SPHE Press Release: Martini Movies: Wave 3

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Serves Up A Third Round of

MARTINI MOVIES: WAVE 3

One Part Sex. One Part Rebellion. The Films Include

Model Shop, The Buttercup Chain, The Pursuit of Happiness, Summertree, andLove and Pain and The Whole Damn Thing

All Five for the First Time on DVD September 8

CULVER CITY, CALIF. (July 6, 2009) – No matter the decade, there's a place where icons, idols and the infamous flock for bottomless martinis and over-the-top trysts. Sit back and take in the scene when Sony Pictures Home Entertainment debuts a third round of Martini Movies on DVD September 8. The five newly-restored and remastered films incorporate the themes of the late 60's and early 70's, an era of free-love, anti-conformity and counter-culture politics.   Never-before-available on DVD, the films include: Model Shop (1969), The Buttercup Chain (1970), The Pursuit of Happiness (1971), Summertree (1971), and Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (1973). These rediscovered gems feature top-shelf talent, including two-time Academy Award®-winners Michael Douglas (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Wall Street) and Maggie Smith (The Prime of Miss Jean Brody, California Suite), Oscar® nominees Anouk Aimee (A Man and a Woman) and Barbara Hershey (A Portrait of a Lady), Emmy® Award-winners E.G. Marshall (TV’s “The Defenders”) and Rue McClanahan (TV’s “Golden Girls”), and many more. Along with each title comes its very own custom-mixed martini recipe, adding a fun twist to the viewing experience.  Each title will be available separately for $19.94 SRP.

Model Shop (1969)

French New Wave director, Jacques Demy, best known for his stylish musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, reunites with French star Anouk Aimee (their first pairing, 1961’s Lola) to direct his first film in America. Gary Lockwood (2001, A Space Odyssey) plays shiftless but innocuous George Matthews, who can’t seem to get himself worked up about anything: the girl friend he is about to lose, his soon-to-be repossessed car, or even his draft notice. Until one day, he sees the beautiful but detached model (Aimee), and he begins to follow her. Los Angeles, from the beach at Malibu to the mansions of Beverly Hills to the cheap strip joints along Santa Monica Blvd., is critically examined as the tale unfolds, and its locations reflect the disaffection of its characters.

The Buttercup Chain (1970)

Cousins, Franz (Hywel Bennett) and Margaret (60's superstar model Jane Asher), are very close, and after years of being separated at school, they reunite to vacation together. When Franz decides Margaret should have a lover, Fred (Sven-Bertil Taube) amicably joins them, and Franz takes up with one himself. But the foursome encounters sexual and cultural complications as they meander across Europe. The reticent Margaret is slow to take up with Franz’s candidate, and in the meantime, Franz’s lover Manny (Leigh Taylor Young) intervenes. This story of the entanglements of unencumbered, beautiful and cosmopolitan young people as they search out their identities and test each others limits is in some ways a traditional coming-of-age story, but at a time of changing attitudes and sexual mores. Director Robert Ellis Miller (The Heart is Lonely Hunter) was nominated for the Golden Palm at the Cannes International Film Festival for this film. In addition, The Buttercup Chain features sumptuous cinematography by three-time Oscar nominee Douglas Slocumbe (Travels with my Aunt, Julia, Raiders of the Lost Ark).

The Pursuit of Happiness (1971)

By the time Michael Sarazin landed the role of William Popper in The Pursuit of Happiness, he had displayed his Actor’s Studio credentials in a number of roles on stage and screen (They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, The Sweet Ride, and The Flim Flam Man), and was a perfect choice to play the appealing, young lead in this anti-establishment story. Popper, who comes from privilege, has his eyes opened to social activism on the college campus by his girl friend, Barbara Hershey (Hannah and Her Sisters, Beaches). When a traffic accident forces Popper face-to-face with the judicial system, his principles and counter-culture lifestyle are put on trial. Directed by Oscar nominee Robert Mulligan (To Kill a Mockingbird), and based on Thomas Rogers’ book of the same title, the lesson Popper learns is that the severest consequences can come from trying to do the right thing.

Summertree (1971)

Although best-known as an actor, Michael Douglas’s strongest mark on Hollywood in his early career came as a producer of films such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The China Syndrome. Summertree, which he starred in as well as produced (along with his father Kirk Douglas), examines the Vietnam War and its consequences on the soldiers drafted to fight and the families they leave behind. Jerry (Douglas) is an attractive, all-American male, who debates his options upon receiving his draft notice. Co-starring two-time Oscar nominee Jack Warden (Shampoo, Heaven Can Wait), Oscar nominee Barbara Bel Geddes (I Remember Mama, Vertigo, TV’s “Dallas”), Brenda Vaccaro (Midnight Cowboy, Once is Not Enough) and a young Rob Reiner (TV’s “All in the Family”), the film was directed by veteran actor-composer-director Anthony Newley (Oscar nominee for “Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score” for Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory).

Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (1973)

Directed by three-time Oscar nominee Alan J. Pakula (All the President's Men, Klute), this funny and, at times, agonizing, road trip is a rich character study about the alienation and isolation felt by the younger generation in the post-revolutionary '60's era. Awkward and shy, Walter Ebbetson (Timothy Bottoms, Johnny Got His Gun, TV’s “That’s My Bush”) is exiled by his rich father to a bicycle tour across Spain. Walter--miserable in his own skin--makes those around him even more uncomfortable as he suffers through the ordeal of the tour. He escapes the cyclists, only to become entangled in the life of a fellow tourist, the introverted Lila (Maggie Smith). Meanwhile Lila happens to be suffering from her own anxious tics and insecurities. The two find themselves locked in an uncoordinated and clumsy affair, two misfits who find companionship in unlikely partners.

Model Shop has a running time of approximately 90 minutes and is rated PG. The Buttercup Chain has a running time of approximately 95 minutes and is rated R. The Pursuit of Happiness has a running time of approximately 93 minutes and is not rated. Summertree has a running time of approximately 89 minutes and is not rated. Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing has a running time of approximately 110 minutes and is rated PG.  Visit Sony Home Entertainment on the Web at www.SonyPictures.com.

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Model Shop

The Buttercup Chain

The Pursuit of Happiness

Summertree

Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing