Directed by Stephen Kessler
Produced by Jerry Weintraub
Written by Screenplay: Elisa Bell
Story: Elisa Bell, Bob Ducsay
Characters: John Hughes
Starring: Chevy Chase, Ethan Embry, Marisol Nichols, Beverly D’Angelo, Randy Quaid
Music by Joel McNeely
Cinematography William A. Fraker
Editing by Seth Flaum
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) February 14, 1997 (USA)
Running time 93 min.
Language English
Gross revenue $36,429,528 (USA)

Vegas Vacation is a 1997 comedy film. It is the fourth film in the original Vacation film series centering around the fictitious Griswold family, following Vacation, European Vacation, and Christmas Vacation. Chevy Chase reprises his starring role as Clark W. Griswold, the patriarch of the family. The film opened at #4 at the box office and grossed over $36.4 million domestically.^[1] This is the only theatrical Vacation film not to be sponsored by National Lampoon.

Plot

At work, Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) has invented a long life food preservative, earning him a large bonus check. Clark announces to his family that he is taking them on vacation. Enthusiasm wanes, however, when Clark says they are headed to Las Vegas, Nevada.

His wife, Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo), and teenage daughter, Audrey (Marisol Nichols) have their doubts, as Las Vegas is not known for its family-friendly atmosphere, while teenage son Rusty (Ethan Embry) appears to be more eager, even asking if prostitution is legal there.

Upon arriving in Vegas, the family embarks upon a series of mishaps and adventures. Clark crosses paths with Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid), the husband of Ellen’s cousin Catherine (Miriam Flynn). Eddie and his family now live in the desert just north of Las Vegas, on what used to be an H-bomb test site.

While on a group tour of the gigantic Hoover Dam, Clark foolishly leaves the group after accidentally creating a leak in the dam’s inside walkways, and is forced to climb the scaffolding to the very top of the dam to get out, because his cries for help cannot be heard over the roaring water of the spillway.

During the vacation in Las Vegas, Clark becomes addicted to gambling (mostly Blackjack, which he usually loses), Rusty gets a fake ID and becomes a winning high roller (taking on the pseudonym ‘Nick Pappagiorgio’), Audrey starts hanging out with Eddie’s wild stripper daughter Vickie (Shae D’Lyn) (and hanging out with impersonators of The Beatles as well), and Ellen becomes addicted to Wayne Newton (playing himself), who may have feelings for Ellen, and it’s making Clark jealous.

After Clark gambles away the family’s $22,600 bank account, Eddie—who has money buried in his front yard—tries to come to the Griswold family’s rescue in return for everything the Griswolds have done for him and his family over the years.

Ultimately, the family begins to fall apart, thanks to Clark’s obsessive gambling, Ellen’s infatuation with Wayne Newton, Rusty’s new winning lifestyle, and Audrey’s desire to engage in exotic dancing with Cousin Vicki rather than spend time with her family.

The Griswolds must learn how to come together as a family, or “Sin City” just might destroy their very fabric.

Near the climax of the film, the Griswolds gamble their last two dollars on a game of Keno. They take a seat next to an older man (Sid Caesar in a cameo) who compliments Clark on his lovely family, and hints that he’s been lonely all of his life. Out of guilt, Clark tells the man to consider himself part of the Griswold family for the night. The man happily accepts Clark’s kind words, and both parties begin the game. At first, the Griswolds are hopeful, but as they realize they’ve already lost the game, they sadly sit for moments in silence. Suddenly, the man next to them ecstatically declares that he’s won the game. As he continues to express joy, he suddenly begins to slip in and out of consciousness while Ellen sends Rusty for help. He awakens one last time and whispers a message to Clark, before dropping his winning ticket and falling one final time. Clark, puzzled, tells Ellen that the man said “take the ticket”. When the casino security guards and paramedics arrive, they declare the man officially dead. They tell the Griswolds his name was Mr. Ellis, and commented on how sad his loneliness was to them. As Mr. Ellis is carried away, a janitor approaches with a vacuum cleaner; walking straight for the winning ticket on the floor. Though it appears Clark is going to allow it to be lost, he at the last moment pulls the ticket out of the path of the vacuum.

Clark and Ellen remarry at the end. Afterwards, Clark hands Eddie a large pile of cash (Eddie can be overheard saying $5000 after counting it) and explains by telling him that “we were very fortunate last night”. Rusty tells Clark of the four cars he had won, a Dodge Viper, a Ford Mustang, a Hummer H1, and a Ford Aspire. Clark takes all the keys away from Rusty, but instead of confiscating them, he gives the keys to each family member. The movie rolls credits as the Griswolds are shown on Interstate 15, driving back home to Chicago.

Cast

Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold
Beverly D’Angelo as Ellen Griswold
Marisol Nichols as Audrey Griswold
Ethan Embry as Russell “Rusty” Griswold
Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie
Miriam Flynn as Cousin Catherine
Shae D’Lyn as Cousin Vicki
Wallace Shawn as Marty
Julia Sweeney as Mirage Reception Person

Cameos

Wayne Newton as himself
Siegfried & Roy as themselves
Toby Huss as young Frank Sinatra impersonator/fake i.d. salesman
Christie Brinkley as “Girl in the Red Ferrari” from the first film
Sid Caesar as Mr. Ellis
Jerry Weintraub as “Gilly from Philly”

Production

The Mirage Resort on the Las Vegas Strip was a major filming location for this movie. It was filmed during the busy tourist season, from mid-June, through late September 1996. Several sections of the movie are filmed at Shenandoah, the home of entertainer Wayne Newton, who also appears in the film.

Nichols and Embry became the fourth different set of actors to play the Griswold children, Audrey and Rusty. This fact is referenced early in the film when Clark Griswold comments that he hardly recognizes his children anymore. The role of Huss was similar to a number of MTV commercials from the early 1990s that featured Huss as a Vegas crooner.

This was the first (and only) theatrical Vacation film in the series to receive a PG rating. The first Vacation film was rated R, while European Vacation and Christmas Vacation received PG-13 ratings. As a result the language, and vulgar/sexual situations as in the previous films do somewhat exist but are much more mild and toned down than the other installments.

Critical reception

The film has received mostly mixed to negative reviews. The film has garnered a “Rotten” rating of 14% on Rotten Tomatoes^[2] and a weighted average score of 20 out of 100 on Metacritic.^[3] However, the film has received a C+ rating at Box Office Mojo and a score on 5.5 on Internet Movie Database.

Despite mixed reviews, Vegas Vacation has found success on DVD and on television.

References

Links

• Vegas Vacation at the Internet Movie Database
• Vegas Vacation at Allrovi

Acest articol este licentiat sub GNU Free Documentation License. Foloseste materiale din Wikipedia.

Directed by Leena Yadav
Produced by Ambika A. Hinduja
Screenplay by Leena Yadav, Shiv Kumar Subramaniam
Story by Leena Yadav, Shiv Kumar Subramaniam
Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Ben Kingsley, R. Madhavan, Saira Mohan, Raima Sen, Shraddha Kapoor, Tinnu Anand, Mahesh Manjrekar
Music by Salim-Sulaiman
Cinematography Aseem Bajaj
Editing by Hughes Winborne, Kaushik Das
Distributed by Serendipity Films
Release date(s) February 26, 2010
Running time 140 mins.
Country India
Language Hindi

Teen Patti (Hindi: तीन पत्ती) is a 2010 Bollywood film directed by Leena Yadav who had previously directed the Sanjay Dutt-Aishwarya Rai starrer Shabd in 2005. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Ben Kingsley, R. Madhavan, Raima Sen, Shraddha Kapoor^[1] and is produced by Ambika Hinduja under the banners Hinduja Ventures and Serendipity Films. The film is about a mathematics professor, played by Amitabh Bachchan, who is trying to write a thesis on probability and relates it to the Indian card game of Teen Patti.

Plot

The story begins with Venkat Subhramaniam (Amitabh Bachchan), a professor of mathematics, software engineering, and a genius, teaching math in his village to kids when a postman comes with a letter. The letter is from Perci Trachtenberg (Ben Kingsley), widely regarded as the world’s greatest living mathematician, who invites Venkat to a high rolling casino in London. Venkat tells Perci about an equation that could not only change the dialogue on mathematics forever, but one that has already left an indelible impression of guilt – for many painful reasons – on Venkat’s life. It is shown in the past that the reclusive genius Venkat has cracked a theory that could redefine the principles of probability and randomness. Venkat tries to use this experiment in a game called Teen Patti, (a poker game) which he plays on the internet. According to this experiment if a player playing Teen Patti knows all the 3 cards with one of the players (except him) he/she can guess the other cards with the rest of the players and therefore can guess who is going to win with the theory of probability.

Venkat succeeds on his theory and submits his report to the institute where he teaches but they reject his report. But Venkat is sure about his theory and wants to try out in reality with real players. So he talks with a younger professor Shantanu (R. Madhavan) about his theory and tells him to get three students to try out this experiment. Shantanu arranges three students- Sid (Siddharth Kher)- the college rockstar, Aparna or Apu (Shraddha Kapoor)- the studious geek who has a crush on Sid and Vikram or Vikku (Dhruv Ganesh)- the boy next door. They come together and start playing the game and Venkat’s theory like the last time proves to be successful. Venkat tells that after a few more games he’ll be sure to crack his equation and even be able to study it better. Shantanu tells him that he should try using his theory in the real world, where there are people who actually gamble and play Teen Patti i.e. in underground dens or ‘addas’.

Although Venkat has no interest in the money that could come from practicing his equation to crack Teen Patti, he eventually succumbs to Shantanu’s charismatic persuasion. Soon, with the help of his new students, they explore the addas (underground gambling dens) of wild Bombay. Later another student from the institute, Abbas (Vaibhav Talwar)- the rich spoiled brat joins the gang and arranges for them parties in casinos, private clubs etc. But what starts out as an experiment between a charismatic young professor and an eccentric older one soon descends into a game neither of them can control. The money they earn gets stolen; someone is blackmailing them; they get greedy about money and in the course of time they change into different people and even start betraying each other. The story tells that money is nothing but hunger; it leads to greed, deception, betrayals which have disastrous consequences in the end.

Cast

Amitabh Bachchan as Venkat Subramanium
Ben Kingsley as Perci Trachtenberg
R. Madhavan as Shantanu Biswas
Dhruv Ganesh as Bikram
Shraddha Kapoor as Aparna
Siddharth Kher as Sid
Vaibhav Talwar as Abbas
Saira Mohan as K.
Raima Sen
Ajay Devgan as Sunny
Jackie Shroff as Tony Milano
Mahesh Manjrekar as Dagdu
Ranjeet
Shakti Kapoor as Prem London
Tinnu Anand as Billu
Siddharth Shanghvi
Nonita Kalra
Bibhu Mohaptra
Eden Shyodhi
Rubina Khan as Sadasas
Maria Gopez as Dancer in Niyat Song

Production

The film is shot in India except for a few parts that in England, for which production designer Ayesha Punvani, created gambling dens (adda) in places like abandoned train yards, dockyards, abandoned factories, mills that have been shut down and an ice factory, and in all 80 sets were created ^[2]

Reception

Teen Patti had a poor opening, being beaten out by My Name Is Khan in the first place and Karthik Calling Karthik in the second place. Even Amitabh Bachchan’s appearance could not help the film to go on. The film was rated as a Box office disaster in its first week. The critical reception was extremely poor as well, receiving almost universally bad reviews. Well known film critic and author Anupama Chopra called it “a train wreck of a movie”.^[3]

References

Links

• Official website
• Teen Patti at the Internet Movie Database
• Teen Patti Reviews

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Directed by Preston Sturges
Produced by Paul Jones, Buddy G. DeSylva (uncredited)
Written by Monckton Hoffe (story), Preston Sturges
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda
Music by Phil Boutelje, Charles Bradshaw, Gil Grau, Sigmund Krumgold, John Leipold, Leo Shuken (all uncredited)
Cinematography Victor Milner
Editing by Stuart Gilmore
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) February 25, 1941 (NYC)
March 21 (general)
Running time 94 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Lady Eve is a 1941 American screwball comedy film.^[1][2] It is about a mismatched couple who meet on a luxury liner, written by Preston Sturges based on a story by Monckton Hoffe, and directed by Sturges, his third directorial effort, after The Great McGinty and Christmas in July. The film stars Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck and features Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette, William Demarest and Eric Blore.

In 1994, The Lady Eve was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Plot

Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck) is a beautiful con artist. Along with her equally larcenous father, “Colonel” Harrington (Charles Coburn) and his partner Gerald (Melville Cooper), she is out to fleece rich, naive Charles Pike (Henry Fonda), the heir to the Pike Ale fortune (“The Ale That Won for Yale”). Pike is a woman-shy snake expert just returning from a year-long expedition up the Amazon. Though surrounded by ladies desperate for his attention, Charles is putty in Jean’s hands.

But even the best laid plans can go astray. First, Jean falls hard for Pike and shields him from her card sharp father. Then, when Pike’s suspicious minder/valet Muggsy (William Demarest) discovers the truth about her and her father, Pike dumps her. Furious at being scorned, she re-enters his life masquerading as the posh “Lady Eve Sidwich”, niece of Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith (Eric Blore), another con man who’s been swindling the rich folk of Connecticut. Jean is determined to torment Pike mercilessly – as she explains, “I’ve got some unfinished business with him — I need him like the axe needs the turkey” – and it doesn’t hurt that Pike’s wealthy businessman father (Eugene Pallette) is impressed by English nobility and eager to promote a marriage between his son and her ladyship. When Pike meets “Eve”, he immediately recognizes her, but is so bewildered he constantly trips and falls over himself. Although Muggsy tries to convince him “she’s the same dame”, Pike reasons that Jean would never come close to his home without at least disguising herself, so he concludes the resemblance is only a coincidence. After a brief courtship, they marry, and on the train to their honeymoon, “Eve” begins to confess her past, dropping name after name after name of old boyfriends and lovers. Pike finally gets fed up and jumps off the train. Now separated, Jean’s con team urges her to close the deal, saying she’s got him over a barrel and can make a killing in a settlement. While Charles’ father and lawyers are on the phone with her pleading to settle quickly, she says she doesn’t want any money at all, just for Pike to tell her it’s over to her face. Pike refuses, and instead gets on a ship back to the Amazon. On the boat, Jean “bumps into” Pike, just as they met before, and they instantly dash to his cabin where they mutually confess their love for each other and the fact they are both married. Muggsy escapes the room, muttering, “Definitely the same dame…”

Henry Fonda from the trailer for the film

Cast

• Barbara Stanwyck as Jean Harrington
• Henry Fonda as Charles Poncefort Pike
• Charles Coburn as “Colonel” Harrington
• Eugene Pallette as Horace Pike
• William Demarest as Muggsy, aka Ambrose Murgatroyd
• Eric Blore as Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith
• Melville Cooper as Gerald
• Martha O’Driscoll as Martha
• Janet Beecher as Janet Pike
• Robert Greig as Burrows
• Dora Clement as Gertrude
• Luis Alberni as Emile, Pike’s chef

Cast notes:

• Aside from William Demarest, members of Sturges’ unofficial “stock company” of character actors who appear in The Lady Eve include Al Bridge, Jimmy Conlin, Robert Dudley, Robert Greig, Arthur Hoyt, George Melford, Torben Meyer, Frank Moran, Victor Potel, Harry Rosenthal, Julius Tannen and Robert Warwick.
• This is the fifth of ten films written by Preston Sturges that William Demarest appeared in.^[3]

Production

The 19-page story by Monckton Hoffe which The Lady Eve was loosely based on was called “Two Bad Hats,” which was also the working title for the film. Sturges was assigned to write a script based on Hoffe’s story in 1938, with Claudette Colbert expected to be the star. Sturges and Paramount producer Albert Lewin had some written disagreement in 1939 about the development of the script, with Lewin writing to Sturges “”the first two-thirds of the script, in spite of the high quality of your jokes, will require an almost one hundred percent rewrite.” Sturges objected, and eventually Lewin gave in, writing: “Follow your witty nose, my boy; it will lead you and me and Paramount to the Elysian pastures of popular entertainment.”^[4][5]

The censors at the Hays Office initially rejected the script that was submitted to them, because of “”the definite suggestion of a sex affair between your two leads” which lacked “compensating moral values.” A later, revised, script was approved.^[4]

The casting of the lead roles for Eve went through some changes. At some point the studio wanted Brian Aherne for the male lead,^[5] and Joel McCrea, Madeleine Carroll and Paulette Goddard were under consideration as of July 1940, but in August 1940 Fred MacMurray and Madeleine Carroll were announced as co-stars. In September, Darryl Zanuck lent Henry Fonda to co-star with Paulette Goddard, who was then replaced by Barbara Stanwyck.^[4]

The Lady Eve was in production from 21 October to 5 December 1940.^[6] According to Donald Spoto in Madcap: The Life of Preston Sturges, Sturges “invariably paraded on [the] set with a colorful beret or a felt cap with a feather protruding, a white cashmere scarf blowing gaily round his neck and a print shirt in loud hues…the reason for the peculiar outfits, he told visitors, was that they facilitated crew members’ finding him amid the crowds of actors, technicians, and the public.” Barbara Stanwyck compared Sturges’ set to “a carnival”. In his biography of Stanwyck, author Axel Madsen wrote that “The set was so ebullient that instead of going to their trailers between setups, the players relaxed in canvas chairs with their sparkling director, listening to his fascinating stories or going over their lines with him. To get into mood for Barbara’s bedroom scene, Sturges wore a bathrobe.”^[5]

Location shooting for the opening jungle scene took place at Lake Baldwin of the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia, California.^[4][7] In that scene, Henry Fonda’s character refers to “Professor Marsdit”, whose last name is an anagram of that of Raymond L. Ditmars of the American Museum of Natural History, a well-known reptile expert and popular science writer of the time.^[8]

The film premiered in New York City on 25 February 1941, and went into general release on 21 March of that year.^[6] It was marketed with a number of taglines, including When you deal a fast shuffle… Love is in the cards.^[9] The film ranked as one of the top ten films of that year in box office sales.^[4]

The Lady Eve was released on video in the U.S. on 12 July 1990, and was subsequently re-released on 30 June 1993.^[10]

Analysis

Barbara Stanwyck from a trailer for The Lady Eve

The clearest theme, and easiest to pick out very early in the film is gender inversion. Jean Harrington is clearly in control of the situation for the majority of the film, until her feelings get in the way of her previous, dubious intentions. Until she realizes that she loves him, there was little sense of the struggle between equals that typifies most romantic comedies.^[11]

The film has been lauded for a unique blend of slapstick and satire.^[12] We see the “fall of man” implied by the title of the film in many ways. First is that literal, that being Pike continuously falling down in various situations, and his “fall from innocence” as he is sucked into the deceptive plots laid out by Jean.^[13]

Sturges also uses deceptiveness in appearance profusely throughout the film. Things as small as the distinction, or lack thereof, between beer and ale to the various disguises of Jean Harrington add depth to the plot line. Even most of the characters have two names (Charles=Hopsie, Jean=Eugenia/Eve Sidwich). This lack of recognition sets the stage for the storyline.

Sturges repeatedly suggests that the “lowliest boob could rise to the top with the right degree of luck, bluff and fraud.”^[14]

Awards and honors

Monckton Hoffe, who wrote the original story for The Lady Eve, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story. In that same year, the National Board of Review nominated the film for “Best Picture,” and the New York Times named it as the best film of the year in their “10 Best Films of 1941″ list.^[15]

In 1994, The Lady Eve was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

American Film Institute recognition

• 2000: AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Laughs #55
• 2002: AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Passions #26

Remake

In 1956, the plot of The Lady Eve was recycled for the movie The Birds and the Bees, starring George Gobel, Mitzi Gaynor and David Niven. Preston Sturges received a co-writer credit for the film, although he did not actually participate in the project.^[16]

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Coursodon, Jean-Pierre, American Directors: Volume I, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983
• Nochimson, Martha, “The Lady Eve and Sullivan’s Travels”, Cineaste, Summer 2002, Vol. 27, Issue 3
• Rowe, Kathleen, The Unruly Woman, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995
• Sarris, Andrew, The American Cinema, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1968

Links

• The Lady Eve at the Internet Movie Database
• The Lady Eve at the TCM Movie Database
• The Lady Eve at Allmovie
• Criterion Collection essay by James Harvey

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Directed by: Gil Cates Jr
Produced by: Michael Arata, Steve Austin, Albert J. Salzer
Written by: Gil Cates Jr, Mark Weinstock
Starring: Bret Harrison, Burt Reynolds, Charles Durning, Vincent Van Patten, Michael Sexton, with Jennifer Tilly and Shannon Elizabeth
Music by: Peter Rafelson
Cinematography: Tom Harting
Editing by: Jonathan Cates
Distributed by: MGM Pictures (USA), Seven Arts Pictures (non-USA)
Release date: 2008
Running time: 85 min
Country: United States
Language: English

Deal is a 2008 drama film starring film actor Burt Reynolds, with Bret Harrison, and Shannon Elizabeth. It tells the story of a former poker player (Reynolds) who tutors a younger player (Harrison). The film’s climax is a fictional World Poker Tour championship.

World Poker Tour commentators Mike Sexton, Vince Van Patten and Courtney Friel play themselves. A number of other professional poker players and poker-playing celebrities, including Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker and Isabelle Mercier are in the cast.

Cast

Bret Harrison as Alex Stillman
Burt Reynolds as Tommy Vinson
Shannon Elizabeth as Michelle
Charles Durning as Charlie Adler
Jennifer Tilly as Karen ‘Razor’ Jones
Maria Mason as Helen Vinson
Gary Grubbs as Mr. Stillman
Caroline McKinley as Mrs. Stillman
Brandon Olive as Ben Thomas
Jon Eyez as Mike ‘Double Diamond’ Jackson
J.D. Evermore as Tex Button
Courtney Friel as Herself
Phil Laak as Himself
Antonio Esfandiari as Himself
Vincent Van Patten as Himself
Scott Lazar as Himself
Chris Moneymaker as Himself
Greg Raymer as Himself
Isabelle Mercier as Herself
Mike Sexton as Himself

Production

The World Poker Tour set was shipped to New Orleans for filming.

During the production, Charles Durning treated the cast and crew to a tour of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans and recounted his own World War II experience at Normandy during the D-Day invasion and in the Battle of the Bulge, where he was wounded and taken prisoner.

Reception

The film received extremely negative reviews by getting 0% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 26 reviews. Metacritic rated it 35% based on 9 reviews.

Box office performance

With a 5 million dollar budget, the movie opened taking $35,281 from 50 theaters ($705 average). As of May 11, it has grossed $61,626 domestically.

The Filmwatchers of America (FOA) have ranked this particular film as the worst movie ever made and ever to be made.

Links

• Official site
• Deal at the Internet Movie Database
• Deal at Rotten Tomatoes
• Deal at Metacritic
• Deal at Box Office Mojo
• Deal at Allmovie

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.