John G. Avildsen Trailers
Ammo for Shooting Clouds: John G. Avildsen Before Rocky Trailer40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic TrailerSaturday Night Fever: The Ultimate Disco Movie Trailer
John Guilbert Avildsen (December 21, 1935 – June 16, 2017) was an American film director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director in 1977 for Rocky. Other films he directed include Joe, Save the Tiger, Fore Play, The Formula, Neighbors, For Keeps, Lean on Me, The Power of One, 8 Seconds, Inferno, Rocky V and the first three The Karate Kid films.
Avildsen was born in Oak Park, Illinois, the son of Ivy (née Guilbert) and Clarence John Avildsen. He was educated at The Hotchkiss School and New York University. After starting out as an assistant director on films by Arthur Penn and Otto Preminger, John Avildsen received his first success with the low budget feature Joe (1970) which received critical acclaim for star Peter Boyle and moderate box office business.
This was followed by another critical success, Save the Tiger (1973), that was nominated for three Oscars, winning Best Actor for star Jack Lemmon. Avildsen's greatest success was Rocky (1976), garnering ten Academy Award nominations and winning three, including Best Picture and Best Director. He later directed what was expected to be the series' final installment, Rocky V (1990). His other films include Cry Uncle! (1971), Neighbors (1981), The Karate Kid (1984), The Karate Kid Part II (1986), The Karate Kid Part III (1989), Lean on Me (1989) and 8 Seconds (1994).
Avildsen was the original director for both Serpico (1973) and Saturday Night Fever (1977), but was fired over disputes with producers Martin Bregman and Robert Stigwood, respectively.
Most Popular John G. Avildsen Trailers
Total trailers found: 45
22 June 1984
Daniel LaRusso moves to Los Angeles with his mother, Lucille, and soon strikes up a relationship with Ali.
20 February 2015
The life of Fumio Demura, the greatest karate master of a generation.
20 November 1976
An uneducated collector for a Philadelphia loan shark is given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fight against the world heavyweight boxing champion.
27 March 1992
PK, an English orphan terrorized for his family's political beliefs in Africa, turns to his only friend, a kindly world-wise prisoner, Geel Piet.
18 June 1986
Summoned by his dying father, Miyagi returns to his homeland of Okinawa, with Daniel, after a 40-year exile.
18 November 1983
Faye Hanlon is a community-college professor with an emotionally depressed husband and an abundance of sexual frustration.
16 November 1990
A lifetime of taking shots has ended Rocky’s career, and a crooked accountant has left him broke. Inspired by the memory of his trainer, however, Rocky finds glory in training and takes on an up-and-coming boxer.
01 November 2017
In 1972, officer Frank Serpico exposes the corruption which poisons the roots of the NYPD and becomes famous in 1973 when director Sidney Lumet tells his story in the classic film “Serpico,” starring Al Pacino.
25 September 1999
Eddie Lomax is a drifter who has been in a suicidal funk since the death of his close friend Johnny. Riding his motorcycle into a small desert town where Johnny once lived, Lomax is confronted by a gang of toughs, who beat him and steal his bike.
14 February 1973
A businessman's professional struggles begin to conflict with his personal life over the course of two days.
15 January 1988
Young high school couple Darcy Elliot and Stan Bobrucz are one year from graduation, with promising futures ahead of them.
16 June 1989
Despondent over the closing of his karate school, Cobra Kai teacher John Kreese joins a ruthless businessman and martial artist to get revenge on Daniel and Mr.
21 May 1975
W.W. Bright is a robber with a heart of gold who travels the South knocking off banks and gas stations owned by a corrupt businessman.
01 February 2005
Retrospective documentary on the making of The Karate Kid (1984).
08 November 1978
An aging out of shape reporter falls for a pretty but seriously ill ballerina.
01 August 2017
An examination of the Oscar-winning director who brought to life some of cinema's most beloved motion pictures.
22 December 2017
John Travolta, Barry Gibb and the Saturday Night Fever cast and crew tell the story behind the mega-hit film.
01 December 1969
An introverted nerd and a violent jock vie for the attentions of a cheerleader.
18 December 1981
One man's quiet suburban life takes a sickening lurch for the worse when a young couple move into the deserted house next door.
17 August 1971
Private detective Jack Masters takes on a case and gets mixed up in murder, sex and blackmail.
16 March 1997
HBO (in association with the American Film Institute) presents this 1997 anthology, narrated by Liev Schreiber, which looks at sports in cinema from the earliest silent films until the nineties.
30 November 1972
Roger Pitman is a petty thief who makes a deal with the police to use bait money to trap other criminals.
13 October 2017
A young rock band, half from England and half from the US, drop out of college and move to the Sunset Strip to chase their dreams.
03 March 1989
When principal Joe Clark takes over decaying Eastside High School, he's faced with students wearing gang colors and graffiti-covered walls.
01 January 1993
A 30 minute infomercial that originally aired on Comedy Central in 1993. The idea was that by purchasing Troma Inc.
01 March 1975
A three-part omnibus centered around sex and its discontents.
15 July 1970
After murdering his daughter's drug-dealing boyfriend, a wealthy ad executive stumbles into a bar and strikes up an uneasy alliance with Joe Curran, a drunken bigot with a bloodlust who works at a local factory.
31 May 2005
South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Night of the Living Dead's George A. Romero and Spider-Man's Stan Lee share their filmmaking secrets with the legendary Lloyd Kaufman in this step-by-step course for budding filmmakers.
19 November 2002
Documentary on Jack Lemmon featuring interviews with those who knew him and worked with him.
25 February 1994
This film chronicles the life of Lane Frost, 1987 PRCA Bull Riding World Champion, his marriage and his friendships with Tuff Hedeman (three-time World Champion) and Cody Lambert.
27 December 2011
The 35th anniversary of the 1976 Oscar-winning film “Rocky” is marked with a TV retrospective in which Sylvester Stallone and others reminisce about the creation of the movie as well as the other films in the franchise.
19 December 1980
While investigating the death of a friend and fellow cop, Los Angeles police officer Barney Caine stumbles across evidence that Nazis created a synthetic alternative to gasoline during World War II.
06 October 2014
A documentary about the rise and fall of the Cannon Film Group, the legendary independent film company helmed by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus.
09 June 2020
Sylvester Stallone and John G. Avildsen narrate behind-the-scenes footage from the making of "Rocky" to mark the film's 40th anniversary.
05 October 1971
The film tells the story of Bill, a young, successful stockbroker who zips off to Greenwich Village on his motorcycle when no one's looking to venture into the hippy counterculture world.
19 May 1971
Parents in a small, conservative community don't think that the sex drive is a normal thing for children to experience.
01 January 2006
John G. Avildsen pays tribute to cinematographer James Crabe.
01 January 1964
A short film by John G. Avildsen.
11 July 1963
A struggling writer dumps a pregnant dancer for a well-off socialite. Later, he realizes his true feelings and opts to make amends.
27 September 1965
A former comic is on the run from the mob.
09 February 1967
A ruthless Southern opportunist tries to buy his cousin's land, and when thwarted, brings several tragedies to the lives of his loved ones.
07 August 1987
Small time crooksters Nick and Charlie have an elaborate plan to rob an exclusive jewelers store. Using a variety of disguises and posing as rich old men and women they begin the set-up, but then Nick falls for the owner of a neighboring antique store and things get a little complicated.
19 December 1969
A bored housewife starts hanging out in Greenwich Village and gets involved with pot-smoking hippies and an Italian filmmaker.
06 January 1982
A documentary about Roger Baldwin, the founder of the ACLU.
26 October 2022
John G. Avildsen has only recently cemented his reputation as the "king of the underdogs," owing to his having directed both Rocky (1976) and The Karate Kid (1984).
