CHARLIE BUBBLES (1967)Charlie Bubbles is a British film of 1967 starring Billie Whitelaw and Albert Finney, and also featuring a young Liza Minnelli. It was listed to compete at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, but the festival was cancelled due to the events of May 1968 in France.
The film made great play of its Manchester setting, contrasting the return of its eponymous lead character, played by Finney, to his home city after achieving success as a writer in London. During his return he visits his former wife, played by Whitelaw, in Derbyshire and watches a Manchester United match at Old Trafford, featuring genuine footage of Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, with his son. They are symbolically cut off from the outside world in a glass-fronted box as they watch the match. Finney's character is undergoing a profound boredom with his success and his privileged position, which allows him to indulge himself in most ways he wishes. One of these is a relationship with his secretary Eliza, played by Minnelli (in one notable scene it is apparent, though not shown, that she gets a good look at him).
Bubbles glides around in a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III convertible - CB 1E. The car is heavily featured throughout the film, directly contrasting against the working class life and the poverty of Post war working class life and in this case Salford. Reference to the colliery and the gas works further put forward the message that Bubbles has come a long way but that he still isn't that happy even though he now has the lifestyle that perhaps he once dreamed of. Liza Minnelli capturing the hatchet faced old man at a bus stop and the child on a bike whilst driving open top along the cobbled and crumbling streets is particularly poignant. Joe Gladwin plays a waiter serving breakfast in the Manchester hotel room. "I used to know your father sir. We're all very proud of you. Are you still working sir or do you just do the writing now?" Bubbles retorts "No. Just the writing" and hands him a bank note. This scene and others highlight the strong North-South divide - political and socio-economic - that existed in Britain.
The character Charlie Bubbles was almost type-casting for the successful and charismatic Finney in terms of background; he had risen to film-stardom from a background as a bookie's son in the neighbouring, mainly working class City of Salford.
Finney both starred in and directed the movie, the only occasion in his career that he has done this. For her performance, Whitelaw won the 1968 British Academy of Film and Television Arts award for Best Supporting Actress
The film is a slightly surreal off-shoot of the kitchen sink drama in which Finney had achieved stardom in Karel Reisz's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning of 1960. The film's writer Shelagh Delaney, had also achieved fame as the writer of another leading film in this genre - Tony Richardson's 1961 A Taste of Honey. Delaney also wrote Lindsay Anderson's 1967 film The White Bus, which, like Charlie Bubbles, utilised in part a Manchester and/or Salford background and has a distinctly surreal feel to it at times.
The film was released on DVD in September 2008.
Cast
Albert Finney - Charlie Bubbles
Colin Blakely - Smokey Pickles
Billie Whitelaw - Lottie Bubbles
Liza Minnelli - Eliza
Timothy Garland - Jack Bubbles
Nicholas Phipps - Agent
Peter Sallis - Solicitor
Charles Hill - Head Waiter
Charles Lamb - Mr. Noseworthy
Margery Mason - Mrs. Noseworthy
Diana Coupland - Maud
George Innes - Garage Attendant
Arthur Pentelow - Man With Car
Alan Lake - Airman
THE STERILE CUCKOO (1969)The Sterile Cuckoo (1969) released in the UK as Pookie, is a theatrical release feature film released by Paramount Pictures. It tells the story of an eccentric young couple whose relationship deepens despite their differences and inadequacies, and stars Liza Minnelli, Wendell Burton, and Tim McIntire.
The movie was adapted by Alvin Sargent from the 1965 novel by John Nichols, and directed by Alan J. Pakula.
Much of the movie was filmed at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Some of it was filmed in Sylvan Beach, New York.
It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Liza Minnelli) and Best Music, Song (Fred Karlin and Dory Previn for Come Saturday Morning).
The Sterile Cuckoo
Directed by
Alan J. Pakula
Written by
Novel:
John Nichols
Screenplay:
Alvin Sargent
Starring
Wendell Burton
Tim McIntire
Editing by
Sam O'Steen
Studio
Boardwalk Productions
Distributed by
Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)
22 October 1969
Running time
107 min.
Country
U.S.A.
LanguageEnglish
TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME, JUNIE MOON (1970
Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon is a 1970 film directed by Otto Preminger. The film is based on the book by Marjorie Kellogg. The film starred Liza Minnelli as the title character, a girl who is scarred by battery acid by her vicious boy friend: later, she meets an epilectic (Ken Howard), and a gay wheelchair bound man (Robert Moore). Disabled, but not down, they live together in a house and bond, determined to prove themselves and to help each other.
| Directed by | Otto Preminger |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Otto Preminger |
| Written by | Marjorie Kellogg |
| Music by | Pete Seeger Philip Springer |
| Cinematography | Boris Kaufman |
| Editing by | Dean Ball |
| Release date(s) | May 11, 1970 |
| Running time | 113 mins |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
Cabaret is a 1972 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey. The film is set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic in 1931, under the ominous presence of the growing Nazi Party.
The film is loosely based on the 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret by Kander and Ebb, which was adapted from The Berlin Stories of Christopher Isherwood and the play I Am a Camera. Only a few numbers from the stage score were used; Kander and Ebb wrote new ones to replace those that were discarded. In the traditional manner of musical theater, characters in the stage version of Cabaret sing to express emotion and advance the plot, but in the film version, musical numbers are confined to the stage of the cabaret and to a beer garden. Only two of the film's major characters sing any songs.
Cabaret was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 1973,and nearly performed a clean sweep, winning 8, including Best Director (Bob Fosse), Best Actress (Liza Minnelli), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Joel Grey), and winning for Cinematography, Editing, Music, Art Direction (Rolf Zehetbauer, Hans Jürgen Kiebach, Herbert Strabel) and Sound (losing Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay to The Godfather). It won 7 BAFTA awards, including Best Film, Best Direction and Best Actress, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy). Cabaret was produced by ABC Pictures and first distributed in the US by Allied Artists. Warner Bros. is the current US distributor.
In 1995, Cabaret was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In 2006, Cabaret ranked #5 on the American Film Institute's list of best musicals; the song "Cabaret" was ranked #18 on their 100 Years...100 Songs list in 2004.
In 2007, this film ranked #63 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Movies.
Cabaret was shot mainly in low light and has a Expressionist feel in the musical sequences.
| Directed by | Bob Fosse |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Cy Feuer |
| Written by | Jay Allen Joe Masteroff (Play) Christopher Isherwood (Stories) |
| Starring | Liza Minnelli Michael York Joel Grey |
| Music by | John Kander Fred Ebb |
| Cinematography | Geoffrey Unsworth |
| Editing by | David Bretherton |
| Distributed by | Allied Artists |
| Release date(s) | February 13, 1972 |
| Running time | 124 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Languag | English German Hebrew |
| Budget | $6 million |
 |  |
Lucky Lady is a 1975 American film directed by Stanley Donen and starring Gene Hackman, Liza Minnelli and Burt Reynolds. Its story takes place during Prohibition in the United States in the year 1930.
| Directed by | Stanley Donen |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Michael Gruskoff |
| Written by | Willard Huyck Gloria Katz |
| Starring | Gene Hackman Liza Minnelli Burt Reynolds |
| Music by | Ralph Burns |
| Cinematography | Geoffrey Unsworth |
| Editing by | Peter Boita |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
A Matter of Time is a 1976 American/Italian fantasy film with music directed by Vincente Minnelli. The screenplay by John Gay is based on the novel Film of Memory by Maurice Druon. The film marked the first screen appearance for Isabella Rossellini and the last for Charles Boyer, and proved to be Minnelli's final project.
| Directed by | Vincente Minnelli |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Samuel Z. Arkoff Giulio Sbarigia |
| Written by | John Gay Based on a novel by Maurice Druon |
| Starring | Ingrid Bergman Liza Minnelli Charles Boyer Isabella Rossellini |
| Music by | Nino Oliviero |
| Cinematography | Geoffrey Unsworth |
| Editing by | Peter Taylor |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 7, 1976 |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United States/Italy |
| Language | English |
New York, New York is a musical-drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, released in 1977. It is a musical tribute, featuring new songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb as well as standards, to Scorsese's home town of New York City, and stars Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli as a pair of musicians and lovers.
| Directed by | Martin Scorsese |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Robert Chartoff Irwin Winkler |
| Written by | Earl Mac Rauch Mardik Martin |
| Starring | Liza Minnelli Robert De Niro |
| Cinematography | László Kovács |
| Editing by | Bert Lovitt David Ramirez Tom Rolf |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | June 21, 1977 |
| Language | English |
Arthur is a 1981 film set in New York City which tells the story of drunken millionaire playboy Arthur Bach (Dudley Moore), who is on the brink of an arranged marriage to a wealthy heiress, Susan Johnson (Jill Eikenberry).
Arthur earned over $82 million at the box office in the United States, placing it fourth on the box office charts for the year. It was notable for its title song, Best That You Can Do, co-written and sung by Christopher Cross. It was followed by a 1988 sequel, Arthur 2: On the Rocks, which was enough of a failure for star Dudley Moore to disown it.
This film is number 10 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies," and was number 53 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Laughs.
| Directed by | Steve Gordon |
|---|---|
| Written by | Steve Gordon |
| Starring | Dudley Moore Liza Minnelli John Gielgud Geraldine Fitzgerald Jill Eikenberry Stephen Elliott Ted Ross Barney Martin Helen Hanft |
| Music by | Burt Bacharach |
| Studio | Orion Pictures |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | July 17, 1981 |
| Running time | 97 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7,690,978 |
| Followed by | Arthur 2: On the R |
Synopsis: Adapted from Mary-Lou Weisman's book Intensive Care, this made-for-television movie stars
Liza Minnelli (in her first TV appearance) as a woman who must remain strong and contend with her son's muscular dystrophy and all the problems within the family that accompany the illness. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
BEST ACTRESS GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD WINNER (1985)
RENT-A-COP (1987) Rent-a-Cop is a 1987 action / comedy / crime film starring Burt Reynolds and Liza Minnelli. Reynolds plays a disgraced police officer, now working as a security guard, who falls in love with Minnelli, who plays a prostitute.
| Directed by | Jerry London |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Raymond Wagner John D. Schofield |
| Written by | Michael Blodgett Dennis Shryack |
| Starring | Burt Reynolds Liza Minnelli |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Cinematography | Giuseppe Rotunno |
| Editing by | Robert Lawrence |
| Distributed by | Kings Road Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | 1987 |
| Running time | 96 mins. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
SAM FOUND OUT: A TRIPLE PLAY (TV~ 1988)
A special featuring Liza Minnelli in three one-act plays--a drama (Part 1), a comedy (Part 2), and a musical (Part 3). The phrase "Sam Found Out" acts as the basis for the action of each play. Part one deals with a prostitute who helps the plice get the goods on her sadistic pimp. The second segment is about a tap-dance instructor trying to cope with the affections of a klutzy student who has a crush on her. Part three is about a couple whose impending marriage is jeopardized by her best friend -- Sam the dog.
Cast Includes: Liza Minnelli, Ryan O'Neal, Louis Gossett Jr., John Rubinstein, Joseph Sciari
Executive Producers: Alexander H. Cohen, Fred Ebb, Vern Calhoun
Genres: Drama, Comedy, Musical
Executive Producers: Alexander H. Cohen, Fred Ebb, Vern Calhoun
Genres: Drama, Comedy, Musical
ARTHUR 2-ON THE ROCKS (1988)
Arthur 2: On the Rocks is the 1988 sequel to the 1981 film Arthur. Lead actors Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli reprised their role
| Directed by | Bud Yorkin |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Robert Shapiro |
| Written by | Andy Breckman Steve Gordon |
| Starring | Dudley Moore Liza Minnelli John Gielgud Geraldine Fitzgerald Stephen Elliott Paul Benedict Cynthia Sikes Kathy Bates Jack Gilford Ted Ross Barney Martin |
| Music by | Burt Bacharach |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 8, 1988 |
| Running time | 113 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Arthur |
STEPPING OUT (1991) Stepping Out is a 1991 musical-comedy film directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Liza Minnelli, written by Richard Harris and based on a play also written by Harris. Minnelli plays the role of a has-been Broadway performer who gives tap lesson to a group of misfits who, through their dance classes, bond and realize what they can achieve. All the actors who play the awkward students are established theatre performers.
Liza Minnelli as Mavis Turner, a former Broadway dancer who currently teaches a tap class in Buffalo, New York
Bill Irwin as Geoffrey, an intoverted, widowed insurance salesman, interested in Andy
Ellen Greene as Maxine, a cute, funny, and slightly wild mom
Robyn Stevan as Sylvia, a loud-mouthed buddy of Rose.
Jane Krakowski as Lynne, a delicate, sensitive Registered Nurse, one of the best dancers
Sheila McCarthy as Andy, a mousey battered wife, who sees a possible relationship with Geoffrey
Andrea Martin as Dorothy, a naive but sincere housewife
Julie Walters as Vera, an insecure, wealthy woman
Carol Woods (singer / actress) as Rose, a vibrant woman with a teenage son who gets into trouble
Shelley Winters as Mrs. Fraser, a dour rehearsal pianist who longs for a connection with others
Luke Reilly as Patrick, Mavis' husband
Nora Dunn as Pam, director of the upscale dance center, a rival to Mavis
Eugene Robert Glazer as Frank
| Directed by | Lewis Gilbert |
|---|---|
| Produced by | John Dark Lewis Gilbert |
| Written by | Richard Harris |
| Starring | Liza Minnelli |
| Music by | Peter Matz |
| Cinematography | Alan Hume |
| Editing by | Humphrey Dixon |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 11, 1991 |
| Running time | 106 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
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