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Gary Weis

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For the investigative journalist and author, see Gary Weiss. For the baseball player, see Gary Weiss (baseball).
Gary Weis
Born1942 or 1943 (age 81–82)
Occupation(s)Director, producer
Years active1973–2004
Known forSaturday Night Live film shorts

Gary Weis (c. 1943)[1] is an American filmmaker.

He is known for creating multiple short films that aired on Saturday Night Live in the late 1970s. He co-produced and provided visual effects for the documentary Jimi Hendrix (1973); he co-directed the Beatlemania spoof All You Need Is Cash (1978) with the film's star, Eric Idle; he directed the comedy film Diary of a Young Comic (1979) starring Richard Lewis, as well as 80 Blocks from Tiffany's (1979), a documentary about gangs in the South Bronx.

He also directed several music videos in the 1980s, including the video for Paul Simon's single "You Can Call Me Al" and for George Harrison's version of the song "Got My Mind Set on You".

Career

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Weis worked as a cameraman for the 1970 Rolling Stones tour documentary Gimme Shelter that culminated with footage of the infamous Altamont Free Concert.[2] Weis told the Los Angeles Times that it was "the most frightening workday I've ever had," although he had left for the day by the time The Rolling Stones took the stage.[2]

Weis co-produced the 1973 documentary Jimi Hendrix along with Joe Boyd and John Head.[1] Weis was also in charge of the film's visuals.[3] He told the San Francisco Examiner that he was not a particular fan of the musician prior to the creation of Jimi Hendrix, but gained an appreciation for the musician through his work on the film.[3] Weis was initially approached by Boyd–who was the music director for Warner Bros. Pictures at the time–about assisting with the film.[1][3]

Weis directed of over 45 short films for Saturday Night Live (SNL) that aired in 1975 and 1977.[4] Weis started as an assistant director then took over the position of primary director of the show's film shorts after Albert Brooks' departure from the show in 1976.[5] NBC subsequently commissioned Weis to direct some full-length films to be aired during SNL's timeslot when the show was on summer hiatus.[6] The first of such films was All You Need Is Cash (1978), a Beatlemania mockumentary, which Weis produced and co-directed with Eric Idle, who also starred in the film.[7] Next came Diary of a Young Comic (1979), a satirical take on Hollywood starring comedian Richard Lewis.[8] The script was written by Richard Lewis and Bennett Tramer, based on a story originally conceived by Weis.[8] Weis decided to put Lewis in the film after watching him perform at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles.[9] Weis also directed Steve Martin's comedy special A Wild and Crazy Guy that aired on NBC in 1978.[10]

Later that summer, Weis filmed the documentary 80 Blocks from Tiffany's, which documented the lives of gang members in the South Bronx, a neighborhood that was suffering from a high level of crime and urban decay at the time.[6] While the documentary was filmed for NBC, it did not make it to air.[6] In a 2010 interview with BlackBook magazine, Weis said that NBC was reticent to air the film because of a recent legal case brought against ABC related to a movie made by their entertainment division of the news. "They said it would have been fine if the news division [of NBC] had done it," Weis explained.[6] Instead, 80 Blocks from Tiffany's premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 1980 and was released to home video in 1985 by Pacific Arts Entertainment.[6] The VHS version of the film increased in demand as the film gained cult status, and the film was re-released to DVD in 2010.[6]

Weis directed the 1980 comedy film Wholly Moses! starring Dudley Moore.[11] It marked Weis's first direction of a feature film.[11] This was followed by Young Lust, a comedy film starring Fran Drescher,[12] and Action Family, a Cinemax TV spoof starring Chris Elliott.[13]

Weis directed music videos in the 1980s, including videos for The Bangles singles "Walk Like an Egyptian" and "Walking Down Your Street", the Howard Jones single "Everlasting Love" and the 38 Special single "Back Where You Belong", the latter of which was shot in the style of a Hill Street Blues spoof.[14][15][16][17] His most notable videos were for Paul Simon's single "You Can Call Me Al", which featured Chevy Chase lip-syncing to the song with an unimpressed Simon sitting next to him, as well as the video for George Harrison's version of the song "Got My Mind Set on You", in which Harrison is seen sitting in an armchair in a study where inanimate objects come to life and move along to the rhythm of the song.[18][19]

Personal life

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Weis was married to Kathryn Ireland, a star of the Bravo reality-television series Million Dollar Decorators. Together, the two "conceptualized" music videos for Toto's "Without Your Love," The Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian", Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al" and others.[14] They have since divorced.[20]

Filmography

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Year Film Notes
1973 Jimi Hendrix Co-producer and visual director
1976–1977 Saturday Night Live (TV film shorts) Director
1976 The Beach Boys: It's OK! (TV special) Director
1978 All You Need Is Cash (TV movie) Director
Steve Martin: A Wild and Crazy Guy (TV special) Director
1979 Diary of a Young Comic (TV movie) Director
80 Blocks from Tiffany's Director
1980 Wholly Moses! Director
1984 Young Lust Director
1986 Action Family (TV movie) Director

References

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  1. ^ a b c Lomax, Michele (September 28, 1973). "'Hendrix Was Shy... And a Bit of a Freak'". San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California, United States. p. 33. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Producer Gary Weis and his partners, Joe Boyd and John Head, have paid the first feature-length tribute to [Jimi Hendrix]... Weis, at 30, has the familiarity and perspective for the project, though he says he wasn't a Hendrix fan when he started... "I was approached as a film-maker. Joe Boyd, who was director of musical services at Warner."
  2. ^ a b Crisafulli, Chuck (November 16, 1994). "Day the Music Got Stomped". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California, United States. p. B9. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. The killing of Meredith Hunder can actually be seen in the film Gimme Shelter, a documentary of the '69 Stones tour put together by filmmakers David and Albert Maysles. Gary Weis, perhaps best known for the short films he later contributed to Saturday Night Live, was one of Gimme Shelter's many roving cameramen, though he didn't stick around the speedway long enough to see what happened when the Stones played. "It was the most frightening workday I've ever had," Weis says.
  3. ^ a b c Selvin, Joel (October 7, 1973). "Jimi Hendrix: He Was Lonely, Frustrated But Not That Freaky". San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California, United States. p. 33. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. According to Gary Weis, the visuals director of the new documentary "Jimi Hendrix," now playing at the Vogue Theater, rumors of the extensive abuse and lunacy are not grounded in fact... Weis himself says he wasn't a particular fan of Hendrix's until after he became involved in the film project... His partners in the venture include Joe Boyd, until then director of the music department of Warner Brothers Films, and Briton John Head, who handled much of the research. The film was originally budgeted at a comparatively paltry $300,000. Warner Brothers Records has also issued a double - record soundtrack album.
  4. ^ Kilgore, Michael (February 3, 1979). "'Comic' Looks At L.A. With Jaded Eyes". The Tampa Tribune. Tampa, Florida, United States. p. 8D. Archived from the original on April 15, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Crowe, Bill (February 15, 1984). "Trivia quiz celebrates 'Saturday Night'". Evansville Press. Evansville, Indiana, United States. p. 9. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Question #4:Comic Albert Brooks' short films were a featured attraction during the program's first season. Name the filmmaker who took over those duties after Brooks jumped ship in 1976. Answer #4: Gary Weis.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Phanor-Faury, Alexandra (October 25, 2010). "Director Gary Weis on His Influential, Long-Lost Doc '80 Blocks from Tiffany's'". BlackBook. New York City, New York, United States. Archived from the original on January 18, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  7. ^ Henninger, Paul (March 21, 1978). "'All You Need Is Cash' spoofs Beatles". The Ithaca Journal. Ithaca, New York, United States. p. 26. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. You don't have to be a Beatles buff, or know the history of the rock group that shook, rattled and took the world of pop music in the 1960s, to be entertained by All You Need Is Cash, a 90-minute spoof on the Beatlemania craze on NBC. Eric Idle of Monty Python fame, whose credits include those wild film bits seen on Saturday Night Live and the Beach Boys special on NBC, have teamed up on a parody to end all such takeoffs on the four Liverpool lads noted for sending 13-year-old girls into fits of frenzy. Idle, in addition to co-directing with producer Weis, plays Dirk McQuickly...
  8. ^ a b Rosenberg, Howard (February 3, 1979). "'Comic' Adds Laughs 'Co-Ed' Adds Little". Part II. The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California, United States. p. 2. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022. Retrieved April 2, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Witbeck, Charles (February 2, 1979). "Richard Lewis cracks big screen in NBC's 'Diary of Young Comic'". TV Tonight. Mansfield News Journal. Mansfield, Ohio, United States. p. 21. Archived from the original on April 15, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Bianculli, David (November 22, 1978). "Wild Steve Martin Hits Prime Time". Fort Lauderdale News. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States. p. 7D. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b Thomas, Bob (January 16, 1980). "Dudley Moore stretches to the heights of stardom". Pensacola News Journal. Hollywood, California, United States. Associated Press. p. 7D. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Gary Weis, also of Saturday Night Live, is making his debut in the feature, directing a cast that includes...
  12. ^ Taggart, Patrick (April 27, 1984). "'Young Lust' grossly worn out by once-original director". Austin American-Statesman. Austin, Texas, United States. p. C10. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Baker, Kathryn (February 12, 1987). "Two cable comedies result in one funny show". The Desert Sun. Palm Springs, California, United States. Associated Press. p. C12. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ a b Barrera, Sandra (May 28, 2011). "'Million Dollar Decorator' Kathryn Ireland Went from Film to Fabrics – See Her Santa Monica Home". Daily News. Los Angeles. Archived from the original on January 6, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
  15. ^ Vare, Ethlie Ann (February 5, 1987). "'Please Please Me' Beatles are coming to CD". The York Dispatch. York, Pennsylvania, United States. Newspaper Enterprise Association. p. 29. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. The Bangles, who earned an unexpected No. 1 single with "Walk Like an Egyptian," are making a new video clip for their next one, "Walking Down Your Street." Directed by Gary Weis of "Saturday Night Live,"...
  16. ^ Archangelo, Maria (June 9, 1989). "Howard Jones comes to Lititz". Intelligencer Journal. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States. p. C1. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. The first single from the new album is the Top 40 hit "Everlasting Love." Joes said he wanted the video for the song to be light-hearted and unique. It is currently in heavy rotation on MTV... The video was directed by Gary Weis, who is best known for his direction of Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al" video and his work on NBC-TV's Saturday Night Live.
  17. ^ Cloud Golier, Elaine (May 25, 1984). "'No point' in 38 Special". Intelligencer Journal. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States. p. C1. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. Music video watchers have been entertained by 38 Special's Back Where You Belong, a take off on TV's Hill Street Blues, in which all band members are duped by an elusive motorcycle-riding blonde... The bumbling detectives concept idea was born by Gary Weis, who is also known for his short films on Saturday Night Live, and directing The Ruttles and Wholy Moses!
  18. ^ Thompson, Dave (2019). All That's Left to Know About the Legendary Singer and the Iconic Songs. Backbeat. p. 214. ISBN 9781493050758. The result, directed by Gary Weis, remains one of the most distinctive videos of the age, with Chase and Simon initially seated side by side until Chase takes the initiative in singing the song. Simon's disgruntled facial expressions alone are priceless, while Chase is utterly convincing as a lead singer, as personable and charming as the song itself.
  19. ^ Willman, Chris (January 24, 1988). "Clips Picked to Click". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California, United States. p. 82. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. George Harrison's "Got My Mind Set on You." (Director: Gary Weis.) What a fine compromise: George gets to remain the Dignified Beatle and summon up the silly days of old with this clever clip. Harrison retires to a tasteful study to sing a little ditty from his armchair, while everything in the room–furniture, stuffed animal heads, you name it–joins in with the infection rhythm. Weis' version is the better of the two entirely different clips released to go with Harrison's hit.
  20. ^ "US style guru Kathryn Ireland's insight". News.com.au. July 19, 2008. Retrieved 23 September 2014.[permanent dead link]
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