Mask (film)
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| Mask | |
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 Mask theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Peter Bogdanovich |
| Produced by | Martin Starger |
| Written by | Anna Hamilton Phelan |
| Starring | Cher Eric Stoltz Sam Elliott Laura Dern Lawrence Monoson Harry Carey Jr. Andrew Robinson Estelle Getty |
| Music by | Dennis Ricotta |
| Cinematography | Lászlo Kovács |
| Editing by | Barbara Ford |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 8, 1985 |
| Running time | 120 min/127 min. (director's cut) |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
- This article is about the 1985 Peter Bogdanovich film. For the 1994 comedy starring Jim Carrey, see The Mask.
Mask is a 1985 film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, and starring Cher and Eric Stoltz. Sam Elliott and Laura Dern are featured in supporting roles. Cher received the 1985 Cannes Film Festival award for Best Actress.
Tagline: Sometimes the most unlikely people become heroes.
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[edit] Plot summary
The film concerns the life and early death of Roy L. "Rocky" Dennis, a boy who suffered from craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, an extremely rare disorder known commonly as lionitis due to the disfiguring cranial enlargements that it causes.
Rocky's mother Rusty Dennis (Cher) is determined to give the boy as normal a life as possible, despite her own wild ways as a member of a biker gang. She fights to have him included in a mainstream junior high school, when the principal would rather classify him with mental retardation in order to have him sent to a special education school. Rocky (Stoltz) goes on to thrive in the school, gradually overcoming discrimination and eventually finding a girlfriend (Dern). At the end of the film, Rocky dies at the age of 16.
[edit] Impact
The commercial success of Mask was a milestone in the career of Bogdanovich, who had directed a string of critical and financial failures following his three successful films of the early 1970s. It also helped launch the careers of Stoltz and Dern, and firmly established Cher as an actress.
[edit] In popular culture
The American animated series Family Guy spoofs the film's portrayal of Rocky Dennis in the episodes "Petarded" and "Peter's Got Woods".
In an episode of the 1990s hit drama The X-Files entitled "The Post-Modern Prometheus" (first aired November 30, 1997), the Great Mutato is a similarly deformed character who loves Cher, and, in one scene, is shown watching the reunion between Rocky and his mother.
In 2004, Swedish pop musician Jens Lekman published Rocky Dennis in Heaven, an EP containing four songs about Rocky and his portrayal in the film.
[edit] External links
- Mask at the Internet Movie Database
