Hal Ashby
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The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Straw Dogs and Eight Million Ways to Die: Jim Hemphill’s Home Video Picks
It’s been a good few months for Sam Peckinpah fans, as several films that were previously only available on standard-def DVDs with serviceable transfers have started appearing on Blu-ray. In an earlier column I recommended Warner Archive’s exquisite pressing of Ride the High Country, and now the label has released an upgrade of another essential Peckinpah film, The Ballad of Cable Hogue. Released in 1970 on the heels of The Wild Bunch, it’s a softer, more humanist movie than audiences were expecting from “Bloody Sam” — a sweet, reflective tale of the rise and fall of an American dreamer (beautifully […]
by Jim Hemphill on Jun 23, 2017 -
Blow-Up, Being There and The Last Tycoon: Jim Hemphill’s Home Video Recommendations
Two very different but equally essential classics find their way to Blu-ray and DVD this week courtesy of the Criterion Collection, which has issued exemplary special editions of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up (1966) and Hal Ashby’s Being There (1979). The Antonioni film, in which a fashion photographer finds evidence of a murder in one of his stills, heavily influenced later American political thrillers like The Conversation and Blow Out in spite of the fact that Blow-Up itself is less a mystery than an anthropological document of swinging ’60s London. It was Antonioni’s first film outside his home country after L’avventura, La Notte, […]
by Jim Hemphill on Mar 24, 2017 -
Last Call for Heroes
I had a dream the other night, and all my filmmaking heroes were there. Young, full of vision, light in their eyes. A party at a swanky bar. Then last call was called. And the lights came up. And Orson Welles was drunk, huge, exhausted. And Nicholas Ray, with an eye patch, was chain smoking. And Hal Ashby was haggard, mumbling to himself in the corner about someone taking away his final cut. The horror stories of my heroes haunt me. What is it that happened to them? Did they bring it on themselves with youthful hubris and defiance? Were […]
by Noah Buschel on Jul 29, 2014 -
Director Amy Scott on Her Upcoming Doc, Once I Was: The Hal Ashby Story
You know the films — Harold and Maude, Coming Home, Shampoo, The Last Detail, and Being There – but little about the man behind them. A quarter century after his death, director Hal Ashby remains one of the more mysterious figures to emerge from the New Hollywood movement. His rise as a director coincided with the brief but glorious period in American cinema when difficult, complex films were actually supported and encouraged by studios. That era came to an end with populist hits like Jaws and Star Wars, shifting the zeitgeist towards blockbusters and making it tough for uncompromising directors […]
by Sara Kaye Larson on May 26, 2014 -
Indiegogo Campaign: Once I Was: The Hal Ashby Story
Nick Dawson, former Managing Editor at Filmmaker, is serving as an advisor to what will be the first ever Hal Ashby documentary. With the blessing of the Ashby estate, Amy Scott will render a definitive portrait of the revered yet unsung director behind Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo, and Being There, to be titled Once I Was: The Hal Ashby Story. The Indiegogo video alone features appearances from John C. Reilly and Jane Fonda, with additional interviews with Robert Downey, Rudy Wurlitzer and Jerome Hellman still to come. Prizes include a plethora of prints from the Hashby estate, criterions, memberships to Cinefamily and Film Forum and […]
by Sarah Salovaara on May 21, 2014 -
Farewell, Nick Dawson (and Cameron Crowe on Hal Ashby)
Once upon a time, every article I wrote for Filmmaker had to cross the virtual desk (email) of Managing Editor Nick Dawson. That day has since passed, which is how I am now able to write the following without Nick protesting in embarrassment or deleting my draft. That’s not to say Nick is ever one to tell someone what they can and can’t write. When an eager IFP intern (me) emailed to ask if she could contribute to Filmmaker — too shy to do so in person — Nick’s first response was “Sure,” his second, “Tell me what interests you.” […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 28, 2014 -
James Ponsoldt, Smashed
Kate Hannah (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a devoted elementary school teacher who, early in James Ponsoldt’s new film Smashed, shows up for work with a wicked hangover and vomits in front of her students. Forced to explain her behavior, she tells her class and colleagues that she’s pregnant. The lie leaves her feeling awful, and it’s soon clear to Kate that she needs to back away from the bottle. After all, this isn’t a one-off incident. She and her husband Charlie (Aaron Paul) are almost constantly drunk, and it’s pretty clear to her that they live for booze as much […]
by Kevin Canfield on Oct 10, 2012 -
BILL GUNN SURFACES AT BAM
You could say that Bill Gunn was a man who came before his time, but that leaves you working under the flimsy assumption that a time more hospitable to this man of undeniable talents and mercurial preoccupations would some day come. If you don’t already know this is a weak proposition, you’re not paying attention to the tenor of the times we live in. One can be forgiven for being unable to relate to the struggles of an unorthodox black artist to find proper patrons and an appreciative audience I suppose. Still, it is better to say that Bill Gunn, […]
by Brandon Harris on Mar 31, 2010 -
John Crowley, Is Anybody There?
MICHAEL CAINE AND BILL MILNER IN DIRECTOR JOHN CROWLEY’S IS ANYBODY THERE? COURTESY STORY ISLAND ENTERTAINMENT. Along with Martin McDonagh and Conor McPherson, John Crowley is part of a recent wave of Irish theater influx into film. Born in 1969, Crowley is a philosophy graduate from the University of Cork in Ireland who first became involved in theater as a student, seeing it as a way to get into directing film. He began directing plays in Dublin in the early 90s and was successful enough that already in 1996 he was working in London’s West End. After a few years, […]
by Nick Dawson on Apr 17, 2009 -
Tony Gerber & Jesse Moss, Full Battle Rattle
AN IRAQI ROLE PLAYER IN TONY GERBER AND JESSE MOSS’ FULL BATTLE RATTLE. COURTESY MILE END FILMS. A strong partnership always relies on both individuals bringing different things to the table, and documentary filmmakers Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss certainly draw on diverse backgrounds for their creative collaboration. New York City native Gerber began his career directing alternative theater and making films for theatrical productions, and went on to work with conceptual artist Matthew Barney on Cremaster III (2002) and Drawing Restraint 9 (2005). He directed the short film, Small Taste of Heaven in 1997, and his debut fiction feature, […]
by Nick Dawson on Jul 9, 2008
