Blaze
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRon Shelton
Screenplay byRon Shelton
Based on
  • Blaze Starr: My Life as Told to Huey Perry
  • by Blaze Starr
  • Huey Perry
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyHaskell Wexler
Edited byRobert Leighton
Michael King
Music byBennie Wallace
Production
companies
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures Distribution
Release date
  • December 13, 1989 (1989-12-13)
Running time
117 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$22 million[1]
Box office$19,131,246

Blaze is a 1989 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Ron Shelton. Based on the 1974 memoir Blaze Starr: My Life as Told to Huey Perry by Blaze Starr and Huey Perry, the film stars Paul Newman as Earl Long and Lolita Davidovich as Blaze Starr, with Starr herself making a cameo appearance.

At the 62nd Academy Awards in 1990, the film received a nomination for Best Cinematography for Haskell Wexler. However, the award went to Freddie Francis for Glory. This was Wexler's fifth and final nomination, having won previously for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and Bound for Glory (1976).

Plot

The film tells the highly fictionalized story of the latter years of Earl Long, a flamboyant Governor of Louisiana, brother of assassinated governor and U.S. Senator Huey P. Long and uncle of longtime U.S. Senator Russell Long. According to the memoir and film, Earl Long allegedly fell in love with a young stripper named Blaze Starr.

Cast

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of 12 critics' reviews are positive.[2][3][4] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F.[5][6]

Box office

Blaze debuted at number 9 at the North American box office on its opening weekend.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Blaze at the American Film Institute Catalog
  2. ↑ "Blaze". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media.
  3. ↑ Benson, Sheila (1989-12-13). "MOVIE REVIEW : 'Blaze' Sizzles Even Over Low Flame". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  4. ↑ Maslin, Janet (1989-12-13). "Movie Review - Blaze - Review/Film; 'Blaze,' a Story of a Rogue and a Stripper". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  5. ↑ "BLAZE (1989) B+". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
  6. ↑ "Hollywood's Star Vehicles Sputter at the Christmas Box Office : Movies: 'Blaze,' 'We're No Angels' and 'Family Business' opened with high holiday hopes. Despite their six bankable male leads, the films have fallen flat". Los Angeles Times. 20 December 1989. More significantly, 71% of the audience for "Blaze" was over 35.
  7. ↑ "Weekend Box Office". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2012-10-15. Retrieved 2012-06-13.


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