Showing posts with label gangsters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gangsters. Show all posts

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Casino - 1995



Martin Scorsese draws on Nicholas Pileggi's book about Las Vegas in the 1970s and '80s as inspiration for his tale contrasting the city's glamorous exterior with its sordid interior fueled by excess -- and the mob. Against this backdrop, the story chronicles the rise and fall of a casino owner with mob connections (Robert De Niro), his friend and Mafia underboss (Joe Pesci) and an ex-prostitute with expensive taste and a driving will (Sharon Stone).

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Pulp Fiction - 1994



Quentin Tarantino lives in another world and this is, by far, one of it's best imports. An all star cast and a lot of fun this film marks the comeback of John Travolta in a big way.

This film garnered Tarantino and the cast multiple nominations for The Academy Awards, The Golden Globe Awards, The Independent Spirit Awards, and BAFTA placing in on TIME's ALL TIME 100 Movies List.

In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #94 Greatest Movie of All Time.

Ranked #7 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Gangster" in June 2008.

Ranked #1 movie in Entertainment Weekly's "The New Classics: Movies" (issue #1000, July 4, 2008).

Voted #9 on Empire magazine's 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time (September 2008).

A burger-loving hit man (John Travolta), his philosophical partner (Samuel L. Jackson), a drug-addled gangster's moll (Uma Thurman) and a washed-up boxer (Bruce Willis) converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper fueled by director and co-writer Quentin Tarantino's whip-smart dialogue. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time, resulting in one of the most audacious and imitated films of the 1990s.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Scared Stiff - 1953

Scared Stiff (1953) is a musical comedy film starring the team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. One of the 17 movies made by the Martin and Lewis team, it was released on April 27, 1953 by Paramount Pictures and directed by George Marshall. Larry Todd (Dean Martin), and Myron Mertz (Jerry Lewis), cross paths with a gangster named "Shorty" when Larry hits on Shorty's girl. After fleeing from Shorty, they meet an heiress (Lizabeth Scott) who is sailing for Cuba. One unexplained murder and threatening note later, Larry and Myron sail with her to the island. Once there they cross paths with a zombie and other mysterious happenings. Eventually they discover the person behind the mystery and rid the island of him. The movie ends with a cameo appearance by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Some Like It Hot - 1959

Some Like It Hot is an American comedy film, made in 1958 and released in 1959, which was directed by Billy Wilder and starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and George Raft. The supporting cast includes Joe E. Brown, Pat O'Brien and Nehemiah Persoff. The film is a remake by Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond of a 1935 French movie, Fanfare d'Amour, from the story by Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan, which was itself remade in 1951 by German director Kurt Hoffmann as Fanfaren der Liebe. Both the French and German films were without the gangsters that are integral to the plot of Some Like It Hot. Wilder's working title for his film was Fanfares of Love, then Not Tonight, Josephine before he decided on Some Like It Hot as its release title.

During 1981, after the worldwide success of the French comedy La Cage aux Folles, United Artists re-released Some Like It Hot to theatres. In 2000, the American Film Institute listed Some Like It Hot as the greatest American comedy film of all time.