This unadorned biography of playwright Joe Orton (Gary Oldman) charts his bawdy, dangerous relationships. Alfred Molina plays Orton's brutish lover, Kenneth Halliwell, a pathetic figure who becomes horrific and then tragic before the film is over. The hilarity of scenes from such Orton plays as Loot and What the Butler Saw is evenly balanced by the bleakness of the playwright's tormented (and tormenting) off-stage existence, which ended suddenly at age 34 with half a dozen blows to the head from a hammer. Prick Up Your Ears ...
Read More
This unadorned biography of playwright Joe Orton (Gary Oldman) charts his bawdy, dangerous relationships. Alfred Molina plays Orton's brutish lover, Kenneth Halliwell, a pathetic figure who becomes horrific and then tragic before the film is over. The hilarity of scenes from such Orton plays as Loot and What the Butler Saw is evenly balanced by the bleakness of the playwright's tormented (and tormenting) off-stage existence, which ended suddenly at age 34 with half a dozen blows to the head from a hammer. Prick Up Your Ears is based on the book by theater critic John Lahr, who is played in the film by Wallace Shawn. Hal Erickson, Rovi
Read Less
Add this copy of Prick Up Your Ears to cart. $6.48, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Movies rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by Sony Pictures Home ENT.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Gary Oldman, Alfred Molina, Vanessa Redgrave, Frances Barber, Janet Dale, Julie Walters, Bert Parnaby, Margaret Tyzack,... Very good. Run time: 111. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Digital copy/codes may be expired or not included. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Prick Up Your Ears to cart. $10.00, new condition, Sold by Arroway Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Narberth, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by Sony Pictures Home ENT.
Add this copy of Prick Up Your Ears to cart. $13.21, fair condition, Sold by New England Booksellers rated 1.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Greenfield, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by Samuel Goldwyn Company.
Alan Bennett, who wrote the delightful play, "The History Boys," later filmed to international success, took a fine biography by John Lahr, "New Yorker" contributor and son of the man who created the Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz," and turned it into one of the most astonishingly original biopics in the genre's history. In his introduction to the screenplay, he explains that producers in Hollywood were reluctant to take it on -- it's about the homosexual playwright Joe Orton and his murderously jealous lover -- and when one film company agreed to do it they said they'd have to take out the homosexuality. Bennett refused, and the resulting movie was one of the most in-your-face accounts of a gay man in all film. Especially as played by such an ensemble cast headed by Gary Oldman as Orton, Alfred Molina as Kenneth Halliwell, and the great Vanessa Redgrave as Orton's agent, the movie is a dazzling and disturbing account of a poisonous relationship between an artist and his shadow half. Bennett's screenplay, one of the best I've come across, is a lesson in film writing for anyone interested in the practice. First rate!