This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2008) |
Union City | |
---|---|
Directed by | Mark Reichert |
Written by | Mark Reichert |
Based on | "Union City: The Corpse Next Door" by Cornell Woolrich |
Produced by | Monty Montgomery |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Edward Lachman |
Edited by |
|
Music by | Chris Stein |
Production company | Kinesis Ltd. [1] |
Distributed by | Daltyn Film Works, Inc. [1] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 87 minutes [2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $500,000 [1] |
Union City is a 1980 American neo-noir [3] crime mystery film directed by Mark Reichert and starring Deborah Harry, Dennis Lipscomb, and Everett McGill. Based on the short story "Union City: The Corpse Next Door" by Cornell Woolrich, the film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 1980, before opening in New York City on September 26, 1980, and in Los Angeles on August 5, 1981. [2]
In 1953, Harlan is a repressed, uptight accountant living in an apartment block with his beautiful, neglected wife Lillian. He becomes obsessed with discovering who is drinking from the milk bottles left outside his apartment every morning, so he ties some cord to a bottle which will alert him when it is taken, and through this he finds the culprit to be a homeless war veteran. The vagrant apologises but the obsessive Harlan attacks him, knocking him down and seemingly cracking his skull. In a panic he hides the body behind the folding bed in another vacant apartment opposite his own.
Harlan's behaviour becomes ever more irrational, driving Lillian away from him and into the arms of building supervisor Larry Longacre (McGill); he believes another deranged resident known as the Contessa is planning to run away with him, and puts potential residents off the room where he hid the vagrant's body with his bizarre behaviour.
However, eventually a young couple of newly-weds, Alphonse and Jeanette Flourescu move in. Harlan attempts to dissuade Alphonse from opening the bed but is unsuccessful. Alphonse looks at the bloody but empty bed as a terrified Harlan throws himself through the apartment window to his death on the street below. A crowd gathers around his body, watched briefly by the disinterested vagrant, alive with his head bandaged.
The film starred Everett McGill, Dennis Lipscomb, and Deborah Harry of Blondie fame. The band was relatively unknown in the US at the time Harry was cast, but this changed when "Heart of Glass" reached number one in the United States midway through filming. As director Marcus Reichert later recalled, she was forbidden to sing on the film's soundtrack for contractual reasons, but her experiences led to the recording of the Blondie song "Union City Blue". Reichert also cast singer Pat Benatar, soon to make a mainstream breakthrough on the pop charts, in a featured role. Harry's partner, fellow Blondie member Chris Stein, performed the film's original score.
The short story written by Cornell Woolrich is set in the 1930s but Reichert relocated it to 1953, for he felt the period offered greater psychological possibilities for his interpretation of the material. With the encouragement of the film's originating producer Monty Montgomery, he wrote the screenplay in eight days. Union City was filmed on location on 27th Street off Summit Avenue in Union City, and on 48th Street and Hudson Avenue, in March 1979. Although it was hailed as "an unqualified masterpiece" by critic Lawrence O'Toole when it appeared in The Directors' Fortnight at Cannes in 1980, and United Artists offered to distribute Reichert's finished film, the film was recut by co-producers Kinesis Ltd., who decided to be the American distributor, in order to get a PG rating. The excised material is believed by Reichert to have been destroyed when the Movielab building, in which the film was stored, was sold to Arriflex. Union City has been released on DVD by Tartan Video and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film is now under contract to MGM/UA Pictures.
Union City received negative to mixed reviews. The film holds a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on six reviews. [4]
Blondie is an American rock band formed in 1974 in New York City by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the American new wave scene of the mid-1970s in New York City.
Cornell George Hopley Woolrich was an American novelist and short story writer. He sometimes used the pseudonyms William Irish and George Hopley.
Patricia Mae Giraldo is an American singer and songwriter. In the United States, she has two multi-platinum albums, five platinum albums, and 15 US Billboard top 40 singles, while in Canada she had eight straight platinum albums, and she has sold over 35 million albums worldwide. She is also a four-time Grammy Award winner. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November 2022.
Christopher Stein is an American musician known as the co-founder and guitarist of the new wave band Blondie. He is also a producer and performer for the classic soundtrack of the hip hop film Wild Style, and writer of the soundtrack for the film Union City, as well as an accomplished photographer.
Kansas City is a 1996 American crime film directed by Robert Altman, and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte, Michael Murphy and Steve Buscemi. The musical score of Kansas City is integrated into the film, with modern-day musicians recreating the Kansas City jazz of 1930s.
Jimmy Destri is an American musician.
"Call Me" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie and the theme to the 1980 film American Gigolo. Produced and composed by Italian musician Giorgio Moroder, with lyrics by Blondie singer Debbie Harry, the song appeared in the film and was released in the United States in early 1980 as a single. "Call Me" was No. 1 for six consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, where it became the band's biggest single and second No. 1. It also hit No. 1 in the UK and Canada, where it became their fourth and second chart-topper, respectively. In the year-end chart of 1980, it was Billboard's No. 1 single and RPM magazine's No. 3 in Canada.
"Union City Blue" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie. The song was featured on their 1979 studio album Eat to the Beat. Written by Debbie Harry and Nigel Harrison, the song was inspired lyrically by Harry's experiences while acting in the 1980 film Union City as well as her New Jersey roots. Musically, the song features a drum part composed by drummer Clem Burke.
KooKoo is the debut solo album by American singer Debbie Harry, released on July 27, 1981, by Chrysalis Records. Produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, the album was recorded whilst Harry took a break from her band Blondie. It was a moderate commercial success, reaching number 25 on the US Billboard 200 and number six on the UK Albums Chart.
Def, Dumb & Blonde is the third solo studio album by the American singer Deborah Harry. Released in October 1989 on Sire Records in the US and Chrysalis Records in the UK, the album saw Harry reverting from "Debbie" to "Deborah" as her professional name. Harry worked with a variety of producers on the album, including Tom Bailey of the Thompson Twins and Mike Chapman who had previously produced the last four Blondie albums. "I wanted to do certain things that were reminiscent of Blondie," she stated.
Charles Everett McGill III is a retired American actor, who rose to prominence for his portrayal of a caveman in Quest for Fire (1981). He went on to have prominent roles in the films Dune (1984), Silver Bullet (1985), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), Iguana (1988), Licence to Kill (1989), The People Under the Stairs (1991) and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995).
Michael Donald Chapman is an Australian record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including the Sweet, Suzi Quatro, Smokie, Mud and Racey with business partner Nicky Chinn, creating a sound that became identified with the "Chinnichap" brand. He later produced breakthrough albums for Blondie and the Knack. Chapman received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2014 Australia Day Honours.
Marcus Reichert was an American painter, poet, author, photographer, and film writer/director.
Dennis Lipscomb was an American actor.
Roadie is a 1980 American musical comedy film directed by Alan Rudolph about a truck driver who becomes a roadie for a traveling rock and roll show. The film stars Meat Loaf and marks his first starring role in a film. There are also cameo appearances by musicians such as Roy Orbison and Hank Williams Jr. and supporting roles played by Alice Cooper and the members of Blondie.
Deborah Ann Harry is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached No. 1 on the US charts between 1979 and 1981.
American Gigolo is the soundtrack album to the 1980 film of the same name, starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton. The music was composed and performed by Italian musician Giorgio Moroder and was released worldwide on the Polydor label. It peaked at number 7 on the Billboard 200 album chart. All the cuts from the soundtrack also went to number two for five weeks on the disco/dance charts.
Fall Guy is a 1947 American crime film noir directed by Reginald Le Borg. The drama features Leo Penn, Robert Armstrong and Teala Loring. The film is based on Cornell Woolrich's short story, "Cocaine."
Eddie Duggan is a British photographer, film-maker, screenwriter, author and academic games historian.