Péter Bacsó
Writing
Biography
Péter Bacsó (6 January 1928 – 11 March 2009) was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. After high school graduation Bacsó wanted to become an actor and later a theatre director, but ultimately decided to try filmmaking. His first job in a film was as an assistant in Géza Radványi's Valahol Európában (Somewhere in Europe) at the age of 19. He continued as a script editor and screenwriter. He graduated at the Hungarian School of Theatrical- and Film Arts in 1950. At the time he was already a familiar face in studios. He was a successful screenwriter during the 1950s before beginning to direct films a decade later. He made his first feature film, Nyáron egyszerű in 1963. He made his most famous film, A tanú (The Witness) in 1969, but it was banned at the time and wasn't released until 1979. The film became a cult classic in Hungary; it is a political satire about the early-1950s Communist regime. Bacsó later continued to make mostly political and satirical films, for a wider audience. He made various genre films, trying his hand in musicals, comedies, etc. He continued filmmaking up to his later years, however his last two films were generally dismissed by critics and the public alike as badly written and low quality works. His 2001 film Hamvadó cigarettavég (Smouldering Cigarette) was a biopic of Hungarian actress and singer Katalin Karády. His 2008 film Virtually a Virgin was entered into the 30th Moscow International Film Festival. Description above from the Wikipedia article Péter Bacsó, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For

Insulted when his screenwriter wife writes a leading role for a younger man, aging Broadway idol Fitz Wynn disguises himself as a handsome young Italian.
Lily in Love

Luca, who regularly visits her bedridden mother-in-law, hides from her the fact that János, his son, has been arrested on a trumped up political charge.
Love

The Hungarian Oh, Bloody Life reflects on the heavy emotional toll taken by the repressive Stalin regime. Dorotya Udvaros plays a young actress from a high-born family. The government bias against persons of wealth threatens to destroy her career before it begins. As a final blow, she is threatened with deportation. The exasperation inherent in the film's title is only the tip of the iceberg.
Oh, Bloody Life

1944. A band of runaways and orphans of the war scour the countryside in search of food and shelter. They invade and then taken in by a musician and former concert pianist who’s hiding out in a ruined castle. After the initial altercation between them the gang accepts his guidance and he wins their respect by protecting them from the elements.
It Happened in Europe

1958. In the cell of the condemned, seven men await the signs of an approaching execution. All of them recall their pasts and envision their wish-dreams.
Hungarian Requiem

Laci and the divorced Klári decide to commit suicide, since neither's parents give them shelter, they have no place to sleep, no decent job and no future. Béla, who lives on stealing cars, joins them. He has a gun. Based on a true story.
The Fatal Shot

A brothel in a small Hungarian town becomes the home of a medical student after his favorite working girls find out he's out of rent money. Trouble brews as they learn his mother is coming for a visit and they must transform the house.
A Very Moral Night

Every member of a small community in the snow-capped Bükk Mountains is trying to help the doctor get to István Simon forester's house where his wife is about to give birth to their first child.
The Birth of Menyhért Simon

When András, Albert and Bence are on a cycling tour around Lake Balaton, their dreams come true. Sunshine, beach and pretty girls. András and his younger brother run after the same girl, Eszter. András persuade his brother not to pinch the girl. András pick her up one night and split up with her next day. Eszter follows the boy, but András sends her away...
Cyclists in Love

Hungary, 1950s. József Pelikán, who works as a dam keeper on the Danube, meets by chance Zoltán Dániel, an old friend whom he saved from death years before and who is now a powerful politician.
The Witness

To celebrate Hitler's birthday, a soccer match is organised between the Germans and a group of Hungarian political prisoners, one of whom is a famous pre-war football star.
Two Half-Times in Hell

At a dusty crossroads in the Soviet Union villagers surrender their possessions - a horse, a samovar, a goat - to the state. The train which takes them away brings to the village a physically and mentally handicapped woman, barely able to speak. She makes herself bracelets of burrs and studies herself in a cracked and cloudy mirror. Befriended by very few, teased and tormented by many she seeks protection at a huge portrait of Stalin.
Stalin's Bride

On the Spring of 1945 the Jackson circus is heading towards the border with the clown Peti and Aida, the elephant. They have to play for the Hungarian Fascists, while Peti is hiding the Jew Annuska and Sanyika.
Keep Your Chin Up!

The journalist Alf Mattson gets thoroughly drunk at his birthday party, where his wife announces that she intends to divorce him. He is knocked down on the street and is later carried home by a friend. The next day he is to fly to Budapest in order to make a report for the Stockholm television. Mattson disappears in Budapest.
The Man Who Went Up in Smoke

The young maid, Anna starts to work for the noble Vizy family. Mrs Vizy is proud of the hard-working servant but doesnt treat her well. Her nephew seduces Anna with sweet words, but when leaves her as soon as she gets pregnant. The humiliations of Anna finally lead to a tragic ending.
Sweet Anna

This drama about a boorish non-conformist takes place in Hungary after the war and is dulled a little by political overtones but is still an engaging story. The setting is the countryside, where an independent, landowning farmer busies himself in his free time by bedding down the women on his farm and then tossing them aside. One such ill-treated lass ends up marrying a young man who is in charge of a communal farm, a farm the womanizing "beast" of the title is later forced to join. The arrogant, formerly independent farmer does not reform his ways and is soon chasing after the young manager's wife, the woman he dropped not that long ago. The results are disastrous.
The Brute

The main character of this film reminiscent of political writing is Laci, the young and ambitious factory worker. He lives with his brother's family. After an unsuccessful attempt to escape from his native country and the prison sentence which follows it he gets employed by Pray, the progressive thinker, at a newly established computer centre. It is here that Laci learns to know Anna, the new-leftist university student, daughter of the general manager. Tóth, although he does not favour their relationship, does not oppose it either.
Outbreak

The flat of Doctor Bartha is wetting, the Communal Management Enterprise does not act, the doctor and his wife are at the edge of divorce. Géza would marry his colleague, Kató, but mum is sick, the apartment is small, no money. Uncle Károly is fed up with unsuitable, charlatan business managers. Vali would marry, in order not to live on Titi and Piri any more, but the selected man wants to have a woman with her own apartment. All of them have a chance by the lottery, especially by hitting twelve scores.
Tale on the 12 Points

Merry soldiers arrive in the sleepy Transdanubian town. The cynical woman-hunter, Ferdinándy, learns to know doctor Barlay's beautiful wife at a carnival. She lives a happy married life, and the attentions of the lieutenant are all in vain.
Military Band

A typist girl who is under the influence of nervous breakdown walks out to the street stark naked from the office she works in. A young physician goes by accidentally and tries to help her, spreading his coat over her nude body. From this moment his life changes completely.