incidental music to Shakespeare's The Tempest, by Jean Sibelius. He composed it mainly in the late summer 1925, his last major work before his tone poem Tapiola. Sibelius derived two suites from the score.

<i>The Tempest</i> (2010 film) 2010 film directed by Julie Taymor

The Tempest is a 2010 American fantasy comedy-drama film based on the 1611 play of the same name by William Shakespeare. In this version, the gender of the main character, Prospero, is changed from male to female; the role was played by Helen Mirren. The film was written and directed by Julie Taymor and premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 11, 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katherine Heigl</span> American actress (born 1978)

Katherine Heigl is an American actress. She played Izzie Stevens on the ABC television medical drama Grey's Anatomy from 2005 to 2010, a role that brought her recognition and accolades, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2007.

<i>The Journey to Melonia</i> 1989 Swedish film

Voyage to Melonia is a 1989 Swedish-Norwegian animated adventure fantasy film directed by Per Åhlin, loosely based on William Shakespeare's The Tempest, with further inspiration from Jules Verne's Propeller Island and Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. It was Åhlin's first fully animated feature film, as his earlier films Out of an Old Man's Head and Dunderklumpen! had both used a mix of animation and live action.

Ferdinand is the prince of Naples and the son of Alonso, the King of Naples, in Shakespeare's play, The Tempest. He falls in love with Miranda. He is quick to promise the title of queen and wife to Miranda even though he doesn't know her name. He is happy in humble labours, blinded by love. He makes a solemn vow to be truthful to Prospero, and not to violate Miranda's chastity before their wedding.

<i>The Tempest</i> Play by William Shakespeare

The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, the rest of the story is set on a remote island, where Prospero, a complex and contradictory character, lives with his daughter Miranda, and his two servants: Caliban, a savage monster figure, and Ariel, an airy spirit. The play contains music and songs that evoke the spirit of enchantment on the island. It explores many themes, including magic, betrayal, revenge, and family. In Act IV, a wedding masque serves as a play-within-a-play, and contributes spectacle, allegory, and elevated language.

Une Tempête is a 1969 play by Aimé Césaire. It is an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest from a postcolonial perspective, set on an island in the Caribbean. The play was first performed at the Festival d'Hammamet in Tunisia under the direction of Jean-Marie Serreau. It later played in Avignon and Paris. Césaire uses all of the characters from Shakespeare's version, with some additions and new renderings of the original cast.

<i>The Tempest</i> (1908 film) 1908 British film

The Tempest is a 1908 British-made silent film directed by film pioneer Percy Stow who specialised in trick photography.

<i>Shakespeares Shitstorm</i> 2020 American film

Shakespeare's Shitstorm is a 2020 American musical comedy horror film written and directed by Lloyd Kaufman. Produced by Troma Entertainment, it is a contemporary parody of William Shakespeare's The Tempest.

References

  1. "The Tempest > A Conversation With Bonnie Raskin | Katherine Heigl Official Website".
  2. 1 2 "Picks and Pans Review: The Tempest". PEOPLE.com.
  3. Brode, Douglas (February 23, 2000). Shakespeare in the Movies: From the Silent Era to Shakespeare in Love. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780195139587 via Google Books.
  4. "Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' Goes South". Los Angeles Times. December 12, 1998.
  5. Fries, Laura (December 11, 1998). "The Tempest".