Philip Kaufman

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At the climax of the spirited teen gangland film, one that unevenly blends together nostalgia and a story of urban angst, Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin'” blares out of a Folk City club and signals the beginning of a possibly new enlightened era for the country. The episodic rock’n’roll film passionately directed by Philip Kaufman (“The White Dawn”/”The Right Stuff”/”Quills”) is good at getting at the symbolic changes that took place in its Bronx, Fordham Road, setting, in 1963, and the swagger of teen gangs and their problematic upbringing and aimless street-life existence, but its character depictions, gang rumbles and racial healing scenes are pure Hollywood hokum. Read More »

The gangs of Jesse James and Cole Younger join forces for a bungled robbery of the bank in Northfield, MN.

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In 1876, the Missouri legislature issues a pardon and amnesty to the James and Younger gangs despite many people considering them outlaws. The pardon is because they protected the homesteaders of Clay County against the marauding railroaders, who wouldn’t let anyone or anything get in their way of building the railroad where they wanted. However, the railroad companies and banks still consider them outlaws and will take matters into their own hands if they come across the gangs. Prior to the pardon, Cole Younger had contemplated robbing the First National Bank in Northfield, Minnesota – what is considered the largest bank west of the Mississippi – but has now decided against it. Circumstances, including learning that Jesse James and his gang are going ahead with the robbery behind his back, and that the railroaders issuing a war against them which also includes bribing the legislature to revoke the pardon, make Cole change his mind. But right from the start – even during the planning stages – things don’t go quite according to script, which may be an omen for things to come. Written by Huggo @ IMDB
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Plot Synopsis by Paul Brenner (from AMG)

Director Philip Kaufman took his production of Eskimo life to actual locations in the Arctic Circle, making it only the third film in history (after Nanook of the North and Eskimo) to shoot there. Kaufman also employs authentic Eskimo dialect in the film, which adds a heightened bit of realism. The story concerns three whalers — Billy (Warren Oates), Daggett (Timothy Bottoms), and Portagee (Louis Gossett Jr.) — who becomes stranded in the Arctic Circle and are rescued by a tribe of Eskimos. Living in the Eskimo village, the three men introduce the chief vices of their civilization — gambling, thievery, and Western-style sex — to the isolated Eskimo village. At first the natives put up with the behavior of the Westerners, but as their ways begin to encroach upon the traditional Eskimo customs, the villagers begin to resist the three men’s habits. A clash of cultures results. Read More »

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An Old Man (Lou Gilbert) rises out of Lake Michigan and interacts briefly with a few creative people as he drifts merrily through Chicago, at one point riding in a truck from the Goldstein Company. A metal sculptor (Tom Erhart) looks for the old man while trying to patch up his relationship with Sally (Ellen Madison). She discovers she’s pregnant and makes arrangements for a bizarre out-of-town Doctor (Severn Darden) to perform an abortion. The sculptor asks his father for help and brings along his friend Jay (Benito Carruthers), who lifts the father’s wallet. Jay uses some of the money to bankroll a night with some fancy ladies, while the sculptor continues to search for the inspirational Old Man. Read More »