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Agent Kermit D. Fonz added 1 item to Pop Culture Phenomenon Films: 70’s list
The Black Stallion is a 1979 American adventure film based on the 1941 classic children's novel of the same name by Walter Farley. The film starts in 1946, five years after the book was published.
It tells the story of Alec Ramsey, a boy who is shipwrecked on a deserted island with a wild Arabian stallion that he befriends. After being rescued, they are set on entering a race challenging two champion horses.
The film is adapted by Melissa Mathison, Jeanne Rosenberg, and William D. Wittliff. It was directed by Carroll Ballard and stars Kelly Reno in his film debut, Teri Garr, Hoyt Axton, Michael Higgins and Mickey Rooney with the Arabian horse Cass Ole playing the eponymous Black Stallion.
The film features music by Carmine Coppola, the father of Hollywood producer Francis Ford Coppola, who is credited as executive producer.
In 2002, The Black Stallion was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Stranded on a desert island, with a magnificent horse, Alec Ramsey becomes quick friends with his new equine friend. After their rescue, the box and his friend the horse return back home.
He and the horse, end becoming heroes. A horse trainer, who was a former rider, becomes a reluctant trainer, as they end the horse riding circuit.
Not everyone is thrilled, with the newbie and the horse. Can they win them over? Will they win the big race?
Caroll Ballard and director of photography Caleb Deschanel create a film of consistent visual invention and purity, one that also features a winning supporting performance by Mickey Rooney as a retired jockey and a gorgeous score by Carmine Coppola.
The film, itself is based on a series of books by Walter Farley.
Cass Ole, a champion Arabian stallion, was featured in most of the movie's scenes, with Fae Jur, another black Arabian stallion, being his main double.
Fae Jur's main scene is the one where Alec is trying to gain the trust of The Black on the beach. Two other stunt doubles were used for running, fighting, and swimming scenes.
El Mokhtar, an Egyptian Arabian racehorse, was the producers' first choice to portray The Black, but they were unable to secure his services for the film from his owners, who declined any offers.
He does appear in The Black Stallion Returns, alongside Cass Ole, by which time the studio bought out the syndicate of owners to secure El Mokhtar's services.
Napoleon was portrayed by Junior, that previously appeared in National Lampoon's Animal House as Trooper, Niedermeyer's horse.
The film was followed in 1983 by a sequel, The Black Stallion Returns, which also starred Kelly Reno and Teri Garr.
There was also a television series called The Adventures of the Black Stallion which aired from 1990 to 1993 and starred Mickey Rooney and Richard Ian Cox. In 2003, a 50-minute prequel called The Young Black Stallion, was shot and released for IMAX theatres.
Filmed in and around Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada.6 months ago
Agent Kermit D. Fonz added 1 item to Pop Culture Phenomenon Films: 80’s list
“Killer to the left! Killer to the right! stand up, sit down. Fright, fright, fright!”
In the early 1980s, a series of gruesome murders occurred at Crippen High School.
A few years later, a film crew uses the now-abandoned Crippen High as the set for a film. But an uninvited guest makes an appearance on the set.
Return to Horror High is a 1987 American comedy slasher film written and directed by Bill Froehlich and starring Vince Edwards, Brendan Hughes, Scott Jacoby, Lori Lethin, Philip McKeon, and Alex Rocco.
Told in a nonlinear format, the plot follows a film production crew who begin to disappear while shooting a movie based on an unsolved killing spree that occurred in a high school.
The film features supporting performances from Al Fann, Panchito Gómez, Richard Brestoff, Maureen McCormick, and George Clooney.
The film was given a limited release theatrically in the United States by New World Pictures on January 9, 1987.
The release expanded in April, with its widest release being 227 theatres.
It grossed $1,189,709 at the U.S. box office.6 months, 1 week ago
Agent Kermit D. Fonz added 1 item to Pop Culture Phenomenon Films: 80’s list
Rain Man is a 1988 American road comedy-drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass.
When car dealer Charlie Babbitt learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has an autistic older brother named Raymond and that his father's $3 million fortune is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives.
Motivated by his father's money, Charlie checks Raymond out of the facility in order to return with him to Los Angeles. The brothers' cross-country trip ends up changing both their lives.
Hoffman’s character was based and model after Kim Peak,
who was an American savant. Known as a "megasavant", he had an exceptional memory, but he also experienced social difficulties, possibly resulting from a developmental disability related to congenital brain abnormalities.
Although Peek was previously diagnosed with autism, he is now thought to have had FG syndrome.
The Utah Film Center's Peek Award honors his legacy, with Peak passing away in 2009.
He was also based on Bill Sackler, who was a friend of Morrow, a good friend of Morrow who was the subject of Bill, an earlier film that Morrow wrote.
Depending on who you ask, the film offers one of the more realistic depictions of Autism, and the relationships, between those who have Autism and family and relations, and the general reaction of the outside world towards those with Autism.
Others feel it’s high exploitive regarding the subject matter, and is emotionally manipulative.
As Robert Downey Jr.’s character put it best in a round way, in the film Tropic Thunder, people will willing except aperformance by someone is partially handicapped.
It’s not over the too, and off putting. But if it’s too broad or the actor is trying to play off of the audiences, sympathies. It’s a automatic turn off.
The release of Rain Man in 1988 coincided with a tenfold increase in funding for medical research and diagnoses of individuals for autism.
The latter is primarily due to autism's being more broadly defined in newer editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, particularly version.
The movie is credited, however, with significantly increasing awareness of autism among the general public.
Rain Man is known, in particular, for its portrayal of a man with both autism and savant skills, leading much of its viewing audience to incorrectly assume the intellectual capabilities of autistic people at large.
Characters like Raymond Babbitt, whose characterization has been criticized for adhering to stereotypes, are portrayed as having an otherworldly intellectual ability that, rather than disable them from living a "normal" life, instead assists them in a nearly magical way.
Although having savant abilities is certainly a possibility for autistic individuals, the combination is incredibly rare.
Conversely, Rain Man has also been seen as dispelling a number of other misconceptions about autism, and improving public awareness of the failure of many agencies to accommodate autistic people and make use of the abilities they do have, regardless of whether they have savant skills or not.
The film would become the highest-grossing U.S. film of 1988 by earning more than $172 million. Worldwide figures vary, though. Box Office Mojo claims that the film grossed over $354 million worldwide,[2] while The Numbers reported that the film grossed $412.8 million worldwide.
It was nominated for multiple Oscars, including Best Picture, and best actor, and best director, all which were won.
The film, featured music by Johnny Clegg, Bananarama, and “Iko Iko” performed by The Dixie Cups, and music composed by Hans Zimmer.
6 months, 1 week ago
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Pop Culture Phenomenon Films: 20’s (34 movies items)6 months, 1 week ago
