# Roja (film)
### Critical response
*Roja* received positive reception for its patriotic themes. On 26 September 1992, K. Vijayan of *New Straits Times* wrote, \"Under Mani Ratnam\'s direction, Arvind and Madhubala gave their best \... The excellent photography by Santhosh Sivan who was also the cameraman for *Thalapathi* makes us appreciate the beauty we take for granted in the villages. The snow-capped mountains and flower-covered valleys of Kashmir are also an eyeful.\" Writing for *The Indian Express*, Malini Mannath compared *Roja* unfavourably to *Held Hostage*; she praised Arvind Swami\'s performance, calling him \"dignified and natural\", but criticised Madhubala\'s performance in the scenes where Roja pleads for her husband\'s rescue, saying, \"Her tremulous whisper praying for help, sounds contrived\". She also felt that Pankaj Kapoor looked \"lost in his role\", but lauded the cinematography by Santosh Sivan and the editing by Suresh Urs. T. N. Seshan, then the Chief Election Commissioner of India declared, \"This is a film that every Tamilians should see.\" The soundtrack by A. R. Rahman was included in the \"10 Best Soundtracks\" of all time listed by *Time* magazine, issued in 2005.

### Box office
*Roja* emerged a commercial success in the Tamil market.
**1993 National Film Awards (India)**
- Won -- Silver Lotus Award -- Best Music Director -- A. R. Rahman
- Won -- Silver Lotus Award -- Best Lyricist -- Vairamuthu
- Won -- Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration
Madhoo\'s performance took her close to winning in the category of Best Actress, but she eventually lost to Dimple Kapadia.
**1993 Filmfare Awards South**
- Won -- Filmfare Best Movie Award (Tamil) -- *Roja*
- Won -- Filmfare Best Music Director Award (Tamil) -- A. R. Rahman
**1993 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards (India)**


# Roja (film)
### Box office
- Won -- Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film
- Won -- Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Director -- Mani Ratnam
- Won -- Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director -- A. R. Rahman
- Won -- Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize -- Madhoo
- Won -- Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer -- Minmini
**1993 Shantaram Awards**
- Won -- Best Director -- Mani Ratnam
**1993 Moscow International Film Festival (Russia)**
- Nominated -- Golden St. George (Best Film) -- Mani Ratnam
**Bite the Mango Film Festival (United Kingdom)**
- Featured screening and premiere -- *Roja*
**Wangfujing Film Festival (Beijing)**
- Special screening -- *Roja*
**Indian Film Week (Moscow)**
- Screening in the category of \"From the classics to the contemporary\" -- *Roja*
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# Alakazam the Great
***Alakazam the Great***, known in Japan as , is a 1960 Japanese anime musical film, based on the 16th-century Chinese novel *Journey to the West*. It was one of the earliest anime films to be released in the United States. Osamu Tezuka was named as a director of the film by Toei Company. However, Tezuka later stated that the only time he was in the studio was to pose for publicity photos. His involvement in promoting the film, however, led to his interest in animation.
Alakazam is a young and brave monkey (a macaque) who has been encouraged by all the other monkeys to become their king. After attaining the throne, he becomes rude and dictatorial, and does not believe that human beings are greater than he is. Then he deceives/forces Merlin the magician to teach him magic (reluctantly on Merlin\'s part, who warns Alakazam that the powers he acquires now will bring him much unhappiness later).
Alakazam becomes so arrogant that he abuses his magic powers, and chooses to go up to Majutsu Land (the Heavens), to challenge King Amo. He is defeated by King Amo. For his punishment, he is sentenced to serve as the bodyguard of Prince Amat on a pilgrimage; in order to learn humility. Ultimately, he learns his lesson and becomes a true hero.
`Japanese name`
`Japanese voice actor`
`English name`
`English voice actor`
Sun Wukong
`Kiyoshi Komiyama `
`Alakazam `
`Peter Fernandez (speaking)Frankie Avalon (singing)`
Lin-Lin
`Noriko Shindō `
`DeeDee `
`Corinne Orr (speaking)Dodie Stevens (singing)`
Zhu Bajie
`Hideo Kinoshita `
`Sir Quigley Broken Bottom `
`Jonathan Winters`
Sha Wujing
`Setsuo Shinoda `
`Max Lulipopo `
`Arnold Stang`
Tang Sanzang
`Nobuaki Sekine `
`Prince Amat `
`Larry Robinson`
Shakyamuni
`Kunihisa Takeda `
King Amo
`Jack Curtis`
Guanyin
`Katsuko Ozaki `
`Queen Amas `
`Joyce Gordon`
Shōryū
`Michiko Shirasaka `
`Filo Fester `
`Billie Lou Watt`
Bull Demon King
`Kinshiro Iwao `
`King Gruesome `
`Jack Curtis`


# Alakazam the Great
Princess Iron Fan
`Tamae Kato `
`Queen Gruesome `
`Joyce Gordon`
Golden Horned King
`Kiyoshi Kawakubo `
`Herman McSnarles `
`Bernard Grant`
Silver Horned King
`Shuichi Kazamatsuri `
`Vermin McSnarles `
`George Gonneau`
Subhuti
`Unknown `
`Merlin `
`Unknown`
Taibai Jinxing
`Unknown `
`Unknown `
`Unknown`
Erlang Shen
`Unknown `
`Hercules `
`Unknown`
The film was released in the United States by American International on July 26, 1961. For the American release, a few scenes were heavily edited and rearranged and bandleader Les Baxter was hired to compose a new soundtrack. Teen idol Frankie Avalon supplied the singing voice of Alakazam (the speaking voice was done by Peter Fernandez), and Sterling Holloway provided English-language narration.
Other famous voices included Jonathan Winters, Arnold Stang, Dodie Stevens, and E. G. Marshall.

### Reception
The film was a great success in Japan but a flop in the United States, despite a large marketing budget and heavy promotion. The *Los Angeles Times* called it \"warm, amusing and exciting\... the art work is really excellent.\" It was included as one of the choices in *The Fifty Worst Films of All Time*, and is the only animated film featured in the book.
The AIP version of the film was first released on VHS in the 1980s by HBO/Cannon Video (under licensed from then-owner Orion Pictures). This release was reissued by Congress Video Group in 1990 at a slower speed. Orion Home Video re-released the film in both pan-and-scan and widescreen letterbox VHS editions and on a widescreen laserdisc in 1995. Although MGM hasn\'t released the film on DVD, the AIP version has been made available for streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
The *Mario* video game franchise antagonist Bowser was inspired by the film. Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto received inspiration for the character\'s appearance from the anime film. He had first envisioned Bowser as an ox, basing him on the Ox-King from the film.
- List of animated feature films
- List of Osamu Tezuka anime
- List of Osamu Tezuka manga
- Osamu Tezuka\'s Star System


# Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway
***Witchboard 2: The Devil\'s Doorway*** is a 1993 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Kevin S. Tenney. It stars Ami Dolenz as an artist possessed by a ghost of a former occupant of her new apartment. The film is a sequel to the 1986 film *Witchboard*.
Paige, a young accountant, moves into a spacious loft apartment in Los Angeles, owned by Jonas and his eccentric wife, Elaine. Her police officer boyfriend, Mitch, is angry with her for moving out of his home, and dismisses her aspirations to work as an artist. In the closet, she discovers a Ouija board. While playing with the board, Paige begins receiving messages from an entity who claims to be named Susan. First, the board correctly predicts that Paige will receive a promotion at the accounting firm where she works. When Paige asks several tenants of the building, they tell her that a woman named Susan Sidney formerly lived in her apartment.
While Paige contacts Susan again using the ouija, Jonas is attacked in his shop by a poltergeist which flings tools at him. He locks himself inside the boiler room, and is then incinerated when the boiler overheats. Paige begins suffering from nightmares that inspire her to produce several disturbing paintings of a woman she believes to be Susan. At Jonas\'s funeral, Russel, a photographer tenant of the building, informs Paige that Susan was an exotic dancer who prostituted herself to Jonas in exchange for rent. When Paige asks how Susan died, Russel tells that as far as he knows, she is alive, but that he has not seen her since she was evicted two years prior. Paige again consults the ouija, and the entity insists it is Susan, and claims she was murdered.


# Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway
Paige asks Mitch to search for records pertaining to the murder of Susan Sidney, but his search efforts produce no indication that she ever existed. When Paige vocally calls out the entity communicating through the ouija, the shades of the loft windows all violently slam shut. Horrified, Paige is consoled by Russel and Elaine, who heard her screams. The three decide to use the ouija together, attempting to communicate with Susan. The board directs them to \"uptown\"; in conversation, Mitch tells Paige that there is a remote area outside of the city known as Uptown Woods. Convinced Susan was killed and buried there, Paige has Russel bring her to the location, but they are startled by Mitch, who escorts her home.
Mitch is subsequently injured in a car accident in which his vehicle is hijacked by the entity. Meanwhile, Russel informs Paige that the ouija board was used by witches throughout history to contact demons, and that this is likely what she is communicating with. Paige is insistent, however, that the entity is Susan. Russel points out the symptoms of \"progressive entrapment,\" through which demons take control of victims via the ouija; Paige exhibits several, including notable shifts in her behavior and temperament. However, Russel too becomes convinced that it is Susan when Paige produces an earring that belonged to her. Shortly after, Elaine is killed in a violent accident.
Paige realizes that the earlier message directing her to \"uptown\" was in fact intended to be \"Upton,\" the name of Russel\'s photographer company. Realizing that Russel murdered Susan, Paige attempts to flee from Russel, and locks herself in a bedroom. Russel tries to break the door down, but is stopped by Mitch, who has been discharged from the hospital, then it is revealed that the killer is Elaine and her accomplice is Jonas. Paige then emerges from the room, taking Susan\'s form. She throws Mitch through a window, but he manages to cling to a fire escape. Susan kills Russel with an axe just before Mitch manages to re-enter the apartment and find his body. He is confronted by Susan, who shapeshifts between herself and Paige. Susan attempts to murder Mitch, but he pleads for Paige to fight Susan\'s spirit, and it is then expelled from Paige\'s body once she destroys the ouija board.


# Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway
Filming of *Witchboard 2* took place on location in various parts of Los Angeles: The apartment in the film was a real artist\'s loft in Hollywood, while the accounting firm sequences were shot in a building in which director Tenney maintained his own private office.

### Critical response
*TV Guide* awarded the film two out of five stars, writing: \"An ordinary but nicely executed horror movie, *Witchboard 2* suggests that the Ouija board is the Devil\'s Monopoly game. This modest chiller lacks the trashy sex and explicit violence die-hard buffs demand, but young couples searching for a make-out movie may give it two thumbs up.\"
- List of ghost films


# She (1965 film)
***She*** is a 1965 British adventure film made by Hammer Film Productions in CinemaScope, based on the 1887 novel by H. Rider Haggard. It was directed by Robert Day and stars Ursula Andress, Peter Cushing, Bernard Cribbins, John Richardson, Rosenda Monteros, and Christopher Lee. The film was an international success and led to a 1968 sequel, *The Vengeance of She*, with Olinka Berova in the title role.
After receiving honorable discharges from the British Army in Palestine in 1918, Professor Holly (Peter Cushing), young Leo Vincey (John Richardson) and their orderly Job (Bernard Cribbins) embark on an expedition into a previously unexplored region of central-east Africa. They discover the lost city of Kuma after Leo receives a mysterious map revealing the city\'s whereabouts.
This lost realm is ruled by Ayesha (Ursula Andress), who is also known as \"She-Who-Waits\" and \"She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed.\" Ayesha is a beautiful, immortal queen, who believes Leo is the reincarnation of her former lover, the priest Kallikrates, whom she had killed two thousand years before when she found him in the intimate embrace of another woman. It was she, who met with Leo in Palestine, giving him the map to Kuma, and urging him to travel there. Leo is filled with a dogged determination to do so as he sees visions of Ayesha beckoning to him with outstretched arms.
After Leo has recovered from the journey to Kuma, Ayesha persuades him to bathe in the ceremonial fire that she had bathed in 2,000 years before by which she gained her immortality. One can bathe in the flame only when it has turned blue, which it does rarely for short periods of time when astronomical events coincide. Leo would then himself become immortal.


# She (1965 film)
Meanwhile, Ayesha\'s army is attacked by her enslaved tribesmen, the Amahagger, who live outside Kuma. Ready to rebel against the queen\'s cruel tyranny they are incited to revolt by their leader, Haumeid (André Morell), a citizen of Kuma, whose daughter Ustane (Rosenda Monteros) dared to fall in love with Leo while nursing him back to health after his perilous journey to the city. The queen in jealousy has her cremated alive in the open molten lava pit before her throne. Her ashes are poured out in front of her outraged father, who cries out to the Amahagger for revenge. Although poorly equipped the Amahagger overcome Ayesha\'s army.
Leo himself is about to enter the blue ceremonial fire when Billali (Christopher Lee), Ayesha\'s high priest, demands to be allowed to enter it to gain immortality as well since he has served the queen unselfishly for many years. He is refused, so he pushes Leo aside in a scuffle that leaves Leo knocked out, opening his way to enter the blue flames. Ayesha kills him with a javelin to prevent this.
To overcome Leo\'s reluctance Ayesha takes him by the hand and leads him into the blue fire. Upon entering, Leo becomes immortal, but Ayesha\'s immortality is taken away, and she ages 2,000 years in minutes, dies, and crumbles into dust. Holly and Job have managed to get to Leo through the uprising, and Holly urges him to go once again into the fire to remove his immortality since a second time into the flames would do this as it had done to Ayesha. Unfortunately, the flame turns yellow again barring entry. The film ends with a despondent Leo vowing to wait for the fire to turn blue again that he might end the prospect of spending an eternity alone.
- Ursula Andress as Ayesha
- Peter Cushing as Holly
- Bernard Cribbins as Job
- John Richardson as Leo Vincey
- Rosenda Monteros as Ustane
- Christopher Lee as Billali
- André Morell as Haumeid
- Princess Soraya as Soraya


# She (1965 film)
The re-filming of the H. Rider Haggard novel -- which had been filmed previously in 1908, 1911, 1916, 1917, 1925 and 1935 -- was the idea of Kenneth Hyman of Seven Arts Productions, who had a long-running relationship with Hammer Film Productions. Anthony Hinds commissioned a script from John Temple-Smith, and the lead role was assigned to Ursula Andress, known at that time for her role in the James Bond film *Dr. No*. *She* would thus become the first Hammer film to be built around a female star.
Hammer pitched the project to Disney, who turned it down. Hinds then arranged for Berkley Mather to write a script, but the project was turned down again by Universal, and then by Joseph E. Levine and American International Pictures. Hinds passed it over to Michael Carreras who got David T. Chantler to rewrite the script. Carreras succeeded in getting the film financed through MGM, with triple the usual budget for a Hammer film.
The film was announced in May 1964. Although Seven Arts had helped finance several Hammer films, this was the first one they had produced together.
John Richardson was cast after being spotted by Ray Stark of Seven Arts.
Principal photography commenced in southern Israel\'s Negev Desert on 24 August 1964, with scenes also shot at MGM\'s Elstree Studios near London when Hammer\'s Bray Studios proved to be too small for the project. It was the most expensive film Hammer had made up until that time, but on release, it was a hit both in North America and in Europe.


# She (1965 film)
Although the studio was pleased with the look of Ursula Andress in the film -- as lit by Harry Waxman and costumed by Carl Toms and Roy Ashton -- they found her Swiss-German accent to be offputting, and had her entire part re-dubbed by an actress Nikki van der Zyl, who had dubbed her in *Dr. No.*
*The New York Times* wrote of the film \"It lacks style, sophistication, humour, sense, and above all, a reason for being, since it isn\'t even as good (excepting that it is in colour) as the last remake of \"She\" done with Helen Gahagan in 1935\"; while more recently, the *Radio Times* gave the film three out of a possible five stars, writing that Ursula Andress \"acquits herself better than you might expect\", and concluding that \"The African backdrops are easily matched by Swiss-born Andress\'s own brand of exotic beauty and, while there\'s plenty to criticise, there\'s also much to enjoy.\"
- She (novel)
- She (1935 film)
- She (1984 film)
- *The Vengeance of She*


# Dark Horse (2005 film)
***Dark Horse*** () is a 2005 Danish-Icelandic film directed by Dagur Kári, about a young man, his best friend, and a girl. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
- Jakob Cedergren as Daniel
- Nicolas Bro as Morfar
- Tilly Scott Pedersen as Franc
- Morten Suurballe as Dommeren
- Angela Bundalovic as Dommeren\'s daughter
- Bodil Jørgensen as Gunvor
- Nicolaj Kopernikus as Tejs
- Anders Hove as Herluf C
- Kristian Halken as Allan Simonsen
- Thomas W. Gabrielsson as Sleep researcher Arne
- Michelle Bjørn-Andersen as Dommerens\' wife
- Pauli Ryberg as Skule Malmquist
- Mikael Bertelsen as clerk
- Asta Esper Hagen Andersen as grandmother Lovisa
- Vera Gebuhr as lady in bakery
- Peder Pedersen as graffiti artist


# Survival Island
***Survival Island**\'\', also known as***Three**\'\', is a 2005 romantic survival drama film written and directed by Stewart Raffill and starring Billy Zane, Kelly Brook, and Juan Pablo Di Pace.
Jack and Jennifer are a wealthy couple who are yachting in the Caribbean during Christmas. One of their crew is the handsome Manuel, who is cursed by his angry ex-girlfriend Maria as he prepares to leave on the yacht. He is clearly bothered and has a difficult time fulfilling requests for the crew and guests. After the captain confronts him, Manuel quits and throws down a rag as he storms out of the galley. The rag lands on a gas flame and causes the entire yacht to catch fire. The captain is unable to control the blaze with a fire extinguisher so they abandon ship. Their lifeboats are capsized by a storm later that night and everyone becomes separated.
Washing up on a deserted island, Jennifer is completely alone until she sees the body of the captain in the water. As she attempts to resuscitate him, Manuel appears and also unsuccessfully tries to revive him. They bury the captain and under Manuel\'s guidance, set out to build a hut for shelter and find food. Two days later while fishing near a reef, Manuel finds Jack alive and brings him back to Jennifer and their hut. Although Jack is grateful at first, he eventually suspects Manuel of having desires on his wife and declares the man his enemy, promising to ruin his life once they get off the island. This puts Jennifer in the uncomfortable position of her loyalty to Jack conflicting with the realization that they both need Manuel\'s help to survive. A proud man, Jack insists that he can provide for them both, but it quickly becomes apparent that he cannot. Jack and Jennifer\'s relationship starts quickly deteriorating.
Jack steals Manuel\'s goggles to go fishing one day and when Manuel discovers this, he threatens to kill Jack. Jennifer attempts to get him to calm down. As the two exit the water after fighting, Manuel pins Jennifer down and starts to rape her, but she soon stops resisting and the act becomes consensual. Afterwards, Jennifer feels remorse despite having enjoyed the encounter. Manuel reveals that he has loved Jennifer from the moment he first saw her, but it is also clear that this is a way for him to hurt Jack. When Jack returns, Jennifer accidentally hints at him what had happened and he furiously rejects her.


# Survival Island
While fishing another day, Jack finds a boat on the ocean floor. He drags it to shore and attempts to repair it. Manuel proposes that he and Jennifer go for a midnight swim and as they start having sex, Jennifer gives Manuel the idea of stealing the boat so they can get away together from the island, unaware that her husband, Jack is listening to them. They plan to do so while Jack is out fishing. The following morning, they manage to steal the boat and sail, however they do not get far before the boat begins to sink and they realize that Jack\'s plan all along was for them to take the boat and drown. They are forced to swim back to the island and to Jack, who attacks the now-exhausted Manuel with a spear and kidnaps Jennifer. The following day, an intense fight sequence ensues, interwoven with scenes of Maria performing a voodoo ceremony. The scene climaxes when Jennifer pins Jack to the ground, attempting to kill him with his own knife. Manuel picks up a heavy rock with which to crush Jack. He loses his balance and falls backward, impaling himself on one of Jack\'s spears, to Jennifer\'s horror. Simultaneously, Maria impales Manuel\'s effigy on a spike.
One year later, a yachting family drops anchor near the island and explores it, discovering Jennifer asleep in her hut. She, still somewhat distraught over Manuel\'s death, leaves with them, but does not mention that her husband, who she has been forced to live with and depend on since Manuel\'s death, is also on the island. Jack, who is fishing, sees her leaving on the yacht and calls out, but Jennifer, who had also stolen his lighter so he could not make any more fires, finally exacts revenge on him by ignoring him and the family inside the boat cannot hear him. Jack is abandoned on the island and his eventual fate is left ambiguous.
- Billy Zane as Jack
- Kelly Brook as Jennifer
- Juan Pablo Di Pace as Manuel
- Maria Victoria Di Pace as Maria
- Todd Collins as Bill
- Gabrielle Jourdan as Gail
- Gary Brockette as Captain Richards
- Isabelle Constantini as Maggie Richards
The film was produced during 2003 and was originally set for cinema release under the title *Three* in 2004.
In 2005, Billy Zane and Kelly Brook unsuccessfully challenged the film\'s producers to remove Brook\'s nude scenes from the movie.


# Survival Island
### Theatrical
*Survival Island* went on limited cinematic release on 3 May 2006 in the United Kingdom before being released to DVD on 21 August 2006. The cinematic release lasted for just one week in many cinemas.

### Home media
*Survival Island* was released on DVD in the United States on 15 August 2006. It was also released theatrically in a number of European countries under its original title, *Three*. Actors Billy Zane and Kelly Brook met during the course of filming in 2004 and later became engaged. In 2005, Zane and Brook unsuccessfully challenged the film\'s producers to remove Brook\'s nude scenes from the movie. However, the eventual DVD release kept these scenes intact.

### Critical response
*Survival Island* received mostly negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of based on reviews from critics. *Three* as it was known in the UK suffered from poor reviews, gaining a rare one-star rating on the BBC Movies website. Robert Hanks of *The Independent* said \"*Three* is an unholy amalgam of *Lord of the Flies*, *The Blue Lagoon* and *The Admirable Crichton* \... At odd moments it rises to risibility, but mostly it is just dull\...\" In a review for *Empire*, Adam Smith described the film as \"appalling\". *Time Out* in their review criticized the film\'s tone saying, \"the dramatic score and writhing sex scenes imply an erotic thriller, but the camera treats pneumatic Brook like the subject of a cheap porno and the plot bears little resemblance to either genre. As the survivors bicker and allegiances change, it's hard to fathom their motivation or to glean what allegiances we, the audience, are expected to make.\"

### Accolades
**Wins**
- Golden Trailer Awards: Golden Trailer -- Trashiest (2006)


# The Silk Road (film)
, also known as ***Dun-Huang***, is a 1988 Japanese film directed by Junya Satō. The movie was adapted from the 1959 novel *Tun-Huang* by Yasushi Inoue. The backdrop of the plotline is the Mogao Caves, a Buddhist manuscript trove in Dunhuang, Western China, located along the Silk Road during the Song dynasty in the 11th century.
The film was released in Japan and China on June 25, 1988. It was chosen as Best Film at the Japan Academy Prize ceremony. It is one of the highest-grossing Japanese films of all time.
- Toshiyuki Nishida as Zhu Wangli, a commander of the Xi Xia empire
- Kōichi Satō as Zhao Xingde, a student of Zhu Wangli
- Anna Nakagawa as Tsurpia, a princess of an Uyghur kingdom
- Tsunehiko Watase as Li Yuanhao, the Xi Xia emperor
- Takahiro Tamura as Tsao Yanhui
*The Silk Road* was the number one Japanese film on the domestic market in 1988, earning ¥4.5 billion in distribution income that year. It was the third highest-grossing Japanese film up until then, after *Antarctica* and *The Adventures of Milo and Otis*, and remains one of the highest-grossing Japanese films. , the film has grossed a total of in Japan. In the United States, it grossed \$123,959.
- List of historical drama films of Asia
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# A Shot in the West
***A Shot in the West*** is a 2006 low budget Western short film shot in the rundown council estate of Drumchapel, Glasgow. The film was written, directed and edited by three friends (Justin Burns, Bob Kelly and John Maguire). All sound and camera equipment was borrowed from a local community group. Many interior shots were filmed at a local public house, where the crew were allowed to take over the function suite for two and a half days. Catering was supplied by a local bakery. Costumes were either borrowed or provided by the cast.
Once most elements were in place producer/director Bob Kelly approached actor David Hayman to ask for advice. However, David was so impressed by Bob\'s enthusiasm and progress he offered to star in the movie. On the same day Zal Cleminson and Chris Glen from The Sensational Alex Harvey Band were with David Hayman. Being musicians they asked about the soundtrack. Bob informed them the soundtrack would be created by another friend, Stephen Maguire. They offered to help and a meeting and jam session with Stephen was set up. Stephen and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band got on well, so agreed to work on the soundtrack together.
The film follows a lonesome desperado known only as \"Gold Bullet\" as he arrives in a small western town \'Last Valley\' populated by thugs, rogues, gunslingers and businessmen. \"Gold Bullet\" is in town for one reason only, to collect a debt owed to him by a former employer Henry Wynn. Will Wynn give up the money or will it all end in bloodshed?
- Alexander Watson \... Gold Bullet
- Zal Cleminson \... Wilson
- David Hayman \... Henry Wynn
- Ewan Black \... Borrachonne
- Robert Kelly \... Gunslinger #1
- Duncan Wilson \... Gunslinger #2
- Harry Garrity \... Town Drunk
- A Couple Pieces of Silver - Stephen Maguire and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
- Dressed to Kill - Alexander Watson and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band


# Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
***Invasion of the Body Snatchers*** is a 1978 American science-fiction horror film directed by Philip Kaufman and starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, and Leonard Nimoy. Released on December 22, 1978, it is based on the 1955 novel *The Body Snatchers* by Jack Finney. The novel was previously adapted into the 1956 film of the same name. The plot involves a San Francisco health inspector and his colleague who over the course of a few days discover that humans are being replaced by alien duplicates; each is a perfect copy of the person replaced, but devoid of human emotion.
Released in the United States over the Christmas weekend of 1978, *Invasion of the Body Snatchers* grossed nearly \$25 million at the American box office. It initially received varied reviews from critics, though its critical reception has significantly improved in subsequent years, receiving a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and also being hailed as one of the greatest remakes ever, as well as one of the best science-fiction horror films of all time.
A race of gelatinous creatures abandons their dying planet and travels to Earth, landing in San Francisco. They take the form of small pods with pink flowers. Elizabeth Driscoll, a laboratory scientist at the San Francisco Health Department, brings one of the flowers to her home. She awakens the next morning to discover her boyfriend, Geoffrey Howell, acting cold and distant. Driscoll\'s colleague, Matthew Bennell, advises her to visit psychiatrist David Kibner, who is giving a presentation of his new book. As Elizabeth and Matthew drive to the presentation, a hysterical civilian warns them of danger before being pursued by a mob and killed in a hit and run, with his body being observed by emotionless onlookers. At the bookstore, Elizabeth asks Kibner for help regarding Geoffrey, but he theorizes that Elizabeth is using the belief that Geoffrey is behaving differently as an excuse to interrupt their relationship. Meanwhile, Jack Bellicec, an aspiring writer and friend of Matthew, calls Matthew to investigate when a deformed body resembling Jack is found in his wife Nancy\'s mud parlor. Matthew goes to Elizabeth to warn her, but discovers a semi-formed duplicate of her. Matthew rescues Elizabeth and alerts the police, but the duplicates of Jack and Elizabeth disappear before their arrival.


# Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
Elizabeth deduces that the flowers are involved and examines it at the health department, failing to find records of it, whilst Matthew unsuccessfully attempts to alert several government agencies and discovers that several close friends and associates have been duplicated. At night, Matthew and his friends are nearly duplicated as they sleep. Matthew calls the police, but realizes that the department has been duplicated. Matthew destroys the duplicates with an axe before escaping with the others. The \"Pods\" -- extraterrestrials who take the forms of sleeping humans as the originals crumble to ashes -- set off in pursuit of Matthew\'s group. The duplicates emit a shrill scream when they discover a human being among them. Jack and Nancy create a distraction, allowing Matthew and Elizabeth to escape back into the city. Matthew and Elizabeth take refuge in the health department, where they take a large dose of speed, keeping them awake for several more hours. They are soon captured by Jack and Kibner, who were previously duplicated, and injected with sedatives whilst being informed of their intentions for survivability, though their previous dose of speed enables them to escape and kill Jack's duplicate whilst locking Kibner in a refrigerated room.


# Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
Matthew and Elizabeth reunite with Nancy, who has learnt to evade the Pods through hiding her emotions. The two follow her example, but their cover is blown when Elizabeth screams at the sight of a mutant dog with a human face. They separate from Nancy in their escape and quickly board a truck delivering the plants to Pier 70, where the Pods are growing them and intending to ship them overseas to other widely populated cities. Whilst Matthew scouts the area in an attempt to flee aboard a vacant ship, Elizabeth soon falls asleep and is duplicated before the former returns. Horrified and enraged, Matthew breaks into the docks' warehouse and burns down the building, destroying several plants and killing many Pods, before hiding underneath the pier, with more Pods arriving in the area and searching for him, confidently asserting that he will soon fall asleep nevertheless. Soon after, Matthew returns to work at the health department with the duplicated employees, including Elizabeth, and witnesses several schoolchildren being taken for duplication whilst more plants are being prepared for the remaining West Coast cities. Afterwards, Matthew heads towards City Hall and encounters Nancy, who has remained human. When she smiles and calls out his name, Matthew points at her and shrieks, revealing that he is now a Pod person. Nancy, now the only human in the city, screams helplessly.
- Donald Sutherland as Matthew Bennell
- Brooke Adams as Elizabeth Driscoll
- Jeff Goldblum as Jack Bellicec
- Veronica Cartwright as Nancy Bellicec
- Leonard Nimoy as Dr. David Kibner
- Art Hindle as Dr. Geoffrey Howell
- Lelia Goldoni as Katherine Hendley
- Kevin McCarthy as Running Man (McCarthy starred in the original 1956 version as Dr. Miles Bennell)
- Don Siegel as Taxi Driver, Siegel was the director of the 1956 film version.
- Tom Luddy as Ted Hendley
- Stan Ritchie as Stan
- David Fisher as Mr. Gianni
- Tom Dahlgren as Detective
- Gary Goodrow as Boccardo
- Jerry Walter as Henri, Restaurant Owner
- Maurice Argent as Chef


# Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
Philip Kaufman\'s wife Rose Kaufman played Outraged Woman, who argues with Jack at the book party, while Robert Duvall appeared as an uncredited priest on a swing, and Kaufman himself has two uncredited cameos - one as the man who bothers Bennell in a phone booth, and another as the voice of one of the officials whom Bennell contacts.
Director Philip Kaufman had been a fan of the 1956 film, which he likened to \"great radio\", although he had not read the novel until after he agreed to direct the film. \"I thought, \'Well this doesn\'t have to be a remake as such. It can be a new envisioning that was a variation on a theme,\' he said on the film\'s 40th anniversary. The first change he anticipated was filming in color; the second was changing the location to San Francisco. \"Could it happen in the city I love the most? The city with the most advanced, progressive therapies, politics and so forth? What would happen in a place like that if the pods landed there and that element of \'poddiness\' was spread?\"
Cinematographer Michael Chapman worked with Kaufman to try to capture the *film noir* feel of the original in color, reviewing some classics of that genre before production. Some of the elements they borrowed were shots with light giving way to shadow and shooting from evocative angles. They used certain color tinges to indicate that some characters were now pod people. \"When they\'re running along the Embarcadero and the huge shadows appear first, those are sort of classic film noir images\", the director said.
Sound editor Ben Burtt, who had helped create many of the signature sounds from *Star Wars* the year before, also added to the film\'s ambience. Natural sounds that mix with the city\'s more industrial noises give way to just the latter as the film progresses. Among them are the grinding noises of garbage trucks, a common urban sound that slowly becomes horrific as it becomes clear that most of what they are processing is the discarded husks that remain of pre-pod human bodies. Burtt also designed the iconic shriek when pod people see a surviving human, a sound Kaufman said was composed of many elements, including a pig\'s squeal.


# Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
All the special effects were created live for the camera. The scene at the beginning where the pods travel through space from their dead homeworld to San Francisco was one of the simplest. \"I found some viscous material in an art store, I think we paid \$12 for a big vat of it, and then we dropped it into solutions and reversed the film\", Kaufman recalled. The dog with the banjo player\'s face included a mechanism whereby the creature appeared to lick itself.
The film features a number of cameo appearances. Kevin McCarthy, who played Dr. Miles Bennell in the original *Invasion of the Body Snatchers*, makes a brief appearance as an old man frantically screaming \"They\'re coming!\" to passing cars on the street. Though not playing the same character, Kaufman meant McCarthy\'s cameo as a nod to the original movie, as if he had been \"metaphorically\" running around the country since the original film shouting out his warnings. While they were filming the scene, in the Tenderloin, Kaufman recalls that a naked man lying on the street awoke and recognized McCarthy. After learning that they were filming the remake of the original *Invasion of the Body Snatchers*, he told McCarthy that that film was better. \"We were in the middle of shooting the film and we got our first review!\"
The original film\'s director, Don Siegel, appears as a taxi driver who alerts the police to Matthew and Elizabeth\'s attempt to flee the city. Robert Duvall is also seen briefly as a silent priest sitting on a swing set in the opening scene. Kaufman appears in dual roles both as a man wearing a hat who bothers Sutherland\'s character in a phone booth, and the voice of one of the officials Sutherland\'s character speaks to on the phone. His wife, Rose Kaufman, has a small role at the book party as the woman who argues with Jeff Goldblum\'s character. Chapman appears twice as a janitor in the health department.


# Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
McCarthy and Siegel played a role in shaping the film\'s twist ending. Before filming, Kaufman had sought out Siegel for advice, and while the two were talking in the latter\'s office, McCarthy happened to come in. The topic eventually came around to the original film\'s ending, which they regarded as \"pat\". After coming up with the ending he used, he kept it a secret from everyone involved in the filming except screenwriter W. D. Richter and producer Robert Solo. Sutherland was only informed of the scene the night before shooting; Kaufman is not sure Cartwright even knew until Sutherland turned around to point and shriek at her. The studio executives only learned of it when a cut was screened for them at George Lucas\'s house.
The film score by Denny Zeitlin was released on Perseverance Records; it is the only film score Zeitlin has composed. Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead recorded the banjo parts.
Kaufman said of the casting of Nimoy, \"Leonard had got typecast and this film was an attempt to break him out of that\", referring to the similar quirks that Dr. Kibner and his pod double had in common with Spock, the *Star Trek* character that Nimoy was best known for. According to Kaufman, it was Mike Medavoy, then head of production at United Artists, who suggested the casting of Donald Sutherland. Sutherland\'s character had a similar curly hairstyle as that of another character he portrayed in *Don\'t Look Now* (1973). \"They would have to set his hair with pink rollers every day\", recalled co-star Veronica Cartwright. According to Zeitlin, Sutherland\'s character was originally written as an \"avocational jazz player\" early in development.
The director encouraged his actors to fill the spaces between dialogue with facial expressions. \"Often people on the set or at the studio are so worried about just getting content, and content is not necessarily going to make the scene full of humanity or feel compassion and amusement and humor\", Kaufman told *The Hollywood Reporter*. He particularly singled out the way Adams rolls her eyes in opposite directions while she and Sutherland have dinner as something that a pod person could not and would never do.


# Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
### Box office
*Invasion of the Body Snatchers* premiered in the United States on December 22, 1978, showing on 445 screens nationally. Between its premiere and December 25, the film had earned a total of \$1,298,129 in box office sales. It would go on to gross a total of nearly \$25 million in the United States.
On the film\'s 40th anniversary, Kaufman believes the film may have seemed timely when it came out since the Jonestown mass suicide had occurred a month earlier and still dominated the news: \"That was a case of a lot of people from San Francisco were looking for a better world and suddenly found themselves in pod-dom, and it was fatal. It could not have been a more pointed reason for watching the movie.\"

### Critical reception
#### Contemporaneous
*The New Yorker*s Pauline Kael was a particular fan of the film, writing that it \"may be the best film of its kind ever made\". *Variety* wrote that it \"validates the entire concept of remakes. This new version of Don Siegel\'s 1956 cult classic not only matches the original in horrific tone and effect, but exceeds it in both conception and execution.\" Gene Siskel gave the film three stars out of four and said it was \"one of the more entertaining films in what has turned out to be a dismal Christmas movie season\". Kevin Thomas of the *Los Angeles Times* called it \"a thoroughly scary success in its own right. Not literally a remake---it\'s more of a sequel, actually---this handsome, highly imaginative film generates its own implications from Finney\'s sturdy allegory of dehumanization and manages even to have some fun in the process.\"


# Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
### Critical reception
#### Contemporaneous
The film was not without negative criticism. *The New York Times*s Janet Maslin wrote that the \"creepiness Kaufman generates is so crazily ubiquitous it becomes funny.\" Roger Ebert wrote that it \"was said to have something to do with Watergate and keeping tabs on those who are not like you\", and called Kael\'s praise for the film \"inexplicable\", while *Time* magazine\'s Richard Schickel labeled its screenplay \"laughably literal\". Phil Hardy\'s *Aurum Film Encyclopedia* called Kaufman\'s direction \"less sure\" than the screenplay.
The film received a nomination from the Writers Guild of America for Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium. The film was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. It was also recognized by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. Philip Kaufman won Best Director, and the film was nominated Best Science Fiction Film. Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, and Leonard Nimoy received additional nominations for their performances.

#### Subsequent assessment
*Invasion of the Body Snatchers* (1978) has been named among the greatest film remakes ever made, by several publications, including *Rolling Stone*.
Film scholar M. Keith Booker posited that the film\'s \"paranoid atmosphere\" links it to other films outside the science fiction genre, and that it \"bears a clear family resemblance to paranoid conspiracy thrillers like Alan J. Pakula\'s *The Parallax View* (1974)\". Chris Barsanti, in *The Sci-Fi Movie Guide* (2014), praised the performances of Adams and Sutherland, but criticized some elements of the film, writing: \"The subtlety of Donald Siegel\'s original gives way to gaudy f/x and self-consciously artsy camerawork \... the film is overindulgently long, too, though it certainly has its shocking moments.\"


# Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
### Critical reception
#### Subsequent assessment
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has received an approval rating of 92% based on 61 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site\'s consensus reads, \"Employing gritty camerawork and evocative sound effects, *Invasion of the Body Snatchers* is a powerful remake that expands upon themes and ideas only lightly explored in the original.\" On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating \"generally favorable reviews\".
In a 2018 review published by *Complex*, the film was ranked among the greatest science fiction films of all time: \"*Invasion of the Body Snatchers* is doubly impressive; it both improves upon the \'56 film and Jack Finney\'s literary source material with a scarier disposition and more layered character development.\"


# Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
### Critical reception
#### Analysis
The German scholar Christian Knöppler noted that the film was in many ways a lamentation for the end of the counterculture of the 1960s that was especially associated with San Francisco. Philip Kaufman has described the 1960s as a brief moment of time when Americans \"woke up from the conforming, other-directed life\" that he views as characteristic of American life. Both the characters of Matthew and Elizabeth appear to be \"ex-hippies\" who have abandoned their youthful utopian dreams sometime in the 1970s by going to work for the city of San Francisco as health inspectors, thereby becoming part of \"the system\", which foreshadows both characters\' replacement by the pod people. Likewise, the Bellices are products of the counterculture of the 1960s. Jack Bellice wears a shabby U.S. Army jacket and has a deep distrust of the U.S. government, which implies that he was involved in protest movements in the past, perhaps against the Vietnam war. Likewise, Nancy Bellice believes in UFOs and has a fondness for pseudoscientific literature such as Immanuel Velikovsky\'s 1950 book *Worlds in Collision*, which strongly suggests that she believes \"in some sort of New Age esotericism\". Knöppler wrote: \"For the Bellices, the revelation of an inhuman, all-encompassing conspiracy that enforces mindless conformity is hardly a paradigm shift-it is the world they already live in. Consequently, the Bellices and Nancy in particular adopt to the new situation rather quickly\". Notably, Nancy\'s \"esoteric UFO beliefs\" allow her to be the first character to deduce the origins of the pod people and what they are doing, through in the end, the countercultural background of the Bellicies only proves to a marginal advantage as \"they cannot escape assimilation by the pods, they just see it coming\".


# Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
### Critical reception
#### Analysis
The film offers a strong critique of consumerism. The character of Geoffrey spends his free time mindlessly watching television commercials, a trait that is continued by the pod version of him. The pod version of Geoffrey tells Matthew and Elizabeth to accept being replaced because \"nothing changes, you have the same life, the same clothes, the same car\", a statement that implies that materialism is the only thing that matters in life, and which Geoffrey believes will entice Matthew and Elizabeth to accept being replaced. Likewise, the soulless, emotion-free life of the pod people is presented as an improvement by the pod version of Dr. Kibner who says \"You\'ll be born again into an untroubled world. Free of anxiety, fear, hate\". In the 1956 version, the equivalent statement was \"You\'ll be born again into an untroubled world. Free of love, desire, ambition and faith\", a change of emphasis that implies it is only unwanted emotions that are the issue in 1978 as compared to 1956. The film argues that people in 1970s San Francisco were already living in disengaged states, having shallow relationships with other people; instinctively seeking distance from any problems; and being so preoccupied with consumerism that this allows the pod people to take over San Francisco without much of the population noticing what is going on. Notably, when the running man tries to warn Matthew and Elizabeth, they shun him as a nuisance. When the running man is killed by the pod people, Matthew and Elizabeth do not stop their car and instead drive on to Dr. Kibner\'s party to avoid being late, blithely trusting that the authorities will handle the incident. At the party, Dr. Kibner tells Elizabeth \"you want to shut your feelings off, withdraw. Maybe make believe it wasn\'t happening, because then you don\'t have to deal with it\", a diagnosis that she admits is an accurate summary of her issues with Geoffrey . It is not clear if Dr. Kibner is a pod duplicate or not at this point in the film, and accordingly it is impossible to judge if this is a sincere statement or an attempt to keep Elizabeth from learning the truth. Regardless, the film does argue that a trend towards \"emotional disengagement and apathy\" was already prevalent in San Francisco that prefigures the state of being a pod person, who have no feelings at all. Through the pod people are aliens, the film maintains that the state of being a pod person is merely pushing present trends in American life to their logical extremes.


# Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
### Critical reception
#### Analysis
By the 1970s, there were concerns about the decline of the nuclear family and with it traditional American values. Early on, Dr. Kibner states that \"the whole family unit is shot to hell\", which explains the dysfunctional lives of many Americans. Despite the film\'s sympathy for the counterculture, Knöppler notes that the film does seem to express some approval of this thesis, as notably the married Bellices seem more happy than Elizabeth does with her common-law relationship with Geoffrey. The character of Dr. Kibner, a successful author of vapid self-help books, satirizes many of the pop-psychiatry \"self-help gurus\" who were popular at the time. Before any evidence of the pod people has emerged, Jack has only already accused Dr. Kibner of trying to \"change people to fit the world\", a description that equally fits with the pod version of Dr. Kibner. The film expresses much distrust of psychiatrists such as Kibner, who are portrayed as seeking to limit the human experiences and with promoting a deracinated consumerism. Unlike the 1956 version, where the U.S. government is presented as a benign force, which once alerted to the pod invasion, promptly took action by organizing a quarantine of the pod-infested small town of Santa Mira (through this happy ending was added at the insistence of the studio), the government is presented as a far more sinister and malign force in the 1978 version. The pod people have appeared to taken complete control of the state, and ruthlessly use the power of the state to complete their conquest of the earth. Even the few civil servants who have possibly not been replaced appear as ineffective. Knöppler argued that the change in the view of the government from 1956 to 1978 reflected the legacy of the Vietnam war and the Watergate scandal, which caused many Americans to have a jaundiced view of their government.


# Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 film)
### Home video
*Invasion of the Body Snatchers* was released on VHS and DVD in the United States, Australia and many European countries. The film was released on Blu-ray Disc in the United States in 2010 and in the United Kingdom in 2013 by MGM Home Entertainment. Then released once more on Blu-ray by The Shout! Factory in the United States and Canada in 2016 with a 2K scan of the interpositive in addition to new and legacy extras. That release has since been out of print. An Ultra HD Blu-ray was released on November 23, 2021 through Kino Lorber who also re-released the Blu-ray on February 1, 2022.
The Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 59th-scariest film ever made.
The film was parodied in the 2012 *SpongeBob SquarePants* episode \"Planet of the Jellyfish\" featuring characters from Bikini Bottom being replaced by alien clones in their sleep. A brief scene involving Spongebob\'s pet snail Gary having his clone hybridized with a houseplant is a direct reference to the 1978 remake\'s dog hybrid.
In 2018, Starkid Productions would later make a musical that is heavily based on this film named *The Guy Who Didn\'t Like Musicals*.
- List of science fiction horror films
- List of science fiction films of the 1970s
- List of American films of 1978
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# Body Snatchers (1993 film)
***Body Snatchers*** is a 1993 American science fiction horror film directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Gabrielle Anwar, Billy Wirth, Terry Kinney, Meg Tilly, Christine Elise, R. Lee Ermey, and Forest Whitaker. It is loosely based on the 1955 novel *The Body Snatchers* by Jack Finney, with a screenplay by Nicholas St. John, Stuart Gordon, and Dennis Paoli.
*Body Snatchers* is the third film adaptation of Finney\'s novel, the first being *Invasion of the Body Snatchers* in 1956, followed by a second adaptation of the same name in 1978. The plot is centered around the discovery that people working at a military base in Alabama are being replaced by perfect physical imitations grown from plantlike pods. The duplicates are indistinguishable from normal people except for their utter lack of emotion.
Body Snatchers was released on May 15, 1993, and received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the likeliness, realism, and special effects, though it was criticized for its plot.
Steve Malone, an agent from the Environmental Protection Agency, is sent to a military base in Alabama to test possible effects on the surrounding ecological system caused by military actions. With him is his teenage daughter from his first marriage, Marti, his second wife Carol, and Marti\'s half brother Andy. On their way to the base, they stop at a gas station. In the restroom, Marti is threatened by an MP member with a knife. When he notices her fear, he lets go of her, satisfied that she shows an emotional response. Before she leaves the room, he warns her, \"they get you when you sleep\".
Steve and his family move into their new home on the base, and Marti makes friends with the base commander\'s daughter Jenn. On his first day in day care, Andy runs away because he is recognized as an outsider among the other somehow conformist children. He is picked up and brought home by helicopter pilot Tim. Marti and Tim quickly feel attracted to each other. Meanwhile, while examining soil samples, Steve is approached by medical officer Major Collins, who asks him about psychological effects, particularly narcophobia (the fear of sleep), and their possible relation to toxication of the environment. Steve believes that a physiological reaction would be more likely.


# Body Snatchers (1993 film)
In the evening, Marti and Jenn go to the bar attended by the station\'s military personnel, where they meet not only Tim but also the MP who threatened Marti at the gas station. He denies that they ever met before. That night, a group of soldiers can be seen picking giant pods from the river running by the base. When Andy wakes up and enters his mother\'s room, Carol\'s body crumbles to dust, while a naked soulless double emerges from the closet. Nobody believes Andy\'s story that his real mother is dead and the person pretending to be Carol is only an impostor.
The following night, Marti and her father are nearly \"taken over\" too by duplicates emerging from the giant pods. Carol attempts to convince Steve that the takeover is a good thing, claiming that it ends confusion and anger. She also claims that there\'s no place to go, as the events at the base are not an isolated incident. Steve is almost shocked and saddened into compliance, but Marti and Andy drag him out the door. Carol emits a shrill and mechanical scream that alerts other \"pod people\" to the presence of a human being. Now the majority in numbers, they swarm over the base chasing the remaining humans.
After hiding Marti and Andy in a warehouse, Steve enters Major Collins\' office. The hysterical Major tries to call for help, but the line is blocked. While swallowing sleep-prevention pills Collins announces that it is too late to run; all they can do is fight. Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of a group of pod people, led by base commander General Platt. While Steve hides, the pod people try to convince the Major that the individual is not important, and that only conformity can solve the world\'s problems. The Major shoots himself rather than live in such a world.


# Body Snatchers (1993 film)
Steve returns to his children and tells them to follow him, claiming to have found a way out. They drive aimlessly through the military base, as loudspeakers shout out instructions for spreading the invasion by carrying out pods in trucks. Realizing that her father was replicated while he was away, Marti swerves the car to the side and tries to escape with her brother. Tim, who escaped his former comrades who tried to turn him into one of them, suddenly appears and Marti takes his gun and shoots the Steve duplicate. Pod Steve\'s body shrinks into a mass of seething, bloody goo.
Tim manages to get hold of a helicopter gunship, but Marti and Andy are taken away by the pod people. They sedate both of them and take them to the base infirmary where the remaining human beings are being systematically duplicated by pods. Tim is able to rescue Marti, despite her naked pod duplicate trying to seduce him. Incomplete, it dies when he pulls its connecting tendrils off Marti.
Marti and Tim leave the building, pretending to be pod people so they can get to Tim\'s helicopter to escape. However, they are spotted by Jenn, now a pod duplicate, who gets suspicious and tells Marti she saw Andy looking for her. When Marti reacts by displaying emotion, Jenn responds by giving out a pod scream to alert the other pod people. Tim and Marti manage to get in the helicopter and are joined at the last minute by Andy who runs up to them. But right after taking off, Andy, who is actually a pod duplicate, attacks both and tries to bring down the helicopter. After a short scuffle, a heartbroken Marti is forced to throw Pod-Andy out of the helicopter and he gives out a pod scream while falling to his death.
The ending of the film is an ambiguous one. Tim destroys the trucks filled with pods with the helicopter\'s rockets, while Marti confesses her profound hatred in a voice-over narration, thereby hinting at a loss of humanitarian quality. While they land on another base, the words of Marti\'s replaced stepmother earlier in the film can be heard, suggesting that the phenomenon may have already spread beyond the army base: \"Where you gonna go, where you gonna run, where you gonna hide? Nowhere\... \'cause there\'s no one like you left.\"


# Body Snatchers (1993 film)
- Gabrielle Anwar as Marti Malone
- Terry Kinney as Steve Malone
- Billy Wirth as Tim Young
- Meg Tilly as Carol Malone
- Reilly Murphy as Andy Malone
- Christine Elise as Jenn Platt
- R. Lee Ermey as General Platt
- Forest Whitaker as Major Matthew Collins
- Kathleen Doyle as Diana Platt
- G. Elvis Phillips as Pete
- Tonea Stewart as Mrs. Fitzpatrick
Warner Brothers released *Body Snatchers* to only a few dozen theaters, and consequently its domestic gross was a mere \$428,868.
The film marked director Ferrara\'s first venture into the science fiction genre. Producer Robert H. Solo had already produced its 1978 predecessor *Invasion of the Body Snatchers*.
*Body Snatchers* was shown in competition at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, receiving very positive reviews from some critics. Roger Ebert considered it superior to the previous adaptations of Finney\'s famous novel and in his review (February 25, 1994) gave it four stars out of four, praising it for psychological realism and social criticism. Ebert stated \"as sheer moviemaking, it is skilled and knowing, and deserves the highest praise you can give a horror film: It works\". Nick Shager of the horror film review site *Lessons of Darkness* said in his 2006 review of the film, \"this economical horror show still offers a few stunning moments of paranoia-laced terror\". Blake Davis of *KFOR Channel 4 News* said of the film: \"One of the creepiest and most overlooked horror movies made in the past decade, featuring a strong, scary turn by Meg Tilly\".
However, some critics panned the film --- Richard Harrington of *The Washington Post(February 18, 1994) called it \"a soulless replica of Don Siegel\'s 1956 model and Philip Kaufman\'s 1978 update\". Owen Gleiberman noted in*Entertainment Weekly\'\' (February 11, 1994), \"the notion of a military base as a symbol of mindless conformity isn\'t exactly revelatory, and the characters remain sketchy and underdeveloped.\"


# Body Snatchers (1993 film)
Based on 30 reviews, the film holds a 70% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 6.2 out of 10. The site\'s critics\' consensus states: \"*Body Snatchers* may not topple previous adaptions, but it boasts an effective sense of dread and strong characterizations.\"
The largest difference in this version of the story is that it takes place on an Army base in Alabama, unlike a small California town in the original novel and the first adaptation filmed in 1956, or in San Francisco like in the 1978 remake. While the first two films portrayed the tightly organized, conformist \"pod society\" invading a free civil society, Ferrara\'s film, according to *Chicago Sun-Times* film critic Roger Ebert, made a connection between \"the Army\'s code of rigid conformity, and the behavior of the pod people, who seem like a logical extension of the same code\".
*Body Snatchers* is the film which departs the farthest from the original novel, compared to the 1956 and 1978 versions. While Steve Malone, like the doctors Bennell in the earlier films, also has a medical/scientific profession, the main character in this film is his daughter Marti. The character of Becky/Elizabeth (Bennell\'s love interest and his companion during his escape attempt from the invaders) is dropped completely, as are Bennell\'s acquaintances and later antagonists Dr. Kaufman/Kibner and the Belicecs. Re-invented, however, are two elements which had been dropped from the 1978 version: A young boy (named Jimmy Grimaldi in the 1956 version, here Marti\'s half brother Andy) claims that his mother is not his \"real\" mother. Also, the film features a voice-over narration by the main character. Two ideas invented by the 1978 version are picked up here again: The mortal remains of the \"original\" human beings are picked up by garbage trucks, and the duplicates utter an otherworldly scream when they discover a genuine human, thereby calling assistance from other pod people.


# Body Snatchers (1993 film)
The German scholar Christian Knöppler wrote that the 1993 version kept the same basic outline as the previous versions, but altered the story by making a rebellious teenage girl the protagonist while making the male doctor/scientist character who served as the protagonist in the previous versions a secondary character. The replacement of a male protagonist with a female one reflected a trend towards female protagonists in horror films in the 1980s-1990s, often known as the \'Final Girl\' archetype. In many ways, the film tells an especially vicious coming-of-age narrative as Marti\'s family is destroyed and at the end all she has left is her boyfriend Tim. Knöppler noted that Marti\'s family was highly dysfunctional to begin with, and her killing the pod versions of her family members reflected a tendency towards rejecting her own family that was already present even before she encountered the \"pod people\". Knöppler noted that despite the strong female protagonist that there is \"a noticeable undercurrent of monstrous femininity and sexuality\" in the film as it is Carol and the other housewives at the Army base are replaced first and it is Carol who acts as the primary antagonist. The way that the pod version of Carol almost replaces Steve while trying to seduce him suggests a fear of women. Meg Tilly\'s performance as Carol evokes many of the stereotypes associated with malevolent femininity. Another example of a female antagonist is the short-lived pod version of Marti who appears nude before Tim, and notably he hesitates for a moment before killing her to save the real Marti, a scene that Knöppler sees as an expression of \"male sexual insecurity\" that reflects both a fear of and a desire for female bodies. Knöppler also noted that the 1993 version actually showed the replacement progress with a scene where a pod forces its tendrils into Marti\'s body as she struggles against them, a scene that powerfully evokes rape.


# Body Snatchers (1993 film)
Knöppler argued that the film seemed to be a critique of modern American life as the pod people succeed in taking over the Army base because of the military culture of conformity and succeed in replacing families because families are conformist, suggesting it was internal weakness already present that allowed their triumph and the pod invasion only intensifies preexisting trends. Notably, the only characters who are not replaced are Tim and Marti, both of whom are non-conformists and rebels against conformist institutions, namely the military in the case of Tim and the family in the case of Marti. Knöppler noted that it is very telling that when Tim pretends to be a pod person, the only metaphor he can think of to describe the pod community is \"one big happy family\". Unlike other versions of *The Invasion of the Body Snatchers*, the Malone family is portrayed as dysfunctional and fractured at the start of the film, which was very far from the idealized nuclear families presented in the 1956 version. Likewise, the only other family presented in the film, the Platt family, are just as dysfunctional with General Platt a stern martinet, Mrs. Platt an alcoholic and Jen a rebellious teenager who is openly contemptuous of her parents. Knöppler noted that one can trace the perceived decline of the American family over the three versions of *The Invasion of the Body Snatchers*. In the 1956 version, more or less happy nuclear families were presented as the norm; early on in the 1978 version the character of Dr. Kibner declares that \"the nuclear family is shot to hell\"; and in the 1993 version broken and dysfunctional families were presented as the norm. The fact that Carol is replaced first literalizes the resentment felt by Marti towards her step-mother who has already \"invaded\" her family. Some critics see the character of Steve as the \"beleaguered male\" archetype popular in 1990s films trying to hold together his family which is fractured first by Marti\'s rebellion and then by Carol being replaced. However, the fact that Marti is the likeable protagonist while Steve notably fails in protecting his family undercuts this reading


# Body Snatchers (1993 film)
Knöppler also noted that the first film was set in an idealized small town in California while the second film was set in San Francisco, both of which were fairly general representations of American life while the third film chosen to focus on a subculture by moving the story to an U.S. Army base in the South. He argued that by this change in settling the film moved from a critique of American life in general to a critique of a subculture. The Army base is a closed community with a fixed hierarchy and a highly conformist culture, and the film seems to suggest that \"\...the military mentality makes it impossible to distinguish those who are professional soldiers from those who are pods\". One critic sums up the film\'s attitude as: \"It is perhaps an oversimplification to say *Body Snatchers* treats America\'s armed forces with the complete and total contempt they deserve, but to a large degree it is true\". The only exceptions are Major Collins, the base\'s doctor and Tim, a slightly non-conformist helicopter pilot. Tim has killed people during the Gulf War of 1991, but he is portrayed as a sensitive type who is not entirely comfortable with what he has done. Throughout the film, the soldiers at the base appear both conformist and generally threatening, and their faces are usually obscured by dim lighting, limiting their individuality. Likewise, in the scene where the pod version of General Platt confronts Dr. Collins, the former promotes a version of the world without individuality as the best way to end conflict while the pod people say in chorus: \"it\'s the race that\'s important, not the individual\". The emphasis on the collective and \"the race\" subtly evokes fascism. The way that Collins shouts back \"the individual is always important\" before he shoots himself elevates the question of collectivism vs. individualism to an existential level.


# Body Snatchers (1993 film)
Unlike the previous versions, intellectuals are portrayed more favorably with the scientist Steve and Dr. Collins sounding the alarm while the main spokesman for the pod people is General Platt. Knöppler suggests that both the film\'s intellectuals prove to be ineffectual reflects the film\'s general distrust of experts. In the 1978 version, Leonard Nimoy, an actor associated with \"benevolent rationality\" characters was cast as the main spokesman for the pod people while in the 1993 version, R. Lee Ermey, an actor associated with playing \"abusive military authority\" characters played the analogous role. In the first and second films, the main spokesmen for the pod people were men who previously been psychiatrists, suggesting a fear of psychiatry with its power to mold minds. Knöppler argued that the relatively more favorable picture of intellectuals was due to the fact in the previous versions it was the \"pure rationality\" of the pod people associated with science and intellectualism that was their main characteristic while in the 1993 version it was their conformity and collectivism that was their main characteristic. However, despite the film\'s anti-militarism, the conclusion of the film where Tim and Marti wage all-out war against the pod people which Marti justifies in her narration as being \"only human\" suggests a military response is the only rational one to the invasion of the pod people and appears to be imply that war is a natural part of the human condition.
- Top 3 \"Best in-your-face exploitation\" (not ranked) -- Glenn Lovell, *San Jose Mercury News*
- Dishonorable mention -- William Arnold, *Seattle Post-Intelligencer*
- List of science fiction horror films
- List of American films of 1993
- Tibbetts, John C., and James M. Welsh, eds. *The Encyclopedia of Novels Into Film* (2nd ed. 2005) pp 36--39.
-


# Viva Cuba
***Viva Cuba*** is a 2005 Cuban film, directed by Juan Carlos Cremata and Iraida Malberti Cabrera, and written by Cremata and Manolito Rodriguez. It was the first Cuban film to be awarded the 'Grand Prix Écrans Juniors' for children\'s cinema at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
In *Viva Cuba*, a road movie fairy tale, Cremata tackles localized Cuban problems from the literal point of view of the country\'s children. He lowers the camera to the eye level of the film\'s protagonists, Malú (Malú Tarrau Broche) and Jorgito (Jorgito Miló Ávila).
*Viva Cuba* is a Cuban independent film that explores emigration and the effects it can have on children who have to leave friends and extended families behind. Youngsters are often uprooted without being consulted and then must contend with their new surroundings. In one scene, Malú and Jorgito discuss when they might reunite. The best they can hope for is to forget one another as their lives change and they face new pleasures and challenges. The viewer knows they are unlikely to ever see each other again, unless Malú\'s mother can be granted re-entry, which is extremely unlikely given the state of Cuban immigration laws.
*Viva Cuba* takes place in Cuba and the two main characters are Malú, who comes from a middle-class family and is raised by her single mother, and Jorgito, whose mother is a poor socialist and his father an alcoholic. The film uses the two children from two different backgrounds to show how these children symbolize the people of Cuba and whether or not they can predict the outcomes of the future.
What neither woman recognizes is the immense strength of the bond between Malú and Jorgito. Following the death of Malú\'s grandmother, the children find out that Malú\'s mother is planning to leave Cuba to go to another country, where she has a boyfriend, Jorgito suggests they run away and travel to the other side of the island to find Malú\'s father and persuade him against signing the forms that would allow Malú and her mother to leave the country, followed by him saying that if they were to hug strongly, they would be inseparable, even if Malú were to leave Cuba.


# Viva Cuba
Both children are seen preparing for the journey as their social statuses greatly contrast. Malú\'s clean clothes and her plastic drinking cup at breakfast and her toys are compared to Jorgito\'s uncleaned clothes and the use of a metal cup for breakfast. The two children embark on their journey, avoiding the police sent to search for the two of them. The disappearance of both children bring their mothers closer together in their grief.
Jorgito loses the map he brought with him and tensions rise between the two children. Not to mention, Malú sang on stage at a festival that was broadcast over the air. The kids\' parents saw Malú on TV and had the implication that Malú and Jorgito were, in fact, traveling towards the lighthouse. Jorgito then becomes infuriated with Malú.
They insult each other; Malú brings up Jorgito\'s social status, and Jorgito calls Malú\'s mother a slut. However, they were stuck with each other for the rest of the journey. One day, Malú gets hungry, and the two kids find a tent containing tons of food and goods, although they don\'t know who it belongs to. The kids fight over who gets to eat what food until the owner of the tent arrives, asking why they were trespassing. Malú explains their story, while she and Jorgito also try to explain that they didn\'t want to be friends anymore. The owner of the tent tells them that true friends always stay friends, even if they fight, causing Malú and Jorgito\'s bond to reform.


# Viva Cuba
When they reach the lighthouse where Malú\'s father works, the forms had already been signed before she could persuade him otherwise. The parents (minus Malú\'s father), having reached the lighthouse before the kids got there, begin to beat their children and argue among each other. The two children run away from the fight and console each other on a cliff, as a large wave washes over them and the film ends.
After this tough and long journey the children realize at the end that they cannot stop what is going to happen, just the same that the people of Cuba can fight for a change and it probably will not happen. The children then run off and stand on top of a cliff, they hug, and the water storms on top of them. It can be implied that they jumped off because they were unhappy with the outcome. This symbolizing that the people of Cuba during this time were also still unhappy with the way things were going and that they cannot change them. Another implied ending is that after the children hug they jump off the cliff and commit suicide. The end of the film is unknown to what exactly happened whether the children lived or died, just as the future of Cuba during that time was unknown as to whether things would become better or worse. The children symbolize how people of Cuba were reacting during that time. They were unaware of what exactly from the past will impact their future and just how drastic those changes will be towards the future of Cuba.
Taking place in Cuba, Malú is from a middle-class family and her single mother does not want her to play with Jorgito, as she thinks his background is coarse and common-place. Jorgito\'s mother, a poor socialist proud of her family\'s social standing, places similar restrictions on her son. What neither women recognize is the immense strength of the bond between Malú and Jorgito. Following the death of Malú\'s grandmother, the children find out that Malú\'s mother is planning to leave Cuba to go to another country, where she has a boyfriend, Jorgito suggests they run away and travel to the other side of the island to find Malú\'s father and persuade him against signing the forms that would allow Malú and her mother to leave the country, followed by him saying that if they were to hug strongly, they would be inseparable, even if Malú were to leave Cuba.


# Viva Cuba
Both children are seen preparing for the journey as their social statuses are greatly contrasted. Malú\'s clean clothes and her plastic drinking cup at breakfast and her toys are compared to Jorgito\'s uncleaned clothes and the use of a metal cup for breakfast. The two children embark on their journey, avoiding the police sent to search for the two of them. The disappearing of both children bring their two mothers closer together in their grief.
Jorgito loses the map he brought with him and tensions rise between the two children. Not to mention, Malú sung on stage at a festival that was broadcast over the air. The kids\' parents saw Malú on TV and had the implication that Malú and Jorgito were, in fact, traveling towards the lighthouse. Jorgito then becomes infuriated with Malú.
They insult each other; Malú brings up Jorgito\'s social status, and Jorgito calls Malú\'s mother a slut. However, they were stuck with each other for the rest of the journey. One day, Malú gets hungry, and the two kids find a tent containing tons of food and goods, although they don\'t know who it belongs to. The kids fight over who gets to eat what food until the owner of the tent arrives asking why they were trespassing. Malú explains their story, while she and Jorgito also try to explain that they didn\'t want to be friends anymore. The owner of the tent tells them that true friends always stay friends, even if they fight, causing Malú and Jorgito\'s bond to reform.


# Viva Cuba
When they reach the lighthouse where Malú\'s father works, the forms had already been signed before she could persuade him otherwise. The parents (minus Malú\'s father), having reached the lighthouse before the kids got there, begin to beat their children and argue among each other. The two children run away from the fight and console each other by the shore; a silent goodbye. Malú and Jorgito head down a cliff where they are in front of wide ocean as they strongly hug, proving Jorgito\'s words of their friendship being eternal. It is implied that the two children jump off of the cliff, committing suicide, although this is not shown in the movie. It is also arguable that the children have been fantasizing the entire time and the final scene does not actually indicate their corporeal deaths, but the death of their cherished friendship.
The films starts out with a few smaller boys who are playing with fake guns. Later on Malú states that she wants to be the queen of Spain, the children are pretending that they are in the Spanish War, Cuba against Spain. Since the children are playing this as a game, it is interpreted that they do not fully understand the meaning of war and why they exist or what the outcomes are after a war. During the film the parents express how they do not know what Cuba will have for them in the future.


# Viva Cuba
When Malú\'s grandmother dies, Malú overhears her mother on the phone talking to her future husband about leaving Cuba because now that her mother has died there is nothing left for them there. Malú does not want to leave so her and Jorgito take matters into their own hands. As many of the people in Cuba did for their own reasons. Already the film is showing how the children have no say in anything their parents are planning to do, as the people in Cuba have no say in what the future of Cuba holds for them. For the children it is hard when a parent tells them they are going to leave their home, but for some people in Cuba during this time they felt like they had to leave to stay safe. For Malú she had just lost her grandmother and now her mother was telling her that she was going to have to leave all of her friends too. The children do not exactly understand why they cannot change her mother\'s mind so they go in search of her father. For the people of Cuba they cannot understand how someone can dictate them the way that they are being treated. When the children finally reach Malú\'s father he has already signed the papers and Malú is devastated. She cries and says how could he sign the papers when no one asked her if she even wanted to leave.


# Viva Cuba
All of these actions represent the past and the present of what is happening in Cuba. Malú and Jorgito\'s hope is a representation of how the people of Cuba hope their futures will be. It is easily compared to how the two feel about Malú having to leave. Both of the children are hopeful that they can get her father to not sign the papers, just as the people of Cuba are hopeful that Cuba will become a better place. The children are on a journey to get Malú\'s dad to fix the situation, just as the people of Cuba are hopeful and looking for other people to fix the situations that they are currently in. Malú and Jorgito are fighting for something, that is in comparison to, what the people of Cuba are fighting for.
The film became a box office hit and went on to win many awards nationally and internationally as it was displayed at many film festivals around the world, including 2005 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix Ecrans Juniors Award, plus awards in countries as diverse as Australia, Italy, Guatemala, Germany, France, and Taiwan. In 2008, it was shown all over Venezuela. The film was screened at the Sonoma County Cuban Film Festival in Sebastopol, CA, in July 2015.
*Viva Cuba* won 34 national and international awards in all, including:


# Viva Cuba
- Grand Prix Ecrans Juniors, Cannes, 2005
- Best Film award at the International Children Cinema and Television Festival in Taiwan.
- Special Mention, Cinecircoli Giovanili Socioculturale. Giffoni International Film Festival, Italia, 2005.
- Premio en las categorías de dirección, guión, dirección de fotografía y edición. Premio Caracol. UNEAC, 2005.
- Premio especial otorgado por la *Unión de Pioneros José Martí*. UNEAC, 2005.
- Premio de ayuda à la distribución. XIII Festival de Cine de españa y América Latina. Bélgica, 2005.
- Premio à la Mejor Edición. VIII Festival de Cine Infantil. Guayana, Venezuela, 2005.
- Premio à la Mejor Película. VIII Festival de Cine Infantil. Guayana, Venezuela, 2005.
- Reconocimiento Especial de la Agencia Internacional de Noticias Prensa Latina. 27 Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano. La Habana, Cuba, 2005.
- Premio del Oyente de la Emisora radio Progreso. 27 Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano. La Habana, Cuba, 2005.


# Just a Gigolo (1978 film)
***Just a Gigolo*** () is a 1978 West German drama film directed by David Hemmings and starring David Bowie. Set in post-World War I Berlin, it also features Sydne Rome, Kim Novak and Marlene Dietrich in her final film role.
The film was panned by critics and audiences; this led Bowie to quip that it was \"my 32 Elvis Presley movies rolled into one\".
A Prussian officer (David Bowie) returns home to Berlin following the end of the Great War. Unable to find employment elsewhere, he works as a gigolo in a brothel run by the Baroness (Marlene Dietrich). He is eventually killed in street fighting between Nazis and Communists. Both sides claim his body but the Nazis succeed in capturing it and bury him with honours, \"a hero to a cause he did not support\".
- David Bowie as Paul Ambrosius von Przygodski
- Sydne Rome as Cilly
- Kim Novak as Helga von Kaiserling
- David Hemmings as Captain Hermann Kraft
- Maria Schell as Frau von Przygodski
- Curd Jürgens as Prince
- Marlene Dietrich as Baroness von Semering
- Erika Pluhar as Eva
- Hilde Weissner as Aunt Hilda
- Werner Pochath as Otto
- Rudolf Schündler as Oberst Gustav von Przygodski
- Evelyn Künneke as Frau Aeckerle
Around the time of its release, David Hemmings said that *Just a Gigolo* was intended to be \"highly ironic, tongue-in-cheek, about the period\". Marlene Dietrich was persuaded to come out of retirement to make the film, reportedly receiving \$250,000 for two days\' shooting.
It was Bowie\'s first movie role after Nicolas Roeg\'s *The Man Who Fell to Earth* (1976). As Roeg\'s film had played upon Bowie\'s earlier identification with science fiction and alienness, so *Just a Gigolo* fitted his then-current interest in pre-war Berlin, pricked by meeting Christopher Isherwood, whose *Goodbye to Berlin* had inspired the musical *Cabaret*. The city had also been the recording location for Bowie\'s latest studio album, *\"Heroes\"* (1977).


# Just a Gigolo (1978 film)
The singer has variously claimed that he took the role \"as a favour to Hemmings\", who at the time was also planning to produce a documentary of Bowie\'s 1978 concert tour, and because \"Marlene Dietrich was dangled in front of me\". Actually, the two stars never met. Dietrich played her brief part in Paris, where she lived, with the result simply being cut into Bowie\'s scenes that were shot, along with the rest of the film, in Berlin.
The soundtrack of *Just a Gigolo* included jazz and cabaret standards performed by various acts including Pasadena Roof Orchestra, The Manhattan Transfer and the Village People. As well as appearing on screen, Sydne Rome sang a track called \"Don\'t Let It Be Too Long\", by David Hemmings and composer Günther Fischer, while Marlene Dietrich performed the song \"Just a Gigolo\".
Unlike his work on *The Man Who Fell to Earth*, Bowie did contribute a piece of music to the film; his so-called \"Revolutionary Song\" was co-written with musical director Jack Fishman and played by a band called the Rebels. It was released in Japan as a single, which later became something of a collectors\' item.
The film opened in Berlin on 16 November 1978. It received poor reviews and was pulled from cinemas. Hemmings recut the picture for its UK premiere in Leicester Square on 14 February 1979 where, at an ostensibly black-tie affair, Bowie wore a kimono. Reviews were again negative; the *Sunday Mirror* called the film \"all show and no substance\" and considered Bowie \"completely miscast\", while *Time Out* advised its readers to simply \"overlook it\".
In an interview with *NME* in September 1980, Bowie was quoted as saying:
Bowie\'s biographers have labelled the film \"an active pain\", \"an unadulterated flop\", and a \"debacle\". Its reputation among mainstream critics generally remains low, Halliwell\'s calling it an \"international misadventure\... interminable\... clumsily made\", while Leonard Maltin describes it as a \"weird melodrama\". Allmovie\'s Hal Erickson has nevertheless given the film a 3-star rating.


# Just a Gigolo (1978 film)
*Just a Gigolo* was released to DVD in a number of markets in 2004. It was digitally remastered and received its first official release in the United Kingdom in 2021, where it was accompanied by a 54-page booklet on the making of the film.


# The Night Listener (film)
***The Night Listener*** is a 2006 American psychological thriller horror film directed by Patrick Stettner and starring Robin Williams. The screenplay by Armistead Maupin, Terry Anderson, and Stettner is based on Maupin\'s 2000 novel *The Night Listener*, which was inspired by Anthony Godby Johnson.
Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams), a popular gay New York City radio show host, is dealing with a separation from his partner, Jess (Bobby Cannavale). Noone is given a memoir written by teenager Pete Logand (Rory Culkin), which chronicles the many years of sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his parents and their friends. Diagnosed with AIDS, the youth has been adopted by Donna Logand (Toni Collette), the social worker who handled his case.
Noone begins a telephone relationship with the boy and Donna. He and Pete become increasingly close and form a father-son relationship, much to the dismay of Jess, especially after he speaks to Donna and suspects that she was impersonating Pete in some of the telephone conversations. Noone\'s personal secretary Anna (Sandra Oh) adds fuel to the fire by discussing her research into people who fabricate elaborate stories to get attention. Determined to prove the boy exists and his story is true, Noone decides to pay a surprise visit to Pete in his hometown in rural Wisconsin. Noone discovers the return address on Pete\'s correspondence is actually a mail drop. Soon after, while eating in a local diner, he overhears another patron and recognizes her voice as that of Donna. He is stunned to learn that she is blind and uses a guide dog. Noone follows her home and Donna senses he has followed her. She invites him into her home and talks openly about Pete, who she says is currently in the hospital undergoing tests. She assures him he can visit the boy the following day, then suddenly becomes angry and tells him she will not allow him to meet Pete. Increasingly suspicious, Noone contacts all the hospitals in Madison, the location of the nearest facilities, but none have the boy registered as a patient.


# The Night Listener (film)
Noone\'s paranoia about the boy\'s existence grows and, hoping to find proof of his existence, he breaks into Donna\'s home. A police officer arrests him for breaking and entering and then, mistakenly believing Noone to be one of the boy\'s abusers, attacks him with a stun baton before taking him to the station. Noone convinces the police he meant no harm and is released, only to find Donna waiting for him with the news that Pete is dead; also, that he was in a Milwaukee hospital, and was never in Madison. Distressed that Noone doesn\'t believe her, Donna collapses in the middle of a road and tries to hold him with her in the path of an oncoming truck. She then moves everything out of her home and disappears before the police can question her. Noone is now convinced that the boy is a figment of the deranged woman\'s imagination.
In response to a phone call from Donna, Noone goes to a motel where she was staying, and finds Pete\'s stuffed rabbit and a videotape under a blanket. He plays the video of a child, who seems to be Pete, but who could have been anyone. The phone rings and the caller claims to be the boy (but sounds exactly like Donna now), waiting for his mother at the airport. The caller ends the conversation after Noone asks what happened in Donna\'s past and how she became blind and that Donna should get help. Noone just watches the video, deep in thought.
Noone returns to Manhattan and uses his experience to create *The Night Listener*, a new radio story. In the final scene, Donna is searching for a new home in a coastal town, telling the realtor she needs it for herself and her son, who has just lost his leg but will be released the next day. She has drastically changed her appearance and no longer has a guide dog or dark glasses, revealing her blindness was also an act.


# The Night Listener (film)
In *The Night Listener Revealed*, an extra on the film\'s DVD release, Armistead Maupin discusses the inspiration for his novel. In 1992, the author was sent the manuscript of a memoir allegedly written by fourteen-year-old Anthony Godby Johnson, who had been sexually and physically abused by his parents since childhood. Since the galleys included a foreword by novelist Paul Monette, a close friend of Maupin, and an afterword by Fred Rogers of *Mister Rogers\' Neighborhood* fame, he had no reason to doubt the story\'s veracity.
Maupin was impressed with the maturity of the boy\'s writing and called him. The two quickly developed a close telephone relationship, and Maupin frequently discussed the boy\'s various physical ailments (he had been diagnosed with AIDS) with his adopted mother, Vicki Johnson. Several months later, Maupin\'s then-lover Terry Anderson (who co-wrote the screenplay), who had spoken to the boy on occasion, had a conversation with his mother and was struck by how much she and the boy sounded alike. As he became increasingly suspicious about the situation, Maupin became more and more determined to believe the boy really existed. Only after Vicki repeatedly prevented him from visiting the boy did Maupin begin to think he was caught up in a scam.
Following the publication of the novel, a friend of Maupin\'s who wrote for *The New Yorker* instigated an investigation. The story was reported by *20/20*, which revealed that the photo of \"Anthony\" that Vicki had sent to Anthony\'s supporters was a childhood photo of Steve Tarabokija, now a healthy adult and a New Jersey traffic engineer, who was shocked to find his photo being represented to people as the face of Anthony Godby Johnson.

### Box office
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was shown at the Berlin International Film Festival before opening on 1,367 screens in the US, earning \$3,554,134 in its opening weekend. The film went on to gross \$7,836,393 domestically and \$2,785,502 in foreign markets for a total box office of \$10,621,895.


# The Night Listener (film)
### Critical reception
A. O. Scott of *The New York Times* called the film a \"well-meaning, flat-footed screen adaptation that has its creepy, suspenseful moments \... but it shrinks a rich, strange story to the dimensions of an anecdote \... the psychological and intellectual implications that hover over the story are lost in the spooky atmospherics and overshadowed by Ms. Collette\'s off-kilter showboating.\" Mick LaSalle of the *San Francisco Chronicle* described it as \"a movie with lots of heart but no heartbeat \... it feels infected by a malaise \... yet the film has intelligence and integrity and cannot be dismissed.\" Michael Phillips of the *Los Angeles Times* said, \"It\'s a small but crafty and well-acted picture \... The pacing and staging of the later scenes could use a little more electricity and momentum and a little less restraint. Yet *The Night Listener* keeps you watching. And listening.\" David Rooney of *Variety* thought it was \"tediously solemn\" and a \"dawdling mystery thriller that manages to flatten two protagonists that had far more depth in the novel \... Lenser Lisa Rinzler gives the film a somber, elegant look, and Peter Nashel\'s score adds a layer of intensity. But it takes more than a few brooding strings to make a film taut and tense. The pace drags increasingly, trudging through the protracted final reels to a clumsy wrap-up with too many concluding scenes, none of them effective.\"


# Re-cycle
***Re-cycle*** (Cantonese: 鬼域 ***Gwai wik***) is a 2006 horror film directed by the Pang Brothers and starring Angelica Lee. The film was the closing film in the Un Certain Regard program at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. It was also a reunion for the Pangs and the actress Lee, who starred in the Pangs\' 2002 hit *The Eye*. It is a Hong Kong/Thai co-production.
Ting-yin, a young novelist, is struggling to come up with a follow-up to her best-selling trilogy of romance novels. She has not even started on the book yet and her agent has already announced that the next title, *The Recycle*, will deal with the supernatural.
After drafting her first chapter, she stops and deletes the file from her computer. She then starts seeing strange, unexplainable things and finds that she is experiencing the supernatural events that she described in her novel-to-be.
- Angelica Lee as Ting-yin/Chu Xun
- Lawrence Chou as Abby
- Siu-Ming Lau
- Rain Li
- Jetrin Wattanasin
- Cheang Pou-soi
Ting-yin finds herself in a parallel universe where abandoned things end up, including aborted fetuses, which combined with the portrayal of the main character\'s personal demons regarding her own aborted child leads some critics to believe the film carries an anti-abortion message. \"That just happens to be one of the topics in the movie. We are not out to say if abortion is right or wrong\", Oxide Pang said in one interview.


# Cat and Mouse (2003 film)
***Cat and Mouse*** () is a 2003 Hong Kong *wuxia* romantic comedy film directed by Gordon Chan, and starring Andy Lau, Anthony Wong and Cecilia Cheung. The film is loosely based on the 19th century novel, *The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants* by Shi Yukun.
Zhan Zhao (Andy Lau) is a court officer who learns of a plot to assassinate Judge Bao (Anthony Wong). While on holiday he meets a young man named Bai (Cecilia Cheung) who turns out to be a woman. Zhan Zhao tries to recruit Bai to help him stop the assassination of Judge Bao.
Cast
Role
Description
Andy Lau
`Zhan Zhao `
`"Southern Hero"`
Anthony Wong
`Bao Zheng `
`Prefect of Kaifeng, capital of Song Dynasty`
Cecilia Cheung
`Bai Yutang `
`"Brocade-Coated Mouse", 5th sworn "brother"`
Xie Jiaqi
`Lu Fang `
`"Sky-Penetrating Mouse", 1st sworn brother`
Chapman To
`Han Zhang `
`"Earth-Piercing Mouse", 2nd sworn brother`
Lam Chi-chung
`Xu Qing `
`"Mountain-Boring Mouse", 3rd sworn brother`
Cheung Ho-lung
`Jiang Ping `
`"River-Overturning Mouse", 4th sworn brother `
Guo Donglin
`Zhao Jue `
`"Prince of Xiangyang"`
Li Bingbing
`Yuehua `
`Prince of Xiangyang's sworn sister`
Cheung Tat-ming
`Zhao Zhen `
`"Emperor Renzong", 4th emperor of Song Dynasty`
Ma Qianshan
`Empress Pang `
`married to Emperor Renzong`
Ma Zijun
`Pang Ji `
`Song dynasty grand tutor, Empress Pang's father`
Wu Yue
`Pang Yu `
`Grand Tutor Pang's son`
Miao Haizhong
`Gongsun Ce `
`Bao Zheng's secretary`
Wen Yang
`Wang Chao `
`Bao Zheng's officer`
Gao Lei
`Ma Han `
`Bao Zheng's officer`
Jonathan Cheung
`Zhang Long `
`Bao Zheng's officer`
Cui Lin
`Zhao Hu `
`Bao Zheng's officer`
Jiang Guoyin
`Chen Lin `
`eunuch`
Guan Shuntian
`Guo An `
`eunuch`