Lawrence G. Paull

Movies

Looking Back to the Future
Self (archive footage)
A 9-part retrospective documentary from 2009 on the trilogy’s legacy.
Dangerous Days: Making 'Blade Runner'
Self
The definitive 3½-hour documentary about the troubled creation and enduring legacy of the science fiction classic 'Blade Runner', culled from 80 interviews and hours of never-before-seen outtakes and lost footage.
The Light That Burns: Remembering Jordan Cronenweth
Self
Cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth's work on Blade Runner is remembered by friends, colleagues and relatives.
Return of the
Himself
A retrospective look at the making of Peter Fonda's 1971 directorial debut, a Western in which he starred with Warren Oates and Verna Bloom, coinciding with the film's restoration and re-release.
On the Edge of 'Blade Runner'
Self
This is the rare UK Channel 4 documentary about Blade Runner, giving insights into it's history with interviews of Ridley Scott, the writers and nearly all the cast. Interviews with production staff, including Ridley, give details into the creative process and turmoil during preproduction. Stories from Paul M. Sammon and Fancher provide insight into Philip K. Dick and the origins of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Interweaved are cast interviews with the notable exceptions of Harrison Ford and Sean Young. Through these interviews we get a sense of how difficult and frustrating the film was to make as a result of an exacting director without allies and hot, wet, smoggy conditions; which added to the high pressure atmosphere everyone increasingly felt as the film went over budget. There is also a tour of some locations, most notably the Bradbury Building and the Warner Brothers backlot that was the LA 2019 streets, which look very different from Ridley's dark version.
Escape from L.A.
Production Design
This time, a cataclysmic temblor hits Los Angeles, turning it into an island. The president views the quake as a sign from above, expels Los Angeles from the country and makes it a penal colony for those found guilty of moral crimes. When his daughter, part of a resistance movement, steals the control unit for a doomsday weapon, Snake again gets tapped to save the day.
Sgt. Bilko
Production Design
The US army is known for churning out lean mean fighting machines intent on protecting our great nation. Sergeant Ernie Bilko is the leader of a ragtag group of the sorriest soldiers ever to enlist in the armed forces.
Man of the House
Production Design
Ben Archer is not happy. His mother, Sandy, has just met a man, and it looks like things are pretty serious. Driven by a fear of abandonment, Ben tries anything and everything to ruin the "love bubble" which surrounds his mom. However, after Ben and Jack's experiences in the Indian Guides, the two become much closer.
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
Production Design
Frank Drebin is persuaded out of retirement to go undercover in a state prison. There he has to find out what top terrorist, Rocco, has planned for when he escapes. Adding to his problems, Frank's wife, Jane, is desperate for a baby.
Born Yesterday
Production Design
A businessman shows up in Washington to lobby agendas that are friendly to his construction plans. His ditsy ex-showgirl bimbo proves to be an embarrassment in social situations, so he hires a reporter to teach her how to appear more intelligent. Soon it becomes apparent to the reporter that she isn't so stupid after all, and things become more complicated as she begins questioning the papers her sugar daddy keeps getting her to sign, and the reporter begins falling in love with her.
Unlawful Entry
Production Design
After a break-in at their house, a couple gets help from one of the cops who answered their call. He helps them install a security system, begins dropping by on short notice and unofficial patrol angling to pry into the couple's problems with the wife. The husband begins wondering if they're getting too much help.
Memoirs of an Invisible Man
Set Designer
After a freak accident, an invisible yuppie runs for his life from a treacherous CIA official while trying to cope with his new life.
City Slickers
Production Design
Three New York businessmen decide to take a "Wild West" vacation that turns out not to be the relaxing vacation they had envisioned.
Predator 2
Production Design
A police chief in the war-torn streets of Los Angeles discovers that an extraterrestrial creature is hunting down residents - and that he is the next target.
The Last of the Finest
Production Design
An elite group of vice cops are fired from the L.A.P.D. for being over-zealous in their war against drugs. It is immediately apparent that some of their superiors are involved in the drug ring. Banded together, four of the banned cops (which quickly becomes three when one is killed early) band together to fight the drug ring undercover. They gain capital for weapons by ripping off minor drug dealers. Then well-armed they go after the kingpin (Boyd).
License to Drive
Production Design
Teenager Les Anderson thinks his life can't get any worse after he flunks his driver's exam, but he's wrong. Even though he didn't receive his license, Les refuses to break his date with the cool Mercedes Lane, and he decides to lift his family's prize luxury car for the occasion. Unfortunately, Mercedes sneaks some booze along and passes out drunk, and a confused Les makes the bad decision of enlisting his rebellious friend, Dean, to help.
Cross My Heart
Production Design
A man and a woman go out on a "big" third date. He's ashamed to admit he just lost his job, and she's afraid he'll run away if he finds out that she has a kid. Small lies lead to bigger ones and the night gets crazy very soon.
Project X
Production Design
A young inductee into the military is given the task of looking after some chimpanzees used in the mysterious 'Project X'. Getting to know the chimps fairly well, he begins to suspect there is more to the secret project than he is being told.
The Making of Back to the Future
Self
The Making of 'Back to the Future'
American Flyers
Production Design
When Dr. Marcus Sommers realizes that he and his troubled, estranged brother David may be prone a fatal brain disease that runs in their family, he decides to make peace with his sibling, and invites him on a trip to the Rockies. There, the brothers bond over their shared enthusiasm for cycling and decide to enter a grueling bike race through the mountains. However, Marcus' health soon begins to fail, and David must compete without his brother at his side.
Back to the Future
Production Design
Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985.
Romancing the Stone
Production Design
Though she can spin wild tales of passionate romance, novelist Joan Wilder has no life of her own. Then one day adventure comes her way in the form of a mysterious package. It turns out that the parcel is the ransom she'll need to free her abducted sister, so Joan flies to South America to hand it over. But she gets on the wrong bus and winds up hopelessly stranded in the jungle.
Doctor Detroit
Production Design
A shy but gentle man named Clifford Skridlow is a professor of comparative literature at the financially-strapped fictional Monroe College in Chicago. A chance encounter with four beautiful women at a restaurant changes his life forever.
Blade Runner
Production Design
In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.
Rehearsal for Murder
Production Design
A year after his fiancée's death, a playwright schedules a rehearsal for his new play, which proves to be a trap for her killer.
Friendly Fire
Art Direction
In March 1970, a U.S. Army officer arrived at the Iowa farm of Peg and Gene Mullen and informed them that their son Michael had been killed in Vietnam by "friendly fire." Their determined attempts to learn more about the circumstances of their son's death are the subject of this true account film.
How to Beat the High Cost of Living
Production Design
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.
FM
Production Design
Q-SKY is the #1 radio station in Los Angeles mainly because of the music they play; running the station the way they want to, it has made them a ratings success.
Blue Collar
Production Design
Fed up with mistreatment at the hands of both management and union brass, and coupled with financial hardships on each man's end, three auto assembly line workers hatch a plan to rob a safe at union headquarters.
The Storyteller
Art Direction
A television writer is troubled by accusations that a young boy's death resulted from actions the boy copied from the writer's teleplay.
Tail Gunner Joe
Art Direction
Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin accuses prominent people of Communist sympathies in order to give him a national power base when he later planned to run for President.
W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings
Art Direction
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.
Terror on the 40th Floor
Art Direction
A number of business people, keeping the Christmas Eve office party going longer than was originally intended, are beset by a fire that starts in the basement of their office building and creeps up at them from floor to floor.
The Stranger Who Looks Like Me
Art Direction
A young woman searching for her birth parents in order to fulfill her sense of identity joins with an organization that fights the bureaucracy keeping adoption records sealed.
The Last American Hero
Art Direction
A young hell raiser quits his moonshine business and tries to become the best NASCAR racer the south has ever seen. Loosely based on the true story of NASCAR driver Junior Johnson.
They Only Kill Their Masters
Art Direction
An enigmatic young woman has been murdered in a small California coast town. The investigation by the local sheriff uncovers a complex web of relationships centering on the victim; the scattered trail of evidence ranges from a mysterious photograph to the victim's own dog. During the investigation, the sheriff meets and becomes romantically involved with a woman whose connection to the murder is ambiguous.
Heat of Anger
Art Direction
A woman attorney and her young associate defend a wealthy contractor accused of murdering an ironworker who was having an affair with the contractor's daughter.
Second Chance
Art Direction
A rich stockbroker buys a Nevada ghost town as a community for people who need a second chance in life.
She Waits
Art Direction
When a newlywed woman is taken to her husband's hometown to meet his mother, she is possessed by the vengeful spirit of his previous wife.
Star Spangled Girl
Production Design
A pair of 60's hippies fall in love with the girl next door, who is exactly the kind of square that they are fighting against.
Chandler
Art Direction
A private eye is hired to follow a mobster's former mistress.
Murder Once Removed
Art Direction
Television thriller in which a scheming doctor murders once for love and then has to kill again to cover it up.
A Tattered Web
Art Direction
A detective discovers his son-in-law is cheating on his wife. He confronts the other woman and accidentally kills her, then tries to pin the crime on a local derelict.
The Hired Hand
Art Direction
Harry Collings returns home to his farm after drifting with his friend, Arch. His wife, who had given up on him, reluctantly allows him to stay, and soon believes that all will be well again. But then Harry has to make a difficult decision regarding his loyalties and priorities.
The Hired Hand
Production Design
Harry Collings returns home to his farm after drifting with his friend, Arch. His wife, who had given up on him, reluctantly allows him to stay, and soon believes that all will be well again. But then Harry has to make a difficult decision regarding his loyalties and priorities.
Bury Me an Angel
Art Direction
Biker film told from the woman's point of view. The heroine sets out on the road to avenge her brother's murder, toting a shotgun and meaning business.
Little Fauss and Big Halsy
Art Direction
A banned motorcycle racer becomes mechanic for a selfish braggart who races under his name.