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Martin Ritt is a Actor, Director and Co-Producer American born on 2 march 1914 at New York City (USA)

Martin Ritt

Martin Ritt
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Nationality USA
Birth 2 march 1914 at New York City (USA)
Death 8 december 1990 (at 76 years) at Santa Monica (USA)

Martin Ritt (March 2, 1914 – December 8, 1990) was an American director and actor who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City.

Some of the movies he directed include The Long, Hot Summer (1958), Paris Blues (1961), Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962), Hud (1963), The Outrage (1964), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), Hombre (1967), The Great White Hope (1970), Sounder (1972), Conrack (1974), Norma Rae (1979), Cross Creek (1983), Murphy's Romance (1985), Nuts (1987) and Stanley & Iris (1990).

Biography

Après des études en Caroline du Nord au collège d'Elon, puis à l'université de Saint John, où il pratique avec succès le football américain et l'art dramatique, Martin Ritt décide de devenir acteur. Révolté par les injustices sociales accentuées par les conséquences de la crise de 1929, il participe activement à des groupes de théâtre engagés, où il est, par exemple, l'un des seuls acteurs blancs dans la pièce Porgy and Bess et remarqué par l'administration Roosevelt, on lui confie de participer au projet du Federal Theater financé par le gouvernement. Comme Nicholas Ray, Elia Kazan et Joseph Losey, il va sillonner le pays en jouant et mettant en scène des pièces de gauche radicale, ce qui lui vaudra plus tard quelques ennuis avec le sénateur Joseph McCarthy. S'il n'a jamais adhéré au Parti communiste américain, Ritt demeura toute sa vie fidèle à ses idéaux de jeunesse, dans sa vie comme dans son travail.

Engagé dans l'US Air Force, en 1941, Martin jouera pour la première fois au cinéma en 1944 dans un petit rôle d'aviateur dans Winged Victory réalisé par George Cukor, après l'avoir interprété avec succès à Broadway. Démobilisé, il continue sa carrière d'acteur et de metteur en scène jusqu'en 1952, où il entre à la télévision. Il va y produire et diriger des adaptations de pièces de théâtre, notamment de Somerset Maugham pour le petit écran, où, là encore, il pensait pouvoir toucher plus de gens grâce à ce nouveau médium, sans renoncer à ses convictions.

Mais, comme nombre de ses amis, Ritt se fait remarquer par une brochure anticommuniste, Counterattack, animé par des agents du FBI, où on le soupçonne de sympathie avec Moscou lors de ses activités pendant le New Deal. Ce qui lui vaudra d'être black-listé et interdit de télévision. Il retourne alors au théâtre jusqu'en 1956 et exerce à l'Actors Studio où il dirigera James Dean.

Ses débuts en 1957 à Hollywood sont assez laborieux. Il adapte une pièce de Robert Alan Aurthur écrite pour la télévision (A Man Is Ten Feet Tall) sous le titre L'Homme qui tua la peur, fonctionnant sur un schéma conflictuel en vogue à l'époque, situé dans le milieu des syndicats de docker contre un patron inflexible, avec Jack Warden, en affreux raciste, Sidney Poitier en noir humaniste et entre les deux un névrosé, interprété par le jeune John Cassavetes. Cette première œuvre reçut un succès d'estime mérité, surtout pour sa direction d'acteurs bien maitrisée. Puis ce fut, la même année, No Down Payment, peinture de trois couples de la classe moyenne – assez conventionnelle et mélodramatique, mais où surnageait l'interprétation de Joanne Woodward (femme de Paul Newman) qui allait marquer le début d'une longue collaboration.

Suivirent trois films adaptés de romanciers : en 1958 Les Feux de l'été tiré du Hameau de William Faulkner, avec le couple complice Newman-Woodward, Orson Welles et Angela Lansbury, L'Orchidée noire avec Anthony Quinn et Sophia Loren (en tournée aux USA). En 1959, à nouveau Faulkner, dans Le Bruit et la Fureur avec Yul Brynner, Joanne Woodward. Malgré une bonne volonté et un succès honorable, Ritt échoua devant l'insurmontable tâche de transposer un monument de la littérature à l'écran.

L'année suivante, c'est Cinq femmes marquées, un quintet de jeunes femmes yougoslaves soutenant les partisans en lutte contre les nazis, avec Silvana Mangano, Vera Miles et Jeanne Moreau, dans une coproduction internationale très prisée dans les années 1960. Puis suivirent trois films avec son acteur fétiche, Paul Newman : en 1961, Paris Blues, vision « rittienne » d'un Américain à Paris, mais version jazz, assez cliché, avec Woodward et Poitier, en 1963, Le Plus Sauvage d'entre tous, western moderne avec Patricia Neal et Melvyn Douglas, avec trois oscars et un grand succès critique, en 1964, The Outrage adaptation mexicaine de Rashomon de Kurosawa avec Claire Bloom et Edward G. Robinson. Deux ans auparavant, Ritt tourna Aventures de jeunesse, d'après les récits autobiographiques de l'écrivain Ernest Hemingway.

À partir de 1965, Martin Ritt, ayant remporté des succès commerciaux et critiques, semble vouloir suivre une voie plus personnelle. Il s'attaque d'abord au best-seller de John le Carré L'Espion qui venait du froid où, tout en respectant le roman d'espionnage, il trace, avec Richard Burton, le portrait d'un espion bureaucrate au temps de la guerre froide. Ce qui lui vaudra seulement deux nominations aux Oscars. Et deux ans plus tard, il signe un de ses meilleurs films, Hombre, portrait d'un blanc apache christique qui va se sacrifier pour sauver les passagers d'une diligence à la John Ford. Ici, peu de dialogues, aucune référence théâtrale, peu d'effets.

Best films

Norma Rae (1979)
(Director)
Hud (1963)
(Director)
Five Branded Women (1960)
(Director)
Cross Creek (1983)
(Director)

Usually with

Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Martin Ritt (30 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

The Slugger's Wife, 1h45
Directed by Hal Ashby
Genres Drama, Comedy, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Sports films, Baseball films
Actors Michael O'Keefe, Rebecca De Mornay, Randy Quaid, Cleavant Derricks, Martin Ritt, Lisa Langlois
Roles Burly De Vito
Rating44% 2.208022.208022.208022.208022.20802
Darryl Palmer is a baseball player for the Atlanta Braves. He enjoys the fame and fringe benefits of bachelor life until he meets rock singer Debby Huston, falls in love and decides to settle down.
Norma Rae
Norma Rae (1979)
, 1h50
Directed by Martin Ritt
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Themes Feminist films, Films about the labor movement, Political films, Children's films
Actors Sally Field, Beau Bridges, Ron Leibman, Pat Hingle, Morgan Paull, Barbara Baxley
Roles Factory Worker (uncredited)
Rating72% 3.648243.648243.648243.648243.64824
Norma Rae Webster is a minimum-wage worker in a cotton mill that has taken too much of a toll on the health of her family for her to ignore their poor working conditions. After hearing a speech by a New York union organizer, Reuben Warshowsky, Norma Rae decides to join the effort to unionize her shop. This causes conflict at home when Norma Rae's husband, Sonny, says she's not spending enough time in the home.
Winged Victory, 2h10
Directed by George Cukor
Origin USA
Genres Drama, War
Themes Transport films, Aviation films, Documentary films about war, Documentary films about historical events, Political films, Documentary films about World War II, United States Armed Forces in films
Actors Lon McCallister, Jeanne Crain, Red Buttons, Edmond O'Brien, Don Taylor, Judy Holliday
Roles Gleason
Rating63% 3.1910353.1910353.1910353.1910353.191035
Frankie Davis (Lon McCallister), Allan Ross (Mark Daniels) and Pinkie Scariano (Don Taylor) join the U.S. Army Air Forces with hopes of becoming pilots. In training, they befriend Irving Miller (Edmond O'Brien) and Bobby Grills (Barry Nelson). The five friends go through the training process to become pilots, facing success, failure and tragedy.

Director

Stanley & Iris, 1h44
Directed by Martin Ritt
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Romantic comedy, Action, Romance
Actors Jane Fonda, Robert De Niro, Swoosie Kurtz, Martha Plimpton, Jamey Sheridan, Harley Cross
Rating63% 3.1504953.1504953.1504953.1504953.150495
Iris King works in a baking factory in Connecticut. Still getting over the recent death of her husband, she lives from paycheck to paycheck as she raises her two children, Kelly and Richard. Also staying with her are her unemployed sister Sharon and Sharon's abusive husband Joe. Iris lives in a high crime area. With money already tight for the family, Kelly discovers she is pregnant which makes matters worse.
Nuts
Nuts (1987)
, 1h55
Directed by Martin Ritt
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Themes Films about sexuality, Théâtre, Erotic films, Films about prostitution, Films based on plays, Erotic thriller films
Actors Richard Dreyfuss, Maureen Stapleton, Eli Wallach, Barbra Streisand, Karl Malden, Leslie Nielsen
Rating65% 3.297353.297353.297353.297353.29735
When call girl Claudia Draper kills client Allen Green in self-defense, her mother Rose and stepfather Arthur attempt to have her declared mentally incompetent by Dr. Herbert Morrison in order to avoid a public scandal. Realizing if her parents succeed she will be remanded to a psychiatric facility for an indefinite period of time, strong-willed Claudia is determined to prove she is sane enough to stand trial.
Murphy's Romance, 1h47
Directed by Martin Ritt
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Romantic comedy, Romance
Actors Sally Field, James Garner, Brian Kerwin, Corey Haim, Dennis Burkley, Georgann Johnson
Rating69% 3.4950353.4950353.4950353.4950353.495035
Emma qui vient juste de divorcer déménage dans une petite ville avec son garçon, un adolescent de treize ans. Elle se prend alors d'amitié pour un vieux gérant de drugstore veuf. La vie suit son chemin jusqu'à ce que l'ancien mari d'Emma ressurgisse.
Cross Creek, 2h7
Directed by Martin Ritt
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Biography, Romance
Themes Films about writers
Actors Mary Steenburgen, Rip Torn, Peter Coyote, Alfre Woodard, Dana Hill, Joanna Miles
Rating68% 3.445253.445253.445253.445253.44525
In 1928 in New York State, aspiring author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (Steenburgen) advises her husband that her last book was rejected by a publisher, and she has bought an orange grove in Florida and is leaving him to go there. She drives to the nearest town alone, and arrives in time for her car to die. Local resident Norton Baskin (Peter Coyote) takes her the rest of the distance to a dilapidated and overgrown cabin attached to an even more overgrown orange grove. Despite Baskin's (and her own) doubts, she stays and begins to fix up the property.
Back Roads
Back Roads (1981)
, 1h30
Directed by Martin Ritt
Genres Drama, Comedy, Romantic comedy, Romance
Actors Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, David Keith, Dan Shor, M. Emmet Walsh, Míriam Colón
Rating56% 2.803532.803532.803532.803532.80353
Amy Post (Field) is a $20-a-trick hooker in Mobile, Alabama. One night she entertains Elmore Pratt (Jones), an ex-boxer who has just been fired from his job at a car wash. He cannot pay her for services rendered.
Norma Rae
Norma Rae (1979)
, 1h50
Directed by Martin Ritt
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Themes Feminist films, Films about the labor movement, Political films, Children's films
Actors Sally Field, Beau Bridges, Ron Leibman, Pat Hingle, Morgan Paull, Barbara Baxley
Rating72% 3.648243.648243.648243.648243.64824
Norma Rae Webster is a minimum-wage worker in a cotton mill that has taken too much of a toll on the health of her family for her to ignore their poor working conditions. After hearing a speech by a New York union organizer, Reuben Warshowsky, Norma Rae decides to join the effort to unionize her shop. This causes conflict at home when Norma Rae's husband, Sonny, says she's not spending enough time in the home.
Casey's Shadow, 1h57
Directed by Martin Ritt
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Adventure
Themes Films about animals, Sports films, Films about horses
Actors Walter Matthau, Alexis Smith, Murray Hamilton, Robert Webber, Whit Bissell, Andrew Rubin
Rating61% 3.0507353.0507353.0507353.0507353.050735
Down on his luck Louisiana horse trainer Lloyd Bourdelle (Walter Matthau) dreams of winning the All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico. Lloyd has three sons, Buddy, Randy and Casey. Buddy (Andrew Rubin) helps his father train horses, while Randy (Steve Burns) rides them in races. Lloyd takes Casey (Michael Hershewe) and Randy to a small bush track, to try to make some money by racing Casey's small pony, Gypsy. They find a match race with Mr Marsh (Robert Webber) and his daughter Kelly (Susan Myers), but play a trick on Marsh by tying a live chicken to Gypsy's saddle. Gypsy wins the race, but Marsh doesn't pay up, complaining that Lloyd cheated him by not having a rider on Gypsy. Lloyd laughs and remarks that the chicken is the best live jockey around. The races end and Lloyd takes Randy and Casey home.
The Front
The Front (1976)
, 1h35
Directed by Martin Ritt
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Action
Themes Films about films, Mise en scène d'un scénariste, Political films
Actors Woody Allen, Zero Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, Michael Murphy, Andrea Marcovicci, Remak Ramsay
Rating72% 3.6457253.6457253.6457253.6457253.645725
In the early 1950s, in New York City, restaurant cashier and small-time bookie Howard Prince (Woody Allen) has a friend who writes for television. Because the friend, Alfred Miller (Michael Murphy) has been blacklisted, he asks Howard to sign his name to the TV scripts.
Conrack
Conrack (1974)
, 1h46
Directed by Martin Ritt
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Themes Films about education
Actors Jon Voight, Paul Winfield, Madge Sinclair, Antonio Fargas, Hume Cronyn, Tina Andrews
Rating72% 3.641823.641823.641823.641823.64182
The story follows a young teacher, Pat Conroy (played by Jon Voight), in 1969 assigned to isolated "Yamacraw Island" off the coast of South Carolina and populated mostly by poor black families. He finds out that the children as well as the adults have been isolated from the rest of the world and speak a dialect called Gullah, with "Conrack" of the novel's title being the best they can do to pronounce his last name. The school has only two rooms for all grades combined, with the Principal (Madge Sinclair) teaching grades one through four and Conroy teaching the higher grades. Conroy discovers that the students aren't taught much and will have little hope of making a life in the larger world.
Pete 'n' Tillie, 1h40
Directed by Martin Ritt
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romance
Themes Films about sexuality, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film
Actors Walter Matthau, Carol Burnett, Geraldine Page, Barry Nelson, René Auberjonois, Lee Montgomery
Rating61% 3.095993.095993.095993.095993.09599
Pete Seltzer (Matthau) is introduced to Tillie Schlaine (Burnett) at a party. Her friends Gertrude and Bert are the hosts and attempting to fix her up.