2017 Movie Inductees to Kansas the Film & TV Hall of Fame:
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Capote
(2005)
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In 1959, Truman Capote, a popular writer for The New Yorker, learns about the horrific and senseless murder of a family of four in Holcomb, Kansas. New York City novelist Truman Capote decides to cover the story himself, and travels to the small town with his childhood friend, aspiring novelist Harper Lee. When Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are arrested and charged, Capote forms an emotional bond with Smith during his jailhouse interviews despite the young criminal's apparent guilt.
TIES TO KANSAS: Story is set in Holcomb, Garden City, and Lansing, Kansas during the years 1959 to1965.
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Released – September 30, 2005
Movie Company – Sony Classics
Runtime - 1 hour, 54 minutes (114 minutes)
Production Budget - $7,000,000
Director – Bennett Miller
Writer – Dan Futterman (original screen play)
Starring – Philip Seymour Hoffman, Chris Cooper, Amy Ryan, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins, Jr.,
and Mark Pellegrino
DID YOU KNOW: Philip Seymour Hoffman was 32 Best Actor awards from around the world for his portrayal of Truman Capote. Capote won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Motion Picture of the Year. Worldwide ticket sales topped $50,000,000.
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Picnic
(1955)
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Handsome drifter Hal arrives in a small Kansas town on Labor Day weekend, looking for work. The town happens to be the home of Hal's old college roommate Alan, scion of a wealthy family. Alan is romancing Madge Owens, the prettiest girl in town. Madge's mother Flo is desperate to get her married off to Alan and is horrified by the romantic sparks taking place between Madge and Hal. Madge's younger, bookish, plainer sister Millie is jealous of the attention that Madge gets for her beauty. Rosemary, the spinster schoolteacher who lives in the boardinghouse next door, is also attracted to Hal, despite the attentions of her suitor, Howard, an older man who owns a general store.
TIES TO KANSAS: The movie was filmed around Hutchinson and in Halstead, Nickerson, Salina, and Sterling, Kansas.
Released – September 10, 1955
Movie Company – Columbia Pictures
Runtime - 1 hour, 55 minutes (115 minutes)
Production Budget - n/a
Director – Joshua Logan
Writer – Daniel Taradash (from the Pulizer Prize-winning play by William Inge)
Starring – William Holden, Kim Novak, Betty Field, Rosalind Russell
DID YOU KNOW: William Inge was obliged to continually rewrite the ending of his original stage play, even while it was in rehearsals, with Joshua Logan rejecting each ending as being more depressing than the last. Inge's original idea was that Madge would stay in town, her shoulders slumped as she dragged herself to a dead-end job at a dime store, taunted by local boys who knew she'd thrown away her reputation to a drifter. The director insisted Madge had to chase after Hal and leave town, even though most of the audience would realize it would be a doomed affair. "All right, I'll write it," Inge told him. "But I want you to know I don't approve." The director later wrote in his memoirs: "It's as though he killed his favorite child."
During filming of the actual picnic scenes in Halstead, Kansas, a tornado swept through the area, forcing the cast and crew to take cover. While the storm spared the set, it devastated the nearby town of Udall, Kansas, killing 55 people, and the film crew drove their trucks and equipment there to help clean up the damage.
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Information Sources:
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Capote
www.boxofficemojo.com/reviews/?id=2032&p=s.htm
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Picnic
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picnic_(1955_film)
www.fandango.com/picnic_105637/plotsummary
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