.45 is an independent 2006 dark comedy/thriller starring Milla Jovovich, Angus Macfadyen, Aisha Tyler and Stephen Dorff.

Plot:

The story follows Kate and her boyfriend Big Al who sell guns on the streets of New York. He the demanding, overpowering one of the two and believes he is big time, but Kate is the smarter one. When Al believes Kate deceives him, he beats her to a pulp and this leads to a tale of sex and manipulation while trying to execute a plan of revenge

Not an excellent movie, I just loved the dialogs...

Lions for Lambs was released in North America on Friday, November 9, 2007. Filming began on January 29, 2007.The film tells the story of a platoon of soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, a senator, a reporter, and a college professor. It is rated R due to some war violence and language. The film was written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, and directed by Robert Redford. It stars Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, and Tom Cruise. As of February 2007,

Plot:

The story begins after two determined students at a West Coast university, Arian (Derek Luke) and Ernest (Michael Peña), follow the inspiration of their idealistic professor, Dr. Malley (Redford), and attempt to do something important with their lives. But when the two make the bold decision to enlist in the US Army, to join the war in Afghanistan, Malley is both moved and distraught. In flashback we see Arian and Ernest in class, giving a presentation.

In California, an anguished Dr. Malley attempts to reach privileged but disaffected student Todd Hayes (Andrew Garfield) who is the very opposite of Arian and Ernest. He is bright but not working very hard; he says this is because of the time he spends with his girlfriend, and as president of his fraternity. Malley puts him to the test by offering him a B without doing anything. This puzzles Hayes.

Meanwhile, in Washington D.C. the charismatic Republican Presidential hopeful, Senator Jasper Irving (Cruise), has invited TV journalist Janine Roth (Streep) to announce a new war strategy in Afghanistan, started at the same time, to occupy certain strategic points in the mountains by small units, "forward operating points", before the Taliban occupy them. He hopes that what Roth will write will convince the public that this tactic is a good thing, but Roth has her doubts and does not want to become an instrument of propaganda. However, her commercial minded boss is happy to publish the story.

The helicopter with Arian and Ernest is hit, Ernest falls out of the helicopter, and Arian jumps after him. Ernest's leg is badly wounded and he cannot move; Arian stays with him. After some time the Taliban arrive. After a gun fight they run out of ammunition and, rather than die lying down, Arian helps Ernest stand up and face the Taliban, knowing the rescue chopper wont arrive on time, Arian raises his rifle and both are killed in a hail of gunfire whilst scenes from their past lives are flashed on screen. The film ends with Hayes watching the News with a friend, the reporter is talking about a singer's private life, whilst below runs a strip announcing Irving's new Military plan for Afghanistan, the film ends and credits roll.

is an American motion picture released in 1993, directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette in an ensemble cast; the film contains notable performances by some seasoned actors along with early appearances by later stars. It is billed as a "love story", albeit an unconventional one, as the plot revolves around drugs and violence. Clarence Worley (Slater) and Alabama (Arquette) attempt to start a new life for themselves using cocaine stolen from Alabama's former pimp and find themselves on the run from the Mafia, ending in a dramatic double-crossing when the police get involved.

True Romance was a breakthrough of sorts for Tarantino. It was his first screenplay, and he had hoped to direct the movie himself, but ended up selling the script: the money from the sale enabled Tarantino to direct Reservoir Dogs.

Plot:

Clarence Worley (Slater) is watching a Sonny Chiba triple feature in a theater on his birthday when Alabama (Arquette) walks in late and sits directly behind him. She proceeds to dump popcorn all over him, then jumps in the seat next to him and asks what she has missed in the movie. They leave playfully joking around, enjoying one another's company. Alabama invites Clarence for pie. They go to the diner and get to know each other. After taking Alabama to see his place of work, a comic book store, they then go back to Clarence's place and make love. When Clarence wakes up, he sees Alabama sitting outside. She confesses to him that she is a call girl, set up for him by his boss, and confesses her love for him. Clarence is in love with her as well - and they proceed to get married the next day.

Clarence has a vision of Elvis Presley (Val Kilmer), who convinces him that he needs to get rid of Alabama's pimp. He decides to pay a visit to Alabama's former pimp, Drexl (Gary Oldman), to get her belongings. Clarence refuses Drexl's offer to sit down, instead handing him an empty envelope "to buy himself peace of mind." A fight breaks out, and Clarence is swiftly subdued by Dexter and his doorman Marty. Drexl takes Clarence's driver's license and orders Marty to drive to his address and collect Alabama. While he is distracted, Clarence pulls a concealed gun and shoots them both. Clarence orders Drexl's other girls to pack up Alabama's things, and then escapes (unknowingly leaving his ID behind).

Clarence gets back and he discovers that he has taken the wrong suitcase: the one he has is full of cocaine. Clarence and Alabama then visit Clarence's estranged father (Dennis Hopper), a former cop. Clarence asks him to find out if the police are looking for him; his father reports that the crime has been resolved as a gang warfare incident. Clarence departs on good terms, telling his father that he is leaving for California to visit his friend Dick (Michael Rapaport) in Hollywood. However, Clarence's lost ID allows Drexl's Mob employer, Vincent Coccotti (Christopher Walken), to track down Clarence's father and obtain Clarence's whereabouts.

In Hollywood, Clarence shows Dick the cocaine and arranges through Dick's friend Elliot (Bronson Pinchot) to meet with an esteemed movie producer named Lee Donowitz (Saul Rubinek), who is interested in purchasing it. They meet Elliot at a theme park; the discussions with Elliot make Clarence uncomfortable, so he has Elliot call Donowitz, whom Clarence arranges to meet. Elliot asks for sample and goes on a cruise; Elliot is caught in possession by the police, and detectives Nicholson (Tom Sizemore) and Dimes (Chris Penn) convince Elliot to tell them about Clarence's upcoming deal; he offers to wear a wire at the meeting in order to stay out of jail.

Virgil (James Gandolfini), one of Coccotti's men, tracks Clarence and Alabama down to the Hollywood Safari Inn from Floyd (Brad Pitt). When Alabama arrives alone while Clarence is getting hamburgers, Virgil attempts to beat the suitcase's location out of her. After tearing the room apart Virgil eventually finds the coke under the bed; as Virgil prepares to finish her off, Alabama manages to subdue him with improvised weaponry, grab his gun and kill him; when Clarence arrives he and Alabama flee with the cocaine.

At the meeting, Donowitz (protected by a pair of heavily armed guards) buys Clarence's story and agrees to make the deal. When Clarence goes to the bathroom, the police burst in to make the arrest. Lee's bodyguards hate cops and want to kill them; as the intensity builds, Coccotti's men then enter the room demanding their coke back. When one of the officers uses Elliot's name, Donowitz realizes Elliot is working with the police. In a moment of anger, Donowitz splashes a pot of hot coffee in Elliot's face and everyone starts firing. In the ensuing chaos, Donowitz, Elliot and the majority of the cops and mobsters are killed. Clarence walks out of the bathroom and is shot in the eye. Dick throws the suitcase of cocaine in the air, allowing him enough time to escape. In the aftermath, Alabama is able to revive Clarence and get him out of the room which is about to be covered in cops. They grab the money, escape the police and get away. The movie ends with Clarence and Alabama on a beach in Cancún with their new son Elvis.

Awakenings plot summary

The movie begins in the 1930's, when Robert DeNiro is a boy, who slowly starts disconnecting with the world, and goes into a sort of canatonic state. Flash ahead about 30 years later in the 1960's, Robin Williams is a pschiatrist who starts at a mental hospital, the same hospital that a catatonic DeNiro is at. Robin Williams starts experimenting with a drug mixture, that eventually awakens the catatonic patients, including DeNiro. DeNiro eventually awakens and starts to experience life with Robin Williams. DeNiro also starts to fall for a young woman, who seems to like him too, but then things start to go down hill for DeNiro. He starts exibiting unusual signs, like scratching his tempal a lot and severe shaking. Eventually good things do not last very long.

Downfall (German: Der Untergang) is a 2004 German film depicting the final days of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany in 1945. The movie was written by Bernd Eichinger and directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. The film is based on the book Inside Hitler's Bunker by historian Joachim Fest about Hitler's final days, pieces of Albert Speer's memoirs, and the memoirs of Traudl Junge, secretary of Adolf Hitler; in addition, it loosely conveys events described in the memoirs of Siegfried Knappe. Downfall is set almost entirely in the bunker.

Synopsis:

It is the last days of World War II, and the Red Army is fighting its way into Berlin. Deep within the Führerbunker underneath the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler lives out his last birthday and his final ten days isolated from the world, desperately ordering counterattacks that will never happen. Played by Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, Hitler is presented as he was in the last months of World War II: a sick, exhausted man both dreaming still of a Greater Germany amid the ruins of war-ravaged Berlin and callously ranting against the 'weakness' and deserved destruction of the German citizenry. As the Red Army draws nearer and imminent defeat looms over the Third Reich Hitler is seen alone with his clique which consists of Joseph Goebbels (Ulrich Matthes), Albert Speer (Heino Ferch) and (briefly) SS leader Heinrich Himmler (Ulrich Noethen), along with his personal staff.

Most of the events are depicted from the perspective of Hitler's young personal secretary Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara). Events outside Hitler's bunker are mostly depicted from the perspective of SS doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck (Christian Berkel). On the day before his death Hitler marries his longtime mistress Eva Braun (Juliane Köhler) and they commit suicide together on April 30, 1945; ten days after Hitler's 56th birthday.

Introduction:

The film begins with a clip from a video interview with the real-life Traudl Junge, who wonders why she decided to work for Adolf Hitler and states her anger at her younger self for not realizing what kind of a monster she was dealing with. Then, the scene is set back to 1942, in Rastenburg, East Prussia, where Miss Traudl Junge and four other applicants vie for the position of secretary to Hitler. They are greeted by Hitler's valet, Heinz Linge, and later by Hitler himself. Upon hearing Traudl comes from Munich, Hitler takes an immediate liking to her and asks her to take dictation as a demonstration of her abilities. Hitler is portrayed as a kind, fatherly employer who loves his dog and overlooks Junge's nervous errors, and she is hired.

Character introductions:

The movie flashes forward to Hitler's 56th birthday on April 20, 1945. Traudl Humps — by now Frau Traudl Junge — is living in the Führerbunker with Gerda Christian and Constanze Manziarly, another secretary and private cook, respectively, for Hitler. Artillery fire wakes the trio, and Generals Wilhelm Burgdorf and Karl Koller explain the Soviets are only 12 kilometres from the city center. Hitler is now depicted as visibly aged, shaking, and in poor humour.

Hitler's birthday reception introduces the characters of Heinrich Himmler and his adjutant Hermann Fegelein, as well as Party Leader Martin Bormann and Walther Hewel of the foreign ministry. Hitler's intention to stay in the city is revealed, as is Fegelein's intention to leave if possible. Hewel and Himmler urge Hitler to try a diplomatic solution, which Hitler rejects out of hand. Two scenes later, Albert Speer arrives, and is introduced alongside Eva Braun; both reject Fegelein's advice to decamp to Bavaria. Speer advises Hitler to "be on the stage when the curtain falls." Eva's character is revealed by the remark "He is the Führer," in other words, he knows what is best.

The scene changes to a large office building, where "Clausewitz" has been put into effect. Papers are being burned and artwork moved. SS-Doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck is introduced, and the audience learns of his responsibility for public safety in Berlin, and the flight of the SS medical infrastructure in the city. Schenck fights with a superior to stay in the city as the SS pull out. In the government quarter, Himmler reveals he is secretly negotiating with the Allies, and Fegelein cautions him against treason.

A subplot revolves around a Hitler Youth soldier, Peter Kranz, and his father, who is missing an arm and begs his son to realize the war is putatively over and to come home. Peter's teenaged commander, a lieutenant in charge of an 88mm anti-aircraft/anti-tank gun, tells the father that he should be proud of his son, who will soon receive a medal from Hitler himself for destroying two Russian tanks that day. The father continues to try and convince the boy and his comrades to leave. They refuse, claiming that they will fight to the last man. Peter runs off, calling his father a coward.

In the Führerbunker, Generals Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl advise Hitler of the worsening military situation. This scene is notable for featuring the only, very brief appearance of Hermann Göring in the film. Hitler flies into a rage when his impossible orders are not carried out. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, is introduced as an obsequious toady, and from his first appearance and for the rest of the film attempts to buttress the morale of the generals with grandiose talk of master plans and secret weapons. SS General Wilhelm Mohnke is also introduced at a bunker briefing, depicted as a square-jawed professional soldier ordered to defend the government district. Mohnke tells Hitler that a lot of civilians have to be evacuated, but this suggestion is refused. After the meeting, the officers agree that the Führer has lost his sense of reality. Fegelein suggests that they tell Hitler about it. However, all rationality is ruled out, since they have made their pledge to Hitler. Meanwhile, Hitler presents medals to the Hitler Youths' most successful tank hunters, including Kranz. He is watched by Goebbels and Speer.

Main plot:

Afterwards, Junge discusses her future with her friends in the bunker, while Schenck and his adjutant camp outside the now emptied hospital. Schenck says that they should go, since they are not much use now. Eva Braun decides to hold a party for the inhabitants of the Bunker. Meanwhile, Hitler discusses his scorched earth policy with Speer. Speer begs Hitler to spare the German people, but Hitler claims that if they fail this test, they are too weak in nature and must be exterminated.

During the party, a shell explodes nearby. The music is interrupted. Eva Braun tries to ignore the shell and turns on the swing music. Junge then begins to feel sick. Suddenly, another shell lands and explodes right outside the windows, which shatter, sending a lot of dust and debris in the hall. The party has to be stopped, and Traudl shrieks in fear as she is led back into the bunker by Gerda.

The scene then shifts to the heat of battle, where General Helmuth Weidling is accused of retreating to the west. He argues that he is only a single kilometer from the front lines. Suddenly, a shell falls and the line is cut off. At this point, he decides to report to the Bunker. Weidling is received by Heer Generals Hans Krebs and Wilhelm Burgdorf. Krebs explains that the Führer has prohibited any western retreat, any officers disobeying are to be arrested and shot on the spot. When Weidling denies this, he is told by Burgdorf to explain himself. Weidling lifts the Iron Cross at his neck and tells Burgdorf indignantly, "Don't you dare use that tone with me!" He is then taken to Hitler's office to give his report on his position. His report impresses the Führer and he is assigned to take command of Berlin's defenses. Weidling is clearly not pleased with his new job. "I'd rather be shot than to have this honour," he mutters.

Back in the streets, Kranz is attempting to defend a position from a Russian tank attack. As the Tank Alarm is raised, he tries to jump out of the trench he and a soldier are in, to fire. The soldier tries to stop him, but is shot down by a Russian bullet. As Kranz sees the soldier die, he gets scared, dodges the Russian gunfire and dives into a hole in the ground.

The scene then switches back in the bunker. Hitler is discussing the situation with the generals. Outside, Junge still naively believes that General Felix Steiner will attack and save them. But she is wrong, as Steiner cannot mobilize enough men. Upon learning this, Hitler tells every one to leave the room except the four highest ranking generals present.

Hitler then gives them a loud rebuke that can be heard by the people outside. Gerda begins to cry. When he has finished, Hitler states that he would prefer to shoot himself than to surrender. He offers Gerda and Traudl a flight south, but Traudl refuses to leave, since she cannot face her family.

Eva Braun reassures Hitler that she will not let him send her away, and the two kiss. When they have left the room, the generals have an argument of what to do next. Fegelein says that they should save themselves, while the other generals says that they cannot, since they swore to obey Hitler’s will.

Later, Eva Braun takes Traudl and Gerda out for a walk with Blondi, Hitler’s dog. This walk is cut short, due to an air raid alarm. The next scene occurs in the streets at night. General Mohnke and his few remaining soldiers are trying to defend a street, but members of the Volkssturm (the German Home Guard) are in the way. He asks for them to move away, and heads back to the Führerbunker. Apparently, they are under Goebbels' command.

Meanwhile, driving along the roads of Berlin, Dr. Schenck and his adjutant hear the sound of gunfire. They stop, and turn off the lights. Fortunately for them, the sounds are coming from a group of Germans. Two old men, far past military age, are in the process of being beaten by the Military Police, apparently for being deserters. Schenck tries to have them freed, but the MP leader says that those two are to be shot, and shoots them dead on the spot, in abject defiance of Schenck's appeal. Schenck can do nothing but watch.

Schenck and Mohnke both arrive at the bunker. Schenck moves past many wounded, and sees a man's leg being amputated without anaesthetic. He meets the attending physician, Dr. Werner Haase, performing the operation, with his assistant, Erna Flegel, and offers to help him. Meanwhile, Mohnke finds Goebbels, while he is arranging for his children to come to the bunker. Mohnke complains that the Volkssturm are being mowed down by the Russians. Since they are not armed, that they cannot fight and are dying in vain. However, Goebbels states that he feels no sympathy. He explains, with a perverted smile and a steadily rising voice, that those people gave the Nazis support, and they are to expect to be killed.

Afterwards, Eva Braun receives a phone call from a drunken Fegelein, her brother-in-law, asking her to leave Berlin. Fegelein has left the bunker, and is sleeping with his mistress. The Goebbels children arrive with their mother Magda, and sing for Hitler. Afterwards, Hitler, Eva, Gerda and Traudl discuss the various ways to commit suicide. At first, Hitler proposes shooting oneself through the mouth. Eva plans to take cyanide, since that will be a painless death. Hitler then gives Gerda and Traudl a cyanide capsule each, just in case they will need it.

Eva and Magda Goebbels then start typing their goodbye letters to their loved ones; Eva to her sister and Magda to her adult son Harald Quandt. While their letters are read out, various scenes in Berlin are shown. Among these, Peter's teenage superior officers commit suicide.

We are shown Doctors Haase and Schenck struggling with an operation; Hitler shaking hands with his officers; Hitler taking some documents out of a safe and giving them to Heinz Linge; Linge and Otto Günsche burning the documents outside the bunker with Hitler watching; Schenck having a cigarette outside the bunker after an operation; the wounded and nurses ducking as a shell falls nearby above the hospital bunker; another wounded person brought to Schenck; and finally, the artillery post Peter Kranz served in runs out of ammunition — most of the Hitler Youth members run away, but a teenage girl, Inge Dombrowski, stays and begs her young commander to shoot her. He obliges, then is so overcome with remorse that he decides to shoot himself.

Junge then walks into Hitler’s study to gather his written documents to type up. She sees Hitler staring intently at a portrait of a Prussian King, Frederick the Great. Meanwhile, Peter Kranz finds his friend Inge dead. He cries, and hides from the Russian soldiers. He falls into a small pit and passes out. Later he awakens to the sound of a shell landing, and the crying of several people who have lost their loved ones. He wakes up to find a partially buried body next to him and runs off.

Back in the bunker, General Keitel is ordered to leave, find Karl Dönitz, who Hitler is convinced is gathering troops in the north, and help him in planning an offensive to recover romanian oilfields. In spite of the absurdity of that order, Keitel leaves. Soon afterwards, a telegram is received by Rochus Misch, Hitler’s radio officer. It is from Fieldmarschall Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe. It is read aloud to Hitler by Bormann:

“My Führer, following your decision to stay in Berlin, do I have your approval as Vice Chancellor to immediately take charge of the entire Reich with the necessary power and authority? If I receive no answer by 10 pm, I will assume that you have been incapacitated. I will serve the well being of our people and our fatherland.”

In spite of Walter Hewel trying to defend Göring, Hitler breaks out in rage, calling Göring a morphine-addicted traitor. He orders that he has to be arrested and removed from office. This is when Albert Speer arrives.

Speer meets Mrs. Goebbels and tries to persuade her to leave with the children, but she refuses, since she will not let her children grow up in a world without national socialism. Afterwards, he meets Eva Braun, who tells him that she is not afraid to stay with the Führer. Finally, he meets Hitler himself, and confesses that he had been ignoring and acting contrary to most of his orders given over the past several months. At the same time, he reinforces his personal loyalty to Hitler. This brings Hitler to tears. Speer leaves. It is the last time Speer will see Hitler alive. Meanwhile, Peter Kranz has finally returned home to his parents.

Back in the bunker, Hitler is surprised to see General Robert Ritter von Greim and flying ace Hanna Reitsch arrive at the bunker. The two had flown in through heavy gunfire to see Hitler, and von Greim had injured his leg. Later, in a meal, Hitler appoints General von Greim as commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, and General Field Marshal. During the meal, Linge comes in with a report. It states that Himmler has attempted to negotiate surrender to the Allies through Count Folke Bernadotte. As a result, Hitler is enraged, and considers that to be the worst betrayal of all. He asks Greim and Reitsch to leave to join Dönitz immediately to ensure that Himmler receives his just punishment. He also orders Gruppenführer Fegelein, Himmler’s adjutant, to be brought to him. However, he is reported missing.

After the meal, Ernst-Robert Grawitz, a senior SS doctor, requests leave to depart from Berlin, since most of Himmler's SS medical staff have already left. Hitler simply says that Himmler is a traitor. He assures Grawitz that he has done no wrong and that Grawitz's (unspecified) "experiments" will in future be recognised as beneficial to humanity. Therefore, his application to leave Berlin is unacceptable. Meanwhile, Günsche enters, so Grawitz is asked to leave. Günsche tells Hitler that he cannot find Fegelein. As a result, Hitler is again enraged. He yells at Günsche, telling him that Fegelein is a deserter and traitor. Back at home, Grawitz resignedly kills himself and his family with a pair of hand grenades, while they are having dinner.

Eventually, military police officers find Fegelein, nude, passed out and highly intoxicated, in his apartment. His mistress is also present. He is arrested and brought back to the bunker. Eva Braun tries to plead for Fegelein’s life, but is refused. Hitler states that it is his will that Fegelein be court-martialled and shot.

In the following meeting with the Generals, Hitler is told by General Weidling that the Russians have broken through everywhere. There are no reserves, and air support has stopped. General Mohnke tells him that the Red Army is now 300 to 400 metres from the Chancellery, and that they can only hold out for a day or two at most. Weidling suggests that they try to break through the encirclement and attempt to escape to make a last stand. However, both Goebbels and Hitler are against this, since they don’t want Hitler to disappear like an inglorious fugitive. Before leaving, Hitler reassures the gathered officers that General Walther Wenck is on his way to save them all. He asks Krebs to telegraph Keitel, regarding the location of Wenck.

When he has left the room, the Generals discuss whether Wenck can hold off the Russians. Most of the Generals know that there is no hope. However, Krebs and Burgdorf are so obsessed with the need to obey Hitler’s will that they have lost all common sense. Krebs has failed to inform Hitler that Wenck cannot attack, and Burgdorf yells that they will never surrender. Meanwhile, Gruppenführer Fegelein is dragged out to an open square and shot.

Some time later, Traudl Junge dressed up in her best clothes and gets ready for Hitler’s wedding. She dictates the Führer’s political testament for him. Meanwhile, the civil registrar has arrived. While Traudl is typing the testament, Minister Goebbels enters, looking very depressed. He says that Hitler has ordered him to leave Berlin. Having always obeyed Hitler’s order, he will not obey this one, and stand by the Führer. He asks Traudl to dictate his personal testament as well.

While she is typing, Hitler is getting married to Eva Braun. He is witnessed by Goebbels, Bormann and Generals Krebs and Burgdorf. In the streets, General Mohnke runs across a heavily bombarded street to enter the Führerbunker. He spots a soldier wounded by a blast, and carries him to safety. He reports to the Führer, and tells him that they can hold out for no longer than 20 hours. He is told that the Western democracies are decadent, and that they will be defeated by the well-disciplined people of the East.

In the next meeting with the Generals, Günsche brings in General Keitel’s reply. It seems that all of the main armies are encircled or cannot continue their assault. Hitler is about to leave the room upon hearing this, but he is asked for instructions by Weidling. Hitler states that he will never surrender, and he forbids everyone else to surrender as well. He is led out of the room by Günsche. Hitler tells him that he is about to commit suicide with his new wife, and entrusts Günsche the task of disposing of his remains, so that the Russians cannot “place it in some museum” after the war. Gunsche reluctantly obeys what he conceives as a terrible order.

Günsche’s first step is to gather 200 litres of petrol. He asks Misch to phone SS-Sturmbannführer Erich Kempka, and tells him to gather all the petrol from the parked vehicles in the garage. Meanwhile, in the hospital bunker, Dr. Schenck finds Dr. Haase, telling him that Hitler needs him. He notices that Haase is suffering from tuberculosis, but he still comes. He arrives at the bunker, and is escorted by Schenck and his nurse, named Irna Flegel.

They find some officers and generals drinking heavily. However, Günsche, the only sober person in the room sends them to Hitler. Upon seeing the withering Hitler, Flegel bursts into tears, begging Hitler to reassure them in the final victory. She is taken out to the room by Dr. Schenck, and is offered drinks. Hewel, Krebs and Burgdorf are also present, as well as a junior officer called Fritz Tornow (who seems to be cracking the most jokes about their hopeless situation). They are joined by Junge and Eva Braun, who tells the Generals to call her Frau Hitler.

Meanwhile, several soldiers have arrived with the petrol. Their leader reports in, but is simply asked to drink along by General Krebs. Schenck asks to leave the table, since he is not used to drinking heavily. He goes to use the toilet. He overhears a conversation between Dr. Haase and Hitler. The doctor advises Hitler to take poison while he shoots himself. Since the cyanide takes effect in one to two seconds, there will be enough time to pull the trigger. Inside the toilet, he notices Hitler’s dog Blondi being tied up inside one of the stalls. When he is done, he sees Hitler watching Blondi being put down with cyanide. After several seconds of whimpering, the dog drops dead and is carried out of the room.

Afterwards, Eva Braun has her last conversation with Traudl Junge. Eva Braun confesses that she never liked Blondi. She leaves one of her best coats to Traudl Junge and asks her to try and escape. Traudl Junge comments on Hitler herself. She thinks that Hitler can actually be a caring person to the people who work for him, it’s only that he can say terrible things at times. When Traudl Junge has left the room, Eva dresses up for the suicide.

Climax:

Hitler has his final meal in silence with his cook, Constanze Manziarly, and the female secretaries. He bids farewell to the bunker staff, gives Magda Goebbels his Golden Party Badge (marking original members of the NSDAP), and retreats to his room with Eva Braun. Despite Frau Goebbel's pleas, the pair commit suicide and the bodies are burned in the courtyard outside the bunkers' emergency exit.

Hitler's demise is juxtaposed with the situation in Berlin, where not only is combat raging between German and Soviet forces, but civilians - witnessed by Peter Kranz - are being executed by German security forces for not continuing the fight.

After the announcement of the death of Adolf Hitler, officers and others within the bunker complex immediately and simultaneously light up cigarettes en masse. This is an allusion to Hitler's staunch opposition to smoking. Another element of Hitler's life Downfall alludes to is the fact that he was a vegetarian.

General Krebs attempts to negotiate a surrender with terms with Marshal Vasily Chuikov, who insists on an unconditional surrender. The decision to surrender is not unanimous among the Germans, who still feel duty bound to the dead Führer.

The murder of the Goebbels children is recreated in painful detail, from the involvement of Dr. Ludwig Stumpfegger in preparing sedatives, to Frau Goebbels' placement of cyanide capsules in their mouths as they slept. Krebs and Burgdorf commit suicide, leaving Rochus Misch as the last survivor in the bunker.

At last, General Weidling arranges for a cease fire and he pleads via a loudspeaker van for the fighting to stop. Peter Kranz returns home to find his parents killed by security forces.

Denouement:

Dr. and Frau Goebbels commit suicide in the grounds outside the bunker in a scene without dialogue. Inside the hospital bunker, General Mohnke asks Dr. Schenck to leave with them, and Schenck parts company with Dr. Haase. As they leave, Constanze Manziarly is seen contemplating her cyanide capsule (her real life fate is unknown).

The majority of bunker survivors attempt a breakout, but many are killed by Russian infantrymen. Hewel and Schenck ponder their continued existence in a nighttime scene. As the breakout continues the next day, Junge and Christian are advised to cross the Russian lines; the latter refuses, and Junge makes her way through the Russians, joined by Peter Kranz.

General Mohnke, commanding the last remnants of the male bunker survivors, asks for opinions on what to do next. One young officer declares that they cannot outlive the Führer. And that they must shoot to the very last bullet before committing suicide. The assembled men agree, as does Hewel, however, when an officer arrives to bring news that Berlin has surrendered, only the young man and Hewel shoot themselves.

The film ends with Junge and Kranz having escaped Berlin, riding a bicycle towards the sunset. An epilogue is shown, detailing what happened to many of the historical characters in the film.

Conclusion:

Finally, another scene of the interview with an old Traudl Junge is shown. She states that the Nuremberg Trials made her aware of the horrors of the Holocaust, but that she used to excuse herself on basis of her youth and ignorance and not being personally guilty of the atrocities of the Nazis. However, when she saw the memorial of Sophie Scholl, of her own age and executed on the same year when she was first employed by Hitler, she realized that she too could have found out about things and acted differently.

The Big Lebowski, a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, chronicles a few days in the life of an unemployed California slacker and recreational bowler after he is mistaken for a millionaire with the same name. The film, known for its idiosyncratic characters, surreal dream sequences, unconventional dialogue and eclectic soundtrack, has become a cult classic.

Main characters:

* Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), a single, unemployed slacker living in Venice, California, who enjoys cannabis, White Russians (which he calls "Caucasians"), the acid flashbacks and bowling in a league. He claims to be one of the members of the Seattle Seven, and to have worked on the original Port Huron Statement, not the "compromised second draft." He is still a pacifist, though he is presently less politically active. When college comes up in the movie, Lebowski claims he spent most of his time in college "occupying various administration buildings, smoking a lot of thai stick, breaking into the ROTC and bowling." A devoted Creedence Clearwater Revival fan, he actively hates the Eagles and refers to Metallica, whom he says he was a roadie for on their Speed of Sound Tour, as a "bunch of assholes." He has no job, but seems unconcerned with money.

* Walter Sobchak (John Goodman), is a Vietnam War veteran, and the Dude's best friend and bowling teammate. Born a Polish Catholic, he converted to Judaism when he married his wife, Cynthia. They divorced five years prior to the events in the film, but he still attempts a relationship with her and remains devoted to Judaism. Walter is a paranoid, mentally unstable man who deals with situations passive-aggressively and stubbornly. He is boisterously confident in his actions, though his plans usually backfire, often ending disastrously. Walter runs his own security firm, Sobchak Security, and places bowling second in reverence only to his religion, as evidenced by his strict rule against bowling on Shabbos.

* Theodore Donald "Donny" Kerabatsos (Steve Buscemi) is a member of Walter and The Dude's bowling team. Charmingly naïve, Donny is an avid bowler and was a surfer in his younger days. Donny frequently interrupts Walter's diatribes to inquire about the parts of the story he missed or didn't understand, evoking Walter's abusive and frequently repeated response, "Shut the fuck up, Donny!" This line is a reference to Fargo, the Coen Brothers' previous film, in which Buscemi's character was constantly talking.

* Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston), "The Big Lebowski" referred to in the movie's title, is a wheelchair-bound multi-millionaire who lost the use of his legs in the Korean War. He is married to Bunny and is the father of Maude by his late wife. He is a very vain man who uses his late wife's money to make himself feel powerful and is obsessed with appearing rich, often through embezzlement masked by philanthropy. Both of these characteristics place him in stark contrast to The Dude, whom he views as a deadbeat loser.

* Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore) is the Big Lebowski's daughter. She is a feminist and an avant-garde artist whose work "has been commended as being strongly vaginal." She is good friends with video artist Knox Harrington (David Thewlis), and is possibly the person who introduced Bunny to Uli Kunkel, the nihilist, porn star and would-be kidnapper. Maude strongly disapproves of her father's marriage to Bunny. She also desires a child with a man whom she will never have to see socially.

* Bunny Lebowski (Tara Reid), born Fawn Knutsen, is the Big Lebowski's "trophy wife." She ran away from her family in Moorhead, Minnesota and soon found herself making pornographic videos under the name "Bunny LaJoya." She is careless, irresponsible and sexually promiscuous (as evidenced by her $1,000 offer for oral sex made when she met The Dude) and an annoyance to her husband, who hopes "she will one day learn to live on her allowance, which is ample."

* The Stranger (Sam Elliott) is the film's mysterious narrator, who sees this story unfold from an unbiased perspective. His narration is marked by a thick, laid-back western accent. He sees The Dude not as a low-life but as an ironic tragic figure, or even a kindred spirit. The Stranger enjoys a good Sioux City Sarsaparilla, wears his cowboy duds well, and is accompanied by the song "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" each time he speaks.

Minor characters:

* Brandt (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a sycophant and loyal assistant to The Big Lebowski, who tries to please everyone. Brandt has a habit of echoing his boss as well as forcing out nervous laughter during awkward moments.

* Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara) is a pornographic film producer and loan shark who lives in Malibu, where he commands respect because of his wealth. He employs the two thugs who assault The Dude in his home at the beginning of the movie. He also seems to carry considerable weight with the local police.

* The Nihilists are three Germans who claim to be nihilists, composed of leader Uli Kunkel, aka porn star Karl Hungus (Peter Stormare), Franz (Torsten Voges), and Dieter (Flea). They briefly constituted a Kraftwerkian techno-pop band called "Autobahn" during the late '70s. The group, along with Kunkel's ex-girlfriend (played by musician Aimee Mann, who provided some of the music heard in the film), pretend to be the kidnappers of Bunny Lebowski.

* Marty Pfeiffer (Jack Kehler) is The Dude's landlord. Marty is an aspiring interpretive dancer and values the Dude's opinion, inviting him to his performance.

* Jesus Quintana (John Turturro) is one of The Dude and Walter's opponents in the bowling league semifinals match. This eccentric, Latino, trash-talking North Hollywood resident served "six months in Chino for exposing himself to an 8-year-old." He speaks with a thick Hispanic accent, and often refers to himself in the third person, insisting on the English pronunciation of his name (GEE-zus) rather than the Spanish (hay-SOOS). Although he appears in only two scenes, he is one of the most memorable characters in the film, and he also utters one of its most memorable quotes: "Nobody fucks with the Jesus!" Jeff Bridges has stated that he doesn't usually watch his own movies, but that he is "hooked" on watching The Big Lebowski because he has "got to see Turturro lick the bowling ball".

* Larry Sellers (Jesse Flanagan) is the son of Arthur Digby Sellers (Harry Bugin), a former television writer who is said to have written the bulk of the series Branded and who now spends his life in an iron lung due to an unspecified illness. He steals The Dude's car for a joyride, along with the suitcase given to him by The Big Lebowski. The Dude and Walter unsuccessfully attempt to retrieve the suitcase from him.

* "Smokey" (Jimmie Dale Gilmore) is on a bowling team that the Dude and Walter play in order to qualify for the semifinals. When Walter claims that Smokey committed a foul and Smokey demurs, Walter pulls a gun on him. As the Dude explains to Walter, Smokey is a "fragile" person who was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War and remains a pacifist to this day.

* Da Fino (Jon Polito) is a private investigator hired by Bunny's parents, the Knutsens, to entice their daughter back to their Midwestern farm. He drives a battered blue Volkswagen Beetle (in reference to the Coen Brothers' first film, Blood Simple), mistakes the Dude for a "brother Shamus" (a fellow P.I.), and offends the Dude by referring to Maude as his "special lady" and not the Dude's preferred term, "lady friend."

* Knox Harrington, (David Thewlis) is a rather campy "video artist" and an associate of Maude's who manages to aggravate the generally laid-back Dude with his intrusive questions, e.g. "So, what do you do Lebowski?" and his incessant over-the-top laughter. At one point Knox offers the Dude a drink, then waits for the Dude to take a seat before adding that "The bar's over there."

* Tony the Chauffeur (Dom Irrera) is Maude Lebowski's personal limo driver who drives The Dude home after his first meeting with her. During the ride, Tony engages The Dude in a lighthearted conversation (in a stereotypical Brooklyn/Italian accent) with about his own personal shortcomings, specifically that his wife is "a pain in the ass," his daughter is "married to a jadrool loser bastard," and he's got a "rash so bad on his ass [he] can't even sit down." After The Dude laments about his own shortcomings, Tony tells him to "fuggedaboutit." Upon arrival at The Dude's home, Tony also points out that they were followed there by a blue Volkswagen Beetle (see Da Fino above).

The Dude, Jeff Lebowski, talking to the "Big Lebowski" (Huddleston) about compensation for the rug


Synopsis:

Jeffrey Lebowski (aka, "The Dude") returns home from the grocery store and is assaulted by two thugs demanding money for Jackie Treehorn, a pornographic film maker, to whom Lebowski's alleged wife, Bunny, owes a large sum of money. Before the identity confusion is revealed, one of the thugs urinates on The Dude's living room rug, a prized possession that "really tied the room together." The Dude has been mistaken for another man named Jeffrey Lebowski (aka, "The Big Lebowski"), a disabled philanthropist, the real husband of Bunny. The Dude meets with Lebowski to ask for compensation for the rug that was "micturated upon". The millionaire Lebowski is not at all sympathetic to the Dude's needs, berating him for being a slacker. Soon after Bunny disappears, the victim of an alleged kidnapping by German nihilists whereupon The Big Lebowski calls upon The Dude to assist in recovering Bunny by delivering ransom to her captors.

Sequence of events:

Two thugs surprise Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Bridges) in his home in Venice, California, attempting to collect a debt Lebowski's supposed wife owes to Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara). After roughing The Dude up, one of the thugs urinates on his rug, until he convinces them he is not the Jeffrey Lebowski they seek. The Dude seeks compensation from the other Jeffrey Lebowski, the titular "Big" Lebowski, a wheelchair-bound millionaire, who gruffly refuses. On his way out, he meets Bunny Lebowski (Tara Reid), the Big Lebowski's promiscuous trophy wife.

Soon after, the millionaire Lebowski calls The Dude, saying that Bunny has been kidnapped and asking him to act as a courier for the million dollar ransom, as The Dude is in the unique position of being able to identify the rug-soiling thugs. Walter Sobchak (Goodman), his unstable bowling teammate, convinces The Dude to keep the money and gives the kidnappers a "ringer" suitcase filled with dirty underwear. That night, The Dude's car is stolen, along with the briefcase filled with money. The Dude receives a message from the other Lebowski's daughter, Maude (Julianne Moore). At her studio, she shows him Bunny's porn film Logjammin, produced by Jackie Treehorn, and confirms The Dude's suspicion that Bunny probably kidnapped herself, identifying her likely accomplices as a trio of German nihlists led by Uli Kunkel, aka "Karl Hungus" (Peter Stormare). She asks The Dude to recover the ransom, as it was embezzled by her father from a charitable foundation for orphans.

The Dude is relaxing, when he receives a message that his car has been found. Mid-message, the three German nihlists invade The Dude's apartment, seeking the ransom money. The Dude picks up his car, and finds the briefcase missing. He tracks down the teenager who stole it, but this is a dead-end. Upon returning home, the thugs from the opening return to bring The Dude to Jackie Treehorn. At Treehorn's beach house, he asks the whereabouts of Bunny, but The Dude has no such information. Treehorn drugs The Dude's drink and he passes out, leading to a second, more elaborate dream sequence.

The Dude arrives home and is greeted by Maude Lebowski, who hopes to conceive his child. During post-coital conversation with Maude, The Dude finds out that, despite appearances, her father has no money of his own, as Maude's late mother was the rich one. In a flash, The Dude unravels the whole scheme: The nihilists faked the kidnapping to get a million dollars. The Big Lebowski thought that Bunny was kidnapped, but wanted to keep the money and was content to let the kidnappers kill her. The Dude seemed a perfect fall guy, so the Big Lebowski gave him a briefcase filled with phonebooks. The Dude and Walter arrive at the Big Lebowski residence, finding Bunny back at home, unaware of the elaborate fake-kidnapping scheme. They confront the Big Lebowski with their version of the events, which he counters but does not deny.

Though the whole affair finally appears to be over (sort of), the bowling team are once again confronted by the "nihilists", who have set The Dude's car on fire. They are still demanding the million dollars, despite the fact that The Dude does not have the money. Walter fights them off, but their third teammate, Donny (Steve Buscemi), suffers a fatal heart attack. They take his ashes to a beach, where Walter offers a lengthy eulogy. He scatters Donny's ashes, but a wind blows much of the ashes into The Dude's face. Upset, The Dude lashes out at Walter. Walter apologizes and hugs The Dude, before suggesting "Fuck it, man. Let's go bowling."

[edit] Production

Origins:

The Dude is mostly inspired by Jeff Dowd, a man the Coen brothers met on one of their first trips to Los Angeles in the 1970s. Dowd had been a member of the Seattle Seven and also used to program the Seattle Film Festival. The Dude was also partly based on a friend of the Coen brothers, Pete Exline, a Vietnam War veteran who reportedly lived in a dump of an apartment and was proud of a little rug that "tied the room together."[3] He belonged to an amateur softball league but the Coens changed it to bowling the movie because "it's a very social sport where you can sit around and drink and smoke while engaging in inane conversation," Ethan said in an interview. Exline told the Coens of his friend Walter, a fellow Vietnam vet who had had his car stolen by teenagers, tracked down one of them from his school homework that had been left in the car, and confronted the boy. The Coens met filmmaker John Milius when they were in Los Angeles making Barton Fink and incorporated his love of guns and the military into the character of Walter.

According to Julianne Moore, the character of Maude was based on artist Carol Schneerman "who worked naked from a swing" and Yoko Ono. The character of Jesus Quintana was inspired, in part, by a performance the Coens had seen John Turturro give in 1988 at the Public Theater in a play called Ma Puta Vita in which he played a pederast-type character, "so we thought, let's make Turturro a pederast. It'll be something he can really run with," Joel said in an interview.

The film's overall structure was influenced by the detective fiction of Raymond Chandler. Ethan said, "We wanted something that would generate a certain narrative feeling - like a modern Raymond Chandler story, and that's why it had to be set in Los Angeles...We wanted to have a narrative flow, a story that moves like a Chandler book through different parts of town and different social classes." The use of The Stranger's voiceover also came from Chandler as Joel remarked, "He is a little bit of an audience substitute. In the movie adaptation of Chandler it's the main character that speaks offscreen, but we didn't want to reproduce that though it obviously has echoes. It's as if someone was commenting on the plot from an all-seeing point of view. And at the same time rediscovering the old earthiness of a Mark Twain."

The significance of the bowling culture was, according to Joel, "important in reflecting that period at the end of the Fifties and the beginning of the Sixties. That suited the retro side of the movie, slightly anachronistic, which sent us back to a not-so-far-away era, but one that was well and truly gone nevertheless."

Screenplay:

The Big Lebowski was written around the same time as Barton Fink but when the Coens wanted to make it, John Goodman was taping episodes for the Roseanne television program and Jeff Bridges was making the Walter Hill film, Wild Bill and they decided to make Fargo in the meantime. According to Ethan, "the movie was conceived as pivoting around that relationship between the Dude and Walter" which sprang from the scenes between Barton Fink and Charlie Meadows in Barton Fink. When they started writing the script, the Coens only wrote 40 pages and then let it sit for awhile before finishing it. This is the normal writing process for the Coens because they often "encounter a problem at a certain stage, we pass to another project, then we come back to the first script. That way we've already accumulated pieces for several future movies."

Pre-production:

Polygram and Working Title Films, who had funded Fargo, backed The Big Lebowski with a budget of $15 million. In casting the film, Joel remarked, "we tend to write both for people we know and have worked with, and some parts without knowing who's going to play the role. In The Big Lebowski we did write for John [Goodman] and Steve [Buscemi], but we didn't know who was getting the Jeff Bridges role."

In preparation for his role, Bridges met Dowd but actually "drew on myself a lot from back in the Sixties and Seventies. I lived in a little place like that and did drugs, although I think I was a little more creative than the Dude."

For the look of the film, the Coens wanted it to be "consistent with the whole bowling thing, we wanted to keep the movie pretty bright and poppy," Joel said in an interview.[3] For example, the star motif featured predominantly throughout the movie started with the film's production designer Richard Heinrichs' design for the bowling alley. According to Joel, he "came up with the idea of just laying free-form neon stars on top of it and doing a similar free-form star thing on the interior." This carried over to the film's dream sequences. "Both dream sequences involve star patterns and are about lines radiating to a point. In the first dream sequence, the Dude gets knocked out and you see stars and they all coalesce into the overhead nightscape of L.A. The second dream sequence is an astral environment with a backdrop of stars," remembers Heinrichs.

Principal photography:

Actual filming took place over an eleven-week period with location shooting in an around L.A., including all of the bowling sequences at the Hollywood Star Lanes and the Dude's Busby Berkeley-esque dream sequences in a converted airplane hanger.

According to Joel, the only time they ever directed Bridges "was when he would come over at the beginning of each scene and ask, 'Do you think the Dude burned one on the way over?' I'd reply 'Yes' usually, so Jeff would go over in the corner and start rubbing his eyes to get them bloodshot."

What's Eating Gilbert Grape is a 1993 dramedy movie directed by Lasse Hallström and starring Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio. It is based on a book of the same name by author Peter Hedges. It was filmed in Manor, Texas.

Plot:

In the small town of Endora, Iowa, Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) is busy caring for his mentally handicapped brother, Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio). His morbidly obese mother, Bonnie (Darlene Cates), has not left the house in seven years since her husband committed suicide in the basement of their house, spending almost all of her time on the couch watching television. With Bonnie unable to care for her children on her own, Gilbert has taken responsibility for repairing the old house and looking after Arnie, who has a habit of climbing up the town water tower, while his sisters Amy and Ellen do the rest. A new "Food Land" supermarket has opened, threatening the small Lamson's Grocery where Gilbert works. With all the weight on his shoulders Gilbert tries to handle his situation the best he can.

As the film begins, the family is preparing for Arnies's 18th birthday. Just then, a young woman named Becky (Juliette Lewis) and her grandmother are stuck in town when the truck pulling their mobile home breaks down. When Gilbert first sees Becky, he begins to rethink his life. His unusual, chaotic home life threatens to get in the way of their budding romance. The mother climbs the stairs of her house to her bedroom for the first time since her husband's suicide and dies for reasons not mentioned in the film directly. The children, not willing to let their mother become the joke of the town by having her corpse lifted from the house by crane empty their family home of possessions and set it ablaze, to cremate their parent. The film cuts to the blaze and fades out with the family looking on at their burning home. The story then skips ahead one year, with Gilbert describing how Amy got a job in Des Moines, and Ellen who can't wait to switch schools, as Gilbert and his brother Arnie wait by the side of a long road for the arrival of Gilbert's romance, Becky. The film fades out with Gilbert and Arnie riding with Becky and her grandmother to an untold destination, hugging each other in the back seat of the Recreational Vehicle owned by Becky's grandmother.

Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an Academy Award-winning American film actor and director who is best known for playing intense, often humorless and unsympathetic characters

Biography

Early life:

Penn was born in Santa Monica, California, to Leo Penn, an actor, director, and Eileen Ryan, an actress. Penn's father was the son of Elizabeth Melincoff and Maurice Daniel Penn, Jewish immigrants of Russian and Lithuanian descent who owned a delicatessen. His mother, born "Eileen Annucci", is a Roman Catholic of Italian and Irish descent. The Penn surname was originally Piñon, but it was changed when his grandfather immigrated to the United States. Penn has one living brother, musician Michael Penn. Another younger brother, actor Chris Penn, died on January 24, 2006 from "nonspecific cardiomyopathy" (heart disease).


Education
Sean attended Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, studying auto mechanics and speech, but did not graduate.


Career:

Penn launched his career with the 1981 film Taps, followed a year later with the comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High in the role of Jeff Spicoli (his only successful comedic role) and has since starred in over 40 movies. He was awarded an Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in Mystic River. Penn has also been nominated for three other Academy Awards in recognition of his roles in the films I Am Sam, Sweet and Lowdown and Dead Man Walking.

In 1985, Penn gave a memorable performance in the role of Andrew Daulton Lee in The Falcon and the Snowman. Lee was a former drug dealer by trade, who was convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union and was originally sentenced to life in prison. Lee was paroled in 1998. According to a April 8, 2005 interview in The Guardian, Penn later hired Lee as his personal assistant, partly because he wanted to reward Lee for allowing him to play Lee in the film, and also because he was a firm believer in rehabilitation and thought Andrew Lee should be reintegrated into society now that he is a free man again.

In 1991, Penn made his directorial debut with The Indian Runner, a film based on Bruce Springsteen's song "Highway Patrolman" from the Nebraska album. He has since directed two more films: The Crossing Guard in 1995 and The Pledge in 2001. Both of these films starred Jack Nicholson. He also directed Shania Twain's music video "Dance with the One That Brought You" in 1993 and Peter Gabriel's music video "The Barry Williams Show" in 2002. He also appeared on an episode of Viva La Bam in 2004 with his son Hopper.


Personal life:

Penn's personal life began to attract media attention when he married pop star Madonna in 1985. The relationship was marred by violent outbursts against the press, including one incident for which he was arrested for beating a photographer. In the early days of their marriage, Madonna had said Penn was "the coolest guy in the universe." Later in the marriage, Penn was charged with felony domestic assault, a charge for which he pleaded to a misdemeanor. After a divorce in 1989, Penn started a relationship with Robin Wright, with whom he had two children, daughter Dylan Frances (1990) and son Hopper Jack (1993), before they married in 1996. They live in Ross, California. (On The Daily Show for January 18, 2007, Robin said she and Sean had been together "almost 20 years".)

On April 10, 2003, Penn's 1987 Buick Grand National was stolen in Berkeley, California with two firearms in the trunk. Sean also has a 1968 Chevrolet El Camino.

Along with Johnny Depp and Mick Hucknall, Sean Penn is a part-owner of the Parisian restaurant-bar Man Ray.

His younger brother, Chris, who was famous for playing Nice Guy Eddie in Reservoir Dogs, was found dead in his Santa Monica condominium on January 24, 2006.


Political/social causes:

On October 18, 2002, Penn placed a $56,000 advertisement in the Washington Post asking President George W. Bush to end a cycle of violence. It was written as an open letter and referred to the planned attack on Iraq and the War on Terror. In the letter, Penn also criticized the Bush administration for its "deconstruction of civil liberties" and its "simplistic and inflammatory view of good and evil." Penn visited Iraq briefly in December 2002.

He was portrayed in the war satire Team America: World Police (2004), which prompted the actor to send a letter critical of its filmmakers: Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Asking the filmmakers to come with him on a visit to Iraq, the letter ends with Penn saying "Fuck you", which amused the filmmakers, who used the letter as a form of publicity to promote the movie. Penn also claimed the South Park producers shouldn't make the movie as it may affect the 2004 presidential election. Parker and Stone pointed out on a late 2005 CBS interview that the furious Penn was ironically attacking their free speech, whom they say others deem as a 'symbol' of free speech.

On June 10, 2005, Penn made a visit to Iran. Acting as a journalist on an assignment for the San Francisco Chronicle, he attended a Friday prayer ceremony at Tehran University.

In September 2005, Penn traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana to aid Hurricane Katrina victims. He was physically involved in rescuing[3] many people. One man was 73-year-old John Brown, who had told his sister over the phone: "Guess who come and got me out of the house? Sean Penn, the actor. The boys were really nice." The actor then gave some rescuees an unspecified amount of money to tide them over, and then took those who were in need of medical attention to the hospital. He was and is supported by best-selling author Douglas Brinkley, a professor of history at Tulane University and archival historian for the city. The two were seen on CNN coverage Friday, September 2, as Penn, filthy, soaked, and exhausted, gave an impromptu interview about what he was seeing and doing, and obviously critical of the response until that time, stating that at that time he felt there was only "about one-fifth" the assistance and resources there that needed to be.

On January 7, 2006, Penn was a special guest at a forum hosted by the Progressive Democrats of America. He was joined by author and media critic Normon Solomon, Democratic congressional candidate Charles Brown, and activist Cindy Sheehan. The "Out of Iraq Forum" was attended by 200 individuals and took place in Sacramento, California. The program was moderated by Bill Dursten, President of the Sacramento Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility. The forum was held at a SEIU union hall and was organized to promote the anti-war movement calling for an end to the War in Iraq. Progressive activists, Democratic Party leaders, and other individuals gathered to demonstrate their impatience and frustration with U.S. involvement in Iraq.

On December 18, 2006, Penn received the Christopher Reeve First Amendment Award from the The Creative Coalition. His acceptance speech is here. On January 24, 2007, Penn was one of the speakers at the anti-war protest in Washington, DC. In an interview at the peace rally, he questioned, "If the United States has nuclear weapons, then why can't Iran have nuclear weapons?". Penn was heavily criticized by conservatives after he made the comment
On March 24, 2007, Penn publicly criticized President Bush and his handling of the war in Iraq. Penn blatantly questioned whether President Bush's twin daughters supported the war in Iraq. Penn made a controversial statement on this day saying "Let's show them we can fire this president and put him in fucking jail."

On April 19, 2007, Penn appeared on The Colbert Report and had a "Meta-Free-Phor-All" versus Stephen Colbert that was judged by Robert Pinsky. This stemmed from some of Penn's criticisms of President Bush. His exact quote was "We cower as you point your fingers telling us to support our troops. You and the smarmy pundits in your pocket — those who bathe in the moisture of your soiled and blood-soaked underwear — can take that noise and shove it." He won the contest 10,000,000, to Stephen Colbert's 1.

Penn is supporting Ohio Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich for U.S. President in 2008.


Awards and nominations

Academy Award
Nominated: Best Actor, Dead Man Walking (1995)
Nominated: Best Actor, Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
Nominated: Best Actor, I Am Sam (2001)
Won: Best Actor, Mystic River (2003)

BAFTA Award
Nominated: Best Actor, Mystic River (2004)
Nominated: Best Actor, 21 Grams (2004)

Golden Globe Award:
\
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, Carlito's Way (1994)
Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Dead Man Walking (1996)
Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy, Sweet and Lowdown (2000)
Won: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Mystic River (2004)

Filmography

As Actor:

Taps (1981)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Summerspell (1983)
Bad Boys (1983)
Crackers (1984)
Racing with the Moon (1984)
The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
At Close Range (1986)
Shanghai Surprise (1986)
Cool Blue (1988) (Cameo)
Colors (1988)
Judgment in Berlin (1988)
Casualties of War (1989)
We're No Angels (1989) (1989)
State of Grace (1990)
Snow White Rose Red (1991) (documentary)
Cruise Control (1992) (short subject)
The Last Party (1993) (documentary)
Carlito's Way (1993)
Dead Man Walking (1995)
Loved (1997)
She's So Lovely (1997)
U Turn (1997)
The Game (1997)
Hugo Pool (1997)
Hurlyburly (1998)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Being John Malkovich (1999) (Cameo)
Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
A Constant Forge (2000) (documentary)
Up at the Villa (2000)
Before Night Falls (2000)
The Weight of Water (2000)
Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001) (documentary) (narrator)
The Beaver Trilogy (2001) (documentary)
Scene Smoking: Cigarettes, Cinema & the Myth of Cool (2001) (documentary)
See How They Run (2001) (documentary)
I Am Sam (2001)
It's All About Love (2003)
Mystic River (2003)
21 Grams (2003)
The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004)
The Interpreter (2005)
All the King's Men (2006)
Upcoming:

In Search of Captain Zero (2008)
As Director:

The Indian Runner (1991)
The Crossing Guard (1995)
The Pledge (2001)
11'9''01 September 11 (2002) (documentary)
Upcoming:

Into the Wild (2007)

This article refers to the actor. For the golfer of a similar name, see Jack Nicklaus.

John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937), better known as Jack Nicholson or The Jack is an iconic, three-time Academy Award and seven time Golden Globe winning American method actor known for his often dark-themed portrayals of neurotic characters.

He has been nominated for an Academy Award 12 times. He is tied with Walter Brennan for most wins by a male actor; he and Brennan are second to Katharine Hepburn for most acting wins overall (Hepburn had four). He is also one of only two actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting (either lead or supporting) in every decade since the 1960s. The other is Sir Michael Caine.

He has also won seven Golden Globe Awards and he received a Kennedy Centre Honor in 2001. He is best known for his films Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, As Good as it Gets, Tim Burton's Batman, and Martin Scorsese's The Departed.

Biography and personal life:

Nicholson was born at Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune, New Jersey to a showgirl, June Frances Nicholson (stage name June Nilson). June had married showman Donald Furcillo (stage name Donald Rose) 6 months earlier in Elkton, Maryland, on October 16, 1936. Elkton was a town known for its "quickie" marriages. Furcillo however, was already married, and, although he offered to take care of the child, June's mother Ethel insisted that she bring up the baby, partly so that June could pursue her dancing career. Furcillo's parents were Italian Americans, while June Nicholson was of Irish and English descent.

Nick, as he was known to his high school friends, attended high school at nearby Manasquan High School where he was voted "class clown" by the Class of 1954. A theatre and a drama award at the school are named in his honor. In 2004, Nicholson attended his 50 year high school reunion, much to the surprise and delight of his fellow classmates.

Nicholson was brought up believing his grandparents John J. Nicholson (a department store window dresser in Asbury Park, New Jersey) and Ethel May Rhoads (a hairdresser and beautician and amateur artist in Neptune, New Jersey) were his parents. Nicholson only discovered that his parents were actually his grandparents and his sister was in fact his mother in 1974 after being informed by a Time Magazine journalist who was doing a feature on him. By this time both his mother and grandmother had died (in 1963 and 1970, respectively). Nicholson has stated he does not know who his father is, saying "Only Ethel and June knew and they never told anybody".

Although Donald Furcillo claimed to be Nicholson's father and to have committed bigamy by marrying June, biographer Patrick McGilligan, who wrote Jack's Life (published in December 1995) asserted that Eddie King, June's manager, may be the father and other sources have suggested that June Nicholson was unsure of who the father was. Jack Nicholson has chosen not to have a DNA test or to pursue the matter.

In his adult personal life, Nicholson has been notorious for his inability to "settle down", with a place on Maxim's "Top 10 Living Legends of Sex" with an alleged 2,000 women that he has slept with. He has five children by four different women despite only being married once.

Jennifer Nicholson with former wife Sandra Knight
Caleb Goddard with Susan Anspach, his Five Easy Pieces co-star
Honey Hollman with Danish model Winnie Hollman
Lorraine Nicholson and Raymond Nicholson with Rebecca Broussard.
He has been romantically linked to numerous actresses and models for decades. Nicholson's longest relationship was for 17 years to actress Anjelica Huston, the daughter of film director John Huston. However, the relationship ended when the news reported that Rebecca Broussard had become pregnant with his child.

He is also a close friend of film director Roman Polanski, whom he has supported through many personal crises including the death of his wife, Sharon Tate, at the hands of the Manson Family. He also supported Polanski through his conviction for statutory rape, a crime which took place on the Nicholson estate on Mulholland Drive.

Nicholson lived next door to Marlon Brando for a number of years on Mulholland Drive in Beverly Hills. Warren Beatty also lived nearby, earning the road the nickname "Bad Boy Drive". After Brando's death in 2004, Nicholson purchased his neighbor's bungalow for $6.1 million, with the purpose of having it demolished. Nicholson stated that it was done out of respect to Brando's legacy, as the house had become derelict.

Although he was brought up as a Roman Catholic, Nicholson told Vanity Fair in 1992 that he did not believe in God. Although Nicholson is personally against abortion, he is pro-choice.He is a supporter of the Democratic Party and has donated to many of its campaigns.

He is a fan of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Lakers. His attendance at Lakers games is almost legendary, as he has been spotted sitting courtside for the past 25 years at both The Forum and the Staples Center. In a few instances, Nicholson has engaged in arguments with game officials and opposing players, and has even walked onto the court. Nicholson argued with officials so much during a 2001 Lakers playoff game that he was assessed a technical foul. His ardent refusal to miss a Lakers home game means that studios must schedule filming around the Lakers home schedule.

Unlike actors who turn down roles because they fear they'll flop, he turns down roles in films because he thinks they'll be too much of a success.


Early acting career:

When Nicholson first came to Hollywood, he worked as a go-fer for animation legends, Hanna-Barbera. During this time he met Sean Mallard, a singer/songwriter from Bozeman, Montana. Seeing his talent as an artist, they offered Nicholson a starting level position as an animation artist. However, citing his desire to become an actor, he declined.

Nicholson started his career as an actor, writer, and producer, working for and with Roger Corman, among others. This included his screen debut in The Cry Baby Killer (1958), where he played a juvenile delinquent who panics after shooting two other teenagers, The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), in which he had a small role as a masochistic dental patient, and roles in two other Roger Corman films The Raven (1963) and The Terror (his first directing role for one day)(1963), co-starring then-wife Sandra Knight.

As the 60s progressed, and with acting jobs still not easy to find, Nicholson began writing more often. The result of this included Thunder Island (1963), Flight to Fury (1964), Ride in the Whirlwind (1965), and The Monkees' vehicle Head (1968, co-written with director Bob Rafelson). These films enjoyed little if any success, but the young Nicholson was finally working more steadily. In the TV sitcom world, he also made appearances in two episodes of The Andy Griffith Show as Marvin Jenkins in 1966-1967.


Rise to fame:

Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider.With his acting career heading nowhere, Nicholson seemed resigned to a career behind the camera as a writer/director. His first real taste of writing success was the LSD-fueled screenplay for 1967's The Trip, which starred Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. However, after a spot opened up in Fonda and Hopper's Easy Rider, it led to his first big acting break. Nicholson played hard-drinking lawyer George Hanson, for which he received his first Oscar nomination.


Director Roman Polanski cameos as a gangster who slits Nicholson's nose in ChinatownA Best Actor nomination came the following year for his persona-defining role in Five Easy Pieces (1970), which includes his famous chicken salad dialogue about getting what you want. Also that year, he appeared in the movie adaptation of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.

More of his earlier and notable film roles: Hal Ashby's The Last Detail (1973) and the classic Roman Polanski noir thriller, Chinatown (1974) (he was Oscar-nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for both films). He also starred in The Who's Tommy (1975), directed by Ken Russell, and Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger (1975).


An American icon:

Nicholson earned his first Best Actor Oscar for portraying Randle P. McMurphy in the movie adaptation of Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, directed by Miloš Forman in 1975. His Oscar was matched by Louise Fletcher receiving Best Actress Award for her portrayal of Nurse Ratched. Nicholson was also offered the part of Michael Corleone in The Godfather but turned it down.

After this, he began to take more unusual roles. He took a small role in The Last Tycoon, opposite Robert De Niro. He took a less sympathetic role in Arthur Penn's western The Missouri Breaks, specifically to work with Marlon Brando. He followed this by making his directorial debut with the western comedy Goin' South.

Although he didn't garner any Oscar attention for Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining (1980), it remains one of Nicholson's most significant roles. His next Oscar, the Best Actor Oscar, came for his role of retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove in Terms of Endearment (1983), directed by James L. Brooks.

Nicholson continued to work prolifically in the 80s, starring in such films as The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), Reds (1981), Prizzi's Honor (1985), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), and Ironweed (1987). Three Oscar nominations also followed (Reds, Prizzi's Honor, and Ironweed).

The 1989 Batman movie, where Nicholson played The Joker, was an international smash hit, and a lucrative percentage deal earned Nicholson about $60 million. Nicholson was to reprise his role as The Joker in the fifth installment in the franchise Batman Triumphant in 1999, but Warner Bros. Pictures canceled the project.

Not all of Nicholson's performances have been well-received. He was nominated for Razzie Awards as worst actor for Man Trouble (1992) and Hoffa (1992). However, the latter is a bit odd, as Nicholson's performance in Hoffa also earned a Golden Globe nomination.

Nicholson would go on to win his next Best Actor Oscar for his role as Melvin Udall, a neurotic author with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), in the romance As Good as It Gets (1997), again directed by James L. Brooks. Nicholson's Oscar was matched with the Best Actress Oscar for Helen Hunt as a Manhattan waitress drawn into a love/hate friendship with Udall, a frequent diner in the restaurant in which she worked.


Recent years:

In About Schmidt (2002), Nicholson portrayed a retired Omaha, Nebraska actuary who questions his own life and the death of his wife shortly afterward. His quiet, restrained performance stood in sharp contrast to many of his previous roles, and earned him an Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor.

In the comedy Anger Management, he plays an aggressive therapist assigned to help overly pacifist Adam Sandler.

In 2003, with few other acting offers, Nicholson starred in Something's Gotta Give as an aging playboy who falls for the mother (Diane Keaton) of his young girlfriend.

In late 2006, Nicholson marked his return to the "dark side" as Frank Costello, a sadistic Boston Irish Mob boss presiding over Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning The Departed, a remake of Andrew Lau's Infernal Affairs. Few may know that more recently Nicholson has been featured as the voice in the Nokia N95 'there's a thing in my pocket' advert.

In early 2007 Jack has been found courting Esther Lepard in Australia.


Current and future projects:

In November 2006, Nicholson began filming his next project, Rob Reiner's The Bucket List, a role for which he shaved his head. The film will star him and Morgan Freeman as dying men who must fulfill their list of goals. The film is tentatively scheduled to be released in late 2007. In researching the role, Nicholson visited a Los Angeles hospital to see how cancer patients coped with their illnesses.

Nicholson once said in an interview if he can get Tom Cruise, Robert Downey Jr., Johnny Depp and Jim Carrey to be a part of it, he will start his own professional wrestling promotion.

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards:

Nicholson has been nominated for an acting (lead or supporting) Academy Award in five different decades: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. The only other actor who can say the same is Michael Caine. With 12 nominations thus far (8 for Best Actor and 4 for Best Supporting Actor), Jack Nicholson is the most nominated male actor in Academy Awards history. With three Oscar wins, he also ties with Walter Brennan for the highest number of Oscar wins in acting categories (all of Brennan's wins were for Best Supporting Actor):

Nominated: Best Supporting Actor, Easy Rider (1969)
Nominated: Best Actor, Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Nominated: Best Actor, The Last Detail (1973)
Nominated: Best Actor , Chinatown (1974)
Won: Best Actor, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor, Reds (1981)
Won: Best Supporting Actor, Terms of Endearment (1983)
Nominated: Best Actor, Prizzi's Honor (1985)
Nominated: Best Actor, Ironweed (1987)
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor, A Few Good Men (1992)
Won: Best Actor, As Good as It Gets (1997)
Nominated: Best Actor, About Schmidt (2002)
At the 79th Academy Awards, Nicholson had fully shaved his hair for his role in The Bucket List. Those ceremonies represented the seventh time he has presented the Academy Award for Best Picture (1972, 1977, 1978, 1990, 1993, 2006, and 2007).[19]

Every time he has won an Oscar, the lead actress of that same film has also won an Oscar.

BAFTA Award:

Nominated: Best Supporting Actor, Easy Rider (1970)
Won: Best Actor, The Last Detail (1975)
Won: Best Actor, Chinatown (1975)
Won: Best Actor, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1977)
Won: Best Supporting Actor, Reds (1983)
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor, Batman (1990)
Nominated: Best Actor, About Schmidt (2003)
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor, The Departed (2007)

Golden Globe Award:

Nominated: Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, Easy Rider (1970)
Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Five Easy Pieces (1971)
Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Carnal Knowledge (1972)
Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, The Last Detail (1974)
Won: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Chinatown (1975)
Won: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1976)
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, Reds (1982)
Won: Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, Terms of Endearment (1984)
Won: Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy, Prizzi's Honor (1986)
Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Ironweed (1988)
Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy, Batman (1990)
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture, A Few Good Men (1993)
Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Hoffa (1993)
Won: Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy, As Good as It Gets (1998)
Won: Cecil B. DeMille Award (1999)
Won: Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, About Schmidt (2003)
Nominated: Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy, Something's Gotta Give (2004)
Nominated: Best Supporting Actor, The Departed (2007)

\Films starring Jack Nicholson:

The Wild Ride (1960) • Back Door to Hell (1964) • The Shooting (1966) • Ride in the Whirlwind (1966) • Hells Angels on Wheels (1967) • Psych-Out (1968) • Easy Rider (1969) • Five Easy Pieces (1970) • Carnal Knowledge (1971) • The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) • The Last Detail (1973) • Chinatown (1974) • The Fortune (1975) • One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) • The Passenger (1975) • The Missouri Breaks (1975) • Tommy (1975) • The Last Tycoon (1976) • Goin' South (1978) • The Shining (1980) • The Postman Always Ring Twice (1981) • Reds (1981) • The Border (1982) • Terms of Endearment (1983) • Prizzi's Honor (1985) • Heartburn (1986) • The Witches of Eastwick (1987) • Ironweed (1987) • Batman (1989) • A Few Good Men (1992) • Hoffa (1992) • Wolf (1994) • The Crossing Guard (1995) • Blood and Wine (1996) • Mars Attacks! (1996) • As Good as it Gets (1997) • The Pledge (2001) • About Schmidt (2002) • Anger Management (2003) • Something's Gotta Give (2003) • The Departed (2006) •

Robert Mario De Niro Jr., credited professionally as Robert De Niro (born August 17, 1943), is a highly acclaimed, two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor, director, and producer.

He is noted for his method-acting and portrayal of conflicted, troubled characters, and for his enduring collaboration with director Martin Scorsese, and early work with director Brian De Palma. He is considered by many to be the greatest actor of his generation and one of the world's greatest living actors, and heir to Marlon Brando.

Biography

Early life:

De Niro was born in New York City, to Robert De Niro, Sr., an abstract expressionist painter and sculptor, and Virginia Admiral, a painter. De Niro's father was Catholic and of Irish and Italian descent and his mother a Presbyterian-raised atheist of French, Dutch, and German descent. His Italian great-grandparents, Mario and Sofia Di Niro, had emigrated from Ferrazzano, in the province of Campobasso, Molise in the early 20th century. His parents, who had met at the painting classes of Hans Hofmann in Provincetown, Massachusetts, divorced when he was two years old. De Niro grew up in the "Little Italy" area of New York City. His childhood nickname was "Bobby Milk" due to his pale complexion.

De Niro first attended the Little Red School House and was then enrolled by his mother at the High School of Music and Art in New York. He dropped out at the age of 13 and joined a Little Italy street gang. He then had a falling-out with his father, though they were eventually reconciled when, at 18, he flew to Paris to bring home his father, who had been suffering from depression.

De Niro attended the Stella Adler Conservatory, as well as Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio (though De Niro conflicted with Strasberg's methods, and used his membership there mostly as a professional advantage). At the age of 16 he toured in Chekhov's The Bear.


Early film career:

At the age of 20, in 1963, came De Niro's first film role and collaboration with Brian De Palma, when he appeared in The Wedding Party; it was not released until 1969, however. He spent much of the 1960s working in theater workshops and off-Broadway productions. He was an extra in the French film Three Rooms in Manhattan (1965), and made his official film debut after he reunited with De Palma in Greetings (1968) and later reprised his Greetings role in Hi, Mom (1970).

He gained popular attention with his role as a dying Major League baseball player in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). The same year he began his fruitful collaboration with Scorsese when he played his memorable role as the smalltime Mafia hood "Johnny Boy" alongside Harvey Keitel's "Charlie" in Mean Streets (1973). In 1974, De Niro played a pivotal role in Francis Coppola's The Godfather Part II playing young Don Vito Corleone. His performance earned him his first Academy Award of Best Supporting Actor.

After working with him in Mean Streets he had a very successful working relationship with Scorcese in films such as Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), and Casino (1995).

In these films, De Niro has primarily played charming sociopaths. Taxi Driver is particularly important to De Niro's career; his iconic performance as Travis Bickle shot him to stardom and forever linked De Niro's name with Bickle's famous "You talkin' to me?" monologue, which De Niro improvised himself.


"You talkin' to me?" Alone in his apartment, De Niro as Travis postures and practices his moves in front of the mirrorIn 1976 De Niro appeared, along with Gerard Depardieu, in Bernardo Bertolucci's epic biographical exploration of life during World War II, Novecento (1900), seen through the eyes of two Italian childhood friends at the opposite sides of society's hierarchy.

In 1978, De Niro played "Michael Vronsky" in the acclaimed Vietnam War film The Deer Hunter, for which he was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role . He was offered role of Cowboy in director Walter Hill's The Warriors (1979) but turned it down. The role went instead to Tom McKitterick.

Later film career:

Praised for his commitment to roles (stemming from his background in Method acting), De Niro gained 60 pounds (27 kg) and learned how to box for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull, ground his teeth for Cape Fear, lived in Sicily for The Godfather Part II, and learned to play the saxophone for New York, New York. He also put on weight and shaved his hairline to play Al Capone in The Untouchables.

De Niro’s brand of Method acting includes employing whatever extreme tactic he feels is necessary to elicit the best performance from those he is acting with. During the filming of The King of Comedy, De Niro directed a slew of anti-Semitic epithets at co-star Jerry Lewis. An enraged Lewis claims he was “going for Bobby’s throat”.

Fearing he had become typecast in mob roles — another of which was Jewish gangster David "Noodles" Aaronson in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America (1984) — De Niro from the mid-1980s began expanding into occasional comedic roles, and has had much success there as well with such films as Brazil (1985), in which he had a small role; the hit action-comedy Midnight Run (1988), Showtime (film) (2002) opposite Eddie Murphy; and the film-and-sequel pairs Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002), and Meet the Parents (2000) and Meet the Fockers (2004).

Other films include Falling in Love (1984), The Mission (1986), The Untouchables (1987), Heat (1995), Wag the Dog (1997) and Ronin (1998). In 1997, he reteamed with Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta, along with Sylvester Stallone, in the crime drama Cop Land. De Niro proved he was able to play a supporting role taking a back seat to Stallone, Keitel and Liotta.

De Niro is considered a skilled observer of physical and trivial details, from the way a cigarette is held by a mobster in GoodFellas to the kind of shirt-jacket the character needed to wear in Raging Bull. In 1995 De Niro starred in Michael Mann's Heat, along with fellow actor Al Pacino. The duo drew much attention from fans as both have generally been compared throughout their careers. Though both Pacino and De Niro starred in The Godfather Part II, they shared no screen time. On 18 May 2007 Variety.com brought the news that De Niro and Pacino will pair up again. The stars have signed up to play police investigators hunting a serial killer in thriller Righteous Kill.

De Niro had to turn down a role in The Departed (Jack Nicholson taking the role instead) due to commitments preparing The Good Shepherd. He said "I wanted to. I wish I could've been able to, but I was preparing The Good Shepherd so much that I couldn't take the time to. I was trying to figure a way to do it while I was preparing. It just didn't seem possible."


De Niro directed Angelina Jolie and Matt Damon on the set of The Good Shepherd, 2006In De Niro's next project, he directed and co-starred in The Good Shepherd (2006), also starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. The movie also reunited him onscreen with Joe Pesci, with whom De Niro had starred in Raging Bull, GoodFellas and Casino.

On June 7, 2006, it was announced that De Niro donated his film archive, including scripts, costumes, and props, to the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin. De Niro has said that he is working with Martin Scorsese on a new project. "I'm trying to actually work..Eric Roth (screenwriter) and myself and Marty are working on a script now, trying to get it done."

De Niro has won two Academy Awards: Best Actor for his role in Raging Bull; and Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather Part II.


De Niro with Al Pacino on the set of The Godfather Part II. De Niro and Pacino shared no screen time together during the film.De Niro and Marlon Brando are the only actors who won Academy Awards for portraying the same character: Brando won for playing the elderly Don Vito Corleone (though he declined the award) in The Godfather while De Niro later won the award for playing the young Vito in The Godfather Part II. Brando and De Niro did not work together on screen until The Score (2001). De Niro actually auditioned for the role of Sonny in the first Godfather but the role was given to James Caan. When The Godfather Part II was in preproduction, the director, Francis Ford Coppola, remembered De Niro's audition, and cast him to play the young Vito Corleone. De Niro's performance is one of only four to win an Academy Award for working in a foreign language, as he primarily spoke Italian, with very few phrases in English ("I didn't come here to fight with you" and "I make him an offer he can't refuse").


Personal life:

De Niro has been married twice. He has a stepdaughter, Drena and son Raphael with first wife Dianne Abbott, as well as twin sons Julian Henry and Aaron Kendrick (conceived by in vitro fertilization) from a long-term live-in relationship with former model Toukie Smith. Raphael, a former actor, now works in New York real estate.

Since 1989, De Niro has been investing in the TriBeCa neighborhood in lower Manhattan. His capital ventures have included co-founding the film studio TriBeCa Productions, the hugely popular TriBeCa Film Festival, and finally the TriBeCa Grill, Nobu, and Layla restaurants that usually need advance reservations.

In February 1998, during a film shoot in France, he was taken in for questioning for nine hours by French police and questioned by a magistrate, over a prostitution ring. De Niro denied any involvement saying that he had never paid for sex, "and even if I had, it wouldn't have been a crime". The magistrate wanted to speak to him after his name was mentioned by one of the call girls. In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde, he said, "I will never return to France. I will advise my friends against going to France", and he would "send your Legion of Honour back to the ambassador, as soon as possible". French judicial sources say that the actor is regarded as a potential witness, not a suspect. In 2003, Robert De Niro, with film director Woody Allen, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis and writer George Plimpton joined a pro-French tourism campaign as a direct response to anti-French sentiment in the US related to the Iraq invasion.

In 2003, De Niro was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The prognosis for De Niro, who was 60 at the time, was good, according to his publicist, Stan Rosenfield.

"Doctors say the condition was detected at an early stage because of regular checkups," Rosenfield says. "Because of the early detection and his excellent physical condition, doctors project a full recovery." Rosenfield declined to give further details about the actor's condition or course of treatment. De Niro's father, painter Robert De Niro Sr., died of cancer in 1993 at age 71.

De Niro is among a number of celebrities who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer. They include Yankees manager Joe Torre, former New York mayor Rudy Guiliani, comedian Jerry Lewis, former senator Bob Dole and retired general Norman Schwarzkopf. Rosenfield credited the early discovery of De Niro's cancer to the actor's "proactive personal health-care program".

In 2004, De Niro re-married his second wife, Grace Hightower, a former flight attendant, at their estate near Marbletown in upstate New York (De Niro also has residences on the east and west sides of Manhattan). Their son Elliot was born in 1998 and the couple filed for divorce shortly after his birth, although the action was never officially finalized.


Robert De Niro (1988)De Niro, whose paternal great-grandparents emigrated from Ferrazzano, in the region of Molise, Italy, was due to be bestowed with honorary Italian citizenship at the Venice Film Festival in September 2004. However, the Sons of Italy lodged a protest with Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, claiming De Niro had damaged the image of Italians and Italian-Americans by frequently portraying them in criminal roles. Culture Minister Giuliano Urbani dismissed the objections and the ceremony was rescheduled to go forward in Rome in October. Controversy flared again when De Niro failed to show for two media appearances in Italy that month, which De Niro blamed on "serious communication problems" that weren't "handled properly" on his end, and stating, "The last thing I would want to do is offend anyone. I love Italy." The citizenship was conferred to De Niro on October 21, 2006, during the Rome Film Festival finale.

De Niro is a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party, and vocally supported Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election. Filmmaker Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 includes a clip of De Niro standing next to Gore at a rally; Moore identifies him as "that Taxi Driver guy". De Niro publicly supported John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election. In 1998, he lobbied Congress against impeaching President Bill Clinton, and in August 2004 announced he would not collect his honorary Italian citizenship in person so as to avoid discouraging Italians living in America from voting for Kerry, following controversy over the earlier citizenship protest. De Niro also narrated a documentary about the September 11, 2001 attacks, shown on CBS and centering on video footage made by Jules Naudet and Gedeon Naudet, which focused on the role of firefighters following the attacks. De Niro was a supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq but hasn't made any comments about it since then. While promoting his movie The Good Shepherd with co-star Matt Damon on the December 8, 2006 episode of Hardball with Chris Matthews, De Niro was asked who he would like to see as president of the United States. De Niro responded, "Well, I think of two people: Hillary Clinton and Obama".

Films starring Robert De Niro

Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) • Mean Streets (1973) • The Godfather Part II (1974) • Taxi Driver (1976)• 1900 (1976) • The Last Tycoon (1976) • New York, New York (1977) • The Deer Hunter (1978) • Raging Bull (1980) • King of Comedy (1983) • Once Upon a Time in America (1984) • The Mission (1986) • Angel Heart (1987) • The Untouchables (1987) • Midnight Run (1988) • Goodfellas (1990) • Stanley and Iris (1990) • Awakenings (1990) • Cape Fear (1991) • This Boy's Life (1993) • A Bronx Tale (1993) • Mad Dog and Glory(1993). Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) • Casino (1995) • Heat (1995) • Sleepers (1996) • Cop Land (1997) • Jackie Brown (1997) • Ronin (1998) • Analyze This (1999) • Meet the Parents (2000) • Men of Honor (2000) • The Score (2001) • Analyze That (2002) • Showtime (2002) • Meet the Fockers (2004) • The Good Shepherd (2006) • Stardust (2007)

"Leon", the 1994 international version of Luc Besson's "The Professional" release stateside, is what the Motion Picture Association of America was afraid to release stateside: a darker, more sinister look at a great hit-man thriller that is a little sicker, too.

You don't want to meet Leon (Jean Reno). Thing is, you probably won't be able to, as he is hard to find when he is at work. He "cleans" up a problem when there is one, and only does so to male adults that are corrupt. "No women, no children," he swears. A child shows up to him one day, a young 12 year old named Mathilda (Natalie Portman) whose family has just been executed by a corrupt DEA agent (Gary Oldman) due to her father being caught up in dealing drugs. Mathilda is taken in by Leon; she is a forever changed person who wants revenge against whoever killed her family, especially her little brother.

The domestic version still remains as an incredibly entertaining, visually strong and well acted film, with so many outstanding sequences and originality, even if exactly the opposite is true of the revenge plot. It goes even furtherly wrong however, in placing a 12 year old girl in the middle of some dastardly twisted scenes involving sexual undertones between her and Leon, and some hints of violent rage.

The international version, however, expands on Mathilda's relationship with Leon. She wants to learn how to be a "cleaner" to get revenge, he lets her on for work related purposes. And we get to see even more hints of sexuality in Mathilda that is discomforting and out of place with the rest of the film. (Still, one can't deny this was the reason she was offered the role of Lolita in Adrien Lyne's remake)

Still, this longer version is superior, thanks to director Luc Besson. This is a beautifully shot film that actaully brings his French style of filmmaking right into the streets of New York, that Woody Allen would never imagine to shoot. Besson's incredible use of slow motion, wide angle lenses in the anamorphic frame, overbearing character antics (how else can you see Gary Oldman scream so well and so over the top that it would be out of place in another movie but right at home here?), the use of Eric Serra's moody, atmospheric score, and Besson's great way of flowing scene to scene.

Jean Reno is an absolute standout as Leon. He is so commanding and strong in any shot in this film, it's a shame he hasn't been more popular over in North America (to date, he's had small roles in "Ronin" and 98's "Godzilla"). Natalie Portman, whilst having odd character antics, is equally amazing as Mathilda. It's rare to see this much strength and heart come out of a 12 year old. Too bad her future films didn't live up to her talent. Danny Aiello has a great few scenes as Leon's boss, Tony. Look closely and you'll spot The Practice's Michael Badalucco as Mathilda's father. And last but not least, Gary Oldman is still one of the cinema's most underrated actors, and this film is proof of that. This man can do anything.

I loved this extended cut of "Leon," even if there are problems with some of the tones and revenge story, it is still a captivating and unique movie. Director Luc Besson has moved on from this, to make a good but lacking movie ("The Fifth Element") to a horrible one ("The Messenger"). Even though he still gets funding for his films through the France company Gaumount, his films are getting more American and thusly, less enjoyable. Let's hope in the future Besson gets back to what he knows best: Jean Reno.