R.I.P. Alan Parker

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Beamish13, Jul 31, 2020.

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  1. Beamish13

    Beamish13 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Alan Parker Dead: ‘Midnight Express’, ‘Mississippi Burning, ‘Evita’ Director – Deadline


    This one hurts. His films could be tone-deaf (e.g. Mississippi Burning, Midnight Express, and
    Come See the Paradise), but there was also incredible vibrancy and life to many of them as well, and he completely
    redefined what the movie musical can be. Shoot the Moon is a longtime favorite with career-best performances from all
    of the principles. Even with some of his failings, he clearly made an effort to understand American
    culture in many of his works, even if it came across as being misguided. The Road to Wellville has aged very well,
    and its source material author T.C. Boyle has vigorously championed what Parker made.

    He was also very critical of what he perceived to be "pretentiousness" in cinema, and he regularly attacked Jean-Luc Godard and Peter Greenaway. He even went to so far as to say that the BFI was squandering public funds on subsidizing Greenaway's early works
     
  2. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    Didn't he also direct "Fame", and "The Wall"?
     
  3. Beamish13

    Beamish13 Forum Resident Thread Starter


    Yes. The Commitments and Bugsy Malone as well.
    An incredible body of work
     
  4. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    And... a personal favorite of the wife and I...
    "Angel Heart"!
     
  5. Sammy Waslow

    Sammy Waslow Just watching the show

    Location:
    Ireland
    Beloved in particular in my country (and home town) for The Commitments, Roddy Doyle's tale of a Dublin-based soul band.
    That was a very big deal here.

    I met him a few times, at film festivals and book events.
    He donated his archive to the British Film Institute in 2015.
     
  6. Beamish13

    Beamish13 Forum Resident Thread Starter


    Very stylish film, although I wish it adhered just a bit more to the source novel.

    BIRDY was just released on a terrific Blu-Ray that he closely supervised
     
  7. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
  8. dlokazip

    dlokazip Forum Transient

    Location:
    Austin, TX, USA
    Rest easy, Mr. Parker.
     
  9. Sammy Waslow

    Sammy Waslow Just watching the show

    Location:
    Ireland
    He featured prominently in Stephen Frears' superb documentary, A Personal History of British Cinema.
    It doesn't seem to be on You Tube, but perhaps it's out there somewhere.
     
  10. Al Kuenster

    Al Kuenster Senior Member

    Location:
    Las Vegas, NV - US
    R.I.P. Alan
     
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  11. stepeanut

    stepeanut The gloves are off

    RIP.

    Midnight Express is probably my favourite of his.
     
  12. Ignatius

    Ignatius Forum Resident

    RIP
    Also wrote "Melody", one of my faves.
     
  13. Sammy Waslow

    Sammy Waslow Just watching the show

    Location:
    Ireland
  14. longdist01

    longdist01 Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    RIP Alan Parker, liked much of his film work, terribly sad news to read today...
    Thank you for all your creative gifts!!
     
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  15. coffeetime

    coffeetime Senior Member

    Location:
    Lancs, UK
    The Wall, The Commitments, Fame and especially Evita here. The latter I had no great expectations for when my then girlfriend dragged me to see it. Beautifully shot and edited, got a fine performance from Madonna and a truly great one from Antonio Banderras. Bought the soundtrack CD and dragged said girlfriend back to watch it a second time. Evita was also the first Laserdisc I ever bought.

    Alan Parker really knew how to make musicals and music itself work on screen.
     
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  16. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    Thanks for the fab movies Alan!
    RIP
     
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  17. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    When I was in middle school or maybe early high school I had the Wall in my VCR permanently. I would watch it every day.

    explains a lot about me I guess. ;)

    also loved Commitments.
    RIP
     
  18. Emberglow

    Emberglow Senior Member

    Location:
    Waterford, Ireland
    Farewell and God Bless, Alan. Thanks especially for Midnight Express and, above all, The Committments (filmed in Dublin August 'til October 1990, a wonderful time)
     
  19. SteveRes

    SteveRes Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Ah, sad news. The Wall was one of my most watched videos in my late teens and early 20s. RIP
     
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  20. mBen989

    mBen989 Senior Member

    Location:
    Scranton, PA
    R.I.P.

    He leaves behind quite the eclectic collection of films.
     
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  21. Emberglow

    Emberglow Senior Member

    Location:
    Waterford, Ireland
    There was a neat feature on this evening's RTÉ Radio One arts and culture show Arena. Seán Rock discusses Alan Parker and The Committments with writer Roddy Doyle and some of the cast of the movie followed by a discussion about some of Alan's other works. Programme begins at about the 3:42 mark, after news headlines & weather:
    Link: RTÉ Radio Player
     
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  22. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
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  23. stepeanut

    stepeanut The gloves are off

    I always find this to be an odd question. Most of us are keen to retire by our mid-sixties, but we expect artists to keep working until they drop.
     
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  24. MikaelaArsenault

    MikaelaArsenault Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    I'm not sure.
     
  25. Beamish13

    Beamish13 Forum Resident Thread Starter


    He published a novel afterwards, and may have had some projects in development. Adrian Lyne hasn’t directed a film since 2002, but he hasn’t retired
     
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