The poster for the documentary “On the Line: The Richard Williams Story” is cleverly acerbic. Against a white background stands one of the more derided — and more recently celebrated, via last year’s sports biopic, “King Richard” — figures in professional sports: Venus and Serena Williams’ father, Richard. He’s got a tennis racket in his hand and is clad in throwback tennis whites. It was not typically what he wore as he and wife Oracene (Price) trained their daughters on the public courts of Compton, Los Angeles. But the look was de rigueur for the white tennis establishment that Venus and Serena took on and then transformed.
In “On the Line,” Williams has his say. Unsurprisingly, he’s frank, occasionally funny, but also vulnerable, not least because he’s growing frail, having suffered from health issues. As directed by Stuart McClave, the documentary isn’t exactly a vanity project, but...
In “On the Line,” Williams has his say. Unsurprisingly, he’s frank, occasionally funny, but also vulnerable, not least because he’s growing frail, having suffered from health issues. As directed by Stuart McClave, the documentary isn’t exactly a vanity project, but...
- 7/19/2022
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
Despite its so-so critical reputation John Ford’s cavalry picture is still a superior Civil War drama, making excellent use of a real historical incident. The conflicts between John Wayne’s commander, William Holden’s doctor and Constance Ford’s unexpected prisoner play well — plus Ford manages scores of great images and a handful of classic scenes. Seeing it with the help of Joseph McBride’s commentary helps too — the story behind the movie is interesting in itself. And we’re told that Wayne never personally fires a shot in the film!
The Horse Soldiers
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1959 / Color / 1:85 / 120 min. / Street Date June 14, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers, Ken Curtis, Willis Bouchey, O.Z. Whitehead, Althea Gibson, Anna Lee, Jack Pennick, Hoot Gibson, Hank Worden, Denver Pyle, Strother Martin, Carleton Young, Russell Simpson, William Wellman, Jr..
Cinematography: William H. Clothier
Art Director: Frank Hotaling...
The Horse Soldiers
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1959 / Color / 1:85 / 120 min. / Street Date June 14, 2022 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers, Ken Curtis, Willis Bouchey, O.Z. Whitehead, Althea Gibson, Anna Lee, Jack Pennick, Hoot Gibson, Hank Worden, Denver Pyle, Strother Martin, Carleton Young, Russell Simpson, William Wellman, Jr..
Cinematography: William H. Clothier
Art Director: Frank Hotaling...
- 5/28/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Rex Miller was alway meant to make “Citizen Ashe,” the new documentary he co-directed with Sam Pollard about Arthur Ashe, the groundbreaking tennis legend who found his own way to becoming a leading activist. “I’d say this is part of my whole lifelong tennis journey as I grew up a tennis player, had tennis fanatic parents. And my first glimpse of Arthur Ashe — I was 6 years old and I was at the match in 1968 when he won the U.S. Open. And I used to try to play like him as well as the other greats, Stan Smith and Jimmy Connors, all those guys,” Miller tells Gold Derby (watch the exclusive video interview above).
Miller, who helmed the 2015 doc “Althea” about Althea Gibson, the first African-American tennis player to win a Grand Slam title, started work on “Citizen Ashe” five years ago after the daughter of a “Life” magazine photographer reached out to him.
Miller, who helmed the 2015 doc “Althea” about Althea Gibson, the first African-American tennis player to win a Grand Slam title, started work on “Citizen Ashe” five years ago after the daughter of a “Life” magazine photographer reached out to him.
- 12/6/2021
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
Rex Miller on his and Sam Pollard’s Citizen Ashe on the times of Arthur Ashe: “Cinematically one of the challenges was, okay, how much do we show about the forces exploding in the outside world …” Photo: Roland Scherman, courtesy of Citizen Ashe for CNN Films and Dogwoof
Citizen Ashe (a highlight of the 12th edition of Doc NYC as a Centerpiece selection and the Human Rights Award recipient at the upcoming 14th Hamptons Doc Fest) features poignant on-camera interviews with Arthur Ashe’s brother Johnnie Ashe, his widow Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Donald Dell, Olympian John Carlos, Olympic Project for Human Rights founder Harry Edwards, Billie Jean King, John McEnroe, Art Carrington (author of Black Tennis: An Archival Collection Between 1890 and 1962), Lenny Simpson (founder of One Love Tennis), Charlie Pasarell (National Junior Tennis League) and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Congressman Andrew Young, Jr.
Rex Miller with...
Citizen Ashe (a highlight of the 12th edition of Doc NYC as a Centerpiece selection and the Human Rights Award recipient at the upcoming 14th Hamptons Doc Fest) features poignant on-camera interviews with Arthur Ashe’s brother Johnnie Ashe, his widow Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Donald Dell, Olympian John Carlos, Olympic Project for Human Rights founder Harry Edwards, Billie Jean King, John McEnroe, Art Carrington (author of Black Tennis: An Archival Collection Between 1890 and 1962), Lenny Simpson (founder of One Love Tennis), Charlie Pasarell (National Junior Tennis League) and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Congressman Andrew Young, Jr.
Rex Miller with...
- 12/1/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Arthur Ashe is an icon in the tennis world, breaking barriers to become the first Black male champion of three Grand Slams: the Australian Open; the U.S. Open; and, most famously, beating Jimmy Conners in 1975 to win Wimbledon. But on the other side of the net is Ashe’s work as an activist, which becomes the focus of CNN Films’ documentary Citizen Ashe.
Director-producer Rex Miller, whose previous tennis documentaries includes one on pioneer Althea Gibson, and Sam Pollard, who most recently made MLK/FBI, teamed for the feature docu, which they spoke about during a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary awards-season event.
Miller said “the skeleton” of Citizen Ashe came from 47 boxes of notes and Dictaphone tapes he uncovered at Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, home to Ashe’s archives. The materials had been used as the basis for Ashe’s memoir Days of Grace,...
Director-producer Rex Miller, whose previous tennis documentaries includes one on pioneer Althea Gibson, and Sam Pollard, who most recently made MLK/FBI, teamed for the feature docu, which they spoke about during a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary awards-season event.
Miller said “the skeleton” of Citizen Ashe came from 47 boxes of notes and Dictaphone tapes he uncovered at Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, home to Ashe’s archives. The materials had been used as the basis for Ashe’s memoir Days of Grace,...
- 11/21/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Former MGM film boss Jonathan Glickman is getting into the podcast space and has struck a co-production deal with iHeartMedia for a series of music-driven shows.
Glickman, who recently oversaw James Bond feature No Time To Die, has signed the deal with the podcast publisher via his company Glickmania Media, whose credits including Aretha Franklin biopic Respect and Netflix’s upcoming Addams Family series Wednesday.
The new venture will produce four shows across two years including a Schoolhouse Rock-style family show and a horror musical featuring Stranger Things’ Maya Hawke.
The deal includes Unsung, which has been created in partnership with Story Pirates, Diane’s Inferno, starring Hawke and Yungblud, disco-themed murder mystery Lost You On The Dance Floor and true-crime anthology series Ballad Of An Outlaw about the 1981 attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.
Glickman (left) told Deadline that he is a big fan of the podcast medium, going back 15 years downloading RSS feeds.
Glickman, who recently oversaw James Bond feature No Time To Die, has signed the deal with the podcast publisher via his company Glickmania Media, whose credits including Aretha Franklin biopic Respect and Netflix’s upcoming Addams Family series Wednesday.
The new venture will produce four shows across two years including a Schoolhouse Rock-style family show and a horror musical featuring Stranger Things’ Maya Hawke.
The deal includes Unsung, which has been created in partnership with Story Pirates, Diane’s Inferno, starring Hawke and Yungblud, disco-themed murder mystery Lost You On The Dance Floor and true-crime anthology series Ballad Of An Outlaw about the 1981 attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.
Glickman (left) told Deadline that he is a big fan of the podcast medium, going back 15 years downloading RSS feeds.
- 3/2/2021
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: The Truth About Emanuel, Tanner Hall helmer Francesca Gregorini has signed on to direct The Match, the first feature project under Four Daughters, a development and production company dedicated to telling stories that celebrate inclusion.
The pic is based on Bruce Schoenfeld’s book of the same name. It’s inspired by the true story of two remarkable women, Althea Gibson and Angela Buxton. The pair formed a friendship that crossed many perceived divides and would lead to triumph at Wimbledon while enduring unspeakable bigotry. Althea and Angela were trailblazers who defied racism, gender inequality and anti-semitism in one of the greatest sporting upsets in history and in so doing began a complex and moving friendship that changed their lives.
Julie Snyder will produce.
Founded by longtime friends Richard Stern and Navid McIlhargey, the company designed its mission with their respective daughters in mind. Stern...
The pic is based on Bruce Schoenfeld’s book of the same name. It’s inspired by the true story of two remarkable women, Althea Gibson and Angela Buxton. The pair formed a friendship that crossed many perceived divides and would lead to triumph at Wimbledon while enduring unspeakable bigotry. Althea and Angela were trailblazers who defied racism, gender inequality and anti-semitism in one of the greatest sporting upsets in history and in so doing began a complex and moving friendship that changed their lives.
Julie Snyder will produce.
Founded by longtime friends Richard Stern and Navid McIlhargey, the company designed its mission with their respective daughters in mind. Stern...
- 5/15/2020
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Serena Williams has cemented herself as one of the world’s greatest athletes — and that’s no easy task for an African-American woman in the predominately white sport of tennis.
The 35-year-old tennis great sat down with rapper Common to discuss her rise to dominance in the sport in an Espn special called The Undefeated in Depth: Serena with Common. She opened up about her journey, including her early days with sister Venus Williams, and the struggles she’s experienced along the way. The interview will also be featured in print in Espn The Magazine’s “Anything’s Possible” issue on newsstands Friday.
The 35-year-old tennis great sat down with rapper Common to discuss her rise to dominance in the sport in an Espn special called The Undefeated in Depth: Serena with Common. She opened up about her journey, including her early days with sister Venus Williams, and the struggles she’s experienced along the way. The interview will also be featured in print in Espn The Magazine’s “Anything’s Possible” issue on newsstands Friday.
- 12/20/2016
- by Char Adams
- PEOPLE.com
On June 11th, Espn will air the first part of a nearly eight hour documentary film - Oj: Made In America - chronicling the meteoric rise and fall of Oj Simpson. If, after FX’s recent The People Versus Oj Simpson (not to mention a decade of media coverage in the 90’s) you’re asking, “What else is left to know?” of the famed football star turned (almost undeniably) murderer, you may be surprised that the answer is quite a bit. Director Ezra Edelman’s film, which drew unanimous praise after debuting at Sundance last January, is a haunting, Shakespearean-like tragedy that benefits from a decade of introspection. Made In America proves hindsight is 20/20, showing just how important a social epoch like Simpson’s rise and fall was, and how the ground laid before it made it all possible.
Made In America covers a lot of territory, starting at the very beginning.
Made In America covers a lot of territory, starting at the very beginning.
- 6/10/2016
- by Earthworm Jim
- LRMonline.com
Robert Altman's murder tale reeks of insider access and Hollywood hipster Bs; its main claim to greatness is its fifty-plus star cameos. It may no longer seem as smart as it looked in 1992, but they don't make 'em any slicker than this. The Player Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 812 1992 / Color /1:85 widescreen / 124 min. / Available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 24, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Gallagher, Brion James, Cynthia Stevenson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lyle Lovett. Cinematography Jean Lépine Original Music Thomas Newman Written by Michael Tolkin from his novel Produced by David Brown, Michael Tolkin, Nick Wechsler Directed by Robert Altman
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Robert Altman's filmography is undergoing what looks like a full retrospective through Criterion; even the 1975 title Nashville came out not long ago. This very successful later picture marks a revitalization of the director's career. It's sort of a Kafkaesque spin on Hail,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Robert Altman's filmography is undergoing what looks like a full retrospective through Criterion; even the 1975 title Nashville came out not long ago. This very successful later picture marks a revitalization of the director's career. It's sort of a Kafkaesque spin on Hail,...
- 5/31/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The 9th annual Africa World Documentary Film Festival, sponsored by the E. Desmond Lee Professorship in African/African American Studies at the International Studies and Programs Office, University of Missouri-St. Louis, will run from Friday, February 5, to Sunday, February 7 at the Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd (63112). This international festival is committed to promoting knowledge of the life and culture of the people of Africa worldwide, in a cinematic Pan-African context. During its St. Louis run, the festival will feature 14 films from nine countries, including South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, China and the United States. This event is free and open to the public. Middle and high school students from St. Louis area, (including students from Pamoja Preparatory Academy – an African centered St. Louis Public School), are expected to attend the opening day of the festival.
One of the added attractions of the festival will be Q&A’s with...
One of the added attractions of the festival will be Q&A’s with...
- 1/21/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
PBS has revealed its Fall 2015 primetime schedule, which includes everything from dramas, to the performing arts, to nature and science programs, anchored by the story of America’s most legendary filmmaker and his magical legacy in “Walt Disney” on American Experience, and the new Masterpiece drama “Indian Summers,” featuring acclaimed actress Julie Walters. Of special interest to this blog, and part of the network's American Masters series, is the feature documentary “Althea,” which recounts the life and achievements of the groundbreaking African American tennis player, Althea Gibson, set to premiere...
- 6/4/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Althea Gibson, the first black athlete to break the color barrier of international tennis, received a Google doodle today on what would have been her 87th birthday. The Google doodle has become a popular animation on the site’s homepage, often exchanging its trademark symbol for a brief cartoon depicting an historic event happening that day. Today was Gibson’s day.
Althea Gibson’s Tennis Career Highlights
Gibson’s career began in 1950, when after intensive lobbying, she was invited to take part in the Us Open. In 1951, she became the first black woman to ever make Wimbledon. By the end of her career she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments and is considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
Althea Gibson’s Tennis Career Highlights
Gibson’s career began in 1950, when after intensive lobbying, she was invited to take part in the Us Open. In 1951, she became the first black woman to ever make Wimbledon. By the end of her career she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments and is considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
- 8/25/2014
- Uinterview
Today in history, June 6th, 1957 (also related to tennis, after yesterday’s post on Arthur Ashe)… Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player (male or female) to win a singles title at Wimbledon. 43 years later, Venus Williams won her 1st singles title at Wimbledon. Her younger sister, Serena Williams won hers 2 years later, 2002, defeating Venus in the finals. And a year later, 2003, Althea Gibson died…
Watch the below 25-minute documentary on Gibson, narrated by Maya Angelou:...
Watch the below 25-minute documentary on Gibson, narrated by Maya Angelou:...
- 7/6/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
NEW YORK -- August Rush scribe Paul Castro will write the screenplay for A Perfect Match, based on a documentary about a black girl from Harlem and a Jewish girl from London who become Wimbledon doubles champions.
The narrative film, to be produced by Miami-based Figaro Films and Viollet Prods., will be adapted from Betsy Blankenbaker's recently completed documentary of the same name. It will chronicle Harlem's Althea Gibson and London's Angela Buxton, who overcame racial and religious intolerance to win at the 1956 Wimbledon tennis championship.
Castro, who still serves as an officer in the U.S. Navy, has several projects in various stages of talks. Blankenbaker's docu is now up for distribution.
Match is now in development with a projected $7 million budget. Producer Rachel Viollet will help rep presales at this week's American Film Market.
Castro is repped by Preferred Artists.
The narrative film, to be produced by Miami-based Figaro Films and Viollet Prods., will be adapted from Betsy Blankenbaker's recently completed documentary of the same name. It will chronicle Harlem's Althea Gibson and London's Angela Buxton, who overcame racial and religious intolerance to win at the 1956 Wimbledon tennis championship.
Castro, who still serves as an officer in the U.S. Navy, has several projects in various stages of talks. Blankenbaker's docu is now up for distribution.
Match is now in development with a projected $7 million budget. Producer Rachel Viollet will help rep presales at this week's American Film Market.
Castro is repped by Preferred Artists.
- 10/30/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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