The Grand Prix de Triathlon (Championnat de France des Clubs Division 1 (Triathlon D1) or Grand Prix F.F.TRI. - Lyonnaise des Eaux) defines itself as the most outstanding triathlon event in France and attracts numerous international elite triathletes hired by French clubs.
The Grand Prix should not be confused with the Coupe de France des Clubs, which is not a circuit but a one-day national championship and in which the clubs admitted to the Grand Prix are obliged to take part.

Organisation
In 2011, the circuit consisted of the following five triathlons: Nice (24 April 2011), Dunkirk (22 May 2011), Paris (9 July 2011), Tours or Tourangeaux (28 August 2011), and La Baule (Triathlon Audencia, 17 September 2011).
In 2012 the following five towns will host the Grand Prix:
 Les Sables-d'Olonne: 28 and 29 April 2012 (cancelled after the Super Sprint Prologue contre la Montre due to weather conditions)
 Dunkirk: 20 May 2012
 Toulouse: 16 June 2012
 Paris: 7 July 2012
 Nice (Grand Final): 16 September 2012

According to the official Réglementation Sportive, there should be 16 male and 14 female teams. At the end of the year 2010, however, three female teams (Beauvais, Montpellier, Nantes) and two male teams (Beauvais, Montluçon) withdrew.
Beauvais Triathlon decided to boycott the Grand Prix when the French Triathlon Federation (FFTRI) canceled the traditional Triathlon de Beauvais and replaced it with the Triathlon de Nice. As it seems, there were tensions between FFTRI president Philippe Lescure and Beauvais manager Laurent Chopin, who is reported to return to soccer. Besides, French clubs obviously face increasing difficulties hiring foreign elite stars. Two of the Beauvais elite stars, Andrea Hewitt and Delphine Py-Bilot, moved to Poissy and Charleville respectively. Fred Belaubre and Charlotte Morel, however, took a break.

Qualified Teams 2012
According to the current Réglementation Sportive, there should be again 16 male and 14 female teams. Compared to 2011, the situation has improved and there are now 13 female teams. However, it remains to be seen if the newcomers can catch up to the old elite clubs.
Laurent Vidal changed to Beauvais Triathlon and therefore does not take part in the Grand Prix 2012. Frédéric Belaubre, however, left Beauvais Triathlon in order to take part again in the Grand Prix, this time for Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
16 male teams:
 EC Sartrouville: Alistair Brownlee, Jonathan Brownlee, Javier Gómez, David McNamee, Fernando Alarza, Étienne Diemunsch, Mario Mola, Filip Ospaly, Sebastian Rank, Richard Varga.
 Poissy Triathlon: Tony Moulai, Greg Rouault, Bertrand Billiard, Cyril Moreau, Alessandro Fabian, Artem Parienko, Matt Chrabot, Dan Wilson, Daniel Unger, Jérémy Quindos.
 Les Sables Vendée Triathlon: Brad Kahlefeldt, David Hauss, João Silva, Valentin Meshcheryakov, Ivan Vasiliev, Bruno Païs, Anthony Pujades, Pierre Le Corre, Yulian Malyshev, Uxio Abun Ares.
 Saint-Raphaël Triathlon: Dmitry Polyanski, Igor Polyansky, Karl Shaw, Raoul Shaw, Olivier Marceau, Julien Fort, Manuele Canuto, Beau Smith, Tommy Zaferes, Julien Pousson.
 Rouen Triathlon: Aurélien Lebrun, Arnaud Chivot, Robin Moussel, Alberto Casadei, Alberto Alessandroni, Davide Uccellari, Thomas Bishop, David Bishop, Todd Leckie, James Elvery.
 Lagardère Paris Racing: Steffen Justus, William Clarke, Tamas Tóth, Romain Caillet, Grégoire Pallardy, Ludovic Échalard, Pierre Monière, Olivier Philizot, David Bardi.
 Mulhouse Olympique Tri: Daniel Hofer, Clark Ellice, Toumy Degham, Matthew Sharp, Mattia Ceccarelli, Richard Murray, Matthias Steinwandter, Mark Buckingham, Denis Florentin, Antoine Febway.
 TCG 79 Parthenay: Boris Dessenoix, Brendan Sexton, Tony Dodds, Jan Celustka, Simon De Cuyper, Akos Vanek, Stijn Goris, Luca Facchinetti, Eike Carsten Pupkes.
 St Jean de Monts Vendée Triathlon: Brice Daubord, Yohann Vincent, Nicolas Alliot, Alexander Bryukhankov, Kris Gemmell, Ryan Sissons, Ivan Tutukin, Gavin Noble, Anton Ruanova, Anton Chuchko.
 Baie de Somme Triathlon: Gabor Faldum, Tony Baheux, Miguel Arraiolos, Bryan Keane, Duarte Marques, Stas Krylov, Sergey Yakovlev, Fabien Guérineau, Massimo De Ponti, Aaron Royle, Jorge Naranjo Vichot.
 Metz Triathlon: Cédric Oesterle, Anthony Pannier, Théo Rebeyrotte, Nils Frommhold, Gregor Buchholz, Andrew Russel, Maurice Clavel, Jordan Rouyer, Charles Martin, Jessy Michel.
 Versailles Triathlon: Boris Chambon, Fabien Combaluzier, Audric Lucini, Benoît Recouvreur, Jonathan Tryoen, Gordon Benson, Andrea De Ponti, Kristof Kiraly, Franz Löschke, Stefan Zachaeus, Ricardo Hernandez.
 Ste Geneviève Triathlon: Vincent Luis, Grégoire Berthon, Andreas Schilling, Andrey Bryukhankov, Aubin Fouchet, Matthieu Marteau, Denis Vasiliev, Rodrigo Gonzalez, Danilo Brustolon.
 Vesoul Triathlon: Alexandre Maire, Jonathan Lardier, Vincent Stragapede, Danylo Sapunov, Yegor Martynenko, Aaron Harris, Andrea Secchiero, Peter Bajai, Ben Allen, Davide Bargellini, Petr Bures, Cyril Pochon.
 Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines: Frédéric Belaubre, Thomas André, Anthony Chassery, Ghislain Hervé, Léo Inostroza, Marek Jaskolka, Guillaume Montoisy, Aymeric Petel, Balasz Pocsai, Romain Pozzo di Borgo.
 La Rochelle: Nicolas Billet, Matthew Gunby, James Lock, Vincent Migné, Frédéric Pierrat, Lionel Roye, Valentin Rouvier, Jérémy Savio, Alfred Torok.
13 female teams:
 Poissy Triathlon: Jessica Harrison, Carole Péon, Erin Densham, Andrea Hewitt, Jodie Stimpson, Kerry Lang, Kate McIlroy, Kathrin Müller, Bérengère Abraham, Rachel Klamer.
 Charleville Tri Ardennes: Hollie Avil, Anja Dittmer, Olga Dmitrieva, Karolien Geerts, Sarah Groff, Vicky Holland, Emma Moffatt, Delphine Py-Bilot, Marie Rabie, Alexandra Razarenova, Doumic Letot, Katrien Verstuyft.
 TCG 79 Parthenay: Felicity Abram, Emma Jackson, Laurie Belkadie, Ainhoa Murua, Nicky Samuels, Non Stanford, Debbie Tanner, Alice Betto, Gaia Peron, Margit Vanek.
 TC Châteauroux 36: Melanie Annaheim, Ricarda Lisk, Svenja Bazlen, Kathy Tremblay, Alexandra Cassan-Ferrier, Julie Nivoix, Clémentine Kauffman, Alia Cardinale, Laetitia Moreau, Vanessa Raw.
 Lagardère Paris Racing: Emmie Charayron, Fabienne Saint Louis, Rebecca Robisch, Justine Guérard, Pauline Purro, Daria Pletikapa, Rebecca Kingsford, Manon Miranda, Sonia Die.
 Stade Poitevin Triathlon: Felicity Sheedy-Ryan, Jessica Leroux, Holly Lawrence, Lois Rosindale, Laetitia Lantz, Tamsyn Moana-Veale, Mariya Shorets, Charlotte Lancereau, Inna Tsyganok, Sara Vilic.
 Saint-Raphaël Triathlon: Annamaria Mazzetti, Camille Donat, Anne Tabarant, Greta Horvath, Daniela Chmet, Anastasiya Polyanskaya, Lyubov Ivanovskaya, Caroline Lopez, Catherine Pickthall.
 Saint Avertin Sports Tri 37 (SASTRI 37): Monika Oražem, Abbie Thorrington, Ine Couckuyt, Hannah Drewett, Elena Maria Petrini, Alessia Orla, Tamara Stonova, Anna Godoy Contreras, Marine Echevin, Pauline Moniere.
 Brive Limousin Triathlon: Aurélie Ajzenberg, Emma Davis, Julie Del Corral, Lucy Hall, Linde Herreman, Charlotte McShane, Giorgia Priarone, Céline Puydebois, Veronica Signorini, Carla Elena Stampfli.
 Tri Val de Gray: Barbara Riveros, Anaïs Robin, Fabienne Hébert, Marie-Clémence Prat, Sandrine Fariello, Ashleigh Gentle, Anais Verguet-Moniz, Elizabeth May, Faustine Chabod, Marine Brisard, Gisele Bertucci.
 Issy Les Moulineaux Triathlon: Linda Guinoiseau, Isabelle Ferrer, Juliette Coudrey, Camille Cierpik, Léonie Périault, Céline Viaud, Marina Damlaimcourt, Carolina Routier, Ashlee Bailie, Victoriya Kachan.
 Tri Sud 18: Sandrine Delannoy, Aurélie Gauliard, Sabrina Godard, Natacha Lacorre, Hellie Salthouse, Grace Musgrove, Camille Duvauchel, Solène Madrange.
 Noyon Puissance 3: -.*

Points System
Each of the 16 male and 14 female teams nominates seven triathletes for the whole season, of whom five triathletes actually have to take part in the race.
In 2011 at least one triathlete in each team must be French (two from 2012 onwards).
For each of the five competitions the ranking of the clubs is determined by the three so-called triathlètes classants l'equipe, i.e. the individual positions of the three best triathletes of each club are added and the club with the lowest sum is the winner, and so forth.
The ranks of the rest of each team are irrelevant. For the whole circuit, however, the clubs are assigned points on the basis of the club ranking of each individual competition. The best male team, for instance, receives 20 points for the first place in one competition etc.

For the season 2011 the French triathlon Federation FFTRI was not only unable to secure the right number of clubs, some clubs, especially female elite teams, seem to have difficulties in hiring five elite triathletes for each race:
 At the opening triathlon in Nice (24 April 2011), Charleville Tri Ardennes (CTA) was unable to start with five runners and should have been disqualified, as Alexandra Razarenova did not start.
 In Dunkirk, for instance, Stade Poitevin had to recur to Natalia Shliakhtenko although she was no member of the club any more and her name was not included in the start lists.
 In Paris, TRI Olympique Club Cessonnais had to do without the obligatory fifth triathlete because the only French triathlete among the five nominated runners, Alexia Bigot, did not start (DNS). According to the Réglementation Sportive any club which does not take part in alle five triathlons of the circuit (with all the five obligatory triathletes) should be excluded from the Grand Prix.
 Apart from the three decisive runners (the ), several clubs nominate only foreign juniors without significant ITU competition experience.
 Sometimes even the three  of smaller clubs are foreign juniors. The three best triathletes of Saint Avertin Sports Tri 37, for instance, were foreign juniors: Monika Oražem (24th in the individual ranking), Horvath (35th), and Hannah Drewett (38th). Hannah Drewett, a British junior, even managed to place 38th among the elite without any prior ITU competition experience.
 Lagardère for instance completely depends on Emmie Charayron. With this top triathlete, the club regularly achieves medals, without her it is among the last clubs of the ranking.
 The official start lists often turn out to be inaccurate. At Tours (28 August 2011), for instance, TOCC nominated five unknown French triathletes, but at the race there were three internationally well known U23 triathletes competing in the World Championship Series: Zsófia Tóth, who had announced her participation long before on Twitter, Charlotte McShane, and Mariya Shorets.
 Many triathletes seem to be unhappy about the fact that, paradoxically, the French Club Championship is no team championship but is exclusively based upon the individual ranking of the club's best two or three top triathletes, i.e. the foreign elite stars. At Tours (28 August 2011), for the first time, a slight relay element was introduced. The first two and the second two triathletes of each club form a team and the slower triathlete of each sub team will give the start signal to the following teammate. The fifth triathlete of each club is running alone without a slowdown colleague. For the dominant Grand Prix teams with three foreign guest stars this might turn out disadvantageous because the third top star will be slowed down unless the club has a fourth top star. At Tours, Sartrouville could defend its leading position only thanks to Jonathan Brownlee, who, as the fifth solo runner, could easily outdo all competitors and win the gold medal for his team.

In general, it seems that the official Rules (Règlementation sportive) are not strictly applied. E.g. at the official podium ceremony in La Baule (17 September 2011), Saint Raphaël Tri (Anna Tabarant, Polyanskaya, Ivanovskaya, Camille Donat and Daniela Chmet) did not turn up. According to the rules, this should have led to a penalty. Nevertheless, the club received all 11 points for the third place in La Baule.

Foreigners' Dominance
The high amount of international guest stars has always raised criticism in France. On the one hand, FFTRI is proud to gather some of the best elite stars of the world, on the other hand the rankings clearly show that the French triathletes are a small and irrelevant minority among the Grand Prix participants.
In the old Réglementation Sportive of the season 2007/08, the importance of the foreign guest stars was still restricted because among the three  only one (EU) foreigner was allowed.

Season 2010
The rankings of the opening Grand Prix triathlon held at Dunkirk on 23 May 2010 give the following picture.
 According to the individual female ranking, among the best 10 female triathletes there were only 2 French triathletes, among the best 20 triathletes there were only 4 French triathletes, and among all 70 female participants there were only 26 French triathletes. On the other side, among the 9 participants who did not finish (DNF) there were 7 French triathletes.
 In the club ranking the foreigners' dominance is even more obvious. As said before, there were 14 female teams and for the club ranking only the three best triathletes of each club, the , are relevant. Thus there should have been 42 , but OSML Natation-Triathlon had three DNF triathletes and so in this club there were only two . This means that at Dunkirk for the club ranking there were only 41 female triathletes, of whom only 11 were French. And of these 11 French triathletes, only 5 belonged to the best 11 clubs. In other words: among the 33  of the 11 best clubs, there were only 11 French triathletes.
 In five out of 14 clubs there were no French triathletes at all among the three best triathleteas, which means for five clubs the club ranking was based exclusively upon the foreigners' positions. In seven teams there was only one French triathlete among the three triathlètes classants l'equipe of these clubs, but they were the third of the three, and thus had little relevance for the club ranking.
 The second best club at Dunkirk, Tri Club Chateauroux 36, achieved this top position only thanks to its foreign stars: Magali Di Marco, Svenja Bazlen, and Ricarda Lisk, and even the two other triathletes of this team were foreigners: Melanie Annaheim (Switgzerland) und Alia Cardinale (Costa Rica), which will be forbidden by the Grand Prix rules from autumn 2010 on. Tri Club Nantais neither had a French triathlete in its team nor could it nominate five triathletes.
 Not only do the foreign guest stars outnumber the French participants and play the decisive role: the French triathletes, too, often lack any relation with the club they represent. The bronze-medalist club of Dunkirk 2010 and the overall Grand Prix winner of the year 2009, Beauvais Tri, for instance, signed four international elite stars on, Andrea Hewitt, Vicky Holland, Hollie Avil and Anja Dittmer, plus the Southern French triathletes Delphine Py Bilot from Montpellier and Charlotte Morel from Boulouris, both of whom live and train far away from Beauvais.
 The male ranking confirms the foreign dominance. Among the three qualifying triathletes () of the 5 best clubs, i.e. among the 15 most relevant triathletes there were only 2 French triathletes. In the individual ranking, which is independent of the triathletes' status as , the discrepancy between the percentage of French participants and their performance is evident: 50 out of 84 triathletes are foreigners, but among the best 40 participants there are only 7 French triathletes, but e.g. 8 Russians.

Season 2011
To some extent this season was irregular. On the one hand, traditional guest stars withdrew and concentrated on ITU races for the 2012 Olympics qualification. On the other hand, five clubs which had already been admitted to the Grand Prix, among which the female gold medalist and male silver medalist Beauvais, declared to withdraw in autumn 2010.
So in 2011 there were only 11 instead of 14 female teams.
The opening triathlon in Nice (24 April 2011) proved the undiminished foreigners' dominance in spite of the new regulation according to which each club has to be present with five triathletes at each competition with at least one French triathlete among them.
 Among the three best triathletes (triathlètes classants l'èquipe) of the winning team Sartrouville there is no French national: Alistair Brownlee, Jonathan Brownlee and Javier Gómez.
 Among the 30 triathlètes classants l'èquipe of the best ten clubs there are only seven French triathletes.
 Five of the ten best clubs do not have any French triathletes among their three triathlètes classants l'èquipe.
 The individual ranking is indicative, too. among the top ten triathletes there are only two French triathletes, among the top thirty there are only seven French triathletes.
 On the whole there were 46 French and 44 non French participants. Among the last thirty participants (DNF included), however, there are 25 French triathletes.
 In the female ranking the situation is slightly better because many traditional guest stars do not participate in the 2011 circuit. In the individual ranking there are five French top-ten triathletes, among the top thirty female triathletes there are 13 French triathletes.
 Among the last thirty triathletes (DNF included) there are only 16 French triathletes.
 Among the nine triathlètes classants l'èquipe of the best three clubs, there are four French triathletes: Carole Péon, Emmie Charayron and Julie Nivoix.

Notes

External links
 FFTRI (French Triathlon Federation)
 Grand Prix Sponsor Lyonnaise des Eaux

Triathlon competitions in France

Grand Prix de Triathlon


Hazard Stevens (June 9, 1842 – October 11, 1918) was an American military officer, mountaineer, politician and writer.  He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Union army during the American Civil War at the Battle of Fort Huger.  Stevens and Philemon Beecher Van Trump made the first documented successful climb of Mount Rainier on August 17, 1870.

Early life and the Civil War
Stevens was born in Newport, Rhode Island on June 9, 1842, the son of Isaac I. Stevens and Margaret Hazard Stevens. In 1854, his father became the first governor of the new Washington Territory and the Stevens family moved to Olympia, Washington. Both father and son volunteered in the Union army during the Civil War and served in the 79th New York Volunteer Infantry.  Hazard Stevens was a major and assistant adjutant general.  Hazard was wounded and his father, by then a general, was killed in the Battle of Chantilly on September 1, 1862. For his contribution to the capture of Fort Huger, Virginia, on April 19, 1863, Stevens received the Medal of Honor on June 13, 1894. Stevens was mustered out of the Union Army volunteers on September 19, 1865. On January 13, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Stevens for appointment to the brevet grade of brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from April 2, 1865, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination on March 12, 1866.

After the war and the ascent of Mount Rainier
After the war, Stevens returned to Washington to care for his widowed mother, initially working for the Oregon Steam Navigation Company and then as a federal revenue collector in 1868. He then met P. B. Van Trump, who was working as the private secretary to Marshall F. Moore, the seventh governor of the territory.  Both men were interested in climbing Mount Rainier and on August 17, 1870 they completed the first documented ascent of the mountain.

The Stevens Van Trump Historic Monument along the Skyline Trail in Mount Rainier National Park was erected to commemorate the historic first ascent of the mountain.  Nearby Stevens Peak, Stevens Canyon, and Stevens Ridge are named after him.

Stevens joined the bar in 1871, representing the Northern Pacific Railroad Company in their prosecution of lumber theft cases.  In 1874, Stevens investigated British claims on the San Juan Islands at the request of President Ulysses S. Grant.

Later life

In 1874, Stevens moved to Dorchester, Massachusetts near Boston.  He then entered the Massachusetts state legislature as a reformer in 1885.  He successfully lobbied for the preservation of Boston's Old State House.  He was unsuccessful in a run for the United States Congress.

In 1887 Stevens was admitted to the Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati by right of his descent from Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lyman.

Stevens climbed Mount Rainier a second time in 1905 on a trip organized by The Mazamas, an Oregon mountaineering club.

Stevens established the Cloverfields Dairy Farm in Olympia, Washington in 1916.  Now on the National Historic Register, the former farm is the site of the present Olympia High School.

Later in life, Stevens wrote The Life of Isaac Ingalls Stevens, a noted biography of his father in addition to many papers on the Civil War. In 1918, while in frail health, he presided over the ceremonial placement of a memorial marker to Bureau of Indian Affairs agent Andrew Bolon in Klickitat County, Washington and, the following day, suffered a stroke of paralysis. He died unmarried shortly thereafter and is interred at Island Cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island.

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and Organization:
Captain and Assistant Adjutant General, U.S. Volunteers. Place and Date: At Fort Huger, Va., April 19, 1863. Entered service at: Olympia, Washington Territory. Born: June 9, 1842, Newport, R.I. Date of issue: June 13, 1894.

Citation:
Gallantly led a party that assaulted and captured the fort.

See also

List of Medal of Honor recipients
List of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients: Q–S
History of Olympia

Notes

References
 Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. .

External links

1842 births
1918 deaths
Union Army officers
United States Army Medal of Honor recipients
American mountain climbers
Politicians from Newport, Rhode Island
Writers from Olympia, Washington
Politicians from Boston
American Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor
Mount Rainier
Writers from Newport, Rhode Island
Hazard family of Rhode Island

Hazard Stevens


Johan Houwers (born 4 October 1957 in Winterswijk, Netherlands) is a Dutch politician and real estate broker. As a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie) he was an MP from 26 October 2010 to 20 September 2012. He focused on matters of greenhouses, fishery, hunting, animal welfare, spatial planning and water. From 8 November 2012, he once again was an MP, resigning on 22 July 2013, following to a mortgage fraud investigation. He served as an independent MP between 25 March 2015 and 23 March 2017.

Houwers was a member of the municipal council of Winterswijk from 1990 to 2002, and again between 11 March 2010 and 5 July 2012. From 1990 to 1994, and again since 2010, he was VVD fraction leader. From 1994 to 2001, he was also an alderman and from 1999 to 2010, a member of the States of Gelderland.

Houwers studied social geography (BA) as well as urban planning (MA) at Radboud University Nijmegen.

After the possible return of the wolf to the Netherlands, Houwers mentioned that if the population numbers rose, wolves should be shot so they would not present a harm to society. Houwers clashed with the coalition Labour Party politician Lutz Jacobi on the topic.

Mortgage fraud investigation
On 22 July 2013, Houwers resigned his seat after it was revealed that the police started an investigation into him concerning possible mortgage fraud. Aegon and Rabobank, the mortgage providers, filed charges against him because he did not represent his income correctly. On 31 July, justice authorities seized Houwers' property in Winterswijk for 1 million euro. Houwers said he would wait for the outcome of the investigation before responding to the press. On 16 March 2015, he was found guilty of forgery and fraud and had to pay a fine of €4000. According to the fraction leader of the VVD in Parliament, Halbe Zijlstra, he could not return as an MP for the VVD.

References
  Parlement.com biography

External links
  Johan Houwers personal website
  House of Representatives biography
  People's Party for Freedom and Democracy website

1957 births
Living people
Aldermen in Gelderland
Dutch businesspeople
Dutch geographers
Dutch urban planners
Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)
Members of the Provincial Council of Gelderland
Independent politicians in the Netherlands
People from Winterswijk
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians
Radboud University Nijmegen alumni
Dutch real estate brokers
Social geographers
21st-century Dutch politicians

Johan Houwers


The Crow is a 1994 American supernatural superhero film directed by Alex Proyas from a screenplay by David J. Schow and John Shirley, based on the 1989 limited comic book series of the same name by James O'Barr. The film stars Brandon Lee, in his final film appearance, as Eric Draven, a musician who is resurrected from the dead to seek vengeance against the gang who murdered him and his fiancée, all the while being pursued by a sympathetic police officer.

Production on The Crow was struck by tragedy when Lee was fatally wounded by a prop gun during filming. As Lee had finished most of his scenes before his death, the film was completed through script rewrites, a stunt double, and digital effects. After Lee's death, Paramount Pictures opted out of distributing the film and the rights were picked up by Miramax Films, who oversaw the film's completion. The film is dedicated to Lee and his fiancée, Eliza Hutton.

The Crow was released in the United States on May 13, 1994. The film received positive reviews from critics. A sleeper hit at the box office, it grossed $94 million on a $23 million budget and gained a strong cult following. The success of the film led to a media franchise that includes the sequels The Crow: City of Angels (1996), The Crow: Salvation (2000), and The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2005). The sequels, which mostly featured different characters and none of the original cast members, were unable to match the success of the first film.

Plot

On Devil's Night in Detroit, police Sergeant Albrecht surveys a crime scene. A young woman named Shelly Webster has been raped and gravely wounded. Her fiancé, rock musician Eric Draven, was killed in the attack, having been stabbed, shot and then thrown from the window of their loft apartment. As he leaves for the hospital with Shelly, Albrecht meets a young girl, Sarah, whom Shelly and Eric look after. Albrecht comforts Sarah when she realizes that Shelly is going to die from her injuries.

One year later, Sarah visits Shelly and Eric's graves before meeting with Albrecht, who now helps take care of her.  A crow lands on Eric's gravestone and taps on it, resurrecting him. Upon returning to his now-derelict apartment, Eric experiences flashbacks of his murder, when a gang (T-Bird, Tin Tin, Funboy and Skank) broke in and attacked him and Shelly due to them protesting forced evictions at their apartment building. Eric also discovers that any wounds he receives heal immediately. Guided by the crow, with whom he shares a telepathic connection, Eric sets out to avenge his and Shelly's murders.

The crow helps Eric locate Tin Tin, whom Eric stabs to death. Eric next travels to the pawn shop where Tin Tin had pawned Shelly's engagement ring, forcing the owner, Gideon, to return it. He blows up the shop, but spares Gideon so that he can warn the others. Eric then tracks down Funboy, who is having sex with Sarah's estranged drug addict mother, Darla. Eric kills him and confronts Darla, making her realize that Sarah needs her. In the meantime Top Dollar, the crime boss who controls the street gangs in the city, and his lover/half-sister Myca have become aware of Eric's actions; they kill Gideon after he reports his attack to them.

Eric visits Albrecht, explaining who he is. Albrecht tells him that he watched Shelly suffer for thirty hours before dying. Eric touches Albrecht and feels the pain Shelly felt. Upon leaving Albrecht's apartment, Eric saves Sarah from getting run over by a car, and gives her a clue to his identity before disappearing.

Eric kidnaps T-Bird and kills him in an explosion. The next morning, Sarah and her mother begin repairing their strained relationship, and Sarah visits Eric at his apartment. Grange, Top Dollar's right-hand man, finds Eric's grave is empty. Top Dollar holds a meeting with his associates where they discuss new plans for their Devil's Night criminal activities. Eric arrives looking for Skank and a gunfight erupts; Skank is killed during the meleé. Top Dollar, Myca and Grange escape and Myca hypothesizes that by killing the crow, Eric will no longer be immortal.

Eric, believing his vengeance is over, gives Sarah Shelly's engagement ring. As Sarah walks home, Grange abducts her and takes her to an abandoned church where Top Dollar and Myca are waiting. Through the crow, Eric realizes what has happened and goes to rescue her. Grange shoots and wounds the crow, sapping Eric of his immortality. Myca grabs the wounded crow, intending to take its mystical power.

Albrecht arrives and assists Eric, shooting and killing Grange before being wounded by Myca. The crow escapes Myca's grip and claws her eyes out, making her fall to her death down the Church's bell tower. Eric confronts Top Dollar on the roof.  Top Dollar admits ultimate responsibility for Eric and Shelly's deaths, having ordered their murder as part of a scheme to take over their apartment building for his criminal activities. Eric grabs Top Dollar, transferring the thirty hours of pain he absorbed from Albrecht; the sensation causes Top Dollar to fall from the roof, and he is impaled on a gargoyle, killing him.

Sarah accompanies Albrecht to the hospital. Eric stumbles to the graveyard, where he is reunited with Shelly's spirit and returns to the afterlife, his revenge now complete.

Cast

 Brandon Lee as Eric Draven / The Crow
 Rochelle Davis as Sarah Mohr
 Ernie Hudson as Sergeant Daryl Albrecht
 Michael Wincott as Top Dollar
 Bai Ling as Myca
 Sofia Shinas as Shelly Webster
 Anna Levine as Darla Mohr
 David Patrick Kelly as T-Bird
 Angel David as Skank
 Laurence Mason as Tin Tin
 Michael Massee as Funboy
 Tony Todd as Grange
 Jon Polito as Gideon
 Bill Raymond as Mickey
 Marco Rodríguez as Detective Torres

Michael Berryman filmed scenes as the Skull Cowboy, Eric's spirit guide, but his scenes were cut from the finished film.

Production

Development
James O'Barr wrote what would become The Crow as a means to cope with the unexpected death of his fiancée, who was killed by a drunk driver. The first meeting O'Barr had with a major studio was quickly dismissed after the studio's vision for the film was a musical with Michael Jackson as the lead. Around the time of The Crows publication, writer John Shirley pitched Angry Angel to Caliber Press, who turned it down due to similarities with The Crow. Shirley sought the comic out and decided to adapt it into a film. O'Barr was receptive and agreed to workshop the film with Shirley and producer Jeff Most, turning down a significant offer from New Line Cinema in the process. O'Barr oversaw three different script treatments by Shirley and Most before directly collaborating on the first two drafts of the screenplay. Shirley penned the third and fourth draft by himself which awarded him screenplay credit by the Writers Guild of America. Most claimed to have written a "substantial proportion" of the script, but was denied credit due to a rule in the WGA which prohibited producers from receiving credit. With the project gaining momentum, Edward Pressman joined the film as producer and splatterpunk writer David J. Schow was brought in for rewrites. Australian filmmaker Alex Proyas, known for his music video and commercial work, was hired to direct the film. Paramount Pictures picked up the distribution rights and slotted an August 1993 release date.

River Phoenix, Christian Slater, Johnny Depp, Charlie Sexton, and Jon Bon Jovi were early considerations for the role of Eric Draven. Shirley and Most pushed for Slater while Pressman wanted Bon Jovi. Brandon Lee was suggested to play Draven, but O'Barr was unconvinced fearing he wouldn't be suited for the material. However, Lee won O'Barr over and was given the role shortly thereafter. Lee dropped 20 pounds to portray Draven and worked closely with the crew to shape the film, including choreographing his action sequences, performing most of his stunts, and removing a subplot due to its Asian stereotyping. Rochelle Davis, Ernie Hudson, Michael Wincott, Bai Ling, Sofia Shinas, Michael Massee, David Patrick Kelly, Tony Todd, and Jon Polito rounded out the supporting cast.

Filming
Production began on The Crow in February 1993 in Wilmington, North Carolina and was scheduled to last 54 days.

Brandon Lee's death

On March 31, 1993, at EUE Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina, Lee was filming a scene where his character, Eric, is shot after witnessing the beating and rape of his fiancée. Actor Michael Massee's character Funboy fires a .44 Magnum Smith & Wesson Model 629 revolver at Lee as he walks into the room. A scene filmed two weeks before Lee's had called for the same gun to be shown in close-up. Revolvers often use dummy cartridges fitted with bullets, but no powder or primer, during close-ups as they look more realistic than blank rounds which have no bullet. Instead of purchasing commercial dummy cartridges, the film's prop crew, hampered by time and money constraints, created their own by pulling the bullets from live rounds, dumping the powder charge but not the primer, then reinserting the bullets. Witnesses reported that two weeks before Lee's death they saw an unsupervised actor pulling the trigger on the gun while it was loaded with the powderless but primed round. Having not removed the primer, the primer could detonate with enough energy to launch a bullet and lodge it in the barrel.

In the fatal scene, which called for the revolver to be actually fired at Lee from a distance of 12–15 feet, the dummy cartridges were exchanged for blank rounds, which feature a live powder charge and primer, but no bullet, thus allowing the gun to be fired without the risk of an actual projectile. As the production company had sent the firearms specialist home early, responsibility for the guns was given to a prop assistant who was unaware of the rule for inspecting all firearms before and after any handling. Therefore, the barrel was not checked for obstructions when the time came to load it with the blank rounds. Since the bullet from the dummy round was already trapped in the barrel (a condition known as a squib load), this caused the .44 Magnum bullet to be fired out of the barrel with virtually the same force as if the gun had been loaded with a live round, and it struck Lee in the abdomen, mortally wounding him.

After Lee's death, the producers were faced with the decision of whether or not to continue with the film. Lee had completed most of his scenes for the film and was scheduled to shoot for only three more days. The rest of the cast and crew, except for Ernie Hudson, whose brother-in-law had just died, stayed in Wilmington. Paramount Pictures, which was initially interested in distributing The Crow theatrically (originally a direct-to-video feature), opted out of involvement due to delays in filming and some controversy over the violent content being inappropriate given Lee's death. However, Miramax picked it up with the intention of releasing it in theatres and injected a further $8 million to complete the production, taking its budget to approximately $23 million. The cast and crew then took a break for script rewrites of the flashback scenes that had yet to be completed. The script was rewritten by Walon Green, Terry Hayes, René Balcer, and Michael S. Chernuchin, adding narration and new scenes. Lee's stunt double Chad Stahelski was used as a stand-in and digital face replacement was used to superimpose Lee's face onto the head of the double. The beginning of the movie, which had not been finished, was rewritten, and the apartment scene remade using computer graphics from an earlier scene of Lee.

A character from the original comic book called Skull Cowboy was originally planned to be part of the adaptation and even had scenes filmed. He acted as a guide for Eric Draven between the worlds of the dead and the living. He was set to be played by Michael Berryman, but the role was cut from the film due to Lee's death.

O'Barr later remarked that losing Lee was like losing his fiancée all over again, and he regretted ever writing the comic in the first place.

Reception

Box office
The Crow was a sleeper hit at the box office. The film opened at number one in the United States in 1,573 theaters with $11,774,332 and averaging $7,485 per theater, making it Miramax's biggest ever opening. Some industry sources believed that Miramax overstated the weekend gross by as much as $1 million. The film ultimately grossed $50,693,129 in the United States and Canada, and $43 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $93.7 million against its budget of $23 million. It ranked at number 24 for all films released in the US in 1994, the 24th highest-grossing film worldwide for 1994 and number 10 for R-rated films released that year.

Overseas in Europe, the film grossed £1,245,403 in the United Kingdom (where it was 18-rated), and sold 4,604,115 tickets in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. In Seoul, South Korea, it sold 83,126 tickets.

Critical response
The Crow has an approval rating of  on Rotten Tomatoes based on  reviews and an average rating of . The critical consensus states: "Filled with style and dark, lurid energy, The Crow is an action-packed visual feast that also has a soul in the performance of the late Brandon Lee." The film also has a score of 71 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 14 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".

Reviewers praised the action and visual style. Rolling Stone called it a "dazzling fever dream of a movie"; Caryn James, writing for The New York Times, called it "a genre film of a high order, stylish and smooth"; and Roger Ebert called it "a stunning work of visual style". The Los Angeles Times praised the film also.

Lee's death was alleged to have a melancholic effect on viewers; Desson Howe of The Washington Post wrote that Lee "haunts every frame" and James Berardinelli called the film "a case of 'art imitating death', and that specter will always hang over The Crow". Both Berardinelli and Howe called it an appropriate epitaph to Lee, and Ebert stated that not only was this Lee's best film, but it was better than any of his father's. Critics generally thought that this would have been a breakthrough film for Lee, although Berardinelli disagreed. The changes made to the film after Lee's death were noted by reviewers, most of whom saw them as an improvement. Howe said that it had been transformed into something compelling. Berardinelli, although terming it a genre film, said that it had become more mainstream because of the changes.

The film was widely compared to other films, particularly Tim Burton's Batman movies and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. Critics described The Crow as a darker film than the others; Ebert called it a grungier and more forbidding story than those of Batman and Blade Runner, and Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote that the generic inner city of Detroit portrayed in The Crow "makes Gotham City look like the Emerald City".

While the plot and characterization were found to be lacking, these faults were considered to be overcome by the action and visual style. The cinematography by Dariusz Wolski and the production design by Alex McDowell were also praised. The cityscape designed by McDowell and the production team was described by McCarthy as rendered imaginatively. The film's comic book origins were noted, and Ebert called it the best version of a comic book universe he had seen. McCarthy agreed, calling it "one of the most effective live-actioners ever derived from a comic strip". Critics felt that the soundtrack complemented this visual style, calling it blistering, edgy and boisterous. Graeme Revell was praised for his "moody" score; Howe said that it "drapes the story in a postmodern pall."

Negative reviews of the film were generally similar in theme to the positive ones but said that the interesting and "OK" special effects did not make up for the "superficial" plot, "badly-written" screenplay and "one-dimensional" characters.

The Crow is mentioned in Empires 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time; it ranked at number 468.  It has since become a cult film.

Accolades

Year-end lists
 7th – Sandi Davis, The Oklahoman
 Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Matt Zoller Seitz, Dallas Observer
 Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Mike Mayo, The Roanoke Times
 Top 10 (not ranked) – Betsy Pickle, Knoxville News-Sentinel
 Top 12 worst (Alphabetically ordered, not ranked) – David Elliott, The San Diego Union-Tribune
 Top 3 "Best in-your-face exploitation" (not ranked) – Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News

Awards

Soundtracks

The original soundtrack album for The Crow features songs from the film, and was a chart-topping album. It included work by The Cure (their song, "Burn", became the film's main theme), The Jesus and Mary Chain, Rage Against the Machine and Helmet, among many others. In Peter Hook's memoir Substance: Inside New Order, Hook relates that New Order were approached to provide the soundtrack for the film, with a cover of "Love Will Tear Us Apart", their hit as Joy Division, citing parallels between Eric's resurrection and New Order's formation after the suicide of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis. However, New Order frontman Bernard Sumner declined, stating that they were too busy with their album Republic to commit to another project. James O'Barr, creator of the original comic book series, was a big fan of Joy Division and had named the characters Sergeant Albrecht and Captain Hook after bandmates Sumner (who was also known as Bernard Albrecht early in his career) and Hook.

Several groups contributed covers. Nine Inch Nails rendered Joy Division's "Dead Souls", Rollins Band covered Suicide's "Ghost Rider" and Pantera performed Poison Idea's "The Badge". The song "Big Empty" was not the Stone Temple Pilots' original choice for the soundtrack; they first recorded a version of "Only Dying", which they had recorded earlier as Mighty Joe Young in demo form, but it was replaced following Lee's death.

The bands Medicine and My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult make cameo appearances in the film on stage in the nightclub below Top Dollar's headquarters.

The score consists of original, mostly orchestral music, with some electronic and guitar elements, written for the film by Graeme Revell.

Sequels
In 1996, a sequel was released, called The Crow: City of Angels. In this film, Vincent Pérez plays Ashe Corven, who, along with his son Danny, is killed by criminals. Ashe is resurrected as a new Crow. The character of Sarah Mohr (now played by Mia Kirshner) reappears in this film and assists Ashe. The film also features Iggy Pop, who, according to the booklet insert for the film's soundtrack, was the producer's first choice for Funboy in the first Crow movie, but he was unable to commit due to his recording schedule. In addition, it also featured the final appearance of Thuy Trang. The band Deftones can be seen playing live in a festival scene and they contributed the song "Teething" to the soundtrack.  The film received mostly negative reviews.

The Crow: Stairway to Heaven was a 1998 Canadian television series created by Bryce Zabel and starring Mark Dacascos in the lead role as Eric Draven, originally played by Brandon Lee.

The third film, The Crow: Salvation, was released in 2000. Directed by Bharat Nalluri, it stars Eric Mabius, Kirsten Dunst, Fred Ward, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe and William Atherton. It is loosely based on Poppy Z. Brite's novel The Lazarus Heart. After its distributor cancelled the intended theatrical release due to The Crow: City of Angels negative critical reception, The Crow: Salvation was released directly to video with mixed reviews.

The fourth film, The Crow: Wicked Prayer, was released in 2005. Directed by Lance Mungia, it stars Edward Furlong, David Boreanaz, Tara Reid, Tito Ortiz, Dennis Hopper, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Danny Trejo. It was inspired by Norman Partridge's novel of the same title. It had a one-week theatrical première on June 3, 2005, at AMC Pacific Place Theatre in Seattle, Washington, before being released to video on July 19, 2005. Like the other sequels, it had a poor critical reception, and it was considered the worst of the four films.

The Crow: 2037 was a planned sequel written and scheduled to be directed by Rob Zombie in the late 1990s; however, it was never made.

Remake

On April 1, 2022, a new attempt at a remake was announced by The Hollywood Reporter, with Bill Skarsgård set to star as Draven, Rupert Sanders directing, and Edward R. Pressman and Malcolm Gray co-producing. Days later, the site also reported that FKA Twigs had been cast as Draven's fiancée. In July 2022, production on the remake was reportedly underway in Prague, Czech Republic. By August 26, 2022, Danny Huston was cast in an undisclosed role. On September 16, 2022, the film wrapped production. The film is set to be released in 2024 by Lionsgate.

Home video
The Crow was first released on VHS and LaserDisc multiple times between 1994 and 1998 in addition to the widescreen DVD on February 3, 1998. The two-disc DVD was released on March 20, 2001, as part of the Miramax/Dimension Collector's Series. On October 18, 2011, The Crow was released on Blu-ray through Lionsgate Pictures who also re-released the DVD format on August 17, 2012. In Japan, the movie was remastered in 4K for a special edition in 2016, although the film's final resolution was capped at 1080p; as of January 2023, a 4K release (digital or physical) has yet to be announced.

See also

List of film and television accidents

References

External links

1994 films
1994 action films
1994 fantasy films
1990s English-language films
1990s fantasy action films
1990s superhero films
1990s supernatural films
1990s vigilante films
American films about Halloween
American films about revenge
American fantasy action films
American dark fantasy films
American neo-noir films
American superhero films
American supernatural films
American vigilante films
Miramax films
Dimension Films films
Films based on American comics
Films directed by Alex Proyas
Films scored by Graeme Revell
Films set in Detroit
Films shot in North Carolina
American gothic fiction
Resurrection in film
The Crow films
1990s American films
American action thriller films
American fantasy thriller films
Supernatural action films
American supernatural thriller films
Films about corvids
Goth subculture

The Crow (1994 film)


Susan S. Jacobs is the first person to fill the newly created role of Special Advisor for International Children's Issues.  This new foreign policy position and assignment for Jacobs was created by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and announced on July 1, 2010.

Jacobs has previously served as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs. A former U.S. Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, she also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Global Issues in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs. Her Foreign Service career has also included tours in Caracas, Tel Aviv, New Delhi, Bucharest, and San Salvador.

Jacobs graduated from the University of Michigan and later studied at Georgetown University Law School and the George Washington University. She has received the Department of State's Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards, and the U.S. Embassy New Delhi's Community Achievement Award.

See also
 International child abduction in the United States
 Office of Children's Issues

References

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1945 births
Children's rights activists
Living people
University of Michigan alumni
United States Special Envoys
Ambassadors of the United States to Papua New Guinea
Ambassadors of the United States to Vanuatu
Ambassadors of the United States to the Solomon Islands
United States Foreign Service personnel
American women ambassadors
Ambassadors of the United States
21st-century American diplomats
21st-century American women

Susan S. Jacobs


The Centre for Intelligent Design is an advocacy group, headquartered in Scotland that promotes the pseudoscientific principle. of intelligent design.

Organisation

The Centre for Intelligent Design's activity is organised under a charitable trust governed by the laws of Guernsey, Channel Islands, but (as of October 2010) consists of only a website and an office. The purpose of the centre is not to finance or undertake research into intelligent design, but rather to conduct advocacy and public relations for the idea. Its director, Alastair Noble, is a former school inspector, currently working for CARE, a Christian charity campaigning for more religious education in schools, as its education officer. The centre's president is Norman Nevin, emeritus professor of medical genetics at Queen's University in Belfast, and its vice-president is David Galloway, former president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Controversy
Commenting on the Centre for Intelligent Design, Michael Reiss as Professor of Science Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, said that the overwhelming scientific consensus is that the arguments against the theory of evolution promoted by intelligent design advocates are invalid, and students should not be given a false impression about the subject.

In November 2010 the British Centre for Science Education reported on a potential of the Centre for Intelligent Design to damage education in Scotland as well as in Northern Ireland, due to lack of safeguards against creationism and the power of the creationist organisations.

In April 2011 an article was published in the Scottish newspaper The Herald which said that "critics have pointed to the leaders' fundamentalist Christian backgrounds and the leaps of faith inherent in their logic." Its president was quoted as saying that he believed Adam was a real person, that the universe was created in six days, and that the story of Noah and the Ark was historical. Its director denied that the idea that the initial spark creating the universe was caused by a universal engineer or God was religious.

References

External links
Centre for Intelligent Design
Cross Rhythms: Alastair Noble on Intelligent Design

Intelligent design movement
Intelligent design organizations
Organizations established in 2010
Organisations based in Glasgow
2010 establishments in Scotland

Centre for Intelligent Design


In order to facilitate organized, determined, and principled opposition to the wars, people have often founded anti-war organizations. These groups range from temporary coalitions which address one war or pending war, to more permanent structured organizations which work to end the concept of war and the factors which lead to large-scale destructive conflicts. The overwhelming majority do so in a nonviolent manner. The following list of anti-war organizations highlights past and present anti-war groups from around the world.

International
 Beyond War
 Christian Peacemaker Teams
 Dartmouth Conferences
 Hands Off the People of Iran
 Institute for Economics & Peace
 International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq
 International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
 International Campaign to Ban Landmines
 International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons
 International Fellowship of Reconciliation
 International Peace Bureau
 International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
 Mondpaca Esperantista Movado World Peace Esperanto Movement
 Nobel Women's Initiative organized by female Nobel Peace Prize winners
 Nonviolent Peaceforce
 Peace One Day
 Peace Brigades International
 Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
 Service Civil International
 Students for Justice in Palestine
 The Non-Violence Project
 War Resisters' International
 World Constitution and Parliament Association
 World Constitution Coordinating Committee
 World Beyond War
 World Peace Council
 Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
 World Congress of Intellectuals for Peace

Africa
 Anti-War Coalition
 Committee on South African War Resistance
 End Conscription Campaign
 Koeberg Alert

Asia
 Beheiren
 Peace Now
 National Council for Peace

Europe
 Czech National Social Party – Austria-Hungary, main altimilitarist party during the World War in 1914–1918
 Dansk Fredsforening, Danske Kvinders Fredskæde – Denmark
 German Peace Society
 International League of Peace
 League of Peace and Freedom
 Norwegian Peace Association (Norwegian: Norges Fredslag)
 Società per la pace e la giustizia internazionale – Italy
 Soviet Peace Committee – state-controlled organization during the Soviet Union
 Stop the War Committee – opposed the Second Boer war
 Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society
 VOS - Vlaamse Vredesvereniging – Flemish Peace Association, created in the trenches of Flanders during the Great War

France
 Movement for a Non-violent Alternative (in French)
 Peace Through Law Association
 Union pacifiste de France (in French)
 Groupe d'action et de résistance à la militarisation (in French)
 Mouvement pour le désarmement, la paix et la liberté (in French)

United Kingdom
 Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
 Committee of 100
 Direct Action Committee
 International Voluntary Service
 Military Families Against the War
 No-Conscription Fellowship
 Peace Pledge Union
 Peace Society
 Stop the War Coalition
 Spies for Peace

North America

United States

 About Face (formerly Iraq Veterans Against the War)
America First Committee – opposed American entry into the Second World War
 American League Against War and Fascism
 American Peace Mobilization
 American Peace Society
 A.N.S.W.E.R. (also known as International ANSWER and ANSWER Coalition)
 Another Mother For Peace
 Anti-War Committee
 Antiwar.com
 Buffalo Nine
 Campus Antiwar Network
 Committee for Non-Violent Action (later merged with the War Resisters League)
 Committee for Nonviolent Revolution
 Center on Conscience & War (formerly known as NISBCO)
 Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors
 Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism
 Council for a Livable World
 Council for the National Interest
 Code Pink: Women for Peace
 Common Dreams
 ChildVoice International
 Direct Action to Stop the War
 Friends Committee on National Legislation
 GI Rights Network
 Gold Star Families for Peace
 Grandmothers for Peace
 Iraq Peace Action Coalition
 LewRockwell.com
 Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives
 Military Families Speak Out opposed to war in Iraq
 Mennonite Central Committee
 Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam
 National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund
 National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam
 National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam
 National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
 New York Peace Society – first peace society in U.S., opposed 19th and 20th century wars
 No Conscription League
 Not in Our Name
 Orange County Student Alliance
 Peace Action
 Peace Alliance
 Peace and Freedom Party
 People's Coalition for Peace and Justice
 People's Council of America for Democracy and Peace – anti-World War I group
 Port Militarization Resistance
 Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
 RESIST
 Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity
 Seneca Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice
 September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
 Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam
 Students for a Democratic Society (2006 organization)
 The World Can't Wait
 Troops Out Now Coalition
 United for Peace and Justice
 Veterans for Peace
 Vietnam Day Committee
 Vietnam Veterans Against the War
 War Resisters League
 Win Without War
 Women's Peace Party
Women's Peace Society
Women's Peace Union
Youth International Party (Yippies)

Canada
 American Deserters Committee
 Canadian Peace Alliance
 Canadian Peace Congress
 Ceasefire Canada
 Nova Scotia Voice of Women
 War Resisters Support Campaign

Oceania
 Global Peace and Justice Auckland
 Peace Action Wellington
 Stop the War Coalition

Religious

Christian
 American Friends Service Committee
 Anglican Pacifist Fellowship
 Catholic Association for International Peace
 Catholic Worker Movement
 Christian Peace Conference
 Episcopal Peace Fellowship
 Fellowship of Reconciliation
 Friends Committee on National Legislation
 Lutheran Peace Fellowship
 Mennonite Central Committee
 Methodist Peace Fellowship
 Order of Maximilian – anti-Vietnam war organization
 Pax Christi
 Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice
 Presbyterian Peace Fellowship

Buddhist
 Buddhist Peace Fellowship

See also
List of peace activists
Anti-nuclear organizations
Anti-war movement
Direct action
Gandhi Peace Award
Gandhi Peace Prize
 GI Coffeehouses
 GI Underground Press
Global Peace Index
Nobel Peace Prize laureates
Non-interventionism
Nonviolence
Nonviolent resistance
Nuclear disarmament
Pacifism
Parliament Square Peace Campaign
Peace
Peace churches
Resistance movement
White House Peace Vigil
World peace

References

Further reading

External links

Anti-war

List of anti-war organizations


Live and Let Die is the third and final studio album by the American hip hop duo Kool G Rap & DJ Polo. It was released on November 24, 1992, via Cold Chillin' Records. The album features guest appearances from Big Daddy Kane, Bushwick Bill, Ice Cube and Scarface. The singles "Ill Street Blues" and "On The Run" both received consistent airplay on Yo! MTV Raps, and BET's Rap City upon the album's release.

Warner Bros. Records eventually refused to distribute Live and Let Die as part of its deal with Cold Chillin' Records because of the album's lyrical content and cover art. It is not known if a Warner Bros. catalogue number was ever assigned to the release. Live and Let Die remained out of print until it was re-released and remastered with various bonus material in August 2008 by Traffic Entertainment Group, the current owners of the Cold Chillin' catalog. Over the years, several music critics have hailed it as an underground classic, due to Kool G Rap's intricate lyricism, and Sir Jinx's production.

Compared to the lyrical themes on the duo's previous albums, this album features an even greater focus on hardcore gangsta and mafioso rap lyrics. The violence and sexual content are much more graphic than on any previous Kool G Rap & DJ Polo album. Most of the songs feature vivid stories of some sort, many of them related to organized crime (especially the singles "On the Run" and "Ill Street Blues") and violent street crime ("Train Robbery", "Two to the Head"). There are also sex raps ("Operation CB", "Fuck U Man"), horrorcore stories ("Straight Jacket", "Edge of Sanity"), and even some socio-political commentary similar to Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions ("Crime Pays"). The songs "Home Sweet Home", "Fuck U Man" and "Still Wanted Dead or Alive" act as sequels, respectively, to the songs "Streets of New York", "Talk Like Sex" and "Wanted: Dead or Alive" from the previous album.

Conception

Background
After the release of Wanted: Dead or Alive tensions arouse between Kool G Rap and Polo Rather than using the same formula that he used on his two previous albums, Kool G Rap decided to give Live and Let Die a cinematic feel with each song telling a different story and providing backdrops for the respective scenes. He recruited several non-East Coast artists to assist him on the album, such as West Coast emcee Ice Cube and his cohort, producer Sir Jinx, and Southern emcees such as Scarface and Bushwick Bill (from the Geto Boys). Although the album was originally intended to be released in 1991; its original release encountered several dilemmas due to record label issues, and the album's controversial content. Cold Chillin' Records, which was Kool G Rap and DJ Polo's main record label, was caught up in a legal battle with fellow Cold Chillin' artist Biz Markie over sampling rights, and Warner Bros. Records, which was its distributor, was involved in the Ice-T "Cop Killer" controversy. Due to Live and Let Die's cover art and song content, both labels were reluctant to give the album a release, as they didn't want to get themselves into any more legal troubles.  While the project was on hold, Kool G Rap spent almost one year re-writing and recording until the LP was finally released in late 1992.

Recording
The recording and writing process began in 1991 in Los Angeles, and continued into 1992. The album is considered by many to be the East Coast AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, being that it takes the same approach that Ice Cube took with writing, recording, and collaborating with, and in a coast that he didn't reside (AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted was recorded in New York, and features several non-West coast artists, namely Public Enemy and its production team the Bomb Squad, though Ice Cube was a California native and resident—Live and Let Die was recorded in California and features several non-East Coast artists, by G Rap, a New Yorker).

Cover art
The original cover was to display Kool G Rap and DJ Polo robbing a bank, with the photo being in black and white through a surveillance camera's perspective. This concept was eventually dismissed, as every bank said that they would not allow them to take such a graphic photo in their buildings. The second option was to have a photo of Kool G Rap and DJ Polo hopping inside a van with sacks of money and guns. Although this idea was more promising, being that this photo would cost less, and they could easily do it inside a photo studio, there was a new policy that record labels were taking at that time, which didn't allow weapons on album covers. The third and final option was thought of by photographer George Dubose. The cover depicts Kool G Rap and DJ Polo in a warehouse dangling raw meat in front of a pair of rottweilers, whose leashes are tied to the legs of a pair of chairs, on top of which are two Tactical Narcotics Taskforce agents in nooses. It insinuates that as Kool G Rap and DJ Polo tease the dogs with the food, they run, pulling out the chairs and strangling the two under covers. The album was eventually shelved because of this, and remained out of print until it was re-released in August 2008.

Reception

Critical response

Although Live and Let Die didn't receive the same amount of commercial success and attention as some of Kool G Rap's other releases, it is widely favored among fans and critics alike. Andy Kellman of AllMusic gave the album 4 ½ out of 5 stars, and stated; "A strong case could be made for Live and Let Die as Kool G Rap & DJ Polo's crowning achievement". He also went on to say that "The album is one story after another that draws you in without fail, and they come at you from several angles. Whether pulling off a train heist, venting sexual frustration, analyzing his psychosis, or lording over the streets, G Rap is a pro at holding a captive audience. All die-hard East Coast rap fans, especially followers of the Notorious B.I.G., owe it to themselves to get real familiar with this album". Jeff Chang from Trouser Press gave the album a favorable review and complimented the chemistry between Kool G Rap and producer Sir Jinx, as well as the album's overall lyricism and production.

Track listing

Personnel
Nathaniel "Kool G Rap" Wilson – main artist, producer (tracks: 1-8, 11-14, 16-17)
Thomas "DJ Polo" Pough – main artist
Antonio "Big Daddy Kane" Hardy – featured artist (track 7)
O'Shea "Ice Cube" Jackson – featured artist (track 17)
Brad "Scarface" Jordan – featured artist (track 17)
Richard "Bushwick Bill" Shaw – featured artist (track 17)
Anthony "Sir Jinx" Wheaton – producer (tracks: 1-8, 11-14, 16-17)
Trackmasters – producers (tracks: 9, 10, 15)
George DuBose – photography

Charts

References

External links
Live and Let Die at Discogs

1992 albums
Kool G Rap albums
Mafioso rap albums
Cold Chillin' Records albums
Gangsta rap albums by American artists
Albums recorded at Westlake Recording Studios
Albums produced by Trackmasters

Live and Let Die (album)


Inva Mula (born 27 June 1963) is an Albanian opera lyric soprano. She began her soprano career at a very early age. Her father (Avni Mula) and mother () were also opera singers. She is also known for providing the voice of the diva Plavalaguna in the film The Fifth Element.

Life and career
Mula was born in Tirana, Albania, to Avni Mula and Nina Mula. Avni was an Kosovo Albanian man from Gjakova while Nina was a Russian woman from Izhevsk. In 1987 she won the Cantante d'Albania competition in Tirana and in 1988 the George Enescu Competition in Bucharest. In 1992 she won the Butterfly competition in Barcelona. She received an award at Plácido Domingo's first Operalia International Opera Competition in Paris, 1993. A CD of the event was released.

She later performed in various concerts at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, and in Brussels for Europalia Mexico, in Munich, and in Oslo. In 1996 she performed Luigi Cherubini's opera Médée (which was taped for TV) at Compiègne in France. She then returned for Bizet's opera La jolie fille de Perth (released CD, filmed for TV, and released DVD in Japan) in 1998. After this she recorded Puccini's La rondine with Angela Gheorghiu for EMI and for 2005's stage production she took Gheorghiu's place in the leading role of Magda during performances in Toulouse and Paris. Later on, she performed Bizet's Ivan IV concert version, which had its recital debut at Salle Pleyel in Paris, and a live recording was released as CD. In 2001, she was busy in Italy, performing Verdi's Falstaff at the Teatro alla Scala and Rigoletto at the Verona Arena, both of which were taped for TV then released on DVD.

Mula has sung in Lucia di Lammermoor, La bohème, and Manon, among others. She is also a renowned Violetta in La traviata, and has sung the role in many cities around the world, including Tokyo, Bilbao, Orange, Trieste, and Toronto. In 2007, she performed Adina in L'elisir d'amore at Toulouse, and in 2009 she sang the title role in Gounod's Mireille with the Paris Opera at the Palais Garnier, a performance that was issued on DVD. Also in 2009, she released the album Il Bel Sogno, a compilation of opera arias.

She is often accompanied by the French-Albanian pianist Genc Tukiçi.

Her ex-husband Pirro Çako is a well-known singer and composer from Albania, but she used the spelling Tchako rather than Çako. However, after mid-1990 she began using the name Inva Mula, and never returned to the old one. Her current husband is Hetem Ramadani, a businessman from Kosovo.

In film
Mula is perhaps best known to Western filmgoers as the singing voice of the Diva Plavalaguna, played on-screen by Maïwenn Le Besco, in the 1997 film The Fifth Element, where she is credited using her then married name as Inva Mula Tchako. She performed the aria "Il dolce suono" from the mad scene of Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and "The Diva Dance".

Director Luc Besson adored Maria Callas, but the sound quality of her 1956 EMI Classics recording of Lucia wasn't clear enough to use on a film soundtrack, so Callas's agent Michel Glotz, who had produced this recording, introduced him to Mula.

See also
 Lists of Albanians

Sources

Further reading
Auzias, Dominique, and Labordette, Jean-Paul (eds.), "Enfants du pays", Albanie, Petit Futé, 2009, p. 80.

External links

1963 births
Living people
Musicians from Tirana
Albanian operatic sopranos
Albanian people of Russian descent
Operalia, The World Opera Competition prize-winners
University of Arts (Albania) alumni
20th-century Albanian women opera singers
21st-century Albanian women opera singers
Çako family
Albanian people of Kosovan descent

Inva Mula


The Attalla Downtown Historic District is a historic district in Attalla, Alabama.  The city was founded in 1870 along the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad.  It quickly developed into a major iron ore export hub.  After fires in 1887 and 1891, most of the frame buildings downtown were replaced with brick structures.  The oldest buildings in the district, which date from the 1880s and 1890s, are built in Folk Victorian styles, with corbelled cornices and other decorative elements.  Later buildings are in more plain Commercial Brick styles, while others were built in more academic styles, including the Art Moderne Etowah Theatre (today known as the "Country Music Opera House") and the Colonial Revival Post Office building.  The district was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage in 2011 and the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

References

National Register of Historic Places in Etowah County, Alabama
Historic districts in Etowah County, Alabama
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama

Attalla Downtown Historic District


Denton Holme is an inner city district in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The population of this ward was 6,383 taken at the 2011 census.

Denton Holme is usually regarded as a "village within the city" and is situated to the immediate south west of the city centre on the western bank of the River Caldew.  A man-made stream or mill race known as the Little Caldew flows through and underneath the area.

Today it is a mostly residential area but in the nineteenth century and most of the twentieth century along with the neighbouring districts of Caldewgate and Wapping it was Carlisle's main industrial district with many textile mills, engineering works and other factories such as car seat manufacturers and confectioners.  Today, very few factories remain although the last mill, Ferguson Brothers, owned by Coats Viyella, at Holme Head, only closed in the 1990s.

The majority of the housing is red-brick terraced, a few of which are listed buildings, such as Bridge Terrace built in the 1850s. Many of the side streets are still cobbled rather than tarmacked, although some new housing has been built in recent years and some of the former factories have been converted into flats.

The main street, Denton Street, has many small shops along it and other businesses including a bingo hall and a branch of the Cumberland Building Society.  There was at one time a cinema in the suburb, located in what is now the Bingo hall.

There is a primary school at Holme Head, built by and named after Robert Ferguson, and the former Morley Street School has been converted into a public library.

There are four churches in Denton Holme including the Church of England Parish Church, St James, Carlisle Christian Fellowship and The Lighthouse Baptist Church.

At Shaddon Mill, on the boundary of Denton Holme and Caldewgate, stands a very tall chimney which was at one time the tallest in the UK.  This structure, which is known as "Dixons Chimney", is now slightly short of its original height and has recently been restored and is a well-known local landmark. It is named after its first owner, Peter Dixon, who built the mill in 1835–6. The architect was Richard Tattersall.

References

Areas of Carlisle, Cumbria

Denton Holme


Geronimo: An American Legend is a 1993 historical Western film starring Wes Studi, Jason Patric, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, and Matt Damon in an early role. The film, which was directed by Walter Hill, is based on a screenplay by John Milius. It is a fictionalized account of the Apache Wars and how First Lieutenant Charles B. Gatewood convinced Apache leader Geronimo to surrender in 1886.

Plot
The film loosely follows the events leading up to the surrender of Geronimo in 1886. A respected healer, Geronimo and his fellow Apache reluctantly agree to settle on a reservation established by the American government in accordance with the Indian Removal Act. The tribe does its best to assimilate, but many Apache struggle to abandon their traditional way of life while the government fails to honor its promise to keep American settlers from encroaching on tribal lands.

Geronimo finally commits himself to armed resistance when soldiers of the U.S. Cavalry accompanied by Indian fighter Al Sieber slaughter a holy man and his band of Apache after discovering them practicing their "heathen" faith in secret. Geronimo forms a ragtag militia, who humiliate the army by evading capture time and time again while carrying out well-planned guerilla attacks. The plot centers upon Lieutenant Charles B. Gatewood, a West Point graduate charged with capturing Geronimo with the assistance of Sieber and Britton Davis, an ambitious but inexperienced cavalryman.

Gatewood is torn between his grudging respect for Geronimo and his duty to his country. His superior, Brigadier General George Crook, has nothing but admiration for Geronimo and contempt for the self-serving actions of his government. Geronimo eventually surrenders to Crook but later escapes, this time persuading more than half the reservation to join him. Crook later resigns in disgrace and is replaced by Nelson A. Miles. The new commander orders that the remaining Apache be punished as a message to Geronimo's followers. He also decides that Gatewood and his fellow officers should be removed from the field and replaced with men loyal to him.

General Miles, realizing that in spite of his tactics he too is not any closer to capturing Geronimo, approaches Gatewood with an offer: use his relationship with Geronimo to find the warrior and convince him to surrender. He orders Gatewood to offer Geronimo a sentence of two years' imprisonment in Florida with the offer of fresh land in Arizona and two mules for every warrior who surrenders. Gatewood retorts to Miles that they both know the government has no intention of honoring this agreement. Miles offers Gatewood 100 men to take into the field, but the younger officer counters with a request for one Apache scout and three men of his choosing.

Gatewood, Sieber, Davis, and the Apache Chato set off to find Geronimo but instead discover a village of slaughtered Apache. Gatewood tasks Sieber and Chato with finding the scalp hunters responsible. They stop at a saloon where the hunters are dealing with a Comanchero interested in buying the scalps. When the hunters try to take Chato's scalp as well, Gatewood arrives and attempts to intervene and offers them money to return to Texas. The hunters mock Gatewood as a coward and an Indian lover and a shoot-out ensues. Sieber is shot and mortally wounded, his last words pointing to his surprise at dying in the act of trying to save an Apache.

Gatewood, Davis, and Chato carry on the hunt for Geronimo and finally reach his camp. Geronimo asks Gatewood if the young officer will break his word like those who came before him. Gatewood decides to be honest and tells Geronimo what Miles will do to the surviving Apache should he continue fighting. Faced with the grave reality, Geronimo makes peace with Gatewood and surrenders along with his men to General Miles. Miles then arranges for Gatewood, who he considers to be insubordinate and an embarrassment to the army, to spend the rest of his career in a dull, dead-end post commanding a garrison in rural Wyoming.

The final ignominy befalls Chato and the other Apache scouts, who are disarmed at gunpoint and thrown into prison. Davis, angered by what he regards as a betrayal of everything he believed in, confronts Miles. The general dismisses him, remarking that Davis is a foolish idealist and even questioning his integrity by implying that anyone who takes the word of a "savage" over a white man is not a true American. Davis decides to resign rather than continue to serve under Miles. Chato approaches Geronimo and tells him he was right to fight the white man. Geronimo counsels his remaining renegades to not fall out with one another as there are so few of them remaining. He warns them of what lies ahead. Geronimo lives on for another twenty-two years, never allowed to return home and forced to endure the humiliation of being displayed as a living trophy of American conquest while the Apache are left to fall into poverty and dependence on the government for their survival.

Cast
 Wes Studi as Geronimo
 Jason Patric as 1st Lieutenant Charles B. Gatewood
 Robert Duvall as Chief of Scouts Al Sieber
 Gene Hackman as Brigadier  General George Crook
 Matt Damon as 2nd Lieutenant Britton Davis
 Pato Hoffmann as The Dreamer
 Rodney A. Grant as Mangas
 Kevin Tighe as Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles
 Steve Reevis as Chato
 Carlos Palomino as Sergeant Turkey
 Victor Aaron as Ulzana
 Stuart Proud Eagle Grant as Sergeant Dutchy
 Scott Wilson as Redondo
 Stephen McHattie as Schoonover
 John Finn as Captain Hentig
 Lee de Broux as City Marshal Joe Hawkins
 Rino Thunder as Old Nana

Production

Development – Carolco
Walter Hill had a development deal at Carolco. They approached him wanting to make a Western that focused on an Indian and Hill was enthusiastic. He initially considering doing a movie on Crazy Horse "but for various reasons I thought it was a little too difficult."

Eventually Geronimo was selected. ""I've been reading the history of the West for my entire life", Hill says, "and I felt the Geronimo story had never really been told."

John Milius was hired to write a draft. He was working on it in 1989. Larry Gross wrote a diary on the filming of Geronimo. He recalls reading Milius' script in 1988 when Hill was working on Johnny Handsome.

"I like Geronimo just as he was, a human predator", said Milius.

"Geronimo was a man who saw the history of his people wiped out", added Milius. "I love the Apaches and Geronimo was the ultimate Apache. But Geronimo was more than an Apache he was the essence of a misfit rebel and he would never give up. He was a troublemaker and I understand that. Even among his own people he was a trouble maker."

Hill said the title of the film should have been The Geronimo War. "The conception was you make the film from the last time he came in and broke off and was sent away", he said. "The last time he broke off the reservations. This had been a recurring pattern. I thought that would be more accurate."

"We had a really good script, but I couldn't make any headway with it", said Hill later.

Development – Columbia
In 1992 the movie was transferred from Carolco to Columbia. Westerns were experiencing a revival in popularity in the wake of the success of Dances with Wolves, Last of the Mohicans and Unforgiven. ""All of these Westerns are riding the backs of those", said Hill (other Westerns which would come out around this time included Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, The Quick and the Dead, Bad Girls, Maverick and Lightning Jack).

According to Hill, Milius' screenplay was more inclusive of Geronimo's early years and Milius was reluctant to revise it so he had it rewritten by himself and Larry Gross. Gross worked on the project from six to eight months in 1992.

"This movie certainly presents a heroic view of Geronimo", said Hill. "At the same time, it suggests that the times were complicated ... The audience doesn't go to a movie for a history lesson; it wants entertainment. At the same time, they don't want something that trashes history; so it's a delicate line."

"Movies tend to develop a life of their own", added Hill. "We had to deal with Geronimo a lot better than what our original intention was. The more we found out, the more interesting the story became."

Among the changes were removing a sequence (based on historical fact) where Geromino surrendered to General Crook in Mexico in March 1886, pledging to return under escort to Arizona, where he would be disarmed and sent to exile in Florida; two nights later Geronimo got drunk and took off into the mountains again, going on a five month rampage until he surrendered once more. Milius said he thought the script was changed because "We don't want to see our heroes getting drunk and running off. We want to see them as wonderful freedom fighters." "History is fascinating, but history is not a good dramatist", said Hill.

The film's narrator, Second Lt. Britton Davis, was a real officer who participated in these events. In 1929 he published a memoir of the time called The Truth About Geronimo. The narration uses many quotations from Davis that featured in his memoir, like his description of the endless search for Geronimo's camp: "At times it seemed we were chasing a spirit more than a man." However it did not include Davis's personal assessment of Geronimo: "This Indian was a thoroughly vicious, intractable and treacherous man. His only redeeming traits were courage and determination. His word, no matter how earnestly pledged, was worthless."

"It's like Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid", said Hill. "These characters are real, but certainly we're allowing legend to serve the truth. If I was doing this as a PBS documentary, I would do it a lot differently."

For instance, the script used the Turkey Creek massacre as the reason for Geronimo going off the reservation when it happened five years earlier. "No, it's not accurate", admitted Hill. "Is it authentic? Yes, it is."

"I don't think I ever had a movie where I was so concerned about trying to be fair", said Hill. "Usually you're just trying to be dramatic and you've got good guys and bad guys. In this movie, you try to valorize both sides. At the same time you have to be rigorous enough to say that both sides did terrible things; they did heroic things, they did terrible things. To suggest that there were only terrible things is wrong and to suggest that it was only heroic was wrong, too. At the same time you're trying to make it a theatrical two-hour movie."

Hill thought the cavalry officers "were the most sympathetic to the Indians of the Southwest. They knew them and understood that what was happening was a tragedy. They understood that the imposition of the reserve system was going to have tragic consequences. Yet, they were the ones being asked to carry out this policy. They were the ones being asked to fight, so there was this kind of conflict between feelings and duty."

The film greenlit by Columbia's head of production Mark Canton, whose brother Neil was the producer.

Casting
Hill says when he started pushing the script there was pressure to cast a white actor in the lead. He said, "The first thing I heard was, 'Why can't we have X or Y Caucasian put on makeup and play Geronimo? If you do that, we'll make the movie.' I said, 'You can't do that.' They wouldn't think of having a Caucasian actor play a black leader. The implications are just staggering ... That kind of casting became unthinkable after Dances With Wolves. When the script got active again last fall, there was no question that we would have an Indian actor in the lead."

Wes Studi was cast in the lead after impressing in The Last of the Mohicans (1992). The other star attached early on was Jason Patric, who Gross described as "a young actor everybody in Hollywood believes in, but who does few pictures and has never had a hit." He was cast in February 1993.

Gross says that although Studi and Patric were cast, "Columbia found ways of not letting Walter start the picture ... there is endless talk about casting and the script."

In April 1993 Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall committed to the film, making it seem more likely that it would get made. On 27 April 1993, Gross wrote in his diary, "more than any movie Walter has done in the 11 years I've known him, and certainly more than on our three previous films together, he not only knows how to make this film, but is including far more of himself – his heart and soul and his convictions about life, so to speak." Gross added that "I think his inclinations and dispositions match the story and the material. His instincts will serve him. Walter deeply loves these nineteenth century people in a way I'm not sure he ever loves his modern characters. And his aesthetic commitments to reticence and suggestion in characterisation is truer to these people than in some other cases."

The part of Al Sieber was expanded when Robert Duvall was cast in the role. Under the deal, Duvall's production company, Butcher's Run Films, signed an arrangement with Columbia.

Duvall later called the film "a paid vacation", adding that he loved the role of Sieber. "He was one of the top Indian scouts and an interesting enough guy that you could do a whole movie about him, because he could out-track, out-scout, out-ride and out-hunt most Indians. They both feared him and liked him."

Gross said "I can truthfully say that we've had fewer bad suggestions from the studio on this film than on any I've worked on."

An original draft of the script included scenes with Mrs. Gatewood, but these were cut out for budgetary reasons.

Shooting
Filming started in May 1993. The film was shot in Utah, Tucson, Arizona, and Culver City, California. Filming locations in Utah include Professor Valley, Onion Creek, Potash, Dead Horse Point, Needles Overlook, Bates Ranch, Lawson Ranch, and Ruby Ranch Road.

On 9 May, Gross wrote that "Walter has some leeriness about Jason Patric's proclivity for a lot of takes." He also wrote that "grappling with Jason's angst and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of his acting method is Walter's biggest 'problem' on the movie – and also, of course, his richest creative opportunity. Jason's potential is so enormous that it is frustrating not to have full, unstopped access to it. The name we can't but help invoke in comparison is Brando."

Gross says there were some concerns from the studio that the Indians were not sympathetic enough. "But we're not telling the story of the spiritual Sioux", wrote Gross. "We're telling the story of the Apache; the Spartans, not the Athenians. Their art was war."

The character of Sieber was meant to ride off into the sunset at the end of the movie but during filming Hill felt that the running time was going to be too long and so decided to kill off the character. "If I'd known I was going to die I might not have done the movie", said Duvall. "I've died nine times in films." Gross says the scene where Sieber runs into the bounty hunters was Hill's homage to Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian.

Gross says that Walter Hill put a dance scene in the movie because John Ford once gave him advice that "you have to put songs and musical numbers in these things."

Hill shot the film with an unusual combination of a wide screen and long, telescopic lenses to produce huge landscape filled with small, but carefully defined, human figures."I also thought – this is a little more metephysical, I suppose — that somehow looking back it would all look a little more dreamlike", Hill said. "With this kind of tobacco look that we use – I used tobacco filters a lot – I thought that it might seem like you were watching something that was actually taking place 100 years ago."

Reception
Walter Hill later expressed dissatisfaction with the title:

It should have been called The Geronimo War ... It's as much about the Army as it is Geronimo. That came out of my reading of historical accounts, and realizing that so much of what we think we know about the Indian campaigns is wrong. The Army is generally depicted as the enemy of the Apache, but in many cases, the people who were most sympathetic to their plight were those soldiers.

Another film on Geronimo came out around the same time, a made-for-TV movie show on Ted Turner's movie channel. It was produced by Norman Jewison who said "We've got a subject whose life was full enough to warrant several films."

Awards
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound (Chris Carpenter, Doug Hemphill, Bill W. Benton and Lee Orloff), but lost to Jurassic Park.

Critical
The film received mixed reviews from critics but was praised by Native American groups. Philip French of London's Observer called it one of the greatest Westerns of all time. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 50% with an average score of 6.3/10 based on 22 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Geronimo: An American Legend fails to stir the soul, though its sweeping visuals and historical ambitions mark an intelligent change of pace for director Walter Hill.

Box office
On 17 December 1993 Gross wrote in his diary that "the opening numbers are not good and I feel the dull roar of Geronimo not making money at the box office."

The film was a box office bomb, earning only $18 million on a $35 million budget . The movie dropped to number 7 the following week.

According to one pair of writers:

The film was no Dances with Wolves. It cost about $50 million, boasted no major stars, no love story, and a meandering storyline. It was hard to see how the studio ever expected to make its money back – and it didn't come close. Columbia had not shown Geronimo to Jason Patric ... before the premiere at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Theater in Beverly Hills. That turned out to be a mistake. Patric was so dismayed by the way the film turned out that he ran out of the theater and into his limo. He had himself driven around for a while as he raged abot  the sheer awfulness of the movie. Then he pulled himself together and went back to the premiere. Geronimo lost $40 million – far more than Last Action Hero – without a fraction of the fanfare.

Hill blamed this poor reception on the screening of the TV movie. Hill said, "I don't think there are a hell of a lot of movies where you can take basically the same story, show it to 50 million people and bring yours out a week later and think that you're going to do great. What can you say, `My Geronimo has better locations?' "

The film was admired by Quentin Tarantino who said "I thought with Geronimo he [Hill] went to a really fantastic place. Everybody talked about how boring it was. But I didn't. I thought he made a really great classic Western and America just wasn't worthy of the privilege."

See also
 Geronimo (1993 TV film)

References

External links

 Britton Davis, "The Truth About Geronimo", 1929
 Review of film at Variety''

1993 films
1993 Western (genre) films
American Western (genre) films
Revisionist Western (genre) films
Films about Native Americans
Apache Wars films
Cultural depictions of Geronimo
1930s English-language films
Columbia Pictures films
Films scored by Ry Cooder
Films set in the 1880s
Films set in Arizona
Films shot in Arizona
Films shot in California
Films shot in Utah
Films directed by Walter Hill
Films with screenplays by John Milius
Films produced by Walter Hill
1993 drama films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films

Geronimo: An American Legend


MIPTV () is an event which takes place annually in Cannes, France, using the facilities and infrastructure which the town has developed over the years to host other important events such as the Cannes Film Festival amongst other events.

It is essentially a content market for co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment content. It provides the people involved in the TV, film, digital and audiovisual content, production and distribution industry a market conference and networking forum to discover future trends and trade content rights on a global level.

This event is very closely related to the MIPCOM event, but retains its distinct focus. The MIPCOM event takes place in the same venue in October each year.

History
MIP-TV was started in Lyon, France, in 1963 three years after MIFED, the world's first audiovisual market, had started in Milan, Italy. The first MIP-TV was attended by 119 companies from 19 countries.

In 1965, after a one-year hiatus, MIP-TV moved to Cannes, using the town's "old" Palais for the exhibition floors. In 1982 the market moved to the new Palais, while the old one became a hotel.
In 1987 the company that organized the market, MIDEM, was sold to the UK's Television South (TVS) for £5 million. Two years later, TVS sold MIDEM to Reed Exhibitions (for a reported $20 million), which renamed it Reed MIDEM.

Conferences
Conference panelists and keynotes include CEOs from all the major global media companies like: Leslie Moonves, CBS (US), Jana Bennett BBC (UK), Gerhard Zeiler RTL Group (Luxembourg), Harry Sloan MGM (US), Subhash Chandra ZEE Networks (India), Hyun-Oh Yoo SK Communications/Cyworld (Korea), Paula Wagner at United Artists (US), Ronnie Screwvala UTV (India), Philip Rosedale Second Life (US), Ben Silverman NBC (US), Emilio Azcarraga Televisa (Mexico), Mike Volpi Joost (US), Ken Rutkowski, Wayne Scholes Redtouch Media (US) KenRadio Broadcasting (US). Vertice360º (SPAIN)

Events hosted at MIPTV

MIPFormats
Since 2010 MIPTV launched MIPFormats, "the pre-MIPTV formats conference & pitching showcase" that gathers producers, commissioners, buyers, distributors and aspiring creators of breakthrough formats. The event is organised in association with C21FormatsLab.

In 2011, 665 participants came to MIPFormats, and 401 companies from 57 countries.

MIPDoc
MIPDoc is where international buyers, sellers, producers and commissioners of documentary and factual programmes screen new content and do business. MIPDoc calls itself "the international showcase for documentary screenings". Key MIPDoc 2011 figures:
27,097 screenings
1,399 programmes
767 participants
58 countries

MIPTV 2010 attendance figures
Participants:	11,500
Buyers:	4,000
Exhibitors:    1,500
Countries: 	107

By country:
Europe :             54%
North America:       17%
Asia/Pacific:        15%
Africa/Middle East : 7%
South&Latin America: 3%

Represented industry sectors

Programme buyers
Distributors and sales agents
Programme producers
Finance partners
Commissioners
Platform owners
Internet and mobile players
Solutions providers
Advertisers
Major global brands
Licensing executives
Advertising and media agencies

References

Conferences in France
Cannes
Film markets
1964 establishments in France
Recurring events established in 1964

MIPTV Media Market


La Marina is a coastal village administered by the city of Elche, in the province of Alicante on Spain's Costa Blanca. Nearby inland is a large urbanisation built from the mid-1980s onwards confusingly also called La Marina: more correctly called Urbanisation La Marina. The village is on the Costa Azul bus route providing access northwards to Alicante and southbound to Torrevieja and ultimately Cartagena.

La Marina is a district in the municipality of Elche, province of Alicante. It is located by the Mediterranean sea, by the mountain range of Sierra del Molar, very close to Guardamar del Segura and by the salt pans (Salinas) of Santa Pola. The 1'5 km long beach receives the same name. The main access to La Marina is through national road N-332.

Geography
La Marina has non-urban beaches, systems of dunes and large pine woods. The main beach (Las Pesqueras) is over 1100 metres long, although it continues towards the south and is connected to the Tusales beach of Guardamar del Segura.

History
The history of La Marina is very influenced by the disappearance of the San Francisco de Asís village in Sierra del Molar mountain range, as it was after the abandonment of the settlement when La Marina started to constitute a town.

Demography
La Marina has 2.093 inhabitants (INE 2009). La Marina has presented a rapid demographic growth in the past years. For example, its population increased by 48% between 2000 and 2006.

Economy
Once orientated towards fishing and agriculture, nowadays the local economy develops around sustainable tourism due to a restrictive measurement related to uncontrolled urban development. La Marina has a 'Great Comfort' international camping/resort of great quality towards which most tourists are attracted. As for local tourism, the beach awarded with the blue flag is the main resource, as well as two hotels and numerous restaurants in the town centre.

The ""San Francisco de Asís"" church was built at the late 19th Century, as the ancient chapel which was built short after the disappearance of the San Francisco de Asís settlement was too small. During the Spanish Civil War it was looted and turned into a barrack after being briefly restored. It is a relatively small church consisting of one main nave and a chapel to each side. At the presbytery stands a ceramic altar in which the image of Crucified Christ can be seen, as well as a niche to each side with the images of the patron saints San Francisco de Asís and the Rosary Virgin.

Holidays
The holidays in La Marina to honour its patron saints are held in late September and early October.
During the holidays, acts such as the charanga (a parade), the sopar del carabasset, the procession, the mascletà and the fireworks take place to honour of San Francisco de Asís and the Rosary Virgin.

Beaches

The main beach of the district is La Marina beach, a beautiful and large beach of thin and golden sand. It is considered semi-urban as a small part of it has particular households behind it, but mostly there is a large pine wood. It has a blue flag, maritime surveillance and a rent service of deckchairs and parasols. There is also a nautical station in order to practice water sports.

The Pinet beach is a few metres north La Marina and reflects a much more traditional aspect with small households, restaurants and two hostels all of which are located directly on the beach.

References

External links
 Playa de La Marina, en la página oficial de Turismo de Elche

Municipalities in the Province of Alicante

La Marina