title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: Princess Juliana International Airport is the main airport on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. The airport is located on the Dutch side of the island, in the country of Sint Maarten, close to the shore of Simpson Bay Lagoon. In 2015, the airport handled 1,829,543 passengers and around 60,000 aircraft movements. The airport serves as a hub for Winair and is the major gateway for the smaller Leeward Islands, including Anguilla, Saba, Saint Barthélemy and Sint Eustatius. It is named after Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, who landed there while she was heir presumptive in 1944, the year after the airport opened. The airport has very low-altitude flyover landing approaches because one end of its runway is extremely close to the shore and Maho Beach. While Princess Juliana International is the primary aviation gateway to the island, there is also a smaller public-use airport on the French side, in the French Collectivity of Saint Martin, called Grand Case-Espérance Airport.


title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: The airport began as a US military airstrip in 1942 during World War II. The following year, first commercial flight landed on 3 December 1943. The future Queen Juliana visited the island using the airport in 1944. Eventually, the airport was named after her. In 1964 the airport was remodeled and relocated, with a new terminal building and control tower. The facilities were upgraded in 1985 and 2001.


title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: Because of increased passenger traffic and the expected growth of passenger traffic in the near future, Princess Juliana International Airport is being heavily modernized following a three-phased masterplan, commissioned in 1997.


title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: Phase I was a short-term programme in order to upgrade existing facilities and improve the level of service at various points. This included widening, strengthening and renovating the runway, increasing the bearing capacity of the taxiways, construction of a new apron and an upgrade of the (old) terminal. Phase I was completed in 2001.


title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: Phase II included the construction of a radar facility and a new air traffic control tower, the construction of a new and more modern, , terminal, capable of handling 2.5 million passengers per year, and the construction of a Runway End Safety Area (RESA) of , including a overrun, on both ends of its runway, to comply with ICAO rules. The new air traffic control tower and the radar station commenced operations on 29 March 2004, while the new terminal opened in late October 2006. The terminal has 4 jetways for large aircraft like 747s. If traffic develops as forecast, Phase III of the masterplan will be executed, consisting of an extension of the new terminal building and the construction of a full parallel taxiway system.


title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: In 1994, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and France signed the Franco-Dutch treaty on Saint Martin border controls, which allows for joint Franco-Dutch border controls on so-called "risk flights". After some delay, the treaty was ratified in November 2006 in the Netherlands, and subsequently entered into force on 1 August 2007.


title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: In July 2016, KLM announced that, starting in October, it would serve the airport with direct flights from Amsterdam instead of the triangle route via Curaçao. The previous triangle route used a Boeing 747. The new direct route would use an Airbus A330. This change ended the airport's last regularly scheduled Boeing 747 service. The 747 made its last appearance at the airport on 28 October 2016. Maho Beach was almost completely covered with tourists and plane-spotters who came to witness the last landing and departure of the aircraft. In September 2017 it did make a brief return in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, operating some relief flights. At the same time KLM announced the return of the triangle route via Curaçao, this time however operated by an Airbus A330. In September 2018, KLM officials confirmed that they hope to resume direct flights between Amsterdam and St. Maarten by November 2019.


title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: On 6 September 2017, the airport suffered significant damage when Hurricane Irma struck the island as a Category 5 hurricane. Video from a Dutch military helicopter showed the roof had been blown off the terminal, the jetways were damaged, and there was a significant amount of sand (blown through the fences from Simpson Bay Beach) and flooding on the runway. The airport reopened on 10 October 2017 using temporary facilities while repair work commenced. Pavilions were in use during reconstruction of the main terminal. It was hoped to move the airport's departure and arrival operations into the ground floor of the main terminal building by November. In December 2018, temporary arrival and departure facilities opened within the first level of the terminal building. The entire upper floor of the terminal and the four jet-bridges remain temporarily out of commission.


title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: The airport has a single runway numbered 10/28, measuring 7,546 ft x 148 ft (2,300 m x 45 m). It was renumbered from 09/27 in late 2008.


title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: Pilots guided by GPS take a more efficient approach than those operating under VFR. Local airport rules prohibit aircraft from flying lower than


title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: Arriving aircraft approach the island on the last section of the final approach for Runway 10, following a 3° glide slope flying low over the famous Maho Beach. The proximity of Maho Beach to the runway has made the airport one of the world's favorite places among planespotters despite the dangers. In 2017 a New Zealand woman died from injuries sustained by jet blast from a departing aircraft. Tourists have been often criticised for dangerous behavior on the beach.


title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: The main apron measures with another on Eastern apron. For freight handling a dedicated apron of is available.


title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: Designed to handle some 2.5 million passengers annually, the new four-story terminal building offered (at least until the arrival of Hurricane Irma) of floor space and was fully air-conditioned. Available facilities included 46 check-in desks, 10 transit desks and 13 boarding gates. There were 20 immigration booths for arriving passengers and five exit-control booths for departing passengers. The building also featured 40 shops and food & beverage units—some unique to St. Maarten—promoted under the retail theme 'So Much More'.


title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: To accommodate the growing international and local traffic of private aircraft, PJIA has a fixed-base operator building, offering office space and private lounges with dedicated customs.


title: Princess Juliana International Airport

text: Since official opening of the new control tower, PJIA air traffic controllers have two radar systems at their disposal with ranges of and . PJIA controllers manage 4,000 square NM of airspace known as the Juliana TCA around the airport, roughly between and of the St Maarten VOR-DME. Besides providing approach, tower and ground control at PJIA, these controllers also provide approach control for Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport (Anguilla), L'Espérance Airport (French Saint Martin), Gustaf III Airport (St. Barths), F.D. Roosevelt Airport (St. Eustatius) and Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (Saba).


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: Richard Lawrence Hatch (May 21, 1945 – February 7, 2017) was an American actor, writer, and producer. Hatch began his career as a stage actor before moving on to television work in the 1970s. Hatch is best known for his role as Captain Apollo in the original "Battlestar Galactica" television series. He is also widely known for his role as Tom Zarek in the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica".


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: Hatch was born on May 21, 1945, in Santa Monica, California, to John Raymond Hatch and Elizabeth Hatch (née White). He grew up with four siblings. While in high school, he aspired to become an athlete in pole vaulting, and only had a passing interest in acting, as he considered himself too shy and insecure. The assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, while Hatch had just started college, turned him towards acting; he had been enrolled in a required oral interpretation course at the time, and following the assassination, presented an article written about Kennedy upon which he said: "As I began to read this article, I got so affected by what I was saying that I forgot myself. I was expressing feelings and emotions I tended to keep locked inside of myself."


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: Hatch began his theatrical career with the Los Angeles Repertory Theater, as well as shows in Chicago and Off-Broadway.


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: Hatch began working in television in 1970 when he starred as Philip Brent in the daytime soap opera "All My Children", a role he played for two years. In the following years, he made guest appearances in prime time series such as "Cannon"; "Nakia"; "Barnaby Jones"; "Hawaii Five-O"; and "The Waltons"; as well as appearing in several made-for-TV movies such as "F. Scott Fitzgerald and 'The Last of the Belles'" (1974) with Susan Sarandon;"The Hatfields and the McCoys" (1975) with Jack Palance; "Addie and the King of Hearts" (1976) with Jason Robards; and the 1978 television movie "Deadman's Curve," in which he portrayed Jan Berry of the musical duo Jan and Dean, alongside Bruce Davison as Dean Torrence.


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: In 1976, Hatch gained his first major television role as Inspector Dan Robbins on the detective series "The Streets of San Francisco," as the replacement for Michael Douglas, who had played Inspector Steve Keller in the series, but had resigned from the cast that year. Though the role was for only one season, Hatch won Germany's Bravo Youth Magazine Award for the role. Following this, he had a recurring role on the series "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," also for one season in 1977.


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: In 1978, Hatch gained a starring role in Glen A. Larson's sci-fi series, "Battlestar Galactica" (1978), which aired for a single season before its high cost motivated its cancellation by ABC-TV. Hatch was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the role.


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Hatch made guest appearances on such series as "Hotel;" "Murder, She Wrote;" "The Love Boat" (romantically opposite 20-year-old Teri Hatcher in her first on-screen speaking role); "Fantasy Island;" "Baywatch;" "Dynasty;" and "MacGyver." In 1990, Hatch returned to daytime soap operas and appeared on "Santa Barbara," originating the character Steven Slade.


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: In 2013, Hatch made a guest appearance in an adult-oriented episode of "The Eric Andre Show" on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: Hatch made several low-key theatrical film releases, including "Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen" (1981) and "Prisoners of the Lost Universe" (1983). An abridged version of the pilot episode of "Battlestar Galactica" was released in cinemas, initially overseas and then for a limited run in the U.S., as was a sequel film, "Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack," which was also made from episodes of the series. He starred with Leif Garrett in "Party Line" (1988) and with Arte Johnson in "Second Chance" (1996).


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: In the 1990s, Hatch attempted to revive "Battlestar Galactica." He began writing novels based on the series, and also wrote, co-directed and executive-produced a trailer called "" in the hopes of enticing Universal Studios – the rights holders for the franchise – into producing a new series. Hatch's series would have been a direct continuation of the original 1978 series, and would have ignored the events of the failed spin-off "Galactica 1980," in which Hatch had not appeared. Original actors John Colicos (Baltar), Terry Carter (Colonel Tigh) and Jack Stauffer (Bojay) appeared in the trailer with Hatch. Though the trailer won acclaim at science-fiction conventions, Universal was not interested in Hatch's vision for the revival of "Battlestar Galactica," and instead opted for a remake rather than the sequel for which Hatch had campaigned. Hatch, who had reportedly remortgaged his own house to produce the trailer, was bitterly disappointed by this turn of events and was highly critical of the prospective new series.


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: In 2004, he stated to Sci-Fi Pulse that he had felt resentment over the failure of his planned "Galactica" continuation and was left "exhausted and sick... I had, over the past several years, bonded deeply with the original characters and story... writing the novels and the comic books and really campaigning to bring back the show."


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: Despite his resentment, Hatch developed a respect for Ronald D. Moore, the remake show's head writer and producer, when Moore appeared as a featured guest at Galacticon (the "Battlestar Galactica" 25th anniversary convention, hosted by Hatch) and answered questions posed by a very hostile audience. Later, in 2004, Hatch was offered a recurring role in the new "Battlestar Galactica" series, which he accepted. He portrayed Tom Zarek, a terrorist turned politician who spent twenty years in prison for blowing up a government building. After Zarek's death, Hatch commented that "never did I play this character as a villain nor did I think he was one and I still feel that way," and that he considered the character to be a principled figure who is driven to violence after being "blocked in every way possible" by Roslin and Adama. "Zarek, Adama and Roslin all wanted power for the same reason, to make a positive difference."


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: Alongside his attempts to revive the original "Battlestar Galactica", Hatch created a trailer for his own space opera entitled "The Great War of Magellan".


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: Hatch appeared in "InAlienable," a 2008 science-fiction film written and produced by Walter Koenig. In 2011, Hatch worked on a new reality TV series called "Who the Frak?", which he created and appeared in as himself. The series was touted as "the world's first social network reality drama." In 2012–13, Hatch appeared in the web series "The Silicon Assassin Project". In 2013, he ventured into the Steampunk genre, starring in the short film "Cowboys & Engines" alongside Malcolm McDowell and Walter Koenig. In 2014, he played the Klingon Commander Kharn in the "Star Trek" fan film "Prelude To Axanar" and was to appear in the subsequent fan production "Star Trek: Axanar" in 2015, though legal issues with Paramount Pictures prevented the project from being completed.


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: With various co-authors, Hatch wrote a series of seven tie-in novels set in the original "Battlestar Galactica" universe. The series included:


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: "Armageddon" and "Warhawk" were both written with Christopher Golden. "Resurrection" was written with Stan Timmons. "Rebellion" was written with Alan Rodgers. "Paradis", "Destiny", and "Redemption" were all written with Brad Linaweaver.


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: Hatch died on February 7, 2017, of pancreatic cancer while he was under hospice care in Los Angeles, at age 71.


title: Richard Hatch (actor)

text: In his final film performance, Hatch played director Haskell Edwards in the film "Diminuendo" which wrapped a few months before he learned of his pancreatic cancer. Hatch was able to see a rough cut of the film before he died, and a work-in-progress screening was held as a memorial shortly after his death. "Diminuendo" had its world premiere at the 20th Annual Sarasota Film Festival on April 20, 2018.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: The series follows a young inventor named Jean and a former circus performer named Nadia, who wishes to return to her home in Africa, but soon discovers a secret hidden within her pendant that leads her off to adventure.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: In its original Japanese broadcast, it aired from 1990 to 1991, running for 39 episodes, and was distributed by ADV Films in the United States. ADV's Anime Network has broadcast the series in the United States. Following the 2009 closure of ADV, Sentai Filmworks has re-licensed the anime series, and it was re-released on Blu-ray and DVD in March 2014. GKIDS announced on April 20, 2022 that they have licensed the anime and released it on home video with a new 4K restoration on August 2, 2022.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: Set in an alternate universe 1889, the series centers on Nadia, a 14-year-old girl of unknown origins, and Jean, a young, warm-hearted French inventor. Early in the story, the two protagonists are chased by Grandis Granva, Sanson, and Hanson, a group of jewel thieves who pursue Nadia for the blue jeweled pendant she possesses named the Blue Water. After being rescued by Captain Nemo and his submarine, the "Nautilus", the jewel thieves and the young protagonists join forces and participate in the struggle against the Neo-Atlantean forces, who seek to dominate the world.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: In the process, Nadia and Jean save the world from violent domination by the Neo-Atlantean forces led by Gargoyle, explore worldly mysteries and the powers of the Blue Water, uncover Nadia's hidden family ties, and ultimately discover the secret origins of Nadia.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: This series' origins date to the mid-1970s when Hayao Miyazaki was hired by Toho to develop a television series. One of these concepts was "Around the World in 80 days by Sea" (adapted from Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"), in which two orphan children pursued by villains team up with Captain Nemo and the "Nautilus". It was never produced, but Toho retained the rights for the story outline, while Miyazaki reused elements from his original concept in later projects like "Future Boy Conan" and "Castle in the Sky".


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: Gainax's initial involvement with the project occurred during an internal power struggle within the company. During a pitch with NHK, Group TAC requested character designs and settings. Hiroaki Inoue provided character designs and storyboards for the pitch that were provided by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and Mahiro Maeda working in secret. After the conclusion of the pitch NHK chose to proceed with Inoue's "Nadia" presentation. However the estimated cost of producing the show would cause Gainax to lose money. After a meeting at NHK where senior Gainax staff demanded Inoue be removed from the project or else they would withdraw, Inoue left the company. Sadamoto was originally assigned to be director but eventually dropped out, preferring to concentrate on design and animation. Hideaki Anno was chosen as his replacement. The series contains references and in-jokes to other anime works including "Space Battleship Yamato", "Macross" and "Time Bokan". Portions of the infamous "island" episodes of the series were animated in Korea.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: At the completion of the series, Gainax had lost ¥80 million on the project and had no rights to the series itself. However, they were allowed rights to produce a video game of the series, which would set record earnings for the company. During production of the series, the company was also involved in other works to offset the losses; however, other issues arose surrounding those projects which highlighted several issues within the company. Group TAC later requested Gainax produce a "Nadia" movie and provided a ¥50 million advance. Hideaki Anno was convinced to direct it after initially declining the role due to the stress of making the series. Initial production work began and included character designs by Sadamoto. However, the company was unable to develop the project and withdrew. The original advance had brought Gainax's loss on the series down to ¥30 million, but the advance was spent on early production, leaving Gainax unable to repay it until after the success of "Neon Genesis Evangelion", in which Gainax returned the advance to Group TAC, minus some costs from Gainax's involvement in providing designs and edited footage from the series.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: "Evangelion" itself was originally planned as a further sequel to "Nadia", regarding the 16 "Adams" who escaped from the destruction of the Red Noah and caused a cataclysmic event known as , but the scripts for all 26 planned episodes had to be completely rewritten when Gainax could not secure the rights to "Nadia" from NHK.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: The series was broadcast on NHK between April 13, 1990 and April 12, 1991 and consisted of 39 episodes. Two DVD box sets were released in Japan between June 1 and October 1, 2007. 10 Individual discs were released between April 23 and May 21, 2008. A Blu-ray box set consisting of seven discs was released in Japan on November 23, 2011.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: Streamline Pictures licensed the series for North America and dubbed 8 episodes into English. They were released as 8 VHS tapes as "Nadia" between March 1992 and August 1993. Plans for a television broadcast were dropped and no more English episodes were produced by Streamline. Orion Home Video then distributed the same episodes on two VHS tapes in January 1996 as "The Secret of Blue Water".


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: During June 1999, ADV Films announced they had licensed the series for North America. In February 2000 it was announced the series would be released on the new ADV Fansubs range of subtitled releases intended for direct sales via mail order and at conventions. The series was later released on 10 DVDs and VHS between June 19, 2001 and July 16, 2002. The DVDs were later collected the series into 2 box sets, released on May 18, 2004 and July 6, 2004. Sentai Filmworks have announced that they will release the series through digital outlets as well as on DVD and Blu-ray in 2014. The Blu-ray was released March 4, 2014. The series was released in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray by Animatsu Entertainment on June 22, 2015.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: A "Nadia" feature film sequel premiered in Japanese theaters in 1991. The events take place three years after the defeat of Gargoyle and Neo-Atlantis. It was released as "Nadia: The Motion Picture" on DVD in August 2002 by ADV Films.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: In 1992 a manga adaptation of the series was released under the name "The Secret of Blue Water Comic". Although the characters from the series appear in the manga, the stories are not related to the original story and are typically of a comedic nature.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: Since the series' first airing in 1990, Toshiba EMI's anime music label, Futureland, released several CDs containing the music of the series; of note are three initial volumes of music, as well as an extended compilation, "Hooked on NADIA", which contained more cues than the three original CDs.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: ADV Films released the three CD soundtracks of the series (the first time they were issued in North America) and a CD of the movie soundtrack in North America on November 25, 2003.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: On August 27, 2012, Starchild released a complete box set of music from the series. The set consists of 11 CDs and a DVD-ROM.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: The first was released in 1991 for the Famicom console. The player controls a cast of characters in a simplistic strategy battle game. Battles are carried out through an RPG style turn-based system. Since the first game's release, six additional games were made. These games include: "Fushigi no Umi no Nadia" (March 19, 1991, published by Namco), "Fushigi no Umi Nadia: The Secret of the Blue Water" (March 27, 1992, developed and published by Gainax),"Fushigi no Umi Nadia: The Secret of the Blue Water" (October 23, 1992, developed and published by Gainax), "Fushigi no Umi Nadia: The Secret of the Blue Water" (FM Towns), "Fushigi no Umi Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water" (January 29, 1993, published by Hudson Soft), and "Fushigi no Umi no Nadia: Inherit the Blue Water" (September 22, 2005, published by Jinx).


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: "Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water" made its first "Super Robot Wars" appearance in "Super Robot Wars X" (released on March 29, 2018 in Japan, and on April 26 in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia), published by Bandai Namco).


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: The series won a number of awards in the Animage Anime Grand Prix of 1991 including "Best Work". The opening theme "Blue Water" was voted as best song, while Jean, Sanson and Nemo were respectively voted as fourth, fifth and thirteenth best male character. Six episodes were voted into the top 20 best episodes, including episode 22 which was voted as best episode overall. Nadia herself was voted as best female character, and was also the first character to overtake Nausicaä as the favourite female anime character in Animage's readers poll. In 2001, the series placed 72 in a list of top 100 anime productions decided by Animage.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: In "The Anime Encyclopedia", Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy noted the series made an obvious attempt to reach the mass audience adding that "Very rarely has this approach produced a show of such enduring charm and emotional validity". They recognise that the audience is aware of a "dark and terrible fate" hiding behind the otherwise positive nature of the show's visuals and music. The series is compared to Gainax's later "Neon Genesis Evangelion", which made the "lurking darkness" a central theme.


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: When Disney's "" was released in 2001, some viewers noticed that it bore a number of similarities to "Nadia", particularly in its character design, setting, and story. The similarities, as noted by viewers in both Japan and America, were strong enough for its production company Gainax to be called to sue for plagiarism. According to Gainax member Yasuhiro Takeda, they only refrained from doing so because the decision belonged to parent companies NHK and Toho. Another Gainax worker, Hiroyuki Yamaga, was quoted in an interview in 2000 as: "We actually tried to get NHK to pick a fight with Disney, but even the National Television Network of Japan didn't dare to mess with Disney and their lawyers. [...] We actually did say that but we wouldn't actually take them to court. We would be so terrified about what they would do to them in return that we wouldn’t dare."


title: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water

text: Although Disney never responded formally to those claims, co-director Kirk Wise posted on a Disney animation newsgroup in May 2001, "Never heard of "Nadia" till it was mentioned in this [newsgroup]. Long after we'd finished production, I might add." He claimed both "Atlantis" and "Nadia" were inspired, in part, by the 1870 Jules Verne novel "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea". However, speaking about the clarification, Lee Zion from Anime News Network wrote, "There are too many similarities "not" connected with "20,000 Leagues" for the whole thing to be coincidence." As such, the whole affair ultimately entered popular culture as a convincing case of plagiarism. In 2018, Reuben Baron from "Comic Book Resources" added to Zion's comment stating, "Verne didn't specifically imagine magic crystal-based technology, something featured in both the Disney movie and the two similar anime. The Verne inspiration also doesn't explain the designs being suspiciously similar to "Nadia"'s."


title: The Phantom

text: The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The character has been adapted for television, film and video games.


title: The Phantom

text: The series began with a daily newspaper strip on February 17, 1936, followed by a color Sunday strip on May 28, 1939; both are still running as of . In 1966, King Features stated that "The Phantom" was being published in 583 newspapers worldwide. At its peak, the strip was read by over 100 million people daily.


title: The Phantom

text: Falk worked on "The Phantom" until his death in 1999; since his death, the comic strip has been written by Tony DePaul. Since 2016, it has been drawn by Mike Manley (Monday–Saturday) and, since 2017, Jeff Weigel (Sunday). Previous artists on the newspaper strip include Ray Moore, Wilson McCoy, Bill Lignante, Sy Barry, George Olesen, Keith Williams, Fred Fredericks, Graham Nolan, Eduardo Barreto, Paul Ryan, and Terry Beatty. In the strip, the Phantom was 21st in a line of crime-fighters which began in 1536, when the father of British sailor Christopher Walker was killed during a pirate attack. Swearing an oath on the skull of his father's murderer to fight evil, Christopher began a legacy of the Phantom which would pass from father to son. Nicknames for the Phantom include "The Ghost Who Walks", "Guardian of the Eastern Dark" and "The Man Who Cannot Die".


title: The Phantom

text: Unlike many other superheroes, the Phantom has no superpowers; he totally relies on his strength, intelligence and the myth of his immortality to take action against the forces of evil. The 21st Phantom is married to Diana Palmer; they met while he studied in the United States and they have two children, Kit and Heloise. He has a trained wolf named Devil and a horse named Hero, and like the 20 previous Phantoms he lives in the ancient Skull Cave.


title: The Phantom

text: The Phantom was the first fictional hero to wear the skintight costume which has become a hallmark of comic-book superheroes, and was the first shown in a mask with no visible pupils (another superhero standard). Comics historian Peter Coogan has described the Phantom as a "transitional" figure, since the Phantom has some of the characteristics of pulp magazine heroes such as The Shadow and the Spider and earlier jungle heroes such as Tarzan, as well as anticipating the features of comic book heroes such as Superman, Batman, and Captain America.


title: The Phantom

text: After the success of "Mandrake the Magician", King Features Syndicate asked Falk to develop a new feature. His first effort was to write and draw a strip about King Arthur and his knights. When King Features rejected the strip, Falk developed the Phantom, a mysterious, costumed crime-fighter. He planned the first few months of the story, and drew the first two weeks as a sample.


title: The Phantom

text: Fascinated by myths and legends (such as King Arthur and El Cid) and the modern fictional characters Zorro, Tarzan and "The Jungle Book" Mowgli, Falk envisioned the character as wealthy playboy Jimmy Wells by day and the crime-fighting Phantom by night. During his first story, "The Singh Brotherhood", before disclosing that Wells was the Phantom, Falk changed the setting to a jungle and made the Phantom an apparently immortal, mythic figure. Thinking that there were already too many characters called "the Phantom" (including The Phantom Detective and The Phantom of the Opera), Falk considered calling his hero "The Gray Ghost". However, he could not find a name he liked better and decided to stay with "The Phantom".


title: The Phantom

text: In the A&E American cable TV documentary "The Phantom: Comic Strip Crusader", Falk explained that Greek busts inspired him to omit the Phantom's pupils when the character was wearing his mask. He incorrectly believed that ancient Greek busts had no pupils (they were painted on originally and faded with time) which he said gave them an "inhuman, awe-inspiring appearance." In an interview for "Comic Book Marketplace", Falk said the Phantom's skin-tight costume was inspired by Robin Hood, who wore tights in films and onstage.


title: The Phantom

text: Falk was a Shakespeare enthusiast and the comic included several references to Shakespeare. These include the third Phantom playing Juliet in the original premiere of "Romeo and Juliet", as well as marrying Shakespeare's niece.


title: The Phantom

text: "The Phantom" began as a daily strip on February 17, 1936 with "The Singh Brotherhood", written by Falk and drawn by him for two weeks and then by Ray Moore (assistant to artist Phil Davis on "Mandrake the Magician"). That year, "The Phantom" was serialized in the "Australian Woman's Mirror". A Sunday "Phantom" strip was added on May 28, 1939.


title: The Phantom

text: During World War II Falk joined the Office of War Information, where he became chief of the radio foreign-language division. Moore also served during the war and left the strip to his assistant, Wilson McCoy. When Moore returned he worked sporadically on the strip until 1949, when McCoy succeeded him. During McCoy's tenure, "The Phantom" appeared in thousands of newspapers worldwide and was smuggled by boat into Nazi-occupied Norway during the war; "Phantom" was a password for the Norwegian resistance movement.


title: The Phantom

text: McCoy died unexpectedly in 1961. Carmine Infantino and Bill Lignante (who later drew several Phantom stories for comic books) filled in before a successor was found in Sy Barry. During Barry's early years he and Falk modernized the strip, laying the foundation for what is considered the Phantom's modern look. Under Barry, Bangalla became a democracy and the character of President Lamanda Luaga was introduced. Barry worked on "The Phantom" for over 30 years until his 1994 retirement, drawing a total of about 11,000 strips.


title: The Phantom

text: His longtime assistant George Olesen remained on the strip as penciller, with Keith Williams inking the daily strip. The Sunday strip was inked by Eric Doescher until Fred Fredericks succeeded him in 1995.


title: The Phantom

text: Falk continued to script "The Phantom" and "Mandrake" until his death on March 13, 1999. His last daily Phantom strip story, "Terror at the Opera," was finished by his wife, Elizabeth. After Falk's death King Features cooperated with European comic publisher "Egmont", publisher of the Swedish "Fantomen" magazine (which changed from publishing "Phantom" stories in comic-book format to providing the newspaper strip as well) by adapting their own "Phantom" comic-book stories into the strip format. "Fantomen" writers Tony DePaul and Claes Reimerthi alternated as writers of the newspaper strip after Falk died, with DePaul handling the daily strips and Reimerthi the Sunday ones. DePaul would later become the strip's sole writer. Some stories were adapted from those originally published in "Fantomen".


title: The Phantom

text: In 2000, Olesen and Fredericks retired from the Sunday strip. It was continued by comic-book artist Graham Nolan, who had drawn three "Fantomen" covers. In early 2005 Olesen and Williams left the daily strip after Olesen retired, and artist Paul Ryan (who had worked on the "Fantomen" comic stories and had been a fan of the character since childhood) took over the daily strip. Ryan succeeded Nolan as artist on the Sunday strip in 2007. On July 31, 2011, Eduardo Barreto became the Sunday-page artist. He died after only a few months, and Ryan temporarily took over the Sunday page again on January 15, 2012 (which featured a memorial to Barreto). Ryan also did the following week's strip, before Terry Beatty became Barreto's replacement.


title: The Phantom

text: Ryan died at his home unexpectedly on March 7, 2016. Mike Manley succeeded Ryan as artist on The Phantom, beginning with the strip dated May 30, 2016.


title: The Phantom

text: "The Phantom" has been published by a number of publishers in the United States. During the 1940s the strips were reprinted in "Ace Comics", published by David McKay Publications. Harvey Comics published "The Phantom" during the 1950s. In 1962 Gold Key Comics took over, followed by King Comics in 1966 and Charlton in 1969. By 1977, a total of 73 issues were published. Principal "Phantom" artists during this period were Bill Lignante, Don Newton, Jim Aparo and Pat Boyette.


title: The Phantom

text: In 1943, Columbia Pictures released the 15-episode serial "The Phantom" starring Tom Tyler as "The Phantom" and Jeanne Bates as "Diana Palmer".


title: The Phantom

text: DC Comics published a "Phantom" comic book from 1988 to 1990. The initial May–August 1988 miniseries was written by Peter David, penciled by Joe Orlando, and inked by Dennis Janke. A subsequent series, written by Mark Verheiden and drawn by Luke McDonnell, ran for 13 issues from March 1989 to March 1990. In the series, the Phantom fought racism, toxic dumping, hunger and modern-day piracy. According to Verheiden, the series ended as much because of licensing issues as falling sales. In the final panels of issue 13, the Phantom marries Diana.


title: The Phantom

text: In 1987, Marvel Comics published a four-issue miniseries written by Stan Lee and based on the "Defenders of the Earth" TV series. Another three-issue Marvel miniseries, "The Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks" (February–April 1995) followed which was written and drawn by David de Vries and Glenn Lumsden; it featured the 22nd Phantom with an updated, high-tech costume. Marvel later released a four-part miniseries (May–August 1995), pencilled by Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko, based on the "Phantom 2040" TV series. One issue featured a pin-up by the original two Spider-Man signature artists, Ditko and John Romita, Sr.


title: The Phantom

text: In the United States and Australia, "The Phantom" was released in theaters as a major motion picture starring Billy Zane as “The Phantom/Kit Walker,” the 21st Phantom. Opened June 7, 1996 nationwide in the aforementioned markets.


title: The Phantom

text: Moonstone Books published Phantom graphic novels beginning in 2002. Five books, written by Tom DeFalco, Ben Raab and Ron Goulart with art by Mike Collins were published. In 2003, Moonstone introduced a "Phantom" comic-book series written by Raab, Rafael Nieves and Chuck Dixon, and drawn by Pat Quinn, Jerry DeCaire, Nick Derington, Rich Burchett, and EricJ. After 11 issues Mike Bullock took over the scripting, with Gabriel Rearte and Carlos Magno creating the artwork before Silvestre Szilagyi became the regular artist in 2007. Bullock's stories often feature topical issues, based on actual African conflicts. In a 2007 three-part story arc, "Invisible Children", the Phantom fights a fictional warlord called "Him" (loosely based on Joseph Kony).


title: The Phantom

text: In 2006 Moonstone published a retcon of the Phantom's origin, "Legacy", by Raab and Quinn. Three years later the company reintroduced the series as "The Phantom: Ghost Who Walks", beginning with issue 0 (a retelling of the first Phantom's origin). The aim was to make the comic darker, grittier and more realistic, similar to the 1930s stories by Lee Falk and Ray Moore. It updated the Phantom, giving him modern accessories, and introduced a number of supporting characters and villains. In the series, the Phantom fights reality-based enemies such as modern terrorists, organ smugglers and Somali pirates.


title: The Phantom

text: Dynamite Entertainment introduced a monthly comic-book series, "The Last Phantom", in August 2010. The series was written by Scott Beatty and drawn by Eduardo Ferigato, with covers painted by Alex Ross.


title: The Phantom

text: In 2013 the Phantom appeared in Dynamite's five-issue miniseries, "Kings Watch". In the series, written by Jeff Parker and drawn by Marc Laming, the Phantom joins Flash Gordon and Mandrake the Magician to fight Ming the Merciless and prevent his attempt to take over the planet. It was followed by the 2015 five-issue miniseries "King: The Phantom" in which Lothar as the new Phantom looks for the rightful heir to the legacy. In 2016 started a new crossover of King Features characters (The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, Flash Gordon, Prince Valiant, Jungle Jim), "Kings Quest".


title: The Phantom

text: In 2014 Hermes Press announced that it would publish a Phantom comic-book miniseries with new content, written by Peter David and illustrated by Sal Velluto, scheduled for publication in November 2014. It debuted October 31, 2014. For Free Comic Book Day 2015, Hermes published a Phantom comic book with art by Bill Lignante and samples of the new miniseries


title: The Phantom

text: Egmont Publications has published original Phantom stories in a fortnightly "Phantom" comic book in Sweden as "Fantomen", in Denmark and Norway as "Fantomet" and in Finland as "Mustanaamio" ("Black Mask"). The first issue of "Fantomen" was dated October 1950, and over 1,600 issues have been published. The first story created originally for "Fantomen" was published in 1963, and there are a total of over 900 "Fantomen" stories. The average "Fantomen" story is over 30 pages, compared to 20–24 pages for most American comics. Artists and writers who have created stories for "Fantomen" include Dick Giordano, Donne Avenell, Heiner Bade, David Bishop, Georges Bess, Jaime Vallvé, Joan Boix, Tony DePaul, Ulf Granberg, Ben Raab, Rolf Gohs, Scott Goodall, Eirik Ildahl, Kari Leppänen, Hans Lindahl, Janne Lundström, Cesar Spadari, Bob McLeod, Jean-Yves Mitton, Lennart Moberg, Claes Reimerthi, Paul Ryan, Alex Saviuk, Graham Nolan, Romano Felmang and Norman Worker, and they have been nicknamed "Team Fantomen". The team have experimented with the character and his surroundings, with Singh Brotherhood leader Sandal Singh taking over as President of Bangalla and the Phantom and Diana having marriage problems. In 2018, the Norwegian branch of Egmont issued a statement that the Norwegian Fantomet edition would get cancelled at the end of 2018, thus leaving the Swedish edition as the only remaining edition in Scandinavia. The Phantom has been noticeable part of culture in Sweden especially. Between 1986 and 2009 there was even a "Fantomenland" (Phantom Land) at the Parken Zoo in Eskilstuna in Sweden.


title: The Phantom

text: In Australia, the "Australian Woman's Mirror" began publishing the strip in 1936 and Frew Publications has published a fortnightly "Phantom" comic book since 1948, celebrating 60 years of uninterrupted publication in September 2008. Although Frew's comic book primarily contains reprints from the newspaper strips, "Fantomen" (translated into English) and other Phantom comic books, it has occasionally included original stories drawn by Australian artists such as Keith Chatto. The editor-in-chief was Jim Shepherd until his death. Frew's "The Phantom" is the longest-running comic-book series with the character in the world, and Australia's bestselling comic book. Frew "Phantom" comics appear in a number of Sydney Royal Easter Show, Royal Adelaide Show, Melbourne Show and Perth Royal Show showbags.


title: The Phantom

text: In 2013 publisher Jim Shepherd, who had bought the rights from the original owners during the late 1980s, died of a heart attack. Shepherd had taken over the company and introduced some minor changes to placate King Features, which had become unhappy at Frew's treatment of its character. Shepherd's changes included glossy covers (replacing the standard newsprint covers), brief editorials, regular 100-page specials and, most significantly, an annual special of between 200 and 300 pages which included multiple stories and a standalone "replica" reprint of a very early Frew edition. Shepherd also embarked on an ambitious project to reprint the entire backlist of Lee Falk stories in their original formats: Frew's reprints had often been heavily edited to fit its 32-page format. Following Shepherd's death, Frew and "The Phantom" were continued by Shepherd's wife Judith until she sold the business to artist Glenn Ford and Rene White in 2016. Since then, the new "Frew Crew" (with new publisher Dudley Hogarth) have introduced a range of innovations:


title: The Phantom

text: King Features sold "The Phantom" to a number of New Zealand newspapers, included "The New Zealand Herald". "The Phantom" also appeared in a successful comic from the Wellington-based Feature Publications during the 1950s. The Frew comics are also available in New Zealand.


title: The Phantom

text: In India, "The Phantom" first appeared in "The Illustrated Weekly of India" in the 1950s. In 1964, the Indian publisher Indrajal Comics began publishing a "Phantom" comic book in English. Later Indrajal would also publish "The Phantom" in several Indian languages. Over the years, other Indian publishers have printed Phantom comic books, the most prominent being Diamond Comics, Euro Books (formerly Egmont Imagination India), and Rani Comics. The Telugu regional daily Eenadu published translated versions of Phantom comics during the early days of its Sunday supplements. Phantom is also published in Bengali and Hindi language in local newspapers. In Hindi it is published by Indrajal comics as character name Vanbhairav. They have also published it in Bengali as character name, Betal.


title: The Phantom

text: In the early 1990s, Regal Publishers from Kerala started publishing Phantom comics in Malayalam Language. After a gap, Regal Publishers have again started publishing Phantom comics in Malayalam in 2019. From August 2020 onwards Regal Publishers have started publishing Phantom comics in English.


title: The Phantom

text: From 2021 Shakti Comics started publishing the phantom along with Mandrake & Flash Gorden in English as well as Hindi & Bengali languages. Shakti Comics is the only publisher after Indrajal to publish phantom comics in Hindi and bengali on monthly basis.


title: The Phantom

text: Leading Bengali publishing house, Anandabazar Patrika, had published the comics in Bengali, under the character name, Aranyadeb (the god of the jungle), in their elite magazine, "Desh", later in their children's periodical, "Anandamela", and continue to publish the strips in their Bengali newspaper, "Anandabazar Patrika".Gujarathi newspaper Mumbai Samachar also used to print the Phantom comics in their Sunday supplement named Utsav.


title: The Phantom

text: Italian publisher Nerbini reprinted the Phantom strip in its weekly comic newspaper L’Avventuroso, starting in issue 101, September 13, 1936. In 1939, Roberto Lemmi and Emilio Fancelli started to produce some new stories.


title: The Phantom

text: Italian publisher Fratelli Spada produced original Phantom stories for their "L'Uomo Mascherato" ("The Masked Man") series of comic books during the 1960s and 1970s. Contributing artists included Raul Buzzelli, Mario Caria, Umberto Sammarini ("Usam"), Germano Ferri, Senio Pratesi, Angelo R. Todaro, and Romano Felmang. Ferri, Usam, Felmang and Caria later worked for "Fantomen". Brazilian publisher RGE and German publisher Bastei produced original Phantom stories for their comic books; in Brazil, the Phantom is known as "o Fantasma".


title: The Phantom

text: In 1939, the Phantom appeared in the second story of the Yugoslav comic "Zigomar", "Zigomar versus the Phantom", as an opponent and then an ally of the title character. In South Africa, "The Phantom" ran in Afrikaans newspapers as "Die Skim". In the Republic of Ireland, the Phantom appeared in both the "Irish Independent" and "Sunday Independent" newspapers during the 1950s and 1960s.


title: The Phantom

text: Also in 1939, the Phantom appeared in Turkey as "Kizilmaske", which translates to "Red Mask" in Turkish, by publishers Tay Yayinlari. Originally, the publishers colored the hero's costume in red on the covers, and decided to stay with that color throughout the history of the comic in Turkey, rather than use the original purple coloring. Under the name "Kizilmaske" and with color covers drawn by Turkish artists, older Lee Falk stories of the Phantom has since appeared in Turkish comic books primarily in black and white.


title: The Phantom

text: The entire run of the "Phantom" newspaper strip was reprinted in Australia by Frew Publications, and edited versions of most stories have been published in the Scandinavian "Phantom" comics. In the United States, the following Phantom stories (written by Lee Falk) have been reprinted by Nostalgia Press (NP), Pacific Comics Club (PCC) or Comics Revue (CR):


title: The Phantom

text: In its October 2009 issue, "Comics Revue" began reprinting the Sunday story "The Return of the Sky Band" in color.


title: The Phantom

text: As of August 2019, Hermes Press has reprinted sixteen volumes of Phantom dailies and five volumes of Phantom Sundays. Volumes nine and ten of the dailies also carry the color Sundays from 1949 to 1951, when the stories for dailies and Sundays were synchronized. More planned. In 2011 Hermes began reprinting the Complete Gold Key Volumes 1 & 2 with issues 1–17 and King's Complete "Phantom" issues 18–28 comics side by side. The following year, it began reprinting the Charlton Years: Volume One through volume Five issues 30–74 (There is no issue 29, it was an international publication.) Hermes has also published a full size Phantom Sunday Archives, 1939–1942.


title: The Phantom

text: A live action serial entitled "The Phantom" was released in 1943 stars Tom Tyler. As the alter ego of Kit Walker had not yet been introduced in the comic strip the serial uses the moniker Geoffrey Prescott.


title: The Phantom

text: The 1986 Animated series "Defenders of the Earth" is a team-up between The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician (another hero by Lee Falk) and Flash Gordon.


title: The Phantom

text: The animated series "Phantom 2040 "ran for two series between 1994 and 1996. It follows the 24th Phantom.


title: The Phantom

text: A live action mini-series, "The Phantom", was released on Syfy in 2009 starring Ryan Carnes as the 22nd phantom.


title: The Phantom

text: During World War II, soldiers received care packages containing comics. The soldiers stationed in Papua New Guinea shared these comics, and the Phantom became extremely popular among the tribes. The Papuan people who could read English would read the stories and share the images with others (by the 1970s they were available in Pidgin, Tok Pisin). The character's image is often painted on ceremonial shields or alongside other tribal art. This is sometimes referred to as "tribal pop art."


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night ( ) is a 2014 American Persian-language horror Western film written and directed by Ana Lily Amirpour. Promoted as "The first Iranian vampire Western", it stars Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Mozhan Marnò, Marshall Manesh, and Dominic Rains. It was financed in part by a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" takes place in "the Iranian ghost-town Bad City" and depicts the doings of "a lonesome vampire". It was filmed in Taft, California, in black-and-white. It was chosen to show in the "Next" program at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: A young, hardworking Iranian man named Arash lives with and takes care of his heroin-addicted father, Hossein. They are harassed by a cruel, drug-dealer pimp named Saeed, who seizes the young man's prized car in exchange for money the father owes him. In a crime of opportunity, Arash steals a pair of diamond earrings from the wealthy young woman he works for, Shaydah.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: Saeed comes across a strange young woman in a chador at night. She persuades Saeed to take her back to his apartment. While there, she grows long fangs and first bites off his finger, then goes for his neck, killing him. As she leaves, she passes by Arash, who has come to offer the earrings for his car. He finds Saeed dead, and takes back his car keys along with a suitcase of drugs and cash. Arash decides to sell the drugs, allowing him to quit his job working for Shaydah. Later, he goes to a costume party at a night club dressed up as Dracula, where he is persuaded by Shaydah into taking one of the ecstasy pills he is selling. Under the influence, he becomes disoriented, and ends up lost at night on the street.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: The woman with the chador spends her time listening to music alone in her apartment, skateboarding, or bedeviling pedestrians at night, until she comes across the lost Arash. He shows vulnerability and compassion, and she takes him to her home, where they listen to music, and she resists his exposed neck. They meet the next night, and she says that he does not know the terrible things she has done. He is unfazed, gives her the earrings and – at her request – pierces her ears with a safety pin, but she eventually leaves.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: Atti, a prostitute who worked for Saeed, is followed at night by the woman, and they retreat to the prostitute's apartment. The woman gives Atti the payment Saeed owed her. They have a conversation during which the woman realizes that Atti no longer remembers what it is to desire. She leaves.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: Suffering from heroin withdrawal, Hossein has an episode where he believes that Arash's cat is his dead wife. Infuriated by his father, Arash gives him drugs and money and throws him out, telling him to take the cat with him. Hossein goes to Atti and forces her to take heroin with him. They are found by the woman, who kills Hossein. After Atti helps her dispose of Hossein's body, she tells the woman to take the cat and leave.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: The following morning, Arash discovers Hossein's body. Distressed, he runs to the apartment of the woman and begs her to run away with him. As she is gathering up her things, the cat appears and Arash realizes that she had something to do with his father's death. Arash and the woman drive off together but he pulls off to the side of the road, angry and undecided about what to do. He eventually gets back in the car and the two continue their trip onwards.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: Director Ana Lily Amirpour, regarding the mythology of the vampire, has stated that: "A vampire is so many things: serial killer, a romantic, a historian, a drug addict – they're sort of all these things in one." The film examines these facets of a vampire as described by Amirpour in a variety of ways.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: The film's protagonist, The Girl, is a sort-of antihero vigilante with a taste for bad men. As a vampire, she is able to roam the streets at night without being concerned for her safety, subverting the implications of the film's title. She is the perpetrator, not the victim, and possesses agency and power that would not be typically reserved for her in an environment such as Bad City. In this way, the film has feminist leanings.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: Rockabilly, a gender-bending, minor background character who exists on the fringe of Bad City throughout the duration of the movie, acts as a silent observer to the events around them. Director Amirpour states that "If there's one political thing [in the movie], it's not the chador, it's Rockabilly, because it's not okay to be gay in Iran."


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: An early short film with the same title from Amirpour screened at festivals and won Best Short Film at the Noor Iranian Film Festival.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: An Indiegogo campaign was launched in July 2012 to fund the feature-length version of the film. On August 27, 2012, the campaign's goal of $55,000 was surpassed. The project ended up with a total sum of $56,903 raised by 290 backers.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night" was shot over the course of twenty-four days, in the town of Taft in Kern County in southern California. This allowed Amirpour to not be constrained by the restrictions of filming in Iran, which include having to obtain a filming permit and facing content censorship, such as the prohibition of almost all depictions of physical romantic love.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: People ask me, "Why did you make "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night"?" My answer is that I was lonely—that's why. But taking that a step further, the truth is that I make films to make friends and find real intimacy; a connection with others based on something that's meaningful to me. The people who make these films with you, your cast and crew—it's like they're on a vision quest with you. That is an incomparable experience. And then when the film is done and out there, the people who are attracted to your film—the audiences, festivals that embrace it, other filmmakers, artists, the critics who like what you do—those are my friends. And I don't expect to be friends with everyone.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: Amirpour is a lifelong skater, and was a stand-in for the skateboarding sequences present in the film.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: The film is directed and imagined by Amirpour with cinematography by Lyle Vincent. Its style is clearly inspired by spaghetti Westerns like those of Sergio Leone, featuring a mysterious, lone, antihero with a vigilante streak. However, the genre is reimagined with a female lead, and is a hybrid spaghetti Western-vampire film. As a vampire film it serves as an homage to its legacy of predecessors especially the 1922 German Expressionist film "Nosferatu". Echoes of the film are seen in the choice of shooting in black-and-white, the use of shadows, and the minimal dialogue. The film's dialogue is entirely in Persian, and the film blends elements of Iranian culture with the spaghetti Western-vampire imagery described above.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: The film was shot digitally with anamorphic lenses, which Amirpour and Vincent selected in an effort to emphasize the bleak, otherworldly atmosphere of the film.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: Amirpour has stated that graphic novels are a major source of inspiration for her. The visual language of the film is not unlike that of a comic book, with its "high-contrast monochrome aesthetic". Additionally, Bad City, the fictional location in which the film is set, may perhaps be a nod to Frank Miller's "Sin City".


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: Amirpour has said that she had her actors watch "Nosferatu" and many spaghetti Westerns in preparation for their roles.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: She has also said that "every piece of the story, every character, every costume, every bit of music" is something that she "love[s] to the point of obsession."


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: A limited edition vinyl pressing of the soundtrack, and accompanying album art, was released by Death Waltz Records in January 2014.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: The film received positive reviews from critics, holding a 96% "Certified Fresh" approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 130 reviews and the site's consensus reads: "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night blends conventional elements into something brilliantly original -- and serves as a striking calling card for writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour."


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: Guy Lodge of "Variety" said in his review that "Ana Lily Amirpour's auspicious debut feature is a sly, slinky vampire romance set in an imaginary Iranian underworld". Andrew O'Hehir of "Salon" called the film "the year's biggest discovery" and praised its feminist themes. Boyd van Hoeij, in his review for "The Hollywood Reporter", praised the movie, saying "this moody and gorgeous film is finally more about atmosphere and emotions than narrative and none the worse for it". Drew Taylor of Indiewire graded the film A− and said that it gives "the impression that you're witnessing something iconic and important unfold before you".


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: The film was adapted into a six part graphic novel series published by Radco in 2014. The series explores The Girl's backstory with art from Michael DeWeese.


title: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

text: Belgian band the Black Heart Rebellion created an alternative soundtrack for the film, played it live several times with the film screening in the background and released it as an album in 2018.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world's highest mountains.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: Much of the Pamir Mountains lie in the Gorno-Badakhshan Province of Tajikistan. To the south, they border the Hindu Kush mountains along Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor in Badakhshan Province, Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan regions of Pakistan. To the north, they join the Tian Shan mountains along the Alay Valley of Kyrgyzstan. To the east, they extend to the range that includes China's Kongur Tagh, in the "Eastern Pamirs", separated by the Yarkand valley from the Kunlun Mountains.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: Since Victorian times, they have been known as the "Roof of the World", presumably a translation from Persian.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: In other languages they are called: , ; , , ; ; ; , , ; , ; , ; or "Onion Range" (after the wild onions growing in the region); , written in Xiao'erjing: or . The name "Pamir" is used more commonly in Modern Chinese and loaned as .


title: Pamir Mountains

text: According to Middleton and Thomas, "pamir" is a geological term. A pamir is a flat plateau or U-shaped valley surrounded by mountains. It forms when a glacier or ice field melts leaving a rocky plain. A pamir lasts until erosion forms soil and cuts down normal valleys. This type of terrain is found in the east and north of the Wakhan, and the east and south of Gorno-Badakhshan, as opposed to the valleys and gorges of the west. Pamirs are used for summer pasture.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: The Great Pamir is around Lake Zorkul. The Little Pamir is east of this in the far east of Wakhan. The Taghdumbash Pamir is between Tashkurgan and the Wakhan west of the Karakoram Highway. The Alichur Pamir is around Yashil Kul on the Gunt River. The Sarez Pamir is around the town of Murghab, Tajikistan. The Khargush Pamir is south of Lake Karakul. There are several others.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: The three highest mountains in the Pamirs core are Ismoil Somoni Peak (known from 1932 to 1962 as Stalin Peak, and from 1962 to 1998 as Communism Peak), ; Ibn Sina Peak (still unofficially known as Lenin Peak), ; and Peak Korzhenevskaya (, "Pik Korzhenevskoi"), . In the Eastern Pamirs, China's Kongur Tagh is the highest at .


title: Pamir Mountains

text: "Remark": The summits of the Kongur and Muztagata Group are in some sources counted as part of the Kunlun, which would make Pik Ismoil Somoni the highest summit of the Pamir.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: There are many glaciers in the Pamir Mountains, including the long Fedchenko Glacier, the longest in the former USSR and the longest glacier outside the polar regions. Approximately 12,500 km (ca. 10%) of the Pamirs are glaciated. Glaciers in the Southern Pamirs are retreating rapidly. Ten percent of annual runoff is supposed to originate from retreating glaciers in the Southern Pamirs. In the North-Western Pamirs, glaciers have almost stable mass balances.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: Covered in snow during most of the year, the Pamirs have long and bitterly cold winters, and short, cool summers, which equals an ET (tundra climate) according to Köppen climate classification (EF above the snow line). Annual precipitation is about , which supports grasslands but few trees.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: The East-Pamir, in the centre of which the massifs of Mustagh Ata (7620 m) and Kongur Tagh (Qungur Shan, 7578, 7628 or 7830 m) are situated, shows from the western margin of the Tarim Basin an east–west extension of c. 200 km. Its north–south extension from King Ata Tagh up to the northwest Kunlun foothills amounts to c.170 km. Whilst the up to 21 km long current valley glaciers are restricted to mountain massifs exceeding 5600 m in height, during the last glacial period the glacier ice covered the high plateau with its set-up highland relief, continuing west of Mustagh Ata and Kongur. From this glacier area an outlet glacier has flowed down to the north-east through the Gez valley up to c.1850 m asl (meters above sea level) and thus as far as to the margin of the Tarim basin. This outlet glacier received inflow from the Kaiayayilak glacier from the Kongur north flank. From the north-adjacent Kara Bak Tor (Chakragil, c. 6800 or 6694 m) massif, the Oytag valley glacier in the same exposition flowed also down up to c. 1850 m asl. At glacial times the glacier snowline


title: Pamir Mountains

text: (ELA) as altitude limit between glacier nourishing area and ablation zone, was about 820 to 1250 metres lower than it is today. Under the condition of comparable proportions of precipitation there results from this a glacial depression of temperature of at least 5 to 7.5 °C.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: Coal is mined in the west, though sheep herding in upper meadowlands is the primary source of income for the region.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: The lapis lazuli found in Egyptian tombs is thought to come from the Pamir area in Badakhshan province of Afghanistan. About 138 BCE Zhang Qian reached the Fergana Valley northwest of the Pamirs. Ptolemy vaguely describes a trade route through the area. From about 600 CE, Buddhist pilgrims travelled on both sides of the Pamirs to reach India from China. In 747 a Tang army was on the Wakhan River. There are various Arab and Chinese reports. Marco Polo may have travelled along the Panj River. In 1602 Bento de Goes travelled from Kabul to Yarkand and left a meager report on the Pamirs. In 1838 Lieutenant John Wood reached the headwaters of the Pamir River. From about 1868 to 1880, a number of Indians in the British service secretly explored the Panj area. In 1873 the British and Russians agreed to an Afghan frontier along the Panj River. From 1871 to around 1893 several Russian military-scientific expeditions mapped out most of the Pamirs (Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko, Nikolai Severtzov, Captain Putyata and others. Later came Nikolai Korzhenevskiy). Several local groups asked for Russian protection from Afghan raiders. The Russians were followed by a number of non-Russians including Ney Elias, George Littledale, the Earl of Dunmore, Wilhelm Filchner and Lord Curzon who was probably the first to reach the Wakhan source of the Oxus River. In 1891 the Russians informed Francis Younghusband that he was on their territory and later escorted a Lieutenant Davidson out of the area ('Pamir Incident'). In 1892 a battalion of Russians under Mikhail Ionov entered the area and camped near the present Murghab. In 1893 they built a proper fort there ("Pamirskiy Post"). In 1895 their base was moved to Khorog facing the Afghans.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: In 1928 the last blank areas around the Fedchenko Glacier were mapped by a German-Soviet expedition under Willi Rickmer Rickmers.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: In the early 1980s, a deposit of gemstone-quality clinohumite was discovered in the Pamir Mountains. It was the only such deposit known until the discovery of gem-quality material in the Taymyr region of Siberia, in 2000.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: The Pamir Highway, the world's second highest international road, runs from Dushanbe in Tajikistan to Osh in Kyrgyzstan through the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, and is the isolated region's main supply route. The Great Silk Road crossed a number of Pamir Mountain ranges.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: In December 2009, the "New York Times" featured articles on the possibilities for tourism in the Pamir area of Tajikistan. 2013 proved to be the most successful year ever for tourism in the region and tourism development continues to be the fastest growing economic sector. The META (Murghab Ecotourism Association) website (www.meta.tj) provides an excellent repository of tourism related resources for the Eastern Pamir region.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: Historically, the Pamir Mountains were considered a strategic trade route between Kashgar and Kokand on the Northern Silk Road, a prehistoric trackway, and have been subject to numerous territorial conquests. The Northern Silk Road (about in length) connected the ancient Chinese capital of Xi'an over the Pamir Mountains towards the west to emerge in Kashgar before linking to ancient Parthia. In the 20th century, they have been the setting for Tajikistan Civil War, border disputes between China and Soviet Union, establishment of US, Russian, and Indian military bases, and renewed interest in trade development and resource exploration. China has since resolved most of those disputes with Central Asian countries.


title: Pamir Mountains

text: Some researchers identify the Pamirs with the Mount Meru or Sumeru. The Mount Meru is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu cosmology and is considered to be the center of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes.


title: Sope Dirisu

text: Sope Dirisu (, ; born 9 January 1991) is a British actor. . He made his film debut in 2016 with "Sand Castle", "Criminal", and "". Since 2020, he has starred as Elliot Finch in the Sky Atlantic series "Gangs of London.


title: Sope Dirisu

text: Dirisu was born in 1991 in Edgware, London, to Nigerian parents. He was educated at Bedford Modern School, where he excelled at drama, and joined the National Youth Theatre in 2006. He later studied Economics at the University of Birmingham. While studying there he played quarterback for the University of Birmingham Lions American Football team.


title: Sope Dirisu

text: In 2012, Dirisu successfully auditioned for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s "Open Stages Programme". His first stage role was as Pericles in Shakespeare’s "Pericles, Prince of Tyre". After the Royal Shakespeare Company, Dirisu returned to the National Youth Theatre where he trained in the REP company programme for eight months. He has subsequently acted in a number of television series including "The Mill", "Utopia", "Humans", "The Casual Vacancy", "Siblings" and "Undercover".


title: Sope Dirisu

text: Dirisu appeared in three 2016 films, "Criminal", "", and "Sand Castle". In 2016, he also appeared in "Nosedive", an episode of the anthology series "Black Mirror".


title: Sope Dirisu

text: Dirisu received a Commendation at the Ian Charleson Awards for his 2017 performance as Coriolanus in "Coriolanus" at the Royal Shakespeare Company.


title: Sope Dirisu

text: He was nominated as Best Actor for the 2020 British Independent Film Awards for his role as Bol in the film "His House".


title: Sope Dirisu

text: 6 October - 3 December 2016, as Cassius Clay in "One Night in Miami" by Kemp Powers, at "Donmar Warehouse" in London, alongside David Ajala as Jim Brown, Arinzé Kene as Sam Cooke, Francois Battiste as Malcolm X.


title: Sope Dirisu

text: Other theatre includes "The Whipping Man", "Tory Boyz", "Romeo and Juliet", "Prince of Denmark", "Red Riding Hood", "Our Days of Rage", "Fallujah", "Pericles" (RSC).


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Stephen Orr Spurrier (born April 20, 1945) is an American former football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons before coaching for 38 years, primarily in college. He is often referred to by his nickname, "the Head Ball Coach". Spurrier was a multi-sport all-state athlete at Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tennessee. He attended the University of Florida, where he won the 1966 Heisman Trophy as a college football quarterback with the Florida Gators. The San Francisco 49ers picked him in the first round of the 1967 NFL draft, and he spent a decade playing professionally in the National Football League (NFL), mainly as a backup quarterback and punter. Spurrier was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1986.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: After retiring as a player, Spurrier went into coaching and spent five years as a college assistant at Florida, Georgia Tech, and Duke, where he began to develop his innovative offensive system while serving as the Blue Devils' offensive coordinator in the early 1980s. He was hired to his first head coaching job by the Tampa Bay Bandits of the United States Football League (USFL) in 1983 and led the team to two playoff appearances in three seasons before the league folded. Spurrier returned to the college ranks in 1987, serving as the head football coach at Duke (3 seasons), Florida (12 seasons), and South Carolina (10.5 seasons), amassing 122 total wins and an 82% career winning percentage. Between his stints at Florida and South Carolina, he led the National Football League's Washington Redskins for two seasons with less success. Spurrier retired from coaching in 2015 and became an ambassador and consultant for the University of Florida's athletic department, though he briefly returned to the sidelines to coach the Orlando Apollos of the short-lived Alliance of American Football in 2019. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2017, making him one of four members to be inducted as both a player and a coach.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier's teams were known for winning with aggressive and high-scoring offenses, and he became known for teasing and "needling" rivals both before and after beating them on the field. Spurrier's 1989 Duke squad won the program's only Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship since 1962. He is the winningest coach in both Florida and South Carolina program history, making him the only coach to hold the record for most wins at two different Southeastern Conference (SEC) schools. Florida's streak of four consecutive SEC championships in the mid-1990s is the second-longest in conference history behind Bear Bryant's 1970s Alabama teams, and Spurrier is second to only Bryant in total wins with an SEC program. And when Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel won the Heisman Trophy during the Gators' 1996 national championship season, Spurrier became the only Heisman Trophy winner to coach another Heisman Trophy winner.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: In recognition to his contributions to the university and its football program, the University of Florida officially renamed the Gators' home field "Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium" in 2016.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier was born on April 20, 1945, in Miami Beach, Florida. He is the second son of a Presbyterian minister, J. Graham Spurrier, and his wife Marjorie. Graham Spurrier changed congregations repeatedly during Steve's early childhood, resulting in several moves for the family. The Spurriers left Miami Beach before Steve's first birthday, moving to Charlotte, North Carolina to live near his paternal grandparents. His father accepted pastorships in Athens, Tennessee and then Newport, Tennessee before settling in Johnson City, Tennessee in 1957, when Steve Spurrier was 12 years old. The youngest Spurrier began to earn his reputation as a good athlete and a fierce competitor in Johnson City, impressing his peers and his older brother's friends with his tenacity in sandlot sports.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier's skills as a young baseball player caused a local businessman to talk the Reverend Spurrier into coaching the Little League team sponsored by his business so that Spurrier's son would be on the squad. The younger Spurrier has often repeated an anecdote about playing baseball on a team coached by his father. "How many of you believe that it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game, that counts?" the elder Spurrier once asked his players. When some raised their hands, he told them, "Well, I don't believe in that saying. If they're keeping score, we're going to play to win."


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier attended Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tennessee, where he was played football, basketball and baseball for the Science Hill Hilltoppers and was an all-state selection in all three sports. Spurrier had an undefeated record in three years as a high school starting pitcher and led his team to two consecutive state baseball championships. On the basketball court, Spurrier played point guard and was known for his ability to run his team's offense with flashy passes and dribbling and his knack for scoring in many different ways, attributes which helped his team win two conference championships. He averaged 22 points per game during his senior season and was named the conference player of the year.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Many observers in Johnson City thought that Spurrier's best sport in high school was basketball, and his father thought that he was best at baseball. While Spurrier agreed that basketball and baseball came more naturally, he preferred playing football, and he became the Hilltopper's starting quarterback during his junior year. Coach Kermit Tipton installed a passing offense to take advantage of Spurrier's talents and, unusually for a high school team, occasionally allowed the young quarterback to call plays on the field. Boosted by a post-season game at the end of his senior year in which he brought his team back from a 21–0 second-half deficit to win 28–21, Spurrier was a high school All-American and drew the attention of many college programs.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier's achievements in multiple sports earned him induction into the National Federation of State High School Associations's National High School Hall of Fame.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: After winning multiple all-state honors in high school, Spurrier was recruited in one or more sports by many colleges, including Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Kentucky, Duke, South Carolina, and both Air Force and Army. However, he was not aggressively pursued as a football player by the coaching staff at the University of Tennessee in nearby Knoxville because at the time, Tennessee ran a wing-T offense that featured a running quarterback while Spurrier was an excellent passer. While Tennessee never officially offered him a football scholarship, Volunteers basketball coach Ray Mears offered Spurrier a scholarship, which he declined since he preferred to play football.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: University of Florida coach Ray Graves heard about Spurrier late in the recruiting process from his brother Edwin, who was the postmaster in Knoxville, and visited Johnson City in February 1963. Spurrier and his family got along well with Graves, and Steve visited the Florida campus in Gainesville the following week. He received a favorable first impression of Gainesville when he arrived to find warm sunshine after leaving freezing temperatures in Tennessee, and thought more highly of Graves when the coach stayed by his side in the school infirmary after Spurrier's cold worsened into the flu during his recruiting visit. Graves did not promise Spurrier that he would be his starting quarterback, but he told the star recruit that he fit into his coaching staff's plan to open up the Gator offense and would be given a fair opportunity to earn the job. Soon after returning home, Spurrier decided to attend the University of Florida because of "the passing, the SEC, the weather, and coach Ray Graves."


title: Steve Spurrier

text: NCAA rules in the 1960s forbade college freshmen from participating in varsity sports competition. Spurrier therefore spent his first year at Florida practicing with the varsity team and playing on the freshman team, which scheduled four scrimmages against other schools' freshman squads as a way for young players to gain experience. In 1963, Spurrier led the "Baby Gators" to a 45–12 victory over Georgia's freshman team at Florida Field, a game which he half-jokingly claims as a home win against the Gators' fiercest rivals.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier was in competition for the starting quarterback position leading up to his sophomore year of 1964 until a serious knee injury suffered during spring drills allowed returning senior starter Tommy Shannon to keep the job. Coach Ray Graves still felt the need to get the future star on the field, so he decided to alternate Shannon and Spurrier as the flow of the game dictated. Spurrier entered the season-opening game against SMU in the second quarter. After two unsuccessful running plays called from the sidelines put the Gators in a third down and long situation, Coach Graves told Spurrier to call the next play himself. The young quarterback responded by completing a fifty-six yard screen pass on his first collegiate attempt and another pass for a touchdown on his second pass. Spurrier would add another touchdown pass during the second half of his varsity debut. The following week on the road at Mississippi State, Spurrier entered a tied game late in the fourth quarter and led the Gators down the field for a game-winning field goal.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier continued to alternate with starter Tommy Shannon as the season progressed, gaining more playing time every week. After being named SEC Back of the Week for a two touchdown performance in a 30-14 upset over Ole Miss in October, Spurrier was given the starting nod for the undefeated Gators' next game against undefeated and #3 ranked and eventual national champion Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Though Spurrier threw a touchdown pass and was the Gators' offensive star, his team fell short when another late fourth quarter comeback attempt ended in a missed field goal and a 17-14 Alabama win. Spurrier remained the Gators' starter for the remainder of the season and was sometimes brilliant but inconsistent. He led the Gators to a 14–0 home win over rival Auburn and a 20-6 upset of #7 LSU in Baton Rouge, but he did not play well in losses to rivals Georgia and Florida State. Nevertheless, he was named the SEC's Sophomore of the Year for 1964.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier was the Gators' starting quarterback and team leader in 1965 and 1966. He finished his three-year, thirty-one-game college career having completed 392 of 692 attempts for 4,848 passing yards and 37 touchdowns, breaking every UF and many conference records for passing and total offense. In addition to being a stellar passer, Spurrier gained notoriety by playing his best under pressure; eight times during his college career, he led the Gators to fourth-quarter comeback wins. The most memorable example was a November 1966 game against Auburn, when, after leading the team down the field on a two minute drill, he waved off Florida's regular placekicker and booted a forty-yard field goal, giving the Gators a 30–27 win and likely securing himself the Heisman Trophy. This penchant for dramatic comebacks prompted John Logue of the "Atlanta Constitution" to famously write "Blindfolded, with his back to the wall, with his hands tied behind him, Steve Spurrier would be a two-point favorite at his own execution."


title: Steve Spurrier

text: As a junior, Spurrier was named a Football Writers Association of America first-team All-American and is still the only player from the losing team to be named the MVP of the Sugar Bowl after passing for a record 352 yards in leading a furious fourth-quarter rally that fell just short. As a senior, Spurrier was awarded many national recognitions, including the 1966 Heisman Trophy and Walter Camp Memorial Trophy, and was a unanimous first-team All-American. He was also the 1966 recipient of Florida's Fergie Ferguson Award, which recognizes the "senior football player who displays outstanding leadership, character and courage."


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Though the 9-2 1966 season was one of the best in program football history up to that point (along with the 1928 Florida Gators football team), the Gators fell short of their elusive first conference title due to a 27-10 upset loss to arch-rival Georgia, a loss that Spurrier would remember when he returned as Florida's coach and made beating Georgia a priority.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: In 2006, Spurrier was recognized by "The Gainesville Sun" as the No. 2 player of the first century of the Gators football program.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier was among the test subjects who was given a prototype for what would become Gatorade during the 1965 season. Spurrier was unsure of whether or not the beverage had a substantial impact on the team's success.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: The San Francisco 49ers selected Spurrier with the third overall pick of the 1967 NFL/AFL Draft, trading up to land the star quarterback. Spurrier was told by team officials that he was being prepped to replace veteran 49ers quarterback and frequent All-Pro John Brodie in "four or five years", a situation which negatively affected his motivation. "I was not a very ambitious player", Spurrier admitted in his 2016 autobiography.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier had few opportunities to play and fewer to start early in his pro career, and he did not play very well when he got on the field. He attempted less than five passes over the entire season in three out of his first five years in the NFL, and he did not throw a touchdown pass until his third pro season. Instead, he settled into the role of backup quarterback and starting punter.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier's first extended opportunity came in 1972, when an injured ankle left Brodie unable to play for over a month. San Francisco was 2–3 when Spurrier became the starter, and he led the team to a 6–1–1 record, throwing sixteen touchdowns over eight games and putting them in a position to make the playoffs. Spurrier continued to start even after Brodie had recovered. However, when he threw three interceptions in the first half of the regular-season finale, Brodie entered the game and led a second-half comeback that clinched a playoff spot. Head coach Dick Nolan chose to start Brodie in the first round of the playoffs against the Dallas Cowboys, whom the 49ers had beaten 31–10 on Thanksgiving Day in Texas with Spurrier starting. Spurrier did not make an appearance in the playoff rematch, and the Cowboys intercepted Brodie twice on their way to a 30–28 victory that ended the 49ers' season.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier next had an opportunity to start in the fifth game of the 1973 season, when he replaced a slumping Brodie against the Minnesota Vikings. Teammates later claimed that Spurrier drew new plays in the huddle in the snow at old Metropolitan Stadium on his way to a team-record 31 completions and 320 passing yards, but he also tossed two interceptions, and the 49ers lost 17–14. Spurrier's lingering knee injury flared up after the game, so 49ers Coach Nolan decided to start third-stringer Joe Reed the following week, and Spurrier played sparingly the remainder of the season.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier had successful knee surgery in the offseason and, with his NFL contract expired, listened to offers from teams in the new World Football League. However, Brodie had retired, and as the heir apparent to the 49ers' starting quarterback position in 1974, Spurrier decided to re-sign with San Francisco. Spurrier played well in the preseason and had seemingly secured the starting job, but these plans were derailed when he suffered a badly dislocated shoulder in the final preseason game. The injury required surgery, and he missed virtually the entire season. A serious offseason traffic accident reaggravated the injury, and Spurrier was again the 49ers backup quarterback to start the 1975 season, this time to veteran Norm Snead.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: The 49ers began the 1975 season with a 2–5 record, prompting Spurrier to ask Nolan for a chance to start against the Los Angeles Rams, who had dominated the rivalry during his tenure in San Francisco. Nolan agreed, and Spurrier led his team to a 24–23 comeback win, throwing for 240 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions in what he later called his "best, or at least favorite" game of his pro career. The performance earned him the starting job, and the 49ers won the next two games behind Spurrier to get back to 5–5. However, they lost their next four games, Spurrier was sent back to the bench, and Coach Nolan was fired at the conclusion of the season. Incoming coach Monte Clark traded multiple high draft picks for New England Patriots' quarterback Jim Plunkett, making it clear that Spurrier would not be a part of the 49ers' rebuilding plans. Overall, he was 13–12–1 as a starter with San Francisco.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: In April 1976, Spurrier was sent to the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in exchange for two players and a second-round draft pick as part of the new franchise's first trade. The Buccaneers' new acquisition generated local excitement, as Spurrier had been a college star at the nearby University of Florida. He won the job as team's first starting quarterback, a title that he later regretted, as the undermanned Bucs went on to suffer the first winless season (0–14) in modern NFL history. Though he had looked forward to playing professional football in Florida, Spurrier was frustrated by the losses, the constant hits absorbed while playing behind a porous offensive line, and his philosophical differences with Bucs coach John McKay. McKay insisted on employing a run-heavy attack similar to the offense he had used to win championships with the USC Trojans, while Spurrier felt that the team did not have the right personnel to run the ball effectively and should employ a more pass-oriented offense. Another point of contention was Coach McKay's insistence that his son, John McKay, Jr., be the Bucs' primary wide receiver while Spurrier and other observers felt that he did not have the talent to fill that role.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: The Bucs cut Spurrier in April 1977, a move that left him "puzzled and disappointed" since he had been working out with the team up to that point and had not been told that his release was imminent. He signed with the Denver Broncos in July and was released after playing in several preseason games, then briefly signed with the Miami Dolphins but was released in the last round of cuts before the beginning of the regular season, at which point he decided to end his playing career.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Over 10 NFL seasons, Spurrier played in 106 games (starting 38), completing 597 passes in 1,151 attempts, for a total of 6,878 yards, 40 touchdowns, and 60 interceptions. He also punted 230 times for a 38.3-yard average.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier spent fall 1977 out of football, living in Gainesville with his young family and considering possible career choices. While not officially connected with the University of Florida at the time, he was often on campus, running at the university's track and attending football games as a fan. He watched the Gators play to a 6–4–1 record in 1977, a season that prompted head coach Doug Dickey to scrap the wishbone-based run-heavy attack that his teams had used for several years with declining success in favor of a more open pro-style offense. To effect this change, Dickey revamped his offensive staff, and he hired Spurrier to his first coaching job as Florida's quarterbacks and receivers coach.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: The changes did not bring many positive results. While Florida's passing attack improved and former option quarterback Cris Collinsworth was named to the All-SEC team as a wide receiver under Spurrier's tutelage, the 1978 Gators' overall scoring output was almost identical to that of 1977 at about 22 points per game. The team's record also slumped to 4–7, leading to Dickey's dismissal. Spurrier expressed an interest in becoming Florida's next head coach but was not a serious candidate due to his lack of experience, and Clemson coach Charley Pell was hired soon after the conclusion of the season. Pell chose not to retain any of Dickey's coaching staff, leaving Spurrier without a job.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: In later years, Spurrier has repeatedly thanked Doug Dickey for giving him a chance to get into coaching with no prior experience.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier was unsure if he wanted to continue pursuing a coaching career after his unpleasant experience at Florida, stating that he would only accept a position "if the opportunity was really right." In 1979, he accepted an offer to become the quarterbacks coach at Georgia Tech under head coach Pepper Rodgers, who had been an offensive assistant at Florida when Spurrier was the quarterback.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Like Dickey at Florida, Rodgers sought to shift Georgia Tech's offense from a wishbone attack to a more passing-oriented offense. And also like Dickey, Rodgers's efforts did not produce immediate results. The Yellow Jackets began the season 1-5-1 and did not score more than 14 points against a Division I-A opponent over its first seven games. Spurrier, who had not been tasked with constructing a game plan and had seldom been allowed to call plays up to that point, asked Coach Rodgers for a larger role on the staff and was allowed to take control of the offense for the eighth game of the season, against Duke. Georgia Tech surprised Duke with a more aggressive offense than they'd run all year, and the Yellow Jackets won, 24–14. With Spurrier continuing to call plays, Georgia Tech won the next two games as well, scoring over 20 points in both contests and setting a Georgia Tech record for passing yardage in a season. But the campaign ended with a 16–3 loss to archrival Georgia, dropping Georgia Tech to 4-6-1 overall and leading to Rodgers' dismissal.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier asked incoming head coach Bill Curry if he would be retained as Georgia Tech's quarterback coach and was told that he was one of "two or three" candidates for the job, prompting him to seek employment elsewhere. Spurrier would not forget being dismissed by Curry in 1980. In later years, Spurrier repeatedly mentioned his perfect record (6-0) against Curry's teams when they met as head coaches, often by very lopsided margins.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: In 1980, Spurrier was hired to be the offensive coordinator at Duke University by head coach Red Wilson, who had been impressed by Spurrier's coaching abilities the previous season when Georgia Tech had upset Wilson's Duke squad. Wilson gave the young coach free rein to design the offense, coach the quarterbacks, and call the plays, and Spurrier met the challenge by developing a record-breaking offense that Duke fans nicknamed "Air Ball". Under Spurrier, Blue Devils quarterback Ben Bennett set an NCAA record for career passing yardage, receiver Chris Castor was named ACC player of the year, and Duke's 1982 team became the first in Atlantic Coast Conference history to average more than 300 passing yards per game. Duke earned two straight winning seasons in 1981 and 1982, a feat that the program had not achieved since 1970 and 1971 and would not achieve again until Spurrier returned as the school's head football coach later in the decade. They also upset Tennessee in Knoxville 25–24 in 1982 on an 88-yard touchdown pass during Spurrier's first return to the state as an opponent.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: In later years, Spurrier has stated that his seasons working to get maximum production out of outmanned Duke squads were critical to his development as a coach and an offensive strategist. Success at a school not known for its football program also built Spurrier's reputation as an innovative young offensive coach who could improvise and succeed without seeming to work very hard. Duke quarterback Ben Bennett recalls Spurrier diagraming a trick halfback option play with his cereal on the morning before a game, and the play going for a 60-yard touchdown pass that afternoon. During another game, Spurrier devised a new pass play on the sideline which Duke ran for a touchdown on their next offensive possession. Coach Wilson had not seen the play before, and when he asked Spurrier what play he'd called, the young assistant replied "Touchdown, coach."


title: Steve Spurrier

text: In 1983, Spurrier returned to Tampa to accept his first head coaching position with the Tampa Bay Bandits of the new United States Football League (USFL). At 37 years old, Spurrier was the youngest head coach in professional football at the time.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: "BanditBall" was marketed as a fun alternative to the woeful Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who were in the midst of a record-setting streak of losing seasons. Spurrier's wide-open offense was prominently featured, as was starting quarterback John Reaves, who had broken many of Spurrier's passing records at the University of Florida and had grown up in Tampa. The Bandits' attendance was the highest in the USFL over its three-year run, and Spurrier's offenses were consistently among the league's best. The team narrowly missed the playoffs in their first season and made the postseason the next two years. Overall, Spurrier led the Bandits to 35–21 record before the USFL dissolved after the 1985 season.


title: Steve Spurrier

text: Spurrier spent 1986 out of football as the USFL's planned move to a fall schedule never took place. When it became clear that the Bandits would not retake the field, Spurrier began to seek new coaching opportunities. He interviewed to be the head coach at Mississippi State, but was passed over in favor of Rockey Felker. He also sought to be the head coach at LSU, but was passed over in favor of Mike Archer.