Alan Parker get Splurged

[Blumf]

Or, 'hits The Wall'?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53614490

Sir Alan Parker, the acclaimed British director of such films as Fame, Evita and Bugsy Malone, has died aged 76.

His many other credits include Midnight Express, Mississippi Burning, The Commitments, Angela's Ashes and Birdy.

A founding member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain, he was also chairman of the UK Film Council.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Parker

[madhair60]

Alan Carker

[Famous Mortimer]

One of the good 'uns (I hope, noticing with fingers crossed there's no "controversy" section on his Wikipedia page).

[SavageHedgehog]

His cartoon collection Will Write and Direct for Food is good fun.

[Noodle Lizard]

Ah man. Bugsy Malone was an absolute favourite as a kid, and later on in life I had a lot of time for The Wall and Angel Heart. Hell of a career, all things considered.

He was apparently very active in directors unions in the UK as well (mostly representing TV directors for soap operas and reality TV, making sure they weren't overworked and got paid fairly), so he seemed like a good sort overall.

[Brundle-Fly]

Blimey, I only mentioned him a couple of days ago on the last post on MortSahlFan's Directors' anomalies thread.

Brilliantly eclectic career and a great filmmaker. R.I.P.

[Keebleman]

First film: Bugsy Malone  Second film: Midnight Express.  It's like he wanted to fuck up the auteur theory single handed.

His mid 80s TV documentary A Turnip Head's Guide to British Cinema starts with the white-on-black credit 'Un Film de Alan Parker' to mock the pretentions of directors like, er, Alan Parker, each of whose films that I've seen has the credit 'An Alan Parker Film'.

RIP to a bit of a hypocrite.

[Shit Good Nose]

Three legit masterpieces in Midnight Express, Angel Heart and Mississippi Burning, and one of the greatest endings of all time in Birdy.  Lad done well.   RIP.

[Rizla]

I put him and Brian De Palma in a similar bracket; explored a diverse range of subjects and genres whilst still able to always put their own unique artistic stamp and also provide the cinema going public with what they wanted to see. Effortlessly populist yet effortlessly arty.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

RIP.

Some bona fide classics.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

I put him and Brian De Palma in a similar bracket; explored a diverse range of subjects and genres whilst still able to always put their own unique artistic stamp and also provide the cinema going public with what they wanted to see. Effortlessly populist yet effortlessly arty.

Alan " Bugsy Malone Followed By Midnight Express"  Parker was a tad more diverse than the feller whose whole career has been a homage to Alfred Hitchcock, to be fair.

[Shit Good Nose]

Alan " Bugsy Malone Followed By Midnight Express"  Parker was a tad more diverse than the feller whose whole career has been a homage to Alfred Hitchcock, to be fair.

Solid agree there.  Parker was also a LOT better at directing actors - hasn't anyone ever noticed just how bad the acting is in most of De Palma's films?  Body Double in particular is excruciating.  And even am-dramers have been heard to say "bit much, mate" about Scarface.

[chveik]

De Palma knows how to use a camera though

[SavageHedgehog]

Yeah, and I don't want to take away from Parker here but I certainly wouldn't say he's made nothing but Hitchcock homages his entire career, for better or worse. He also ripped off Eisenstein, for example.

[dissolute ocelot]

I'm not really sure where he stands as a director. He certainly was involved with a lot of entertaining films in a lot of different genres (Commitments, Wall, Fame...). But his later successes as a film bureaucrat and educator suggest he was more of an organiser than an artist.

Is this connected with Simon Munnery revivifying the real Alan Parker last year?

[Icehaven]

I knew he did Bugsy Malone but didn't know he did Angel Heart too, love both those films.

[timebug]

Just for sheer buggery, I rewatched 'The Commitments' last night. Still makes me laff,and by christ Andrew Strong can belt out a tune!