The Passenger (1975 film)

The Passenger
The Passenger
	Italian theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michelangelo Antonioni
Written by	Mark Peploe; Michelangelo Antonioni; Peter Wollen
Produced by	Carlo Ponti
Starring	Jack Nicholson; Maria Schneider; Steven Berkoff; Ian Hendry; Jenny Runacre
Cinematography	Luciano Tovoli
Edited by	Michelangelo Antonioni; Franco Arcalli
Music by	Ivan Vandor
Color process	Metrocolor
Production; companies	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Compagnia Cinematografica Champion ; CIPI Cinematografica; Les Films Concordia
Distributed by	Cinema International Corporation
Release dates	28 February 1975 (Italy); 9 April 1975 (US);
Running time	126 minutes
Countries	Italy; Spain; France
Languages	English; German; Spanish; French
Box office	$768,744 (2005 re-release)

The Passenger (Italian: Professione: reporter) is a 1975 drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Written by Antonioni, Mark Peploe, and Peter Wollen, the film is about a disillusioned Anglo-American journalist, David Locke (Jack Nicholson), who assumes the identity of a dead businessman while working on a documentary in Chad, unaware that he is impersonating an arms dealer with connections to the rebels in the civil war. Along the way, he is accompanied by an unnamed young woman (Maria Schneider).

The Passenger was the final film in Antonioni's three-picture deal with producer Carlo Ponti and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, after Blowup (1966) and Zabriskie Point (1970). The film received strong reviews, with critics praising Antonioni's direction, Nicholson's performance, the cinematography, and its themes of identity, disillusionment and existentialism. During the film's release, it was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.^[2]

The film was originally released by MGM in the United States, but in partial settlement of a dispute over a different project, Nicholson received the film rights and reportedly kept it out of video distribution until Sony Pictures offered to remaster and re-release it.^[3] In 2005, with Nicholson's consent, Sony Pictures Classics remastered the film, giving it a limited theatrical re-release on October 28, 2005, and releasing it on DVD on April 25, 2006.^[4]^[5]

^ "The Passenger (1975)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
^ "Festival de Cannes: The Passenger". Cannes Film Festival. Retrieved 2 May 2009.
^ Goldstein, Patrick (25 October 2005). "Some vintage Jack". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
^ "The Passenger—Now on DVD". Sony Pictures. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
^ Dargis, Manohla (28 October 2005). "'The Passenger' Review: Antonioni's Characters Escape Into Ambiguity and Live (Your View Here) Ever After". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 April 2024.

[boxoffice-1] "The Passenger (1975)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 1 May 2023.

[festival-cannes.com-2] "Festival de Cannes: The Passenger". Cannes Film Festival. Retrieved 2 May 2009.

[LosAngeles-October2005-3] Goldstein, Patrick (25 October 2005). "Some vintage Jack". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 November 2022.

[4] "The Passenger—Now on DVD". Sony Pictures. Retrieved 1 May 2023.

[5] Dargis, Manohla (28 October 2005). "'The Passenger' Review: Antonioni's Characters Escape Into Ambiguity and Live (Your View Here) Ever After". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 April 2024.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]