John Schlesinger
Also Known As: 존 슐레진저
Biography: John Richard Schlesinger, CBE, was an English film and stage director, and actor. He won an Academy Award for Best Director for Midnight Cowboy, and was nominated for two other films (Darling and Sunday Bloody Sunday). Schlesinger was born in London, into a middle class Jewish family. His acting career began in the 1950s and consisted of supporting roles in British films and television productions. He began his directorial career in 1956 with the short documentary Sunday in the Park about London's Hyde Park. In 1958, Schlesinger created a documentary on Benjamin Britten and the Aldeburgh Festival for the BBC's Monitor TV programme, including rehearsals of the children's opera Noye's Fludde featuring a young Michael Crawford. By the 1960s, he had virtually given up acting to concentrate on a directing career, and another of his earlier directorial efforts, the British Transport Films' documentary Terminus (1961), gained a Venice Film Festival Gold Lion and a British Academy Award. His first two fiction films, A Kind of Loving (1962) and Billy Liar (1963) were set in the North of England. A Kind of Loving won the Golden Bear award at the 12th Berlinale in 1962. His third feature film, Darling (1965), tartly described the modern, urban way of life in London and was one of the first films about 'swinging London'. Schlesinger's next film was the period drama Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's popular novel accentuated by beautiful English country locations. Both films (and Billy Liar) featured Julie Christie as the female lead. Schlesinger's next film, Midnight Cowboy (1969), was internationally acclaimed. A story of two hustlers living on the fringe in the bad side of New York City, it was Schlesinger's first film shot in the US, and it won Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture. During the 1970s, he made an array of films that were mainly about loners, losers and people outside the clean world, such as Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), The Day of the Locust (1975), Marathon Man (1976) and Yanks (1979). Later, came the major box office and critical failure of Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), followed by films that attracted mixed responses from the public From 1973, he was an associate director of the Royal National Theatre, where he produced George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House (1975). He also directed several operas, beginning with Les contes d'Hoffmann (1980) and Der Rosenkavalier (1984), both at Covent Garden. Schlesinger was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to film in 1970. In 2003, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.
Department: Directing
Place of Birth: London, England, UK
Birthday: February 16, 1926
Deathday: July 25, 2003
Adult: No
Gender: Male
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Known For:
The Lost Language of Cranes
Overview: When a young gay man comes out of the closet, his friends support him, but when he comes out to his parents, he stirs up a wealth of hidden feelings and secrets in their relationship.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1992-02-09
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The Big Screen
Overview: Two of Britain's leading film directors - John Schlesinger and Gerald Thomas - share the anxiety, hopes and risks experienced by those involved with the movie industry. The Big Screen follows the production of four British films: the eighth James Bond film Live and Let Die, The Optimists of Nine Elms, science fiction-thriller The Final Programme and The 14. Actors Peter Sellers, David Hemmings, Jon Finch, Roger Moore and Jenny Runacre are among those seen at work.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1973-02-20
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The Battle of the River Plate
Overview: In the early years of the World War II, the Royal Navy is fighting a desperate battle to keep the Atlantic convoy routes open to supply the British Isles, facing the great danger posed by the many German warships, such as the Admiral Graf Spee, which are scouring the ocean for cargo ships to sink.
Genres: Drama History War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1956-10-30
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Mythos Hollywood - Das Geheimnis des Erfolgs
Overview: Ekchart Schmidt examines the machinery behind the dream factory; the Hollywood myth is unmasked. How does the studio industry work? What role does marketing and the hype surrounding the stars play?
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: de
Release Date: 1998-01-01
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Visions of Eight
Overview: Eight acclaimed filmmakers bring their unique and differing perspectives to the 1972 Summer Olympic Games held in Munich. The segments include Lelouch's take on Olympic losers and their struggle to remain dignified even in the face of bitter disappointment and defeat; Zetterling's dramatic exploration of the world of weightlifting; and Pfleghar's piece on young Russian gymnast Ludmilla Tourischev's majestic performance on the uneven bars.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1973-10-06
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Black Legend
Overview: A dramatic retelling of the brutal double murder of Martha Broomham and her son Robert perpetrated by her husband George and his mistress Dorothy Newman on 23 February 1676.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: xx
Release Date: 1949-01-10
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The Twilight of the Golds
Overview: A woman discovers her unborn baby has a genetic predisposition to homosexuality, unwittingly exposing deep-seated prejudices within her family.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1996-10-10
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The Celluloid Closet
Overview: What "That's Entertainment" did for movie musicals, "The Celluloid Closet" does for Hollywood homosexuality, as this exuberant, eye-opening movie serves up a dazzling hundred-year history of the role of gay men and lesbians have had on the silver screen. Lily Tomlin narrates as Oscar-winning moviemaker Rob Epstein ("The Times of Harvey Milk" and "Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt") and Jeffrey Friedman assemble fabulous footage from 120 films showing the changing face of cinema sexuality, from cruel stereotypes to covert love to the activist triumphs of the 1990s. Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Curtis, Harvey Fierstein and Gore Vidal are just a few of the many actors, writers and commentators who provide funny and insightful anecdotes.
Genres: Documentary History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1996-01-30
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The Crowd Around the Cowboy
Overview: A short documentary made on location during the filming of John Schlesinger's 1969 film "Midnight Cowboy."
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1969-01-01
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Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey
Overview: Documentary is about the life and work of American screenwriter Waldo Salt who won two Academy Awards and was put on the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s. The story is told through interviews with collaborators and friends such as Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jon Voight, John Schlesinger and with clips from Salt's films, chiefly Midnight Cowboy.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-01-19
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The Last Man to Hang
Overview: A man is tried for the murder of his neurotic wife by means of a sedative overdose.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1956-08-01
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Darling
Overview: The swinging London, early sixties. Beautiful but shallow, Diana Scott is a professional advertising model, a failed actress, a vocationally bored woman, who toys with the affections of several men while gaining fame and fortune.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1965-08-03
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The Magic of Hollywood... Is the Magic of People
Overview: Producer Robert Evans dominates with his trademark promotional style, but Schlesinger gets a short time on camera (one of his few available interviews about the film), and Hoffman has even more. A highlight is the celebration of Olivier's final shooting day, complete with speeches and a toast.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1976-10-06
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Billy Liar
Overview: A young Englishman dreams of escaping from his working class family and dead-end job as an undertaker's assistant. A number of indiscretions cause him to lie in order to avoid the penalties. His life turns into a mess and he has an opportunity to run away and leave it all behind.
Genres: Comedy Romance Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1963-08-15
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Terminus
Overview: This fly on the wall-style documentary from 1961 won an Oscar for best documentary, and shows the changing patterns of human emotions during 24 hours in the life of Waterloo Station.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1961-12-01
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Brothers in Law
Overview: Roger Thursby is an overly keen, newly-qualified barrister who rubs his fellow barristers up the wrong way. When he is thrown in at the deep-end, with a particularly hot-tempered judge and tricky case, Thursby learns how to prove himself not only to the judge and fellow barristers but also to the public gallery.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1957-03-04
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Stormy Crossing
Overview: After murdering his lover, cross-channel swimmer Joy Webster, Derek Bond attempts to do same to her other boyfriend, Sheldon Lawrence. John Ireland plays an Interpol detective who stems Bond's homicidal hijinks. Black Tide was produced by Monty Berman in his pre-Saint days.
Genres: Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1958-08-01
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Pacific Heights
Overview: A couple works hard to renovate their dream house and become landlords to pay for it. Unfortunately one of their tenants has plans of his own.
Genres: Thriller Drama Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-09-28
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The Divided Heart
Overview: During World War II, a German woman, Inga, goes missing and is presumed dead. Her infant son is placed in an orphanage where, years later, he's adopted by a childless couple. The adoptive parents' happiness is shattered when Inga reappears and insists on custody of her son.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1954-11-09
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Location: Far from the Madding Crowd
Overview: This promotional short film for the feature Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) takes us to the many locations in Dorset County, England, where the movie was filmed. It was here that 'Thomas Hardy' lived and was inspired to write the novel upon which the film is based. Only the film's star, Julie Christie, makes comments on the production.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1967-10-01
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Speaking of Britain
Overview: Part of BFI collection "Portrait of a People."
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1967-01-02
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Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film
Overview: illustrates how directors pushed boundaries and altered the art of filmmaking during the turbulent, swinging 1960s. Narrated by Woody Harrelson, "Reel Radicals" features clips from such seminal films as Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967); Mike Nichols' "The Graduate" (1967); Dennis Hopper's "Easy Rider" (1969); John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962); Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove" (1964) and "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968); John Schlesinger's "Midnight Cowboy" (1969); Richard Brooks' "Elmer Gantry" (1960) and "In Cold Blood" (1967); and Norman Jewison's "In the Heat of the Night" (1967) and "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968). Frankenheimer, Jewison, Hopper, Schlesinger, Penn, Buck Henry, Paul Mazursky, Roger Corman and Arthur Hiller are among the filmmakers who discuss the decade.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2002-04-02
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