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John G. Avildsen

John G. Avildsen

John Guilbert Avildsen was an American film director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director in 1977 for Rocky. Other films he directed include Joe, Save the Tiger, Fore Play, The Formula, Neighbors, For Keeps, Lean on Me, The Power of One, 8 Seconds, Inferno, Rocky V and the first three The Karate Kid films.

Avildsen was born in Oak Park, Illinois, the son of Ivy (née Guilbert) and Clarence John Avildsen. He was educated at The Hotchkiss School and New York University. After starting out as an assistant director on films by Arthur Penn and Otto Preminger, John Avildsen received his first success with the low budget feature Joe (1970) which received critical acclaim for star Peter Boyle and moderate box office business.

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Movies Made By John G. Avildsen (30)

American Satan (2017)

A young rock band, half from England and half from the US, drop out of college and move to the Sunset Strip to chase their dreams. ...

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Inferno (1999)

Eddie Lomax is a drifter who has been in a suicidal funk since the death of his close friend Johnny. Riding his motorcycle into a small desert town where Johnny once lived, Lomax is confronted by a gang of toughs, who beat him and steal his bike. However, ...

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8 Seconds (1994)

This film chronicles the life of Lane Frost, 1987 PRCA Bull Riding World Champion, his marriage and his friendships with Tuff Hedeman (three-time World Champion) and Cody Lambert. ...

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The Power of One (1992)

PK, an English orphan terrorized for his family's political beliefs in Africa, turns to his only friend, a kindly world-wise prisoner, Geel Piet. Geel teaches him how to box with the motto "fight with your fists and lead with your heart". As he grows to ma ...

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Rocky V (1990)

A lifetime of taking shots has ended Rocky's career, and a crooked accountant has left him broke. Inspired by the memory of his trainer, however, Rocky finds glory in training and takes on an up-and-coming boxer. ...

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The Karate Kid Part III (1989)

Despondent over the closing of his karate school, Cobra Kai teacher John Kreese joins a ruthless businessman and martial artist to get revenge on Daniel and Mr. Miyagi. ...

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Lean On Me (1989)

When principal Joe Clark takes over decaying Eastside High School, he's faced with students wearing gang colors and graffiti-covered walls. Determined to do anything he must to turn the school around, he expels suspected drug dealers, padlocks doors and de ...

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For Keeps (1988)

Young high school couple Darcy Elliot and Stan Bobrucz are one year from graduation, with promising futures ahead of them. But their paths take a drastic turn when Darcy becomes pregnant. Unwilling to go through an abortion or an adoption — despite their ...

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Happy New Year (1987)

Small time crooksters Nick and Charlie have an elaborate plan to rob an exclusive jewelers store. Using a variety of disguises and posing as rich old men and women they begin the set-up, but then Nick falls for the owner of a neighboring antique store and ...

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The Karate Kid Part II (1986)

Summoned by his dying father, Miyagi returns to his homeland of Okinawa, with Daniel, after a 40-year exile. There he must confront Yukie, the love of his youth, and Sato, his former best friend turned vengeful rival. Sato is bent on a fight to the death, ...

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The Karate Kid (1984)

New Jersey teen Daniel LaRusso moves to Los Angeles with his mother, and soon strikes up a relationship with Ali. He quickly finds himself the target of bullying by a group of thugs, led by Ali's ex-boyfriend Johnny, who study karate at the Cobra Kai dojo ...

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A Night in Heaven (1983)

Faye Hanlon is a community-college professor with an emotionally depressed husband and an abundance of sexual frustration. Her sister drags her to a male strip-club for a girls-night out, where she discovers that one of the dancers is her failing student R ...

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Traveling Hopefully (1982)

A documentary about Roger Baldwin, the founder of the ACLU. ...

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Neighbors (1981)

One man's quiet suburban life takes a sickening lurch for the worse when a young couple move into the deserted house next door. From the word go it is obvious these are not the quiet professional types who *should* be living in such a nice street. As more ...

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The Formula (1980)

While investigating the death of a friend and fellow cop, Los Angeles police officer Barney Caine stumbles across evidence that Nazis created a synthetic alternative to gasoline during World War II. This revelation has the potential to end the established ...

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Slow Dancing In The Big City (1978)

An aging out of shape reporter falls for a pretty but seriously ill ballerina. ...

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Rocky (1976)

Rocky Balboa is a Philadelphia club fighter who seems to be going nowhere. But when a stroke of fate puts him in the ring with a world heavyweight champion, Rocky knows that it's his one shot at the big time — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go the d ...

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W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975)

W.W. Bright is a robber with a heart of gold who travels the South knocking off banks and gas stations owned by a corrupt businessman. When he hijacks a car, he meets an aspiring country band, the Dixie Dancekings, led by Dixie. The two sides eventually ta ...

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Fore Play (1975)

A three-part omnibus centered around sex and its discontents. ...

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Save the Tiger (1973)

A businessman's professional struggles begin to conflict with his personal life over the course of two days. ...

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The Stoolie (1972)

Roger Pitman is a petty thief who makes a deal with the police to use bait money to trap other criminals. But when he gets the cash, Roger can't resist the temptation and steals part of it. He runs off to Miami Beach, but now lives in fear of the crooks th ...

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Okay Bill (1971)

The film tells the story of Bill, a young, successful stockbroker who zips off to Greenwich Village on his motorcycle when no one's looking to venture into the hippy counterculture world. His wife, Nancy, is the dream of every middle-class male. She is lib ...

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Cry Uncle! (1971)

Private detective Jack Masters takes on a case and gets mixed up in murder, sex and blackmail. ...

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Guess What We Learned in School Today? (1971)

Parents in a small, conservative community don't think that the sex drive is a normal thing for children to experience. So much so, that they label education in that regard as a communist plot. The group of prudes is led by an impotent alcoholic and a gay ...

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Joe (1970)

After murdering his daughter's drug-dealing boyfriend, a wealthy ad executive stumbles into a bar and strikes up an uneasy alliance with Joe Curran, a drunken bigot with a bloodlust who works at a local factory. ...

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Turn On to Love (1969)

A bored housewife starts hanging out in Greenwich Village and gets involved with pot-smoking hippies and an Italian filmmaker. ...

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Out of It (1969)

An introverted nerd and a violent jock vie for the attentions of a cheerleader. ...

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Hurry Sundown (1967)

A ruthless Southern opportunist tries to buy his cousin's land, and when thwarted, brings several tragedies to the lives of his loved ones. ...

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Mickey One (1965)

A former comic is on the run from the mob. ...

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Smiles (1964)

A short film by John G. Avildsen. ...

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Movies Starring John G. Avildsen (16)

Ammo for Shooting Clouds: John G. Avildsen Before Rocky (2022)

John G. Avildsen has only recently cemented his reputation as the "king of the underdogs," owing to his having directed both Rocky (1976) and The Karate Kid (1984). Within the last decade, a feature-length biographical documentary was released and a critic ...

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40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic (2020)

Sylvester Stallone and John G. Avildsen narrate behind-the-scenes footage from the making of "Rocky" to mark the film's 40th anniversary. ...

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Saturday Night Fever: The Ultimate Disco Movie (2017)

John Travolta, Barry Gibb and the Saturday Night Fever cast and crew tell the story behind the mega-hit film. Bruno Tonioli goes through the disco steps that made movie history. ...

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Frank Serpico (2017)

In 1972, officer Frank Serpico exposes the corruption which poisons the roots of the NYPD and becomes famous in 1973 when director Sidney Lumet tells his story in the classic film "Serpico," starring Al Pacino. ...

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American Satan (2017)

A young rock band, half from England and half from the US, drop out of college and move to the Sunset Strip to chase their dreams. ...

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John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs (2017)

An examination of the Oscar-winning director who brought to life some of cinema's most beloved motion pictures. ...

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The Real Miyagi (2015)

The life of Fumio Demura, the greatest karate master of a generation. ...

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Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014)

A documentary about the rise and fall of the Cannon Film Group, the legendary independent film company helmed by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. ...

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The Rocky Saga: Going the Distance (2011)

The 35th anniversary of the 1976 Oscar-winning film "Rocky" is marked with a TV retrospective in which Sylvester Stallone and others reminisce about the creation of the movie as well as the other films in the franchise. ...

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Tribute To James Crabe (2006)

John G. Avildsen pays tribute to cinematographer James Crabe. ...

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Make Your Own Damn Movie! (2005)

South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Night of the Living Dead's George A. Romero and Spider-Man's Stan Lee share their filmmaking secrets with the legendary Lloyd Kaufman in this step-by-step course for budding filmmakers. From scriptwriting to distrib ...

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The Way of The Karate Kid (2005)

Retrospective documentary on the making of The Karate Kid (1984). ...

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Magic Time: A Tribute to Jack Lemmon (2002)

Documentary on Jack Lemmon featuring interviews with those who knew him and worked with him. ...

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Sports on the Silver Screen (1997)

HBO (in association with the American Film Institute) presents this 1997 anthology, narrated by Liev Schreiber, which looks at sports in cinema from the earliest silent films until the nineties. Watch not for dramatic scenes but for the glimpse of historic ...

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The Troma System (1993)

A 30 minute infomercial that originally aired on Comedy Central in 1993. The idea was that by purchasing Troma Inc. movie products you could better yourself as a person. ...

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Greenwich Village Story (1963)

A struggling writer dumps a pregnant dancer for a well-off socialite. Later, he realizes his true feelings and opts to make amends. ...

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