James Crabe

Birth : 1931-08-19, Los Angeles, California, USA

Death : 1989-05-02

History

James Crabe (August 19, 1931 – May 2, 1989) was an American cinematographer known for his work in the 1970s and '80s on numerous films, including Rocky, The China Syndrome, Night Shift, The Karate Kid, and Thank God It's Friday. He was a part of the 1960s underground film collective known as Gay Girls Riding Club, a group of gay men in the industry, who spoofed Hollywood movies in a series of elaborate amateur films.

Movies

Tribute To James Crabe
Himself (archive footage)
John G. Avildsen pays tribute to cinematographer James Crabe.
The Karate Kid Part III
In Memory Of
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. Miyagi.
For Keeps
Director of Photography
Young high school couple Darcy Elliot and Stan Bobrucz are one year from graduation, with promising futures ahead of them. But their paths take a drastic turn when Darcy becomes pregnant. Unwilling to go through an abortion or an adoption — despite their parents' pleas — Darcy and Stan decide to sacrifice their college experiences and degrees in order to keep and raise the baby. After a quick marriage, the two realize it won't be as easy as they thought.
Happy New Year
Director of Photography
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.
Her Secret Life
Director of Photography
Kate Capshaw plays a schoolteacher and suburban housewife who happens to be an ex-spy. Nobody knows of Capshaw's previous espionage activities, least of all her somewhat obtuse husband Cliff De Young. When Capshaw's ex-lover Jeroen Krabbe, an intimate of Castro, lands in a Cuban prison, she is swept back into the spy business, leaving her nonplussed hubby in the dust.
Deadly Care
Director of Photography
True story about a nurse's descent into the nightmarish world of substance abuse which endangers her life and the lives of her patients.
When The Bough Breaks
Director of Photography
A Los Angeles psychiatrist testifies for the prosecution in the trial of an accused child molester. Later the defendant, who is out on bail, is found dead in the psychiatrist's office, in what appears to be a suicide. Shaken, the psychiatrist moves to the mountains outside of L.A. Not long afterwards a detective he knows comes to him for help. A seven-year-old girl saw someone kill both of her parents, but is so traumatized by the event that she can't remember anything, and the detective wants the doctor to help jar her memory. Soon, however, the doctor and the detective discover that the parents' murder and the pedophiles "suicide" may be linked to a shadowy group of wealthy and influential pedophiles, and that the child isn't the only one whose life is in danger.
George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation
Director of Photography
The first U.S. president (Barry Bostwick) and his wife (Patty Duke) endure two terms of turmoil from 1789 to 1797.
The Karate Kid Part II
Director of Photography
After discovering that his father is at death's door, Mr. Miyagi sets out to Japan, to see him with Daniel. Upon arriving, Miyagi must confront an old rival. Meanwhile, Daniel encounters a new love, and some new enemies.
Covenant
Director of Photography
A powerful family that controls the world's banks has made a deal with Satan to help the forces of evil take over the world. An underground group named The Judges bands together to try to stop them.
Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment
Director of Photography
Officer Carey Mahoney and his cohorts have finally graduated from the Police Academy and are about to hit the streets on their first assignment. Question is, are they ready to do battle with a band of graffiti-tagging terrorists? Time will tell, but don't sell short this cheerful band of doltish boys in blue.
The Karate Kid
Director of Photography
Daniel, a fatherless teenager, arrives in Los Angeles and becomes the object of bullying by a gang of karate students when he strikes up a relationship with Ali, the gang leader’s ex-girlfriend, so Daniel asks Miyagi, a master of martial arts, to help him learn karate.
Family Secrets
Director of Photography
Three generations of women spend an emotional weekend that will change them forever.
Night Shift
Director of Photography
A nebbish of a morgue attendant gets shunted back to the night shift where he is shackled with an obnoxious neophyte partner who dreams of the "one great idea" for success. His life takes a bizarre turn when a prostitute neighbor complains about the loss of her pimp. His partner, upon hearing the situation, suggests that they fill that opening themselves using the morgue at night.
The Letter
Director of Photography
The wife of a Malaysian planter kills an employee of her husband one night, but her motive begins to appear not entirely truthful.
The Formula
Director of Photography
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. This revelation has the potential to end the established global oil industry, making the formula a very valuable and dangerous piece of information. Eventually, Caine must contend with oil tycoon Adam Steiffel, who clearly has his own agenda regarding the formula.
How to Beat the High Cost of Living
Director of Photography
Oregon, 1980: Jane, Elaine and Louise are all feeling the effects of inflation and cannot afford the high cost of living. Jane cannot afford a babysitter or get married and if she wants privacy with her boyfriend, she has to sleep in the car. Even worse, her war veteran father comes to live with her to turn her life upside down. Louise lives a happy life with her veterinarian husband, Albert. She runs an antique shop on the side, but since it doesn't take in any profit, the IRS considers it a hobby. She needs to come up with the money to keep it going, or she will be trouble with the IRS. Elaine's husband has left her for another woman and without any money. She is in a constant struggle with banks, power companies, and gas stations. She needs money to get by and also catches the eye of police officer Jack. The local mall is having a contest that features a giant money ball that states it will help fight the inflation.
The Baltimore Bullet
Director of Photography
A tale of two hustlers trying to set up a big game.
Players
Director of Photography
A rising tennis star falls for an older woman engaged with a wealthy man she doesn't love.
Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter
Director of Photography
A woman, who had left home 20 years previously under acrimonious circumstances, finds out that she is terminally ill. She returns home and tries to rebuild her relationship with her embittered mother before she dies.
The China Syndrome
Director of Photography
While doing a series of reports on alternative energy sources, opportunistic reporter Kimberly Wells witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant. Wells is determined to publicize the incident, but soon finds herself entangled in a sinister conspiracy to keep the full impact of the incident a secret.
Thank God It's Friday
Director of Photography
It's Friday and everyone is going to the hot new disco. The Commodores are scheduled to play if Floyd shows up with the instruments and Nicole dreams of becoming a disco star. Other characters are there to win the dance contest, or to put a little excitement into a fifth anniversary.
Sextette
Director of Photography
On the day of her wedding to her sixth husband, a glamorous silver screen sex symbol is asked to intervene in a political dispute between nations, which leads to chaos.
A Death in Canaan
Director of Photography
When a teenager is accused of his mother's murder, the community of Canaan rallies to his defense.
Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years
Director of Photography
The story of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt during their 12-year stay at the White House.
Rocky
Director of Photography
When world heavyweight boxing champion, Apollo Creed wants to give an unknown fighter a shot at the title as a publicity stunt, his handlers choose palooka Rocky Balboa, an uneducated collector for a Philadelphia loan shark. Rocky teams up with trainer Mickey Goldmill to make the most of this once in a lifetime break.
The Disappearance of Aimee
Director of Photography
In 1926, celebrated evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson mysteriously disappeared. She turned up several weeks later and recounted the details of her kidnapping and escape to authorities. Not everyone believed her, however, and she was accused of having gone away to have an affair with a married man. A court hearing took place to reveal the truth.
F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood
Director of Photography
The story of author F. Scott Fitzgerald's two stays in Hollywood to write for films, once in 1927 at the height of his acclaim, and again in 1937 when he arrived with little money, enormous expenses and an ill wife.
W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings
Director of Photography
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. When he hijacks a car, he meets an aspiring country band, the Dixie Dancekings, led by Dixie. The two sides eventually take a liking to one another, especially after the Dancekings realize the size of Bright's thefts. Trailed by religious zealot cop Deacon Gore, Bright helps the band make it big while on the run.
The Dead Don't Die
Director of Photography
In the 1930s, a sailor trying to prove that his brother was wrongly executed for murder finds himself becoming drawn into the occult world.
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
Director of Photography
In February, 1962, as the civil rights movement reaches Bayonne, Louisiana, a New York journalist arrives to interview Jane Pittman, who has just turned 110. She tells him her story dating back to her earliest memories before slavery ended. In between the chapters of her life, the present-day struggles of Blacks in Bayonne, urged on by Jimmy, are dramatized.
Rhinoceros
Director of Photography
A boozing young man in love with his co-worker finds that everyone around him, even his pompous and condescending best friend, is changing into a rhinoceros.
Save the Tiger
Director of Photography
A businessman's professional struggles begin to conflict with his personal life over the course of two days.
The Great American Beauty Contest
Director of Photography
The pursuit by America's loveliest girls for a coveted beauty crown is threatened by a scandal which implicates a judge, a former winner, and one of the five finalists.
The Honkers
Director of Photography
An over-the-hill rodeo champion is so self-centered that he ignores his wife, son, and best friend.
Sweet, Sweet Rachel
Director of Photography
An ESP expert uses his powers to try to track down a psychic who uses telepathy to commit murder.
A Step Out of Line
Director of Photography
Three financially down-and-out buddies plot to pull a bank robbery to cure their financial woes.
Lost Flight
Director of Photography
The captain of a downed airliner must help his crew and passengers survive on a deserted jungle island in the midst of a power struggle - an adult version of "Lord of the Flies."
Zig Zag
Director of Photography
A dying man frames himself for murder so his widow can collect the reward.
Sole Survivor
Director of Photography
In 1960, the ruins of an American bomber were found in the Libyan desert, but the remains of the crew were never located. In Guerdon Trueblood's teleplay, the ghosts of a bomber crew hang around their derelict plane, awaiting the day that their bones will be recovered and given a decent burial. The sole survivor, navigator Russell Hamner, has in the intervening 25 years become a General. He joins an investigation team that has come across the wreckage, while the ghosts, headed by Major Devlin, plot to expose Hamner as a coward who deserted his post and left his crew mates to die.
Agent for H.A.R.M.
Director of Photography
The head of the Human Aetiological Relations Machine pits an agent against a flesh-to-fungus spore gun.
Everybody Loves It
Director of Photography
A janitor finds a four-leaf clover and dreams of his good luck turning him into a television star. Somehow, this translates to "naked women all over the place."
The Proper Time
Director of Photography
A college boy with a speech impediment learns the hard way about love and heartbreak.