Tag: harry belafonte

Robert Altman’s KANSAS CITY Available on Blu-ray March 3rd From Arrow Academy

” He’s a loser. And losers’ve got to be respected. They’re the backbone of my business. They’re my customers, and I take good care of my customers.”

Returning to the city of his birth for inspiration, legendary maverick director Robert Altman helms an evocative, bullet-riddled tribute to the music and movies of his youth in Kansas City, a Depression-era gangster flick as only he could make one.

Blondie O Hara (Jennifer Jason Leigh) resorts to desperate measures when her low-level hood husband Johnny (Dermot Mulroney) gets caught trying to steal from Seldom Seen (Harry Belafonte), a local crime boss operating out of jazz haunt The Hey-Hey Club. Out on a limb, Blondie kidnaps laudanum-addled socialite Carolyn (Miranda Richardson), hoping her influential politician husband can pull the right strings and get Johnny out of Seldom Seen s clutches.

Nominated for the Palme d Or at Cannes, and featuring a remarkable soundtrack performed live by some of the best players in contemporary jazz, one of Altman s most underrated and idiosyncratic films finally makes its long-awaited Blu-ray debut.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
  • Original 2.0 and 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Audio commentary by director Robert Altman
  • Newly filmed appreciation by critic Geoff Andrew
  • Gare, Trains et Déraillement, a 2007 visual essay by French critic Luc Lagier, plus short introduction to the film narrated by Lagier
  • Robert Altman Goes to the Heart of America and Kansas City: The Music, two 1996 promotional featurettes including interviews with cast and crew
  • Electronic press kit interviews with Altman, Leigh, Richardson, Belafonte and musician Joshua Redman, plus behind-the-scenes footage
  • Four theatrical trailers
  • TV spots
  • Image gallery
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jennifer Dionisio

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors booklet featuring new writing by Dr Nicolas Pillai, original press kit notes and an excerpt from Altman on Altman

Harry Belafonte in THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL Available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive

Harry Belafonte in THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL is available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive. Order it HERE

“Millions Flee from Cities! End of the World!” From a Manhattan skyscraper, Ralph Burton (Harry Belafonte) surveys the emptiness announced by that chilling newspaper headline. Nuclear doomsday has come. Ralph is sure he is the last person alive. Then, a woman (Inger Stevens) appears and the two form a cautious friendship that’s threatened when a third survivor (Mel Ferrer) arrives. Unlike other postapocalyptic thrillers, from The Time Machine to I Am Legend, there are no external monsters to battle here. Instead, the monsters – fear, intolerance, jealousy – lurk inside the all-too human beings. And heightening the intensity of writer/director Ranald MacDougall’s suspenseful and unsettling movie are stunning vistas of unpopulated New York: vast, empty and soulless.

Nuclear doomsday has come. Ralph (Harry Belafonte) is sure he is the last person alive. Then a woman (Inger Stevens) appears and the two form a cautious friendship that¹s threatened when a third survivor (Mel Ferrer) arrives. There are no external monsters to battle in this urban apocalypse landscape. Instead, the monsters – fear, intolerance, jealousy – lurk within the human heart. Suspenseful and unsettling, The World, The Flesh and The Devil proved a seminal “last man” movie that is both prescient and powerful. Loaded with stunning vistas of an unpopulated New York City, its visual influence ripples on down though a diverse series of successors such as Omega Man and The Quiet Earth, while its forthright confrontation of racial and sexual politics is both surprising and inspiring. Screenwriter/Director Ranald MacDougall’s (Mildred Pierce, Dark of the Sun) Sci-Fi stunner is reborn, thanks to this crisp and crackling 1080p presentation in glorious Black and White. 16×9 Letterbox

Jean-Claude Carrière, Hayao Miyazaki, Maureen O’Hara & Harry Belafonte To Receive 2014 Governors Awards

2011 Governors Awards, Presentation

The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Tuesday night (August 26) to present Honorary Awards to Jean-Claude Carrière, Hayao Miyazaki and Maureen O’Hara, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Harry Belafonte.

All four awards will be presented at the Academy’s 6th Annual Governors Awards on Saturday, November 8, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center.

“The Governors Awards allow us to reflect upon not the year in film, but the achievements of a lifetime,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “We’re absolutely thrilled to honor these outstanding members of our global filmmaking community and look forward to celebrating with them in November.”

Jean-Claude Carrière

Carrière, who began his career as a novelist, was introduced to screenwriting by French comedian and filmmaker Pierre Étaix, with whom he shared an Oscar for the live action short subject “Heureux Anniversaire (Happy Anniversary)” in 1962. He received two more nominations during his nearly two-decade collaboration with director Luis Buñuel, for the screenplays for “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “That Obscure Object of Desire.” Carrière also has collaborated notably with such directors as Volker Schlöndorff (“The Tin Drum”), Jean-Luc Godard (“Every Man for Himself”) and Andrzej Wajda (“Danton”). He earned a fourth Oscar nomination for “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” with director Philip Kaufman.

hayao-miyazaki

Miyazaki is an artist, writer, director, producer and three-time Oscar nominee in the Animated Feature Film category, winning in 2002 for “Spirited Away.” His other nominations were for “Howl’s Moving Castle” in 2005 and “The Wind Rises” last year. Miyazaki gained an enormous following in his native Japan for such features as “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind,” “Laputa: Castle in the Sky,” “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service” before breaking out internationally in the late 1990s with “Princess Mononoke.” He is the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, a renowned animation studio based in Tokyo.

Maureen O'Hara

O’Hara, a native of Dublin, Ireland, came to Hollywood in 1939 to star opposite Charles Laughton in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” She went on to appear in a wide range of feature films, including the swashbucklers “The Black Swan” and “Sinbad the Sailor,” the dramas “This Land Is Mine” and “A Woman’s Secret,” the family classics “Miracle on 34th Street” and “The Parent Trap,” the spy comedy “Our Man in Havana” and numerous Westerns. She was a favorite of director John Ford, who cast her in five of his films, including “How Green Was My Valley,” “Rio Grande” and “The Quiet Man.”

harry belafonte

An actor, producer, singer and lifelong activist, Belafonte began performing in theaters and nightclubs in and around Harlem, where he was born. From the beginning of his film career, he chose projects that shed needed light on racism and inequality, including “Carmen Jones,” “Odds against Tomorrow” and “The World, the Flesh and the Devil.” He was an early supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, marching and organizing alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. and often funding initiatives with his entertainment income. Belafonte was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1987 and currently serves on the boards of the Advancement Project and the Institute for Policy Studies. His work on behalf of children, education, famine relief, AIDS awareness and civil rights has taken him all over the world.

The Honorary Award, an Oscar statuette, is given “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”

The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, also an Oscar statuette, is given “to an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.”

THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 – The Review

THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 is a remarkable documentary that offers a glimpseonto the Black Power Movement in the United States. Shot by Swedish television journalists, the film is composed of audio and video clips from 1967-1975, and offers voice over from Erykah Badu, Harry Belafonte, Talib Kweli, Ahmir-Khalib Thompson (Questlove), and more.

The film starts by focusing on Stokely Carmichael, who popularized the phrase “Black Power”. Carmichael was a very powerful activist who spoke out against Martin Luther King Jr’s nonviolent philosophy. Through various clips, we hear his reasoning behind his more militant stance. A revolution needed to happen.

Another powerful subject from the film, Angela Davis, is followed during her 1970 trial, where she was accused of being involved in the murder of a judge. The clips and audio follow her from the time she fled California through the end of her trial, which ended in 1972 with a verdict of not guilty. The film proposes that she was thought of as a threat, due to her ties with the Black Panther Party, as well as the Communist Party. Later, she took to promoting socialism, stating that only in a socialist society could african-american’s achieve racial equality.

With the Black Panther Party forming in 1966, there is quite a bit of footage involving members of their party. They were a very militant group that encouraged it’s members to arm themselves for protection, and to fight back against racial inequality. Most of the parties leaders were imprisoned or forced to flee the country, as a way to weaken or break apart the group. The film also shows their involvement in the community, such as making sure that all children had access to breakfast.

The film itself is a collection of clips… a mixtape, if you will. (See, it’s not just a clever name!) The film does not promise to be an exact history lesson. Instead, it lets the viewer know upfront that it is a compilation of footage, and is just one look at that time period, through the eyes of the Swedish television journalists in the states filming at the time. They do a nice job of showing multiple sides of their subjects, rather than just a singular view. For example, not only do they show Stokely Carmichael speaking out to the masses, but they include a clip of him interviewing his mother. In this clip, he is soft, and concerned. He talks with her about the lack of rights as she raised her family, and it’s easy to see that the poverty, as well as his fathers inability to find steady employment during that time because of the color of his skin, were emotional topics for the two of them. Adding to the depth of the film, several musicians and poets from today have added commentary to some of the film, as well as Angela Davis. This movement is a part of their history. It’s fascinating to hear the stories of how this affected people like Ahmir-Khalib Thompson (Questlove) and Erykah Badu as they grew up.

The film is not trying to give a chronological timeline of what happened. There are some parts that contradict themselves, and there are gaps as they tell about the movement, but it is not a big distraction. The main focus of this film is to give the viewer a glimpse of what happened, and more importantly, a glimpse of the emotion. My only complaint is that instead of showing us the decline, or deradicalization of the movement, they left it open. I cannot tell if their intent was to just show what they had, or if it was intended as a way to show that the movement is still alive today. It would have been nice to spend even an extra ten minutes on the decline of the movement, because the film just kind of stops. Still, the impact as a viewer is undeniable. This film was beautifully done. Whether you are educated on the movement, or not, this film is an enjoyable, and emotional glimpse of an important time in history.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars