Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
54%RT Audience Score: 42%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 3 Oscars
4 wins & 20 nominations total
Featuring a patchwork script and a dialogue-heavy storyline whose biggest villain is a cloud, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a less-than-auspicious debut for the franchise
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a movie that’s out of this world, literally. Critics have been divided on whether it’s a classic or a flop, but as someone who’s not a critic, I can say that it’s a fun ride. Sure, there are a lot of shots of black space and spaceships, but that’s what makes it so cool! The special effects are amazing, and the questions it asks about existence and sentience are mind-blowing. Plus, it’s still very much Star Trek, so you know it’s going to be good. So, grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the ride!
Production Company(ies)
Warner Bros. Pictures, Endeavor Content One Community
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA
MPAA / Certificate
G
Year of Release
1979
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby Stereo Dolby Surround 7.1
-
Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
-
Runtime:2h 12m
-
Language(s):English, Klingon
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Dec 6, 1979 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 6, 2001
Genre(s)
Sci-fi
Keyword(s)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Stephen Collins, Persis Khambatta, James Doohan, Robert Wise, Gene Roddenberry, Alan Dean Foster, Harold Livingston, Sci-fi, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Arthur Knight, Judith Martin, Charles Champlin, Kathleen Carroll, Richard Schickel, Variety Staff, Jason Shawhan, Sam Stone, Tim Greiving, Tony Black, Matt Brunson, MPAA rating, Dolby Stereo, Surround, Scope (2.35:1), Paramount Pictures, Star Trek
Worldwide gross: $82,604,699
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $359,224,141
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 427
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 39,173,843
US/Canada gross: $82,604,699
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $359,224,141
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 147
US/Canada opening weekend: $11,926,421
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $51,864,584
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 215
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $35,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $152,204,960
Production budget ranking: 219
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $81,962,371
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $125,056,810
ROI to date (est.): 53%
ROI ranking: 1,128
Leonard Nimoy – Commander Spock
DeForest Kelley – Lt. Cmdr, Leonard H. ‘Bones’ McCoy, M.D.
Stephen Collins – Capt., Cmdr. Willard Decker
Persis Khambatta – Lieutenant Ilia
James Doohan – Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott
Director(s)
Robert Wise
Writer(s)
Alan Dean Foster, Harold Livingston
Producer(s)
Gene Roddenberry
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 3 Oscars
4 wins & 20 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (47) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (23) | Rotten (24)
No mistake about it, Star Trek is a big movie – big in scope, big in spectacle and, most important, big in entertainment values.
December 7, 2021
Arthur Knight
Hollywood Reporter
TOP CRITIC
There are only so many ways to photograph black starry space and the under-bellies of spaceships, and the films that got there first used them all up.
May 9, 2017
Judith Martin
Washington Post
TOP CRITIC
What you see is what you respond to, and what you see is a unique cultural phenomenon, and a film that for all its visual splendors falls well short of its aspirations.
September 7, 2016
Charles Champlin
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Not so much a movie as it is a sort of giant display case …
December 6, 2015 | Rating: 2.5/4
Kathleen Carroll
New York Daily News
TOP CRITIC
Nothing but a long day’s journey into ennui.
May 3, 2009
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
The expensive effects (under supervision of Douglas Trumbull) are the secret of this film, and the amazing wizardry throughout would appear to justify the whopping budget.
May 19, 2008
Variety Staff
Variety
TOP CRITIC
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a stone classic, best experienced on as large a scale as possible.
May 19, 2022
Jason Shawhan
Nashville Scene
The Motion Picture is Star Trek at possibly its most cerebral, asking bigger questions about the nature of existence and sentience instead of delivering a swashbuckling adventure that audiences may have been hoping for at the time.
April 12, 2022
Sam Stone
CBR
…the underrated first feature film is a slice of ’70s sci-fi that differs from its swashbuckling sequels…
April 9, 2022
Tim Greiving
The Ringer
Visually and thematically, The Motion Picture is as pure and honourable to the history and themes of Star Trek as anything before or since.
March 27, 2022 | Rating: 3.5/5
Tony Black
Cultural Conversation
Science fiction is about ideas as much as about action, which is why this talky drama is a worthy entry.
September 10, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
This time, the producers went out and spent $42 million on the thing, so the scale is immense. The basic themes that made the series so popular remain, standing like diamond spines inside the vast new structure: It’s still very much Star Trek in there.
July 20, 2021
Bill Mandel
San Francisco Examiner…
Plot
A massive alien spacecraft of enormous power destroys three powerful Klingon cruisers as it makes its way towards Federation space. Admiral James T. Kirk is ordered to take command of the USS Enterprise for the first time since her historic five-year mission. The Epsilon IX space station alerts the Federation, but they are also destroyed by the alien spacecraft. The only starship in range is the Enterprise, after undergoing a major overhaul in drydock orbiting Earth. Kirk rounds up the rest of his crew, and acquires some new members, and sets off to intercept the alien spacecraft. However, it has been three years since Kirk last went into deep space – is he up to the task of saving Earth?
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny comments were found in the Fresh Kernels review for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Robert-Wise.jpg
The Fog
The Fog (1980)
75%RT Audience Score: 64%
Awards & Nominations: 1 win & 3 nominations
A well-crafted return to horror for genre giant John Carpenter, The Fog rolls in and wraps viewers in suitably slow-building chills
The Fog is like a spooky campfire story come to life, complete with vengeful ghosts and a luminous fog that rolls into town. While some critics found it lacking in suspense and story, others praised its atmospheric chills and colorful characters. As a non-critic, I’d say it’s a fun and stylishly assembled horror flick that’s perfect for a Halloween movie night with friends. Just don’t blame me if you feel a cold hand on your shoulder afterwards!
Production Company(ies)
K&SFilms, El Deseo Televisión Federal
Distributor
MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc., RCA/Columbia, AVCO Embassy Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Gulf of the Farallones, Point Reyes, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1980
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Mono
-
Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
-
Runtime:1h 29m
-
Language(s):English
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Feb 8, 1980 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 26, 2003
Genre(s)
Horror
Keyword(s)
starring Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Janet Leigh, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Houseman, Tom Atkins, directed by John Carpenter, written by John Carpenter, Debra Hill, horror, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Vincent Canby, Dave Kehr, Will Lawrence, Ed Potton, Phil Hoad, Noel Murray, Travis Johnson, Matt Brunson, David Nusair, Gena Radcliffe, Rick Chatenever, Alan Jones, PG rating, Debra Hill as producer, supernatural, ghosts, small town, California, centenary, Rev Malone, Stevie Wayne, Elizabeth Solley, Mr Machen, Nick Castle, Kathy Williams, mysterious iridescent fog, shipwrecked spectres, vengeance, seaside town, atmospheric, spooky, suspenseful, slow-building chills, random diversions, unhelpful authority figures, strong women, sins of the past, group dynamics, luminous fog, RCA/Columbia, AVCO Embassy Pictures
Worldwide gross: $21,448,830
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $80,611,977
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,124
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 8,790,837
US/Canada gross: $21,448,782
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $80,611,796
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 857
US/Canada opening weekend: $39,565
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $148,699
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,782
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $1,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $3,758,339
Production budget ranking: 1,954
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $2,023,866
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $74,829,772
ROI to date (est.): 1,294%
ROI ranking: 92
Hal Holbrook – Father Malone
Janet Leigh – Kathy Williams
Jamie Lee Curtis – Elizabeth Solley
John Houseman – Mr. Machen
Tom Atkins – Nick Castle
Director – John Carpenter
Producer – Debra Hill
Writer – John Carpenter, Debra Hill
Director(s)
John Carpenter
Writer(s)
John Carpenter, Debra Hill
Producer(s)
Debra Hill
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
1 win & 3 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (68) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (51) | Rotten (17)
Unlike Halloween, which was a model of straight-forward terror and carefully controlled suspense, The Fog is constructed of random diversions.
January 30, 2020
Vincent Canby
New York Times
TOP CRITIC
It’s a failure, but it’s a failure in the right direction.
January 29, 2020
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Ghoulish, tense and utterly fantastical, John Carpenter’s tale of shipwrecked spectres squelching their way through a fluorescent fog to wreak vengeance on a seaside town is a classic campfire yarn.
January 29, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
Will Lawrence
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
The Fog is an…atmospheric chiller, in which a luminous fog rolls into a Californian seaside town, bringing the ghosts of vengeful sailors, killed in a shipwreck a century before.
November 2, 2018 | Rating: 4/5
Ed Potton
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
It’s one of the director’s most atmospheric, the shots of a wave-lashed cove and fog-choked headland making the town’s impending reckoning almost poetic.
October 25, 2018 | Rating: 3/5
Phil Hoad
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
Ultimately, it’s a John Carpenter movie: concerned with group dynamics, unhelpful authority figures, strong women, the sins of the past, and that moment when helpless isolation shades into outright terror.
October 24, 2018
Noel Murray
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Carpenter, a rather minimalist, formally restrained filmmaker even when employing the grand guignol excesses of The Thing, knows when to let pure story do the work, and The Fog is a story about stories.
October 24, 2021
Travis Johnson
sbs.com.au
It’s unpretentious genre fun, stylishly assembled and populated with colorful characters.
January 20, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
…a sporadically arresting yet lamentably uninvolving horror effort from Carpenter.
August 1, 2020 | Rating: 2.5/4
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
It’s like sitting around a campfire, and a cold hand drops on your shoulder from out of nowhere.
February 16, 2020
Gena Radcliffe
The Spool
The Fog has so many things right about it in the early going that when it comes apart, the whole thing seems that much worse.
January 30, 2020
Rick Chatenever
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Carpenter also relies heavily on cheap scare tactics (supernatural mists and people jumping out of the dark) rather than subtle suspense, but some sequences do turn the tension dial up quite high.
January 30, 2020 | Rating: 3/5
Alan Jones
Radio Times…
Plot
Against the backdrop of spine-chilling stories of drowned mariners and a 100-year-old shipwreck lying on the bottom of the sea, the peaceful coastal town of Antonio Bay, California is making preparations to celebrate its centennial. However
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny or odd comments were found in the Fresh Kernels database for The Fog.
John-Carpenter.jpg
The Elephant Man
The Elephant Man (1980)
94%RT Audience Score: 93%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 8 Oscars
10 wins & 22 nominations total
David Lynch’s relatively straight second feature finds an admirable synthesis of compassion and restraint in treating its subject, and features outstanding performances by John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins.
The Elephant Man is a movie that will make you feel all the feels. From revulsion to empathy, this film takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions. John Hurt’s portrayal of Merrick is nothing short of powerful, and David Lynch’s unique brand of storytelling is on full display. It’s a scary and sad story, but one that also has moments of beauty and hope. Plus, who doesn’t love a good Beauty and the Beast tale? Overall, The Elephant Man is a must-watch for anyone who wants to experience a truly moving cinematic experience.
Production Company(ies)
Brooksfilms
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Wide)
Filming Location(s)
Butler’s Wharf, Shad Thames, Southwark, London, England, UK
MPAA / Certificate
PG
Year of Release
1980
-
Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Dolby Stereo
-
Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
-
Runtime:2h 5m
-
Language(s):English, French
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 3, 1980 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 9, 2010
Genre(s)
Biography/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Freddie Jones, directed by David Lynch, written by Sir Frederick Treves, Ashley Montagu, Christopher De Vore, Eric Bergren, David Lynch, biography, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Peter Bradshaw, Ed Potton, Adam Nayman, Richard Corliss, Richard Brody, Dave Kehr, Kenneth Turan, Sean Mulvihill, Matt Brunson, Mike Massie, Grant Watson, Leigh Paatsch, PG rating, produced by Jonathan Sanger, Dolby, Surround, Scope (2.35:1), Joseph Merrick, Elephant Man, congenital disorder, sideshow, disfigurement, refined soul, stodgy British upper class, dignity, London, caring actress, death at 27, Cool Hand Luke, Harold and Maude, Rebel Without a Cause, The Hustler, Shine
Worldwide gross: $26,023,860
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $97,806,491
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,031
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 10,665,920
US/Canada gross: $26,010,864
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $5,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $18,791,696
Production budget ranking: 1,394
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $10,119,328
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $68,895,467
ROI to date (est.): 238%
ROI ranking: 553
Anthony Hopkins – Dr. Frederick ‘Freddie’ Treves
Anne Bancroft – Mrs. Kendal
John Gielgud – Carr Gomm
Wendy Hiller – Mothershead
Freddie Jones – Bytes
Director(s)
David Lynch
Writer(s)
Sir Frederick Treves, Ashley Montagu, Christopher De Vore, Eric Bergren, David Lynch
Producer(s)
Jonathan Sanger
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 8 Oscars
10 wins & 22 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (54) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (50) | Rotten (4)
It is an absorbing and satisfying drama, and Hurt’s Merrick is very powerful.
March 12, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
Many Lynchian tropes are here, from a sense of foreboding to a fascination with the grotesque, in terms of Merrick and outsiders’ reactions to him.
June 14, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Ed Potton
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
From deep beneath layers of latex makeup, Hurt inhabits a highly specific physical and behavioral characterization, while also conveying the essential, universal loneliness of the human soul.
April 15, 2019
Adam Nayman
The Ringer
TOP CRITIC
This is a tale of redemption and transcendence, of the hunchback of London Hospital, of the noble phantom who wanted to go to the opera, of Beauty and the Beast.
April 22, 2014
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Lynch’s powerful depiction of Merrick (played by John Hurt) moves a viewer from revulsion and fear to empathy and tenderness. That’s the very movement of the story itself.
April 22, 2014
Richard Brody
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
The picture itself is a strange trade-off between Lynch’s personal themes — the night world of obscure, disturbing sexual obsessions — and the requirements of a middlebrow message movie.
April 30, 2008
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Lynch has a dead-on feel for the shivery intangibles that crawl under the skin and into the subconscious.
November 4, 2021
Kenneth Turan
New West/California
With The Elephant Man, Lynch asserts his unique brand of empathetic storytelling – one that always balances the light with the dark, the good with the evil.
October 13, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
Sean Mulvihill
FanboyNation.com
Following his startling debut with Eraserhead, David Lynch retained that picture’s industrial imagery, unnerving sound design, and oddball atmosphere and layered them over this rich story.
October 13, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
It’s equal parts scary and sad – a Frankenstein’s monster that can garner both fright and sympathy.
September 6, 2020 | Rating: 8/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
This is by far the most conventional of David Lynch’s films, and thus perhaps it is the easiest with which to demonstrate his immense skill at narrative story-telling.
July 4, 2020 | Rating: 10/10
Grant Watson
Fiction Machine
Flawless interpretation of the hit stage play about a Victorian Era gent living with a confronting physical affliction.
April 17, 2020
Leigh Paatsch
Herald Sun (Australia)…
Plot
In Victorian London, Dr. Frederick Treves with the London Hospital comes across a circus sideshow attraction run by a man named Bytes called “The Elephant Man”. In actuality, the creature on display is indeed a man, twenty-one-year-old Joseph “John” Merrick, who has several physical deformities, including an oversized and disfigured skull, and an oversized and disfigured right shoulder. Brutish Bytes, his “owner”, only wants whatever he can get economically by presenting Merrick as a freak. Treves manages to bring Merrick under his care at the hospital, not without several of its own obstacles, including being questioned by those in authority since Merrick cannot be cured. Treves initially believes Bytes’ assertion that mute Merrick is an imbecile, but ultimately learns that Merrick can speak and is a well-read and articulate man. As news of Merrick hits the London newspapers, he becomes a celebrated curiosity amongst London’s upper class, including with Mrs. Kendal, a famed actress. Despite treated much more humanely, the question becomes whether Treves’ actions are a further exploitation of Merrick. And as Merrick becomes more famous, others try to get their two-cents worth from who still remains a curiosity and a freak to most, including to Bytes, who has since lost his meal ticket.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
John Hurt’s portrayal of Joseph Merrick in The Elephant Man is described as “very powerful” by critics.
David-Lynch.jpg
The Jerk
The Jerk (1979)
87%RT Audience Score: 84%
Awards & Nominations: 1 nomination
Crude, crass, and oh so quotable, The Jerk is nothing short of an all-out comedic showcase for Steve Martin
The Jerk is a classic comedy that will have you laughing from start to finish. With Steve Martin’s signature goofiness and hilarious sight gags, this movie is a must-watch for any comedy fan. Sure, some of the jokes may fall flat, but the ones that hit will have you in stitches. Plus, with supporting roles from Jackie Mason and Bernadette Peters, you can’t go wrong. So grab some popcorn, sit back, and get ready to laugh until you cry.
Production Company(ies)
Lost Boys of Sudan National Geographic Films, Silver Nitrate Pictures,
Distributor
MCA/Universal Pictures [us]
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Beverly House – 1011 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1979
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Mono
-
Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
-
Runtime:1h 33m
-
Language(s):English
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Dec 14, 1979 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 26, 2008
Genre(s)
Comedy
Keyword(s)
starring Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Catlin Adams, Mabel King, Richard Ward, Dick Anthony Williams, directed by Carl Reiner, written by Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, Michael Elias, comedy, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Dave Kehr, Gary Arnold, John Skow, Roger Ebert, Brian Eggert, Brian Costello, Tom Hutchinson, Iain Robertson, MPAA rating R, Navin R Johnson, Cat Juggler, Pig Eye Jackson, Engineer Fred, Marie Kimble Johnson, Patty Bernstein, Mother, Father, Taj Jonson, produced by David V Picker, William McEuen
Worldwide gross: $73,691,419
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $320,462,843
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 467
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 34,946,875
US/Canada gross: $73,691,419
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $320,462,843
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 170
US/Canada opening weekend: $5,935,025
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $25,809,721
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 530
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Bernadette Peters – Marie Kimble Johnson
Catlin Adams – Patty Bernstein
Mabel King – Mother
Richard Ward – Father
Dick Anthony Williams – Taj Jonson
Director(s)
Carl Reiner
Writer(s)
Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, Michael Elias
Producer(s)
David V. Picker, William McEuen
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
1 nomination
Academy Awards
All Critics (42) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (35) | Rotten (7)
The verbal and conceptual gags… belong wholly to Martin’s own brand of goofiness, and some of them are pretty funny.
March 14, 2021
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Within ts limitations, The Jerk is a capably produced entertainment, seasoned by deft bit performances from several actors…
April 24, 2018
Gary Arnold
Washington Post
TOP CRITIC
Its humor is successful and unsuccessful by turns, and although Comedian Carl Reiner is the director, the instinct here is to give most of both credit and blame to Martin.
February 2, 2009
John Skow
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
An artless, non-stop barrage of off-the-wall situations, funny and unfunny jokes, generally effective and sometimes hilarious sight gags and bawdy non sequiturs.
February 2, 2009
Variety Staff
Variety
TOP CRITIC
The comedy runs out of steam when the jerk makes good, but laugh for laugh it’s probably a better investment than 10.
June 24, 2006
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
We get the sense at times that the cast and crew arrived at a location, found the script bankrupt of real laughs, and started looking around for funny props.
July 5, 2005 | Rating: 2/4
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
TOP CRITIC
Every scene offers something funny; every scene subverts expectations.
February 22, 2022 | Rating: 3.5/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
With comedy legend Carl Reiner directing and unforgettable supporting roles from Jackie Mason and Bernadette Peters, the result is an incredible mix of barbed satire, silly pratfalls, and, at its core, sweetness.
March 14, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Brian Costello
Common Sense Media
There are some heavenly jokes (especially the one where he makes a fortune inventing an absurd nose support for spectacles), and Martin is in best “manic” mode.
March 14, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Tom Hutchinson
Radio Times
This is Martin at his absolute silliest, and therefore most brilliant.
March 14, 2021 | Rating: 10/10
Iain Robertson
Starburst
The ingenious thing about this film is the way it can take serious situations and drastically interfere with them using an unexpected comedy device.
August 30, 2020 | Rating: 9/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
Carl Reiner, who has made his own contributions to comedy with Sid Caesar, Mel Brooks and Dick Van Dyke, does little to set a mood or rhythm or even an aura of good feeling that will carry audiences over the slow spots.
July 19, 2019
Richard Corliss
Maclean’s Magazine…
Plot
Navin is an idiot. He grew up in Mississippi as the adopted son of a black family, but on his 18th birthday he feels he wants to discover the rest of the world and sets out for St. Louis. There everyone exploits his naivete, until a simple invention brings him a fortune.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny or odd comments were found in the Fresh Kernels database for The Jerk.
Carl-Reiner.jpg
Being There
Being There (1979)
95%RT Audience Score: 92%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 Oscar
14 wins & 15 nominations total
Smart, sophisticated, and refreshingly subtle, Being There soars behind sensitive direction from Hal Ashby and a stellar Peter Sellers performance.
Being There is a movie that will make you laugh, cry, and question your own intelligence all at the same time. Peter Sellers gives a performance that is both hilarious and heartbreaking, and Hal Ashby’s direction is nothing short of brilliant. Sure, the screenplay may be a bit one-note, but who cares when you’re having this much fun? Being There is a must-see for anyone who loves satire, political commentary, or just a good old-fashioned belly laugh. Don’t miss out on this classic film that still holds up today.
Production Company(ies)
B S B C I P Lorimar Film Entertainment,
Distributor
United Artists, Warner Bros.
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Biltmore Estate – 1 Approach Road, Asheville, North Carolina, USA
MPAA / Certificate
PG
Year of Release
1980
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Mono
-
Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
-
Runtime:2h 10m
-
Language(s):English, Russian, Italian
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Dec 19, 1979 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 5, 2002
Genre(s)
Comedy
Keyword(s)
Being There, Peter Sellers, Hal Ashby, Jerzy Kosinski, Comedy, Box Office, Budget, PG, Andrew Braunsberg, Melvyn Douglas, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden, Richard Dysart, Richard Basehart, Mono, Critics, Reviewed by Joe Pollack, Ed Potton, Richard Combs, Michael Blowen, Ron Pennington, Frank Rich, Christopher Lloyd, Matt Brunson, Michael Clark, Brian Eggert, Barbara Brecher, Actors, Director, Writer, Producer, United Artists, Warner Bros, Chance, Chauncey Gardiner, Eve Rand, President Bobby, Benjamin Turnbull Rand, Dr Robert Allenby, Vladimir Skrapinov
Worldwide gross: $30,177,511
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $113,417,320
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 957
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 12,368,301
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Shirley MacLaine – Eve Rand
Jack Warden – President ‘Bobby’
Melvyn Douglas – Benjamin Turnbull Rand
Richard Dysart – Dr. Robert Allenby
Richard Basehart – Vladimir Skrapinov
Director(s)
Hal Ashby
Writer(s)
Jerzy Kosinski
Producer(s)
Andrew Braunsberg
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 Oscar
14 wins & 15 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners
All Critics (62) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (59) | Rotten (3)
Under the direction of Hal Ashby, in his first film since Coming Home, Sellers gives an impressively disciplined performance, always taut and under control. The difficulty with the film, however, is that the screenplay is basically a one-joke story.
April 7, 2022
Joe Pollack
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
TOP CRITIC
Gently directed by Hal Ashby, this satire of a ruling class in which nobody knows anything is almost plausible, and certainly topical.
January 17, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
Ed Potton
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
The result must be one of the boldest of commercial comedies, for the way it turns on passages of dead time, the dreadful pauses while other characters struggle to see the significance in each of Chance’s cryptically meaningless remarks.
January 16, 2020
Richard Combs
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
A brutal look at America and Americans that gently lifts up the mirror image that television gives us of ourselves, smashes it on the marble floors of our political institutions and holds a chunk of jagged glass to our throats. And then makes us laugh.
April 28, 2018
Michael Blowen
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
Sellers has never been better and he embellishes the detached, childlike innocence of this character with perfect style and timing. It’s a deceptively simple performance, but it is essentially the core and substance of the film.
December 19, 2016
Ron Pennington
Hollywood Reporter
TOP CRITIC
Here is a comedy that valiantly defies both gravity and the latest Hollywood fashion.
July 8, 2014
Frank Rich
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Peter Sellers’ last great performance came in this gently satiric look at the dawning mass media culture from the book by Jerzy Kosiński.
May 30, 2022 | Rating: 4.5/5
Christopher Lloyd
The Film Yap
Alternately lovely and lacerating.
May 24, 2022 | Rating: 3.5/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
Devoid of finger-wagging, bellicose tirades, or emotional manipulation, Being There is a scathing commentary on politics and the media that points out how patently easy is it to fool people, often with their own willful, enthusiastic participation.
March 8, 2022 | Rating: 4.5/5
Michael Clark
Epoch Times
Among the sharpest of all satires, Being There, released in 1979, would be the last great film made by director Hal Ashby, who had the most extraordinary track record of any filmmaker of the 1970s.
February 14, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
One of the rare cases in which a novel is translated into a film with its humor, insight, and pathos intact.
January 11, 2021
Barbara Brecher
Berkeley Barb
The humor continues to surface, regularly generating laugh-out-loud bewilderment and crushing awkwardness.
August 27, 2020 | Rating: 9/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins…
Plot
Simple-minded gardener Chance has spent all his life in the Washington D.C. home of an old man. When the man dies, Chance is put out on the street with no knowledge of the world except what he has learned from television. After a run-in with a limousine, he ends up a guest of Eve and her husband Ben, an influential but sickly businessman. Now called Chauncey Gardner, Chance becomes friend and confidante to Ben, and an unlikely political insider.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Peter Sellers gives an impressively disciplined performance as Chance (‘Chauncey Gardiner’) in Being There.
Hal-Ashby.jpg
The Jazz Singer
The Jazz Singer (1927)
71%RT Audience Score: 56%
Awards & Nominations: 3 wins & 10 nominations
The Jazz Singer, the first sound film, is a true testament to the power of innovation and creativity in the world of entertainment. While some critics may find the film to be lacking in certain areas, such as long waits and a reliance on one star, it cannot be denied that the introduction of the Vitaphone and Al Jolson’s performance are nothing short of magnificent. The film’s ability to seamlessly blend music and dialogue is a true marvel, and it is no wonder that it is considered one of the greatest events in entertainment history. The Jazz Singer is a must-see for anyone interested in the evolution of film and the impact of sound on the art form.
The Jazz Singer is a classic film that paved the way for the talkies we know and love today. While some critics may find it lacking in certain areas, it’s hard not to appreciate the sheer impact it had on the entertainment industry. Plus, who can resist the charm of Al Jolson and his infectious voice? It’s a must-watch for any film buff or music lover, and a great reminder of how far we’ve come in the world of cinema.
Production Company(ies)
Nouvelles Éditions de Films,
Distributor
Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
MPAA / Certificate
PG
Year of Release
1980
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby Stereo70 mm 6-Track
-
Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
-
Runtime:1h 37m
-
Language(s):English
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 6, 1927 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 16, 2007
Genre(s)
Musical
Keyword(s)
starring Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland, Eugenie Besserer, Otto Lederer, William Demarest, directed by Alan Crosland, written by Samson Raphaelson, musical, black and white, first sound film, Vitaphone, jazz, ragtime, performer, cantor, family tradition, rebellion, neighbor, love, career, Jewish, New York, 1920s, Talkie Revolution, historical significance, influential, racist, awkward acting, cliche storyline, silent film, sound film, title cards, clumsy flow, disjointed, racist, melodrama, family, career achievement, first feature-length film with synchronized sound
Worldwide gross: $27,118,000
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $101,918,640
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,007
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 11,114,355
US/Canada gross: $27,118,000
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
May McAvoy – Mary Dale
Warner Oland – Cantor Rabinowitz
Eugenie Besserer – Sara Rabinowitz
Otto Lederer – Moisha Yudelson
William Demarest – Steve Martinelli
Director – Alan Crosland
Writer – Samson Raphaelson
Director(s)
Alan Crosland
Writer(s)
Samson Raphaelson
Producer(s)
NA
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
3 wins & 10 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (51) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (40) | Rotten (11)
The first sound film! One wishes that the 100,000th sound, movie ever made ‘we are at least somewhere near that figure!) had such an. effective track.
July 27, 2021
Jonas Mekas
Village Voice
TOP CRITIC
Sitting through The Jazz Singer is very much like attending a very ordinary musical comedy with one star who happens to be good. The star cannot always be on the scene and the evening develops into a series of long waits.
February 25, 2021
Wilella Waldorf
New York Post
TOP CRITIC
It is probably one of the greatest events in the world of entertainment in years.
February 25, 2021
Edwin Schallert
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
The Jazz Singer would be a good picture without Vitaphone, but it wouldn’t be half as good as it is now.
February 25, 2021
Globe Staff
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
Undoubtedly the best thing Vitaphone has ever put on the screen.
February 25, 2021
Sid Silverman
Variety
TOP CRITIC
Coupled with the acting of Jolson. and the wonders of the Vitaphone, in which the synchronization is so good as to suggest further interesting developments in the way of talk pictures, [the film] provides about all the enjoyment that could be hoped for.
February 25, 2021
Ella H. McCormick
Detroit Free Press
TOP CRITIC
Eugenie Besserer gives one of her inimitable impersonations, and May McAvoy is charming as always as the girl who takes an interest in the jazz singer and helps him along in his career.
December 14, 2021
Carl Sandburg
Chicago Daily News
The Jazz Singer is unlike any picture seen here in the past… instead of contenting itself to be a mere motion picture, it introduces the Vitaphone in the role to which it surely must be destined that of giving life to the silent drama.
February 25, 2021
Edgar Waite
San Francisco Examiner
At present the Globe is the only theater in Kansas City equipped to present Vitaphone numbers. Until you have seen and heard this offering you are in no position to appreciate these words of ours.
February 25, 2021
KC Star Staff
Kansas City Star
While Al Jolson’s performance, his first as a screen star, is generally good, the high spots of the picture came with that familiar swaying, infectious Al Jolson voice; the inimitable Jolsonesque on the screen abetted by its master’s voice.
February 25, 2021
H.L. Danson
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Entertainment all the way through, the sort of box-office combination of tears and smiles that always will be sure-fire, The Jazz Singer is nothing short of a magnificent triumph for Warner Brothers, for the Vitaphone, [and] for Al Jolson.
February 25, 2021
MPW Staff
Moving Picture World
The story is good and the caste has been well selected. Al Jolson has a marvellous voice, and everyone will enjoy his performance. It is not possible, however, to form a definite judgment of talking films from The Jazz Singer.
February 24, 2021
Celia Simpson
The Spectator…
Plot
Neil Diamond stars in this motion picture as Yussel Rabinovitch, a young Jewish cantor who strives to make a career outside the synagogue in popular music as Jess Robin. Against the wishes of his rigid father and his loving wife, Yussel travels from New York City to Los Angeles to play his music. Swept up by the excitement, he meets a spunky manager who believes in his talent and shares his dream. He grows apart from his family, and becomes confused about what he should ultimately do with his life.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The film stars Al Jolson, who was a popular singer and performer at the time.
Alan-Crosland.jpg
All That Jazz
All That Jazz (1979)
89%RT Audience Score: 86%
Awards & Nominations: Won 4 Oscars
11 wins & 14 nominations total
All That Jazz is a film that is both a celebration and a critique of the world of show business. Bob Fosse’s direction is a masterclass in audacious editing and his self-portrait is a tour de force that is seamlessly impersonated by Roy Scheider. The film wears its alienation proudly, with a quivering, pulsating, dynamic, excessive and flawed style that is both savagely witty and excruciating. It takes chances and is an exciting rollercoaster ride that deserves its place as one of the greatest American films ever made. It’s the opposite of a vanity project, and while the music may lack personality, the film itself shines bright with its rapid, speed-freak cutting and passionate psychological striptease. All in all, it’s a plausible milestone in the evolution of the Hollywood film that will leave you with an obscene fascination for the world of show business.
All That Jazz is a wild ride that takes you on a journey through the highs and lows of show business. It’s like a backstage pass to the madness that goes on behind the scenes of a Broadway show. The editing is so fast-paced, it’s like you’re on a speed-freak rollercoaster, but in a good way. Roy Scheider gives a career-peak performance as the tortured genius director, and Bob Fosse’s direction is both self-indulgent and savagely witty. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re a fan of musicals and want to see something that takes chances, then this is the film for you.
Production Company(ies)
1+2 Seisaku Iinkai Atom Films, Atom Films,
Distributor
20th Century Fox
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Kaufman Astoria Studios – 3412 36th Street, Astoria, Queens, New York City, New York, USA
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1979
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby Stereo
-
Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
-
Runtime:2h 3m
-
Language(s):English, Spanish
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jan 1, 1979 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 3, 2004
Genre(s)
Drama/Musical
Keyword(s)
starring Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange, Ann Reinking, Leland Palmer, Cliff Gorman, Ben Vereen, directed by Bob Fosse, written by Robert Alan Arthur and Bob Fosse, drama, musical, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Bruce McCabe, Gary Arnold, Noel Murray, Kim Newman, Frank Rich, Dave Kehr, Taylor Baker, Leonard Klady, Grant Watson, David Lamble, Gena Radcliffe, MPAA rating R, producer Robert Alan Arthur, 20th Century Fox, surround sound, Dolby Stereo, flat aspect ratio, Joe Gideon, Angelique, Kate Jagger, Audrey Paris, Davis Newman, O’Connor Flood
Worldwide gross: $37,823,676
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $164,484,317
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 796
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 17,937,221
US/Canada gross: $37,823,676
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $164,484,317
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 467
US/Canada opening weekend: $86,229
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $374,985
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,475
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $12,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $52,184,558
Production budget ranking: 760
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $28,101,384
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $84,198,375
ROI to date (est.): 105%
ROI ranking: 916
Jessica Lange – Angelique
Ann Reinking – Kate Jagger
Leland Palmer – Audrey Paris
Cliff Gorman – Davis Newman
Ben Vereen – O’Connor Flood
Director(s)
Bob Fosse
Writer(s)
Robert Alan Arthur, Bob Fosse
Producer(s)
Robert Alan Arthur
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 4 Oscars
11 wins & 14 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Achievement in Art Direction Winners, Oscar Best Achievement in Costume Design Winners, Oscar Best Achievement in Editing Winners, Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners
All Critics (45) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (6)
This is a plausible milestone in the evolution of the Hollywood film, a quivering, pulsating, dynamic, excessive and flawed film that wears its alienation proudly where its heart should be.
April 27, 2018
Bruce McCabe
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
By the time the film is over, the movie has degenerated with a jaundiced vengeance. Fosse’s sour, grandstanding cynicism imposed an intolerable burden of self-pity on his talent, our compassion and the tradition of the backstage musical.
August 4, 2015
Gary Arnold
Washington Post
TOP CRITIC
All That Jazz is one of the most self-indulgent movies ever made-but blessedly so.
September 8, 2014 | Rating: 4.5/5
Noel Murray
The Dissolve
TOP CRITIC
Savagely witty on backstage life and audaciously edited.
August 12, 2008 | Rating: 5/5
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Though Scheider is a wry, sensitive actor, he soon gets lost in the vulgar theatrics.
August 12, 2008
Frank Rich
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Almost every scene is excruciating (and a few are appalling), yet the film stirs an obscene fascination with its rapid, speed-freak cutting and passionate psychological striptease.
August 12, 2008
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Episode 40: The Dead Don’t Die / Birds of Passage / All That Jazz
October 4, 2021 | Rating: 94/100
Taylor Baker
Drink in the Movies
It’s a film that takes chances, an exciting rollercoaster ride that deserves its personal chapter in the art of film-making.
August 19, 2021
Leonard Klady
Winnipeg Free Press
This is one of the greatest American films ever made.
February 16, 2021 | Rating: 10/10
Grant Watson
Fiction Machine
A tour de force self-portrait by the brilliant writer-director-choreographer Bob Fosse, as seamlessly impersonated in a career-peak turn from Roy Scheider.
June 8, 2020
David Lamble
Bay Area Reporter
It’s the opposite of a vanity project.
January 18, 2020
Gena Radcliffe
The Spool
The music lacks personality and it never shines too bright. [Full Review in Spanish]
August 12, 2019
Jesús Fernández Santos
El Pais (Spain)…
Plot
Joe Gideon is a Broadway director, choreographer and filmmaker, he in the process of casting the chorus and staging the dance numbers for his latest Broadway show, starring his ex-wife Audrey Paris in what is largely a vanity project for her in playing a role several years younger than her real age, and editing a film he directed on the life of stand-up comic Davis Newman. Joe’s professional and personal lives are intertwined, he a chronic philanderer, having slept with and had relationships with a series of dancers in his shows, Victoria Porter, who he hired for the current show despite she not being the best dancer, in the former category, and Kate Jagger, his current girlfriend, in the latter category. That philandering has led to relationship problems, with Audrey during their marriage, and potentially now with Kate who wants a committed relationship with Joe largely in not wanting the alternative of entering the dating world again. Joe also lives a hard and fast life, he chain smoking, drinking heavily, listening to hard driving classical music and popping uppers to keep going. In addition to pressures from investors and meeting film deadlines above and beyond his own self-induced hard life, he is teetering on the brink physically and emotionally. With Kate, Audrey, and his and Audrey’s teenage daughter Michelle looking over him as best they can, Joe flirts with “Angelique” in the process, he potentially succumbing to her if he doesn’t listen to them or what his body is telling him.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Roy Scheider delivers a defining performance as the flawed and death-obsessed director-choreographer Joe Gideon.
Bob-Fosse.jpg
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now (1979)
96%RT Audience Score: 94%
Awards & Nominations: Won 2 Oscars
21 wins & 33 nominations total
Francis Ford Coppola’s haunting, hallucinatory Vietnam War epic is cinema at its most audacious and visionary.
If you’re looking for a movie that’ll make you feel like you’re tripping on acid while also being transported to the Vietnam War, then Francis Ford Coppola’s got you covered. This flick is a wild ride that’ll leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about war and the human psyche. It’s like Coppola took a bunch of LSD and decided to make a movie about the horrors of war, and honestly, we’re here for it. This is cinema at its most daring and imaginative, and we’re still trying to wrap our heads around it.
Production Company(ies)
American Zoetrope Zoetrope Studios,
Distributor
Paramount Pictures, Miramax Films, United Artists
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Baler Bay, Baler, Aurora, Philippines
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1979
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby
-
Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
-
Runtime:2h 33m
-
Language(s):English, French, Vietnamese
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Aug 15, 1979 Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 18, 2010
Genre(s)
War/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms, Dennis Hopper, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Joseph Conrad, John Milius, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Herr, war, drama, box office, budget, reviewed by Amy Taubin, Veronica Geng, Gary Arnold, Kathleen Carroll, Philip French, Anthony Quinn, Cory Woodroof, Andrew Bloom, Sarah Brinks, Rachel Wagner, Richard Propes, MPAA rating R, producer Kim Aubry, Francis Ford Coppola
Worldwide gross: $92,158,064
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $400,768,985
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 384
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 43,704,360
US/Canada gross: $83,471,511
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $362,993,658
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 142
US/Canada opening weekend: $118,558
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $515,575
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,395
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $31,500,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $136,984,464
Production budget ranking: 254
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $73,766,134
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $190,018,387
ROI to date (est.): 90%
ROI ranking: 978
Martin Sheen – Captain Willard
Robert Duvall – Lt. Col. Kilgore
Frederic Forrest – Chef
Albert Hall – Chief
Sam Bottoms – Lance
Director(s)
Francis Ford Coppola
Writer(s)
Joseph Conrad, John Milius, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Herr
Producer(s)
Kim Aubry, Francis Ford Coppola
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 2 Oscars
21 wins & 33 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Achievement in Cinematography Winners, Oscar Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Winners, Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners
All Critics (97) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (95) | Rotten (2)
Apocalypse has the expressive extravagance of a Wagner opera-and not merely because the swooping helicopter scene is set to the “Ride of the Valkyries.”
October 8, 2019
Amy Taubin
Village Voice
TOP CRITIC
It has coherence, truthfulness, and conviction-up to a point.
September 6, 2018
Veronica Geng
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
It’s the cumulative effect generated by mixing richly portentous imagery with absurdly portentous prose, starkly portentous sound and flatulently portentous music.
December 18, 2015
Gary Arnold
Washington Post
TOP CRITIC
Certainly, no movie in history has ever presented stronger proof that war is living hell.
August 14, 2015 | Rating: 3.5/4
Kathleen Carroll
New York Daily News
TOP CRITIC
Apocalypse Now is not merely the greatest film to come out of the Vietnam experience but one of the great works about the madness of our times.
May 28, 2011
Philip French
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
The best of it is grand, mysterious and oddly possessed.
May 27, 2011 | Rating: 5/5
Anthony Quinn
Independent (UK)
TOP CRITIC
This is the great American nightmare, the ultimate repudiation against anything Vietnam was supposed to accomplish.
July 6, 2022
Cory Woodroof
615 Film
From the jump, Apocalypse Now conveys the sense of a man riddled with PTSD, who’s all but lost himself in the trauma.
April 13, 2021
Andrew Bloom
The Spool
The performances in the film are very strong. Martin Sheen is very good in the film. He plays things pretty close to the vest but the voiceover gives us a clear view into his thinking, fears, and insecurities.
March 24, 2021
Sarah Brinks
Battleship Pretension
I see why it is considered one of the great films of the 1970s.
September 23, 2020 | Rating: 9.5/10
Rachel Wagner
rachelsreviews.net
Apocalypse Now is the kind of film that makes me thank God I fell in love with cinema.
September 2, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4.0
Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
Artistically, it’s quite reminiscent of film noir, with an abundance of deep shadows, a desolate voiceover by Willard, and a cast of morally unstructured antiheroes.
August 27, 2020 | Rating: 10/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins…
Plot
It is the height of the war in Vietnam, and U.S. Army Captain Willard is sent by Colonel Lucas and a General to carry out a mission that, officially, ‘does not exist – nor will it ever exist’. The mission: To seek out a mysterious Green Beret Colonel, Walter Kurtz, whose army has crossed the border into Cambodia and is conducting hit-and-run missions against the Viet Cong and NVA. The army believes Kurtz has gone completely insane and Willard’s job is to eliminate him. Willard, sent up the Nung River on a U.S. Navy patrol boat, discovers that his target is one of the most decorated officers in the U.S. Army. His crew meets up with surfer-type Lt-Colonel Kilgore, head of a U.S Army helicopter cavalry group which eliminates a Viet Cong outpost to provide an entry point into the Nung River. After some hair-raising encounters, in which some of his crew are killed, Willard, Lance and Chef reach Colonel Kurtz’s outpost, beyond the Do Lung Bridge. Now, after becoming prisoners of Kurtz, will Willard & the others be able to fulfill their mission?
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Nothing goofy or funny or odd is said about the film or anyone in the cast.
Francis-Ford-Coppola.jpg
Monty Pythons Life of Brian
Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
95%RT Audience Score: 93%
Awards & Nominations: Top rated movie #239
See the Top 250 movies as rated by IMDb users
One of the more cutting-edge films of the 1970s, this religious farce from the classic comedy troupe is as poignant as it is funny and satirical.
Life of Brian is the holy grail of religious satire, and it’s no wonder why it’s regularly voted the funniest British film. The Monty Python crew’s wacky and imaginative humor is on full display as they take us on a hilarious journey through ancient times. Brian’s life may be pure hell, but it’s very funny to watch. And let’s be real, they could NEVER film that today. It’s comedic gold that will have you laughing until your sides hurt. So grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the ride.
Production Company(ies)
Hand Made Films, Python Pictures,
Distributor
Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Criterion Collection
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Amphitheater, Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1979
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby Stereo
-
Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
-
Runtime:1h 33m
-
Language(s):English, Latin
-
Country of origin:United Kingdom
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Aug 17, 1979 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 16, 1999
Genre(s)
Comedy
Keyword(s)
Worldwide gross: $20,745,728
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $90,217,220
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,070
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 9,838,301
US/Canada gross: $20,206,622
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $87,872,803
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 815
US/Canada opening weekend: $140,034
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $608,968
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,358
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $4,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $17,394,853
Production budget ranking: 1,436
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $9,367,128
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $63,455,240
ROI to date (est.): 237%
ROI ranking: 557
John Cleese – Wise Man #1, Reg, Jewish Official, Centurion, Deadly Dirk, Arthur
Terry Gilliam – Man Even Further Forward, Revolutionary, Jailer, Blood & Thunder Prophet, Geoffrey, Audience Member, Crucifee
Terry Jones – Mandy Cohen, Colin, Simon the Holy Man, Bob Hoskins, Saintly Passer-by, Alarmed Crucifixion Assistant
Michael Palin – Wise Man 3, Mr. Big Nose, Francis, Mrs. A, Ex-Leper, Announcer, Ben, Pontius Pilate, Boring Prophet, Eddie, Shoe Follower, Nisus Wettus
Kenneth Colley – Jesus
Director(s)
Terry Jones
Writer(s)
Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Producer(s)
John Goldstone
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Top rated movie #239
See the Top 250 movies as rated by IMDb users
Academy Awards
All Critics (67) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (64) | Rotten (3)
I’m desperate for another piece of comedy to do what [Life of Brian] did.
April 26, 2019
Robbie Collin
Kermode & Mayo’s Film Review
TOP CRITIC
Life of Brian is an unexpectedly earnest, sweet-natured hymn to the idea of tolerance.
April 12, 2019 | Rating: 5/5
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
Regularly voted the funniest British film. A contender.
September 13, 2018 | Rating: 10/10
Donald Clarke
Irish Times
TOP CRITIC
Brian’s life is pure hell. And very funny to watch.
August 17, 2017
Robert Osborne
Hollywood Reporter
TOP CRITIC
I’ve always considered it the group’s nadir; it seems toothlessly silly.
September 11, 2009
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Just as wacky and imaginative as their earlier film outings.
July 31, 2008
Variety Staff
Variety
TOP CRITIC
Rewatching “Brian” now, one really does get the feeling that the oft-repeated phrase “They could NEVER film that today” absolutely applies here.
June 13, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Roger Moore
Movie Nation
The plot treads a narrow, semi-blasphemous path through ancient times.
April 16, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/5
Leigh Paatsch
Herald Sun (Australia)
While the movie doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it is professionally impeccable. [Full Review in Spanish]
August 13, 2019
Diego Galán
El Pais (Spain)
Life of Brian is undoubtedly the greatest religious satire of all-time. Comedic gold.
May 7, 2019 | Rating: 5/5
C.H. Newell
Father Son Holy Gore
While the most ambitious and thematically coherent of the Monty Python feature films, Life of Brian is also the least of them.
February 25, 2019 | Rating: 3/5
Christopher Lloyd
The Film Yap
The Pythons’ instincts strike home, not only in Brian’s miserable failure to imbue his followers with some basic decency, but in the self-apparent barbarism that he’s fighting against.
November 29, 2017
Rob Vaux
Cinema-stache…
Plot
The story of Brian of Nazareth (Graham Chapman), born on the same day as Jesus of Nazareth, who takes a different path in life that leads to the same conclusion. Brian joins a political resistance movement aiming to get the Romans out of Judea. Brian scores a victory of sorts when he manages to paint political slogans on an entire wall in the city of Jerusalem. The movement is not very effective but somehow Brian becomes a prophet and gathers his own following. His fate is sealed however and he lives a very short life.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
NA
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Apocalypse Now Redux
Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)
93%RT Audience Score: 91%
Awards & Nominations: Won 2 Oscars
21 wins & 33 nominations total
The additional footage slows down the movie somewhat (some say the new cut is inferior to the original), but Apocalypse Now Redux is still a great piece of cinema.
Apocalypse Now Redux is like a rollercoaster ride that you never want to end. It’s a wild, trippy, and intense journey that will leave you breathless. Sure, it might strive a little too hard for greatness, but who cares when you’re having this much fun? The added archival material only adds to the film’s epic scope, and the pacing is surprisingly smooth. It’s a punishing, poetic, beautiful, horrible film about man’s inhumanity to man, and it’s a must-see for any movie lover. So buckle up, grab some popcorn, and get ready for the ride of your life.
Production Company(ies)
American Zoetrope Zoetrope Studios,
Distributor
Miramax Films
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Baler Bay, Baler, Aurora, Philippines
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1979
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Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby
-
Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:3h 15m
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Language(s):English, French, Vietnamese
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Aug 3, 2001 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 14, 2014
Genre(s)
War/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Francis Ford Coppola, John Milius, Joseph Conrad, Michael Herr, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, war, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by David Ansen, Rob Humanick, Roger Moore, Eric Harrison, Steven Rosen, Desson Thomson, Eddie Harrison, David Walsh, CJ Sheu, Sean Axmaker, Cole Smithey, Jeffrey Overstreet, MPAA rating R, Vietnam War, Captain Willard, Colonel Kurtz, Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, Chief Phillips, Chef, Lance Johnson, restored, digital, dye-transfer, Dolby SR, Dolby Stereo, Surround, Dolby A, Dolby Digital, Miramax Films, Scope (2.35:1)
Worldwide gross: $92,158,064
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $400,768,985
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 384
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 43,704,360
US/Canada gross: $83,471,511
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $362,993,658
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 142
US/Canada opening weekend: $118,558
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $515,575
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,395
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $31,500,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $136,984,464
Production budget ranking: 254
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $73,766,134
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $190,018,387
ROI to date (est.): 90%
ROI ranking: 978
Robert Duvall – Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore
Martin Sheen – Captain Benjamin L. Willard
Frederic Forrest – Chef
Albert Hall – Chief Phillips
Sam Bottoms – Lance Johnson
Director(s)
Francis Ford Coppola
Writer(s)
Francis Ford Coppola, John Milius, Joseph Conrad, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Herr
Producer(s)
Francis Ford Coppola
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 2 Oscars
21 wins & 33 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Achievement in Cinematography Winners, Oscar Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Winners, Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners
All Critics (84) | Top Critics (25) | Fresh (78) | Rotten (6)
Does it strive too hard for greatness? Sure. But it’s not likely that you’ll see another movie this year with so much heart-stopping, gut-churning greatness in it.
March 8, 2018
David Ansen
Newsweek
TOP CRITIC
The episodic nature is less apparent in Redux, the pacing surprisingly smoother as a result.
June 6, 2011 | Rating: 4/4
Rob Humanick
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Packs every bit the wallop it did when it was new.
September 21, 2001
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
TOP CRITIC
The originally released version wasn’t broken, but Coppola can fix it as long as he wants, as far as I’m concerned.
August 17, 2001
Eric Harrison
Houston Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
Redux doesn’t redefine Apocalypse Now — rather, it adds archival material. But it’s terrific to see the film back in theaters.
August 17, 2001
Steven Rosen
Denver Post
TOP CRITIC
This is the one where [Coppola] honors his vision — or clears his name, whichever way you look at it.
August 10, 2001 | Rating: 4/5
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
TOP CRITIC
…a punishing, poetic, beautiful, horrible film about man’s inhumanity to man…
February 18, 2021 | Rating: 5/5
Eddie Harrison
film-authority.com
One has an uneasy feeling that every time a group of Americans forms, violence will erupt. And Kurtz is the crowning figure in this universal mayhem.
February 16, 2021
David Walsh
World Socialist Web Site
It’s about the absurd tragedies that occur when a rational strategy or cultural institution is guided by humans and their inherent irrationalities.
June 30, 2020
CJ Sheu
Critics at Large
I’m not convinced that the additions strengthens his story-they humanize Sheen’s character, a figure more interesting as a dead man walking-but they also fill out his psychedelic odyssey with a heft and a scope befitting an epic.
December 10, 2016
Sean Axmaker
Seanax.com
[VIDEO ESSAY] “Apocalypse Now” all but ruined Francis Coppola as a director. It remains a staggering achievement of pure provocative cinema.
April 9, 2012 | Rating: A+
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
Redux’s virtues far outweigh its flaws. Apocalypse Now in any version remains one of the richest, most extravagant moviegoing experiences
December 30, 2008 | Rating: A+
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer…
Plot
It is the height of the war in Vietnam, and U.S. Army Captain Willard is sent by Colonel Lucas and a General to carry out a mission that, officially, ‘does not exist – nor will it ever exist’. The mission: To seek out a mysterious Green Beret Colonel, Walter Kurtz, whose army has crossed the border into Cambodia and is conducting hit-and-run missions against the Viet Cong and NVA. The army believes Kurtz has gone completely insane and Willard’s job is to eliminate him. Willard, sent up the Nung River on a U.S. Navy patrol boat, discovers that his target is one of the most decorated officers in the U.S. Army. His crew meets up with surfer-type Lt-Colonel Kilgore, head of a U.S Army helicopter cavalry group which eliminates a Viet Cong outpost to provide an entry point into the Nung River. After some hair-raising encounters, in which some of his crew are killed, Willard, Lance and Chef reach Colonel Kurtz’s outpost, beyond the Do Lung Bridge. Now, after becoming prisoners of Kurtz, will Willard & the others be able to fulfill their mission?
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Marlon Brando plays Colonel Walter E. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now Redux.
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