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strip-joint owner George Cole. Before he knows what's happened, Cullen is embroiled in two torrid romances: one with Dane and the other with nice girl Aggie
Donaldson. He also nearly loses his life by ending up in the middle of a deadly feud between Edwards, Cole, and Phil Carpenter, the man Mr. Edwards accuses of causing him to lose his eyesight.
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David
Puttnam said he wanted to bring to Hollywood. The film also marks a terrific screen coming of age for Matt Dillon, who for the first time seems more man than boy, and it is a strong directorial debut for Ben Bolt... Robert Bolt. No element, however, is more impressive than Robert Roy Pool's superlative script." On
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said the film "is so entertaining, so true to its period that it's easy to peg it as another '50s nostalgia piece when it actually possesses the kind of complexity usually associated with less commercial, less starry productions. It is very much in the spirit that former
Columbia Pictures Chairman
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20 years ago, and I was amused at the possibility of filling in a third - pool, poker and craps, they're sort of the three major areas of table gambling. This area of dice hadn't been dealt with." Ransohoff admitted he was unhappy with the title of the novel. "We're reviewing it because people are
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Dillon said, "it's not really about a kid but about growth. Umm, he's a small-town guy who outgrows the town. He's nocturnal, a gambler who shoots dice all night - but he's got a certain amount of naïveté. He's naive. He's not a dark character, even though he lives in the dark. He's honest even
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In 1957, J. C. Cullen is a small-town crapshooter who heads to
Chicago, Illinois, to seek his fortune. There he becomes the pawn of two high-rolling professional gamblers, Mr. and Mrs. Edwards. He later gets mixed-up in a revenge scheme cooked up by Lorry Dane, the embittered stripper wife of
456:, published in 1967. In October 1967 it was announced Peter Thomas would produce a film version of the novel from a script by Dennis Murphy for CBS Films. No film resulted. The novel was published in paperback in 1970.
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Filming finished several weeks later than originally intended, meaning Diane Lane (who previously co-starred with Matt Dillon in The
Outsiders and Rumble Fish) had to miss out on a theatre job she had lined up.
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Filming took place in
Toronto, Canada. The original director was Harold Becker. He left the film during production and was replaced by Ben Bolt. Bolt was a suggestion of Columbia's new head of production,
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Romance and
Adventure in the Right Hands 'The Big Town' Comes Out a Winner at All the Creative Games Thomas, Kevin. Los Angeles Times 25 Sep 1987: 1.
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In 1986 producer Martin
Ransohoff signed a three-picture deal with Columbia and Vestron Video, off the back of Ransohoff's success with
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School days: PAPERBACKS Petersen, Clarence. The
Washington Post and Times-Herald 27 Sep 1970: Page 17.
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PRODUCER'S PROJECT: 'THE ARM': United Press International. Sun Sentinel1 Aug 1986: 15.
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John Denver busy waiting for play: Beck, Marilyn. The Windsor Star 17 Dec 1986: B9.
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Dillon's career gets a shot in The Arm: Rita Zekas Toronto Star 12 Oct 1986: E1.
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though he doesn't make an honest living. He's got purity."
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188:Release date
134:Ralf D. Bode
111:Tom Skerritt
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47:(uncredited)
22:The Big Town
976:Sea of Love
495:The Natural
475:The Hustler
462:Jagged Edge
397:Don Francks
331:Lorry Dane
317:Matt Dillon
278:Matt Dillon
247:$ 1,733,000
215:109 minutes
91:Matt Dillon
74:Produced by
39:Directed by
1031:1987 films
1025:Categories
767:August 31,
728:PopMatters
651:Yule p 232
589:Yule p 330
560:References
552:Box office
448:Production
347:Bruce Dern
327:Diane Lane
282:Diane Lane
244:Box office
199:1987-09-25
164:Production
106:Bruce Dern
96:Diane Lane
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968:The Boost
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357:Lee Grant
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116:Lee Grant
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42:Ben Bolt
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708:June 3,
683:June 3,
499:Hustler
486:The Arm
467:The Arm
454:The Arm
231:English
220:Country
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166:company
67:The Arm
1011:(2001)
1003:(1998)
995:(1996)
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984:Malice
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923:(1972)
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284:, and
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807:Notes
311:Role
308:Actor
260:drama
944:Taps
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823:ISBN
796:2012
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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