Postman, The

Synopsis
Feature film. Set in 2013, after World War Three has destroyed most of USA, including the government. an itinerant actor nicknamed Shakespeare (Costner) who wonders between villages performing scenes from Shakespeare, is captured by a fascist military group called the Holnists led by General Bethlehem. When he escapes from the Holnists he finds an abandoned mail Jeep and uniform, and starts to travel through small cities, telling them he is a postman, a representative of the restored United States. No one believes him at first, but soon he has followers, and they start to prepare a revolt against the Holnists.
Language
English
Country
United States
Medium
Film
Technical information
Colour / Sound
Year of release
1997
Duration
177 mins

Credits

Director
Kevin Costner
Producer
Jim Wilson; Kevin Costner; Steve Tisch
Cinematographer
Stephen Windon
Screenplay
Brian Helgeland; Eric Roth
Music
James Newton Howard
Production Design
Ida Random
Art Direction
Derek R. Hill; Scott Ritenour
Cast
Kevin CostnerThe Postman
Will PattonGeneral Bethlehem

Additional Details

Production type
Fiction Films
Keywords
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

General
Based on the novel by David Brin.
Reviews
Lanier, Douglas ‘Shakescorp Noir’ in Shakespeare Quarterly. Vol. 53, No. 2, Summer 2002, pp 157-180 writes ‘THE POSTMAN, concerned with the issue of cultural transmission in a post-apocalypyc America, pits an itinerant Actor nicknamed Shakespeare against an army of terroristic pillagers whose mad leader, Bethlehem, takes his inspiration from, irony of ironies, a corporate-management manual entitled Seizing the Way to Win. The film metaphorically links the (re) information of an imagined internal community through the restored postal system with the potential for cultural continuity offered by ‘Shakespeare’s opening half-parodic performance of Macbeth, both of which are cast as parallel acts of defiance against Bethlehem’s crypto-corporate fascism’.

Production Company

Name

Tig Productions

Name

Warner Bros Pictures

Distributor (Sale)

Name

Retail outlets

How to cite this record

Shakespeare, "Postman, The". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av67007 (Accessed 03 Oct 2024)