Mask (film)
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| Mask | |
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Peter Bogdanovich |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Martin Starger |
| Written by | Anna Hamilton Phelan |
| Starring | Cher Eric Stoltz Sam Elliott Laura Dern |
| Music by | Dennis Ricotta |
| Cinematography | Lászlo Kovács |
| Editing by | Barbara Ford |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 8 1985 |
| Running time | 120 min/127 min. (director's cut) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
- This article is about the 1985 Peter Bogdanovich film. For the 1994 comedy starring Jim Carrey, see The Mask.
Mask is a 1985 drama film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, and starring Cher and Eric Stoltz. Sam Elliott, Dennis Burkley, and Laura Dern are featured in supporting roles. Cher received the 1985 Cannes Film Festival award for Best Actress.[1]
The film is based on the life and early death of Roy L. "Rocky" Dennis, a boy who suffered from craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, an extremely rare disorder known commonly as lionitis due to the disfiguring cranial enlargements that it causes.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The son of a freewheeling biker girl, Rocky Dennis (Eric Stoltz) is accepted without question by his mother's boyfriends and motorcycle friends, but treated with pity, condescension, and disgust by much of the outside world. Rocky's mother Rusty Dennis (Cher) is determined to give the boy as normal a life as possible, despite her own wild ways as a member of a biker gang. She fights to have him included in a mainstream junior high school, when the principal would rather classify him with mental retardation so that he can be sent to a special education school.
Rocky goes on to thrive at school, gradually overcoming discrimination and eventually accepts a job as a counselor's aide at a summer camp for the junior blind. Now that he has his own life in order, Rocky sets about to wean his chronically depressed mother from her drug habit. He also falls in love with Diana Adams (Laura Dern), a blind girl who cannot see his deformed countenance and is entranced by the boy's kindness and compassion. At the end of the film, Rocky dies quietly in his sleep at the age of 16. In the words of a grieving Rusty, "Now you can go anywhere you want, baby."
Rusty, Gar, and Dozer later visit his grave, leaving flowers and some of his Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cards by his headstone.
[edit] Impact
The commercial success of Mask was a milestone in the career of Bogdanovich, who had directed a string of critical and financial failures following his three successful films of the early 1970s. It also helped launch the careers of Stoltz and Dern, and firmly established Cher as a serious actress.
[edit] Difference from the film and real life
The gravestone at the end of the film shows Rocky's birth and death dates as 1964 and 1980, respectively. He actually was born December 4, 1961, and died October 4, 1978.
[edit] See Also
[edit] Main cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Cher | Florence "Rusty" Dennis |
| Sam Elliott | Gar |
| Eric Stoltz | Roy "Rocky" Dennis |
| Estelle Getty | Evelyn Tullis |
| Richard Dysart | Abe Tullis |
| Laura Dern | Diana Adams |
| Micole Mercurio | Babe |
| Harry Carey, Jr. | Red |
| Dennis Burkley | Dozer |
| Lawrence Monoson | Ben |
| Ben Piazza | Mr. Simms |
| L. Craig King | Eric |
| Alexandra Powers | Lisa |
| Kelly Jo Minter | Lorrie |
| Todd Allen | Canuck |
| Howard Hirdler | Stickman |
[edit] Box Office
The film was a box office success grossing $42,400,000 in the US alone, with a further $20,478,600 in rentals with a North American Box Office gross of $63,000,000. [2]
[edit] References
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Mask". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/937/year/1985.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-28.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089560/business
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mask (film) |
- Mask at the Internet Movie Database
- Mask at Allmovie
- Mask at Rotten Tomatoes
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