Penny Marshall :: essays research papers

Penny Marshall has directed six films in her career "The Preachers Wife"(1996), "Renaissance Man"(1994), "A League of Their experience"(1992), "Awakenings"(1990), " heavy(p)"(1998), and "Jumpin squat Flash"(1986). We know Penny best from her stint in Laverne and Shirley (1976-1983) as the hilarious Laverne De Fazio. After the series was cancelled Laverne appeared in some pictures until her directorial debut in "Jumpin Jack Flash". This film was pretty much a bomb and Penny gained credibility as a director in "Big". tom Hanks received a nomination for beaver Actor in this picture. Marshalls best directorial accomplishment had to be in "Awakenings" starring Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams. This film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Robert DeNiro), and for Best Adapted Screenplay. Penny Marshalls style is classical. "Awakenings" and "Big" in particular are based upon a three-act stru cture. "A League of their Own" and "Big" are tall tales, strongly centered on plot. There exists good and bad people, and characters that are changed by their experiences (Dr. Malcolm Sayer, Josh Baskin). Character actors are full-grown in her films and certainly used to reflect the persona of the star as well as to draw people to the movie. In films such as "Big" Penny places a high emphasis on setting which are highly selective in detail.Penny Marshalls typical choice of genre is comedy probably because of her comedic background, but she did direct "Awakenings" which is a drama. Her films tend to deal with contemporary issues in society such as coming of age ("Big"), oppression of the mentally handicapped ("Awakenings"), and womens accomplishment ("A League of their Own"). Penny Marshalls films are not multi million dollar movies which are filled with special effects and heart camera action rather they are simple pictures which let the actors convey the messages. Penny does not attempt to use film as an art rebound rather she uses film to tell a story. Penny Marshalls story sources consist of original and adapted screenplays. "Big" was written by Gary Ross who is best known for makeup and producing "Pleasantville", and Anne Spielberg who wrote "Toy Story". "Awakenings" was adapted from a book of the same title by Oliver Sacks and written for the screen by Steven Zaillian who wrote "Schindlers List" and "A Civil action at law" to name but a few. From these two films it is presumed that Penny uses a variety of sources.In "Awakenings" and "Big" Pennys style is classicism.