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The History of American Cinema: 1990

10/1 -

Warner Bros. is renamed Time Warner Inc. following its $14 billion takeover by Time Inc.   Steven J. Ross assumes the role of chairman and co-chief executive. [ADD]

12/1 -

British director Mike Figgis’s Internal Affairs, in which Richard Gere plays a corrupt cop with sadistic sexual tastes, is released.   Andy Garcia plays the internal affairs officer investigating him. [ADD]

25/1 -

Francis Ford Coppola, currently filming The Godfather Part III in Italy, is declared bankrupt with debts in excess of $20 million. [ADD]

9/2 -

Hard to Kill, in which former martial arts instructor Steven Seagal plays an honest cop battling hired killers and corruption, is released. [ADD]

23/2 -

Bob Rafelson’s Mountains of the Moon, based on the original journals of Sir Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke is released.   Patrick Bergin and Iain Glen play the intrepid explorers tracking the source of the Nile in East Africa. [ADD]

23/3 -

Pretty Woman, Richard Gere’s second film in two months, is released.   He plays a successful businessman who falls for a hooker (Julia Roberts in her debut) and makes a lady of her.   Garry Marshall directs. [ADD]

26/3 -

Jessica Tandy becomes the oldest recipient of an Academy Award at the age of 80 years and nine months when she wins the Best Actress Oscar for her role in Driving Miss Daisy at the 62nd Annual Academy Awards.   Bruce Beresford’s film also wins the Best Picture award. [ADD]

30/3 -

Cult comic-book super heroes, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles make it to the big screen in New Line’s $12 million debut feature directed by Steve Barron.   The film takes $25.4 million in its first weekend. [ADD]

15/4 -

Movie legend Greta Garbo dies in a New York hospital at the age of 84.   She made her last film, Two-Faced Woman, in 1941. [ADD]

25/4 -

Jazz saxophonist Dexter Gordon, who played the lead in Bertrand Tavernier's 'Round Midnight (1986), dies in Philadelphia. [ADD]

16/5 -

Christian Brando, the 32-year-old son of Marlon Brando, is arrested by L.A. police for the murder of Frenchman Dag Drollet, the boyfriend of his 20-year-old half-sister Cheyenne.   Brando is accused of shooting Drollet in the head at point-blank range. [ADD]

18/5 -

John Badham's Bird on a Wire, starring Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn, is released by Universal.   Gibson plays a member of the witness protection programme who finds his past catching up with him. [ADD]

1/6 -

Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall, a loose adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s We Can Remember it For You Wholesale.  Sharon Stone plays the wife from whom he gets an unorthodox divorce. [ADD]

15/6 -

Dick Tracy, directed, produced by and starring Warren Beatty, is released.   Madonna also stars as Breathless Mahoney, while the heavily camouflaged duo of Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman appear as a couple of villains. [ADD]

13/7 -

Jerry Zucker’s Ghost is released.   Patrick Swayze plays the eponymous ghoul who returns to protect his bereaved widow (Demi Moore) via a reluctant ‘medium’ (Whoopi Goldberg) and solve his own murder. [ADD]

18/7 -

Frank Marshall's comedy-horror Arachnophobia is released.   Jeff Daniels stars as a doctor who moves to the country only to discover a plague of killer spiders.   John Goodman appears as an incompetent termite exterminator, and Steven Spielberg executive produces. [ADD]

Jul -

Pioneer acquires 10% of Carolco Pictures with the intention of expanding its Laser Disc software library. [ADD]

3/8 -

Whit Stillman’s debut feature Metropolitan, is released.  Carolyn Farina, Edward Clements and Christopher Eigerman star. [ADD]

22/8 -

Jerry Zucker’s Ghost grosses more than $100 million for Paramount after only 39 days on domestic release. [ADD]

12/9 -

Mike Nichols’ adaptation of Carrie Fisher’s Postcards from the Edge is released.   Meryl Streep stars as an actress trying to salvage her career as she undergoes drug rehab and struggles through a troubled relationship with her overbearing mother (Shirley MacLaine).   Gene Hackman also stars. [ADD]

19/9 -

Martin Scorsese's gangster film, GoodFellas, is released to widespread acclaim despite its strong scenes of violence.   Ray Liotta stars as real-life gangster Henry Hill (on whose book the film is based), a Mafia member who turns states witness when the law finally catches up with him.   Joe Pesci steals the film as psychotic Tommy DeVito, while Paul Sorvino provides a brooding presence as a mafia don.   Lorraine Bracco plays Hill’s long-suffering wife, while Robert DeNiro is his double-crossing accomplice, Jimmy Conway. [ADD]

28/9 -

Abel Ferrara’s violent King of New York is released.   Christopher Walken stars as a ruthless drugs baron asserting his position at the top of the criminal hierarchy while evading police capture.    David Caruso, Laurence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes and Steve Buscemi also star. [ADD]

20/10 -

The Turner Broadcasting System acquires a 10-year exclusive domestic exhibition rights deal to nearly 1,000 MGM/UA films. [ADD]

1/11 -

After 21 years in control, Kirk Kerkorian sells MGM to Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti for $1.3 billion. [ADD]

9/11 -

Dances With Wolves, Kevin Costner 's $18 million directorial debut, is released.   Despite being dubbed ‘Kevin’s Gate,’ the film proves to be a critical and commercial success.   Costner plays the title role, a cavalry officer on the frontier who goes native, with Mary McDonnell and Graham Greene in support. [ADD]

10/11 -

Chris Columbus’s Home Alone, from a script by John Hughes, is released.    Macaulay Culkin plays an eight-year-old boy, accidentally left at home by his parents when they go away for Christmas, who foils the plans of comical burglars Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. [ADD]

15/11 -

Jack Lang, the French Minister for Culture, accompanied by Catherine Deneuve, Alain Delon and producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier, opens the second Festival of French Films in Sarasota, Florida. [ADD]

7/12 -

Tim Burton’s gothic fairytale, Edward Scissorhands, is released.   Johnny Depp plays the title character, incompletely constructed by a Frankenstein figure (Vincent Price) who leaves him with scissors for hands before dying.   Edward is taken in by Depp's real-life girlfriend Winona Ryder.   Also in the cast are Kathy Baker, Conchata Ferrell, Caroline Aaron, Dianne Wiest and Alan Arkin. [ADD]

25/12 -

Francis Ford Coppola’s third chronicle of the Corleone dynasty, The Godfather Part III, is released.   Filmed to ease Coppola’s financial problems, the film fails to win favour with the critics.   Al Pacino reprises his role as Michael Corleone, joined by Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, and Coppola’s daughter, Sofia. [ADD]

– Disney cease production of ‘the Tramp’, one of a series of dolls tied in with the Dick Tracy film following protests from advocates for the homeless. [ADD]

Other Key American Films of 1990

Alice (Woody Allen) [ADD]

Avalon (Barry Levinson) [ADD]

Blue Steel (Kathryn Bigelow) [ADD]

The Bonfire of the Vanities (Brian de Palma) [ADD]

Henry and June (Philip Kaufmann) [ADD]

Longtime Companion (Norman Rene) [ADD]

Lord of the Flies (Harry Hook) [ADD]

Miller’s Crossing (Joel Coen) [ADD]

Misery (Rob Reiner) [ADD]

Reversal of Fortune (Barbet Schroeder) [ADD]

The Russia House (Fred Schepisi) [ADD]

Wild at Heart (David Lynch) [ADD]