
Directing
Sam Pillsbury
Place of birth
New York City, New York, USA
Known for
Directing
Credits
29 titles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sam Pillsbury is an American film director and producer. Connecticut-raised Sam Pillsbury emigrated to New Zealand at the age of 14. Aged 23, he began working at the Government-owned National Film Unit, joining a group of emerging filmmakers who were investigating new subjects and styles. Pillsbury directed seven films at the National Film Unit, including a multi-faceted study of artist Ralph Hotere, and a satirical look at workplace relations (Men and Supermen). He was also part of the directing team on Commonwealth Games chronicle Games 74, and worked both on set and at the editing bench for Paul Maunder's Gone Up North for a While. Pillsbury went…
Known for
6.1Willy the whale is back, this time threatened by illegal whalers making money off sushi. Jesse, now 16, has taken a job on an orca-researching ship, along with old friend Randolph and a sarcastic scientist, Drew. On the whaler's ship is captain John Wesley and his son, Max, who isn't really pleased about his father's job, but doesn't have the gut to say so. Along the way, Willy reunites with Jesse.
Free Willy 3: The Rescue
1997
4.3Bored with her marriage to burnt out poet turned corporate executive Thierry, Zandalee falls prey to an old friend of her husband, the manipulative and egotistical Johnny and becomes enmeshed in a sensual, passionate and destructive affair.
Zandalee
1991
6.7After a top-secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world.
The Quiet Earth
1985
7.0As Christmas approaches, a single mother struggles to raise her son and keep up the payments on her Oregon ranch, which is difficult since she's heavily in debt. But she's a tough cookie and proves that a steadfast attitude and an open heart go a long way in surviving the cold hearts and greed of the Scrooges around her.
Secret of Giving
1999
6.6Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with "Old Dan" and "Little Ann."
Where the Red Fern Grows
2003
4.8Audrey Walker has given up her hopes and dreams, until an ex-love returns to town and helps her realize a second chance at life.
Audrey's Rain
2003
Behind the camera
6.1Willy the whale is back, this time threatened by illegal whalers making money off sushi. Jesse, now 16, has taken a job on an orca-researching ship, along with old friend Randolph and a sarcastic scientist, Drew. On the whaler's ship is captain John Wesley and his son, Max, who isn't really pleased about his father's job, but doesn't have the gut to say so. Along the way, Willy reunites with Jesse.
Free Willy 3: The Rescue
1997
4.3Bored with her marriage to burnt out poet turned corporate executive Thierry, Zandalee falls prey to an old friend of her husband, the manipulative and egotistical Johnny and becomes enmeshed in a sensual, passionate and destructive affair.
Zandalee
1991
6.7After a top-secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world.
The Quiet Earth
1985
6.7After a top-secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world.
The Quiet Earth
1985
7.0As Christmas approaches, a single mother struggles to raise her son and keep up the payments on her Oregon ranch, which is difficult since she's heavily in debt. But she's a tough cookie and proves that a steadfast attitude and an open heart go a long way in surviving the cold hearts and greed of the Scrooges around her.
Secret of Giving
1999
6.6Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with "Old Dan" and "Little Ann."
Where the Red Fern Grows
2003
4.8Audrey Walker has given up her hopes and dreams, until an ex-love returns to town and helps her realize a second chance at life.
Audrey's Rain
2003
4.7From National Lampoon, the masters of raunchy comedy, comes a summer tale of beers, babes, and bros! In the surf town of Ventura, California, JD's surf board is stolen by a surfer from Los Angeles...a crime that cannot go unpunished. Gathering his friends and the local surf hero, Mike Mooney, they take a road trip to LA to get the surfboard back, then return to Ventura for the wildest summer party ever!
National Lampoon Presents: Endless Bummer
2009
4.7From National Lampoon, the masters of raunchy comedy, comes a summer tale of beers, babes, and bros! In the surf town of Ventura, California, JD's surf board is stolen by a surfer from Los Angeles...a crime that cannot go unpunished. Gathering his friends and the local surf hero, Mike Mooney, they take a road trip to LA to get the surfboard back, then return to Ventura for the wildest summer party ever!
National Lampoon Presents: Endless Bummer
2009
6.3Based on a true story, 15 year old Tina Spangler discovers she is pregnant. Her choices are abortion, adoption, or a lonely, exhausting life as a single parent. Abandoned by her boyfriend, she turns to her mother. Tina discovers although it has torn her world apart, her pregnancy could re-unite her shattered family and help her find her true purpose in life.
Fifteen and Pregnant
1998
4.5Loosely based on the popular television series of the 80's, this movie brings the story into an apocalyptic time and a new "KITT".
Knight Rider 2010
1994
9.0Steve Collura is an undercover cop out to infiltrate Carlo Gambino's mob. He soon falls in love with Gambino's daughter Maria and must make a choice between his duties as a police officer, his love for Maria, and his allegiance to Carlo Gambino.
Between Love and Honor
1995
7.5Will Bastion returns home from the army after an absence of 20 years to bury his father, the former chief of thee Maori tribe, Ngati Kaipuku. The eldest son, he is reluctant to inherit his fathers role, so it is taken more willingly by his younger brother, Kahu. Kahu is the leader of a band of drug dealers and trouble-makers who ride horses through the middle of town, wrecking peoples gardens. Under the guise of refusal of a land settlement, Kahu makes a large marijuana deal with some murdering city folk. Will must choose between loyalty for his brother and his father, Maori tradition, and contemporary financial issues.
Crooked Earth
2001
5.6When Hannah Pinkham's fiancé writes he's finally shipping home, her mother makes a fairy tale wedding dress, but while she's fitting it the knock on the door is not him, but the dreaded officer-messenger. Years later she sends it to her nephew, photographer Travis Cleveland, but his model-bride Cass only pretends to like it to get rid of his loyal assistant. After he walks off with it, his car gets stolen with the dress in it... And it keeps passing on from person to person, but will anybody actually get married in it or does it just keep bringing bad luck to couples?
The Wedding Dress
2001
5.9A college girl decides to get to know her estranged father before she begins her education, but his life turns out to be nothing that she expected.
The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay
2003
6.1Three escaped convicts hide out in the home a reclusive woman as they wait to catch a ferry.
Morgan's Ferry
2001
9.0James Guthrie is a candidate for the presidency of the United States. Eight years ago he fell in love with Elizabeth Hemming, nowadays a famous hostess/reporter. Guthrie doesn't know Jason, her kid, is his son. When his unscrupulous campaign-leader finds out about Jason, he goes all out to keep it a secret from the public
The President's Child
1992
4.0A true story about a concerned housewife, Pat Melancon, who tries to block Shintech, a massive Japanese petrochemical conglomerate, from building a plant in her toxic township already known as "cancer alley". Pat and a few newly recruited, fledgling activitsts face the full force of Shintech's wealth and influence peddling, which has bought the cooperation of the government from the local level all the way up to the Governor's office.
Taking Back Our Town
2001
5.7The same night as a girl is slain in the woods, the teenagers Sam and Les are robbed of all of their hard earned hens. In the quest for their hens they cross the murderer's path.
The Scarecrow
1982
7.0Café-owner Reg and photographer Julia become the unplanned guardians of their godson Waylon after his parents pass away.
Raising Waylon
2004
7.8A former nun who has become a rape counselor defies a court order to release her file on a rape victim.
Sins of Silence
1996
5.6Holly Mitchell a divorcee, remarries widower, Carl Gibbons, the father of two small boys. When she begins to question his past, he disappears with the boys. She then learns that the boys' mother is still alive, having been deserted five years ago. The two 'wives' join forces to find him and the boys.
A Mother's Instinct
1996
5.6A bounty hunter searches the west for a wanted outlaw named Red Roundtree.
Into the Badlands
1991
6.4During the Great Depression, Kate (Greer Robson) is a 13-year-old girl living on New Zealand's South Island. When her mother dies and her father is offered a job in Wellington on North Island, Kate is sent to live with an aunt. The girl runs away to find her father, hopping onto a boxcar and befriending a fellow fugitive, Patrick (Peter Phelps), an emotionally battle-scarred WWI veteran fleeing the authorities after injuring a repo man. Pretending to be father and daughter, Patrick and Kate use each other for cover as they make their way across New Zealand, sleeping under the stars and championing the rights of destitute farmers and homeless squatters whose fortunes have been wiped out by economic hardship.
Starlight Hotel
1987
6.5Dr. Jesse Newman is assigned to treating David, a grieving policeman who lost his partner in a shootout. It seems the case is solved, until a lucky coin belonging to David's partner triggers a revealing series of psychic visions for Dr. Newman. The visions not only implicate the killer, but also reveal the sordid habits of San Francisco's business and political elite.
Eyes of Terror
1994
2.6A woman is torn between her love for a gentle man, and her secret passion for his dangerous brother.
Shadows of Desire
1994
5.2A disgruntled worker rigs a bomb, triggered by a motion sensor, on the roller coaster at a financially troubled amusement park.
Thrill
1996
7.0A woman haunted by disturbing flashbacks discovers through hypnotherapy that she and her boyfriend led parallel lives with a doomed couple from 1927.
Search for Grace
1994
Directed by Sam Pillsbury, this 1974 film observes Ralph Hotere — one of New Zealand’s greatest artists — at a moment when excitement is gathering about his work. Lauded as a “classic” by Ian Wedde, the documentary is framed around the execution of a watershed piece: a large mural Hotere was commissioned to paint for Hamilton’s Founders Theatre. Interviews with friends and associates — poets Hone Tuwhare and Bill Manhire, art critics, officials and dealers — are intercut with fascinating shots of Hotere working (including making art by photocopying or 'xerography').
Ralph Hotere
1974
