title: Gordon Banks

text: England's opponents in the final were West Germany. It was England who dominated the final but it was Banks who was beaten first. A weak header from Ray Wilson handed a chance to Helmut Haller, who sent an accurate but relatively weak shot into the corner of the net; Banks had been unsighted by Jack Charlton, and he failed to adjust his position in time to reach the ball. England equalised through a Geoff Hurst header within six minutes and went ahead late in the second half through Martin Peters. With seconds left in the game, Lothar Emmerich sent a free kick into the England penalty area, and the ball fell to Wolfgang Weber, who guided the ball over a lunging Ray Wilson and an outstretched Banks into the net to take the game into extra-time. In extra-time, the Germans sent shots in at the England goal which Banks managed to catch and control without any great danger. Hurst scored two goals to complete his hat-trick, and though many claimed his second goal never crossed the line Banks always maintained his belief that the officials called the decision correctly. Between these goals Banks had to deal with a fiery shot from Sigfried Held, and was later exposed only for Uwe Seeler to come just centimetres away from connecting with the ball.


title: Gordon Banks

text: Scotland were the first team to beat the world champions, as goals from Denis Law, Bobby Lennox and Jim McCalliog secured a 3–2 victory at Wembley on 15 April 1967. Despite this set-back, England qualified for UEFA Euro 1968, which consisted of just four teams: England, Italy (hosts), the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia. England played just two games at the tournament, losing 1–0 to Yugoslavia, and then beating the Soviets 2–0 in the third-place play-off.


title: Gordon Banks

text: Banks went into the 1970 World Cup as England's number one with 59 caps to his name, and had Peter Bonetti (six caps) and Alex Stepney (one cap) as his understudies. He found the heat and altitude at Guadalajara, Mexico difficult to cope with. The team's efforts at acclimatisation were not helped when Bobby Moore was falsely accused of stealing the infamous "Bogotá Bracelet". Despite this, a Geoff Hurst goal was enough to beat their first opponents, Romania. A far tougher test awaited on 7 June, when England faced Brazil. The day before the match Banks was informed that he had been awarded an OBE.


title: Gordon Banks

text: Playing at pace, Brazil were putting England under enormous pressure and an attack was begun by captain Carlos Alberto who sent a low ball down the right flank for the speedy Jairzinho to latch on to. The Brazilian winger sped past left-back Terry Cooper and crossed the ball into the six-yard box, where Pelé connected with a powerful header to send the ball low towards the right-hand corner of the goal. In the knowledge that his header was placed to perfection, Pelé immediately shouted "Gol!" (Brazilian Portuguese for goal).


title: Gordon Banks

text: The split-second incident only allowed Banks time for one conscious thought – that the shot was impossible to catch, and the only way to prevent Pelé from following up on the rebound would be to parry the ball over the bar. The ball bounced two yards in front of the goal-line, and Banks managed to make contact with the ball with the fingers of his right hand, and rolled his hand slightly to angle the ball over the crossbar. He landed in the inner netting of the goal, and knew he had saved the ball after seeing Pelé's reaction. Banks then rose to his feet to defend the corner, and broke into laughter after the following exchange:


title: Gordon Banks

text: Pelé, and numerous journalists and pundits, would later describe the save as the greatest in the history of the game. Banks later said "They won't remember me for winning the World Cup, it'll be for that save. That's how big a thing it is. People just want to talk about that save." In 2002 the UK public voted the save No. 41 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.


title: Gordon Banks

text: Brazil won the game 1–0 after Jairzinho beat Banks in the second half. England ultimately joined Brazil in the last eight after a win in the final group game against Czechoslovakia. The reward was a rematch of the 1966 final against West Germany.


title: Gordon Banks

text: The day before the game England's hopes of making further inroads into the World Cup were dented when Banks started to complain of an upset stomach. He became affected by violent stomach cramps and aching limbs, and spent his time in the bathroom sweating, shivering and vomiting. He passed an extremely undemanding fitness test but suffered a relapse shortly before the game and Ramsey was forced to rest him and play Peter Bonetti in his place. Ramsey remarked that "of all the players to lose, we had to lose him." Banks watched the game on television at the hotel as England lost a two-goal lead to be eliminated 3–2 after extra time; due to a time delay on the broadcast he switched the television off with England 2–0 in the lead as Bobby Moore returned to the hotel to break the news of the defeat. Suspicions later surfaced that Banks had been poisoned to take him out of the game, but with no evidence to support them Banks never believed in them.


title: Gordon Banks

text: Only four teams competed in UEFA Euro 1972: Belgium (hosts), Hungary, the Soviet Union, and West Germany. England came close to qualifying, but lost 3–1 to West Germany in the final round of qualifying.


title: Gordon Banks

text: On 15 May 1971, Banks was involved in a notorious incident with George Best who, while playing against England for Northern Ireland, flicked the ball out of Banks's hands and headed it into the net. The move was audacious, but was disallowed by the referee, who judged it to be dangerous play. Banks played his 73rd and final game for England on 27 May 1972, in a 1–0 win over Scotland at Hampden Park. During his 73 international games he kept 35 clean sheets and lost just nine games.


title: Gordon Banks

text: In December 1977 he was appointed as a coach at Port Vale by manager Dennis Butler, being demoted to reserve coach in October 1978 by new boss Alan Bloor. Banks enjoyed coaching but soon resigned his position, feeling that players such as Bernie Wright refused to take his advice on board. He applied for the vacant management positions at Lincoln City and Rotherham United, but was rejected. He instead accepted the role as manager of Alliance Premier League part-time club Telford United. He signed a goalkeeper, centre-half and centre-forward from Bangor City for £1,500, as well as former Stoke striker John Ruggiero. The "Bucks" finished in 13th place in 1979–80.


title: Gordon Banks

text: In November 1980, he left Jackie Mudie in temporary charge of team affairs whilst he underwent surgery, who led the club to defeat in the FA Trophy at the hands of a lower league club. On his return to the club Banks was sacked. He was offered the position of raffle-ticket seller, and accepted the post in the belief that it would entitle him to the money owed to him in the terms of his management contract; he eventually had to settle for 50% of his contract. He later stated that "It broke my heart ... I did not want to stay in the game."


title: Gordon Banks

text: An excellent, consistent, and instinctive goalkeeper, who possessed significant physical strength, athleticism, and excellent shot-stopping abilities, Banks is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time in his position. He possessed an excellent positional sense, which he felt to be one of his best assets, and was also known for his handling, awareness, composure, and mental strength, as well as his agility, speed, and quick reflexes, which enabled him to produce acrobatic saves, such as his famous stop from Pelé's header against Brazil at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.


title: Gordon Banks

text: Banks first met his wife Ursula during his national service in Germany in 1955. They had three children: Robert, Julia and Wendy. He separated from Ursula during his time in America, but the couple reunited when Banks returned to England.


title: Gordon Banks

text: In October 1972 Banks was involved in a car crash in his Ford Consul while driving on the wrong side of the road, close to his home in Madeley Heath. Fragments of glass had perforated his right eye and damaged the retina requiring 100 micro stitches to the eye and a further 200 to his face.


title: Gordon Banks

text: Shortly after his retirement, Banks was surprised by Eamonn Andrews for an episode of "This Is Your Life". He later fronted a Leicester-based hospitality company. He lost a significant sum of money when the business failed, but was helped out by Leicester City, who offered him a belated testimonial match. He was appointed as Stoke City's president following the death of Stanley Matthews. Since the 1980s he was a member of the three-man pools panel.


title: Gordon Banks

text: In 2001, he sold his World Cup winners medal at Christie's for £124,750, and his international cap from the final was also sold at £27,025.


title: Gordon Banks

text: Banks was an Inaugural Inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002. In March 2004, he was named by Pelé as one of the world's 125 greatest living footballers. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Keele University in February 2006. In May 2006, Banks was the first 'legend' to be inducted into a new Walk of Fame, by having a plaque installed in the pavement in front of Sheffield Town Hall. In July 2008, Pelé unveiled a statue of Banks making his famous 1970 World Cup save outside the Britannia Stadium. In March 2011, he was also inducted into the City of Stoke-on-Trent Hall of Fame, along with Roy Sproson. Pelé became a good friend of Banks and following his death the Brazilian described Banks as a "goalkeeper with magic".


title: Gordon Banks

text: In 1980 Banks published his first autobiography, "Banks of England". He published a more comprehensive autobiography in 2002: "Banksy: My Autobiography". Irish investigative author, Don Mullan, published a boyhood memoir in 2006 called "Gordon Banks – A Hero Who Could Fly" in which he wrote about the influence of the England goalkeeper on his life.


title: Gordon Banks

text: Banks died in his sleep on 12 February 2019 at the age of 81. Banks's funeral took place on 4 March 2019 at Stoke Minster. His pallbearers were goalkeepers representing his former teams; Joe Anyon (Chesterfield), Jack Butland (Stoke City), Joe Hart (England) and Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester City).


title: The Swing (Fragonard)

text: The Swing (), also known as The Happy Accidents of the Swing (, the original title), is an 18th-century oil painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard in the Wallace Collection in London. It is considered to be one of the masterpieces of the Rococo era, and is Fragonard's best-known work.


title: The Swing (Fragonard)

text: The painting depicts an elegantly dressed young woman on a swing. A smiling young man, hiding in the bushes below and to the left, points towards her billowing dress with hat in hand. A smiling older man, who is nearly hidden in the shadows on the right, propels the swing with a pair of ropes, as a small white dog barks nearby. The lady is wearing a bergère hat (shepherdess hat), as she flings her shoe with an outstretched left foot. Two statues are present, one of a "putto", who watches from above the young man on the left with its finger in front of its lips, the other of two "putti" is on the right beside the older man.


title: The Swing (Fragonard)

text: According to the memoirs of the dramatist Charles Collé, a courtier ("homme de la cour") first asked Gabriel François Doyen to make this painting of him and his mistress. Not comfortable with this frivolous work, Doyen refused and passed on the commission to Fragonard. The man had requested a portrait of his mistress seated on a swing being pushed by a bishop, but Fragonard painted a layman.


title: The Swing (Fragonard)

text: This style of "frivolous" painting soon became the target of the philosophers of the Enlightenment, who demanded a more serious art which would show the nobility of man.


title: The Swing (Fragonard)

text: The original ownership is uncertain. A firm provenance begins only with the tax farmer Marie-François Ménage de Pressigny, who was guillotined in 1794, after which it was seized by the revolutionary government. It was possibly later owned by the marquis des Razins de Saint-Marc, and certainly by the duc de Morny. After his death in 1865, it was bought at auction in Paris by Lord Hertford, the main founder of the Wallace Collection.


title: NCAA Division III

text: NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their student-athletes.


title: NCAA Division III

text: The NCAA's first split was into two divisions, the University and College Divisions, in 1956, the College Division was formed for smaller schools that did not have the resources of the major athletic programs across the country. The College Division split again in 1973 when the NCAA went to its current naming convention: Division I, Division II, and Division III. Division III schools are not allowed to offer athletic scholarships, while D-II schools can.


title: NCAA Division III

text: Division III is the NCAA's largest division with around 450 member institutions, which are 80% private and 20% public. The median undergraduate enrollment of D-III schools is about 2,750, although the range is from 418 to over 38,000. Approximately 40% of all NCAA student-athletes compete in D-III.


title: NCAA Division III

text: Division III institutions must sponsor at least three team sports for each sex/gender, with each playing season represented by each gender. Teams in which men and women compete together are counted as men's teams for sports sponsorship purposes. In a feature unique to D-III, the total number of required sports varies with each school's full-time undergraduate enrollment. Schools with an enrollment of 1,000 or less must sponsor five men's and five women's sports; those with larger enrollments must sponsor six for each sex/gender. Institutions that sponsor athletic programs for only one sex/gender (single-sex schools, plus a few historically all-female schools that are now coeducational) need only meet the sponsorship requirements for that sex. There are minimum contest rules and participant minimums for each sport.


title: NCAA Division III

text: Division III athletic programs are non-revenue-generating, extracurricular programs that are staffed and funded like any other university department. They feature student-athletes who receive no financial aid related to their athletic ability. Student-athletes cannot redshirt as freshmen, and schools may not use endowments or funds whose primary purpose is to benefit athletic programs.


title: NCAA Division III

text: Division III schools "shall not award financial aid to any student on the basis of athletics leadership, ability, participation or performance". Financial aid given to athletes must be awarded under the same procedures as for the general student body, and the proportion of total financial aid given to athletes "shall be closely equivalent to the percentage of student-athletes within the student body". The ban on scholarships is strictly enforced. As an example of how seriously the NCAA takes this rule, in 2005 MacMurray College became only the fifth school slapped with a "death penalty" after its men's tennis program gave grants to foreign-born players. The two service academies that are D-III members, Merchant Marine and Coast Guard, do not violate the athletic scholarship ban because all students, whether or not they are varsity athletes, receive the same treatment, a full scholarship.


title: NCAA Division III

text: Another aspect that distinguishes Division III from the other NCAA divisions is that D-III institutions are specifically banned from using the National Letter of Intent, or any other pre-enrollment form that is not executed by other prospective students at the school. The NCAA provides for one exception—a standard, nonbinding celebratory signing form that may be signed by the student upon his or her acceptance of enrollment. However, this form cannot be signed at the campus of that college, and staff members of that college cannot be present at the signing.


title: NCAA Division III

text: An "all-sports conference" is defined here as one that sponsors both men's and women's basketball. While the NCAA has a much more detailed definition of the term, every NCAA conference (regardless of division) that sponsors basketball meets the organization's requirements for "all-sports" status.


title: NCAA Division III

text: Ten D-III schools currently field Division I programs in one or two sports, one maximum for each gender. These schools are allowed to offer athletic scholarships only for their Division I men's and women's sports.


title: NCAA Division III

text: Five of them are schools that traditionally competed at the highest level of a particular men's sport prior to the institution of the three division classifications in 1973, a decade before the NCAA governed women's sports. These five colleges (plus three others that later chose to return their Division I programs to Division III) were granted a waiver (a.k.a. a grandfather clause) in 1983 to continue offering scholarships, a waiver that was reaffirmed in 2004. Presumably due to Title IX considerations, grandfathered schools are also allowed to field one women's sport in Division I, and all five schools choose to do so.


title: NCAA Division III

text: Three formerly grandfathered schools moved completely to Division III. The State University of New York at Oneonta, which had been grandfathered in men's soccer, moved totally to Division III in 2006. Rutgers University–Newark, which had been grandfathered in men's volleyball, did the same in 2014. Hartwick College, which had been grandfathered in men's soccer and women's water polo, moved its men's soccer program to Division III in 2018 and dropped women's water polo entirely.


title: NCAA Division III

text: The other five schools chose to field Division I programs in one sport for men and/or one sport for women after the original grandfather clause went into effect, so they were not grandfathered and thus were not allowed to offer athletic scholarships. Academic-based and need-based financial aid was still available, as is the case for all of Division III.


title: NCAA Division III

text: In addition, Lawrence University was formerly a non-grandfathered program in fencing, but the NCAA no longer conducts a separate Division I fencing championship. Lawrence continues to field a fencing team, but that team is now considered Division III (see below).


title: NCAA Division III

text: In August 2011, the NCAA decided to no longer allow individual programs to move to another division as a general policy. One exception was made in 2012, when RIT successfully argued for a one-time opportunity for colleges with a D-I men's team to add a women's team.


title: NCAA Division III

text: Since no more colleges would be allowed to move individual sports to Division I, the five non-scholarship programs (led by RIT and Union) petitioned to be allowed to offer scholarships in the interests of competitive equity. Division III membership voted in January 2022 to extend the grandfather clause to allow all ten colleges to offer athletic scholarships, effective immediately.


title: NCAA Division III

text: Football and basketball may not be Division I programs at Division III institutions, because their revenue-enhancing potential would give them an unfair advantage over other Division III schools. In 1992, several Division I schools playing Division III football were forced to bring their football programs into Division I, following the passage of the "Dayton Rule" (named after the University of Dayton, whose success in D-III football was seen as threatening the "ethos" of Division III sports). This led directly to the creation of the Pioneer Football League, a non-scholarship football-only Division I FCS conference.


title: NCAA Division III

text: In addition to the D-III schools with teams that play as Division I members, many other D-III schools have teams that compete alongside D-I and D-II members in sports that the NCAA does not split into divisions. Teams in these sports are not counted as playing in a different division from the rest of the athletic program. D-III members cannot award scholarships in these sports.


title: NCAA Division III

text: In 2003, concerned about the disparity of some D-III athletic programs and the focus on national championships, the Division III Presidents' Council, led by Middlebury College President John McCardell, proposed ending the athletic scholarship exemptions for D-I programs, eliminating redshirting, and limiting the length of the traditional and non-traditional seasons. At the January 2004 NCAA convention, an amendment allowed the exemption for grandfathered D-I athletic scholarships to remain in place, but the rest of the reforms passed.


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: "Yeah!" is a song by American singer Usher featuring American rappers Lil Jon (who also produced the song) and Ludacris. The song is written by the featured artists alongside Sean Garrett, Patrick "J. Que" Smith, Robert McDowell, LRoc. The song incorporates crunk and R&B—which Lil Jon coined as crunk&B—in the song's production. The song was released as the lead single from Usher's fourth studio album "Confessions" (2004) on January 27, 2004, after Usher was told by Arista Records, his label at the time, to record more tracks for the album.


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: "Yeah!" topped the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart for 12 consecutive weeks, before being dethroned by Usher's follow-up single "Burn". "Yeah!" was the longest-running number one single in 2004, subsequently topping the year-end chart on the Hot 100. It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song received a similar response in other countries, topping in other twelve charts worldwide. It was certified platinum in several countries, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, and Norway, and received a two-times platinum certification in New Zealand. The song peaked in the top 10 in several year-end charts.


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: An accompanying music video, directed by Mr. X, shows the artists performing choreography in a club in front of blue laser beams. "Yeah!" won a Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards, while being nominated for Record of the Year. The song ranked second on the "Billboard" Hot 100 2000–2009 Decade-end chart. As of September 2013, the song has sold over 4 million copies in the US.


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: In late 2003, Usher submitted his fourth studio album, "Confessions" (2004), to his record label Arista Records. However, when the singer and the company's then-president L.A. Reid listened to the songs, Reid felt the album lacked a song that had the potential to be released as the album's lead single. In light of this, Usher was told to record a few more tracks, and so he enlisted American rapper-producer Lil Jon to aid in musical production. Lil Jon recalled, "He [Usher] needed a single. They had 'Burn', 'Burn' was hot, but they needed that first powerful monster. That's when I came in."


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: Several months prior to Lil Jon's involvement in the production of "Confessions", he was commissioned by Jive Records to produce fifteen tracks for rapper Mystikal. The rapper would only select two tracks, which provided Lil Jon the opportunity to give leftover songs to other record labels. Without Lil Jon's knowledge, Jive Records gave one of the leftover tracks to hip hop artist Petey Pablo which would eventually become "Freak-a-Leek". However, Lil Jon, assuming that the song had not been used, gave the production to Usher, resulting in a rough version of "Yeah!". Eventually realizing the mistake after Pablo played "Freek-a-leek" to Lil Jon, the latter insisted on producing more tracks for Pablo; however, Pablo did not give up the song, due to the fact that it was already recorded and had been getting responses from Southern radio. Lil Jon commented, "With so much invested, Jive wouldn't give up the cut." Lil Jon jumped back in the studio and created an equally catchy replacement track. Though "Yeah!" was now completed, the label still had "Burn" on queue for the lead single. Usher's friend and former A&R rep Kawan "KP" Prather commented: "'Burn' being a great song is one thing, but it's one of them things where people said, 'It's strong, but can we make history with that?' At the end of the day, you want an event." Usher was still unsure if "Yeah!" was the right choice.


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: Lil Jon, who is also a DJ, then decided to leak the record to DJs across the country after the record companies shut down for Christmas break. By the time they got back to business in January, the record already had thousands of radio plays with no label involvement. Usher still opted to go with "Burn" as the lead single as a music video was already planned, however, the responses to "Yeah!" were overwhelmingly favorable, and "Yeah!" was released as the first single with "Burn" becoming the second single from the album. The single was released in the United States on January 27, 2004 as a CD single and 12" single. LaFace Records sent "Yeah!" to US contemporary hit radio on February 7, 2004. In the United Kingdom, it was released as a CD single, containing the album and instrumental version of the song, and two additional tracks from the album, "Red Light" (also produced by Lil Jon) and "Sweet Lies".


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: "Yeah!" combines the genres of crunk and R&B genres, to form Crunk&B, which Lil Jon described as "R&B songs that get you crunk, make you wanna wild out". "Entertainment Weekly" Jem Aswad found the song to contain crunk and transition between hip hop, soul and ballad genres. The song was co-written by Sean Garrett, Patrick J. Que Smith, Ludacris, Robert McDowell, and James Elbert "LRoc" Phillips. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, "Yeah!" is written in common time with a moderately slow tempo of 105 beats per minute, It is written in the key of G minor. Usher's vocal range spans from the low note of B to the high note of B.


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: "Yeah!" was lauded by contemporary critics for its production. Jem Aswad of "Entertainment Weekly" called it "irresistibly crunked-out", adding, "the ensuing track glides smoothly between club-friendly hip-hop soul and ballads." Laura Sinagra of "Rolling Stone" commented that the song "creates sensual panic by combining Usher's jumpy attacks with Jon's sublime, frayed beats." Jon Caramanica of "Blender" noted that "Yeah!" is the first song to mix "mainstream R&B and menacing Southern crunk." Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine said that the song has brought Usher to a "whole new level of crunk." Andy Kellman of Allmusic described the song as a "crunk-meets-R&B foundation" which features an "instantly addictive eight-note keyboard vamp". He added that the song is "so absorbing that Ludacris' 1500th guest verse floats by with little notice." Matt Cibula of PopMatters characterized the song as a "full-fledged club über-crunk salacious" but he added that it fails to be a "club banger". Steve Jones of "USA Today" referred to "Yeah!" as a "club-rattling" song from a combination of "Atlanta's vibrant music scene", Lil Jon's "insistent beats" and Ludacris' "racy rhymes". Robert Hilburn of "Los Angeles Times" described "Yeah!" as a "raucous tale of dance-floor seduction" which pop musician Michael Jackson would have produced in 2004, if he "still had the old "Thriller" magic".


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: Usher himself also garnered praise for the song; Aswad called it the "grittiest song" Usher had sung and one that "reveals his newfound maturity". Caramanica said that it is "probably the scariest record – in a good way – he's ever made" and Usher "smartly shares the spotlight." Cibula stated that Usher's "smoove-ass" singing and Ludacris' presence contributes to the success of the single. "Yeah!" was nominated at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, and won the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration award. At the 2005 Soul Train Music Awards, "Yeah!" was nominated for best R&B/Soul or Rap Dance Cut.


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: "Yeah!" continues to be praised as one of Usher's finest songs. In 2016, "Complex" ranked the song number 11 on their list of the 25 greatest Usher songs, and in 2021, "American Songwriter" ranked the song number one on their list of the 10 greatest Usher songs.


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: "Yeah!" debuted on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 at number fifty-three on January 13, 2004 prior to its official release two weeks later. On March 2, the song peaked atop the chart and stayed at that position for twelve consecutive weeks. "Yeah!" became Usher's fourth number-one single, Lil Jon's first and Ludacris' second. The single remained on the Hot 100 for forty-five weeks. "Yeah!" became the most played song in the United States in 2004, with Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems reporting the song getting a total of 496,805 plays. The commercial success of "Yeah!" and follow-up single "Burn" helped sustain "Confessions" atop the US "Billboard" 200 chart. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on June 11, 2006 for shipping one million copies since its release. "Yeah!" became the best-performing single of 2004 in the United States. The single ranked at number 11 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs, and second on the Hot 100 decade-end chart, behind Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together". By September 2013, the song had sold 4 million copies in the US.


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: Internationally, "Yeah!" received a similar response, topping several charts. In Australia, the song topped the chart on the week of April 4, 2004 for one week. It remained on it for only seven weeks before dropping out, and was certified 5× platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for selling 350,000 units. In New Zealand, "Yeah!" had a better chart performance, peaking at number one for four non-consecutive weeks. It remained on the chart for twenty-seven weeks before dropping and was certified two times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ). In Switzerland and Austria, "Yeah!" peaked at number one and remained on the charts for thirty-eight and thirty-six weeks, respectively, and was certified gold in both countries. The song topped the charts in Denmark for three weeks, remaining on the chart for seventeen weeks. In Netherlands, "Yeah!" remained number one for four weeks, and in Norway for seven weeks. The song remained number one in Ireland and United Kingdom for two weeks, and number one for one week in France. In the United Kingdom, by March 4, 2010, "Yeah!" had sold 434,739 copies.


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: Compared to other countries, "Yeah!" under performed in Finland, where it stayed on the charts for four weeks and peaked at number seventeen, and Spain where it peaked at number thirteen. The song did not top the charts in Italy and Sweden where it peaked at number three and four, respectively, and Belgium (Flanders) and Hungary where it charted at number two. Overall, the single remained on several charts worldwide for one year, from early 2004 to 2005. On the 2004 year-end charts, "Yeah!" became the twenty-eighth best-selling single in Australia, and twenty-sixth in France. It peaked in the top-ten on the year-end charts in Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Belgium (Wallonia), Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: Mr. X, formerly Little X, had previously directed videos for Usher's singles "U Don't Have to Call" and "U Got It Bad". Mr. X said that the song reminded him of laser beams. Usher and Mr. X combined ideas to create a dance video for "Yeah!". The development was handled by how Usher wanted to be portrayed in the video, particularly showcasing his dance moves. The music video was filmed in a vacant art gallery in Los Angeles over two days. When the shooting started, Mr. X recalled Michael Jackson's "low-tech" and "laser-flashing" 1979 "Rock with You" video, and used it as a reference. Forty extra people were commissioned to dance with Usher, and two ladies to tempt him in different scenes. They went through photo browsing and phone calling, opting for Destiny Lightsy, a friend of Mr. X, who seduces Usher in the club in a Marilyn Monroe wardrobe to complement the lyrics. Canadian model Melyssa Ford, who was discovered by Mr. X, is portrayed as Usher's second seductress. Lil Jon acted as an assistant director during the sessions. Usher took charge of his ideas on his wardrobe and choreography, with additional routines, specifically the Rockaway and the Thunderclap, which Mr. X learned from Jamaica. The Rockaway influenced Fat Joe and Terror Squad's "Lean Back" video.


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: The video begins with Usher entering a club, and in another scene dancing in front of blue lasers; the video alternates between both the club and laser scenes throughout. In the former setting, Usher is sat down when a woman—portrayed by Destiny, video producer Mr. X's friend—approaches him and attempts to seduce him. The woman stands up and walks to the dance-floor, telling Usher to "come get me" and "baby let's go", in sync with the song. Usher goes and dances with her during the chorus. In the beginning of the second verse, the laser scene with Usher dancing now shows both blue and green lasers. Usher and the woman are still dancing, with the woman further attempting to seduce him.


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: In the second chorus, Usher performs choreography in the club, backed up by several male dancers. Female dancers then come in, performing choreography along with Usher and the male dancers. After Lil Jon sprays champagne towards the camera in the laser scene, Ludacris performs his verse. He is dancing in both the club and laser scene, with the camera also alternating to female's dancing in sync in the club.


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: In the final chorus, Usher again performs choreography in the club, with another scene in the latter setting this time showing a different seductress, portrayed by model Melyssa Ford, walking away telling him to follow her. While following her, he is in a hallway, with the women then pulling Usher in a room, where they begin to romance. While Ludacris says his final verse, rapper Chingy and P. Diddy's former assistant, Fonzworth Bentley, both make appearances with Bentley holding a violin. Lil Jon says his final verse, not present in the track version of "Yeah!", where he repeats numerous dance moves including the Rockaway and Thunderclap, with Usher performing them. The video ends with Lil Jon repeating "rock away" and then "cut".


title: Yeah! (Usher song)

text: At the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, Usher won his first 2 awards with Best Dance Video and Best Male Video. At the 2005 Soul Train Music Awards, the video was nominated for the Michael Jackson Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video.


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: In statistics, the likelihood-ratio test assesses the goodness of fit of two competing statistical models based on the ratio of their likelihoods, specifically one found by maximization over the entire parameter space and another found after imposing some constraint. If the constraint (i.e., the null hypothesis) is supported by the observed data, the two likelihoods should not differ by more than sampling error. Thus the likelihood-ratio test tests whether this ratio is significantly different from one, or equivalently whether its natural logarithm is significantly different from zero.


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: The likelihood-ratio test, also known as Wilks test, is the oldest of the three classical approaches to hypothesis testing, together with the Lagrange multiplier test and the Wald test. In fact, the latter two can be conceptualized as approximations to the likelihood-ratio test, and are asymptotically equivalent. In the case of comparing two models each of which has no unknown parameters, use of the likelihood-ratio test can be justified by the Neyman–Pearson lemma. The lemma demonstrates that the test has the highest power among all competitors.


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: Suppose that we have a statistical model with parameter space formula_1. A null hypothesis is often stated by saying that the parameter formula_2 is in a specified subset formula_3 of formula_1. The alternative hypothesis is thus that formula_2 is in the complement of formula_3, i.e. in formula_7, which is denoted by formula_8. The likelihood ratio test statistic for the null hypothesis formula_9 is given by:


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: where the quantity inside the brackets is called the likelihood ratio. Here, the formula_11 notation refers to the supremum. As all likelihoods are positive, and as the constrained maximum cannot exceed the unconstrained maximum, the likelihood ratio is bounded between zero and one.


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: is the logarithm of the maximized likelihood function formula_14, and formula_15 is the maximal value in the special case that the null hypothesis is true (but not necessarily a value that maximizes formula_14 for the sampled data) and


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: denote the respective arguments of the maxima and the allowed ranges they're embedded in. Multiplying by −2 ensures mathematically that (by Wilks' theorem) formula_18 converges asymptotically to being ²-distributed if the null hypothesis happens to be true. The finite sample distributions of likelihood-ratio tests are generally unknown.


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: The likelihood-ratio test requires that the models be nested – i.e. the more complex model can be transformed into the simpler model by imposing constraints on the former's parameters. Many common test statistics are tests for nested models and can be phrased as log-likelihood ratios or approximations thereof: e.g. the "Z"-test, the "F"-test, the "G"-test, and Pearson's chi-squared test; for an illustration with the one-sample "t"-test, see below.


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: If the models are not nested, then instead of the likelihood-ratio test, there is a generalization of the test that can usually be used: for details, see "relative likelihood".


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: A simple-vs.-simple hypothesis test has completely specified models under both the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis, which for convenience are written in terms of fixed values of a notional parameter formula_2:


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: In this case, under either hypothesis, the distribution of the data is fully specified: there are no unknown parameters to estimate. For this case, a variant of the likelihood-ratio test is available:


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: Some older references may use the reciprocal of the function above as the definition. Thus, the likelihood ratio is small if the alternative model is better than the null model.


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: The values formula_29 and formula_30 are usually chosen to obtain a specified significance level formula_31, via the relation


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: The Neyman–Pearson lemma states that this likelihood-ratio test is the most powerful among all level formula_31 tests for this case.


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: The likelihood ratio is a function of the data formula_35; therefore, it is a statistic, although unusual in that the statistic's value depends on a parameter, formula_2. The likelihood-ratio test rejects the null hypothesis if the value of this statistic is too small. How small is too small depends on the significance level of the test, i.e. on what probability of Type I error is considered tolerable (Type I errors consist of the rejection of a null hypothesis that is true).


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: The numerator corresponds to the likelihood of an observed outcome under the null hypothesis. The denominator corresponds to the maximum likelihood of an observed outcome, varying parameters over the whole parameter space. The numerator of this ratio is less than the denominator; so, the likelihood ratio is between 0 and 1. Low values of the likelihood ratio mean that the observed result was much less likely to occur under the null hypothesis as compared to the alternative. High values of the statistic mean that the observed outcome was nearly as likely to occur under the null hypothesis as the alternative, and so the null hypothesis cannot be rejected.


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: Suppose that we have a random sample, of size , from a population that is normally-distributed. Both the mean, , and the standard deviation, , of the population are unknown. We want to test whether the mean is equal to a given value, .


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: where is the -statistic with degrees of freedom. Hence we may use the known exact distribution of to draw inferences.


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: If the distribution of the likelihood ratio corresponding to a particular null and alternative hypothesis can be explicitly determined then it can directly be used to form decision regions (to sustain or reject the null hypothesis). In most cases, however, the exact distribution of the likelihood ratio corresponding to specific hypotheses is very difficult to determine.


title: Likelihood-ratio test

text: Assuming is true, there is a fundamental result by Samuel S. Wilks: As the sample size formula_39 approaches formula_40, the test statistic formula_18 defined above will be asymptotically chi-squared distributed (formula_42) with degrees of freedom equal to the difference in dimensionality of formula_1 and formula_3. This implies that for a great variety of hypotheses, we can calculate the likelihood ratio formula_45 for the data and then compare the observed formula_18 to the formula_42 value corresponding to a desired statistical significance as an "approximate" statistical test. Other extensions exist.


title: Flaked

text: Flaked is an American comedy drama streaming television series created by Will Arnett and Mark Chappell. It stars Arnett as Chip, a self-appointed "guru" who falls in love. The first season consisted of eight episodes and was released on Netflix on March 11, 2016. In July 2016, the series was renewed for a six-episode second season, which premiered on June 2, 2017.


title: Flaked

text: Upon release, "Flaked" received mixed reviews. Mary McNamara from the "Los Angeles Times" described "Flaked" as "another exasperating exploration of stunted white male adulthood." The second season was more well-received. "IGN" found that it "proves to be a stronger, more focused series in its second season, even if it doesn't improve on all the faults of the first."


title: Flaked

text: The first season received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 35% based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 5.12/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Dull and pointless, "Flaked" makes it uncomfortably clear that the man-child persona is no longer compelling." On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 43 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Flaked

text: The show was criticized by Emily VanDerWerff of "Vox" for "stupid plot twists" and devolving into melodrama.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: Greater St. Louis is a bi-state metropolitan area that completely surrounds and includes the independent city of St. Louis, the principal city. It includes parts of both Missouri and Illinois. The city core is on the Mississippi Riverfront on the border with Illinois in the geographic center of the metro area. The Mississippi River bisects the metro area geographically between Illinois and Missouri; however, the Missouri portion is much more populous. St. Louis is the focus of the largest metro area in Missouri and the Illinois portion known as Metro East is the second largest metropolitan area in that state. St. Louis County is independent of the City of St. Louis and their two populations are generally tabulated separately.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: The St. Louis, MO-IL metropolitan statistical area (MSA)—and the focus of this page—includes the City of St. Louis; the Illinois counties of Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair (known collectively as the Metro East); and the Missouri counties of Crawford (only the City of Sullivan), Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, St. Charles, St. Louis (separate from and not inclusive of the city of St. Louis), and Warren.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: The larger St. Louis–St. Charles–Farmington, MO–IL combined statistical area (CSA) includes all of the aforementioned MSA, plus the Farmington, MO micropolitan statistical area, which includes St. Francois County, Missouri, and the Centralia, IL micropolitan statistical area, which includes Marion County, Illinois.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: In 2020, the St. Louis MSA was the 21st-largest in the nation with a population of 2,820,253. The larger CSA is ranked 20th-largest in the United States, with a population of 2,909,003. Due to slow growth in the St. Louis area paired with comparatively rapid growth in the Sun Belt, the St. Louis MSA fell out of the top 20 largest MSAs in the United States in 2017 for the first time since 1840.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: As of 2018, Greater St. Louis is home to the headquarters of ten of Missouri's eleven Fortune 500 companies, six Fortune 1,000 companies, and two of the top 30 largest private companies in America, as ranked by Forbes. The metropolitan area received the All-America City Award in 2008.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: The Illini Confederacy at one time dominated the lands where St Louis is now located. During the 17th century, the population of indigenous peoples in the area was well over tens of thousands, with a population of 20,000 in the Grand Village of Illinois. Indigenous peoples in the area built earthwork mounds on both sides of the Mississippi River, with the Cahokia Mounds being the regional center. Due to mounds inside city limits, St Louis still has a nickname of “Mound City.”


title: Greater St. Louis

text: Pierre Laclede Liguest and his 13 year old grandson, Auguste Chouteau, selected St. Louis as the site for a French fur trading post in 1764 due to its proximity to the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, as well as its propensity to not flood. In 1770, St Louis ownership was transferred to Spain, and then returned to France during a secret treaty (Treaty of San Ildefonso), before becoming a part of the United States during the 1803 Louisiana Purchase.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: St Louis steadily grew after the Louisiana Purchase due to the city being the starting point for Lewis and Clark and its access to water transportation. It was incorporated as a city in 1823. Between 1840 and 1860, the population exploded with immigrants, especially those of German and Irish descent. St Louis’s current boundaries were established in 1876. After the American Civil War, St Louis continued to grow into a major manufacturing center due to its access to rail and water transportation. By the 1890s, St Louis was the 4th largest city in the United States.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: In 1904 St Louis hosted the world’s fair in Forest Park along with the Olympics at Washington University’s Francis Field. More than 20 million people visited the city during the fairs seven-month long run. St Louis was seen as a city of industrialization with ties to the automobile industry. The Great Migration between World War I and World War II brought thousands of African Americans to the city, boosting St Louis’s population to 800,000 by 1940. The population peaked in 1950 at 856,000, however there was no more room for expansion within city boundaries and earlier immigrant generations started moving to suburbs that could not be annexed.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: During the mid 1960s the Gateway Arch and Busch Stadium started being built in part to help revitalize the central business district with a 30 year downtown building boom following. Today, there is a continued population decline, however, revitalization efforts are still well under way.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: As noted above, the Greater St. Louis area includes two municipalities named O'Fallon (in St. Charles County, Missouri and St. Clair County, Illinois), two municipalities named Troy (in Lincoln County, Missouri and Madison County, Illinois), and two municipalities named Chesterfield (in St. Louis County, Missouri and Macoupin County, Illinois).


title: Greater St. Louis

text: The nearby Hannibal–Quincy micropolitan areas are technically not located within the metropolitan area, but are regionally associated due to their proximity and accessibility to Greater St. Louis.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: According to the 2010 United States Census, in Greater St. Louis there were 2,787,701 people living in 1,143,001 households, of which 748,892 households were families.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: In 2010, 98.2 percent of the population of Greater St. Louis considered themselves of one race, while 1.8 percent considered themselves of two or more races (e.g. biracial). Of those of one race, 2,214,298 residents or 76.9 percent of the population were white, 519,221 or 18 percent were African American, 60,316 or 2.1 percent were Asian American, and 32,542 residents or 1.1 percent were American Indian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander American, or some other race. 72,797 residents or 2.5 percent were Hispanic or Latino Americans of any race.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: According to a Pew Research study conducted in 2014, 75% of St. Louis metro area residents identify with Christianity and its various denominations, and 4% are adherents of non-Christian religions. 21% have no religion. Of those, about 3% specifically identify as atheists, about 3% identify as agnostics, and about 16% identify as "Nothing in particular".


title: Greater St. Louis

text: As of 2010, the median age for Greater St. Louis is 38.2, and 47.4 percent of the population was male while 52.6 percent of the population was female.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: As of 2010, Greater St. Louis included 1,264,680 housing units, and 90.4 percent or 1,143,001 units were occupied. Of those units that were vacant, 3.2 percent or 40,553 units were for rent, 1.6 percent or 19,956 were for sale, 1 percent or 12,575 were unoccupied seasonal homes, and .5 percent or 6,771 were sold or rented but unoccupied. 3.3 percent or 41,884 units were vacant and not for sale or rent. Of the occupied housing units, 70.6 percent or 807,431 were owner-occupied with 2,075,622 occupants. 29.4 percent or 335,570 units were rented with 739,749 occupants.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: Transportation in Greater St. Louis includes road, rail, and air transportation modes connecting the communities in the area with national and international transportation networks. Parts of Greater St. Louis also support a public transportation network that includes bus, as well as the MetroLink light rail which began operating in 1993. The principal airport serving the region is St. Louis Lambert International Airport, located in St. Louis County. It also includes MidAmerica St. Louis Airport.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: Education in Greater St. Louis is provided by more than two dozen public school districts, independent private schools, parochial schools, and several public library systems. Greater St. Louis also is home to more than 30 colleges and universities.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: Parks in Greater St. Louis are administered by a variety of state, county, and municipal authorities, and the region also includes the state of Missouri's only National Park, Gateway Arch National Park. Several Missouri state parks in the region and parks owned by St. Louis County are larger than 1,000 acres, while one park in the city of St. Louis, Forest Park, also exceeds 1,000 acres.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: The 2014 Gross Metropolitan Product (GMP) of St. Louis was $145.958 billion, that makes St. Louis the 21st highest GMP in the United States. The three largest categories of employment in Greater St. Louis are trade, transportation, and utilities with 249,000 workers, education and healthcare services with 225,000 workers, and professional and business services with 185,000 workers. Greater St. Louis has more than 1.3 million non-farm workers, representing roughly 15 percent of the non-farm workforce of Missouri and Illinois combined. As of May 2011, 125,000 non-farm workers were unemployed in Greater St. Louis, with an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent. As of the third quarter of 2010, the Greater St. Louis region had more than 73,000 companies or establishments paying wages, while average weekly wages for that period were $833, slightly lower than the U.S. national average of $870.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: The largest industry by business conducted was wholesaling with $71 billion, followed by manufacturing with $67 billion, retail trade with $36 billion, and healthcare with $16 billion. The area's largest employer by sector was healthcare with 174,000 workers, followed by retail trade with 152,000 workers and manufacturing with 134,000 workers. Using available data, the combined value of business conducted in the combined statistical area was $213 billion in 2007. With a gross metropolitan product of $112 billion in 2009, St. Louis' economy makes up 40% of the Gross State Product of Missouri.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: As of 2021, Greater St. Louis is home to eight of Missouri's ten Fortune 500 companies: Centene (#24), Emerson Electric (#181), Reinsurance Group of America (#207), Edward Jones (#295), Graybar (#399), Ameren (#469), Olin Corporation (#472), and Post Holdings (#474). In addition, the area is home to six Fortune 1,000 companies: Stifel (#633), Peabody Energy (#772), Energizer Holdings (#775), Caleres (#935), Belden (#964), Spire (#999). As well as two of the Top 50 Largest Private Companies in America, as ranked by Forbes: Enterprise Holdings (#9) and World Wide Technology (#20).


title: Greater St. Louis

text: Other notable corporations from the area include Wells Fargo Advisors (formerly A.G. Edwards), Energizer Holdings, and Ralcorp. Significant healthcare and biotechnology institutions with operations in St. Louis include Pfizer, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the Solae Company, Sigma-Aldrich, and Multidata Systems International.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: Although it was purchased by Belgium-based InBev, Anheuser-Busch continues its presence in the city, as does Mallinckrodt Incorporated in spite of its purchase by Tyco International. General Motors continues to produce cars in the St. Louis area, although Chrysler closed its production facility in the region, which was located in Fenton, Missouri. Despite its purchase by Nestlé, Ralston Purina remained headquartered in St. Louis as a wholly owned subsidiary. St. Louis is also home to Boeing Phantom Works (formerly McDonnell-Douglas). In addition, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in downtown is one of two federal reserve banks in Missouri.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: St. Louis County in particular is home to several area companies. Monsanto Company, formerly a chemical company and now a leader in genetically modified crops, is headquartered in Creve Coeur. Express Scripts, a pharmaceutical benefits management firm, has its corporate headquarters in the suburbs of St. Louis, near the campus of the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Energizer Holdings, the battery company, is headquartered in Town and Country. Enterprise Rent-A-Car's headquarters are located in Clayton. Charter Communications was formerly headquartered in Town and Country, until the executive team moved to Stamford, Connecticut; however, Charter has continued to grow in St. Louis and has upwards of 4,000 employees in the region as of mid-2018. Emerson Electric's headquarters are located in Ferguson. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is headquartered in Berkeley. Edward Jones Investments is headquartered in Des Peres. From 1994 until its acquisition in 2000 by Tyco International, another chemical company, Mallinckrodt, was headquartered in St. Louis County. Many of the former Mallinckrodt facilities are still in operation by Tyco in the St. Louis suburb of Hazelwood, Missouri. Others are SSM Health Care, Mercy Hospital, and the Tenet Healthcare Corporation chain.


title: Greater St. Louis

text: The Greater St. Louis area is currently home to two professional sports teams: the St. Louis Blues (NHL) who won the Stanley Cup in 2019, and the St. Louis Cardinals (MLB), who have won 19 National League Pennants, and 11 World Series Championships.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: War and Peace (, trans. Voyna i mir) is a 1966–67 Soviet war drama film co-written and directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, adapted from Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel "War and Peace". The film, released in four installments throughout 1966 and 1967, starred Bondarchuk in the leading role of Pierre Bezukhov, alongside Vyacheslav Tikhonov and Ludmila Savelyeva, who depicted Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: The film was produced by the Mosfilm studios between 1961 and 1967, with considerable support from the Soviet authorities and the Red Army which provided hundreds of horses and over ten thousand soldiers as extras. At a cost of 8.29 million Rbls – equal to US$9.21 million at 1967 rates, or $60–70 million in 2019, accounting for rouble inflation – it was the most expensive film made in the Soviet Union. Upon its release, it became a success with audiences, selling approximately 135 million tickets in the USSR. "War and Peace" also won the Grand Prix in the Moscow International Film Festival, the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Since its release, the film has often been considered the grandest epic film ever made, with many asserting its monumental production to be unrepeatable and unique in film history.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: In Saint Petersburg of 1805, Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a rich nobleman, is introduced to high society. His friend, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, joins the Imperial Russian Army as aide-de-camp of General Mikhail Kutuzov in the War of the Third Coalition against Napoleon. As Pierre's father recognizes him, Pierre attracts the attention of Hélène Kuragina and marries her, only to learn through rumor that she has been unfaithful and slept with Fyodor Dolokhov, an intimate of Hélène's brother Anatole. Meanwhile, Andrei takes part in the failed campaign in Austria, where he witnesses the Battle of Schöngrabern and the Battle of Austerlitz, is badly wounded and mistaken for dead. He returns to his father's estate just in time to witness his wife Lisa die during childbirth.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: In the end of 1809, Natasha, the young daughter of a count attends her first ball at age 16. Andrei Bolkonsky falls in love with her and intends to marry her, but his father demands they wait. Andrei travels abroad, and Natasha desperately longs for him. But she then meets the handsome Anatole Kuragin who falls in love with her and follows her with much passion. Overwhelmed Natasha decides she prefers him over Andrei. At the last minute, she regrets her choice and abandons her plans to elope with Anatole. However, Andrei has heard of her plans and declares their betrothal is over. Natasha suffers a nervous breakdown. Pierre, trying to calm her down, suddenly announces he loves her.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: In 1812, Napoleon's Army invades Russia. Field Marshal Kutuzov is appointed by the Tsar to defend the land. Kutuzov asks Andrei to join him as a staff officer, but he requests a command in the field. Pierre approaches the battlefield of the upcoming confrontation between the armies during the Battle of Borodino, he volunteers to assist in an artillery battery. Andrei's unit waits in the reserve, but he is hit by a shell and both he and Anatole suffer severe wounds. The battle involves hundreds of thousands of soldiers, thousands of horses, hundreds of cannons firing from both sides. French Army forces the Russian Army to retreat leaving Moscow unprotected. Napoleon advances on Moscow.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: As Moscow is set ablaze by the retreating Russians, the Rostovs flee their estate, taking wounded soldiers with them, and unbeknownst to them, also Andrei. Pierre, dressed as a peasant, tries to assassinate Napoleon but is taken prisoner. As the French are forced to retreat, he is marched for months with the Grande Armée, until being freed by partisans. The French Armies are defeated by Field Marshal Kutuzov in the Battle of Krasnoi. Andrei is recognized and is brought to his estate. He forgives Natasha on his deathbed. She reunites with Pierre as Moscow is being rebuilt.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: In August 1959, King Vidor's American-Italian co-production "War and Peace" was released in the Soviet Union, attracting 31.4 million viewers and gaining wide acclaim. The impending 150th anniversary of the 1812 French Invasion, as well as the worldwide success of Vidor's adaptation of the Russian national epic – at a time when the USSR and the United States were competing for prestige – motivated the Soviet Minister of Culture Yekaterina Furtseva to begin planning a local picture based on Leo Tolstoy's novel. An open letter which appeared in the Soviet press, signed by many of the country's filmmakers, declared: "It is a matter of honor for the Soviet cinema industry, to produce a picture which will surpass the American-Italian one in its artistic merit and authenticity." According to "Der Spiegel", the film was to serve as a "counterstrike" to Vidor.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: During 1960, several leading Soviet directors proposed themselves to head the project, including Mikhail Romm and Sergei Gerasimov. But soon, the only viable candidate remaining was Ivan Pyryev. As his selection to the position seemed secure, several officials in the Ministry of Culture offered it to forty-year-old Sergei Bondarchuk, who had completed his directorial debut, "Fate of a Man", in 1959. Bondarchuk had not sought the position and did not know of the proposal until a letter from the Ministry reached him, but he chose to accept it and contend with Pyryev.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Fedor Razzakov wrote that the invitation of Bondarchuk was orchestrated by Pyryev's many enemies in the establishment, who were determined not to let him receive the lucrative project. In early February 1961, a letter endorsing Bondarchuk was sent to the Minister, signed by several prominent figures from the cinema industry. At first, Furtseva decreed that both candidates would each direct a pilot to be screened before a commission. However, Pyryev soon withdrew his bid. Razzakov believed he had done so after realizing his chances were slim: Bondarchuk, whose career began only during the Thaw, represented a generation of young directors promoted by Nikita Khrushchev's Kremlin to replace the old filmmakers from the Stalin era. In the end of February, after Pyryev conceded, the Minister held a meeting and confirmed Bondarchuk as the director.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: On 3 April 1961, Vladimir Surin, the director-general of the Mosfilm studios, sent Furtseva a letter requesting to approve the adaptation of a script for a film in three parts based on "War and Peace", as well as to allocate 150,000 Rbls in funds. On 5 May the Minister replied, authorizing to begin writing the scenario and granting 30,000 Rbls. On that day, the work on the picture began.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Bondarchuk hired Vasily Solovyov, a playwright, as his assistant for composing the script. The two later changed the earlier premise and decided to make four parts instead of three. They chose to downplay or exclude completely several of Tolstoy's plotlines and themes, in order not to make the film too cumbersome: the episodes concerning Nikolai Rostov and Maria Bolkonskaya were reduced, and Anatole Kuragin received a slightly better treatment. The author's views on philosophy and history were substantially redacted.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: The Mosfilm directorate approved the finished script on 27 February 1962. On 20 March, in a plenum in the Ministry of Culture attended by Surin and the State Committee for Cinematography's deputy chairman Basakov, Furtseva approved the scenario and requested all relevant agencies to assist the producers, including the Ministry of Defense, which was deemed central in providing support for the project.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: The producers appointed three military advisers: Army General Vladimir Kurasov became the film's chief consultant, and Army General Markian Popov assisted as well; Lieutenant General Nikolai Oslikovsky was brought as an expert on cavalry. The Soviet Army would supply thousands of soldiers as extras during the filming.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: More than forty museums contributed historical artifacts, such as chandeliers, furniture and cutlery, to create an authentic impression of the early 19th-century Russia. Thousands of costumes were sewn, mainly military uniform of the sorts worn in the Napoleonic Wars, including 11,000 shakos. Sixty obsolete cannons were cast and 120 wagons and carts constructed for the production.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Anticipating the need for cavalry, line producer Nikolai Ivanov and General Osilkovsky began seeking appropriate horses. While the cavalry formations of the Army were long abolished, several units in the Transcaucasian Military District and the Turkestan Military District retained horse-drawn mountain artillery. In addition to those, the Ministry of Agriculture gave away nine hundred horses and the Moscow City Police organized a detachment from its mounted regiment. The producers also needed to arrange hounds for the wolf hunting at the Rostov estate. At first, it was planned to use Borzois, as depicted in the novel. Sixteen such were obtained from individual private owners, but the dogs had no experience in hunting and were hard to handle. Eventually, scent hounds supplied by the Ministry of Defense chased down the wolves – provided by the zoological department of the State Studio for Popular Science Films – while the Borzoi caught them.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Bondarchuk began holding auditions in May 1961. Oleg Strizhenov received the leading role of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. However, in spring 1962, shortly before the commencing of principal photography, Strizhenov changed his mind after being accepted into the ensemble of the Moscow Art Theatre. Bondarchuk complained to the Ministry of Culture. Furtseva spoke with the actor, but failed to convince him. The director then tried to enlist Innokenty Smoktunovsky, who was supposed to star in Grigori Kozintsev's "Hamlet". After deliberations, Smoktunovsky accepted Bondarchuk's offer, but Kozintsev used his influence in the Ministry and received his actor back. As a last resort, Vyacheslav Tikhonov was given the role. He first arrived on the set in mid-December 1962, three months after filming began.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Bondarchuk envisaged the character of Pierre Bezukhov as having great physical strength, in accordance with his description by Tolstoy. Therefore, he had offered the role to Olympic weightlifter Yury Vlasov, and even rehearsed with him. Vlasov soon gave it up, telling the director that he had no acting skills. Bondarchuk then cast himself as the protagonist. His wife, actress Irina Skobtseva, portrayed Hélène Kuragina, Pierre's first wife. During the making of the third and fourth part in the series, a journalist named Yury Devochkin, who resembled the director, substituted him in many of the scenes.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Anastasiya Vertinskaya, Lyudmila Gurchenko and other known actresses wanted to portray Natasha Rostova, but Bondarchuk chose the inexperienced 19-year-old ballerina Ludmila Savelyeva, who had just recently graduated from Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet. Nikita Mikhalkov was cast as Natasha's little brother, Petya Rostov, but as he was in the age of adolescence and quickly growing up, he had to abandon the role in favor of the younger Sergei Yermilov. Still, his scenes of riding a horse during hunting were left in the final film.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Tikhonov was the highest-paid member of the cast, and received R22,228 for portraying Bolkonsky. Bondarchuk earned R21,679 for directing and 20,100 for depicting Pierre. Savelyeva got R10,685. Most other actors received less than R3,000.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Before beginning principal photography, the producers resolved to shoot the picture with 70-mm. wide-format and high-resolution film instead of the standard 35-mm. Though they considered purchasing it from Kodak or from ORWO in the German Democratic Republic, they at last decided to use Soviet-made film stock manufactured in the Shostka Chemical Plant, both because of financial shortcomings and for considerations of national pride. Director of photography Anatoly Petritsky recalled that the Shostka film was "of horrible quality" and that he often would photograph a sequence only to discover the film was defective. This – as well as the need to cover large crowds from many angles – forced the director to repeat many of the scenes; some of the more elaborate battle sequences were retaken more than forty times. According to "Kommersant" journalist Yevgeni Zhirnov, Bondarchuk had to re-shoot more than 10% of the footage in the picture due to problems with the film stock; Zhirnov estimated that this raised the cost of production by 10% to 15% or more.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: The first cinematographers, husband and wife Alexander Shelenkov and Yu-Lan Chen, quarreled with Bondarchuk on several occasions. On 20 May 1963, half a year after commencing photography, they wrote to Surin, asking to be dismissed from work on the picture and stating that Bondarchuk "dictated without consulting with the crew." Their 31-year-old assistant Petritsky, who had made only one film previously, was appointed in their stead.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: The operators pioneered photographic techniques which had never before been used in Soviet cinema. Aerial lifts with cameras were hoisted over sets to create "a cannonball view". When filming Natasha's first ball, an operator with a hand-held camera circled between the dancing extras on roller skates. The crowd scenes were shot using cranes and helicopters. Another new feature was the sound technicians' use of a six-channel audio recording system.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: On 7 September 1962, the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino, principal photography began. The first scene to be filmed depicted the execution of suspected arsonists by the French Army, and was shot in the Novodevichy Convent. After a few days, the crew moved into the Moscow Kremlin for further work. Later that month, the hunt in the Rostov's estate was filmed in the village of Bogoslavskoye, in the Yasnogorsky District.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: On 1 December, Bondarchuk and the production team, with 150 wagons of equipment, traveled to Mukachevo in the Zakarpattia Oblast. The director had only planned to photograph two episodes there: the Battle of Schöngrabern and the Battle of Austerlitz. But due to the harsh winter, none of those could be shot. Bondarchuk revised his plans and decided to film in Zakarpattia 231 scenes that were supposed to be made elsewhere, while waiting for the weather to improve. The Battle of Krasnoi episode and its related parts were filmed in the snow, and involved 2,500 Soviet soldiers, allocated as extras, who wore French uniforms and 500 in Russian ones. When conditions enabled it, 3,000 soldiers from the Carpathian Military District re-created the Battle of Schöngrabern near the village of Kushtanovytsia. The Battle of Austerlitz was filmed in the vicinity of Svaliava. As the budget was exceeded due to the weather and film stock problems, Bondarchuk had to refrain from filming several battle sequences. On 17 May, the crew returned to the capital.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: On 20 July, the producers went on another expedition, to Dorogobuzh, in order to film the Battle of Borodino and the related parts of the plot. Photography could not be carried out in Borodino itself, mainly because of the many memorials located there. On 1 August, work was commenced. The shooting of the battle itself began on 25 August 1963 – its 151st anniversary by the Julian Calendar. 13,500 soldiers and 1,500 horsemen substituted for the historical armies (Several reports in the Western press have put the number of soldiers who participated at 120,000; however, in an 1986 interview to "National Geographic", Bondarchuk stated: "That is exaggeration, all I had was 12,000.") The troops were supposed to return to their bases after thirteen days, but eventually remained for three months. 23 tons of gunpowder, handled by 120 sappers, and 40,000 liters of kerosene were used for the pyrotechnics, as well as 10,000 smoke grenades. Tens of thousands of cubic meters of soil were dug out to construct earthworks resembling the Bagration flèches and the Raevsky redoubt. The set was divided to sectors, and a system of loudspeakers was installed – one for each area – to enable the director to coordinate the troops' movements. On 4 November, the session ended and Bondarchuk went back to Moscow.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: From the end of December to mid-June 1964, the crew worked in Mosfilm's studios. Most notably, Natasha's debutante ball was photographed there, with five hundred extras. On 15 June, the production team went to Leningrad, where shooting took place in the Hermitage Museum, the Summer Garden, the Peter and Paul Fortress and in Vasilyevsky Island. Upon his return to the studio on 7 July, Bondarchuk was abruptly instructed by his superiors to abandon all other work and focus on preparing the first two parts for the 1965 Moscow Film Festival, contrary to all former designs and while they were far from finished. During the same month, he suffered a major cardiac arrest and was clinically dead for a short while. His first words after regaining consciousness were: "If I die, let Gerasimov finish it". Filming was postponed until late September.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: In spite of the tight schedule, "Andrei Bolkonsky" and "Natasha Rostova" were completed and submitted to Mosfilm's directorate on 30 June 1965, less than a week before the festival. The two had their world premiere on 19 July 1965, in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. During July, Bondarchuk suffered another heart attack: this time, he was clinically dead for four minutes. The white wall of light seen by Bolkonsky before his death was inspired by the director's experience.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: The work on the remaining episodes of parts 3 and 4 resumed on 9 August. During the next months, the crew filmed in Mozhaysk, Kalinin and Zvenigorod. The final plot line to be shot was the Fire of Moscow; filming began on 17 October 1966. For four months prior to that, a plywood set was built in the village of Teryayevo, next to the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery. The entire construction, doused with diesel fuel, was burned to the ground as five fire engines stood nearby. Principal photography ended on 28 October 1966. On 28 December, the edited third film was approved by the studio. Work on the fourth and final one continued until early August 1967.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: In 1962, officials in the Ministry of Culture estimated "War and Peace" would cost some 4 million roubles, not including support from the Army. In comparison, the most expensive Soviet film until then, the 1952 "The Unforgettable Year 1919", cost 1.093 million Rbls in prices adjusted to the 1961 monetary reform. "War and Peace" remains the costliest picture to be made in the USSR.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: On 20 March 1962, Furtseva set a preliminary budget of 1.395 million Rbls. On 21 May 1963, the Ministry approved a plan for a series in four parts with a budget of 8,165,200 Rbls. On 25 August 1964, the State Committee for Cinematography issued a directive revisiting the terms, authorizing to spend 8.5 million Rbls, of which 2.51 million Rbls were to cover the expenses of the Ministry of Defense. Producer Nikolai Ivanov recalled: "the domestic press later claimed the budget was 18 million Rbls or 25 million Rbls, but they had 8.5 million and managed to reduce expenditures to 7.8 million during principal photography."


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Towards the end of post-production, the total cost forecast estimated was R8,083,412. However, in August 1967, with all work completed, "the last debit and credit entries were written in the books. According to its financial statements, the film consumed 8,291,712 Rbls." This was equal to $9,213,013 by the 1967 exchange rate, or to approximately $60–70 million in 2021, accounting for rouble inflation.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Various estimates of the series' budget circulated in the international press. "The New York Times" reported it was "the most expensive film ever made... Russians say cost $100 million". This figure was repeated throughout the American press. "The New York Times" estimated this figure to be equivalent to $700 million upon adjustment for inflation to 2007 levels, a claim it reiterated in 2019. After its release in the United Kingdom in 1969, "The Annual Register" announced it "reputedly" cost £40 million ($96 million). The 1979 "Guinness Book of World Records" published a similar number, claiming "War and Peace" was "the most expensive film ever made" based on that "the total cost has been officially stated to be more than $96 million." Other estimates put the cost of production between $25 million and $60 million.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: The distribution (along with the displaying and later preserving) of such a massive piece of work posed physical difficulties. Already the whopping 20 canisters of film reels made transportation a sizable hassle.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: "Andrei Bolkonsky" was screened in two consecutive parts, released in a total of 2,805 copies in March 1966. In the fifteen months afterwards, the first sold 58.3 million tickets in the USSR, and 58 million of the viewers remained through the intermission. Thus, "Bolkonsky" became the most successful film of the year. Respectively, its two parts are also the 26th and 27th most watched from among all pictures ever made in the Soviet Union. "Natasha Rostova", which opened in July with 1,405 copies disseminated, performed less well and attracted 36.2 million viewers in the same time period, reaching the third place in the 1966 box office, although it would have been ninth if counted in 1967. Admission for the two final parts deteriorated further: "1812", with 1,407 copies released, had 21 million admissions and "Pierre Bezukhov" sold merely 19.8 million tickets; they made it to the 13th and 14th place at the 1967 box office.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Russian film critic Sergei Kudryavtsev assessed the series' domestic returns were "probably in the range" of 58 million Rbls, while Razzakov assumed each ticket cost an average price of 25 kopecks. With a total of some 135 million tickets sold, "War and Peace" was considered a resounding commercial success at the time.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: The series was screened in 117 countries around the world, including Spain, Japan, West Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Egypt, and Argentina. In East Germany, the state-owned DEFA studio produced a slightly shorter edition of the series, dubbed to German, which ran 409 minutes and maintained the four-part order of the original. Among others, it featured Angelica Domröse, who voiced Lisa Bolkonskaya. It attracted 2,225,649 viewers in the German Democratic Republic. In West Germany, a much shorter version was released, totaling 337 minutes. In the People's Republic of Poland, it sold over 5,000,000 tickets in 1967. In France, "War and Peace" had 1,236,327 admissions.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Walter Reade Jr.'s company Continental Distributors purchased the U.S rights of "War and Peace" for $1.5 million. Reade's associates shortened the American version of the film by an hour, and added English-language dubbing. This edition was directed by Lee Kresel of Titan Productions and narrated by Norman Rose. Its premiere was held in the DeMille Theater, New York, on 28 April 1968, and attended by actresses Ludmila Savelyeva and Irina Skobtseva, as well as ambassadors Anatoly Dobrynin and Yakov Malik. Tickets for the picture were later sold for $5.50–$7.50 – the highest admission rate ever, breaking the previous $6 record of "Funny Girl". On 23 January 1969, Kresel's edition opened in London's Curzun cinema.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: The US television network ABC broadcast "War and Peace" over four days, 12–15 August 1972. The series was broadcast on BBC2 on Christmas Day 1976, split into two 4-hour sections with a 30-minute intermission.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: In July 1965, "War and Peace" was awarded the Grand Prix at the 4th Moscow International Film Festival together with the Hungarian entry "Twenty Hours". Ludmila Savelyeva was presented with an honorary diploma. The readers of "Sovetskii Ekran", the official publication of the State Committee for Cinematography, chose Savelyeva and Vyacheslav Tikhonov for the best actress and actor of 1966, in recognition of their appearance in the picture. In the same year, "War and Peace" also received the Million Pearl Award of the Roei Association of Film Viewers in Japan.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: In 1967, the film was entered into the 1967 Cannes Film Festival, outside of the competition. It was sent there instead of Andrei Tarkovsky's "Andrei Rublev", which was invited by the festival's organizers but deemed inappropriate by the Soviet government.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: In the United States, it won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film in the 26th Golden Globe Awards. The picture was the Soviet entry to the 41st Academy Awards, held on 14 April 1969. It received the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the Best Art Direction.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: "War and Peace" was the first Soviet picture to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and was the longest film ever to receive an Academy Award until "" won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2017. The Oscar statuette was confiscated by Soviet authorities upon return (presumably along the Golden Globe statuette).


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: It also won the National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film for 1968.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: In 1970, it was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design in the 23rd British Academy Film Awards.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Soviet film critic Rostislav Yurenev wrote that "War and Peace" was "the most ambitious and monumental adaptation of the greatest work of Russian literature […] set out to convey in tremendous scope the historical conception of Leo Tolstoy, his extraordinarily vivid and profound depiction of humanity." In a second review, he added: "the desire for ever greater depth of penetration into the human character, of every aspect of it […] led to Sergei Bondarchuk's adaptation of Tolstoy. The outcome is truly marvelous."


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reviewer Brigitte Jeremias stated the film presented history "with great meticulousness and choreographic quality […]. This is a conservative, romantic or perhaps even classical historical film […]. But it strives for authenticity, and is therefore incomparably better than Vidor's adaptation."


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: French critic Georges Sadoul commented: "more than in the sheer scale of the battle scenes", the film's "merit lies in its sense of the Russian landscape", to continue: "Though perhaps an impressive example of film-making on large scale," it was "ponderous by any standard" and "tediously faithful" to the novel, with "none of its narrative flair or spirit […]. Occasional bravura or touching episodes are not adequate for the dogged pedantry." Claude Mauriac wrote in "Le Figaro littéraire" that "we have already seen many Soviet films […]. But this is the most beautiful I have seen since, well, since when?" Peter Cowie noted that Bondarchuk brought to his adaptation "the epic sweep that had eluded King Vidor." Joseph Gelmis of "Newsday" agreed that the film was "superior [to Vidor's] as drama and spectacle. Bondartchouk isn't an innovator. Instead he uses virtually every movie technique extant ... an antiwar film that celebrates life, love, renewal".


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Renata Adler of the "New York Times" wrote that "the characters – including Savelyeva […] who looks a little queasy, and Bondarchuk, too old to play Pierre – are dowdy automata." She added the film was "vulgar in the sense that it takes something great and makes it both pretentious and devoid of life […]. A failure in the sense that it is not even as enjoyable as any number of lesser films." Adler also disapproved of the English dubbing, opining "although it is remarkable – an outer limit of what can be done – it was a mistake" and "proves once and for all the futility of dubbing." "The New Yorker" critic Penelope Gilliatt had lambasted the process as well: "the decision to tack on alien voices seems madness." Judith Crist wrote in "New York Magazine": "Those Russians…! And now, I bet they'll beat us to the moon! Chauvinism be damned – I'm putting "Gone with the Wind" into historic perspective and second place, for certainly "War and Peace" is not only […] the finest epic of our time, but also a great and noble translation of a literary masterpiece, surpassing our expectation and imagination."


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: The "Time" magazine reviewer wrote that the film "escapes greatness, except in cost and length […] the movie is awesome in war and pusillanimous in peace." In the novel, unlike in the picture, "the war is only the background […]. Pierre and Andrei are only shallow, literal representations of Tolstoy's characters […]. Moreover, the dubbing is disastrous." Richard Schickel of "Life" noted that the film's American distributors "have cut and dubbed it, ruining any merit it may have had" but the original "had its own deficiencies […]. Missing is Tolstoy's theory of history as well as his Christian message (neither fits Marxist theory very well), and without this underpinning the film lacks power and purpose." Roger Ebert commented that it was "a magnificently unique film […]. Bondarchuk, however, is able to balance the spectacular, the human, and the intellectual. Even in the longest, bloodiest, battle scenes there are vignettes that stand out […]. It is as spectacular as a movie can possibly be and yet it has a human fullness."


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 100% of 19 reviews were positive, with an average rating of 8.97/10.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Ian Aitken regarded "War and Peace" as "one of the most important" films produced during the 1964–68 transition from the Khrushchev Thaw to the Brezhnev Stagnation. In that period, the liberal atmosphere of the Thaw was still felt, although it was being marginalized as Soviet cinema became more restrained. The picture "departed from the officially sanctioned forms of Socialist realism" and rather, conformed to György Lukács' model of intensive totality in several aspects: it was based on a classic realist novel which itself influenced Lukács; had a complex plot structure, and portrayed the relations of individuals in a social context. Aitken added that at the same time, the picture employed several "overtly modernist" techniques: "symbolic, anti-realist use of color […] disembodied speech, rapid editing […] reflexive, hand-held camera." The author believed the film's "chief importance" laid in its demonstration of how "the Lukácsian model of intensive totality can be given a successful modernist inflection." He also noted that while it was an example of critical realism rather than socialist realism and had modernist characteristics, "War and Peace" was "politically innocuous enough" to be celebrated by the Brezhnev government as a great achievement.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: Lev Anninsky, on the contrary, viewed Bondarchuk's picture as a symbol of state-approved cinema, writing it was the "antithesis" and the "total contrast" to "Andrei Rublev", which he saw as representing the nonconformist approach in the field. Anninsky commented that "War and Peace" was imbued with patriotic motifs and "warm Russian tradition, which engulfs the viewer" while Tarkovsky had no such sense of "history as if it is a mother's womb." Mira and Antonin Liehm considered it "foremost" among the early Brezhnevite films which received "official support" in order to bring "Russian classics […] and history to the screen in a manner in line with the official standards of taste." However, they added that "if measured by models and ambitions" it could "stand on its own merits."


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: David C. Gillespie noted orthodox Soviet messages in the film: "There are ideological touches […]. Russian and Austrian soldiers (but not their officers) show proletarian-like solidarity […]. There is no mention in the film of Pierre's early dalliance with freemasonry, as if contact with a foreign creed might erode some of his Russianness." He wrote that it "remains a paean to Russian military might and the strength of the Russian 'soul'."


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: In 1986, Bondarchuk was requested to prepare "War and Peace" for a television broadcast. A 35-mm. copy of the series, which was filmed in parallel to the main version and had a 4:3 aspect ratio, rather than the 70-mm. 2.20:1, was submitted, after being adapted by a team headed by Petritsky.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: In 1999, as part of an initiative to restore its old classics, Mosfilm resolved to restore "War and Peace". As the original 70-mm. reels were damaged beyond repair, the studio used the 1988 4:3 version and the original soundtrack to make a DVD edition, in a process that cost $80,000.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: In 2006 Karen Shakhnazarov, director of Mosfilm, announced that a new "frame by frame" restoration was being made. Which elements were being used is unclear, but the restoration would, claimed Shakhnazarov, probably be finished by the end of 2016.


title: War and Peace (film series)

text: The completed restoration was first shown at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City, then in Los Angeles and other major cities. The Criterion Collection released the restoration onto 3-disc DVD and 2-disc Blu-ray sets on 25 June 2019.


title: Gay icon

text: A gay icon is a public figure who is regarded as a cultural icon of some members of the LGBT community.


title: Gay icon

text: The most widely recognized gay icons are often celebrities who garnered large LGBT fanbases, such as Judy Garland, Madonna, Diana Ross, Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears, Kate Bush, Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, Cher, Tina Turner, and Lady Gaga. However, the term is also applied to politicians, authors, and other historical figures deemed relatable to LGBT causes.


title: Gay icon

text: Many gay icons are celebrities in the entertainment industry, but the label has also been applied to figures in politics, history, sports, literature, and other mediums. Prominent entertainers considered to be gay icons often incorporate themes of acceptance, self-love, and sexuality in their work. Gay icons of all orientations within the LGBTQ+ community have acknowledged the role that their gay fans have played in their success.


title: Gay icon

text: Sappho of Lesbos was an Archaic Greek poet known for composing sentimental lyrics about women. Perceived homoerotism in her poems have led to her becoming a symbol for lesbianism, with her name and home island inspiring the terms "sapphic" and "lesbian" respectively. Her sexuality, and the themes in her poetry have been extensively discussed and reinterpreted by scholars.


title: Gay icon

text: The 3rd century Christian martyr Saint Sebastian is one of the earliest known gay icons, due to his depiction in artwork as a beautiful, agonied young man. Historian Richard A. Kaye states that "Contemporary gay men have seen in Sebastian at once a stunning advertisement for homosexual desire (indeed, a homoerotic ideal), and a prototypical portrait of a tortured closet case."


title: Gay icon

text: In the 1890s, Irish poet Oscar Wilde, himself also called a gay icon, was incarcerated and exiled for his sexuality, and adopted the pseudonym "Sebastian Melmoth" after the saint. Gay playwright Tennessee Williams used the saint's name for the martyred character Sebastian in his 1957 play, "Suddenly Last Summer".


title: Gay icon

text: Prior to the French Revolution, opponents of the French monarchy regularly circulated pornographic propaganda alleging that Marie Antoinette was engaged in a lesbian relationship with the . While the rumors of Antoinette's sexuality were unfounded, they led to her being interpreted as an early lesbian icon in works by gay authors, such as Radclyffe Hall's "The Well of Loneliness" (1928) and Jean Genet's "The Maids" (1947).


title: Gay icon

text: Mariah Carey has demonstrated allyship since the early beginnings of her career. She has shown her love for her LGBTQ+ fans numerous times, including a 2003 performance at G-A-Y in London. Furthermore, Carey also won a GLAAD award for Allyship.


title: Gay icon

text: Kate Bush has been cited as an influence by respected artists like Sir Elton John, who is openly gay and credits Bush's music with helping him to overcome his alcoholism. Fellow gay icon Cher has also expressed admiration of Bush's work. Her debut single "Wuthering Heights" topped the charts and became a global success. The music video for the song in which she dances in the moors in a red dress has become iconic among the LGBTQ community. One of her less influential albums, "Lionheart" (1978), featured a song titled "Kashka From Baghdad", which regaled to the listener the tale of a gay couple living together in sin, which was quite revolutionary for its time. Since 2016, Kate Bush fans have gathered in locations all over the world and taken to recreate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" video in an event dubbed The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever. Men and women in attendance to the event don red dresses or red in general and recreate the choreography observed in the video as a tribute. Bush, who has seen a clip of one of the events, described the tribute by her fans as "very touching and sweet".


title: Gay icon

text: Pop musician Madonna has become a preeminent gay icon. "The Advocate"s Steve Gdula commented that "back in the 1980s and even the early 1990s, the release of a new Madonna video or single was akin to a national holiday, at least among her gay fans." Gdula also stated that during this period, concurrent with the rise of the AIDS epidemic, "when other artists tried to distance themselves from the very audience that helped their stars to rise, Madonna only turned the light back on her gay fans and made it burn all the brighter."


title: Gay icon

text: Janet Jackson garnered a substantial LGBT following during the 1990s with her sixth studio album "The Velvet Rope" (1997). The album was honored by the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum and received the award for Outstanding Music Album at the 9th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in 1998 for its songs that dealt with sexual orientation and homophobia. On April 26, 2008, she received the Vanguard Award—a media award from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation—to honor her work in the entertainment industry in promoting equality for LGBT people. GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano commented, "Ms. Jackson has a tremendous following inside the LGBT community and out, and having her stand with us against the defamation that LGBT people still face in our country is extremely significant."


title: Gay icon

text: Kylie Minogue, known for her disco-infused dance music and camp style, is held in high esteem by her gays fans. She remarks that her gay fans have been with her 'through thick and thin', yet was never specifically marketed to a gay audience early in her career. Singer songwriter Rufus Wainwright described Minogue as 'the gay shorthand for joy'. She has performed at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Party in 1994, 1998 and 2012, Palm Springs White Party in 2018, WorldPride 2019 in New York City and will headline WorldPride 2023 in Sydney.


title: Gay icon

text: Ellen DeGeneres is considered to be a gay icon for coming out publicly in a time when American culture was not as accepting, facing setbacks to her career and persevering to have an extremely successful daytime talk show.