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180-402: To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar is a 1995 American road comedy film directed by Beeban Kidron and starring Wesley Snipes , Patrick Swayze , and John Leguizamo as three New York City drag queens who embark on a road trip . Its title refers to an iconic autographed photo of Julie Newmar they carry with them on their journey. Newmar also has a cameo appearance in

360-705: A protégé of Olivier's during Olivier's days as the National Theatre 's artistic director, and had portrayed Crassus in the Jeff Wayne musical album . The actors separately recorded their dialogue. For the 1991 theatrical re-release, Universal Pictures partnered with the American Film Institute, in which the restored film premiered at the Directors Guild of America Theater in Los Angeles on April 25, with

540-504: A Western movie . As well, the road movie is similar to a Western in that road films are also about a "frontiersmanship" and about the codes of discovery (often self-discovery). Road movies often use the music from the car stereo, which the characters are listening to , as the soundtrack and in 1960s and 1970s road movies, rock music is often used (e.g., Easy Rider from 1969 used a rock soundtrack of songs from Jimi Hendrix , The Byrds and Steppenwolf ). While early road movies from

720-504: A martyr . In other matters, he is also worried about Caesar, who he senses will someday eclipse him. Gracchus, having seen Rome fall into tyranny, commits suicide. Before doing so, he bribes his friend Batiatus to rescue Spartacus' family from Crassus and carry them away to freedom. On the way out of Rome, the group passes under Spartacus' cross. Varinia comforts him in his dying moments by showing him his son, who will grow up free and knowing who his father was. The development of Spartacus

900-430: A "disaster, unusable." Pressed for time, and in competition with Brynner's rival project, Douglas turned to Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted as one of the " Hollywood 10 ". Trumbo did not like Fast as he found him to be narrow-minded in his Marxist views, but agreed to write a treatment . Trumbo submitted his treatment, which Douglas and Edward Lewis then gave to Fast stating this was their preferred direction for

1080-420: A 2019 retrospective piece about the film, writer Naveen Kumar noted "the film's language and understanding of gender variance is undoubtedly limited as a product of its time" and that the film "[blended] iterations of queer experience that tend to have clearer distinctions in the real world, and for which we have more nuanced language today". Among the film's language and concepts that are now considered problematic

1260-465: A Cause (1955). Timothy Corrigan states that post-WW II, the genre of road films became more codified, with features solidifying such as the use of characters experiencing "amnesia, hallucinations and theatrical crisis". David Laderman states that road movies have a modernist aesthetic approach, as they focus on "rebellion, social criticism, and liberating thrills", which shows "disillusionment" with mainstream political and aesthetic norms. Awareness of

1440-452: A Leg (1997) features several sketches from filmmakers and producers' Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo 's previous comedy productions overlaid with the rest of the movie's road-trip and romantic comedy atmosphere. Other European road films include Chris Petit 's Radio On (1979), a Wim Wenders-influenced film set on the M4 motorway; Aki Kaurismäki 's Leningrad Cowboys Go America ( 1989), about

1620-426: A Ride (1947) and The Hitch-Hiker (1953), all of which "establish fear and suspense around hitchhiking", and the outlaw-themed film noirs They Live by Night (1948) and Gun Crazy . Film noir-influenced road films continued in the neo noir era, with The Hitcher (1986), Delusion (1991), Red Rock West (1992), and Joy Ride (2001). Even though road movies are a significant and popular genre, it

1800-407: A bounded journey with a clear start and finish which differs from the open ended wandering of previous films, with characters making chance encounters with other drivers who influence where one travels or ends up. To contrast the intellectual Sal character, Kerouac has the juvenile delinquent Dean, a wild, fast-driving character who represents the idea that the road provides liberation. By depicting

1980-514: A bribe of his own to make the pirates abandon Spartacus and has the Roman army secretly force the rebels away from the coastline towards Rome. Amid panic that Spartacus means to sack the city, the Senate gives Crassus absolute power. Now surrounded by Roman legions, Spartacus persuades his men to die fighting. Just by rebelling and proving themselves human, he says that they have struck a blow against slavery. In

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2160-420: A brief cameo in the finished film). Patrick Swayze was one of the last actors to audition for Vida. Director Beeban Kidron said that it was ultimately Swayze's walk that sealed the deal, saying "Swayze had his own makeup people transform him into a woman, and he insisted that he and Beeban take a walk around the city to prove he could pass as a woman" and "With his beauty and dancer's grace, he did just that. He had

2340-468: A cab driver ferrying strange passengers around the city. Timothy Corrigan has called the postmodern road movie a "borderless refuse bin" of " mise en abyme " reflection, reflecting a modern audience that is not able to think of a "naturalized history". Atkinson calls contemporary road movies an "ideogram of human desire and a last-ditch search for self" designed for an audience that was raised watching TV, particularly open-ended serial programs. Note, that

2520-501: A café. While searching for the new outfits, they are ecstatic to find vintage fashions from the 1960s in the town's clothing store and give the female residents (and themselves) a makeover. Following their makeover, they are abused by the same rednecks that attempted to harass Chi-Chi. Fed up, Noxeema handles the situation in a typically New York City manner and teaches their ringleader a lesson in manners. Vida, Noxeema, and Chi-Chi do what they can to be positive, and they set out to improve

2700-422: A collection of antique instruments, while not authentically Roman, that provided a strong dramatic effect. These instruments included a sarrusophone , Israeli recorder , Chinese oboe , lute , mandolin , Yugoslav flute, kythara , dulcimer , and bagpipes . North's prize instrument was the ondioline , similar to an earlier version of the electronic synthesizer , which had never been used in film before. Much of

2880-791: A contemporaneous review, " Spartacus appears to have what it takes to satisfy the multitudes ... Kubrick has out- DeMilled the old master in spectacle, without ever permitting the story or the people who are at the core of the drama to become lost in the shuffle. He demonstrates here a technical talent and comprehension of human values." John L. Scott of the Los Angeles Times praised the "fabulous cast," Trumbo's "expert screenplay" and "impressive" climactic battle scenes, writing, "Here young director Stanley Kubrick gives notice that from now on he's definitely to be reckoned with. His use of cameras and handling of people are very effective and skillful." Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post wrote that

3060-514: A drag mentor to work with in developing their characters. Costume designer Marlene Stewart had the leads' wardrobes, including the shoes and corsets, custom-made. Filming took place from July to October 1994. The drag contest seen in the beginning scene was filmed at Webster Hall in New York City. The John Shaffer Phipps Estate in Old Westbury, New York , now known as Old Westbury Gardens ,

3240-698: A fictional Russian rock band which travels to the US; and Theo Angelopoulos ' Landscape in the Mist , about a road trip from Greece to Germany. Road movies made in Latin America are similar in feel to European road films. Latin American road movies are usually about a cast of characters, rather than a couple or single person, and the films explore the differences between urban and rural regions and between north and south. Luis Buñuel 's Subida al Cielo ( Mexican Bus Ride , 1951),

3420-422: A fictional character, and Tony Curtis played the fictional slave Antoninus. Douglas, whose company Bryna Productions was producing the film, removed original director Anthony Mann after three weeks of shooting. Kubrick, with whom Douglas had made Paths of Glory (1957), took over as director. It was the only film directed by Kubrick where he did not have complete artistic control. Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo

3600-647: A film noir about a musician travelling from New York City to Hollywood who sees a nation absorbed by greed, or Dennis Hopper ’s Easy Rider , which showed how American society was transformed by the social and cultural trends of the late 1960s. The New Hollywood era films made use of the new film technologies in the road movie genre, such as "fast film stock" and lightweight cameras, as well as incorporating filmmaking approaches from European cinema, such as "elliptical narrative structure and self-reflexive devices, elusive development of alienated characters; bold traveling shots and montage sequences. Road movies have been called

3780-421: A limited collector's edition of 5,000 copies, containing six CDs, one DVD, and a 168-page booklet. The first disc contained all 72 minutes of the score that survived in stereo, including all music from the 1960 album. Discs two and three featured the entire score to the film, in mono. Disc four contained alternate and preliminary cues from the original recording sessions. Discs five and six contained re-recordings of

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3960-540: A low register, Swayze also excels as a man still suffering from parental rejection. Shining throughout is the brilliant Leguizamo, as the Latino spitfire who needs to prove to his comrades that he's more than 'a mere boy in a dress. ' " Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "What is amazing is how the movie manages to be funny and amusing while tippy-toeing around (a) sex, (b) controversy and (c) any originality in

4140-589: A movie character who was marginalized and who could not be incorporated into mainstream American culture, Kerouac opened the way for road movies to depict a more diverse range of characters, rather than just heterosexual couples (e.g., It Happened One Night ), groups on the move (e.g., The Grapes of Wrath ), notably the pair of male buddies. On the Road and another novel published in the same era, Vladimir Nabokov 's novel Lolita (1955), have been called "two monumental road novels that rip back and forth across American with

4320-477: A philosophical framework for the ensuing action. The introductory voice-over also describes Rome as destined to collapse with the rise of Christianity : In the last century before the birth of the new faith called Christianity, which was destined to overthrow the pagan tyranny of Rome and bring about a new society, the Roman Republic stood at the very center of the civilized world. "Of all things fairest" sang

4500-428: A plane, which "mesmerized" the director. Williams expressed interest in a possible role but did not want to distract from the three leads, so he opted for a small cameo appearance. When the script officially went into development at Amblin, multiple unnamed male directors passed on directing. British director Beeban Kidron begged Spielberg to let her direct, and he accepted. Though advertising companies wanted to change

4680-426: A post-WW II genre, as they track key post-war cultural trends, such as the breakup of the traditional family structure, in which male roles were destabilized; there is focus on menacing events which impact the characters who are on the move; there is an association between the character and the mode of transportation being used (e.g., a car or motorcycle), with the car symbolizing the self in the modern culture; and there

4860-561: A related theme—an individual who challenges the might of the Roman Empire. Douglas was impressed enough to purchase an option on the book with his own finances. He proposed the project to Arthur B. Krim , the head of United Artists , which was set to distribute The Vikings (1958), which also starred Douglas. Krim turned down the project as Yul Brynner had been developing his own Spartacus film, tentatively titled The Gladiators . Martin Ritt

5040-430: A restaurant wall. While on the road, they are pulled over by Sheriff Dollard, who hurls racial slurs then forces Vida out of the car and tries to rape her. Vida strikes him, and he is knocked unconscious. He is presumed dead, and the queens drive off. At a rest stop, they recover from the incident, but their car breaks down. Bobby Ray, a young man from the nearby small town of Snydersville, happens to pass by and gives them

5220-454: A ride to a bed and breakfast inn. The inn is owned by Carol Ann and her abusive car repairman husband, Virgil. They are stranded in the town for the weekend waiting for the replacement part for their car. Chi-Chi is harassed by a group of rednecks but is saved by Bobby Ray. While volunteering to help with the town's Strawberry Social, they decide the town's women need a day with them getting their hair done, picking out new outfits, and talking in

5400-468: A road movie tradition than stretches from Bertrand Blier 's Les Valseuses (1973) and Agnès Varda 's Sans toit ni loi (about a homeless woman) to 1990s films such as Merci la vie (1991) and Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi 's Baise-moi (a controversial film about two women revenging a rape), to 2000s films such as Laurent Cantet 's L'emploi du temps (2001) and Cédric Kahn 's Feux rouges (2004). While French road movies share

5580-443: A rupture point in the narrative which erases and forgets the history of this violence. Canada also has huge expanses of territory, which make the road movie also common in that country, where the genre is used to examine "themes of alienation and isolation in relation to an expansive, almost foreboding landscape of seemingly endless space", and explore how Canadian identity differs from the "less humble and self-conscious neighbours to

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5760-602: A ruse to protect them. One by one, they confront Dollard, each one claiming to be a drag queen (in a similar fashion to Spartacus ). Dollard is humiliated and flees. The Strawberry Social commences with everyone dressed in vibrant red outfits. The townspeople then say goodbye to Noxeema, Vida, and Chi-Chi as they prepare to leave. In honor of their friendship, Vida gives Carol Ann the autographed photo of Julie Newmar that has accompanied them on their trip. They eventually make it to Los Angeles where Chi-Chi, after having received many tips from Vida and Noxeema during their ordeal, wins

5940-430: A similar sentiment, writing that while the film's sentimentality may go too far for some, To Wong Foo "is such a delight that it's easy to overlook the few awkward moments", adding, "The film camps it up but still allows us to believe in the characters." Emanuel Levy concluded though the film "is not as outrageous or funny as [ Priscilla ]...it still offers some rewards as mainstream entertainment" and that "ultimately,

6120-570: A small town where the inhabitants cause road accidents to salvage the vehicles; the biker film Stone (1974) by Sandy Harbutt , about a biker gang who witness a political cover-up murder; The (1981) thriller Roadgames by Richard Franklin , about a truck driver who tracks down a serial killer in the Australian outback; Dead-end Drive-in (1986) by Brian Trenchard-Smith , about a dystopian future where drive-in theatres are turned into detention centres; Metal Skin (1994) by Geoffrey Wright about

6300-474: A son whom she names Spartacus. A proud, rebellious son, who was sold to living death in the mines of Libya, before his 13th birthday. There, under whip and chain and sun, he lived out his youth and his young manhood, dreaming the death of slavery 2000 years before it finally would die. Thus, Rome is described as an oppressive state suffering from its own excesses in the years before the adoption of Christian beliefs begins to end Roman oppression and slavery. While

6480-429: A soundstage, where they could fully concentrate. To create the illusion of the large crowds that play such an essential role in the film, Kubrick's crew used three-channel sound equipment to record 76,000 spectators at a Michigan State  – Notre Dame college football game shouting "Hail, Crassus!" and "I'm Spartacus!" The battle scenes were filmed on a vast plain outside Madrid . About 8,000 trained soldiers from

6660-567: A story about a journey down the Mississippi River that is full of social commentary; Heart of Darkness (1902), about a journey down a river in the Belgian Congo to search for a rogue colonial trader; and Women in Love (1920), which describes "travel and mobility" while also providing social commentary about the woes of industrialization. Laderman states that Women in Love particularly lays

6840-586: A street racer; and Kiss or Kill (1997) by Bill Bennett , a film noir-style road movie. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) has been called a "watershed gay road movie that addresses diversity in Australia". Walkabout (1971), Backroads (1977), and Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) use a depiction of travelling through the Australian outback to address the issue of relations between white and Indigenous people. In 2005, Fiona Probyn described

7020-548: A strong American influence, with the films incorporating the road movie-comedy genre hybrid made popular in US films such as Peter Farrelly 's Dumb and Dumber (1994). Spanish films including Los años bárbaros , Carretera y manta , Trileros , Al final del Camino , and Airbag , which has been called the "most successful Spanish road movie of all time". Airbag , along with Slam (2003), El mundo alrededor (2006) and Los managers , are examples of Spanish road films that, like US movies such as Road Trip , uses

7200-410: A subgenre of road movies about Indigenous Australians that she called "No Road" movies, in that they typically do not show a vehicle travelling on an asphalt road; instead, these films depict travel on a trail, often with Indigenous trackers being shown using their tracking abilities to discern hard-to-detect clues on the trail. With the increasing depiction of racial minorities in Australian road movies,

7380-510: A subversive erotic charge." In the 1950s, there were "wholesome" road comedies such as Bob Hope and Bing Crosby 's Road to Bali (1952), Vincente Minnelli 's The Long, Long Trailer (1954) and the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis film Hollywood or Bust (1956). There were not many 1950s road films, but "postwar youth culture" was depicted in The Wild One (1953) and Rebel Without

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7560-669: A surge of motion-pictures such as Road, Movie , nominated for the Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix Award , the Tribeca Film Festival , and the Generation 14plus at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival in 2010. Liars Dice explores the story of a young mother from a remote village who, going in search of her missing husband, goes missing, the film examines the human cost of migration to cities and

7740-548: A taxi driver trying to find about the Hollywood detective character Charlie Chan , and Abraham Lim 's Roads and Bridges (2001), about an Asian-American prisoner who is sentenced to clean up garbage along a Midwestern highway. Australia's vast open spaces and concentrated population have made the road movie a key genre in that country, with films such as George Miller 's Mad Max films, which were rooted in an Australian tradition for films with " dystopian and noir themes with

7920-452: A tough and self-sufficient community. Varinia, now his informal wife, becomes pregnant. The Roman Senate becomes increasingly alarmed as Spartacus defeats every army sent against him. Crassus' opponent Gracchus knows that his rival will try to use the crisis as a justification for seizing control of the Roman army . To try to prevent this, Gracchus channels as much military power as possible into

8100-510: A town, and the narrator is warning the viewers that these people will take over your town, and I thought, Well, that would be fun ." The script found its way to Mitch Kohn, then a development executive at Amblin Entertainment . Kohn passed the script along to his boss Steven Spielberg , who "loved it". Spielberg had his friend Robin Williams do a humorous cold reading of the script while on

8280-404: A transgender woman on a road trip who manage to win over the locals of a small town. Despite the similarities, To Wong Foo had already been in production by the time Priscilla was released. The crew of Priscilla had heard about the film while shooting their own, and though a producer was initially worried the films might be too similar, after reading To Wong Foo' s script, producers decided it

8460-414: A wealthy woman who goes on the road is liberated from her elite background and marriage to an immoral husband when she meets and experiences hospitality from regular, good-hearted Americans who she never would have met in her previous life, with middle America depicted as a utopia of "real community". The scenes in road movies tend to elicit longing for a mythic past. American road movies have tended to be

8640-614: A white genre, with Spike Lee 's Get on the Bus (1996) being a notable exception, as its main characters are African-American men on a bus travelling to the Million Man March (the film depicts the historic role of buses in the US civil rights movement). Asian-American filmmakers have used the road movie to examine the role and treatment of Asian-Americans in the United States; examples include Wayne Wang 's Chan Is Missing (1982), about

8820-535: Is able to repair their car, but they remain for the Strawberry Social. Carol Ann reveals to Vida that she knew she was a drag queen all along due to her Adam's apple . Virgil runs into Sheriff Dollard at a bar, and they realize that the newcomers are the same people Dollard has been searching for. They head back to Snydersville, and Dollard demands that the townspeople turn them over. The other townspeople, who now realize that their new friends are not women, devise

9000-709: Is about a poor rural person's trip into a big city to help his mother, who is dying. The road trip on this film is shown as a "carnivalesque pilgrimage" or "travelling circus", an approach also used in Bye Bye Brazil (1979, Brazil), Guantanamera (1995, Cuba), and Central do Brasil ( Central Station , 1998, Brazil). Some Latin American road movies are also set in the era of conquest, such as Cabeza de Vaca (1991, Mexico). Movies about outlaws escaping from justice include Profundo Carmesí ( Deep Crimson , 1996, Mexico) and El Camino ( The Road , 2000, Argentina). Y tu mamá también ( And Your Mother Too , 2001, Mexico)

9180-536: Is about two Indigenous men. While rare, there are some road movies about large groups on the road ( Get on the Bus from 1996) and lone drivers ( Vanishing Point from 1971). The road movie has been called an elusive and ambiguous film genre. Timothy Corrigan states that road movies are a "knowingly impure" genre as they have "overdetermined and built-in genre-blending tendencies". Devin Orgeron states that road movies, despite their literal focus on car trips, are "about

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9360-471: Is about two young male buddies who have sexual adventures on the road. Movies involving road movie genre while being rejected by mainstream media, gained huge popularity in Russian art cinema and surrounding post-Soviet cultures, slowly building their way into international film festivals. Well-known examples are My Joy (2010), Bimmer (2003), Major (2013), and How Vitka Chesnok Took Lyokha Shtyr to

9540-472: Is an "overlooked strain of film history". Major genre studies often do not examine road movies, and there has been little analysis of what qualifies as a road movie. The road movie is mostly associated with the United States, as it focuses on "peculiarly American dreams, tensions and anxieties". US road movies examine the tension between the two foundational myths of American culture, which are individualism and populism, which leads to some road films depicting

9720-453: Is considered groundbreaking for being the first mainstream Hollywood production to depict drag queens. Rita Kempley of The Washington Post wrote that in comparison to previous films that featured cross-dressing like Some Like It Hot or Tootsie , "The heroines [in To Wong Foo ] aren't cross-dressing to escape the mob or to prove a point, they're just being true to their nature." In

9900-557: Is disturbed by the idea that Spartacus can command more love and loyalty than he can, and hopes to compensate by making Varinia as devoted to him as she was to her former husband. When she rejects him, he furiously seeks out Spartacus (whom he recognizes from having watched him at Batiatus' school) and forces him to fight Antoninus to the death. The survivor is to be crucified, along with all the other slaves. Spartacus kills Antoninus to spare him this terrible fate. The incident leaves Crassus worried about Spartacus' potential to live in legend as

10080-565: Is stuck between the father-daughter duo, as they embark on a journey from Delhi to Kolkata . In Nagesh Kukunoor 's children's film Dhanak a blind kid and his sister set off alone on a 300 km journey traversing testing Indian terrain from Jaislamer to Jodhpur , the film won the Crystal Bear Grand Prix for Best Children's Film, and Special Mention for the Best Feature Film by The Children's Jury for Generation Kplus at

10260-415: Is the terminology used by the characters to describe the differences in queer identities. Of the leads being in drag for the duration of the film, some critics said this was an intentional part of the film's camp element. Kumar added, "That To Wong Foo ' s drag performances remain completely unbroken throughout the film's entirety heightens the movie's extreme emphasis on beauty and artifice" and that

10440-546: Is usually a focus on men, with women typically being excluded, creating a "male escapist fantasy linking masculinity to technology". Despite these examples of the post-WW II aspects of road movies, Cohan and Hark argue that road movies go back to the 1930s. In the 2000s, a new crop of road movies was produced, including Vincent Gallo 's Brown Bunny (2003), Alexander Payne 's Sideways (2004), Jim Jarmusch 's Broken Flowers (2005) and Kelly Reichardt 's Old Joy (2006) and scholars are taking more interest in examining

10620-570: The Odyssey and the Aeneid . The road film is a standard plot employed by screenwriters . It is a type of bildungsroman , a story in which the hero changes, grows or improves over the course of the story. It focuses more on the journey rather than the goal. David Laderman lists other literary influences on the road movie, such as Don Quixote (1615), which uses a description of a journey to create social satire; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884),

10800-960: The 65th Berlin International Film Festival Finding Fanny is based on a road trip set in Goa and follows the journey of five dysfunctional friends who set out on a road trip in search of Fanny. The Good Road is told in a hyperlink format , where several stories are intertwined, with the center of the action being a highway in the rural lands of Gujarat near a town in Kutch . Several road movies have been produced in Africa , including Cocorico! Monsieur Poulet (1977, Niger ); The Train of Salt and Sugar (2016, Mozambique ); Hayat (2016, Morocco ); Touki Bouki (1973, Senegal) and Borders (2017, Burkina Faso ). The genre has its roots in spoken and written tales of epic journeys, such as

10980-547: The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy , and Leguizamo was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture . After tying for the win in New York City's "Drag Queen of the Year" contest, Noxeema Jackson and Vida Boheme win a trip to Hollywood to take part in the even bigger "Miss Drag Queen of America Pageant". Before they depart, Vida persuades Noxeema to take along

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11160-619: The Golden Globes , including Woody Strode ‘s only career Golden Globe nomination (for Best Supporting Actor ), ultimately winning one ( Best Motion Picture – Drama ). At the time of the film’s release, it was the biggest moneymaker in Universal Studios ' history, which it remained until it was surpassed by Airport (1970). In 2017, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by

11340-671: The Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." In the first century BC, the Roman Republic has slid into corruption, its menial work done by slaves . One slave, a Thracian named Spartacus, is so uncooperative in his position in a mining pit that he is sentenced to death by starvation. By chance, he is displayed to Roman businessman Lentulus Batiatus, who – impressed by his ferocity – purchases Spartacus for his gladiatorial school and instructs trainer Marcellus not to overdo his indoctrination, believing

11520-757: The Russo-Ukrainian War . Indian screens saw a series of road movies with experimental filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma 's works such as Kshana Kshanam . Rachel Dwyer , a reader in world cinema at the University of London -Department of South Asia, marked Varma's contribution into the new-age film noir . The film received critical reception at the Ann Arbor Film Festival , which led to a series of genre-benders like Mani Ratnam 's Thiruda Thiruda , and Varma's Daud , Anaganaga Oka Roju and Road . Subsequently 21st century bollywood movies witnessed

11700-494: The Spanish infantry were used to double as the Roman army. Kubrick directed the armies from the top of specially constructed towers. However, he eventually had to cut all but one of the gory battle scenes, due to negative audience reactions at test screenings . So precise was Kubrick, that even in arranging the bodies of the slaughtered slaves he had each "corpse" assigned with a number and instructions. Shooting locations also included

11880-450: The "No Road" subgenre has also been associated with Asian-Australian films that depict travel using routes other than roads (e.g., the 2010 film Mother Fish , which depicts travel over water as it tells the story of the boat people refugees). The iconography of car crashes in many Australian road movies (particularly the Mad Max series) has been called a symbol of white-Indigenous violence,

12060-517: The "disintegration of the family and the community" and the "journey of transformation", as it depicts two fugitives on the run, whose distrust fades as the two women learn to trust each other from their adventures on the road. The images in the film are blend of homage to US road movie conventions (gas stations, billboards) and "recognizable Spanish types", such as the "embittered drunkard". Other European road films include Ingmar Bergman 's Wild Strawberries (1957), about an old professor travelling

12240-440: The "first mumblecore road movie"; Broken Flowers (2005); Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris ' Little Miss Sunshine (2006), about a family's trip in a VW camper van; Old Joy (2006); Alexander Payne 's Nebraska (2013), which depicts a father and son on a road trip; Steven Knight 's Locke (2013), about a construction executive taking stressful calls on a road trip; and Jafar Panahi 's Taxi Tehran (2015), about

12420-466: The "movie's own characterizations tend to blur the lines between drag as a conscious performance and their desire to actually be seen, day and night, as women". Of the characters staying in drag, Douglas Carter Beane said his intent was to create an illusion, saying, "It is about fantasy and the illusion. It's about the work that goes into the art form. It was never meant to be an absolutely truthful documentary look at drag." Candis Cayne , who appears in

12600-474: The "road movie genre as a narrative framework for...gross-out sex comedy". The director of Airbag , Juanma Bajo Ulloa , states that he aimed to make fun of the road movie genre as established in North America, while still using the metamorphosis through road trip narrative that is popular in the genre (in this case, the main male character rejects his upper class girlfriend in favour of a prostitute he meets on

12780-462: The "road picture" as a separate genre came only in the 1960s with Bonnie and Clyde and Easy Rider . Road movies were an important genre in the late 1960s and 1970s era of the New Hollywood , with films such as Terrence Malick 's Badlands and Richard Sarafian 's Vanishing Point (1971) showing an influence from Bonnie and Clyde . There may have been influences from French cinema in

12960-443: The 1930s focused on couples, in post-World War II films, usually the travellers are male buddies, although in some cases, women are depicted on the road, either as temporary companions, or more rarely, as the protagonist couple (e.g., Thelma & Louise from 1991). The genre can also be parodied, or have protagonists that depart from the typical heterosexual couple or buddy paradigm, as with The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of

13140-516: The 1940s internment of Japanese Canadians by the Canadian government (e.g., Lise Yasui 's Family Gathering (1988), Rea Tajiri 's History and Memory (1991) and Janet Tanaka 's Memories from the Department of Amnesia (1991). European filmmakers of road movies appropriate the conventions established by American directors, while at the same time reformulating these approaches, by de-emphasizing

13320-462: The Country column is the country of origin and/or financing, and does not necessarily represent the country or countries depicted in each film. Universal Pictures (International) Spartacus (film) Spartacus is a 1960 American epic historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas in the title role , a slave who leads a rebellion against Rome during

13500-404: The Desert (1994), which depicts a group of drag queens who tour the Australian desert. Other examples of the increasing diversity of the drivers shown in 1990s and subsequent decades' road films are The Living End (1992), about two gay, HIV-positive men on a road trip; To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995), which is about drag queens, and Smoke Signals (1998), which

13680-466: The Home for Invalids (2017). Some other movies incorporate a large portion of road movie style, for example Morphine (2008), Leviathan (2014), Cargo 200 (2007), Donbass (2018). With themes ranging from crime, corruption and power to history, addiction and existence, road movies became an independent part of cinematic landscape. From the strong flow of existentialism, to the black comedy style,

13860-465: The National Legion of Decency. When the film was restored (two years after Olivier's death), the original dialogue recording of this scene was missing; it had to be redubbed . Tony Curtis, by then 66, was able to re-record his part, but Crassus' voice was an impersonation of Olivier by Anthony Hopkins , who had been suggested by Olivier's widow, Joan Plowright . A talented mimic, Hopkins had been

14040-651: The Road (1976). All three films were shot by cinematographer Robby Müller and mostly take place in West Germany . Kings of the Road includes stillness, which is unusual for road movies, and quietness (except for the rock soundtrack). Other road movies by Wenders include Paris, Texas and Until the End of the World . Wender's road movies "filter nomadic excursions through a pensive Germanic lens" and depict "somber drifters coming to terms with their internal scars". France has

14220-585: The Side (1995), in that they show a "less traditional" and more "visible, innovative, introspective, and realistic" type of woman onscreen. Spanish road movies about women include Hola, ¿estás sola? , Lisboa , Fugitivas , Retorno a Hansala , and Sin Dejar Huella address social issues about women, such as the "injustice and mistreatment" that women experience under "authoritarian patriarchal order." Fugitivas depicts an American road movie genre convention:

14400-1085: The US road movie's focus on the theme of individual freedom, French movies also balance this value with equality and fraternity, according to the French Republican model of liberty-equality-fraternity. Neil Archer states that French and other Francophone (e.g., Belgium, Switzerland) road films focus on "displacement and identity", notably in regards to maghrebin immigrants and young people (e.g., Yamina Benguigui 's Inch'Allah Dimanche (2001), Ismaël Ferroukhi 's La Fille de Keltoum (2001) and Tony Gatlif 's Exils (2004). More broadly, European films are tending to use imagery of border-crossing and focusing on "marginal identities and economic migration", which can be seen in Lukas Moodysson 's Lilja 4-ever (2002), Michael Winterbottom's In This World (2002) and Ulrich Seidl 's Import/Export (2007). European road movies also examine post-colonialism , "disclocation, memory and identity". Road movies from Spain have

14580-737: The [history of] the cinema, about the culture of the image", with road movies created with a mixture of Classical Hollywood film genres. The road movie genre developed from a "constellation of “solid” modernity, combining locomotion and media-motion" to get "away from the sedentarising forces of modernity and produc[e] contingency". Road movies are blended with other genres to create a number of subgenres, including: road horror (e.g., Near Dark from 1987); road comedies (e.g., Flirting with Disaster from 1996); road racing films (e.g., Death Race 2000 from 1975) and rock concert tour films (e.g., Almost Famous from 2000). Film noir road movies include Detour (1945), Desperate , The Devil Thumbs

14760-501: The amusement of his companions arranges for Spartacus and others to fight to the death. When Spartacus is disarmed, his opponent, an Ethiopian named Draba, spares his life in a burst of defiance and attacks the Roman audience, only to be speared in the back by a guard and killed by Crassus. The next day, with the ludus' atmosphere still tense over this episode, Batiatus sends Varinia away to Crassus' house in Rome. Spartacus kills Marcellus, who

14940-461: The car crash experience", a subject matter which led to Ted Turner lobbying against the film being shown in US theatres. Asian-Canadian filmmakers have made road films about the experience of Canadians of Asian origin, such as Ann Marie Fleming 's The Magical Life of Long Tak Sam , which is about her search for her "Chinese grandfather, an itinerant magician and acrobat". Other Asian-Canadian road movies look at their relatives experiences during

15120-406: The climactic scene as the defeated slaves, ordered by Crassus to identify their leader from the multitude, individually stand up and proclaim, "I'm Spartacus". Howard Fast, author of the original novel, had written Spartacus while in prison for refusing to name names to HUAC investigators. The fight to end segregation and to extend equality to African Americans is symbolized in the racial mixing in

15300-442: The comedy comes across as a celebration of openness, alternative lifestyles and bonding, all life-affirming values that in the 1990s are beyond reproach—or real controversy". Swayze and Leguizamo were nominated at the 1996 Golden Globe Awards , for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and Best Supporting Actor , respectively. The film was nominated for Outstanding Film at the 1996 GLAAD Media Awards . To Wong Foo

15480-420: The country's history, current situation, and to anxieties about the future. The Mad Max films, including Mad Max , The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome , "have become canonical for their dystopic reinvention of the outback as a post-human wasteland where survival depends upon manic driving skills". Other Australian road movies include Peter Weir 's The Cars That Ate Paris (1974), about

15660-590: The countryside near Guadalajara and Iriépal . Disputes broke out during the filming. Cinematographer Russell Metty , a veteran with experience working in big pictures such as Orson Welles ' The Stranger (1946) and Touch of Evil (1958) and Howard Hawks 's Bringing Up Baby (1938), complained about Kubrick's unusually precise and detailed instructions for the film's camerawork, and disagreed with Kubrick's use of light. On one occasion, he threatened to quit to Ed Muhl, to which Kubrick told him: "You can do your job by sitting in your chair and shutting up. I'll be

15840-480: The creation of Bonnie and Clyde ; David Newman and Robert Benton have stated that they were influenced by Jean-Luc Godard 's A bout de souffle (1960) and François Truffaut 's Tirez sur la pianiste (1960). More generally, Devin Orgeron states that American road movies were based on post-WW II European cinema's own take on the American road film approach, showing a mutual influence between US and European filmmakers in this genre. The addition of violence to

16020-411: The destructive power of cars and the country’s harsh, sparsely populated land mass ". Australian road movies have been described as having a dystopian or gothic tone, as the road the characters travel on is often a "dead end", with the journey being more about "inward-looking" exploration than reaching the intended location. In Australia, road movies have been called a "complex metaphor" which refers to

16200-455: The director of photography." Metty later muted his criticisms after winning the Oscar for Best Cinematography . Kubrick wanted to shoot at a slow pace of two camera set-ups a day, but the studio insisted that he do 32; a compromise of eight had to be made. Kubrick and Trumbo fought constantly over the screenplay. Kubrick complained that the character of Spartacus had no faults or quirks. Despite

16380-514: The drag trio dining at a McDonald's was scrapped after the company told producers they did not want to be associated with drag queen culture. Coca-Cola agreed to product placement , and a billboard for the soda company is featured in a prominent scene in the film. The Australian film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was released in 1994 and became an international and critical hit. To Wong Foo shares certain plot details with Priscilla , which also concerns two drag queens and

16560-401: The dramatic movement-based sequences that predominate in action films . Road movies do not typically use the standard three-act structure used in mainstream films; instead, an "open-ended, rambling plot structure" is used. The road movie keeps its characters "on the move", and as such the "car, the tracking shot , [and] wide and wild open space" are important iconography elements, similar to

16740-515: The ensuing battle, most of the slave army is massacred. The Romans try to locate the rebel leader for special punishment by offering a pardon (and return to enslavement) if the men will identify Spartacus. Every surviving man responds by shouting "I'm Spartacus!". Crassus has them all sentenced to death by crucifixion along the Via Appia , where the revolt began. Meanwhile, after finding Varinia and Spartacus' newborn son, Crassus takes them prisoner. He

16920-459: The events of the Third Servile War . Adapted by Dalton Trumbo from Howard Fast 's 1951 novel of the same title , the film also stars Laurence Olivier as Roman general and politician Marcus Licinius Crassus , Charles Laughton as Sempronius Gracchus , Peter Ustinov as slave trader Lentulus Batiatus , and John Gavin as Julius Caesar . Jean Simmons played Spartacus' wife Varinia,

17100-514: The exploitation of migrant workers. It was India's Official Entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the 87th Academy Awards . It won special prize at Sofia International Film Festival . In Karwaan , the protagonist is forced to set out on a road trip from Bengaluru to Kochi after he loses his father in an accident, but the body delivered to him is of the mother of a woman in another state. Ryan Gilbey of The Guardian

17280-399: The film "achieves the unlikely triumph of being intimate on a big scale, a lengthy spectacle consistently interesting for reasons that may vary from scene to scene." Harrison's Reports graded the film as "Very Good. A thinking man's star-studded spectacle." Brendan Gill of The New Yorker wrote that the protagonist's speeches "sound much more like Howard Fast ... talking to himself in

17460-522: The film a "spotty, uneven drama" that "comes out a romantic mishmash of a strange episode in history. The performances are equally uneven. Mr Douglas sets his blunt, horse-opera style against the toga-clad precision of Mr Laughton and the Roman-nosed gentility of Sir Laurence Olivier." The Monthly Film Bulletin found it "disappointing" that "in spite of enormous expenditure, technical resource and an unusually talented team, so much of Spartacus falls into

17640-481: The film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F. Though critical reviews were mixed, the performances of the three leads were roundly praised. Joe Brown of The Washington Post called the film "fiercely funny" and wrote, "Three snaps up for Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo, who walk the walk, and work it." Emanuel Levy of Variety gave a mixed review but wrote, "Sporting blond wigs, Snipes admirably wiggles his hips while wearing high-heeled red shoes. Using

17820-499: The film and its promotion is "eager to wink and snicker at homosexuality". The film's omission of "any hint of gay sexuality" was noted by Janet Maslin of The New York Times , as well as Brown of the Post , who decried the fact that "always in the (admittedly few) mainstream movies with gay characters, [the film's] hero-ines" do not get to partake in the film's romantic story arcs, and appear to only function as asexual fairy godmothers for

18000-447: The film and prove that a successful epic could be made in Hollywood itself, and "stem the flood of 'runaway' producers heading for Europe". A compromise was reached by filming the intimate scenes in Hollywood, and the battle scenes, at Kubrick's request, in Spain. Kubrick found working outdoors or in real locations to be distracting, and he believed the actors would benefit more from working on

18180-466: The film as herself. The film was released on September 8, 1995, and held the number one spot in the North American box office for two weeks with a worldwide gross of $ 47.8 million. Critical response was mixed, with particular criticism towards the plot and its familiar elements, but the performances of Swayze, Snipes, and Leguizamo were lauded. At the 53rd Golden Globe Awards , Swayze was nominated for

18360-417: The film being a huge box-office success, gaining four Oscars, and being considered to rank among the very best of historical epics, Kubrick later distanced himself from it. Although his personal mark is a distinct part of the final picture, his contract did not give him complete control over the filming, the only occasion he did not exercise such control over one of his films. The original score for Spartacus

18540-451: The film has an approval rating of 48% based on 46 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The site's consensus states: " To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar seeks to celebrate individuality, but is too timid and predictable to achieve its admittedly noble aims." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 based on reviews from 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave

18720-410: The film is very "conscious of its ironies [as] Swayze and Snipes were both box-office draws known for hypermasculine and romantic leading roles; the perceived incongruity of dressing them in drag is part of what fuels the comedy". In this way, Kumar wrote, " To Wong Foo plays on viewers' suspension of disbelief (Swayze and Snipes, in particular, are clearly recognizable under their women's garb)" and that

18900-578: The film on UHD Blu-ray . The 2015 restoration had originally been scheduled to have its theatrical premiere in March 2015 at the TCM Classic Film Festival , but was pulled from the festival, and from a July 2015 engagement in Chicago, because the restoration had not been completed in time. The DCP version of the restoration played at Film Forum in New York City, November 4–12, 2015. Spartacus

19080-448: The film's iconic love theme, adapted by numerous modern film composers and other musicians. The DVD contained a documentary interviewing those same musicians about the score's impact. The film parallels 1950s American history, specifically House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings and the civil rights movement . The HUAC hearings, where witnesses were pressured to "name names" of communists and communist sympathizers, mirror

19260-477: The film's release occasioned applause from the mainstream media, it sparked protest from right-wing and anticommunist groups such as the National Legion of Decency , which picketed theaters exhibiting the film. The controversy over its "legitimacy as an expression of national aspirations" continued until newly elected US President John F. Kennedy crossed a picket line set up by anti-communist organizers to attend

19440-473: The film's title to the shorter Ladies' Night or She's a Lady , Beane's script managed to keep the original title, which came from an autographed picture of Julie Newmar that Beane saw on the wall of a Times Square Chinese restaurant in the mid-1980s. Beane said Wong Foo is meant to be a metaphor for God, "because you have to thank God for everything. You have to be grateful for life. You just have to stop where you are and say thank you for everything." A scene

19620-493: The film, said its fantasy element can also be seen as problematic, "[perpetuating] an idea that transgender identity is nothing but make-believe ". Drag queen Alaska Thunderfuck said that what the film does best is "the camaraderie between the girls... the way they look out for each other and protect one another. The movie also illustrates the transformative power of drag. It helps people become empowered, no matter where they come from or what kind of life they lead". In 2017, it

19800-541: The film, the production of To Wong Foo has been described as "a tough shoot", partly due to the discomfort the male leads experienced with their extensive makeup and costumes. On location filming and a 4½-month-long shoot also contributed to friction among cast and crew. Kidron was pregnant when she accepted the directing job. As her due date drew nearer, Spielberg offered to step in and direct for her if needed. Kidron ultimately completed principal photography and gave birth immediately after filming wrapped. A scene involving

19980-587: The film, which was donated to the Museum of Modern Art , could not be used for the restoration because it was considered archival. The original studio black-and-white separation prints, used as a backup in 1960, were used, though the processing lab had to develop a new lens capable of printing the Technirama frame without losing fidelity. The restoration cost about $ 1 million. A team of 30 archivists restored several violent battle sequences that had been left out because of

20160-399: The film, writing in particular: "He seemed scared of the scope of the picture ... He let Peter Ustinov direct his own scenes by taking every suggestion Peter made. The suggestions were good—for Peter, but not necessarily for the film." On February 13, Mann left (or was fired from) the production. Mann did not discuss the reasons for his departure until 1967, in which he stated: "Kirk Douglas

20340-658: The film. The film opened to the public on October 6, 1960, at the DeMille Theatre in New York City after four days of invitational previews. It played just 188 theatres in the United States and Canada in its first year and played for over a year at the DeMille before moving to the RKO Palace and opening in the New York circuit theaters around Thanksgiving 1961. The film was re-released in 1967, without 23 minutes that had been in

20520-405: The film. He and Douglas felt that she wasn't right for the role, so she was paid $ 3,000 to go home. Bethmann was replaced with Jean Simmons, who had been campaigning for the role. Douglas had originally chosen to cast Bethmann over Simmons because he imagined Varinia having a strikingly different accent from the aristocratic Romans, who were to be played mostly by actors with British accents. Simmons

20700-413: The foibles of humankind. The most entertaining performance in the movie, consistently funny, is by Ustinov, who upstages everybody when he is onscreen (he won an Oscar)." On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 94% based on 63 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The critical consensus states: "Featuring terrific performances and epic action, Kubrick's restored swords-and-sandals epic

20880-589: The genre. The British Film Institute highlights ten post-2000 road films that show that "[t]here’s still plenty of gas left in the road movie genre". The BFI's top 10 include Andrea Arnold ’s American Honey (2016), which used "mostly non-professional actors"; Alfonso Cuarón 's Y tu mamá también (2001), about Mexican teens on the road; The Brown Bunny (2003), which garnered publicity for its "infamous fellatio scene"; Walter Salles ' The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), about Che Guevera's epic motorcycle trip; Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass ' The Puffy Chair (2005),

21060-455: The gladiatorial school, as well as in the army of Spartacus, where all must battle for freedom. Another allusion to the political situation in the United States is hinted at in the beginning, when Rome is described as a republic "fatally stricken with a disease called human slavery", describing Spartacus as a "proud, rebellious son dreaming of the death of slavery, 2000 years before it finally would die". Thus an ethical and political vision becomes

21240-468: The groundwork for the future road films, as it showed a couple who rebelled against social norms by leaving their familiar location and going on an aimless, meandering journey. Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) depicts a family that struggles to survive on the road during the Great Depression, a book that has been called "America's best-known proletarian road saga". The movie version of

21420-406: The group, making it as large as an army. Among the new arrivals is Varinia, who escaped while being delivered to Crassus. Another is Antoninus, a slave entertainer who also fled Crassus' service after finding out Crassus expected Antoninus to become his sex slave. Spartacus feels inadequate because of his lack of education. However, he proves an excellent leader and organizes his diverse followers into

21600-453: The hands of his own protégé , the young senator Julius Caesar . Although Caesar lacks Crassus' contempt for the lower classes of Rome, he mistakes the man's rigid outlook for a patrician . Thus, when Gracchus reveals that he has bribed the Cilicians to get Spartacus out of Italy and rid Rome of the slave army, Caesar regards such tactics as beneath him and goes over to Crassus. Crassus uses

21780-453: The heterosexual couple are united by their involvement in murder; as well, with jail hanging over their heads, there can be no return to domestic life at the end of the film. There have been three historical eras of the "outlaw-rebel" road movie: the post-WW II film noir era (e.g., Detour ), the late 1960s era which was rocked by the Vietnam War ( Easy Rider and Bonnie and Clyde ), and

21960-571: The inexperienced "drag princess" Chi-Chi Rodriguez as their protégé (they initially refer to him simply as a "boy in a dress" rather than as a full-fledged drag queen). To do this, they cash in their plane tickets to a friend, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt (a "Camp" name, which in reality is the title of a song ), and use the money to buy a yellow convertible 1967 Cadillac DeVille. They set off for Los Angeles in it, carrying with them an iconic autographed photo of Julie Newmar (signed "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar") that Vida took from

22140-457: The job." The film featured dozens of New York City's drag performers and underground stars in small roles or as featured extras. Included in the mix were RuPaul , Joey Arias , Lady Bunny , Miss Understood , Candis Cayne , Flotilla DeBarge, Miss Coco Peru , Lady Catiria , and Quentin Crisp . The three lead actors spent time in the local drag scene while researching their roles and were each given

22320-410: The lives of the townspeople, including offering assistance in organizing the Strawberry Social. Meanwhile, Sheriff Dollard is ridiculed by his colleagues, who believe he was beaten up by a girl. He goes in search of the drag queens. Vida becomes acutely aware of Carol Ann's abuse at the hands of Virgil and, one night, decides to intervene, beating Virgil up before throwing him out of the house. Carol Ann

22500-422: The music is written without a tonal center , or flirts with tonality in ways that most film composers would not risk. One theme is used to represent both slavery and freedom but is given different values in different scenes so that it sounds like different themes. The love theme for Spartacus and Varinia is the most accessible theme in the film, and a harsh trumpet figure was created for Crassus. A soundtrack album

22680-400: The negative reaction of preview audiences. Among the deleted footage was a bath scene in which the Roman patrician and general Crassus attempts to seduce his slave Antoninus, speaking about the analogy of "eating oysters" and "eating snails" to express his opinion that sexual preference is a matter of taste rather than morality. The four-minute scene had been removed following an objection by

22860-715: The nineteen-fifties than they do like an illiterate warrior of the first century before Christ. What redeems the picture is several stretches of good acting, especially by Peter Ustinov and Laurence Olivier; the intrinsic interestingness of the physical details (accurately scaled interiors of Roman houses, Roman legions marching exactly as they must have marched); and the directorial aplomb of Stanley Kubrick, who handles his crowd scenes with extraordinary grace." Stanley Kauffmann writing for The New Republic said of Spartacus , "entertaining if mindless show, with many well-done scenes, intimate and panoramic." Not all reviews were positive. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called

23040-443: The novel, made a year later, depicts the hungry, weary family's travel on Route 66 using "montage sequences, reflected images of the road on windshields and mirrors", and shots taken from the driver's point of view to create a sense of movement and place. Even though Henry Miller's The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (1947) is not a fictional work, it captures the mood of frustration, restlessness and aimlessness that became prevalent in

23220-483: The number-one position with $ 9 million and remained at the top in its second week with a gross of $ 6.5 million. Its lifetime box-office gross revenue totaled US$ 47.8 million worldwide. Professional golfer Chi-Chi Rodríguez sued the production company and distributor over the use of his name in the film, eventually settling on undisclosed terms. The film was released on VHS after its theatrical release and on DVD on January 7, 2003, with several deleted scenes. It

23400-544: The old ruts of cliché and sentiment." The review noted that Douglas "probably has fewer lines than any other hero in screen history. Unhappily he does not make up for his verbal deficiencies by mobility of countenance, maintaining the same wooden grimace through more than three hours of trial and suffering." When released, the movie was attacked by both the American Legion and the Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper because of its connection with Trumbo. Hopper stated, "The story

23580-578: The open road as a "utopian fantasy" with a homogenous culture while others show it as a "dystopian nightmare" of extreme cultural differences. US road movies depict the wide open, vast spaces of the highways as symbolizing the "scale and notionally utopian" opportunities to move up upwards and outwards in life. In US road movies, the road is an "alternative space" where the characters, now set apart from conventional society, can experience transformation. For example, in It Happened One Night (1934),

23760-419: The original negatives had been cut twice and the colors were badly faded. Steven Spielberg gave his backing to the restoration effort and recommended that Stanley Kubrick be informed of the project. Kubrick, who had disowned the film, gave his approval to the effort and participated by providing detailed instructions through long-distance communication via phone and fax machine from London. Kubrick's print of

23940-469: The original release. For the 1991 release, the same 23 minutes were restored by Robert A. Harris , as were another five minutes that had been cut from the film before its original release. The idea for the film's restoration came about after the American Cinematheque asked Universal Pictures for a print of Spartacus following its then-recent tribute to Kirk Douglas. They were later informed that

24120-418: The plot. Credit for that belongs to Swayze, Snipes and Leguizamo, who are surprisingly good at playing drag queens." While Ebert gave the film 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 stars out of four, his colleague Gene Siskel gave a more positive review and predicted an Oscar nomination for Swayze. Multiple critics pointed out the film's similarities to The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and said To Wong Foo

24300-513: The poet, "First among cities and home of the Gods is Golden Rome." Yet even at the zenith of her pride and power, the Republic lay fatally stricken with the disease called human slavery. The age of the dictator was at hand, waiting in shadows for the event to bring it forth. In that same century, in the conquered Greek province of Thrace, an illiterate slave woman added to her master's wealth by giving birth to

24480-613: The post-Reagan era of the 1990s, when the "masculinist heroics of the Gulf War gave way to closer scrutiny" ( My Own Private Idaho , Thelma & Louise and Natural Born Killers ). In the 1970s, there were low-budget outlaw films depicting chases, such as Eddie Macon's Run . In the 1980s, there were rural Southern road movies such as Smokey and the Bandit and the Cannonball Run chase films of 1981 and 1984. The outlaw couple movie

24660-414: The pre-WW II era was changed by the publication of Jack Kerouac 's On the Road in 1957, as it sketched out the future for the road movie and provided its "master narrative" of exploration, questing, and journeying. The book includes many descriptions of driving in cars. It also depicted the character Sal Paradise, a middle class college student who goes on the road to seek material for his writing career,

24840-571: The proceeds going towards the AFI Preservation Fund and the Film Foundation . The general release began in Los Angeles, New York City, and Toronto on the following day. On May 3, the release was expanded into an additional 31 cities in the United States and Canada. The film was first released on VHS in 1985 by MCA Home Video in a reconstructed version that reinstated most of the footage cut from subsequent reissues. The restored version

25020-407: The public announcement of Trumbo's screenwriting credit for Spartacus did not come until August 1960, seven months after producer-director Otto Preminger 's January 20, 1960, announcement that he had hired Trumbo to adapt Leon Uris ' novel Exodus for the screen . Douglas later successfully denied Trumbo credit for the film Town Without Pity , as he worried that his continued association with

25200-490: The quest and the outlaw chase. In the quest-style film, the story meanders as the characters make discoveries (e.g., Two-Lane Blacktop from 1971). In outlaw road movies, in which the characters are fleeing from law enforcement, there is usually more sex and violence (e.g., Natural Born Killers from 1994). Road films tend to focus more on characters' internal conflicts and transformations, based on their feelings as they experience new realities on their trip, rather than on

25380-457: The road movie experienced a new revival. Most precious are pieces from Sergei Loznitsa , in his early work My Joy (2010) he used black noir style to tell the story of people falling together with destruction of governments after the fall of the Soviet Union. In his later work Donbass (2018), he takes an opposing style, turning to black comedy and satire to underline actual war tragedies in

25560-436: The road movie. In the book, which describe's Miller's cross-country journey across the United States, he criticizes the nation's descent into materialism. Western films such as John Ford 's Stagecoach (1939) have been called "proto-road movies." In the film, an unusual group of travellers, including a banker, prostitute, escaped prisoner and a military officer's wife, move through the dangerous desert trails. Even though

25740-641: The road). Airbag also uses Spanish equivalents to the stock road movie setting and iconography, depicting "deserts, casinos and road clubs" and use the road movie action sequences (chases, car explosions, and crashes) that remind the viewer of similar work by Tony Scott and Oliver Stone . A second subtype of Spanish road movies is more influenced by the female road movies from the US, such as Martin Scorsese 's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Jonathan Demme 's Crazy Mama (1975), Ridley Scott 's Thelma & Louise (1991), and Herbert Ross ' Boys on

25920-459: The roads of Sweden and picking up hitchhikers and Jean-Luc Godard 's Pierrot le fou (1965) about law-breaking lovers escaping on the road. Both of these films, as well as Roberto Rossellini 's Voyage in Italy (1953) and Godard's Weekend (1967) have more "existential sensibility" or pauses for "philosophical digressions of a European bent", as compared with American road films. Three Men and

26100-529: The role of Varinia to French actress Jeanne Moreau , but she did not want to leave her boyfriend in France. German actress Sabine Bethmann was then cast. The studio gave her the anglicized name of "Sabina Bethman" for use in the film's publicity, but she was replaced by Jean Simmons after only days of filming. Howard Fast was initially hired to adapt his own novel into a screenplay. After 60 days had passed, Kirk Douglas read Fast's first draft, which he described as

26280-513: The screenplay. Fast refused to follow Trumbo's treatment, so Douglas hired Trumbo to write the final screenplay. Lewis was to serve as the front for Trumbo, with the latter receiving payments directed to his pseudonym "Sam Jackson". Douglas insisted that Trumbo be given screen credit for his work, which helped to break the blacklist. Trumbo had been jailed for contempt of Congress in 1950, after which he had survived by writing screenplays under assumed names. Douglas publicly announced that Trumbo

26460-478: The screenwriter would hurt his career. David Lean was offered but turned down an offer to direct Spartacus . Anthony Mann , best known for his Westerns which included Winchester '73 (1950) and The Naked Spur (1953), was instead hired. Filming started on January 27, 1959, in Death Valley , California for the opening sequence in the quarry. As filming continued, Douglas felt Mann had lost control of

26640-575: The sexual tension of road movies in the late 1960s and in subsequent decades can be seen as a way to create more excitement and "frisson". From the 1930s to 1960s, merely showing a man and woman on a road trip was exciting for audience, as all the motel stays and closeness had implied, yet deferred, consummation of the sexual attraction between the characters (sex could not be depicted due to the Motion Picture Production Code ). With Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Natural Born Killers (1994),

26820-436: The slave "has quality". Amid the abuse, Spartacus forms a quiet relationship with Varinia, a serving woman whom he refuses to rape when she is sent to "entertain" him in his cell. The two are forced to endure numerous humiliations for defying the conditions of servitude. Batiatus receives a visit from the wealthy Roman senator Marcus Licinius Crassus , who aims to become dictator of Rome. Crassus eventually buys Varinia, and for

27000-456: The south", in United States. Canadian road films include Donald Shebib 's Goin' Down the Road (1970), three Bruce McDonald films ( Roadkill (1989), Highway 61 (1991), and Hard Core Logo (1996), a mockumentary about a punk rock band's road tour), Malcolm Ingram 's Tail Lights Fade (1999) and Gary Burns ' The Suburbanators (1995). David Cronenberg 's Crash (1996) depicted drivers who get "perverse sexual arousal through

27180-493: The speed of the driver on the road, increasing the amount of introspection (often on themes such as national identity), and depicting the road trip as a search on the part of the characters. The German filmmaker Wim Wenders explored the American themes of road movies through his European reference point in his Road Movie trilogy in the mid-1970s. They include Alice in the Cities (1974), The Wrong Move (1975), and Kings of

27360-408: The title of Drag Queen of the Year. The crown is presented by Julie Newmar herself. Writer Douglas Carter Beane originally envisioned the script as a stage play but changed his mind when he realized putting a car on stage might not work. Beane was inspired by an anti-gay propaganda film called The Gay Agenda . Of that film, Beane said, "There's a scene where they show drag queens going through

27540-573: The townspeople of Snydersville. In a positive review, Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "It's a distant cry from the reality of gay bashings, poverty and evictions that real-life drag queens suffer—which may be part of its point. Imagine, Wong Foo suggests, a world where people stopped judging one another and simply surrendered to the silliness that's dormant inside us." The Austin Chronicle ' s Alison Macor shared

27720-465: The travellers are so unlike each other, the mutual danger they must face in travelling through Geronimo 's Apache territory requires them to work together to create a "utopia of...community". The difference between older stories about wandering characters and the road movie is technological: with road movies, the hero travels by car, motorcycle, bus or train, making road movies a representation of modernity's advantages and social ills. The on-the-road plot

27900-610: Was blacklisted at the time as one of the Hollywood Ten . Douglas publicly announced that Trumbo was the screenwriter of Spartacus , and President John F. Kennedy crossed American Legion picket lines to view the film, helping to end blacklisting; Howard Fast's book had also been blacklisted and he had to self-publish the original edition. The film won four Academy Awards ( Best Supporting Actor for Ustinov, Best Cinematography , Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design ) from six nominations. It also received six nominations at

28080-583: Was a commercial success upon its release and became the highest-grossing film of 1960 . In its first year from 304 dates (including 116 in 25 countries outside the US and Canada), it had grossed $ 17 million, including nearly $ 1.5 million from over half a million admission in over a year at the DeMille Theatre. By January 1963, the film had earned theatrical rentals of $ 14 million in the United States and Canada. The 1967 re-release increased its North American rentals to $ 14.6 million. Variety declared in

28260-523: Was announced that Douglas Carter Beane and his husband Lewis Flinn were working on a musical adaptation for Broadway . In an interview, Beane stated that he had originally written To Wong Foo for the stage and had retained stage rights when the screenplay was produced. The musical premiered at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester on October 21, 2023. Road film There are two main narratives:

28440-547: Was broadly positive about Zoya Akhtar 's Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara ; he wrote, "It's still playing to full houses, and you can see why. Slick it may be. But tourist board employees representing the various Spanish cities flattered in the movie are not the only ones who will come out grinning", and that he found the movie "stubbornly un-macho" for a buddy film. Piku tells the story of the short-tempered Piku Banerjee ( Deepika Padukone ), her grumpy, aging father Bhashkor ( Amitabh Bachchan ) and Rana Chaudhary ( Irrfan Khan ), who

28620-472: Was composed and conducted by six-time Academy Award -nominee Alex North . It was nominated by the American Film Institute for its list of greatest film scores. It is a textbook example of how modernist compositional styles can be adapted to the Hollywood leitmotif technique. North's score is epic, as befits the scale of the film. After extensive research of music of that period, North gathered

28800-572: Was filmed where the characters provide more context, but it was deleted. When it came to casting the leading men, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo (for whom the role of Chi-Chi Rodriguez was specifically written) both immediately said yes. Many actors were considered for the role of Vida Boheme, including Robert Downey Jr. , William Baldwin , Gary Oldman , Matthew Broderick , James Spader , John Cusack , Mel Gibson , Robert Sean Leonard , Willem Dafoe , John Turturro , Matt Dillon , Rob Lowe , Johnny Depp , Tom Cruise , and Robin Williams (who has

28980-404: Was highly controversial and did poorly in sales. In 2015, for its 55th anniversary, the film went through an extensive 4K digital restoration , from a 6K scan of the 1991 reconstruction of the film, in which Robert A. Harris served as consultant. The 2015 restoration is 12 minutes longer and the original, six-channel audio track was also remixed and remastered in 7.1 surround sound. The film

29160-458: Was hired to take over. He had already directed four feature films (including Paths of Glory , also starring Douglas). Spartacus was a bigger project by far, with a budget of $ 12 million (equivalent to about $ 125   million in 2023) and a cast of 10,500, a daunting project for such a young director. Paths of Glory , his previous film, had only been budgeted at $ 935,000. Kubrick immediately fired Sabine Bethmann, who had only worked two days on

29340-511: Was later placed on hold as the weather conditions in Europe grew unsuitable for filming. Brynner then chose to film The Magnificent Seven (1960) instead. By the fall of 1958, Universal Studios eventually agreed to finance the film after Douglas persuaded Olivier, Laughton, and Ustinov to act in it. Olivier was also to direct the picture. Lewis became the producer of the film, with Douglas taking executive producer credit. Douglas originally offered

29520-479: Was partly instigated by Kirk Douglas's failure to win the title role in William Wyler 's Ben-Hur (1959). Douglas had worked with Wyler before on Detective Story (1951), and was disappointed when Wyler chose Charlton Heston , instead. Shortly after, Edward Lewis , a vice president for Douglas's film company, Bryna Productions (named after Douglas's mother), had read Howard Fast's novel, Spartacus , which had

29700-468: Was re-released to Blu-ray Disc on October 6, 2015, featuring a 1080p transfer of the 2015 restoration in 2.20:1 aspect ratio and 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio surround sound. Special features include a featurette on the 2015 restoration, a 2015 interview with Kirk Douglas, and several features from the Criterion Collection DVD. On July 21, 2020, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released

29880-434: Was reinvented in the 1990s with a postmodernist take in films such as Wild at Heart , Kalifornia and True Romance . While the first road movies described the discovery of new territories or pushing the boundaries of a nation, which was a core message of early Western films in the United States, road movies were later used to show how national identities were changing, such as which Edgar G. Ulmer ’s Detour (1945),

30060-610: Was released as a special collector's edition Blu-ray by Shout! Factory on May 28, 2019. The edition includes the behind-the-scenes documentary Easy Rider in Dresses: A Look Back at the Making of To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar , which features interviews with screenwriter Douglas Carter Beane, director Beeban Kidron, and John Leguizamo. In Sweden the film was titled High Heels and released in May 1996 on VHS . On Rotten Tomatoes ,

30240-500: Was released on LP in 1960, containing selections from the score totaling 41 minutes. This album was released on CD in 1990, to coincide with the film's restoration. Soon after, Varèse Sarabande Records attempted to re-record 75 minutes of highlights from the score personally chosen by North, to be conducted by his friend and fellow film composer Jerry Goldsmith , but the project was delayed multiple times and remained unrecorded when Goldsmith died in 2004. In 2010, Varèse Sarabande released

30420-462: Was released on VHS by MCA/Universal in November 1991, and was subsequently released on LaserDisc by The Criterion Collection the following year. Criterion would later release the movie on DVD in 2001. The film was released on Blu-ray in 2010 by Universal Pictures , but this release was panned by critics and fans alike, mainly due to the lackluster picture quality and sound. As a result, this release

30600-599: Was set to direct, and he was incensed after learning about Douglas's rival project. Lewis then proposed merging the two projects, with Douglas and Brynner in leading roles. Brynner declined the offer, and proceeded to film The Gladiators after Ritt had finished editing The Sound and the Fury (1959). Douglas's agent Lew Wasserman suggested he try having his film produced for Universal Studios. With Dalton Trumbo's screenplay being completed in two weeks, Universal and Douglas pulled ahead of Brynner's rival project. Brynner's project

30780-428: Was sold to Universal from a book written by a commie and the screen script was written by a commie, so don't go to see it." Roger Ebert , reviewing the 1991 restored version, gave the film three stars out of four and wrote, "Two things stand up best over the years: the power of the battle spectacles, and the strength of certain performances – especially Olivier's fire, Douglas' strength, and Laughton's mild amusement at

30960-532: Was still available and took over the role in the film with only a day's notice. Spartacus was filmed using the 35 mm Super 70 Technirama format and then blown up to 70 mm film . This was a change for Kubrick, who preferred using the standard spherical format . This process allowed him to achieve ultra-high definition and to capture large panoramic scenes. Kubrick had wanted to shoot the picture in Rome with cheap extras and resources, but Edward Muhl , president of Universal Pictures, wanted to make an example of

31140-492: Was subpar in comparison due to the predictability of its plot, script and tonal unevenness. The decision to have the leads spend most of the film in drag, even going to bed in their wigs and makeup, was also criticized as straining credulity. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote screenwriter Beane and director Kidron "don't seem to know any way to emphasize the humanity of their characters except by swaddling them in mushy cliches". Actor and writer Michael Kearns argued

31320-465: Was sufficiently different from Priscilla. The success of Priscilla , along with the popularity of drag queens like RuPaul and the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning , is credited with helping pave the way for To Wong Foo . The film's soundtrack was released on August 29, 1995. It consists of eleven tracks: Music and songs not included in the soundtrack: To Wong Foo was released wide in North American theaters on September 8, 1995. It opened at

31500-424: Was taunting him over his affections, and their fight escalates into a riot. Batiatus flees while the gladiators overwhelm their guards and escape into the countryside. Spartacus is elected chief of the fugitives and decides to lead them out of Italy and back to their homes. They plunder country estates as they go, collecting enough money to buy sea transport from Rome's foes, the pirates of Cilicia . Many slaves join

31680-818: Was the producer of Spartacus : he wanted to insist on the message angle. I thought the message would go over more easily by showing physically all the horrors of slavery. A film must be visual, too much dialogue kills it ... From then, we disagreed: I left." A year later, Mann directed another epic of similar size, El Cid (1961). Large parts of the film were shot at Wildwood Regional Park in Thousand Oaks, California . Parts were also filmed at nearby California Lutheran University , where an army can be seen storming off Mount Clef Ridge . Additionally, scenes set in Marcus Licinius Crassus' villa were filmed at Hearst Castle . Stanley Kubrick, then 30 years old,

31860-441: Was the screenwriter of Spartacus . Further, President John F. Kennedy publicly ignored a demonstration organized by the American Legion and went to see the film. In his autobiography, Douglas states that this decision was motivated by a meeting that Edward Lewis, Stanley Kubrick, and he had regarding whose names to list for the screenplay in the film credits, given Trumbo's shaky position with Hollywood executives. One idea

32040-736: Was the site of the Miss Drag Queen USA contest at the end of the film. Film locations in New Jersey included Jersey City (site of the Canton Restaurant in which the opening restaurant scenes were shot) and Montclair . Much of the film was shot on location in Nebraska in the areas of Loma , Lincoln , and Omaha . Though greatly faded, a "Welcome to Snydersville" outdoor mural remains in Loma. In interviews and recollections with actors and crew after

32220-482: Was to credit Lewis as co-writer or sole writer, but Lewis vetoed both suggestions. Kubrick then suggested that his name be used. Douglas and Lewis found Kubrick's eagerness to take credit for Trumbo's work revolting, and the next day, Douglas called the gate at Universal saying, "I'd like to leave a pass for Dalton Trumbo." Douglas writes, "For the first time in 10 years, [Trumbo] walked on to a studio lot. He said, 'Thanks, Kirk, for giving me back my name.' " In reality,

32400-403: Was used at the birth of American cinema but blossomed in the years after World War II , reflecting a boom in automobile production and the growth of youth culture. Early road movies have been criticized by some progressives for their "casual misogyny", "fear of otherness", and for not examining issues such as power, privilege, and gender and for mostly showing white people. The road movie of

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