Harry Dean Stanton

Harry Dean Stanton (1926--2017) got his start in Hollywood in TV productions such as Zane Grey Theater and Gunsmoke. After a series of minor parts in forgettable westerns, he gradually began to get film roles that showcased his laid-back acting style, appearing in Cool Hand Luke (1967), Kelly's Heroes (1970), The Godfather: Part II (1974), and Alien (1979). He became a headliner in the eighties -- starring in Wim Wenders's moving Paris, Texas (1984) and Alex Cox's Repo Man (1984) -- but it was his extraordinary skill as a character actor that established him as a revered cult figure and kept him in demand throughout his career. Joseph B. Atkins unwinds Stanton's enigmatic persona in the first biography of the man Vanity Fair memorialized as "the philosopher poet of character acting." He sheds light on Stanton's early life in West Irvine, Kentucky, exploring his difficult relationship with his Baptist parents, his service in the Navy, and the events that inspired him to drop out of college and pursue acting. Atkins also chronicles Stanton's early years in California, describing how he honed his craft at the renowned Pasadena Playhouse before breaking into television and movies. In addition to examining the actor's acclaimed body of work, Atkins also explores Harry Dean Stanton as a Hollywood legend, following his years rooming with Jack Nicholson, partying with David Crosby and Mama Cass, jogging with Bob Dylan, and playing poker with John Huston. "HD Stanton" was scratched onto the wall of a jail cell in Easy Rider (1969) and painted on an exterior concrete wall in Drive, He Said (1971). Critic Roger Ebert so admired the actor that he suggested the "Stanton-Walsh Rule," which states that "no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad." Harry Dean Stanton is often remembered for his crowd-pleasing roles in movies like Pretty in Pink (1986) or Escape from New York (1981), but this impassioned biography illuminates the entirety of his incredible sixty-year career. Drawing on interviews with the actor's friends, family, and colleagues, this much-needed book offers an unprecedented look at a beloved figure.

Samurai Kabuki

The ghosts that Bradbury had carried since his challenging time in early 1950s Ireland with John Huston were finally laid to rest when Bradbury received an honorary degree from the University of Ireland, Galway, home to the Huston School of Film and Digital Media. Chapter 41 also describes the film adaptation of A Sound of Thunder (2005) and the need to extend this time travel story into a feature film requiring more special effects than the production could afford. In spite of excellent casting and strong performances, the film fell short of the mark for critics and audiences. The chapter also describes Bradbury’s late-life reflections on Japanese and Chinese culture and his attempts to have Samurai Kabuki produced as a film.

Green Shadows, White Whale

In 1991 Bradbury was able to combine his various stories of Ireland with bridges that told the tale of his Irish adventures writing the Moby Dick screenplay for John Huston in 1953-1954 to form the autobiographical novel Green Shadows, White Whale. Chapter 29 describes how Bradbury was able to merge these complex projects by revisiting the rough winter he spent under Huston’s demanding direction. In the process, Bradbury was able to capture the defining spirit of the Ireland he knew with good humor and only a touch of satire. Bradbury loved the beauty of the countryside and the people, but he would never return. The chapter analyzes this ambivalence through Bradbury’s reflective poem “To Ireland,” and concludes with the comments that Bradbury offered at the 1991 memorial service for his friend Gene Roddenberry.

Mil e uma noites na cidade industrial

Arábia (2017) pode ser situado no âmbito de uma série de incursões cinematográficas aos substratos da realidade, tanto pelo prisma do documentário quanto pelos caminhos da ficção. À primeira vista, a obra parece responder às aparições históricas da figura do trabalhador no cinema brasileiro. Mas há uma região menos nítida de repercussões, com artistas que adaptaram as categorias do realismo a seus propósitos particulares. É o caso, por exemplo, de John Ford e John Huston. Neste artigo, olharemos para as imagens de Arábia no limiar dessas duas zonas de construção estética.

Semblanza de verosimilitud en el registro cinematográfico que representa al soldado herido que vuelve a casa

[English] In 1946 John Huston, in a coordinated effort with the United States propaganda machine to aid the war effort records "PMF 5019: Let There Be Light". The government, however, chose to instead publish "PMF 5047: Shades of Gray", a dramatization of the abovementioned documentary. In this essay we'll discuss the mechanisms through which verisimilitude is achieved, and the limits where reality becomes acceptable, starting from Jacques Aumont ideas of the limits of fiction.[Castellano] En 1946, como parte del aparato propagandístico bélico de los Estados Unidos, John Huston rueda el documental PMF 5019: Let there be light. Sin embargo, el gobierno americano decide no publicarlo, y opta por producir, sobre dicho documental, una dramatización– el llamado PMF 5047: Shades of gray. En este ensayo se analizan ciertos mecanismos que dotan de una semblanza de verosimilitud a las dos producciones –reflexionando desde la idea de Jacques Aumont sobre verosimilitud– los límites que hacen que una realidad sea aceptable.

The Gamblers

Attending the races can be fun, sociable, and a means of generating publicity, but it has its pitfalls—gambling being the worst. Mickey Rooney, Chico Marx, Al Jolson, Jimmy Durante, Desi Arnaz, and John Huston all suffered from gambling addictions in one form or another, and all dropped fortunes in the process. Rooney referred to Del Mar as a “toilet” for all the money he flushed away there. Durante made a career out of laughing at himself, including his inexplicable habit of betting on five or six horses in a single race. Huston had bookies and agents who placed bets for him in all the major racing centers in the world. Chico Marx surpassed them all, squandering a huge fortune at the track, in card games, and at casinos, leaving him flat broke and dependent on Social Security checks in the last decades of his life.

Huston, John (1906–1987)

John Huston was an American actor, director, and screenwriter, who became one of the world’s most influential filmmakers. Born in Missouri to Rhea Huston, a sports editor, and Walter Huston, a vaudeville actor and eventual film star, Huston spent his early years as an artist, author, reporter, soldier, and amateur boxer. He started out in Hollywood as a screenwriter for Samuel Goldwyn at Universal Studios, and later for Warner Bros. At Warner Bros., he helped to launch Humphrey Bogart’s career with High Sierra (1941). A string of successful scripts gained him his first directing job with Maltese Falcon (1941), a film that would thrust Huston into the limelight. In total, his career spanned over five decades, earned him fifteen Oscar nominations and two Academy awards, a Golden Globe, and several lifetime achievement awards. Huston worked in multiple genres, including comedies, war films, musicals, Westerns, adventures, and literary adaptations. His most pronounced role, however, likely involved his development of the modernist film noir, writing and directing several classics of the genre, including Key Largo (1948) and The Asphalt Jungle (1950). Many of these films call into question traditional forms of authority, religious faith, and epistemology, and focus on protagonists who wander the world on a journey to define their own values.