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The History of American Cinema: 1988

5/2 -

Philip Kaufman’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being, based upon a novel by Milan Kundera, is released.   Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, and Lena Olin star. [ADD]

26/2 -

Hairspray, John Waters’ first mainstream film after a number of subversive works such as Pink Flamingos (1972), is released.   A satirical musical set in the 60s, the film stars Waters’ transsexual regular, Divine, and future talk-show host Ricki Lake. [ADD]

19/3 -

The Thin Blue Line, Errol Morris’ compelling documentary about the corruption in the justice system that results in the dubious conviction of Randall Adams, receives its world premiere at the San Francisco Film Festival. [ADD]

Mar -

The Writers Guild of America calls for film and TV writers to go on strike in protest at producers’ attempts to impose a two-tier pay system which would see first year TV writers receiving less money.   Producers also want to define low-budget movies as those with a budget beneath $8 million, for which writers would be paid approximately half of the average $40,000. [ADD]

11/4 -

Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor wins all nine Oscars – including Best Picture – for which it was nominated at the 60th Annual Academy Awards ceremony. [MORE]

12/4 -

The strike by the Writers Guild of America enters its sixth week.   Among those supporting strikers on the picket lines are Patty Duke, president of the Screen Actors Guild, James L. Brooks and Albert Brooks. [ADD]

22/4 -

Crown Publishing publish Joel Finler’s The Hollywood Story, described as ‘a tour de force history of the American film industry.’ [ADD]

3/6 -

Penny Marshall’s Big, in which a boy awakes to find himself transformed overnight into Tom Hanks after making a wish at a fairground wishing machine, is released.   Elizabeth Perkins and Robert Loggia also star. [ADD]

15/6 -

Ron Shelton's baseball romance, Bull Durham, is released.   Kevin Costner stars as a seasoned pro catcher assigned to be the mentor to up-and-coming pitcher Tim Robbins.   Susan Sarandon is the baseball groupie who becomes romantically involved with them both. [ADD]

21/6 -

Robert Zemeckis’s $70 million Spielberg-Disney production Who Framed Roger Rabbit, in which Bob Hoskins interacts with a cartoon cast, is released. Roger is voiced by Charles Fleischer, while his wife, the sexy Jessica, is voiced by Kathleen Turner. [ADD]

15/7 -

John McTiernan’s explosive adventure movie Die Hard is released.   Bruce Willis stars as John McLane, battling with a gang of international terrorists holding a group of hostages – including McLane’s wife – in a state-of-the-art business tower block.   Alan Rickman plays the reassuringly oily villain. [ADD]

7/8 -

The scriptwriter’s strike comes to an end after five months.   The film studios losses are estimated at $150 million. [ADD]

12/8 -

Francis Ford Coppola’s real-life drama Tucker: The Man and His Dream, in which Jeff Bridges plays an independent car manufacturer competing with the major Detroit builders, is released. [ADD]

12/8 -

The release of Martin Scorsese's controversial depiction of the life of Jesus, The Last Temptation of Christ, sparks protests outside cinemas across America.   Willem Dafoe plays Jesus, for whom an alternative life is played out as he lies dying on the Cross.   The film is also condemned by the Vatican. [MORE]

19/8 -

Jonathan Demme’s crime comedy, Married to the Mob, is released.   Michelle Pfieffer stars as a former moll who attracts the eye of mob boss Dean Stockwell when her husband dies and she tries to live a normal life. [ADD]

23/9 -

David Cronenberg’s medical horror Dead Ringers is released.   With the use of groundbreaking split-screen technology, Jeremy Irons stars in a dual role as Beverly and Elliot Mantle, identical brothers who regularly swap identities and lovers.   Geneviève Bujold stars as the actress who comes between them and precipitates their downfall. [ADD]

30/9 -

Bird, Clint Eastwood’s sombre portrayal of the life of jazz saxophonist Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker, is released.   Forest Whitaker plays Bird. [ADD]

7/10 -

Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay! is released in America.   Safik Syed leads a largely amateur cast as a 12-year-old street child scraping a living on the streets of Bombay amongst pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers. [ADD]

14/10 -

Jonathan Kaplan’s The Accused is released.   Jodie Foster stars as a victim of a gang rape who finds the legal system working against her because of her lifestyle choices.   Kelly McGillis is the tenacious public prosecutor fighting her corner. [ADD]

18/11 -

Woody Allen’s Another Woman, staring Gena Rowlands, Mia Farrow and Gene Hackman, is released. [ADD]

9/12 -

Alan Parker’s Ku Klux Klan thriller Mississipi Burning is released.   FBI agents Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman investigate the disappearance of three civil rights workers in 1964, aided by local resident Frances McDormand. [ADD]

12/12 -

Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman star in Barry Levinson’s Rain Man, the story of two brothers – one a materialistic yuppie (Cruise), the other an autistic savant who travel from Cincinnati to LA in a ’49 Buick Sedan. [ADD]

16/12 -

The New York Film Critics vote Lawrence Kasdan's The Accidental Tourist the best film of 1988. [ADD]

16/12 -

The piano on which Dooley Wilson played ‘As Time Goes By’ in the Paris scene in  Casablanca (1942) is sold at Sotheby’s New York auction rooms for $154,000. [ADD]

21/12 -

Dangerous Liaisons, Stephen Frears’ tale of sexual intrigue and manipulation amongst the 18^th Century French aristocracy, is released.   Adapted from Christopher Hampton’s play, which was based on a French novel from the period, the film stars Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer and Uma Thurman. [ADD]

20/12 -

Mike Nichols’ romantic comedy Working Girl is released.   Melanie Griffith plays a secretary to a bitchy boss (Sigourney Weaver) who climbs the corporate ladder in her absence, while managing to snare executive Harrison Ford in the process. [ADD]

31/12 -

Disney claim nearly 20% of annual takings thanks to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Three Men and a Baby and Good Morning, Vietnam. [ADD]

31/12 -

A record total of 15 million videotapes of Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial have been sold to date. [ADD]

– The US Congress passes the National Film Preservation Act, which empowers the National Film Preservation Board to add 25 American films each year to the National Film Registry for preservation in the Library of Congress. [ADD]

– Giancarlo Parretti acquires the Cannon Group from Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. [ADD]

– An anti-Semitic demonstration is staged outside the home of Lew Wassermann, president of MCA, the company behind Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. [MORE]

Other Key American Films of 1988

Beetle Juice (Tim Burton) [ADD]

Biloxi Blues (Mike Nichols) [ADD]

Colors (Dennis Hopper) [ADD]

Coming to America (John Landis) [ADD]

The Couch Trip (Michael Ritchie) [ADD]

Eight Men Out (John Sayles) [ADD]

Gorillas in the Mist (Michael Apted) [ADD]

The Moderns (Alan Rudolph) [ADD]

The Naked Gun (David Zucker) [ADD]

Patty Hearst (Paul Schrader) [ADD]

Talk Radio (Oliver Stone) [ADD]

Things Change (David Mamet) [ADD]