Prick Up Your Ears

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

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

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Screen: Pan and Scan
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
• Features:
  • cc
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • Widescreen and full frame formats
  • English Dolby Digital Stereo Surround
  • English, French, & Spanish subtitles

AWARDS

• Cannes Film Festival

•     Won Best Artistic Contribution - 1987 (Stanley Myers)

• Independent Spirit Awards

•     Nominated Best Foreign Film - 1987 (Stephen Frears)

• New York Film Critics Circle

•     Won Best Supporting Actress - 1987 (Vanessa Redgrave)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Gary Oldman - Joe Orton
       Alfred Molina - Kenneth Halliwell
       Vanessa Redgrave - Peggy Ramsay
       Wallace Shawn - John Lahr
       Julie Walters - Elsie Orton
       Frances Barber - Leonie Orton
       Lindsay Duncan - Anthea Lahr
       Janet Dale - Mrs. Sugden
       Dave Atkins - Mr. Sugden
       Ahmed El - Jheur - Moroccan Boy

• Director:

  Stephen Frears

• Producer:

  Andrew Brown

• Book Author:

  John Lahr

• Screenwriter:

  Alan Bennett

• Cinematographer:

  Oliver Stapleton

• Songwriter:

  Harry Carroll

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  John Harle

• Featured Music:

  John Lennon

• Songwriter:

  Paul McCartney

• Composer (Music Score):

  Stanley Myers

• Songwriter:

  Stanley Myers, Richard Myhill

• Editor:

  Mick Audsley

• Production Designer:

  Hugo Luczyc-Wyhowski

• Art Director:

  Philip Elton

• Set Designer:

  Philip Elton

• Costume Designer:

  Bob Ringwood

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Tony Jackson

• Makeup:

  Elaine Carew

• First Assistant Director:

  Michael Zimbrich

• Casting:

  Debbie McWilliams

• Production Manager:

  Ann Wingate

REVIEW:

• A playwright whose career was as brilliant as it was brief, Joe Orton made his name with plays whose anarchic quality mirrored the tumult of his own life. Brash, unapologetically homosexual, and possessing unbridled cheek, Orton was a vibrant personality, merrily jeering in the face of proper society until he died suddenly and violently, bludgeoned to death by his longtime lover, Kenneth Halliwell. The story of Orton's life would be easy to sentimentalize or sensationalize, but director Stephen Frears focuses on a portrait of what was essentially a very bad marriage. As told in flashbacks from the vantage point of Orton's agent (Vanessa Redgrave) and biographer (Wallace Shawn), the conclusion of Orton and Halliwell's relationship is a foregone one; what remains is for the viewer to sit back and watch the water come to a boil. Much of the film's strength can be found in Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina's portrayals of Orton and Halliwell. Oldman bears an uncanny resemblance to the playwright, and his performance is sexy, dangerous, and utterly compelling. Molina invests Halliwell with the needy gloom of an unwanted lover; the wary hurt in his eyes tells us all we need to know about where he's headed. Their moody, ever-shifting relationship mirrors the mercurial transformation of the stuffy 1950s into the swinging 1960s; there is exhilaration to be savored, but also the bitter taste of chaos lurking beneath. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi