According to the British Film Institute (via The Hollywood Reporter), director Alan Parker—whose movies landed 10 Golden Globes and 10 Academy Awards—has died “following a lengthy illness.” Parker’s filmmaking career covered a wide range of genres and aesthetics, with him directing musicals like Fame and Evita, real-life dramas like Mississippi Burning and Angela’s Ashes, and horror-thrillers like Angel Heart (which was hit with an X rating from the MPAA due to a sex scene featuring Mickey Rourke and Lisa Bonet that had to be trimmed by 10 seconds in order to get an R rating). Parker was 76.
Parker was born in London in 1944 to a working class family and had no aspirations of getting into the movie business. It wasn’t until he got a job at advertising agency CDP after graduating from school that he started tentatively stepping into the world of filmmaking. Parker got a job as a copywriter at the ad agency, which then naturally transitioned into actually making commercials at a time when CDP had a reputation for making very good ads. After meeting movie producer David Puttnam, Parker was inspired to write his first screenplay—Melody, which was directed by Waris Hussein.
He started his own production company, initially to make commercials, but he eventually just shifted fully into making feature films in order to be taken more seriously as a director. His feature debut was the period-set musical Bugsy Malone, which he followed-up with the Oliver Stone-written neo-noir Midnight Express, establishing a pattern of doing unexpected moves that he maintained throughout his career. He followed Midnight Express, for example, with the performing arts school drama Fame. Before the dramatic memoir adaptation Angela’s Ashes, he made the movie version of Evita with Madonna.
Parker was knighted in 2002 and received the British Film Institute’s Academy Fellowship (the organization’s highest honor) in 2013. Speaking on a BFI panel in 2015, Parker explained that he had left the movie business because the cost of making a film had risen so much that a director had to fight producers and studios over every decision. “Every day was a battle, every day it was difficult,” he explained, adding, “You duck under the ropes and you get into the ring and I’ve been punching out all my life to fight for the work.” His final feature was 2003's The Life David Gale.
69 Comments
As a music director, I’d say his work on The Wall is much, much, much more influential than Evita. That said, it seems a little bit off to call him as anything besides “Alan Parker, director of The Commitments.” As an aside, Roger Ebert’s outrage that Angelheart got an X rating while Nightmare on Elm Street 3 got an R is one of the most entertaining rants I’ve ever seen. I don’t remember if it’s in the review of one of those movies or in the preface to one of his 1980s movie guides, but I’m sure it’s floating around online. That man did not care for the MPAA.
He went to his grave yelling fuck MPAA and I’m okay with that.
Some of the fascist rallies in Evita reminded me so much of the visuals from The Wall. It was the only thing about Evita that I liked. Well, I seem to remember liking Banderas. I just hate Madonna, mostly.And let’s not forget The Road to Wellville. I don’t really consider it a good movie, and I’m not sure if I even like it, but it’s so deeply weird — much like a lot of medical thinking in the early 20th Century, apparently.
Yeah, The Road to Wellville is a very weird movie that doesn’t quite work. But I liked it because it tells the very weird story of Kellogg and Post which gave their names to brands we are familiar with today (even if the modern Kellogg cereal company is actually the one started by the brother of the character played by Hopkins).
Love The Commitments. Brilliant movie and great music.The other Barrytown films are good too. Love Colm Meaney.
The Commitments was one of the two movies that my mother, a devoutly repressed Catholic woman of the 50s, and my wife, an outspoken 21st century atheistic feminist, could agree was terrific. The other one was Fargo. Go figure.
How many films have two sequels that virtually match the quality of first. Amazeballs. And Colm Meany is the bomb. I never understood why they blandified his character in Star Trek, and wasted his talent
I love The Van from that series, never seemed to get the love it deserved.
Um, did he not listen to the lyrics of his own production, Fame? It’s “I’m gonna live Foreveeeer!” not “I’m gonna die from illness!”Another broken promise from the era of Reagan and Thatcher.
Look, just because you can’t perceive eternal spirit forms doesn’t mean he broke his promise. *tsk* Typical non-necromancer behavior.
One look at the photo above makes clear he was not, in fact, “gonna learn how to fly – high!” and probably had a vertical leap of, at most eight inches. And while he may have smoked cigarettes during his lifetime, he was not going to “light up the sky like a flame – fame!” At most, he might have shot off several bottle rockets or a flare gun, which hardly counts.
Baby, remember his name. (remember, remember)
I think the idea is that people seeking fame would live forever in their work. But screw that! That doesn’t help!
Despite making his name on taking big swings and making big movies, I always preferred Parker when he was more down to Earth.
Birdy and The Commitments are my two favorite movies of his (the former sadly forgotten) and both movies are sweet, intimate, and gently funny. Even the more human and quiet moment of Fame strike me far more deeply than the bombast.
RIP
“BIRDY!”
“What?”Great ending.
Does Bugsy Malone mean anything to people outside of UK? As that film is huge part of Brit Gen X childhoods.
Sure the basic premise is extremely weird. Kids play gangsters. Who kill each other with splurge guns. That didn’t matter as it was cool, as far as we were concerned.
RIP Alan Parker, thanks for Bugsy Malone and your other more serious films.
I very ironically love Bugsy Malone. The adult singing voices (which really freaked my girlfriend out when we watched it together) are just the icing on an incredibly bizarre cake. I can’t even imagine a movie like that getting made today and I’m so glad it exists.
It played beautifully to this little Australian Gen Xer … Even more than ‘The Wall’, which played like a bong accessory. ‘Midnight Express’, ‘Birdy’, ‘Midnight Express’ – All great. He was underrated, but growing up a film nerd, I had him up there with Scorsese, Demme, Coppola, etc … A great of his generation. R.I.P, and thanks, Al.
Sorry, I meant ‘Mississippi Burning’, regardless of how good ‘Midnight Express’ was – Must be too many viewings of ‘The Wall’ …
You listed Midnight Express twice.
Man, I use to watch that all the time when I was a kid. I love that movie. Just something about kid gangsters shooting each other with pudding/pies was something very surreal.
In the US, probably not many, but it was shown on local stations sometimes. That’s how I watched it. I find it great fun and weird. You mention the splurge guns, but the pedal cars were what I wanted.
Splurge guns and pedal cars were the dream, sadly never happened in real life.
In Canada I don’t remember it being shown in theatres but it was on TV fairly regularly and all us kids loved it. It also had Jodie Foster and Scott Baio (I believe) in it.
The only American I can speak for is myself, and I can tell you that I loved the hell out of Bugsy Malone as a kid (also of the Gen-X variety).I didn’t see it in theaters, but the first time I saw it on TV a few years later, I was hooked, And EVERY time it aired, be it on the ABC Friday night movie or on the local UHF channels, it was mandatory viewing. Now as a middle aged man., I look back fondly on Bugsy Malone as an essential film of my youth, much along the same line as The Bad News Bears.Though as much as I would like to say it was the first movie I thought of when I heard Parker died, that honor in fact goes to The Commitments.
Another Brit here who LOVES Bugsy Malone. The Bad Guys routine, “So you wanna be a boxer”, loads of quotable lines – it’s just great fun.
Canadian here. Bugsy Malone was one of the quintessential films of my childhood. As a Disney fan, I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to see it. I then saw it 5-6 times in the theatre. Right up there with Star Wars for me.
Not sure if this is viewable outside of UK, but there was a cast reunion years ago as part of series called ‘After They Were Famous’. Should be of interest to those who grew up watching this.
You can argue Fame is more about wanting viewers to feel emotion than actually putting the pieces in place to fully validate that emotion (it still bothers me, many years later, that Coco’s entire story leads her to being exploited and violated and we then get zero followup – it ends the film on a very sour note), but it has been with me ever since I first got the VHS long ago. There are so many moments which veer between cliche and emotional power – Ralph telling his family he got into the academy; a nonchalant Leroy’s sexually charged audition as the talentless friend he was there to audition with in the first place curses him out and storms from the building; the hoity toity rich girl who had a fling with Leroy prattling on about her travel plans then breaking down in tears saying she has to have an abortion; Coco singing Out Here On My Own, as Bruno, who is madly in love with her, allows himself to clasp her hand but can’t say anything because his well-meaning father blunders into the auditorium; the wonderful Hot Lunch cafeteria sequence; a shy Doris, early in her time at the academy, being treated with kindness by a handsome student soon to graduate and hit the big time, only for Doris to run into him, several years later, serving as her waiter; Montgomery’s coming out; Ralph, after badgering Montgomery for being gay earlier in the film, giving him a quick kiss on the lips to make him smile before their graduation; the joyful chaos of the I Sing the Body Electric graduation sequence…I could go on and on, even more than I already have. I loved the energy of the film, the vibe, and it has never left me. It never will. Not to be petty, but I’m so glad the remake from 10-15 years ago came and went in the blink of an eye.
It’s wonderful and it shows something I love from Alan Parker: his ability to make ugly places absolutely beautiful. He was really a visual genius. RIP.
I love Fame, but haven’t seen it in many a year. Just reading this makes me want to watch it right the heck now. What a gorgeous movie.
…and each and every one of those teachers stressing how theirs is the most important class: chef’s kiss 🙂
There was a re-make? Jeez I forgot about that. Of course there was. Blasphemy, like the Dirty Dancing sequel.
I had posted on another topic that the Baby Boom Generation is reaching its expiration date. In the US that’s a population bubble of some 65 million. It used to be 75 million but ten million have already died. I’m so far on the outer edge of the Baby Boom demographic that I’m not sure if I count as one, but I’ve already hit retirement age.
I enjoy Parker’s entire body of work but as a genre fan Angel Heart is a personal favorite. The film has style to spare, Charlotte Rampling and a killer, albeit predictable, ending. A very talented man. RIP
But it’s a good predictable ending, as in it’s the inevitable consequence of broken characters stuck in a tragedy.
Love him for The Commitments. That film is one I always beg people to see if they haven’t. The music, the brilliant writing, the heart of it. Just an absolute gem. I can never forget the name Imelda Quirke.
The weird thing is being from Ireland , that seems like a completely normal name .
Fookin deadly!
Bleedin’ rapid!
“Wash it? I’d fookin’ frame it.”- I almost shouted “Bernie” at the beginning of The Phantom Menace.
Great Director who made The Commitments, and other slightly lesser movies dies. Seriously , no mention of The Commitments ?…for shame.
lesser movies
Point taken , I’ll take my custard spluurge and go.
I wonder if American viewers need subtitles for that film , it features some quite heavy dialect. That’s a great version of Try a little Tenderness but I recently saw a vid of Otis singing that song , it’s really something else.
Apparently they issued a guide book in some US cinemas to help .Which I can completely understand. But dammit! as someone who grew up in Dublin it was nice for once to see a movie that didn’t pander to international audiences ,didn’t hire a a load of English and US actors to do ‘easier to understand’ fake oiirish accents , or cut down on the local slang .At that time Ireland was piss poor , and looked down on , so at the time , a load of working class young adults playing the music of another downtrodden culture’s music (60’s era Soul and Motown)worked .Today it’d probably be looked at quite differently(white people appropriate black music , would probably be the hot take), and the “Ireland are the blacks of Europe speech*” just wouldn’t work, To be fair back then , Ireland was somewhere you emigrated from , not to, and was something like 99% white, merely ten years later , people actually came here to live from other countries , and we’ve gradually become a multicultural country, and people get on (mostly , barring the odd racist idiot).Also it features Colm Meaney delivering the line.“Elvis was a Cajun? …that’s fuckin blasphemy “Which is just perfect(* The original book used slightly more ‘raw ‘ language there , which while basically saying , we;re treated like shit , black people are treated like shit , we’re in solidarity , you just couldnt use today, even meaning well)
The ‘elvis was a cajun’ line was uttered endlessly in my house growing up. We weren’t the least bit Irish but loved the movie to death, and the amazing soundtrack, too. Hope it gets a new lease in the sun on Netflix or something, fairly timeless movie I think.
And the of course we got The Corrs outta that as well. The man was also the master of those ‘incidental’ people shots that added so much real texture to any scene. The people in the back alleys, the wedding reception, and all those cut-away-to’s of the audiences are what I love a lot about The Commitments.
Today it’d probably be looked at quite differently(white people
appropriate black music , would probably be the hot take), and the
“Ireland are the blacks of Europe speech*” just wouldn’t work,
Well to be fair to the saying “No Blacks. No Dogs. No Irish.” was a thing during 60’s/70’s Britain. Which is the sort of thing my mum and the rest of the Windrush generation (along with Irish immigrants) had to deal with back then.
I’ve seen it so many times on VHS, with no subtitles, that I have no trouble understanding the dialogue. Right before the pandemic, there were visitors at my work from Dublin or thereabouts, and some people were like, “I can barely understand them, can you?”, and I was like “Yep.”
THIS.
I love The Commitments. I actually completely forgot that Parker directed Fame, so I never made the connection that it was an “in joke” reference when Mickah Wallace jokingly sang “Fame! I wanna live till Tuesday!”
Lesser? Bugsy Malone. Midnight Express. Fame. First three films directed? I loooove The Commitments, but still.
Excuse me, no mention of Pink Floyd The Wall? That was an outrageously good movie. Rest in peace.
No mention of Pink Floyd – The Wall?Odd.
The lack of a mention, or the film itself?
director Alan Parker (…) has died…two days ago.
In their defence , he’s still dead now.
Heartiest laugh of the day, thanks 🙂
The Life David Gale
Please fix.
I think Parker was a better director than many of his movies would indicate. He was good with actors and knew how to keep a story moving. He was also unashamed to be a populist filmmaker back when the term still conjured up associations with Capra, Sturges and Curtiz and not death wish fascists.That said, his stylistic vision never really seemed to gel. “Midnight Express” came out at the end of the seventies grit-over-polish era yet feels like phoney Hollywood and is marred by its creeping xenophobia and unearned sensationalism. “The Wall” was a dull, dumb visualization of an even dumber “Tommy” ripoff while “Birdy” felt weirdly earthbound and “Angel Heart” was like a meandering Ambrose Bierce tale that seemed to exists only for its shaggy dog ending.People seemed to really love “Fame” and “The Commitments” at the time and that’s fine. Both are pretty lightweight and facile but we could probably actually use a few more movies like them these days.I think his best work remains “Shoot the Moon” which he shoots with wise restraint, letting Bo Goldman’s script do the heavy lifting with the result of getting perhaps the best performances ever out of Albert Finney and Diane Keaton. It’s a wise, affecting movie but I almost think you almost have to see it before you hit 40. Once you’ve put some mileage on the film can be painfully resonant to watch.It’s sad Parker had to retire prematurely and his reasons are a good example of everything wrong with the business these days.
Capra, Sturges and Curtiz and not death wish fascists
Capra was apparently pro-Mussolini early on, but he was born in Italy, and as far as I know never had a death wish.
Gawds I loved The Commitments…
I owe The Commitments a rewatch.
Absolutely loved Angel Heart. Rest in peace.
“How terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the wise.”“No one will mourn one less lawyer in the world.”
“The flesh is weak Johnny, only the soul is immortal. And yours BELONGS TO ME.”
It’s “The Life *of* David Gale”. Just because we’ve erased Kevin Spacey doesn’t mean we can erase propositions.
I don’t expect a complete filmography on these things, but leaving out The Wall and The Commitments seems especially egregious. And the last sentence: “His final feature was 2003’s The Life of David Gale” is just twisting the knife.
The Commitments is my absolute favourite “let’s put together a band” movie.
what a weird parenthetical in that first paragraph, imagine that being the go-to anecdote for your life and career