Directed by Sidney Poitier
Produced by Melville Tucker
Written by Richard Wesley
Starring Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, Harry Belafonte
Studio First Artists
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) July 26, 1974
Running time 104 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $3,000,000 (approx.)

Uptown Saturday Night is a 1974 comedy film written by Richard Wesley, and directed by Sidney Poitier. Poitier also stars in this film, along with Bill Cosby and Harry Belafonte. Cosby and Poitier teamed up again for Let’s Do It Again (1975) and A Piece of the Action (1977). Although their characters have different names in each film, the three films are considered to be a trilogy.

Synopsis

Steve Jackson (Sidney Poitier), a blue-collar worker at a steel mill, has just begun a two-weeks-long vacation. He is convinced by his friend Wardell Franklin (Bill Cosby) to go to a party that Saturday night at Madam Zenobia’s, an uptown nightclub.

While the two are at the party, the club is robbed. The masked bandits force the patrons to strip to their underwear, then steal their money and jewelery, including Steve’s wallet.

The following day, Steve is at home and reading his newspaper when he learns he has won the lottery. However, he realizes that the lottery ticket was in the wallet that was stolen from him, and Steve and Wardell spend the remainder of the film tracking down his wallet by consulting with crooked politicians, fake detectives, con-artists, and underworld crime bosses.

Cast

Sidney Poitier — Steve Jackson
Bill Cosby — Wardell Franklin
Harry Belafonte — Geechie Dan Beauford
Flip Wilson — The Reverend
Richard Pryor — Sharp Eye Washington
Calvin Lockhart — Silky Slim
Rosalind Cash — Sarah Jackson
Roscoe Lee Browne — Congressman Lincoln
Paula Kelly — Leggy Peggy
Lee Chamberlin — Madame Zenobia
Johnny Sekka — Geechie’s Henchman
Lincoln Kilpatrick — Slim’s Henchman #1
Don Marshall — Slim’s Henchman #2
Harold Nicholas — Little Seymour Pettigrew

cameo appearances by:

Ketty Lester — Irma Franklin
Jophery C. Brown — Geechie Dan henchman
Gene McDaniels — Member of the Choir
Ray Parker Jr. — Ray
George Reynolds — Big Percy
Richard Warren — Driver

Television pilot

Shortly after the film’s release, NBC commissioned a pilot for a sitcom version of Uptown Saturday Night,^[1] starring Cleavon Little and Adam Wade, playing the respective roles played by Cosby and Poitier in the film. The pilot did not sell, though it was seen on NBC during the summer of 1979 as part of Comedy Theater, one of many showcases featuring unsold pilots.

References in popular culture

An episode of Martin spoofed the club/robbery scene at Madame Zenobia’s. “Jerome” owns a club called “Club Shiznit” that Tommy and Cole go to visit one night. As armed masked women enter the club and rob everyone “down to the underwear,” one of them overhear Cole murmur to Tommy about being relieved that they did not discover the diamond earrings he was holding for Martin (who had planned to surprise Gina with them upon their return from a trip). The masked woman motions to Cole to hand the earrings over; Tommy tells her to just shoot him for running his big mouth.

The rapper Nas referenced Madame Zenobia’s in his 2006 track “Money Over Bullshit.”

Macedonian house duo Latenta Project released their track “Only One Life” with Apollo Records in 2010 which includes vocal samples and references to Madame Zenobia’s throughout the track, featuring remixes by Those Twins, Artette and Ocean Gaya.

Remake

In 2002, it was announced that Will Smith and his production company, Overbrook Entertainment, had secured the rights to the trilogy for remakes to star Smith and to be distributed by Warner Bros. Smith stated that he hoped to get Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence and other famous African-American stars to be in the films.^[2][3]

The 1996 album Uptown Saturday Night by the rap duo Camp Lo was named after the movie, with one member (Geechie Suede) taking his stage name from the film.

References

Links

• Uptown Saturday Night at the Internet Movie Database
• Uptown Saturday Night at Rotten Tomatoes

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

Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Produced by Jerry Weintraub
Written by George C. Johnson, Jack G. Russell, Harry Brown, Charles Lederer, Scott Corwon, Ted Griffin
Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy García, Julia Roberts, Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Elliott Gould, Eddie Jemison, Shaobo Qin, Carl Reiner
Music by David Holmes
Cinematography Steven Soderbergh
Editing by Stephen Mirrione
Studio Village Roadshow Pictures, JW Productions
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) United States & Canada December 7, 2001, Australia January 10, 2002, United Kingdom February 15, 2002
Running time 116 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $85,000,000
Gross revenue $450,728,529
Followed by Ocean’s Twelve

Ocean’s Eleven is a 2001 comedy-crime caper and remake of the 1960 Rat Pack caper film of the same name. The 2001 film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and features an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy García, and Julia Roberts. The film was a success at the box office and with critics. Soderbergh directed two sequels, Ocean’s Twelve in 2004 and Ocean’s Thirteen in 2007. George Clooney stated in November 2007 that there will not be any additional sequels.^[1]

Plot

Shortly after being released from East Jersey State Prison, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) breaks parole and travels to Los Angeles to meet up with his former partner in crime and close friend Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) to propose a scheme he has in mind. The two head to Las Vegas to pitch the plan to wealthy friend and former casino owner Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould). The plan consists of robbing the Bellagio, The Mirage, and the MGM Grand casinos. Tishkoff’s familiarity with casino security makes him very reluctant to get involved, but when he begins to think of it as a good way to get back at his rival, Terry Benedict (Andy García), who owns the three casinos, Tishkoff agrees to finance the operation. Because the casinos are required by the Nevada Gaming Commission to have enough cash on hand to cover all their patrons’ bets, the three predict that, on the upcoming night of a highly anticipated boxing match, the Bellagio vault will contain more than $150 million. Ocean and Ryan recruit eight former colleagues and criminal specialists, including Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), a young and talented pick-pocket thief. Several of the team members carry out reconnaissance at the Bellagio to learn as much as possible about the security, the routines and behaviors of the casino staff, and the building itself. Others create a precise replica of the vault with which to practice maneuvering through its formidable security systems. During this planning phase, the team discovers that Ocean’s ex-wife, Tess (Julia Roberts), is Benedict’s girlfriend. Ryan urges Ocean to give up on the plan, believing Ocean incapable of sound judgement while Tess is involved, but Ocean refuses.

When the plan is put in motion, Ocean goes to the Bellagio in order to be seen by Benedict, who, as expected, has him locked in a storeroom to be beaten by a bouncer called Bruiser. Ocean, however, knows Bruiser, and he allows Ocean to leave through a ventilation shaft, to meet with his team in the vault. Linus Caldwell poses as a gaming commission agent, confronts Benedict on hiring Frank Catton as an ex-con, and in the process lifting the security code to the vault from Benedict. From there Caldwell and Catton staged a faux confrontation to allow Linus to slip away into the vault after the incident. Yen is smuggled into the vault by the Malloy brothers, to assist in triggering the explosive from the inside. Saul Bloom sneaks explosive into the casino vault by posing as an international arms dealer needing especially secure safekeeping for his valuables, and then stages a heart attack that was treated by Ryan posing as a doctor.

The team activates a stolen pinch device to temporarily disrupt the casino’s electrical power, allowing them to breach the vault undetected. As Benedict attempts to restore order following the power outage, Ryan anonymously calls him on a cell phone that Ocean had earlier planted in Tess’s coat. Ryan tells him that the vaults are being raided, and that all the money will be destroyed if Benedict does not cooperate in loading half the money into a van waiting outside. Benedict observes video footage of the vault that confirms Ryan’s claims, and complies in moving the money, but orders his men to follow the van after it departs, and calls a S.W.A.T. team to secure the vault. The S.W.A.T. team’s arrival results in a shootout which causes the incineration of the half of the money left in the vault. After assuring Benedict that the casino is secure, the officers depart.

Terry realizes that the vault video feed was faked when he notices that the floors shown in the video lacked Bellagio logos, which had only very recently been added to the floors in the vault. The men following the van discover that it is being driven remotely, and that, instead of money, it contains duffel bags full of flyers advertising prostitutes. A flashback reveals that Ocean had used the vault replica to create the fake video Benedict had seen; the rest of the team posed as S.W.A.T. officers, and took all of the money in the vault when responding to Benedict’s call for police assistance. Benedict then returns to the room where he left Ocean and finds him still there, leaving him with no way to connect Ocean to the theft. Ocean offers to assist Benedict in finding the money on the condition that he give up Tess, to which Benedict agrees. It is then revealed that his team had routed live footage of this conversation to Tess’s suite. Angry at being used by Benedict, she leaves him and returns to Ocean. Benedict tips off the police, who arrest Ocean for violating parole, and Ocean spends some months in prison. When he is released, he is met by Ryan and Tess, and the three drive off, closely followed by Benedict’s bodyguards.

Cast

Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy García, Julia Roberts, and Steven Soderbergh in December 2001

Ocean’s Eleven

In order of recruitment:

George Clooney as Danny Ocean – “The Idea Man” (Conman)
Bernie Mac as Frank Catton – “The Inside Man” (Card Dealer)
Brad Pitt as Rusty Ryan – “The Detail Man” (Ace Card-Sharp)
Elliott Gould as Reuben Tishkoff – “The Bankroll” (Casino Mogul)
Casey Affleck as Virgil Malloy – “The Getaway” (Frontman)
Scott Caan as Turk Malloy – “The Getaway” (Frontman)
Eddie Jemison as Livingston Dell – “The Eye In The Sky” (Surveillance man)
Don Cheadle as Basher Tarr – “The Basher” (Explosives Expert)
Shaobo Qin as “The Amazing” Yen – “The Grease Man” (Chinese Acrobat)
Carl Reiner as Saul Bloom – “The High Roller” (Retired Thief)
Matt Damon as Linus Caldwell – “The Rookie” (Pickpocket)

Others

Andy García as Terry Benedict – “The Target” (Casino Magnate)
Julia Roberts as Tess Ocean – “The Wild Card” (Museum Curator)

Cameos

Five television actors make cameos as themselves, being taught how to play poker by Rusty:
* Holly Marie Combs
* Topher Grace
* Joshua Jackson
* Barry Watson
* Shane West
Steven Soderbergh as one of the bank robbers with Basher
Siegfried and Roy as themselves
Wayne Newton as himself
Henry Silva and Angie Dickinson as themselves (both appeared in the original)
Vitali Klitschko as himself
Lennox Lewis as himself
Jerry Weintraub as a high-roller gamblera[›]

Cons described

In the beginning of the film, when they begin to work on the plan for the casino heist, Rusty (Pitt) says to Danny (Clooney),

This list of cons was created by director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Ted Griffin to describe the type of people and cons needed to knock over the three casinos.^[2]

References

Links

• Official website
• Ocean’s Eleven at Allmovie
• Ocean’s Eleven at the Internet Movie Database
• Ocean’s Eleven at Rotten Tomatoes

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.