BOB RAFELSON
Legendary American filmmaker, Bob Rafelson is the distinguished director, writer, and producer of a group of films remarkable for their path breaking artistic excellence and changing forever the art of cinema. His work demonstrates his extraordinary commitment to telling the characters’ stories while keeping intact their ambiguities and contradictions. In the process, he has fashioned a body of work that has few equals for intellectual, dramatic and moral complexity, as well as for the visceral pleasure, emotional resonance and profound satisfaction each provides an audience. It is a testimony to the lasting value of his work that the films are frequently the subject of retrospectives at the world's most prestigious festivals and cinematheques and that Rafelson’s movies are pored over by film students and scholars eager to discover the treasures they contain. Most all of Rafelson's films have been celebrated at international festivals. A number have won awards.
There is, of course, FIVE EASY PIECES (1970), for which he won Best Director from the New York Film Critics. Frequently cited by critics and film aficionados as one of the finest American films of the '70s, it was nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and Best Script, which Rafelson co-wrote. THE KING OF MARVIN GARDENS (1972), starring Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, and Ellen Burstyn, STAY HUNGRY (1976) followed. Each movie demonstrates Rafelson's consistent ability to identify and nurture promising young talent. STAY HUNGRY was an early breakthrough for Jeff Bridges, and first movie roles for Sally Field and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
After studies at Dartmouth, and an apprenticeship with David Susskind, Desilu, and Columbia Screen Gems, Rafelson created and produced the 1960s’ TV cult hit THE MONKEES. He went on to make his feature film directorial debut with HEAD (1968), co-written by himself and Jack Nicholson, starring "The Monkees." Rafelson then began BBS Productions with his partners Bert Schneider and Steve Blauner. BBS would prove to be the spawning ground for an artistic renaissance in American filmmaking, producing such outstanding films as EASY RIDER (1969), FIVE EASY PIECES, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (1971), and the Academy Award winning Viet Nam documentary, 1974’s HEARTS AND MINDS.
1981’s THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE from the first screenplay by David Mamet, starred Jack Nicholson and the still relatively unknown Jessica Lange in a role that would bring her international acclaim. BLACK WIDOW (1985), starring Debra Winger and Theresa Russell, saw Rafelson stretching the boundaries of the psychological thriller, turning the hunt for a serial killer into an intimate, revelatory character study. One of Rafelson’s most ambitious films, MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (1989), shot on location in Africa, chronicled the 19th century search for the source of the Nile River by British adventurers and scholars Sir Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke. MAN TROUBLE (1992) starring Jack Nicholson and Ellen Barkin and BLOOD AND WINE (1997) marked Rafelson's seventh and eighth film with Jack Nicholson (five of which he directed) and demonstrated Rafelsons’s continued eye for young talent -- Blood and Wine showcased Jennifer Lopez in a film Roger Ebert has called "a masterpiece of heartbreaking intensity."
In addition, Rafelson directed POODLE SPRINGS (1998) for HBO, an adaptation of a Raymond Chandler story, written by Tom Stoppard. He's also written and directed two half-hour films for the celebrated series EROTIC TALES, the latest, PORN.COM, in which he also stars. Finally he's done a few turns in front of the camera for fellow directors, acting in Henry Jaglom's ALWAYS and Mike Figgis' LEAVING LAS VEGAS.
His latest film is NO GOOD DEED (2003), adapted from a Dashiell Hammett story, stars Samuel L. Jackson as a cop, and Milla Jovovich as the femme fatale; hailed as a tribute to eccentricity (the bizarre gang) and suspense (a creative bank robbery, and murders) as well as for its extraordinary layering of sexuality, it proves -- as if proof were needed -- that Bob Rafelson continues to be a national treasure.
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