We love crime movies. We may go on and on about Scorsese’s ability to incorporate Italian neo-realism techniques into Mean Streets (1973), the place of John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle (1950) in the canon of postwar noir, The Godfather (1972) as a socio-cultural commentary on the distortion of the ideals of the American dream blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda…but that ain’t it.
We love crime movies because we love watching a guy who doesn’t have to behave, who doesn’t have to – nor care to – put a choker on his id and can let his darkest, most visceral impulses run wild. Some smart-mouth gopher tells hood Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), “Go fuck yourself,” in Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990), and does Tommy roll with it? Does he spit back, “Fuck me? Nah, fuck you!” Does he go home and tell his mother?
Nope.
He pulls a .45 cannon out from...
We love crime movies because we love watching a guy who doesn’t have to behave, who doesn’t have to – nor care to – put a choker on his id and can let his darkest, most visceral impulses run wild. Some smart-mouth gopher tells hood Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), “Go fuck yourself,” in Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990), and does Tommy roll with it? Does he spit back, “Fuck me? Nah, fuck you!” Does he go home and tell his mother?
Nope.
He pulls a .45 cannon out from...
- 10/30/2012
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Hollywood director and screenwriter who won an Oscar for Dog Day Afternoon
In Sunset Boulevard, William Holden's character remarks: "Audiences don't know somebody sits down and writes a picture. They think the actors make it up as they go along." Given the difficulties in quantifying their contributions, screenwriters seldom get the recognition they deserve. Frank Pierson, who has died aged 87, wrote the screenplays for 10 films but his reputation rests on Cat Ballou (1965), Cool Hand Luke (1967) and Dog Day Afternoon (1975), all of which gained him Academy Award nominations, with the last of them winning the Oscar for best original screenplay.
Yet most of the plaudits for Dog Day Afternoon went to Sidney Lumet, the director, and Al Pacino, the star. Pierson, whose work had as much to do with structure and character as dialogue, shaped the script from a Life magazine article about a bungled bank robbery that took place...
In Sunset Boulevard, William Holden's character remarks: "Audiences don't know somebody sits down and writes a picture. They think the actors make it up as they go along." Given the difficulties in quantifying their contributions, screenwriters seldom get the recognition they deserve. Frank Pierson, who has died aged 87, wrote the screenplays for 10 films but his reputation rests on Cat Ballou (1965), Cool Hand Luke (1967) and Dog Day Afternoon (1975), all of which gained him Academy Award nominations, with the last of them winning the Oscar for best original screenplay.
Yet most of the plaudits for Dog Day Afternoon went to Sidney Lumet, the director, and Al Pacino, the star. Pierson, whose work had as much to do with structure and character as dialogue, shaped the script from a Life magazine article about a bungled bank robbery that took place...
- 7/26/2012
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Frank Pierson, an Academy Award-winning screenwriter who worked in TV and movies for more than 50 years, has died at the age of 87. Pierson was the son of Louise Randall Pierson, whose memoir, Roughly Speaking, about her experience holding the family together was made into a 1945 movie starring Rosalind Russell. After attending Harvard, Frank got his start in advertising before breaking into TV as script editor on the hit Western Have Gun, Will Travel. He got his first big-screen credits on two movies directed by Elliot Silverstein: the comedic Western Cat Ballou (1965) and The Happening (1967). And ...
- 7/23/2012
- avclub.com
It would be enough for anyone’s obituary to contain the fact that they wrote the script for Dog Day Afternoon and won an Oscar for it. But Frank Pierson’s life included much more than that, encompassing other big writing jobs, directing and being the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He died yesterday at the age of 87.Pierson worked in movies and TV for more than 50 years, starting his career in advertising before moving to work on the Western series Have Gun Will Travel.His early efforts in movies saw him make a name for himself almost immediately, crafting the script for 1965’s Cat Ballou and 1967’s The Happening. And then he jumped to the next level, co-writing Cool Hand Luke with novelist Donn Pearce.The director’s chair beckoned for the adaptation of John Le Carre’s thriller The Looking Glass War, and...
- 7/23/2012
- EmpireOnline
(Image via NewNowNext Blog) Did you feel a slight tingling sensation in your nether regions as you awoke this morning? It’s Ok. You can admit it. We all did. Because today is the day rabid Lady Gaga fans got what they’ve all been waiting for: The premiere of her new single “Born This Way.” It’s a new sound for Gaga, though perhaps not completely original: The message and beat sound like an updated version of Madonna‘s “Express Yourself.” You can listen to the song over at Lady Gaga’s official website or at EW.com. If the Lgbt community were to create a sitcom based on their experiences, surely “Born This Way” would be their theme song. That, or The Supremes’ “The Happening.” Is the song Gaga’s best? In our opinion, far from it. But it’s as catchy as Sars, and if you frequent...
- 2/11/2011
- by Michelle Collins
- BestWeekEver
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