Country: USA
Year: 1998
Duration: 94'
Harry Ross, an elderly and run-down private detective, takes care of a friend of his, an actor who has cancer and is being blackmailed along with his wife, who is restless, wants to cheat on her husband, and might be involved in the case. Ross’ investigation reveals more than one skeleton in their closet and, above all, the number of corpses increases. A crepuscular noir about the end of a certain way of conceiving cinema, between the melancholy of classic cinema and a rejection of the cynicism of postmodernism, in which the cast of aging stars (Newman, Gene Hackman, and Susan Sarandon) works alongside great Hollywood professionals (besides the director and screenwriter Benton, music by the veteran Elmer Bernstein and Piotr Sobociński for the cinematography).
Biography
film director
Robert Benton
(Waxahachie, USA, 1932 – New York, USA, 2025) began working as a journalist in the late 1950s, and debuted as a screenwriter in the mid-‘60s with the script for the landmark Bonnie and Clyde by Arthur Penn, followed by the scripts for the western by Joseph L. Mankiewics There Was a Crooked Man… (1970) and the comedy by Peter Bogdanovich What’s Up, Doc? In 1972, he debuted as a director with the western Bad Company, The Late Show, and, in particular, Kramer vs. Kramer (which won five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Dustin Hoffman, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Meryl Streep), and become one of Hollywood’s most-appreciated directors. He won another Oscar in the 1980s for the screenplay of Places in the Heart (for which Sally Field also received an Oscar) and remained a dependable and independent director and screenwriter, also working with Hoffman (Billy Bathgate) and filming with Paul Newman (Nobody’s Fool and Twilight).
FILMOGRAFIA
Bad Company (Cattive compagnie, 1972), The Late Show (L’occhio privato, 1977), Kramer vs Kramer (Kramer contro Kramer, 1979), Still of the Night (Una lama nel buio, 1982), Places in the Heart (Le stagioni del cuore, 1984), Nadine (Nadine, un amore a prova di proiettile, 1987), Billy Bathgate (Billy Bathgate - A scuola di gangster, 1991), Nobody’s Fool (La vita a modo mio, 1994), Twilight (id., 1998), The Human Stain (La macchia umana, 2003), Feast of Love (2007).
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR: Robert Benton. SCREENPLAY: Robert Benton, Richard Russo. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Piotr Sobociński. FILM EDITING: Carol Littleton. PRODUCTION DESIGN: David Gropman. COSTUME DESIGN: Joseph G. Aulisi. MUSIC: Elmer Bernstein. CAST: Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, Gene Hackman, Reese Witherspoon, Stockard Channing, James Garner, Giancarlo Esposito, Liev Schreiber, Margo Martindale, John Spencer, M. Emmet Walsh. PRODUCTION: Arlene Donovan, Scott Rudin for Cinehaus, Paramount Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions.
CONTACT: Park Circus www.parkcircus.com
