document_title: Hercules (1997 film)

question_text: who did the voice of hades in hercules

question_tokens: who did the voice of hades in hercules

text: Hercules (1997 film)

text: Plot

text: After imprisoning the Titans beneath the ocean, the Greek gods Zeus and his wife, Hera, have a son named Hercules. While the other gods are joyful, Zeus' jealous brother Hades plots to overthrow Zeus and rule Mount Olympus. Turning to the Fates for help, Hades learns that in eighteen years, a planetary alignment will allow him to locate and free the Titans to conquer Olympus, but only if Hercules does not interfere. Hades sends his minions Pain and Panic to dispose of Hercules. The two succeed at kidnapping the infant and feeding him a formula that turns him mortal, but fail to remove his superhuman strength before Hercules is found and adopted by the farmers Amphitryon and Alcmene.

text: Years later, the teenage Hercules becomes an outcast due to his strength, and wonders where he came from. After his foster parents reveal the necklace they found him with, Hercules decides to visit the temple of Zeus for answers. The temple's statue of Zeus comes to life and reveals all to Hercules, telling him that he can regain his godhood by becoming a "true hero". Zeus sends Hercules and his forgotten infanthood friend Pegasus to find the satyr Philoctetes—"Phil" for short—who is known for training heroes. The two meet Phil, who has retired from training heroes due to numerous disappointments, but Hercules inspires him to follow his dream to train a true hero that will be recognized by the gods. Phil trains Hercules into a potential hero, and when he is older, they fly for Thebes. On the way, they meet Megara—"Meg" for short—a sarcastic damsel whom Hercules saves from the centaur Nessus. However, after Hercules, Phil, and Pegasus leave, Meg is revealed to be Hades' minion, having sold her soul to him to save an unfaithful lover.

text: Arriving in Thebes, Hercules is turned down by the downtrodden citizens until Meg says that two boys are trapped in a gorge. Hercules saves them, unaware that they are Pain and Panic in disguise, allowing Hades to summon the Hydra to fight Hercules. Hercules continually cuts off its heads, but more heads replace them until Hercules kills the monster by causing a landslide. Hercules is seen as a hero and a celebrity, but Zeus tells Hercules he is not yet a true hero. Driven to depression, Hercules turns to Meg, who is falling in love with him. Hades learns of this and on the eve of his takeover, offers a deal that Hercules gives up his powers for twenty-four hours. Hercules accepts on the condition that Meg will be unharmed and, after losing his strength, is heartbroken when Hades reveals that Meg is working for him.

text: Hades unleashes the Titans, who climb Olympus and capture the gods, while a Cyclops goes to Thebes to kill Hercules. Phil inspires Hercules to fight and kill the cyclops, but Meg is crushed by a falling pillar when she saves Hercules from it. This breaks Hades' commitment that Meg would come to no harm, and allows Hercules to regain his strength. Hercules and Pegasus fly to Olympus where they free the gods, save Zeus, and vanquish the Titans, though Meg dies before he returns to her. With Meg's soul now Hades' property, Hercules breaks into the Underworld where he negotiates with Hades to free Meg from the Styx in exchange for his own life. His willingness to sacrifice his life restores his godhood and immortality before the life-draining river can kill him; he rescues Meg and punches Hades into the Styx, where irate souls flush him under. After reviving Meg, she and Hercules are summoned to Olympus, where Zeus and Hera welcome their son home. However, Hercules chooses to remain on Earth with Meg, in lieu of living on Olympus. Hercules returns to Thebes where he is hailed as a true hero as Zeus creates a picture of Hercules in the stars commemorating his heroism.

text: Voice cast

text:
Tate Donovan as Hercules, based on the mythological deity Heracles. Supervising animator Andreas Deja described Hercules as "...not a smart aleck, not streetwise, he's just a naive kid trapped in a big body", and that Donovan "had a charming yet innocent quality in his readings". Donovan had not done any voice-over work prior to Hercules. Deja integrated Donovan's "charming yet innocent quality" into Hercules' expressions.[4] Ricky Martin provided both the voice and singing voice for the Latin American Spanish-language dub edition.

Josh Keaton provided the speaking voice of Hercules as a teenager, while Roger Bart provided his singing voice. Originally, Keaton provided also his singing voice, but his singing was re-recorded by Bart.[5] Randy Haycock served as the supervising animator for Hercules as an infant and teenager.

Danny DeVito as Philoctetes/Phil. Eric Goldberg, the supervising animator for Philoctetes, cited Grumpy in Snow White and Bacchus in Fantasia as the inspirations for the character's design. Goldberg mentioned that they discovered that Danny DeVito "has really different mouth shapes" when they videotaped his recordings and that they used these shapes in animating Phil.[4]
James Woods as Hades. Producer Alice Dewey mentioned that Hades "was supposed to talk in a slow and be menacing in a quiet, spooky way", but thought that James Woods' manner of speaking "a mile a minute" would be a "great take" for a villain.[4] Woods did a lot of ad-libbing in his recordings, especially in Hades' dialogues with Megara. Nik Ranieri, the supervising animator for Hades, mentioned that the character was "based on a Hollywood agent, a car salesman type", and that a lot came from James Woods' ad-libbed dialogue. He went on to say that the hardest part in animating Hades was that he talks too much and too fast, so much so that "it took [him] two weeks to animate a one-second scene". Ranieri watched James Woods' other films and used what he saw as the basis for Hades' sneer.[4]
Susan Egan as Megara. Supervising animator Ken Duncan stated that she was "based on a '40s screwball comedienne" and that he used Greek shapes for her hair ("Her head is in sort of a vase shape and she's got a Greek curl in the back.").[4]
Frank Welker as Pegasus. Ellen Woodbury served as the supervising animator for Pegasus.
Rip Torn and Samantha Eggar as Zeus and Hera, Hercules' birth-parents. Anthony DeRosa served as the supervising animator for both characters. In the Swedish dub Max von Sydow provided the voice for Zeus.
Lillias White, Cheryl Freeman, LaChanze, Roz Ryan and Vanéese Y. Thomas as the Muses (Calliope, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Thalia and Clio respectively), the narrators of the film's story. Michael Show served as the supervising animator for the Muses.
Bobcat Goldthwait and Matt Frewer as Pain and Panic, Hades' henchmen. James Lopez and Brian Ferguson respectively served as the supervising animators for Pain and Panic.
Patrick Pinney as the Cyclops. Dominique Monfrey served as the supervising animator for the Cyclops.
Hal Holbrook and Barbara Barrie as Amphitryon and Alcmene, Hercules' adoptive parents. Richard Bazley served as the supervising animator for both characters.
Amanda Plummer, Carole Shelley and Paddi Edwards as Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos, the three Fates who predict Hades' attempt to conquer Olympus. Nancy Beiman served as the supervising animator for the three characters.
Paul Shaffer as Hermes. Michael Swofford served as the animator for Hermes.
Jim Cummings as Nessus. Chris Bailey served as the animator for Nessus.
Wayne Knight as Demetrius
Keith David as Apollo
Charlton Heston has a cameo role as the opening narrator.

text: Production

text: Development

text: In early 1992, thirty artists, writers, and animators pitched their ideas for potential animated features, each given a limited time of two minutes. The first pitch was for an adaptation of The Odyssey, which entered into production in the following summer.[6] However, production on the film was abandoned when it was deemed too long and lacked central characters,[7] and failed to translate into animation comedy.[8] Animator Joe Haidar also suggested pitching a story from Greek mythology, but thought his chances plummeted when work on The Odyssey was discontinued. Nervously, he produced a pitch sketch of Hercules, and delivered a brief outline set during the Trojan War where both sides seek the title character for their secret weapon. Hercules makes a choice, without considering the consequences, though in the end, he learns humility and realizes that strength is not always the answer.[7] With the pitching session concluded, Hercules was approved for development in which Haidar presented a page-and-a-half outline, but his involvement with the project succeeded no further.[7] In November 1992, fresh off their critical and commercial success of Aladdin, directors Ron Clements and John Musker re-developed Treasure Planet up until fall 1993,[9] with Aladdin co-screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio taking Clements and Musker's ideas and writing a treatment and script for Treasure Planet.[10] Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was the chairman of Walt Disney Studios, disapproved of the project, but struck a deal with the directors to produce another commercially viable film before he would green-light Treasure Planet.[9][11] Turning down adaptation proposals for Don Quixote, The Odyssey, and Around the World in Eighty Days, the directors were notified of Haidar's pitch for a Hercules feature.[9] "We thought it would be our opportunity to do a "superhero" movie," Musker said, so "Ron and I being comic book fans. The studio liked us moving onto that project and so we did [Hercules]."[11]

text: Writing

text: With Hercules in production, Clements and Musker conducted research and wrote extensive notes for the film. On excerpts detailed in November 1993, the similarities between their outlines included the naive title character caught between two worlds, a Danny DeVito-type sidekick, a world-wise heroine, and a powerful villain in a battle of idealism versus cynicism.[7][12] The directors also sought inspiration from classic screwball comedy films directed by Preston Sturges and Frank Capra with "Hercules as the young Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," Musker explained, and "Meg is modeled on Barbara Stanwyck, especially the characters she played in The Lady Eve and Meet John Doe."[13] While preparing the script, Clements and Musker consulted the works of Thomas Bullfinch, Edith Hamilton, Robert Graves, and other interpreters of Greek mythology until they reached the conclusion to not portray the traditional story of Hercules.[14] Because Zeus sired Hercules outside of his marriage with Hera, Clements remarked "that illegitimacy would be difficult subject matter for a Disney movie. So we thought of different ways he could be half-man and half-god. We moved more toward making Hades the villain instead of Hera. The Underworld seemed like such a fascinating, dark images; the contrast with Olympus seemed to have all kinds of visual possibilities."[14] Additionally during their research, the directors were inspired by the correlation of the popularity of Hercules in comparison to that of sport athletes and celebrities in the contemporary era with both directors stating Hercules was the Michael Jordan of his era.[15][16] After multiple meetings and story conferences, Clements and Musker wrote several story treatments before proceeding to their first script draft. Comedy writers Don McEnery and Bob Shaw were recruited by creative executive Jane Healey to work on Hercules where their contribution was "important structural things like putting capital letters at the beginnings of sentences and adding periods and commas." Meanwhile, their draft was concurrently rewritten by Irene Mecchi,[17] which altogether brought additional humor and definition to the script.[18]

text: Casting

text: Donny Osmond originally auditioned as the speaking voice of the title character, but he was turned down because his voice was considered too deep.[19] Writing the role of Philoctetes, Musker and Clements envisioned Danny DeVito in the role. However, DeVito declined to audition so Ed Asner, Ernest Borgnine, Dick Latessa were brought in to read for the part. After Red Buttons had auditioned, he left stating "I know what you're gonna do. You're gonna give this part to Danny Devito!" Shortly after, the directors and producer Alice Dewey approached DeVito at a pasta lunch during the filming of Matilda, where DeVito signed on to the role.[11] For every Disney animated feature since Beauty and the Beast, Susan Egan auditioned for a role, and then landed the role of Belle in the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast.[20] Upon learning about Hercules, Egan actively pursued the role of Megara, though she revealed that "Alan Menken initially blocked me from going after that part. He said that the female lead in Hercules was supposed to be this cynical smart-ass, sounding nothing at all like sweet, innocent Belle." Menken eventually relented and allowed Egan to audition for the role.[21] Egan read for the part in front of a microphone while being videotaped, while Menken, Beauty and the Beast musical director Michael Kosarin, and the filmmakers sat at a table with their eyes closed. Nine months following the results of the test animation synced with Egan's audition, Egan won the role.[22] During production, Meg was originally given a ballad titled "I Can't Believe My Heart", but Ken Duncan, the supervising animator of Meg, pointed out the song was out of character for Meg. Menken and Zippel would later compose "I Won't Say I'm In Love" instead.[21]

text: The casting of Hades proved to be very problematic for Musker and Clements. When DeVito asked the directors who had in mind to play Hades, Musker and Clements responded by saying they hadn't selected an appropriate actor. In response, DeVito blurted, "Why don't you ask Jack [Nicholson]?"[23] After DeVito notified Nicholson of the project, the next week, the studio was willing to pay Nicholson $500,000 for the role, but Nicholson demanded roughly a paycheck of $10–15 million, plus a 50% cut of all the proceeds from Hades merchandise.[23] Unwilling to share merchandising proceeds with the actor, Disney came back with a counter offer that was significantly less than what Nicholson had asked for. Therefore, Nicholson decided to pass on the project.[23] Disappointed by the lack of Nicholson, Clements and Musker eventually selected John Lithgow as Hades in fall 1994. After nine months of trying to make Lithgow's portrayal of Hades work, Lithgow was released from the role in August 1995.[24] According to John Musker, Ron Silver, James Coburn, Kevin Spacey, Phil Hartman, and Rod Steiger arrived to the Disney studios to read as Hades.[11] Other actors who auditioned for the role were Michael Ironside, Terrence Mann, and Martin Landau.[25] When they invited James Woods to read for the part, the filmmakers were surprised by Woods's interpretation, and Woods was hired by October 1995.[24] Hades's co-henchman Pain was written with Bobcat Goldthwait in mind, although the actor confessed he still had to audition for the role despite playing himself.[26]

text: Animation and design

text: In 1993, Ron Clements and John Musker fondly remembered a Time magazine cover of the Beatles, illustrated by English cartoonist Gerald Scarfe.[27] While working as the production designer on a production of The Magic Flute, Gerald Scarfe was invited to tour the Disney studios where Clements and Musker noticed a direct correlation between Gerald's style and the Greek vase painting style, and with permission from the Disney studios, Scarfe was hired as production designer to produce a dozen drawings.[28] Scarfe conducted minimal research, not wanting to be influenced by other interpretations where he sent thirty-two sketches via fax machine or courier,[29][28] and ended up producing more than 700 drawings throughout production.[30] By July 1995, Scarfe and fifteen animators and designers began developing working prototypes for every character in the movie. That same year, the filmmakers embarked on a research trip to Greece and Turkey to research classic Greek mythology.[31] Since Scarfe's style proved to be too fluid and chaotic for the animators, production stylist Sue Nichols created reference charts for the animators on which elements of Scarfe's style, as well as classical Greek illustration, to adapt into their work.[32]

text: Animation began in early 1995 with a team of nearly 700 artists, animators, and technicians in Burbank, California while Walt Disney Animation France contributed nearly ten minutes of animation, including the finale with the Titans and Hercules' descent into the Underworld.[33] Andreas Deja, the supervising animator for Hercules, commented that the animation crew he worked with to animate Hercules was the "largest [he] ever worked with". He previously worked on other characters (like Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, Jafar in Aladdin, and Scar in The Lion King) with about four animators on his crew, but he had a team of twelve or thirteen for Hercules.[4] Given Deja had worked with three villains before, he was first offered Hades, but asked to animate Hercules instead – "I knew if would be more difficult and more challenging, but I just needed that experience to have that in your repertoire."[34] Following the release of Pocahontas, Eric Goldberg was initially assigned to animate Hades when Jack Nicholson was thought to play the character, but when Nicholson decided to pass on the project, Goldberg wasn't interested in animating the character anymore. At around the same time, Chris Buck was assigned to animate Philoctetes, but after he left the production of Hercules, this left the character of Philoctetes without a supervising animator.[35] Goldberg then decided to instead animate Philoctetes when DeVito signed onto the role noting his similarities with DeVito in their short stature, baldness, and admittedly a little "soft around the middle". Throughout production, there were twenty-seven designs for the character,[36] with Goldberg doing a literal caricature of DeVito with horns before being vetoed by the directors. While maintaining DeVito's features, Goldberg then took inspiration from Grumpy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Bacchus in Fantasia in terms of their curmudgeonly personality and facial structure.[37]

text: For the Hydra, Scarfe provided preliminary drawings to give the mythical beast its requisite fangs and serpentine necks before work was transferred over to the computer animation team headed by Roger Gould. The Hydra was sculpted into a clay model where the dimensions was digitized into the computers into a wire-frame model by which the monster was animated.[38] Early into production, the filmmakers decided the Hydra would ultimately have thirty heads by which the animators created one master head, and the computer could multiply the heads to their desired scale. Overall, thirteen animators and technical directors spent nearly a year-and-a-half creating the four-minute battle sequence.[39] Additionally, because the directors envisioned Olympus as a city composed of clouds, painted backgrounds of clouds and cloud-like imagery were blended with drawn effects animation to create a morphing technique that were used for baby Hercules's cradle and Zeus's reclining chair.[18]

text: Music

text:
Hercules: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack

Soundtrack album by Various artists

Released
May 27, 1997

Genre
Pop, gospel, soul, R&B, musical theatre

Length
47:56

Label
Walt Disney

Producer
Alan Menken, David Zippel

Walt Disney Animation Studios chronology

The Hunchback of Notre Dame
(1996)The Hunchback of Notre Dame1996
Hercules
(1997)
Mulan
(1998)Mulan1998

Singles from Hercules: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack

"Go the Distance"
Released: 1997

text: Hercules: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack is the soundtrack for Hercules. It consists of music written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist David Zippel, orchestrated by Daniel Troob and Michael Starobin,[40] with vocals performed by Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Roger Bart, Danny DeVito, and Susan Egan among others. The album also includes the single version of "Go the Distance" by Michael Bolton. For the Spanish version of the film, "Go the Distance" was redone by Ricky Martin and released as a single under the title "No Importa La Distancia" and was also very successful, both inside and outside the United States. In the Turkish version of the film, "Go the Distance" was sung by Tarkan, who also performed the vocals for the adult Hercules.

text: In March 1994, Zippel was attached to compose the lyrics for the songs for the film, teaming up with Alan Menken.[41] Zippel had previously collaborated with Menken on the cabaret revue titled It's Better With a Band, and the musical Diamonds, directed by Harold Prince.[42] Distinctively for the film, the idea to incorporate gospel music for the songs was suggested by co-screenwriter and co-director John Musker, although Menken preferred "something very classic and Greek—a Candide approach".[43] Musker explained, "Gospel is a storytelling kind of music. It can be exhilarating, especially when it gets everybody on their feet. We were looking for a modern equivalent for the Greek references and this style of music seemed to be entertaining and a real departure at the same time."[44] The Spice Girls were originally approached to portray the Muses following an invitation to sing one of the songs, but declined the offer due to scheduling conflicts.[45]

text: For the pop version of "Go the Distance", Michael Bolton was personally chosen by Menken to record the single,[46] in which Columbia Records paid an undisclosed figure to Walt Disney Records for the rights to the soundtrack.[47] "Go the Distance" was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, but ultimately lost both to Celine Dion's hit "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic.

text: Belinda Carlisle recorded two versions of "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)" as well as a music video for promotional purposes. Though the English dub eventually opted not to use it, several foreign dubs have it in place of the reprise of "A Star Is Born" in the ending credits. These dubs include, but are not limited to, the Swedish one, the Finnish one, the Icelandic one and the Russian one. Curiously enough, the DVD release of the Swedish dub has replaced it with the reprise of "A Star Is Born".

text: Track listing

text: All lyrics written by David Zippel; all music composed by Alan Menken.

text:
No.
Title
Performer(s)
Length

1.
"Long Ago..."
Charlton Heston
0:30

2.
"The Gospel Truth/Main Title"
Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vanéese Y. Thomas
2:25

3.
"The Gospel Truth II"
Roz Ryan
0:59

4.
"The Gospel Truth III"
Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vanéese Y. Thomas
1:05

5.
"Go the Distance"
Roger Bart
3:14

6.
"Oh Mighty Zeus"

0:46

7.
"Go the Distance (Reprise)"
Roger Bart
0:57

8.
"One Last Hope"
Danny DeVito
3:00

9.
"Zero to Hero"
Tawatha Agee, Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vanéese Y. Thomas
2:20

10.
"I Won't Say (I'm in Love)"
Susan Egan, Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vanéese Y. Thomas
2:20

11.
"A Star Is Born"
Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vanéese Y. Thomas
2:04

12.
"Go the Distance (Single)"
Michael Bolton
4:42

13.
"The Big Olive"

1:07

14.
"The Prophecy"

0:53

15.
"Destruction of the Agora"

2:07

16.
"Phil's Island"

2:25

17.
"Rodeo"

0:39

18.
"Speak of the Devil"

1:30

19.
"The Hydra Battle"

3:28

20.
"Meg's Garden"

1:14

21.
"Hercules' Villa"

0:37

22.
"All Time Chump"

0:38

23.
"Cutting the Thread"

3:23

24.
"A True Hero/A Star Is Born (End Title)"
Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vanéese Y. Thomas
5:33

Total length:
47:56

text: Release

text: Marketing

text: On February 4, 1997, Disney began its marketing campaign by starting a five-month promotional traveling tour, called Disney's Hercules Mega Mall Tour Sponsored by Chevy Venture, throughout 20 cities starting first in Atlanta, Georgia. Previously used for the marketing campaigns for Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the tour featured eleven attractions including a multimedia stage show, a miniature carousel themed to Baby Pegasus, a carnival with Hercules-themed game booths, and a ten-minute animation workshop hosted by animator Andreas Deja where visitors would try their hand at drawing Hercules.[48][49][50]

text: On June 14, the premiere of the film was accompanied with an electric light parade held in Times Square. The parade of electrified floats traveled from 42nd Street to Fifth Avenue and 66th Street with included attendees such as Lauren Hutton, Harvey Keitel, Andy Garcia, Barbara Walters, Michael Bolton, and Marilu Henner, as well as Olympic athletes who later rode on thirty floats in the parade.[51] The media event was not without controversy as former New York mayor Ed Koch objected to surrendering the city over Disney, and critics raising questions about what politicians are willing to give a private firm in return for investment.[52] Also, nearly 100 members of National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians used the occasion to strike for a new contract from Disney/ABC,[53] with local union president Tony Capitano who complained that "I think the Mayor gave away the city to Disneyland", and 5,000 businesses and residents who felt unusually eerie upon being asked to dim their lights as the parade passed.[54] Following the parade, a private party was held at the Chelsea Piers complex, where dinner guests was served to a performance of Susan Egan singing songs from the movie along the Hudson River, and ten minutes of fireworks display.[51]

text: Additionally, the film was accompanied with a marketing campaign with promotional tie-ins with 85 licensees including McDonald's, Mattel, Nestlé, Hallmark[55][56][57] and various merchandise.[58] Hercules was also received the first Disney on Ice adaptation before the film was theatrically released.[59]

text: Home media

text: Hercules was first released on VHS and widescreen laserdisc in the United States on February 3, 1998, included as an installment of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection series. By the summer of 1998, sales and rentals of the VHS release had accumulated to $165 million.[60] Released on November 9, 1999, Hercules was released in a "Limited Issue" DVD for a limited sixty-day time period before going into moratorium.[61] Launching in January 2000, Walt Disney Home Video began the Gold Classic Collection, with Hercules re-issued on VHS and DVD on August 1, 2000.[62] The DVD contained the film in its 1.66:1 aspect ratio and THX-certified, and was accompanied with special features including "The Making of Hercules" documentary video and the "Go The Distance" music video sung by Ricky Martin, as well as an "Animals of the Outback" activity booklet.[63] The film was released on a Special Edition Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on June 10, 2014.[64]

text: On September 1, 2017, Hercules became available on Netflix.[65]

text: Video game

text: A tie-in video game, titled Hercules Action Game, was developed by Eurocom and released in July 1997 for the PC and PlayStation. Another tie-in game was developed by Tiertex Design Studios and was released for the Game Boy by THQ the same month.

text: Reception

text: Box office

text: Wall Street analysts estimated that Hercules could bring in between $150 million in the United States based on the extensive marketing campaign and having a lighter, humorous tone similar to Aladdin.[66] Hercules began its limited release in North America on June 13, 1997, playing in one selected theater. The film earned $249,567 in box office receipts during the weekend of June 13–15, standing at the thirteenth place in the box office ranking.[67] On the following weekend, the film grossed $1.45 million in two weeks when it expanded into two selected theaters.[68] The general release followed on June 27, 1997, in 2,621 screens. During the weekend of June 27–29, box office analysts estimated that Hercules earned $21.5 million ranking second behind Face/Off which grossed $22.7 million.[69][70] In its first two weeks of general release, Hercules amounted $58 million in box office grosses, compared to Pocahontas, which took in $80 million and The Lion King which grossed $119 million in their respective two weeks. Considered a disappointment among Disney shareholders, Disney's stock price slipped 9.7 percent by which executives blamed the film's box office performance on "more competition".[71] By its third weekend, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution president Dick Cook confessed that competing family films such as Men in Black and Batman and Robin played a role in the downward box office performance, but projected the film would receive a worldwide gross of $300 million.[72] Likewise, entertainment analysts also targeted Hercules's lack of appeal for adults and teenagers compared to Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King which served as date movies and family outings.[73] By spring 1998, Hercules grossed $99 million,[74] and the international totals for Hercules raised its gross to $253 million.[2]

text: Critical response

text: Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported the film has an approval rating of 83% based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The site's consensus reads, "Fast-paced and packed with dozens of pop culture references, Hercules might not measure up with the true classics of the Disney pantheon, but it's still plenty of fun."[3] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[75]

text: James Woods received universal acclaim from film reviewers for his vocal performance as Hades. Reviewing for Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman graded the film an A- acclaiming that it was Woods' most exciting performance since Salvador publishing that "Woods' performance is an inspired piece of deadpan vaudeville. His dry jocularity is hilariously incongruous — he's like a hostile, wisecracking salesman trapped in the body of the Antichrist."[76] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote a positive review of the film, enjoying the story as well as the animation. Ebert also praised Woods' portrayal of Hades, stating that Woods brings "something of the same verbal inventiveness that Robin Williams brought to Aladdin".[77] Similarly, Chicago Tribune film reviewer Gene Siskel, while awarding the film 2 out of 4 stars, complimented that "the only memorable character in the film is the nicely drawn villain Hades (voice by James Woods), who seeks to turn Hercules to the dark side. Hades supplies the genie-like patter that Robin Williams provided in Aladdin."[78] Janet Maslin of The New York Times also praised Woods's performance remarking "Woods shows off the full verve of an edgy Scarfe villain", and added "On any level, earthly or otherwise, the ingenious new animated Hercules is pretty divine."[79] James Berardinelli, film critic for ReelViews, awarded the film 3 out of 4 stars writing, "the real star of the show is James Woods, whose Hades is the most vibrant Disney creation since Robin Williams' Genie. Hades is a lively villain with a great repertoire of one-liners. And, although Woods isn't as much of a vocal chameleon as Williams, he's close enough that it hardly matters."[80]

text: The Scarfe-inspired animation style received mixed reviews with Berardinelli labeling it as the film's most disappointing aspect noting "this approach makes the film look rushed and, at times, incomplete. It is never a visual marvel – even the computer-generated scenes fail to impress. The sequences intended to offer the biggest spectacle – Olympus and the Underworld – provoke little more than a yawn."[80] Likewise, Siskel noted his surprise of "how soft and cheap the animation looks."[78] Writing for The Washington Post, Desson Howe criticized the animation as being "some of the worst I've ever cringed through, including the corner-cutting junk of Don Bluth movies and every trashy cartoon that passes for entertainment on Saturday morning television. In Hercules, ancient Thebes looks like a hastily sketched field-trip location from public TV's The Magic School Bus; and no self-respecting immortal would be seen dead in this simplistic rendition of Mount Olympus.[81] Nevertheless, Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times noted the animation "has just enough of a different look to it to make things interesting" and praised the Hydra as a technological marvel.[82] Likewise, the music received a mixed response with Rita Kempley of Washington Post writing "Like the other songs by Disney veteran Alan Menken and his new lyricist, David Zippel (City of Angels), the number gets the job done, but it doesn't topple the temple. The score is influenced by gospel, Broadway musicals, processional music and R&B, but its only spice is its variety."[83] Variety film critic Leonard Klady noted the lack of distinctiveness of the music writing Menken "is hitting too many tired notes in his sixth animated score" and "there's simply not a song in the piece that has you humming as you exit the theater, and ballads such as "Go the Distance" will require aggressive repetition to register as playlist material."[84]

text: Controversy

text: Disney intended for the film to have an open-air premiere at Pnyx hill, but the Greek government declined after the Greek media and public panned the film. A Greek newspaper entitled Adsmevtos Typos called it "another case of foreigners distorting our history and culture just to suit their commercial interests".[85]

text: Accolades

text:
Ceremony
Recipient
Category
Result

Academy Awards[86]
"Go the Distance"
(Alan Menken, Composer; David Zippel, Lyricist)
Best Original Song
Nominated

Golden Globes[87]
"Go the Distance"
Best Original Song
Nominated

Saturn Award[88]

Best Fantasy Film
Nominated

Blockbuster Entertainment Awards[89]

Favorite Animated Family Movie
Nominated

Favorite Song from a Movie
"Go the Distance"
Nominated

Young Artist Award[90]
Best Performance in a Voice Over Role  Young Actor
Josh Keaton for Young Hercules's voice
Nominated

Annie Awards

Animated Theatrical Feature
Nominated

Alice Dewey, John Musker, Ron Clements (Producers)
Individual Achievement in Producing
Won

John Musker and Ron Clements (Directors)
Individual Achievement in Directing
Nominated

Ken Duncan (Supervising Animator for "Meg")
Individual Achievement for Animation
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Nik Ranieri (Supervising Animator for "Hades")
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Individual Achievement in Effects Animation
Won


document_title: Human sex ratio

question_text: ratio of girl and boy in world 2017

question_tokens: ratio of girl and boy in world 2017

root

text: Human sex ratio

text: Natural ratio[edit]

text: In a study around 2002, the natural sex ratio at birth was estimated to be close to 1.06 males/female.[9] Some scholars suggest that countries considered to have significant practices of prenatal sex-selection are those with birth sex ratios of 108 and above (selection against females) and 102 and below (selection against males). This assumption has been questioned by some scholars.[10]

tag: p

text: Infant mortality is higher in boys than girls in most parts of the world. This has been explained by sex differences in genetic and biological makeup, with boys being biologically weaker and more susceptible to diseases and premature death.[11] Recent studies have found that numerous preconception or prenatal environmental factors affect the probability of a baby being conceived male or female. It has been proposed that these environmental factors also explain sex differences in mortality.[12] In most populations, adult males tend to have higher death rates than adult females of the same age (even after allowing for causes specific to females such as death in childbirth), both due to natural causes such as heart attacks and strokes, which account for by far the majority of deaths, and also to violent causes, such as homicide and warfare, resulting in higher life expectancy of females. For example, in the United States, as of 2006, an adult non-elderly male is 3 to 6 times more likely to become a victim of a homicide and 2.5 to 3.5 times more likely to die in an accident than a female of the same age.[13] Consequently, the sex ratio tends to reduce as age increases and among the elderly, there is usually a greater proportion of females. For example, the male to female ratio falls from 1.05 for the group aged 15 to 65 to 0.70 for the group over 65 in Germany, from 1.00 to 0.72 in the United States, from 1.06 to 0.91 in mainland China, and from 1.07 to 1.02 in India.[citation needed]

text: In the United States, the sex ratios at birth over the period 1970–2002 were 1.05 for the white non-Hispanic population, 1.04 for Mexican Americans, 1.03 for African Americans and Indians, and 1.07 for mothers of Chinese or Filipino ethnicity.[14] Among Western European countries c. 2001, the ratios ranged from 1.04 in Belgium to 1.07 in Switzerland,[15] Italy,[16] Ireland[17] and Portugal. In the aggregated results of 56 Demographic and Health Surveys[18] in African countries, the ratio is 1.03, albeit with considerable country-to-country variation.[19]

text: There is controversy whether sex ratios outside the 103-107 range are due to sex-selection, as suggested by some scholars, or due to natural causes. Some scholars argue that strong socioeconomic factors such as the dowry system in India and the one child policy of China are responsible for prenatal sex-selection. In a widely cited article,[20] Amartya Sen supported such views. Other researchers argue that an unbalanced sex ratio should not be automatically held as evidence of prenatal sex-selection; Michel Garenne reports that many African nations have, over decades, witnessed birth sex ratios below 100, that is more girls are born than boys.[21] Angola, Botswana and Namibia have reported birth sex ratios between 94 and 99, which is quite different than the presumed "normal" sex ratio, meaning that significantly more girls have been born in such societies.[22]

text: In an extensive study, carried out around 2005, of sex ratio at birth in the United States from 1940 over 62 years, statistical evidence suggested the following:[23]

text:
For mothers having their first baby, the total sex ratio at birth was 1.06 overall, with some years at 1.07.
For mothers having babies after the first, this ratio consistently decreased with each additional baby from 1.06 towards 1.03.
The age of the mother affected the ratio:

the overall ratio was 1.05 for mothers aged 25 to 35 at the time of birth
mothers who were below the age of 15 or above 40 had babies with a sex ratio ranging between 0.94 and 1.11, and a total sex ratio of 1.04

American mothers of Hawaiian, Filipino, Chinese, Cuban, and Japanese ethnicity had the highest sex ratio, with years as high as 1.14 and average sex ratio of 1.07 over the 62-year study period.

tag: ul

text: Factors affecting sex ratio in humans[edit]

text: Fisher's principle[edit]

text: Fisher's principle is an explanation of why the sex ratio of most species is approximately 1:1. Outlined by Ronald Fisher in his 1930 book, it is an argument in terms of parental expenditure. Essentially he argues that the 1:1 ratio is the evolutionarily stable strategy.

text: Natural factors[edit]

text: The natural factors that affect the human sex ratio are an active area of scientific research. Over 1000 articles have been published in various journals. Two of the often cited reviews of scientific studies on human sex ratio are by W. H. James.[24][25] The scientific studies are based on extensive birth and death records in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe. A few of these studies extend to over 100 years of yearly human sex ratio data for some countries. These studies suggest that the human sex ratio, both at birth and as a population matures, can vary significantly according to a large number of factors, such as paternal age, maternal age, plural birth, birth order, gestation weeks, race, parent's health history, and parent's psychological stress. Remarkably, the trends in human sex ratio are not consistent across countries at a given time, or over time for a given country. In economically developed countries, as well as developing countries, these scientific studies have found that the human sex ratio at birth has historically varied between 0.94 and 1.15 for natural reasons.

text: In a scientific paper published in 2008,[10] James states that conventional assumptions have been:

text:
there are equal numbers of X and Y chromosomes in mammalian sperm
X and Y stand equal chance of achieving conception
therefore equal number of male and female zygotes are formed, and that
therefore any variation of sex ratio at birth is due to sex selection between conception and birth.

text: James cautions that available scientific evidence stands against the above assumptions and conclusions. He reports that there is an excess of males at birth in almost all human populations, and the natural sex ratio at birth is usually between 1.02 and 1.08. However the ratio may deviate significantly from this range for natural reasons.

text: A 1999 scientific paper published by Jacobsen reported the sex ratio for 815,891 children born in Denmark between 1980–1993.[26] They studied the birth records to identify the effects of multiple birth, birth order, age of parents and the sexes of preceding siblings on the proportion of males using contingency tables, chi-squared tests and regression analysis. The secondary sex ratio decreased with increased number of children per plural birth and with paternal age, whereas no significant independent effect was observed for maternal age, birth order, or other natural factors.

text: A 2009 research paper published by Branum et al. reports the sex ratio derived from data in United States birth records over a 25-year period (1981–2006).[27] This paper reports that the sex ratio at birth for the white ethnic group in the United States was 1.04 when the gestational age was 33–36 weeks, but 1.15 for gestational ages of less than 28 weeks, 28–32 weeks, and 37 or more weeks. This study also found that the sex ratios at birth in the United States, between 1981–2006, were lower in both black and Hispanic ethnic groups when compared with white ethnic group.

text: The relationship between natural factors and human sex ratio at birth, and with aging, remains an active area of scientific research.

text: Environmental factors[edit]

text: Effects of climate change[edit]

text: Various scientists have examined the question whether human birth sex ratios have historically been affected by environmental stressors such as climate change and global warming. Catalano et al. report that cold weather is an environmental stressor, and women subjected to colder weather abort frail male fetuses in greater proportion thereby lowering birth sex ratios. Cold weather stressors simultaneously extend male longevity thereby raise human sex ratio in its older age bracket.[28] Catalano team finds that a 1 °C increase in annual temperature predicts one more male than expected for every 1,000 females born in a year.

text: Helle et al. have studied 138 years worth of human birth sex ratio data, from 1865 to 2003. They find an increased excess of male births during periods of the exogenous stress (World War II) and during warm years. In the warmest period over the 138 years, the birth sex ratio peaked at about 1.08 in northern Europe.[29]

text: Effects of gestation environment[edit]

text: Causes of stress during gestation, such as maternal malnutrition[30] generally appear to increase fetal deaths particularly among males,[28] resulting in a lower boy to girl ratio at birth. Also, higher incidence of Hepatitis B virus in populations is believed to increase the male to female sex ratio, while some unexplained environmental health hazards are thought to have the opposite effect.[31]

text: The effects of gestational environment on human sex ratio are complicated and unclear, with numerous conflicting reports. For example, Oster et al. examined a data set of 67,000 births in China, 15 percent of whom were Hepatitis B carriers. They found no effect on birth sex ratio from Hepatitis B presence in either the mothers or fathers.[32]

text: Effects of chemical pollution[edit]

text: A 2007 survey by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program noted abnormally low sex ratios in Russian Arctic villages and Inuit villages in Greenland and Canada, and attributed this imbalance to high levels of endocrine disruptors in the blood of inhabitants, including PCBs and DDT. These chemicals are believed to have accumulated in the tissues of fish and animals that make up the bulk of these populations' diets.[33] However, as noted in the Social factors section below, it is important to exclude alternative explanations, including social ones, when examining large human populations whose composition by ethnicity and race may be changing.

text: A 2008 report provides further evidence of effects of feminizing chemicals on male development in each class of vertebrate species as a worldwide phenomenon, possibly leading to a decline in the sex ratio in humans and a possible decline in sperm counts.[34] Out of over 100,000 recently introduced chemicals, 99% are poorly regulated.[34]

text: Other factors that could possibly affect the sex ratio include:

text:
Social status of the mother, known to be a factor in influencing the sex ratio of certain animals such as swine,[35] but apparently not in humans.[36]
Whether the mother smokes.[37]
Whether the mother has a partner or other support network,[38] although this correlation is widely considered[by whom?] to be the result of an unknown third factor.
Latitude, with countries near the equator producing more females than near the poles.[39]

text: Other scientific studies suggest that environmental effects on human sex ratio at birth are either limited or not properly understood. For example, a research paper published in 1999, by scientists from Finland’s National Public Health Institute, reports the effect of environmental chemicals and changes in sex ratio over 250 years in Finland.[40] This scientific team evaluated whether Finnish long-term data are compatible with the hypothesis that the decrease in the ratio of male to female births in industrial countries is caused by environmental factors. They analyzed the sex ratio of births from the files of Statistics Finland and all live births in Finland from 1751 to 1997. They found an increase in the proportion of males from 1751 to 1920; this was followed by a decrease and interrupted by peaks in births of males during and after World War I and World War II. None of the natural factors such as paternal age, maternal age, age difference of parents, birth order could explain the time trends. The scientists found that the peak ratio of male proportion precedes the period of industrialization or the introduction of pesticides or hormonal drugs, rendering a causal association between environmental chemicals and human sex ratio at birth unlikely. Moreover, these scientists claim that the trends they found in Finland are similar to those observed in other countries with worse pollution and much greater pesticide use.

text: Some studies have found that certain kinds of environmental pollution, in particular dioxins leads to higher rates of female births.[41][42] Other pollutants such as PCBs can cause an increase in the male ratio.[43]

text: Social factors[edit]

text: Sex-selective abortion and infanticide are thought to significantly skew the naturally occurring ratio in some populations, such as China, where the introduction of ultrasound scans in the late 1980s has led to a birth sex ratio (males to females) of 1.181 (2010 official census data for China).[44] The 2011 India census reports India's sex ratio in 0–6 age bracket at 1.088.[45] The 2011 birth sex ratios for China and India are significantly above the mean ratio recorded in the United States from 1940 through 2002 (1.051); however, their birth sex ratios are within the 0.98–1.14 range observed in the United States for significant ethnic groups over the same time period.[23]:10 Along with Asian countries, a number of European, Middle East, and Latin American countries have recently reported high birth sex ratios in the 1.06 to 1.14 range. High birth sex ratios, some claim, may be caused in part by social factors.

text: Reported sex ratios at birth, outside the typical range of 1.03 to 1.07, thus call for an explanation of some kind.

text: Another hypothesis has been inspired by the recent and persistent high birth sex ratios observed in Georgia and Armenia—both predominantly Orthodox Christian societies—and Azerbaijan, a predominantly Muslim society. Since their independence from Soviet Union, the birth sex ratio in these Caucasus countries has risen sharply to between 1.11 and 1.20, some of world's highest. Mesle et al. consider the hypothesis that the high birth sex ratio may be because of the social trend of more than two children per family, and birth order possibly affects the sex ratio in this region of the world. They also consider the hypothesis that sons are preferred in these countries of the Caucasus, the spread of scans and there being a practice of sex-selective abortion; however, the scientists admit that they do not have definitive proof that sex-selective abortion is actually happening or that there are no natural reasons for the persistently high birth sex ratios.[46]

text: In all such research, it is integral to consider plausible alternative explanations. For example, in some populations that have experienced declining sex ratios, researchers have suggested that ecological factors may be at work.

text: As an example of how the social composition of a human population may produce unusual changes in sex ratios, we can consider a study in several counties of California where declining sex ratios had been observed. Smith and Von Behren observe that: "In the raw data, the male birth proportion is indeed declining. However, during this period, there were also shifts in demographics that influence the sex ratio. Controlling for birth order, parents' age, and race/ethnicity, different trends emerged. White births (which account for over 80%) continued to show a statistically significant decline, while other racial groups showed non-statistically significant declines (Japanese, Native American, other), little or no change (black), or an increase (Chinese). Finally, when the white births were divided into Hispanic and non-Hispanic (possible since 1982), it was found that both white subgroups suggest an increase in male births." They concluded, "that the decline in male births in California is largely attributable to changes in demographics."[47]

text: Early marriage and parents' age[edit]

text: Several studies have examined human birth sex ratio data to determine if there is a natural relationship between the age of mother or father to the birth sex ratio. For example, Ruder has studied 1.67 million births in 33 states in the United States to discern effect of parent's age and birth sex ratios.[48] Similarly, Jacobsen et al. have studied 0.82 million births in Denmark with the same goal.[49] These scientists find that maternal age has no statistically significant role on human birth sex ratio. However, they report a significant effect of paternal age. Significantly more male babies were born per 1000 female babies to younger fathers than to older fathers. These studies suggest that social factors such as early marriage and quickly fertile couples may play a role in raising birth sex ratios in certain societies.[50]

text: Data sources and data quality issues[edit]

text: Reported sex ratios at birth for some human populations may be influenced not only by cultural preferences and social practices that favor the birth or survival of one sex over the other but also by incomplete or inaccurate reporting or recording of the births or the survival of infants.[citation needed] Even what constitutes a live birth or infant death may vary from one population to another. For example, for most of the 20th century in Russia (and the Soviet Union), extremely premature newborns (less than 28 weeks gestational age, or less than 1000 grams in weight, or less than 35 centimeters in length) were not counted as a live birth until they had survived 7 days; and if that infant died in those first 168 hours it would not be counted as an infant death. This led to serious underreporting of the Infant mortality rate (by 22% to 25%) relative to standards recommended by the World Health Organization.[51]

text: When unusual sex ratios at birth (or any other age) are observed, it is important to consider misreporting, misrecording, or under registration of births or deaths as possible reasons. Some researchers have in part attributed the high male to female sex ratios reported in mainland China in the last 25 years to the underreporting of the births of female children after the implementation of the one-child policy, though alternative explanations are now generally more widely accepted, including above all the use of ultrasound technology and sex-selective abortion of female fetuses and, probably to a more limited degree, neglect or in some cases infanticide of females. In the case of China, because of deficiencies in the vital statistics registration system, studies of sex ratios at birth have relied either on special fertility surveys, whose accuracy depends on full reporting of births and survival of both male and female infants, or on the national population census from which both birth rates and death rates are calculated from the household's reporting of births and deaths in the 18 months preceding the census.[52] To the extent that this underreporting of births or deaths is sex-selective, both fertility surveys and censuses may inaccurately reflect the actual sex ratios at birth.[53]

text: Economic factors[edit]

text: Catalano has examined the hypothesis that population stress induced by a declining economy reduces the human sex ratio. He compared the sex ratio in East and West Germany for the years 1946 to 1999, with genetically similar populations. The population stressors theory predicts that the East German sex ratio should have been lower in 1991 when East Germany's economy collapsed than expected from its previous years. Furthermore, the theory suggests that East German birth sex ratios should generally be lower than the observed sex ratio in West Germany for the same years, over time. According to Catalano's study, the birth sex ratio data from East Germany and West Germany over 45 years support the hypothesis. The sex ratio in East Germany was also at its lowest in 1991. According to Catalano study, assuming women in East Germany did not opt to abort male more than female, the best hypothesis is that a collapsing economy lowers the human birth sex ratio, while a booming economy raises the birth sex ratio. Catalano notes that these trends may be related to the observed trend of elevated incidences of very low birth weight from maternal stress, during certain macroeconomic circumstances.[54]

text: Other gestational factors[edit]

text: A research group led by Ein-Mor reported that sex ratio does not seem to change significantly with either maternal or paternal age. Neither gravidity nor parity seem to affect the male-to-female ratio.[55] However, there is a significant association of sex ratio with the length of gestation.[55] These Ein-mor conclusions have been disputed. For example, James suggested[56] that Ein-Mor results are based on some demographic variables and a small data set, a broader study of variables and larger population set suggests human sex ratio shows substantial variation for various reasons and different trend effects of length of gestation than those reported by Ein-Mor. In another study, James has offered the hypothesis that human sex ratios, and mammalian sex ratios in general, are causally related to the hormone levels of both parents at the time of conception.[10] This hypothesis is yet to be tested and proven true or false over large population sets.

text: Gender imbalance[edit]

text: Gender imbalance is a disparity between males and females in a population. As stated above, males usually exceed females at birth but subsequently experience different mortality rates due to many possible causes such as differential natural death rates, war casualties, and deliberate gender control.

text: According to Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, two Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters for the New York Times, violence against women is causing gender imbalances in many developing countries.[57] They detail sex-selective infanticide in the developing world, particularly in China, India and Pakistan.[57]

text: Commonly, countries with gender imbalances have three characteristics in common. The first is a rapid decline in fertility, either because of preference for smaller families or to comply with their nation's population control measures. Second, there is pressure for women to give birth to sons, often because of cultural preferences for male heirs. Third, families have widespread access to technology to selectively abort female fetuses.[58]

text: As a contributing measure to gender imbalance in developing countries, Kristof and WuDunn's[57] best estimate is that a girl in India, from 1 to 5 years of age, dies from discrimination every four minutes (132,000 deaths per year); that 39,000 girls in China die annually, within the first year of life, because parents did not give girls the same medical care and attention that boys received. The authors describe similar gender discrimination and gendercide in Congo, Kenya, Pakistan, Iraq, Bahrain, Thailand and many other developing countries.

text: Some of the factors suggested as causes of the gender imbalance are warfare (excess of females, notably in the wake of WWI in western Europe, and WWII, particularly in the Soviet Union); sex-selective abortion and infanticide (excess of males, notably in China as a result of the one-child policy, or in India); and large-scale migration, such as that by male labourers unable to bring their families with them (as in Qatar and other Gulf countries[59]). Gender imbalance may result in the threat of social unrest, especially in the case of an excess of low-status young males unable to find spouses,[60] and being recruited into the service of militaristic political factions. Economic factors such as male-majority industries and activities like the petrochemical, agriculture, engineering, military, and technology also have created a male gender imbalance in some areas dependent on one of these industries. Conversely, the entertainment, banking, tourism, fashion, and service industries may have resulted in a female-majority gender imbalance in some areas dependent on them.[61]

text: One study[62] found that the male-to-female sex ratio in the German state of Bavaria fell as low as 0.60 after the end of World War II for the most severely affected age cohort (those between 21 and 23 years old in 1946). This same study found that out-of-wedlock births spiked from approximately 10–15% during the inter-war years up to 22% at the end of the war. This increase in out-of-wedlock births was attributed to a change in the marriage market caused by the decline in the sex ratio.

text: The Northern Mariana Islands have the highest female ratio with 0.77 males per female. Qatar has the highest male ratio, with 2.87 males/female. For the group aged below 15, Sierra Leone has the highest female ratio with 0.96 males/female, and the Republic of Georgia and the People's Republic of China are tied for the highest male ratio with 1.13 males/female (according to the 2006 CIA World Factbook).

text: The value for the entire world population is 1.01 males/female, with 1.07 at birth, 1.06 for those under 15, 1.02 for those between 15 and 64, and 0.78 for those over 65.[4]

text: The "First World" G7 members all have a gender ratio in the range of 0.95–0.98 for the total population, of 1.05–1.07 at birth, of 1.05–1.06 for the group below 15, of 1.00–1.04 for the group aged 15–64, and of 0.70–0.75 for those over 65.

text: Countries on the Arabian peninsula tend to have a 'natural' ratio of about 1.05 at birth but a very high ratio of males for those over 65 (Saudi Arabia 1.13, Arab Emirates 2.73, Qatar 2.84), indicating either an above-average mortality rate for females or a below-average mortality for males, or, more likely in this case, a large population of aging male guest workers.[citation needed] Conversely, countries of Northern and Eastern Europe (the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia) tend to have a 'normal' ratio at birth but a very low ratio of males among those over 65 (Russia 0.46, Latvia 0.48, Ukraine 0.52); similarly, Armenia has a far above average male ratio at birth (1.17), and a below-average male ratio above 65 (0.67). This effect may be caused by emigration and higher male mortality as result of higher Soviet era deaths; it may also be related to the enormous (by western standards) rate of alcoholism in the former Soviet states.[citation needed] Another possible contributory factor is an aging population, with a higher than normal proportion of relatively elderly people: we recall that due to higher differential mortality rates the ratio of males to females reduces for each year of age.

text: In the evolutionary biology of sexual reproduction, the operational sex ratio (OSR), is the ratio of sexually competing males that are ready to mate to sexually competing females that are ready to mate,[63][64][65] or alternatively the local ratio of fertilizable females to sexually active males at any given time.[66] Its difference from the physical sex ratio, is that it does not take into account sexually inactive or non-competitive individuals (individuals that do not compete for mates). On occasion, regions with a high male-low female sex ratio, like Alaska, have shown a correlation with a higher rate of reported rape.[67]

text: Consequences of a high sex ratio[edit]

text: There are several social consequences of an imbalanced sex ratio. High ratios of males make it easier for women to marry, but harder for men.[68] In parts of China and India, there is a 12–15% excess of young men. These men will remain single and will be unable to have families, in societies where marriage is regarded as virtually universal and social status and acceptance depend, in large part, on being married and creating a new family. Analyses of how sex ratio imbalances affect personal consumption and intra-household distribution were pioneered by Gary Becker, Shoshana Grossbard-Shechtman,[69][70] and Marcia Guttentag and Paul Secord.[71] High ratios of males have a positive effect on marital fertility and women's share of household consumption and negative effects on non-marital cohabitation and fertility and women's labor supply. It has been shown that variation in sex ratio over time is inversely related to married women's labor supply in the U.S.[72][73]

text: An additional problem is that many of these men are of low socioeconomic class with limited education. When there is a shortage of women in the marriage market, the women can "marry up", inevitably leaving the least desirable men with no marriage prospects. In many communities today, there are growing numbers of young men who come from lower classes who are marginalized because of lack of family prospects and the fact that they have little outlet for sexual energy. There is evidence that this situation will lead to increased levels of antisocial behavior and violence and will ultimately present a threat to the stability and security of society.[74]


document_title: The Five Heartbeats

question_text: who did leon play in the five heartbeats

text: The Five Heartbeats

text: Plot[edit]

text: Donald "Duck" Matthews, Anthony "Choirboy" Stone, J.T. Matthews, Terrence "Dresser" Williams, and Eddie King Jr. perform at a Battle of the Bands contest as The Heartbeats. The group loses to Flash and the Ebony Sparks but pleases the crowd and is noticed by Jimmy Potter. Jimmy offers to manage the group, promising them $100 if they do not win the next month's Battle of the Bands contest. After the group loses, Jimmy pays them. When the owner of the club asks to hire them, they agree to let Jimmy manage them.

text: Bird and The Midnight Falcons witness the Heartbeats rehearsing for a competition and are concerned they could lose; frontman Victor "Bird" Thomas asks his girlfriend to invite her friends and boo The Heartbeats while cheering The Falcons. The announcer, a cousin of one of the Falcons, forces The Heartbeats to use the house piano player. Duck grows frustrated with the house piano player and shoves him off the piano stool. Eddie leads the group in a number that results in Bird's girlfriend fainting in Eddie's arms. The Heartbeats win the contest and the interest of Big Red Davis, who owns Big Red Records. Big Red offers them a deal, but Jimmy and his wife Eleanor, aware of Big Red's corruption, decline. The group instead releases their first single on Jimmy's own independent label and searches for a record company they can trust, but no one else is interested aside from a label which wants to buy Duck's songs for a group they've already signed, The Five Horsemen, prompting The Heartbeats to sign with Big Red.

text: The group goes on the road, but the travel is marred by racism and poor living conditions. Dresser's girlfriend visits and reveals she is pregnant, and the group is faced with their first album cover featuring white people, despite the label having earlier approved a photo of the Heartbeats as the cover.

text: Throughout the mid to late 1960s The Five Heartbeats receive numerous awards, chart several hits, and are featured on magazine covers. Eddie abuses alcohol and cocaine, affecting his performance and prompting his girlfriend Baby Doll to break up with him. Convinced that Jimmy intends to replace him due to his deteriorating condition, he cuts a deal with Big Red to have Jimmy cut out of his contract. Jimmy threatens to go to authorities with information about bootlegged LPs, cooked books and payola that could have Big Red arrested, leading Red to have Jimmy killed. The group learns that Eddie's deceit caused the fallout between Jimmy and Big Red. Big Red is eventually convicted of Jimmy's murder, forcing the group to sign to a new record label, and a guilt-ridden Eddie to leave in disgrace. Eddie later pops up at several Heartbeats concerts, to try to convince his friends to let him back into the group, but his drug and alcohol abuse has taken its toll on him, and all the other group members can do is supply him with money out of sympathy; Duck later hears on the radio that Eddie was involved in an armed robbery and, after a shootout with the police, was in critical condition.

text: The Heartbeats add Flash as their lead singer. Duck comes to suspect his fiancé, Tanya Sawyer, is having an affair with Choirboy. He follows her to a hotel, only to discover that Tanya is meeting with J.T., not Choirboy. Tanya's relationship with J.T. predates her relationship with Duck, but she says she is now in love with Duck. J.T. urges Tanya to disclose the affair, but she refuses. At an awards ceremony celebrating their success, Flash announces he is going solo. Duck reveals that he knows about Tanya and J.T. and also leaves.

text: The film then skips ahead to the early 1990s. Choirboy, true to his nickname, has returned to singing in his father's church. After converting to Christianity, Eddie became clean and sober. He is now married to Baby Doll, sings in Choirboy's choir, and manages a group. He asks Duck to write songs for them, to which he agrees. J.T. has a wife and two children, including a son named "Duck". The brothers reconcile. The only member to have maintained a singing career is Flash, who transitioned from doo-wop to pop music, and is part of the group Flash and The Five Horsemen.

text: At a family gathering, Eleanor Potter, coming to terms with her husband's death, forgives Eddie. The Five Heartbeats reunite in front of their families and friends, trying to remember their old moves.

text: Cast and characters[edit]

text: The Five Heartbeats[edit]

text:
Robert Townsend as Donald "Duck" Matthews: Duck hails from a poor family.  He is The Five Heartbeats' co-founder and brother of fellow Heartbeat's member J.T. Matthews, and originally was only the composer and musician for the group. He is a permanent vocalist after Bobby disappears. He serves as the movie's narrator, with the film beginning as he reminisces about the group's career.
Leon Robinson as J.T. Matthews: J.T. is the older brother of Duck. A womanizer; he and his brother Duck share a close and sometimes turbulent relationship.
Michael Wright as Eddie King, Jr.: Eddie comes from an area that features predominantly poor individuals, his own father believing his attempts to start a career in the music industry will be unsuccessful. Similar to David Ruffin, Eddie is the lead vocalist of the band and falls into a life of drugs that eventually leads to his expulsion from the group as well as emotional trauma. Eddie is one of the founding members of The Heartbeats and serves as the crowd pleaser whose voice leads to success in many of their performances.

Tico Wells as Anthony "Choirboy" Stone: Stone is given the nickname "Choirboy" (much to his chagrin) for his past as a choir boy in his father's church. Similar to Eddie, Stone's father does not support his decision to become a music artist fearing rock and jazz are "the devil's music." He becomes more of a womanizer as the group becomes more successful, but later goes back to being a part of his father's ministry after the group disbands.
Harry J. Lennix as Terrence "Dresser" Williams: The original choreographer of The Heartbeats, Dresser serves as the groups bass singer and one of the founding members. He is replaced by Ernest "Sarge" Johnson as the choreographer after Sarge out-dances Dresser.

text: Other characters[edit]

text:
Hawthorne James as Big Red Davis: Corrupt owner of the first record label The Five Heartbeats are signed to.
Chuck Patterson as Jimmy Potter: The Heartbeats' manager, Jimmy is responsible for giving the group the opportunity to perform at more publicized events and receive training from Ernest "Sarge" Johnson.
Diahann Carroll as Eleanor Potter: Jimmy Potter's wife, Eleanor along with her husband are the original supporters of The Five Heartbeats.
John Canada Terrell as Michael "Flash" Turner: Lead singer of Flash and the Ebony Sparks, the Heartbeats' only competition. When Eddie goes into a downward spiral, Flash is brought in as the new lead singer.
Roy Fegan as Victor "Bird" Thomas: Bird is the lead singer of Bird and The Midnight Falcons. Early in the film the character attempts to defeat The Five Heartbeats in a vocal contest. After Big Red orchestrates the murder of Jimmy Potter, Bird, who was previously attacked and intimidated by Big Red during a party, joins members of the Heartbeats in testifying against Red and helps to convict him of the murder.
Harold Nicholas of The Nicholas Brothers as Ernest "Sarge" Johnson: Johnson is The Five Heartbeat's choreographer. Sarge is last seen in the hospital on his birthday.
Troy Beyer as Baby Doll: Eddie's girlfriend, who leaves him after he abuses drugs and alcohol. She later marries Eddie and they are shown singing together in a choir.
Theresa Randle as Brenda: Dresser's girlfriend, who later becomes his wife. She and Dresser have a daughter named Monica.
Lamont Johnson as Bobby Cassanova: Bobby and Eddie are the original co-lead singers of the group. Bobby is only seen in the movie's opening scenes when he and Eddie are caught cheating at a high-stakes poker game. Bobby gets shot in the leg and is replaced by Eddie as the lead singer.
Carla Brothers as Tanya Sawyer: Duck's love interest. His earlier attempts to win her heart are unsuccessful but they reconnect at a party for the group and later date. Tanya and Duck were set to be wed, but Duck's suspicion about Tanya and Choir Boy had him follow her to a hotel only to find out that his brother J.T. was the one seeing her. This led Duck to estrange himself from the Heartbeats and his brother for years.
Tressa Thomas as "Duck's Little Sister": Clara Matthews, Duck's little sister, was also his muse, often helping him compose and arrange songs for the group as they did household chores. She was instrumental in arranging the vocals for "We Haven't Finished Yet".

text: Other bands[edit]

text:
Bird and The Midnight Falcons portrayed by actors Roy Fegan, Gregory Alexander, Roger Rose, Jimmy Woodard: The group The Five Heartbeats compete against in their second onscreen performance. The Midnight Falcons attempt to cheat by ordering their girlfriends to deliberately cheer against The Heartbeats. They would later sign with Big Red Records along with the Five Heartbeats.
Flash and the Ebony Sparks portrayed by John Canada Terrell, Ron Jackson, Recoe Walker and Wayne "Crescendo" Ward: The Ebony Sparks defeat The Five Heartbeats in singing competitions—many of which are rigged—prior to their mainstream popularity. Flash later becomes the lead singer for the Five Heartbeats.

text: Production[edit]

text: After writing (along with Keenen Ivory Wayans), producing, directing, and starring in his first film Hollywood Shuffle, Robert Townsend had attained near-cult status among independent filmmakers due to his dedication to that film—a project which caused him to max out all his credit cards and spend nearly $100,000 of his own money raised through savings and various acting jobs in order to produce the film. When writing Townsend's first studio film The Five Heartbeats, Townsend and Wayans kept comedy an important aspect of the film, but also explored complex characters in a more dramatic way.[12]

text: The Five Heartbeats was originally set up as a development deal at Warner Bros. in 1988, with Keenan Ivory Wayans, his brother Damon, and others tapped to star.[13] Warner passed on the project, and the Wayans moved on to develop and star in the FOX sketch comedy show In Living Color instead.[13]

text: Townsend resurrected Heartbeats at 20th Century Fox in 1990.[13] The original screenplay had been inspired by the lives and careers of Motown group The Temptations, and Townsend had met with former lead singers David Ruffin and Eddie Kendrick  with the intention of hiring them as technical advisors.[13] Fox vetoed bringing Ruffi and Kendrick onto the production,  for fear that Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr. might sue the studio.[13] Rhythm and blues-singing group The Dells, who were renowned for their four-decade career, became the technical advisors instead.

text: Townsend used his film to depict a similar story to the careers of the Temptations and the Dells, following the lives of three friends who aspire to musical stardom.[14] Given the setting of the film, he was able to tie in other elements, such as race relations, as well.[14]

text: Due to the production's budgetary constraints, Townsend used little-known actors of the time, with the exceptions of Leon Robinson, Diahann Carroll and Harold Nicholas of The Nicholas Brothers.[1] Townsend had considered Denzel Washington as Eddie King, Jr. and Whitney Houston as Baby Doll.[13] The former was not cast due to budget concerns and the latter passed on the role as it was felt to be too small.[13]

text: Promotion[edit]

text: To promote the film prior to its release, Townsend, along with the other actors who portrayed the fictional musical quartet The Five Heartbeats (Leon Robinson, Michael Wright, Harry J. Lennix, and Tico Wells) performed in a concert with real-life Soul/R&B vocal group The Dells, one of many groups that inspired the film. The Dells sang and recorded the vocals as the actors lip synced.[15]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text:
The Five Heartbeats (Music from the Motion Picture)
Soundtrack album by Various ArtistsReleased
April 2, 1991Genre
R&B, soulLabel
Capitol[9][16]

tag: table

text: Professional ratingsReview scoresSourceRatingAllMusic[17]

text: A soundtrack for the film was released by Virgin Records, featuring original music by various artists. Both "Nights like This" and "A Heart Is a House for Love" became top 20 hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart.[17] Many of the tracks are credited to fictional characters in the film as opposed to the actual vocalists.

text:
A Heart Is a House for Love - Billy Valentine/ The Dells
We Haven't Finished Yet - Patti LaBelle, Tressa Thomas, Billy Valentine
Nights like This - After 7
Bring Back the Days - U.S. Male
Baby Stop Running Around - Bird & The Midnight Falcons
In the Middle - Dee Harvey
Nothing but Love - The Dells with Billy Valentine
Are You Ready for Me - Dee Harvey
Stay in My Corner - The Dells
I Feel Like Going On - Andraé Crouch[16][17] (Eddie, Baby Doll and the L.A. Mass Choir)

tag: ol

text: Reception[edit]

text: The film grossed approximately $8,500,000[14][18] after being released in 862 theaters throughout North America.  However, despite the film's moderate success, it was not well received by a majority of critics.[19] On Rotten Tomatoes The Five Heartbeats accumulated an average of 35%, although only 17 reviews were counted (6 of which were positive, the remaining 11 negative).[19]

text: Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times commented that:

text:
“

...at feature length, Townsend shows a real talent, and, not surprisingly, an ability to avoid most cliches, to go for the human truth in his characters...by the end we really care about these guys...There is one obligatory scene showing racial prejudice against the group, and it seems a little tacked on, as if the only purpose of the Southern trip was to justify the scene.[11]

”

text: Due to the nature of the film, music montages were often used to progress the plot; critics considered this a major flaw.[20]

text: The numerous musical performances in the film were highly acclaimed.[20] All Music complimented the Dells' lead singer Marvin Junior (who provided the singing voice for fictional character Eddie Kane Jr.) stating that he was "one of the most underrated voices in pop music."[16] Tressa Thomas' performance of "We Haven't Finished Yet," in particular, was given favorable attention by critics.[21][22] The film received an ASCAP award for Most Performed Songs in a Motion Picture for the song "Nights Like This."[23]

text: DVD releases[edit]

text: A DVD was released for the film in 2002, a special edition was also released in 2006 for the film's 15th Anniversary which includes additional content.[9]

text: Footnotes[edit]

text:
^ Jump up to: a b c d http://www.vh1.com/movies/movie/11969/castcrew.jhtml

Jump up ^ http://www.vh1.com/movies/movie/11969/details.jhtml

Jump up ^ http://www.vh1.com/movies/movie/11969/plot.jhtml

^ Jump up to: a b https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101891/

Jump up ^ http://search.ew.com/EWSearch/ew/search/search.html?search=the+five+heartbeats&x=0&y=0/[permanent dead link]

Jump up ^ https://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/dvd/5948151/review/5948152/

Jump up ^ http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/the-five-heartbeats/?pkw=PI&vendor=Paid%20Inclusion&OCID=iSEMPI

Jump up ^ http://search.ew.com/EWSearch/ew/search/search.html?search=the+five+heartbeats&x=0&y=0[permanent dead link]

^ Jump up to: a b c http://www.answers.com/topic/the-five-heartbeats

Jump up ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/five_heartbeats/?name_order=asc#mo

^ Jump up to: a b http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19910329/REVIEWS/103290301/1023

Jump up ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=5YWgxVkJmT4C&pg=PA220&dq=the+five+heartbeats&lr=&sig=ACfU3U0Nl-quxN9UYyRjd5Q6i_fBRfUcNw#PPA220,M1

^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Townsend, Robert (Director) (August 27, 2018). Making The Five Heartbeats (Motion picture). Hollywood: Green Lighthouse.

^ Jump up to: a b c http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/five_heartbeats/#

Jump up ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,313030,00.html

^ Jump up to: a b c https://www.allmusic.com/album/r84315

^ Jump up to: a b c http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,86336,00.html

Jump up ^ http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=fiveheartbeats.htm

^ Jump up to: a b http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/five_heartbeats/?name_order=asc#

^ Jump up to: a b http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/20018/five-heartbeats-15th-anniversary-special-edition-the/

Jump up ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/thefiveheartbeatsrhinson_a0a9e7.htm

Jump up ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,313751,00.html

Jump up ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101891/awards