love and bullets is a 1979 film directed by stuart rosenberg .

starring charles bronson , it is based on a screenplay by wendell mayes and john melson .

the film was originally to have been directed by john huston and advertisements were taken out in variety to promote this fact .

huston apparently did film some scenes but walked off the set after disagreements with the producers .

veteran director rosenberg stepped in on the troubled production .

the resulting movie received almost-unanimously poor reviews .

love and bullets ( 1979 film )

love and bullets ( 1979 ) – mike ' s take on the movies ……… . rediscovering cinema ' s past
this movie ' s working title was ' love and bullets , charlie ' .
this was not the first movie ever made with the ' love and bullets ' title . two silent comedy shorts made in the nineteen - tens preceded it [ see : love and bullets ( 1914 ) and love and bullets ( 1916 ) ] .
charles bronson can always be counted on for a lot of bullets in his films…but love and bullets adds another layer to his iconic screen persona .
principal photography on this picture started late 1977 but the film did not debut theatrically until 1979 .
“love and bullets” is rated pg ( “parental guidance suggested” ) . it contains some violent episodes and a relatively tasteful shot of a nude corpse .
overall , love and bullets has some first rate action scenes and bronson is watchable as always but the supporting cast let it down with hammy performances and poor accents .
love and bullets is a british 1979 crime drama directed by stuart rosenberg and starring charles bronson as phoenix pd lt . charlie congers who is sent by fbi in switzerland to brink back in usa jackie pruit ( jill ireland ) , a former mistress of a crime boss joe bomposa ( rod steiger ) .
solid cast makes it worth a look . love that film poster as well ! yes it’s in my personal collection .
the film won a silver bear at the 1968 berlin film festival for best first film and was hailed by the influential film critic lotte eisner as having
a romantic spirit inspired by german silents
.
both transfers are adequate though not overly impressive . love and bullets was shot in widescreen but is presented here in full screen ratio . russian roulette is presented in letterboxed format . there are no extras .
the only other ' 70s bronson where he plays a cop . the other being , the much better , the stone killer ( 1973 ) . love and bullets is awful and jill ireland looks terrible in that wig .
i couldn’t disagree more . i love this movie , even without having read the novel .
top bronson film , a worthy film to my bronson collection . fast delivery , item as described .
a similarly titled movie , love and a bullet ( 2002 ) , another hollywood action film , was made about twenty - three years after this movie was made and released .
accessibility concerns ? email us at accessibility @ urltoken . we would love to hear from you .
with let the bullets fly , jiang wen and his team have a clear agenda to synchronize their creativity with the new chinese film market . bullets preserves the most popular elements of its immediate predecessor and irons out the idiosyncrasies that kept audiences ( and critics ) at a distance . if a blockbuster was the plan , then jiang’s success is unmitigated .
some feature films : signs of life , 1968 ; even dwarfs started small , 1971 ; aguirre , the wrath of god , 1972 ; the enigma of kaspar hauser , 1974 ; heart of glass , 1976 ; stroszek , 1977 ; woyzeck , 1979 ; nosferatu the vampyre , 1979 ; fitzcarraldo , 1982 ; invincible , 2001 .
love and bullets , directed by stuart rosenberg ; an original story written for the screen by wendell mayes ; film editors , michael anderson , lesley walker and tom priestley ; cinematograhers , fred koenekamp and anthony richmond ; music by lab schiffrin ; produced by pancho kohner ; a sir lew grade presentation for itc entertainment ltd . at the rivoli , broadway and 49th street , and other theaters . running time : 103 minutes . this film is rated pg .
as early as 1979 nationwide were given enough access to warrant titling a whole edition kate bush on tour , following rehearsals and the official first night in liverpool of the successful tour of life .
. . where the worlds of film noir and pre - code collide . .
stuart rosenberg , who directed “the amityville horror” as well as “love and bullets , ” is one of the great wonders of the movie world . mr . rosenberg has had a long and successful career , and yet he still pays little heed to the most basic tricks of the trade , like establishing clear time sequences or letting the viewer know on which continent the action is taking place or even keeping his actors’ faces out of the shadows . the swiss scenery for “love and bullets” involves a lot of bright , snowy outdoor shots in which mr . bronson and miss ireland virtually disappear .
“love and bullets , ” which opens today at the rivoli , also features rod steiger as a godfather with a very large mansion and a stammer . his performance , which could seem restrained only in comparison with his “amityville horror” turn , would have been quite overwrought enough without the speech defect .
he took promotional images for hounds of love in 1985 , the album that remains bush’s best - seller and which spawned hits such as running up that hill and cloudbusting .
by the late 1970s , charles bronson was as famous in america as he had been for many years in the 1960s in europe . many european thrillers and westerns had taken advantage of the actor’s impassivity before his american stardom was guaranteed in his partnership with michael winner for such as chato’s land , the mechanic and death wish . although bronson had had his first effective flop with the white buffalo , he was still very much at the top of the box office rankings when he accepted the role in love and bullets , effectively cast opposite his wife and frequent co - star jill ireland . love and bullets was originally scheduled to have been directed by the great john huston but when this fell…
glenys groves , one of the two backing singers on bush’s 1979 tour of life , devoted a chapter to that experience in her recently published memoir ballads , songs and snatches , thus earning a plug on the kb fan sites .
cinema scope mag for film reviews , criticism news & comments . one of the most respected publications on film , uniting experienced critics with new writers .
steve martin reinvents edmond rostand ' s 1897 cyrano de bergerac for a modern colorado setting . the film was directed by fred schepisi and martin plays charlie ' cd ' bales , a small - town fire chief with a large hooter who is desperately in love with astronomer roxanne kowalski ( daryl hannah ) . the film is charming and earned martin a string of awards , including the national society of film critics award for best actor and writers guild of america award for best adapted screenplay .
this is all very chivalrous , but it ' s also dull . the british‐born miss ireland has no luck in affecting a hillbilly accent , and as a comic presence she ' s simply not there . however , she and mr . bronson approach each other with an appealing ease , which would be more appealing if it were not the movie ' s only selling point . mr . bronson grows ever more coolly dependable with each new film , but “love and bullets” is too clumsy to show him off to much advantage .
the scene has earned the 1979 film a lot of mockery because of its campy outlandishness . but in the wake of moore ' s death from cancer on tuesday , at 89 years old , the entire sequence is worth a rewatch—along with the opening skydive chase —because it captures what was quintessentially special about the beloved actor ' s take on bond .
was attached to direct at one stage . in the end , the film was directed by
this is a very good film . the action is just a little slow . . .
classic film collector who never tires of discovering new titles and re - discovering old ones . view all posts by mikestakeonthemovies
debut theatrical feature film of model and actress lorraine chase who played the girlfriend of vittorio farroni ( henry silva ) .
best line :
this film is only for madagascar and iran . neither of which follow american copyright law .
cult , b - movies , cheesy fun films to film noir to classics new to me .
chris , i certainly recognize that they are two separate mediums , but choosing to watch the film first does privilege film over books . i don’t think reading the book first ‘taints’ the experience of watching a film , or vice versa . but , i do often find that reading the book first enriches my experience of films . i would also say that it often depends on the book or film itself .
and now for something completely different . today i watched the crystal clear and perfect criterion blu ray of “the front page” . excellent . i may tip my toe into films of other cultures / countries , but i will always love hollywood pictures from back when .
“with this scum , you gotta take the law into your own hands . you don ' t just book these guys , you kill ‘em . ” that ' s a line of dialogue from “love and bullets , ” the new charles bronson movie , and it bears the unmistakable paw print of wendell mayes , who also wrote “death wish . ” however , this time there ' s a twist : mr . bronson doesn ' t speak that line , nor does he even endorse its sentiments very strongly .
an interview with writer / director boots riley about his incendiary new film ,
sorry to bother you .
at a time when everything is fake and virtual and digital , he brought back the idea that cinema is to record basic human experience ,
says his fellow film director and friend , volker schlondorff .
i grew up watching jcvd , sly and arnold destroy bad guys , blow things up and spew one - liners like it ' s a fashion statement . action is everything i go to the movies for and the reason i came up with this site is to share my love for the genre with everyone .
it ' s also interesting to note that the main bond girl in moonraker is an american astronaut named holly goodhead ( heh ) , making her one of many fictional female spacefarers who predated the first american woman in space , sally ride ( sigourney weaver ' s ripley , who also debuted in 1979 , is another example ) .
born in war - time germany , he wrote a prize - winning screenplay at the age of 15 and made his first film at 20 . now one of cinema ' s most controversial and iconoclastic directors , he is also credited with leading a renaissance in european film . john o ' mahony reports
from the film the line , the cross & the curve , 1993 , london , black island studios . harari : ‘kate dances during the filming of the song lily , inspired by her healer friend lily who was in the film too’ .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
these are questions on which the whole plot is supposed to hinge and it would , too , if the movie were organized along rational lines . it is not .
love and bullets
is a hopelessly confused hodgepodge of chases , killings , enigmatic meetings and separations , and insufferably overacted scenes by steiger alternating with alarmingly underacted scenes by bronson . one example : after a killing , bronson and ireland are seen walking down a snowy slope next to a mountain lodge . cut to a dock , and they ' re climbing out of a boat . where are they ? where were they ? whose boat is it ? why did they have to go from one place to the other ?
this is a very good film . the action is just a little slow but still one of charles bronson best films .
looks great to me , maybe not a great film but like you , i can’t resist silva , bronson et al .
director jules dassin was attached to direct at one stage . in the end , the film was directed by stuart rosenberg .
father of the bride and its sequel garnered steve martin a host of film awards and nominations for his role as family man george stanley banks . his wife nina was played by diane keaton .
greg , i didn’t have much , if any exposure to foreign film’s until i was in my 40′s and dvds became the standard for home video . i’m at the point now where i visit “streamline” to discover films such as “judex” which expand my film horizons . always more to see .
t’s established in allen lore that the picture was originally a two - and - a - half - hour solipsistic ramble , with alvy and annie’s fling relegated to a subplot . but in the edit , their relationship was what brought the film to life , and the dead wood was mercilessly cut back . allen’s preferred name for the film he’d originally planned was anhedonia : a greek term for the inability to feel pleasure . there couldn’t have been a less appropriate title for the finished film .
streamline is the official blog of filmstruck , a new subscription service that offers film aficionados a comprehensive library of films including an eclectic mix of contemporary and classic art house , indie , foreign and cult films .
steve martin ' s film career began in 1972 with a small role as a hippy in a political comedy called another nice mess . but the stand - up comedian ' s first real triumph was the 1979 carl reiner - directed movie the jerk . martin starred as navin r johnson , the simpleton adopted white son of african - american sharecroppers . the jerk is a warm and engagingly silly film , featuring jokes about cat jugglers , but at the time of its release it had a mixed reception .
it took a long time to get over the bad reviews ,
martin later said . he added that british comedian peter sellers had offered him great encouragement at what was a difficult time in his career .
american detective charlie congers ( bronson ) is sent to the swiss alps to find and protect jackie ( jill ireland ) , the lover of a notorious gangster so that she can potentially testify against him . the stakes become even higher for congers when he and jackie fall in love and the jealous crime lord sends out assassins to put a permanent end to their budding romance .
the movie doesn ' t really care . it ' s all texture and no plot , which is fine for a travelog but not so hot for a thriller . there ' s so little dialog we begin to suspect that ' s deliberate : has the wordage in this movie been kept to a minimum to make it easier to dub for the international market ? thrillers , even sure
pure
thrillers as hitchcock ' s
north by northwest ,
work on some level because we ' ve gotten to know the characters and care about them .
love and bullets
seems to expect us to care about bronson simply because he is bronson the attempts to flesh out his character are brief and routine .
more and more screens , rising ticket prices , and a more affluent ticket - buying middle class means that records will continue to be broken rather rapidly ( to the professional delight of these upbeat chinese producers and investors ) . but let the bullets fly owes its success to deliberate design . this chinese action comedy connected with audiences and critics in an unprecedented way , earning a kind of across - the - board critical and public acclaim that i haven’t seen in the eight years i’ve been in china .
woody’s fourth and , thus far , final london film is a lightly cynical ensemble juggling act , taking in gold - digging , psychic love advice and ambulance - chasing literary plagiarism . josh brolin is well cast as a desperate novelist , but gemma jones has the best of it as the jilted wife of anthony hopkins , whose new girlfriend is a tacky ex - hooker ( lucy punch ) . allen , alas , seems above all of his characters here , and inflicts petty twists of fate on them which feel forced and malicious rather than wise or illuminating .
he first film in which allen directed diane keaton was also , perhaps not coincidentally , the first film to suggest he had more in him than than madcap , gag - driven comedies . ( they appeared in a film together before his directing days ) . that’s not to say sleeper isn’t as madcap and gag - driven as his earliest work : a film about a health food shop owner who falls into a vat of liquid nitrogen and wakes up 200 years later kind of has to be . but allen’s painting with new colours here : romance , melancholy , and even – gasp ! – coherent plotting , while the uproarious robot butler sequence showcased his talent for silent - era physical clowning .
also agree about the casting of the child . i actually think the stills of bennent are far more powerful than his performance in the film .
this movie marks the second time that star actor charles bronson has appeared in a movie written by wendell mayes . mayes adapted brian garfield ' s death wish ( 1974 ) novel and wrote the story and co - wrote the film script for this picture . this movie was made and released about five years after death wish ( 1974 ) and some dvd tag - lines emphasize that this film is from the writer of death wish ( 1974 ) .
a gift from aphrodite , wonder woman’s lasso makes persuasive capacity external and material rather than something internally sourced . in ancient greek textual and material culture , and from nuptial vases to cultic spaces , aphrodite was often accompanied by peithō ( persuasion ) , also a goddess . in his descriptions of greece , the second - century ce historian pausanias peered through dense mythic mist to report that when the hero theseus united attica , he established a shrine with two statues on the acropolis to hold the union together : one of aphrodite pandēmos ( all the people’s goddess of love ) and the other of peithō ( 1 . 22 . 3 ) . a capacious love joined with persuasion made political unification possible .
chow yun - fat’s depraved , corrupt , and powerful monopoly - capitalist huang silang appears to be the purest villain of the piece : brilliant but dishonourable , lacking moral restraints . he could be , in allegorical terms , an embodiment of the corrupt capitalist base of chiang kai - shek’s kuomintang , the “nationalist” party who temporarily brought a kind of order to warlord - ridden china shortly after the period in which this film takes place , and who were subsequently overthrown by the communists in 1949 , partly because the kuomintang’s venality and corruption drove people to the ccp . or huang silang could equally well incarnate the nexus of local power and corruption that has taken over the communist party since deng xiaoping introduced capitalist reforms after 1979 and jiang zemin opened the floodgates to massive official corruption in the ‘90s .
an older bronson paired with jill ireland typically doom a film from the onset . fortunately this film benefits from an interesting location ( switzerland ) , the casting of some of the best character actors working at the time ( strother martin , michael v . gazzo , paul koslo and henry silva ! ) , and a crazed performance by rod steiger . with this dream cast the film must be a winer . . . sadly no . it ' s good but charlies
blow - dart
attacks on the mafia hitmen is a real letdown and jill ireland is more annoying than usual .
allen cast a fond eye back to the hollywood musicals of his childhood for this all - singing , star - stuffed confection , which follows a clan of wealthy manhattanites chasing after love in new york , venice and paris . edward norton , drew barrymore , julia roberts and goldie hawn are among the game cast singing their hearts out . despite those names it was a commercial flop , and its airiness can sometimes play as insubstantial . but when the film works , it really works : not least when hawn defies gravity on the banks of the seine in its magical finale .
this picture was not the first time that star actors rod steiger and charles bronson worked on the same film production . previously , the two had both appeared in the 1950s westerns jubal ( 1956 ) and run of the arrow ( 1957 ) .
truthfully this isn’t all that great of a film but it’s hard for me as a bronson fan to come right out and say it . when he’s on screen he dominates so what can i say .
eceived wisdom has it that manhattan is a cinematic love letter to new york . but it’s actually the opposite : a thank - you card from new york , via allen , to cinema – for the alchemical process by which light and shade and music can turn buildings and streets into a miraculous , shared dream of a city . in theory it’s a romantic comedy , though its romance and humour are by turns anxious and wistful , and its characters come weighed down by manifold flaws and neuroses ( not least the troublesome may - september romance between isaac , allen’s conflicted comedy writer , and mariel hemingway’s 17 - year - old student ) .
it’s a glorious premise , explored by allen and his cast to dazzlingly funny ends . what gives the film its existential bite , though , is a two - part acknowledgement late in the game : firstly , that the beautiful solace film offers is a lie , and secondly , that it doesn’t matter . watching it , you feel ( and probably look ) like farrow’s heroine : a smiling face in the dark , lit up , flickering , alive .
alexander payne was just at the tribeca film festival for a director’s series edition of tribeca talks , where he revealed that “downsizing” was the most difficult film he’s ever made . dick cavett moderated the discussion , which eventually touched on the icy reception of his ambitious drama released last year . matt damon and hong chau star in the film , whose out - there premise helped make it one of the most anticipated films of 2017 . payne said it was difficult on every level — writing , financing , editing — and also addressed the lukewarm reviews it was met with upon opening late last year , suggesting that its ambitious narrative may have been too much to fit into the framework of a single film . payne was also asked whether any of his movies would be different if he made them today . “if you’re an open director , you cannot help but have the winds of history blow through your film ,
steve martin was nominated for a best actor golden globe for his portrayal of gil buckman in director ron howard ' s sentimental comedy . the film was a box - office smash hit , grossing more than £120 million worldwide . keanu reeves also starred in the film . in real life , martin is a talented banjo player .
if you happen to be a chinese film producer , china looks like the promised land , if not the wild west—a place that’s available , for the taking , with its doors wide open . ( though if you’re an activist in the marginal non - governmental sphere these days , the picture looks quite different ) . 2010 box - office numbers continued their exponential rise , with blockbuster hit succeeding blockbuster hit all the way to december . and the biggest box - office earner yet in chinese movie history is jiang wen’s let the bullets fly ( rang zidan fei ) . released in december , jiang’s eagerly awaited film raced past the record set by feng xiangang’s aftershock ( 2010 ) , which held up for a scant five months .
others have criticised herzog for being monomaniacal and exploitative . after the filming of heart of glass , co - writer herbert achternbusch wondered whether herzog
might possibly nail his actors to trees in his next film
.
classic wife and husband duo flick here starring the late charles bronson and also the late jill ireland who sadly were in some great films in the 1970s and always liked charles bronson and jill ireland together in heartbreak pass and assassination .
in the comic books , diana receives her lasso at least twice . in the first offering , her mother , queen hippolyta , hands her the lasso , which contains aphrodite’s power to gain submission from men and women alike . in the second offering , aphrodite and athena make a special delivery . having prayed to them and shown herself to be “bound by love and wisdom , ” she has earned the power to bind others . wonder woman’s lasso , then , is originally a lasso of obedience .
i caught this film for the first time in the early eighties when it made it’s network premier . i was far to young to see most bronson films at the theater so i would catch most of his seventies output on late night television . this film boasted a cast of well known faces and offered the swiss alps as a backdrop to the carnage that bronson was about to unleash .
when kinski threatened to leave , herzog came close to fulfilling this wish :
i told him i would do him in if he left the set now ,
says herzog ,
that i had a gun with nine bullets , eight of which i would use on him , leaving the final one for myself . he understood that it was not a joke .
the salary of star charles bronson was a then exorbitant us $ 1 , 500 , 000 . moreover , this did not include his back - end points percentage profit from the film ' s box - office grosses and the cost and expenditure for his and wife jill ireland ' s entourage of about a dozen personnel .
moonraker has inspired a
love it or hate it
reception since its release . but it captures the magic of space - age visions in the final year of the 1970s , reflecting the afterglow of the apollo program while anticipating president ronald reagan ' s weird obsession with building a space - based laser defense system during the 1980s .
steve martin plays private investigator rigby reardon in this 1982 comedy directed by carl reiner . it ' s a parody and celebration of the forties film noir thrillers and has a running gag ( a vaudeville routine tribute ) in which martin goes berserk every time he hears the phrase :
the cleaning lady
. using splicing and trick photography the black - and - white film also has appearances from celebrated actors and actresses including ingrid bergman , humphrey bogart , james cagney , joan crawford , bette davis and lana turner . legendary costume designer edith head , who had created outfits for films such as double indemnity ( 1944 ) , notorious ( 1946 ) and sunset boulevard ( 1950 ) , created more than 20 suits for martin .
the film also received a dm300 , 000 government film award which helped fund his next projects , including fata morgana , a trek through the sahara in search of mirages , and a wildly offbeat feature , even dwarfs started small , the story of an anarchist uprising in a criminal institution for small people . this picture caused uproar when shown at the 1970 new york film festival , with herzog accused of fascism for what was perceived as a satire on the 1968 student uprisings , and of exploiting his actors :
they were performing in some sort of a ' tiny town ' amusement park ,
he counters .
for the first time they got some real , decent work and enjoyed it tremendously .
t opens with one of allen’s most vividly written , shot and acted scenes ever , as judy davis and sydney pollack arrive for dinner and announce their separation plans . the way their best friends , allen and farrow , respond – shocked , but also offended – turns this into a rapid marvel of four - way characterisation . this is allen’s most scorching anatomy of marital bonds , a film so bitter , witheringly frank and unsentimental he entirely reinvented his style of shooting and editing for it .
as i said i haven’t read the novel ( yet ) but i wonder how grass handled the problem of a boy talking like an adult . that he behaves like one i disagree with ; he keeps playing with toys even when the bullets fly . but i agree there’s an uneven mix between adult and childish behaviour . i’ve always seen oskar as a boy who’s born fully formed : how else can he make a conscious decision not to grow at age three ?
fter a run of russet - hued collaborations with cinematographer darius khondji , allen is working here for the first time with the venerable vittorio storaro , and the change has done him the good . a couple of scenes with bobby and vonnie together are the most visually beautiful sequences in an allen film in goodness knows how long . and then there ' s
f allen’s many mooted returns to form , here’s the film that actually was one : a lacerating comedy of financial and romantic recessions , and his best work since his extraordinary mid - career hot streak came crunching to a halt in the early 1990s . cate blanchett won an oscar for her heart - tightening performance in the title role – a kind of blanche dubois of park avenue brought low by her husband’s economic chicanery . jasmine’s dogged denial of her desperate circumstances is the fire under the film’s feet , and watching her crumble is agonising , thrilling – and , most damning of all , great fun .
due to hijack and terrorism threats from the terrorist organization the baader - meinhof group , a permit request to film at the geneva airport ( aka the cointrin airport ) was denied , and as such , the intended shoot - out sequence was relocated to the same city ' s elegant hotel beau rivage .
this movie was the first film of a three picture contract that star charles bronson had with lord lew grade ' s itc films . borderline ( 1980 ) was the second whilst the evil that men do ( 1984 ) was the third and final .
even the film that was supposedly made of before the dawn has still not seen the light . that means that anyone who has got something original to say or show about her is guaranteed attention .
steve martin has one of the great hollywood fictional names in this 1983 carl reiner comedy : doctor michael hfuhruhurr . hfuhruhurr is a widowed brain surgeon who has invented a method of
cranial screw - top
brain surgery . kathleen turner plays hfuhruhurr ' s nasty and unfaithful second wife , dolores benedict . sissy spacek voices the disembodied brain that hfuhruhurr falls in love with . it ' s a brilliant madcap comedy .
another close up from the set of the line , the cross & the curve . harari ' s total access on the set of her film allowed him ' to capture some interesting candid moments ' .
when fans noticed the absence of women of color — especially philippus , a prominent black amazonian general who guides wonder woman in the comics , and nubia , diana’s black twin — from early promotional material for the film , director patty jenkins promised a diverse cast . how can we ensure that these roles are prominent and meaningful ? and how can diverse wonder women join in the fight for all that is good and just ? ”
e’s speaking to the film’s other main character , allen’s documentary filmmaker clifford stern , in the one scene they share , sitting apart from a wedding celebration at the film’s very end . not here the fortune - cookie insights that some of allen’s lesser pictures call philosophy . here he’s thinking deeply about moral choice , the question of whether guilt in your own eyes or the eyes of the world matters more . this bubblingly wise film , rich with beautifully dovetailing metaphors about blindness and conscience and the perils of self - knowledge , has only grown in stature since its release . it is allen on soaring form , gliding so elegantly through its maze of ideas it’s as if the spirit of fred astaire gave it lift - off .
london films achieved the weird distinction of getting no theatrical release in its place of origin , despite the returning presence of scarlett johansson , and hugh jackman in the lead . the reasons are simple : it’s flagrantly disposable , continues allen’s embarrassing love affair with a london that doesn’t exist , and cooks up no intrigue worth bothering with , for all the ins and outs of its thin man - esque plot . the one redeeming feature , surprisingly , is allen himself , in the supporting role of an amusingly befuddled stage magician called the great splendini .
steve martin joined up with singer and songwriter randy newman ( and saturday night live ' s lorne michaels ) to write this spoof western , directed by john landis . newman also contributed some songs . martin ( lucky day ) , chevy chase ( dusty bottoms ) and martin short ( ned nederlander ) star as the hollywood silent film actors who portray the amigos on screen and get dragged into a real - life battle with mexican bandits .
overall a great cast here that is mostly wasted but for fans of the stone faced bronson you’ll have to pick up a copy that was recently released on dvd as a double bill with the film russian roulette .
arms akimbo , wonder woman stands with one well - greaved leg in the ancient world and one in ours . the imminent release of the first full - length , live - action wonder woman film is an occasion for classical reception work that joins dynamic efforts already underway on the classics and comics and the classics and modern fantasy . the decades of interpretive enthusiasm wonder woman has inspired , however , make it difficult to put a new spin on things .
described by janet maslin , the new york times critic , as the
consummate poet of doom ,
herzog is one of cinema ' s most crusading directors . along with wim wenders and the late rainer werner fassbinder , he has led german film - making out of the post - war doldrums and into a period of rebirth . this has been mirrored by a personal quest for a
cinema of illiterates
, that has led him to explore subjects such as collective insanity ( in heart of glass ) and the rise of nazism ( in his new film invincible , which opens this week ) and taken him to the depths of the peruvian jungle , ( for films such as aguirre , the wrath of god and fitzcarraldo ) and the sahara desert ( for fata morgana ) .
facing deportation back to germany , he fled to mexico where he worked at the charreada , the mexican equivalent of rodeo . this period has since mutated into reports that he was a gun - runner .
it has a grain of truth ,
herzog admits .
i stole a special commuter pass which allowed me to get across the border without being checked . some wealthy rancher asked me to take across a pistol made of pure silver and bullets of silver . now it has transformed me into a gun - runner .
ere it is : not just allen ' s creative pinnacle , but perhaps the most perfectly assured braiding of comedy and drama in mainstream american film . it feels like the miraculous sweet spot between all of its filmmaker ' s many modes and tones – biting without being cruel , profound without seeming sanctimonious , warmly humane without collapsing into goo .
though he was never shy of publicity , marston seems particularly at ease in an interview printed in the magazine family circle in 1942 and entitled “ our women are our future . ” the interview was conducted by his lover , olive byrne ( using her nom de plume olive richard ) , and appeared as part of a series of articles she published to make good press for his comics . when she ribs him that “we ordinary mortals” do not have “any such fantastic weapons such as bracelets that repel bullets or her magic lasso that compels whomever it binds to obey her commands , ” marston sharply disagrees :
the success of nosferatu paved the way for what is arguably herzog ' s finest film , fitzcarraldo . shot once more in the peruvian jungle , the movie has also been the source of the director ' s most disfigured and destructive dàppelgangers : herzog the imperialist , who pays scant regard to the natives or their culture ; herzog the delusional romantic , who places the success of his film above all else ; herzog the dictatorial
pharaoh
, as pauline kael put it , who
risked other people ' s lives and put his co - workers through misery
.
the most enigmatic figure is jiang wen’s zhang muzhi , whose own identities are multiple . he is muzhi , former soldier in the xinhai revolutionary army and something of a complicated idealist . at the same time , he impersonates the fearsome bandit zhang mazi , pillaging towns in the area of sichuan where the film is set . ( all three main characters , in fact , have double identities : huang silang has an idiot double for protection , and councillor tang is in fact ma bangde , the would - be county governor in waiting . ) he’s also very clearly jiang wen playing someone much like jiang wen , the dominant force and omnipresent onscreen auteur of the film . jiang is immediately present , maintaining control with his macho dominance of shot and setting and tone , and exploiting all his gifts : physical charisma , theatrical verbal command , and a powerful moral charisma emanating from the jiang wen persona well known to ( and revered by ) chinese audiences .
allen has often shown an interest in stage magic and hypnotism ( see also : scoop , magic in the moonlight ) , but this enthusiasm reached its unfortunate nadir in this dodo of a light comedy , his most expensive film ( it cost $ 33m ) and by his own reckoning among the worst . his own performance as a wisecracking insurance investigator hypnotised into jewel theft was one problem , but helen hunt doesn ' t fare much better as the ruthless efficiency expert he wants off his back . all the film achieves is managing to look lavishly nostalgic for a more sexist era .
the chemistry between eddie murphy and steve martin works terrifically in this satire on hollywood film - making . martin stars as director robert k ' bobby ' bowfinger and murphy plays actor jefferson ' jiff ' ramsey . the film was directed by frank oz . asked whether he would like to be a director one day , martin replied :
even after all these years of doing films , the camera , the lenses . . . maybe i ' m a little bit lazy , i don ' t know . i like dealing with the script , i like dealing with the comedy .
jackie pruit is the girlfriend of gangster joe bomposa , and when her life is endangered by some of his henchmen , the fbi begins to protect her . the agency , hoping that she will be able to supply them information they can use to put bomposa in prison , assigns agent charlie congers to her case . congers soon learns that jackie does not have any useful information for the fbi , and he also quickly falls in love with her . but in spite of the fact that jackie cannot incriminate him , bombosa decides he wants her dead . his men slip through security and kill her , but no one anticpated the intensity of anger and determination for vengeance of congers .
instead , in 1963 , he accepted a fulbright grant to study literature and theatre at the university of pittsburg . on the atlantic crossing he met martje grohmann , on a fulbright to study literature in wisconsin :
one day werner came to our table and talked about one of his dreams that he had the night before ,
she remembers .
it was so visual , so visionary i would say that it impressed me very much . he came more often and i thought , my god , he has the quality of a biblical prophet or something .
after a courtship conducted mostly on deck playing shuffle - board , they fell in love and married in 1967 .
prime members enjoy fast & free shipping , unlimited streaming of movies and tv shows with prime video and many more exclusive benefits .
so bronson is off to the alps to bring back jill ireland to testify against her former love . it isn’t long before a team of assassins descends upon them . henry silva plays it slick and along with paul koslo are one step behind the real life married couple of charlie and jill . they begin to realize what we the viewers have known all along . that this small time cop is no amateur . the bodies are piling up as charlie takes out one killer after another demonstrating his prowess at designing make shift weapons put together from a tool box .
the following essay was produced as part of the 2017 nyff critics academy , a workshop for aspiring film critics that took place during the 55th edition of the new york film festival . the western is an iconic genre tied to the very genesis of cinema itself , but it doesn’t have the currency it held decades ago . that’s why it’s such a thrill to see chloe zhao ’s “ the rider ” and valeski grisebach’s “ western ” — two highlights from this year’s new york film festival — reshape the genre from the ground up . it’s only possible to appreciate that if you consider how far the genre has come . the western reigned hollywood for decades—particularly from the ‘30s to the ‘60s . the genre’s appeal was that its unequivocal good vs . evil narrative could translate to any cultural zeitgeist . it wasn’t until sergio leone ’s spaghetti westerns and
for the last 10 days of shooting , herzog claims , kinski was quite docile . however , the film was given a low merit classification by the german film board and struggled to get a release . undaunted , herzog proceeded to his next project , the enigma of kaspar hauser , the true story of a young man who appeared in nuremberg in 1828 , unable to speak or walk . for the lead , herzog chose bruno s , a disturbed individual who had been brutalised as a child by his prostitute mother , losing the power of speech as a result , and had spent 23 of his 40 - odd years in mental institution . when the film was released in 1974 it was hailed as a
stunning fable
, though herzog was again accused of exploitation , in particular for allowing bruno to return afterwards to his squalid life .
this post really clarified my ambivalence towards this film . i found the book powerful , but i certainly wouldn’t say that i liked it , rather that it effected me – it made me feel queasy and uncomfortable and frustrated . the movie , on the other hand , just didn’t effect me very much . there’s something thin about it and i think you’re totally right that there’s something rather staid and conservative about the style of the filmmaking . the movie lacks something , even though visually it’s so rich .
throughout the seventies charles bronson had been a busy action star appearing in an average of two to three films per year . after telefon , the white buffalo and raid on entebbe in ’77 he took a break with no releases in 1978 and only this film from director stuart rosenberg in ’79 . thus it was his final release of the decade that saw his greatest period of success .
michele kennerly is an assistant professor of communication arts and sciences at penn state university . she is the author of editorial bodies : perfection and rejection in ancient rhetoric and poetics and co - editor of ancient rhetorics & digital networks , both of which are forthcoming in 2018 .
harari notes , ' my collaboration with kate owes everything to my work with lindsay kemp ( on the left ) in the late 70s ' . kemp would be one of the leading actors of the film the line , the cross & the curve .
but jiang wen is not only a master populist in the manner of , say , feng xiaogang . his films reveal a chinese artist bearing the typical crushing burden of “responsibility for the nation , ” something this country’s artists have borne since at least the qin dynasty . jiang is an institution , a powerful national figure with a strong sense of his own cultural significance . his films together take on the project of reinterpreting and reconfiguring chinese history . with exactly what ideological commitment , though , is an open question . critical readings of bullets in chinese have distributed themselves more or less evenly along the political spectrum : an arch - maoist allegory ; a post - socialist or post - capitalist text ; a subversive anti - communist work . can it be all of these ? a brief look at the genre , plot , and characters of the film can show how it presents a corresponding allegory for almost every kind of ideologically engaged viewer .
seemingly unconvinced , richard takes the conversation into geopolitics , claiming that nazi “chains” seem inordinately stronger “than the bonds of personal charm . ” marston concedes a difference between persuasive charm and dominating force , but he points out that hitler initially gained power by “stirring oratory and personal magnetism” — the magic lasso method stretched from interpersonal relations to mass communication — as did mussolini , churchill , and fdr . many can be captivated by persuasion , but the trick is never to surrender independent judgment . wonder woman can be bound by the power of others , and she may want to be bound temporarily for some greater strategic purpose , but ultimately she has the power to break free from whatever contraption used to keep her down . her bracelets , also from aphrodite , are emblematic of her strange relationship with resistance and submission , since they repel bullets but also , when held together tightly , make her weak .
llen does pygmalion , complete with a borscht belt greek chorus , although the jumbled , snobbish and emotionally curdled results fall noticeably short of mythic . a well - to - do new yorker ( allen ) decides to trace the birth mother of his adorable adopted son , and is horrified – plus more than a little turned on – to discover she’s a hooker and porn starlet . mira sorvino gives an oscar - winning , eardrum - tightening turn in a thankless role : the film patronises sorvino’s character relentlessly , and when it works , it’s because the actress heroically refuses to roll over and take it .
herzog returned to the us and then to germany in 1965 . with a camera which he is reputed to have purloined from a munich film school , he managed to make another short film entitled the unprecedented defence of the fortress deutschkreutz , in which four youths defend a fortress against an invisible enemy . then , in 1966 , herzog finally managed to raise the budget to make his first feature signs of life , the story of a recuperating soldier who is put in charge of a munitions dump on a greek island , a plot loosely adapted from a novella by achim von arnim .


sideways is a 2004 american comedy-drama film directed by alexander payne and written by jim taylor and payne .

a film adaptation of rex pickett 's novel of the same name , sideways follows two men in their forties , miles raymond ( paul giamatti ) , a depressed teacher and unsuccessful writer and jack cole ( thomas haden church ) , a past-his-prime actor , who take a week-long road trip to santa barbara county wine country to celebrate jack 's upcoming wedding .

sandra oh and virginia madsen also star .

payne and taylor won multiple awards for their screenplay .

the principal actors and actresses received accolades for their performances .

sideways won the academy award for best adapted screenplay , and was nominated for four other awards including best picture .

the film premiered at the 2004 toronto international film festival on september 13 , 2004 and was released in the united states on october 22 , 2004 .

as the film 's cartoon poster suggests , the film is titled " sideways " because , to age properly , wine bottles must be laid on their side ; and similarly , anyone stuck in middle age must go " sideways in life " so as to change his ways and to grow as a person .

sideways

# wrc # rallyracc sd sideways jumping means sideways reception ! feat . @ fuckmatie37 @ madsostberg @ thierryneuville all pics @ timoanis urltoken
sideways screenplay by alexander payne & jim taylor . based on the novel by rex pickett
image in this mets’ season headed sideways , jacob degrom represents a glimmer of hope .
opens & tightens on twitter :
# wrc # rallyracc sd sideways jumping means sideways reception ! feat . @ fuckmatie37 @ madsostberg @ thierryneuville all pics @ timoanis… urltoken
the sideways effect
gained currency throughout the wine industry following the mainstream success of the movie
sideways ,
which lauded pinot noir at the expense of merlot wines .
after sideways people from all over the world recognized the central coast was producing phenomenal wines .
actors paul giamatti , left , and thomas haden church sip away in
sideways .
it was one line in the 2004 film sideways , but 10 years later it still reverberates .
burgundian style the movie sideways inspired a new audience to enjoy craft wines in the burgundian style .
reel words : the unmade “star wars” sequel , the japanese “sideways” remake , advice . . .
sideways won the academy award for best adapted screenplay , and was nominated for four other awards .
if you want to answer the questions ,
who starred in the movie sideways ?
and
what is the full cast list of sideways ?
then this page has got you covered .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing sideways near you .
this cast list of who was in sideways includes both lead and minor roles . ( 16 items )
sideways , the 2004 hit comedy based in the vineyards of california , is undergoing a japanese remake .
from left , katsuhisa namase , fumiyo kohinata , kyoka suzuki and rinko kikuchi in the new sideways .
running from commitments and failures , two college buddies romp through california , sampling the local wine—and women—in sideways .
captsandra oh and thomas haden church co - star in
sideways .
was the film disastrous for merlot ?
usa today sports the new york mets began the season 11 - 1 , but since then things have gone sideways .
sideways cast list , listed alphabetically with photos when available . this list of sideways actors includes any sideways actresses and all other actors from the film . you can view additional information about each sideways actor on this list , such as when and where they were born . to find out more about a particular actor or actress , click on their name and you ' ll be taken to page with even more details about their acting career . the cast members of sideways have been in many other movies , so use this list as a starting point to find actors or actresses that you may not be familiar with .
sideways earned more than $ 100 million at the box office , five oscar nominations and a win for best adapted screenplay .
ten years after the premiere of
sideways ,
the region where the film was set continues to feel its impact .
sideways has been ranked 494th on empire ' s 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time . [ 6 ]
sideways author rex pickett says director alexander payne fears making a sequel to the hit 2004 film will be ' selling out ' .
, george schofield refers to the
debacle following the release of the ' sideways ' motion picture
when discussing the effects of the movie on merlot sales . upon further examination , however , the
sideways effect
was supported by scant anecdotal evidence .
interestingly , it appears that
sideways
also resulted in an increase in non - promoted price of the non -
sideways
red wine control group , while producing a small but statistically significant increase in promoted price of the control group . combined with the data on case volume , the effect on price indicates that
sideways
had a positive impact on overall wine consumption .
you don ' t see the sideways dagger to the heart to merlot or that reversal of fortune ,
says cuellar .
an extension of growing sideways will be mounted in buenos aires at haché gallery in march 2017 , co - curated by chaich .
miscellaneous despite four categories covering a lot of ground , there are a few more things that have gone sideways for indycar this year .
the rise of pinot noir but the real star of sideways is pinot noir , which a nielsen analysis showed hitting record levels , up 16 % in the months after sideways and sales have continued to increase at a rate of nearly 9 % in the years since .
1 bond , kathryn stockton . growing sideways , or queer children in the twentieth century . durham : duke university press , 2009 .
michael fulmer , who had a bad taste in his mouth from a sixth inning gone sideways on friday night in seattle , pitched solidly .
fox japan and the fuji tv network have announced the details of their joint japanese remake of the hit 2004 alexander payne drama “sideways . ”
sideways stays resolutely life - size . and that , in this age of hype and hyperventilation , may be the most radical thing about it .
what made you want to look up sideways ? please tell us where you read or heard it ( including the quote , if possible ) .
hitching post partners frank ostini and gray hartley pose in the spot where thousands of tourists have snapped pictures since
sideways
was released in 2004 .
payne is seen as key to a film of vertical , which continues a wine theme and follows the same characters as sideways several years down the line .
sound familiar ? perhaps that’s because it’s the premise for “sideways , ” the 2005 oscar nominee for best picture ( and winner for best adapted screenplay ) .
' sideways ' at 10 : still not drinking any merlot ? alexander payne ' s ' sideways ' put the squeeze on merlot when it opened in 2004 . one infamous merlot - battering line is still remembered . while pinot noir continues to shine as it did in the film . check out this story on urltoken urltoken
“sideways hit a nerve at a time when americans were ready to take their wine drinking to another level . ” said tom pirko , managing director of bevmark .
sideways
is an all - time favorite movie of mine for various reasons , one being the spot - on music . as i was watching my new
people called it the ' sideways effect on merlot , '
says steven s . cuellar , chair of the department of economics at sonoma state university .
here in wine country when you speak to people who produce merlot , there is a lot of conventional wisdom and folklore about declining merlot sales after sideways .
for now , pickett is throwing himself into a stage adaptation of sideways , produced by ruskin group theatre co and showing to full houses in santa monica , california .
engaging , well - paced , and ultimately satisfying , sideways is an enjoyable , well - acted comedy that features tender moments , strong writing , and subtle humor .
“people called it the ‘sideways effect on merlot , ' ” said steven s . cuellar to usa today , chair of the department of economics at sonoma state university .
sideways is a 2004 comedy - drama film written by jim taylor and alexander payne and directed by payne . a film adaptation from rex pickett ' s novel of the same name , sideways follows two men in their forties , portrayed by paul giamatti and thomas haden church , who take a week - long road trip to santa barbara county wine country .
much like “sideways , ” that film is an agile mix of comedy , romance and astute cultural observation — in this case about women in the workplace — and it had six oscar nominations . ( “sideways” had five . ) but “working girl , ” which follows a staten island secretary’s big - business climb in manhattan , is more of a fairy tale .
the japanese version of “sideways” ( which for the moment is still being called “sideways” ) is one of the most intriguing of these cross - cultural experiments . as in the original , the action takes place in california and the road trip involves plenty of wine talk , a leather - harness - clad chase , a jealous - rage beating and a wine - spittoon guzzle .
in a scene from the movie
sideways ,
actors paul giamatti , left , is wine snob miles and thomas haden - church is merlot lover jack , in california wine country .
about halfway through the wine - loving buddy movie
sideways ,
the film ' s main character shows shocking disdain for merlot , america ' s most popular varietal of red wine .
“sideways” is a fully sanctioned remake , done with the blessing of the original filmmakers — sort of . “i don’t know a damn thing about it , but i hope it’s better than the original , ” joked alexander payne , the co - writer and director of “sideways . ” “no , i’m really delighted . i got a check for it , and the check cleared . ”
sideways itself lay unpublished until payne bought the rights and transformed it into an oscar - winning film in 2004 . fox searchlight took a punt on the script after steven spielberg’s dreamworks rejected it .
in wine terms , sideways is credited with creating a worldwide demand for pinot noir that endures to this day , and damaging merlot sales . miles is an evangelist for pinot but loathes merlot .
sideways is neither effete nor snooty . it ' s a knowing , often - tender comedy about the plight of middle - aged men who aren ' t exactly living fast - track lives .
pinot noir became the rising star in wine ,
says gladys horiuchi of the san francisco - based wine institute ,
and sideways had at least something to do with that .
similarly , if the demand for pinot noir rose as a result of
sideways ,
we should observe an increase in price . figure 3 shows data on the real price of merlot , pinot noir and the non -
sideways
red wine control group of cabernet sauvignon and syrah . all prices are indexed to one , so that we can observe the relative changes in the growth rate of each . figure 3 shows that indeed promoted and non - promoted price of merlot falls , while the promoted and non - promoted price of pinot noir rises following
sideways .
atlanta had a chance to end the series at home and the hawks nearly did it , but a last - second shot by cliff levingston went sideways and the two teams came back to boston .
dr . cuellar and his colleagues performed statistical studies ; results show that
sideways
did in fact bolster sales of pinot noir , but it did not dampen merlot sales to the same extent .
my question , and i don ' t know the answer , is how long this
sideways
effect is going to last ,
said penn , the editor of wine business monthly .
after the movie , “pinot noir became the rising star in wine , ” says gladys horiuchi of the san francisco - based wine institute , “and sideways had at least something to do with that . ”
stream sideways ( original motion picture score ) by rolfe kent and 40 million songs on all your devices with amazon music unlimited . exclusively for prime members . new subscribers only . terms and conditions apply .
sideways
arrived on the scene at the best possible time to make a real impact , given the momentum the wine industry had already achieved . but the movie resonated more than even the director imagined .
fox searchlight owns the rights to sideways characters miles and jack and also has first - look rights on payne’s projects . ‘if payne doesn’t endorse it , it’s a non - starter for fox , ’ pickett said .
figure 2 also shows that the ratio of merlot to the non -
sideways
control appears to be relatively stable prior to the movie , then decreases slightly after . conversely , the growth in the ratio of pinot noir to the control group increases significantly after the movie ' s release . once again , tests indicate that all changes resulting from the movie
sideways ,
shown in figure 2 , are statistically significant .
on the flip side , in the wake of the success of
sideways ,
sales of pinot noir jumped 15 percent in the three months ended jan . 15 , according to acnielsen . retailers and wineries , pushing pinot with all kinds of
sideways
tie - ins , say the movie has prompted the biggest buzz in the wine industry since a 1991
60 minutes
program touted the health benefits of red wine .
alexander payne ' s ' sideways ' put the squeeze on merlot when it opened in 2004 . one infamous merlot - battering line is still remembered . while pinot noir continues to shine as it did in the film .
2 bond , kathryn stockton . “growing sideways , or versions of the queer child . ” curiouser : on the queerness of children , ed . steven bruhm and nathasha hurley . minneapolis : university of minnesota press , 2004 .
from a distance , the cover photo of four people sharing a bottle of red wine at a picnic suggests a dvd of alexander payne’s sideways . that impression is seemingly confirmed by a glance at the title , saidoweizu , which—because of how japanese accommodates words borrowed from other languages—literally translates as “something called sideways . ” only once you hold the box in front of your face does it become clear that everyone on the cover has been translated as well .
some makers are feeling pretty confident . duckhorn wine co . has gotten more positive press since
sideways
came out because so many wine critics have written stories
about merlots that are good ,
said spokeswoman belinda weber .
as a result , sideways is an album you can listen to without knowledge of the film it accompanies . the close symbiosis between sight and sound that we are used to is not as close in this pairing . does that mean sideways is not a successful score ? well , it depends on how you look at things . if you believe the only successful film music exists solely to support the film it accompanies , then you might find sideways a disappointment . i personally enjoy a little surprise every once and a while , and sideways provides that on many levels . it is well crafted , moves briskly along , always keeping your interest , and is simply an enjoyable listening experience . for those reasons alone i ' m recommending this score and think kent deserves the accolades that have been coming his way due to his work here . i think we ' ll be hearing a lot more out of him in the future .
these example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word ' sideways . ' views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of merriam - webster or its editors . send us feedback .
sideways
also did something else , which was unplanned . the independent movie became a cultural phenomenon , seeping into everyday conversations and generating lots of press coverage . it became known even to those who hadn ' t seen it .
‘i think he sees himself as a guy leaving a cinematic legacy . he thinks the sequel is selling out , ’ said pickett , who has written a sequel to sideways , vertical , which he’s keen to see on the big screen .
the international clamour for sideways : the play is building , pickett says , reigniting interest in the film , which tells the story of a last wine road trip of the ill - fated miles and soon - to - be - married jack .
the 5 - foot - tall , chain - link fence for the park was more than half built when the whole project went sideways , and construction was stopped mid - build due to concerns from residents , including water contamination from animal waste .
on his 48th birthday , phil mickelson might have outsmarted himself , daniel berger and tony finau came from 11 shots behind to share the third - round lead , and the u . s . open at shinnecock hills turned slightly sideways and sinister .
“i cared desperately about ‘sideways’ while making it , but now it’s behind me , ” he explained . “so it has its own life , and if part of its life is having a twin in a parallel universe , then so be it . ”
while the results so far appear to coincide with conventional wisdom regarding the effect of
sideways
on wine consumption , it is possible that much of the growth in annual wine sales is confounded by the increased coverage of the nielsen data since 1999 .
ten years later , it ' s win - win - win because of sideways , just ask the restaurant owners and hoteliers ,
says kunin .
there is no bad press about this movie . well , except that one line .
sideways is one of the few movies that people actually act in and there is a plot that doesn ' t rely on any special effects . part of what makes this movie special is the soundtrack by rolfe kent which puts each scene in perspective .
original soundtrack of the motion picture ' sideways ' directed by alexander payne . paul giamatti , thomas hayden church , virginia madsen and sandra oh play the main roles of the film . ' sideways ' won the oscar in
best writing , adapted screenplay
category , and was nominated in four further category : best achievement in directing best motion picture of the year best performance by an actor in a supporting role best performance by an actress in a supporting role comes in a tri - fold digipak .
but the big winner was pinot noir , which an a . c . nielsen analysis showed hitting record levels , up 16 % in the months after sideways . cuellar says pinot noir sales have continued to increase at a rate of nearly 9 % since .
froymovich takes some issue with blaming merlot ' s woes all on sideways . he says by the time the movie came out , merlot prices were already falling — a result of growers planting too many merlot grapes after the wine became the go - to choice for many drinkers in the ' 90s . some of those grapes ended up in bad , cheap bottles , hurting merlot ' s reputation .
sideways came out well after this trend had taken effect and just dunked prices a bit further ,
he says .
paul giamatti at the four season ' s hotel in los angeles , during the press tour for the wine movie
sideways .
despite its one memorably cutting line about merlot , the movie was good for the wine industry , say some california wine producers .
but you can , it seems , remake “sideways” without bashing merlot . the memorable rant by paul giamatti’s miles ( “if anyone orders merlot , i’m leaving , ” he bellowed , before using some saltier language to express his hatred of the wine ) is nowhere to be found .
sideways
is about wine aged to perfection sipped by men who ' ve aged to mediocrity - softer , hornier versions of walter and the dude . but miles ' s brutal honesty is its soul . he ' s annoyingly , depressingly out there , but never fraudulent .
sideways art co . will present their first event , where guests can get chatty about art over beers from 4th tap brewing . the first event will feature artists robert page , sarah pollock , and whitney turetzky . the show will be on display from january 18 - february 27 .
i ' d never have guessed that the japanese would remake a movie like sideways , with its focus on a specialized west coast winemaking region , but i can see how the comedy has universal appeal . do you like the concept , or should fox have simply dubbed the original ?
' the sideways effect ' : how a wine - obsessed film reshaped the industry : the salt the 2004 movie about an obsessive wine snob helped boost california ' s pinot noir production by 170 percent . and merlot ? the wine so famously maligned in the film has finally bounced back .
indeed , last november froymovich did his own analysis of the sideways effect , based on usda reports rather than retail sales , and found that any damage done by miles ' aversion to merlot in the film appeared to have finally run its course , resulting in increased plantings and grape prices .
the studio has been fielding offers from producers in other countries to remake films like “trading places” and “what women want , ” but mr . cripps said he is waiting to see how fox’s project goes first . “there’s a lot to learn from ‘sideways’ for us as well , ” he said .
in the wake of
sideways ,
the impact on the wine industry is clear . nielsen ' s numbers show that while pinot was surging , 2 percent fewer households bought merlot in the 12 weeks after the film ' s release last fall , though volume sales did tick up slightly .
as to any harmful effect the movie has had on merlot , moviemaker payne feels little responsibility . the anti - merlot quip in
sideways
evokes such laughter in theaters , he said , that he thinks the film simply
gave voice to a feeling that had been rumbling around .
sideways dictionary , which launches today , runs as a standalone site where you can pore over analogies submitted by the public . you can vote for the analogies you find most useful , and the washington post will integrate sideways dictionary into all of its stories . any security keywords appearing in an article will be linked to the dictionary . hover over the word and the most popualar analogy appears in a box onscreen . “it’s about communicating safety as simply as possible to people , ” says alfred malmros , who runs marketing for jigsaw . in practice , it ' s more complicated than that .
in terms of national numbers , however , cuellar studied national grocery store sales to see that merlot was already declining before sideways and continued to fall at 1 . 4 % a year after 2005 . still , it remains one of the most popular wine varieties , despite a loss in market share .
what a strange and delightfully surprising score rolfe kent ' s sideways is . i ' ll admit that i ' ve become a little jaded when it comes to film music . i suppose that i have listened to a bit too many scores , but give me the scenario and i can pretty well tell you what style of music will accompany it . so when i read that sideways concerns the exploits of two middle - aged men , one of whom is about to be married , on a wine - tasting trip in california , i immediately thought
nostalgic pop music with a light score .
sideways is a rare comedy — admired by critics and a box office hit ( $ 72 million domestically ) . it launched its stars ' careers ( giamatti , church , virginia madsen and sandra oh ) . japanese filmmakers made their own tribute version . it even garnered payne an adapted - screenplay oscar .
at sunday ' s 10 - year anniversary screening in the film ' s location , santa barbara , payne still handled questions aboutthat merlot joke . but seth kunin , owner / winemaker of santa barbara ' s kunin wines , says the audience knew sideways put santa barbara on the wine - destination map .
in the film sideways , which earned an academy award in 2005 for best adapted screenplay and boosted the careers of thomas haden church , virginia madsen and sandra oh , those descriptive words aptly captured the character of angst - ridden , wine - obsessed protagonist miles raymond , played with self - flagellating glee by paul giamatti .
while our results show that
sideways
did increase wine consumption , the rising tide of consumption did not lift all varietals evenly . our results clearly show that merlot suffered a small decrease in both price and sales volume , while pinot noir benefited from the movie as indicated by significant increases in price and sales volume .
urltoken is selling sets of wine from the region toured in the movie along with the
sideways
dvd . twentieth century fox teamed up with several wineries and last week launched urltoken to sell wines from the central california coast . robert mondavi is rolling out in - store promotions , also in conjunction with the studio .
the same words also tell the story of an equally important , but liquid , character in the film : pinot noir . a dozen years later , pinot noir has become a mainstay of the california wine industry , and winemakers credit the film with bringing deserved attention to the varietal , calling it
the sideways effect .
of course , many of us are less versed in the language and flavors of pinot noir , perhaps leaning more toward miles ' buddy jack in sideways , who pretty much thinks anything in a wineglass tastes good . jack is the merlot — big , agreeable , full - bodied — to miles ' more challenging pinot noir .
the next variable we examine is price . conventional economic theory tells us that as long as supply is not perfectly elastic , any change in demand should result in a price change . if the demand for merlot fell due to the negative publicity surrounding
sideways ,
then we should observe a decrease in the price of merlot .
finally we examine whether
sideways
had different effects on different price segments of wine consumers . for example , if high - end wine consumers are more representative of core consumers than low - end wine consumers , and core wine consumers are less susceptible to movies and promotions than casual wine consumers , then we would expect
sideways
to have a larger effect on lower - priced wines than on higher - priced wines . to see if the effects of the movie differ by price , we re - examine the data segmenting the wines into three categories : less than $ 10 , $ 10 - $ 19 . 99 , and $ 20 - $ 40 .
the exhibition takes its title , and somewhat its conceptual and formal inspiration , from queer scholar kathryn stockton bond’s notion that rather than the normative view of “growing up” , the non - straight child “grows sideways” 1 through life - long , lateral interactions between childhood motivations and adult identifications , formed by sly intentions , blurred chronologies , and animalistic attachments .
, the release strategy evolved organically . “it wasn’t like we sat down a year before the movie came out and said ‘we’re going to put out a trailer eight weeks before the release date . ’ it just sort of became that . ” and while trachtenberg was naturally involved in the master plan , he was still knocked sideways by its execution :
sideways
was released oct . 22 , 2004 , nominated for five academy awards on jan . 25 , 2005 - - it won one , for best - adapted screenplay - - and closed may 19 , 2005 . in the 30 weeks the movie was in theaters , gross domestic ticket sales topped $ 70 million , with worldwide sales reaching more than $ 100 million , making it the 40th highest - grossing movie of the year . the no . 1 - grossing movie of the year ,
shrek 2 ,
grossed more than $ 440 million and nearly $ 1 billion worldwide that same year .
sideways
was released on dvd in the united states and canada in april 2005 .
sideways dictionary does exactly that . the browser extension , developed by google ' s online safety division jigsaw and the washington post , aims to help laypeople understand online threats and the precautions they can take against them . it starts with basic fluency ; you can ' t protect yourself against a phishing attack if you don ' t know what it is .
there is a memorable scene in the movie
sideways ,
in which the lead character , a pinot noir fan , adamantly refuses to drink merlot . as wine consumers have gone on to mimic actor paul giamatti ' s anti - merlot quip , the effect of the movie has become folklore within the wine industry . for example , in the april 2008 issue of
first consider annual case volume of merlot , pinot noir and the control group of non - sideways red wines consisting of cabernet sauvignon and syrah . the largest red varietal seller by volume in the u . s . is merlot , followed by cabernet sauvignon , syrah and pinot noir , with merlot and cabernet sauvignon selling almost twice as much as syrah and pinot noir .
as anyone who has enjoyed
sideways
knows , the music perfectly captures the film ' s various moods , and listening to this cd is the next best thing to seeing the movie . indeed , hearing the exuberance of
wine safari
and the melancholy of
abandoning the wedding
prompts the corresponding scenes of
sideways
to run vividly through my mind . even so , i had two minor issues with this disc . one is its brevity - there ' s only a little more than a half - hour ' s worth of music here . i also would have preferred the tracks to be in sequence with the film . but these are minor personal quibbles that shouldn ' t deter you from buying this album .
if you were stoked to hear about the release of the ramen girl , wait until you hear about the next big foodie flick . oh , wait — you may have already seen it . twentieth century fox is creating a japanese version of sideways , the oscar - nominated comedy about four friends road - tripping through california wine country that became a runaway hit in 2005 .
paramount is taking “baby steps” in the foreign remake game with the development of a japanese version of “ghost , ” according to andrew cripps , its president for international theatrical distribution and marketing . “ ‘ghost’ has a lot of elements that appeal to a japanese audience : the emotionality , the sentimentality , ” he said . “like ‘sideways , ’ ‘ghost’ is a dialogue - driven drama . ”
that ' s exactly what the st . francis winery & vineyards in sonoma valley is doing , cooperating with a popular sonoma restaurant that has created a
' sideways ' martini ,
said nan fontaine , a spokeswoman for the winery . the cocktail is a mix of vodka , lime juice , lemon juice , pomegranate juice - - and a generous splash of st . francis merlot .
when the producers of the new “sideways” set out to shoot at california wineries , the response was less than enthusiastic . though the original sparked a surge in pinot noir sales and wine tourism , it also led to a drop in merlot sales . as terry joanis , marketing manager of the frog’s leap winery , explained : “not everybody grows pinot noir . a lot of people grow merlot . ”
the effects on non - promoted price provide the most convincing argument for a
sideways
effect . while the fall in the price for merlot continues a trend that started in 2003 , the increase in the price of pinot noir that starts in 2005 following the movie appears to reverse the downward trend that began in 2003 . additionally , our analysis indicates that these changes are all statistically significant .
the sideways effect is also generally credited with depressing the market for merlot wine , based on a memorable line from the movie when miles colorfully proclaims his disdain for the wine — the back story is that his ex - wife liked merlot — declaring ,
no , if anyone orders merlot , i ' m leaving . i am not drinking any f * * * * * * merlot !
in other words , it did for wine what every marketing professional wants to do for a product . the fact is , though , when something grabs the imagination of the public at large - - so much so that buying habits are affected - - it is almost always an accident . how much
sideways
will continue to help pinot and hurt merlot can ' t be predicted or controlled .
fox japan and the fuji tv network have announced the details of their joint japanese remake of the hit 2004 alexander payne drama “sideways . ” remake will be produced by fox intl . prods . , the studio’s new division overseen by sanford panitch . the pic , which is already shooting on location in california’s napa valley , stars rinko kikuchi ( “babel” ) , kyoka suzuki , fumiyo kohinata [ … ]
the idea behind saidoweizu isn’t “what if sideways took place in japan ? ” it’s “what if everyone in sideways were japanese ? ” while it would be appropriate to call the film a remake , it might be more accurate to call it a repopulation . whereas the original film is about a self - pitying writer who takes his best friend on a bachelor - party weekend in california’s wine country , this version is about a self - pitying writer who takes his best friend for a bachelor - party weekend in california’s wine country while being japanese . the difference is not inconsequential , and the fact that the film never forgets that is its only real source of artistic value . saidoweizu may not have been intended for western audiences , but it doesn’t mean that this curious remake doesn’t have anything to offer us .
to examine the effect of the movie on merlot and pinot noir consumption , we use annual scan data from u . s . retail chains . annual data was used because it allowed us to examine a period sufficiently previous to the release of the movie in 2004 . in addition to merlot and pinot noir , we also examine the
non - sideways
red wines cabernet sauvignon and syrah as controls .
the director was flying back from edinburgh , where he had been at a film festival promoting election , when he finally had a chance to read rex pickett’s book sideways . as soon as he landed , payne ran to a pay phone ( this was 1999 ) to call his agent about purchasing the rights . he later told pickett he liked his novel because his characters were “so f * cking pathetic . ”
figure 2 provides an even starker view of the diverging trends of merlot and pinot noir . consider first the ratio of merlot to pinot noir . if the movie
sideways
induced a decrease in merlot consumption while simultaneously increasing pinot noir consumption , then we would expect the ratio of the two to decrease . this is in fact what we observe in figure 2 for both promoted and non - promoted volume .
miles and jack traveled to oregon with miles’ mother in rex pickett’s 2011 sequel , vertical . pickett made sandra oh’s character into a lap dancer as a “little wave” to payne , and wrote stephanie ( terra in the books ) out of vertical entirely so payne wouldn’t have to work with his ex - wife again . pickett also wrote an ebook in 2015 titled sideways 3 chile , which found miles traveling to south america .
“spinoffs are tough for a bunch of reasons , but if the right idea came , i’d certainly love to work with [ actor hoon lee ] again . i’m leery of the fact that — sometimes really amazing supporting characters , when you make them the center of the show , sometimes it goes a little sideways . but if we had the right idea for a job spinoff , certainly we would play with that . ”
that’s why jigsaw and the washington post are turning sideways dictionary over to its users . moderators will excise inaccuracies but let readers decide which analogies are the best help . such an approach keeps any one entity from dictating definitions , while letting different perspectives or cultures factor in . that could increase understanding . and that ' s essential , because people can ' t protect themselves online if they don ' t understand the problems—or the solutions .
pinot noir production in california has increased roughly 170 percent since sideways was released ,
says wine industry analyst gabriel froymovich of vineyard financial associates , noting that total wine grape production has increased 7 to 8 percent during the same time .
i think people who were into wine saw the passion for pinot noir in the movie , decided to explore that variety a bit , and realized how lovely a wine that grape makes .
carlton cuse : we thought just doing one [ of those options ] would inherently not be satisfying . since the very beginning of the show , characters started crossing through each other’s stories . part of our desire [ in season 6 ] is to show that there’s still this kind of weave , that these characters still would have impacted each other’s lives even without the event of crashing on the island . obviously , the big question of the season is going to be : how do these [ two timelines ] reconcile ? however , for the fans who have not watched the show closely , that’s an intact narrative . you can just watch the flash sideways — they stand alone all by themselves . for the fans who are more deeply embedded in the show , you can watch those flash sideways , compare them to what transpired in the flashbacks and go , “oh , that’s an interesting difference . ”
growing sideways presents over five dozen drawings on collage that will frame the space and culminate in a site - specific floor - to - ceiling installation , growing across two and three dimensional surfaces and creating a disjointed narrative exploring gender formation and erotic curiosity through schliebener’s combination of cuttings from found children’s books with abstract drawings and felt pieces that recall organic sensual shapes in nature and the body . two series–”peek - a - boo” and “sassy and butchy”–comprise this show .
gluck’s version doesn’t acknowledge rex pickett’s novel or deviate far from the american film—payne even retains his “screenplay by” credit—but it still fails to retain much of the wry wistfulness or aching regret that makes sideways so special . nevertheless , saidoweizu’s most glaring weaknesses ( a script lazily spackled with voiceover , the visual dexterity of a bad sitcom ) are somewhat compensated for by how it gently reminds western viewers that being the world’s default audience doesn’t make them the only audience worth serving .
a wine tasting road trip to salute jack ' s final days as a bachelor careens woefully sideways as he and miles hit the gas en route to mid - life crises . the comically mismatched pair , who share little more than their history and a heady blend of failed potential and fading youth , soon find themselves drowning in wine and women . emerging from a haze of pinot noir , wistful yearnings and trepidation about the future , the two inevitably collide with reality .
this is where sideways dictionary can run into trouble , because metaphors can have an outsized impact on public opinion . in a paper from 2011 , stanford psychologists compared the tropes of crime as an epidemic and individual crimes as attacks . they found that when crime was likened to an epidemic , people favored responding to it with educational and preventative programs . using the more violent
attack
metaphor made people think bolstering police and getting tough on crime was the best response .
virtually all the results are consistent with the theory that
sideways
had a negative impact on the consumption of merlot , while increasing the consumption of pinot noir . however , far from having a
devastating
effect on merlot , the positive impact on pinot noir appears greater than the negative impact on merlot . in fact , while the main impact of the movie on merlot was to slow the growth of case volume , the case volume of pinot noir increased significantly .
these days everyone seems to be speculating on how the wildly successful , best - picture - nominated road movie
sideways ,
with its strong focus on wine , will affect our wine - drinking habits . stories are buzzing , especially in southern california - - the setting for the film - - about how sales of pinot noir , which was highly touted in the film , are skyrocketing while sales of merlot , which was singled out for particular ridicule , are plummeting .
cuse : we did have some concern that it might be confusing kind of going into the season . to clear that up a little bit : the archetypes of the characters are the same and that’s the most significant thing . kate is still a fugitive . if you were to look at the comic - con video , for instance , that now comes into play . there was a different scenario in that story . she basically blew up an apprentice plumber as opposed to killing her biological father / stepfather . those kind of differences exist , but who the characters fundamentally are is the same . if it becomes too confusing for you , you can just follow the flash sideways for what they are . it’s not as though there’s narrative that hangs on the fact that you need to know that this event was different in that world , in the flashback world versus the sideways world . that’s not critical for being able to process the narrative this season .
as much as “sideways” belongs to mr . payne and his co - writer , jim taylor , the japanese version is , like an american indie , close to the heart of mr . gluck , who is of japanese and american descent and spent much of his childhood attending american schools in japan . mr . gluck’s bilingual film experience dates to 1989 , when he assisted on “black rain , ” the ridley scott film about an american police officer ( michael douglas ) in japan .
the alexander payne - directed sideways followed two men in their forties taking a week - long trip to santa barbara , california . ostensibly planned as an intimate bachelor party , soon - to - be - married jack ( thomas haden church ) and unsatisfied writer miles ( paul giamatti ) end up getting romantically entangled with two women , which they complicate in both comedic and horrific self - destructive fashions . here are some facts about the 2004 movie that are best paired with a wine that’s still evolving .
m . c . gainey played the husband of cammi , a waitress jack seduces . . . but whose husband comes home early and chases a naked jack out of the house . later , it ' s gainey who is doing the naked chasing . he once said , “men recognize me from it , but i have yet to have a woman say , ' weren ' t you in sideways ? ’” despite the “wonderful” experience , gainey claimed it would be the final nude scene of his film career .
visual inspection of figure 1 shows the case volume of pinot noir growing , while the growth of merlot appears to flatten out and even decline following the movie ' s release in 2004 . for the control group of non - sideways red wines , growth appears to continue an upward trend started in 2004 . statistical tests confirm what is apparent from figure 1 : pinot noir observed a relatively large increase in case volume , while merlot and the control group experienced small but statistically significant declines in their growth rates .
at any rate , the
sideways
soundtrack is a must - have if you can ' t get enough of the adventures of miles , jack , maya , and stephanie , and it stands on its own merits for lounge or chill music as well . by the way , there ' s no movie dialogue on the tracks , so don ' t be concerned about
i ' m not drinking any # @ % ! $ merlot !
getting you in trouble at work ( heh ) !
the bureau of general services—queer division presents growing sideways , an exhibition of new work by buenos aires - based , chilean artist catalina schliebener , organized by independent curator john chaich , on view december 2 , 2016 through january 22 , 2017 with an opening reception on friday , december 2 from 7 - 9 pm at the bureau of general services—queer division , 208 w 13th street , room 210 , new york , ny , on the 2nd floor of the lesbian , gay , bisexual & transgender community center .
rolfe kent , who has made his name scoring comedies like legally blonde and mean girls , here writes an intelligent score that has little to do with the movie beyond ambiance . most composers try to match screen action very closely , heightening the drama through little touches . kent , working closely with payne , chose instead to match the atmosphere of a 1960s italian film since sideways takes place in the sun - dappled vineyards of california . the score was even recorded on an old valve based mixing board to give it a retro sound .
yep , that ' s the big twist : split is set in the same cinematic universe as shyamalan ' s 2000 super - hero tale unbreakable . in a move that ' s perhaps even more ambitious than the title - switch j . j . abrams played with last year ' s 10 cloverfield lane , the notoriously secret - prone director has slipped a sideways - sequel to one of his most beloved movies into theaters without anyone noticing . it ' s not just a twist ending ; it ' s a twist beginning too .
additionally , because of the similarity in the growth rates of merlot and the control group , we test for differences in the growth rate of merlot and the control group . our results indicate that the growth rate of merlot was indeed less than that of the control group , while the growth rate of pinot noir was greater than that of the control group . at this point , case volume of merlot and pinot noir appear to follow the expected effect if the movie
sideways
did decrease demand for merlot and increase demand for pinot noir .
then
sideways
came along and tackled a more psychological barrier to wine consumption : the notion that you can ' t drink wine unless you know wine . to be sure , the movie celebrated wine ' s complexity and romance , but it also showed its appeal for the rest of us . of the two buddies traveling through santa barbara ' s wine country , only one puckered and sniffed the vanilla notes in his glass . the other , a washed - up actor , had little more to say than ,
i like it .
miles and jack , in their own ways , are in awe of women—of their power to scramble a man’s good sense . miles’s ex - wife , when we finally meet her , is no gorgon ; she’s decent and intelligent and still cares about him , only not enough . with miles , declarations of faith are supposed to be forever . he can’t abide the waywardness of affection , any more than he can abide someone who doesn’t love pinot . in sideways , wine is much more than wine . it’s a metaphor for the spirits that bring us to a reckoning with ourselves .
miles is the hero of alexander payne ' s
sideways ,
which is as lovable a movie as
fargo ,
although in a completely different way . he ' s an english teacher in middle school whose marriage has failed , whose novel seems in the process of failing , whose mother apparently understands that when he visits her , it is because he loves her , and also because he needs to steal some of her money . miles is not perfect , but the way paul giamatti plays him , we forgive him his trespasses , because he trespasses most of all against himself .
in seattle , david coyle , head sommelier for the metropolitan grill , says that , on average , he gets two or three customers mentioning the movie each night .
they make comments about the movie ; they want to know if i ' ve seen it ,
he says .
before ordering a merlot , they ' ll say , ' i know i ' m not supposed to . . . '
but all the
sideways
chatter hasn ' t affected sales at the metropolitan , where coyle reports pinot sales have barely budged and merlot sales are as strong as ever .