Prizzi's Honor

Prizzi's Honor - a Romantic Crime Comedy

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Robert Loggia

Prizzi's Honor is a 1985 American black comedy film that tells the story of a mob hit man and hit woman who fall in love, even though they have been hired to kill each other. It stars Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Robert Loggia and Anjelica Huston.

The movie was adapted by Richard Condon and Janet Roach from Condon's novel. It was directed by John Huston. Its score, composed by Alex North, adapts the music of Giacomo Puccini and Gioachino Rossini .

Pauline Kael wrote of it: "This John Huston picture has a ripe and daring comic tone. It revels voluptuously in the murderous finagling of the members of a Brooklyn Mafia family, and rejoices in their scams. It's like The Godfather acted out by The Munsters. Jack Nicholson's average-guyness as Charley, the clan's enforcer, is the film's touchstone: this is a baroque comedy about people who behave in ordinary ways in grotesque circumstances, and it has the juice of everyday family craziness in it."

It won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Anjelica Huston), and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Nicholson), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (William Hickey), Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Film Editing (Kaja Fehr and Rudi Fehr), Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

 Cast;

* Jack Nicholson as Charley Partanna

* Kathleen Turner as Irene Walker

* Robert Loggia as Eduardo Prizzi

* Anjelica Huston as Maerose Prizzi

* William Hickey as Don Corrado Prizzi

* C. C. H. Pounder as Peaches Altamot

* John Randolph as Angelo "Pop" Partanna

* Lee Richardson as Dominic Prizzi

* Michael Lombard as Rosario Filangi "Finlay"

* George Santopietro as Plumber

* Ann Selepegno as Amalia Prizzi

* Lawrence Tierney as Lt. Hanley

* Vic Polizos as Phil Vittimizzare

* Dick O´Neil as Bluestone

* Sally Boyar as Casco Vasorne

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Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof (1971 Musical)

The story of Tevye, a poor milkman whose love, pride and faith help him face the oppression of turn-of-the century czarist Russia.



Tevye's horse is lame, and he must pull the milk cart himself. He asks God, who it would hurt "If I Were a Rich Man?" The men of the village confront Tevye, as he is late delivering their milk and cheese. Avram (Alfie Scopp), the bookseller, has news from the outside world about pogroms and expulsions. A student from Kiev, Perchik (Paul Michael Glaser), newly arrived in town, hears their conversation and scolds them for doing nothing more than talk. The men dismiss Perchik as a radical, but Tevye takes a liking to him and invites him home for the Sabbath meal, offering him room and board in exchange for tutoring his two youngest daughters. Golde tells Tevye to meet Lazar Wolf after the Sabbath but does not tell him why, knowing that Tevye does not like Lazar. Tzeitel is afraid that Yente will find her a husband before Motel asks Tevye for her hand. But Motel resists: he is shy and afraid of Tevye's temper, and tradition says that a matchmaker arranges marriages. Motel is also very poor and is saving up to buy a sewing machine before he approaches Tevye, to show that he can support a wife. The family gathers around for the "Sabbath Prayer."

After the Sabbath, Tevye visits Lazar Wolf. Teyve assumes that Lazar wants to buy his milk cow. After the misunderstanding is cleared up, Tevye agrees to let Lazar marry Tzeitel. With a rich butcher, he knows that his daughter will never go hungry. The two go to Mordcha's inn to seal their agreement with a drink. Many of the villagers are there, including a group of non-Jews. All join in the celebration of Lazar's good fortune; even the Russian youths at the inn join in the celebration and show off their dancing skills ("To Life"). Outside the inn, Tevye bumps into the Russian Constable (Louis Zorich), who has jurisdiction over the Jews in the town. The Constable warns him that there is going to be a "demonstration" in the coming weeks (a euphemism for a minor pogrom). The Constable has sympathy for the Jewish community but is powerless to prevent the violence.

The next morning, a hungover Tevye delivers the news to his family that he has agreed that Tzeitel will marry Lazar Wolf. Golde is overjoyed, but Tzeitel is horrified and pleads with Tevye to reconsider. Motel arrives and gathers the courage to tell Tevye that he and Tzeitel gave each other a pledge to marry. Tevye is outraged at this breach of tradition, but Motel argues that even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness. Tevye is impressed when the once-timid young tailor stands up for himself and, moved by his daughter's earnestness, gives his assent ("Tevye's Monologue"); but he worries about how to break the news to Golde. An overjoyed Motel celebrates with Tzeitel ("Miracle of Miracles").

That night in bed with Golde, Tevye has an inspiration: he tells Golde that he has had a nightmare ("Tevye's Dream"). She offers to interpret his dream, and Tevye "describes" it. Golde's grandmother Tzeitel (for whom their daughter is named) returned from the grave to bless the marriage of her namesake, but to Motel, not to Lazar Wolf. Lazar's formidable wife, Fruma Sarah, also rises from her grave to warn, in graphic terms, of severe retribution if Tzeitel marries Lazar. Tevye's superstitious wife is terrified, and she quickly agrees that Tzeitel must marry Motel, much to Tevye's secret relief.

On the road outside of town, Tevye's middle daughter, the bookish Chava, is teased and intimidated by some Russian youths, but one of them, Fyedka (Ray Lovelock), protects her, dismissing the others. He offers Chava the loan of a book, and a secret relationship begins.

The wedding day of Tzeitel and Motel arrives, and all the Jews join the ceremony ("Sunrise, Sunset") and the celebration ("The Wedding Dance"). Lazar gives a fine gift, but an argument arises with Tevye over the broken agreement. Perchik ends the tiff by breaking another tradition: he crosses the barrier between the men and women to dance with Tevye's daughter Hodel. The celebration ends abruptly when a group of Russians rides into the village to perform the "demonstration." They disrupt the party, damaging the wedding gifts and wounding Perchik, who attempts to fight back, and wreaking more destruction in the village. Ever practical, Tevye advises everyone to clean up the mess.

Months later, Perchik tells Hodel he must return to Kiev to work for the revolution. He proposes marriage, admitting that he loves her, and says that he will send for her. She agrees ("Now I Have Everything"). They tell Tevye that they are engaged, and he is appalled that they are flouting tradition by making their own match, especially as Perchik is leaving. When he forbids the marriage, Perchik and Hodel inform him that they do not seek his permission, only his blessing. After some soul searching, Tevye finally relents; the world is changing, and he must change with it ("Tevye's Rebuttal").

Tevye explains these events to an astonished Golde. "Love," he says, "it's the new style." Tevye asks Golde, "Do You Love Me?" She admits that after 25 years of living and struggling together and raising five daughters, she does. Other events are moving apace. Yente tells Tzeitel that she saw Chava with Fyedka. News spreads quickly in Anatevka ("The Rumor"). Perchik has been arrested and exiled to Siberia, and Hodel is determined to join him there. At the railway station, she explains to her father that her home is with her beloved wherever he may be, yet she will always love her family ("Far from the Home I Love").

Weeks pass, and Chava finally gathers the courage to ask Tevye to allow her marriage to Fyedka. Again Tevye reaches deep into his soul, but marriage outside the Jewish faith is a line that he cannot cross. He forbids Chava ever to speak to Fyedka again. When Golde brings the news that Chava has eloped with Fyedka, Tevye wonders where he went wrong ("Chava Sequence"). Chava returns and tries to reason with him, but he refuses to speak to her and tells the rest of the family to consider her dead. Meanwhile, rumors are spreading of the Russians forcing Jewish villagers to leave their villages. While the villagers are gathered, the Constable arrives to tell everyone that they have three days to pack up and leave the town. In shock, they reminisce about the miserable town, and how hard it will be to leave what has for so long been their home ("Anatevka").

As the Jews leave Anatevka, Chava and Fyedka stop to tell her family that they too are leaving. Her mother and sisters are afraid to talk to her with Tevye present. Although Tevye does not speak directly to Chava, he mutters, "God be with you." As Tevye and his family leave the village for America, the fiddler begins to play. Tevye beckons with a nod, and the fiddler follows them out of the village.

IMDB Link

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

Starring: Peter Lorre , Joan Fontaine, Barbara Eden and Walter Pidgeon.
A routine scientific expedition to the North Pole turns into a race to save all mankind when a radiation belt in space causes a fiery inferno on Earth. Admiral Nelson (Walter Pidgeon) and the crew of the atomic submarine Seaview battle saboteurs, giant sea-creatures and attacks by enemy submarines as they race to prevent global catastrophe.

The Seaview is an atomic submarine designed by Admiral Harriman Nelson. On its initial launch some politicians are visiting it to see if all the money they poured into it is worth it. It is while they are at sea that they learn that the belt of radiation covering the Earth is on fire. Nelson is asked to attend some kind of international conference to determine what to do. It is while on route that Nelson comes up with a plan which he presents at the conference. Nelson proposes that if an atomic missile is launched from the Seaview at a precise moment, it will cause it to blow up. Another scientist claims that the belt will burn itself out when it reaches a certain temperature. But Nelson says that if they wait for his proposal, they will miss the window of opportunity that he told them of. Nelson leaves, boards the Seaview, and heads off to make his rendezvous with radiation belt. However, Nelson's driven manner, causes friction between him and Captain Crane, whose relationship with him is more paternal. As they push on, some of the crew members don't want to follow the admiral, and if that wasn't enough, there appears to be saboteur on board. (IMDB) 

Watch Movie Classic; Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)



Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a science fiction film produced and directed by Irwin Allen, released in 1961 by 20th Century Fox. The story was written by Irwin Allen and Charles Bennett. Walter Pidgeon starred as Admiral Harriman Nelson, with Robert Sterling as Captain Lee Crane. The original choice for the Crane role was David Hedison who later played the role in the TV series. However Hedison had turned the role down as he had just done The Lost World for Allen and wished other roles.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a science fiction film produced and directed by Irwin Allen, released in 1961 by 20th Century Fox. The story was written by Irwin Allen and Charles Bennett. Walter Pidgeon starred as Admiral Harriman Nelson, with Robert Sterling as Captain Lee Crane. The original choice for the Crane role was David Hedison who later played the role in the TV series. However Hedison had turned the role down as he had just done The Lost World for Allen and wished other roles.

Storyline;
The new, state of the art nuclear submarine Seaview is on diving trials in the Arctic Ocean. The Seaview is designed and built by scientist and engineering genius Admiral Harriman Nelson (USN-Ret) (Walter Pidgeon). Commander (U.S. Navy) Lee Crane (Robert Sterling), the Seaview's Commanding Officer, is on loan from the US Navy. One of the on-board observers is Dr. Susan Hiller (Joan Fontaine), studying crew-related stress. The mission includes being out of radio contact for 96 hours while under the Artic ice cap, but icebergs begin to crack and melt, with boulder-size pieces crashing into the ocean around the submarine. Surfacing, Admiral Nelson and Captain Crane discover fire burning in the sky. After the rescue of a delta flow scientist, Miguel Alvarez (Michael Ansara), the sub receives radio contact from Mission Director Inspector Bergan at the Bureau of Marine Exploration. He advises that a meteor shower pierced the Van Allen radiation belt causing it to catch fire, resulting in a world-threatening global warming. Nelson's on-board friend and scientist, retired Commodore Lucius Emery (Peter Lorre) concurs that it is possible. Bergan informs Nelson that the President wants him at a UN Emergency Scientific Meeting as soon as possible.

Nelson and Commodore Emery calculate a plan to end the catastrophe. The USOS Seaview arrives in New York Harbor in two days. At the meeting Nelson informs the UN that according to their calculations, if the heat increase is not stopped, it will become irreversible and Earth has "a life expectancy of about three weeks." The Admiral and the Commodore have come up with a plan to extinguish the Skyfire. He proposes firing a nuclear missile at the burning belt from the best calculated location, the Marianas. Nelson posits that when fired at the right place and time, 1600 hours on August 29, the nuclear explosion should overwhelm and extinguish the flames, away into space, essentially "amputating" the belt from the Earth. The Seaview has the capability to fire the missile.

But the Admiral's plan is rejected by the chief scientist and head delegate, Emilio Zucco (Henry Daniel) of Vienna. His reasons are that he knows the composition of gases in the belt and he believes the Skyfire will burn itself out at 173 degrees. Zucco's plan is to let the Skyfire do just that and he feels the Admiral's plan is too risky. Nelson claims that Zucco's burn-out point, however, is beyond that date and time if the current rise rate is maintained. But at Zucco's urging, Nelson and Emery are shouted down and the plan is rejected. Despite the rejection, the Admiral and the Commodore quickly leave the proceedings, advising that his only authorization will be from the President himself.

It is a race against the clock as the Seaview speeds to reach the proper firing position, above the trench in the Marianas in the Pacific. During this time Nelson and Crane agree on tapping the Rio-to-London telephone cable to try to eventually reach the President. However, an unsuccessful attempt on the Admiral's life makes it clear that there is a saboteur on board. But the confusion over who the saboteur might be revolves around rescued scientist Miguel Alvarez, who has become a religious zealot regarding the catastrophe, and Dr. Hiller, who secretly admires Dr Zucco's plan. Other obstacles present themselves: a minefield and a near-mutiny. And Crane himself begins to doubt the Admiral's tactics and reasoning. During the telephone cable attempt, Crane and Alvarez battle a giant octopus. Although the London cable connection is made, Nelson is told there's been no contact with the States for 35 hours. Also, a hostile submarine follows the Seaview deep into the Mariana Trench, but implodes before it can destroy the Seaview.
The sky returns to blue, telling the world that USOS Seaview has succeeded

Near the end of the film the saboteur is revealed to be Dr. Hiller. Captain Crane happens by as she exits the ship's "Off Limits" Nuclear Reactor core, looking rather ill. She has been exposed to a fatal dose of radiation: her detector badge is deep red. Walking over the shark-tank catwalk, she falls in during a struggle with the Captain, and is killed by a shark. The Admiral learns that temperatures are rising faster than expected. He realizes that Zucco's belief that the Skyfire will burn itself out is in error.

At the end, Seaview reaches the Marianas. There, in spite of the threats and objections of Alvarez, Seaview launches a missile toward the belt and it explodes the burning flames outward, saving the world.

Image via Wikipedia

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The Boy in the Plastic Bubble

The Boy in the Plastic Bubble is a 1976 made-for-TV movie inspired by the lives of David Vetter and Ted DeVita, who lacked effective immune systems. It stars John Travolta, Glynnis O'Connor, Diana Hyland, and Robert Reed. It was written by Douglas Day Stewart, produced by Aaron Spelling, and directed by Randal Kleiser, who would direct Travolta in an even bigger movie 2 years later. The original music score was composed by Mark Snow. William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills was used for filming.

The film centers on the life of Tod Lubich, who was born with an improperly functioning immune system. This means that contact with unfiltered air may kill him, so he must live out his life in incubator-like conditions. He lives with his parents, since they decided to move him from Texas Children's Hospital where he was being kept as a boy. He is constricted to staying in his room all his life, where he eats, learns, reads and exercises, while being protected from the outside world by various coverings.

As Tod grows up, he wishes to see more of the outside world and meet regular people his age. He is enrolled at the local school after being equipped with suitable protective clothing, similar in style to a space suit. He falls in love with his next door neighbor, Gina Briggs, and he must decide between following his heart and facing near-certain death, or remaining in his protective bubble forever. In the end, after having a discussion with his doctor who tells him he has built up some immunities which may possibly be enough to survive the real world, he steps outside his house, unprotected, and Gina and he ride off on her horse.


Social Impact and Influence of the Film;

Days after Bill Clinton was inaugurated as U.S. President, William Safire reported on the phrase "in the bubble" as used in reference to living in the White House.Safire traced that usage in U.S. presidential politics to a passage in the 1990 political memoir What I Saw at the Revolution by Peggy Noonan, where she used it to characterize Ronald Reagan's "wistfulness about connection"; Richard Ben Cramer used the phrase two years later in What It Takes: The Way to the White House with reference to George H. W. Bush and how he had been "cosseted and cocooned in comfort by 400 people devoted to his security" and "never saw one person who was not a friend or someone whose sole purpose it was to serve or protect him." Noonan's use was a reference to The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.

The film inspired the first song on the 1986 Paul Simon album Graceland. In 1992, the film's premise was satirized in the seventh episode of the fourth season of Seinfeld. It was also the subject of the 2001 comedic remake Bubble Boy and the 2007 musical In the Bubble produced by American Music Theatre Project and featuring a book by Rinne Groff, music by Michael Friedman and Joe Popp and lyrics by Friedman, Groff and Popp.

The film had a personal impact on Travolta and Hyland, who began a six-month romantic relationship after the film ended principal photograph

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