Edward R. Pressman Movies
A graduate of both Stanford and the London School of Economics, Edward R. Pressman entered films as a partner of director Paul Williams (not Paul Williams the musician, though Pressman did produce the 1974 Williams vehicle Phantom of the Paradise). The first Pressman/Williams collaboration was Out of It, an up-close-and-personal look at what it's like to be a high school misfit. Made in 1967, Out of It lay on the shelf until it was released in 1969 to capitalize on the latter-day popularity of the film's co-star, Jon Voigt. Evidently more concerned with telling a good story than with box-office returns, Pressman has handled many a chancy, long-shot project, usually with salutary results. Among his riskier projects (at least in a financial sense) are Sisters (1973), directed by Brian DePalma; Badlands (1973), directed by Terence Malick and starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek; and Talk Radio (1988), a virtual nonstop monologue performed by Eric Bogosian. In 1992 alone, Pressman offered Jack Nicholson in the title role of Hoffa and Harvey Keitel displaying his privates in The Bad Lieutenant. Edward Pressman's biggest international success as executive producer was the 1981 German film Das Boot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Set during the Cuban missile crisis, Waiting for the Light is an off-beat comic tale about a single mother of two (Teri Garr) who has just taken over a roadside cafe with her aunt (Shirley MacLaine), a former circus magician. MacLaine and the children pull a prank on her crotchety next-door neighbor, who is tricked into believing that the image he sees is actually an angel. Soon, the entire town believes an angel is living at Garr's diner, and eventually people come to the diner from miles around in hopes of seeing the angel. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley MacLaine, Teri Garr, (more)
Alex Cox directed this hallucinatory bio-pic starring Ed Harris as 19th-century American adventurer William Walker, who abandoned a series of careers in law, politics, journalism, and medicine to become a soldier of fortune and eventually a Nicaraguan dictator. When his deaf wife (Marlee Matlin) dies of cholera (but not before she utilizes sign language to tell Walker "To Hell with Manifest Destiny"), Walker is backed by multi-millionaire banker Cornelius Vanderbilt (Peter Boyle) to lead a band of mercenaries to Nicaragua in 1855 to make the country safe for Vanderbilt's steamships. When Walker subdues the Nicaraguan opposition, he sets himself up as president and rules the country with unfeeling repression. Finally the Nicaraguans rise up against him, figuring out that "the mad gringo is ripping us off." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ed Harris, Marlee Matlin, (more)
"Greed is Good." This is the credo of the aptly named Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), the antihero of Oliver Stone's Wall Street. Gekko, a high-rolling corporate raider, is idolized by young-and-hungry broker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen). Inveigling himself into Gekko's inner circle, Fox quickly learns to rape, murder and bury his sense of ethics. Only when Gekko's wheeling and dealing causes a near-tragedy on a personal level does Fox "reform"-though his means of destroying Gekko are every bit as underhanded as his previous activities on the trading floor. Director Stone, who cowrote Wall Street with Stanley Weiser, has claimed that the film was prompted by the callous treatment afforded his stockbroker father after 50 years in the business; this may be why the film's most compelling scenes are those between Bud Fox and his airline mechanic father (played by Charlie Sheen's real-life dad Martin). Ironically, Wall Street was released just before the October, 1987 stock market crash. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, (more)
- 2010
Famous onscreen villain Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) returns to the big screen with Wall Street 2, once again directed by Oliver Stone. This installment promises a "ripped from the headlines" plot, with Gekko teaching co-star Shia LaBeouf the ins and outs of criminal investments. Frost/Nixon's Frank Langella co-stars along with Susan Sarandon. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Frank Langella, (more)
- 2010
The story of singer Louis Armstrong is retold by actor/director Forest Whitaker in this Legende Productions biopic. Whitaker portrays the dynamic performer in what will be the first authorized production to be sanctioned from the singer's estate. Ronald Bass (Amelia) provides the screenplay, with Alain Goldman and Edward R. Pressman heading up the producing team. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Forest Whitaker
In this thriller, American novelist David Raybourne (Andrew McCarthy) accidentally becomes entangled in the Red Brigade's terrorist plan to kidnap Italian Premier Aldo Moro during a research trip to Rome. As the terrorists attempt to kill David, he and his photojournalist friend (Sharon Stone) must struggle to stay alive. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrew McCarthy, Valeria Golino, (more)
