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Birthday:
08-19-1931
Deathday:
05-02-1989 (57 years)
Birthplace:
Los Angeles, California, USA
Biography
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.
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Their works
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Tribute To James Crabe
Act like Himself (archive footage)
event2006
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John G. Avildsen pays tribute to cinematographer James Crabe.
The China Syndrome
Director of Photography
event1979 star_border 7.1
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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.
Rocky
Director of Photography
event1976 star_border 7.8
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An uneducated collector for a Philadelphia loan shark is given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fight against the world heavyweight boxing champion.
The Karate Kid
Director of Photography
event1984 star_border 7.2
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Daniel LaRusso moves to Los Angeles with his mother, Lucille, and soon strikes up a relationship with Ali. He quickly finds himself the target of bullying by a group of high school students, led by Ali's ex-boyfriend Johnny, who study karate at the Cobra Kai dojo under ruthless sensei, John Kreese. Fortunately, Daniel befriends Mr. Miyagi, an unassuming repairman who just happens to be a martial arts master himself. Miyagi takes Daniel under his wing, training him in a more compassionate form of karate for self-defense and, later, preparing him to compete against the brutal Cobra Kai.
Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment
Director of Photography
event1985 star_border 6.1
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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.
W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings
Director of Photography
event1975 star_border 5.9
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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.
Covenant
Director of Photography
event1985 star_border 3.5
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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.
The Hugga Bunch
Director of Photography
event1985 star_border 5.4
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A puppet film about a young girl on a quest to save her grandmother from being put in a home. She gets visited by Huggins from Huggaland. She travels through the mirror and visits the bookworm. The bookworm tells of a tree the produced Young Berries that will help keep her grandmother young. These berries are protected by a wicked queen. She'll need all the friends she can gather to get the berries back to her grandmother in time!
The Letter
Director of Photography
event1982 star_border 6
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The wife of a Malaysian planter kills an employee of her husband one night, but her motive begins to appear not entirely truthful.
Everybody Loves It
Director of Photography
event1964 star_border 2
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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."
A Step Out of Line
Director of Photography
event1971 star_border 7
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Three financially down-and-out buddies plot to pull a bank robbery to cure their financial woes.
The Formula
Director of Photography
event1980 star_border 5.5
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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.
The Great American Beauty Contest
Director of Photography
event1973 star_border 6
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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 Karate Kid Part III
In Memory Of
event1989 star_border 5.9
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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.
When the Bough Breaks
Director of Photography
event1986 star_border 5.5
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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.
Sextette
Director of Photography
event1978 star_border 3.7
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On the day of her wedding to her sixth husband, a glamorous silver screen sex symbol is sought to intervene in a political dispute between nations, which leads to chaos.
Sweet, Sweet Rachel
Director of Photography
event1971 star_border 6.3
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An ESP expert uses his powers to try to track down a psychic who uses telepathy to commit murder.
Happy New Year
Director of Photography
event1987 star_border 5.5
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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.
The Dead Don't Die
Director of Photography
event1975 star_border 5.8
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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 Baltimore Bullet
Director of Photography
event1980 star_border 5.9
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A tale of two hustlers trying to set up a big game.
The Disappearance of Aimee
Director of Photography
event1976 star_border 8
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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.
Sole Survivor
Director of Photography
event1970 star_border 6.4
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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.
The Honkers
Director of Photography
event1972 star_border 5.6
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An over-the-hill rodeo champion is so self-centered that he ignores his wife, son, and best friend.
Agent for H.A.R.M.
Director of Photography
event1966 star_border 2.4
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The head of the Human Aetiological Relations Machine pits an agent against a flesh-to-fungus spore gun.
Zig Zag
Director of Photography
event1970 star_border 7.5
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A dying man frames himself for murder so his widow can collect the reward.
Save the Tiger
Director of Photography
event1973 star_border 6.6
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A businessman's professional struggles begin to conflict with his personal life over the course of two days.
Her Secret Life
Director of Photography
event1987 star_border 5.7
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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
event1987 star_border 6
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True story about a nurse's descent into the nightmarish world of substance abuse which endangers her life and the lives of her patients.
A Death in Canaan
Director of Photography
event1978 star_border 5.3
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When a teenager is accused of his mother's murder, the community of Canaan rallies to his defense.
Family Secrets
Director of Photography
event1984 star_border 5
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Three generations of women spend an emotional weekend that will change them forever.
Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years
Director of Photography
event1977 star_border 5.1
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The story of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt during their 12-year stay at the White House.
F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood
Director of Photography
event1975 star_border 3.5
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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.
For Keeps
Director of Photography
event1988 star_border 6.5
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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.
George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation
Director of Photography
event1986
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The first U.S. president (Barry Bostwick) and his wife (Patty Duke) endure two terms of turmoil from 1789 to 1797.
The Proper Time
Director of Photography
event1960 star_border 3.5
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A college boy with a speech impediment learns the hard way about love and heartbreak.
Night Shift
Director of Photography
event1982 star_border 6
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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.
How to Beat the High Cost of Living
Director of Photography
event1980 star_border 5.1
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In order to beat inflation and subsidize their alimony checks, three suburban housewives plot to steal $1 million from a large plastic ball which is displayed in a local shopping center.
Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter
Director of Photography
event1979 star_border 10
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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.
Thank God It's Friday
Director of Photography
event1978 star_border 5
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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.
The Bold Men
Cinematography
event1965
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A documentary about men who are courageous enough to risk their lives undertaking challenges, sports-related and not, that are at the limit of human capabilities.
Lost Flight
Director of Photography
event1970 star_border 3.7
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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."
All About Alice
Cinematography
event1972 star_border 5.2
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An early drag parody of the classic film All About Eve (1950).
Players
Director of Photography
event1979 star_border 4.1
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A rising tennis star falls for an older woman engaged with a wealthy man she doesn't love.
Rhinoceros
Director of Photography
event1974 star_border 5.4
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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.
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
Director of Photography
event1974 star_border 6.4
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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.
The Karate Kid Part II
Director of Photography
event1986 star_border 6.3
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Summoned by his dying father, Miyagi returns to his homeland of Okinawa, with Daniel, after a 40-year exile. There he must confront Yukie, the love of his youth, and Sato, his former best friend turned vengeful rival. Sato is bent on a fight to the death, even if it means the destruction of their village. Daniel finds his own love in Yukia's niece, Kumiko, and his own enemy in Sato's nephew, the vicious Chozen. Now, far away from the tournaments, cheering crowds and safety of home, Daniel will face his greatest challenge ever when the cost of honor is life itself.
Two Kinds of Love
Director of Photography
event1983 star_border 6
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Two kinds of love are experienced by young Ricky Schroder in this made-for-TV drama. One kind is the tenuous affection he extends to his estranged father when Schroder's mother unexpectedly dies. The other kind consists of the teasing sensations felt by Schroder whenever he approaches a girl his own age.
Concrete Beat
Director of Photography
event1984 star_border 4
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A newspaper columnist becomes determined to clear a woman who is blamed for the death of her child in a tragic fire.
Always on Sunday
Director
event1962 star_border 5
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This spoof of Never on Sunday was the first film made by a group of gay men who frequented a Los Angeles gay bar, The Brownstone, for Sunday brunch. Rarely seen today, these films, made at a time when gay lives were universally portrayed as tragic, remain a unique affirmation of the pleasure and joy gay people take in their lives.
The Roman Springs on Mrs. Stone
Director
event1963 star_border 5
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A gay take-off on a certain Warner Bros. / Tennessee Williams movie.
What Really Happened to Baby Jane
Director
event1963 star_border 8
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An early drag parody of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?.
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