Sidney J. Furie

Directing

Sidney J. Furie

Born 1933-02-25 · Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Toronto-born Sidney J. Furie has enjoyed a distinguished career that has spanned over six decades. Having worked in every genre, Furie has directed films starring Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Robert Redford, Diana Ross, Michael Caine, Peter O'Toole, Rodney Dangerfield, Barbara Hershey, Gene Hackman, Donald Sutherland, Laurence Olivier, and countless others. He is most known for the espionage classic The Ipcress File (1965), the landmark biopic Lady Sings the Blues (1972), the franchise-generating Iron Eagle (1986), the Scorsese-beloved horror saga The Entity (1982), and the Vietnam combat chronicle The Boys in Company C (1978), which later partly inspired Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. His first two films, A Dangerous Age (1957) and A Cool Sound from Hell (1959), both independently financed, were two of the first English Canadian features ever made, produced before he emigrated to London in 1960. He became an important figure in the British New Wave, especially with The Boys (1962) and his realist drama The Leather Boys (1964), a critical darling that became a popular cult film.

Acting credits

The True Adventures of Raoul Walsh poster
7.3

This is the first feature-length documentary on legendary director Raoul Walsh. In this 'memoir,' Walsh 'recounts' his career from the silent film era to the tumultuous 1960s. The documentary makes stunning use of rare, personal and production photos and footage, revealing Walsh's extraordinary, adventurous life on and off the set. From his apprenticeship with D.W. Griffith to his discovery of John Wayne and Rock Hudson, from the innovative 'The Thief of Bagdad' (1924) to the widescreen 'The Big Trail' (1930), from his classic work with Cagney, Bogart and Flynn to his mastery of every genre (musicals, comedies, Westerns, gangster, war), Walsh made Hollywood history. His life is nothing less than the story of Hollywood itself. Here's a full-bodied account of one of Hollywood's greatest legends.

The True Adventures of Raoul Walsh

2014

Cruel, Usual, Necessary: The Passion of Silvio Narizzano poster
NR

Perhaps at first glance, the filmography of Silvio Narizzano appears unremarkable. Thanks to his sleeper hit Georgy Girl (1966), he's known largely as a "one-hit wonder" director. Upon closer inspection, however, likely no other filmmaker used cinema as effectively to exorcise personal demons in ways both ugly and beautiful. And few directors' sensibilities were more gay, both overtly and covertly. Film historian Daniel Kremer is your tour guide through an obscure, perplexing body of work heretofore ignored and often unfairly shunned. Cruel, Usual, Necessary: The Passion of Silvio Narizzano is an essay documentary of discovery.

Cruel, Usual, Necessary: The Passion of Silvio Narizzano

2024

Michael Caine: Breaking the Mold poster
10.0

A documentary about actor Michael Caine. Narrated by Caine himself, it includes interviews of his family, friends and colleagues and clips from some of his films.

Michael Caine: Breaking the Mold

1994

Clear Lines of Sight: Sidney J. Furie at Paramount poster
NR

Canadian-born filmmaker Sidney J. Furie made his name with British hits like The Young Ones (1961), The Leather Boys (1964), and The Ipcress File (1965). When he arrived in Hollywood, Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra wreaked havoc on his first major studio productions. In 1968, the newly emigrated director joined a stable of cutting-edge filmmakers at Paramount Pictures, under the new leadership of Bob Evans. His films saw both a stylistic departure and a shift in thematic focus. What was behind the evolution, and which aspects unite all of Furie's films?

Clear Lines of Sight: Sidney J. Furie at Paramount

2023

Sidney J. Furie: Fire Up the Carousel! poster
NR

This full-length documentary examines the life and career of the Toronto-born filmmaker Sidney J. Furie, a journey that spans over 60 years, from Canada to London and finally to Hollywood. In the midst of the Furie's own remembrances, he directs two last personal projects, shot digitally on shoestring budgets, from the first solo scripts he has written since 1961. 'Drive Me to Vegas and Mars' is a comedy about aging and letting go, while 'Hannah Cohen' is a Holocaust-themed love story set and shot in Israel. Sidney J. Furie: Fire Up the Carousel is an intimate portrait of a unique, prolific, and quietly influential filmmaker, a man with an impressive resumé who has stood behind the camera on great films such as The Ipcress File (1965), Lady Sings the Blues (1972), The Boys in Company C (1978), The Leather Boys (1964), The Entity (1982), The Appaloosa (1966), Little Fauss and Big Halsy (1970), and many others.

Sidney J. Furie: Fire Up the Carousel!

Behind the camera

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace poster
4.6

With global superpowers engaged in an increasingly hostile arms race, Superman leads a crusade to rid the world of nuclear weapons. But Lex Luthor, recently sprung from jail, is declaring war on the Man of Steel and his quest to save the planet. Using a strand of Superman's hair, Luthor synthesizes a powerful ally known as Nuclear Man and ignites an epic battle spanning Earth and space.

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

1987

Iron Eagle poster
5.6

When Doug's father, an Air Force Pilot, is shot down by MiGs belonging to a radical Middle Eastern state, no one seems able to get him out. Doug finds Chappy, an Air Force Colonel who is intrigued by the idea of sending in two fighters piloted by himself and Doug to rescue Doug's father after bombing the MiG base.

Iron Eagle

1986

Iron Eagle poster
5.6

When Doug's father, an Air Force Pilot, is shot down by MiGs belonging to a radical Middle Eastern state, no one seems able to get him out. Doug finds Chappy, an Air Force Colonel who is intrigued by the idea of sending in two fighters piloted by himself and Doug to rescue Doug's father after bombing the MiG base.

Iron Eagle

1986

The Entity poster
6.8

A single mom is raped by an invisible force. Her psychiatrist believes the experience stems from childhood trauma, while she knows something supernatural is at play.

The Entity

1982

Iron Eagle II poster
4.5

Chappy Sinclair is called to gather together a mixed Soviet/U.S. strike force that will perform a surgical strike on a massively defended nuclear missile site in the Middle East. Chappy finds that getting the Soviet and U.S. Pilots to cooperate is only the most minor of his problems as he discovers someone in the Pentagon is actively sabotaging his mission.

Iron Eagle II

1988

Iron Eagle II poster
4.5

Chappy Sinclair is called to gather together a mixed Soviet/U.S. strike force that will perform a surgical strike on a massively defended nuclear missile site in the Middle East. Chappy finds that getting the Soviet and U.S. Pilots to cooperate is only the most minor of his problems as he discovers someone in the Pentagon is actively sabotaging his mission.

Iron Eagle II

1988

Purple Hearts poster
5.8

A Navy surgeon and a nurse fall in love while serving in Vietnam during the war. Their affection for one another provides a striking contrast to the violence of warfare.

Purple Hearts

1984

Purple Hearts poster
5.8

A Navy surgeon and a nurse fall in love while serving in Vietnam during the war. Their affection for one another provides a striking contrast to the violence of warfare.

Purple Hearts

1984

Detention poster
4.4

A heroic high school teacher leads a band of students trapped in school by violent drug-runners.

Detention

2003

Iron Eagle on the Attack poster
3.9

While Chappy Sinclair is saddled with a bunch of misfits and delinquents for his flight school, he turns to his protégé Doug Masters to assist him in rounding them into shape for an important competition. During their training, they stumble upon a group of subversive air force officers who are dealing in toxic waste as a sideline.

Iron Eagle on the Attack

1995

The Ipcress File poster
6.8

Sly and dry intelligence agent Harry Palmer is tasked with investigating British Intelligence security, and is soon enmeshed in a world of double-dealing, kidnap and murder when he finds a traitor operating at the heart of the secret service.

The Ipcress File

1965

Ladybugs poster
5.6

To climb the corporate ladder to success, a businessman agrees to coach his company's all-girl soccer team with the help of his secret weapon: his fiancee's son.

Ladybugs

1992

Lady Sings the Blues poster
6.9

Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday, beginning with her traumatic youth. The story depicts her early attempts at a singing career and her eventual rise to stardom, as well as her difficult relationship with Louis McKay, her boyfriend and manager. Casting a shadow over even Holiday's brightest moments is the vocalist's severe drug addiction, which threatens to end both her career and her life.

Lady Sings the Blues

1972

Direct Action poster
5.1

Frank Gannon, a veteran cop, is being hunted by his fellow police officers after they learned he has betrayed the brotherhood and exposed to the feds wide scale corruption of the LAPD. He has one day left to prove his case and survive.

Direct Action

2004

The Appaloosa poster
6.4

A man tries to recover a horse stolen from him by a Mexican bandit.

The Appaloosa

1966

Hit! poster
5.8

A federal agent whose daughter dies of a heroin overdose is determined to destroy the drug ring that supplied her. He recruits various people whose lives have been torn apart by the drug trade and trains them. Then they all leave for France to track down and destroy the ring.

Hit!

1973

The Taking of Beverly Hills poster
5.2

A chemical spill has caused the occupants of Beverly Hills to be forcibly evacuated. A retiring football player left behind, finds that the toxic gas emulating from the spill is a bogus front for a heist set up by fired police officers out to plunder the city of all its valuables. Finding himself siding with a corrupt cop who was once apart of the plan until he discovered the city's mayor had just been blown away, by one of the chief crooks in charge. Now both on the run with no help in sight...both must do whatever they can to stop these murderous looters.

The Taking of Beverly Hills

1991

The Boys in Company C poster
6.5

Disheartened by futile combat, appalled by the corruption of their South Vietnamese ally, and constantly endangered by the incompetence of their own company commander, the young men find a possible way out of the war. They are told that if they purposely lose a soccer game against a South Vietnamese team, they can spend the rest of their tour playing exhibition games behind the lines.

The Boys in Company C

1978

The Boys in Company C poster
6.5

Disheartened by futile combat, appalled by the corruption of their South Vietnamese ally, and constantly endangered by the incompetence of their own company commander, the young men find a possible way out of the war. They are told that if they purposely lose a soccer game against a South Vietnamese team, they can spend the rest of their tour playing exhibition games behind the lines.

The Boys in Company C

1978

My 5 Wives poster
4.8

A three times divorced real estate tycoon who thought he was through with love gets more then he bargained for when he invests in some property for a ski resort in Utah.

My 5 Wives

2000

Hide and Seek poster
5.2

A desperate, childless couple kidnap a pregnant woman and lead her husband to believe that she is dead.

Hide and Seek

2000

The Fraternity poster
4.6

Some students at Runcie prep school form an elite club. The group is implicated in a cheating scandal and one of the club members dies mysteriously. Another member decides to try and discover the dangerous truth about Runcie.

The Fraternity

2002

Under Heavy Fire poster
4.3

A group of Marines return to Vietnam with a news crew to relive their tragic war experiences.

Under Heavy Fire

2001

Night Games poster
6.5

A Harvard-educated, big-city lawyer moves to a small Arizona town to set up practice. His first case is defending a beautiful socialite accused of murdering her husband. This is the pilot TV movie for what would become the Petrocelli TV series.

Night Games

1974