FEATURES
By Ann Hornaday | January 10, 1998
The Senator was the highest-grossing theater in the country showing "Amistad" last weekend. More than 3,500 filmgoers attended the art deco landmark to see Steven Spielberg's account of a 19th-century slave ship uprising and subsequent court fights.Coming in second was the Sony Lincoln Square theater in Manhattan, regularly one of the top-grossing theaters in the country.Tom Kiefaber, who owns the Senator, attributed part of the theater's success to the Xaala Mainama African Arts Ensemble, a drumming troupe that has been performing before some screenings on weekends.
FEATURES
By Ariel Sabar and Ariel Sabar,KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE | February 6, 1998
For Howard Jones, it was an overnight success story that took a decade to happen.When Oxford University Press published his book "Mutiny on the Amistad" in 1987, it bought a few ads in academic journals but did little else to promote it. The book sold modestly, mostly at colleges and law schools, and earned Jones a few invitations to small academic conferences.Today, Oxford is flying Jones around the country on a tight schedule of appearances at bookstores, universities, historical societies, TV studios, even the Macy's department store in Manhattan.
NEWS
By Nicholas Varga | February 13, 1998
PEOPLE who have seen producer Steven Spielberg's gripping film "Amistad," about an infamous slave-ship mutiny, know that the U.S. Supreme Court released the African captives in 1841 even though they had been charged with murder.Many people also know that the Supreme Court in 1857 denied freedom to Dred Scott, although he had lived for four years in areas of the United States where slavery was prohibited.Some wonder how the Supreme Court, acting under the same Constitution, could produce such apparently contradictory decisions.
NEWS
By GREGORY KANE | December 20, 1997
Yesterday, the movie "Amistad" spread to three more theaters, upping the total number of show times in the area to a less-than-whopping 12. By comparison, the new James Bond movie opened in 12 theaters with 86 show times.This has caused some distress among those wanting to see "Amistad." State Del. John Leopold, a Republican from the 31st District in Anne Arundel County, was so concerned that the new Steven Spielberg movie was playing only at the Senator Theatre in Baltimore that he had his legislative assistant, Catherine Dorsey, call several movie distributors in hopes they could explain why this excellent film wasn't in more theaters.
FEATURES
By Glenn McNatt | December 21, 1997
MUCH PRAISE has been heaped on "Amistad," Debbie Allen and Steven Spielberg's new film based on the true story of a revolt by African captives aboard a 19th-century slave ship.But though the subject was compelling -- and the conditions aboard the slave ship chillingly rendered -- I felt oddly let down by the experience.Perhaps it was the prerelease hype, which suggested that "Amistad" would do for slavery what Spielberg's earlier film, "Schindler's List," had done for the Holocaust.Yet if one knew nothing else of American history, one might easily conclude that the events recounted in "Amistad" were merely the result of an unfortunate misunderstanding regarding immigration law.Aha!
NEWS
By George Will | December 18, 1997
WASHINGTON -- Recently Hollywood has been an object of much derision, much of it merited, particularly when dishonest and propagandistic movies have been made about American history. The name Oliver Stone comes to mind.Now comes Steven Spielberg's ''Amistad,'' a redemptive movie, in two senses. It redeems Hollywood's reputation as a place where movies can be made for grown-ups. And ''Amistad'' celebrates America's capacity for rising from sin to something akin to nobility.A truthful filmFor the third time in eight years Hollywood has produced a nuanced, truthful film about America's racial history.