Blaze (1989)

This movie tells the story of the latter years of Earl Long, a flamboyant governor of Louisiana. The aging Earl, an unapologetic habitue of strip joints, falls in love with young stripper ... See full summary »

Director:

Ron Shelton

Writers:

Blaze Starr (book), Huey Perry (book),

Stars:

Paul Newman, Lolita Davidovich, Jerry Hardin

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paul Newman	...	Gov. Earl K. Long
Lolita Davidovich	...	Blaze Starr
Jerry Hardin	...	Thibodeaux
Gailard Sartain	...	LaGrange
Jeffrey DeMunn	...	Eldon Tuck
Garland Bunting	...	Doc Ferriday
Richard Jenkins	...	Picayune
Brandon Smith	...	Arvin Deeter
Jay Chevalier	...	Wiley Braden
Robert Wuhl	...	Red Snyder
Michael Brockman	...	Bobby
Eloy Casados	...	Antoine
James Harper	...	Willie Rainach
Teresa Gilmore	...	Tamara Knight
Dianne Brill	...	Delilah Dough

Storyline

This movie tells the story of the latter years of Earl Long, a flamboyant governor of Louisiana. The aging Earl, an unapologetic habitue of strip joints, falls in love with young stripper Blaze Starr. When Earl and Blaze move in together, Earl's opponents use this to attack his controversial political program, which included civil rights for blacks in the 1950's. Can Earl keep Blaze and retain control of the state?

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Plot Keywords:

civil rights | stripper | louisiana | governor | love | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 December 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blaze - Eine gefährliche Liebe

Filming Locations:

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$19,131,246 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

A&M Films, Silver Screen Partners IV, Touchstone Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The year this film was shot there was an election in Louisiana. One of the items to vote on was bill that had many different state projects. It was defeated the same day the crew was filming the funeral scene overnight in the Capital Building in Baton Rouge. The crew had to leave before all the props could be removed, including the coffin. The defeated bill was laid in the coffin by someone before the next daily legislative session began.

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Quotes

Earl Long: Would you still love me as much if I wasn't the fine governor of the great state of Louisiana?
Blaze Starr: Would you still love *me* if I had little tits and worked in a fish house?

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Family Business/Blaze/We're No Angels/The Wizard/The Rosegarden (1989)

User Reviews

pretty good

This was one of the few times that Ron Shelton made a movie that didn't deal with sports and he did a pretty good job. Paul Newman plays the democratic governor of Louisiana and he has an election coming up but can't run for governor again, so he has a friend of his run for governor and Newman will run as lieutenant governor and right after the election the friend will step down and Newman will become governor. Lolita Davidovich plays a big time stripper who at first is suspicious of Newman when he comes on to her but the wind up falling in love. This is set in the late 50s and is down south and since segregation is a big issue Newman's rivals will use it against him in the election. It doesn't help when Newman is having an affair with a stripper and supports civil rights for black people. This is a really good film about politics and also turns out to be a good romance.