The Sugarland Express, An Affair To Remember and J. Edgar films wikipedia pages

The Sugarland Express
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"The Sugar Land Express" also was the nickname of the American football player Kenneth Hall.

 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)

The Sugarland Express
The Sugarland Express (movie poster).jpg
Original film poster

Directed by
Steven Spielberg
Produced by
Richard D. Zanuck
David Brown
Screenplay by
Hal Barwood
Matthew Robbins
Story by
Steven Spielberg
 Hal Barwood
 Matthew Robbins
Starring
Goldie Hawn
Ben Johnson
William Atherton
Michael Sacks
Music by
John Williams
Cinematography
Vilmos Zsigmond
Editing by
Edward M. Abroms
Verna Fields
Distributed by
Universal Pictures
Release dates
April 5, 1974

Running time
110 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$3 million
Box office
$12.8 million
The Sugarland Express is a 1974 American neo-noir drama film co-written and directed by Steven Spielberg in his feature film directorial debut.[1] It stars Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, William Atherton, and Michael Sacks.
It is about a husband and wife trying to outrun the law and was based on a true story. The event partially took place, the story is partially set, and the movie was partially filmed in Sugar Land, Texas.[citation needed] Other scenes for the film were filmed in San Antonio, Lone Oak Community, Floresville, Pleasanton, Converse and Del Rio, Texas.[citation needed]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Production
3 Cast
4 Reception
5 Awards
6 References
7 External links

Plot[edit]
In May 1969, Lou Jean Poplin (Goldie Hawn) visits her husband Clovis Michael Poplin (William Atherton) to tell him that their son will soon be placed in the care of foster parents. Even though he is four months away from release from the Beauford H. Jester Prison Farm in Texas, she forces him to escape to assist her in retrieving her child. They hitch a ride from the prison with an elderly couple, but when Texas Department of Public Safety Patrolman Maxwell Slide (Michael Sacks) stops the car, they take the car and run.
When the car crashes, the two felons overpower and kidnap Slide, holding him hostage in a slow-moving caravan, eventually including reporters in news vans and helicopters. The Poplins and their captive travel through Beaumont, Dayton, Houston, Cleveland, Conroe and finally Wheelock, Texas. By holding Slide hostage, the pair are able to continually gas up their car, get food via the drive-through, and stay at motels. Eventually, Slide and the pair bond and have mutual respect for one another.
The Poplins bring Slide to the home of the foster parents, where they encounter numerous officers, including the country sheriff who has been following them the whole time, Captain Harlin Tanner (Ben Johnson). An FBI agent and county sheriff shoot and kill Clovis and arrest Lou Jean. Patrolman Slide is found unharmed. Lou Jean spends fifteen months of a five-year prison term in a women's correctional facility.
Production[edit]
Film characters Lou Jean Poplin and Clovis Michael Poplin are based on the lives of Ila Fae Holiday and Robert Dent, respectively. The character Patrolman Slide is based on Trooper J. Kenneth Crone.
Steven Spielberg persuaded co-producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown to let him make his big-screen directorial debut with this true story. A year later, Spielberg's next project for Zanuck and Brown was 1975's blockbuster hit Jaws.
Cast[edit]
Goldie Hawn as Lou Jean Poplin
Ben Johnson as Captain Harlin Tanner
Michael Sacks as Patrolman Maxwell Slide
William Atherton as Clovis Michael Poplin
Gregory Walcott as Patrolman Ernie Mashburn
Steve Kanaly as Patrolman Jessup
Louise Latham as Mrs. Looby
The actual kidnapped patrolman, J. Kenneth Crone, played a small role in the film as a deputy sheriff.
Reception[edit]
The Sugarland Express holds a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 7.2 out of 10 from 25 reviews.[2]
Awards[edit]
The film won the award for Best Screenplay at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival.[3]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "The "Sugarland Express" Gang". TexasMonthly September 1, 2001. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
2.Jump up ^ "The Sugarland Express Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 18, 2011.
3.Jump up ^ "Festival de Cannes: The Sugarland Express". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
External links[edit]
The Sugarland Express at the American Film Institute Catalog
The Sugarland Express at the Internet Movie Database
The Sugarland Express at allmovie
Story from the The Tuscaloosa News May 4 1969 about Robert and Ila Dent


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Steven Spielberg


Filmography ·
 Awards and nominations
 

Directorial
 works
Firelight (1964) ·
 Slipstream (1967) ·
 Amblin' (1968) ·
 "L.A. 2017" (1971) ·
 Duel (1971) ·
 Something Evil (1972) ·
 The Sugarland Express (1974, also wrote) ·
 Jaws (1975) ·
 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977, also wrote) ·
 1941 (1979) ·
 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) ·
 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) ·
 Twilight Zone: The Movie ("Kick the Can" segment, 1983) ·
 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) ·
 The Color Purple (1985) ·
 Empire of the Sun (1987) ·
 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) ·
 Always (1989) ·
 Hook (1991) ·
 Jurassic Park (1993) ·
 Schindler's List (1993) ·
 The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) ·
 Amistad (1997) ·
 Saving Private Ryan (1998) ·
 A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001, also wrote) ·
 Minority Report (2002) ·
 Catch Me If You Can (2002) ·
 The Terminal (2004) ·
 War of the Worlds (2005) ·
 Munich (2005) ·
 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) ·
 The Adventures of Tintin (2011) ·
 War Horse (2011) ·
 Lincoln (2012)
 

Written only
Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies (1973) ·
 Poltergeist (1982, also produced) ·
 The Goonies (1985)
 

Produced only
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) ·
 Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) ·
 Flags of Our Fathers (2006) ·
 Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) ·
 Super 8 (2011)
 

Created for TV
Amazing Stories (1985–1987) ·
 High Incident (1996–1997) ·
 Invasion America (1998)
 

See also
Amblin Entertainment  (Amblimation)
   ·
 DreamWorks ·
 USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education
 

 


Categories: 1974 films
English-language films
American films
American crime drama films
Chase films
1970s crime drama films
Directorial debut films
Films based on actual events
Films directed by Steven Spielberg
Neo-noir
Films set in Houston, Texas
Films set in Texas
Films shot in Texas
Films shot in San Antonio, Texas
Screenplays by Matthew Robbins
Southern Gothic films
Universal Pictures films







Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk










Read

Edit

View history









 Search 






Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikimedia Shop

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools










Print/export





Languages
Български
Català
Čeština
Cymraeg
Deutsch
Eesti
Español
فارسی
Français
Italiano
Latviešu
Magyar
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk bokmål
Polski
Português
Русский
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Svenska
Українська
Edit links
This page was last modified on 7 January 2014 at 13:21.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
 Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
   












































J. Edgar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from J. Edgar (film))
Jump to: navigation, search



 This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (January 2014)

J. Edgar
J. Edgar Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Clint Eastwood
Produced by
Clint Eastwood
Brian Grazer
Robert Lorenz

Written by
Dustin Lance Black
Starring
Leonardo DiCaprio
Armie Hammer
Naomi Watts
Josh Lucas
Judi Dench
Ed Westwick

Music by
Clint Eastwood
Cinematography
Tom Stern
Editing by
Joel Cox
Gary D. Roach

Studio
Imagine Entertainment
Malpaso Productions
Wintergreen Productions

Distributed by
Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates
November 3, 2011 (AFI Film Festival)
November 11, 2011 (United States)

Running time
137 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$35 million[2]
Box office
$84,606,030[3]
J. Edgar is a 2011 American biographical drama film directed, co-produced, and scored by Clint Eastwood.[4] Written by Dustin Lance Black, the film focuses on the career of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover from the Palmer Raids onwards, including an examination of his private life as an alleged closeted homosexual.[5]
The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as the title character, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Josh Lucas, Judi Dench and Ed Westwick. J. Edgar opened the AFI Fest 2011 in Los Angeles on November 3, 2011, and had its limited release on November 9, followed by wide release on November 11.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Release 3.1 Critical response
3.2 Box office
3.3 Accolades
3.4 Historical accuracy
4 References
5 External links

Plot[edit]
The film opens with J. Edgar Hoover in his office during his later years. He asks that a writer, known as Agent Smith, be let in, so that he may tell the story of the origin of the FBI for the sake of the public. Hoover explains that the story begins in 1919, when A. Mitchell Palmer was Attorney General and Hoover's boss at the Justice Department. Palmer suffers an assassination attempt, but is unharmed when the bomb explodes earlier than intended. Hoover recalls that the police handling of the crime scene was primitive, and that it was that night that he recognized the importance of criminal science. Later, Hoover visits his mother, Anna Marie, and tells her that Palmer has put him in charge of a new anti-radical division, and that he has already begun compiling a list of suspected radicals. He leaves to meet Helen Gandy, who has just started as a secretary at the Justice Department. Hoover takes Gandy to the Library of Congress, and shows her the card catalog system he devised. He muses about how easy it would be to solve crimes if every citizen were as easily identifiable as the books in the library. When Hoover attempts to kiss her, she recoils. Hoover gets down on his knees and asks her to marry him, citing her organization and education, but his request is once again denied. However, Gandy agrees to become his personal secretary.
Despite his close monitoring of suspected foreign radicals, Hoover finds that the Department of Labor refuses to deport anyone without clear evidence of a crime; however, Anthony Caminetti, the commissioner general of immigration dislikes the prominent anarchist Emma Goldman. Hoover arranges to discredit her marriage and make her eligible for deportation, setting a precedent of deportation for radical conspiracy. After several Justice Department raids of suspected radical groups, many leading to deportation, Palmer loses his job as Attorney General. Under a subsequent Attorney General, Harlan F. Stone, Hoover is made director of the Justice Department's Bureau of Investigation. He is introduced to Clyde Tolson, a recently graduated lawyer, and takes his business card. Later, while reviewing job applications with Helen Gandy, Hoover asks if Tolson had applied. Gandy says he had, and Hoover interviews and hires Tolson.
The Bureau pursues a string of gangster and bank robbery crimes across the Midwest, including the high profile John Dillinger, with general success. When the Lindbergh kidnapping captures national attention, President Hoover asks the Bureau to investigate. Hoover employs several novel techniques, including the monitoring of registration numbers on ransom bills, and expert analysis of the kidnapper's handwriting. The birth of the FBI Crime Lab is seen as a product of Hoover's determination to analyze the homemade wooden ladder left at the crime scene. When the monitored bills begin showing up in New York City, the investigators find a filling station attendant who wrote down the license plate number of the man who gave him the bill. This leads to the arrest, and eventual conviction, of Bruno Hauptmann for the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh child.
After Hoover, Tolson, and Hoover's mother attend a showing of the James Cagney film "'G' Men", Hoover and Tolson decide to go out to a club, where Hoover is seated with Anita Colby, Ginger Rogers, and Rogers's mother Lela. When Colby asks Hoover if he ever wishes he had someone to keep him warm at night, he responds that he has dedicated his life to the bureau. Ginger's mother asks Hoover to dance and he becomes agitated, saying that he and Tolson must leave, as they have a lot of work to do in the morning. When he gets home he shares his dislike of dancing with girls with his mother, and she tells him she would rather have a dead son than a "daffodil" for a son. She then insists on teaching him to dance, and they dance in her bedroom. Soon after, Hoover and Tolson go on a vacation to the horse races. That evening, Hoover tells Tolson that he cares deeply for him, and Tolson returns the feeling by stating that he loves Hoover. However, Hoover claims to be considering marriage to a young woman twenty years his junior, Dorothy Lamour, he has been seeing in New York City, provoking outrage from Tolson. Tolson accuses Hoover making a fool out of him and then begins throwing insults at Hoover, and consequently they begin throwing punches at each other and cause grave damage to the hotel room in the process; they eventually end up fighting on the floor. The fight ends when Tolson gets an upper hand over Hoover, and suddenly kisses him. Hoover demands that it must never happen again; Tolson says that it won't, and attempts to leave. Hoover apologizes and begs him to stay, but Tolson only says that if Hoover ever mentioned another woman again, their friendship would be over. He then leaves, with Hoover professing love for him moments after.
Years later, Hoover feels his strength begin to decline. He requires daily visits by a doctor, and Tolson suffers a stroke which leaves him in a severely weakened state. Convincing himself that he overheard Martin Luther King Jr. engage in extramarital sex, Hoover attempts to "racistly" blackmail King Jr. into declining his Nobel Peace Prize by writing a letter threatening to expose his sexual life. The attempt proves ineffective, and King, Jr. accepts the prize. Hoover eventually begins to consider his mortality and tells Helen Gandy to destroy his secret files if he were to die to prevent Richard Nixon from possessing them. When Tolson appeals to Hoover to retire when Hoover comes to visit him, Hoover refuses, claiming that Nixon is going to destroy the bureau he has created. Tolson then accuses Hoover of exaggerating his involvement in many of the bureau's actions and giving inaccurate details about some of the events he encountered during his time with the bureau as well, revealing that he didn't kill Dillinger, arrest Hauptmann, that Agent Sisk did; Hoover wasn't even at the scene, Lindbergh didn't shake his or Tolson's hand and insulted him, thus making Hoover regret hiring him.
Returning home one evening after work, Hoover, obviously weakened, goes upstairs. Shortly after, Tolson is called by Hoover's housekeeper and he goes upstairs to find Hoover dead next to his bed. Grief-stricken, he gently kisses Hoover's forehead and covers his body with a sheet before walking out. The news of Hoover's death reaches Nixon, and while he does a memorial speech on television for Hoover, several members of his staff enter Hoover's office and proceed to rifle through the cabinets and drawers in search of Hoover's rumored "personal and confidential" files, but find them all to be empty. In the last scene, Helen Gandy is seen destroying stacks of files, assumed to be from Hoover's personal archive.
Cast[edit]
Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover[6]
Armie Hammer as Clyde Tolson[7]
Naomi Watts as Helen Gandy[8]
Josh Lucas as Charles Lindbergh[9]
Judi Dench as Anna Marie Hoover, Hoover's mother[10]
Damon Herriman as Bruno Richard Hauptmann[11]
Jeffrey Donovan as Robert F. Kennedy[12]
Ed Westwick as Agent Smith, Hoover's biographer[13]
Zach Grenier as John Condon
Ken Howard as U.S. Attorney General Harlan F. Stone[14]
Stephen Root as Arthur Koehler[15]
Denis O'Hare as Albert S. Osborn
Geoff Pierson as Alexander Mitchell Palmer
Lea Thompson as Lela Rogers
Gunner Wright as Dwight D. Eisenhower[16]
Christopher Shyer as Richard Nixon
Miles Fisher as Agent Garrison
Charlize Theron, who was originally rumored to be playing Helen Gandy, dropped out of the project to do Snow White and the Huntsman and Eastwood considered Amy Adams before finally selecting Naomi Watts as Theron's replacement.[13]
Release[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Reviews have been mostly mixed, with many critics praising DiCaprio's performance but feeling that, overall, the film lacks coherence. As of May 19, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 44% of 211 critics have given the film a positive review with a rating average of 5.8 out of 10. The website's consensus is that, "Leonardo DiCaprio gives a predictably powerhouse performance, but J. Edgar stumbles in all other departments: cheesy makeup, poor lighting, confusing narrative, and humdrum storytelling."[17] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 59 based on 42 reviews.[18]
Roger Ebert wrote that the film is "fascinating", "masterful", and praised DiCaprio's performance as a "fully-realized, subtle and persuasive performance, hinting at more than Hoover ever revealed, perhaps even to himself", awarding the film three and a half stars (out of four).[19] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, writing, "This surprising collaboration between director Clint Eastwood and Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black tackles its trickiest challenges with plausibility and good sense, while serving up a simmeringly caustic view of its controversial subject's behavior, public and private."[20] David Denby in The New Yorker magazine also liked the film, calling it a "nuanced account" and calling "Eastwood's touch light and sure, his judgment sound, the moments of pathos held just long enough."[21]
J. Hoberman of The Village Voice wrote that "Although hardly flawless, Eastwood's biopic is his richest, most ambitious movie since the Letters From Iwo Jima-Flags of Our Fathers."[22]
Peter Debruge of Variety gave the film a mixed review: "Any movie in which the longtime FBI honcho features as the central character must supply some insight into what made him tick, or suffer from the reality that the Bureau's exploits were far more interesting than the bureaucrat who ran it – a dilemma J. Edgar never rises above."[23] David Edelstein of New York Magazine reacted negatively to the film and said that "It's too bad J. Edgar is so shapeless and turgid and ham-handed, so rich in bad lines and worse readings." He praised DiCaprio's performance: "There’s something appealingly straightforward about the way he physicalizes Hoover's inner struggle, the body always slightly out of sync with the mind that vigilantly monitors every move."[24]
Box office[edit]
The film opened limited in 7 theaters on November 9, grossing $52,645,[25] and released wide on November 11, grossing $11,217,324 on its opening weekend,[26] approximating the $12 million figure projected by the Los Angeles Times for the film's opening weekend in the United States and Canada.[2] J. Edgar went on to gross $84 million worldwide.
Accolades[edit]
List of awards and nominations

Date of ceremony
Award
Category
Recipient(s)
Result
January 27, 2012 AACTA Award[27] Best Actor - International Leonardo DiCaprio Nominated
December 11, 2011 American Film Institute[28] Top 10 Films J. Edgar
January 12, 2012 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards[29] Best Actor Leonardo DiCaprio Nominated
January 15, 2012 Golden Globe Awards[30] Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Leonardo DiCaprio Nominated
December 1, 2011 National Board of Review Awards[31] Top Ten Films J. Edgar
December 18, 2011 Satellite Awards[32] Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Leonardo DiCaprio Nominated
January 29, 2012 Screen Actors Guild Awards[33] Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Leonardo DiCaprio Nominated
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role Armie Hammer Nominated
Historical accuracy[edit]
In an interview on All Things Considered, Yale history professor Beverly Gage, who is writing a biography of Hoover, stated that the film accurately conveys that Hoover came to the FBI as a reformer seeking "to clean it up, to professionalize it", and to introduce scientific methods to its investigation, eventually including such practices as finger-printing and blood-typing. She praises DiCaprio for conveying the tempo of Hoover's speech. However, she notes that the film's central narrative device, in which Hoover dictates his memoirs to FBI agents chosen as writers, is fictional: "He didn't ever have the sort of formal situation that you see in the movie where he was dictating a memoir to a series of young agents, and that that is the official record of the FBI."[34] The historian Aaron J. Stockham of the Waterford School, whose dissertation was on the relationship of the FBI and the US Congress during the Hoover years, wrote on the History News Network of George Mason University, "J. Edgar portrays Hoover as the man who successfully integrated scientific processes into law enforcement investigations.... There is no doubt, from the historical record, that Hoover was instrumental in creating the FBI's scientific reputation."[35] Stockham notes that Hoover probably did not write the FBI's notorious letter to Martin Luther King Jr., saying, "While such a letter was written, Hoover almost certainly delegated it to others within the Bureau."
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "J. Edgar (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 2011-11-16. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Kaufman, Amy (November 10, 2011). "Movie Projector: 'Immortals' poised to conquer box office". Los Angeles Times (Tribune Company). Retrieved November 10, 2011.
3.Jump up ^ "J. Edgar (2011)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
4.Jump up ^ Ford, Alan (2010-03-15). "Clint Eastwood to Direct J. Edgar Hoover Biopic". FilmoFilia.com. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
5.Jump up ^ Judge, Michael (2011-01-29). "A Hollywood Icon Lays Down the Law". WSJ.com. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
6.Jump up ^ Rosenberg, Adam (2010-06-18). "Leonardo DiCaprio To Star In J. Edgar Hoover Biopic". MTV.com. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
7.Jump up ^ Stiernberg, Bonnie (2010-12-13). "Armie Hammer Joins Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar Hoover Movie". PasteMagazine.com. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
8.Jump up ^ Fleming, Mike (2011-01-25). "Naomi Watts Joins 'J. Edgar' Cast". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
9.Jump up ^ (2011-01-18). "Josh Lucas to play Charles Lindbergh in Clint Eastwood's 'J. Edgar'". PunchDrunkCritics.com. Retrieved 2011-01-21.
10.Jump up ^ (2011-01-07). "Armie Hammer Offers Details on Clint Eastwood’s J. EDGAR". Collider.com. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
11.Jump up ^ Rich, Katey (2010-12-23). "Damon Herriman Playing Lindbergh Baby Kidnapper In J. Edgar". Cinema Blend. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
12.Jump up ^ Fleming, Mike (2011-03-08). "Jeffrey Donovan Playing RFK in 'J. Edgar'". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
13.^ Jump up to: a b Schwartz, Terri (2011-01-11). "Ed Westwick In, Charlize Theron Out Of Clint Eastwood's 'J. Edgar'". MTV.com. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
14.Jump up ^ Kit, Borys (2011-01-24). "Actors union boss cast in Eastwood's FBI movie". Reuters. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
15.Jump up ^ Rich, Katey (2011-02-24). "Stephen Root Will Play A Wood Expert in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar". Cinema Blend. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
16.Jump up ^ "An Interview With Gunner Wright". The Gaming Liberty. 2011-04-23. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
17.Jump up ^ "J. Edgar (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
18.Jump up ^ "J. Edgar Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
19.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (2011-11-08). "J. Edgar". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
20.Jump up ^ McCarthy, Todd (2011-11-03). "J. Edgar: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2011-11-07.
21.Jump up ^ Denby, David (2011-11-14). "The Man in Charge". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
22.Jump up ^ Hoberman, J. (2011-11-09). "Great Man Theories: Clint Eastwood on J. Edgar". Village Voice. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
23.Jump up ^ Debruge, Peter (2011-11-04). "J. Edgar - Film Review". Variety. Retrieved 2011-11-07.
24.Jump up ^ Edelstein, David (2011-11-06). "First Word Problems". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2011-11-08.
25.Jump up ^ "Daily Box Office Results for November 9, 2011". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
26.Jump up ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for November 11–13, 2011". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
27.Jump up ^ "AACTA - Winners and Nominees - 2011". Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). Retrieved April 1, 2012.
28.Jump up ^ "'Bridesmaids,' 'Tree of Life,' 'Hugo' in AFI's top 10 films of 2011". LATimes.com. December 11, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
29.Jump up ^ (2011-12-13). "2012 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards Noms: Hugo And The Artist Dominate The Field". TheFabLife.com. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
30.Jump up ^ "69th Annual Golden Globe Awards — Full List Of Nominees". HollywoodLife.com. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
31.Jump up ^ "National Board of Review Announces 2011 Awards; HUGO Takes Top Prize". WeAreMovieGeeks.com. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
32.Jump up ^ "From WAR HORSE to THE MYSTERIES OF LISBON: Satellite Award Nominations 2011". Alt Film Guide. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
33.Jump up ^ O'Connell, Sean (2011-12-14). "Screen Actors Guild nominations revealed". HollywoodNews.com. Retrieved 2011-12-14.
34.Jump up ^ "Fact-Checking Clint Eastwood's 'J. Edgar' Biopic". All Things Considered. 2011-12-08. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
35.Jump up ^ Stockham, Aaron J. (2011-12-12). ""J. Edgar" Fails to Deliver the Historical Goods". Retrieved March 25, 2012.
External links[edit]
Official website
J. Edgar at the Internet Movie Database
J. Edgar at allmovie
J. Edgar at Box Office Mojo
J. Edgar at Rotten Tomatoes
J. Edgar at Metacritic


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by Clint Eastwood







































[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Works produced by Brian Grazer





































































































































[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
 Federal Bureau of Investigation












Seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation






































































































































































 


Categories: 2011 films
English-language films
2010s drama films
American films
American biographical films
American drama films
American LGBT-related films
Films directed by Clint Eastwood
Screenplays by Dustin Lance Black
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Fictional versions of real people
Films based on actual events
Films set in the 1910s
Films set in the 1920s
Films set in the 1930s
Films set in the 1940s
Films set in the 1950s
Films set in the 1960s
Films set in the 1970s
Films set in Washington, D.C.
Films shot in Los Angeles, California
Films shot in Virginia
Imagine Entertainment films
Malpaso Productions films
Warner Bros. films






Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk










Read

Edit

View history









 Search 






Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikimedia Shop

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools










Print/export





Languages
العربية
Deutsch
Ελληνικά
Español
فارسی
Français
Galego
Italiano
עברית
Lumbaart
Magyar
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk bokmål
Polski
Português
Русский
Suomi
Svenska
Türkçe
中文
Edit links
This page was last modified on 21 January 2014 at 01:13.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
 Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
   






























J. Edgar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from J. Edgar (film))
Jump to: navigation, search



 This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (January 2014)

J. Edgar
J. Edgar Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Clint Eastwood
Produced by
Clint Eastwood
Brian Grazer
Robert Lorenz

Written by
Dustin Lance Black
Starring
Leonardo DiCaprio
Armie Hammer
Naomi Watts
Josh Lucas
Judi Dench
Ed Westwick

Music by
Clint Eastwood
Cinematography
Tom Stern
Editing by
Joel Cox
Gary D. Roach

Studio
Imagine Entertainment
Malpaso Productions
Wintergreen Productions

Distributed by
Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates
November 3, 2011 (AFI Film Festival)
November 11, 2011 (United States)

Running time
137 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$35 million[2]
Box office
$84,606,030[3]
J. Edgar is a 2011 American biographical drama film directed, co-produced, and scored by Clint Eastwood.[4] Written by Dustin Lance Black, the film focuses on the career of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover from the Palmer Raids onwards, including an examination of his private life as an alleged closeted homosexual.[5]
The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as the title character, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Josh Lucas, Judi Dench and Ed Westwick. J. Edgar opened the AFI Fest 2011 in Los Angeles on November 3, 2011, and had its limited release on November 9, followed by wide release on November 11.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Release 3.1 Critical response
3.2 Box office
3.3 Accolades
3.4 Historical accuracy
4 References
5 External links

Plot[edit]
The film opens with J. Edgar Hoover in his office during his later years. He asks that a writer, known as Agent Smith, be let in, so that he may tell the story of the origin of the FBI for the sake of the public. Hoover explains that the story begins in 1919, when A. Mitchell Palmer was Attorney General and Hoover's boss at the Justice Department. Palmer suffers an assassination attempt, but is unharmed when the bomb explodes earlier than intended. Hoover recalls that the police handling of the crime scene was primitive, and that it was that night that he recognized the importance of criminal science. Later, Hoover visits his mother, Anna Marie, and tells her that Palmer has put him in charge of a new anti-radical division, and that he has already begun compiling a list of suspected radicals. He leaves to meet Helen Gandy, who has just started as a secretary at the Justice Department. Hoover takes Gandy to the Library of Congress, and shows her the card catalog system he devised. He muses about how easy it would be to solve crimes if every citizen were as easily identifiable as the books in the library. When Hoover attempts to kiss her, she recoils. Hoover gets down on his knees and asks her to marry him, citing her organization and education, but his request is once again denied. However, Gandy agrees to become his personal secretary.
Despite his close monitoring of suspected foreign radicals, Hoover finds that the Department of Labor refuses to deport anyone without clear evidence of a crime; however, Anthony Caminetti, the commissioner general of immigration dislikes the prominent anarchist Emma Goldman. Hoover arranges to discredit her marriage and make her eligible for deportation, setting a precedent of deportation for radical conspiracy. After several Justice Department raids of suspected radical groups, many leading to deportation, Palmer loses his job as Attorney General. Under a subsequent Attorney General, Harlan F. Stone, Hoover is made director of the Justice Department's Bureau of Investigation. He is introduced to Clyde Tolson, a recently graduated lawyer, and takes his business card. Later, while reviewing job applications with Helen Gandy, Hoover asks if Tolson had applied. Gandy says he had, and Hoover interviews and hires Tolson.
The Bureau pursues a string of gangster and bank robbery crimes across the Midwest, including the high profile John Dillinger, with general success. When the Lindbergh kidnapping captures national attention, President Hoover asks the Bureau to investigate. Hoover employs several novel techniques, including the monitoring of registration numbers on ransom bills, and expert analysis of the kidnapper's handwriting. The birth of the FBI Crime Lab is seen as a product of Hoover's determination to analyze the homemade wooden ladder left at the crime scene. When the monitored bills begin showing up in New York City, the investigators find a filling station attendant who wrote down the license plate number of the man who gave him the bill. This leads to the arrest, and eventual conviction, of Bruno Hauptmann for the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh child.
After Hoover, Tolson, and Hoover's mother attend a showing of the James Cagney film "'G' Men", Hoover and Tolson decide to go out to a club, where Hoover is seated with Anita Colby, Ginger Rogers, and Rogers's mother Lela. When Colby asks Hoover if he ever wishes he had someone to keep him warm at night, he responds that he has dedicated his life to the bureau. Ginger's mother asks Hoover to dance and he becomes agitated, saying that he and Tolson must leave, as they have a lot of work to do in the morning. When he gets home he shares his dislike of dancing with girls with his mother, and she tells him she would rather have a dead son than a "daffodil" for a son. She then insists on teaching him to dance, and they dance in her bedroom. Soon after, Hoover and Tolson go on a vacation to the horse races. That evening, Hoover tells Tolson that he cares deeply for him, and Tolson returns the feeling by stating that he loves Hoover. However, Hoover claims to be considering marriage to a young woman twenty years his junior, Dorothy Lamour, he has been seeing in New York City, provoking outrage from Tolson. Tolson accuses Hoover making a fool out of him and then begins throwing insults at Hoover, and consequently they begin throwing punches at each other and cause grave damage to the hotel room in the process; they eventually end up fighting on the floor. The fight ends when Tolson gets an upper hand over Hoover, and suddenly kisses him. Hoover demands that it must never happen again; Tolson says that it won't, and attempts to leave. Hoover apologizes and begs him to stay, but Tolson only says that if Hoover ever mentioned another woman again, their friendship would be over. He then leaves, with Hoover professing love for him moments after.
Years later, Hoover feels his strength begin to decline. He requires daily visits by a doctor, and Tolson suffers a stroke which leaves him in a severely weakened state. Convincing himself that he overheard Martin Luther King Jr. engage in extramarital sex, Hoover attempts to "racistly" blackmail King Jr. into declining his Nobel Peace Prize by writing a letter threatening to expose his sexual life. The attempt proves ineffective, and King, Jr. accepts the prize. Hoover eventually begins to consider his mortality and tells Helen Gandy to destroy his secret files if he were to die to prevent Richard Nixon from possessing them. When Tolson appeals to Hoover to retire when Hoover comes to visit him, Hoover refuses, claiming that Nixon is going to destroy the bureau he has created. Tolson then accuses Hoover of exaggerating his involvement in many of the bureau's actions and giving inaccurate details about some of the events he encountered during his time with the bureau as well, revealing that he didn't kill Dillinger, arrest Hauptmann, that Agent Sisk did; Hoover wasn't even at the scene, Lindbergh didn't shake his or Tolson's hand and insulted him, thus making Hoover regret hiring him.
Returning home one evening after work, Hoover, obviously weakened, goes upstairs. Shortly after, Tolson is called by Hoover's housekeeper and he goes upstairs to find Hoover dead next to his bed. Grief-stricken, he gently kisses Hoover's forehead and covers his body with a sheet before walking out. The news of Hoover's death reaches Nixon, and while he does a memorial speech on television for Hoover, several members of his staff enter Hoover's office and proceed to rifle through the cabinets and drawers in search of Hoover's rumored "personal and confidential" files, but find them all to be empty. In the last scene, Helen Gandy is seen destroying stacks of files, assumed to be from Hoover's personal archive.
Cast[edit]
Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover[6]
Armie Hammer as Clyde Tolson[7]
Naomi Watts as Helen Gandy[8]
Josh Lucas as Charles Lindbergh[9]
Judi Dench as Anna Marie Hoover, Hoover's mother[10]
Damon Herriman as Bruno Richard Hauptmann[11]
Jeffrey Donovan as Robert F. Kennedy[12]
Ed Westwick as Agent Smith, Hoover's biographer[13]
Zach Grenier as John Condon
Ken Howard as U.S. Attorney General Harlan F. Stone[14]
Stephen Root as Arthur Koehler[15]
Denis O'Hare as Albert S. Osborn
Geoff Pierson as Alexander Mitchell Palmer
Lea Thompson as Lela Rogers
Gunner Wright as Dwight D. Eisenhower[16]
Christopher Shyer as Richard Nixon
Miles Fisher as Agent Garrison
Charlize Theron, who was originally rumored to be playing Helen Gandy, dropped out of the project to do Snow White and the Huntsman and Eastwood considered Amy Adams before finally selecting Naomi Watts as Theron's replacement.[13]
Release[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Reviews have been mostly mixed, with many critics praising DiCaprio's performance but feeling that, overall, the film lacks coherence. As of May 19, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 44% of 211 critics have given the film a positive review with a rating average of 5.8 out of 10. The website's consensus is that, "Leonardo DiCaprio gives a predictably powerhouse performance, but J. Edgar stumbles in all other departments: cheesy makeup, poor lighting, confusing narrative, and humdrum storytelling."[17] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 59 based on 42 reviews.[18]
Roger Ebert wrote that the film is "fascinating", "masterful", and praised DiCaprio's performance as a "fully-realized, subtle and persuasive performance, hinting at more than Hoover ever revealed, perhaps even to himself", awarding the film three and a half stars (out of four).[19] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, writing, "This surprising collaboration between director Clint Eastwood and Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black tackles its trickiest challenges with plausibility and good sense, while serving up a simmeringly caustic view of its controversial subject's behavior, public and private."[20] David Denby in The New Yorker magazine also liked the film, calling it a "nuanced account" and calling "Eastwood's touch light and sure, his judgment sound, the moments of pathos held just long enough."[21]
J. Hoberman of The Village Voice wrote that "Although hardly flawless, Eastwood's biopic is his richest, most ambitious movie since the Letters From Iwo Jima-Flags of Our Fathers."[22]
Peter Debruge of Variety gave the film a mixed review: "Any movie in which the longtime FBI honcho features as the central character must supply some insight into what made him tick, or suffer from the reality that the Bureau's exploits were far more interesting than the bureaucrat who ran it – a dilemma J. Edgar never rises above."[23] David Edelstein of New York Magazine reacted negatively to the film and said that "It's too bad J. Edgar is so shapeless and turgid and ham-handed, so rich in bad lines and worse readings." He praised DiCaprio's performance: "There’s something appealingly straightforward about the way he physicalizes Hoover's inner struggle, the body always slightly out of sync with the mind that vigilantly monitors every move."[24]
Box office[edit]
The film opened limited in 7 theaters on November 9, grossing $52,645,[25] and released wide on November 11, grossing $11,217,324 on its opening weekend,[26] approximating the $12 million figure projected by the Los Angeles Times for the film's opening weekend in the United States and Canada.[2] J. Edgar went on to gross $84 million worldwide.
Accolades[edit]
List of awards and nominations

Date of ceremony
Award
Category
Recipient(s)
Result
January 27, 2012 AACTA Award[27] Best Actor - International Leonardo DiCaprio Nominated
December 11, 2011 American Film Institute[28] Top 10 Films J. Edgar
January 12, 2012 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards[29] Best Actor Leonardo DiCaprio Nominated
January 15, 2012 Golden Globe Awards[30] Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Leonardo DiCaprio Nominated
December 1, 2011 National Board of Review Awards[31] Top Ten Films J. Edgar
December 18, 2011 Satellite Awards[32] Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Leonardo DiCaprio Nominated
January 29, 2012 Screen Actors Guild Awards[33] Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role Leonardo DiCaprio Nominated
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role Armie Hammer Nominated
Historical accuracy[edit]
In an interview on All Things Considered, Yale history professor Beverly Gage, who is writing a biography of Hoover, stated that the film accurately conveys that Hoover came to the FBI as a reformer seeking "to clean it up, to professionalize it", and to introduce scientific methods to its investigation, eventually including such practices as finger-printing and blood-typing. She praises DiCaprio for conveying the tempo of Hoover's speech. However, she notes that the film's central narrative device, in which Hoover dictates his memoirs to FBI agents chosen as writers, is fictional: "He didn't ever have the sort of formal situation that you see in the movie where he was dictating a memoir to a series of young agents, and that that is the official record of the FBI."[34] The historian Aaron J. Stockham of the Waterford School, whose dissertation was on the relationship of the FBI and the US Congress during the Hoover years, wrote on the History News Network of George Mason University, "J. Edgar portrays Hoover as the man who successfully integrated scientific processes into law enforcement investigations.... There is no doubt, from the historical record, that Hoover was instrumental in creating the FBI's scientific reputation."[35] Stockham notes that Hoover probably did not write the FBI's notorious letter to Martin Luther King Jr., saying, "While such a letter was written, Hoover almost certainly delegated it to others within the Bureau."
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "J. Edgar (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 2011-11-16. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
2.^ Jump up to: a b Kaufman, Amy (November 10, 2011). "Movie Projector: 'Immortals' poised to conquer box office". Los Angeles Times (Tribune Company). Retrieved November 10, 2011.
3.Jump up ^ "J. Edgar (2011)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
4.Jump up ^ Ford, Alan (2010-03-15). "Clint Eastwood to Direct J. Edgar Hoover Biopic". FilmoFilia.com. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
5.Jump up ^ Judge, Michael (2011-01-29). "A Hollywood Icon Lays Down the Law". WSJ.com. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
6.Jump up ^ Rosenberg, Adam (2010-06-18). "Leonardo DiCaprio To Star In J. Edgar Hoover Biopic". MTV.com. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
7.Jump up ^ Stiernberg, Bonnie (2010-12-13). "Armie Hammer Joins Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar Hoover Movie". PasteMagazine.com. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
8.Jump up ^ Fleming, Mike (2011-01-25). "Naomi Watts Joins 'J. Edgar' Cast". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
9.Jump up ^ (2011-01-18). "Josh Lucas to play Charles Lindbergh in Clint Eastwood's 'J. Edgar'". PunchDrunkCritics.com. Retrieved 2011-01-21.
10.Jump up ^ (2011-01-07). "Armie Hammer Offers Details on Clint Eastwood’s J. EDGAR". Collider.com. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
11.Jump up ^ Rich, Katey (2010-12-23). "Damon Herriman Playing Lindbergh Baby Kidnapper In J. Edgar". Cinema Blend. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
12.Jump up ^ Fleming, Mike (2011-03-08). "Jeffrey Donovan Playing RFK in 'J. Edgar'". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
13.^ Jump up to: a b Schwartz, Terri (2011-01-11). "Ed Westwick In, Charlize Theron Out Of Clint Eastwood's 'J. Edgar'". MTV.com. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
14.Jump up ^ Kit, Borys (2011-01-24). "Actors union boss cast in Eastwood's FBI movie". Reuters. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
15.Jump up ^ Rich, Katey (2011-02-24). "Stephen Root Will Play A Wood Expert in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar". Cinema Blend. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
16.Jump up ^ "An Interview With Gunner Wright". The Gaming Liberty. 2011-04-23. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
17.Jump up ^ "J. Edgar (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
18.Jump up ^ "J. Edgar Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
19.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (2011-11-08). "J. Edgar". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
20.Jump up ^ McCarthy, Todd (2011-11-03). "J. Edgar: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2011-11-07.
21.Jump up ^ Denby, David (2011-11-14). "The Man in Charge". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
22.Jump up ^ Hoberman, J. (2011-11-09). "Great Man Theories: Clint Eastwood on J. Edgar". Village Voice. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
23.Jump up ^ Debruge, Peter (2011-11-04). "J. Edgar - Film Review". Variety. Retrieved 2011-11-07.
24.Jump up ^ Edelstein, David (2011-11-06). "First Word Problems". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2011-11-08.
25.Jump up ^ "Daily Box Office Results for November 9, 2011". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
26.Jump up ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for November 11–13, 2011". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
27.Jump up ^ "AACTA - Winners and Nominees - 2011". Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). Retrieved April 1, 2012.
28.Jump up ^ "'Bridesmaids,' 'Tree of Life,' 'Hugo' in AFI's top 10 films of 2011". LATimes.com. December 11, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
29.Jump up ^ (2011-12-13). "2012 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards Noms: Hugo And The Artist Dominate The Field". TheFabLife.com. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
30.Jump up ^ "69th Annual Golden Globe Awards — Full List Of Nominees". HollywoodLife.com. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
31.Jump up ^ "National Board of Review Announces 2011 Awards; HUGO Takes Top Prize". WeAreMovieGeeks.com. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
32.Jump up ^ "From WAR HORSE to THE MYSTERIES OF LISBON: Satellite Award Nominations 2011". Alt Film Guide. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
33.Jump up ^ O'Connell, Sean (2011-12-14). "Screen Actors Guild nominations revealed". HollywoodNews.com. Retrieved 2011-12-14.
34.Jump up ^ "Fact-Checking Clint Eastwood's 'J. Edgar' Biopic". All Things Considered. 2011-12-08. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
35.Jump up ^ Stockham, Aaron J. (2011-12-12). ""J. Edgar" Fails to Deliver the Historical Goods". Retrieved March 25, 2012.
External links[edit]
Official website
J. Edgar at the Internet Movie Database
J. Edgar at allmovie
J. Edgar at Box Office Mojo
J. Edgar at Rotten Tomatoes
J. Edgar at Metacritic


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by Clint Eastwood







































[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Works produced by Brian Grazer





































































































































[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
 Federal Bureau of Investigation












Seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation






































































































































































 


Categories: 2011 films
English-language films
2010s drama films
American films
American biographical films
American drama films
American LGBT-related films
Films directed by Clint Eastwood
Screenplays by Dustin Lance Black
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Fictional versions of real people
Films based on actual events
Films set in the 1910s
Films set in the 1920s
Films set in the 1930s
Films set in the 1940s
Films set in the 1950s
Films set in the 1960s
Films set in the 1970s
Films set in Washington, D.C.
Films shot in Los Angeles, California
Films shot in Virginia
Imagine Entertainment films
Malpaso Productions films
Warner Bros. films






Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk










Read

Edit

View history









 Search 






Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikimedia Shop

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools










Print/export





Languages
العربية
Deutsch
Ελληνικά
Español
فارسی
Français
Galego
Italiano
עברית
Lumbaart
Magyar
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk bokmål
Polski
Português
Русский
Suomi
Svenska
Türkçe
中文
Edit links
This page was last modified on 21 January 2014 at 01:13.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
 Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
































An Affair to Remember
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search



 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2012)

An Affair to Remember
AffairtoRemember.jpg
Directed by
Leo McCarey
Produced by
Leo McCarey
Jerry Wald
Screenplay by
Delmer Daves
Donald Ogden Stewart
 Leo McCarey
Story by
Leo McCarey
Mildred Cram
Starring
Cary Grant
Deborah Kerr
Richard Denning
Music by
Hugo Friedhofer
Cinematography
Milton Krasner
Editing by
David Bretherton
Distributed by
20th Century Fox
Release dates
July 2, 1957

Running time
119 minutes
Language
English
Budget
$2,120,000[1]
Box office
$3.8 million (US and Canada)[2]
An Affair to Remember is a 1957 film starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, and directed by Leo McCarey. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox.
The film is considered one of the most romantic of all time, according to the American Film Institute.[3] The film was a remake of McCarey's 1939 film Love Affair, starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. An Affair to Remember was almost identical to Love Affair on a scene-to-scene basis.[4] McCarey used the same screenplay as the original film, which was penned by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart.
Contributing to the success of the 1957 film is its theme song, "An Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)", composed by Harry Warren and with lyrics by Leo McCarey and Harold Adamson. The song is sung by Vic Damone during the film's opening credits and then sung later by Deborah Kerr's character, Terry McKay, a nightclub singer-turned-music teacher. Kerr's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also dubbed for Kerr in the film The King and I.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Critical Reaction
4 Legacy 4.1 American Film Institute recognition
5 Home media
6 References
7 External links

Plot[edit]
Nickie Ferrante (Cary Grant), a well-known playboy and dilettante in the arts, meets Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr) aboard the transatlantic ocean liner SS Constitution en route from Europe to New York. Each is involved with someone else. After a series of chance meetings aboard the ship, they establish a friendship. When Terry joins Nickie on a brief visit to his grandmother when the ship anchors near her home at Villefranche-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean coast, she sees Nickie with new eyes and their feelings blossom into love. During their visit, it is revealed that Nickie has had a talent for painting, but has dropped said trait due to his critical attitude towards his own art. As the ship returns to New York City, they agree to reunite at the top of the Empire State Building in six months' time, if they have succeeded in ending their relationships and starting new careers.
On the day of their rendezvous, Terry, in her haste to reach the Empire State Building, is struck down by a car while crossing a street. Gravely injured, she is rushed to the hospital. Meanwhile, Nickie, waiting for her at the observation deck at the top of the building, is unaware of the accident and, after many hours, finally concedes at midnight that she will not arrive, believing that she has rejected him.
After the accident Terry, now unable to walk, refuses to contact Nickie, wanting to conceal her disability. Instead, she finds work as a music teacher. Nickie has pursued his talent as a painter and has his work displayed by an old friend, an art shop owner. Six months after the accident, she sees Nickie with his former fiancée at the ballet, which she herself is attending with her former boyfriend. Nickie does not notice her condition because she is seated and only says hello as he passes her.
Nickie finally learns Terry's address and, on Christmas Eve, makes a surprise visit to her. Although he steers the conversation to make her explain her actions, Terry merely dodges the subject, never leaving the couch on which she sits. As he is leaving, Nickie mentions a painting that he had been working on when they originally met, and that it was just given away at the art shop to a woman who liked it but had no money. He is about to say that the woman was in a wheelchair when he pauses, suddenly suspecting why Terry has been sitting unmoving on the couch. He walks into her bedroom and sees his painting hanging on the wall, and a wheelchair concealed there. He now knows why she did not keep their appointment. The film ends with the two in a tight embrace, each realizing that the other's love endures. In closing, Terry says, "If you can paint, I can walk; anything can happen, don't you think?"
Cast[edit]
Cary Grant - Nicolò (Nickie) Ferrante
Deborah Kerr - Terry McKay
Richard Denning - Kenneth Bradley
Neva Patterson - Lois Clark
Cathleen Nesbitt - Grandmother Janou
Robert Q. Lewis - Himself - Announcer
Charles Watts - Ned Hathaway
Fortunio Bonanova - Courbet
Marni Nixon - Terry McKay (singing voice)
Critical Reaction[edit]
[icon] This section requires expansion. (February 2013)
The film currently holds 65% based on 26 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, despite receiving four Oscar nominations.
Legacy[edit]
The 1965 Bollywood film Bheegi Raat, starring Ashok Kumar, Meena Kumari and Pradeep Kumar, was inspired by this film.
Nora Ephron's 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, was partly inspired by An Affair to Remember, particularly the ending. References, clips and the theme song from the earlier film are used throughout.
A 1994 remake, reverting to the original title of Love Affair, starred Warren Beatty (who also wrote and produced), featured his wife Annette Bening as the female protagonist, and also featured Katharine Hepburn in a small but pivotal role, which would prove to be her last screen appearance.
Mann, a 1999 Bollywood film starring Aamir Khan and Manisha Koirala, was almost a scene-by-scene copy of this film.
In 2009, the HBO film Grey Gardens licensed an aerial shot of The Pierre Hotel from this film.[5]
The Climax of 1980 Bollywood movie Ek Baar Kaho is inspired by the movie's climax.
The teen drama TV series Gossip Girl features an episode in season three titled, "You can't 'An Affair to Remember' Me!" where the characters Chuck and Blair decide to rekindle their love and agree to meet on top of the Empire State Building at 7:01pm, just like the movie. However, Blair is unable to meet Chuck because her maid goes into labor on their way there. This results in their "final break-up".
American Film Institute recognition[edit]
An Affair to Remember is ranked # 5 on the AFI list of America's greatest love stories. AFI has also honored star Cary Grant as one of the greatest American screen legends among males, second only to Humphrey Bogart.
Home media[edit]
The film has been released in various formats including VHS, Laserdisc, VCD, DVD, and Blu-ray.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p250
2.Jump up ^ "An Affair to Remember (1957)". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
3.Jump up ^ AFI’s 100 Years…100 Passions
4.Jump up ^ Jaynes, Barbara Grant; Trachtenberg, Robert. Cary Grant: A Class Apart. Burbank, California: Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Turner Entertainment. 2004. Grant himself believed that Love Affair was superior.
5.Jump up ^ Grey Gardens DVD - 2009 - HBO - Audio commentary with executive producers Michael Sucsy, Lucy Barzun Donnelly and Rachael Horovitz
External links[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to An Affair to Remember (film).
An Affair to Remember at the Internet Movie Database
An Affair to Remember at allmovie
An Affair to Remember at the TCM Movie Database
An Affair to Remember at Rotten Tomatoes


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films of Leo McCarey


Let's Go Native ·
 Indiscreet ·
 The Kid from Spain ·
 Duck Soup ·
 Six of a Kind ·
 Belle of the Nineties ·
 Ruggles of Red Gap ·
 The Milky Way ·
 Make Way for Tomorrow ·
 The Awful Truth ·
 Love Affair ·
 Once Upon a Honeymoon ·
 Going My Way ·
 The Bells of St. Mary's ·
 Good Sam ·
 My Son John ·
 An Affair to Remember ·
 Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! ·
 Satan Never Sleeps
 

 


Categories: 1957 films
English-language films
1950s romantic drama films
American romantic drama films
Films directed by Leo McCarey
Film remakes
20th Century Fox films
Films set in New York City
Films shot in CinemaScope
American films








Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk










Read

Edit

View history









 Search 






Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikimedia Shop

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools










Print/export





Languages
Català
Deutsch
Ελληνικά
Español
فارسی
Français
Italiano
Magyar
Bahasa Melayu
Nederlands
日本語
Polski
Português
Русский
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
粵語
中文
Edit links
This page was last modified on 24 January 2014 at 04:56.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
 Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki