So it seems for the dog Parker ultimately names “Hachi”-the Japanese word for the number eight that is the sole identifying symbol on his collar-it looks like the next stop might just be the pound after all. But when Parker realizes the dog will end up at the pound the next morning, he brings the inquisitive canine home for the night, much to the displeasure of his wife Cate, played by Joan Allen. Deducing that the dog has escaped from his shipping crate and with no owner in sight to claim him, Parker initially tries to entrust the dog to the care of the station master, played by Jason Alexander. This week’s indie is Hachi: A Dog’s Tale, a 2009 drama directed by Lasse Hallström.Īdapted from a 1987 Japanese film that was in turn inspired by a true story, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale stars Richard Gere as Parker Wilson, a college music professor who encounters a stray Akita puppy running around his commuter train station one night as he returns home from work. And in 1988, when Charlton Heston finally did his own version of the play for television, Redgrave joined the cast in the role of More’s wife Alice. However, when it came time to find an actress for the pivotal cameo appearance of Anne Boleyn, Redgrave agreed to do it without any dialogue, billing or salary. Vanessa Redgrave was originally tapped to play More’s daughter Margaret, but dropped out to star in the West End premiere of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. After the play’s success in London’s West End and on Broadway, when it came time for the film version, Richard Burton and Laurence Olivier were considered to star, with Charlton Heston campaigning hard for the role, but director Fred Zinnemann insisted on retaining Paul Scofield to recreate his award-winning stage performance. With future echoes of A Man for All Seasons, Bolt refused to sign an agreement to refrain from further protests, but Lawrence’s hard-driving producer Sam Spiegel talked Bolt into signing so he could return to work, a decision Bolt reportedly regretted the rest of his life. Bolt had first learned the story of Thomas More in grade school, a history lesson which seems to have made a lasting impression: in 1961 while Bolt was working on the screenplay for Lawrence of Arabia, he was jailed for disrupting the peace in an anti-nuclear weapons protest. Watch for a young Vanessa Redgrave in an unbilled cameo appearance as Anne Boleynīeginning his career as a teacher, Robert Bolt-the British playwright and screenwriter of A Man for All Seasons-didn’t become a fulltime writer until he was 33. And as played by Robert Shaw, Henry is a quintessential example of an indescribably powerful man: accustomed to getting his own way, and who won’t take no for an answer-for long.Īlso featured are Wendy Hiller as Sir Thomas’ wife Alice, Susannah York as his daughter Margaret, Corin Redgrave as her Lutheran suitor William Roper, Nigel Davenport as the Duke of Norfolk, Leo McKern as Thomas Cromwell, and John Hurt, in his first film role as Richard Rich. But when More suddenly becomes Wolsey’s successor, he also finds himself increasingly under pressure to give the impatient King Henry what he wants. The film opens with More being summoned to meet with his predecessor as Lord High Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, a wily politician memorably portrayed by Orson Welles, who unsuccessfully tries to get More to change his mind. Spanning from 1529 to 1535, the narrative hinges on More’s steadfast refusal to compromise his conscience and accept Henry’s divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon in order to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn, all in the hope of finally securing a male heir for Henry’s succession. For the film, Paul Scofield reprised his Tony Award-winning stage performance as More, with his cinematic portrayal going on to garner him the year’s Best Actor Oscar as well. This week’s classic is A Man for All Seasons, the 1966 historical drama directed by Fred Zinnemann.Īdapted by screenwriter Robert Bolt from his own acclaimed 1960 play, A Man for All Seasons famously recounts the legendary battle of wills between King Henry VIII and Sir Thomas More, the Renaissance philosopher, author and statesman who was also Lord High Chancellor of England for three fateful years during Henry’s tumultuous reign.
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