Hill, George

The Sting

Set in the 1930s small-time crook robert redford and veteran con man paul newman seek revenge on the vicious crime lord robert shaw who murdered one of their brotherhood. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/09/2008 Starring: Robert Redford Paul Newman Run time: 129 minutes Rating: Pg

Winner of seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay, this critical and box-office hit from 1973 provided a perfect reunion for director George Roy Hill and stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford, who previously delighted audiences with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Set in 1936, the movie's about a pair of Chicago con artists (Newman and Redford) who find themselves in a high-stakes game against the master of all cheating mobsters (Robert Shaw) when they set out to avenge the murder of a mutual friend and partner. Using a bogus bookie joint as a front for their con of all cons, the two feel the heat from the Chicago Mob on one side and encroaching police on the other. But in a plot that contains more twists than a treacherous mountain road, the ultimate scam is pulled off with consummate style and panache. It's an added bonus that Newman and Redford were box-office kings at the top of their game, and while Shaw broods intensely as the Runyonesque villain, The Sting is further blessed by a host of great supporting players including Dana Elcar, Eileen Brennan, Ray Walston, Charles Durning, and Harold Gould. Thanks to the flavorful music score by Marvin Hamlisch, this was also the movie that sparked a nationwide revival of Scott Joplin's ragtime jazz, which is featured prominently on the soundtrack. One of the most entertaining movies of the early 1970s, The Sting is a welcome throwback to Hollywood's golden age of the '30s that hasn't lost any of its popular charm. --Jeff Shannon

Winner of seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay, this critical and box-office hit from 1973 provided a perfect reunion for director George Roy Hill and stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford, who previously delighted audiences with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Set in 1936, the movie's about a pair of Chicago con artists (Newman and Redford) who find themselves in a high-stakes game against the master of all cheating mobsters (Robert Shaw) when they set out to avenge the murder of a mutual friend and partner. Using a bogus bookie joint as a front for their con of all cons, the two feel the heat from the Chicago Mob on one side and encroaching police on the other. But in a plot that contains more twists than a treacherous mountain road, the ultimate scam is pulled off with consummate style and panache. It's an added bonus that Newman and Redford were box-office kings at the top of their game, and while Shaw broods intensely as the Runyonesque villain, The Sting is further blessed by a host of great supporting players including Dana Elcar, Eileen Brennan, Ray Walston, Charles Durning, and Harold Gould. Thanks to the flavorful music score by Marvin Hamlisch, this was also the movie that sparked a nationwide revival of Scott Joplin's ragtime jazz, which is featured prominently on the soundtrack. One of the most entertaining movies of the early 1970s, The Sting is a welcome throwback to Hollywood's golden age of the '30s that hasn't lost any of its popular charm. --Jeff Shannon

Slap Shot (25th Anniversary Special Edition)

Paul Newman and his Butch Cassidy director, George Roy Hill, made a very original comedy in this 1977 story of an over-the-hill player/coach (Newman) for a lousy hockey team who gets results when he teaches his players to get dirty. One of the most hilariously profane movies ever to come out of Hollywood, this is the kind of film that makes its own rules as it goes along. Newman is very good, and while Hill goes for the gusto in terms of capturing the violence of this world, his instinct for comedy has never been sharper. Great support from Strother Martin, Paul Dooley, and the rest. --Tom Keogh

This irreverent and hilarious look into the world of professional sports has Paul Newman as the coach of the Chiefs, a struggling minor-league hockey team. To build up attendance at their games, management signs up the Hanson Brothers, three hard-charging players whose job is to demolish the opposition. "Slap Shot's" outrageous comedy, hard-hitting action, memorable lines and unforgettable characters have made this classic one of the all-time best sports movies ever.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

This 1969 film has never lost its popularity or its unusual appeal as a star-driven Western that tinkers with the genre's conventions and comes up with something both terrifically entertaining and--typical of its period--a tad paranoid. Paul Newman plays the legendary outlaw Butch Cassidy as an eternal optimist and self-styled visionary, conjuring dreams of banks just ripe for the picking all over the world. Robert Redford is his more levelheaded partner, the sharpshooting Sundance Kid. The film, written by William Goldman (The Princess Bride) and directed by George Roy Hill (The Sting), basically begins as a freewheeling story about robbing trains but soon becomes a chase as a relentless posse--always seen at a great distance like some remote authority--forces Butch and Sundance into the hills and, finally, Bolivia. Weakened a little by feel-good inclinations (a scene involving bicycle tricks and the song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" is sort of Hollywood flower power), the movie maintains an interesting tautness, and the chemistry between Redford and Newman is rare. (A factoid: Newman first offered the Sundance part to Jack Lemmon.) --Tom Keogh

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 05/13/2008 Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Pg

Funny Farm

George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) directed this 1988 comedy that gives star Chevy Chase one of his better-quality vehicles. Chase plays a New York sportswriter who turns to the country for a simpler, happier way of living. He discovers, of course, that things don't work out that way. Hill's usual touch with comic timing, tone, and dialogue give Chase a rare career opportunity to be part of something a little classier than most of his other movies; but Funny Farm nevertheless has its share of so-what gags. Still, the film's overall tone is winning and laid-back, and it makes for nice escapist fare. --Tom Keogh

When andy and elizabeth buy a farm in vermont they cant imagine the trouble that awaits them. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 12/12/2006 Starring: Chevy Chase Kevin Omorrison Run time: 101 minutes Rating: Pg Director: George Roy Hill

Thoroughly Modern Millie

Julie Andrews is at her peak of adorability in this enjoyable (and surprisingly sarcastic) spoof of the 1920s. It has every trick: occasional silent-movie intertitles, flapper lingo ("Oh, banana oil"), and a laughable plot about women being sold into white slavery by the scheming manageress (splendid Beatrice Lillie) of a Hotel for Ladies, aided by a cabal of wicked Chinese. (The stereotypes are bearable only if you remember this is a spoof of silent movie melodrama.) Even with able support from Mary Tyler Moore and James Fox, this is Julie's show; she plays to the camera with the collusion of director George Roy Hill, who's clearly smitten with her silly streak. The movie has an annoying tendency to spend time on musical numbers--a Jewish wedding, a vaudeville act--that don't serve the plot. A future Broadway musical would create a new score, except for the delightfully catchy title tune. --Robert Horton

A would-be flapper in 1920s new york saves her friend from white slavers in a chinatown firecracker factory. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 06/03/2003 Starring: Julie Andrews James Fox Run time: 138 minutes Rating: G Director: George Roy Hill

The Films of Paul Newman (The Verdict/The Hustler/Butch Cassidy)

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 11-MAY-2004
Media Type: DVD

The Sting (Universal Legacy Series)

Winner of seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay, this critical and box-office hit from 1973 provided a perfect reunion for director George Roy Hill and stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford, who previously delighted audiences with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Set in 1936, the movie's about a pair of Chicago con artists (Newman and Redford) who find themselves in a high-stakes game against the master of all cheating mobsters (Robert Shaw) when they set out to avenge the murder of a mutual friend and partner. Using a bogus bookie joint as a front for their con of all cons, the two feel the heat from the Chicago Mob on one side and encroaching police on the other. But in a plot that contains more twists than a treacherous mountain road, the ultimate scam is pulled off with consummate style and panache. It's an added bonus that Newman and Redford were box-office kings at the top of their game, and while Shaw broods intensely as the Runyonesque villain, The Sting is further blessed by a host of great supporting players including Dana Elcar, Eileen Brennan, Ray Walston, Charles Durning, and Harold Gould. Thanks to the flavorful music score by Marvin Hamlisch, this was also the movie that sparked a nationwide revival of Scott Joplin's ragtime jazz, which is featured prominently on the soundtrack. One of the most entertaining movies of the early 1970s, The Sting is a welcome throwback to Hollywood's golden age of the '30s that hasn't lost any of its popular charm. --Jeff Shannon

Winner of seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay, this critical and box-office hit from 1973 provided a perfect reunion for director George Roy Hill and stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford, who previously delighted audiences with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Set in 1936, the movie's about a pair of Chicago con artists (Newman and Redford) who find themselves in a high-stakes game against the master of all cheating mobsters (Robert Shaw) when they set out to avenge the murder of a mutual friend and partner. Using a bogus bookie joint as a front for their con of all cons, the two feel the heat from the Chicago Mob on one side and encroaching police on the other. But in a plot that contains more twists than a treacherous mountain road, the ultimate scam is pulled off with consummate style and panache. It's an added bonus that Newman and Redford were box-office kings at the top of their game, and while Shaw broods intensely as the Runyonesque villain, The Sting is further blessed by a host of great supporting players including Dana Elcar, Eileen Brennan, Ray Walston, Charles Durning, and Harold Gould. Thanks to the flavorful music score by Marvin Hamlisch, this was also the movie that sparked a nationwide revival of Scott Joplin's ragtime jazz, which is featured prominently on the soundtrack. One of the most entertaining movies of the early 1970s, The Sting is a welcome throwback to Hollywood's golden age of the '30s that hasn't lost any of its popular charm. --Jeff Shannon

2 disc set includes: the art of the sting-making of documentary theatrical trailer production notes Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/06/2005 Run time: 130 minutes Rating: Pg

A Little Romance

Sandwiched between Slap Shot and The World According to Garp, George Roy Hill made this effervescent film about first love. A sharp American girl (Diane Lane, in her debut) and a film-loving Parisian boy (Thelonious Bernard, in his only film) fall innocently in love. When the girl's zealous mother (Sally Kellerman) goes ballistic, the young couple fall under the spell of a curious gentleman (none other than Laurence Olivier), who plants the seed to make their love last forever: to kiss under a Venetian bridge at sunset. As the love story becomes an adventure with the young lovers crossing France and Italy, Allan Burns's Oscar-nominated script and Hill's deft touch turn this into a romance for the ages and a movie to smile about. George Delerue's Oscar-winning score and the picturesque European scenery don't hurt either. Ages 7 and older. --Doug Thomas

A french boy (daniel) and an american girl (lauren) who goes to school in paris meet and begin a little romance. They befriend julius who enchants them with his story telling. In an attempt to solidify the teens love forever the three journey to venice. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 06/07/2005 Starring: Laurence Olivier Sally Kellerman Run time: 108 minutes Rating: Pg Director: George Roy Hill

Hawaii

George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) directed this adaptation of James Michener's novel about the history of the 50th state. Max von Sydow plays a zealous missionary with a Calvinist bent, intent on enlightening the natives even as his wife (Julie Andrews) is romanced by the dashing Richard Harris. The film is both a glossy vision of Hawaii in the early 19th century and a sometimes-brutal drama full of death, a rough childbirth, stormy weather, etc. Hill's blunt editing, meant to emphasize the more terrifying aspects of the natural order of life, makes the film look particularly dated and mannered today. This is best appreciated for its cast, all of whom were making inroads in Hollywood at the time. --Tom Keogh

Two cultures collide in this vast lavish and truly spectacular film starring Julie Andrews Max Von Sydow Richard Harris Gene Hackman and Carroll O'Connor. Adapted from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and nominated* for seven Oscars® this "majestic gorgeously framed epic is adventuresome picture-making a credit to the industry" (The Film Daily) and riveting entertainment!They came to bring God but instead brought disease and destruction. The Rev. Abner Hale (Von Sydow) and his gentle wife Jerusha (Andrews) attempt to convert early 19th-century Hawaiian natives to Christianity but find themselves ill-equipped to endure the unexpected tribulations of paradise. Surging with the excitement of windstorms firestorms shark attacks and magnificent island scenery Hawaii shines as passionately as the island paradise itself!*1966: Supporting Actress (Jocelyne LaGarde) Cinematography Color Costume Design Color Special Visual Effects Score Song SoundSystem Requirements:Running Time: 161 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 027616921918 Manufacturer No: 1008152

Slaughterhouse Five

Kurt vonneguts billy pilgrim time-trips from bombed-out dresden to the planet tralfamador. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/25/2004 Starring: Michael Sacks Kevin Conway Run time: 104 minutes Rating: R Director: George Roy Hill

Billy Pilgrim (Michael Sacks) has a problem with time: he keeps jumping about in his own life, principally between three key scenes. The "present" is a kind of glowing suburban bliss involving a dutiful wife, large house, and presidency of the local Lions; the "past" is being a prisoner of World War II and experiencing the firebombing of Dresden from the wrong side; the "future" takes place in a glass dome on the planet Tralfamadore, to which Billy has been mysteriously spirited along with the woman of his fantasies (Montana Wildhack, played by Valerie Perrine). It isn't meant to make too much sense, since the point is to represent a man (and a century) that has witnessed things too unbearable for a wholly sane person to make sense of. In fact author Kurt Vonnegut's anguished cry on the insanity of war is one of those completely unfilmable books, so director George Roy Hill gets points even for trying. The whole package is thought provoking in a wholly Vonnegutian way. All this, and Glenn Gould playing Bach as well. --Richard Farr