Bob Rafelson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert "Bob" Rafelson (February 21, 1933-July 23, 2022) was an American film director, writer and producer. He was most famous for directing and co-writing the film Five Easy Pieces, starring Jack Nicholson, as well as being one of the creators of the pop group and TV series, The Monkees (with Raybert/BBS Productions partner Bert Schneider). Rafelson was born in New York City, the son of a hat manufacturer. His uncle was screenwriter and playwright Samson Raphaelson. Rafelson and Nicholson have been collaborators for over thirty years. Nicholson and Rafelson wrote and produced and Rafelson directed Head, starring the Monkees, in 1968, followed by Five Easy Pieces. In subsequent years, Rafelson directed Nicholson in four more films, including The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), Man Trouble (1992), and Blood and Wine (1996). Rafelson has adapted the works of legendary noir authors James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler, and Dashiell Hammett. Description above from the Wikipedia article Bob Rafelson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Works

We Blew It

How did America change from Easy Rider into Donald Trump? What became of the dreams and utopias of the 1960's and 1970's? What do the people who lived in that golden age think about it today? Did they really blow it? Shot in Cinemascope - from New Jersey to California - this melancholic and elegiac road-movie draws upon the portrait of a confused, complex and incandescent America one year after the start of the electoral campaign. That golden age has become its last romantic border and an inconsolable America is about to pull on a trigger called Trump.

Release Date:2017-11-08

Character:Self

Vote Count:9

BBStory: An American Film Renaissance

This 2009 documentary features directors Bob Rafelson, Peter Bogdanovich, and Henry Jaglom, actor-director Jack Nicholson, and actresses Karen Black and Ellen Burstyn, among others, reminiscing about the making of the groundbreaking films of BBS Productions.

Release Date:2010-11-23

Character:Self

Reflections of a Philosopher King

A short video piece featuring director Bob Rafelson and actress Ellen Burstyn discussing the evolution of the characters in The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) and how accidents on the set proved beneficial to the film.

Release Date:2010-11-23

Character:Self

America Lost and Found: The BBS Story

Documentary on the BBS company who released some of the best films of the 1970s.

Release Date:2010-11-23

Character:Self

Vote Count:1

Soul Searching in 'Five Easy Pieces'

A video piece featuring director Bob Rafelson and actor Jack Nicholson, discussing the production of the film "Five Easy Pieces" (1970).

Release Date:2010-11-23

Character:Self

Vote Count:1

Sodankylä Forever

The Midnight Sun Film Festival is held every June in the Finnish village of Sodankylä beyond the arctic circle — where the sun never sets. Founded by Aki and Mika Kaurismäki along with Anssi Mänttäri and Peter von Bagh in 1985, the festival has played host to an international who’s who of directors and each day begins with a two-hour discussion. To mark the festival’s silver anniversary, festival director Peter von Bagh edited together highlights from these dialogues to create an epic four-part choral history of cinema drawn from the anecdotes, insights, and wisdom of his all-star cast: Coppola, Fuller, Forman, Chabrol, Corman, Demy, Kieslowski, Kiarostami, Varda, Oliveira, Erice, Rouch, Gilliam, Jancso — and 64 more. Ranging across innumerable topics (war, censorship, movie stars, formative influences, America, neorealism) these voices, many now passed away, engage in a personal dialogue across the years that’s by turns charming, profound, hilarious and moving.

Release Date:2010-08-05

Character:Self

No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos

The artistry, triumph and lifelong friendship of the great cinematographers Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond. With film school equipment, they shoot the Soviet crackdown of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. As refugees they struggle in Hollywood, finally breaking into the mainstream with their pivotal contribution to the "American New Wave."

Release Date:2009-01-11

Character:Self

Vote Count:10

No Good Deed

While doing a friend a favour and searching for a runaway teenager, a police detective stumbles upon a bizarre band of criminals about to pull off a bank robbery. The screenplay by Christopher Cannan and Steve Barancik is based on the short story "The House in Turk Street" by Dashiell Hammett.

Release Date:2002-06-28

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:188

Porn.com

Veteran film director Matty Bonkers, a Hollywood legend, arrives in Berlin for an honorary retrospective tribute. While introducing his film Mockery, he receives a phone call from his producer lying in intensive care at a hospital. Blau needs a favor for old times' sake. Could Matty finish a porn movie before his legs get broken by Tokyo Tony? Matty reluctantly agrees. On the set he meets movie star and ex-cello-player Inga - and the experience is bizarre spirited uplifting a comédie humaine.

Release Date:2002-06-26

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Character:Matty Bonkers

Vote Count:7

Afterthoughts

A 2002 video piece featuring director Bob Rafelson, cinematographer László Kovács, and actor Bruce Dern discussing style and process of the film The King of Marvin Gardens (1972).

Release Date:2002-03-14

Character:Self

Vote Count:1

Poodle Springs

Private eye Philip Marlowe and his bride move to a desert town, where he uncovers a land scheme.

Release Date:1998-07-25

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:20

Who Is Henry Jaglom?

Hailed by some as a cinematic genius, a feminist voice and a true maverick of American cinema, dismissed by others as a voyeuristic fraud and the "world's worst director," Henry Jaglom obsessively confuses and abuses the line between life and art. Featuring scores of interviews (including Orson Welles, Dennis Hopper, Milos Forman and Peter Bogdanovich) and rare behind-the-scenes footage, this hilarious documentary explores the fascinating question of Who Is Henry Jaglom?

Release Date:1997-07-08

Character:Self

Vote Count:5

Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees

Documentary focusing The Monkees, the 1960s pop group originally created for a TV sitcom. Interviews with the band members, the show's creators, and musical collaborators and peers are featured.

Release Date:1997-01-22

Character:Self (archive footage)

Vote Count:3

Blood and Wine

A man who has failed as a father and husband commits a heist to make money for his fledging business, but things become complicated when his wife interferes.

Release Date:1996-10-03

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:168

Tales of Erotica

A series of erotic short films, all with similar unexpected endings.

Release Date:1996-01-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:6

Leaving Las Vegas

Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.

Release Date:1995-10-27

Character:Man At Mall

Vote Count:1464

Picture Windows

A series of dramas inspired by famous paintings.

Release Date:1995-10-01

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:1

Wet

The attractive Davida enters a shop shortly before off-time and wants to buy a bathtub. Just the manager is still there. As business is not well, he is willing to stay longer. Davida wants to try the bathtubs. Although this is not allowed in the shop the manager agrees. As if that is not enough, Davida says she wants the bathtub for two and needs to be sure it fits her needs. She wants the manager to take place in the bathtub too.

Release Date:1994-05-04

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Character:Rejected Customer (uncredited)

Vote Count:5

Man Trouble

A sleazy but affable guard dog trainer is blackmailed to steal a manuscript for a tell-all book from one of his clients.

Release Date:1992-07-17

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:59

Mountains of the Moon

The story of Captain Richard Francis Burton's and Lt. John Hanning Speke's expedition to find the source of the Nile river in the name of Queen Victoria's British Empire. The film tells the story of their meeting, their friendship emerging amidst hardship, and then dissolving after their journey.

Release Date:1990-02-16

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:73

On the tracks of a filmmaker

Release Date:1988-01-01

Character:Bob Rafelson

Black Widow

Federal agent Alexandra Barnes believes that Catherine Petersen is a serial killer who marries rich men and then murders them for their money. But since Catherine is seemingly a master of disguise and has multiple identities, Alexandra can't prove anything with conventional detective work. With no other option, she goes undercover, pursuing the same man as Catherine, and hoping that Catherine will slip up and reveal her true identity.

Release Date:1987-02-06

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:198

Always … But Not Forever

A middle-aged couple, on the verge of proceeding with a divorce, find themselves questioning their decision to separate when fellow friends and neighbors, oblivious to their marital troubles, assemble at their house for a 4th of July Weekend party.

Release Date:1985-10-04

Character:Sam

Vote Count:3

Notre Dame de la Croisette

A woman goes to Cannes and, lost in its chaos and unable to obtain tickets, ends up watching it on television from her hotel room.

Release Date:1983-02-23

Character:Self

Vote Count:1

Mora

A reporter travelling to Latin America witnesses a murder through the lens of his camera.

Release Date:1982-12-29

Character:Gangster

Vote Count:1

The Postman Always Rings Twice

The sensuous wife of a lunch wagon proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordidly steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.

Release Date:1981-03-20

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:500

Modesty

Bob Rafelson: Self-portrait

Release Date:1981-01-07

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Character:Self

Stay Hungry

A dishonest businessman asks rich layabout Craig Blake to help him buy a gym, which will be demolished for a development project in Alabama. But after spending time with weightlifter Joe Santo and gym worker Mary Tate Farnsworth, Craig wants out of the deal. The property negotiations turn ugly, causing a brawl at the gym and a spectacle at a big bodybuilding meet, as Craig learns that it's not easy to turn your back on fair-weather friends.

Release Date:1976-04-23

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Character:Man on a Sidewalk with Painting (uncredited)

Vote Count:79

The Mother and the Whore

Aimless young Alexandre juggles his relationships with his girlfriend, Marie, and a casual lover named Veronika. Marie becomes increasingly jealous of Alexandre's fling with Veronika and as the trio continues their unsustainable affair, the emotional stakes get higher, leading to conflict and unhappiness.

Release Date:1973-05-01

Department:Production

Job:Producer

Vote Count:168

The King of Marvin Gardens

Jason Staebler lives on the Boardwalk and fronts for the local mob in Atlantic City. He is a dreamer who asks his brother David, a radio personality from Philadelphia, to help him build a paradise on a Pacific Island, which might be just another of his pie-in-the-sky schemes. Inevitably, complications begin to pile up.

Release Date:1972-10-12

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:87

The Last Picture Show

High school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating a local beauty, while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wife. As graduation nears and both boys contemplate their futures, Duane eyes the army and Sonny takes over a local business. Each struggles to figure out if he can escape this dead-end town and build a better life somewhere else.

Release Date:1971-10-03

Department:Production

Job:Producer

Vote Count:697

Five Easy Pieces

A drop-out from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil-rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.

Release Date:1970-09-12

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Character:Man in Elevator (uncredited)

Vote Count:525

Head

In this surrealistic and free-form follow-up to the Monkees' television show, the band frolic their way through a series of musical set pieces and vignettes containing humor and anti-establishment social commentary.

Release Date:1968-11-06

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Character:Bob Rafelson (uncredited)

Vote Count:87

The Monkees

Micky, Mike, Peter, and Davy are four young men in mid-1960s LA, members of a struggling country-folk-rock band looking for their big break amid madcap encounters with a variety of people straight out of TV and movie central casting, with full knowledge that their existence is part of a weekly television series

Release Date:1966-09-12

Department:Production

Job:Producer

Character:

Episode Count:58

Vote Count:48

The Greatest Show on Earth

Johnny Slate successfully manages his circus as it moves from town to town.

Release Date:1963-09-17

Department:Production

Job:Producer

Episode Count:30

Vote Count:1

The World of Sholom Aleichem

This omnibus release consists of three playlets filmed and aired during television's Golden Age, and starring some of the legends of film and television. The collection originally ran as a two-hour segment on December 14, 1959, on the anthology series The Play of the Week, broadcast locally in New York City via the independent radio station WNTA. Each "tale" in the anthology was adapted from a single tale by the inimitable Sholom Aleichem, regarded by many as the "Yiddish Mark Twain". Included are: "A Tale of Chelm" starring Zero Mostel and Nancy Walker in the story of a bookseller attempting to buy a goat; "Bontche Schweig" about a poor man (Jack Gilford) whose recent arrival in Heaven makes the angels cry; and "The High School" about a Jewish merchant (Morris Carnovsky) persuaded by his wife (Gertrude Berg) to let their son attend a particular high school despite the enforcement of quotas for Jewish students.

Release Date:1959-12-14

Department:Writing

Job:Script Editor