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Scorchers

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Scorchers
Redesigned Scorchers DVD cover
Directed byDavid Beaird
Written byDavid Beaird
Produced byMorrie Eisenman and Richard Hellman
StarringFaye Dunaway
Denholm Elliott
James Earl Jones
Emily Lloyd
Jennifer Tilly
Narrated byLeland Crooke (opening and closing monologues)
CinematographyPeter Deming
Edited byDavid Garfield
Music byCarter Burwell
Production
company
Distributed byRank Film Distributors (United Kingdom)
Media Home Entertainment through Fox Video (United States)
Release date
  • March 1991 (1991-03)
Running time
88 minutes
CountriesUnited States
United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Scorchers is a 1991 ensemble drama written and directed by David Beaird with a cast of Faye Dunaway, James Earl Jones, Denholm Elliott, Leland Crooke and Emily Lloyd. The film is based on David Beaird's 1985 stage play of the same name which premiered at the Equity Waiver Theater in Los Angeles, also featuring Leland Crooke in the cast.[1]

Plot

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Scorchers takes place in Cajun Louisiana on the wedding night of a young woman named Splendid (played by Emily Lloyd). Splendid is scared to death of what will happen in the bedroom with her new husband Dolan (James Wilder) and her father, Jumper (Leland Crooke), finds himself having to coax his daughter to submit to the groom.

Meanwhile, Talbot (Jennifer Tilly) comes to terms with the fact that her husband has not been satisfied at home and has been cheating on her, as the town prostitute, Thais (Faye Dunaway) shares her wisdom on the ways of men—all this takes place while the town bartender, Bear (James Earl Jones) and the town drunk, Howler (Denholm Elliott), debate the finer points of music and life.

Cast

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The role of Splendid was originally going to be played by Heather Graham, but she was fired[2] and replaced by Emily Lloyd.

Soundtrack

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Title Composer Performer Master Provided by Courtesy of
Les Flammes D'Enfer Traditional Mamou Jungle Productions/Austin, Texas
Tit Galop Pour Mamou Dewey Balfa Mamou Jungle Productions Flat Town Music Co.
Bayou Teche Nathan Abshire Mamou Jungle Productions Flat Town Music Co.
Jolie Blonde Traditional Mamou Jungle Productions
La Louisiane Steve LaFleur Mamou Jungle Productions Stephen LaFleur Music
Symphony No. 5 - Adagietto Gustav Mahler The Budapest Festival Orchestra Ivan Fischer Delta Music, Inc.

Home media

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The DVD was released by Trinity Home Entertainment in January 2005, but in full screen and without any bonus material. However, the DVD does have an opening monologue by Leland Crooke that was absent from the original VHS release.

References

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  1. ^ Svitil, Torene (July 6, 1990). "The Little Play That Could: Film: Five years ago, 'Scorchers' was playing in a 60-seat Equity Waiver theater. Writer-director David Beaird did an end run around the studios to get his vision on the screen". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
  2. ^ Metz, Nina (April 4, 2023). "My worst moment: A director told Heather Graham she was ‘a waste of time’". Chicago Tribune.
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