Paramount Pictures
It was a good week for films as a few bona fide classics and some guilty pleasures opened. Take a look at the films that opened this week between 1920 and 2010 and see if any of your favorites are here. Be sure to check out the first episode of our new video series Critic’s Lounge as Chuck Duncan, Justin Moore and Colin Holmes discuss Xanadu!
1920
August 5 – The Girl in the Web
- Cast: Blanche Sweet, Nigel Barrie, Adele Farrington
- Director: Robert Thornby
- Studio: Jesse D. Hampton Productions, Distributed by Pathé Exchange.
August 6 – The Adorable Savage
- Cast: Edith Roberts, Jack Perrin, Richard Cummings, Noble Johnson, Arthur Jervis, Lucille Moulton
- Director: Norman Dawn
- Studio: Universal Film Manufacturing Company
- Trivia: Based on the 1913 novel Marama: A Tale of the South Pacific by Ralph Stock.
August 6 – A Cumberland Romance
- Cast: Mary Miles Minter, Monte Blue, John Bowers, Guy Oliver, Martha Mattox, Robert Brower
- Director: Charles Maigne
- Studio: Realart Pictures Corporation
- Trivia: Based on the 1899 novel A Mountain Europa by John Fox Jr.
Sept 6 – In Folly’s Trail
- Cast: Carmel Myers, Thomas Holding, Arthur Clayton, George B. Williams, Viola Lind, W.H. Bainbridge
- Director: Rollin S. Sturgeon
- Studio: Universal Film Manufacturing Company
August 8 – Crooked Streets
- Cast: Ethel Clayton, Jack Holt
- Director: Paul Powell, Fred J. Robinson
- Studio: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: One of the rare surviving films of star Ethel Clayton with a copy at the Library of Congress; based on a short story, Dinner at Eight by Samuel Merwin.
August 9 – If I Were King
- Cast: William Farnum, Betty Ross Clarke, Fritz Leiber, Sr.
- Director: J. Gordon Edwards
- Studio: Fox Film Corporation
- Trivia: A copy of the film is preserved in the Library of Congress.
August 11 – Earthbound
- Cast: Wyndham Standing, Mahlon Hamilton, Naomi Childers
- Director: T. Hayes Hunter, Claude Camp
- Studio: Goldwyn Pictures
- Trivia: The film’s art director was Cedric Gibbons; a print of the film has been preserved by MGM.
August 11 – Life’s Twist
- Cast: Bessie Barriscale, Walter McGrail, King Baggot
- Director: Christy Cabanne
- Studio: Robertson-Cole Distributing Corporation
- Trivia: 23 sets were built at a cost of $25,000, equal to nearly $340,000 today; Bessie Barriscale played two roles; the film’s status is unknown and may be lost.
1930
August 9 – Sweet Kitty Bellairs
- Cast: Claudia Dell, Walter Pidgeon, Ernest Torrence
- Director: Alfred E. Green
- Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the 1900 novel, The Bath Comedy by Agnes Castle and Egerton Castle; the novel was first adapted for the stage by David Belasco in 1903 and starred Henrietta Crosman; a silent film adaptation starring Mae Murray premiered in 1916; the film was shot entirely in Technicolor but no color prints survive.
1940
August 8 – Boom Town
- Cast: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, Hedy Lamarr
- Director: Jack Conway
- Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Distributed by Loew’s Incorporated.
1950
August 10 – Sunset Boulevard
- Cast: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson, Fred Clark, Lloyd Gough
- Director: Billy Wilder
- Studio: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper and director Cecil B. DeMille play themselves; cameos include Buster Keaton, H.B. Warner and Anna Q. Nilsson; the film was nominated for 11 Oscars and won three (Best Story & Screenplay; Best Art Direction – Black & White; Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture); the film won Golden Globes for Best Picture – Drama, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Original Score; the film was among the first group selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 1989; Hollywood’s first studio, Nestor, opened on the real Sunset Boulevard in 1911; the Norma Desmond character is said to be modeled on several faded silent film actresses such as Mary Pickford and Clara Bow, some suggest the obvious inspiration was Norma Talmadge, while others say the name is an amalgamation of silent film star Mabel Normand and director William Desmond Taylor who was murdered in 1922 in a never-solved case; to avoid censorship, only a few pages of the script were submitted at a time which led to some objectionable lines of dialog being rewritten; the Paramount heads thought Wilder was adapting a story called ‘A Can of Beans’, which didn’t exist, and he was afforded relative freedom to make his film; only the first third of the script was written when filming commenced with Wilder unsure how it would end; screenwriter Charles Brackett said Wilder never considered anyone but Swanson for the role of Desmond, but Wilder suggested he considered Mae West for Desmond and Marlon Brando for Joe Gillis, but no offers were made; the Desmond role was offered to Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer, who rejected the offer because she was retired and hated the script.
1960
August 5 – 13 Ghosts
- Cast: Charles Herbert, Jo Morrow, Rosemary DeCamp, Margaret Hamilton, Donald Woods
- Director: William Castle
- Studio: Columbia Pictures
August 5 – Last Woman on Earth
- Cast: Betsy Jones-Moreland, Antony Carbone, Robert Towne
- Director: Roger Corman
- Studio: Filmgroup
- Trivia: Robert Towne wrote the film but acted under the pseudonym Edward Wain; was shot in color but public domain copies of the film on DVD were made from black and white TV prints; the Internet Archive has a faded color print and Retromedia’s DVD release is from a color-corrected 35mm print; the film is considered one of Corman’s ‘Puerto Rico Trilogy’ with Creature from the Haunted Sea and Battle of Blood Island, shot back-to-back with Last Woman; the film was released as a double feature with The Little Shop of Horrors.
August 7 – It Started in Naples
- Cast: Clark Gable, Sophia Loren, Vittorio De Sica
- Director: Melville Shavelson
- Studio: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: The last film to be released in Gable’s lifetime and his last color film; the film was shot on location in Rome, Naples and Capri, and was nominated for an Oscar for Art Direction.
August 9 – Make Mine Mink
- Cast: Terry-Thomas, Athene Seyler, Hattie Jacques, Billie Whitelaw, Elspeth Duxbury
- Director: Robert Asher
- Studio: Rank Organisation. Distributed by J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors
- Trivia: Based on the play Breath of Spring by Peter Coke, and its sequels; Seyler and Duxbury reprised their roles from the London stage production.
August 10 – Ocean’s 11
- Cast: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, Angie Dickinson
- Director: Lewis Milestone
- Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
August 11 – Song Without End
- Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Capucine, Geneviève Page
- Director: Charles Vidor, George Cukor
- Studio: Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: Vidor died during production and Cukor finished the film; the film is subtitled ‘The Story of Franz Liszt’, and Columbia had plans for a Liszt biopic as far back as 1952 but production and casting issues held the film up for three years; a new screenplay was commissioned in 1955, and pre-production began in 1958; the recording of the film’s music was completed before production so star Bogarde could learn the correct finger movements to appear realistically playing the piano; Bogarde rehearsed his piano techniques for three weeks; the filmmakers made Bogarde look more like Elvis Presley than Liszt, sticking to the popular trend of the late 1950s over historical accuracy; the film won the Best Music Score Oscar, and the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Musical).
1970
August 6 – Goodbye Gemini
- Cast: Judy Geeson, Michael Redgrave, Martin Potter
- Director: Alan Gibson
- Studio: Cinerama Releasing Corporation
- Trivia: The film was also released under the title Twinsanity; based on the novel Ask Agamemnon by Jenni Hall; the film was targeted by the conservative press as an example of everything wrong with contemporary British culture, resulting in protests and theaters refusing to show the film; the film’s US release came on September 25, 1970.
August 10 – Diary of a Mad Housewife
- Cast: Richard Benjamin, Frank Langella, Carrie Snodgress, Lorraine Cullen, Frannie Michel, Katherine Meskill, The Alice Cooper Band
- Director: Frank Perry
- Studio: Frank Perry Films Inc. Distributed by Universal Pictures.
- Trivia: Adapted from the 1967 novel by Sue Kaufman; Neil Young’s song “A Man Needs a Maid” was inspired by Snodgrass’ performance and soon after the release of his 1972 album Harvest, the two became romantically involved for several years; Groucho Marx said the movie was an example of ‘dirty entertainment’ and didn’t like it because the characters were in bed for 80 minutes, making the joke, ‘Well I’m not interested in that. I don’t care what they’re doing in the sack, if I’m not doing it, why should I sit in the theater and watch it?’; the film was nominated for several Golden Globes including Best Picture – Musical or Comedy with Snodgrass winning Best Actress – Musical or Comedy and New Star of the Year; Snodgrass was also nominated for a Best Actress Oscar.
1980
August 8 – The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu
- Cast: Peter Sellers, Helen Mirren, David Tomlinson, Sid Caesar, John Le Mesurier
- Director: Piers Haggard
- Studio: Braun Entertainment Group, Playboy Productions. Distributed by Orion Pictures Corporation thru Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Pre-production began with Richard Quine directing, followed by John Avildsen but both were fired before the script was completed and replaced by Haggard with Sellers handling reshoots; Peter Sellers’ final film, it was released two weeks after Sellers’ death and was a commercial and critical failure; also David Tomlinson’s last film before retiring; Sellers had recorded a 1955 Goon Show titled ‘The Terrible Revenge of Fred Fu-Manchu’ and in the film the character insists friends call him Fred; Sellers’ longtime Pink Panther co-star Burt Kwouk has a cameo as a Fu Manchu minion prompting a joke that Fu thinks he looks familiar; Sellers was not happy with the original script, went off to rewrite it and turned in something that was just a bunch of sketches which horrified the studio, Haggard was given the script to construct into a narrative and got the job but two weeks into production his relationship with Sellers soured and a week before filming was completed, Sellers had Haggard fired with Sellers and his friend David Lodge completing the picture; Sellers was unhappy with his performance due to his ill health and he appears unwell throughout the film; the film has been criticized for contributing to racist Chinese stereotypes, especially with Sellers playing the title character.
Universal Pictures
August 8 – Xanadu
- Cast: Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, Michael Beck
- Director: Robert Greenwald
- Studio: Universal Pictures
HOTCHKA
August 10 – Why Would I Lie?
- Cast: Treat Williams, Lisa Eichhorn, Gabriel Macht, Susan Heldfond, Anne Byrne, Valerie Curtin, Jocelyn Brando, Nicolas Coster, Severn Darden, Sonny Davis
- Director: Larry Peerce
- Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Distributed by United Artists (US/Canada) and Cinema International Corporation (International)
1990
August 10 – Air America
- Cast: Mel Gibson, Robert Downey Jr., Nancy Travis, David Marshall Grant, Lane Smith
- Director: Roger Spottiswoode
- Studio: Carolco Pictures, IndieProd Company. Distributed by TriStar Pictures.
- Trivia: The film is based on Christopher Robbins’ 1979 non-fiction book; the film was advertised as a light-hearted buddy comedy but the film’s dramatic tone differed greatly; director Richard Rush tried to develop the film in 1985 as the first comedy about Vietnam; Sean Connery was attached to play the Gibson role, with Bill Murray, James Belushi and Kevin Costner under consideration for the Downey role; Carolco Pictures sold the project after Connery and Costner became too expensive, and a new script was written with the film’s budget increasing to $35 million with a 500-member crew shooting in 49 locations; production endured two earthquakes and a typhoon; after previews, Gibson and other principal cast members were called back to shoot a new ending; after the Persian Gulf War began in January 1991, the film was withdrawn from distribution in over 100 cinemas throughout Germany; the film received criticism for its inaccuracies and author Robbins said the movie distorted his book’s presentation of the Air America story; the movie received mostly negative reviews save for the flying stunts.
August 10 – Flatliners
- Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon
- Director: Joel Schumacher
- Studio: Stonebridge Entertainment. Distributed by Columbia Pictures.
- Trivia: The film was shot on the campus of Loyola University (Chicago); the film debuted at Number 1, earning $10 million, and grossing a total of $61.5 million in the US against a $26 million budget; a follow-up film was released in 2017 with Sutherland in a starring role; Sutherland indicated he would be playing the same character, Nelson Wright, making this a sequel but when the film was released his character’s name was Barry Wolfson; a deleted scene indicates Sutherland is indeed playing Wright living under a new identity.
August 10 – The Two Jakes
- Cast: Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, Meg Tilly, Madeleine Stowe, Eli Wallach, Rubén Blades, Frederic Forrest, David Keith
- Director: Jack Nicholson
- Studio: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: The film is a sequel to 1974’s Chinatown; Faye Dunaway does a brief voice-over in the film, and the character of Katherine Mulwray, played by Belinda Palmer in Chinatown, returns now played by Meg Tilly; the film’s musical composer Van Dyke Parks also appears in the film as a prosecuting attorney; a third film was planned, but The Two Jakes was not a success so that was scrapped; a script was completed in 1984 for a 1985 release but writer Robert Town objected to producer Robert Evans’ desire to play the Jake Berman role; Nicholson, Evans and Towne had formed an independent production company to make the film and struck a distribution deal with Paramount; production was set to begin in ’84 but Evans objected to having to get a 1940s haircut and was fired, causing Paramount to withdraw from the distribution deal; Nicholson revived the project in the late 80s as director and also rewrote parts of the script; numerous scenes had to be reshot, causing the film’s release to be delayed from Christmas 1989 to August 1980, although Nicholson insisted the picture came in on time and on budget; the film earned nearly a third less than Chinatown with a total of $10 million in the US against a $25 million budget.
2000
August 11 – Autumn in New York
- Cast: Richard Gere, Winona Ryder, Anthony LaPaglia, Elaine Stritch, Vera Farmiga, Sherry Stringfield
- Director: Joan Chen
- Studio: Lakeshore Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Distributed by MGM.
August 11 – Cecil B. Demented
- Cast: Melanie Griffith, Stephen Dorff, Alicia Witt, Adrian Grenier, Larry Gilliard Jr., Mink Stole, Ricki Lake, Patricia Hearst, Kevin Nealon
- Director: John Waters
- Studio: Le Studio Canal+, Polar Entertainment. Distributed by Artisan Entertainment.
- Trivia: The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2000 and opened in France on August 2 before its US premiere; several characters in the film have tattoos of the names of famous directors including Otto Preminger, Andy Warhol, Herschell Gordon Lewis, David Lynch, William Castle and Spike Lee; the film is loosely based on the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst, who has a cameo in the film; Roger Ebert said the film was like “a home movie [with] a bunch of kids goofing off”.
August 11 – The Replacements
- Cast: Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, Orlando Jones, Jon Favreau, Brooke Langton, Rhys Ifans
- Director: Howard Deutch
- Studio: Bel Air Entertainment. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
- Trivia: This was Jack Warden’s last film; the PSI-Net Stadium in Baltimore (now the M&T Bank Stadium) was used as the Sentinels’ stadium in the film; the film was loosely based on the Washington Redskins during the 1987 NFL strike which won three replacement games without any regular players and won the Super Bowl at the end of the season; the multiple-fumble Sentinels touchdown was based on the Holy Roller play between the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers in 1978; John Madden, playing himself, called the Holy Roller play in the film while he was the Raiders’ coach at the time of the actual play.
2010
August 6 – Flipped
- Cast: Madeline Carroll, Callan McAuliffe, Rebecca De Mornay, Anthony Edwards, John Mahoney, Penelope Ann Miller, Aidan Quinn, Kevin Weisman
- Director: Rob Reiner
- Studio: Castle Rock Entertainment. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
- Trivia: Based on the 2001 novel by Wendelin Van Draanen; John Mahoney’s last film appearance before his death in 2018 (he appeared posthumously in Mariette in Ecstacy in 2019); the film’s limited release began August 6 before going wide on September 10.
August 6 – Middle Men
- Cast: Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, Gabriel Macht, James Caan
- Director: George Gallo
- Studio: Oxymoron Entertainment & Paramount Pictures. Distributed by Paramount Vantage.
- Trivia: Based on the experiences of Christopher Mallick of internet billing companies Paycom and ePassport, who has been accused of stealing millions from ePassport customers to fund the film; an orgy scene was cut from the film to avoid an NC17 rating; after the clip was leaked to adult website Pornhub it was included on the home video release; the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2009; two soundtracks were released, one with a musical score by Brian Tyler, and the other with a collection of popular songs by Hall & Oates, Moby, The Rolling Stones, Patsy Cline, Tears for Fears, Outkast and 2Pac.
August 6 – The Other Guys
- Cast: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan, Ray Stevenson, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson
- Director: Adam McKay
- Studio: Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: The film opened in New York City on August 2 before going wide August 6; this was the fourth of five collaborations between McKay and Ferrell, and the only one not co-written by Ferrell; it was also the first of three collaborations between Ferrell and Wahlberg; the film has several cameos including Anne Heche, Horatio Sanz, Thomas Middleditch, Derek Jeter, Brooke Shields, Rosie Perez, Tracy Morgan, and the voice of Ice-T; McKay stated the film came about after seeing the chemistry between Ferrell and Wahlberg at a dinner; Ferrell and Wahlberg appeared by video to the Big Brother Houseguests before they competed in a competition to win a private screening of the film; contestants on America’s Got Talent the week of August 4 also got to see an advance screening of the film and meet Ferrell and Wahlberg; Ferrell and Wahlberg also appeared on WWE Raw to promote the film; the film was also promoted during the lead-up to the release on truTV’s The Smoking Gun Presents: World’s Dumbest, and during the Season 2 premiere of Jersey Shore on MTV; the film won Best Comedy Film at the 2011 Comedy Awards.
August 6 – Step Up 3D
- Cast: Rick Malambri, Adam G. Sevani, Sharni Vinson, Alyson Stoner
- Director: Jon M. Chu
- Studio: Summit Entertainment, Offspring Entertainment. Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
August 6 – Twelve
- Cast: Chace Crawford, Rory Culkin, Curtis Jackson, Emily Meade, Emma Roberts, Erik Per Sullivan
- Director: Joel Schumacher
- Studio: Gaumont, Radar Pictures. Distributed by Hannover House.
- Trivia: Based on the 2002 novel by Nick McDonnell; the film premiered at Sundance on January 29, 2010, where it’s been referred to as ‘the worst movie in the history of Sundance’; the film was in release for just two weeks in the US, earning just $183,920; worldwide the film grossed close to $2.5 million against a $5 million budget.
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