Production Company(ies)

 
Distributor
TriStar Pictures
 
Release Type
Theatrical
 
Filming Location(s)
Huntley & Palmers Biscuit Factory, Reading, Berkshire, England, UK
 
MPAA / Certificate
G
 
Year of Release
1976
 

 
Genre(s)
Biography
 
Keyword(s)

Cast & Crew

Jeff Malmberg

Tom Putnam

Matt Radecki

Chris Shellen

Ash Black Bufflo

Jeff Malmberg,Director

Jeff Malmberg,Producer

Tom Putnam,Producer

Matt Radecki,Producer

Chris Shellen,Producer

Jeff Malmberg – Director
Jeff Malmberg – Producer
Tom Putnam – Producer
Matt Radecki – Producer
Chris Shellen – Producer
Ash Black Bufflo – Original Music

 

Barry Levinson

James Toback

Warren Beatty

Mark Johnson

Barry Levinson

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Barry Levinson
 
Writer(s)
James Toback
 
Producer(s)
Warren Beatty, Mark Johnson, Barry Levinson

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
5 wins & 11 nominations total
 
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Achievement in Art Direction Winners, Oscar Best Achievement in Costume Design Winners, Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners
 

Top Reviews

Neil Jillett

Carrie Rickey

John Hartl

Clifford Terry

Kenneth Turan

The Age

Philadelphia Inquirer

Seattle Times

Chicago Tribune

Los Angeles Times

BUGSY
 All Critics (62) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (52) | Rotten (10)
 [Beatty] tries to make Siegel humorous and glamorously suave, but Is defeated by the futility of the enterprise. This paranoid sadist is not a nice guy. He is not even interesting; merely a bully with a few colorful mannerisms.
 
 August 16, 2021
 
 Neil Jillett
 The Age (Australia)
 TOP CRITIC
 From James Toback’s crackling script to Warren Beatty’s electric performance as gangster Ben Siegel, Bugsy is so engrossing that you feel uncharitable mentioning that while splendid in individual scenes, Barry Levinson’s movie lacks propulsion.
 
 October 29, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/4
 
 Carrie Rickey
 Philadelphia Inquirer
 TOP CRITIC
 What finally distinguishes Bugsy from other mob movies is its ever-present sense of the absurd.
 
 October 29, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/4
 
 John Hartl
 Seattle Times
 TOP CRITIC
 Insouciant and flashy, co-producer Beatty is at his best when evoking the narcissistic, show-business side of Siegel.
 
 October 29, 2014 | Rating: 3/4
 
 Clifford Terry
 Chicago Tribune
 TOP CRITIC
 A great deal of the fun of watching this very assured film is seeing with what energetic panache the actor takes on the mantle of the mobster J. Edgar Hoover once called “the most dangerous man in America.”
 
 October 29, 2014
 
 Kenneth Turan
 Los Angeles Times
 TOP CRITIC
 The picture belongs, in every sense of the word, to Beatty.
 
 October 29, 2014
 
 Richard Schickel
 TIME Magazine
 TOP CRITIC
 This is the kind of film that Americans make best: It is fast-moving, hard-hitting, and it is about power.
 
 April 6, 2022
 
 Quentin Crisp
 Christopher Street
 Annette Bening is phenomenal as sultry, foul-mouthed femme fatale/corporate lieutenant Virginia Hill. Worth watching for her alone.
 
 March 26, 2020
 
 Eve Tushnet
 Patheos
 Beatty and Annette Bening charge their roles with energy, and the supporting cast includes such talents as Harvey Keitel, Joe Mantegna, Ben Kingsley, and Elliott Gould in sturdy performances.
 
 October 29, 2014
 
 David Sterritt
 Christian Science Monitor
 A clump of casinos in the sand is evidence of something, but I’m pretty sure it’s not greatness.
 
 October 29, 2014 | Rating: 2/4
 
 Gary Thompson
 Philadelphia Daily News
 Oh, it’s not that they cover up Siegel’s brutal side, it’s just that they undercut it by making the man just a victim of his own appetites, which is sort of like saying Charles Manson was just a little too enthusiastic about a certain Beatles tune.
 
 October 29, 2014 | Rating: 2.5/4
 
 Dan Webster
 Spokesman-Review (Washington)
 While avoiding the usual gangster film clichs, director Barry Levinson also insists that Warren Beatty does more than coast through this movie on matine idol looks and easy charm.
 
 October 29, 2014 | Rating: 4/5
 
 John Marriott
 Radio Times…

 

Plot
A gangster movie in which all the gangsters are played by children. Instead of real guns and ammo, they use “splurge guns” that cover the victim in whipped cream. The story tells of the rise of Bugsy Malone and the battle for power between Fat Sam and Dandy Dan.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
NA
 

 
Barry-Levinson.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
3ality Digital Entertainment,
 
Distributor
Fine Line Features, New Line Cinema
 
Release Type

 
Filming Location(s)
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
Rated NC-17 for a wide range of perversions in explicit detail
 
Year of Release
1976
 

 
Genre(s)
Comedy
 
Keyword(s)
starring Divine, David Lochary, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce, Danny Mills, Edith Massey, Babs Johnson, directed by John Waters, written by John Waters, comedy, NC-17 rating, box office gross $413.8K, reviewed by Eric Henderson, Rene Rodriguez, Owen Gleiberman, Variety Staff, Nick Schager, Nell Minow, Dennis Harvey, Chase Burns, Paul Gessell, Greg Klymkiw, Donald J Levit, Cole Smithey, transgressive, camp, shocking, filthiest people alive, Baltimore, fat woman, misfit family, competition, family-oriented, psychotic exuberance, cannibalism, castration, junk art, exploitation, trash cinema, influential, Harmony Korine, Rob Zombie, horror, porn, vulgar, pointless, horrendous filmmaking, bad acting
 

Cast & Crew

Divine

David Lochary

Mink Stole

Mary Vivian Pearce

Danny Mills

Babs Johnson

Raymond Marble

Connie Marble

Cotton

Crackers

Divine – Babs Johnson
David Lochary – Raymond Marble
Mink Stole – Connie Marble
Mary Vivian Pearce – Cotton
Danny Mills – Crackers
Edith Massey – Edie

 

John Waters

John Waters

John Waters

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
John Waters
 
Writer(s)
John Waters
 
Producer(s)
John Waters

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
1 win
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Eric Henderson

Rene Rodriguez

Owen Gleiberman

Variety Staff

Nick Schager

Slant Magazine

Miami Herald

Entertainment Weekly

Variety

Lessons of Darkness

PINK FLAMINGOS
 All Critics (45) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (37) | Rotten (8)
 Of course, every battle in their filth war is quite obviously filtered through John Waters’s legendarily up-is-down, wrong-is-right sense of humor.
 
 June 21, 2022
 
 Eric Henderson
 Slant Magazine
 TOP CRITIC
 Talk about an unlikely classic.
 
 December 2, 2020
 
 Rene Rodriguez
 Miami Herald
 TOP CRITIC
 Twenty-five years after Pink Flamingos was first unleashed, the film has lost none of its danger, its wit, its psychotic exuberance.
 
 September 7, 2011 | Rating: A
 
 Owen Gleiberman
 Entertainment Weekly
 TOP CRITIC
 One of the most vile, stupid and repulsive films ever made.
 
 June 30, 2008
 
 Variety Staff
 Variety
 TOP CRITIC
 Still succeeds as an all-out assault on good taste.
 
 May 4, 2005 | Rating: B
 
 Nick Schager
 Lessons of Darkness
 TOP CRITIC
 June 25, 2004 | Rating: 0/5
 
 Nell Minow
 Movie Mom
 TOP CRITIC
 Fifty years on, Pink Flamingos is still a delightfully absurdist shock…
 
 March 15, 2022
 
 Dennis Harvey
 48 Hills
 [It] gave me permission to relish in the freedom of being a reject.
 
 January 11, 2022
 
 Chase Burns
 The Stranger (Seattle, WA)
 There is even a touch of genius to the filth of Waters, Divine and company. These folks were way ahead of their time. They may still be ahead of the times. Indeed, the times may never catch up.
 
 December 2, 2020 | Rating: 3/4
 
 Paul Gessell
 Ottawa Citizen
 Seeing this movie seemed like having a dream of home, and the world of the movie made me feel like I’d found my true home.
 
 August 17, 2015 | Rating: 5/5
 
 Greg Klymkiw
 Electric Sheep
 It will take patience and a strong stomach to sit through, to ‘take,’ the whole.
 
 September 18, 2014
 
 Donald J. Levit
 ReelTalk Movie Reviews
 [VIDEO ESSAY] “Pink Flamingos” remains to this day the most cogently transgressive and anarchic film ever made.
 
 July 13, 2014 | Rating: A+
 
 Cole Smithey
 ColeSmithey.com…

 

Plot
Sleaze queen Divine lives in a caravan with her mad hippie son Crackers and her 250-pound mother Mama Edie, trying to rest quietly on their laurels as ‘the filthiest people alive’. But competition is brewing in the form of Connie and Raymond Marble, who sell heroin to schoolchildren and kidnap and impregnate female hitchhikers, then sell the babies to lesbian couples. Finally, they challenge Divine directly, and battle commences.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
The late drag legend Divine stars in Pink Flamingos as the “filthiest person alive.”
 

 
John-Waters.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Dreamworks Pictures, Pacific Data Images Dream Works Animation,
 
Distributor
Douglas Films
 
Release Type

 
Filming Location(s)
Cañón de la Huasteca, Santa Catarina, Nuevo León, Mexico
 
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
 
Year of Release
1971
 

 
Genre(s)
Western
 
Keyword(s)
starring Alejandro Jodorowsky, Mara Lorenzio, Jacqueline Luis, Brontis Jodorowsky, José Legarreta, Alfonso Arau, directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky, written by Alejandro Jodorowsky, Western, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Ed Potton, Peter Bradshaw, Ben Walters, Jay Cocks, Nick Schager, David Parkinson, Rob Aldam, Ángel S Harguindey, Indra Arriaga, Christopher Hudson, Cole Smithey, Donald J Levit, MPAA rating, Douglas Films, Old West, Sodom and Gomorrah, gunslinger, redemption, violence, surrealism, religious references, mistical, symbols, unique, evocative atmosphere, narrative structure, cult cinema, forgotten classic, raw energy, fluid direction, unprecedented, memorable scenes, obscured
 

Cast & Crew

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Mara Lorenzio

Jacqueline Luis

Brontis Jodorowsky

José Legarreta

El Topo

La mujer

Mujercita

Hijo

Moribundo

Alejandro Jodorowsky – El Topo
Mara Lorenzio – La mujer
Jacqueline Luis – Mujercita
Brontis Jodorowsky – Hijo
José Legarreta – Moribundo
Alfonso Arau – Bandido 1

 

Alejandro Jodorowsky

Alejandro Jodorowsky

NA

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Alejandro Jodorowsky
 
Writer(s)
Alejandro Jodorowsky
 
Producer(s)
NA

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
4 wins & 3 nominations
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Ed Potton

Peter Bradshaw

Ben Walters

Jay Cocks

Nick Schager

Times

Guardian

Time Out

TIME Magazine

Lessons of Darkness

EL TOPO
 All Critics (44) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (35) | Rotten (9)
 It’s tempting to say they don’t make films like this any more, but I’m not sure anyone has ever made them like Jodorowsky.
 
 January 10, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
 
 Ed Potton
 Times (UK)
 TOP CRITIC
 It’s a bizarre head-trip festival of occult psychedelia, heatstroke visuals, Age-of-Aquarius nude dancing and violence through poster-paint fake blood splattered about the place.
 
 January 9, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
 
 Peter Bradshaw
 Guardian
 TOP CRITIC
 It remains an aesthetically intoxicating trip.
 
 March 11, 2015
 
 Ben Walters
 Time Out
 TOP CRITIC
 The film is by turns comic and profound, hysterical and pompous, fully complex enough to deserve more than a simple yea or nay.
 
 November 15, 2013
 
 Jay Cocks
 TIME Magazine
 TOP CRITIC
 Has lost little of the maddening, bewildering weirdness that made it a seminal midnight-movie phenomenon.
 
 June 5, 2011 | Rating: B
 
 Nick Schager
 Lessons of Darkness
 TOP CRITIC
 Violent, visionary, vital.
 
 May 2, 2007 | Rating: 4/5
 
 David Parkinson
 Empire Magazine
 TOP CRITIC
 A true one-off
 
 July 29, 2021
 
 Rob Aldam
 Backseat Mafia
 […] splendid cinematography, astonishing production design and an incredibly human story. [Full review in Spanish]
 
 August 29, 2017
 
 Ángel S. Harguindey
 El Pais (Spain)
 The element of violence… holds the kernels for inexhaustible analysis of the human condition that preceded the film, through the time the film captivated audiences, and even today.
 
 June 20, 2017
 
 Indra Arriaga
 Anchorage Press
 Forget about the cosmic significance: it is the work of a talented film-maker, and full of memorable scenes.
 
 March 11, 2015
 
 Christopher Hudson
 The Spectator
 [VIDEO ESSAY] For all of its easily mocked elements, “El Topo” is a work of mad cinematic genius that sticks.
 
 December 4, 2011 | Rating: A-
 
 Cole Smithey
 ColeSmithey.com
 … the story of ‘El Topo’ proves too scattered and weak to bear its digressions and vague symbols that suggest everything, anything and nothing.
 
 November 20, 2011
 
 Donald J. Levit
 ReelTalk Movie Reviews…

 

Plot
El Topo decides to confront warrior masters on a transformative desert journey he begins with his six-year-old son, who must bury his childhood totems to become a man. El Topo (the mole) claims to be God, while dressed as a gun-slinger in black, riding a horse through a mystical landscape strewn with American Western and ancient Eastern religious symbols. Bandits slaughtered a village on his path, so El Topo avenges the massacred, then forcibly takes their leader’s woman Mara as his. El Topo’s surreal way is bloody, sexual and self-reflective, musing of his own demons, as he tries to vanquish those he encounters.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
There is no goofy or funny or odd comment about the film El Topo on Fresh Kernels.
 

 
Alejandro-Jodorowsky.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures,
 
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
 
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical, Theatrical (Wide)
 
Filming Location(s)
Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for strong violence and language
 
Year of Release
1971
 

 
Genre(s)
Crime/Drama
 
Keyword(s)
starring Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Christopher St John, Charles Cioffi, Gwenn Mitchell, Lawrence Pressman, directed by Gordon Parks, written by Ernest Tidyman, John D F Black, genre: Crime/Drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Margaret Hinxman, Craig Fisher, Kim Newman, A.D Murphy, J R Jones, Geoff Andrew, Peter Canavese, Rob Aldam, Aaron Neuwirth, Ron Hutson, Mike Massie, Brian Costello, produced by Joel Freeman, MPAA rating: R, black crime mob, black nationals, white mafia, kidnapping, detective, blaxploitation, Isaac Hayes, soundtrack, suave, ultimate, cool, empowering, stereotypical, anachronisms, classic lines, coffee, violence, sex, profanity, an engaging story, all over the place, switching between plots, score
 

Cast & Crew

Richard Roundtree

Moses Gunn

Christopher St. John

Charles Cioffi

Gwenn Mitchell

John Shaft

Bumpy Jonas

Ben Buford

Vic Androzzi

Ellie Moore

Richard Roundtree – John Shaft
Moses Gunn – Bumpy Jonas
Christopher St. John – Ben Buford
Charles Cioffi – Vic Androzzi
Gwenn Mitchell – Ellie Moore
Lawrence Pressman – Sergeant Tom Hanson
Director – Gordon Parks
Producer – Joel Freeman
Writers – Ernest Tidyman, John D. F. Black

 

Gordon Parks

Ernest Tidyman

Joel Freeman

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Gordon Parks
 
Writer(s)
Ernest Tidyman, Ernest Tidyman, John D. F. Black
 
Producer(s)
Joel Freeman

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
1 win & 13 nominations
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Margaret Hinxman

Craig Fisher

Kim Newman

A.D. Murphy

J. R. Jones

Daily Telegraph

Hollywood Reporter

Empire Magazine

Variety

Chicago Reader

SHAFT
 All Critics (44) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (38) | Rotten (6)
 A good, gutsy crime yarn in the ‘forties style.
 
 June 8, 2020
 
 Margaret Hinxman
 Daily Telegraph (UK)
 TOP CRITIC
 If Shaft were indeed a hard-hitting, fast-paced, action-packed detective thriller, as it was meant to be, then it would be an acceptable entertainment. But it isn’t.
 
 June 25, 2018
 
 Craig Fisher
 Hollywood Reporter
 TOP CRITIC
 A blaxploitation pic that’s never quite as cool as its theme song.
 
 April 3, 2012 | Rating: 3/5
 
 Kim Newman
 Empire Magazine
 TOP CRITIC
 Excellent cast, headed by newcomer Richard Roundtree, may shock some audiences with heavy dose of candid dialog and situation.
 
 March 26, 2009
 
 A.D. Murphy
 Variety
 TOP CRITIC
 Forty years of gumshoe noir collided with black power in this 1971 action classic, the most popular of the blaxploitation pictures.
 
 March 1, 2007
 
 J. R. Jones
 Chicago Reader
 TOP CRITIC
 A hip, cool, entertaining thriller.
 
 June 24, 2006
 
 Geoff Andrew
 Time Out
 TOP CRITIC
 Pop culture transcendence.
 
 June 28, 2022 | Rating: 3.5/4
 
 Peter Canavese
 Celluloid Dreams
 A fascinating and unique crime drama which provides a snapshot of a time and place in history.
 
 June 23, 2022
 
 Rob Aldam
 Backseat Mafia
 Whether watching it to see a fun detective story or get a handle on the Blaxploitation era, Shaft is still and has always been one cool cat to follow.
 
 June 16, 2022 | Rating: 8/10
 
 Aaron Neuwirth
 Why So Blu
 Most of the characters are poorly cast and unconvincing. And except for some souped-up violence, especially at the end, there just isn’t much to the movie.
 
 January 25, 2022
 
 Ron Hutson
 Call and Post (Cleveland)
 Even when interactions remain low-key, Shaft’s screen presence and larger-than-life attitude are enough to spice things up.
 
 August 31, 2020 | Rating: 8/10
 
 Mike Massie
 Gone With The Twins
 Violence, some sex, profanity in ’70s classic.
 
 June 11, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
 
 Brian Costello
 Common Sense Media…

 

Plot
New York Police Detective John Shaft is the lead detective on a sensitive case, a young black man is severely beaten. The man’s companions tell Shaft that their friend humiliated the one who was spouting racial slurs at him. Shaft confronts him and he says he’s Walter Wade Jr. , the son of a wealthy man. Shaft finds that he has the ID of a woman who’s a waitress at the bar where Wade and the guy who was attacked were. When Wade continues to hurl racist comments, Shaft smacks him. Shaft later learns because of his actions Wade was granted bail and fled. Two years later, Wade returns and Shaft arrests him. At his hearing when the judge grants him bail, that’s when Shaft throws his badge at the judge. He then sets out to get Wade by finding the waitress. Wade in the meantime asks a drug dealer named Peoples Hernandez to find the waitress and make sure she doesn’t talk.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny or odd comments were found in the Fresh Kernels database for Shaft.
 

 
Gordon-Parks.jpg