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The Crow

The Crow is a comic book series created by James O'Barr. The series was originally written by O'Barr as a means of getting over the death of his girlfriend. It was later published in 1989, and became an underground success, with some movie studios seeking the rights to adapt it to film. It was adapted into a movie in 1994, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee. Lee died during the making of the film.

Contents

Plot

The story tells about a man named Eric who was murdered along with his fiancée, Shelly, who was also raped, by a gang of street thugs who came across the pair when they were stranded on a roadside by car trouble. One year later, he is resurrected by a crow and seeks out vengeance on his murderers, killing them one at a time. He is able to defeat his enemies because the crow that brought him back to life has given him the power of invulnerability - nothing can kill him, and all injuries he takes are healed almost instantly, no matter how serious they are.

In the film version, Eric is given the last name Draven and is shown to be a guitarist, while Shelly is portrayed as an artist. The two are murdered the day before their wedding on Halloween in their home by a gang of criminals working for a larger crime syndicate, who ordered Shelly's death.

Adaptations

In 1999, Image Comics released a new comic series of The Crow, based on the original comic book. It ran for ten issues, ending in November of that year.

Also in 1999, James O'Barr and Editor Ed Kramer asked an array of fiction writers, poets, and artists (including Gene Wolfe, Alan Dean Foster, Charles de Lint, Jack Dann, Jane Yolen, Henry Rollins, and Iggy Pop) to interpret this Goth phenomenon. The Crow: Shattered Lives & Broken Dreams was released by Random House on Halloween, and a year later, in a limited signed and numbered volume, by Donald M. Grant Publishing.

Two sequels to the movie were made: The Crow: City of Angels (1996) and The Crow: Salvation (2000). The original film was remade as Wings of the Crow in 2000. A TV series, called (1998), was also made based on the first movie. A fourth movie, called , has been filmed, starring David Boreanaz and Edward Furlong, but, as of 2004, has not yet been released.

Soundtracks

The soundtrack for the first movie of The Crow, which featured several popular artists of the time, was a chart-topping album. Later films' soundtracks were less successful, despite also having famous artists on them.

Two albums were released - The Crow OST and The Crow Score. The first one contained songs by artists including The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against The Machine and Pantera, which were used in the movie. The other one consisted of original music written for the motion picture.

Awards

The original film version of The Crow won the 1995 BMI Film Music Award from the BMI Film & TV Awards. It also won the 1995 MTV Movie Award for Best Movie Song ("Big Empty" by Stone Temple Pilots). It was nominated for the 1995 MTV Movie Awards for Best Movie and Best Male Performance (Brandon Lee).

Brandon Lee's accidental death

Brandon Lee, the son of Bruce Lee playing the main character in the movie adaptation, was accidentally shot during the filming. On March 31, 1993, the scene being shot was that of character Eric's death. The character of Funboy played by Michael Massee was to fire a revolver loaded with blanks at Lee. Unfortunately, a piece of a dummy bullet used earlier in close-up shots remained in the barrel, and the blank charge propelled the fragment into Lee's abdomen breaking his spine. The tape with this scene was destroyed. There is a rumour saying that the sound of the shot which killed Brandon was used somewhere in the movie, but it's just a myth.

Following his death the original studio, Paramount Pictures bowed out, and the movie was taken up by Miramax. Lee's mother, Linda Lee Caldwell , filed a civil suit, but the matter was settled out of court. However both his mother and his fiancee, Eliza Hutton , were supportive of completion of the film. The death scene was redone, other scenes were rewritten, and shot with a double followed by digitally adding Lee's face on to the double. The closing credits carried the dedication "For Brandon and Eliza".

See also

External links

Last updated: 08-28-2005 22:24:01
Last updated: 09-03-2005 18:37:12