title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: The first step in realizing Eisenhower's plan was the eradication of the Ruhr Pocket. Even before the encirclement had been completed, the Germans in the Ruhr had begun making attempts at a breakout to the east. All had been unceremoniously repulsed by the vastly superior Allied forces. Meanwhile, the 9th and 1st Armies began preparing converging attacks using the east-west Ruhr River as a boundary line. The 9th Army's XVI Corps, which had taken up position north of the Ruhr area after crossing the Rhine, would be assisted in its southward drive by two divisions of the XIX Corps, the rest of which would continue to press eastward along with the XIII Corps. South of the Ruhr River, the 1st Army's northward attack was to be executed by the XVIII Airborne Corps, which had been transferred to Hodges after Operation Varsity, and the III Corps, with the 1st Army's V and VII Corps continuing the offensive east. The 9th Army's sector of the Ruhr Pocket, although only about 1/3 the size of the 1st Army's sector south of the river, contained the majority of the densely urbanized industrial area within the encirclement. The 1st Army's area, on the other hand, was composed of rough, heavily forested terrain with a poor road network.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: By 1 April, when the trap closed around the Germans in the Ruhr, their fate was sealed. In a matter of days, they would all be killed or captured. On 4 April, the day it shifted to Bradley's control, the 9th Army began its attack south toward the Ruhr River. In the south, the 1st Army's III Corps launched its strike on the 5th and the XVIII Airborne Corps joined in on the 6th, both pushing generally northward. German resistance, initially rather determined, dwindled rapidly. By 13 April, the 9th Army had cleared the northern part of the pocket, while elements of the XVIII Airborne Corps' 8th Infantry Division reached the southern bank of the Ruhr, splitting the southern section of the pocket in two. Thousands of prisoners were being taken every day; from 16 to 18 April, when all opposition ended and the remnants of German "Army Group B" formally surrendered, German troops had been surrendering in droves throughout the region. Army Group B commander Model committed suicide on 21 April.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: The final tally of prisoners taken in the Ruhr reached 325,000, far beyond anything the Americans had anticipated. Tactical commanders hastily enclosed huge open fields with barbed wire creating makeshift prisoner of war camps, where the inmates awaited the end of the war and their chance to return home. Also looking forward to going home, tens of thousands of freed forced laborers and Allied prisoners of war further strained the American logistical system.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: Meanwhile, the remaining Allied forces north, south, and east of the Ruhr had been adjusting their lines in preparation for the final advance through Germany. Under the new concept, Bradley's 12th U.S. Army Group would make the main effort, with Hodges' 1st Army in the center heading east for about toward the city of Leipzig and the Elbe River. To the north, the 9th Army's XIX and XIII Corps would also drive for the Elbe, toward Magdeburg, about north of Leipzig, although the army commander, General Simpson, hoped he would be allowed to go all the way to Berlin. To the south, Patton's 3rd Army was to drive east to Chemnitz, about southeast of Leipzig, but well short of the Elbe, and then turn southeast into Austria. At the same time, General Devers' 6th U.S. Army Group would move south through Bavaria and the Black Forest to Austria and the Alps, ending the threat of any Nazi last-ditch stand there.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: On 4 April, as it paused to allow the rest of the 12th U.S. Army Group to catch up, the 3rd Army made two notable discoveries. Near the town of Merkers, elements of the 90th Infantry Division found a sealed salt mine containing a large portion of the German national treasure. The hoard included vast quantities of German paper currency, stacks of priceless paintings, piles of looted gold and silver jewelry and household objects, and an estimated $250,000,000 worth of gold bars and coins of various nations. But the other discovery made by the 3rd Army on 4 April horrified and angered those who saw it. When the 4th Armored Division and elements of the 89th Infantry Division captured the small town of Ohrdruf, a few miles south of Gotha, they found the first concentration camp taken by the Western Allies.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: The 4 April pause in the 3rd Army advance allowed the other armies under Bradley's command to reach the Leine River, about east of Paderborn. Thus all three armies of the 12th U.S. Army Group were in a fairly even north–south line, enabling them to advance abreast of each other to the Elbe. By 9 April, both the 9th and 1st Armies had seized bridgeheads over the Leine, prompting Bradley to order an unrestricted eastward advance. On the morning of 10 April, the 12th U.S. Army Group's drive to the Elbe began in earnest.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: The Elbe River was the official eastward objective, but many American commanders still eyed Berlin. By the evening of 11 April, elements of the 9th Army's 2nd Armored Division—seemingly intent on demonstrating how easily their army could take that coveted prize—had dashed to reach the Elbe southeast of Magdeburg, just short of the German capital. On 12 April, additional 9th Army elements attained the Elbe and by the next day were on the opposite bank hopefully awaiting permission to drive on to Berlin. But two days later, on 15 April, they had to abandon these hopes. Eisenhower sent Bradley his final word on the matter: the 9th Army was to stay put—there would be no effort to take Berlin. Simpson subsequently turned his troops' attention to mopping up pockets of local resistance.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: In the center of the 12th U.S. Army Group, Hodges' 1st Army faced somewhat stiffer opposition, though it hardly slowed the pace. As its forces approached Leipzig, about south of Magdeburg and short of the Mulde River, the 1st Army ran into one of the few remaining centers of organized resistance. Here the Germans turned a thick defense belt of antiaircraft guns against the American ground troops with devastating effects. Through a combination of flanking movements and night attacks, First Army troops were able to destroy or bypass the guns, moving finally into Leipzig, which formally surrendered on the morning of 20 April. By the end of the day, the units that had taken Leipzig joined the rest of the 1st Army on the Mulde, where it had been ordered to halt.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: Meanwhile, on the 12th U.S. Army Group's southern flank, the 3rd Army had advanced apace, moving eastward to take Erfurt and Weimar, and then, by 12 April, another through the old 1806 Jena Napoleonic battlefield area. On that day, Eisenhower instructed Patton to halt the 3rd Army at the Mulde River, about short of its original objective, Chemnitz. The change resulted from an agreement between the American and Soviet military leadership based on the need to establish a readily identifiable geographical line to avoid accidental clashes between the converging Allied forces. However, as the 3rd Army began pulling up to the Mulde on 13 April, the XII Corps—Patton's southernmost force—continued moving southeast alongside the 6th U.S. Army Group to clear southern Germany and move into Austria. After taking Coburg, about south of Erfurt, on 11 April, XII Corps troops captured Bayreuth, farther southeast, on 14 April.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: As was the case throughout the campaign, the German ability to fight was sporadic and unpredictable during the drive to the Elbe–Mulde line. Some areas were stoutly defended while in others the enemy surrendered after little more than token resistance. By sending armored spearheads around hotly contested areas, isolating them for reduction by subsequent waves of infantry, Eisenhower's forces maintained their eastward momentum. A German holdout force of 70,000 in the Harz Mountains— north of Erfurt—was neutralized in this way, as were the towns of Erfurt, Jena, and Leipzig.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: Every unit along the Elbe–Mulde line was anxious to be the first to meet the Red Army. By the last week of April, it was well known that the Soviets were close, and dozens of American patrols were probing beyond the east bank of the Mulde, hoping to meet them. Elements of the 1st Army's V Corps made first contact. At 11:30 on 25 April, a small patrol from the 69th Infantry Division met a lone Soviet horseman in the village of Leckwitz. Several other patrols from the 69th had similar encounters later that day, and on 26 April the division commander, Maj. Gen. Emil F. Reinhardt, met Maj. Gen. Vladimir Rusakov of the Soviet 58th Guards Rifle Division at Torgau in the first official link-up ceremony.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: While the 12th U.S. Army Group made its eastward thrust, Devers' 6th U.S. Army Group to the south had the dual mission of protecting the 12th U.S. Army Group's right flank and eliminating any German attempt to make a last stand in the Alps of southern Germany and western Austria. To accomplish both objectives, Patch's 7th Army on Devers' left was to make a great arc, first driving northeastward alongside Bradley's flank, then turning south with the 3rd Army to take Nuremberg and Munich, ultimately continuing into Austria. The French 1st Army, under de Lattre de Tassigny, was to attack to the south and southeast, taking Stuttgart before moving to the Swiss border and into Austria.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: Initially, the opposition in the 6th U.S. Army Group's sector was stiffer than that facing the 12th U.S. Army Group. The German forces there were simply in less disarray than those to the north. Nevertheless, the 7th Army broke out of its Rhine bridgehead, just south of Frankfurt, on 28 March, employing elements of three corps—the XV Corps to the north, the XXI Corps in the center, and the VI Corps to the south. The XV Corps' 45th Infantry Division fought for six days before taking the city of Aschaffenburg, east of the Rhine, on 3 April. To the south, elements of the VI Corps met unexpectedly fierce resistance at Heilbronn, into the German rear. Despite a wide armored thrust to envelop the enemy defenses, it took nine days of intense fighting to bring Heilbronn fully under American control. Still, by 11 April 7 Army had penetrated the German defenses in-depth, especially in the north, and was ready to begin its wheeling movement southeast and south. Thus, on 15 April when Eisenhower ordered Patton's entire 3rd Army to drive southeast down the Danube River valley to Linz, and south to Salzburg and central Austria, he also instructed the 6th U.S. Army Group to make a similar turn into southern Germany and western Austria.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: Advancing along this new axis the Seventh Army's left rapidly overran Bamberg, over east of the Rhine, on its way to Nuremberg, about to the south. As its forces reached Nuremberg on 16 April, the Seventh Army ran into the same type of anti-aircraft gun defense that the 1st Army was facing at Leipzig. Only on 20 April, after breaching the ring of anti-aircraft guns and fighting house-to-house for the city, did its forces take Nuremberg.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: Following the capture of Nuremberg, the 7th Army discovered little resistance as the XXI Corps' 12th Armored Division dashed to the Danube, crossing it on 22 April, followed several days later by the rest of the corps and the XV Corps as well.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: Meanwhile, on the 7th Army's right, the VI Corps had moved southeast alongside the French 1st Army. In a double envelopment, the French captured Stuttgart on 21 April, and by the next day, both the French and the VI Corps had elements on the Danube. Similarly, the 3rd Army on the 6th U.S. Army Group's left flank had advanced rapidly against very little resistance, its lead elements reaching the river on 24 April.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: As the 6th U.S. Army Group and the 3rd Army finished clearing southern Germany and approached Austria, it was clear to most observers, Allied and German alike, that the war was nearly over. Many towns flew white flags of surrender to spare themselves the otherwise inevitable destruction suffered by those that resisted, while German troops surrendered by the tens of thousands, sometimes as entire units.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: On 30 April, elements of 7th Army's XV and XXI Corps captured Munich, south of the Danube, while the first elements of its VI Corps had already entered Austria two days earlier. On 4 May, the 3rd Army's V Corps and XII Corps advanced into Czechoslovakia, and units of the VI Corps met elements of Lieutenant General Lucian Truscott's U.S. 5th Army on the Italian frontier, linking the European and Mediterranean Theaters. Also on 4 May, after a shift in inter-army boundaries that placed Salzburg in the 7th Army sector, that city surrendered to elements of the XV Corps. The XV Corps also captured "Berchtesgaden", the town that would have been Hitler's command post in the National Redoubt. With all passes to the Alps now sealed, however, there would be no final redoubt in Austria or anywhere else. In a few days the war in Europe would be over.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: While the Allied armies in the south marched to the Alps, the 21st Army Group drove north and northeast. The right-wing of the British Second Army reached the Elbe southeast of Hamburg on 19 April. Its left fought for a week to capture Bremen, which fell on 26 April. On 29 April, the British made an assault crossing of the Elbe, supported on the following day by the recently reattached XVIII Airborne Corps. The bridgehead expanded rapidly, and by 2 May Lübeck and Wismar, beyond the river, were in Allied hands, sealing off the Germans in the Jutland Peninsula.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: On the 21st Army Group's left, one corps of the Canadian First Army reached the North Sea near the Dutch-German border on 16 April, while another drove through the central Netherlands, trapping the German forces remaining in that country. However, concerned that the bypassed Germans would flood much of the nation and cause complete famine among a Dutch population already near starvation, Eisenhower approved an agreement with the local German commanders to allow the Allies to air-drop food into the country in return for a local ceasefire on the battlefield. The ensuing airdrops, which began on 29 April, marked the beginning of what was to become a colossal effort to put war-torn Europe back together again.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: On 6 May, the Polish 1st Armoured Division seized the Kriegsmarine naval base in Wilhelmshaven, where General Maczek accepted the capitulation of the fortress, naval base, East Frisian Fleet and more than 10 infantry divisions.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: General Eisenhower's Armies were facing resistance that varied from almost non-existent to fanatical as they advanced toward Berlin, which was located from their positions in early April 1945. Britain's Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, urged Eisenhower to continue the advance toward Berlin by the 21st Army Group, under the command of Montgomery with the intention of capturing the city. Even Patton agreed with Churchill that he should order the attack on the city since Montgomery's troops could reach Berlin within three days. The British and Americans contemplated an airborne operation before the attack. In Operation Eclipse, the 17th Airborne Division, 82d Airborne Division, 101st Airborne Division, and a British brigade were to seize the Tempelhof, Rangsdorf, Gatow, Staaken, and Oranienburg airfields. In Berlin, the Reichsbanner resistance organization identified possible drop zones for Allied paratroopers and planned to guide them past German defenses into the city.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: After General Omar Bradley warned, however, that capturing a city located in a region that the Soviets had already received at the Yalta Conference might cost 100,000 casualties, by 15 April Eisenhower ordered all armies to halt when they reached the Elbe and Mulde Rivers, thus immobilizing these spearheads while the war continued for three more weeks. 21st Army Group was then instead ordered to move northeast toward Bremen and Hamburg. While the U.S. Ninth and First Armies held their ground from Magdeburg through Leipzig to western Czechoslovakia, Eisenhower ordered three Allied field armies (1st French, and the U.S. Seventh and Third Armies) into southeastern Germany and Austria. Advancing from northern Italy, the British Eighth Army pushed to the borders of Yugoslavia to defeat the remaining "Wehrmacht" elements there. This later caused some friction with the Yugoslav forces, notably around Trieste.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: By the end of April, the Third Reich was in tatters. Of the land still under Nazi control, almost none was actually in Germany. With his escape route to the south severed by the 12th Army Group's eastward drive and Berlin surrounded by the Soviets, Hitler committed suicide on 30 April, leaving to his successor, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, the task of capitulation. After attempting to strike a deal whereby he would surrender only to the Western Allies, a proposal that was summarily rejected on 7 May, Dönitz granted his representative, Alfred Jodl, permission to effect a complete surrender on all fronts. The appropriate documents were signed on the same day and became effective on 8 May. Despite scattered resistance from a few isolated units, the war in Europe was over.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: By the beginning of 1945, Allied victory in Europe was inevitable. Having gambled his future ability to defend Germany on the Ardennes offensive and lost, Hitler had no real strength left to stop the powerful Allied armies. The Western Allies still had to fight, often bitterly, for victory. Even when the hopelessness of the German situation became obvious to his most loyal subordinates, Hitler refused to admit defeat. Only when Soviet artillery was falling around his Berlin headquarters bunker did he begin to perceive the final outcome.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: The crossing of the Rhine, the encirclement and reduction of the Ruhr, and the sweep to the Elbe–Mulde line and the Alps all established the final campaign on the Western Front as a showcase for Western Allied superiority over the Germans in maneuver warfare. Drawing on the experience gained during the campaign in Normandy and the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine, the Western Allies demonstrated in western Germany and Austria their capability of absorbing the lessons of the past. By attaching mechanized infantry units to armored divisions, they created a hybrid of strength and mobility that served them well in the pursuit of warfare through Germany. Key to the effort was the logistical support that kept these forces fueled, and the determination to maintain the forward momentum at all costs. These mobile forces made great thrusts to isolate pockets of German troops, which were mopped up by additional infantry following close behind. The Western Allies rapidly eroded any remaining ability to resist.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: For their part, captured German soldiers often claimed to be most impressed not by American armor or infantry but by the artillery. They frequently remarked on its accuracy and the swiftness of its target acquisition—and especially the prodigious amount of artillery ammunition expended.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: In retrospect, very few questionable decisions were made concerning the execution of the campaign. For example, Patton potentially could have made his initial Rhine crossing north of Mainz and avoided the losses incurred crossing the Main. Further north the airborne landings during Operation Plunder in support of the 21st Army Group's crossing of the Rhine were probably not worth the risk. But these decisions were made in good faith and had little bearing on the ultimate outcome of the campaign. On the whole, Western Allied plans were excellent as demonstrated by how rapidly they met their objectives.


title: Western Allied invasion of Germany

text: Several German political leaders have described the invasion as "liberation", including President Richard von Weizsäcker in 1985 and Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2019. According to the "Chicago Tribune", "over the decades, Germans' attitudes toward the war have evolved from a sense of defeat to something far more complex".


title: Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (TV series)

text: Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works is an anime series produced by Ufotable. It is based on the visual novel "Fate/stay night" produced by Type-Moon. The narrative is primarily based on the "Unlimited Blade Works" storyline in the visual novel, and follows Shirou Emiya, a high school student and amateur magus living in Fuyuki City, Japan. Shirou is unexpectedly brought into the Fifth Holy Grail War, a secret magical tournament in which seven participants, known as "Masters", and their "Servants", reincarnated personifications of legendary historical heroes, fight in a battle royale for the Holy Grail, an omnipotent magical chalice that can fulfill any wish or desire for its victor. When Shirou and his Servant Saber are forced to team up with Rin Tohsaka, another Master in the Holy Grail War, Shirou finds himself earning the strong dislike of Rin's mysterious Servant Archer, whose motivations are unknown.


text: The concept for the "Unlimited Blade Works" anime originated from Ufotable president Hikaru Kondo, who wanted to create a new anime adaptation based on the "Fate/stay night" visual novel. Although initially many staff members were in disagreement over how to properly adapt the novel due to its three routes, it was eventually decided that the "Unlimited Blade Works" route would be adapted. In creating the series, Ufotable wanted to further explore the protagonist's conflicts with Archer while also providing new scenes not featured in the original visual novel. The music was composed by Hideyuki Fukasawa, Yuki Kajiura, and NUMBER 201. The series was first announced in early 2014. Its 26 episodes were divided into two seasons that aired from October 4 to December 27, 2014, and April 4 to June 27, 2015, respectively. The series was released in DVD and Blu-ray in both Japanese and English speaking territories in 2015.


text: "Unlimited Blade Works" was one of the most anticipated anime of the end of 2014, following from the general popularity of the "Fate" franchise and the success of Ufotable's previous adaptation of "Fate/Zero". Upon release, it received highly positive reviews from critics, who directed particular praise towards the writing of Shirou and other characters as well as the visually striking animation. It was a major commercial success in Japan, having multiple top-selling home media releases and being the winner of multiple awards from the magazine "Newtype".


text: The story revolves around Shirou Emiya, a hardworking and honest teenager who unwillingly enters the fifth iteration of a to-the-death battle royale called the Holy Grail War, where combatants fight with magic and Heroes throughout history for a chance to have their wishes granted. Orphaned and the sole survivor of a massive fire in Fuyuki City as a child, Shirou was taken in by a retired magus named Kiritsugu Emiya, who died some years later. Shirou's feelings of responsibility for those who died and his own salvation through his father formed a strong desire for justice and peace in him. Thus, he earnestly trains his body and minuscule ability with magic with the goal of helping others, even if people often abuse his generosity. One evening, Shirou unexpectedly comes across two warriors, Archer and Lancer, fighting at his school. He is attacked and nearly killed by Lancer, but Archer's master, Rin Tohsaka manages to revive him just before death. However, Lancer attacks again, and just before Shirou is about to be killed, he accidentally summons his Servant, Saber, who saves his life. With this summoning, the marks of the Command Seal appear on Shirou's hand, formalizing his entry as a Master into the Holy Grail War.


text: As Saber forces Lancer to flee, she engages in combat with Archer, but Shirou accidentally stops her with his magic upon seeing Rin, his schoolmate. Shirou and Rin decide to form an alliance to fight against other mages. Through the priest Kirei Kotomine, Shirou learns about the Holy Grail War's context. Although initially hesitant, he decides to participate to avoid future catastrophes happening as a result of wishes granted by the Holy Grail.


text: As the war continues, Shirou starts developing his own skills as a magus by imitating Archer's abilities, and Rin notes striking similarities between the two. However, in a battle against the servant Caster in an attempt to rescue his guardian Fujimura, Shirou loses control of Saber, who is imprisoned by Caster. Shirou vows to fight with his own magical strength to stop the war and save his friends. Archer betrays Rin during a fight against Caster, but Rin reforms her alliance with Shirou. With Lancer's help, the duo manages to free Saber from Caster who is then killed.


text: To gain more allies, Rin and Shirou decide to team up with Illyasviel von Einzbern and her servant Berserker. However, Gilgamesh, Kotomine's former servant, arrives and kills both Illya and Berserker before Rin and Shirou can stop him. At Illya's villa, Archer challenges Shirou to a fight, hoping to destroy Shirou's goals of being a hero. Confused, Saber demands to know what his true intentions are, and Archer reveals himself to be a version of Shirou from the future, who became a heroic spirit after becoming disillusioned with the path he took. However, Shirou accepts his future regardless of Archer's regrets, deciding to stick to Kiritsugu's ideals of being a hero. Gilgamesh tries to kill Archer and Shirou, but the former sacrifices himself to protect the latter. Gilgamesh takes Illya's heart, planning to use his other master Shinji Matou in order to summon the corrupted Holy Grail. In order to follow Archer's hopes, Rin passes Shirou her mana to fight Gilgamesh to replicate Archer's powers. As Shirou nearly kills Gilgamesh, Archer uses the last of his strength to deliver the final attack at their enemy while assisting Saber to destroy the Holy Grail. With the war concluded and the servants gone, Shirou and Rin move to London to learn more about magic, and Shirou vows once again to retain Kiritsugu's ideals.


text: In a post-credits scene, Archer appears in another dimension, and disappears as he remembers his past self's words, just as another, younger, hooded person appears in the same field.


text: In 2011, Type-Moon ported" Fate/stay night" to the PlayStation Vita. Type-Moon intended to include animated cutscenes for each of the routes for the port. Studio ufotable was tasked to animate the cutscenes. During production, Ufotable president Hikaru Kondo had an idea about the possibility of creating a full anime series that would be an adaptation of the visual novel. At the time, Studio Deen had already created two works based on the visual novel, including a 2006 animated series largely based on the 'Fate' route, and based on the "Unlimited Blade Works" route. Kondo proposed the idea to Type-Moon CEO Takashi Takeuchi, and it was approved.


text: The original visual novel includes three routes: 'Fate', 'Unlimited Blade Works' and 'Heaven's Feel,' which start with similar premises but gradually become unique stories, and are distinguished by their focus on different main female characters - Saber, Rin and Sakura, respectively. The Ufotable production committee had differing opinions regarding the development of the new anime series. Some favored the idea of following the source material down to the last detail, while others, such as Hikaru Kondo and Takashi Takeuchi, wanted to re-adapt the 'Fate' route to emphasize Saber's character traits that were displayed in "Fate/Zero". However, this idea was not met with unanimous approval with the rest of the production committee. As a result, the idea was scrapped, with consensus that the 'Fate' route already animated by Studio Deen would serve as an introduction to the setting of the 'Fate' universe.


text: Producer Atsuhiro Iwakami proposed that an adaptation of the "Unlimited Blade Works" route would be a logical continuation to the events of "Fate/Zero." Iwakami was certain that the plot of this route would be better presented as a TV series rather than a full-length film. Ufotable said that they wished to develop the series in a dark tone similar to "Fate/Zero" with Shirou Emiya's characterization also being altered from the original visual novel. As a result, Miura pointed out that in future work he would prefer to focus more on revealing the character of Shirou as a character through his personal traits, rather through women associated with him, in contrast to the visual novel. The CEO of Type-Moon believed that only Nasu himself was able to convey all the ideas he put into Shirou, and help them reflect on the screen correctly and deepen public perception of the hero. Another character that Miura requested Kinoko Nasu to expand was Illya, who received development in the second half of the series when she learns of her father's past and is driven by angst as a result.


text: The characters were designed by Tomonori Sudo, who was handed materials and key animation to review in preparation for his work. Being a Type-Moon fan, he was conflicted on how best to depict each character's expression, but worked with the screen and animation directors in order to create the best possible product. Sudo stated that he was satisfied with the battle choreography and animation throughout the television series.


text: All the Japanese voice actors from the Studio Deen adaptation of "Fate/stay night" reprised their roles. In contrast, the English dub recast almost all the voice actors save for Mela Lee as Rin Tohsaka, Stephanie Sheh as Illyasviel von Einzbern, Tony Oliver as Lancer and Julie Ann Taylor as Taiga Fujimura, respectively; most notably, the roles of Shirou, Saber and Archer were recast to Bryce Papenbrook, Kari Wahlgren and Kaiji Tang, respectively. Papenbrook felt that the story took a "different path in "Unlimited Blade Works"" and that the creators "wanted a different take on Shirou". He was told to play Shirou in a "real" way. As a result, Papenbrook stated that he had to get himself into a "deep mindset" in order to play the role best.


text: Noriaki Sugiyama noted that he was tense before he started recording for "Unlimited Blade Works", since he had not been involved in the mainstream "Fate" series since 2010. Sugiyama expressed concern that voicing Shirou in comedic spinoffs like "Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya" and "Carnival Phantasm" would affect his performance for "Unlimited Blade Works". Ayako Kawasumi, Saber's seiyuu, noted that the characterization of her role differed in "Unlimited Blade Works" from the "Fate" route, due to her character's lack of romantic feelings for Shirou in the route. Consequently, Saber was portrayed with a more stoic demeanor, seeing Shirou as merely her Master and not a romantic interest.


text: "Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] Original Soundtrack I" was composed, arranged and produced by Hideyuki Fukasawa, Yuki Kajiura, and NUMBER 201. The first season opening theme was "Ideal White" by Mashiro Ayano and the ending theme was "Believe" by Kalafina. Aimer performed the opening theme of the second season, "Brave Shine" while the ending theme, "Ring Your Bell" was performed by Kalafina. A remix of "Ring Your Bell", titled "Ring Your Bell (in the silence)", was used as the ending theme for episode 15. The song "Last Stardust", performed by Aimer, was used as an insert song for episode 20. LiSA performed a new cover of "This Illusion", a returning theme from the 2006 series, which was used throughout the series. The album was first released in Japan on March 25, 2015, by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), with catalog number ANZX-11636, and was re-released as part of the North American Limited Edition Blu-Ray box set on August 25, 2015.


text: Originally, the series' second opening theme was intended to be "Last Stardust", composed by Aimer. However, the staff did not find it fitting for the video's sequences and instead used "Brave Shine". Writer Kinoko Nasu decided to use "Last Stardust" for the "Heaven's Feel" route, but the "Unlimited Blade Works" staff instead used it as an insert song in episode 20 during Shirou's fight with Archer. The vocals focus on the fire that destroyed Shirou's city and deal with his acceptance of Kiritsugu's death as he decided to follow his dreams regardless of any regrets he may have in his life. Aimer also took inspiration from the relationship between Jesus and his disciple Judas Iscariot in developing the relationship between Shirou and Archer, with the latter often showing intentions to kill the former, believing he should have never been born; similar words were said between Jesus and Judas.


text: There were more than 400 compositions created for the entire "Unlimited Blade Works" soundtrack. This significantly exceeded the average figure for a 24 episode anime series, which normally range around 40-50 tracks. As a retrospective scene accompaniment, two revised compositions by Yuki Kajiura from the "Fate/Zero" series were used.


text: The series was first announced in early 2014, and official announcements about its cast and storyline were made in July 2014. The anime was jointly produced by Aniplex, Notes, and Ufotable, the same studios that co-produced the 2011–2012 anime adaptation of "Fate/Zero". It was directed by Takahiro Miura, with music composed by Hideyuki Fukasawa; character designs by Tomonori Sudou, Hisayuki Tabata, and Atsushi Ikariya, based on the original designs by Takashi Takeuchi; and art, 3D, and photography directions by Koji Eto, Kōjirō Shishido, and Yuichi Terao, respectively. The first half of the series ran from October 4 to December 27, 2014, and the second half ran from April 4 to June 27, 2015. An advanced screening online premiered on September 28, 2014, in several countries across the world, including Japan, the United States, France, Germany and South Korea. In Japan, the series was collected in a total of eleven DVD volumes, which were released from November 26, 2014, to September 30, 2015. Two compilation Blu-ray disks were also released. The first disk containing the first season was released on March 25, 2015. The second disk was released on October 7, 2015.


text: Aniplex of America acquired streaming and home video rights to the 2014 series for North America. They released an English dub for the first half of the series on DVD and limited Blu-ray Disc on August 25, 2015. A ten-minute original video animation episode, titled "Sunny Day", was included with the Blu-ray release for the second half of the series, which was released on October 7, 2015. The episode was based on an alternate ending from the visual novel.


text: To promote the anime, Shirou, Saber, Rin and Archer were added to the video game "Summons Board". Crossover game "The Alchemist Code" was used to promote the anime as well.


text: "Unlimited Blade Works" received positive reviews from critics, who praised the way Ufotable handled the main characters. Critics also applauded the animation quality of the series. "Kotaku" reviewer Richard Eysenbeys called it "the most beautiful-looking television anime series [he had] ever seen," noting that the smooth transitions between individual frames and the chosen range of colors created a cinematic effect that he considered to be superior to average anime and even previous works produced by Ufotable. In addition to this, Nick Creamer from Anime News Network highlighted the computer generated special effects, which he felt improved the overall quality of the visuals.


text: Chris Beveridge of The Fandom Post enjoyed Shirou's characterization in the series, especially in regards to his contrasting ideals with Archer and Kiritsugu. "Japanator" found Shirou's decision to become a tragic warrior as uncommon in storytelling, showing depth in the character. They further stated that Archer's betrayal of Rin was an emotional plot twist, due to the duo's contract and bond in the previous episodes. Seb Reid praised the television series, stating that he felt it was superior to the 2006 Studio Deen adaptation due to Rin's and Archer's larger roles in the series. He felt they were the best characters from the series. Beveridge shares similar sentiments with Reid; he also found Rin more appealing than Saber due to the former's role in the series' finale. "Thrillist" named the series one of the best anime of the 2010s, with praise on the warriors portrayed in the Holy Grail as well as Shirou's characterization.


text: The series' epilogue added a new scene where a person with a striking resemblance with Shirou is seen walking in Archer's dimension. This generated many questions from fans in regards to Shirou's destiny. However, "Fate" visual novel author Kinoko Nasu remained ambiguous regarding whether that person was Shirou or not.


text: The series has also been commercially successful in Japan. The first Blu-ray sold 33,876 units, topping charts. By March 2015, the "Fate" franchise became the #1 franchise in collective CD, book, and video sales. 76,222 Blu-ray volumes in Japan by the end of 2015. In the same year, the series also won the "Best Work" award on the "Newtype" magazine. Theme song "Brave Shine" won Best Theme Song award on the magazine, while the general soundtrack was second behind "Aldnoah.Zero". Takahiro Miura was also awarded as Best Director while the character designers were ranked third. Aimer's single "Brave Shine" appeared in the fourth spot of both Oricon and Billboard Japan Hot 100's charts.


title: Ellen (TV series)

text: Ellen is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from March 29, 1994, to July 22, 1998, consisting of 109 episodes. The title role is Ellen Morgan, a neurotic bookstore owner in her thirties, played by stand-up comedian Ellen DeGeneres. The title of the series was These Friends of Mine for the first season, but it was subsequently changed to avoid confusion with the NBC series "Friends", which premiered in September 1994.


title: Ellen (TV series)

text: The series centered on Ellen's dealing with her quirky friends, her family, and the problems of daily life, set in Los Angeles. The series was one of the first in the US with a main character to come out as gay, which DeGeneres' character did in the 1997 episode "The Puppy Episode", which aired shortly after DeGeneres publicly revealed that she was gay in real life. This event received a great deal of media exposure, ignited controversy, and prompted ABC to place a parental advisory at the beginning of each episode.


title: Ellen (TV series)

text: The series' theme song (used in season 3 onwards) is a version of "So Called Friend" by Scottish band Texas with altered lyrics. A running gag during the third and fourth seasons was that each episode had a distinct/different opening credits sequence (often with singing and dancing), resulting from Ellen's ongoing search for the perfect opening credits.


title: Ellen (TV series)

text: In 1997, "Ellen" made television history when the title character came out as a lesbian in the famous "Puppy Episode" (DeGeneres herself came out concurrent with the episode on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and in "Time"). To ensure a memorable moment, the coming out scene was made into a gag where, at an airport, Ellen turns and tells Laura Dern's character "I'm gay!" – only to realize that she had turned right into the public address microphone, announcing her sexuality to the entire terminal. Ellen DeGeneres's mother Betty can briefly be seen as one of the people in the terminal with a shocked reaction to the announcement.


title: Ellen (TV series)

text: The revelation ignited a storm of controversy, prompting ABC to place a parental advisory at the beginning of each episode.


title: Ellen (TV series)

text: "Ellen" was successful enough in its early seasons to warrant annual renewal, due largely to DeGeneres's perceived appeal and comic ability, but only with Ellen's coming out did the show make its way into the wide public consciousness and hit a critical plateau. After the initial coming out frenzy, however, the show's ratings declined, and ABC began feeling the pain of a backlash regarding the "gay content" being exhibited. The final episodes of "Ellen" were criticized for focusing too much on gay issues. Eventually, even some members of the LGBT community, including Chaz Bono (who at the time was the media director for GLAAD), began to criticize the show's serious new tone as well. ABC cancelled the show in May 1998 after five seasons.


title: Ellen (TV series)

text: The episode "Secrets & Ellen" is part of a crossover with "Grace Under Fire", "Coach", and "The Drew Carey Show" set in Las Vegas. It features Brett Butler as Grace Kelly and Drew Carey as himself.


title: Ellen (TV series)

text: Note: Between seasons one and two, there was not only a title change from "These Friends of Mine" to "Ellen", but several characters disappeared without explanation.


title: Ellen (TV series)

text: A&E Home Video has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1. These DVDs do not have captioning or subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: Beverly Hills Cop III is a 1994 American action comedy film starring Eddie Murphy and directed by John Landis, who had previously worked with Murphy on "Trading Places" and "Coming to America". It is the third film in the "Beverly Hills Cop" franchise.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: Murphy again plays Detroit cop Axel Foley, who once again returns to Beverly Hills, California, to stop a gang of counterfeiters who are responsible for the death of his boss. Foley teams up with his friend, Beverly Hills detective Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), and his investigation leads him to an amusement park known as Wonder World. The film features a number of cameo appearances by well-known film personalities, including Robert B. Sherman, Arthur Hiller, John Singleton, Joe Dante, Barbet Schroeder, Peter Medak, special effects legend Ray Harryhausen, and George Lucas as a ride patron. It is also the first film in the series not to involve producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, who opted out of the film's production due to budgetary disagreements.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: "Beverly Hills Cop III" was released on May 25, 1994, and grossed $42.6 million in the United States, and $76.5 million at the foreign box office for a worldwide total of $119.2 million. The film received negative reviews from critics, and was considered by them and Murphy himself as the weakest film in the trilogy.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: One night in Detroit, Axel Foley plans to arrest a gang of car thieves who run a local chop shop. Unbeknownst to his superior, Inspector G. Douglas Todd, Axel has canceled the SWAT, intending to raid the shop using only his team. Meanwhile, a group of four men arrive at the chop shop to pick up a cube van that the car thieves had hijacked. The leader of the group confirms that the vehicle still contains its cargo, which consists of crates labeled as property of the U.S. government, then has his men execute the car thieves.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: As the murderers are about to leave, Axel, unaware of what has happened inside, proceeds with his plan to enter the shop and quickly finds his team outgunned. Todd, arriving moments later, is killed by the group's leader. When the perpetrators escape in the cube van, an angry Axel gives chase in one of the partially disassembled cars from the shop, but is intercepted by Secret Service Agent Steve Fulbright. Fulbright informs Axel that the killer must remain on the loose because the federal government is pursuing a larger scheme in which he is involved.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: After Todd's funeral, Axel learns that several clues left behind by the killers point to Wonder World, a theme park in Beverly Hills, California, owned by "Uncle Dave" Thornton. Axel arrives in Beverly Hills and reunites with his friend Billy Rosewood, who has been promoted to "Deputy Director of Operations for Joint Systems Interdepartmental Operational Command" (DDO-JSIOC), and meets Jon Flint, Billy's new partner after John Taggart's retirement. Flint calls his friend Ellis DeWald, the head of Wonder World's park security, to let him know that Axel's coming to the park for his investigation.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: Axel meets and befriends Janice Perkins, a park employee, whilst touring the park's underground behind-the-scenes facilities. Later, he is observed by security, shot at and attacked hand-to-hand. Axel retreats to the surface, where he cuts in line to enter the "Spider" Ferris wheel ride. The guards accidentally jam the ride, placing two little children's lives in danger. Axel rescues them and is subsequently taken to park manager Orrin Sanderson. When DeWald is called in to contest the claim that Axel was attacked by the security guards without prior challenge, Axel immediately recognizes DeWald as Todd's killer, but Rosewood and Flint refuse to believe that claim because DeWald is keeping an impeccable public reputation. However, Axel is later visited in his motel room by Uncle Dave and Janice, who inform him that the Wonder World park's designer and Dave's close friend, Roger Frye, has mysteriously disappeared while inspecting the grounds two weeks earlier, leaving only a letter with a cryptic message.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: Axel tries to heckle DeWald into revealing his criminal involvements, despite continued admonishments by Fulbright, but DeWald proves too smooth to be caught in a mistake. When Axel later digs deeper into a closed-off section of the park, he finds out that DeWald and Sanderson run a counterfeiting ring that uses Wonder World as a front, and DeWald was at the chop shop in Detroit to get his hands on blank printing paper used for American currency. Axel later meets with Uncle Dave to ask him about further details to find a piece of viable evidence, and thereby discovers that Frye's warning letter is actually written on a sheet of the stolen mint paper. Before he can make use of that evidence, however, Uncle Dave is shot by DeWald, and Axel is framed for his shooting.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: After getting away from DeWald and bringing Uncle Dave to a hospital, Axel sets out to prove his innocence by storming the park, calling Rosewood and Flint to assist him. The resulting shootout kills DeWald's henchmen, and after a hand-to-hand fight Axel shoots and kills DeWald, thus avenging Todd. During the fight, Sanderson is shot dead in the print shop by Agent Fulbright, who then appears before Axel to explain that he was right. Axel realizes Fulbright's actual involvement with the counterfeiters and fatally shoots him during a brief struggle. Uncle Dave makes a full recovery, and he thanks Axel for his assistance by creating a new character for Wonder World with his name, Axel Fox; and Janice takes Axel, now in a wheelchair, away from the festivities to show him the 'Tunnel of Love'.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: Asked in 1989 about a third installment, Murphy stated: "There's no reason to do it. I don't need the money and it's not gonna break any new ground. How often can you have Axel Foley talk fast and get into a place he doesn't belong? But these motherfuckers are developing scripts for it. They're in pre-production. The only reason to do a "Cop III" is to beat the bank, and Paramount ain't gonna write me no check as big as I want to do something like that. In fact, if I do a "Cop III", you can safely say, 'Ooh, he must have got a "lot" of money!'"


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: During the script's early drafts, the plot concerned Foley, Rosewood, and Taggart going to London to rescue Captain Bogomil (Ronny Cox), who was being held hostage by terrorists during an International Police Convention. However, problems such as scripting issues and budgeting caused pre-production to slow to the point where both John Ashton and Ronny Cox had to drop out due to obligations to other film projects. Ashton's part was re-written as John Flint (Héctor Elizondo) and dialogue was inserted to explain that Taggart had retired and moved to Phoenix. Cox's character's absence is never addressed in this film, nor is he mentioned. However, Ashton and Cox make subtle cameos in the form of a picture on Rosewood's desk of Foley, Taggart, Rosewood, and Bogomil on a fishing trip. This is the same picture that appeared in "Cop II" on Bogomil's and Foley's desks. In an interview in 2012, Ronny Cox said, "They wanted me to be in "Beverly Hills Cop III", but...I read the script."


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: Rejected ideas for "Cop III" included a Robert Towne screenplay (in which Foley has to deal with his celebrity status), a scenario teaming Murphy with Sean Connery as a Scotland Yard detective, and another Axel-in-London idea where his Scotland Yard counterpart would have been played by John Cleese. The last would have involved British gangsters, loosely based on the real-life Kray brothers, who were captured in Detroit and transported to London by Jeffrey (Axel's friend from "Beverly Hills Cop" and "Beverly Hills Cop II", played by Paul Reiser), and Axel would have gone overseas after the gangsters' henchmen broke them out of custody and murdered Jeffrey. This was scrapped because producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer decided it was too close to the story of Michael Douglas' 1989 film "Black Rain".


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: When writer Steven E. de Souza was brought in, he originally wrote the story as more ""Die Hard" in a theme park". He was told that each of the rides he had designed would cost about $10 million to build and the whole film would cost about $70 million. When box office results for Murphy's 1992 comedy "The Distinguished Gentleman" came in, Paramount ordered the budget to be cut to $55 million. Paramount had earlier told Simpson and Bruckheimer that they would only outlay $25 million for a proposed version to be set in New York City, one of the main reasons that the producing team parted ways with the studio. Joel Silver was set to take over producing duties from Simpson and Bruckheimer; however, negotiations on a large budget resulted in production delays leading to Silver quitting production. It was at this time that producers Mace Neufeld and Robert Rehme took on the project. Consequently, the film became more about the investigation and less about the action.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: Production was temporarily shut down to allow the Paramount top brass the chance to get to grips with the film's spiraling budget. Originally estimated at $55 million, it was soon in excess of $70 million. Of that budget, $15 million was Murphy's paycheck.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: The final chase scene through the "Land of the Dinosaurs", featuring eleven animatronic dinosaurs, was filmed at Universal Studios Stage 37. Exterior scenes set in the theme park were filmed at Paramount's Great America in Santa Clara, California, after Knott's Berry Farm declined permission. The three-armed Ferris wheel rescue scene used Great America's Sky Whirl. One shootout sequence was filmed inside at the Universal Studios theme park. The Sherman Brothers wrote the WonderWorld theme song.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: A soundtrack containing mostly R&B music was released on May 10, 1994, by MCA Records. It peaked at 158 on the "Billboard" 200 and 66 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. While Harold Faltermeyer did not return to score this film, his co-producer from the previous franchise entries, Keith Forsey, did produce and co-write a new song entitled "Keep the Peace", performed by INXS. However, Nile Rodgers covered Faltermeyer's "Axel F" in a breakbeat hardcore version.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: This is the only film in the series not to feature a song performed by The Pointer Sisters, although "Neutron Dance" was used in the film's trailer. "Beverly Hills Cop" featured their song "Neutron Dance", while "Beverly Hills Cop II" had their song "Be There".


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: "Beverly Hills Cop III" was criticized harshly and currently holds an 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 56 reviews. The critical consensus reads; "Despite being set at an amusement park, "Beverly Hills Cop III" forgets to have any fun as it churns out uninspired violence and witless gags, with an uncharacteristically lethargic Eddie Murphy not helping matters." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score, rated it 16/100 based on 15 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Richard Natale of "Variety" called it "a return to form by Eddie Murphy" that "runs out of steam before the end". Caryn James of "The New York Times" wrote that the film is designed to be a foolproof and safe money-maker, but Murphy plays Foley too straight. Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" rated it D- and called Murphy's performance "joyless" and "depressing".


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: "Beverly Hills Cop III" was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards, for Landis as Worst Director and the film as Worst Remake or Sequel.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: In an interview in 1994, Eddie Murphy said that "Beverly Hills Cop III" is "different from the trilogy's first installment because Axel is more mature and no longer the wisecracking rookie cop." During that same year, Murphy said he thought "Beverly Hills Cop III" was "infinitely better than "Beverly Hills Cop II"."


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: About the experience on making the movie, John Landis said: ""Cop 3" was a very strange experience. The script wasn't any good, but I figured, “So what? I'll make it funny with Eddie". But then I discovered on the first day when I started giving Eddie some shtick, he said, "You know, John… Axel Foley is an adult now. He's not a wiseass anymore". So, with "Beverly Hills Cop 3", I had this strange experience where he was very professional, but he just wasn't funny. I would try to put him in funny situations, and he would find a way to step around them. It's an odd movie. There are things in it I like, but it's an odd movie."


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: In an interview with "The A.V. Club" in 2009, Bronson Pinchot claimed that Eddie Murphy "was really depressed" at the time "Beverly Hills Cop III" was being filmed, claiming that Murphy was low-spirited and had a low energy level.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: A fourth entry in the series was initially announced for release in the mid-1990s, under the production of Eddie Murphy's own production company "Eddie Murphy Productions", though production later fizzled out. It was re-announced in 2006, when producer Jerry Bruckheimer announced his intention to resurrect the film series, though he eventually gave up his option to produce the film, instead passing production duties to Lorenzo di Bonaventura. In September 2006 a script, an amalgamation of several earlier drafts, was presented to Murphy who was reported to be "very happy" with the outline which was described as an attempt to recapture the "feel of the original". Murphy admitted one of his motivations for making a fourth "Beverly Hills Cop" film was to make up for the fact that the third film was "horrible" and that "he didn't want to leave (the series) like that".


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: In May 2008, "Rush Hour" director Brett Ratner was officially named director, who promised the film would return under the series' standard "R" rating, rather than as a rumored watered down PG-13. Michael Brandt and Derek Haas were hired as screenwriters to improve on the existing script in July 2008 and completed a new script, under the working title "Beverly Hills Cop 2009", which would see Foley return to Beverly Hills to investigate the murder of his friend Billy Rosewood. The script was eventually rejected, leaving Ratner to work on a new idea. In an interview with "Empire" magazine, Ratner stated "I'm working very hard on the fourth. It's very difficult, especially since there were three before. We're trying to figure out some important things, like where do we start? Is Axel retired? Is he in Beverly Hills? Is he on vacation? Does Judge Reinhold return as the loveable Billy Rosewood? Many questions to figure out, but I'm hoping to have a script before film disappears from our existence." Although Murphy himself committed to the project, it was unconfirmed whether the series' other principal actors, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Ronny Cox or Bronson Pinchot would also return, though Ratner stated in late 2009 that he was trying to convince Reinhold and Ashton to reprise their roles. Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F", however, would definitely be returning for the proposed fourth installment, with Ratner quoted as saying "It'll be back but it'll be a whole new interpretation." On November 15, 2010, Ratner stated in an interview with MTV that there was still a possibility that they will make a fourth film, but that it wouldn't be "anytime soon."


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: In October 2011, Murphy discussed a possible fourth film, stating, "They're not doing it. What I'm trying to do now is produce a TV show starring Axel Foley's son, and Axel is the chief of police now in Detroit. I'd do the pilot, show up here and there. None of the movie scripts were right; it was trying to force the premise. If you have to force something, you shouldn't be doing it. It was always a rehash of the old thing. It was always wrong."


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: During late Summer 2013, after CBS decided to pass on the TV series, Paramount decided to move forward with the fourth film. On September 13, 2013, Jerry Bruckheimer stated he was in talks to produce. On December 6, 2013, it was announced that Eddie Murphy would again reprise the role of Axel Foley and Brett Ratner would direct. On May 2, 2014, Deadline announced that screenwriters Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec would be penning the screenplay.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: On June 27, 2014, in an interview with "Rolling Stone", Murphy discussed returning to the edgier type character of Axel Foley after years of making family-friendly films. "I haven't done a street guy, working class, blue-collar character in ages so maybe it's like, 'Oh, wow, I didn't remember he was able to do that'", Murphy said. According to studio reports on the film's plot, Foley returns to Detroit after leaving his job in Beverly Hills and he's faced with the coldest winter on record to navigate the new rules and old enemies of one of America's most tenacious cities. The state of Michigan approved $13.5 million in film incentives, based on an estimated $56.6 million of filmmaker spending in the state. The film was supposed to be shot in and around Detroit and was estimated to provide jobs for 352 workers. The film was originally scheduled for a March 25, 2016 release, but on May 6, 2015, Paramount Pictures pulled "Beverly Hills Cop IV" from its release schedule, due to script concerns.


title: Beverly Hills Cop III

text: On October 1, 2019, in an interview with Collider, Murphy confirmed that production on "Beverly Hills Cop IV" will commence once the filming of "Coming 2 America" has wrapped. On November 14, 2019, Deadline Hollywood announced that Paramount Pictures made a one-time license deal with an option for a sequel to Netflix to create the fourth film. By May 2020, after delays in the filmmaking business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Arbi and Fallah confirmed they are still attached as co-directors and that a new screenwriter was working on a new script for the film. In April 2022, Arbi and Fallah left the film to focus on "Batgirl" (2022), with Mark Molloy hired to replace them. In the same article, Will Beall was announced to have penned the script. The film was retitled "", with filming commencing on August 29, 2022.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: Duck, You Sucker! (, lit. "Duck Your Head", "Get Down"), also known as A Fistful of Dynamite and Once Upon a Time ... the Revolution, is a 1971 epic Zapata Western film directed and co-written by Sergio Leone and starring Rod Steiger, James Coburn, and Romolo Valli.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: Set during the Mexican Revolution of the 1910s, the film tells the story of Juan Miranda, an amoral Mexican outlaw, and John Mallory, a former member of the Irish Volunteer Army. After they accidentally meet under less-than-friendly circumstances, Juan and John involuntarily become heroes of the Revolution, despite being forced to make heavy sacrifices.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: It is the second film of Leone's unofficial "Once Upon a Time Trilogy", which includes the previous "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968) and the subsequent "Once Upon a Time in America" (1984). The last western film directed by Leone, it is considered by some to be one of his most overlooked films.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: In Revolution-torn 1913 Mexico, Juan Miranda, a Mexican outlaw leading a bandit family, robs a coach of wealthy men and rapes a female passenger who insulted him. Passing by on a motorcycle is Sean H. Mallory, an early Irish Republican explosives expert, who is working in Mexico as a silver prospector. Juan (who mistakenly thinks Sean's name is "John" and keeps calling him John thereafter) discovers his skill with dynamite and nitroglycerin and asks "John" to help him rob the Mesa Verde National Bank. After John initially refuses, Juan frames him for the murder of his employer and several soldiers, making him a wanted criminal and offering to "protect" him in exchange for his help. John reluctantly agrees to help Juan rob the bank, but escapes on the way to Mesa Verde.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: Arriving in the city before Juan, John makes contact with Mexican revolutionaries led by physician Dr. Villega and agrees to use his explosives in their service. When Juan arrives, John inducts him into the revolutionaries' ranks. The bank is hit as part of an orchestrated attack on the Mexican army. Juan, interested only in the bank's money, is shocked to find that it has no funds and is instead being used by the army as a political prison. John, Juan and his family end up freeing hundreds of prisoners, inadvertently (and against his wishes) causing Juan to become a "great, grand, glorious hero of the revolution."


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: The revolutionaries are chased into the hills by an army detachment led by Colonel Günther Reza. John and Juan volunteer to stay behind with two machine guns and dynamite. Much of the Mexican army's detachment is destroyed while crossing a bridge, which is blown up by John. Colonel Reza, who commands an armored car, survives. After the battle, John and Juan find most of their comrades, including Juan's father and children, have been killed by the army in a cave which served as the rebels' hideout. Grief-stricken and enraged, Juan goes out to fight the army single-handed and is captured. John sneaks into camp, where he witnesses executions of many of his fellow revolutionaries by firing squad. They had been informed on by Dr. Villega, who has been tortured by Colonel Reza and his men. This evokes in John memories of a similar betrayal by Nolan, his best friend in Ireland. After Nolan identified John, John killed two British soldiers and then killed Nolan, making him a fugitive and forcing him to flee Ireland. Juan faces a firing squad of his own, but John arrives and blows up the wall with dynamite just in time. They escape on John's motorcycle.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: John and Juan hide in the animal coach of a train. It stops to pick up the tyrannical Governor Don Jaime, who is fleeing (with a small fortune) from the revolutionary forces belonging to Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. As the train is ambushed, John, as a test of Juan's loyalty, lets him choose between shooting the Governor and accepting a bribe from him. Juan kills Jaime, also stealing the Governor's spoils. As the doors to the coach open, Juan is greeted by a large crowd and once again is unexpectedly hailed as a great hero of the revolution. The money is taken away by revolutionary General Santerna.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: On a train with commanders of the revolution, John and Juan are joined by Dr. Villega, who has escaped. John alone knows of Villega's betrayal. They learn that Pancho Villa's forces will be delayed by 24 hours and that an army train carrying 1,000 soldiers and heavy weapons, led by Colonel Reza, will be arriving in a few hours that evening, which will surely overpower the rebel position. John suggests they rig a locomotive with dynamite and send it head on. He requires one other man, but instead of picking Juan, who volunteers, he chooses Dr. Villega. It becomes clear to Villega that John knows of the betrayal, but John says he used to judge people but he doesn't anymore. John pleads with him to jump off the locomotive before it hits the army's train, but Villega feels guilty and stays on board. John jumps in time and the two trains collide and explode, killing Villega and a number of Mexican soldiers.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: The revolutionaries' ambush is successful, but as John approaches to meet Juan, he is shot in the back by Colonel Reza. An enraged Juan guns down the Colonel with a machine gun. As John lies dying, he continues to have memories of Nolan, and of a young woman they both apparently loved. Juan kneels by his side to ask about Dr. Villega. John keeps the doctor's secret and tells Juan that he died a hero of the revolution. As Juan goes to seek help, the fatally wounded John, knowing his end is near, sets off a second charge he secretly laid in case the battle went bad. Horrified by his friend's sudden death, Juan stares at John's burning remains, before turning to the camera and asking forlornly, "What about me?"


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: The development of "Duck, You Sucker!" began during the production of "Once Upon a Time in the West", when Sergio Leone's collaborator Sergio Donati presented him with an early treatment of the film. Around the same time, political riots had broken out in Paris, and the ideals of revolution and left-wing nationalism had become popular among university students and filmmakers across Europe. Leone, who had used his previous films to deconstruct the romanticization of the American Old West, decided to use "Duck, You Sucker!" to deconstruct the romanticized nature of revolution, and to shed light on the political instability of contemporary Italy.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: Leone, Donati and Luciano Vincenzoni worked together on the film's screenplay for three to four weeks, discussing characters and scenes for the film. Donati, who had previously acted as an uncredited script doctor for "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", conceived Juan Miranda's character as an extension of Tuco from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". Meanwhile, Leone was largely responsible for the character of John Mallory, and the film's focus on the development of John and Juan's friendship. At times, however, Leone, Donati, and Vincenzoni found that they had highly differing opinions about how the film should be made, with Leone wanting to have the film produced on a large scale with an epic quality, while Donati and Vincenzoni perceived the film as a low-budget thriller.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: Leone never intended to direct "Duck, You Sucker!", and wanted the film to be directed by someone who could replicate his visual style. Peter Bogdanovich, his original choice for director, soon abandoned the film due to perceived lack of control. Sam Peckinpah then agreed to direct the film after Bogdanovich's departure, only to be turned down for financial reasons by United Artists. Donati and Vincenzoni, noting the director's frequent embellishment of the facts concerning his films, claim that Peckinpah did not even consider it - Donati stated that Peckinpah was "too shrewd to be produced by a fellow director". Leone then recruited his regular assistant director, Giancarlo Santi, to direct, with Leone supervising proceedings, and Santi was in charge for the first ten days of shooting. However, Rod Steiger refused to play his role as Juan unless Leone himself directed, and the producers pressured him into directing the film. Leone reluctantly agreed, and Santi was relegated to second unit work.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: The inspiration for the firing squad scene came from Francisco Goya, and in particular from his set of prints "The Disasters of War". Leone showed the prints to director of photography Giuseppe Ruzzolini in order to get the lighting and color effects he wanted. The film is believed to have been influenced by Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch", and it shares some plot elements with "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid", a western film also starring Coburn and released a year later. Leone biographer and film historian Sir Christopher Frayling noted that "Duck, You Sucker!" was made in a period of Italian cinema where filmmakers were 'rethinking' their relationship with fascism and the Nazi occupation of Rome. He has identified numerous references to both World Wars in the film, such as Colonel Reza's commanding of an armored car resembling a Nazi tank commander, the massacre of Juan's family (which bears similarities to the Ardeatine massacre of 1944), and an execution victim resembling Benito Mussolini.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: Casting the lead roles of "Duck, You Sucker!" proved to be a difficult process. The role of John Mallory was written for Jason Robards, who had played Cheyenne in "Once Upon a Time in the West". However, the studio wanted a bigger name for his character. Clint Eastwood was then approached by Leone for the role, but he saw it as just a different take of the same character he had already played in the "Dollars Trilogy", and he also wanted to end his association with the Italian film industry. As a result, he declined the offer and starred in "Hang 'Em High" instead. George Lazenby was then approached to play John, but he declined. A young Malcolm McDowell, then mostly known for his performance in "if...", was considered for both John and Nolan, John's Irish friend, but Leone eventually settled on James Coburn to play John. Coburn had previously been considered for other Leone projects, including "A Fistful of Dollars" and "Once Upon a Time in the West". He had also previously been considered for a role in another United Artists-financed Zapata Western, Sergio Corbucci's "The Mercenary", but Franco Nero was later cast in what was originally his role.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: The role of Juan Miranda was written for Eli Wallach, based on his performance of Tuco in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", but Wallach had already committed to another project with Jean-Paul Belmondo. After Leone begged Wallach to play the part, he dropped out of the other project to play Juan. However, Rod Steiger owed the studio another movie and they refused to back the picture unless Steiger was used. Leone offered no compensation to Wallach, and Wallach subsequently sued.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: Leone was initially dissatisfied with Steiger's performance in that he played his character as a serious, Zapata-like figure. As a result, tensions rose between Steiger and Leone numerous times, including an incident that ended with Steiger walking off during the filming of the scene when John destroys Juan's stagecoach. However, after the film's completion, Leone and Steiger were content with the final result, and Steiger was known to praise Leone for his skills as a director.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: Exterior filming mostly took place in Andalusia, southern Spain. Some of the locations used previously featured in Leone's "Dollar Trilogy" films; for example, the Almería Railway Station, used for the train sequence in "For a Few Dollars More", returns in this film as Mesa Verde's station. The flashback scenes with Sean and friends were shot in Ireland at Howth Castle in Dublin, and Toner's Pub on Baggot Street, Dublin. As filming progressed, Leone modified the script: as he did not originally plan on directing "Duck, You Sucker", he thought the script was "conceived for an American filmmaker". "Duck, You Sucker!" was one of the last mainstream films shot in Techniscope.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: The musical score for "Duck, You Sucker!" was composed by Ennio Morricone, who collaborated with Leone in all his previous projects as a director with the exception of his debut, "The Colossus of Rhodes". Elvis Mitchell, former film critic for "The New York Times", considered it as one of Morricone's "most glorious and unforgettable scores". He also sees "Invention for John", which plays over the opening credits and is essentially the film's theme, "as epic and truly wondrous as anything Morricone ever did". A soundtrack album was released in the United States in 1972, and many tracks can be found in Morricone's compilation albums. Music was recorded in April 1971 and second recording sessions in August/September 1971. A 35th anniversary OST was issued in 2006 with previously never released recording session and alternate takes.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: Despite the politically charged setting, "Duck, You Sucker!" was not intended as a political film: Leone himself said that the Mexican Revolution in the film is meant only as a symbol, not as a representation of the real one, and that it was chosen because of its fame and its relationship with cinema, and he contends that the real theme of the film is friendship:


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: Another theme is amoral non-engagement: Juan is very loyal to his family (consisting of his six children, each from a different mother), but he cannot be trusted by anyone else. He is also very cynical about priests, and he doesn't care about codified law. This relates most closely to those aspects of Southern Italian life observed by Edward Banfield and others.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: The film also explores the relationship between Mexican bandits and peasant communities at the time of the revolution, idealized by figures like Juan José Herrera and Elfego Baca, which Leone may have had in mind in his creation of the character of Juan.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: The film was moderately successful in Italy, where it grossed 1,829,420,000 lire on its first run; it was the third-highest grossing Spaghetti Western at the Italian box office that year, behind "Trinity is Still My Name" (which overtook "For a Few Dollars More" as the highest-grossing film ever released in Italy at that time) and "Red Sun". Although it was the lowest-grossing of Leone's five Westerns in Italy by a notable margin, it was also the highest-grossing Zapata Western released there. In France, it was the fourth most popular film released there in 1972, behind "A Clockwork Orange", "Stadium Nuts" and "Last Tango in Paris".


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: "Duck, You Sucker!" failed to gain any substantial recognition from the critics at the time of debut, especially compared to Leone's other films, though he did win the David di Donatello for Best Director. Since then, however, it has received a more favorable reception: on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the holds an approval rating of 92% based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 7.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Duck, You Sucker" is a saucy helping of spaghetti western, with James Coburn and Rod Steiger's chemistry igniting the screen and Sergio Leone's bravura style on full display". The "Chicago Reader" praised it for its "marvelous sense of detail and spectacular effects". "The New York Observer" argues that Leone's direction, Morricone's score and the leads' performance "ignite an emotional explosion comparable to that of "Once Upon a Time in the West"". In Mexico, where the film is known as "Los Héroes de Mesa Verde", it was refused classification and effectively banned until 1979 because it was considered offensive to the Mexican people and the Revolution.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: The film was originally released in the United States in 1972 as "Duck, You Sucker!", and ran for 121 minutes. Many scenes were cut because they were deemed too violent, profane or politically sensitive, including a quote from Mao Zedong about the nature of revolutions and class struggle. Theatrical prints were generally of poor quality, and the film was marketed as a light-hearted spiritual successor to the "Dollars Trilogy", not at all as Leone intended, and it did not succeed in gaining press notice. In part because of this, United Artists reissued the film under the new name of "A Fistful of Dynamite", meant to recall the notoriety of "A Fistful of Dollars". According to Peter Bogdanovich, the original title "Duck, You Sucker!" was meant by Leone as a close translation of the Italian title "Giù la testa, coglione!" (translated: "Duck your head, dumbass!"), which he contended to be a common American colloquialism. (The expletive "coglione" (a vulgar way to say "testicle") was later removed to avoid censorship issues.) One of the working titles, "Once Upon a Time... the Revolution", was also used for some European releases.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: In 1989, Image Entertainment released the film on laserdisc, including some material cut from the original US version and lasting 138 minutes. This version was released in Europe as "Once Upon a Time in Mexico", again intended to evoke an earlier Leone film, "Once Upon a Time in the West".


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: Subsequent re-releases have largely used the title "A Fistful of Dynamite", although the DVD appearing in "The Sergio Leone Anthology" box set, released by MGM in 2007, used the original English language title of "Duck, You Sucker!".


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: The film's first English language DVD was released by MGM in the UK in 2003. This version of the film runs 154 minutes and is almost complete, but it uses a truncated version of the film's final four-minute-long flashback. In 2005, following the restoration of Leone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", MGM re-released the film in the UK with more supplemental material, the aforementioned flashback scene reinstated and with a newly created 5.1 surround soundtrack. The restored version had a brief art house theatrical run in the U.S. and was subsequently released there in a "Collector's Edition" in 2007. The remastered surround tracks have attracted criticism online for the replacement of certain music cues throughout the film (most prominently during the last two flashback scenes and the end credits) and for censoring at least two expletives from the film's soundtrack. Furthermore, it has been reported that the mono soundtrack included on the 2007 Collector's Edition is not the original mix, but simply a fold-down of the surround remaster.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: "Duck, You Sucker!" was shown in 2009 as part of the Cannes Classics series of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. The print used for the festival was restored by the Cineteca di Bologna and the film laboratory Immagine Ritrovata.


title: Duck, You Sucker!

text: On 7 October 2014, MGM released the film on Blu-ray, akin to its Blu-ray releases of the "Dollars Trilogy".


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: "Crazy" is the debut single by American soul duo Gnarls Barkley, taken from their 2006 debut album "St. Elsewhere". It peaked at number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and topped the charts in the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and several other countries.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: The song was leaked in late 2005, months before its regular release: it received airplay on BBC Radio 1 in the United Kingdom, and radio DJ Zane Lowe also used the song in television commercials for his show. When it was finally released in March 2006, it became the first single to top the UK Singles Chart on download sales alone. The song remained at the top of the British charts for nine weeks, the longest number-one spell for more than ten years. The band and their record company then decided to remove the single from music stores in the country so people would "remember the song fondly and not get sick of it". In spite of this deletion, the song was the best-selling single of 2006 in the UK. Due to continued download sales, it reached one million copies in January 2011. In December 2006, it was nominated for the United Kingdom's Record of the Year but lost to "Patience" by Take That.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: The song won a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2007 and was also nominated for Record of the Year, which it lost to "Not Ready to Make Nice" by Dixie Chicks. It was also nominated and further won a 2006 MTV Europe Music Award for Best Song. The song was also named the best song of 2006 by "Rolling Stone" and by "The Village Voice"s annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. The song was listed at number 11 on "Pitchfork Media"'s top 500 songs of the 2000s. "Crazy" is also in the number 46 place in the list of the best songs ever of "Acclaimed Music". In 2010, it was placed at number 100 in the "updated" version of "Rolling Stone"s list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and ranked at the top position of "Rolling Stone"s top 100 songs of the decade (2000–2009). "Crazy" was performed at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, with Danger Mouse and Green dressed as various "Star Wars" characters.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: The song was picked up by Downtown Records. Danger Mouse's manager sent the song to Downtown's A&R Josh Deutsch because they were looking for an independent label with the same resources as a major. According to an interview with Deutsch in HitQuarters, he heard the song and signed it after a single listen. He said:


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: "Once in a while you hear a record that is obviously so important on so many levels. The beauty of my position is that it's very direct. If I find something I like there's no bureaucratic process associated with signing it."


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: By the time the record was signed to Downtown, there was already a huge swell of anticipation, in part due to the established reputation of the two artists but even more as a result of the demo being played on BBC Radio 1 and sparking a profound online awareness. The record began to break even before the deals with Downtown Records were complete. On its release, "Crazy" became the most downloaded song in the history of the UK music business, going to number one in the strength of downloads alone.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: Musically, "Crazy" was inspired by film scores of Spaghetti Westerns, in particular by the works of Ennio Morricone, and the song "Last Men Standing" by Gian Piero Reverberi and Gian Franco Reverberi from the 1968 Spaghetti Western "Django, Prepare a Coffin", an unofficial prequel to "Django". "Crazy" samples the song, and also utilizes parts of the main melody and chord structure. Because of this, the Reverberis are credited as songwriters along with CeeLo Green and Danger Mouse.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: The lyrics for the song developed out of a conversation between Danger Mouse and Green. According to Danger Mouse, "I somehow got off on this tangent about how people won't take an artist seriously unless they're insane... So we started jokingly discussing ways in which we could make people think we were crazy... CeeLo took that conversation and made it into 'Crazy', which we recorded in one take."


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: Upon release, "Crazy" was met with widespread acclaim from music critics. This song was number one on "Rolling Stone"s 2009 list of the 100 Best Songs of the Decade. They also placed it at number 100 in the list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, but was dropped at the number 307 in it's 2021 list. In October 2011, "NME" placed it at number 32 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". In 2007, "Crazy" was named the best single of 2006 by "The Village Voice"s Pazz & Jop annual year-end critics' poll. "NME" also placed the song at number 475 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: In the United Kingdom, following its release as a digital download on March 13, 2006, the song debuted at the number-one spot on the UK Download Chart on March 22, 2006. At the time, chart rules allowed a song to appear in the UK Singles Chart based on their download sales if a physical equivalent was to be released the following week. "Crazy" became the first number-one single in the United Kingdom based on download sales alone (more than 31,000 that week), on April 2, 2006―for the week ending date April 8, 2006―with the CD single being released one day later. It remained on top of the chart for nine weeks and on top of the download chart for a record 11 weeks, until the single was pulled from British stores by the band and their record label on May 29, 2006, after nine consecutive weeks at number one, so people will "remember the song fondly and not get sick of it". The last song to spend such a long time at number one in the UK was "Love Is All Around" by Wet Wet Wet in 1994, which was number one for 15 weeks.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: "Crazy"'s eleven weeks at the top of the UK Download Chart were the longest stay on that chart that any song had achieved as of 2006. Despite its official removal, record shops had enough stock remaining to sell 19,827 physical copies; along with download sales, this kept the song at number two in the chart week ending date June 10, 2006. The following week, "Crazy" was at number five, before disappearing completely from the chart a week later, as under chart rules a physically deleted single could not remain on the chart longer than two weeks after deletion date. Thus, "Crazy" made history at both ends of its chart run. It marked the most rapid exit from the British chart ever for a former number one, and number five was the highest position at which a single has ever spent its final week on the chart until Alex Day's "Forever Yours" fell out from number four. In the first week of 2007, "Crazy" recharted at number 30, based purely on downloads. The chart rules had been changed yet again, allowing any sold song to chart, irrespective of whether or not it was still on sale in stores. Due to continued download sales, the single became a million-seller in January 2011. It was the 104th single to do this.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: During its long stay in the British charts, the single also entered multiple other single charts throughout Europe, including the German, the Swedish, the Austrian and the Irish Singles Charts, and the Dutch Top 40, resulting in a number one position on the European Hot 100 Singles. "Crazy" also performed strongly outside Europe, with top-five positions on the New Zealand and Australian Single Charts, and was also certified gold in both countries. On May 29, 2006, the single went down in New Zealand music history by becoming the 500th number-one single in New Zealand since the official top 40 chart was started in 1973. The Discount Rhinos Full Control remix of the track also featured in the top 20 of the Australian ARIA Club chart. When the album "St. Elsewhere" was released in the United States on May 9, 2006, the song had debuted at number 91 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The song reached the top 40 on May 23, 2006. In the summer of 2006, "Crazy" spent seven consecutive weeks in the number two spot, below Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous" for four weeks and Fergie's "London Bridge" for an additional three weeks. It became the year's first single to peak at number two and never reach number one. The song also charted well on other charts, hitting number seven on the US Modern Rock chart and number 53 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Tracks. As of June 2013, the song has sold 3,401,000 downloads copies in the United States.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: Going along with the psychiatric theme of the song, Gnarls Barkley's music video for "Crazy" is done in the style of the Rorschach test. Animated, mirrored inkblots morph one into another, while taking on ambiguous shapes. Both Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse appear in the shapes, as do the duo's gunshot/heart logo, "Satan", a cranium and various animals, including centipedes, birds, bats, spiders, and insects.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: The music video for "Crazy" was directed by Robert Hales, who had previously directed music videos for Jet, Nine Inch Nails and Richard Ashcroft, among others. The inkblot illustrations were produced by motion design studio Blind, Inc., led by creative director and animation director, Vanessa Marzaroli.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: The video was nominated for three 2006 MTV Video Music Awards: Best Group Video, Best Direction, and Best Editing, and won the latter two. It was also nominated for a 2006 MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video, but lost to "We Are Your Friends" by Justice vs. Simian.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: Before the final music video was finished, the band's UK label released a different video to media outlets such as the BBC. This early promo, directed by Mina Song, is also completely animated and features several symbols from many cultures and religions that appear in a disjointed harmony to the lyrics. Lyrics of the song, and again the band's gunshot/heart logo also appear prominently. The video also includes elements of the single's cover art.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: "Crazy" was used in several films and TV shows including "Kick-Ass", "I Think I Love My Wife", "Religulous", "The Big Short", "Cold Case", "How to Rock", "Grey's Anatomy", "Medium", "Boyhood", and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". A slower remix of the song was used in the trailer for the 2014 film "Birdman" while the original version was used for the film's TV spots. The song was also featured in the indie horror game "Donald: The Return".


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: It is featured, among many pop covers, in the 2018 musical "Moulin Rouge", the theatrical version of Baz Luhrmann's 2001 film of the same name.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: Starting in the summer of 2020, the song went viral on TikTok as part of the “Who Do You Think You Are?” challenge, appearing on many videos.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: Since 2007, The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show has used the song as the basis for their call-in segment "Does That Make Me Crazy?!" where listeners announce odd things they do and the hosts of the show vote to declare them crazy, or not.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: Violent Femmes released a cover of the song on June 24, 2008, through the iTunes Store and on a limited edition, baby blue 12" vinyl. It was their first newly recorded song since 2000. Gnarls Barkley had previously covered the Violent Femmes song "Gone Daddy Gone" on their album "St. Elsewhere".


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: Gnarls Barkley described the Violent Femmes' version as: "I might compare it to a calm pond. I caught my reflection in it. And I seemed to be momentarily at peace. This track sounds entirely different in the rain, and supports some intriguing lilypads." The Violent Femmes hosted a YouTube contest beginning on June 10, 2008, with a cash award of one thousand dollars and "other cool prizes" for creating and submitting a promotional video clip.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: The Kooks, Nelly Furtado, and The Zutons have covered "Crazy" on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. The Kooks' version was released on "Radio 1's Live Lounge", while Furtado's version was released as a B-side on her UK single "Promiscuous" and she performed the song live with Welsh singer Charlotte Church on "The Charlotte Church Show". Folk singer Ray LaMontagne has also covered the song, a version very well received by critics and Paris Hilton had delayed the release of her debut album "Paris" to include a cover of "Crazy" as well, although it was not included in the final track list. G4 also included an operatic cover of "Crazy" on the album "Act Three". Other artists, including Maroon 5, Ninet Tayeb, The Raconteurs, Billy Idol, The Academy Is...


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: (with Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes), Butch Walker, Cat Power, Texas, The Twilight Singers, Mates of State, Paco Estrada & One Love, and of Montreal have performed cover versions of the song live in concert. Trey Lorenz (Mariah Carey's backup singer) has also performed the song on Carey's The Adventures of Mimi tour throughout the summer and autumn of 2006. Shawn Colvin performed the song on "A Prairie Home Companion" on November 4, 2006. On her recent tour, Cat Power performed the song during her set. Singer-songwriter Jude's cover of the song can be found on YouTube. David Gilmour used to play the song during some of his soundchecks for his On an Island tour in 2006. Prince covered the song in his one-off performance at London's KOKO Club on May 10, 2007, and at several of his 21 concerts at London's O2 Arena in August and September 2007. Pink covered "Crazy" during the entire Funhouse Tour (2009). Paolo Nutini frequently covers the song at his concerts. Little Ghost performed a cover of the song for their BBC session in 2014. "Australian Idol 2007" contestant Natalie Gauci covered the song during the Doin' It for the Kids special, using her own arrangement. On November 6, 2008, the band OneRepublic covered "Crazy" in front of a hometown crowd at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, Colorado. British soul singer Alice Russell included a cover of the song in her 2008 album "Pot of Gold". Relient K covered the song for their 2011 cover album, "Is for Karaoke". The Neighbourhood performed "Crazy" live during their 2015 tour, The Flood tour. On February 28, 2019 Kacey Musgraves performed "Crazy" live with CeeLo Green during the second Nashville show of the Oh, What a World Tour at the Ryman Auditorium.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain covered the song as part of their Ukulele Lockdown series, released on YouTube on April 12, 2020.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: At Glastonbury 2014, on the final night, Kasabian covered the song while headlining on the pyramid stage. This was aired on BBC Two at 10:50 pm on June 29, 2014.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: Similarly, many unofficial remixes and mashups of the song were released as white labels and are circulating on file sharing networks and MP3 blogs. The Discount Rhinos Full Control remix of the track even reached number 15 of the Australian ARIA Club chart.


title: Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song)

text: Honduran-Canadian singer Daniela Andrade also covered the song. Her version was featured in American TV series "Suits" and superhero web television series "The Umbrella Academy".


title: Stalag Luft III

text: Stalag Luft III (; literally "Main Camp, Air, III"; SL III) was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during the Second World War, which held captured Western Allied air force personnel.


title: Stalag Luft III

text: The camp was established in March 1942 near the town of Sagan, Lower Silesia, in what was then Nazi Germany (now Żagań, Poland), south-east of Berlin. The site was selected because its sandy soil made it difficult for POWs to escape by tunnelling.


title: Stalag Luft III

text: It is best known for two escape plots by Allied POWs. One was in 1943 and became the basis of a fictionalised film, "The Wooden Horse" (1950), based on a book by escapee Eric Williams. The second breakout — the so-called Great Escape — of March 1944, was conceived by Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, and was authorised by the senior British officer at Stalag Luft III, Herbert Massey. A heavily fictionalised version of the escape was depicted in the film "The Great Escape" (1963), which was based on a book by former prisoner Paul Brickhill. The camp was liberated by Soviet forces in January 1945. The site of the former POW camp is now the 'Stalag Luft III Prisoner Camp Museum'.


title: Stalag Luft III

text: The German military followed a practice whereby each branch of the military was responsible for the POWs of equivalent branches. Hence the "Luftwaffe" was normally responsible for any Allied aircrew taken prisoner. That included captured naval aviators, such as members of the British Fleet Air Arm. In a few cases, non-air force personnel were also held at Stalag Luft III.


title: Stalag Luft III

text: "Stammlager Luft" (literally "Main Camp, Air") was "Luftwaffe" nomenclature for a POW camp. While the camp initially held only POWs who were officers, it was not known by the usual terms for such camps – "Offizier Lager" or "Oflag". Later camp expansions added compounds for non-commissioned officers (NCOs).