Rick Altman

Rick Altman is a professor of Cinema and Comparative Literature in the

Department of Cinema and Comparative Literature, University of
Iowa, Iowa City, United States.

Rick Altman teaches courses on film sound, film genres, and narrative
theory. In recent years he has taught courses on silent film sound and
exhibition, Hollywood's conversion to sound, genre theory, the musical,
the films of Rouben Mamoulian, and narrative theory. Having recently
completed a long term project entitled A Theory of Narrative, published by
Columbia UP in 2008, Altman is currently working on a book that will trace
the development of standardized sound practices during Hollywood's
studio years. He continues to perform his Living Nickelodeon program in
venues around the world (in 2009-10 at the Eastman School, Notre Dame,
the Buffalo International Film Festival, a German tour, and NYU).



The Form finds itself
The Birth of a Nation
American silent drama film directed by
D. W. Griffith in 1915 based on the
play and novel The Clansman, both by
Thomas Dixon
The films chronicles the relationship of
two families in Civil War and
Reconstruction-era American: the pro-
Union Northern Stonemans and the
pro-Confederacy Southern Camerons
over the course of several years. The
assasination of President Abraham
Lincoln by John Wilkes Booths
dramatised


The Birth Of A Nation was one of the first war
films made, as well as one of the first films
ever made, defining the way a war film is
shown in cinema. Due to the racial nature of
the film it was not well received in coloured
communities. This made the film very well
known and it is regarded as the start of the
war film genre, due to the war in the film its
self and the controversy that surrounds war
films
The classic
Platoon
Platoon is a 1986 American war
film written and directed by Oliver
Stone and stars Tom Berenger, Willem
Dafoe and Charlie Sheen. It is the first
film of a trilogy of Vietnam War films by
Stone (followed by 1989's Born on the
Fourth of July and 1993's Heaven &
Earth). Stone wrote the story based
upon his experiences as a
U.S. infantryman in Vietnam to counter
the vision of the war portrayed in John
Wayne's The Green Berets. It was the
first Hollywood film to be written and
directed by a veteran of the Vietnam
War.
This is known as a classic as it is quite an old film
made in 1986, its regarded as a classic due to the fact
many Vietnam films have been made but this is still
the first Vietnam film many people think of, it also
has a well known cast with very memorable scenes in
it such as Willem Dafoes death scene.
It is also regarded as one of the best war films of all
time, also doing well extremely well in the box office
with a budget of $6 million and earning
$138,530,565
Winning 15 awards including 4 Oscars and 2 BAFTAS
Also well respected for its authenticity and accuracy
due Oliver Stone directing it as he was US Marine in
the Vietnam war





Stretching the boundaries
Starship troopers
Starship Troopers is a 1997
American military science fiction action
film directed by Paul Verhoeven and
written by Edward Neumeier, originally
from an unrelated script called Bug Hunt
at Outpost Nine,

but eventually licensing
the name Starship Troopers, from
a science fiction novel by Robert A.
Heinlein. It is the only theatrically
released film in theStarship
Troopers franchise. The film had a budget
estimated around $105 million and
grossed over $121 million worldwide.
Starship Troopers stretches the boundaries as it is not your typical war film,
firstly it is fiction when your typical war film is either based on true events in
a war that actually happened or on a fictional story on a war that actually
happened that would still be influenced by the war
This film is set in the future in a world were humans have colonised other
planets and are at war with an insect like race nicknamed bugs
The Film is not a conventional war film being set in a real war but does have
all your typical war film conventions such as, heroic leader, love interests,
dramatic ending, sacrafice, death
However even though war films do have love interests, this film
concentrates on it a lot and twists it into the plot more than your usual war
film, the enemy in the film is also an alien race, this is obviously stretching
the boundaries as planet earth has never been at war with an alien race
It is scene to have stretched the boundaries by having two female leads who
are soldiers, were as your typical war film doesn't feature female leads as
the genre is shown to be more masculine and tends to aim at men
Parody
Tropic Thunder
Tropic Thunder is a 2008 American action
comedy film co-written, produced, directed
by, and co-starring Ben Stiller. The film also
co-stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Jack Black.
The main plot revolves around a group of
prima donna actors who are making a
fictional Vietnam War film. When their
frustrated director decides to drop them in
the middle of a jungle, they are forced to
rely on their acting skills in order to survive
the real action and danger. Written
by Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen, the film
was produced by Red Hour Films and
distributed by DreamWorks
Pictures through Paramount Pictures.
Homage
Inglorious Basterds
Inglourious Basterds is a 2009 German-
American

war film written and directed
by Quentin Tarantino and starringBrad
Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Mlanie
Laurent, Michael Fassbender, Eli
Roth and Diane Kruger. The film tells the
fictionalalternate history story of two
plots to assassinate Nazi Germany's
political leadership, one planned by a
young French Jewish cinema proprietor
(Laurent), and the other by a team of
Jewish-American soldiers led by First
Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Pitt). The film's
title was inspired by director Enzo G.
Castellari's 1978 macaroni
combat film, The Inglorious Bastards.