Hal Ashby

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Hal Ashby was an American film director and editor associated with the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. Before his career as a director Ashby edited films for Norman Jewison, notably The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), which earned Ashby an Oscar nomination for Best Editing, and In the Heat of the Night (1967), which earned him his only Oscar for the same category. Ashby received a third Oscar nomination, this time for Best Director for Coming Home (1978). Other films directed by Ashby include The Landlord (1970), Harold and Maude (1971), The Last Detail (1973), Shampoo (1975), Bound for Glory (1976) and Being There (1979). Born William Hal Ashby in Ogden, Utah, he grew up in a Mormon household. His tumultuous childhood as part of a dysfunctional family included the divorce of his parents, his father's suicide, and dropping out of high school. Ashby was married and divorced by the time he was 19. As Ashby was entering adult life, he moved from Utah to California where he soon became an assistant film editor. After being nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing in 1967 for The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, his big break occurred in 1968 when he won the award for In the Heat of the Night. At the urging of producer Norman Jewison, Ashby directed his first film The Landlord in 1970. While his birth date placed him squarely within the realm of the prewar generation, the filmmaker ...

8 Million Ways to Die (1986)

Scudder is a detective with the Sheriff's Department who is forced to shoot a violent suspect during a narcotics raid. The ensuing psychological aftermath of this shooting worsens his drinking problem and this alcoholism causes him to lose his job, as well as his ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Jeff Bridges  •  Rosanna Arquette  •  Andy García  •  Alexandra Paul

Scudder is a detective with the Sheriff's Department who is forced to shoot a violent suspect during a narcotics raid. The ensuing psychological aftermath of this shooting worsens his drinking problem and this alcoholism causes him to lose his job, as well as his ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Jeff Bridges  •  Rosanna Arquette  •  Andy García  •  Alexandra Paul

Being There (1979)

Adventurous

A simple-minded gardener named Chance has spent all his life in the Washington D.C. house of an old man. When the man dies, Chance is put out on the street with no knowledge of the world except what he has learned from television.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Peter Sellers  •  Shirley MacLaine  •  Melvyn Douglas  •  Jack Warden

A simple-minded gardener named Chance has spent all his life in the Washington D.C. house of an old man. When the man dies, Chance is put out on the street with no knowledge of the world except what he has learned from television.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Peter Sellers  •  Shirley MacLaine  •  Melvyn Douglas  •  Jack Warden

Bound for Glory (1976)

A biography of Woody Guthrie, one of America's greatest folk singers. He left his dust-devastated Texas home in the 1930s to find work, discovering the suffering and strength of America's working class.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  David Carradine  •  Ronny Cox  •  Melinda Dillon  •  Gail Strickland

A biography of Woody Guthrie, one of America's greatest folk singers. He left his dust-devastated Texas home in the 1930s to find work, discovering the suffering and strength of America's working class.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  David Carradine  •  Ronny Cox  •  Melinda Dillon  •  Gail Strickland

Coming Home (1978)

The wife of a Marine serving in Vietnam, Sally Hyde decides to volunteer at a local veterans hospital to occupy her time. There she meets Luke Martin, a frustrated wheelchair-bound vet who has become disillusioned with the war. Sally and Luke develop a friendship ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Jane Fonda  •  Jon Voight  •  Bruce Dern  •  Penelope Milford

The wife of a Marine serving in Vietnam, Sally Hyde decides to volunteer at a local veterans hospital to occupy her time. There she meets Luke Martin, a frustrated wheelchair-bound vet who has become disillusioned with the war. Sally and Luke develop a friendship ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Jane Fonda  •  Jon Voight  •  Bruce Dern  •  Penelope Milford

Harold and Maude (1971)

FunnyBeautifulCharmingClever

The young Harold lives in his own world of suicide-attempts and funeral visits to avoid the misery of his current family and home environment. Harold meets an 80-year-old woman named Maude who also lives in her own world yet one in which she is having the time of ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Ruth Gordon  •  Bud Cort  •  Cyril Cusack  •  Charles Tyner

The young Harold lives in his own world of suicide-attempts and funeral visits to avoid the misery of his current family and home environment. Harold meets an 80-year-old woman named Maude who also lives in her own world yet one in which she is having the time of ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Ruth Gordon  •  Bud Cort  •  Cyril Cusack  •  Charles Tyner

Shampoo (1975)

George Roundy is a Beverly Hills hairstylist whose uncontrolled libido stands between him and his ambitions. He wants the security of a relationship. He wants to be a hairdressing "star" and open his own salon. But the fact that he beds down with the wife, daughter ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Warren Beatty  •  Julie Christie  •  Goldie Hawn  •  Lee Grant

George Roundy is a Beverly Hills hairstylist whose uncontrolled libido stands between him and his ambitions. He wants the security of a relationship. He wants to be a hairdressing "star" and open his own salon. But the fact that he beds down with the wife, daughter ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Warren Beatty  •  Julie Christie  •  Goldie Hawn  •  Lee Grant

The Landlord (1970)

At the age of twenty-nine, Elgar Enders "runs away" from home. This running away consists of buying a building in a black ghetto in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Initially, his intention is to evict the black tenants and convert the building into a posh flat. ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Beau Bridges  •  Lee Grant  •  Louis Gossett Jr.  •  Diana Sands

At the age of twenty-nine, Elgar Enders "runs away" from home. This running away consists of buying a building in a black ghetto in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Initially, his intention is to evict the black tenants and convert the building into a posh flat. ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Beau Bridges  •  Lee Grant  •  Louis Gossett Jr.  •  Diana Sands

The Last Detail (1973)

PowerfulDramaticInsightfulAdventurous

Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Jack Nicholson  •  Otis Young  •  Randy Quaid  •  Clifton James

Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Jack Nicholson  •  Otis Young  •  Randy Quaid  •  Clifton James

The Slugger's Wife (1985)

Darryl Palmer (Michael O'Keefe) is a major league baseball player who meets and pursues an attractive singer (Rebecca De Mornay). After some setbacks, the two are married and sent on an emotional journey that sees his career take off, while hers doesn't. When she ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Michael O'Keefe  •  Rebecca De Mornay  •  Randy Quaid  •  Cleavant Derricks

Darryl Palmer (Michael O'Keefe) is a major league baseball player who meets and pursues an attractive singer (Rebecca De Mornay). After some setbacks, the two are married and sent on an emotional journey that sees his career take off, while hers doesn't. When she ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Michael O'Keefe  •  Rebecca De Mornay  •  Randy Quaid  •  Cleavant Derricks

Let's Spend the Night Together (1982)

The Rolling Stones' record-breaking 1981 North American arena tour documented by director Hal Ashby. Featuring the biggest Rolling Stones songs from the first 20 years - in the words of Mick Jagger, "a feel of what it's like to be there", as 20 cameras take you ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Mick Jagger  •  Charlie Watts  •  Bill Wyman  •  Keith Richards

The Rolling Stones' record-breaking 1981 North American arena tour documented by director Hal Ashby. Featuring the biggest Rolling Stones songs from the first 20 years - in the words of Mick Jagger, "a feel of what it's like to be there", as 20 cameras take you ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Mick Jagger  •  Charlie Watts  •  Bill Wyman  •  Keith Richards

Lookin' to Get Out (1982)

Two gamblers must leave New York City after one loses a lot of money. Doing what all gamblers in trouble would do, they hurry to the gambling capital Las Vegas to turn their luck around.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Jon Voight  •  Ann-Margret  •  Burt Young  •  Bert Remsen

Two gamblers must leave New York City after one loses a lot of money. Doing what all gamblers in trouble would do, they hurry to the gambling capital Las Vegas to turn their luck around.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Jon Voight  •  Ann-Margret  •  Burt Young  •  Bert Remsen

Neil Young: Solo Trans (1984)

Solo Trans is a concert film by Neil Young, released in 1984. It was recorded at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio on September 18, 1983 during Young's Solo Trans tour. Originally released on only LaserDisc, the film has since gone out of print.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Neil Young  •  Newell Alexander  •  Inez Drummond  •  Craig Hayes

Solo Trans is a concert film by Neil Young, released in 1984. It was recorded at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio on September 18, 1983 during Young's Solo Trans tour. Originally released on only LaserDisc, the film has since gone out of print.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Neil Young  •  Newell Alexander  •  Inez Drummond  •  Craig Hayes

Hal (2019)

Hal Ashby's obsessive genius led to an unprecedented string of Oscar®-winning classics, including Harold and Maude, Shampoo and Being There. But as contemporaries Coppola, Scorsese and Spielberg rose to blockbuster stardom in the 1980s, Ashby's uncompromising ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Amy Scott
CAST:  Hal Ashby  •  Jane Fonda  •  Jon Voight  •  Lee Grant

Hal Ashby's obsessive genius led to an unprecedented string of Oscar®-winning classics, including Harold and Maude, Shampoo and Being There. But as contemporaries Coppola, Scorsese and Spielberg rose to blockbuster stardom in the 1980s, Ashby's uncompromising ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Amy Scott
CAST:  Hal Ashby  •  Jane Fonda  •  Jon Voight  •  Lee Grant

Second-Hand Hearts (1981)

A boozy drifter tries to get to know the widow he married while on a bender.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Robert Blake  •  Barbara Harris  •  Collin Boone  •  Amber Rose Gold

A boozy drifter tries to get to know the widow he married while on a bender.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Robert Blake  •  Barbara Harris  •  Collin Boone  •  Amber Rose Gold

Jake's Journey (1988)

A normal teenager is transported to a Monty Pythonesque medieval fantasy land where an odd, adamant knight takes him on a quest.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Graham Chapman  •  Peter Cook  •  Chris Young  •  Rik Mayall

A normal teenager is transported to a Monty Pythonesque medieval fantasy land where an odd, adamant knight takes him on a quest.  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Graham Chapman  •  Peter Cook  •  Chris Young  •  Rik Mayall

The Rolling Stones: Satisfaction Interviews (2007)

This film contains interview material and archival footage presented all on one film. It begins with very rare black and white Australian documentary from the 60s with Jagger looking like the rebel, and Keith, looking somewhat wasted, talking about Brian Jones in ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Mick Jagger  •  Brian Jones  •  Keith Richards  •  Charlie Watts

This film contains interview material and archival footage presented all on one film. It begins with very rare black and white Australian documentary from the 60s with Jagger looking like the rebel, and Keith, looking somewhat wasted, talking about Brian Jones in ...  (more)

DIRECTION:  Hal Ashby
CAST:  Mick Jagger  •  Brian Jones  •  Keith Richards  •  Charlie Watts