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Sam Pillsbury

Sam Pillsbury

Directing

Biography

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sam Pillsbury is an American film director and producer. Connecticut-raised Sam Pillsbury emigrated to New Zealand at the age of 14. Aged 23, he began working at the Government-owned National Film Unit, joining a group of emerging filmmakers who were investigating new subjects and styles. Pillsbury directed seven films at the National Film Unit, including a multi-faceted study of artist Ralph Hotere, and a satirical look at workplace relations (Men and Supermen). He was also part of the directing team on Commonwealth Games chronicle Games 74, and worked both on set and at the editing bench for Paul Maunder's Gone Up North for a While. Pillsbury went solo in 1975. Documentary Birth with R.D.Laing won awards on both sides of the Tasman, and controversy in England and the United States. The film featured controversial Scottish psychiatrist R.D. Laing critiqueing Western medical handling of childbirth. Pillsbury also worked on four documentaries for TV slot Seven Days, which variously looked into life for a solo mother, an ex-convict, hospital patients, and young Māori in the city. More TV docos followed, then in 1978, Against the Lights, a short drama based on a Witi Ihimaera tale. Pillsbury's Round the Bays doco The Greatest Run on Earth won awards at festivals in Chicago and Torino. Pillsbury's feature film debut in 1981 was with The Scarecrow, based on the gothic novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson. Presented through the eyes of two teenage boys, the film chronicles the arrival in a 50s town of a mysterious stranger (played by American movie legend John Carradine). In 1982 The Scarecrow became the first Kiwi film to win invitation to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, in the non-competitive Director's Fortnight section. Teen star Jono Smith later reinvented himself as a cinematographer in England. Pillsbury then worked extensively on a screen adaptation of end of the world sci-fi novel The Quiet Earth, before handing the project to director Geoff Murphy after deciding it needed fresh eyes (he later joked at being one of the only directors who had fired himself). Instead Pillsbury helmed 1880s immigrant tale Heart of the High Country for TV (based on a novel by Elizabeth Gowans), then segued into period road movie Starlight Hotel, which starred Smash Palace discovery Greer Robson. Since Starlight Hotel, Pillsbury has directed extensively, mainly on American tele-movies. He returned to Kiwi moviemaking in 2000 for Crooked Earth, the tale of a clash between two Māori: a militant drug-dealer, and former military man Temuera Morrison. Pillsbury's other features include Free Willy 3: The Rescue, 2008 road movie Endless Bummer and Knight Rider 2010. These days Pillsbury has a second career as a winemaker. In 2000 he and a business partner sold Arizona wine company Dos Cabezas to a group headed by the lead singer for rock group Tool (band). Pillsbury Wine Company was launched soon afterwards. Description above from the Wikipedia article Sam Pillsbury, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Eerie, Indiana
7.6

Teenage weirdness investigator Marshall Teller adventures through his new small-town home with his friends, geeky Simon Holmes and mysterious Dash X.

Eerie, Indiana

1991
The Quiet Earth
6.6

After a top-secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world.

The Quiet Earth

1985
Zandalee
4.4

Bored with her marriage to burnt out poet turned corporate executive Thierry, Zandalee falls prey to an old friend of her husband, the manipulative and egotistical Johnny and becomes enmeshed in a sensual, passionate and destructive affair.

Zandalee

1991
Free Willy 3: The Rescue
6.1

Willy the whale is back, this time threatened by illegal whalers making money off sushi. Jesse, now 16, has taken a job on an orca-researching ship, along with old friend Randolph and a sarcastic scientist, Drew. On the whaler's ship is captain John Wesley and his son, Max, who isn't really pleased about his father's job, but doesn't have the gut to say so. Along the way, Willy reunites with Jesse.

Free Willy 3: The Rescue

1997
Where the Red Fern Grows
6.3

Set in the Ozark Mountains during the Great Depression, Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for 2 years to achieve his dream of buying two coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in God as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with "Old Dan" and "Little Ann."

Where the Red Fern Grows

2003
Fifteen and Pregnant
6.3

Based on a true story, 15 year old Tina Spangler discovers she is pregnant. Her choices are abortion, adoption, or a lonely, exhausting life as a single parent. Abandoned by her boyfriend, she turns to her mother. Tina discovers although it has torn her world apart, her pregnancy could re-unite her shattered family and help her find her true purpose in life.

Fifteen and Pregnant

1998
National Lampoon Presents: Endless Bummer
4.9

From National Lampoon, the masters of raunchy comedy, comes a summer tale of beers, babes, and bros! In the surf town of Ventura, California, JD's surf board is stolen by a surfer from Los Angeles...a crime that cannot go unpunished. Gathering his friends and the local surf hero, Mike Mooney, they take a road trip to LA to get the surfboard back, then return to Ventura for the wildest summer party ever!

National Lampoon Presents: Endless Bummer

2009
Shadows of Desire
2.6

A woman is torn between her love for a gentle man, and her secret passion for his dangerous brother.

Shadows of Desire

1994
Audrey's Rain
4.8

Audrey Walker has given up her hopes and dreams, until an ex-love returns to town and helps her realize a second chance at life.

Audrey's Rain

2003
The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay
5.9

A college girl decides to get to know her estranged father before she begins her education, but his life turns out to be nothing that she expected.

The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay

2003
Eyes of Terror
6.5

Dr. Jesse Newman is assigned to treating David, a grieving policeman who lost his partner in a shootout. It seems the case is solved, until a lucky coin belonging to David's partner triggers a revealing series of psychic visions for Dr. Newman. The visions not only implicate the killer, but also reveal the sordid habits of San Francisco's business and political elite.

Eyes of Terror

1994
Into the Badlands
5.6

A bounty hunter searches the west for a wanted outlaw named Red Roundtree.

Into the Badlands

1991
The Scarecrow
5.7

The same night as a girl is slain in the woods, the teenagers Sam and Les are robbed of all of their hard earned hens. In the quest for their hens they cross the murderer's path.

The Scarecrow

1982
Knight Rider 2010
4.7

Loosely based on the popular television series of the 80's, this movie brings the story into an apocalyptic time and a new "KITT".

Knight Rider 2010

1994
The Wedding Dress
5.6

When Hannah Pinkham's fiancé writes he's finally shipping home, her mother makes a fairy tale wedding dress, but while she's fitting it the knock on the door is not him, but the dreaded officer-messenger. Years later she sends it to her nephew, photographer Travis Cleveland, but his model-bride Cass only pretends to like it to get rid of his loyal assistant. After he walks off with it, his car gets stolen with the dress in it... And it keeps passing on from person to person, but will anybody actually get married in it or does it just keep bringing bad luck to couples?

The Wedding Dress

2001
The President's Child
9.0

James Guthrie is a candidate for the presidency of the United States. Eight years ago he fell in love with Elizabeth Hemming, nowadays a famous hostess/reporter. Guthrie doesn't know Jason, her kid, is his son. When his unscrupulous campaign-leader finds out about Jason, he goes all out to keep it a secret from the public

The President's Child

1992
Taking Back Our Town
4.0

A true story about a concerned housewife, Pat Melancon, who tries to block Shintech, a massive Japanese petrochemical conglomerate, from building a plant in her toxic township already known as "cancer alley". Pat and a few newly recruited, fledgling activitsts face the full force of Shintech's wealth and influence peddling, which has bought the cooperation of the government from the local level all the way up to the Governor's office.

Taking Back Our Town

2001
Thrill
5.3

A disgruntled worker rigs a bomb, triggered by a motion sensor, on the roller coaster at a financially troubled amusement park.

Thrill

1996
Secret of Giving
7.0

As Christmas approaches, a single mother struggles to raise her son and keep up the payments on her Oregon ranch, which is difficult since she's heavily in debt. But she's a tough cookie and proves that a steadfast attitude and an open heart go a long way in surviving the cold hearts and greed of the Scrooges around her.

Secret of Giving

1999
Crooked Earth
7.5

Will Bastion returns home from the army after an absence of 20 years to bury his father, the former chief of thee Maori tribe, Ngati Kaipuku. The eldest son, he is reluctant to inherit his fathers role, so it is taken more willingly by his younger brother, Kahu. Kahu is the leader of a band of drug dealers and trouble-makers who ride horses through the middle of town, wrecking peoples gardens. Under the guise of refusal of a land settlement, Kahu makes a large marijuana deal with some murdering city folk. Will must choose between loyalty for his brother and his father, Maori tradition, and contemporary financial issues.

Crooked Earth

2001