Robin Spry

Directing

Robin Spry

Born 1939-10-25 · Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Robin Spry (October 25, 1939 – March 28, 2005) was a Canadian film director and television producer and screenwriter. Spry was perhaps best known for his documentary films Action: The October Crisis of 1970 and Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisis about Quebec's October Crisis. Robin Spry was born in Toronto, Ontario to Canadian broadcast pioneer Graham Spry and economic historian Irene Spry. After studies at Oxford University and the London School of Economics, Spry began his filmmaking career in 1964 at the National Film Board in Montreal, earning a place on its payroll in 1965 and remaining there until stepping down in 1978. While at the NFB Spry built a reputation as a documentarist engaged with the issues of the day, with films on abortion, youth rebellion, and contemporary politics. His Prologue documented the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, weaving narrative with archival footage to become, in 1969, the first Canadian film to appear at the Venice Film Festival. His Canadian Film Award-winning documentary Action: The October Crisis of 1970 (1973) used a similar approach to tell the story of the kidnapping of British diplomat James Richard Cross and the murder of Pierre Laporte. Spry also tried his hand at other aspects of the film trade, acting as a producer, filmmaker, screenwriter, actor, cinematographer and film editor, and appearing in several colleagues' films, including Denys Arcand's Québec, Duplessis et après" (1972), reading out sections of the 1837 Durham Report. Spry starred in the 1981 hostage film Kings and Desperate Men. In the mid-1970s Spry left the NFB to focus on production work, founding Telescene and then, upon its bankruptcy in 2000, continuing to work with other production firms in Montreal. Among the films he produced were Léa Pool's À corps perdu (1988), André Forcier's Une histoire inventée (1990), and John Hamilton's The Myth of the Male Orgasm (1993); he was also responsible for a number of television series, such as The Lost World. Other notable works included the 1995 mini-series, Hiroshima, about the events leading up to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which won a Canadian Gemini Award and was nominated for an American Emmy, as well as earlier films One Man (1977), Drying Up the Streets (1978), and Suzanne (1980). Spry died in an early-morning road accident on March 28, 2005 in Montreal, Quebec, leaving behind a son, Jeremy, and a daughter, Zoé, whom he had fathered by journalist Carmel Dumas (from whom he was divorced at the time of his death). The first season of Charlie Jade was dedicated to his memory, as mentioned in the credits of the final episode, as was Air Crash Investigation's episode "Mistaken Identity". Source: Article "Robin Spry" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Suzanne poster
5.3

An unhappy married woman has an affair with a violent criminal. She gets pregnant with his baby, but he gets arrested and goes to prison. Now what?

Suzanne

1981

Suzanne poster
5.3

An unhappy married woman has an affair with a violent criminal. She gets pregnant with his baby, but he gets arrested and goes to prison. Now what?

Suzanne

1981

No artwork available
7.0

This film tells the story of a young Montrealer who edits an underground newspaper with help from his female friend and a draft dodger from the United States. Two rival philosophies of dissenting youth become evident in the choices they make: militant protest vs. communal retreat. Including some seminal archival footage of a speech by legendary anti-war activist Abbie Hoffman and bloody rioting during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

Prologue

1970

No artwork available
7.0

This film tells the story of a young Montrealer who edits an underground newspaper with help from his female friend and a draft dodger from the United States. Two rival philosophies of dissenting youth become evident in the choices they make: militant protest vs. communal retreat. Including some seminal archival footage of a speech by legendary anti-war activist Abbie Hoffman and bloody rioting during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

Prologue

1970

Student Seduction poster
6.2

Christie Dawson always wanted to be the "cool" teacher. But her world is shaken up after a pupil's crush spirals out of control and he sexually assaults her. Suddenly, her colleagues, neighbors and even her hubby are wondering whether she crossed the line and tempted her student. But school isn't out for Christine just yet she's gonna fight back, and big time!

Student Seduction

2003

No artwork available
8.0

Impressions of a hardrock miner's life, suitable for the classroom, filmed at the Falconbridge Nickel Mine at Sudbury, Ontario, and showing also the increasing use of nickel in today's space age. Much of what is shown was filmed in the dim world far underground where, "in a bubble of air in a solid mass of rock," the miner drills the ore face.

Miner

1966

No artwork available
8.0

Impressions of a hardrock miner's life, suitable for the classroom, filmed at the Falconbridge Nickel Mine at Sudbury, Ontario, and showing also the increasing use of nickel in today's space age. Much of what is shown was filmed in the dim world far underground where, "in a bubble of air in a solid mass of rock," the miner drills the ore face.

Miner

1966

Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisis poster
8.0

This feature documentary gives voice to various English-speaking groups in Montréal and other places in Québec as they react to the October Crisis of 1970, when Québec nationalism took a violent turn. A British diplomat had been kidnapped, a Québec cabinet minister murdered. The troops were brought in as a safeguard. This film is a vigorous reflection of the discussions and analyses of the situation that went on wherever people gathered, voicing attitudes and fears, sympathies and concerns.

Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisis

1973

Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisis poster
8.0

This feature documentary gives voice to various English-speaking groups in Montréal and other places in Québec as they react to the October Crisis of 1970, when Québec nationalism took a violent turn. A British diplomat had been kidnapped, a Québec cabinet minister murdered. The troops were brought in as a safeguard. This film is a vigorous reflection of the discussions and analyses of the situation that went on wherever people gathered, voicing attitudes and fears, sympathies and concerns.

Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisis

1973

Hitting Home poster
4.0

Canadian businesswoman Dinah Middleton's is devastated when her teenage son, Alex, is killed by a hit-and-run driver. When the police fail to turn up any suspects, she turns private detective to track the killer down. She traces the murderer to New York, only to discover that the crime is not covered by the extradition treaty between Canada and the US. She becomes obsessed with bringing the criminal to justice.

Hitting Home

1988

Hitting Home poster
4.0

Canadian businesswoman Dinah Middleton's is devastated when her teenage son, Alex, is killed by a hit-and-run driver. When the police fail to turn up any suspects, she turns private detective to track the killer down. She traces the murderer to New York, only to discover that the crime is not covered by the extradition treaty between Canada and the US. She becomes obsessed with bringing the criminal to justice.

Hitting Home

1988

A Cry in the Night poster
4.4

A divorced mother suspects that she and her two children may be in danger because of her insanely jealous new husband

A Cry in the Night

1992

A Cry in the Night poster
4.4

A divorced mother suspects that she and her two children may be in danger because of her insanely jealous new husband

A Cry in the Night

1992

A Cry in the Night poster
4.4

A divorced mother suspects that she and her two children may be in danger because of her insanely jealous new husband

A Cry in the Night

1992

Straight for the Heart poster
4.7

Pierre is a Montreal photojournalist who returns from Nicaragua to find that his ten-year menage a trois is over. Haunted by his mid-life crisis, he becomes obsessed with trying to find out why his two lovers, Sarah and David, have left him.

Straight for the Heart

1988

Keeping Track poster
4.9

The CIA, KGB and RCMP are after a lady banker (Kidder) who has a piece of mutated microchip that engages directly with brain cells.

Keeping Track

1987

No artwork available
9.0

Actor Michael Kane stars in this brief winter romance filmed partly in the dazzling outdoor splendor of a Laurentian ski resort and partly in the cardiac wing of a city hospital. It is the story of a man's second youth, the time in his middle years when he overstrains his passion for life and love. A stolen weekend, and the inevitable reckoning; between these two, the hills themselves serve the drama like members of the cast.

Downhill

1973

No artwork available
9.0

Actor Michael Kane stars in this brief winter romance filmed partly in the dazzling outdoor splendor of a Laurentian ski resort and partly in the cardiac wing of a city hospital. It is the story of a man's second youth, the time in his middle years when he overstrains his passion for life and love. A stolen weekend, and the inevitable reckoning; between these two, the hills themselves serve the drama like members of the cast.

Downhill

1973

One Man poster
5.5

In this socially conscious drama, a TV journalist begins investigating a large factory that has been threatening the health of the children who live in the town's poorest, most polluted section. Because of his investigation, he and his family are threatened by company thugs. He gets no help from his TV station as they are loathe to tangle with big business.

One Man

1977

One Man poster
5.5

In this socially conscious drama, a TV journalist begins investigating a large factory that has been threatening the health of the children who live in the town's poorest, most polluted section. Because of his investigation, he and his family are threatened by company thugs. He gets no help from his TV station as they are loathe to tangle with big business.

One Man

1977

Malarek poster
7.0

Malarek is a film directed by Roger Cardinal in 1989. Ex-juvenile offender Victor Malarek catches a break when he's hired as a cub reporter for the Montreal Star. After witnessing a cop murder a street kid, Malarek dedicates himself to exposing corruption in the social welfare system.

Malarek

1988

Ride for Your Life poster
9.0

This short documentary is about Mike Duff, a Canadian motorcycle racer, and the sport that almost killed him. After a near-fatal crash in Japan and extensive surgery and therapy, Duff returned to racing to claim two victories in Canadian races. Though the sport takes its toll on the lives of his friends and fellow competitors annually, the racer explains he can’t give up just yet – not before winning a world championship.

Ride for Your Life

1967

Drying Up the Streets poster
3.7

An ex-junkie takes on seedy urban culture to try and locate his daughter.

Drying Up the Streets

1978

Little White Crimes poster
7.0

A tale from downtown, where the morality of business is not always as transparent as the shining glass fronts of the office buildings. The film follows the adventures of a young man on the way up, intent on building an image to match his ambitions. In doing so he leaves a trail of hurt feelings among those he uses as steps toward his goal.

Little White Crimes

1966