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Front Page Titles (by Subject) CHAPTER X. - The History of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, vol. 2
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CHAPTER X. - Thomas Clarkson, The History of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, vol. 2 [1808]Edition used:The History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by the British Parliament, 2 vols. (London: L. Taylor, 1808). Vol. 2.
Part of: The History of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, 2 vols.About Liberty Fund:Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. Copyright information:The text is in the public domain. Fair use statement:This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit.
CHAPTER X.Continuation from July 1806 to March 1807—Death of Mr. Fox—Bill for the total abolition of the Slave-trade carrie in the House of Lords—sent from thence to the Commons—amended and passed there—carried back, and passed with its amendments by the Lords—receives the royal assent—Reflections on this great event. It was impossible for the committee to look back to the proceedings of the last session, as they related to the great question under their care, without feeling a profusion of joy, as well as of gratitude to those, by whose virtuous endeavours they had taken place. But, alas, how few of our earthly pleasures come to us without alloy! a melancholy event succeeded. We had the painful intelligence, in the month of October 1806, that one of the oldest and warmest friends of the cause was then numbered with the dead. Of the character of Mr. Fox, as it related to this cause, I am bound to take notice. And, first, I may observe, that he professed an attachment to it almost as soon as it was ushered into the world. Early in the year 1788, when he was waited upon by a deputation of the committee, his language was, as has appeared in the first volume, "that he would support their object to its fullest extent, being convinced that there was no remedy for the evil but in the total abolition of the trade." His subsequent conduct evinced the sincerity of his promises. He was constant in his attendance in Parliament whenever the question was brought forward; and he never failed to exert his powerful eloquence in its favour. The countenance, indeed, which he gave it, was of the greatest importance to its welfare; for most of his parliamentary friends, who followed his general political sentiments, patronized it also. By the aid of these, joined to that of the private friends of Mr. Pitt, and of other members, who espoused it without reference to party, it was always so upheld, that after the year 1791 no one of the defeats, which it sustained, was disgraceful. The majority on the side of those interested in the continuance of the trade was always so trifling, that the abolitionists were preserved a formidable body, and their cause respectable. I never heard whether Mr. Fox, when he came into power, made any stipulations with His Majesty on the subject of the Slave-trade: but this I know, that he determined upon the abolition of it, if it were practicable, as the highest glory of his administration, and as the greatest earthly blessing which it was in the power of the Government to bestow; and that he took considerable pains to convince some of his colleagues in the cabinet of the propriety of the measure. When the resolution, which produced the debates in parliament, as detailed in the last chapter, was under contemplation, it was thought expedient that Mr. Fox, as the minister of state in the House of Commons, should introduce it himself. When applied to for this purpose he cheerfully undertook the office, thus acting in consistency with his public declaration in the year 1791, "that in whatever situation he might ever be, he would use his warmest efforts for the promotion of this righteous cause." Before the next measure, or the bill to prevent the sailing of any new vessel in the trade after the first of August, was publicly disclosed, it was suggested to him, that the session was nearly over; that he might possibly weary both Houses by another motion on the subject; and that, if he were to lose it, or to experience a diminution of his majorities in either, he might injure the cause, which was then in the road to triumph. To this objection he replied, "that he believed both Houses were disposed to get rid of the trade; that his own life was precarious; that if he omitted to serve the injured Africans on this occasion, he might have no other opportunity of doing it; and that he dared not, under these circumstances, neglect so great a duty." This prediction relative to himself became unfortunately verified; for his constitution, after this, began to decline, till at length his mortal destiny, in the eyes of his medical attendants, was sealed. But even then, when removed by pain and sickness from the discussion of political subjects, he never forgot this cause. In his own sufferings he was not unmindful of those of the injured Africans. "Two things," said he, on his death-bed, "I wish earnestly to see accomplished—peace with Europe,—and the abolition of the Slave-trade." But knowing well, that we could much better protect ourselves against our own external enemies, than this helpless people against their oppressors, he added, "but of the two I wish the latter." These sentiments he occasionally repeated, so that the subject was frequently in his thoughts in his last illness. Nay, "the very hope of the abolition (to use the expression of Lord Howick in the House of Commons) quivered on his lips in the last hour of it." Nor is it improbable, if earthly scenes ever rise to view at that awful crisis, and are perceptible, that it might have occupied his mind in the last moment of his existence. Then indeed would joy ineffable, from a conviction of having prepared the way for rescuing millions of human beings from misery, have attended the spirit on its departure from the body; and then also would this spirit, most of all purified when in the contemplation of peace, good-will, and charity upon earth, be in the fittest state, on gliding from its earthly cavern, to commix with the endless ocean of benevolence and love. At length the session of 1807 commenced. It was judged advisable by Lord Grenville, that the expected motion on this subject should, contrary to the practice hitherto adopted, be agitated first in the Lords. Accordingly, on the second of January he presented a bill, called an act for the abolition of the Slave-trade; but he then proposed only to print it, and to let it lie on the table, that it might be maturely considered, before it should be discussed. On the fourth no less than four counsel were heard against the bill. On the fifth the debate commenced. But of this I shall give no detailed account; nor, indeed, of any of those which followed it. The truth is, that the subject has been exhausted. They, who spoke in favour of the abolition, said very little that was new concerning it. They, who spoke against it, brought forward, as usual, nothing but negative assertions and fanciful conjectures. To give therefore what was said by both parties at these times, would be but useless repetition* . To give, on the other hand, that which was said on one side only would appear partial. Hence I shall offer to the reader little more than a narrative of facts upon these occasions. Lord Grenville opened the debate by a very luminous speech. He was supported by the Duke of Glocester, the Bishop of Durham (Dr. Barrington), the Earls Moira, Selkirk, and Roslyn, and the Lords Holland, King, and Hood. The opponents of the bill were the Duke of Clarence, the Earls Westmoreland and St. Vincent, and the Lords Sidmouth, Eldon, and Hawkesbury. The question being called for at four o'clock in the morning, it appeared that the personal votes and proxies in favour of Lord Grenville's motion amounted to one hundred, and those against it to thirty-six. Thus passed the first bill in England, which decreed, that the African Slave-trade should cease. And here I cannot omit paying to his Highness the Duke of Glocester the tribute of respect, which is due to him, for having opposed the example of his royal relations on this subject in behalf of an helpless and oppressed people. The sentiments too, which he delivered on this occasion, ought not to be forgotten. "This trade," said he, "is contrary to the principles of the British constitution. It is, besides, a cruel and criminal traffic in the blood of my fellow-creatures. It is a foul stain on the national character. It is an offence to the Almighty. On every ground therefore on which a decision can be made; on the ground of policy, of liberty, of humanity, of justice, but, above all, on the ground of religion, I shall vote for its immediate extinction." On the tenth of February the bill was carried to the House of Commons. On the twentieth counsel were heard against it; after which, by agreement, the second reading of it took place. On the twenty-third the question being put for the commitment of it, Lord Viscount Howick (now Earl Grey) began an eloquent speech. After he had proceeded in it some way, he begged leave to enter his protest against certain principles of relative justice, which had been laid down. "The merchants and planters," said he, "have an undoubted right, in common with other subjects of the realm, to demand justice at our hands. But that, which they denominate justice, does not correspond with the legitimate character of that virtue; for they call upon us to violate the rights of others, and to transgress our own moral duties. That, which they distinguish as justice, involves in itself the greatest injury to others. It is not in fact justice, which they demand, but—favour—and favour to themselves at the expense of the most grievous oppression of their fellow-creatures." He then argued the question upon the ground of policy. He showed by a number of official documents, how little this trade had contributed to the wealth of the nation, being but a fifty-fourth part of its export trade, and he contended that as four-sevenths of it had been cut off by His Majesty's proclamation, and the passing of the foreign Slave-bill in a former year, no detriment of any consequence would arise from the present measure. He entered into an account of the loss of seamen, and of the causes of the mortality, in this trade. He went largely into the subject of the Negro-population in the islands from official documents, giving an account of it up to the latest date. He pointed out the former causes of its diminution, and stated how the remedies for these would follow. He showed how, even if the quantity of colonial produce should be diminished for a time, this disadvantage would, in a variety of instances, be more than counterbalanced by advantages, which would not only be great in themselves, but permanent. He then entered into a refutation of the various objections which had been made to the abolition, in an eloquent and perspicuous manner; and concluded by appealing to the great authorities of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox in behalf of the proposed measure. "These precious ornaments, he said, of their age and country had examined the subject with all the force of their capacious minds. On this question they had dismissed all animosity—all difference of opinion—and had proceeded in union;—and he believed, that the best tribute of respect we could show, or the most splendid monument we could raise, to their memories, would be by the adoption of the glorious measure of the abolition of the Slave-trade." Lord Howick was supported by Mr. Roscoe, who was then one of the members for Liverpool; by Mr. Lushington, Mr. Fawkes, Lord Mahon, Lord Milton, Sir John Doyle, Sir Samuel Romilly, Mr. Wilberforce, and Earl Percy, the latter of whom wished that a clause might be put into the bill, by which all the children of slaves, born after January 1810, should be made free. General Gascoyne and Mr. Hibbert opposed the bill. Mr. Manning hoped that compensation would be made to the planters in case of loss. Mr. Bathurst and Mr. Hiley Addington preferred a plan for gradual abolition to the present mode. These having spoken, it appeared on a division, that there were for the question two hundred and eighty-three, and against it only sixteen. Of this majority I cannot but remark, that it was probably the largest that was ever announced on any occasion, where the House was called upon to divide. I must observe also, that there was such an enthusiasm among the members at this time, that there appeared to be the same kind and degree of feeling, as manifested itself within the same walls in the year 1788, when the question was first started. This enthusiasm too, which was of a moral nature, was so powerful, that it seemed even to extend to a conversion of the heart: for several of the old opponents of this righteous cause went away, unable to vote against it; while others of them staid in their places, and voted in its favour. On the twenty-seventh of February Lord Howick moved, that the House resolve itself into a committee on the bill for the abolition of the Slave-trade. Sir C. Pole, Mr. Hughan, Brown, Bathurst, Windham, and Fuller opposed the motion; and Sir R. Milbank, and Mr. Wynne, Barham, Courtenay, Montague, Jacob, Whitbread, and Herbert (of Kerry), supported it. At length the committee was allowed to sit pro formâ, and Mr. Hobhouse was put into the chair. The bill then went through it, and, the House being resumed, the report was received and read. On the sixth of March, when the committee sat again, Sir C. Pole moved, that the year 1812 be substituted for the year 1807, as the time when the trade should be abolished. This amendment produced a long debate, which was carried on by Sir C. Pole, Mr. Fuller, Hiley Addington, Rose, Gascoyne, and Bathurst on one side; and by Mr. Ward, Sir P. Francis, General Vyse, Sir T. Turton, Mr. Whitbread, Lord Henry Petty, Mr. Canning, Stanhope, Perceval, and Wilberforce on the other. At length, on a division, there appeared to be one hundred and twenty-five against the amendment, and for it only seventeen. The chairman then read the bill, and it was agreed that he should report it with the amendments on Monday. The bill enacted, that no vessel should clear out for slaves from any port within the British dominions after the first of May 1807, and that no slave should be landed in the colonies after the first of March 1808. On the sixteenth of March, on the motion of Lord Henry Petty, the question was put, that the bill be read a third time. Mr. Hibbert, Captain Herbert, Mr. T. W. Plomer, Mr. Windham, and Lord Castlereagh spoke against the motion. Sir. P. Francis, Mr. Lyttleton, Mr. H. Thornton, and Mr. Barham, Sheridan, and Wilberforce supported it. After this the bill was passed without a division* . On Wednesday, the eighteenth, Lord Howick, accompanied by Mr. Wilberforce and others, carried the bill to the Lords. Lord Grenville, on receiving it, moved that it should be printed, and that, if this process could be finished by Monday, it should be taken into consideration on that day. The reason of this extraordinary haste was, that His Majesty, displeased with the introduction of the Roman-catholic officers' bill into the Commons, had signified his intention to the members of the existing administration, that they were to be displaced. The uneasiness, which, a few days before, had sprung up among the friends of the abolition, on the report that this event was probable, began now to show itself throughout the kingdom. Letters were written from various parts, manifesting the greatest fear and anxiety on account of the state of the bill, and desiring answers of consolation. Nor was this state of the mind otherwise than what might have been expected upon such an occasion; for the bill was yet to be printed—Being an amended one, it was to be argued again in the Lords—It was then to receive the royal assent—All these operations implied time; and it was reported that the new ministry* was formed; among whom were several, who had shown a hostile disposition to the cause. On Monday, the twenty-third, the House of Lords met. Such extraordinary diligence had been used in printing the bill, that it was then ready. Lord Grenville immediately brought it forward. The Earl of Westmoreland and the Marquis of Sligo opposed it. The Duke of Norfolk and the Bishop of Llandaff (Dr. Watson) supported it. The latter said, that this great act of justice would be recorded in heaven. The amendments were severally adopted without a division. But here an omission of three words was discovered, namely, "country, territory, or place," which, if not rectified, might defeat the purposes of the bill. An amendment was immediately proposed and carried. Thus the bill received the last sanction of the Peers. Lord Grenville then congratulated the House on the completion, on its part, of the most glorious measure, that had ever been adopted by any legislative body in the world. The amendment, now mentioned, occasioned the bill to be sent back to the Commons. On the twenty-fourth, on the motion of Lord Howick, it was immediately taken into consideration there, and agreed to; and it was carried back to the Lords, as approved of, on the same day. But though the bill had now passed both houses, there was an awful fear throughout the kingdom, lest it should not receive the royal assent before the ministry was dissolved. This event took place the next day; for on Wednesday the twenty-fifth, at half past eleven in the morning, His Majesty's message was delivered to the different members of it, that they were then to wait upon him to deliver up the seals of their offices. It then appeared that a commission for the royal assent to this bill among others had been obtained. This commission was instantly opened by the Lord Chancellor (Erskine), who was accompanied by the Lords Holland and Auckland; and as the clock struck twelve, just when the sun was in its meridian splendour to witness this august Act, this establishment of a Magna Charta for Africa in Britain, and to sanction it by its most vivid and glorious beams, it was completed. The ceremony being over, the seals of the respective offices were delivered up; so that the execution of this commission was the last act of the administration of Lord Grenville; an administration, which, on account of its virtuous exertions in behalf of the oppressed African race, will pass to posterity, living through successive generations, in the love and gratitude of the most virtuous of mankind. Thus ended one of the most glorious contests, after a continuance for twenty years, of any ever carried on in any age or country. A contest, not of brutal violence, but of reason. A contest between those, who felt deeply for the happiness and the honour of their fellow-creatures, and those, who, through vicious custom and the impulse of avarice, had trampled under-foot the sacred rights of their nature, and had even attempted to efface all title to the divine image from their minds. Of the immense advantages of this contest I know not how to speak. Indeed, the very agitation of the question, which it involved, has been highly important. Never was the heart of man so expanded. Never were its generous sympathies so generally and so perseveringly excited. These sympathies, thus called into existence, have been useful in the preservation of a national virtue. For any thing we know, they may have contributed greatly to form a counteracting balance against the malignant spirit, generated by our almost incessant wars during this period, so as to have preserved us from barbarism. It has been useful also in the discrimination of moral character. In private life it has enabled us to distinguish the virtuous from the more vicious part of the community* . It has shown the general philanthropist. It has unmasked the vicious in spite of his pretension to virtue. It has afforded us the same knowledge in public life. It has separated the moral statesman from the wicked politician. It has shown us who, in the legislative and executive offices of our country are fit to save, and who to destroy, a nation. It has furnished us also with important lessons. It has proved what a creature man is! how devoted he is to his own interest! to what a length of atrocity he can go, unless fortified by religious principle! But as if this part of the prospect would be too afflicting, it has proved to us, on the other hand, what a glorious instrument he may become in the hands of his Maker; and that a little virtue, when properly leavened, is made capable of counteracting the effects of a mass of vice! With respect to the end obtained by this contest, or the great measure of the abolition of the Slave-trade as it has now passed, I know not how to appreciate its importance. To our own country, indeed, it is invaluable. We have lived, in consequence of it, to see the day, when it has been recorded as a principle in our legislation, that commerce itself shall have its moral boundaries. We have lived to see the day, when we are likely to be delivered from the contagion of the most barbarous opinions. They, who supported this wicked traffic, virtually denied, that man was a moral being. They substituted the law of force for the law of reason. But the great Act now under our consideration, has banished the impious doctrine, and restored the rational creature to his moral rights. Nor is it a matter of less pleasing consideration, that, at this awful crisis, when the constitutions of kingdoms are on the point of dissolution, the stain of the blood of Africa is no longer upon us, or that we have been freed (alas, if it be not too late!) from a load of guilt, which has long hung like a mill-stone about our necks, ready to sink us to perdition. In tracing the measure still further, or as it will affect other lands, we become only the more sensible of its importance: for can we pass over to Africa; can we pass over to the numerous islands, the receptacles of miserable beings from thence; and can we call to mind the scenes of misery, which have been passing in each of these regions of the earth, without acknowledging, that one of the greatest sources of suffering to the human race has, as far as our own power extends, been done away? Can we pass over to these regions again, and contemplate the multitude of crimes, which the agency necessary for keeping up the barbarous system produced, without acknowledging, that a source of the most monstrous and extensive wickedness has been removed also? But here, indeed, it becomes us peculiarly to rejoice; for though nature shrinks from pain, and compassion is engendered in us when we see it become the portion of others, yet what is physical suffering compared with moral guilt? The misery of the oppressed is, in the first place, not contagious like the crime of the oppressor. Nor is the mischief, which it generates, either so frightful or so pernicious. The body, though under affliction, may retain its shape; and, if it even perish, what is the loss of it but of worthless dust? But when the moral springs of the mind are poisoned, we lose the most excellent part of the constitution of our nature, and the divine image is no longer perceptible in us. Nor are the two evils of similar duration. By a decree of Providence, for which we cannot be too thankful, we are made mortal. Hence the torments of the oppressor are but temporary; whereas the immortal part of us, when once corrupted, may carry its pollutions with it into another world. But independently of the quantity of physical suffering and the innumerable avenues to vice in more than a quarter of the globe, which this great measure will cut off, there are yet blessings, which we have reason to consider as likely to flow from it. Among these we cannot overlook the great probability, that Africa, now freed from the vicious and barbarous effects of this traffic, may be in a better state to comprehend and receive the sublime truths of the Christian religion. Nor can we overlook the probability, that, a new system of treatment necessarily springing up in our islands, the same bright sun of consolation may visit her children there. But here a new hope rises to our view. Who knows but that emancipation, like a beautiful plant, may, in its due season, rise out of the ashes of the abolition of the Slave-trade, and that, when its own intrinsic value shall be known, the seed of it may be planted in other lands? And looking at the subject in this point of view, we cannot but be struck with the wonderful concurrence of events as previously necessary for this purpose, namely, that two nations, England and America, the mother and the child, should, in the same month of the same year, have abolished this impious traffic; nations, which at this moment have more than a million of subjects within their jurisdiction to partake of the blessing; and one of which, on account of her local situation and increasing power, is likely in time to give, if not law, at least a tone to the manners and customs of the great continent, on which she is situated. Reader! Thou art now acquainted with the history of this contest! Rejoice in the manner of its termination! And, if thou feelest grateful for the event, retire within thy closet, and pour out thy thanksgivings to the Almighty for this his unspeakable act of mercy to thy oppressed fellow-creatures. the end. Printed by Richard Taylor and Co. Shoe Lane. [* ]The different debates in both Houses on this occasion would occupy the half of another volume. This is another circumstance, which reconciles me to the omission. But that, which reconciles me the most is, that they will be soon published. In these debates justice has been done to every individual concerned in them. [* ]S. Lushington, esq. M. P. for Yarmouth, gave his voluntary attendance and assistance to the Committee, during all these motions, and J. Bowdler, esquire, was elected a member of it. [* ]The only circumstance, which afforded comfort at this time, was that the honourable Spencer Perceval and Mr. Canning were included in it, who were warm patrons of this great measure. [* ]I have had occasion to know many thousand persons in the course of my travels on this subject; and I can truly say, that the part, which these took on this great question, was always a true criterion of their moral character. Some indeed opposed the abolition, who seemed to be so respectable, that it was difficult to account for their conduct; but it invariably turned out in a course of time, either that they had been influenced by interested motives, or that they were not men of steady moral principle. In the year 1792, when the national enthusiasm was so great, the good were as distinguishable from the had, according to their disposition to this great cause, as if the divine Being had marked them; or, as a friend of mine the other day observed, as we may suppose the sheep to be from the goats on the day of judgment. |


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Small Block Chevy 350
Hello all,
I keep having issue's with this dang 66 chevy C10 pickup truck.
1. Timing. I have replaced every piece of electrical componant in this truck. I pulled the distributor and installed it correctly. (rotor bud facing #1 cylinder) I brought the engine to TDC. Cranked it up and it runs like poop. When i put my timing light on it, the timing mark on the balancer is on the passenger side. I cant get it to come over to the timing indicator. Has anyone ever heard of this?
2. Tachometer. I installed a super tach II. My hot wire (red) goes to my fuse pannel (an unused ign plug). My green wire goes to the negative side of my HEI super coil on the distributor. and the black goes to the ground. My problem is that my needle on the tach is spiking. it generally stays around 800 to 1000 rpms at idle but every now and then it will bounce up to 2 thousand. When I am cruising the needle will go erratic. Again, I have all new componants. They are listed below.
Distributor cap, Plugs, Plug Wires, Super HEI Coil, New underdash wiring harness, New engine harness. New ignition switch, All new fuses, You name it, I've replaced it.
All parts have been installed to specifications. But the truck just doesnt seem to be running right. And I cant time it because the mark is on the other side of the truck so i am having to time it by ear. But that just doenst seem right to me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Merry Christmas. -
hey phil, sounds to me like your distributor is 180 off. i had a 79 ford ranchero that i rebuilt the motor in and i kept on either getting nothing or fireballs from the carb. come to find out that it was 180* out. in otherwords my motor wasn't set to the correct tdc. both intake and exhaust valves must be closed. i took my valve cover off in order to find true tdc. try that. i hopes that it helps. and the tach issue, depending on the tach there should be an option for a 4 cyl, 6 cyl , and 8 cyl modes on the back that's changed by a switch. if it's set on the 8 cyl mode the it sounds like you may have either a bad ground or your distributor wire from your tach may be grounding on something or has a bad connection. good luck phil and i hoped that i helped you out on this one.
When I take the valve covers off, what should I be looking for on the number one cylinder? Push rod up or down?
you are going to want both of your valves closed which is the down position. like i said, i had to do it on my ford motor to get true tdc
You could also pull the #1 plug and with a straightened coat hanger through the spark plug hole turn the motor by hand and watch the hanger move all the way up. When it reaches TDC look at your mark. If it is not at the pointer or 180 out then the outter ring of the balancer moved.
Isn't the balancer pressed on and doesnt it have a key (or tooth) to prevent it from being installed incorrectly? What do you mean the outer ring of the balancer has moved. If it has how would i tell. And what would you suggest I do to fix it?
theres a piece of rubber that goes between the outter ring of the balancer and the body of the balancer. once those 2 are put together they are then balanced by either drilling a series of holes or adding small chims of metal. once that outter ring slips i don't think that there is a damn thing that you can do other than replace the whole balancer
that has to be my problem then. Because I have checked and re-checked everything else. Thanks for all your guys help. I will just purchase a new one from NPD. -
if you wanna get a alittle spendy get either an internally balanced or a fluidamper. i hear those are supposed to be really good but i've looked and they are a little more expensive, well the fluidampers anyway
my buddy may have an idea if you are still having problems. set your balancer timing mark to the timing mark on your engine. then if your motor is at top dead center, put something like a screwdriver, coat hangar, old push rod, etc. to check your tdc. if it is at tdc then you will not be able to stick the object in very far. and if every thing is correct as far as your tdc and timing marks aligning then you should move your plugwires one over in a clockwise direction because everything is one off. he also told me that another way of finding true tdc is to put your finger over the #1 plug hole and when it blows your finger off of the hole then you are there or close. happy hunting man.

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text: Some one down in some bumfuck town near L.A. is shooting people dead outside of a beauty salon. Their reason is undisclosed at this time, but what is known is that eight people are dead. One more has Battle Damage™ and is headed off to some local hospital. That kinda sucks I guess. The assassin


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Enjoy free shipping both ways this holiday season. If for some reason you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, choose our FREE pre-paid shipping label and we'll cover your return! This offer is only good on eligible orders placed between November 13, 2013 and December 24, 2013. We've extended our normal return period to January 15, 2014 or 30 days after your order is received - whichever comes later. Learn more about our return policy.
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The DMT 70 mm Mini Diamond Knife Whetstone Model has been manufactured to be the best way to make sure your snowboard is sharp and reliable This Knife blade Sharpener expert product engineers at DMT, is available in 4 grits and includes a water resistant pouch. For an incredible way to make sure your knife is will outperform the rest, choose the DMT 70 mm Mini Diamond Whetstone Model.


text:
There is no more frustrating way to lose a soccer game than in penalty kicks.
But that's exactly what happened to the Poly High girls team Friday against visiting Great Oak in the CIF Southern Section Division II quarterfinals.
Wolfpack goalie Michelle Craft saved three Jackrabbit penalty shots and led her squad to a 3-1 triumph.
"We didn't lose; we didn't get scored on in the playoffs," Poly coach Teri Collins said, repeating the words she used to console her players after the game. "We just didn't advance."
The PK session began with Poly goalie Imani McDonald blocking a shot by Great Oak's Steph Malherbe. Craft, however, did the same against Sam Shier and the teams were even after one round.
Carissa Makwinski and Elliott Gentile each scored in the next round, and Great Oak's Gabi Forss beat McDonald to the right corner for a 2-1 edge.
Craft then blocked Celeste Dominguez's effort to give the Wolfpack the lead after three rounds.
Miranda Shulz gave Great Oak a 3-1 lead with a shot into the right corner, and Craft ended the game by blocking Nikki Wadley's attempt
McDonald played well all game long. She saved two early Wolfpack chances and made a terrific save on Makwinski in second-half injury time to preserve the draw.
"I have no complaints whatsoever (about McDonald's play)," Collins said.
The Moore League champion Jackrabbits never had a really good scoring chance. Shannon Shier just missed getting to a cross in the 40th minute, and Justine Albers had a shot saved by Craft late in the second half. Poly also squandered several set pieces in the second half, sending the ball out of play instead of into the penalty area.
"That's been something we've been very skilled at this year," Collins said. "It's just the grind of the playoffs. You have to be sharp and we weren't sharp enough."
- David Felton
Downey 1, Ontario Christian 0: Claudia Lopez scored off a corner kick from Krista Velasco as the Vikings (17-7-4) won a Division V quarterfinal at third-seeded Ontario Christian (21-4-3). Goalie Adrianna Salazar made six saves for Downey, which will play at No. 2 Cajon on Tuesday in the semifinals.
Firebaugh 3, Rim of the World 2 (OT): The Falcons advanced to the Division VII semifinals with the win.
Boys volleyball
Chris Yem supplied aggressive defense, Uzoma Amah had strategic attacks and Gahr topped Bellflower 3-0 to open the season. The scores were 25-19, 25-17, 25-19 win. Jed Canlas (seven kills), Ivan Toledo (15 assists) and Vince Madrigal (four blocks) paced the Bucs.
Boys tennis
Julian Avila and Joshua Echevarria each went 3-0 in singles to pace Paramount to a season-opening 15-3 win over Millikan. Eduardo Rodriguez-Lucio Garibay swept in doubles for the Pirates.
Los Alamitos 13, Poly 5: No. 1 singles player Camden Marco swept to lead the Griffins to a season-opening victory. Sheldon Hseih led the Jackrabbits with a 2-1 effort in singles.
Darren Johnson went 3 for 4, just a homer short of the cycle, with two RBIs and two runs scored to lead Cabrillo to an 8-6 win over Lynwood in a season opener. Wesley Madera added two hits, two walks, two RBIs, two runs and three stolen bases for Cabrillo.
St. John Bosco 4, St. Paul 1: Rene Medina tossed a two-hitter as the Braves opened the Paramount Tournament with a win.


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2/7/2013 7 pm - 10 pm CST
Sponsored by: Cluster 2
Who should attend: adult volunteers and Senior & Ambassador Girl Scouts working on VIT.
The Girl Scout Brownie Grade Level class will help prepare leaders to facilitate troop meetings. This course will guide participants through the age appropriate national program portfolio including but not limited to the Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting, Journeys and resources, girl awards and council programs. A comprehensive approach to managing a Girl Scout Troop/Group including what it means to have "girl-led programming," insight to Girl Scouting traditions including the girl uniform, discussion about age appropriate activities and learning will all be a part of this class experience. New leaders will receive a copy of the adult guide and the girl book for the grade level appropriate Journey upon the completion of this session (one per troop). Prerequisites: GS101 and Troop Pathway Orientation. Registration deadline: January 31, 2013. For questions or more information, please contact Leslie Willoughby by phone at 270-495-4102 or by email at email@example.com.
Housing Authority of Glasgow111 Bunche Avenue Glasgow, KY 42141
Get Driving Directions


text:
"I was going to buy a copy of "The Power of Positive Thinking", and then I thought: What the hell good would that do?
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Note: shift times depend on what type of volunteer role you choose.
BIKE PARKING - Signed section for Bike Self Park rack (for event volunteers) - Bike Valet 4:30 – 7:30 pm - Signed 100% Self Park for After Party VOLUNTEER NEEDS Velo Vogue - Evening Deputy for Bike Valet # People Needed: 1 Timing: 4:45 pm – 7:15 pm Notes: Does this person do the set-up of racks? Velo Vogue - Bike Valet Log-in
# People Needed: ??
Timing: 4:15 pm – 7:30 pm
Notes: Parking bikes for the Velo Vogue Fashion Show
Notes: Shared table with Traffic Solutions, talk to people about programs, projects and CycleMAYnia events
Notes: Duties include: beer table (2-3), ID check (2), physically helping move show bikes up and down steps for show (2)


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Best Cordless I have ever ownedPros: Plenty of Torque Cons: Expensive Other Thoughts: My brother and his friends have had these for a several years. I got them for Christmas a year + ago (from my Dad/brother). I thought because it was 14.4V it would lack power/torque. It's quite the opposite! 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? |


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Brilliant, and with Rovio promising more updates to come, it will get even more better, with sandbox modes,plenty of missions, challenges and more, this is sure to be one of my favorite games. As it h...
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© Missouri River Runners P.O. Box 1582 Sioux City, Iowa 51102
Race Summary
The Grand Prix series for MRR members will be held Thursdays June 20,27 and July 11, 18 2013. The race will begin each date at 6:00 PM. Race registration will take place at 5:30 PM June 20th, before the first race. The cost is $25 (if paying with cash, please bring exact amount), which covers all four races, a dry fit cool t-shirt, and post race snacks. The Grand Prix will again handicap each individual runner based on time, which means ANYONE CAN WIN. Prizes will be 2 Peak Performance gift certificates of $75. The winner is the most improved runner over the course of the four races. Please bring a verifiable time from a recent 5K race. If you are new to running and have never run a 5K please contact the race director, we want to encourage runners of all experiences to come out and participate. If you are not an MRR member you will be able to join at the first race. Participants must pay the race fee and sign a waiver at registration July 8.
Results History


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Archive 2005
Coating gains international compliances for food and beverage processing
Busak+Shamban is a leader in coatings technology to improve seal performance
Customer tests prove Isolast® to be best performing FFKM material
Isolast® J9503 is an outright winner
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions Malta achieves TS16949
Associated manufacturing company of Busak+Shamban gains quality accreditation
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions acquire Chase-Walton Elastomers Inc.
US acquisition strengthens position in precision sealing
Unique Turcon® PTFE based coating of glass braided shielding reduces aeroengine fire risk
Improves friction characteristics and increases resistance to shearing
Tests prove that matching seal material to an application can extend seal life
Busak+Shamban recommend compounds for CIP&SIP cleaning regimes
Turcon®MF - reducing the friction in food, pharmaceutical and chemical processing
Improving sealing performance in hygienic processing applications
Busak+Shamban parent, Trelleborg AB is 100 years old
Trelleborg celebrates its centenary
Busak+Shamban sealing and bearing solutions for FPSO equipment withstand difficult offshore conditions
Special sealing arrangements and Orkot® prove ideal for oil and gas applications
Busak+Shamban Spain receive excellence award from John Deere
Busak+Shamban España earn distinction of PARTNER STATUS
Busak+Shamban seals chosen by world leading tractor manufacturer
Advanced sealing for hydraulic assembly
New material with optimised ozone resistance from Busak+Shamban
Good value NBR helps seals stop cracking when stored in subassemblies
Busak+Shamban provide sealing solution for hydraulic cylinder controlling wind generator blade adjustment
Advanced seal configuration including Turcon® PTFE seals
Special Turcon®Stepseal® K and Excluder® used to prevent leakage and extend hydraulic cylinder life
Advanced seal solution for hydraulic cylinder in quiet piling hammer
Ultra-Low Temperature FKM Turel® LTFE seal range from Busak+Shamban.
New range of proprietary FKM based materials for aerospace sealing
Busak+Shamban develop advanced high pressure, non-abrasive seal material for aerospace applications.
Material offers low-friction sealing with increased wear resistance
Busak+Shamban advance fire seal technology for aerospace applications.
Fire seals withstand flame temperatures of 1100º C
Interview with Claus Barsøe, prior to the 46th International Paris Air Show.
Aerospace a key part of the growth strategy of Busak+Shamban
Busak+Shamban new aero engine and airframe seal solutions brochure.
Provides an insight into the way Busak+Shamban works with its aerospace partners
Sealing solution withstands temperature and pressure variance in 'downhole' cableless gauges used in the oil & gas industry
Effective sealing acheived with Isolast® O-Rings & back-up rings
Advances in vane seal design and manufacture has helped to make possible the viability of using rotary vane actuators across a wide range of engineering applications.
Important breakthrough in vane seal manufacture
NEW Isolast® Fab Range™ J9670 seals for high temperature plasma applications
Perfluoroelastomer material developed for semiconductor applications
Busak+Shamban extends seal life and reduce maintenance in agricultural machinery PTO Gearboxes
PDR Rotary Shaft Seal that prevents leakage and extends seal life
Isolast® Fab Range™ developed to meet stringent demands of semiconductor processing industry
Advanced range of Perfluoroelastomer materials from Busak+Shamban
FEP O-Rings solve sealing problems in pharmaceutical & cosmetics processing
FEP O-Rings provide sealing integrity when ordinary elastomer O-Rings fail.
Ventseal–Light, a new generation combined venting and sealing arrangement for Ni-Cd, Ni-MH, VRLA and maintenance-free lead gel storage batteries
Latest development in the Busak+Shamban Ventseal range of seals
All in one safety relief valve seal provides cost savings
Busak+Shamban design uses virtually chemically compatible Isolast®
Busak+Shamban Named Preferred Supplier on Joint Strike Fighter Landing Gear Struts
Busak+Shamban landing gear shock strut seal designs are second to none


text:
GNU TeXmacs is a free wysiwyw (what you see is what you want) editing platform with special features for scientists. The software aims to provide a unified and user friendly framework for editing structured documents with different types of content: text, mathematics, graphics, interactive content. TeXmacs can also be used as an interface to many external systems for computer algebra, numerical analysis, and statistics. New presentation styles can be written by the user and new features can be added to the editor using Scheme.
For users on Linux and Unix, KDE offers a full suite of user workspace applications which allow interaction with these operating systems in a modern, graphical user interface. This includes Plasma Desktop, KDE's innovative and powerful desktop interface. Other workspace applications are included to aid with system configuration, running programs, or interacting with hardware devices. While the fully integrated KDE Workspaces are only available on Linux and Unix, some of these features are available on other platforms. In addition to the workspace, KDE produces a number of key applications such as the Konqueror Web browser, Dolphin file manager, and Kontact, the comprehensive personal information management suite. The list of applications includes many others, including those for education, multimedia, office productivity, networking, games, and much more. Most applications are available on all platforms supported by the KDE Development. KDE also brings to the forefront many innovations for application developers. An entire infrastructure has been designed and implemented to help programmers create robust and comprehensive applications in the most efficient manner, eliminating the complexity and tediousness of creating highly functional applications.
white_dune is a graphical VRML97/X3DV editor, simple NURBS/Superformula 3D modeller, animation tool, and VRML97/X3DV commandline compiler in development. VRML97 (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) is the ISO standard for displaying 3D data over the Web via browser plugins ("HTML for realtime 3D"). X3DV is the direct successor of VRML97. VRML97 and X3DV have support for animation, real-time interaction, and multimedia (images, movies, and sounds). white_dune can read, create, and display VRML97/X3DV files and let the user change the scenegraph/fields. It also has support for stereoscopic view via "quadbuffer"-capable stereo visuals, and support for 3D input devices like a joystick, spaceball, or magnetic tracker.
web2ldap is a full-featured Web-based LDAPv3 client written in Python. It is designed to run either as with stand-alone built-in Web server or under the control of another Web server with FastCGI support (e.g. Apache with mod_fastcgi). It has support for various LDAPv3 bind methods and a powerful built-in schema browser. HTML templates are supported for displaying and editing entries, and LDIF templates can be used for quickly adding new entries. A built-in X.509 parser displays a detailed view of certificates and CRLs with active links.
The SeaMonkey project is a community effort to develop an all-in-one Internet application suite. It contains an Internet browser, email and newsgroup client with an included Web feed reader, HTML editor, IRC chat, and Web development tools, and is sure to appeal to advanced users, Web developers, and corporate users. It uses much of the Mozilla source code powering such successful siblings as Firefox, Thunderbird, Camino, Sunbird, and Miro.
PowerDNS Authoritative Server is a high-performance authoritative nameserver with a host of backends. Besides plain BIND configuration files, PDNS reads information from MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQLite, MongoDB, and many other databases. Backends can easily be written in any language, and a sample Perl backend is provided. PDNS powers around 30-40% of all domain names in many parts of the world, including >90% of all DNSSEC domains in Europe.
Seed7 is a general purpose programming language. It is a higher level language compared to Ada, C++, and Java. In Seed7, new statements and operators can be declared easily. Functions with type results and type parameters are more elegant than a template or generics concept. Object orientation is used when it brings advantages and not in places when other solutions are more obvious. Although Seed7 contains several concepts of other programming languages, it is generally not considered as a direct descendant of any other programming language.
VLC media player is a multimedia player, framework, streamer, and encoder. It can play inputs like files, network streams, DVDs, audio CDs, Blu-Rays, capture devices, and screens. It can play most audio and video codecs and formats (MPEG 1/2/4, H264, VC-1, DivX, WMV, Vorbis, AC3, AAC, MKV, etc.), but can also be used to convert to different formats and/or send streams through the network.
etm is an acronym for Event and Task Manager. It provides a simple, intuitive format for using plain text files to store event, task, and other data items, a command line interface for viewing stored information in a variety of convenient ways, and a cross-platform, PyQt-based GUI for creating and modifying items as well as viewing them. Displayed items can be grouped by date, context, keyword, or project and can be filtered in various ways. A display of busy and free times is also supported, as is a ledger view of time spent that is suitable for client billing. Alarms are supported for events and repetition for both events and tasks in a powerful and flexible manner.
A set of libraries and tools for reading, mastering, and writing optical discs.


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Bombay Bicycle Club join Propaganda for a very special guest DJ set.
There will be a 1am Red Stag balloon drop offering a complimentary shot to anyone who gets their hands on a winning Red Stag balloon!
Visit here for access to exclusive playlists including Russell from Bloc Party's top 10 DJ tracks.
Venue operates a challenge 25 policy: If you are lucky enough to look under 25 you WILL be asked for ID. Only acceptable forms of ID are: UK photo driving licence or Passport.
Rights of admission reserved.
Dress Code: Smart Casual. No sports wear (Trainers OK), no caps, no large printed jeans / t shirts. If you are wearing any of the following brands you probably won't get in…. Henley, Burberry, Mackenzie, Hackett, Kappa, Ed Hardy, Gio Goi, G star.
Finish: 3.30am


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Steve talks about his love for his childhood erector set, his toys' influence on his success and his memories of the JFK Assassination.
Steve talks about his love for his childhood erector set, his toys' influence on his success and his memories of the JFK Assassination.
Sign in with Facebook to see how you and your friends are connected to famous icons.
Facebook, Twitter, Google, iPhone— they're the names of technologies so pervasive in our 21st century lives that we've started using them as verbs. Behind these technologies are individuals whose ingenuity and enterprising spirit have profoundly changed our lives. Far from being computer nerds, these tech geniuses are billionaire celebrities, household names and the subjects of hit movies. From Steve Jobs of Apple to Mark Zuckerburg of Facebook, here are the most famous modern titans of tech.
Modern Titans of Tech
16 people in this group
Steve Jobs wasn't the only person in history to turn the apple into a significant cultural symbol. Somewhere in between the origin of the Adam and Eve story and the invention of the iPod, there were dozens of notable people who transformed the forbidden fruit into a significant statement.
Apple Icons
10 people in this group
The famous dance-competition show Dancing with the Stars has seen more than a dozen seasons and a gamut of stars, including Apolo Anton Ohno, Kirstie Alley, Joey Fatone, Jennifer Grey, David Hasselhoff, Buzz Aldrin, Brandy, Wynonna Judd, Dorothy Hamill, D.L. Hughley, Jacoby Jones, Ingo Rademacher and Aly Raisman. Learn more about the show's contestants, who, for a period, swapped their skills as athletes, actors, musicians, comedians, TV personalities and politicians for a chance to show off their footwork on national TV.
Cast of Dancing with the Stars
101 people in this group


text:
Global Navigation
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My Library
Find a Store
Robert De Niro Movies
Considered one of the best actors of his generation, Robert De Niro built a durable star career out of his formidable ability to disappear into a character. The son of artists, De Niro was raised in New York's Greenwich Village. The young man made his stage debut at age 10, playing the Cowardly Lion in his school's production of The Wizard of Oz. Along with finding relief from shyness through performing, De Niro was also entranced by the movies, and he quit high school at age 16 to pursue acting. Studying under
Stella Adler
Lee Strasberg
, De Niro learned how to immerse himself in a character emotionally and physically. After laboring in off-off-Broadway productions in the early '60s, De Niro was cast alongside fellow novice
Jill Clayburgh
in film-school graduate
Brian De Palma
The Wedding Party
(1969). He followed this with small movies like
Hi, Mom!
Sam's Song
, and
Bloody Mama
De Niro's professional life took an auspicious turn, however, when he was re-introduced to former Little Italy acquaintance
Martin Scorsese
at a party in 1972. Sharing a love of movies as well as their neighborhood background, De Niro and
hit it off. De Niro was immediately interested when
asked him about appearing in his new film,
Mean Streets
, conceived as a grittier, more authentic portrait of the Mafia than
The Godfather
. De Niro's appearance in the film made waves with critics, as did his completely different performance as a dying simple-minded catcher in the quiet baseball drama
Bang the Drum Slowly
Francis Ford Coppola
was impressed enough by
Mean Streets
to cast De Niro as the young Vito Corleone in the early 1900s portion of
The Godfather Part II
. Closely studying
's Oscar-winning performance as Don Corleone in
The Godfather
, and perfecting his accent for speaking his lines in subtitled Sicilian, De Niro was so effective as the lethally ambitious and lovingly paternal Corleone that he took home a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role.
De Niro next headed to Europe to star in
Bernardo Bertolucci
's opus,
(1976) before returning to the U.S. to collaborate with
on the far leaner (and meaner) production,
Taxi Driver
. After working for two weeks as a Manhattan cabbie and losing weight, De Niro transformed himself into disturbed "God's lonely man" Travis Bickle. One of the definitive films of the decade,
Taxi Driver
earned the Cannes Film Festival's top prize and several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and De Niro's first nod for Best Actor. Controversy erupted about the film's violence, however, when would-be presidential assassin John W. Hinckley cited
Taxi Driver
as a formative influence in 1981.
De Niro and Scorsese would reteam for the lavish musical
New York, New York
(1977), and though the film was a complete flop, De Niro quickly recovered with another risky and ambitious project,
Michael Cimino
The Deer Hunter
(1978). One of the first wave of Vietnam movies,
The Deer Hunter
starred De Niro as one of three Pennsylvania steel-town friends thrown into the war's inferno who emerged as profoundly changed men. Though the film provoked an uproar over its portrayal of Viet Cong violence as (literally) Russian roulette,
The Deer Hunter
won several Oscars.
Returning to the realm of more personal violence, De Niro followed
The Deer Hunter
with his and
's masterpiece,
Raging Bull
, a tragic portrait of boxer [%Ray La Motta]. Along with his notorious 60-pound weight gain that rendered him unrecognizable as the middle-aged Jake, De Niro also trained so intensely for the outstanding fight scenes that La Motta himself stated that De Niro could have boxed professionally. Along with his physical dedication, De Niro won over critics with his ability to humanize La Motta without softening him.
Raging Bull
received eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
Though he was well suited to star in
Sergio Leone
's epic homage to gangster films,
Once Upon a Time in America
's tough, transcendent vision couldn't survive the studio's decision to hack 88 minutes out of the American release version. De Niro next took a breather from films to return to the stage, playing a drug dealer in the New York Public Theater production Cuba and His Teddy Bear. During his theater stint,
De Palma
made De Niro a movie offer he couldn't refuse when he asked him to play a small role in his film version of
The Untouchables
(1987). As the rotund, charismatic, bat-wielding Al Capone, De Niro was a memorable adversary for
Kevin Costner
's upstanding Elliot Ness, and
The Untouchables
became De Niro's first hit in almost a decade. De Niro followed
The Untouchables
with his first comedy success,
Midnight Run
(1988), costarring as a bounty hunter opposite
Charles Grodin
's bail-jumping accountant.
Though he earned an Oscar nomination for his touching performance as a patient in
Penny Marshall
's popular drama
(1990), movie fans were perhaps more thrilled by De Niro's return to the
fold, playing cruelly duplicitous Irish mobster Jimmy "The Gent" opposite
Ray Liotta
's turncoat Henry Hill in the critically lauded Mafia film
(1990). De Niro worked with
again in the thriller remake
Cape Fear
(1991), sporting a hillbilly accent and pumped-up physique. It was
and De Niro's biggest hit together and earned another Oscar nod for the star. De Niro subsequently costarred as a geeky cop in the
Mad Dog and Glory
De Niro also revealed that he had learned a great deal from his work with
with his own directorial debut,
A Bronx Tale
(1993). A well-observed story of a boy torn between his father and the local mob,
A Bronx Tale
earned praise, but De Niro was soon back to working with
, starring as Vegas kingpin Sam Rothstein in
(1995) -- based on the story of real-life handicapper Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal -- staged with
's customary visual brilliance and pairing De Niro with his
Raging Bull
brother and
Joe Pesci
Appearing in as many as three films a year after 1990, De Niro was particularly praised for his polished reserve in
Michael Mann
's glossy policer
(1995), which offered the rare spectacle of De Niro and
sharing the screen, if only in two scenes. After indifferently received turns in
The Fan
(1996), and
Cop Land
(1997), De Niro stepped outside his comfort zone to play an amoral political strategist in
Barry Levinson
's sharp satire
Wag the Dog
(1997) and a dangerously dimwitted crook in
Quentin Tarantino
's laid-back crime story
Jackie Brown
De Niro was front and center -- and knee deep in self-parody -- in the comedy
Analyze This
(1999), aided and abetted by a nicely low-key
Billy Crystal
as his reluctant psychiatrist. De Niro would continue to lampoon his own tough-guy image in the sequel
Analyze That
, as well as the popular
Meet the Parents
franchise. As the decade wore on, De Niro took on roles that failed to live up to his acclaimed earlier work, such as with lukewarm thrillers like
The Score
Righteous Kill
, and
Hide and Seek
. However, De Niro continued to work on his ambitious and long-planned next foray behind the camera, the acclaimed CIA drama
The Good Shepherd
He continued to work steadily in a variety of projects including Stardust, What Just Happened, and Everybody's Fine. He became a Kennedy Center honoree in 2009. He reteamed with Ben Stiller for Little Fockers in 2010, and played a corrupt politician in Machete that same year. In 2011 he appeared opposite Bradley Cooper in the thriller Limitless, which seemingly laid the groundwork for their reteaming as father and son in the 2012 comedy Silver Linings Playbook. For his work in that movie, De Niro earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
Results per page:
Add Greetings to Queue
Add Greetings to top of Queue
If for nothing else, Greetings would be memorable as the second feature-length directorial effort of Brian DePalma (his first, 1966's The Wedding Party, was released shortly afterward). A satire of late-1960s manners and mores, the film aims its barbs at Lyndon B. Johnson, Vietnam, the draft, the counterculture, Greenwich Village and the John F. Kennedy assassination. Billed first, Robert DeNiro actually has a supporting role as a young longhair who tries to help his best pal (Jonathan Warden) flunk his Army physical. Gerrit Graham is a JFK conspiracy theorist who may well have good reason to be paranoid. Though largely ignored by the mainstream press in America, Greetings was effusively honored at the 1969 Berlin Film Festival. The film was originally rated X due to its considerable sexual content. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Read More
Jonathan Warden
Robert De Niro
, (
The Wedding Party
Add The Wedding Party to Queue
Add The Wedding Party to top of Queue
This dark comedy finds Charlie (Charles Pfulger) traveling to stay at the house of his fiancee's parents two days before his wedding to Josephine (Jill Clayburgh). With his two friends, he discusses Vietnam, the sexual revolution, black power, and compares bachelor life to that of a married man. Charlie tries to talk Josephine's former suitor into resuming his quest, is propositioned by the church organist, and misses his own bachelor party before finally making to the wedding at the insistence of his friends. Robert De Niro plays the role of Charlie's friend Cecil in this unusual comedy with lots of improvisational dialogue. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
Read More
Jill Clayburgh
Charles Pfluger
, (
The Swap
A political filmmaker finds himself in Long Island for a weekend where he finds himself entangled with a high-living, jet set crowd. At first it is exciting, but soon he finds himself disillusioned by their shallowness. The film contains an early performance by Robert De Niro. Footage from Sam's Song was later re-edited into a completely different movie, known as both The Swap and Line of Fire, in which a man investigates the death of his brother. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
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Hi, Mom!
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Brian De Palma takes on late 1960s media culture in his followup to Greetings (1968). Seeking a place in New York life one way or another, Vietnam vet John Rubin (Robert De Niro) moves into a Greenwich Village dive, with hopes of becoming a director for porn king Joe Banner (Allen Garfield). Rubin sells Banner on his idea to make "Peep Art" by filming the racy action in the building windows across from his apartment. He plans to seduce talky window denizen Judy (Jennifer Salt) to get the film he wants; but when that plan fails, John trades his camera for a TV and joins a radical theater troupe for their performance piece, "Be Black Baby." Inspired by the radicals, John decides to make his own violent political statement -- or does he just want to be on TV? Mixing long passages of the TV-framed "Be Black Baby" with John's misadventures in Manhattan, the film sends up political extremism, liberal guilt, and the Chicago 1968 protestors' mantra that "the whole world is watching," as it all becomes one big staged performance for the cameras. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
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Robert De Niro
Charles Durnham
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Bloody Mama
Shelley Winters, who once played the spoofish "Ma Parker" on Batman, brings the same larger-than-life approach to her portrayal of real-life Ma Barker in Bloody Mama. Presiding over her outlaw gang, consisting mainly of her goonish sons, Ma goes on a Depression-era rampage of bank robbery, murder and kidnapping. Obviously filmed in a hurry-watch as the Barker mob drives past modern shopping centers-- Bloody Mama strives for an entertaingly sleazy aura, especially when dealing with the incestuous subtext of Ma's relationship with her boys. And look who plays the Barker brood: Clint Kimbrough, Robert Walden and Robert De Niro! Bloody Mama was scripted by Robert Thom, whose previous collaboration with producer Roger Corman was the cult classic Wild in the Streets (former 1950s ingenue Diane Varsi appears in both films). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Shelley Winters
Pat Hingle
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Born to Win
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Born to Win is the grimly ironic title of this jet-black comedy about heroin addicts. George Segal plays Jay Jay, an ex-hairdresser who struggles to support his expensive drug habit. To avoid arrest, Jay Jay turns "narc," informing on his fellow junkies. Eventually Jay Jay's sense of self-hatred threatens to overwhelm him. Also released as Born to Lose and Addict, Born to Win was the first American film for Czech director Ivan Passer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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George Segal
Karen Black
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The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
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In this comedy, based on Jimmy Breslin's novel, a bungling gang of hoods make increasingly ludicrous attempts on the life of a Mafia boss. Each attempt ends in failure. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
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Jennifer on My Mind
One of a number of films that dealt with addiction following the explosion of recreational drug use in the 1960s, Jennifer on My Mind opens as footloose twentysomething Marcus (Michael Brandon) is wandering through Europe. In Venice, he meets a beautiful young woman named Jenny (Tippy Walker); they fall in love, start travelling together, and smoke an awful lot of marijuana. When Jenny decides to return to the United States and heads back to New York, Marcus tags along, but before long (as usually happens in films of this sort), Jenny moves from pot to harder drugs, and Marcus has to deal with the fact the woman he loves has become a heroin addict. Written by Erich Segal, who had earlier gained fame for Love Story, Jennifer on My Mind also features a prescient supporting performance by Robert DeNiro, who plays a taxi driver. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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Michael Brandon
Tippy Walker
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Mean Streets
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"You don't make up for your sins in church; you do it in the streets; you do it at home. The rest is bulls--t, and you know it." Returning to the autobiographical milieu of his 1968 debut Who's That Knocking at My Door? for his third feature, Martin Scorsese examined the daily struggles of a wannabe hood to keep his morals straight on the streets of Little Italy. Driven equally by his wish to become a respectable gangster like his uncle (Cesare Danova) and his desire to live his life like St. Francis, Charlie (Harvey Keitel) takes on his energetically unhinged friend Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro) as his own personal penance, intervening to get Johnny Boy to pay off a debt to the local loan shark Michael (Richard Romanus). Despite his promises to his epileptic girlfriend Teresa (Amy Robinson) that they will move out of Little Italy once he strengthens his position in his uncle's world, Charlie's involvement with Johnny Boy further ensnares him in the neighborhood. When Johnny Boy decides to mouth off to Michael rather than pay him, Charlie, Johnny Boy, and Teresa try to flee Michael's murderous anger (and an assassin played by Scorsese), forcing Charlie to realize that the rules of the streets do not mesh with absolution. Whereas fellow "film school generation" director Francis Ford Coppola transformed the Hollywood gangster movie into metaphorical epics about the Mafia and capitalism in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), Scorsese revised the genre in the opposite direction, focusing on the gritty minutiae of daily life and drawing from personal memory. Combining documentary-style realism (even though most of the film was shot in L.A.); kinetic editing and camera movement; and expressionistic lighting, angles, and film speed, Scorsese presents an intimate picture of the trivial incidents and latent violence of Charlie's and Johnny Boy's world, naturalistically unfolding their experiences rather than simply explaining what motivates them. They lead a claustrophobic, petty existence that Scorsese and screenwriter Mardik Martin witnessed growing up in Little Italy, complete with a soundtrack of hit songs like "Be My Baby" and "Jumping Jack Flash" that had poured out of neighborhood radios. Mean Streets opened at the New York Film Festival to excellent notices and played strongly in New York but failed to duplicate that level of business elsewhere. Even so, Mean Streets established Scorsese and De Niro as formidable young talents and marked the beginning of a long-running and fertile collaboration that continued in such films as Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), and Goodfellas (1990). Scorsese's exceptional grasp of the texture of day-to-day life, the rhythm and cadences of street talk, and cinema's visual and aural possibilities makes Mean Streets one of the pivotal films of the 1970s, as well as of Scorsese's career, and an influence on such future filmmakers as Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino, among many others. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
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Robert De Niro
Harvey Keitel
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Bang the Drum Slowly
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A guaranteed tear-jerker, Bang the Drum Slowly centers on professional baseball player Bruce Pearson (Robert DeNiro) and his team mate Henry Wiggen (Michael Moriarty), who supported Bruce to the bitter end after learning that the young catcher was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease and would soon die. When hayseed Pearson first joined the team, he and Wiggen, the team's red-hot pitcher were oil and water. The other team members were none to thrilled to have Pearson on their team. Wiggen changes his attitude when he learns of Pearson's illness, and when the other team members find out, they too become more helpful until the inevitably teary ending. Look for popular character actor Danny Aiello in his feature film debut. The story is based on a novel by screenwriter Mark Harris and was first filmed for television. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
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Robert De Niro
Michael Moriarty
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The Godfather Part II
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Francis Ford Coppola's legendary continuation and sequel to his landmark 1972 film, The Godfather, parallels the young Vito Corleone's rise with his son Michael's spiritual fall, deepening The Godfather's depiction of the dark side of the American dream. In the early 1900s, the child Vito flees his Sicilian village for America after the local Mafia kills his family. Vito (Robert De Niro) struggles to make a living, legally or illegally, for his wife and growing brood in Little Italy, killing the local Black Hand Fanucci (Gastone Moschin) after he demands his customary cut of the tyro's business. With Fanucci gone, Vito's communal stature grows, but it is his family (past and present) who matters most to him -- a familial legacy then upended by Michael's (Al Pacino) business expansion in the 1950s. Now based in Lake Tahoe, Michael conspires to make inroads in Las Vegas and Havana pleasure industries by any means necessary. As he realizes that allies like Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg) are trying to kill him, the increasingly paranoid Michael also discovers that his ambition has crippled his marriage to Kay (Diane Keaton) and turned his brother, Fredo (John Cazale), against him. Barely escaping a federal indictment, Michael turns his attention to dealing with his enemies, completing his own corruption. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
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Al Pacino
Robert Duvall
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Bernardo Bertolucci's 255-minute 1900 was a gargantuan undertaking, requiring the resources of three European countries and a trio of American movie studios. Set in the Italian town of Parma, the film's continuity backtracks from Liberation Day in 1945 to the occasion of composer/patriot Giuseppe Verdi's death in 1901. We follow the lives of two men born on that day in 1901, who grow up to be Alfredo Berlinghieti (Robert De Niro) and Olmo Dalco (Gérard Depardieu). Wealthy Alfredo sinks into dissipation, while poverty-stricken Olmo becomes a firebrand labor leader and communist. After WWI, Alfredo is allowed to peacefully retain his land holdings by playing nice with the burgeoning fascists; Olmo, on the other hand, engages in a long-standing battle against the minions of Mussolini. The two protagonists are reunited when Alfredo returns to Parma to preside over Olmo's trial for "political crimes." Co-star Burt Lancaster is cast as Alfredo's wealthy grandfather, who hates to see the old values buried beneath the social travails of the 20th century. Many American prints of 1900 were shortened to 243 minutes, rendering the story hard to follow at times. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Robert De Niro
Gérard Depardieu
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The Last Tycoon
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Elia Kazan directed this curiously constipated film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished final novel, about Monroe Starr, a brilliant and efficient studio executive (based upon Fitzgerald's experiences with MGM wunderkind Irving Thalberg). Robert De Niro plays Monroe Starr in a cool and detached manner, and as Kazan pans around the Hollywood Dream Factory of the 1930s, Starr juggles several productions, deals with nervous actors and recalcitrant directors, stays afloat in the Hollywood corporate battlefields, and secretly carries on a love affair with an even cooler and more detached English girl, Kathleen Moore (Ingrid Boulting). ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
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Robert De Niro
Tony Curtis
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Taxi Driver
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"All the animals come out at night" -- and one of them is a cabby about to snap. In Martin Scorsese's classic 1970s drama, insomniac ex-Marine Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) works the nightshift, driving his cab throughout decaying mid-'70s New York City, wishing for a "real rain" to wash the "scum" off the neon-lit streets. Chronically alone, Travis cannot connect with anyone, not even with such other cabbies as blowhard Wizard (Peter Boyle). He becomes infatuated with vapid blonde presidential campaign worker Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), who agrees to a date and then spurns Travis when he cluelessly takes her to a porno movie. After an encounter with a malevolent fare (played by Scorsese), the increasingly paranoid Travis begins to condition (and arm) himself for his imagined destiny, a mission that mutates from assassinating Betsy's candidate, Charles Palatine (Leonard Harris), to violently "saving" teen hooker Iris (Jodie Foster) from her pimp, Sport (Harvey Keitel). Travis' bloodbath turns him into a media hero; but has it truly calmed his mind?
Written by Paul Schrader, Taxi Driver is an homage to and reworking of cinematic influences, a study of individual psychosis, and an acute diagnosis of the latently violent, media-fixated Vietnam era. Scorsese and Schrader structure Travis' mission to save Iris as a film noir version of John Ford's late Western The Searchers (1956), aligning Travis with a mythology of American heroism while exposing that myth's obsessively violent underpinnings. Yet Travis' military record and assassination attempt, as well as Palatine's political platitudes, also ground Taxi Driver in its historical moment of American in the 1970s. Employing such techniques as Godardian jump cuts and ellipses, expressive camera moves and angles, and garish colors, all punctuated by Bernard Herrmann's eerie final score (finished the day he died), Scorsese presents a Manhattan skewed through Travis' point-of-view, where De Niro's now-famous "You talkin' to me" improv becomes one more sign of Travis' madness. Shot during a New York summer heat wave and garbage strike, Taxi Driver got into trouble with the MPAA for its violence. Scorsese desaturated the color in the final shoot-out and got an R, and Taxi Driver surprised its unenthusiastic studio by becoming a box-office hit. Released in the Bicentennial year, after Vietnam, Watergate, and attention-getting attempts on President Ford's life, Taxi Driver's intense portrait of a man and a society unhinged spoke resonantly to the mid-'70s audience -- too resonantly in the case of attempted Reagan assassin and Foster fan John W. Hinckley. Taxi Driver went on to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, but it lost the Best Picture Oscar to the more comforting Rocky. Anchored by De Niro's disturbing embodiment of "God's lonely man," Taxi Driver remains a striking milestone of both Scorsese's career and 1970s Hollywood. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
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Robert De Niro
Cybill Shepherd
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The Godfather Saga
Originally screened as a mini-series on the NBC television network, this epic-length feature combines the entirety of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II with 15 minutes of outtakes from the two films, recutting the material into chronological order (clarifying the complex structure of The Godfather Part II, which jumped back and forth between events that occurred before and after the narrative of the first film). The Godfather 1902-1959: The Complete Epic tells the tale of the Corleone Family, from the arrival of Vito Corleone in the U.S. as a boy and his rise to criminal power as a young man (played by Robert DeNiro) to the decline of his empire decades later. While some of the original material was censored for television broadcast, when The Godfather 1902-1959: The Complete Epic was later released on home video, the altered footage was restored to its original content. However, this proved not to be the final and complete document of the Corleone saga, as Francis Ford Coppola added another chapter to the story nine years later with the release of The Godfather Part III. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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Al Pacino
Marlon Brando
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New York, New York
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Martin Scorsese combined the splashy atmosphere of the old studio musical with an unromanticized marriage story in his valentine to Hollywood and the Big Band era. On V-J Day 1945, newly minted civilian saxophonist Jimmy Doyle (Robert De Niro) meets USO singer Francine Evans (Liza Minnelli) at a dance, but she rebuffs every advance that he makes. A day and a hotel lobby meeting later, Jimmy finally wins Francine over after she uses her pop instincts to save his too-jazzy audition at a nightclub. When she goes on tour with Frankie Harte (Georgie Auld) and his Orchestra, Jimmy tracks her down, taking a job with the orchestra to be with her. Together on stage, they make beautiful music; off stage they marry, but the struggle between two artists begins to take its toll. Unable to understand that Francine's needs and talents are just as important as his, and unwilling to compromise his music for security, Jimmy abandons Francine after their baby is born. Separately, the two succeed even more, as Francine becomes a music and movie star, while Jimmy has a top hit and opens a jazz club. When they are reunited several years later, the pair must decide if their relationship is worth another try. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
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Liza Minnelli
Robert De Niro
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The Deer Hunter
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One of several 1978 films dealing with the Vietnam War (including Hal Ashby's Oscar-winning Coming Home), Michael Cimino's epic second feature The Deer Hunter was both renowned for its tough portrayal of the war's effect on American working class steel workers and notorious for its ahistorical use of Russian roulette in the Vietnam sequences. Structured in five sections contrasting home and war, the film opens in Clairton, PA, as Mike (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken), and Stan (John Cazale, in his last film) celebrate the wedding of their friend Steve (John Savage) and go on a final deer hunt before the men leave for Vietnam. Mike treats hunting as a test of skill, lecturing Stan about the value of "one shot" deer slaying and brushing off Nick's urgings to appreciate nature's beauty. As Mike ruminates post-hunt, the film cuts to the horror of Vietnam, where the men are captured by Vietcong soldiers who force Mike and Nick to play Russian roulette for the V.C.'s amusement. Mike turns the game to his advantage so they can escape captivity, but the men are permanently scarred by the episode. Steve loses his legs; Nick vanishes in the Saigon Russian roulette parlors. Mike returns alone to Clairton a changed man, as he rejects the killing of the deer hunt and finds solace with Nick's old girlfriend Linda (Meryl Streep). Disgusted by the antics of his male cohorts at home, Mike decides to bring Steve back from a veterans' hospital, and he returns to Saigon to find Nick. As Saigon falls, Mike discovers how far gone Nick is; the survivors gather in Clairton for a funeral breakfast, singing an impromptu rendition of "God Bless America." ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
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Robert De Niro
John Cazale
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Raging Bull
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Martin Scorsese's brutal character study incisively portrays the true rise and fall and redemption of middleweight boxer Jake La Motta, a violent man in and out of the ring who thrives on his ability (and desire) to take a beating. Opening with the spectacle of the over-the-hill La Motta (Robert De Niro) practicing his 1960s night-club act, the film flashes back to 1940s New York, when Jake's career is on the rise. Despite pressure from the local mobsters, Jake trusts his brother Joey (Joe Pesci) to help him make it to a title bout against Sugar Ray Robinson the honest way; the Mob, however, will not cave in. Jake gets the title bout, and blonde teenage second wife Vickie (Cathy Moriarty), but success does nothing to exorcise his demons, even as he channels his rage into boxing. Alienating Vickie and Joey, and disastrously gaining weight, Jake has destroyed his personal and professional lives by the 1950s. After he hits bottom, however, Jake emerges with a gleam of self-awareness, as he sits rehearsing Marlon Brando's On the Waterfront speech in his dressing room mirror: "I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody." Working with a script adapted by Mardik Martin and Paul Schrader from La Motta's memoirs, Scorsese and De Niro sought to make an uncompromising portrait of an unlikable man and his ruthless profession. Eschewing uplifting Rocky-like boxing movie conventions, their Jake is relentlessly cruel and self-destructive; the only peace he can make is with himself. Michael Chapman's stark black-and-white photography creates a documentary/tabloid realism; the production famously shut down so that De Niro could gain 50-plus pounds. Raging Bull opened in late 1980 to raves for its artistry and revulsion for its protagonist; despite eight Oscar nominations, it underperformed at the box office, as audiences increasingly turned away from "difficult" films in the late '70s and early '80s. The Academy concurred, passing over Scorsese's work for Best Director and Picture in favor of Robert Redford and Ordinary People, although De Niro won a much-deserved Oscar, as did the film's editor, Thelma Schoonmaker. Oscar or no Oscar, Raging Bull has often been cited as the best American film of the 1980s. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
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Robert De Niro
Cathy Moriarty
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True Confessions
Adapted by John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion from Dunne's novel, True Confessions uses the still-unsolved "Black Dahlia" murder as the foundation for a devastating attack on big-city corruption -- in which it appears that many of the perpetrators wear clerical collars. In, 1948 Los Angeles detective Tom Spellacy (Robert Duvall) is assigned to investigate the death of a priest, who apparently suffered a heart attack while being serviced by a prostitute. Meanwhile, Tom's brother, young Catholic monsignor Des Spellacy (Robert De Niro), is reluctantly currying favor with crooked contractor Jack Amsterdam (Charles Durning), the better to finance an expansion of Des' church. The unifying factor between Tom and Des, beyond their sibling relationship, turns out to be the grisly murder of a hooker. The key words in the labyrinthine proceedings are power, ambition, and hypocrisy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Robert De Niro
Robert Duvall
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Elia Kazan, Outsider
In this documentary on director Elia Kazan, his views on his life and oeuvre are brought forward through a long interview conducted by Michel Ciment, by a talk with Robert De Niro, and by clips from his movies America, America and Baby Doll. Although his interview is long, Kazan does not probe too deeply into his methodology or some of the more critical moments of his life, or why he had not worked on many projects in the years before this interview (1982). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
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Elia Kazan
Robert De Niro
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The King of Comedy
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Martin Scorsese's satirical comedy/drama caustically explores the lengths to which a nobody will go to be as famous as his idol. Practicing his patter in his basement with cardboard cut-outs of his favorite celebrities, mediocre aspiring comedian Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro) believes that one appearance on the evening talk show of the Johnny Carson-esque Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis) will be his ticket to stardom. After he helps Jerry escape the advances of amorous fan Masha (Sandra Bernhard), Rupert takes Jerry's patronizing brush-off as a true promise for an audition and begins haunting Jerry's office. Provoked by Masha's needling and a rejection from Jerry's smooth production exec Cathy Long (Shelley Hack), Rupert makes a disastrous trip to Jerry's country house with embarrassed date Rita (Diahnne Abbott), then hatches an even more outlandish scheme to get ahead. With Masha's help, Rupert kidnaps Jerry and demands as ransom the TV appearance that he believes will turn his fantasy into reality. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
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Robert De Niro
Jerry Lewis
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Once Upon a Time in America
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Though some viewers might be put off by its length, graphic violence, and absence of likable characters, Sergio Leone's final film is also a cinematic masterpiece. Spanning four decades, the film tells the story of David "Noodles" Aaronson (Robert De Niro) and his Jewish pals, chronicling their childhoods on New York's Lower East Side in the 1920s, through their gangster careers in the 1930s, and culminating in Noodles' 1968 return to New York from self-imposed exile, at which time he learns the truth about the fate of his friends and again confronts the nightmare of his past. The acting, the re-creation of the time period, the cinematography, and the music are all superb. However, even more important is Leone's ability to make the film work on so many different levels: it's both a criticism of gangster-film mythology and a continuation of the director's exploration of the issues of time and history. Strange as it may seem, the violence and gore in the first half of the film turn into a sad elegy about wasted lives and lost love. The film's strengths emerge only in its full 229-minute version -- the 139-minute and other edited versions don't make nearly the same impact. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
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Robert De Niro
James Woods
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Falling in Love
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Falling in Love can be described as an urban American Brief Encounter. Reteamed for the first time since The Deer Hunter, Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep star as a married couple. Thing of it is, they're not married to each other. While Christmas shopping for their respective families, architect Frank Raftis (DeNiro) and graphic artist Molly Gilmore (Streep) "meet cute," their holiday packages becoming mixed up. What starts as a pleasant chance acquaintance blossoms into romance. Inevitably, however, both parties realize that what they're doing is wrong--a shade too late to save their marriages, as it turns out. The film ends with a bittersweet "one year later" coda. The natural charisma of its stars lends distinction to the otherwise so-so Falling in Love. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Robert De Niro
Meryl Streep
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Brazil constitutes Terry Gilliam's enormously ambitious follow-up to his 1981 Time Bandits. It also represents the second installment in a trilogy of Gilliam films on imagination versus reality, that began with Bandits and ended in 1989 with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. To create this wild, visually audacious satire, Gilliam combines dystopian elements from Orwell, Huxley and Kafka (plus a central character who mirrors Walter Mitty) with his own trademark, Monty Python-esque, jet black British humor and his gift for extraordinary visual invention. The results are thoroughly unprecedented in the cinema.
Jonathan Pryce stars as Sam Lowry, a civil servant who chooses to blind himself to the decaying, drone-like world around him. It's a world marred by oppressive automatization and towering bureaucracy, and populated by tyrannical guards who strongarm lawbreakers. And Lowry is stuck in the middle of this nightmare. Whenever real life becomes too oppressive, Sam fantasizes (to the tune of Ary Baroso's 1930s hit "Brazil") about sailing through the clouds as a winged superhero, and rescuing beautiful Jill Layton (Kim Greist) from a giant, Samurai warrior. The omnipresent computer that controls everything in the "real" world malfunctions, causing an innocent citizen to be arrested and tortured to death. When Sam routinely investigates the error, he meets - and pursues Jill , literally the girl of his dreams. But in real life, she's a tough-as-nails truck driver who initially wants nothing to do with him. It turns out that she is suspected of underground activities, in connection with a terrorist network wanted for bombing public places. The price Sam pays for his association with her is a close encounter with the man in charge of torturing troublesome citizens (Michael Palin). He is rescued - at the last minute - by maintenance man Harry Tuttle (Robert de Niro) who moonlights as a terrorist, but that only represents the beginning of his plight, for now the "system" is onto him.
Gilliam ran into enormous problems with Brazil. Universal - which produced the picture - originally slated it for release in 1984, but the studio - intimidated by the film's whopping length of 142 minutes - demanded that Gilliam trim the film to bring it in under two hours and alter the pessimistic ending. Gilliam refused; Universal shelved the picture for a year. In response, the director took out a full page ad in Variety asking studio president Sid Sheinberg when the film would be released. Sensing tremendous pressure, Universal bowed to Gilliam's insistence on fewer cuts but still demanded a happy ending. Gilliam trimmed only eleven minutes and altered the conclusion just slightly (instead of cutting to black, it fades into puffy white clouds on a blue sky, with a reprise of the title tune). It was thus released in early 1985 at 131 minutes, and of course became a seminal work; many critics regarded it at the time as the best film of the eighties. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
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Jonathan Pryce
Michael Palin
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The Mission
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Featuring a majestic score by Ennio Morricone and lush Oscar-winning cinematography by Chris Menges, Roland Joffé's The Mission examines the events surrounding the Treaty of Madrid in 1750, when Spain ceded part of South America to Portugal, and turns this episode into an allegory for the mid-'80s struggles of Latin America. Two European forces are on hand to win the South American natives over to imperialist ways. The plunderers want to extract riches and slaves from the New World. The missionaries, on the other hand, want to convert the Indians to Christianity and win over their souls. Mendoza (Robert De Niro) is an exploiter dabbling in the slave trade. But after he kills his brother Felipe (Aidan Quinn) in a fit of rage, he seeks redemption and calls upon the missionaries to assist him. After repeatedly climbing a cliff with a heavy weight as penance, Mendoza finds redemption and becomes a devout missionary at a settlement run by Gabriel (Jeremy Irons). The missionaries want to promote a new society in which the natives will live together in peace with the Spanish and the Portuguese. But this concept frightens the royal governors, who would rather enslave the natives than encourage peaceful coexistence between the Europeans and the Indians. They order the mission to be burned to the ground. But this event causes a rift between Gabriel, who wants to pray and pursue peaceful resistance, and Mendoza, who wants to take up arms and fight the Europeans. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
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Robert De Niro
Jeremy Irons
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