Robert Parrish

  • Robert Parrish – In the French Style (1963)

    Robert Parrish1961-1970DramaFrance

    Synopsis:
    ‘After coming to Paris to study art for a year, mid-westerner Christina James (Jean Seberg) ends up staying for four. Although she came to pursue art, she ends up learning more about herself and love. Amid the city’s romantic atmosphere, she gets involved with a young student (Philippe Forquet) who proves too immature to truly love her. She then finds herself less of an artist and more a member of the artistic scene as she pursues a modeling career. She quickly becomes a “Citizen of Paris,” and embraces its endless parties and jaded view of love. Finally, after falling for a foreign correspondent, Walter Beddoes (Stanley Baker), who loves his career more than her, Christina must make a choice between doomed romance and the safe confines of a marriage to an American who adores her.’
    – Warner ArchiveRead More »

  • Robert Parrish – Cry Danger (1951)

    1951-1960Film NoirRobert ParrishUSA

    Todd Wiener writes:
    In his directorial debut, former editor Robert Parrish skillfully illuminates screenwriter Bill Bowers’ equally acerbic and droll Cry Danger into an underappreciated noir gem.

    Even though this Jerome Cady story was originally purchased by Humphrey Bogart’s Santana Pictures, the film ended up being the only release by Olympic Productions. The tersely pitch-perfect Dick Powell portrays protagonist ex-convict Rocky Mulloy who returns to Los Angeles to find the gang that framed him for a crime he did not commit. Aided by a hard-drinking, crippled ex-marine (brilliantly realized by Richard Erdman), Mulloy sets up home-base at a Bunker Hill trailer camp that is home to his ex-girlfriend Nancy, played by the graceful Rhonda Fleming. Fleming, who was on loan from David O. Selznick’s company for this project, underwent an emergency appendectomy that initially held up the film’s very tight twenty-two day shooting schedule.Read More »

  • Robert Parrish – The Bobo (1967)

    1961-1970ComedyRobert ParrishUSA

    The Bobo is a 1967 film starring Peter Sellers and co-starring his then-wife Britt Ekland. Based on a play, Sellers is featured as the would-be Spanish singing matador, Juan Bautista.

    A theater manager offers to give him a big break if he seduces the beautiful Olympia (Ekland) and spends an hour in her apartment with the lights off. The plot centers around Juan’s attempts to woo the woman and famously includes Sellers covered in blue dye as the “Blue Matador.”Read More »

  • Robert Parrish – My Pal Gus (1952)

    1951-1960ClassicsComedyRobert ParrishUSA

    Plot:
    Gus (George Winslow) is the young son of divorced industrialist Dave Jennings (Richard Widmark). Unable to cope with Gus’ mischievous streak, Jennings places the boy in a day-care center. Gus’ teacher Lydia Marble (Joanne Dru) manages to curb the boy’s prankishness, and along the way falls in love with Jennings. Enter the villainess of the piece: Jennings’ ex-wife Joyce (Audrey Totter), who claims that the divorce is invalid and demands a huge sum from Jennings, lest she claim custody of Gus. In the end, it comes down to priorities: does Jennings value his son over his money, or vice versa? My Pal Gus is no Kramer vs. Kramer, but it does pass the time in an agreeable manner.Read More »

  • Robert Parrish – Duffy (1968)

    1961-1970ComedyCrimeRobert ParrishUSA

    Plot Synopsis by Mark Deming
    In this caper comedy, Duffy (James Coburn) is a shaggy bohemian living in Tangiers who is approached for a less-than-legal business proposition by two half-brothers, carefree Stephane Calvert (James Fox) and stuffy businessman Antony Calvert (John Alderton). Though Stephane and Antony had different mothers, they share the same father, and they both hate him; Charles Calvert (James Mason) is a mean-spirited multi-millionaire who shows his sons little affection and isn’t very interested in cutting them in for the family fortune. Charles plans to transport several million dollars in banknotes by ship from Tangiers to Marseilles, and the brothers want Duffy to help them liberate the money from the ship. While the Calvert Brothers are persuasive, Stephane’s beautiful girlfriend Segolene (Suzannah York) is even more so, and Duffy finds that he not only wants to steal the cash from Charles, but the girl away from Stephane. Duffy was scripted by Donald Cammell, who gained a cult reputation for his first directorial effort, the Mick Jagger vehicle Performance.Read More »

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