Player

Theatrical Release Date: 1992 04 10 (USA)

UPC: 794043403224

Studio: New Line Home Video

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Humor, Profanity, Sexual Situations]

Summary: Robert Altman takes a scalpel to Hollywood ethics in the 1990s (or the lack thereof) in his acidic satire The Player, adapted from Michael Tolkin's novel. (Tolkin also wrote the screenplay.) The film concerns a sleek and smooth Hollywood studio executive who starts receiving death threats from a disgruntled writer because he has committed the ultimate Hollywood sin -- he promised the writer he would call him back and he never did. This is particularly ironic because the studio executive, Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins), is considered "writer-friendly," spending his days listening to pitches from such noted screenwriters as Buck Henry, who is pushing "The Graduate, Part II" and Alan Rudolph, who is hawking a Bruce Willis action film described as "Ghost meets The Manchurian Candidate." But The Player finds Griffin's comfortable life style in danger of collapse. He is trying to find a way to unload his girlfriend (Cynthia Stevenson) whose independence and intelligence make her a poor candidate for a trophy wife. More importantly, it seems that Larry Levy (Peter Gallagher), a slippery executive from Twentieth Century Fox, is angling for his job. And then there are those nasty postcards and faxes from a screenwriter threatening to kill him. Altman cast over 65 stars in cameo roles as texture for his scabrous tale. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Category: Comedy

Awards: David Lean Award – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Adapted Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Editing Award – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Picture – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Picture – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Picture - Musical or Comedy – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or – null Best Director – null Best Screenplay – null Best Director – Directors Guild of America Best Adapted Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Editing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Actor – Cannes Film Festival Best Director – Cannes Film Festival Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Picture – Independent Spirit Awards Best Director (Runner-up) – National Society of Film Critics Best Picture – New York Film Critics Circle Best Director – New York Film Critics Circle Best Cinematography – New York Film Critics Circle Best Screenplay – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Director – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture - Musical or Comedy – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: Widescreen version converted from the new high-definition transfer of the film
Commentary by Robert Altman and Michael Tolkin
Robert Altman featurette
Five deleted scenes
Cameo menu featuring filmographies of over 50 actors appearing in the film
Original theatrical trailer
Multiple languages and subtitles
Dolby Digital multi-channel Surround Sound

Player

Format: DVD

Release Date: 07/16/1997

Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1 Alternate Wide-Screen

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DDS Dolby Digital Surround

Runtime: 124 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 -- The Player
0. Jump to a Scene
1. Griffin's World [8:21]
2. Welcome to the Game [3:13]
3. Pool Party [3:28]
4. Jacuzzi Rituals [3:43]
5. Ground Rules [2:08]
6. Night Caller [4:55]
7. The Rialto [3:44]
8. A Writer Erased [5:14]
9. A New Player [4:53]
10. Prime Suspect [4:08]
11. The Funeral [3:42]
12. Spoils of the Vanquished [4:36]
13. Pasadena PD [3:52]
14. Summoned to the St. James [3:26]
15. Don't Open 'Til Xmas [1:04]
16. A Pitch for Levy [8:30]
17. Movers & Shakers [7:25]
18. Down to the Station [7:05]
19. Bonnie Betrayed [:22]
20. Desert Hideaway [4:45]
21. Number 3 [6:39]
22. Habeas Corpus [3:34]
23. Survivors [4:49]
24. End Credits [4:32]

Mark Deming

Half the fun of The Player is watching director Robert Altman and screenwriter Michael Tolkin repeatedly and enthusiastically bite the hands that feed them -- or, in Altman's case, stopped feeding him: it was his first film for an American studio in seven years, marking his commercial and critical comeback after some interesting but inconsistent pictures following the box-office disappointment of Popeye (1980). The Player can be read as an indictment of the amorality of all American business in the 1980s and 1990s, but it's Hollywood that takes it on the chin, and the parade of movie notables in cameo roles suggests that plenty of people in town were sympathetic to the message. Like most of Altman's films, The Player features a superb cast that brings out the best in each other, notably a memorably slimy Tim Robbins , Greta Scacchi at her mysterious and seductive best, Vincent D'Onofrio as the suitably angry writer, and Richard E. Grant in a scene-stealing turn as a man who won't let his integrity get in the way of a deal. Also like Altman's best work, The Player twists and turns along the way, providing yet perverting all the elements of a successful Hollywood movie: violence, but against the wrong people; comedy, but mean-spirited and at the expense of the leads; major stars, but mostly for about a minute at a stretch; and a "happy" ending, which benefits a morally contemptible man who ought to be in jail. That The Player was a commercial success made the film's attack on the movie industry all the more ironic, but you get the impression that Altman must have seen the humor in that. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Scott Shaw  Actor 
Brian Brophy  Actor 
Michael Tolkin  Actor 
Pete Koch  Actor 
Natalie Strong  Actor 
Margery Bond  Actor 
James Coburn, Jr.  Actor 
Scott Glenn  Actor 
Susan J. Emshwiller  Actor 
Pamela Bowen  Actor 
Stephen Tolkin  Actor 
Jeff Weston  Actor 
Stephen James  Actor 
Robert Altman  Director 
Cary Brokaw  Executive Producer 
David Brown  Producer 
Thomas Newman  Composer (Music Score) 
Michael Tolkin  Producer 
Michael Tolkin  Screenwriter 
Nick Wechsler  Producer 
William S. Gilmore  Producer 
Tim Robbins  Actor 
Greta Scacchi  Actor 
Fred Ward  Actor 
Whoopi Goldberg  Actor 
Peter Gallagher  Actor 
Vincent D'Onofrio  Actor 
Brion James  Actor 
Cynthia Stevenson  Actor 
Dean Stockwell  Actor 
Richard E. Grant  Actor 
Sydney Pollack  Actor 
Lyle Lovett  Actor 
Dina Merrill  Actor 
Angela Hall  Actor 
Leah Ayres  Actor 
Paul Hewitt  Actor 
Randall Batinkoff  Actor 
Jeremy Piven  Actor 
Gina Gershon  Actor 
Frank Barhydt  Actor 
Mike E. Kaplan  Actor 
Kevin Scannell  Actor 
Steve Allen  Actor 
Richard Anderson  Actor 
René Auberjonois  Actor 
Harry Belafonte  Actor 
Shari Belafonte  Actor 
Karen Black  Actor 
Michael Bowen  Actor 
Gary Busey  Actor 
Robert Carradine  Actor 
Charles Champlin  Actor 
Cher  Actor 
James Coburn  Actor 
Cathy Lee Crosby  Actor 
John Cusack  Actor 
Brad Davis  Actor 
Paul Dooley  Actor 
Thereza Ellis  Actor 
Peter Falk  Actor 
Felicia Farr  Actor 
Kashia Figura  Actor 
Louise Fletcher  Actor 
Dennis Franz  Actor 
Teri Garr  Actor 
Leeza Gibbons  Actor 
Jeff Goldblum  Actor 
Elliott Gould  Actor 
Joel Grey  Actor 
David Alan Grier  Actor 
Buck Henry  Actor 
Anjelica Huston  Actor 
Kathy Ireland  Actor 
Steve James  Actor 
Maxine John-James  Actor 
Sally Kirkland  Actor 
Jack Lemmon  Actor 
Marlee Matlin  Actor 
Andie MacDowell  Actor 
Malcolm McDowell  Actor 
Jayne Meadows  Actor 
Martin Mull  Actor 
Jennifer Nash  Actor 
Nick Nolte  Actor 
Alexandra Powers  Actor 
Bert Remsen  Actor 
Guy Remsen  Actor 
Patricia Resnick  Actor 
Burt Reynolds  Actor 
Jack Riley  Actor 
Julia Roberts  Actor 
Mimi Rogers  Actor 
Annie Ross  Actor 
Alan Rudolph  Actor 
Jill St. John  Actor 
Susan Sarandon  Actor 
Adam Simon  Actor 
Rod Steiger  Actor 
Joan Tewkesbury  Actor 
Brian Tochi  Actor 
Lily Tomlin  Actor 
Robert Wagner  Actor 
Ray Walston  Actor 
Bruce Willis  Actor 
Marvin Young  Actor 

Country: USA