Sam Pillsbury

Sam Pillsbury

​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.

  • Title: Sam Pillsbury
  • Popularity: 0.2376
  • Known For: Directing
  • Birthday:
  • Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA
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Sam Pillsbury Movies

  • 1985
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    The Quiet Earth

    The Quiet Earth

    6.606 1985 HD

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

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  • 2003
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    Where the Red Fern Grows

    Where the Red Fern Grows

    5.9 2003 HD

    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."

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  • 2003
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    Where the Red Fern Grows

    Where the Red Fern Grows

    5.9 2003 HD

    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."

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  • 1991
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    Zandalee

    Zandalee

    4.3 1991 HD

    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.

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  • 2001
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    Crooked Earth

    Crooked Earth

    6.2 2001 HD

    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.

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  • 1998
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    Fifteen and Pregnant

    Fifteen and Pregnant

    6.264 1998 HD

    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.

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  • 1994
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    Knight Rider 2010

    Knight Rider 2010

    4.6 1994 HD

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

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  • 1997
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    Free Willy 3: The Rescue

    Free Willy 3: The Rescue

    6.115 1997 HD

    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.

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  • 2003
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    The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay

    The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay

    5.737 2003 HD

    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.

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  • 2001
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    Morgan's Ferry

    Morgan's Ferry

    5.9 2001 HD

    Three escaped convicts hide out in the home a reclusive woman as they wait to catch a ferry.

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  • 2001
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    The Wedding Dress

    The Wedding Dress

    5.333 2001 HD

    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?

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  • 1987
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    Starlight Hotel

    Starlight Hotel

    5.9 1987 HD

    During the Great Depression, Kate (Greer Robson) is a 13-year-old girl living on New Zealand's South Island. When her mother dies and her father is offered a job in Wellington on North Island, Kate is sent to live with an aunt. The girl runs away to find her father, hopping onto a boxcar and befriending a fellow fugitive, Patrick (Peter Phelps), an emotionally battle-scarred WWI veteran fleeing the authorities after injuring a repo man. Pretending to be father and daughter, Patrick and Kate use each other for cover as they make their way across New Zealand, sleeping under the stars and championing the rights of destitute farmers and homeless squatters whose fortunes have been wiped out by economic hardship.

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  • 1991
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    Into the Badlands

    Into the Badlands

    5.292 1991 HD

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

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  • 2004
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    Raising Waylon

    Raising Waylon

    6.6 2004 HD

    Café-owner Reg and photographer Julia become the unplanned guardians of their godson Waylon after his parents pass away.

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  • 1996
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    Thrill

    Thrill

    3 1996 HD

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

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  • 2003
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    Audrey's Rain

    Audrey's Rain

    3.3 2003 HD

    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.

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  • 2009
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    National Lampoon Presents: Endless Bummer

    National Lampoon Presents: Endless Bummer

    5.038 2009 HD

    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!

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  • 2009
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    National Lampoon Presents: Endless Bummer

    National Lampoon Presents: Endless Bummer

    5.038 2009 HD

    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!

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  • 1982
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    The Scarecrow

    The Scarecrow

    5.2 1982 HD

    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.

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  • 1996
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    Sins of Silence

    Sins of Silence

    7 1996 HD

    A former nun who has become a rape counselor defies a court order to release her file on a rape victim.

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  • 1999
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    Secret of Giving

    Secret of Giving

    7.1 1999 HD

    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.

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  • 2001
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    Taking Back Our Town

    Taking Back Our Town

    1 2001 HD

    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.

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  • 1974
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    Ralph Hotere

    Ralph Hotere

    1 1974 HD

    Directed by Sam Pillsbury, this 1974 film observes Ralph Hotere — one of New Zealand’s greatest artists — at a moment when excitement is gathering about his work. Lauded as a “classic” by Ian Wedde, the documentary is framed around the execution of a watershed piece: a large mural Hotere was commissioned to paint for Hamilton’s Founders Theatre. Interviews with friends and associates — poets Hone Tuwhare and Bill Manhire, art critics, officials and dealers — are intercut with fascinating shots of Hotere working (including making art by photocopying or 'xerography').

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  • 1974
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    Ralph Hotere

    Ralph Hotere

    1 1974 HD

    Directed by Sam Pillsbury, this 1974 film observes Ralph Hotere — one of New Zealand’s greatest artists — at a moment when excitement is gathering about his work. Lauded as a “classic” by Ian Wedde, the documentary is framed around the execution of a watershed piece: a large mural Hotere was commissioned to paint for Hamilton’s Founders Theatre. Interviews with friends and associates — poets Hone Tuwhare and Bill Manhire, art critics, officials and dealers — are intercut with fascinating shots of Hotere working (including making art by photocopying or 'xerography').

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  • 1994
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    Shadows of Desire

    Shadows of Desire

    1.5 1994 HD

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

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  • 1985
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    The Quiet Earth

    The Quiet Earth

    6.606 1985 HD

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

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  • 1994
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    Search for Grace

    Search for Grace

    6 1994 HD

    A woman haunted by disturbing flashbacks discovers through hypnotherapy that she and her boyfriend led parallel lives with a doomed couple from 1927.

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  • 1992
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    The President's Child

    The President's Child

    10 1992 HD

    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

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  • 1995
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    Between Love and Honor

    Between Love and Honor

    1 1995 HD

    Steve Collura is an undercover cop out to infiltrate Carlo Gambino's mob. He soon falls in love with Gambino's daughter Maria and must make a choice between his duties as a police officer, his love for Maria, and his allegiance to Carlo Gambino.

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  • 1994
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    Eyes of Terror

    Eyes of Terror

    4 1994 HD

    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.

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  • 1996
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    A Mother's Instinct

    A Mother's Instinct

    5 1996 HD

    Holly Mitchell a divorcee, remarries widower, Carl Gibbons, the father of two small boys. When she begins to question his past, he disappears with the boys. She then learns that the boys' mother is still alive, having been deserted five years ago. The two 'wives' join forces to find him and the boys.

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  • 1996
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    A Mother's Instinct

    A Mother's Instinct

    5 1996 HD

    Holly Mitchell a divorcee, remarries widower, Carl Gibbons, the father of two small boys. When she begins to question his past, he disappears with the boys. She then learns that the boys' mother is still alive, having been deserted five years ago. The two 'wives' join forces to find him and the boys.

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  • 1970
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    7.5 1970 HD

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

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