The Big Picture – issue 11 - Intellect

INEMA 

directory of 

world 

cinema 

Directory of World Cinema: Russia 

Edited by Birgit Beumers 

ISBN 9781841503721 | £16, $25 

Directory of World Cinema: 

Australia & New Zealand 

Edited by Ben Goldsmith 

and Geoff Lealand 

ISBN 9781841503738 | £16, $25 

Directory of World Cinema: 

American Independent 

Edited by John Berra 

ISBN 9781841503684 | £16, $25 

Directory of World Cinema: Japan 

Edited by John Berra 

ISBN 9781841503356 | £16, $25 

The Directory of World Cinema aims to play a part in moving intelligent, 

scholarly criticism beyond the academy by building a forum for the 

study of film that relies on a disciplined theoretical base. Each volume 

of the Directory will take the form of a collection of reviews, longer 

essays and research resources, accompanied by film stills highlighting 

significant films and players. Free downloads available from the website. 

www.worldcinemadirectory.org 

cover image boudu saved from drowning (courtesy Park circus) 

contents Issue Eleven. November/December 2010 

06 

‘He's staying as long 

as he likes. And if 

the doggy doesn't 

like it, then the doggy 

can find other living 

arrangements.' 

Dave Whiteman 

The Big Picture ISSN 1759-0922 © 2010 intellect Ltd. Published by Intellect Ltd. The Mill, Parnall Road. Bristol BS16 3JG / www.intellectbooks.com 

Editorial office Tel. 0117 9589910 / E: info@thebigpicturemagazine.com Publisher Masoud Yazdani Editor-in-chief & Layout Gabriel Solomons Editor Scott Jordan Harris 

Contributors Jez Conolly, Nicholas Page, Emma Simmonds, Daniel Steadman, Scott Jordan Harris, Neil Mitchell, Charlie Loft, Ron Inglis, Gabriel Solomons 

Special thanks to John Letham, Sara Carlsson and all at Park Circus, Michael Eckhardt, Michael Pierce at Curzon Cinemas and Gabriel Swartland at City Screen 

Please send all email enquiries to: info@thebigpicturemagazine.com / www.thebigpicturemagazine.com l The Big Picture magazine is published six times a year 

Published by 

intellect | 

34 

Produced in partnership with www.parkcircus.com 

Features 

06 | Spotlight 

Street Spirit: 

Prejudice, Class Divide 

and Life on the Skids 

14 | Art & Film 

City of Industry: 

Film Poster Designers 

AllCity Media 

24 | Widescreen 

Mobile Network: 

Scotland's Screen 

Machine Hits the Road 

30 | 1000 Words 

Sweet Relief: 

Melvin Peebles, Black 

Power and the Birth of 

Blaxploitation 

Regulars 

04 | Reel World 

Cold Comfort 

18 | One Sheet 

Gimme Shelter 

34 | On Location 

Beverly Hills, Ca. 

38 | Screengem 

The Coke Bottle 

42 | Parting Shot 

Over The Moon 

44 | Go Further 

The Big Picture online 

46 | Listings 

A roundup of this issue's 

featured films 

November/December 2010 3

eel world 

f i l m b e yo n d t h e b o r d e r s o f t h e s c r e e n 

Cold 

Comfort 

In one of the most incredible crossovers 

between film and the real world, Disney’s 

Mighty Ducks skated off cinema screens and 

into the NHL. neil mitchell forms a Flying V. 

For those oF us old enough 

to remember reading Roy of the 

Rovers on a weekly basis the 

possibility of an actual team 

called Melchester Rovers being 

established and going on to 

win the Premier League is a 

delightful but absurd notion. 

Well, in the good ol’ US of A, 

something very much along 

those lines did indeed occur, 

with Disney's The Mighty 

Ducks (1992) being the 

catalyst for a real life trophywinning 

NHL team. 

The film is a tale of sporting 

underdogs defying the odds, 

as the bedraggled, underfunded 

and technically inept 

members of a kids’ ice hockey 

team are transformed into 

title-winners by new coach 

Gordon Bombay (Emilio 

Estevez). A hard-nosed lawyer 

on community service for a 

drink driving misdemeanour, 

Bombay changes the fortunes 

of his under-privileged 

4 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com 

charges, naturally hearing 

some much0needed home 

truths and learning lessons in 

love and life along the way. 

Spawning three sequels 

(two live-action and one 

animated), an animated 

series and a spoof on South 

Park, the most extraordinary 

legacy of this family favourite 

was in the formation of The 

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 

ice hockey team by The Walt 

Disney Company in 1993. 

In their 17-year existence 

the Ducks, now known as 

The Anaheim Ducks, have 

won a division title, two 

conference championships 

and the National Hockey 

League’s highest honour, 

the Stanley Cup, as well as 

making the play-offs seven 

times. It’s a classic example 

of life mirroring art that 

raises eyebrows and spirits in 

equal measure. All together 

now: quack, quack, quack... go 

Ducks! [tbp] 

left the anaheim ducks winning the nhl stanley cuP in 2007 / above sign of things to come: the mighty ducks: d2 

gofurther [SPorT] www.ducks.hnl.com [weB] read 'reel world: Love Potion No. 1' online 


cover 

feature 

Y 

Street 

Spirit 


spotlight 

c i n e m a ' s t h e m at i c s t r a n d s 

From an adorable tramp to a feral kung fu 

expert, cinema has shown many savages, 

noble and ignoble, entering civilised society. 

We shine our spotlight on six classic examples. 

Words by emma simmonds, Jez conolly 

and nathan Francis 

Images Courtesy Park Circus 

Through Boudu’s 

anarchic actions 

director Jean renoir 

deftly and hilariously 

exposes the hypocrisy 

of the bourgeoisie. 

left 

michel simon and (another) love interest 

above 

michel simon as PriaPe boudu charming the locals 

Boudu Saved From 

drowning (1932) 

Dir. Jean Renoir 

This terrific farce tells the story of 

prosperous bookseller, Edouard Lestingois 

(Charles Granval), whose life is drastically 

changed when he rescues Boudu (Michel 

Simon) from a suicidal dive into the Seine. 

On first spotting the dishevelled character 

– about to take the plunge – Lestingois 

remarks with undisguised relish, ‘I’ve never 

seen such a perfect tramp.’ He rushes to save 

this sorry character from a watery end and 

even goes so far as to welcome him into his 

home. Unfortunately, Boudu reveals himself 

to be an irrepressible ingrate who unleashes 

a storm of mischievous meddling. He has 

an energetic disregard for polite society and 

is lusty and ill-mannered on an epic scale, 

quickly making a move on both Lestingois’s 

wife and his housemaid lover. Through 

Boudu’s anarchic actions director Jean 

Renoir deftly and hilariously exposes the 

hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie. ES 

Boudu Saved From Drowning is back in 

UK cinemas from 17 December. For more 

details see page 46. 

November/December 2010 7 

➜

Kobal (2) 

The hunChBaCk oF 

noTre dame (1939) 

Dir. William Dieterle 

RKO’s adaptation of the Victor 

Hugo classic is widely regarded 

as the finest screen version. Although 

it is faithful to the source 

material it strayed into the 

politics of its time: the schism 

between the haves and have-nots 

in the walled city of 15th Century 

Paris is paralleled with the 

politics of 20th century Europe 

in the run-up to war. Dieterle, 

a German Jewish émigré, and 

screenwriters Sonya Levien and 

Bruno Frank altered the relationship 

of Quasimodo (Charles 

Laughton) and his mentor 

Frollo (Cedric Hardwicke) by 

emphasizing Frollo’s fascistic 

qualities – he plots the persecution 

and destruction of the ‘undesirable’ 

gypsies – and converting 

Quasimodo into a Christ-like 

figure. Dieterle regarded the 

character as a victim of tyranny. 

Of the famous flogging scene he 

commented, ‘When Laughton 

acted that scene … he was 

not the poor crippled creature 

expecting compassion from the 

mob, but rather oppressed and 

enslaved mankind, suffering the 

most awful injustice’. JC 

The schism between 

the haves and havenots 

in the walled city 

of 15th Century Paris 

is paralleled with 

the politics of 20th 

century europe in the 

run-up to war. 

above 

charlie chaPlin as the tramP 

toP left 

charles laughton as the hunchback 

in a reversal of the premise 

of Boudu Saved From 

drowning, The Tramp has 

rescued a wealthy drunkard 

from a death bid, instructing 

him, ‘Be brave. Face life!’ 

spotlight street spirit 

CiTy LighTS (1931) 

Dir. Charlie Chaplin 

Charlie Chaplin’s comedy 

romance is perhaps his most 

emotionally resonant film. Its 

opening sequence has Charlie 

(in the iconic, recurring role 

of The Tramp) ceremonially 

unveiled, as he sleeps coiled 

in the lap of a statue, to the 

considerable irritation of the 

assembled dignitaries and 

crowd. In a reversal of the 

premise of Boudu Saved From 

Drowning, The Tramp has 

rescued a wealthy drunkard 

from a death bid, instructing 

him, ‘Be brave. Face life!’ He is 

intermittently embraced by his 

new friend, who only recalls 

the debt he owes the virtuous 

vagrant when he’s inebriated. 

Throughout, The Tramp 

displays remarkable pluck 

and decency, thus challenging 

what it is to be a gentleman. 

He later becomes a mysterious 

benefactor to Virginia Cherrill’s 

blind flower girl, and the 

film’s tender finale – when she 

finally recognises him as such 

– is one of the most poignant 

sequences in film history. 

8 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com November/December 2010 9

Image courtesy Park Circus 

an anthropological drama 

focussing on the barriers 

to human communication, 

the eponymous heroine of 

nell is rousseau’s noble 

savage incarnate. 


neLL (1994) 

Dir. Michael Apted 

An anthropological drama 

focussing on the barriers to 

human communication, the 

eponymous heroine of Nell 

is Rousseau’s noble savage 

incarnate. Raised in North 

Carolina backwoods far from 

social interaction by a partially 

paralysed hermitic mother, Nell 

is an untainted child of nature 

who has developed her own 

language, rituals and individuality 

in near-solitary independence. 

When Nell’s mother dies the 

outside world encroaches in the 

form of romantic doctor Jerome 

Lovell (Liam Neeson) and rigidly 

scientific psychologist Paula 

Olsen (Natasha Richardson), 

who compete professionally 

over their prized specimen, 

while personally wresting with 

protective feelings toward their 

wild child. Apted strikes a strong 

contrast between the impulsive 

freedom of Nell’s natural state 

and the constrictive conventions 

of the town. Institutionalised to 

protect her from prying media, 

Nell is robbed of her humanity, 

and rendered catatonic when 

confined. A courtroom finale 

contests the dichotomy of the 

artificial civilised world and 

natural instinctual world, until 

largely ruling in favour of the 

pure innocence of the latter. NF 

Trading 

PLaCeS (1983) 

Dir. John Landis 

Eddie Murphy’s down-at-heel 

con artist Billy Ray Valentine 

is a pawn, along with aristocratic 

yuppie Louis Winthorpe 

III (Dan Aykroyd), in a wager 

devised by the obscenely 

wealthy Duke brothers (Ralph 

Bellamy and Don Ameche) 

who are seeking to discover if 

it’s nature or nurture that lies 

behind success in the world of 

high finance. Valentine, guided 

to success by the Dukes and 

Winthorpe’s kindly butler 

(Denholm Elliott), reveals 

an uncanny talent for stock 

prediction that’s so accurate, he 

becomes the company’s leading 

commodities authority. Role 

reversal narratives involving the 

poor or dispossessed are quite 

commonplace; in literature 

Mark Twain explored this territory 

with The Prince and the 

Pauper, and Chaplin’s The Idle 

Class (1921) was probably the 

first significant film to introduce 

the notion of mixed identities. 

Through its comedic format, 

what Trading Places presented 

was a contemporary depiction 

of the collapse of rank dictated 

by class and race. JC 

above left 

jodie foster and liam neeson 

oPPosite 

eddie murPhy 

through its comedic 

format, what trading 

places presented 

was a contemporary 

depiction of the 

collapse of rank 

dictated by class 

and race. 

➜ 

spotlight street spirit 

November/December 2010 11

unLeaShed (2005) 

Dir. Louis Leterrier 

A Luc Besson-scribed martial 

arts melodrama seeking to 

blend combat and compassion, 

Unleashed tells the Glasgowbased 

tale of ‘Danny the 

Dog’ (Jet Li), an adopted 

orphan raised in captivity by 

loathsome loan shark Bart 

(Bob Hoskins) to be his 

personal debt collecting attack 

dog. Near mute, Danny is kept 

caged until unleashed (from a 

metal collar) upon debtors or 

rival pit fighters, destroying all 

with dazzling agility. 

Set free when Bart is left 

comatose in a car crash, 

Danny finds sanctuary in the 

nurturing home of blind piano 

tuner Sam (Morgan Freeman) 

and his young stepdaughter, 

Victoria (Kerry Condon), 

whose music and kindness 

expose the vulnerability behind 

his vicious veneer. However, 

when Danny’s former master 

awakens and calls him to heel, 

his domestication places him 

in danger from his savage past, 

forcing him to revert to his 

fighting instincts to protect his 

new family. NF [tbp] 

right 

jet li oPens a can of whuPass 

spotlight 

c i n e m a ' s t h e m at i c s t r a n d s 

near mute, danny 

is kept caged until 

unleashed (from 

a metal collar) 

upon debtors or 

rival pit fighters, 

destroying all 

with dazzling 

agility. 

also see... [weB] read 'Back In Cinemas: Boudu Saved From Drowning’ on www.TheBigPictureMagazine.com [DvD] City Lights is available to buy on dual format (DvD/Bluray) from www.parkcircus.com/uk-releases 


Kobal 

Kobal 


art&film 

v i s ua l a rt i n s p i r e d b y f i l m 

City of 

Industry 

The Movie Poster Art of AllCity Media 

interview by gabriel solomons 

above 

Poster art for moon with sam drawn by 

martin ansin (in collaboration with mondo) 

You may not recognise the name 

AllCity Media but chances are 

you've come across their film 

posters on more than one occasion. 

The prolific studio is responsible 

for some of the most eye catching 

posters of recent years and have 

notched up a whole raft of awards 

for their efforts. We spoke to 

creative director Charlie Loft about 

collaboration, inspiration and the 

future of the one sheet. 

toP 

i am love which was voted screen 

international Poster of the year 2010 

To some graphic designers, 

doing artwork for movie 

posters is a dream job. Is it 

as enjoyable as one would 

imagine? 

The creative process is always 

enjoyable, but designing for 

film has all of the same issues 

as designing for any other 

industry. At the end of the day 

we all want to create pieces of 

art but as designers we need 

to understand the needs of 

the client and advise them as 

much on a creative level as we 

can to get the best results for 

us and them. 

As a company Allcity seem 

to pride yourselves on the 

collaborative nature of much 

of your output – using gifted 

illustrators, photographers 

and designers to help 

create final artwork. 

Why is collaboration so 

important and is there 

anything in particular that 

you look for when recruiting 

collaborators? 

We have a core team at AllCity 

that consistently deliver great 

creative ideas and design but 

we are aware that we are not 

a jack of all trades and that 

when a brief requires a certain 

look it's better to get the right 

person to do that part of 

the process. Collaboration is 

important because we then 

get the best of both worlds 

- we get to work with some 

amazing talents and then turn 

their images into memorable 

film campaigns. It’s one 

thing being an artist, its quite 

another delivering a coherent 

marketing campaign. 

Is there a particular creative 

philosophy behind the way 

you work or is it simply a case 

of adjusting your style to fit 

the demands of the client? 

We believe that behind every 

campaign there needs to be a 

concept or idea that can run 

throughout, that is why we 

work from sketches first and 

then deliver worked up visuals. 

If the idea is strong enough it 

can be delivered in a variety of 

visual styles so we are instantly 

able to adjust to the clients 

requests and needs. 

Can you tell us a bit about 

the graphic approach and 

concept you settled on for 

Stieg Larsson's Millenium 

trilogy of films? 

The Millennium trilogy was a 

great brief from Momentum 

Pictures. To come up with the 

branding for such a well loved 

story is something that we 

could really sink our teeth into. 

We needed to create a motif 

that could adapt and become 

the identifier for the trilogy 

as well as be able to give ‘The 

Girl’ herself the main shout 

as this was the first time she 

was going to be revealed. This 

was a particular challenge as 

Noomi Rapace (The Girl) was 

relatively unknown in the UK 

and yet we needed her to take 

centre stage. 

The Dragon motif was 

designed to act as a distraction 

or decoy to allow us to put an 

unknown face behind it, this in 

turn enabled us to create the 

overall feeling of intrigue and 

mystery. The Girl is there but 

she is slightly hidden by her 

own Dragon Tattoo (this is the 

reason for the swirling ink at 

the base of the dragon's tail) 

meaning that we could add 

a level of depth to the poster 

and subsequent online and 

advertising campaigns. 

The branding of the trilogy 

continues with what we have 

14 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com November/December 2010 15 

➜

affectionately called ‘The 

Flaming Dragon’ for The Girl 

Who Played With Fire. Again 

the motif acts as a distraction 

and gives extra impact and 

relevance to the title. The last 

stage was developing The Girl 

Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest 

which will be in cinemas this 

November. 

Each one of the dragon 

motifs has been lovingly crafted 

by one of our collaborators, 

Sean Freeman, who under our 

art direction has helped create 

some beautiful work. This is 

another good example of using 

someones purest skill and then 

making it work for film. 

You include ‘designer’s 

cuts’ for many of the poster 

campaigns featured on your 

website. Is it often the case 

that your least favoured 

design gets chosen - and 

how do you deal with the 

issue of compromise when 

things go against your own 

better judgement? 

It is frustrating when a client 

decides to go against our 

judgement but we aren’t in the 

habit of presenting things that 

we wouldn't be proud to see 

out in the street. Ultimately 

some of our favourite posters 

will never see the light of day 

but that is why we like to show 

our designers cuts as it gives an 

insight into the creative process 

and ‘what could have been’. 

There seems to be quite a 

healthy balance between the 

work you do for the big studios 

and smaller independent 

films. What is the difference 

– if any – in the working 

relationship you have with 

‘big’ and ‘small’ clients? 

There isn’t a great deal 

of difference between our 

working relationships with the 

independents and the bigger 

studios. There is an element of 

design by committee in both 

instances as you’re dealing 

with a lot of opinions. We like 

to work closely with our clients 

to ensure that we get as much 

information out of them up 

front, that way there is less 

margin for error and even less 

questions marks over a chosen 

concept when it is presented. 

Are there particular 

designers or certain 

periods of art that you draw 

inspiration from? 

Advertising campaigns that 

add a different angle but at 

the same time are accesible 

to everyone. Graphically 

we are influenced by many 

individuals throughout the 

decades that we always come 

back to, Reid Miles of blue 

note records fame, Niko 

Cuban - a revolutionary 

poster artist. Andrei 

Tarkowsky, Wiktor Sadowski, 

contemporary rock posters 

and the art of the fillmore. All 

are part of time where idea 

was king, less was more, it 

was less about churning out 

transient visuals and more 

about the idea. 

What is your opinion about 

the state of film poster art 

generally these days? Are 

there any designers/studios 

out there that you feel are 

contributing something 

special (apart from 

yourselves of course!)? 

There are alot of generic 

film posters out there at the 

moment but there is also a 

healthy mix of creative talent 

being used. Neil Kellerhouse 

(featured in The Big Picture 

issue 11) has done some 

incredible design work, but not 

just for film. Empire, without 

doubt, have had a massive 

influence on the look of 

modern film posters. It would 

be interesting to see some of 

their designers cuts. 

There is of course the 

need in film marketing to get 

bums on seats but we think 

that the audience needs to 

be engaged with more then a 

art&film 

v i s ua l a rt i n s p i r e d b y f i l m 

'...to come up with the 

branding for such a well 

loved story was something 

that we could really sink 

our teeth into.' 

above 

Poster art for the millenium trilogy's 

the girl who kicked the hornet's nest 

'it’s always good to see 

other people's take on a 

film and recently we held an 

exhibition at allCity where 

we asked various well known 

illustrators to re-imagine 

their favourite film poster 

from our portfolio of work.' 

seemore... 

left 

let the right one in 

redrawn by tyler stout 

bottom 

sPirited away redrawn by 

marcus walters 

line up of actors and a glossy 

finish. It goes without saying 

that a ‘big’ film needs a ‘big’ 

look but that’s not to say that 

there can’t be a clever idea or 

twist to the artwork, and that’s 

where we like to come in - the 

alternative thinkers in film 

campaign design. 

Are there any film posters 

(past or present) that you 

would say are a prime 

example of what a film 

poster should do? 

There are so many great 

film posters but Brazil is a 

brilliant example, it brands 

the film in one arresting 

visual and simultaneously 

creates a window into another 

fascinating world. 

Has the film marketing 

industry changed much in 

the 10 years since you’ve 

been in business? If yes, 

how so? 

It seems to be more biased 

towards appealing to everyone 

rather than to a core audience 

of opinion leaders and then 

filter through to the masses. 

Blander, less challenging ideas 

are more common place now 

but this may be because there 

is less gestation time and less 

budget. Films need to be 

an instant success whereas 

previously you could exploit 

a longer lead time than the 

market place now allows. 

However there are many 

more mediums and formats 

than ever. It's no longer about 

just a visual - the campaign 

needs to span social media 

to street level advertising to 

cinema, which is great when 

you have the budget to exploit 

these areas. 

Why do you think the 

printed film poster still 

matters in this ever 

expanding digital age? 

I don’t think the desire to own 

a film poster will ever die out, 

there is just something special 

about owning an original that 

just can’t be captured with 

a screen saver or a motion 

poster. Film posters are pieces 

of art and if designed well are 

timeless, look at Clockwork 

Orange for instance, it still 

looks amazing today, so simple 

and effective, why wouldn’t 

you want one on your wall? 

The problem with the digital 

age is that design is seen as 

almost throw away and easy, 

so when a piece of good 

design gets through people 

appreciate it even more. 

There is an unhealthy 

amount of ‘garnish’ attached 

to many film posters, so 

when you see a poster by 

Olly Moss for instance it’s 

refreshing to see a piece 

of work at its cleverest and 

simplest. It’s always good to 

see other peoples take on a 

film and recently we held an 

exhibition at AllCity where 

we asked various well known 

illustrators to re-imagine their 

favourite film poster from 

our portfolio of work. Each 

artist did an incredible job and 

their passion and enthusiasm 

towards the project was 

amazing, which just goes to 

show how important film 

posters are to many people. 

And finally… 

Why does film matter? 

It is pure escapism, when 

you’re watching a film it 

doesn’t matter what else is 

going on in your world, you 

can just let go and enter into 

someone else’s. [tbp] 

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets 

Nest is released 26 November 

[weB] See more from AllCity Media: www.allcitymedia.com [weB] www.thereis.co.uk 


one sheet 

d e c o n s t r u c t i n g f i l m p o s t e r s 

Gimme 

Shelter 


Life on the streets is something few of us are 

accustomed to, so it has often been the focus of 

film plots. Belongings hoisted over his shoulder in 

a red bundle, nicholas page takes a trip through 

posters inspired by such stories. Images courtesy 

of The Reel Poster Gallery, London. 

the creation oF believable 

and layered characters has 

always been an important 

part of cinema. In general, 

characters are both categorised 

and identified by their role in 

society: their profession, social 

status or even the clothes they 

wear. These days, this can 

be taken even further to say 

that characters in commercial 

cinema are replicated rather 

than created: cut using the 

same rusty cutter and from 

the same over-kneaded dough. 

What happens, then, when a 

character has no particular 

role in society? What if he is 

unable to or simple refuses 

to be a part of society as we 

know it? Is he even aware such 

a society exists? 

Midnight Cowboy (1969) 

Original Danish 

Art by Jouineau Bourduge 

One of the more successful 

films about life on the edges 

of society, John Schlesinger’s 

Midnight Cowboy stars Dustin 

Hoffman and Jon Voight as 

two hustlers living on the 

streets of New York City. The 

posters created for the film’s 

Western release show a photo 

of these two main characters 

standing on a run-down 

street corner, smoking and 

sheltering against the cold. 

This Danish poster, created 

by the successful French 

designer Jouineau Bourduge, 

alters this general idea by 

placing the two characters on 

a cityscape backdrop instead, 

perhaps alluding to the big 

city dreams of the film’s 

protagonists. 


one sheet gimme shelter 

Just as with Chaplin’s movies, 

the topic of homelessness 

arises in comedic form, 

illustrated by this particularly 

colourful Belgian poster. 


Sullivan’s Travels (1941) 

Original Belgian 

Charlie Chaplin may have 

been waddling around town 

as his famous Tramp for 

decades, but homelessness 

was still something of 

an untouched topic in 

Hollywood by the time 

Preston Sturges made 

Sullivan’s Travels in 1941. The 

film, with a title that refers 

to Jonathan Swift’s satire 

of self-discovery Gulliver’s 

Travels, concerns a young and 

successful film director who 

decides to experience street 

life first-hand as inspiration 

for his new project. Just as 

with Chaplin’s movies, the 

topic of homelessness arises 

in comedic form, illustrated 

by this particularly colourful 

Belgian poster. 

The Man Who Fell 

to Earth (1976) 

Original German 

Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who 

Fell to Earth, while existing 

as a mere vehicle for the 

branching career of singer 

David Bowie during the 

seventies, is a good example 

of what became a well-used 

narrative template in later 

years: the idea of taking 

an alien being (sometimes 

metaphorically, but in this 

case literally) and dropping 

him into civilised society 

before documenting the 

results. It may have become 

a cult favourite in recent 

years thanks to Roeg’s use 

of surreal imagery, but this 

rather striking German 

poster for the movie shows 

us exactly what the chief 

attraction was at the time: 

Bowie’s sex appeal.

one sheet gimme shelter 

The Wild Child (1970) 

Original French 

Art by Jouineau Bourduge 

Jouineau Bourduge, perhaps 

best known for his stunning 

black and white poster for 

Barry Lyndon worked on 

many French films in the 

1970s and ‘80s and should 

perhaps be described as 

a designer rather than an 

artist. His poster for François 

Truffaut’s The Wild Child does 

an excellent job illustrating 

the savage nature of the 

film’s titular character, using 

a beautiful grass-green 

background to symbolise 

the wilderness from which 

he comes. Through this 

character, Truffaut shows 

the small margin between 

rough but civilised life on the 

streets of Paris and the laws of 

nature. [tbp] 

go further 


Jouineau Bourduge's vivid 

poster does an excellent job of 

illustrating the savage nature 

of the film’s titular character 

[weB] Look out for ‘Poster Boy: one Sheets of Distinction' on TheBigPictureMagazine.com 

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world, and they probe and parse cinema in a way that deepen our experience of it. 

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Mobile 

Network 

For five years now Scotland's Screen 

Machine has been making a night at the 

movies a regular event in communities 

where a trip to the cinema was previously 

a major undertaking. Ron Inglis, Director 

of Regional Screen Scotland tells the story 

of this one of a kind mobile cinema. 

Interview by gabriel solomons 

widescreen 

s e e i n g f i l m i n a w i d e r c o n t e x t 

Could you briefly tell us 

the history of the Screen 

Machine initiative and its 

relationship to Regional 

Screen Scotland. 

The original concept in the 

mid-1990s was to develop 

a rural, mainstream cinema 

service similar to what 

was operating in France. 

HI~Arts, the arts and cultural 

development agency for 

the Highlands and Islands 

of Scotland undertook the 

project with the backing of 

the Scottish film Council 

and Highlands and Islands 

Enterprise. 

Although the idea was to 

purchase a similar mobile 

cinema "off the shelf" from 

the French manufacturer, 

Toutenkamion, there were 

difficulties getting their design 

to work with Highlands 

roads and especially the 

ferries. Consequently a 

custom designed and built 

cinema was constructed in 

Manchester and this toured 

up until 2005. However it 

was a fragile, labour intensive 

vehicle and a second mobile 

cinema was purchased, this 

time from Toutenkamion who 

had now supplied a similar 

cinema to Ireland and were by 

now able to adapt their design 

to suit the Scottish routes. 

The current Screen 

Machine has been operating 

for 6 years, initially with 

35mm projection but since 

January 2010 as a purely 

digital cinema operation 

complete with 3D capabilities. 

Regional Screen Scotland 

is a development agency 

established in 2008 to develop 

cinema and cinemagoing 

in remote, rural and underprovided 

areas of Scotland. 

The company took over 

ownership and operation of 

Screen Machine in 2009. 

What factors determine 

your programming choices 

for films? 

The principal purpose of 

Screen Machine is to provide 

a mainstream, contemporary, 

state-of-the-art cinema 

experience to the remote 

communities of the west 

Highlands and Islands. So the 

programme is predominately 

mainstream new releases such 

as Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, 

Toy Story 3, and Inception. 

However each tour, which 

covers 23 communities 

and takes about 6 weeks to 

complete, includes a film 

suitable for younger children 

and families as well as films 

for older audiences. Generally 

we tour 3-4 titles but we have 

been adding more specialised 

films recently, for example 

The Girl With The Dragon 

Tattoo and The Illusionist. 

The programme varies 

slightly according to the 

community we are visiting. 

Some places are comparatively 

close to a city multiplex - in 

our case this means within 

a 2 hour drive! - and so the 

major blockbusters don't 

always perform well when we 

tour them because the target 

audience have already chosen 

to make a special visit to a city 

cinema. 

There seems to be a bit 

of a resurgence of these 

mobile cinemas of late. Why 

do you think the response 

to these mobile cinemas 

- and the Screen Machine 

in particular - has been so 

positive? 

It is important to distinguish 

between mobile cinemas such 

as Screen Machine, which is 

a complete touring cinema 

auditorium, and the equally 

important operations which 

take equipment into existing 

venues and provide a cinema 

service to local communities. 

Screen Machine, and similar 

vehicles in Ireland and France, 

aim first and foremost to 

deliver an experience that 

equals, perhaps surpasses, a 

modern city cinema. Cinema 

screenings in community 

halls are usually more 

social occasions where it is 

understood that the screening 

will be different from visiting 

a multiplex - and more 

enjoyable for some audiences. 

Screen Machine is a 

very special case. It looks 

impressive in the photographs 

but nearly everyone who visits 

it and watches a film is amazed 

that it "really does feel like a 

modern city cinema". There 

is a Tardis-like feeling when 

you go into the auditorium 

and find a comfortable, 

airconditioned cinema with 

Dolby Digital sound, full 2k 

digital projection and, for 

some films, XpanD 3D. 

What is it that the Screen 

Machine offers that perhaps 

static cinemas don't? For 

example, do you feel there 

➜ 

'Screen machine provides 

a state-of-the-art cinema 

experience to the remote 

communities of the west 

highlands and islands.' 

(toP) noomi raPace as lisbeth salander 

(above) michael nyQvist as mikael blomkvist 

toP 

audiences PrePare to 

board the 'tardis' 

above 

the cinemas surPrisingly 

sPacious interior 


images courtesy regional screen scotland

have been any spin-off 

effects of communitybuilding 

simply due to the 

presence of the cinema at 

certain remote locations? 

The main distinguishing 

feature of Screen Machine, 

apart from the lack of a 

concession counter and 

toilets, is the location where 

the screenings take place. 

Many of the Highland and 

Island locations are set 

against breathtaking scenery. 

Because we don't have 

any room for food and 

drink sales areas, we often 

collaborate with local hotels, 

bars or community centres 

who do good trade before 

or after screenings. We also 

employ a local usher at each 

of our tour locations and 

the driver/projectionists are 

well known personalities 

to the local communities. 

Equally we often know most 

of the audience so if anyone 

misbehaves we can find out 

who the culprits are! 

Are there particular 

challenges you now face due 

to the cut in arts spending 

and spending in general that 

may endanger the existence 

of the Screen Machine? 

The Screen Machine service 

depends on ticket income, a 

small but important amount of 

sponsorship, and funding from 

Creative Scotland, Highlands 

& Islands Enterprise and two 

local authorities. Overall about 

half the income comes from 

public funding and that is 

clearly at risk in the present 

circumstances. But Screen 

Machine provides a well liked 

and well supported service 

for some of the most fragile 

communities in Scotland. We 

carried out a large audience 

gofurther... 


below and bottom 

there's even a red carPet treatment 

for some events 

survey in 2009 and received 

a considerable amount of 

useful and encouraging 

information which we are 

using to adapt the programme 

and the way we operate to suit 

these communities better. A 

single screen 80-seat cinema 

operating in rural and remote 

areas faces many unusual 

difficulties which often require 

really innovative solutions 

but secure funding is a 

straighforward necessity for us. 

And lastly, why does film 

matter? 

Films matter because they 

can provide compelling 

and creative artistic and 

entertainment experiences 

for audiences. Some films are 

just fleeting entertainment 

but others are magnificent, 

wonderous, thought 

provoking works of art - from 

7 minute Warner Brothers 

cartoons to highly personal 

non-fiction films to dramatic 

features and musicals - and 

from all parts of the world. 

In the age of the laptop and 

mobile smartphone, "film" 

is everywhere but cinematic 

film is still, at its best, 

extraordinary. [tbp] 

'a single screen 80-seat 

cinema operating in rural and 

remote areas faces many 

unusual difficulties... but secure 

funding is a straighforward 

necessity for us.' 

[weB] Find out more about the Screen Machine at www.screenmachine.co.uk 

ADVERTISEMENT 

Your New 

Mobile Cinema 

The Big Picture Issue 12 

Available on The iPad January 15th, 2011 

www.thebigpicturemagazine.com

3 

four frames 

t h e a rt o f a b b r e v i at e d s t o ry t e l l i n g 

the fisher king 

The Red Knight In Dir. Terry Gilliam, 1991 

1 2 

3 

screengrabs © 1991 columbia Pictures 

4 

The Red Knight leaps 

from the damaged mind 

of Robin Williams’s 

character in The Fisher 

King. Jez Conolly looks 

at four frames that reveal 

the fearful centre of Terry 

Gilliam’s urban fantasy. 

i n T e r r y g i L L i a m ' S The Fisher 

King (1991) disgraced and washed up 

shock jock Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges) falls 

into the company of the bedraggled and 

unstable Parry (Robin Williams) and 

discovers curious images of a red knight in 

Parry’s cluttered underground lair. Parry 

is driven to discover a holy grail and save 

a damsel in distress. Jack initially writes 

this off as the Arthurian delusions of a 

madman but when Parry begins seeing a 

physical manifestation of the red knight 

erupting onto the streets of New York Jack 

is compelled to help him find his grail, get 

the girl and vanquish his demon. 

The red knight seems to represent 

Parry’s fears from his former life as a 

medieval history professor, his time in a 

mental hospital and his current homeless 

existence, thoughts of which send him into 

a catatonic state. It is ultimately revealed 

to be a terrible echo of the actions of a 

gunman, prompted to attack a bar in the 

city by one of Jack’s anti-yuppie rants on 

air. Parry’s wife was a victim that night, the 

bloody results of the shooting being seen 

in flashback. The incident destroyed Jack’s 

career and Parry’s life, and when the two 

come together they ultimately find a future 

through acts of redemption and salvation. 

Read More F o u r F r a m e S online at 

www.thebigpicturemagazine.com 


1000 words 

m o m e n t s t h at c h a n g e d c i n e m a f o r e v e r 

sweetrelief 

Melvin Van Peebles, Black Power 

and the Birth of Blaxploitation. 

left 

melvin van Peebles 

Photo: melvin van Peebles/ 

breakfast at noho 

above 

a scene from sweetback's 

badaaasssss song 

‘Dedicated to all the Brothers and Sisters 

who had enough of the Man’, Sweet 

Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song called 

for, and inspired, changes both social 

and cinematic. scott Jordan harris 

examines a countercultural classic. 

I’m called the 

godfather of black 

movies,’ says Melvin 

Van Peebles – 

who is always an 

unassuming sort – in 

his documentary 

The Real Deal. ‘The 

truth of the matter is I’m the 

godfather of independent 

films’. When Van Peebles 

could, perhaps unsurprisingly, 

not secure funding for a film 

he conceived in order ‘to get 

the Man’s foot out of my ass 

… [and] … make him eat 

shit’, he decided to make it 

alone – and, with the aid of a 

$50 000 loan from Bill Cosby, 

bankrolled, wrote, directed, 

produced, edited, starred in, 

scored and marketed the film 

that began blaxploitation. 

But Sweetback’s Baadasssss 

Song is not an exploitation 

picture: it’s a protest picture. 

It wasn’t the first film in the 

blaxploitation genre: it was 

the catalyst for it. The classics 

of blaxploitation – Shaft 

(1971), Super Fly (1972), 

Coffy (1973), Cleopatra Jones 

(1973), Foxy Brown (1974) … 

– shared much with Sweetback. 

They were populated by 

powerful black characters; set 

in black urban communities; 

embraced contemporary 

black music; and showed their 

heroes and heroines sticking 

it to the Man (that is, the 

white society responsible for 

their oppression) through 

their intelligence, guts, and 

irrepressible sexuality. But, 

though they were apparently 

aimed at black audiences, 

these blaxploitation films 

also attracted, and proved 

unchallenging for, white 

audiences. 

Indeed, today a teenager 

with a limited understanding 

of the Civil Rights movement 

could probably watch Shaft, 

the most famous of all 

blaxploitation pictures, and 

think it simply an enjoyable 

crime film that just happens 

to have a black hero. No white 


➜

Photo:melvin van Peebles/breakfast at noho 

1000 WORDS SweeT reLieF 

Sweetback’s Baadasssss 

Song is not exploitation 

picture: it’s a protest picture. 

it wasn’t the first film in the 

blaxploitation genre: it was 

the catalyst for it. 

gofurther... 


person, however uneducated 

in the evolution of black 

experience in America, can 

watch Sweet Sweetback and feel 

entirely comfortable. The film 

is a sustained assault on white 

complacency, a challenge to 

white society to re-examine 

itself and to black society to 

overthrow it. 

The titular Sweet Sweetback 

(played as an adult by Van 

Peebles and, as a child, by his 

son, Mario, later the director 

of New Jack City [1991]), is 

adopted by a madam and, after 

amazing a prostitute with his 

sexual prowess while only a 

boy (in scenes censored in the 

British release of the film), he 

grows up to become a famed 

performer in her brothel’s sex 

shows. Audience members both 

black and white assemble to 

be astounded by his attributes. 

After one of his performances 

(from which a white woman 

is barred from participating), 

two white police officers ask to 

take Sweetback into custody, 

with the promise to release him 

later, because a crime has been 

committed by a black man and 

left 

melvin van Peebles on the set of 

sweet sweetback's badaasssss song 

below 

Pam grier in coffy 

oPPosite 

butch cassidy and the sundance kid 

they want to look like they are 

rounding up suspects. 

Alongside Sweetback, the 

policemen also arrest a Black 

Panther – and soon begin to 

beat him mercilessly. Unable to 

stomach this injustice, Sweetback 

overpowers the officers 

and leaves them unconscious. 

He spends the rest of the film 

on the run, relentlessly pursued 

by (white) lawmen. He 

becomes a savage: living first 

rough, and then wild, forced to 

eat a lizard as he wanders the 

desert. Here is a black man as 

the worst of the white world 

would imagine him: a savage. 

But he is not savage by nature 

or inclination: he has been 

forced to become one by white 

society because he took the 

stand of a civilised man and 

rebelled against its savagery. 

Like a savage, Sweetback 

barely speaks and, within 

the militant philosophy of 

the film, his silence had 

two connotations. Firstly, it 

represented how white society 

had robbed the black man 

of his voice. Secondly, in 

the way it was coupled with 

Sweetback’s decisive violent 

actions, his lack of speech 

demonstrated that the black 

struggle had reached a point 

at which words achieved 

nothing: only through violence, 

argued Van Peebles, could 

change be achieved. (Chester 

Himes, the pioneering black 

novelist whose work obviously 

influenced Sweetback and 

who, like Van Peebles, found a 

home and an audience in Paris, 

reached a similar conclusion.) 

The blaxploitation films that 

followed (the financial success 

of) Sweet Sweetback (costing 

half a million dollars to shoot, 

the film grossed thirty times 

that in the USA) capitalised 

on – or rather, exploited – the 

appetite it had identified for 

films with powerful, angry 

black characters. But while 

those movies – which were 

generally lurid and shallow 

entertainments – dealt with 

angry characters they were 

not angry films. There is 

still some social comment 

to be discerned in almost 

all blaxploitation pictures, 

but to see the cartoonish 

exaggerations of Cleopatra 

Jones or Coffy (both directed 

by white men) as belonging 

to the same kind of film as 

Sweetback is to misunderstand 

both types of movie. 

Sweetback led as directly to 

the explosion of blaxploitation 

films as Halloween (1978) led 

to the explosion in slasher 

movies, but it cannot be 

considered one of them. 

If Sweetback belongs to an 

identifiable category of films 

it is to that loose group of 

[wATCh] BAADASSSSS!, Mario van Peebles’s 2003 biopic of his father that focuses on the making of Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song 

great anti-establishment 

films of the time: Bonnie and 

Clyde (1967), The Graduate 

(1967), Butch Cassidy and 

the Sundance Kid (1969), 

Midnight Cowboy (1969), etc. 

It is not generally grouped 

with them because they are, 

of course, very much white 

films. But Sweetback channels 

the same countercultural 

spirit they do, and refracts it 

through the prism of black 

experience. The result is a raw, 

challenging, enraging and, for 

white audiences, unsettling 

film that cannot be forgotten 

or dismissed. By categorising 

Sweetback as a blaxploitation 

picture, or by considering it 

simply as the film that led to 

the blaxploitation picture, we 

criminally diminish both its 

aims and its achievements. 

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss 

Song changed film forever by 

thrusting black issues, black 

characters, black aesthetics and 

black militancy into cinemas, 

and by doing so without 

white money. Subsequently, it 

created a genre that thrived by 

diluting its more contentious 

aspects while expanding its 

entertaining ones. But this 

is not the chief reason to 

remember it. Decades from 

now, when Sweet Sweetback’s 

influence is calculated – and 

its importance as a model 

for independent filmmakers, 

for political filmmakers, and 

political activists can be fully 

considered – that it led to 

the birth of blaxploitation 

may be seen as the least of its 

accomplishments. [tbp] 

GLASGOW 

MARGARET TAIT 

AWARD 

GLASGOW 

BEST INTERNATIONAL 

SHORT FILM AWARD

on location 

t h e p l ac e s t h at m a k e t h e m ov i e s 

Beverly Hills 

below 

Pacino and deniro sQuare off 

bottom right 

nick nolte and friend 

While globally recognised for its 

affluence, celebrity style and permanent 

sunshine, this trend-setting district 

of Los Angeles, a stone’s throw from 

Hollywood, has offered more varied 

settings on-screen. simon kinnear 

mixes with the chic and the freaks. 

heaT (1995) 

Dir. Michael Mann 

USA, 170 minutes 

Starring Al Pacino, Robert 

De Niro, Val Kilmer 

Mann’s epic crime saga, 

an expansion of his 1989 

TV movie L.A. Takedown, 

pits philosophical thief Neil 

McCauley (De Niro) against 

equally capable cop nemesis 

Vincent Hanna (Pacino). 

Mann shoots entirely on 

location as McCauley and 

Hanna’s high-stakes game of 

cat-and-mouse crosses LA, 

from an explosive street battle 

downtown to their late-night 

meeting in a Beverly Hills 

diner – famously, the first time 

these screen legends shared 

the screen, having previously 

appeared in separate sections 

of The Godfather Part II. The 

location is the prestigious Kate 

Mantilini restaurant, which is 

still inundated with requests 

from diners to sit at the De 

Niro / Pacino table, despite a 

‘no reservations’ policy. 

down and ouT in 

BeverLy hiLLS (1986) 

Dir. Paul Mazursky 


Starring Nick Nolte, Bette 

Midler, Richard Dreyfuss 

Adapted from Jean Renoir’s 

Boudu Saved From Drowning, 

Mazursky’s class satire sees 

vulgar Beverly Hills socialites 

Barbara and Dave Whiteman 

(Midler and Dreyfuss) take 

on more than they can handle 

when they decide to adopt 

disheveled bum Jerry Baskin 

(Nolte). The film taps into 

the mid-1980s penchant for 

dissecting the social divide 

and was a huge hit, despite 

the unusual distinction of 

being the first R-rated movie 

ever released by Disney. 

The film makes good use of 

Beverley Hills’ palatial homes, 

with the Whitemans’ estate 

being a real-life home found 

at 802 N. Bedford Drive, off 

Sunset Boulevard. 


➜

eraSerhead (1976) 

Dir. David Lynch 


Starring Jack Nance, Jeanne 

Bates, Charlotte Stewart 

As the centre of the 

filmmaking world, Beverly 

Hills provides the backdrop 

to art-house experiments 

as well as mainstream hits. 

Lynch’s debut, funded by 

the American Film Institute, 

weaved the nightmarish 

story of Henry Spencer (Jack 

Nance), whose ‘vacation’ in a 

strange industrial world tips 

into nightmare when he’s 

forced to raise his hideously 

deformed baby. Lynch took 

advantage of the Gothic 

interiors of the AFI’s Beverly 

Hills headquarters, Greystone 

Mansion, to provide the film’s 

distinctive look – although 

the building is usually 

synonymous with Californian 

wealth. Coen Brothers fans 

will recognise Greystone’s 

exteriors as the home of 

Jeffrey ‘The Big’ Lebowski. 

go further... 

on location 

t h e p l ac e s t h at m a k e t h e m ov i e s 

left 

the darkness within: eraserhead 

below 

alicia silverstone's haPPy shoPPer 

[weB] read ‘The Beast within: The Devil and the Coen Brothers’ on www.thebigpicturemagazine.com 

Filmed at Beverly hills high 

School, the producers of 

Clueless sat in on classes 

to perfect the characters’ 

distinctive valspeak cadences. 

CLueLeSS (1995) 

Dir. Amy Heckerling 


Starring Alicia Silverstone, 

Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy 

Beverly Hills would appear 

to be an incongruous setting 

for a Jane Austen adaptation, 

but Heckerling’s transplant of 

Emma to high school proves 

an astute rendering of the 

novelist’s social observations. 

Silverstone’s popular 

fashionista Cher has made it 

her duty to play matchmaker 

for her classmates, notably 

ugly duckling Tai (Brittany 

Murphy), little realizing she’s 

falling in love herself. Filmed 

at Beverly Hills High School, 

the producers sat in on classes 

to perfect the characters’ 

distinctive Valspeak cadences. 

The same school’s famous 

‘Swim Gym’, meanwhile, is 

perhaps more familiar for its 

cameo in It’s A Wonderful Life. 


kobal 

screengem 

e vo c at i v e o b j e c t s o n s c r e e n 

Coke 

Bottle 

The 

The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980) 

In Jamie Uys’s African comedy, a glass Coke 

bottle draws a noble savage, played by real-life 

tribesman N!xau, into society. scott Jordan 

harris follows it to the ends of the Earth. 

the plot is perfect. 

An empty Coca-Cola bottle, 

thrown from a light aircraft, 

is discovered by a band of 

Kalihari Bushmen. Unable 

to imagine that such an 

object has an earthly origin, 

they assume it to be a gift 

from the Heavens. When 

the bottle causes arguments 

over ownership – a concept 

previously unknown to the 

tribe – one of their number 

resolves to take the only 

sensible course: he will walk 

to the edge of the world and 

throw the bottle off it, thereby 

returning it to the gods. His 

trek brings him into contact 

with civilisation for the first 

time, and that brings him to 

the inevitable conclusion: the 

gods must be crazy. 

seemore [weB] read ‘Screengem: Charlie’s Golden Ticket’ on TheBigPictureMagazine.com 

The iconic Coke bottle is the 

perfect emblem of Western 

society. It is so elegant and 

functional that, to an outsider, 

it seems divine and yet to 

those for whom it was made 

it is utterly disposable. Its 

appearance represents the 

encroachment of modern 

commerce into an unspoilt 

world. The mission to fling 

the bottle from the planet 

represents not just a rejection 

of capitalism’s attendant 

evils (inequality, envy, 

dissatisfaction, greed…) but 

a resolution to ensure there 

is no chance of them ever 

returning. No onscreen object 

has ever exposed the savagery 

in civilisation, or the civility in 

a savage, as succinctly as this 

discarded Coke bottle. [tbp] 


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British Cinema in the 1970s 

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'happiness must 

Be earned...' 

clockwise from toP 

et: the extra terrestrial 

the thief of bagdad (1924) 

the absent minded Professor 

parting shot 

i m i tat i o n i s t h e s i n c e r e s t f o r m o f f l at t e ry 

E.T. and Elliot weren’t the first film characters to fly 

across the moon. daniel steadman jumps on his flying 

bicycle to examine one of cinema’s most imitated images. 

go further... 

Over 

The 

Moon 

1924's the thief of 

bagdad established the moon 

as a back-drop for flight. 

The iconic sight of Douglas 

Fairbanks and Julanne 

Johnston soaring on a magic 

carpet, silhouetted against a 

massively expensive, studioset 

orb set a precedent. When 

filmmakers needed to create 

the illusion of fantastical 

aviation – whether to convey 

romance, magic or simply 

grandeur – they had their 

reference. 

Any act of homage to a 

film icon leaves room for 

innovation, and the biggest 

variation between nearly 

ninety years of moon 

silhouette movie moments 

is the mode of transport 

used in them. The silliest 

example comes in 1961’s The 

Absent-Minded Professor, in 

which Professor Brainhard’s 

Flubber-powered Model T 

Ford neatly reinvents The 

Thief of Bagdad image, 

eschewing mystery and 

splendour and recasting the 

shot as a comedic device. 

The most familiar example 

of the shot is Elliot and E.T. 

cycling triumphantly in front 

of the lunar light. As with so 

much of Steven Spielberg’s 

work, the image of a boy on 

a BMX, guarding an alien in 

the basket levitating above 

the trees is both entirely his 

own, and yet also the result of 

an encyclopaedic knowledge 

of film history. Such was 

the image’s subsequent 

fame, it became the logo for 

the director’s monstrously 

successful Amblin production 

company and is spoofed in 

everything from Naked Gun 

2½ to Cars. 

So, while Spielberg opened 

the floodgates – training 

the eyes of a generation of 

cinemagoers – E.T. and 

Elliott’s moment of ecstasy 

is part of a long tradition: 

the grandiose, whimsical and 

absurd vision of the rider, the 

silhouette and the moon. [tbp] 

[wATCh] George Melies’s A Trip to The Moon (1902) 


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Backpages 

Film Index 

So you’ve read about the films, now go watch them! 

The Mighty Ducks: D2 (1994) 

Dir. Sam weisman 

g see page 4/5 

Bhoudu Saved From Drowning (1932) 

Dir. Jean renoir 


hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) 

Dir. william Dieterle 

g see page 8 

City Lights (1931) 

Dir. Charlie Chaplin 

g see page 9 

Nell (1994) 

Dir. Michael Apted 

g see page 10 

Trading Places (1983) 

Dir. John Landis 

g see page 11 

Unleashed (2005) 

Dir. Andrea Arnold 


The Fisher King (1991) 

Dir. Terry Gilliam 


Sweet Sweetback's 

Badaaasssss Song (1971) 

Dir. Melvin van Peebles 


Coffy (1973) 

Dir. Jack hill 

g see page 32 

Butch Cassidy and 

the Sundance Kid (1969) 

Dir. George roy hill 

g see page 33 

heat (1995) 

Dir. Michael Mann 

g see page 34 

Down and out in Beverly hills 

(1986) 

Dir. Paul Mazursky 

g see page 35 

eraserhead (1976) 

Dir. David Lynch 

g see page 36 

Clueless (1995) 

Dir. Amy heckerling 

g see page 37 

The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980) 

Dir. Jamie Uys 


eT: The extra Terrestrial (1982) 

Dir. Steven Spielberg 


The Absent Minded Professor (1961) 

Dir. robert Stevenson 

g see page 42 

The Thief of Bagdad (1924) 

Dir. Jody hill 

g see page 43 

the big picture issue 12 

available 15 january 2011 

the big society? 


Back in Cinemas 

Putting the movies back where they belong... 

This edition of The Big Picture has been 

produced in partnership with Park Circus, 

who are committed to bringing classic 

films back to the big screen. 

coming 

soon 

coming 

soon 

coming 

soon 

The fully restored version of Jean Renoir's 1932 

classic BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING will be 

back in cinemas from 17 December, opening at 

Curzon Renoir Cinema, Filmhouse Edinburgh, Irish 

Film Institute and key cities. The film is about a 

Parisian bookseller, Lestingois, who fishes Boudu, 

a vagrant, out of the river Seine. He befriends the 

tramp and puts him up at home, where Boudu 

causes nothing but trouble. However, events take 

a different turn when Boudu wins the lottery… 

Having undergone an amazing $600,000 

restoration, THE AFRICAN QUEEN will be back 

in cinemas from March 2011. Three movie giants 

come together in this Academy Award-winning 

romantic adventure from 1951, combining the 

masterful direction of John Huston with the 

fabulous chemistry of its lead actors Humphrey 

Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. 

More details of cinema screenings of these 

and other classic movies from the Park Circus 

catalogue can be accessed via: 

www.backincinemas.com 

thebigpicture disclaimer 

The views and opinions of all texts, including 

editorial and regular columns, are those of the 

authors and do not necessarily represent or 

reflect those of the editors or publishers. 

DVD 

COLUMBIA PICTURES presents 

A Film by Jean Renoir 

boudu 

saved From drowning 

www.parkcircus.com 

DVD DUAL FORMAT EDITION- 

CONTAINS BOTH DVD 

AND BLU-RAY VERSIONS 

DUAL FORMAT EDITION- 

CONTAINS BOTH DVD 

AND BLU-RAY VERSIONS 

AVAILABLE FROM ALL GOOD RETAILERS 

back in cinemas 

From 17 december 

BLU-RAY 

CLASSIC FILMS TO ENJOY AT HOME

The Big Picture – issue 11 - Intellect

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