Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #9 :: September 23•29

Walt Disney Pictures

The last full week of September gave us a lot of interesting films throughout the last 100 years. The 1920s gave us already the second remake of a film that has had a few more remakes since then, the 1930s gave us the birth of a comedy trio, the 1940s gave us the second musical pairing of two of MGM’s brightest stars, the 1950s brought a Tennessee Williams play to the big screen for the first time, the 1960s gave us a presidential drama that revealed more than was ever known publicly before, the 1970s gave us a look at the Pearl Harbor attack from both sides, the 1980s gave us the second pairing of Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson, the 1990s gave us a sequel to the 1970s classic The Last Picture Show, 2000 gave us a classic comedy of improvisation and an inspiring movie about dance, and 2010 put Ryan Reynolds in a coffin for his own one-man show. Take a look to see which movies we’re referring to and more, and be sure to click on any of the links to make a purchase or rental to help support Hotchka!

1920

September 25 – Pink Tights

• Cast: Gladys Walton, Jack Perrin, Dave Winter, Stanton Heck, Rosa Gore, Dan Crimmins, Dorothea Wolbert, B. Reeves Eason, Jr., Martin Neilan
• Director: B. Reeves Eason
• Studio: Universal Film Manufacturing Company
• Trivia: A print of the film is archived by the Danish Film Institute.

September 26 – Help Wanted — Male

• Cast: Blanche Sweet, Henry King, Frank Leigh, Mayme Kelso, Thomas Jefferson, Jay Belasco, Jean Acker
• Director: Henry King
• Studio: Jesse D. Hampton Productions, distributed by Pathé Exchange
• Trivia: The film’s status is unknown.

September 26 – Madame X

• Cast: Pauline Frederic, William Courtleigh, Casson Ferguso, Maude Louis, Hardee Kirkland, Alan Roscoe, John Hohenvest, Correan Kirkham, Sidney Ainsworth, Lionel Belmore, Willard Louis, Cesare Gravina, Maude George
• Director: Frank Lloyd
• Studio: Goldwyn Pictures Corporation
• Trivia: Based on the 1908 play by French playwright Alexandre Bisson, which was adapted for the screen in 1910 and 1916 and has been remade several times since 1920. A copy of the film is archived at the George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection.

September 26 – A Splendid Hazard

• Cast: Henry B. Walthall, Rosemary Theby, Norman Kerry, Ann Forrest, Hardee Kirkland, Thomas Jefferson, Philo McCullough, J. Jiquel Lanoe, Joseph J. Dowling
• Director: Allan Dwan
• Studio: Mayflower Photoplay Company, distributed by First National Exhibitors’ Circuit
• Trivia: Based on the 1910 book of the same name. The film’s status is currently unknown but may be lost.

September 27 – Mid-Channel

• Cast: Clara Kimball Young, J. Frank Glendon, Edward Kimball, Bertram Grassby, Eileen Robinson, Helene Sullivan, Katherine Griffith, Jack Livingston, Frank Coghlan Jr.
• Director: Harry Garson
• Studio: Garson Studios, Inc., distributed by Equity Pictures
• Trivia: Based on the 1909 play of the same name by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero which starred Ethel Barrymore on Broadway. The film survives and has been released on DVD.

September 27 – The Wonderful Chance

• Cast: Eugene O’Brien, Martha Mansfield, Tom Blake, Rudolph Valentino, Joseph Flanagan, Warren Cook
• Director: George Archainbaud
• Studio: Selznick Pictures
• Trivia: Also known as The Thug and His Wonderful Chance. The film survives and his known for featuring Valentino as a villain instead of a hero. Scenes from the film were used in the 1961 documentary The Legend of Rudolph Valentino. With O’Brien playing dual roles, this was one of the first films to use the method of double exposure instead of the easier method of split screen. This allowed the actor to appear on the same side of the screen in both roles. The film is archived at the George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection and Museum of Modern Art film archive, and has been released on DVD.

1930

September 28 – Soup to Nuts

• Cast: Ted Healy, Frances McCoy, Stanley Smith, Lucile Browne, Charles Winninger, Hallam Cooley, George Bickel, Shemp Howard, Larry Fine, Moe Howard, William H. Tooker, Fred Sanborn, Billy Barty, Heinie Conklin
• Director: Benjamin Stoloff
• Studio: Fox Film Corporation
• Trivia: The film was written by cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg, who made a cameo as himself. It was the debut of the members of what would become the comic trio The Three Stooges, which at the time included Ted Healy. Fine and the Howards would go on to tour as ‘Howard, Fine & Howard: Three Lost Souls’ from 1930-1932, rejoining Healy in July 1932 for the Broadway revue Passing Show of 1932. Healy quit during rehearsals which prompted Shemp Howard to quit in August, replaced by younger Howard brother Jerry, becoming Moe, Larry & Curly. Splitting from Healy completely in 1934, the trio became The Three Stooges at Columbia Studios. Shemp appears to be the leader of the group in the film, and Moe is actually credited as Harry Howard. The trio sing ‘You’ll Never Know What Tears Are’ a cappella, the first and only time they sang in a film with Shemp.

1940

September 27 – Brigham Young

• Cast: Tyrone Powe, Linda Darnell, Dean Jagger, Brian Donlevy, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Mary Astor, Vincent Price, Jean Rogers, Ann E. Todd, Willard Robertson, Moroni Olsen
• Director: Henry Hathaway
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: Also known as Brigham Young — Frontiersman. The Salt Lake City sequences were actually filmed in California, while the trek across Nebraska and Wyoming was filmed in southern Utah. The picture was a flop, even in Utah.

September 27 – Sky Murder

• Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Donald Meek, Kaaren Verne, Edward Ashley, Joyce Compton, Tom Conway, George Lessey, Dorothy Tree, Chill Wills
• Director: George B. Seitz
• Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Trivia: This was Pidgeon’s third and final outing as Detective Nick Carter, following Nick Carter, Master Detective (1939) and Phantom Raiders (1940).

September 27 – Spring Parade

• Cast: Deanna Durbin, Robert Cummings, Mischa Auer, Henry Stephenson, S. Z. Sakall, Billy Lenhart, Kenneth Brown, Walter Catlett, Anne Gwynne, Allyn Joslyn, Peggy Moran, Reginald Denny
• Director: Henry Koster
• Studio: Universal Studios
• Trivia: A remake of the 1934 German film Frühjahrsparade made by a German subsidiary of Universal Pictures. During filming, Durbin went home after the shoot went past midnight because she didn’t want to work that late, prompting Koster to threaten to quit but the two made up. The film received four Academy Award nominations: Best Cinematography, Best Original Song, Best Musical Score, and Best Sound Recording.

September 29 – Strike Up the Band

• Cast: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Paul Whiteman and Orchestra, June Preisser, William Tracy
• Director: Busby Berkeley
• Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, distributed by Loew’s, Inc.
• Trivia: This was the second in a series of musicals starring Rooney and Garland directed by Berkeley. Jack Albertson appears in an uncredited role. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Sound Recording, Best Original Song (‘Our Love Affair’) and Best Original Score, with Douglas Shearer winning for Sound Recording.

1950

September 27 – Outrage

• Cast: Mala Powers, Tod Andrews, Robert Clarke, Raymond Bond, Lilian Hamilton, Rita Lupino, Hal March, Kenneth Patterson, Jerry Paris
• Director: Ida Lupino
• Studio: The Filmakers, distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
• Trivia: Director Lupino also co-wrote the script. This was the first starring role for Powers, and only the second post-Code Hollywood film to deal with the subject of rape after Johnny Belinda.

September 28 – The Glass Menagerie

• Cast: Gertrude Lawrence, Jane Wyman, Kirk Douglas, Arthur Kennedy
• Director: Irving Rapper
• Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
• Trivia: Based on the play by Tennessee Williams, the first of his plays to be adapted to film, with a screenplay by Williams and Peter Berneis. Jeanne Crain and Ethel Barrymore were the original choices for the female leads. Gene Tierney, Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando, Tallulah Bankhead, Miriam Hopkins, and Ralph Meeker were also considered for the film. Director Rapper wanted Bankhead based on her moving screen test, but studio head Jack Warner worried that her alcoholism would cause issues with the production. The film was adapted for television twice, in 1966 and 1973, and Paul Newman directed a feature film remake in 1987.

September 29 – Mister 880

• Cast: Burt Lancaster, Dorothy McGuire, Edmund Gwenn, Millard Mitchell, Minor Watson, Hugh Sanders, Howard St. John, James Millican, Billy Gray, Larry Keating, Fess Parker
• Director: Edmund Goulding
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: Based on the true story of Emerich Juettner, known under the alias Edward Mueller, who counterfeited only one dollar bills, just enough to survive, careful when and where to spend them, eluding authorities for ten years. Edmund Gwenn won a Golden Globe for his supporting performance and was nominated for an Oscar. Juettner was arrested in 1948 and served four months in prison. He made more money from the movie than he did during his entire counterfeiting career.

1960

September 28 – Sunrise at Campobello

• Cast: Ralph Bellamy, Greer Garson, Hume Cronyn, Jean Hagen, Ann Shoemaker, Alan Bunce, Tim Considine, Zina Bethune, Frank Ferguson, Pat Close, Robin Warga, Tom Carty, Lyle Talbot, David White, Walter Sande, Herbert Anderson
• Director: Vincent J. Donehue
• Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
• Trivia: Based on Dore Schary’s 1958 Tony Award winning play. The film, which details the struggles of the Roosevelt family when future president Franklin is stricken with polio, was produced with the cooperation of the family. Eleanor Roosevelt was on set during location shooting at the Roosevelt estate in Hyde Park, New York. During Roosevelt’s presidency, the extent of his disability was minimized and the film portrayed his paralytic illness to a much greater extent than had been disclosed by the media. While Roosevelt was diagnosed with polio in 1921, his symptoms are more consistent with Guillain–Barré syndrome, which doctors failed to consider as a possibility. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Actress, Best Art Direction (Color), Best Costume Design (Color), Best Sound, with Garson winning the Best Actress Oscar.

September 29 – Surprise Package

• Cast: Yul Brynner, Mitzi Gaynor, Noël Coward, George Coulouris, Michael Balfour, Eric Pohlmann, Guy Deghy, Lyndon Brook
• Director: Stanley Donen
• Studio: Stanley Donen Productions, distributed by Columbia Pictures Corporation

1970

September 23 – El Condor

• Cast: Jim Brown, Lee Van Cleef, Patrick O’Neal, Marianna Hill, Iron Eyes Cody, Imogen Hassall, Elisha Cook Jr.
• Director: John Guillermin
• Studio: National General Pictures
• Trivia: The movie was shot in Almeria, Spain and required construction of a huge adobe fortress that was later used in the films March or Die (1977) and Conan the Barbarian (1982). It was one of the first movies to receive an R-rating.

September 23 – Tora! Tora! Tora!

• Cast: Martin Balsam, Joseph Cotten, E.G. Marshall, James Whitmore, Jason Robards, Richard Anderson, Edward Andrews, Neville Brand, Norman Alden, Ron Masak, G.D. Spradlin, So Yamamura, Tatsuya Mihashi, Takahiro Tamura, Eijirō Tōno, Shōgo Shimada, Koreya Senda
• Director: Richard Fleischer (American sequences); Toshio Masuda, Kinji Fukasaku (Japanese sequences)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox

1980

AVCO Embassy Pictures

September 26 – Hopscotch

• Cast: Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson, Sam Waterston, Ned Beatty, Herbert Lom, Severn Darden
• Director: Ronald Neame
• Studio: AVCO Embassy Pictures
• Trivia: Based on the 1975 novel of the same name by Brian Garfield, who also co-wrote the screenplay. Matthau was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Director Neame has stated that Matthau did not want to film in Germany as he had lost many relatives during the Holocaust, but he wanted his son David and stepdaughter Lucy Saroyan cast in the film, so he compromised. David plays a CIA agent and Lucy plays a pilot. Neame did not expect to get Jackson for the film, but she and Matthau had worked together on House Calls and she was delighted to have the chance to work with him again. For the scenes set during Munich’s Oktoberfest, eight cameras were concealed in strategic locations at the Munich Fairgrounds. The original script reflected the dark tone of the novel and at one point Warren Beatty and Jane Fonda were considered for the leads. Matthau agreed to appear if the script was reworked to fit his own acting style, and Matthau contributed a significant amount to the script, enough that Neame said he could have asked for a writing credit.

September 26 – In God We Tru$t

• Cast: Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Andy Kaufman, Louise Lasser, Richard Pryor, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Severn Darden
• Director: Marty Feldman
• Studio: Universal Pictures
• Trivia: Feldman was also the producer and co-writer of the film. This was the second of a five-picture deal between Feldman and Universal after The Last Remake of Beau Geste, however Feldman died suddenly in 1982 before more films could be made.

September 26 – Resurrection

• Cast: Ellen Burstyn, Jeffrey DeMunn, Roberts Blossom, Eva Le Gallienne, Lois Smith, Sam Shepard, Richard Hamilton, Richard Farnsworth
• Director: Daniel Petrie
• Studio: Universal Pictures
• Trivia: The film received two Academy Award nominations – Best Actress for Burstyn and Best Supporting Actress for Le Gallienne. A novelization of the film was written by George Gipe.

September 26 – Stardust Memories

• Cast: Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, Marie-Christine Barrault, Tony Roberts, Daniel Stern, Amy Wright, Helen Hanft, John Rothman, Anne De Salvo, Leonardo Cimino, Sharon Stone, Brent Spiner, Cynthia Gibb, Armin Shimerman, Laraine Newman, Louise Lasser
• Director: Woody Allen
• Studio: United Artists
• Trivia: The film was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy written directly for the screen. Allen as asserted that the film is not autobiographical. The film was shot at various locations in New Jersey with most of the interiors filmed on sets constructed in a vacant Sears Roebuck building. A vintage train set was built at Filmways Studio in Harlem.

September 26 – Without Warning

• Cast: Tarah Nutter, Christopher S. Nelson, Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Neville Brand, Ralph Meeker, Cameron Mitchell, Darby Hinton, David Caruso, Lynn Thell, Sue Ane Langdon, Larry Storch, Kevin Peter Hall
• Director: Greydon Clark
• Studio: World Amusement Partnership Nr.108, distributed by Filmways Pictures
• Trivia: The film’s original title was It Came … Without Warning. The film is credited as the inspiration for Predator. Kevin Peter Hall played the alien in both films.

1990

September 28 – I Come in Peace

• Cast: Dolph Lundgren, Brian Benben, Betsy Brantley, Matthias Hues, Jay Bilas, Jim Haynie, David Ackroyd, Sherman Howard, Sam Anderson, Michael J. Pollard, Albert Leong
• Director: Craig R. Baxley
• Studio: Epic Productions, Trans World Entertainment, Vision International, Vision PDG, distributed by Triumph Releasing Corporation, Vision International

September 28 – King of New York

• Cast: Christopher Walken, Larry Fishburne, David Caruso, Victor Argo, Janet Julian, Wesley Snipes, Steve Buscemi, Paul Calderón, Giancarlo Esposito, Theresa Randle, Frank Adonis, Harold Perrineau
• Director: Abel Ferrara
• Studio: Reteitalia, Scena International, Caminito, The Rank Organisation, distributed by Seven Arts, Carolco Pictures, New Line Cinema
• Trivia: Permission was granted to film at the Plaza Hotel at no charge if Walken agreed to pose for a picture with fan Ivana Trump.

September 28 – Pacific Heights

• Cast: Melanie Griffith, Matthew Modine, Michael Keaton, Laurie Metcalf, Mako, Nobu McCarthy, Dorian Harewood, Tippi Hedren, Beverly D’Angelo, Carl Lumbly, Sheila McCarthy, Luca Bercovici, Jerry Hardin, Dan Hedaya, Guy Boyd, Nicholas Pryor, Tracey Walter, O-Lan Jones, Miriam Margolyes, D.W. Moffett
• Director: John Schlesinger
• Studio: Morgan Creek Productions, distribtued by 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: While the film is set in the Pacific Heights area of San Francisco, filming locations included Potrero Hill in San Francisco and Palm Springs.

September 28 – Texasville

• Cast: Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms, Cybill Shepherd, Cloris Leachman, Randy Quaid, Annie Potts, William McNamara, Eileen Brennan
• Director: Peter Bogdanovich
• Studio: Nelson Entertainment, Cine-Source, distributed by Columbia Pictures
• Trivia: Based on the novel by Larry McMurtry, the film is a sequel to Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show (1971) with cast members Bridges, Shepherd, Leachman, Bottoms, Quaid and Brennan reprising their roles. Shepherd was attached to the project as early as 1986 while she was starring on Moonlighting. Bogdanovich expressed interest in 1987. Producer Dino De Laurentiis purchased the rights to the book in 1987 while making Illegally Yours with Bogdanovich. The film was to be made during the Moonlighting hiatus but De Laurentiis was experiencing financial troubles, putting production in limbo. In November 1987, De Laurentiis said he did not want to make the movie with Bogdanovich but Shepherd insisted, so he sold the rights to the director. Filming began in August 1989 in Archer City, Texas, the shooting location for the original film (even though that film left a bad taste in the mouths of the locals, they welcomed production — and its money — with open arms). Annie Potts had to commute back and forth to Los Angeles as she was filming Designing Women at the same time. A documentary about The Last Picture Show by George Hickenlooper was filming at the same time. The film failed at the box office, in part because The Last Picture Show had not been made available to the home video market due to extensive music rights and Columbia’s ownership by Coca-Cola, which was not keen on re-issuing a film that featured competitor Dr. Pepper so heavily. The film did get a video release after Texasville was released, with the full support of a new Columbia regime. Bogdanovich was able to recut the movie, adding 28 minutes of dramatic material, for its broadcast on the Movie Channel.

2000

September 23 – The House of Mirth

• Cast: Gillian Anderson, Eric Stoltz, Dan Aykroyd, Anthony LaPaglia, Laura Linney, Terry Kinney, Eleanor Bron, Elizabeth McGovern
• Director: Terence Davies
• Studio: Three Rivers Productions, Granada Productions, Showtime, distributed by FilmFour (UK), Sony Pictures Classics (US)
• Trivia: Adapted from Edith Wharton’s 1905 novel of the same name. Parts of the film were shot at Gosford House in East Lothian, Scotland and at Manderston House in the Scottish Borders. Anderson won the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress.

September 29 – Beautiful

• Cast: Minnie Driver, Joey Lauren Adams, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Kathleen Turner, Leslie Stefanson, Michael McKean, Gary Collins, Herta Ware
• Director: Sally Field
• Studio: Flashpoint, Fogwood Films, Prosperity Pictures, Two Drivers Productions Company, distributed by Destination Films
• Trivia: The film featured beauty pageant contestants Bridgette Wilson (Miss Teen USA 1990), Chuti Tiu (Miss Illinois 1994, America’s Junior Miss 1997), Ali Landry (Miss USA 1996), Jessica Collins (Miss New York Teen USA 1988). The film was met with universally negative criticism, with Roger Ebert stating the film ‘should have gone through lots and lots more rewrites before it was imposed on audiences.’ He also felt Driver was miscast because she didn’t come across as someone who could take beauty pageants seriously.

September 29 – Best in Show

• Cast: Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, John Michael Higgins, Michael McKean, Michael Hitchcock, Parker Posey, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Lynch, Christopher Guest, Larry Miller, Jim Piddock, Fred Willard, Ed Begley Jr., Lynda Boyd, Teryl Rothery, Patrick Cranshaw, Will Sasso, Bob Balaban, Don Lake, Jay Brazeau
• Director: Christopher Guest
• Studio: Castle Rock Entertainment, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
• Trivia: Most of the film was improvised by the cast with little to no planning. The film had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) earlier in September 2000. The film was the inspiration for the National Dog Show which has aired on NBC every Thanksgiving since 2002.

September 29 – Billy Elliot

• Cast: Jamie Bell, Adam Cooper, Julie Walters, Gary Lewis, Jamie Draven, Jean Heywood, Stuart Wells, Stephen Mangan
• Director: Stephen Daldry
• Studio: BBC Films, Tiger Aspect Pictures, Working Title Films, distributed by United International Pictures/Universal Pictures
• Trivia: Adapted from the play Dancer by Lee Hall. 2,000 boys were seen for the role of Billy. Jamie Bell had about seven auditions before being cast. He worked with choreographer Pater Darling eight hours a day for three months before filming commenced. The film premiered at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival under the title Dancer, which was later changed to avoid confusion with Dancer in the Dark, another film playing at Cannes that year. The film was nominated for 13 BAFTAs, winning three, and was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress. .

September 29 – Girlfight

• Cast: Michelle Rodriguez, Jaime Tirelli, Paul Calderón, Santiago Douglas, Ray Santiago
• Director: Karyn Kusama
• Studio: Sony Pictures Releasing/Screen Gems
• Trivia: This was the film debut for both Kusama and Rodriguez. The film premiered January 22, 2000 at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize. Maggie Renzi, Sarah Green and Martha Griffin agreed to produce the film and found a financier to provide the $1 million budget. Two days before pre-production, the financier backed out but Renzi and partner John Sayles provided the film’s budget themselves. The Independent Film Channel later contributed $300,000. Rodriguez had experience as an extra but never had a speaking role. Her audition was a disaster, according to Kusama, but she couldn’t find anyone else with her physical power. Rodriguez trained at Gleason’s Gym five to six days a week for four months to prepare for the boxing matches in the film. Santiago Douglas also went through the same training. Special camera rigs were used to allow the actors to hit the cinematographer or camera to mimic the feeling of being hit. Girlfight was one of the first boxing films to portray women in the sport.

September 29 – In the Mood for Love

• Cast: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, Siu Ping Lam, Rebecca Pan, Kelly Lai, Joe Cheung, Chan Man-Lei, Chin Tsi-ang
• Director: Wong Kar-wai
• Studio: Jet Tone Production, Paradis Films, distributed by Block 2 Pictures
• Trivia: The film premiered on May 20, 2000 at the Cannes Film Festival, and opened in Hong Kong on September 29, 2000. The original Chinese title means ‘Flowery Years’. Tony Leung won the Best Actor award at Cannes, the first Hong Kong actor to win the award. The film was nominated for the Palme d’Or. The film is part of an informal tetralogy which includes Days of Being Wild (1990), 2046 (2004) and Blossoms (2020).

September 29 – Remember the Titans

• Cast: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris, Ryan Hurst, Donald Faison, Craig Kirkwood, Ethan Suplee, Ryan Gosling, Burgess Jenkins, Kip Pardue, Hayden Panettiere, Nicole Ari Parker, Kate Bosworth
• Director: Boaz Yakin
• Studio: Walt Disney Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Technical Black Films, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
• Trivia: The film is based on the true story of coach Herman Boone and his attempts to integrate the T.C. Williams High School football team in Alexandria, Virginia in 1971. Filming took place on the campus of Berry College in Rome, Georgia, as well as at Henry Grady High School and Druid Hills High School in Atlanta, with practice scenes filmed at Clarkston High School in Clarkston, Georgia.

2010

September 23 – You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

• Cast: Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Freida Pinto, Lucy Punch, Naomi Watts, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Ewen Bremner, Neil Jackson, Celia Imrie, Pauline Collins, Anna Friel, Theo James
• Director: Woody Allen
• Studio: Mediapro, Antena 3, Gravier Productions, distributed by Sony Pictures Classics
• Trivia: The film premiered May 15, 2010 at the Cannes Film Festival out of competition. This was the fourth film Allen shot in London. Nicole Kidman was originally cast in one of the lead roles but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with her film Rabbit Hole. She was replaced by Lucy Punch.

September 24 – Buried

• Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Stephen Tobolowsky (voice), Samantha Matthis (voice), Erik Palladino (voice)
• Director: Rodrigo Cortés
• Studio: The Safran Company, Versus Entertainment, Dark Trick Films, distributed by Lionsgate
• Trivia: Reynolds said that he suffered from claustrophobia during production, and the coffin he was in was gradually filled with sand to the point he was actually buried while shooting the film’s climax. He said the last day of shooting was like something he’d never experienced before and never wants to experience again. One of the inspirations for the film was Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope.

September 24 – Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole

• Voice Cast: Jim Sturgess, Emily Barclay, Ryan Kwanten, David Wenham, Anthony LaPaglia, Helen Mirren, Geoffrey Rush, Joel Edgerton, Hugo Weaving, Miriam Margolyes, Sam Neill, Abbie Cornish, Richard Roxburgh, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell
• Director: Zack Snyder
• Studio: Village Roadshow Pictures, Animal Logic, Cruel and Unusual Films, GOG Productions, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures (United States), Roadshow Entertainment (Australia/New Zealand)
• Trivia: Based on the series of books by Kathryn Lasky. The 3D Looney Tunes short Fur of Flying, featuring Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner, accompanied the film. The film was in production for more than three years and was conceived for 3D from the beginning. Hugh Jackman was among the originally announced cast members but was replaced by Sam Neill.

September 24 – Like Dandelion Dust

• Cast: Mira Sorvino, Barry Pepper, Cole Hauser, Kate Levering, Maxwell Perry Cotton, L. Scott Caldwell, Abby Brammell
• Director: Jon Gunn
• Studio: Downes Brothers Entertainment, Lucky Crow Films, distributed by 20th Century Fox.
• Trivia: The film premiered at the Sedona International Film Festival on February 25, 2009. Based on the novel of the same name by Karen Kingsbury. The film won 26 awards at 23 film festivals.

September 24 – Waiting for ‘Superman’

• Cast: Geoffrey Canada, The Esparza Family, The Hill Family, The Jones Family, The Black Family, Michelle Rhee, Bill Strickland, Randi Weingarten, Eric Hanushek, The Zell Family
• Director: Davis Guggenheim
• Studio: Walden Media, Participant Media, distributed by Paramount Vantage
• Trivia: Premiered January 22, 2010 at the Sundance Film Festival. The film had a limited release in New York and Los Angeles on September 24, then opened in wide release on October 1. There is also a companion book, Waiting For ‘Superman’: How We Can Save America’s Failing Public Schools.

September 24 – Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

• Cast: Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, Susan Sarandon, Eli Wallach, Frank Langella, Austin Pendleton, Sylvia Miles
• Director: Oliver Stone
• Studio: Edward R. Pressman Productions, Ixtlan Production, Dune Entertainment, distributed by 20th Century Fox
• Trivia: This was Eli Wallach’s final role. The film had its premiere May 14, 2010 at the Cannes Film Festival. The New York premiere took place on September 20 at the Ziegfled Theater. The film was rumored to be in early pre-production in 2007 but was not officially greenlit until October 2008. Stone had turned down the chance to direct the film but months of pressure from Douglas and others, coupled with the recent stock market crash, convinced him to take the job. The film’s working title was simply Money Never Sleeps.

September 24 – You Again

• Cast: Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman, James Wolk, Victor Garber, Betty White, Billy Unger, Kristin Chenoweth, Kyle Bornheimer, Sean Wing, Cloris Leachman, Dwayne Johnson, Christine Lakin, Meagan Holder, Patrick Duffy, Reginald VelJohnson, Staci Keanan, Daryl Hall, John Oates
• Director: Andy Fickman
• Studio: Touchstone Pictures, Frontier Pictures, distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
• Trivia: This was the last solo Touchstone Pictures project. The rivalry between the characters played by White and Leachman was a reference to their Mary Tyler Moore Show characters. Duffy, Keanan and Lakin provided a mini Step By Step reunion with their appearances in the film.