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{{short description|1998 film by Gary Ross}}
: ''This article is about the film Pleasantville. For other uses including town names, see [[Pleasantville (disambiguation)]].''
{{use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox Film
{{Infobox film
|name = Pleasantville
|image = Pleasantville.dvdcover.amazon.jpg
| name = Pleasantville
|caption = ''Pleasantville'' DVD cover
| image = Pleasantville ver5.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
|director = [[Gary Ross]]
| alt = The theatrical release poster shows people in black and white color looking at a color poster that is placed at the wall. The poster shows a teenage boy standing next to a teenage girl holding an umbrella behind a colorful scene of a town. The tagline reads "Nothing is as simple as Black and White".
|writer = [[Gary Ross]]
|music = [[Randy Newman]]
| director = [[Gary Ross]]
| producer = {{plainlist|
|cinematography = [[John W. Lindley|John Lindley]]
* Gary Ross
|editing = [[William Goldenberg]]
* [[Jon Kilik]]
|starring = [[Tobey Maguire]]<br>[[Reese Witherspoon]]<br>[[William H. Macy]]<br>[[Joan Allen]]<br>[[Jeff Daniels (actor)|Jeff Daniels]]<br>[[J. T. Walsh]]<br>[[Don Knotts]]<br>[[Jane Kaczmarek]] |
* [[Bob Degus|Robert J. Degus]]
|producer = [[Steven Soderbergh]],<br>[[Gary Ross]],<br>[[Jon Kilik]]<br>[[Bob Degus]]
* [[Steven Soderbergh]]
|distributor= [[New Line Cinema]]
}}
|budget = ~ US$40,000,000
| writer = Gary Ross
|released= [[17 September]] [[1998]]
| starring = {{plainlist|
|runtime = 124 minutes
* [[Tobey Maguire]]
|language = English
* [[Jeff Daniels]]
|amg_id = 1:158869
* [[Joan Allen]]
|imdb_id = 0120789
* [[William H. Macy]]
|}}
* [[J. T. Walsh]]
'''''Pleasantville''''' is a [[New Line Cinema]] film first released in [[Canada]] on [[September 17]], [[1998 in film|1998]] starring [[Tobey Maguire]], [[Reese Witherspoon]], [[William H. Macy]], [[Joan Allen]], and [[Jeff Daniels (actor)|Jeff Daniels]]. [[Don Knotts]], [[Jane Kaczmarek]] and [[J. T. Walsh]] are also featured. In the film two modern teenagers are mysteriously transported into the fictitious community of Pleasantville, the setting of a black and white 1950's television show. Through their actions the people of Pleasantville begin to experience strong emotion and consequently, events in town begin to deviate from the accepted norm.
* [[Don Knotts]]
* [[Reese Witherspoon]]
}}
| music = [[Randy Newman]]
| cinematography = [[John Lindley (cinematographer)|John Lindley]]
| editing = [[William Goldenberg]]
| studio = Larger Than Life Productions
| distributor = [[New Line Cinema]]
| released = {{Film date|1998|10|23}}
| runtime = 124 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget = $60 million<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=pleasantville.htm|title=Pleasantville (1998)|website=[[Box Office Mojo]]}}</ref>
| gross = $49.8 million
}}


'''''Pleasantville''''' is a 1998 American [[teen film|teen]] [[fantasy]] [[comedy-drama]] film written, co-produced, and directed by [[Gary Ross]] (in his directorial debut). It stars [[Tobey Maguire]], [[Jeff Daniels]], [[Joan Allen]], [[William H. Macy]], [[J. T. Walsh]], and [[Reese Witherspoon]], with [[Don Knotts]], [[Paul Walker]], [[Marley Shelton]], and [[Jane Kaczmarek]] in supporting roles. The story centers on two siblings who wind up trapped in a 1950s TV show, set in a small [[Midwest]] town, where residents are seemingly perfect.
The film was written, produced, and directed by [[Gary Ross]], who also performed those duties for the more recent film ''[[Seabiscuit (film)|Seabiscuit]]'' (2003), which also starred Maguire and Macy. This was [[J.T. Walsh]]'s last film, released after his death. The film was released in the United States on October 23, 1998.


The film was one of J. T. Walsh's final performances and was dedicated to his memory. It was also the final on-screen film appearance of Don Knotts, who would subsequently take on voice acting roles until his death.
== Synopsis ==


==Plot==
{{spoiler}}
In 1998, while their mother is away, high school-aged twin siblings David and Jennifer fight over the television, breaking the remote control. A mysterious TV repairman suddenly arrives and, impressed by David's knowledge and love of ''Pleasantville'', a black-and-white 1950s [[sitcom]] about the idyllic Parker family, gives him an unusual remote control before departing. When they use it, David and Jennifer are transported into the Parkers' house, in ''Pleasantville''<nowiki/>'s black-and-white world. George and Betty Parker believe them to be their children, Bud and Mary Sue. Communicating through the Parkers' television, David tries to reason with the repairman, who is offended that they want to come home, thinking they should be lucky to live in Pleasantville.


There, fire is impossible to start (firefighters merely rescue cats from trees), and everyone is unaware that anything exists outside of Pleasantville, as all roads circle back into it. David tells Jennifer they must play the show's characters and not disrupt Pleasantville, but she rebelliously goes on a date with Mary Sue's boyfriend, Skip Martin, the most popular boy in school. She has sex with Skip, who is shocked by the experience, which leads to the first bursts of color appearing in town.
Although David Wagner (Maguire) and his sister Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) are twins, they lead dramatically different [[high school]] social lives. Jennifer is concerned mainly with her appearance, relationships and popularity, while David has few friends and cannot even drum up the courage to talk to a girl on whom he has a [[crush]]. He spends most of his spare time on the couch, watching television. Jennifer, on the other hand, is very aggressive (as well as sexually promiscuous) and at the beginning of the film makes a date with Mark Davis, one of the most popular boys in school.
[[Image:Mysterious repair man.jpeg|thumb|left|200px|[[Don Knotts]] as the mysterious repair man]]
Mrs. Wagner (Jane Kaczmarek) leaves Jennifer and David alone at home while she heads on vacation with her boyfriend (who is later revealed to be nine years younger than she). The twins begin to fight over the use of the downstairs TV; Jennifer wants to watch an [[MTV]] concert with Mark, while David needs the couch in order to win a $1,000 grand prize for answering trivia questions about his favorite show, ''Pleasantville''.


Bill Johnson, owner of the [[soda shop|malt shop]] where Bud works, experiences an existential crisis after realizing the repetitive nature of his life. David tries to help him break out of his routine and notices an attraction between Bill and Betty.
''Pleasantville'' is a black and white '50s [[sitcom]] (based on ''[[Father Knows Best]]'' or ''[[Leave It To Beaver]]''), and David is an expert on every episode. During the fight between David and Jennifer, the remote control breaks and the TV cannot be turned on manually. A mysterious TV repairman (Don Knotts) shows up uninvited, and quizzes David on ''Pleasantville'' before giving him a strange-looking [[remote control]]. The repairman leaves, and David and Jennifer promptly resume fighting. However, they are somehow transported ''into'' the television, ending up in the Parkers' black and white ''Pleasantville'' living room. David tries to reason with the repairman (who communicates with him through the Parkers' TV set) but succeeds only in chasing him away. David and Jennifer must now pretend they are, respectively, Bud and Mary Sue Parker, two of the main characters in the show.


As Jennifer influences other teenagers, parts of Pleasantville become colorized, including some of the residents. Books in the library, previously blank, begin to fill with words after David and Jennifer summarize the plot to their classmates. When Jennifer gives a curious Betty an explanation about sex and tells her how to masturbate, Betty has an orgasm that results in her colorization and a fire in a tree outside.
Breakfast in the Parker house is served by [[housewife|stay-at-home]] mother Betty Parker (Joan Allen), and consists of generous servings of bacon, eggs, [[waffle]]s, [[pancake]]s, ham, ham steak, and other fatty foods. Jennifer, a '90s girl, is disgusted at the thought of eating so much. On the way to school, the pair watch as a group of firemen rescue a cat out of a tree, and Jennifer meets Skip ([[Paul Walker]]), the captain of the [[basketball]] team and her soon-to-be boyfriend. David tells her that they must stay “in character,” she must make small-talk with her three monochrome friends and not disrupt the lives of the Pleasantville citizens, who do not notice any physical differences between the old Bud and Mary Sue and David and Jennifer. In order to keep the plot in line, Mary Sue agrees to go on a date with Skip, although the two have very different ideas of what a date constitutes.
[[Image:Jennifers new boyfriend.jpg|thumb|left|175px|Jennifer with her new boyfriend Skip Martin]]
[[Image:David with whiteys girl.jpg|thumb|right|230px|David begins to deviate from the show's script by asking out Whitey's girl.]]
The date between Skip and Mary Sue turns out to be the first catalyst for change in the town, Skip having no knowledge of [[sexual activity|sex]] until Mary Sue introduces him to it. The plot is further thrown out of sequence when Bud’s boss Mr. Johnson ([[Jeff Daniels]]), who runs the [[soda fountain]], becomes dissatisfied with his boring, mundane life. Bud initially attempts to convince him to carry on, saying that even if Mr. Johnson does not like his job, he should still do it anyway, but David soon realizes his error and gives Mr. Johnson an art book, encouraging his true passion.


Other foreign concepts, such as rain, begin to appear. David shows Bill a book of modern art, which inspires him to begin painting and to pursue a romance with Betty. Jennifer loses interest in sex and partying and becomes colorized after finding passion in literature. David pursues a romance with Margaret but is confused and disappointed to find he is still black and white.
Meanwhile, Skip tells the other boys about sex, and soon the teenagers begin to experiment, leading to a sort of [[sexual revolution]]. Betty is curious (leading to a reversal of the sex talk between her and Mary Sue/Jennifer) and, knowing that her husband George (William H. Macy) would never do any of the things Mary Sue describes, engages in [[masturbation]]. This causes a nearby tree to spontaneously combust!


Betty leaves George to be with Bill, bewildering him. The town leaders, including the mayor, Big Bob, and others who remain black and white are suspicious of all of these changes and begin to discriminate against the "colored" people, considering them a threat to Pleasantville's values.
Bud, realizing the firemen have no other duties other than to fetch cats out of trees, teaches them how to put out fires and is awarded a medal. He also gets attention from a beautiful cheerleader named Margaret ([[Marley Shelton]]), who bakes him [[oatmeal cookie]]s, the same cookies she was supposed to bake for a boy named Whitey ([[David Tom]]). Bud’s act of heroism has inadvertently changed the storyline, but he seizes the moment and asks Margaret out for a date. When the TV repairman returns and confronts him, Bud turns off the TV, relinquishing his ability to go home in the process.


A riot is ignited by Bill's nude painting of Betty on the window of his malt shop. The shop is destroyed, [[book burning|books are burned]] and colored people are harassed in the street. David defends Betty from a gang of teenage boys. Punching one of them, David scares the rest away, demonstrating newfound courage that turns him colored.
[[Image:Pleasantville coverup.jpg|thumb|right|230px|David helps cover up Betty's new found color.]]
People in Pleasantville begin to explore hidden abilities and revel in their new freedoms. Mr. Johnson begins to paint, while Betty finds that housework no longer interests her. The basketball team loses their first game, while students begin visiting the public library and reading books recommended by Mary Sue and Bud. Ironically, Mary Sue/Jennifer, who has never shown any interest in school, finds she likes reading so much that she rejects Skip in favor of a book by [[D. H. Lawrence]] and gains color.


The town council establishes a code of conduct that, among other things, bans colored citizens from public venues, closes Lover's Lane, and outlaws reading, rock music and using colorful paint. In protest, David and Bill paint a colorful mural outside the soda fountain depicting the beauty of love, sex, rain, music and literature. They are arrested and brought to trial in front of the entire town. David confronts George about losing Betty, persuading him to tearfully admit he does not just miss the cooking and the cleaning. George becomes colorized along with the rest of the town, except for Big Bob, who refuses to change his ways. After David drives him into a rage by suggesting that one day women may end up going to work while men stay home to cook and clean, Big Bob finally turns colorful before fleeing in shame.
Pleasantville is changing, [[double bed]]s become available in stores!


The town celebrates their victory, and color televisions start being sold. They broadcast new programs and footage of other countries. The town's roads also start leading to other cities. With Pleasantville changed, Jennifer chooses to continue her new life in the TV world. Bidding farewell to her, Margaret and Betty, David uses the remote control to return to the real world, where only an hour has passed since his disappearance. He comforts his mother, who had left to meet a man only to get cold feet, and assures her that nothing has to be perfect. In Pleasantville, citizens enjoy their lives, and Jennifer attends college.
Slowly, certain objects begin turning [[Multicolor]], including flowers and the faces of people who have experienced bursts of passion or change. The only people who remain unchanged are the [[town fathers]], led by Mayor Big Bob (J.T. Walsh) who sees the changes as eating away at the moral values of Pleasantville. They resolve to do something about their increasingly distant wives and the rebellious teenagers. A town meeting is called. Betty leaves George and the kids - she is in love with Mr. Johnson and cannot hide her 'colored' face anymore.


==Cast==
Rioting begins in Pleasantville, touched off by a nude painting of Betty on the window of Mr. Johnson’s soda fountain. The soda fountain is destroyed, piles of [[book burning|books are burned]], and anyone who is “[[color]]ed” is harassed in the streets. Bud earns his color (Mary Sue having already gotten hers after spending all night reading) by defending Betty from a gang of toughs.
{{castlist|
* [[Tobey Maguire]] as David / Bud Parker
** Kevin Connors as the real Bud Parker
* [[Reese Witherspoon]] as Jennifer / Mary Sue Parker
** [[Natalie Ramsey]] as the real Mary Sue Parker
* [[Jeff Daniels]] as Bill Johnson, owner of the malt shop, David/Bud's boss
* [[Joan Allen]] as Betty Parker, Bud and Mary Sue's mother
* [[William H. Macy]] as George Parker, Bud and Mary Sue's father
* [[J. T. Walsh]] as Bob "Big Bob", mayor of Pleasantville
* [[Paul Walker]] as Skip Martin, captain of Pleasantville High's basketball team, Jennifer/Mary Sue's boyfriend
* [[Marley Shelton]] as Margaret Henderson, a pretty and popular Pleasantville High cheerleader, David/Bud's girlfriend
* [[Giuseppe Andrews]] as Howard, David's best friend in the real world
* [[Jenny Lewis]] as Christin, one of Jennifer's friends in the real world
* [[Marissa Ribisi]] as Kimmy, one of Jennifer's friends in the real world
* [[Jane Kaczmarek]] as David and Jennifer's mother
* [[Don Knotts]] as TV Repairman
* [[Denise Dowse]] as Health Teacher
* [[David Tom]] as "Whitey"
* [[Maggie Lawson]] as Lisa Anne, one of Mary Sue's best friends
* [[Andrea Baker|Andrea Taylor]] as Peggy Jane, one of Mary Sue's best friends
}}


==Production==
He transforms from a wimpy loser to a strong leader who advocates resistance to the new “Pleasantville Code of Conduct”, a list of rules preventing people from visiting the library, playing loud music, or using paint colors other than black, white or gray.
This was the first time that a new feature film was created by scanning and [[Digital intermediate|digitizing]] recorded film footage for the purpose of removing or manipulating colors. The black-and-white-meets-color world portrayed in the movie was filmed entirely in color; in all, approximately 163,000 frames of 35&nbsp;mm footage were scanned, in order to selectively desaturate and adjust contrast digitally. The scanning was done in Los Angeles by [[Cinesite]], utilizing a [[Spirit DataCine]] for scanning at [[2K resolution]]<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fisher |first=Bob |date=November 1998 |title=Black & white in color |journal=American Cinematographer |url=https://theasc.com/articles/pleasantville-black-and-white-in-color |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419081453/http://www.theasc.com/protect/nov98/pleasantville/index.htm |archive-date=2015-04-19 |page=1 |url-status=live |quote=Watts suggested using the Philips Spirit DataCine at Cinesite Digital Imaging in Los Angeles for converting the film to data.}} ([https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ac/ac199811/index.php#/p/62 full article link])</ref> and a MegaDef Colour Correction System from [[Pandora International]]. Principal photography took place from March 1 to July 2, 1997.
[[Image:Pleasant ending.jpg|thumb|left|230px|Betty and George sitting in the park.]]
In [[protest]] against the mundane Pleasantville outlook, Bud and Mr. Johnson paint a colorful [[mural]] depicting the [[book burning]] and other changes in their society. For this they are thrown in jail. They are subsequently brought to trial in front of the entire town. Mr. Johnson is repentant but Bud speaks out, finally arousing enough anger and indignation in Big Bob to turn him colored too!


The death of camera operator Brent Hershman, who fell asleep driving home after a 19-hour workday on the set of the film, resulted in a wrongful death suit, claiming that New Line Cinema, New Line Productions and Juno Pix Inc. were responsible for the death as a result of the lengthy work hours imposed on the set.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.vulture.com/2012/05/how-long-are-the-days-on-a-movie-set-polone.html | title=Polone: The Unglamorous, Punishing Hours of Working on a Hollywood Set | work=Vulture | date=May 23, 2012 | access-date=August 6, 2013 |last1=Polone |first1=Gavin |author-link1=Gavin Polone}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-dec-21-me-995-story.html | title=Death After Long Workday Spurs Suit | work=Los Angeles Times | date=December 21, 1997 | access-date=August 6, 2013 |last1=O'Neill |first1=Ann W.}}</ref> In response to Hershman's death, crew members launched a petition for 'Brent’s Rule', which would limit workdays to a maximum of 14 hours; the petition was ultimately unsuccessful.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Puig |first=Claudia |date=March 22, 1997 |title=Crew Rallies for Shorter Days Following Colleague's Death |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-22-ca-40761-story.html |access-date=October 20, 2021 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Busch |first=Anita |date=February 1, 2018 |title=Hollywood's Grueling Hours & Drowsy-Driving Problem: Crew Members Speak Out Despite Threat To Careers |url=https://deadline.com/2018/02/hollywood-safety-drowsy-driving-long-work-hours-crew-1202275319/ |access-date=October 20, 2021 |website=[[Deadline Hollywood|Deadline.com]] |language=en-US}}</ref>
George earns his color when, in the courtroom, he cries for the loss of his wife. With this, the entire town becomes emotional, therefore colored, and the people of Pleasantville are finally introduced to the rest of the world.


The film is dedicated to Hershman, as well as to director Ross's mother, Gail, and actor J. T. Walsh, who also died before the film's release.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bergeron |first1=Michael |title=Gary Ross Interview |url=http://www.freepresshouston.com/gary-ross-interview/ |access-date=April 24, 2015 |work=Free Press Houston |date=April 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503211935/http://www.freepresshouston.com/gary-ross-interview/ |archive-date=May 3, 2016}}</ref>
Jennifer chooses to stay in this alternate world, planning to go to college as Mary Sue Parker. David returns using the remote control and finds his mother crying in the kitchen, distraught over her boring life. She had thought it would be so different.
David says, “It's not ''supposed'' to be anything,” implying that life is what you make it and she could change things if she really wants to.


Shortly before and during the film's release, an online contest was held to visit the real [[Pleasantville, Iowa]].<ref>{{cite web |title=20 fact you might not know about 'Pleasantville' |url=https://www.yardbarker.com/entertainment/articles/20_fact_you_might_not_know_about_pleasantville/s1__37714351 |website=Yardbarker |access-date=5 September 2023 |date=2022-11-11}}</ref> Over 30,000 people entered. The winner, who remained anonymous, declined the trip and opted to receive the $10,000 cash prize instead.
The movie ends with a shot of Betty and George, reunited; however, when Betty turns to look at her husband, it is Mr. Johnson who appears in his place.


==Themes==
{{endspoiler}}
Director Gary Ross stated, "This movie is about the fact that personal repression gives rise to larger political oppression...That when we're afraid of certain things in ourselves or we're afraid of change, we project those fears on to other things, and a lot of very ugly social situations can develop."<ref>{{cite news |last=Johnson-Ott |first=Edward |date=1998 |title=Pleasantville (1998) |work=NUVO Newsweekly |url=https://www.imdb.com/reviews/149/14904.html |access-date=April 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717023408/https://www.imdb.com/reviews/149/14904.html |archive-date=July 17, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>


Robert Beuka says in his book ''SuburbiaNation'', "''Pleasantville'' is a morality tale concerning the values of contemporary suburban America by holding that social landscape up against both the Utopian and the dystopian visions of suburbia that emerged in the 1950s."<ref>{{cite book |last=Beuka |first=Robert |date=2004 |title=SuburbiaNation: Reading Suburban Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Fiction and Film |edition=1st |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York |isbn=9781403963673 |pages=14–15}}</ref>
==Cast==
*[[Tobey Maguire]] as '''David'''. David is the protagonist of the film who feels out of place in the 1990s at the beginning of the film and is more at home in the dream world of Pleasantville. After being transported into the world which he idolizes, David begins to realize that the perceived happiness in Pleasantville is not nearly as fulfilling as he hoped it would be. He eventually sees Pleasantville not as the [[utopia]] he once imagined but as a [[dystopia]] as the freedom of choice and expression is severely limited. His transformation happens as he evolves from dreamy outcast to leader of the changes that take place in Pleasantville.


Robert McDaniel of ''[[Film & History]]'' described the town as the perfect place, "It never rains, the highs and lows rest at 72 degrees, the fire department exists only to rescue treed cats, and the basketball team never misses the hoop." However, McDaniel says, "Pleasantville is a false hope. David's journey tells him only that there is no 'right' life, no model for how things are 'supposed to be'."<ref>{{cite journal |last=McDaniel |first=Robb |date=2002 |title=Pleasantville (Ross 1998) |journal=[[Film & History]] |volume=32 |number=1 |pages=85–86 |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/film_and_history/v032/32.1.mcdaniel.pdf}} (link requires Project MUSS access)</ref>
*[[Reese Witherspoon]] as '''Jennifer'''. Jennifer, David's twin sister, is in many ways the opposite of her brother. She is initially dismayed upon being transported to Pleasantville with her brother, but her own personality asserts itself, and she sparks the initial changes in the town. As the story continues, she begins to understand the limitations she has placed on herself in her own life. Her reading of a D. H. Lawrence novel signified her effort to change herself, and thus, she affected her own transformation. By the end of the film she decides to stay (for a while) in a place where she has changed and attend college.


Warren Epstein of ''[[The Gazette (Colorado Springs)|The Gazette]]'' wrote, "This use of color as a metaphor in black-and-white films certainly has a rich tradition, from the over-the-rainbow land in ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' to the girl in the red dress who made the Holocaust real for [[Oskar Schindler]] in ''[[Schindler's List]]''. In ''Pleasantville'', color represents the transformation from repression to enlightenment. People—and their surroundings—change from black-and-white to color when they connect with the essence of who they really are."<ref>{{cite news |last=Epstein |first=Warren |title=True Colors - A Small Town Blossoms when '50s and '90s collide in ''Pleasantville'' |work=[[The Gazette (Colorado Springs)]]}}</ref>
*[[William H. Macy]] as '''George Parker'''. George is the stereotypical 1950's working father with cues directly from shows such as ''[[Leave it to Beaver]]'' and ''[[Father Knows Best]]''. He is very change averse and when the town begins to change he does not know how to cope. He remains black and white through nearly the entire film until David tells him how much he really loves his wife.


== Reception ==
*[[Joan Allen]] as '''Betty Parker'''. Betty starts as the typical 1950's stay at home mother but evolves in emotions much more quickly than her husband. This causes conflict starting with her change from black and white to color after Jennifer recommends [[masturbation]]. She initially tries to cover up this ''affliction'' but then decides she shouldn't be ashamed. Her love triangle with Bill Johnson also becomes an issue showing that [[taboo]] things did occur even in 1950s culture.


===Box office===
*[[Jeff Daniels]] as '''Bill Johnson'''. Bill starts the film completely unable to do anything that is not specifically defined in his repetitive list of tasks. This changes however when David inadvertently teaches him a small level of autonomy. This autonomy progress and Bill begins acting out his desire to be creative and paint. Bill evolves into the central revolutionary in the film going so far as to paint a naked mural on one of his windows. After the town turns fully Technicolor it is revealed in the last shot that George is replaced by him sitting on the bench next to Betty.
''Pleasantville'' earned $8.9 million during its opening weekend. It would ultimately earn a total of $40.8 million against a $60 million budget making it a box office flop, despite the critical success.<ref>{{cite magazine | last=Wolk | first=Josh | title="Pleasantville" tops the box office, but it's the only new wide release that scored | magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] | url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,83833,00.html | date=October 26, 1998 | access-date=January 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927133207/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,83833,00.html |archive-date=2011-09-27}}</ref>


===Critical reception===
*[[Don Knotts]] as the '''TV Repairman'''. Don Knotts plays a small but memorable role as the TV repairman granting David his wish of being part of Pleasantville. While shown to hate the change happening to his town, the repairman is shown with a smile on his face after David turns from aloofness to compassion for his mother.
''Pleasantville'' received positive reviews from critics. [[Review aggregator]] [[Rotten Tomatoes]] gave the film an 86% rating from 97 reviews, an average rating of 7.7/10, with the critical consensus: "Filled with lighthearted humor, timely social commentary, and dazzling visuals, ''Pleasantville'' is an artful blend of subversive satire and well-executed Hollywood formula."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pleasantville/|title=Pleasantville (1998)|work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Flixster]]|access-date=September 23, 2022}}</ref> [[Metacritic]] assigned a score of 71 based on 32 reviews.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/pleasantville|title=Pleasantville Reviews|publisher=[[Metacritic]]|access-date=6 December 2016}}</ref> Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.cinemascore.com/ |access-date=2024-05-22 |website=CinemaScore |language=en-US}}</ref>


[[Roger Ebert]] gave the film four out of four, calling it "one of the best and most original films of the year".<ref>{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=October 1, 1998 |title=Pleasantville (PG-13) |work=Chicago Sun-Times |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/pleasantville-1998 |access-date=March 12, 2013}}</ref> [[Janet Maslin]] wrote that its "ingenious fantasy" has "seriously belabored its once-gentle metaphor and light comic spirit".<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--none given, note not Janet Maslin--> |date=March 19, 1999 |title=New Video Releases |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/19/movies/new-video-releases-816388.html |access-date=April 8, 2015}}</ref> Peter M. Nichols, judging the film for its child-viewing worthiness, jokingly wrote in ''[[The New York Times]]'' that the town of Pleasantville "makes ''[[Father Knows Best]]'' look like ''[[Dallas (1978 TV series)|Dallas]]''".<ref>{{cite news |last=Nichols |first=Peter M. |date=November 6, 1998 |title=Taking the Children; Bobby-Soxers and Dinos Brought Back to Life |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/06/movies/taking-the-children-bobby-soxers-and-dinos-brought-back-to-life.html |access-date=April 8, 2015}}</ref> Joe Leydon of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' called it "a provocative, complex and surprisingly anti-nostalgic parable wrapped in the beguiling guise of a commercial high-concept comedy". He commented that some storytelling problems emerge late in the film, but wrote that "Ross is to be commended for refusing to take the easy way out".<ref>{{cite web |last=Leydon |first=Joe |title=Review: 'Pleasantville' |work=Variety |date=17 September 1998 |url=https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/pleasantville-1200455143/ |access-date=2 June 2013}}</ref>
*[[Jane Kaczmarek]] as '''David's Mom'''. David's Mom plays the [[foil (literature)|foil]] to Betty by never cooking or cleaning, and shattering an hour of curse-less dialogue with "fuck" at the end of the film. David parallels his treatment of Betty by wiping the make-up off her face and consoling her, showing a complete change since the film's start.


''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' wrote a mixed review: "''Pleasantville'' is ultramodern and beautiful. But technical elegance and fine performances mask the shallowness of a story as simpleminded as the '50s TV to which it condescends; certainly it's got none of the depth, poignance, and brilliance of ''[[The Truman Show]]'', the recent TV-is-stifling drama that immediately comes to mind."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Pleasantville (1998) |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |date=October 23, 1998 |url=https://ew.com/article/1998/10/23/pleasantville/ |access-date=March 12, 2013}}</ref> Dave Rettig of ''Christian Answers'' said: "On a surface level, the message of the film appears to be 'morality is black and white and pleasant, but sin is color and better,' because often through the film the Pleasantvillians become color after sin ([[adultery]], premarital sex, physical assault, etc...). In one scene in particular, a young woman shows a brightly colored apple to young (and not yet colored) David, encouraging him to take and eat it. Very reminiscent of the [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]]'s account of the [[fall of man]]."<ref>{{cite web |title=Pleasantville (1998) |last=Rettig |first=Dave |work=Christian Answers |url=http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/pre2000/i-pleasantville.html |access-date=December 11, 2015}}</ref>
*[[J.T. Walsh]] as '''Big Bob'''. Big Bob plays the town's mayor with slight [[Nazi]] undertones. He is the most reactionary in the town and decides that colors are indecent. Many subtle references to ''[[Triumph of the Will]]'' are made in the closing court scene with Big Bob playing the lead. Even he turns to color as he expresses fierce anger towards David. Upon seeing his new face he flees the court room in shame leaving the town to its own devices, ultimately freeing it. This was actor J.T. Walsh's final film as he died of a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] shortly after filming.


''[[Time Out New York]]'' reviewer [[Andrew Johnston (critic)|Andrew Johnston]] observed, "''Pleasantville'' doesn't have the consistent internal logic that great fantasies require, and Ross just can't resist spelling everything out for the dim bulbs in the audience. That's a real drag, because the film's fundamental premise—crossing America's nostalgia fixation with [[Luigi Pirandello|Pirandello]] and the [[Land of Oz|Oz]]/[[Narnia (world)|Narnia]]/[[Wonderland (fictional country)|Wonderland]] archetype—is so damn cool, the film really should have been a masterpiece."<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Johnston|first=Andrew|date=October 22, 1998|title=Pleasantville|magazine=Time Out New York|pages=97}}</ref>
==Themes==
''Pleasantville'' contains several themes including historical references, political contexts, and perceived reality vs. false reality. The use of color in the film is of prime importance, as it represents the series of changes occurring the town visually. The literally monochrome world of Pleasantville blossoms into a rainbow of colors. Color is introduced slowly and often subtly: at first it may only touch a single flower, or the tongue of a girl. Color changes are always brought on by the events of the film, particularly [[epiphany (feeling)|epiphanies]] experienced by the characters.


[[Jesse Walker]], writing a retrospective in the January 2010 issue of ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'', argued that the film was misunderstood as a tale of kids from the 1990s bringing life into the conformist world of the 1950s. Walker points out that the supposedly outside influences changing the town of Pleasantville—the [[civil rights movement]], [[J. D. Salinger]], [[modern art]], [[premarital sex]], [[cool jazz]] and [[rockabilly]]—were all present in the 1950s. ''Pleasantville'' "contrasts the faux '50s of our TV-fueled nostalgia with the social ferment that was actually taking place while those sanitized shows first aired".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://reason.com/archives/2009/12/16/beyond-pleasantville |title=Beyond Pleasantville: Permissiveness wasn't born in the '60s |first=Jesse |last=Walker |date=January 2010 |work=[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]] |access-date=4 June 2018 }}</ref>
===Historical references===
The change in color is the primary [[Special effect|visual effect]] used to accent the changes to the people and the world they inhabit, changes which conflict with the values and emphasis on continuity and [[Conformity (psychology)|conformity]] that many consider to be the hallmark of [[1950s]] America. Much of the film's [[satire|satirical]] tone is captured in the "Code of Public Conduct" which the Pleasantville citizens establish, trying to protect themselves from upsetting changes. One rule forbids music other than "[[Johnny Mathis]], [[Perry Como]], [[Jack Jones (singer)|Jack Jones]], the marches of [[John Philip Sousa]], [and] the '[[Star Spangled Banner]]'". Another rule echoes the [[Scopes Trial]] by requiring all schools to teach the "non-changist" view of history. On the [[DVD]]'s director commentary, Ross notes that the film had been called "amoral, but moralistic", a contradiction in which he reveled.


Filmmaker [[Jon M. Chu]] cited the film, alongside ''[[The Truman Show]]'' (also released in 1998), as an influence on how the [[Land of Oz]] is thematically portrayed in the [[Wicked (2024 film)|two-part film adaptation]] of the musical ''[[Wicked (musical)|Wicked]]'' (2024-2025), saying "It helps create this idea of the rebelliousness that this new younger generation are discovering ... How far will that take everybody in Oz throughout the course of the whole story of both movies? It's an awakening of a generation. You start to see the truth about things that maybe you were taught differently."<ref>https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/wicked-how-oz-epic-channels-the-truman-show-pleasantville</ref>
''Pleasantville'' also contains color-divided scenes (in the [[racist]] sense of the word 'color', referring to non-whites) that allude to the [[1962]] novel-based film ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird (film)|To Kill a Mockingbird]]'', which examines the conformist [[race|racial]] divisions in a small [[Alabama]] town in the 1930s. In particular, the Pleasantville courtroom scene in which colored people are forced into the top courtroom balcony while the non-colored are permitted seating on the main floor echoes a nearly identical [[Jim Crow laws|Jim Crow]] scene filmed in ''To Kill a Mockingbird''. The colors added in slowly could also be an allusion to [[The Giver]], a book that is also about a perfect utopia in black and white. Also alluded to is the temporary end of the [[Renaissance]] in [[Florence]] Italy near the end of the 15th Century where Mr. Johnson, the lead soda jerk turned [[Avant-garde]] artist, finds himself at odds with the powers that be. Convinced that he, and anyone espousing views similar to his, will bring about the downfall of proper social behavior, the majority rally around Big Bob, the town's mayor, to banish and destroy any non-conformist symbols in a giant ''[[Bonfire of the Vanities]]''. Mirroring the famous Renaissance artist [[Sandro Botticelli]], Mr. Johnson is willing to abandon his artistic standards in order to conform to the public's viewpoint. Although the [[reactionary]] elements triumph, it's only temporary as change and progress is inevitable. It isn't long before most citizens embrace the new culture.


===Accolades===
When the townspeople were throwing the books into the fire, it is similar to the infamous "Burning of the books" in Nazi Germany in the 1930s (e.g. burning of "undesirable" books). Also the smashing of Mr Johnson's soda shop by an angry mob echoes the events of [[Kristallnacht]]. Later in the film, fire fighters are shown shoveling ashes, most likely of the burned books, an allusion to ''[[Fahrenheit 451]]''.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Recipient(s)
! Result
|-
| rowspan="3"| [[71st Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]<ref name="Oscars1999">{{cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/71st-winners.html |title=The 71st Academy Awards (1999) Nominees and Winners |access-date=19 November 2011 |work=Oscars.org}}</ref>
| [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction]]
| [[Jeannine Oppewall]] and [[Jay Hart (set decorator)|Jay Hart]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design]]
| [[Judianna Makovsky]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Dramatic Score]]
| [[Randy Newman]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[American Comedy Awards#1999 awards|American Comedy Awards]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pleasantville {{!}} Le Cinema Paradiso Blu-Ray reviews and DVD reviews |url=http://lecinemaparadiso.co.uk/review/pleasantville |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=lecinemaparadiso.co.uk}}</ref>
| Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
| [[William H. Macy]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[ADG Excellence in Production Design Award|Art Directors Guild Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adg.org/?art=1998_award|title=3rd Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards|access-date=18 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927143525/http://www.adg.org/?art=1998_award|archive-date=27 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| [[Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Feature Film|Excellence in Production Design for a Feature Film]]
| Jeannine Oppewall
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Casting Society of America#Artios Awards|Artios Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.castingsociety.com/awards/artios/1999 |title=Nominees/Winners |publisher=[[Casting Society of America]] |accessdate= July 10, 2019}}</ref>
| [[Artios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Big Budget Feature (Drama)|Best Casting for Feature Film – Drama]]
| Ellen Lewis and [[Debra Zane]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="7"| Awards Circuit Community Awards
| Best Actress in a Supporting Role
| [[Joan Allen]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Art Direction
| Jeannine Oppewall and Jay Hart
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Cinematography
| [[John Lindley (cinematographer)|John Lindley]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Costume Design
| Judianna Makovsky
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Original Score
| Randy Newman
| {{nom}}
|-
| colspan="2"| Best Visual Effects
| {{nom}}
|-
| colspan="2"| Best Cast Ensemble
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| [[Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 1998|Boston Society of Film Critics Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bostonfilmcritics.org/past-winners-1990s/ |title=BSFC Winners: 1990s |website=[[Boston Society of Film Critics]] |date=27 July 2018 |access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref>
| [[Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]
| William H. Macy {{small|(also for ''[[A Civil Action (film)|A Civil Action]]'' and ''[[Psycho (1998 film)|Psycho]]'')}}
| {{won}}{{efn|Tied with [[Billy Bob Thornton]] for ''[[A Simple Plan (film)|A Simple Plan]]''.}}
|-
| [[Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| Joan Allen
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
| John Lindley
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 1998|Chicago Film Critics Association Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://chicagofilmcritics.org/awards-blog/archives |title=1988-2013 Award Winner Archives |website=[[Chicago Film Critics Association]] |date=January 2013 |access-date=August 24, 2021}}</ref>
| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| rowspan="2"| Joan Allen
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film|Chlotrudis Awards]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-01 |title=1999, 5th Annual Awards |url=https://chlotrudis.org/awards/past-awards/1999-5th-annual-awards/ |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film |language=en-US}}</ref>
| Best Supporting Actress
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Cinematography
| John Lindley
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Costume Designers Guild|Costume Designers Guild Awards]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=1st CDGA Details |url=https://www.costumedesignersguild.com/awards-archives/1st-cdga-1999/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207090256/https://www.costumedesignersguild.com/awards-archives/1st-cdga-1999/ |archive-date=2021-12-07 |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=Costume Designers Guild}}</ref>
| [[Costume Designers Guild Award for Excellence in Contemporary Film|Excellence in Costume Design for Film]]
| Judianna Makovsky
| {{won}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[4th Critics' Choice Awards|Critics' Choice Movie Awards]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bfca.org/ccawards/1998.php |title=The BFCA Critics' Choice Awards :: 1998 |publisher=[[Critics Choice Association|Broadcast Film Critics Association]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081212034409/http://www.bfca.org/ccawards/1998.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 12, 2008}}</ref>
| colspan="2"| [[Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| rowspan="2"| Joan Allen
| {{won}}{{efn|Tied with [[Kathy Bates]] for ''[[Primary Colors (film)|Primary Colors]]''.}}
|-
| [[Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 1998|Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards]]
| [[Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Hugo Award]]s
| [[Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation|Best Dramatic Presentation]]
| [[Gary Ross]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[International Film Music Critics Association|International Film Music Critics Association Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://filmmusiccritics.org/awards-archive/1998-fmcj-awards/ |title=1998 FMCJ Awards |website=[[International Film Music Critics Association|IFMCA]] |date= 1999 |accessdate= May 1, 2020}}</ref>
| [[International Film Music Critics Association Award for Best Original Score for a Drama Film|Best Original Score for a Drama Film]]
| Randy Newman
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[1998 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards|Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lafca.net/Years/1998.php |title=The 24th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards |website=[[Los Angeles Film Critics Association]] |access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref>
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| Joan Allen
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Production Design|Best Production Design]]
| Jeannine Oppewall
| {{won}}
|-
| rowspan="9"| Online Film & Television Association Awards<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oftaawards.com/film-awards/3rd-annual-film-awards-1998/ |title=3rd Annual Film Awards (1998) |website=Online Film & Television Association |access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref>
| Best Comedy/Musical Picture
| [[Jon Kilik]], Gary Ross and [[Steven Soderbergh]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Comedy/Musical Actress
| rowspan="2"| Joan Allen
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Supporting Actress
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best First Feature
| Gary Ross
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Cinematography
| John Lindley
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Comedy/Musical Score
| Randy Newman
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Adapted Song
| "[[Across the Universe]]" <br> Music and Lyrics by [[John Lennon]] and [[Paul McCartney]] <br> Performed by [[Fiona Apple]]
| {{won}}
|-
| colspan="2"| Best Makeup
| {{nom}}
|-
| colspan="2"| Best Visual Effects
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="4"| [[Online Film Critics Society Awards 1998|Online Film Critics Society Awards]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ofcs.org/awards/1998-awards-2nd-annual/ |title=1998 Awards (2nd Annual) |website=[[Online Film Critics Society]] |date=3 January 2012 |access-date=November 21, 2021}}</ref>
| [[Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| Joan Allen
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
| John Lindley
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Editing|Best Editing]]
| [[William Goldenberg]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]]
| Randy Newman
| {{won}}
|-
| [[10th Golden Laurel Awards|Producers Guild of America Awards]]<ref>{{cite news|last1=Madigan|first1=Nick|title=Producers tap 'Ryan'; Kelly, Hanks TV winners|url=https://variety.com/1999/film/news/pvt-1st-class-1117491899/|access-date=September 22, 2017|work=Variety|date=March 3, 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923124450/http://variety.com/1999/film/news/pvt-1st-class-1117491899/|archive-date=September 23, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
| Most Promising Producer in Theatrical Motion Pictures
| Gary Ross
| {{won}}
|-
| rowspan="10"| [[3rd Golden Satellite Awards|Satellite Awards]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pressacademy.com/satawards/awards1999.shtml |title=International Press Academy website – 1999 3rd Annual SATELLITE Awards|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201175700/http://www.pressacademy.com/satawards/awards1999.shtml|archive-date=1 February 2008}}</ref>
| colspan="2"| [[Satellite Award for Best Film|Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture|Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy]]
| [[Jeff Daniels]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture|Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy]]
| Joan Allen
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Satellite Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| rowspan="2"| Gary Ross
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Satellite Award for Best Art Direction and Production Design|Best Art Direction]]
| Jeannine Oppewall and Jay Hart
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Satellite Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
| John Lindley
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Satellite Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design]]
| Judianna Makovsky
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Satellite Award for Best Editing|Best Editing]]
| William Goldenberg
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Satellite Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]]
| Randy Newman
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="5"| [[25th Saturn Awards|Saturn Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saturnawards.org/past.html |title=Past Saturn Awards |work=[[Saturn Awards]].org |access-date=May 7, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080914184217/http://www.saturnawards.org/past.html |archive-date=September 14, 2008 |df=mdy }}</ref>
| colspan="2"| [[Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film|Best Fantasy Film]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| Joan Allen
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor|Best Performance by a Younger Actor/Actress]]
| [[Tobey Maguire]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Writing|Best Writing]]
| Gary Ross
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costumes]]
| Judianna Makovsky
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sefca.net/winners#/1998 |title=1998 SEFA Awards |website=sefca.net |access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref>
| colspan="2"| Best Picture
| {{draw|7th Place}}
|-
| Best Supporting Actress
| Joan Allen
| {{won}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[1999 Teen Choice Awards|Teen Choice Awards]]<ref>{{Cite news |date=1999-08-12 |title=Funky Categories Set Teen Choice Awards Apart |work=[[Hartford Courant]] |url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1999-08-12-9908120634-story. |url-status=dead |access-date=2023-09-05 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20221014105755/https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1999-08-12-9908120634-story.html |archive-date=2022-10-14}}</ref>
| colspan="2"| [[Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie - Drama|Choice Movie – Drama]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| Most Funniest Scene
| [[Reese Witherspoon]] and Joan Allen
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Turkish Film Critics Association|Turkish Film Critics Association Awards]]
| colspan="2"| Best Foreign Film
| {{draw|13th Place}}
|-
| [[Young Hollywood Awards]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sim |first=David |date=2019-03-22 |title=Reese Witherspoon's Birthday: Her Best Movies |url=https://www.newsweek.com/reese-witherspoon-birthday-best-movies-ranked-age-big-little-lies-1371117 |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=Newsweek |language=en}}</ref>
| Female Breakthrough Performance
| Reese Witherspoon
| {{won}}
|}


===Goofs===
== Soundtrack ==
{{Infobox album
*Pleasantville is supposed to take place in 1958. The fire truck that arrives to put out the fire in the Parkers' tree flies a flag with 50 stars, not 48, as would have been the case for municipal vehicles of 1958.
| name = Pleasantville: Music from the Motion Picture
*In the scene when Skip tells Bud that he is going to ask Mary Sue out on a date, Bud is bouncing a basketball. However, in the period of time in which Pleasantville is set, they would have used leather basketballs, not rubber ones.
| type = soundtrack
* On their first day of school in Pleasantville, when Mary Sue pulls out her hair barrettes out of anger right before Skip pulls up in his car, they are back in her hair after he drives away.
| artist = Various
* At the end of the movie where Bud is zapped back to the real world, his hair is uncombed. But when we walks through the door into the dining room to talk to his real life mother, it is combed.
| cover =
* The famous jazz piece, [[Take Five]], was not released until 1959, even though it is heard in the film.
| alt =
*Skip Martin changes colour early on, then changes back, going against the movie's logic.
| released = October 13, 1998
| recorded = Various
| studio =
| genre = [[Pop music|Pop]]
| length = 47:37
| label = [[New Line Records|New Line]]
| producer =
* [[Jon Brion]]
* Bruno Coon
* Bonnie Greenberg
* [[Randy Newman]]
| prev_title =
| prev_year =
| next_title =
| next_year =
}}


The soundtrack features music from the 1950s and 1960s such as "[[Be-Bop-A-Lula]]" by [[Gene Vincent]], "[[Take Five]]" by [[The Dave Brubeck Quartet]], "[[So What (Miles Davis composition)|So What]]" by [[Miles Davis]] and "[[At Last]]" by [[Etta James]]. The main score was composed by [[Randy Newman]]; he received an [[Academy Award|Oscar nomination]] in the [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|original music category]]. A score release is also in distribution, although the suite track is only available on the standard soundtrack. Among the ''Pleasantville'' DVD "Special Features" is a music-only feature with commentary by Randy Newman.
===Facts===
The modern high school used in the first scenes is actually [[Valencia High School]] in [[Santa Clarita]], [[California]]. The school bus passing in front of the school is marked [[William S. Hart High School District|Wm. S. Hart Union High School District]], the district of which Valencia High School is a part. The patrol car driving through the neighborhood is marked "Copper Eagle Patrol", the name of a private security company in Santa Clarita, California.


The music video for [[Fiona Apple]]'s version of "[[Across the Universe]]", directed by [[Paul Thomas Anderson]], uses the set of the diner from the film. [[AllMusic]] rated the album two-and-a-half stars out of five.<ref>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r377704|title=Pleasantville: Music from the Motion Picture}}</ref>
The symbol for the Pleasantville Chamber of Commerce is the symbol for [[Socialist Party USA]], except it shows two white hands rather than a black and white, emphasising the idea of 'color' in the film meaning race.


==Notes==
This film briefly held the record for the largest number of visual effects shots until the release of ''[[Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace]]''.{{Fact|date=June 2007}}
{{notelist}}


== References ==
Besides Bud Parker, [[Tobey Maguire]] also has a character last name Parker as in Peter Parker (Spiderman) from ''[[Spiderman (film)|Spiderman]]'' and its sequels.
{{Reflist}}


== Awards and nominations ==
== Further reading ==
* Millar, Jeff. "[http://www.chron.com/entertainment/movies/article/Pleasantville-1987953.php Pleasantville]" (review). ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. October 23, 1998.
The film won the following accolades:
*[[Saturn Awards]] (1998)
**Best Performance by a Younger Actor/Actress - Tobey Maguire
**Best Supporting Actress - Joan Allen
*[[Boston Society of Film Critics Award]] (1998)
**Best Supporting Actor - William H. Macy
**Best Supporting Actress - Joan Allen


== See also ==
The film was nominated for the following achievements:
* ''[[The Truman Show]]''
*[[Academy Awards]] (1998)
** Best Art Direction/Set Decoration - Jeannine Claudia Oppewall and Jay Hart
**Best Costume Design - Judianna Makovsky
**Best Music, Original Dramatic Score - [[Randy Newman]]


== External links ==
==Music==
{{Main|Pleasantville (soundtrack)}}
{{Wikiquote|Pleasantville}}
* {{IMDb title|0120789}}
The soundtrack features many staples from the 1950s such as "[[Be-Bop-A-Lula]]" by [[Gene Vincent]] and the 1961 classic "[[At Last]]" by [[Etta James]]. The main score for the film was composed by [[Randy Newman]]; he received an [[Academy Awards|Oscar nomination]] in the [[Academy Award for Original Music Score|original music category]]. The soundtrack does however feature some contemporary artists and includes two songs by [[Fiona Apple]].
* {{rotten-tomatoes|pleasantville}}
* {{Mojo title|pleasantville}}


{{Gary Ross}}
====Soundtrack====
{{Steven Soderbergh}}

{{Portal bar|1990s|Film|United States|Comedy}}
Released: October 13 1998<br />
Genre: Pop<br />
Label: Sony Music<br />

'''Track listing'''<br />
Across the Universe - [[Fiona Apple ]]<br />
Dream Girl - Robert and Johnny<br />
Be-Bop-a-Lula - [[Gene Vincent ]]<br />
Lawdy Miss Clawdy - [[Larry Williams ]]<br />
Sixty Minute Man - [[Billy Ward & the Dominoes ]]<br />
Take Five - [[The Dave Brubeck Quartet ]]<br />
At Last - [[Etta James]]<br />
(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear - [[Elvis Presley ]]<br />
Rave On - [[Buddy Holly]] and the Cricketts<br />
Please Send Me Someone to Love - Fiona Apple<br />
So What - [[Miles Davis ]]<br />
Suite from Pleasantville - [[Randy Newman ]]<br />

==External links==
{{wikiquotepar|Pleasantville}}
*{{imdb title|id=0120789|title=Pleasantville}}
*[http://www.jacknilan.com/senatorjoe/ McCarthyism and the Movies]
*[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19981001/REVIEWS/810010301/1023 ''Pleasantville ''review by Roger Ebert]
*[http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/568041 ''Pleasantville'' at the BFI]
*[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pleasantville/ ''Pleasantville'' at Rotten Tomatoes<sup>sm</sup>]
*[http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews31/pleasantville.htm DVD Beaver review]


[[Category:1998 films]]
[[Category:1998 films]]
[[Category:American films]]
[[Category:1998 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:Comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:Fantasy-comedy films]]
[[Category:1990s teen comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:Fictional television]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American fantasy comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:American satirical films]]
[[Category:American teen comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:English-language fantasy comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:Fictional television shows]]
[[Category:Films about prejudice]]
[[Category:Films about television]]
[[Category:Films about television]]
[[Category:Fictional towns and cities in the United States]]
[[Category:Films directed by Gary Ross]]
[[Category:Films partially in color]]
[[Category:Films produced by Jon Kilik]]
[[Category:Films produced by Steven Soderbergh]]
[[Category:Films scored by Randy Newman]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1950s]]
[[Category:Films set in 1958]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1990s]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Gary Ross]]
[[Category:Magic realism films]]
[[Category:New Line Cinema films]]
[[Category:New Line Cinema films]]
[[Category:Dystopian films]]
[[Category:Nostalgia in the United States]]
[[Category:Postmodern films]]

[[Category:Satellite Award–winning films]]
[[ar:البلدة الفاضلة]]
[[Category:Saturn Award–winning films]]
[[de:Pleasantville – Zu schön, um wahr zu sein]]
[[fr:Pleasantville]]
[[it:Pleasantville]]
[[nl:Pleasantville]]
[[pl:Miasteczko Pleasantville]]
[[sv:Välkommen till Pleasantville]]
[[uk:Плезантнвіл (фільм)]]

Latest revision as of 18:00, 28 December 2024

Pleasantville
The theatrical release poster shows people in black and white color looking at a color poster that is placed at the wall. The poster shows a teenage boy standing next to a teenage girl holding an umbrella behind a colorful scene of a town. The tagline reads "Nothing is as simple as Black and White".
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGary Ross
Written byGary Ross
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJohn Lindley
Edited byWilliam Goldenberg
Music byRandy Newman
Production
company
Larger Than Life Productions
Distributed byNew Line Cinema
Release date
  • October 23, 1998 (1998-10-23)
Running time
124 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$60 million[1]
Box office$49.8 million

Pleasantville is a 1998 American teen fantasy comedy-drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Gary Ross (in his directorial debut). It stars Tobey Maguire, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, William H. Macy, J. T. Walsh, and Reese Witherspoon, with Don Knotts, Paul Walker, Marley Shelton, and Jane Kaczmarek in supporting roles. The story centers on two siblings who wind up trapped in a 1950s TV show, set in a small Midwest town, where residents are seemingly perfect.

The film was one of J. T. Walsh's final performances and was dedicated to his memory. It was also the final on-screen film appearance of Don Knotts, who would subsequently take on voice acting roles until his death.

Plot

[edit]

In 1998, while their mother is away, high school-aged twin siblings David and Jennifer fight over the television, breaking the remote control. A mysterious TV repairman suddenly arrives and, impressed by David's knowledge and love of Pleasantville, a black-and-white 1950s sitcom about the idyllic Parker family, gives him an unusual remote control before departing. When they use it, David and Jennifer are transported into the Parkers' house, in Pleasantville's black-and-white world. George and Betty Parker believe them to be their children, Bud and Mary Sue. Communicating through the Parkers' television, David tries to reason with the repairman, who is offended that they want to come home, thinking they should be lucky to live in Pleasantville.

There, fire is impossible to start (firefighters merely rescue cats from trees), and everyone is unaware that anything exists outside of Pleasantville, as all roads circle back into it. David tells Jennifer they must play the show's characters and not disrupt Pleasantville, but she rebelliously goes on a date with Mary Sue's boyfriend, Skip Martin, the most popular boy in school. She has sex with Skip, who is shocked by the experience, which leads to the first bursts of color appearing in town.

Bill Johnson, owner of the malt shop where Bud works, experiences an existential crisis after realizing the repetitive nature of his life. David tries to help him break out of his routine and notices an attraction between Bill and Betty.

As Jennifer influences other teenagers, parts of Pleasantville become colorized, including some of the residents. Books in the library, previously blank, begin to fill with words after David and Jennifer summarize the plot to their classmates. When Jennifer gives a curious Betty an explanation about sex and tells her how to masturbate, Betty has an orgasm that results in her colorization and a fire in a tree outside.

Other foreign concepts, such as rain, begin to appear. David shows Bill a book of modern art, which inspires him to begin painting and to pursue a romance with Betty. Jennifer loses interest in sex and partying and becomes colorized after finding passion in literature. David pursues a romance with Margaret but is confused and disappointed to find he is still black and white.

Betty leaves George to be with Bill, bewildering him. The town leaders, including the mayor, Big Bob, and others who remain black and white are suspicious of all of these changes and begin to discriminate against the "colored" people, considering them a threat to Pleasantville's values.

A riot is ignited by Bill's nude painting of Betty on the window of his malt shop. The shop is destroyed, books are burned and colored people are harassed in the street. David defends Betty from a gang of teenage boys. Punching one of them, David scares the rest away, demonstrating newfound courage that turns him colored.

The town council establishes a code of conduct that, among other things, bans colored citizens from public venues, closes Lover's Lane, and outlaws reading, rock music and using colorful paint. In protest, David and Bill paint a colorful mural outside the soda fountain depicting the beauty of love, sex, rain, music and literature. They are arrested and brought to trial in front of the entire town. David confronts George about losing Betty, persuading him to tearfully admit he does not just miss the cooking and the cleaning. George becomes colorized along with the rest of the town, except for Big Bob, who refuses to change his ways. After David drives him into a rage by suggesting that one day women may end up going to work while men stay home to cook and clean, Big Bob finally turns colorful before fleeing in shame.

The town celebrates their victory, and color televisions start being sold. They broadcast new programs and footage of other countries. The town's roads also start leading to other cities. With Pleasantville changed, Jennifer chooses to continue her new life in the TV world. Bidding farewell to her, Margaret and Betty, David uses the remote control to return to the real world, where only an hour has passed since his disappearance. He comforts his mother, who had left to meet a man only to get cold feet, and assures her that nothing has to be perfect. In Pleasantville, citizens enjoy their lives, and Jennifer attends college.

Cast

[edit]

Production

[edit]

This was the first time that a new feature film was created by scanning and digitizing recorded film footage for the purpose of removing or manipulating colors. The black-and-white-meets-color world portrayed in the movie was filmed entirely in color; in all, approximately 163,000 frames of 35 mm footage were scanned, in order to selectively desaturate and adjust contrast digitally. The scanning was done in Los Angeles by Cinesite, utilizing a Spirit DataCine for scanning at 2K resolution[2] and a MegaDef Colour Correction System from Pandora International. Principal photography took place from March 1 to July 2, 1997.

The death of camera operator Brent Hershman, who fell asleep driving home after a 19-hour workday on the set of the film, resulted in a wrongful death suit, claiming that New Line Cinema, New Line Productions and Juno Pix Inc. were responsible for the death as a result of the lengthy work hours imposed on the set.[3][4] In response to Hershman's death, crew members launched a petition for 'Brent’s Rule', which would limit workdays to a maximum of 14 hours; the petition was ultimately unsuccessful.[5][6]

The film is dedicated to Hershman, as well as to director Ross's mother, Gail, and actor J. T. Walsh, who also died before the film's release.[7]

Shortly before and during the film's release, an online contest was held to visit the real Pleasantville, Iowa.[8] Over 30,000 people entered. The winner, who remained anonymous, declined the trip and opted to receive the $10,000 cash prize instead.

Themes

[edit]

Director Gary Ross stated, "This movie is about the fact that personal repression gives rise to larger political oppression...That when we're afraid of certain things in ourselves or we're afraid of change, we project those fears on to other things, and a lot of very ugly social situations can develop."[9]

Robert Beuka says in his book SuburbiaNation, "Pleasantville is a morality tale concerning the values of contemporary suburban America by holding that social landscape up against both the Utopian and the dystopian visions of suburbia that emerged in the 1950s."[10]

Robert McDaniel of Film & History described the town as the perfect place, "It never rains, the highs and lows rest at 72 degrees, the fire department exists only to rescue treed cats, and the basketball team never misses the hoop." However, McDaniel says, "Pleasantville is a false hope. David's journey tells him only that there is no 'right' life, no model for how things are 'supposed to be'."[11]

Warren Epstein of The Gazette wrote, "This use of color as a metaphor in black-and-white films certainly has a rich tradition, from the over-the-rainbow land in The Wizard of Oz to the girl in the red dress who made the Holocaust real for Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List. In Pleasantville, color represents the transformation from repression to enlightenment. People—and their surroundings—change from black-and-white to color when they connect with the essence of who they really are."[12]

Reception

[edit]

Box office

[edit]

Pleasantville earned $8.9 million during its opening weekend. It would ultimately earn a total of $40.8 million against a $60 million budget making it a box office flop, despite the critical success.[13]

Critical reception

[edit]

Pleasantville received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an 86% rating from 97 reviews, an average rating of 7.7/10, with the critical consensus: "Filled with lighthearted humor, timely social commentary, and dazzling visuals, Pleasantville is an artful blend of subversive satire and well-executed Hollywood formula."[14] Metacritic assigned a score of 71 based on 32 reviews.[15] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[16]

Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four, calling it "one of the best and most original films of the year".[17] Janet Maslin wrote that its "ingenious fantasy" has "seriously belabored its once-gentle metaphor and light comic spirit".[18] Peter M. Nichols, judging the film for its child-viewing worthiness, jokingly wrote in The New York Times that the town of Pleasantville "makes Father Knows Best look like Dallas".[19] Joe Leydon of Variety called it "a provocative, complex and surprisingly anti-nostalgic parable wrapped in the beguiling guise of a commercial high-concept comedy". He commented that some storytelling problems emerge late in the film, but wrote that "Ross is to be commended for refusing to take the easy way out".[20]

Entertainment Weekly wrote a mixed review: "Pleasantville is ultramodern and beautiful. But technical elegance and fine performances mask the shallowness of a story as simpleminded as the '50s TV to which it condescends; certainly it's got none of the depth, poignance, and brilliance of The Truman Show, the recent TV-is-stifling drama that immediately comes to mind."[21] Dave Rettig of Christian Answers said: "On a surface level, the message of the film appears to be 'morality is black and white and pleasant, but sin is color and better,' because often through the film the Pleasantvillians become color after sin (adultery, premarital sex, physical assault, etc...). In one scene in particular, a young woman shows a brightly colored apple to young (and not yet colored) David, encouraging him to take and eat it. Very reminiscent of the Genesis's account of the fall of man."[22]

Time Out New York reviewer Andrew Johnston observed, "Pleasantville doesn't have the consistent internal logic that great fantasies require, and Ross just can't resist spelling everything out for the dim bulbs in the audience. That's a real drag, because the film's fundamental premise—crossing America's nostalgia fixation with Pirandello and the Oz/Narnia/Wonderland archetype—is so damn cool, the film really should have been a masterpiece."[23]

Jesse Walker, writing a retrospective in the January 2010 issue of Reason, argued that the film was misunderstood as a tale of kids from the 1990s bringing life into the conformist world of the 1950s. Walker points out that the supposedly outside influences changing the town of Pleasantville—the civil rights movement, J. D. Salinger, modern art, premarital sex, cool jazz and rockabilly—were all present in the 1950s. Pleasantville "contrasts the faux '50s of our TV-fueled nostalgia with the social ferment that was actually taking place while those sanitized shows first aired".[24]

Filmmaker Jon M. Chu cited the film, alongside The Truman Show (also released in 1998), as an influence on how the Land of Oz is thematically portrayed in the two-part film adaptation of the musical Wicked (2024-2025), saying "It helps create this idea of the rebelliousness that this new younger generation are discovering ... How far will that take everybody in Oz throughout the course of the whole story of both movies? It's an awakening of a generation. You start to see the truth about things that maybe you were taught differently."[25]

Accolades

[edit]
Award Category Recipient(s) Result
Academy Awards[26] Best Art Direction Jeannine Oppewall and Jay Hart Nominated
Best Costume Design Judianna Makovsky Nominated
Best Original Dramatic Score Randy Newman Nominated
American Comedy Awards[27] Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture William H. Macy Nominated
Art Directors Guild Awards[28] Excellence in Production Design for a Feature Film Jeannine Oppewall Nominated
Artios Awards[29] Best Casting for Feature Film – Drama Ellen Lewis and Debra Zane Nominated
Awards Circuit Community Awards Best Actress in a Supporting Role Joan Allen Nominated
Best Art Direction Jeannine Oppewall and Jay Hart Nominated
Best Cinematography John Lindley Nominated
Best Costume Design Judianna Makovsky Nominated
Best Original Score Randy Newman Nominated
Best Visual Effects Nominated
Best Cast Ensemble Nominated
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards[30] Best Supporting Actor William H. Macy (also for A Civil Action and Psycho) Won[a]
Best Supporting Actress Joan Allen Won
Best Cinematography John Lindley Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards[31] Best Supporting Actress Joan Allen Nominated
Chlotrudis Awards[32] Best Supporting Actress Nominated
Best Cinematography John Lindley Nominated
Costume Designers Guild Awards[33] Excellence in Costume Design for Film Judianna Makovsky Won
Critics' Choice Movie Awards[34] Best Picture Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Joan Allen Won[b]
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actress Won
Hugo Awards Best Dramatic Presentation Gary Ross Nominated
International Film Music Critics Association Awards[35] Best Original Score for a Drama Film Randy Newman Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards[36] Best Supporting Actress Joan Allen Won
Best Production Design Jeannine Oppewall Won
Online Film & Television Association Awards[37] Best Comedy/Musical Picture Jon Kilik, Gary Ross and Steven Soderbergh Nominated
Best Comedy/Musical Actress Joan Allen Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Nominated
Best First Feature Gary Ross Nominated
Best Cinematography John Lindley Nominated
Best Comedy/Musical Score Randy Newman Nominated
Best Adapted Song "Across the Universe"
Music and Lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Performed by Fiona Apple 		Won
Best Makeup Nominated
Best Visual Effects Nominated
Online Film Critics Society Awards[38] Best Supporting Actress Joan Allen Won
Best Cinematography John Lindley Nominated
Best Editing William Goldenberg Nominated
Best Original Score Randy Newman Won
Producers Guild of America Awards[39] Most Promising Producer in Theatrical Motion Pictures Gary Ross Won
Satellite Awards[40] Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Nominated
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Jeff Daniels Nominated
Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Joan Allen Won
Best Director Gary Ross Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Won
Best Art Direction Jeannine Oppewall and Jay Hart Nominated
Best Cinematography John Lindley Nominated
Best Costume Design Judianna Makovsky Nominated
Best Editing William Goldenberg Nominated
Best Original Score Randy Newman Nominated
Saturn Awards[41] Best Fantasy Film Won
Best Supporting Actress Joan Allen Won
Best Performance by a Younger Actor/Actress Tobey Maguire Won
Best Writing Gary Ross Nominated
Best Costumes Judianna Makovsky Nominated
Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards[42] Best Picture 7th Place
Best Supporting Actress Joan Allen Won
Teen Choice Awards[43] Choice Movie – Drama Nominated
Most Funniest Scene Reese Witherspoon and Joan Allen Nominated
Turkish Film Critics Association Awards Best Foreign Film 13th Place
Young Hollywood Awards[44] Female Breakthrough Performance Reese Witherspoon Won

Soundtrack

[edit]
Pleasantville: Music from the Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by
Various
ReleasedOctober 13, 1998
RecordedVarious
GenrePop
Length47:37
LabelNew Line
Producer

The soundtrack features music from the 1950s and 1960s such as "Be-Bop-A-Lula" by Gene Vincent, "Take Five" by The Dave Brubeck Quartet, "So What" by Miles Davis and "At Last" by Etta James. The main score was composed by Randy Newman; he received an Oscar nomination in the original music category. A score release is also in distribution, although the suite track is only available on the standard soundtrack. Among the Pleasantville DVD "Special Features" is a music-only feature with commentary by Randy Newman.

The music video for Fiona Apple's version of "Across the Universe", directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, uses the set of the diner from the film. AllMusic rated the album two-and-a-half stars out of five.[45]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Tied with Billy Bob Thornton for A Simple Plan.
  2. ^ Tied with Kathy Bates for Primary Colors.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Pleasantville (1998)". Box Office Mojo.
  2. ^ Fisher, Bob (November 1998). "Black & white in color". American Cinematographer: 1. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Watts suggested using the Philips Spirit DataCine at Cinesite Digital Imaging in Los Angeles for converting the film to data. (full article link)
  3. ^ Polone, Gavin (May 23, 2012). "Polone: The Unglamorous, Punishing Hours of Working on a Hollywood Set". Vulture. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  4. ^ O'Neill, Ann W. (December 21, 1997). "Death After Long Workday Spurs Suit". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  5. ^ Puig, Claudia (March 22, 1997). "Crew Rallies for Shorter Days Following Colleague's Death". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
  6. ^ Busch, Anita (February 1, 2018). "Hollywood's Grueling Hours & Drowsy-Driving Problem: Crew Members Speak Out Despite Threat To Careers". Deadline.com. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
  7. ^ Bergeron, Michael (April 4, 2012). "Gary Ross Interview". Free Press Houston. Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  8. ^ "20 fact you might not know about 'Pleasantville'". Yardbarker. November 11, 2022. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  9. ^ Johnson-Ott, Edward (1998). "Pleasantville (1998)". NUVO Newsweekly. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  10. ^ Beuka, Robert (2004). SuburbiaNation: Reading Suburban Landscape in Twentieth-Century American Fiction and Film (1st ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 14–15. ISBN 9781403963673.
  11. ^ McDaniel, Robb (2002). "Pleasantville (Ross 1998)" (PDF). Film & History. 32 (1): 85–86. (link requires Project MUSS access)
  12. ^ Epstein, Warren. "True Colors - A Small Town Blossoms when '50s and '90s collide in Pleasantville". The Gazette (Colorado Springs).
  13. ^ Wolk, Josh (October 26, 1998). ""Pleasantville" tops the box office, but it's the only new wide release that scored". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  14. ^ "Pleasantville (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  15. ^ "Pleasantville Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  16. ^ "Home". CinemaScore. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  17. ^ Ebert, Roger (October 1, 1998). "Pleasantville (PG-13)". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  18. ^ "New Video Releases". The New York Times. March 19, 1999. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  19. ^ Nichols, Peter M. (November 6, 1998). "Taking the Children; Bobby-Soxers and Dinos Brought Back to Life". The New York Times. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  20. ^ Leydon, Joe (September 17, 1998). "Review: 'Pleasantville'". Variety. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
  21. ^ "Pleasantville (1998)". Entertainment Weekly. October 23, 1998. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  22. ^ Rettig, Dave. "Pleasantville (1998)". Christian Answers. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  23. ^ Johnston, Andrew (October 22, 1998). "Pleasantville". Time Out New York. p. 97.
  24. ^ Walker, Jesse (January 2010). "Beyond Pleasantville: Permissiveness wasn't born in the '60s". Reason. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  25. ^ https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/wicked-how-oz-epic-channels-the-truman-show-pleasantville
  26. ^ "The 71st Academy Awards (1999) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  27. ^ "Pleasantville | Le Cinema Paradiso Blu-Ray reviews and DVD reviews". lecinemaparadiso.co.uk. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  28. ^ "3rd Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards". Archived from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  29. ^ "Nominees/Winners". Casting Society of America. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  30. ^ "BSFC Winners: 1990s". Boston Society of Film Critics. July 27, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  31. ^ "1988-2013 Award Winner Archives". Chicago Film Critics Association. January 2013. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  32. ^ "1999, 5th Annual Awards". Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. June 1, 2023. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  33. ^ "1st CDGA Details". Costume Designers Guild. Archived from the original on December 7, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  34. ^ "The BFCA Critics' Choice Awards :: 1998". Broadcast Film Critics Association. Archived from the original on December 12, 2008.
  35. ^ "1998 FMCJ Awards". IFMCA. 1999. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  36. ^ "The 24th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards". Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  37. ^ "3rd Annual Film Awards (1998)". Online Film & Television Association. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  38. ^ "1998 Awards (2nd Annual)". Online Film Critics Society. January 3, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  39. ^ Madigan, Nick (March 3, 1999). "Producers tap 'Ryan'; Kelly, Hanks TV winners". Variety. Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  40. ^ "International Press Academy website – 1999 3rd Annual SATELLITE Awards". Archived from the original on February 1, 2008.
  41. ^ "Past Saturn Awards". Saturn Awards.org. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved May 7, 2008.
  42. ^ "1998 SEFA Awards". sefca.net. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  43. ^ "Funky Categories Set Teen Choice Awards Apart". Hartford Courant. August 12, 1999. Archived from the original on October 14, 2022. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  44. ^ Sim, David (March 22, 2019). "Reese Witherspoon's Birthday: Her Best Movies". Newsweek. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  45. ^ Pleasantville: Music from the Motion Picture at AllMusic

Further reading

[edit]

See also

[edit]
[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to Pleasantville.
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