Film Critict

Public Enemies

2009-12-15T03:47:00.000-08:00

Public Enemies is a 2009 American crime film co-written and directed by Michael Mann. Set during the Great Depression, it focuses on the true story of Bureau of Investigation agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale)'s attempt to stop criminals John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham), and Pretty Boy Floyd Channing Tatum). The film is an adaptation of Bryan Burrough's non-fiction book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34.

Plot

The film opens in 1933 as Pretty Boy Floyd is running from Melvin Purvis and eventually Purvis takes Pretty Boy Floyd down. John Dillinger is brought to the Indiana State Prison by his partner John "Red" Hamilton Jason Clarke), under the disguise of a prisoner drop. Dillinger and Hamilton overpower several guards and free members of their gang including Charles Makley (Christian Stolte) and Harry Pierpont (David Wenham). The jailbreak goes off without a hitch, until gang member Ed Shouse (Michael Vieau) beats a guard to death. A shootout ensues as the gang makes its getaway. Dillinger's friend and mentor Walter Dietrich (James Russo) is killed, and a furious Dillinger kicks Shouse out of the car. The rest of the gang retreats to a farm house hideout, where crooked East Chicago, Indiana cop Martin Zarkovich (John Michael Bolger) convinces them to hide out in Chicago, where they can be sheltered by the local Mafia. (

In East Liverpool, Ohio, Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) and several other Bureau of Investigation agents and East Liverpool Cops are running down Pretty Boy Floyd. Purvis kills Floyd and is promoted by J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup), who is struggling to expand his Bureau into a national police agency, to lead the hunt for John Dillinger, declaring the first national "War on Crime."

In between a series of bank robberies, including a violent one at the First National Bank in East Chicago, Indiana, where Dillinger kills an East Chicago cop, Dillinger meets Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) at a restaurant and proceeds to woo her by buying her a fur coat. Frechette falls for Dillinger even after he tells her who he is, and the two quickly become inseparable.

Melvin Purvis leads a failed ambush at a hotel where he believes Dillinger is staying. An agent is shot and killed by the occupant. After the man escapes, Purvis realizes the killer wasn't Dillinger but Baby Face Nelson. After this incident, Purvis requests that Hoover bring in professional lawmen who know how to catch criminals dead or alive, including Texas "cowboy" Charles Winstead (Stephen Lang).

Police finally find Dillinger and arrest him and his gang in Tucson, Arizona. Purvis arrives that evening and briefly talks with Dillinger; Dillinger tries to size Purvis up and manages to unnerve him with his talk about the agent killed by Nelson. Dillinger is extradited back to the Lake County Jail in Crown Point, Indiana, where he is locked up by Sheriff Lillian Holley (Lili Taylor) pending trial. Dillinger and a few inmates, chief among them is Herbert Youngblood (played by Michael Bentt), carve a fake wooden gun and use it to escape the jail in Sheriff Holley's Police Cruiser. Dillinger is unable to see Frechette, who is under tight surveillance. Dillinger learns that Frank Nitti's (Bill Camp) Chicago Outfit associates are now unwilling to help him; Dillinger's crimes are motivating the U.S. government to begin prosecuting interstate crime, which imperils Nitti's lucrative bookmaking racket.

Later, Dillinger meets fellow bank robber Tommy Carroll (Spencer Garrett) in a movie theater; with him is Ed Shouse, who wants to rejoin the gang. Carroll goads Dillinger into a bank robbery job in Sioux Falls, promising a huge score. Even though Baby Face Nelson is involved, whom he doesn't like, Dillinger agrees. A shootout (triggered by Nelson shooting a cop outside the bank) occurs in which Dillinger is shot in the arm, and Carroll is shot and left for dead. They retreat to Nelson's wilderness hideout in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, where Dillinger's wounds are treated; the gang is disappointed to find that their haul is only a fraction of what they expected. Dillinger expresses hope he can free the rest of his gang still in prison, including Pierpont and Makley, but Red convinces him this is unlikely to happen.

Purvis and his men apprehend Carroll (who is still alive) and torture him to find the rest of the gang's location. They arrive at Little Bohemia and Purvis organizes another failed ambush, in which several civilians are killed in the cross-fire. Dillinger and Hamilton escape separately from Nelson and the rest of the gang. Agents Winstead and Hurt (Don Frye) pursue Dillinger and Hamilton through the woods on foot, engaging them in a running gun battle in which Hamilton is shot and fatally wounded. Trying to escape along the road, Nelson, Shouse and Homer Van Meter (Stephen Dorff) hijack a Bureau car, killing several agents in the process, including Purvis's partner Carter Baum (Rory Cochrane). After a car chase, Purvis and his men kill Nelson and the rest of the gang. Farther down the road, Dillinger and Hamilton steal a farmer's car and make good their escape; Hamilton dies later that night and Dillinger buries his body, covering it in lye.

Dillinger manages to meet Frechette, telling her he plans to do one last job that will pay enough for them to escape together. However, when Dillinger drops her off at a hotel that he thinks is safe, he watches helplessly as she is captured by the FBI. An interrogator, the brutish Agent Harold Reinecke (Adam Mucci) viciously beats Frechette to learn Dillinger's whereabouts until she fabricates a location where Dillinger is hiding. Agent Reinecke investigates and realizes that he has been lied to. He returns and beats Frechette in order to teach her a lesson. Frechette begins sneering that they missed their chance to capture him at the hotel, and that Dillinger's anger will know no bounds when he hears about her treatment; Purvis and Winstead arrive and angrily break up the abusive interrogation. Meanwhile, Dillinger is meeting with Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribisi), who tries to recruit a disinterested Dillinger in a train robbery with his associates, the Barker Gang. After hearing about the massive reward, Dillinger agrees to pull the robbery and flee the country the next day. Dillinger receives a note from Billie through his lawyer, Louis Piquet (Peter Gerety), telling him not to try and break her out of jail.

Through crooked cop Zarkovich, Purvis enlists the help of a madam and Dillinger acquaintance Anna Sage Branka Katic), threatening her with deportation if she does not cooperate. She agrees to set up Dillinger, who is hiding with Sage. (

That night Dillinger and Sage see a Clark Gable movie called Manhattan Melodrama at the Biograph Theater. When the movie is over, Dillinger and the women leave as Purvis moves in. Dillinger spots the police, specifically Reinecke and is shot several times before he can draw his gun against the cop who harmed Frechette. Agent Winstead, who fired the fatal shot, listens to Dillinger's last words. Purvis departs to inform Hoover that Dillinger is dead.

Later, Winstead meets Frechette in prison. He tells her that Dillinger's dying words were "Tell Billie for me, 'Bye bye Blackbird.'" The closing text reveals that Melvin Purvis quit the FBI a year later and died by his own hand in 1960, and that Billie lived out of the rest of her life in Wisconsin following her release in 1936.

[edit] Cast

Johnny Depp as John Dillinger: An American bank robber whose exploits dominated the press during what is sometimes referred to as the public enemy era, between 1931 and 1934.
Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis: An FBI agent chosen by J. Edgar Hoover to lead a manhunt to catch Dillinger.^[2]
Marion Cotillard as Billie Frechette: Dillinger's coat check girlfriend.
Giovanni Ribisi as Alvin Karpis: A noted criminal in the United States known for his alliance with the Barker gang in the 1930s. He was the last "Public Enemy" to be captured.^[3]
Stephen Graham as Baby Face Nelson^[4]: He was a bank robber who acquired his moniker, Baby Face Nelson due to his youthful appearance and small stature. After Dillinger's death in July 1934, Nelson became Public Enemy Number One.
Stephen Lang as Charles Winstead: He is the leader of the Texas Rangers who join the manhunt for Dillinger and his gang. Winstead had previously been involved in tracking Bonnie and Clyde and Machine Gun Kelly before joining the Dillinger manhunt. Stephen Lang previously worked with Mann in Manhunter.
Stephen Dorff as Homer Van Meter: A criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson.^[3]
Billy Crudup as J. Edgar Hoover: The first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States.
Leelee Sobieski as Polly Hamilton: Dillinger's final date, ignorant of his true identity.
Jason Clarke as John "Red" Hamilton: A Canadian criminal and bank robber active in the early 20th century, most notably as a criminal associate of Dillinger.^[3]
Rory Cochrane as Carter Baum: Melvin Purvis' Partner
Bill Camp as Frank Nitti: Al Capone's right-hand man and Underboss in the Chicago Outfit.^[5]
David Wenham as Harry Pierpont: A member of Dillinger's crew and Dillinger's friend and mentor.^[4]
Richard Short as Samuel P. Cowley: He was the FBI agent who brought down Baby Face Nelson but was mortally wounded in the gunbattle in Barrington, Illinois.
Christian Stolte as Charles Makley: A known associate of Dillinger's and who broke him out of prison in 1933. By the end of that year, Makley ranked fourth on Illinois's list of "public enemies", behind Dillinger, Pierpont, and Hamilton.
Channing Tatum as Pretty Boy Floyd^[3]: An American bank robber and alleged killer, supposedly involved in the Kansas City Massacre which kicked off the "War on Crime".^[3]
Emilie de Ravin as Anna Patzke: a bank teller who was taken hostage by Dillinger and later released.
Shawn Hatosy as John Madala: An FBI agent who helped capture Ma Barker.
Branka Katić as Anna Sage: the infamous "Lady in Red" who was romantically involved with Dillinger at the time of his murder.
Don Frye as Clarence Hurt: a Texas Ranger. Frye previously worked with Mann on Miami Vice.^[6]
James Russo as Walter Dietrich: a man whom Dillinger met while in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He taught Dillinger and others "the methods of Herman "Baron" K. Lamm, a Prussian army officer turned highly successful bank robber."^[7]
Lili Taylor as Sheriff Lillian Holley: Sheriff of Lake County Jail, Crown Point, Indiana, where Dillinger was incarcerated.^[8]
Michael Bentt as Herbert Youngblood: an African American inmate jailed for the murder of August Piazza prior to Dillinger's arrival in the Crown Point Jail. Referred to by Dillinger as "Mr. Youngblood", he was the only prisoner to accept and accompany Dillinger during their infamous Indiana breakout.
Spencer Garrett as Tommy Carroll: an American bank robber, who goaded John Dillinger into a bank robbery job in Sioux Falls, where Carroll got shot and was captured by the police. After the police tortured Carroll, he tells them the haven of Dillinger.

Pre-production

Public Enemies is based on Bryan Burrough's 2004 non-fiction book, Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34. Burrough had originally begun researching the subject with the aim of creating a miniseries. The idea was accepted by HBO and Burrough was made an executive producer, along with Robert De Niro's Tribeca Productions, and was asked to write the screenplay.^[9] However, Burrough had no experience in screenwriting, and says his drafts were probably "very, very bad. Ishtar bad." He began simultaneously writing a non-fiction book, which he found easier, spending two years working on it while the interest in the miniseries disappeared.^[9] Burrough's book was set to be published in the summer of 2004 and he asked HBO to return the movie rights. They agreed and after the book was released, the rights were re-sold to production companies representing Michael Mann and Leonardo DiCaprio, the latter of whom was interested in playing John Dillinger. Burrough met with a representative and then heard nothing for three years.^[9] The actor eventually left the project to appear in Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island.^[10]

In 2007, Mann renewed interest in the project with Universal Pictures backing it. He wrote the screenplay with Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman and also directed.^[3] Of the screenplay, Burrough has said "it's not 100 percent historically accurate. But it's by far the closest thing to fact Hollywood has attempted, and for that I am both excited and quietly relieved."

Filming

Principal photography began in Columbus, Wisconsin on March 17, 2008^[12] and continued in Chicago, Illinois; Aurora, Illinois; Joliet, Illinois; Lockport, Illinois; Oshkosh, Wisconsin; Beaver Dam, Wisconsin; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Madison, Wisconsin; and several other places in Wisconsin until the end of June 2008, including the Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, the actual location of a 1934 gun fight between Dillinger and the FBI.^[13] Some parts of the film were shot in Crown Point, Indiana, the town where Dillinger was imprisoned and subsequently escaped from jail. The actual 1932 Studebaker used by Dillinger during a robbery in Greencastle, Indiana was also used during filming in Columbus, borrowed from the nearby Historic Auto Attractions museum.^[14]

The decision to shoot parts of the film in Wisconsin came about because of the number of high quality historic buildings. Mann, who had been a student at University of Wisconsin–Madison,^[15] scouted locations in Baraboo and Columbus as well as looking at 1930s-era cars from collectors in the Madison area.^[16] In addition, the film was shot on actual historical sites, including the Little Bohemia Lodge, and the old Lake County jail in Crown Point, Indiana, where Dillinger staged his most famous escape where legend has it he fooled jail guards with a wooden gun^[17] and escaped in the sheriff's car.^[11] Scenes were shot at places that he frequented in Oshkosh. The courthouse in Darlington is the location for the courthouse scenes. A bank robbery scene was shot inside the Milwaukee County Historical Society, a former bank in Milwaukee that still has much of the original period architecture.^[18]

In late March 2008 portions of the film were shot at Libertyville High School. Footage includes one of the school's science labs, an office, the school's front entrance, and the locker rooms.

In April 2008 the production filmed in Oshkosh.^[19] Filming occurred downtown and at Pioneer Airport, including scenes shot using a historic Ford Trimotor airliner owned by the Experimental Aircraft Association.^[20] Later that month, filming started at the Little Bohemia Lodge. In April and May 2008, film crews shot on the grounds of Ishnala, a historic restaurant in the Wisconsin Dells area.

The film became a flash point in the public debate about the "film tax credits" ^[21] which are offered by many states. According to a study by Wisconsin's Department of Commerce, the state of Wisconsin gave NBC Universal $4.6 million in tax credits, while the film company spent just $5 million in Wisconsin during filming.

Michael Mann, the director, decided to shoot the movie in HD format instead of using the traditional 35 mm film.

Post-production

Music

Mann also brought composer Elliot Goldenthal on board to score the film; Goldenthal also scored Mann's 1995 film Heat to critical acclaim.^[23] Jazz musician Diana Krall also makes a cameo appearance singing the ballad "Bye Bye Blackbird," while Dillinger and his new love interest Billie Frechette share their first dance. A duduk is also featured in the movie.

[edit] Font

Mann commissioned graphic designer Neville Brody to create a new font which would be used in the film's title sequence and associated publicity material.^[24] Brody had previously worked with Mann on the titles for Heat and The Insider.^[25] Brody created a font he called New Deal. His brief was to create something which evoked the Depression era the film is set in.^[24] Mann initially suggested using the London Underground typeface Johnston as a reference.^[25] Brody and his team took inspiration from Soviet Constructivist styles, the New Deal program and in particular the publicity material of the WPA as a basis for the font.^[25] The final design was selected and refined from more than 300 options.^[25] According to Brody the font is "solid, clearly masculine and immovable."^[24]

Rating

In the United States Public Enemies has received an MPAA rating of R for gangster violence and some language.^[26]. In the United Kingdom, the film received a 15 certificate from the BBFC with consumer advice "Contains Strong Violence."^[27] In Germany, Public Enemies only received an FSK 12 rating.

Box office

The movie opened at number three behind Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs with $25,271,675. The following weekend it had a 45.5% drop to $13,794,240 for a total of $66,221,110. The next three weekends the movie would go on to have decent drops of 46% or less.^[36] As of November 8, 2009 the film has a worldwide gross of $201.4 million in revenue, twice its reported production budget.

Goodfellas

2009-10-20T00:48:00.000-07:00

Goodfellas (also styled GoodFellas) is a 1990 semi-fictional crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is based on the non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Scorsese. The film follows the rise and fall of three gangsters, spanning three decades.

Scorsese originally intended to direct Goodfellas before The Last Temptation of Christ but, when funds materialized to make Last Temptation, he postponed what was then known as Wise Guy. The title of Pileggi's book had already been used for a TV series and for Brian De Palma's 1986 comedy Wise Guys, so Pileggi and Scorsese changed the name of their film to Goodfellas. To prepare for their roles in the film, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta talked often with Pileggi, who shared with the actors research material that had been left over from writing the book. According to Pesci, improvisation and ad-libbing came out of rehearsals where Scorsese gave the actors freedom to do whatever they wanted. The director made transcripts of these sessions, took the lines that the actors came up with that he liked best, and put them into a revised script the cast worked from during principal photography.

Goodfellas performed well at the box office, grossing $46.8 million domestically, well above its $25 million budget; it received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards but only won one for Pesci in the Best Actor in a Supporting Role category. Scorsese's film won five awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and was named best film of the year by the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the National Society of Film Critics. Goodfellas is often considered one of the greatest films ever, both in the genre of crime and in general and was deemed "culturally significant" and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress.
The film employs around 300 uses of the word "fuck" , ninth most in film.

Plot

In the opening scene, the Irish-Italian protagonist Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) admits, "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster," referring to his idolizing the Lucchese crime family gangsters in his blue-collar, predominantly Italian neighborhood in East New York, Brooklyn in 1955. Feeling the connection of being a part of something, Henry quits school and goes to work for them. His Irish father, knowing the true nature of the Mafia, tries to stop Henry after learning of his truancy, but the gangsters ensure that his parents no longer hear from the school by threatening the local postal carrier with dire consequences should he deliver any more letters from the school to Henry's house. Henry is able to make a smooth living for himself, also learning the two most important lessons in life: "Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut," which is said to him after young Henry remains silent after a court hearing. This establishes the tone for the rest of the film.

Henry is soon taken under the wing of the local mob captain, Paul "Paulie" Cicero (Paul Sorvino, based on the actual Lucchese mobster Paul Vario) and Cicero's close Irish associate Jimmy "The Gent" Conway (Robert De Niro, based on Jimmy Burke). They help to cultivate Henry's criminal career, and introduce Henry to the entire network of Paulie’s crime syndicate. Henry and his friends soon become successful, daring, and dangerous. Jimmy loves hijacking trucks, and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci, based on Tommy DeSimone) is an aggressive psychopath with a hair-trigger temper. In late 1967, Henry commits the Air France Robbery and it marks his debut into the big time of organized crime. Enjoying the perks of their criminal activities, the friends spend most of their nights at the Copacabana night club with countless women. Around this time, Henry meets and later marries a no-nonsense Jewish girl from the Five Towns named Karen (Lorraine Bracco). Karen at first is troubled by Henry's criminal activities, but when a neighbour assaults her for refusing his advances, Henry pistol-whips him in front of her, displaying all of the viciousness and confidence of proven gangsters. She feels vindicated, intrigued, and aroused by the act, especially when Henry leaves her the gun he used on her neighbor.

On June 11, 1970, Tommy (with Jimmy's help) brutally beats Billy Batts (Frank Vincent), a prominent mobster of the Gambino crime family, for insulting him about being a shoeshine boy in his younger days. However, Batts was a made man, meaning that he could not be touched without the consent of his Gambino family bosses. Realizing that this was an offense that could get all of them killed, Jimmy, Henry, and Tommy place the bloodied Batts in the trunk of Henry's car with the intent of burying him upstate, then drive to Tommy's mother's house to retrieve the tools needed to do so. They manage to bury Batts in the intended area, but six months later Jimmy learns that the burial spot will be the site of a new property development. Thus, they are forced to exhume Batts' half-decomposed corpse and move it to another location.

Henry begins to see a mistress named Janice Rossi (Gina Mastrogiacomo). When Karen finds out, she threatens to kill the both of them with a revolver pointed at his face, demanding to know if he really truly loves her. However, she cannot bring herself to kill him and an enraged Henry states he has other things to worry about such as getting killed on the street. Soon, it gets harder for Henry to evade the law. Paulie sends him and Jimmy to collect from an indebted Florida gambler in Tampa, and they hang him in the lion's den at a public zoo to intimidate him further after a bloodthirsty beating fails to sway the man. Henry, Jimmy, the gambler, and most of the crew (except for Tommy) are then arrested thanks to the gambler's sister, who is a typist for the FBI. In prison, Henry sells drugs to support his family on the outside. Soon after he is released in 1978, the crew commits the infamous Lufthansa heist at John F. Kennedy International Airport. In the meantime, Henry further establishes himself in the drug trade after seeing its high potential for profit, and convinces Tommy and Jimmy to join him. Things start to turn sour when the crew members ignore the advice of Jimmy not to buy expensive things from their share of the stolen money, and in return Jimmy has them killed one by one as various bodies are discovered across the city, (in a montage set famously to Layla). Things are further complicated as Tommy is killed by two Gambino capos for his part in Billy Batts' murder (among other things), after being fooled in thinking that he is going to be made. The family he was joining had to hedge in order to avoid a war.

The year is now 1980. Henry is on the cusp of making a big deal with his associates in Pittsburgh. A nervous wreck from his cocaine usage and lack of sleep, he runs around trying his best to get things organized. However, this does not stop him from being caught by narcotics agents and sent to jail. When he returns home, Karen tells him that she has flushed what amounted to $60,000 worth of cocaine down the toilet to prevent the FBI agents from finding it during their raid. As a result, Henry and his family are left virtually penniless. Paulie feels his loyalty to Henry has been betrayed and decides to give him $3200 in exchange for having nothing to do with him ever again. Henry turns down a hit with Anthony in Florida from Jimmy when he realizes he would be killed. He then decides to enroll in the Witness Protection Program as a mole for the FBI to protect himself and his family. Finally letting go of his gangster connections, he now has to face the prospect of living in the real world, the one thing he has always tried to run away from, stating, "I'm an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook." He longs for the life when he was a gangster and was in action.

The film ends with title cards explaining that Henry has been clean since 1987; Paul Cicero died in Fort Worth Prison of respiratory illness in 1988 at 73; and Jimmy is serving a 20-year-to-life sentence in a New York State prison, not being eligible for parole until 2004 (although he died of lung cancer in 1996).

Development

Goodfellas is based on New York crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi's book Wiseguy. Martin Scorsese never intended to make another mob film until he read a review of the book and this inspired him to read it while working on the set of Color of Money in 1986.He had always been fascinated by the Mob lifestyle and was drawn to Pileggi's book because it was the most honest portrayal of gangsters he had ever read.After he read Pileggi's book, the filmmaker knew what approach he wanted to take: "To begin Goodfellas like a gunshot and have it get faster from there, almost like a two-and-a-half-hour trailer. I think it's the only way you can really sense the exhilaration of the lifestyle, and to get a sense of why a lot of people are attracted to it."According to Pileggi, Scorsese cold-called the writer and told him, "I've been waiting for this book my entire life." To which Pileggi replied "I've been waiting for this phone call my entire life".

Scorsese originally intended to direct the film before The Last Temptation of Christ, but when funds materialized to make Last Temptation, he decided to postpone Wise Guy. He was drawn to the documentary aspects of Pileggi's book. "The book Wise Guys gives you a sense of the day-to-day life, the tedium - how they work, how they take over certain nightclubs, and for what reasons. It shows how it's done".He saw Goodfellas as the third film in an unplanned trilogy of films that examined the lives of Italian-Americans "from slightly different angles".He has often described the film as "a mob home movie" that is about money because "that's what they're really in business for".

Screenplay

Scorsese and Pileggi collaborated on the screenplay and over the course of the 12 drafts it took to reach the ideal script, the reporter realized that "the visual styling had to be completely redone… So we decided to share credit".They decided which sections of the book they liked and put them together like building blocks.Scorsese persuaded Pileggi that they did not need to follow a traditional narrative structure. The director wanted to take the gangster film and deal with it episode by episode but start in the middle and move backwards and forwards. Scorsese would compact scenes and realized that if they were kept short, "the impact after about an hour and a half would be terrific".He wanted to do the voiceover like the opening of Jules and Jim and use "all the basic tricks of the New Wave from around 1961".Several of the names of the characters were also changed such as Tommy "Two Gunn" DeSimone becoming Tommy DeVito; Paul Vario becoming Paulie Cicero and Jimmy "The Gent" Burke becoming Jimmy Conway.[9] Since the title of Pileggi's book had already been used for a TV series and for Brian De Palma's 1986 comedy Wise Guys, Pileggi and Scorsese decided to change the name of their film to Goodfellas.

Casting

Once Robert De Niro agreed to play Conway, Scorsese was able to secure the money needed to make the film.The director cast Ray Liotta after De Niro saw him in Jonathan Demme's Something Wild and Scorsese was surprised by "his explosive energy" in that film.The actor had read Pileggi's book when it came out and was fascinated by it. A couple of years afterwards, his agent told him that Scorsese was going to direct a film version. In 1988, Liotta met the director over a period of a couple of months and auditioned for the film.[5] The actor campaigned aggressively for a role in the film but the studio wanted a well-known actor. "I think they would've rather had Eddie Murphy than me", the actor remembers.

To prepare for the role, De Niro consulted with Pileggi who had research material that had been discarded while writing the book.De Niro often called Hill several times a day to ask how Burke walked, held his cigarette, and so on.Driving to and from the set, Liotta listened to FBI audio cassette tapes of Hill, so he could practice speaking like his real-life counterpart.To research her role, Lorraine Bracco tried to get close to a mob wife but was unable to because they exist in a very tight-knit community. She decided not to meet the real Karen because she "thought it would be better if the creation came from me. I used her life with her parents as an emotional guideline for the role".Paul Sorvino had no problem finding the voice and walk of his character but found it challenging finding "that kernel of coldness and absolute hardness that is antithetical to my nature except when my family is threatened".

Distribution

Goodfellas had its world premiere at the 1990 Venice Film Festival where Scorsese received the Silver Lion award for Best Director.It was given a wide release in North America on September 21, 1990 in 1,070 theaters with an opening weekend gross of US$6.3 million. It went on to make $46.8 million domestically, well above its $25 million budget.

Reviews

The film received very positive reviews from critics and currently has a 96% rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a 89 metascore at Metacritic. In his review for The New York Times, Vincent Canby wrote, "More than any earlier Scorsese film, Goodfellas is memorable for the ensemble nature of the performances… The movie has been beautifully cast from the leading roles to the bits. There is flash also in some of Mr. Scorsese's directorial choices, including freeze frames, fast-cutting and the occasional long tracking shot. None of it is superfluous".USA Today gave the film four out of four stars and called it, "great cinema — and also a whopping good time".David Ansen, in his review for Newsweek magazine, wrote "Every crisp minute of this long, teeming movie vibrates with outlaw energy".In his review for Time, Richard Corliss wrote, "So it is Scorsese's triumph that GoodFellas offers the fastest, sharpest 2 1/2-hr. ride in recent film history".However, Anthony Lane in the The Independent wrote, "There is a short, needling comedy of violence and cowardice somewhere inside this stylish film, and it is worth watching more than once to prise it free. Scorsese himself chickened out, I think; perhaps the Mob got to him after all".William Fugazy, of the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations, a watchdog group on ethnic injustice, which claims a membership of 10 million and consists of 76 of the largest heritage groups in the United States, called for a boycott of the film and wanted Warner Bros. to ban it. "It's the worst stereotyping, the worst portrayal of the Italian community I've ever seen. Far worse than The Godfather. One killing after another", he said.Scorsese responded to this criticism by saying, "As Nick Pileggi always points out, there are 18 to 20 million Italian-Americans. Out of that, there are only 4,000 alleged organised crime members. But, as Nick says, they cast a very long shadow".
Awards

Goodfellas was nominated for six Academy Awards including Joe Pesci for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Lorraine Bracco for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Picture, Scorsese for Best Director, Thelma Schoonmaker for Best Film Editing, and Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi for Best Adapted Screenplay.When Joe Pesci won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (the only Academy Award the film won),his entire speech was "This is an honor and a privilege, thank you".It is on of the shortest Oscar-acceptance speech, after William Holden's, who simply said, "Thank you", upon winning for Stalag 17, and Alfred Hitchcock's ("Thank you" and other unintelligible words) when he received an Honorary Oscar. Later, Pesci admitted that he did not say more, because "I really didn't think I was going to win".

Goodfellas was nominated for five Golden Globes including Best Director, Best Motion Pictures, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Screenplay.[28] It failed to win any of these awards. Scorsese's film won five awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

The New York Film Critics Circle voted Goodfellas the Best Film of 1990, Robert De Niro was named Best Actor for his performance in the film and in Awakenings, and Scorsese was voted Best Director.The Los Angeles Film Critics Association also voted Scorsese as Best Director, GoodFellas as Best Film,awards for Pesci and Bracco as Best Supporting Actor and Actress, respectively, and Best Cinematography to Michael Ballhaus for his work on the film.The National Board of Review voted Pesci as Best Supporting Actor.The National Society of Film Critics voted Goodfellas Best Film of 1990 and Scorsese as Best Director.American Film magazine declared Goodfellas the best film of 1990 according to a poll of 80 movie critics.

Chinese Coffee

2009-10-20T00:21:00.001-07:00

Chinese Coffee (2000) is a play by Ira Lewis which was made into an independent film and released in New York as part of the Tribeca Film Festival, starring Al Pacino and Jerry Orbach. Pacino directed and was introduced by Robert De Niro during the open ceremony.

Shot almost exclusively as a one-on-one conversation between the two main characters, it chronicles friendship, love, loss, and humor of daily life. After years of withholding it, Pacino allowed it to be released on June 19, 2007 as a part of a three-movie boxed set called Pacino: An Actor's Vision.

Plot

When Harry Levine, an aging, unsuccessful Greenwich Village writer is fired from his job as restaurant doorman, he calls on friend and mentor Jake, ostensibly to collect a long-standing debt. Harry solicits his opinion on his latest manuscript, a work of semi-fiction based on their longtime friendship. Although he initially denies having read it, Jake later attacks it on aesthetic grounds, and deep-seated feelings of betrayal and jealousy surface and lead to a traumatic confrontation. Written by Gabe Taverney (duke1029@aol.com

The English Patient

2009-10-20T00:15:00.001-07:00

The English Patient is a 1996 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Michael Ondaatje. The film, directed by Anthony Minghella, won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Ondaatje worked closely with the filmmakers.

[Synopsis
The film is set during World War II and depicts a critically burned man, at first known only as "the English patient", who is being looked after by Hana (Juliette Binoche), a French-Canadian nurse in a ruined Italian villa. The patient is reluctant to disclose any personal information but through a series of flashbacks, viewers are allowed into his past. It is slowly revealed that he is in fact a Hungarian geographer, Count László de Almásy (Ralph Fiennes), who was making a map of the Sahara Desert, and whose affair with a married woman (Kristin Scott Thomas) ultimately brought about his present situation. As the patient remembers more, David Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe), a Canadian thief/intelligence operative, arrives at the monastery. Caravaggio lost his thumbs while being interrogated by officers of the German Afrika Korps, and he gradually reveals that it was the patient's actions that had brought about his torture.

In addition to the patient's story, the film devotes time to Hana and her romance with Kip (Naveen Andrews), an Indian sapper in the British Army. Due to various events in her past, Hana believes that anyone who comes close to her is likely to die, and Kip's position as a bomb defuser makes their romance full of tension.

[Production
In his book The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film (2002) Michael Ondaatje records his conversations with the film's editor and sound designer Walter Murch, who won two Academy Awards for the film. Murch describes the complexity of editing a film with multiple flashbacks and timeframes; he edited and reedited numerous times and notes that the final film features over 40 time transitions.

The movie was filmed on location in Tunisia and Italy.

Reception

The film garnered widespread critical acclaim and was a major award winner as well as a box office success; its awards included the Academy Award for Best Picture, the Golden Globe Award and the BAFTA Award for Best Film. Juliette Binoche won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, winning out over Lauren Bacall for The Mirror Has Two Faces (it would have been Bacall's only Oscar win, and in her acceptance speech Binoche commented that she had expected Bacall to win). Anthony Minghella took home the Oscar for Best Director. Kristin Scott Thomas and Ralph Fiennes were nominated for Best Actress and Best Actor. In all, The English Patient was nominated for an impressive 12 awards and ultimately walked away with 9. It is the highest-grossing non-IMAX film (and second highest-grossing film overall) to never reach the weekend box office top 5.

The English Patient is one of only two Best Picture winners (Amadeus the other) to never enter the weekend box office top 5 since top 10 rankings were first recorded in 1982.

Chicago Sun Times critic Roger Ebert gave the movie a 4/4 rating, saying "it's the kind of movie you can see twice - first for the questions, the second time for the answers."[5]

Awards and honors

1996 Academy Awards
Won, Best Picture
Won, Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Juliette Binoche
Won, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan)
Won, Best Cinematography (John Seale)
Won, Best Costume Design (Ann Roth)
Won, Best Director (Anthony Minghella)
Won, Best Film Editing (Walter Murch)
Won, Best Original Score (Gabriel Yared)
Won, Best Sound (Walter Murch, Mark Berger, David Parker, and Christopher Newman)
Nominated, Best Actor in a Leading Role: Ralph Fiennes
Nominated, Best Actress in a Leading Role: Kristin Scott Thomas
Nominated, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Anthony Minghella)
1997 Golden Globes, USA
Won, Best Motion Picture - Drama
Won, Best Original Score - Motion Picture (Gabriel Yared)
Nominated, Best Director - Motion Picture (Anthony Minghella)
Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama: Ralph Fiennes
Nominated, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama: Kristin Scott Thomas
Nominated, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Juliette Binoche
Nominated, Best Screenplay - Motion Picture (Anthony Minghella)
1997 BAFTA Awards, UK
Won, Best Film
Won, Best Cinematography (John Seale)
Won, Best Editing (Walter Murch)
Won, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Juliette Binoche)
Won, Best Screenplay - Adapted (Anthony Minghella)
Won, Best Music (Gabriel Yared)

The Dark Knight

2009-10-20T00:08:00.000-07:00

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero crime thriller film directed and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. Christian Bale reprises the lead role. The film follows Bruce Wayne/Batman (Bale), District Attorney Harvey Dent/Two-Face (Aaron Eckhart), Assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), and Police Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and their struggles and journey in combating the new rising threat of a criminal who goes by the name of the "Joker" (Heath Ledger).

Nolan's inspiration for the film was the Joker's comic book debut in 1940, and the 1996 series The Long Halloween, which retold Two-Face's origin. The Dark Knight was filmed primarily in Chicago, as well as in several other locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. Nolan used an IMAX camera to film some sequences, including the Joker's first appearance in the film. On January 22, 2008, after he had completed filming The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger died from a toxic combination of prescription drugs, leading to intense attention from the press and moviegoing public. Warner Bros. had initially created a viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, developing promotional websites and trailers highlighting screen shots of Ledger as the Joker, but after Ledger's death, the studio refocused its promotional campaign.

The film was released on July 16, 2008 in Australia, on July 18, 2008 in North America, and on July 24, 2008 in the United Kingdom. Before its box office debut in North America, record numbers of advance tickets were sold for The Dark Knight. It was greeted with positive reviews upon release,and became only the second film to earn more than $500 million at the North American box office, setting numerous other records in the process. It is also the fourth highest grossing film worldwide, and only the fourth film to earn more than $1 billion, worldwide.The film received numerous awards nominations and two Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing and Best Supporting Actor for Ledger's performance.

The Joker (Heath Ledger)

Plot

In Gotham City, the Joker robs a mob bank with his accomplices, whom he tricks into killing one another, ultimately killing the last one himself. While investigating the robbery, Batman and Lieutenant James Gordon contemplate including new district attorney Harvey Dent in their plan to eradicate the mob. However, Batman wonders if Dent can be trusted. Wayne runs into Rachel Dawes and Dent, who are dating, and after talking to Dent, he realizes Dent's sincerity and decides to host a fundraiser for him. Mob bosses Sal Maroni, Gambol, and the Chechen meet with other underworld gangsters to discuss both Batman and Dent, who have been cracking down on the mobster's operations. Lau, a Chinese mafia accountant, informs them that he has hidden their money and fled to Hong Kong in an attempt to preempt Gordon's plan to seize the mobsters' funds and hide from Dent's jurisdiction. The Joker appears and offers to kill Batman for half of the mafia's money, but they flatly refuse and Gambol places a bounty on the Joker's head. Not long after, the Joker kills Gambol and takes control of his men.

In Hong Kong, Batman captures Lau using a skyhook, and delivers him to the Gotham City police, where Lau agrees to testify against the mob. Dent and Gordon arrest the mob, and in retaliation the Joker issues an ultimatum to Gotham: people will die each day until Batman reveals his identity. When Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb and the judge presiding over the mob trials are killed, the public readily blames Batman, prompting Wayne to decide to reveal his identity. Before Bruce can turn himself in, Dent holds a press conference to try and persuade the public not to sell Batman out just because of one terrorist. However the public, though grateful for everything Batman has done for the city, insists that things have now reached a point where Batman must make the sacrifice, so Dent announces that he himself is Batman and is arrested as part of a plan to draw the Joker out of hiding. The Joker attempts to ambush the police convoy carrying Dent, but Batman and Gordon intervene and capture him. In recognition of his actions, Gordon is appointed the new police commissioner.

Later that night, Dent and Dawes disappear. At the police station, Batman interrogates the Joker, who reveals that Dent and Dawes' police escorts were corrupt police and have placed them in warehouses rigged with explosives on opposite sides of the city—far enough apart so that Batman cannot save them both. Batman leaves to save Dawes, while Gordon and the police head after Dent. With the aid of a smuggled bomb, the Joker escapes police custody with Lau. Batman arrives, but finds Dent instead of Dawes. Batman successfully saves Dent, but the ensuing explosion disfigures Dent's face. Gordon arrives at Dawes' location too late, and she perishes when the bomb detonates. Unable to cope with this new level of chaos, Maroni goes to Gordon and offers him the Joker's location. Aboard a cargo ship, the Joker burns Lau to death atop a pile of half the mob's money, and has the Chechen killed before taking control of his men.

Meanwhile, an accountant at Wayne Enterprises, Coleman Reese, finds out Batman's identity and after failing to blackmail the company, decides to go public. However, realizing that he does what he does only because of Batman, the Joker changes his mind about revealing Batman's identity and issues a public ultimatum: either Reese is killed within the hour, or he will blow up a hospital. When attempts on Reese's life are foiled, the Joker goes to the evacuated hospital, disguised as a nurse, and frees Dent from his restraints, convincing him to exact revenge on the people whose corruption led to Dawes' death. Dent begins by flipping a coin to decide if he should kill the Joker, and spares him. The Joker destroys the hospital on his way out, and then escapes with a hijacked bus full of hospital patients.

Out of the hospital, Dent goes on a personal vendetta, confronting Maroni and the corrupt cops one by one and flipping his coin to decide their fates. Now with complete control over the Gotham mob, the Joker announces to the public that anyone left in Gotham at nightfall will be subject to his rule. With the bridges and tunnels out of the city closed due to a warning by the Joker, authorities begin evacuating people by ferry. The Joker has explosives placed on two of the ferries—one ferry with convicts, who were evacuated in an effort to keep the Joker from freeing them, and the other with civilians—telling the passengers the only way to save themselves is to trigger the explosives on the other ferry; otherwise, he will destroy both at midnight. Batman locates the Joker and the hostages he has taken. Realizing the Joker has disguised the hostages as his own men, Batman is forced to attack both Gordon's SWAT team and the Joker's henchmen to save the real hostages.

The Joker's plan to destroy the ferries fails after the passengers on both decide not to destroy each other. Batman finds the Joker, and after a brief fight, is able to subdue him, preventing him from destroying both ferries. When Batman refuses to kill the Joker, the Joker acknowledges that Batman is truly incorruptible, but that Dent was not, and that he has unleashed Dent upon the city. Leaving the Joker for the SWAT team, Batman searches for Dent. At the remains of the building where Dawes died, Batman finds Dent holding Gordon and his family at gunpoint. Dent judges the innocence of Batman, himself, and Gordon's son through three coin tosses. As the result of the first two flips, he shoots Batman in the abdomen and spares himself. Before Dent can determine the boy's fate, Batman, who was wearing body armor, tackles him over the side of the building. Gordon's son is saved, but Dent and Batman fall to the ground below resulting in Dent's death.Knowing that the citizens of Gotham will lose hope and all morale if Dent's rampage becomes public news, Batman convinces Gordon to hold him responsible for the murders. Images are shown of Gordon delivering the eulogy at Dent's funeral and smashing the Bat-Signal. Police swarm the building, and Batman flees as Gordon and his son watch.

Mystery writer Andrew Klavan, writing in The Wall Street Journal, compared the extreme measures that Batman takes to fight crime with those U.S. President George W. Bush used in the War on Terror. Klavan claims that, "at some level" The Dark Knight is "a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war." Klavan supports this reading of the film by comparing Batman – like Bush, Klavan argues – "sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past."Klavan's article has received criticism on the Internet and in mainstream media outlets, such as in The New Republic's "The Plank."Reviewing the film in The Sunday Times, Cosmo Landesman reached the opposite conclusion to Klavan, arguing that The Dark Knight "offers up a lot of moralistic waffle about how we must hug a terrorist – okay, I exaggerate. At its heart, however, is a long and tedious discussion about how individuals and society must never abandon the rule of law in struggling against the forces of lawlessness. In fighting monsters, we must be careful not to become monsters – that sort of thing. The film champions the anti-war coalition's claim that, in having a war on terror, you create the conditions for more terror. We are shown that innocent people died because of Batman – and he falls for it".Benjamin Kerstein, writing in Azure, says that both Klavan and Landesman "have a point," because "The Dark Knight is a perfect mirror of the society which is watching it: a society so divided on the issues of terror and how to fight it that, for the first time in decades, an American mainstream no longer exists."

The Dark Knight garnered over 150 nominations from various critics and organization awards at year's end, winning for various aspects of the film. Most notable, however, was Heath Ledger's almost complete sweep of over twenty awards for acting, including the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The Dark Knight also received nominations from the Writers Guild of America (for Best Adapted Screenplay), the Producers Guild of America, and the Directors Guild of America, as well as a slew of other guild award nominations and wins. It was nominated for Best Film at the Critics Choice Awards and was named one of the top ten films of 2008 by the American Film Institute.

The Dark Knight was nominated for eight Academy Awards for the 81st Ceremony, breaking the previous record of seven held by Dick Tracy for the most nominations received by a film based on a comic book, comic strip, or graphic novel. The Dark Knight won two awards: B Supporting Actor for Heath Ledger and Best Sound Editing. It was additionally nominated for six others, these being Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup, and Best Film Editing. Christopher Nolan was notably snubbed[neutrality disputed] from a nomination in any of the categories he was up for (Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay), and controversy ensued[citation needed] regarding the lack of a Best Picture nomination for either The Dark Knight or WALL-E, two films noted for being both critical and commercial successes. Heath Ledger was the first posthumous winner of the Best Supporting Actor award, and only the second posthumous acting winner ever (Peter Finch posthumously won the Best Actor award for his performance in the 1976 film Network). In addition, Ledger's win marked the first win in any of the major Oscar categories (producing, directing, acting, or writing) for a superhero-based film. Notably, Richard King's win in the Sound Editing category blocked a complete awards sweep of the evening by the eventual Best Picture winner, Slumdog Millionaire.

24 (Pics)

2009-10-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

Season 7

24 : Redemption

The Godfather Part III

2009-10-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

The Godfather Part III (1990) is the third and final film in the Godfather trilogy written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Coppola. It completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia godfather who tries to legitimize his criminal empire. The movie also weaves into its plot a fictionalized account of real-life events — the mysterious 1978 death of Pope John Paul I and the Papal banking scandal of 1981-1982 — and links them with each other and with the affairs of Michael Corleone. The film stars Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, George Hamilton, Bridget Fonda, and Sofia Coppola.

Plot

The movie begins in 1979, with a brief flashback establishing the long and tragic history of criminal activity within, and by, the Corleone family. Much has changed. Michael Corleone is now a defeated, depressed old man who feels tremendous guilt for indulging in his ruthless ambition many years ago. The thoughts of his children, and their future and happiness, is all he has to show for his ruthless ambition of his early years. His adopted brother Tom Hagen is now dead. The Corleone compound at Lake Tahoe is abandoned. His wife Kay has divorced him. And beset by his own depression and guilt, he had relinquished control of his children back to his rebellious wife, who spurned him long ago. Michael has returned to New York City, where he is self-consciously using his enormous wealth and power to restore his dignity and reputation in the eyes of the public. The violent criminal element of the Corleone family has been largely abandoned, ostracized by Michael himself as well as the hardened public, which no longer romanticizes the gangster lifestyle. In fact, Michael has embraced corporate America, which is now more tolerant of Michael's nihilism, where he is able to rebuild the Corleone family as a legitimate enterprise using the blood money from his free-wheeling gangster years. The aging thugs and sociopathic soldiers from Michael's past have either gone into the underground, or have been relegated to the background of Michael's life, serving as bodyguards for him and his family. Because his psyche and family remain largely damaged by his violent methods, Michael now struggles between repairing his fragile relationships while trying to contain the violent sociopaths that still fester in the shadows and ruins of his decaying criminal empire. In an attempt to seize upon the changing times, Michael creates a charity, the Vito Corleone Foundation, in memory of his father, and at a ceremony in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, he is presided over by Archbishop Gilday, where Michael is awarded the Order of St. Sebastian. Kay, who has remarried, sits with Michael's children, Anthony Corleone and Mary Corleone.

At the lavish party following the ceremony, Anthony tells his father that he is going his own way, dropping out of law school to pursue a career as an opera singer. Kay supports his choice, but Michael argues in private about Anthony’s future, wishing that his son would join the business or do something respectful, like being a lawyer. Suddenly, Vincent Mancini, Sonny Corleone’s illegitimate son, shows up at the party. He is embroiled in a feud with Joey Zasa, the Corleone family's mafioso muscle. What remains of the old Corleone criminal empire is now under Zasa's stewardship. However, the old Corleone neighborhood in New York is in ruins, and has become lawless. In a room away from the party, Vincent and Zasa tell Michael about their feud. The discussion grows violent, with Vincent accusing Zasa of being an out-of-control monster who mocks Michael behind his back. Michael makes it clear that he is not "a gangster" and that whatever bad blood exists between Vincent and Joey Zasa is none of his business, and must be settled between only them. So he asks the two men to make peace with one another. Feigning peace with Zasa, Vincent bites off part of Zasa’s ear after Zasa whispers "bastardo" in Vincent's ear. Zasa is escorted out and Michael scolds Vincent for his violent ways. But impressed by Vincent's passionate loyalty to protect him, Michael agrees to take his hot-headed nephew under his wing. The party concludes with a family picture where Michael asks Vincent to join the rest of the family.

That night, two men break into Vincent’s home, after Vincent has spent the night with an attractive journalist played by Bridget Fonda. Vincent kills one, frightening the other into revealing Zasa as the man who sent them. The scene closes with Vincent shooting the second man.

Later, in an attempt to garner tremendous respectability and wealth for the Corleone Family through legitimate enterprise, Michael seeks to buy the Vatican's shares in Immobiliare, an international real estate holding company, of which 25% is controlled by the Vatican. He negotiates the transfer of $600,000,000 to the Vatican Bank with Archbishop Gilday, who has plunged the Holy See into tremendous debt through his poor management and corrupt dealings as its president. While in Vatican City, however, Michael learns that several influential parties oppose the deal for many reasons, not the least of which is the extensive criminal history that has tarnished the Corleone name. Because of this and the failing health of the 81-year-old Pope, ratification of the deal would be far more complicated than he had anticipated.

Don Altobello, an elderly New York mafioso, tells Michael that his old New York partners want in on the Immobiliare deal. A meeting is arranged in Atlantic City, and Michael appeases most of the mafiosi with generous payoffs from their casino days. Zasa gets nothing. Furious, he declares that Michael is his enemy, and tells everyone in the room they must choose between him and Michael. Zasa storms out of the meeting. Don Altobello, the perpetual negotiator, runs after him to try and talk to him about this irrational move. Minutes later, a helicopter hovers outside the conference room and sprays a barrage of bullets through the ceiling windows. Almost everyone present is killed, but Michael, Vincent (acting as a human shield for his uncle), and Michael's bodyguard, Al Neri, all manage to escape. Back at his apartment in New York, as Michael considers how to respond to this hit, he suffers a diabetic stroke, and is hospitalized.

Though they are cousins, Vincent and Mary begin a romantic relationship. Unbeknownst to Michael, Vincent, with the urging of his aunt Connie, plots revenge against Joey Zasa. During a street fair similar to that seen in The Godfather Part II during which Don Fanucci is killed by Vito Corleone, Vincent and his accomplices kill Zasa's bodyguards, and Vincent shortly murders Zasa himself. Michael, still hospitalized, berates Vincent when he finds out, but Vincent insists that he got the go-ahead from Al Neri, who in turn insists that he got the go-ahead from Connie, who has become deeply involved in family affairs. Michael insists that Vincent end his relationship with Mary because Vincent’s involvement in the family puts Mary's life in jeopardy. Vincent agrees.

While in Sicily, Michael tells Vincent to speak with Don Altobello and, in order to see where the old man’s loyalties lie, to intimate to him his intentions of leaving the Corleone family, under the pretense that his affair with Mary is still in full swing, and that his loyalty to Michael has been supplanted by his desire to continue the relationship. Altobello supports the idea of Vincent switching his allegiance, and introduces him to Licio Lucchesi, the man behind the plot to prevent Michael’s acquisition of Immobiliare.

Michael visits Cardinal Lamberto, a well-intentioned and pious priest, to speak about the Immobiliare deal. Lamberto convinces Michael to make his first confession in thirty years; among other sins, Michael confesses to ordering the killing of his brother Fredo. It is an extremely emotional moment for Michael, and it troubles him deeply. He is told by Lamberto that it is "right that he should suffer," which Michael understands to mean that God will not forgive him, although Lamberto may have meant that he should suffer and repent, to be forgiven for his sins. Touring Sicily with Kay, who has arrived for Anthony’s operatic debut, Michael also asks for her forgiveness. As both admit that they still love each other, Michael receives word that Don Tommasino, his Sicilian friend and constant ally of the Corleone Family, has been killed, signaling that a new round of violence is about to begin. Cardinal Lamberto is elected Pope John Paul I, which means that the Immobiliare deal will likely be ratified, due to his intention to "clean up" the dealings of the Vatican. The new Pope's intentions come as a death knell to the plot against the ratification of the Immobiliare deal, prompting frantic attempts by the plotters to cover their own tracks.

The Godfather Part II

2009-10-04T07:45:00.000-07:00

The Godfather Part II is a 1974 motion picture directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script he co-wrote with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the rise to power of the young Vito Corleone, played by Robert De Niro.

It is ranked as the third best movie of all time by the Internet Movie Database, with the movie's predecessor, The Godfather, ranked as #1, and the American Film Institute lists it as #32.The Godfather Part II is considered by many as the greatest sequel of all-time, being nominated for 11 Academy Awards and winning 6, including the Best Picture Award (the only sequel except The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in 2003 to do so) and the Best Supporting Actor Award. It is considered by some critics to be even better than the original.

Plot

The Godfather Part II presents two parallel storylines. One involves Mafia chief Michael Corleone during the Cold War, following the events of the first movie; the other is a series of flashbacks following his father, Vito Corleone, from his youth in Sicily (1901) to his founding of the Corleone family in New York City while still a young man (1917-1925).

The film begins in 1901, in the town of Corleone in Sicily, at the funeral procession for young Vito's father, Antonio Andolini, who has been murdered for an insult to the local Mafia chieftain, Don Ciccio. During the procession, Vito's older brother Paolo is also murdered because he swore revenge on the Don. Vito's mother then goes to Ciccio to beg him to let young Vito live. Upon his refusal, she holds a knife to his throat, sacrificing herself so that her son can escape, while Ciccio's men gun her down. They immediately scour the town for the boy, shouting their assurances to the sleeping townsfolk that they will regret harboring the boy. With the aid of a few of the townspeople, Vito finds his way by ship to New York. Upon arriving at Ellis Island, an immigration agent uses Vito's hometown of Corleone as his surname, registering him as "Vito Corleone".

The film then moves into the late 1950s, to a scene similar to the opening of the first film, where Michael Corleone, Godfather of the Corleone family, deals with various business and family problems during an elaborate party at his Lake Tahoe, Nevada compound celebrating his son's First Communion. He meets with Nevada Senator Pat Geary, who despises the Corleones, but has shown up at the celebration with his wife under the auspices of accepting a large endowment to the university from Michael in his son's name. During a tense negotiation, Senator Geary demands a grossly exaggerated price for a new gaming license and a monthly payment of 5% of the gross profits from all of the Corleone's Nevada gaming interests, to which Michael boldly responds with a counter-offer of "nothing".

Michael also deals with his sister Connie, who, although recently divorced, is planning to marry a man with no obvious means of support and of whom Michael obviously disapproves. He also talks with Johnny Ola, the right hand man of Jewish gangster Hyman Roth, who is supporting Michael's move into the gambling industry. Belatedly, Michael deals with Frank "Five Angels" Pentangeli, who took over Corleone caporegime Peter Clemenza's territory after his death, and now has problems with the Rosato Brothers, who are backed by Roth. After Michael's refusal to allow Pentangeli to kill the Rosatos, owing to his desire to prevent interruption of his business with Roth, Pentangeli leaves abruptly, after telling Michael "your father did business with Hyman Roth, your father respected Hyman Roth, but your father never trusted Hyman Roth."

Later that night, an assassination attempt is made on Michael, which he survives when his wife Kay notices the bedroom window drapes are inexplicably open. Afterwards, Michael tells Tom Hagen that the hit was made with the help of someone close, and that he must leave, entrusting all his power to Hagen to protect the family.

The action then switches to 1917, where the 25-year-old Vito Corleone works in a New York grocery store with his friend Genco Abbandando. The neighborhood is controlled by a member of the "The Black Hand," Don Fanucci, who extorts protection payments from local businesses. One night, Vito's neighbor Clemenza asks him to hide a stash of guns for him, and later, to repay the favor, takes him to a fancy apartment where they commit their first felony together, stealing an elegant rug.

The film flash-forwards to Michael's time. Michael meets with Hyman Roth in Florida and tells him that he believes Frank Pentangeli was responsible for the assassination attempt, and that Pentangeli will pay for it. Traveling to Brooklyn, Michael lets Pentangeli know that Roth was actually behind it, and that Michael has a plan to deal with Roth, but he needs Frankie to cooperate with the Rosato Brothers in order to put Roth off guard. When Pentangeli goes to meet with the Rosatos, he is told "Michael Corleone says hello," as he is garrotted; but the attempted murder is accidentally interrupted by a policeman. Pentangeli is left for dead, and his bodyguard, Willi Cicci, is wounded by gunfire.

In Nevada, Tom Hagen is called to a brothel run by his brother Fredo, where Senator Geary is implicated in the death of a prostitute. Tom offers to take care of the problem in return for "friendship" between the Senator and the Corleone family.

Meanwhile, Michael meets Roth in Havana, Cuba, in late 1958, at the time when dictator Fulgencio Batista is soliciting American investment, and communist guerrillas are trying to bring down the government. At a birthday party for Roth, Michael mentions that there is a possibility that the rebels might win, making their business dealings in Cuba problematic. The comment prompts Roth to remark, privately, that Michael has not delivered the two million dollars to firm their partnership.

Fredo, carrying the promised money, arrives in Havana and meets Michael. Michael mentions Hyman Roth and Johnny Ola to him, but Fredo says he has never met them. Michael confides to his brother that it was Roth who tried to kill him, and that he plans to try again. Michael assures Fredo that he has already made his move, and that "Hyman Roth will never see the New Year."

Instead of turning over the money to Roth, Michael asks him who gave the order to have Frank Pentangeli killed. Roth avoids the question, instead speaking angrily of the murder of his old friend, Moe Greene, which Michael had orchestrated (as depicted at the end of the first film), quipping, "I never asked who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with business!"

Michael has asked Fredo, who knows Havana well, to show Senator Geary and other important officials and businessmen a good time, during which Fredo pretends to not recognize Johnny Ola. Soon after, at a sex show, a drunk Fredo comments loudly that Johnny Ola told him about the place, contradicting what he told Michael twice earlier, that he didn't know Roth or Ola. Michael now realizes that the traitor is his own brother, and dispatches his bodyguard back to their hotel to deal with Roth.

There, Johnny Ola is strangled, but Roth, whose health is failing, is taken to a hospital, where Michael's bodyguard follows, but is shot by police while trying to smother Roth with a pillow. At Batista's New Year's Eve party, at the stroke of midnight, Michael grasps Fredo tightly by the head and kisses him: "I know it was you Fredo; you broke my heart." When guerrillas attack, the guests flee, and Fredo runs away from Michael, despite Michael's pleas that he is still his brother and that the only way out is with him.

Michael returns to Las Vegas, where Hagen tells him that Roth escaped Cuba after suffering a stroke and is recovering in Miami, that Michael's bodyguard is dead, and that Fredo is likely hiding in New York. Hagen also informs Michael that Kay had a miscarriage while he was away, which causes Michael to noticeably lose his usually calm and collected demeanor.

In 1917 New York, Don Fanucci of the Black Hand is now aware of the partnership between Vito, Clemenza and Sal Tessio, and wants a slice of the action in order to "wet his beak." Clemenza and Tessio agree to pay, but Vito is reluctant and asks his friends to leave everything in his hands to convince Fanucci to accept less money. Indeed, Vito manages to get Fanucci to take only one sixth of what he had demanded. Immediately afterwards, during the neighborhood festa, Vito murders Fanucci.

Don Michael returns to his compound in Lake Tahoe, where he wanders the house in silent contemplation. He sees Kay (who he has prevented from leaving the compound for her own safety) in the bedroom, but does not approach her. In Washington, D.C., a Senate committee, of which Senator Geary is a member, is conducting an investigation into the Corleone family. They question disaffected "soldier" Willi Cicci, but he cannot implicate Michael, because he never received any direct orders from him.

With Fanucci dead, Vito earns the respect of the neighborhood and begins to intercede in local disputes, operating out of the storefront of his Genco Pura Olive Oil Company (named after his friend Genco Abbandando).

When Michael appears before the committee, Senator Geary makes a big show of supporting Italian-Americans and then excuses himself from the proceedings. Michael makes a statement challenging the committee to produce a witness to corroborate the charges against him. The hearing ends with the Chairman promising a witness who will do exactly that.

Frank Pentangeli, who did not die in the attack by the Rosato Brothers, has made a deal with the FBI to testify against Michael, believing he was the one who organized the attempt on his life. Tom Hagen and Michael discuss the problem, observing that Roth's strategy to destroy Michael is well planned. Michael's brother Fredo has been found and persuaded to return to Nevada, and in a private meeting he explains to Michael his betrayal: upset about being passed over to head the family in favor of Michael, he wants respect and his due. He helped Roth, thinking there would be something in it for him, but he swears he didn't know they wanted to kill Michael. He also tells Michael that the Senate Committee's chief counsel belongs to Roth. Michael then tells Fredo: "You're nothing to me now. Not a brother, not a friend, nothing", and privately instructs Al Neri that nothing is to happen to Fredo while their mother is still alive, with the understanding that Fredo will be killed after her death.

At the hearing in which Pentangeli is to testify, Michael arrives accompanied by Pentangeli's brother Vincenzo (brought in from Italy), whose surprise presence causes Frank to recant his previous statements about Michael. When Pentangeli is pressed, he claims that he just told the FBI what they wanted to hear. With no witness to testify against Michael the committee adjourns, with Hagen, acting as Michael's lawyer, loudly demanding an apology.

At a hotel room afterwards, Kay tries to leave Michael and take their children with her. Michael at first tries to mollify her, but loses his temper and hits her violently when she reveals to him that her recent "miscarriage" was actually an abortion to avoid bringing another child into Michael's criminal family.

While visiting Sicily, Vito is introduced to the elderly Don Ciccio as the man who imports their olive oil to America, and who wants his blessing. When Ciccio asks Vito who his father was, Vito says, "His name was Antonio Andolini, and this is for you!", cutting the old man's stomach open with a knife, avenging the deaths of his father, mother, and brother.

When Carmella Corleone, Vito's widow and the mother of his children, dies, the whole Corleone family is reunited. Michael is still shunning Fredo, who is miserable, but relents when Connie implores him to. Michael and Fredo embrace, but at the same time Michael signals to his capo Al Neri that Fredo's protection from harm, in effect while their mother lived, has now expired.

Michael, Tom Hagen, Al Neri, and Rocco Lampone discuss their final dealings with Hyman Roth, who has been unsuccessfully seeking asylum from various countries, and was even refused entry to Israel as a returning Jew. Michael rejects Hagen's advice that the Corleone family's position is secure, and killing Roth and the Rosato brothers for revenge is an unnecessary risk. Later, Hagen pays a visit to Frank Pentangeli on a military base and suggests that he take his own life, in the manner of unsuccessful ancient Roman conspirators who, in return, were promised that their families would be taken care of after their suicide.

With the connivance of Connie, Kay visits her children, but cannot bear to leave them and stays too long. When Michael arrives, he coldly closes the door in her face.

The Godfather Part II reaches its climax in a montage of assassinations and death, reminiscent of the end of The Godfather. As he arrives at a U.S. airport to be taken into custody, Hyman Roth is killed by Rocco Lampone, disguised as a journalist, who is immediately shot dead in turn. On the military base, Frank Pentangeli is found dead in one of their bathtubs, having followed Hagen's instructions and committed suicide. Finally, Fredo is murdered by Al Neri while they are fishing on Lake Tahoe—just as Fredo finishes saying a Hail Mary to help catch a fish.

The penultimate scene takes place in 1941, as the Corleone family is preparing a surprise birthday party for Vito. Sonny introduces Carlo Rizzi, Connie's future husband and eventual betrayer of Sonny, to his family. They all talk about the recent attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, and Michael shocks everybody by announcing that he has just enlisted in the United States Marines. Sonny angrily ridicules Michael's choice, while Tom Hagen mentions how his father has great expectations for Michael, and had made specific arrangements for his future. Fredo is the only one who supports his brother's decision. Sal Tessio comes in with the cake for the party, and when Vito arrives, all but Michael leave to greet him.

The final scene in the film is Michael sitting all alone in silent contemplation at Lake Tahoe, perhaps realizing that not only did he fail at avoiding becoming like his father, but he has in fact become an even more cold-hearted monster than Vito ever was.

Cast

Al Pacino as Don Michael Corleone
Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen
Diane Keaton as Kay Corleone
Robert De Niro as young Vito Corleone
John Cazale as Fredo Corleone
Talia Shire as Connie Corleone
Lee Strasberg as Hyman Roth
Michael V. Gazzo as Frankie Pentangeli
G.D. Spradlin as Senator Pat Geary
Richard Bright as Al Neri
Dominic Chianese as Johnny Ola
Bruno Kirby as young Peter Clemenza
James Caan as Sonny Corleone (cameo)
Giuseppe Sillato as Don Ciccio
Roman Coppola as Young Santino Corleone
John Megna as Young Hyman Roth
Julian Voloshin as Sam Roth
Larry Guardino as Vito's Uncle

Belle De Jour

2009-10-04T07:35:00.000-07:00

Belle de jour is a 1967 French film starring Catherine Deneuve as a woman who decides to spend her days as a prostitute while her husband is at work. The title is the French name of the daylily (literally: "daylight beauty"), a flower that blooms only during the day, but also refers to a prostitute whose trade is conducted in daytime. The film was directed by the Spanish director Luis Buñuel, based on the 1928 novel of the same name by Joseph Kessel.

Plot

Séverine Serizy is a young, beautiful housewife who has masochistic daydream fantasies about elaborate floggings and bondage. She is married to a doctor (Jean Sorel) and loves him, but cannot share physical intimacy with him. A male friend, Monsieur Husson, (Michel Piccoli) mentions a high-class brothel to Séverine, also confessing his desire for her, and she secretly manages to work at the brothel during the afternoon (using the pseudonym Belle de jour). The brothel is run by Madame Anaïs, (Geneviève Page). Séverine will only work from two to five o'clock each day, returning to her blissfully unaware husband in the evening, but she attends only intermittently.

As the film progresses, Séverine becomes entangled with Marcel, a young gangster, who offers her the thrills and excitement contained in her fantasies. The situation becomes more complicated when Séverine decides to leave the brothel, with Madame Anaïs' agreement, after finding Marcel has become too demanding, and jealous of her husband. Husson has also discovered her secret as a potential, though unwilling, client. One of the gangster's associates tracks Séverine to her home address. Marcel visits her, and threatens to reveal her hidden identity, but Séverine persuades him to leave.
He waits outside for her husband to return home and shoots him three times before escaping and eventually being shot by the police. Séverine's husband survives the event, but is left in a coma. The police are unable to find a motive for the attempted murder of Séverine's husband, but after he leaves hospital, now blind and in a wheelchair, Husson visits him and may have told him the truth.
The film ends with Séverine escaping into fantasy once more; this time, however, there are no sexual undertones. Her husband is healthy again and they kiss before looking out the window on to the opening scene of the film.

Awards

The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1967.

Cast

Catherine Deneuve as Séverine Serizy, alias Belle de Jour

Jean Sorel as Pierre Serizy
Michel Piccoli as Henri Husson
Geneviève Page as Madame Anaïs
Pierre Clémenti as Marcel
Georges Marchal as Duke
Françoise Fabian as Charlotte
Macha Méril as Renée
Marguerite Muni as Pallas
Maria Latour as Mathilde

The Godfather Part II

2009-09-29T09:12:00.000-07:00

Plot

The Godfather Part II presents two parallel storylines. One involves Mafia chief Michael Corleone during the Cold War, following the events of the first movie; the other is a series of flashbacks following his father, Vito Corleone, from his youth in Sicily (1901) to his founding of the Corleone family in New York City while still a young man (1917-1925).

The film begins in 1901, in the town of Corleone in Sicily, at the funeral procession for young Vito's father, Antonio Andolini, who has been murdered for an insult to the local Mafia chieftain, Don Ciccio. During the procession, Vito's older brother Paolo is also murdered because he swore revenge on the Don. Vito's mother then goes to Ciccio to beg him to let young Vito live. Upon his refusal, she holds a knife to his throat, sacrificing herself so that her son can escape, while Ciccio's men gun her down. They immediately scour the town for the boy, shouting their assurances to the sleeping townsfolk that they will regret harboring the boy. With the aid of a few of the townspeople, Vito finds his way by ship to New York. Upon arriving at Ellis Island, an immigration agent uses Vito's hometown of Corleone as his surname, registering him as "Vito Corleone".

The film then moves into the late 1950s, to a scene similar to the opening of the first film, where Michael Corleone, Godfather of the Corleone family, deals with various business and family problems during an elaborate party at his Lake Tahoe, Nevada compound celebrating his son's First Communion. He meets with Nevada Senator Pat Geary, who despises the Corleones, but has shown up at the celebration with his wife under the auspices of accepting a large endowment to the university from Michael in his son's name. During a tense negotiation, Senator Geary demands a grossly exaggerated price for a new gaming license and a monthly payment of 5% of the gross profits from all of the Corleone's Nevada gaming interests, to which Michael boldly responds with a counter-offer of "nothing".

Michael also deals with his sister Connie, who, although recently divorced, is planning to marry a man with no obvious means of support and of whom Michael obviously disapproves. He also talks with Johnny Ola, the right hand man of Jewish gangster Hyman Roth, who is supporting Michael's move into the gambling industry. Belatedly, Michael deals with Frank "Five Angels" Pentangeli, who took over Corleone caporegime Peter Clemenza's territory after his death, and now has problems with the Rosato Brothers, who are backed by Roth. After Michael's refusal to allow Pentangeli to kill the Rosatos, owing to his desire to prevent interruption of his business with Roth, Pentangeli leaves abruptly, after telling Michael "your father did business with Hyman Roth, your father respected Hyman Roth, but your father never trusted Hyman Roth."

Later that night, an assassination attempt is made on Michael, which he survives when his wife Kay notices the bedroom window drapes are inexplicably open. Afterwards, Michael tells Tom Hagen that the hit was made with the help of someone close, and that he must leave, entrusting all his power to Hagen to protect the family.

The action then switches to 1917, where the 25-year-old Vito Corleone works in a New York grocery store with his friend Genco Abbandando. The neighborhood is controlled by a member of the "The Black Hand," Don Fanucci, who extorts protection payments from local businesses. One night, Vito's neighbor Clemenza asks him to hide a stash of guns for him, and later, to repay the favor, takes him to a fancy apartment where they commit their first felony together, stealing an elegant rug.

The film flash-forwards to Michael's time. Michael meets with Hyman Roth in Florida and tells him that he believes Frank Pentangeli was responsible for the assassination attempt, and that Pentangeli will pay for it. Traveling to Brooklyn, Michael lets Pentangeli know that Roth was actually behind it, and that Michael has a plan to deal with Roth, but he needs Frankie to cooperate with the Rosato Brothers in order to put Roth off guard. When Pentangeli goes to meet with the Rosatos, he is told "Michael Corleone says hello," as he is garrotted; but the attempted murder is accidentally interrupted by a policeman. Pentangeli is left for dead, and his bodyguard, Willi Cicci, is wounded by gunfire.

In Nevada, Tom Hagen is called to a brothel run by his brother Fredo, where Senator Geary is implicated in the death of a prostitute. Tom offers to take care of the problem in return for "friendship" between the Senator and the Corleone family.

Meanwhile, Michael meets Roth in Havana, Cuba, in late 1958, at the time when dictator Fulgencio Batista is soliciting American investment, and communist guerrillas are trying to bring down the government. At a birthday party for Roth, Michael mentions that there is a possibility that the rebels might win, making their business dealings in Cuba problematic. The comment prompts Roth to remark, privately, that Michael has not delivered the two million dollars to firm their partnership.

Fredo, carrying the promised money, arrives in Havana and meets Michael. Michael mentions Hyman Roth and Johnny Ola to him, but Fredo says he has never met them. Michael confides to his brother that it was Roth who tried to kill him, and that he plans to try again. Michael assures Fredo that he has already made his move, and that "Hyman Roth will never see the New Year."

Instead of turning over the money to Roth, Michael asks him who gave the order to have Frank Pentangeli killed. Roth avoids the question, instead speaking angrily of the murder of his old friend, Moe Greene, which Michael had orchestrated (as depicted at the end of the first film), quipping, "I never asked who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with business!"

Michael has asked Fredo, who knows Havana well, to show Senator Geary and other important officials and businessmen a good time, during which Fredo pretends to not recognize Johnny Ola. Soon after, at a sex show, a drunk Fredo comments loudly that Johnny Ola told him about the place, contradicting what he told Michael twice earlier, that he didn't know Roth or Ola. Michael now realizes that the traitor is his own brother, and dispatches his bodyguard back to their hotel to deal with Roth.

There, Johnny Ola is strangled, but Roth, whose health is failing, is taken to a hospital, where Michael's bodyguard follows, but is shot by police while trying to smother Roth with a pillow. At Batista's New Year's Eve party, at the stroke of midnight, Michael grasps Fredo tightly by the head and kisses him: "I know it was you Fredo; you broke my heart." When guerrillas attack, the guests flee, and Fredo runs away from Michael, despite Michael's pleas that he is still his brother and that the only way out is with him.

Michael returns to Las Vegas, where Hagen tells him that Roth escaped Cuba after suffering a stroke and is recovering in Miami, that Michael's bodyguard is dead, and that Fredo is likely hiding in New York. Hagen also informs Michael that Kay had a miscarriage while he was away, which causes Michael to noticeably lose his usually calm and collected demeanor.

In 1917 New York, Don Fanucci of the Black Hand is now aware of the partnership between Vito, Clemenza and Sal Tessio, and wants a slice of the action in order to "wet his beak." Clemenza and Tessio agree to pay, but Vito is reluctant and asks his friends to leave everything in his hands to convince Fanucci to accept less money. Indeed, Vito manages to get Fanucci to take only one sixth of what he had demanded. Immediately afterwards, during the neighborhood festa, Vito murders Fanucci.

Don Michael returns to his compound in Lake Tahoe, where he wanders the house in silent contemplation. He sees Kay (who he has prevented from leaving the compound for her own safety) in the bedroom, but does not approach her. In Washington, D.C., a Senate committee, of which Senator Geary is a member, is conducting an investigation into the Corleone family. They question disaffected "soldier" Willi Cicci, but he cannot implicate Michael, because he never received any direct orders from him.

With Fanucci dead, Vito earns the respect of the neighborhood and begins to intercede in local disputes, operating out of the storefront of his Genco Pura Olive Oil Company (named after his friend Genco Abbandando).

When Michael appears before the committee, Senator Geary makes a big show of supporting Italian-Americans and then excuses himself from the proceedings. Michael makes a statement challenging the committee to produce a witness to corroborate the charges against him. The hearing ends with the Chairman promising a witness who will do exactly that.

Frank Pentangeli, who did not die in the attack by the Rosato Brothers, has made a deal with the FBI to testify against Michael, believing he was the one who organized the attempt on his life. Tom Hagen and Michael discuss the problem, observing that Roth's strategy to destroy Michael is well planned. Michael's brother Fredo has been found and persuaded to return to Nevada, and in a private meeting he explains to Michael his betrayal: upset about being passed over to head the family in favor of Michael, he wants respect and his due. He helped Roth, thinking there would be something in it for him, but he swears he didn't know they wanted to kill Michael. He also tells Michael that the Senate Committee's chief counsel belongs to Roth. Michael then tells Fredo: "You're nothing to me now. Not a brother, not a friend, nothing", and privately instructs Al Neri that nothing is to happen to Fredo while their mother is still alive, with the understanding that Fredo will be killed after her death.

At the hearing in which Pentangeli is to testify, Michael arrives accompanied by Pentangeli's brother Vincenzo (brought in from Italy), whose surprise presence causes Frank to recant his previous statements about Michael. When Pentangeli is pressed, he claims that he just told the FBI what they wanted to hear. With no witness to testify against Michael the committee adjourns, with Hagen, acting as Michael's lawyer, loudly demanding an apology.

At a hotel room afterwards, Kay tries to leave Michael and take their children with her. Michael at first tries to mollify her, but loses his temper and hits her violently when she reveals to him that her recent "miscarriage" was actually an abortion to avoid bringing another child into Michael's criminal family.

While visiting Sicily, Vito is introduced to the elderly Don Ciccio as the man who imports their olive oil to America, and who wants his blessing. When Ciccio asks Vito who his father was, Vito says, "His name was Antonio Andolini, and this is for you!", cutting the old man's stomach open with a knife, avenging the deaths of his father, mother, and brother.

When Carmella Corleone, Vito's widow and the mother of his children, dies, the whole Corleone family is reunited. Michael is still shunning Fredo, who is miserable, but relents when Connie implores him to. Michael and Fredo embrace, but at the same time Michael signals to his capo Al Neri that Fredo's protection from harm, in effect while their mother lived, has now expired.

Michael, Tom Hagen, Al Neri, and Rocco Lampone discuss their final dealings with Hyman Roth, who has been unsuccessfully seeking asylum from various countries, and was even refused entry to Israel as a returning Jew. Michael rejects Hagen's advice that the Corleone family's position is secure, and killing Roth and the Rosato brothers for revenge is an unnecessary risk. Later, Hagen pays a visit to Frank Pentangeli on a military base and suggests that he take his own life, in the manner of unsuccessful ancient Roman conspirators who, in return, were promised that their families would be taken care of after their suicide.

With the connivance of Connie, Kay visits her children, but cannot bear to leave them and stays too long. When Michael arrives, he coldly closes the door in her face.

The Godfather Part II reaches its climax in a montage of assassinations and death, reminiscent of the end of The Godfather. As he arrives at a U.S. airport to be taken into custody, Hyman Roth is killed by Rocco Lampone, disguised as a journalist, who is immediately shot dead in turn. On the military base, Frank Pentangeli is found dead in one of their bathtubs, having followed Hagen's instructions and committed suicide. Finally, Fredo is murdered by Al Neri while they are fishing on Lake Tahoe—just as Fredo finishes saying a Hail Mary to help catch a fish.

The penultimate scene takes place in 1941, as the Corleone family is preparing a surprise birthday party for Vito. Sonny introduces Carlo Rizzi, Connie's future husband and eventual betrayer of Sonny, to his family. They all talk about the recent attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, and Michael shocks everybody by announcing that he has just enlisted in the United States Marines. Sonny angrily ridicules Michael's choice, while Tom Hagen mentions how his father has great expectations for Michael, and had made specific arrangements for his future. Fredo is the only one who supports his brother's decision. Sal Tessio comes in with the cake for the party, and when Vito arrives, all but Michael leave to greet him.

The final scene in the film is Michael sitting all alone in silent contemplation at Lake Tahoe, perhaps realizing that not only did he fail at avoiding becoming like his father, but he has in fact become an even more cold-hearted monster than Vito ever was.

Cast

Al Pacino as Don Michael Corleone
Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen
Diane Keaton as Kay Corleone
Robert De Niro as young Vito Corleone
John Cazale as Fredo Corleone
Talia Shire as Connie Corleone
Lee Strasberg as Hyman Roth
Michael V. Gazzo as Frankie Pentangeli
G.D. Spradlin as Senator Pat Geary
Richard Bright as Al Neri
Dominic Chianese as Johnny Ola
Bruno Kirby as young Peter Clemenza
James Caan as Sonny Corleone (cameo)
Giuseppe Sillato as Don Ciccio
Roman Coppola as Young Santino Corleone
John Megna as Young Hyman Roth
Julian Voloshin as Sam Roth
Larry Guardino as Vito's Uncle

Micheal Corleone In Siscil

The Godfather Part I

2009-09-24T04:12:00.000-07:00

The Godfather is a 1972 crime film based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, with screenplay by Puzo and Coppola. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton and James Caan. The story spans ten years from late 1945 to 1955 and chronicles the life of the Corleone crime family.

The Godfather was initially ranked as the third greatest film in American cinematic history (behind Citizen Kane and Casablanca) on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list by the American Film Institute. It has now been re-ranked number two under Citizen Kane, with number three being Casablanca.It is also the top movie on Internet Movie Database's Top 250 list, as well as Metacritic's top 100 list and Rotten Tomatoes' all-time best list.

Two sequels followed, The Godfather Part II in 1974 and The Godfather Part III in 1990.

Plot

The film begins at the wedding of Don Vito Corleone's daughter Connie to Carlo Rizzi in New York City in late summer of 1945. Because "no Sicilian can refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day", Corleone, known to his friends and associates as "Godfather", and Tom Hagen (the Corleone family consigliere, or counselor) are preoccupied with hearing requests from friends and associates. Meanwhile, the Don's youngest son Michael, who has returned from World War II service as a highly decorated war hero, tells his girlfriend Kay Adams anecdotes about his father's criminal life, reassuring her that he is not like his family.

Among the guests at the celebration is the famous singer Johnny Fontane, Corleone's godson, who has come from Hollywood to petition the Godfather's help in landing a movie role that will revitalize his flagging career. Jack Woltz, the head of the studio, will not give Fontane the part, but Don Corleone explains to Johnny: "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse." Hagen is dispatched to California to fix the problem, but Woltz angrily tells him that he will never cast Fontane in the role, for which he is perfect, because Fontane seduced and "ruined" a starlet that Woltz favored. The next morning, Woltz wakes up to find the bloody severed head of his prize stud horse in the bed with him.

Upon Hagen's return, the family meets with heroin dealer Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo, who is being backed by the rival Tattaglia family. He asks Don Corleone for political and legal protection, as well as financing to start the mass importation and distribution of heroin, but despite the huge amount of money to be made, Corleone refuses, explaining that his political influence would be jeopardized by a move into the narcotics trade. The Don's oldest son, hotheaded Sonny, who had earlier expressed to the Don his support of the family entering into the narcotics trade, breaks rank during the meeting and questions Sollozzo's assurances as to the Corleone Family's investment being guaranteed by the Tattaglia Family. His father, angry at Sonny's dissention in front of a non-family member, later privately rebukes him. Don Corleone then dispatches his aide, Luca Brasi, to infiltrate Sollozzo's organization and report back with information.

Soon after Don Corleone's refusal, he is shot several times in an assassination attempt at a local market. It is not publicly known whether he survived. Meanwhile, Sollozzo and the Tattaglias kill Luca Brasi. Sollozzo then abducts and persuades Tom Hagen to offer Sonny the deal previously offered to his father. Sollozzo reasons that Sonny is more amenable to the deal than was his father, and that with Don Corleone out of the way, Sonny will accept the deal. Enraged, Sonny refuses to consider the deal, promising a war with the Tattaglias and Sollozzo.

Michael, who is considered a "civilian" (not involved in the mob business) by the other mafia families and therefore able to live a more normal life, visits his father in the hospital. He is immediately shocked to find that there are no police officers or Corleone Family men guarding him. Realizing that his father is again being set up to be killed, he calls Sonny with a report, then moves his father to another room. He then goes outside to watch the door. With the help of an overwhelmed Enzo (the baker), who feels indebted to the Don, he bluffs away Sollozzo's men. Police cars soon arrive with the corrupt Captain McCluskey, who breaks Michael's jaw after he insinuates that McCluskey is being paid by Sollozzo to set up his father. Just then, Hagen shows up with "private detectives" licensed to carry guns to protect Don Corleone, and takes Michael home.

Following the attempt on the Don's life at the hospital, Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey, who is acting as Sollozzo's bodyguard, request a meeting with Michael under the auspices of ameliorating their differences. Michael volunteers to kill both men during the meeting, which initially amuses Sonny and the other senior members of the Corleone family, with Sonny admonishing him for reacting too personally and emotionally. However, Michael convinces them that killing Sollozo and McCluskey is in the family's interest ("It's not personal. It's strictly business."). The meeting between Michael and Sollozzo, with McCluskey attending, is arranged at a quiet, local restaurant, as requested by Michael so he will "feel safe". Michael excuses himself to go to the restroom, retrieves a planted revolver, and assassinates Sollozzo and McCluskey with near-point-blank-range shots to the head. To avoid his arrest for the murders, Michael is sent to Sicily while the Corleone family prepares for all-out warfare with the rest of the Five Families, who unite against the Corleones, as well as a general clampdown on the mob by the police and government authorities.

While in Sicily, Michael lives under the protection of Don Tommasino, an old friend of the family. While there, he falls in love with and marries a local girl, Apollonia, who is subsequently killed in a failed attempt on Michael's life.

Meanwhile, back in New York, Don Corleone returns home from the hospital and is distraught to learn that Michael was the one who killed Sollozzo and McCluskey. Some months later, in 1948, Sonny severely beats Carlo for brutalizing the expecting Connie, and threatens to kill Carlo the next time he abuses her. The next time Carlo beats her, Sonny drives off alone to fulfill his threat. On the way, he is ambushed and Tommy-gunned to death at the causeway tollbooth.

Instead of seeking revenge for Sonny's killing, Don Corleone meets with the heads of the Five Families to arrange an end to the war. Not only is it draining all of their assets and threatening their survival, but ending the conflict is the only way that Michael can return home safely. Reversing his previous decision, Vito agrees that the Corleone family will provide political protection for Philip Tattaglia's traffic in heroin. At the meeting, Don Corleone intuits that Don Barzini, not Tattaglia, was responsible for the mob war and Sonny's death.

With his safety guaranteed, Michael returns from Sicily. More than a year later, he reunites with his former girlfriend, Kay, telling her that he wants to marry her. With the Don semi-retired, Sonny dead and middle brother Fredo considered incapable of running the family business, Michael is now in charge, and he claims that the family business will soon be completely legitimate.

Clemenza and Tessio, two Corleone Family caporegimes (captains) complain that they are being pushed around by the Barzini Family and ask permission to strike back, but Michael refuses. With his father as consigliere, he plans to move the family operations to Nevada and after that, Clemenza and Tessio may break away to go on their own. Michael further promises that Connie's husband, Carlo, is going to be his right hand in Nevada, while Hagen will be the Family's Las Vegas lawyer.

In Las Vegas Michael is greeted by Fredo in the hotel-casino partly financed by the Corleones, and run by Moe Greene. Michael explains to Johnny Fontane that the Family needs his help in persuading Johnny's friends in show business to sign long-term contracts to appear at the casino. In a meeting with Moe Greene, Michael offers to buy out Greene but is rudely rebuffed. Greene believes the Corleones are weak and that he can secure a better deal from Barzini.

Michael returns home. In a private meeting, Vito explains his expectation that the Family's enemies will attempt to kill Michael by using a trusted associate to arrange a meeting as a pretext for assassination. Shortly afterwards, Don Vito dies of a heart attack while playing with his young grandson in his tomato garden.

During the funeral, Tessio conveys a proposal for a meeting with Barzini, which identifies him as the traitor that Vito was expecting. During the film's baptism scene, a series of murders occurs. Pete Clemenza climbs a flight of stairs carrying a large wooden box and stops in front of an elevator. The elevator opens, revealing Don Stracci and his bodyguards. They are shot by Clemenza, who was hiding a shotgun inside the large box. Moe Greene, while having a massage in one of his hotels, is shot in the eye by an unknown assassin (this form of execution was later known as the "Moe Greene Special"). Don Cuneo, while leaving a hotel, is trapped in a revolving door by Willi Cicci and shot twice. Don Tattaglia and a prostitute he is with are gunned down by Rocco Lampone and another unknown assassin. Finally, Don Barzini is shot on the steps of a courthouse by Al Neri, who is disguised by wearing his old Policeman's uniform. Michael's presence at the baptism gives him a perfect alibi. After the baptism, Tessio believes he and Michael are on their way to meet with Barzini. But instead, he is taken away by Willi Cicci and other buttonmen to be killed. Before he is carried away, Tessio tells Tom Hagen that he always liked Michael and his betrayal was simply just business. Michael confronts Carlo about Sonny's murder and tricks him into admitting his role in setting up the ambush. "Today", Michael tells him, "I settle all Family business." Michael informs Carlo that his punishment is to be excluded from the family business and hands him a plane ticket to exile in Nevada. Carlo gets into a car to go to the airport and is garroted by Clemenza.

Later, Connie confronts Michael, accusing him of Carlo's murder. Kay questions Michael about Connie's accusation, but he refuses to answer. She insists, and Michael lies, assuring his wife that he had no role in Carlo's death. Kay is relieved by his denial. As the film ends, she watches Clemenza and new caporegime Rocco Lampone pay their respects to Michael, kissing his hand and addressing him as "Don Corleone." The door is closed by new capo Al Neri, as she realizes that Michael has become the new Godfather.

Cast

Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone — the head (the "Don") of the Corleone family, Formerly known as Vito Andolini. He is the father of Sonny, Fredo, Michael and Connie and surrogate father to Tom Hagen. Husband of Carmella Corleone. A native of Sicily.

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone — the Don's and Carmella's youngest son, recently returned from military service following the end of World War II. He initially wants nothing to do with the Corleone family business. He is the main character of the movie.

James Caan as Santino "Sonny" Corleone — Vito and Carmella's hot-headed eldest son; he is being groomed to succeed his father as head of the Corleone family. He is the family's underboss.

Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen — an informally adopted son of Vito and Carmella Corleone, he is also the family lawyer and the new consigliere (counselor).

Diane Keaton as Kay Adams — Michael's White Anglo-Saxon Protestant-ish girlfriend and, ultimately, his second wife, mother to his children.

John Cazale as Fredo Corleone — the middle son of Vito and Carmella Corleone. Fredo is not very bright and appears to be the weakest of the Corleone brothers.

Talia Shire as Connie Corleone — Vito and Carmella's only daughter. She marries Carlo Rizzi.

Richard S. Castellano as Pete Clemenza — a caporegime for the Corleone family.

Abe Vigoda as Sal Tessio — a caporegime for the Corleone Family.

Al Lettieri as Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo — a heroin dealer associated with the Tattaglia family.

Gianni Russo as Carlo Rizzi — Connie's husband. Becomes an associate of the Corleone family.

Sterling Hayden as Captain McCluskey — a corrupt police captain on Sollozzo's payroll.

Lenny Montana as Luca Brasi — an enforcer utilized by Vito Corleone.

Richard Conte as Emilio Barzini— Don of the Barzini family.

Al Martino as Johnny Fontane — a world-famous popular singer and godson of Vito.

John Marley as Jack Woltz — a powerful Hollywood producer.

Alex Rocco as Moe Greene — longtime associate of the Corleone family who owns a Las Vegas hotel.

Morgana King as Carmella Corleone — Vito's wife and mother of Sonny, Fredo, Michael and Connie, and surrogate mother to Tom Hagen.

John Martino as Paulie Gatto — A "button man" (soldier/hit man) under Capo Pete Clemenza and Vito's driver.

Victor Rendina as Philip Tattaglia— Don of the Tattaglia family.

Simonetta Stefanelli as Apollonia Vitelli-Corleone — A stunningly beautiful young girl Michael meets while in Sicily.

Sofia Coppola as Michael Francis Rizzi — Connie and Carlo's infant son.

Louis Guss as Don Zaluchi — Don of the Zaluchi family of Detroit.

Tom Rosqui as Rocco Lampone — a caporegime in the Corleone family.

Joe Spinell as Willi Cicci — Soldier in the Corleone family.

Richard Bright as Al Neri — Michael Corleone's bodyguard. He eventually becomes a caporegime.

24

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24 is an American serial action drama television series. Broadcast by Fox in the United States and syndicated worldwide, the show first aired on November 6, 2001, with an initial 13 episodes (the next 11 episodes were later ordered).
24 is presented in real time, with each season depicting a 24-hour period in the life of Jack Bauer, who works with the U.S. government as it fights domestic threats. Bauer is often in the field for the Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Unit as they try to safeguard the nation from terrorist threats. The show also follows the actions of other CTU agents, government officials and terrorists associated with the plot. The first six seasons of the show were all based in Los Angeles and nearby locations — both real and fictional — in California, although occasionally other locations have been featured as well — most notably, Washington, D.C., where a notable portion of the episodes took place during the fourth and sixth seasons. Promotional materials for the seventh season have already established that, departing from tradition, it will be set primarily in Washington, D.C.
After leading actor Kiefer Sutherland won a Golden Globe for his role in the first 10 episodes, the ratings of the show increased, leading FOX to order the second half of the season. After six seasons, it was confirmed that FOX has ordered a further two seasons to be produced.A motion picture based on the show has been written and was scheduled to be filmed in 2007 for a 2008 release but plans for production were put on hold to focus on the TV series.
The seventh season, originally scheduled to premiere on January 13, 2008, was initially postponed in the wake of the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike to ensure a nonstop season, a trademark of the show since the start of its fourth season in January 2005.It was officially postponed until January 2009.To help offset the strike induced delay, 24 returned on Sunday, November 23, 2008 with a two-hour feature (titled 24: Redemption‎) that takes place four years after season six and "[sets] up the story that launches season seven."
24 is the second longest-running espionage series in television history, behind the original Mission: Impossible series. 24 is exepcted to surpass Mission: Impossible in January 2010, with the airing of its 172nd hour in the early episodes of Season 8.

Season 1

Season 1 begins and ends at 12:00 AM, and occurs on the day of the California presidential primary. Jack Bauer must protect Senator David Palmer from an assassination plot, and rescue his own family from those responsible for the plot, who seek retribution for Jack's and David Palmer's involvement with a covert U.S. mission in the Balkans.

Season 2

Set 18 months after season 1, season 2 begins and ends at 8:00 AM. Jack must stop a nuclear bomb from detonating in Los Angeles, then assist President David Palmer in proving who is responsible for the threat. With only the weapons he has.

Season 3

Set 3 years after season 2, season 3 begins and ends at 1:00 PM. While struggling with a heroin addiction, Jack must re-infiltrate a Mexican drug cartel in order to acquire a deadly virus being marketed underground. Jack must then stop the mastermind behind the virus from releasing it.

Season 4

Set 18 months after season 3, season 4 begins and ends at 7:00 AM. Jack must save the lives of Secretary Heller (his new boss) and Heller's daughter Audrey Raines (with whom Jack is romantically involved) when they are kidnapped by terrorists. The same terrorists then launch further attacks against America, and Jack is forced to use unorthodox methods to stop them, methods which will have long-term consequences for both Jack and the U.S.

Season 5

Set 18 months after season 4, season 5 begins and ends at 7:00 AM. Jack is believed to be dead by everyone except a few of his closest friends. Terrorists with connections to the U.S. government attempt to steal nerve gas in order to protect U.S. oil interests in Asia, and Jack must resurface to stop them as well as dismantle the government conspiracy.

Season 6

Set 20 months after season 5, season 6 begins and ends at 6:00 AM. Jack is released after being detained in a Chinese prison for twenty months. Terrorists plot to set off suitcase nuclear devices in the United States and Jack must stop them; later, Jack has to prevent sensitive circuitry from falling into the hands of the Chinese to prevent war between the U.S. and Russia.

24: Redemption‎

Redemption‎ is a television movie, aired on November 23, 2008, bridging the gap between the sixth and seventh seasons of 24. Set partially in Southern Africa, Jack finds himself caught up in a military coup while trying to find somewhere he can rest. Meanwhile, in the United States, it is Inauguration Day, where Allison Taylor is being sworn in to office.

Season 7

Set approximately four years after season 6, season 7 begins and ends at 8:00 AM. A major national security incident occurs when the firewall responsible for protecting America's government computer infrastructure is breached by the same people responsible for a conflict in Sangala. The season feaures the show's first female president, Allison Taylor, and this is the first season without CTU.

Season 8

The eighth season of 24 will begin shooting in April 2009 and will air in January 2010.[citation needed] This eighth season will likely be the final season of 24. Executive Producer Howard Gordon says, "My hope is to go [shoot the feature film] after the eighth season. That's sort of what we're aiming for. I don't think that a big-screen 24 works while Jack is on TV."

Critical reaction

Because of the "real-time" storytelling approach to 24, and the series' willingness to directly address the threat of terrorism, the implementation of torture as a way to acquire information and the use and misuse of government authority, the series has generated a sizable critical reaction, both positive and negative. The series and the main character, Jack Bauer, have been accused of promoting the use of excessive violence and torture in the minds of the voting public, in part to support the policies of the current federal government.Slate magazine commented that the United States' torture policy has deeper roots in 24 than in the U.S. Constitution.
In Europe, 24 is under heavy criticism due to its glorification of governmental tortures and its permanent violation of human rights (e.g. privacy, dragnet, computer surveillance, etc.).
The series has won numerous Emmy Awards for its technical and artistic achievements, but at the same time has been criticized by a number of prominent individuals and organizations who have objected to how the series has handled story and character elements.
In 2008, Empire magazine ranked 24 as the sixth greatest television show of all-time, trailing only behind The Simpsons, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Sopranos, The West Wing, and Lost, respectively.

Main cast

24 is known for making major changes to its main cast every season—the sole exception being Kiefer Sutherland, who is the only main cast member to star in all six seasons to date. Glenn Morshower, who plays Aaron Pierce, and backround extra Michael Jacey (who plays Agent John) are the only actors besides Sutherland to appear in all six seasons. Due to the unpredictable nature of each season's storyline, main cast members are added and dropped frequently. In a few cases, guest stars have been upgraded to main cast members during the course of a season. Main cast members who return from prior seasons—whether they return for one episode or the better part of a season—are often given a "Special Guest Star" billing, although this is also used for other cast members who are well-known film actors, like Richard Burgi, Dennis Hopper, Powers Boothe, Sean Astin, James Cromwell, and Jon Voight.
Because of the intense nature of the series, the number of onscreen deaths is high compared to other television dramas. Of the 28 characters who have comprised the main cast over the past six seasons, nine are deceased. This number is considerably higher when guest characters—be they government agents or terrorists—are also included.

Friends

2009-09-20T05:54:00.000-07:00

Friends is an American sitcom about a group of friends in the area of Manhattan, New York City. It was originally broadcast from 1994 to 2004 in a total of 236 episodes. It was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, and produced by Kevin S. Bright (Warner Bros.), Marta Kauffman and David Crane. The show has been broadcast in more than one hundred countries and still continues to attract good ratings for its episodes in syndication. The final episode of the show was watched by an estimated US audience of 51.1 million.From the 10 years run, the show had won 7 Emmys, including one for Outstanding Comedy Series. It also received a Golden Globe, 2 SAG Awards, and 56 other various awards with 152 nominations.

The first season introduces the six main characters: Rachel Karen Green, Monica Geller, Phoebe Buffay, Joey Francis Tribbiani, Chandler Muriel Bing and Ross Geller. Rachel, who left her fiancé at the altar on her wedding day, has come to New York and ends up living with Monica. It establishes early on in the season that Ross has been infatuated with Rachel since the two characters attended high school. Several episodes revolve around his attempts to tell her how he feels. Meanwhile, Ross's estranged lesbian wife Carol is pregnant with his baby. This puts him and Carol's lesbian life partner, Susan (played by Jessica Hecht), in an awkward position. When the baby is born at the end of the season, Ross, Carol, and Susan agree to name him Ben: after a nametag on a janitor's uniform worn by Phoebe. The episodic nature of the season sees the other characters having multiple dates, many of which go wrong (Monica dates a minor in one episode). The recurring character of Janice (played by Maggie Wheeler) is introduced as a girlfriend Chandler breaks up with in an early episode but frequently returns to through the ensuing ten seasons. At the end of the season, Chandler lets it slip that Ross loves Rachel. Rachel is caught off guard but finds that she feels the same way.

The second season features more serialized storylines; it begins when Rachel discovers that Ross is dating Julie (played by Lauren Tom), someone he knew from grad school. Julie returns for several episodes early in the season. Rachel's attempts to tell Ross she likes him mirror his own failed attempts in the first season, though the characters eventually begin a relationship that lasts into the following season. Joey, a struggling actor in the first season, gets a part in a fictionalized version of the soap opera Days of our Lives but loses the part soon after when he angers the writers by saying in an interview that he writes many of his own lines. Tom Selleck begins a recurring guest role as Dr. Richard Burke. Richard, a friend of Monica and Ross' parents who is recently divorced and with grown children, is 21 years older than Monica but despite this they date for the second half of the season. In the season finale, they end the relationship when they realize that he does not want any more children and she does. The second season also served to deepen Chandler and Joey's friendship. This becomes especially apparent in the episodes in which Joey temporarily moves out and a creepy guy named Eddie (Adam Goldberg) moves in.

Season three took on a significantly greater serialized format.Rachel begins working at Bloomingdales and Ross becomes jealous of her coworker, Mark. Ross and Rachel break up after Ross sleeps with the hot girl from the copy shop, Chloe. His insistence that he and Rachel were "on a break" becomes a groan enducing gag through the remaining seasons. The two show significant animosity towards each other through the second half of the season, though the cliffhanger ending suggests the two reconcile. Interestingly, the first episode after they break up does not focus on the two of them, but on Chandler, who's having a very hard time dealing with the situation, as it reminds him of his parents' divorce. Phoebe, established as having no family except for an identical twin sister, becomes acquainted with her half-brother (played by Giovani Ribisi) and in the finale discovers her birth mother she never knew she had (played by Teri Garr). Joey develops a crush on Kate, his acting partner in a new play (played by Dina Meyer). At first, she doesn't harbor feelings for him, even after sleeping together. However, after her boyfriend/director dumps her following a scathing review of the play, she turns to Joey for support. The relationship doesn't last long, as she is given an opportunity on a soap opera in Los Angeles. Monica begins a relationship with Pete Becker, a millionaire who has a crush on her (played by Jon Favreau). At first, she only sees him as a friend, but eventually, the two begin to date. Preparing for what she thinks is a marriage proposal, Pete confides in her that he wants to become the Ultimate Fighting Champion. After seeing him get beat up badly in two matches, she tells him he has to give it up. Since he won't, she breaks up with him.

During the fourth season, actress Lisa Kudrow became pregnant. This was written into the show by having Phoebe become a surrogate mother to the children of her brother and his wife (played by Debra Jo Rupp).Ross and Rachel briefly reconcile in the premiere but soon break up again. During the middle of the season, Monica and Rachel are forced to switch apartments with Joey and Chandler after losing a bet on how well the four know each other. They bribe Joey and Chandler to switch back with Knicks season tickets and a one-minute kiss between themselves. Mid-season, having moved on, Ross begins dating an English woman called Emily (played by Helen Baxendale) and the finale, featuring the wedding of the characters, was filmed on location in London. Chandler and Monica sleep together when, after a wedding guest mistakes Monica for Ross' mother, Monica seeks comfort in the arms of a friend. Rachel, depressed by the impending wedding enough to chase away a potential boyfriend in Joshua, attends the wedding at the last minute, intending to tell Ross that she still loves him, but decides not to. Things are thrown into chaos when Ross replaces Emily's name with Rachel's while saying his vows.

The fifth season follows Monica and Chandler keeping their new relationship a secret from their friends, while Ross' marriage to Emily ends before it even started, following their wedding (Baxendale's pregnancy prevented her from appearing on-screen in all but two episodes). Phoebe starts a relationship with Gary (Michael Rapaport), a police officer she meets after finding his badge. Although leery of moving in with Gary, she eventually relents. The relationship ends with a bang, literally, when Gary shoots a bird outside of their apartment. Monica and Chandler's relationship becomes public and on a trip to Las Vegas, they decide to get married. Until they see Ross and Rachel drunkenly stumble out of the wedding chapel on a cliffhanger. The series received Emmy nominations in 1999 for Outstanding Comedy Series.

In the sixth season premiere Ross and Rachel's marriage is established to be a drunken mistake and, although Ross is reluctant to do so, the two get a divorce (Ross's third) after failing to get an annulment. Monica and Chandler decide just to move into her apartment together and Rachel moves in with Phoebe. Joey, still a struggling actor, gets a female roommate and a part on a cable television series called "Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E", where he stars alongside a robot. Ross gets a job lecturing at New York University and starts dating his college student, Elizabeth (played by Alexandra Holden). Bruce Willis makes a three-episode cameo as her father. Phoebe and Rachel's apartment catches on fire, causing Rachel to move in with Joey and Phoebe with Chandler and Monica. In the final episodes, Chandler decides to propose to Monica. Trying to make it a surprise, he starts acting like his old commitment-phobic self, telling her he opposes marriage. For a brief moment Monica considers going to back to Richard, who confesses to her that he still loves her and is willing to have children with her. Monica gets wind of Chandler's idea, and attempts to propose to him but breaks down in tears and cannot finish. Chandler then asks her to marry him and the show is ended with celebration with many of the friends who were standing outside the door. The series was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series at Emmy Award 2000.

Season seven largely concerns various wedding-related antics by Monica and Chandler. Joey's television series is cancelled but he is offered his old job back on Days of our Lives. Phoebe's apartment is fixed but due to the way the apartment has been rebuilt, Rachel stays with Joey. The two-part season finale follows Monica and Chandler's wedding, with guest stars that include Kathleen Turner as Chandler's transvestite father. The closing moments of the season reveal that Rachel is pregnant.

The eighth season's first episodes follow a "Who's the father?" format, with the father revealed to be Ross in episode two and Rachel telling him in episode three. Joey begins to develop romantic feelings for roommate Rachel and when Joey's feelings are revealed things become awkward for the two. Eventually their friendship returns to its status quo but in the finale, following Rachel's giving birth to a daughter, whom she and Ross call Emma, she accepts an accidental proposal of marriage from Joey when he bends down to retrieve a ring which has fallen from Ross' jacket. The season was regarded as a return to form for the series; its ratings increased as viewers tuned in for comfort following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.It won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2002, the first in that category for the series.

The ninth season follows Ross and Rachel living together with baby Emma after she and Joey clear up the misdirected proposal. She soon moves back in with Joey after a fight with Ross. Monica and Chandler, inspired by Ross and Rachel, decide to conceive a child of their own. They seek medical advice after several episodes of trying for a baby, and discover that both of them are physically unable to conceive. Paul Rudd appears in the recurring role of Mike Hannigan, a new boyfriend for Phoebe. Hank Azaria returns as David "the scientist guy", a character originated in the first season, and Phoebe must choose between the two in a touching finale, deciding to choose Mike. The finale is set in Barbados, where the group goes to hear Ross give a keynote speech at a Paleontologist conference. Aisha Tyler appears as the series' first recurring black character.[A black character was added to address the criticism the show had received for lack of diversity.] Tyler plays Charlie, Joey's intelligent girlfriend. Even though Joey's attracted to her, she finds herself eventually becoming attracted to Ross, who is more her intellectual equal. After Charlie dumps Joey, Joey and Rachel's feelings for each other return. They agree to clear it with Ross first, until Joey catches Ross kissing Charlie. The finale ended with Joey and Rachel kissing.

The tenth season closes up several storylines; Joey and Rachel try to contend with Ross' feelings about them being together. However, consummating the relationship becomes disastrous, and they decide to remain friends. Charlie decides to return to Benjamin Hobart (Greg Kinnear), her old flame, and from whom Ross was trying to obtain a research grant. Monica and Chandler decide to adopt a child, and meet Erica, a birth mother from Ohio (played by Anna Faris). Erica gives birth to twins in the series finale. Phoebe and Mike get married towards the end of the season and Rachel takes a job based in Paris. Ross declares his love for her and they resume their relationship (not making any mistakes this time) in the season finale, while Monica and Chandler move out of their apartment into the suburbs. Joey is upset that everything is changing. Rachel still gets on the plane even with Ross' confessions, but later appears at his apartment door admitting she loves him too. In the series finale, at the end, a tearful Rachel says 'Shall we go get some coffee?' to which Chandler responds, Sure. Where? (the last words spoken on the show).

Created by: David Crane
Marta Kauffman
Starring: Jennifer Aniston
Courteney Cox Arquette
Lisa Kudrow
Matt LeBlanc
Matthew Perry
David Schwimmer
Opening theme: "I'll Be There for You"
Country of origin: United States
No. of seasons: 10
No. of episodes: 236 (List of episodes)
Running time: 20-22 minutes (per episode)
Original channel: NBC
Original run: September 22, 1994 – May 6, 2004