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Cobra (1986 film)

Cobra is a 1986 American action film directed by George P. Cosmatos and written by Sylvester Stallone, who stars in the titular role. The film, which is loosely based on the novel A Running Duck by Paula Gosling (later published as Fair Game and filmed under that title in 1995), co-stars Reni Santoni, Brigitte Nielsen and Andrew Robinson. Cobra follows Lt. Marion "Cobra" Cobretti, who investigates a string of violent crimes and also protects a witness targeted by the perpetrators.

Cobra is the final film which featured the collaboration between Stallone and Nielsen after Rocky IV (1985) and until Creed II (2018), and the only film the pair are both featured in while married to one another in real life. The script was largely inspired by Stallone's original script for Beverly Hills Cop (1984).

Cobra was released to generally negative reviews with criticism on its excessive violence and overuse of genre tropes, but it was a box office success and also has since been considered as a cult classic.

Plot
A mass shooting at a Los Angeles supermarket evolves into a hostage crisis. The Los Angeles Police Department summons Lt. Marion "Cobra" Cobretti, of their elite "Zombie Squad", to resolve the crisis. Cobretti stands off with the shooter, who espouses social Darwinist ideals and mentions a "New World". Cobretti kills him before he can execute a group of hostages. Detective Monte reprimands Cobretti for disregarding police procedure, and Cobretti admonishes a group of reporters for not prioritizing the safety of potential victims.

Unbeknownst to the authorities, the supermarket incident is part of a string of violent crimes in Los Angeles committed by The New World, a social Darwinist cult that despises modern society and believes in killing the weak, leaving only the strongest and smartest to rule. Model and businesswoman Ingrid Knudsen becomes the New World's priority target after she witnesses cultists and their leader "Night Slasher" on a killing spree. She is placed under the protective custody of Cobretti and his partner Sergeant Tony Gonzales after a failed attempt on her life.

After more attempts to kill Knudsen and Cobretti, Cobretti theorizes an organization is responsible but his theory is rebuffed by his superiors. Cobretti and Gonzales move with Knudsen out of Los Angeles to the small town of San Remos, where Cobretti and Knudsen become romantically involved. The New World's second-in-command, Officer Nancy Stalk, infiltrates the police escort. Despite Cobretti's mistrust of Stalk, he does nothing and the group spends the night in a motel.

At dawn, the New World arrives in San Remos on motorcycles and besieges the town, directed by Stalk. In a shootout, Cobretti kills many cultists, but Gonzales is wounded. Cobretti and Knudsen flee in a pickup truck which the cultists wreck with a roadblock. The pair to flee to a steel mill. Cobretti defeats the rest of the cultists, and Stalk is accidentally shot by the Night Slasher.

Fighting the Night Slasher hand-to-hand, Cobretti impales him on a hook that drags him into a furnace. The California Highway Patrol secures San Remos and rescues Gonzales. As Cobretti is cleared by his superiors, Monte initially appears apologetic, only to again chastise Cobretti for "overdoing it". Cobretti punches Monte in the face before riding away with Knudsen on a motorcycle.

Development and writing
When Sylvester Stallone was signed to play the lead in Beverly Hills Cop, he decided to rewrite the script almost completely, removing nearly all the comedic aspects and turning it into an action movie that he felt was better suited to him. The studio read his revised script and rejected it. The proposed action scenes would have increased the budget far beyond what they planned. Stallone later channeled his ideas for it into an original script. When Stallone left Beverly Hills Cop, Eddie Murphy was brought in to play the lead role.

The novel A Running Duck by Paula Gosling was cited as source material, enough so that she received a screen credit.

Sylvester Stallone's earlier draft of the script contained many differences from later drafts and the final film. These include the opening shootout taking place in a movie theater (instead of a supermarket), during which many more people are killed; Cobra mentioning how he had a girlfriend who was killed by a psychopath he was trying to catch; an additional nighttime action sequence on a boat where Cobra and Ingrid are hiding and are attacked by the Night Slasher's cultists, with Cobra and Gonzalez managing to kill them all; and a different ending, in which Monte, revealed to be the actual leader of the New World, attempts to kill Ingrid at the last second before being killed by Cobretti.

The line, "This is where the law stops and I start, sucker!", was inspired by a line spoken by Steve McQueen in The Reivers.

Cobra needed much additional editing because the film was so graphically violent that it originally received an X rating. It was edited to receive an R rating.

Casting
Brian Thompson auditioned seven times before he was hired. On the fourth audition he met Stallone, who thought that Thompson was too nice to play the Night Slasher. But after a screen test, he immediately got the job. Also, in the original script, the Night Slasher was called Abaddon, possibly after the "angel of the abyss" from the Bible.

Thompson repeatedly sought Stallone's advice about how to play the Night Slasher, including questions about his background and personal motivations, but Stallone showed no interest in the subject and told Thompson that the character was simply evil. In an unfortunate surprise for Thompson, after filming was completed, director Cosmatos unexpectedly told him: "You could have been good if you had listened to me."

Stallone acknowledged Dirty Harry as an influence and Cobra reunited two actors from the film: Reni Santoni and Andy Robinson.

Brigitte Nielsen, Stallone's then-wife who he had met filming Rocky IV, was cast as Ingrid Knudsen.

Filming
Originally, Cobra was supposed to be filmed in Seattle, climaxing with a motorcycle chase scene on a ferry between the islands. Even though everything was prepared to start filming the final theatrical version of the scene at night, Stallone demanded the ending be changed because of the mosquito problem at that time, which would have made night time filming very difficult to endure.

The supporting cast and extras were forbidden from talking to Stallone on set.

At one point during filming, Stallone complained to cinematographer Ric Waite that they were falling behind and that he needed to push his crew to work harder. Waite responded by telling Stallone that the delays were due to his fooling around with Brigitte Nielsen and showing off for his bodyguards. Although Stallone was shocked that somebody would talk to him that way, he cleaned up his act and behaved more professionally, although he returned to his old egocentric behavior a few weeks later. Waite later said in an interview that, despite his huge ego, Stallone had a great sense of humor. He said George P. Cosmatos would have made a great producer, but he was a terrible director.

During a stunt scene, driver Kerry Rossall and another stuntman were injured after Rossall intentionally crashed a van into a wall. Nielsen was nearly hit by the van during a previous take.

For the Night Slasher's monologue in the lead-up to the final fight, Brian Thompson did the scene with the script supervisor standing in for Stallone, who was busy watching a basketball game on TV.

The custom 1950 Mercury driven by Cobretti was actually owned by Sylvester Stallone. The studio produced stunt doubles of the car for use in some of the action sequences, such as the jump from the second floor of the parking garage. The production built three "Cobra cars" for stunt work. Although they were identical on the outside, their moving parts were designed for specific sequences, involving high-speed swipes with other vehicles, 180-degree turns, jumps, and 360-degree spins.

The knife used by the Night Slasher was made for the film by knife designer Herman Schneider. Sylvester Stallone asked Schneider to create a knife that audiences would never forget. Cobretti uses a custom Colt Gold Cup National Match 1911, modified to chamber 9×19mm Parabellum. Later in the film, he uses a Jatimatic submachine gun.

Music
An audio cassette and vinyl version were released on September 21, 1986, followed by a CD which was released in 1992 as the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.

Stan Bush's song "The Touch", heard in The Transformers: The Movie (1986), was originally written for Cobra. It is said "Feel The Heat" was overheard during the filming of its music video by Jean Beauvoir when they were editing in the same building complex, and was added because Stallone loved the song.

Versions
The first rough cut was over two hours long (the closest estimated original running time is 130 minutes). It was then shortened to a roughly two-hour director's cut which was intended to be released in theaters. However, after Top Gun became a smash hit, Stallone and Warner Bros. were worried that Cobra—which would premiere the following week—would be overshadowed, so in order to ensure at least one extra screening each day the movie was heavily re-edited. Stallone removed much of the plot and scenes involving characters other than his own. Warner Bros. also demanded that the more graphic scenes be cut down or removed entirely because they were "too intense," and that some action scenes be cut for pacing. The extended television version of the film is approximately 6 minutes longer than the theatrical release. When first submitted to the MPAA the film received an X rating, necessitating even more cuts.

Box office
Cobra opened the widest for a Warner Bros. release at the time opening on 2,131 screens and debuted at number one at the U.S. box office with a Memorial Day weekend debut of $15.7 million. It eventually went on to gross $160 million, over six times its estimated $25 million budget. According to The New York Times, the film was still considered a disappointment because its $48 million at the box office in the US did not live up to the success of Rambo.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 18% based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 3.40/10. The website's consensus reads, "A disengaged Sylvester Stallone plays the titular Cobra with no bite in this leaden action thriller, queasily fixated on wanton carnage and nothing else." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 25 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B" on scale of A to F.

TV Guide stated that "Stallone's character is an empty hulk...the few attempts to provide us with little insights into his character are downright laughable." Nina Darnton of The New York Times opined that the film "pretends to be against the wanton violence of a disintegrating society, but it's really the apotheosis of that violence....[it] shows such contempt for the most basic American values", and Vincent Canby called it "disturbing for the violence it portrays, the ideas it represents and the large number of people who will undoubtedly go to see it and cheer on its dangerous hero." Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times panned the film, saying "Cobra 's pretentious emptiness, its dumbness, its two-faced morality make it a movie that begs to be laughed off."

Variety called it "a sleek, extremely violent and exciting police thriller" and compared Cobra favorably to Rocky and Rambo.

Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune compared Cobra to Dirty Harry when giving the film 2 and 1/2 stars and summarizing it as "Filthy Harry". He wrote: "Whereas Clint Eastwood simply would have squinted at Robinson, Stallone takes a more violent approach. Maybe that's the difference between actors--Eastwood can be droll; Stallone more often crosses the border to primeval." Siskel and Roger Ebert did not give the film a feature review on their TV show, but both gave it negative attention during a late-1986 segment on new video releases, in which Siskel noted that the film had a great opening sequence (the supermarket hostage scene) and couldn't maintain the momentum. Ebert lamented that Stallone was squandering his talent and vast potential.

In the 1996 movie guide "Seen That, Now What?", the film was given the rating of "C−", stating that the film is "a graceless vigilante thriller that's strictly for hardcore action junkies."

Then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan viewed this film at Camp David on June 6, 1986.

Accolades
Cobra was nominated for six Razzie Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Sylvester Stallone), Worst Actress (Brigitte Nielsen), Worst Supporting Actor and Worst New Star (both for Brian Thompson) and Worst Screenplay.

Director Nicolas Winding Refn is a huge fan of Cobra. In Refn's cult film Drive the main character has a toothpick in his mouth in some scenes; this is Refn's homage to the opening scene where Stallone has a matchstick in his mouth. The main star of the film, Ryan Gosling, also said in interview that he is a fan of Stallone and Cobra which is why he "borrowed" his character's toothpick habit from Cobra.

Video game
In 1986, the film was made into a video game by Ocean Software for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC.

Aborted sequel and TV series
In 1987, Cannon Films, along with Warner Bros. attempted to make a sequel, Cobra Part II, but the film never materialized.

In 2019, a television series was in development with Robert Rodriguez serving as director/creator. , it is not known if this project is still in development.

title: Cobra (1986 film)


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Skip James

Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James (June 9, 1902 – October 3, 1969) was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. AllMusic stated: "Coupling an oddball guitar tuning set against eerie, falsetto vocals, James' early recordings could make the hair stand up on the back of your neck."

His guitar playing is noted for its dark, minor-key sound, played in an open D-minor tuning with an intricate fingerpicking technique. James first recorded for Paramount Records in 1931, but these recordings sold poorly, having been released during the Great Depression, and he drifted into obscurity.

After a long absence from the public eye, James was rediscovered in 1964 by blues enthusiasts including John Fahey, helping further the blues and folk music revival of the 1950s and early 1960s. During this period, James appeared at folk and blues festivals, gave concerts around the country, and recorded several albums for various record labels. His songs have influenced generations of musicians and have been adapted by numerous artists. He has been hailed as "one of the seminal figures of the blues".

Early years
Nehemiah Curtis James was born on June 9, 1902, in a segregated hospital near Bentonia, Mississippi. His mother Phyllis worked as a cook and babysitter on the Woodbine Plantation, which was 15 miles south of Yazoo City. His father Eddie James, a bootlegger who was described as a "local lowlife" by Stephen Calt, left the family around 1907. He later reformed and became a preacher. As a youth, James heard local musicians, such as Henry Stuckey, from whom he learned to play the guitar, and the brothers Charlie and Jesse Sims. His mother bought him a $2.50 guitar, which was his first instrument. James later began playing the organ in his teens. He later left Bentonia in 1919, and began working on road construction and levee-building crews in Mississippi in the early 1920s, and wrote what is perhaps his earliest song, "Illinois Blues", about his experiences as a laborer. He began playing the guitar in open D-minor tuning.

1920s and 1930s
For most of the 1920s, James worked a series of illicit jobs, such as bootlegging, gambling, and procuring. His lifestyle was reportedly so "unbridled", that when he returned to Bentonia from Dallas, Texas, in 1929, he was met with local reports of his supposed "violent death". He was met with the same reports five years earlier when he returned from Arkansas. That same year, in 1929, he met a local musician named Johnny Temple, who became his first protégé. The 23 year old Temple learned how to play in cross-note tuning, which was then unknown to musicians who were from the Jackson area, and also attempted to copy James' high falsetto voice, until he advised Temple to sing in his natural voice. James also operated a music school for would-be blues musicians in Jackson, giving lessons on guitar, piano, and even violin.

James continued working locally as a street singer. In early 1931, James auditioned for the record shop owner and talent scout H. C. Speir in Jackson, Mississippi. Speir placed blues performers with various record labels, including Paramount Records. On the strength of this audition, James traveled to Grafton, Wisconsin, to record for Paramount. His 1931 records are considered idiosyncratic among prewar blues recordings and formed the basis of his reputation as a musician.

As was typical of his era, James recorded various styles of music – blues, spirituals, cover versions, and original compositions – frequently blurring the lines between genres and sources. For example, "I'm So Glad" was derived from a 1927 song, "So Tired", by Art Sizemore and George A. Little, recorded in 1928 by Gene Austin and by Lonnie Johnson (Johnson's version was entitled "I'm So Tired of Livin' All Alone"). James's biographer Stephen Calt, echoing the opinion of several music critics, considered the finished product totally original, "one of the most extraordinary examples of fingerpicking found in guitar music". Several other recordings from the Grafton session, such as "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues", "Devil Got My Woman", "Jesus Is a Mighty Good Leader", and "22-20 Blues" (the basis of Robert Johnson's better-known "32-20 Blues"), have been similarly influential. Very few original copies of James's Paramount 78 rpm records have survived.

The Great Depression struck just as James's recordings were hitting the market. Sales were poor as a result, and he gave up performing the blues to become the choir director in his father's church. James was later an ordained minister in Baptist and Methodist churches, but the extent of his involvement in religious activities is unknown.

Rediscovery and legacy
For the next thirty-three years, James made no known recordings and performed sporadically. He was virtually unknown to the general public until about 1960. Blues singer and guitarist Big Joe Williams believed that James had already passed, having been murdered in Mississippi. In 1964, blues enthusiasts John Fahey, Bill Barth, and Henry Vestine found him in a hospital in Tunica, Mississippi. According to Calt, the "rediscovery" of both James and Son House at virtually the same time was the start of the blues revival in the United States.

In July 1964, James and other rediscovered musicians appeared at the Newport Folk Festival. Several photographs by the blues promoter Dick Waterman captured this performance, James's first in over 30 years. James subsequently recorded for Takoma Records, Melodeon Records, and Vanguard Records and performed at various engagements until his death from cancer on October 3, 1969, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the age of 67.

More of James's recordings have been available since his death than were available during his lifetime. His 1931 recordings and several of his recordings and concerts from the 1960s have been reissued on numerous compact discs, in and out of print. His songs were not initially recorded as frequently as those of other rediscovered blues musicians. However, the British rock band Cream recorded "I'm So Glad", providing James with $10,000 in royalties, the only windfall of his career. Subsequently, Cream's adaptation was recorded by other groups. James' "22-20" inspired the name of the English group 22-20s. The British post-rock band Hope of the States released a song partially about the life of James, entitled "Nehemiah", which reached number 30 on the UK Singles Chart. Only 15 copies of James' original shellac 78 recordings are still in existence, and have become extremely sought after by collectors such as John Tefteller.

In 2004, Wim Wenders directed the film The Soul of a Man (the second part of The Blues, a series produced by Martin Scorsese), focusing on the music of Blind Willie Johnson, J.B. Lenoir and James. Because James had not been filmed before the 1960s, Keith B. Brown played the part of the young James in the documentary. James' song "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" was featured in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? and included on the soundtrack album.

James was the inspiration for Dion's 2007 blues album, Son of Skip James, which peaked at No. 4.

James was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Bentonia, his hometown.

In 2020, James' song "Devil Got My Woman" was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Personality
James was described as aloof and moody. The musicologist Dick Spottswood commented, "Skip James, you never knew. Skip could be sunshine, or thunder and lightning depending on his whim of the moment".

Equipment
The guitar that James played in his 1931 sessions is now generally accepted to have been a 12-string Stella guitar restrung as a six-string. When he was rediscovered in the 1960s, he typically played a Gibson J-185, Gibson J-45, Martin D-18, and a Martin D-28.

James as guitarist
James often played guitar with an open D-minor tuning (D–A–D–F–A–D), resulting in the "deep" sound of the 1931 recordings. He reportedly learned this tuning from his musical mentor, the unrecorded bluesman Henry Stuckey, who in turn was said to have acquired it from Bahamian soldiers during the First World War, despite the fact that his service card shows he did not serve overseas. Robert Johnson also recorded in this tuning, his "Hell Hound on My Trail" being based on James's "Devil Got My Woman." James's classically informed fingerpicking style was fast and clean, using the entire register of the guitar, with heavy, hypnotic bass lines. His style of playing had more in common with the Piedmont blues of the East Coast than with the Delta blues of his native Mississippi.

The "Bentonia School"
James is sometimes associated with the Bentonia School, which is either a subgenre of blues music or a style of playing it. In a 1994 biography of James, I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues, Stephen Calt maintained that no style of blues originated in Bentonia and that the "Bentonia School" is simply a notion of later blues writers who overestimated the provinciality of Mississippi during the early 20th century, when railways linked small towns. Calt asserts these writers failed to see that in the case of Bentonia bluesman Jack Owens, "the 'tradition' he bore primarily consisted of musical scraps from James' table". Owens and other musicians who may have been contemporaries of James were not recorded until the revival of interest in blues music in the 1960s. Whether the work of these musicians constituted a "school", and whether James originated it or was a member of it himself, remain open questions. One of the last living links to the original Bentonia school is Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, the owner of the famous Blue Front Cafe in Bentonia, Mississippi. Holmes learned to play in this particular style directly from Henry Stuckey, who reportedly taught James and Owens himself. Accordingly, Duck is called the "last of the Bentonia Bluesmen."

Later recordings, 1964–1969
Despite poor health, James recorded several LPs from 1964 to 1969, mostly revisiting his 1931 sides, traditional music, and spirituals, but also including a handful of newly written blues meditating on his illness and convalescence. These five prolific years have not been thoroughly documented: recordings, outtakes, and interviews not released on James's LPs (which have been repeatedly cannibalized and reissued) are scattered among many compilations released by small labels. Previously unreleased performances continue to be found and released but have been left largely unexplained, sometimes hours' worth at a time. Original recordings and reissues are listed below.
 * Greatest of the Delta Blues Singers (Melodeon, Biograph, 1964)
 * She Lyin' (Adelphi, 1964; first released by Genes, 1996)
 * Today! (Vanguard, 1966)
 * Devil Got My Woman (Vanguard, 1968)
 * I'm So Glad (Vanguard, 1978)
 * Live: Boston, 1964 & Philadelphia, 1966 (Document, 1994)
 * Skip's Piano Blues, 1964 (Genes, 1998)
 * Blues from the Delta, with two previously unreleased recordings (Vanguard, 1998)
 * The Complete Early Recordings of Skip James – 1930 (Yazoo, 1994)
 * The Complete Bloomington, Indiana Concert, March 30, 1968 (Document, 1999)
 * Skip's Guitar Blues, 1964(?), (Genes, 1999)
 * Studio Sessions: Rare and Unreleased, 1967 (Vanguard, 2003)
 * Hard Time Killing Floor Blues (Biograph, 2003†)
 * Heroes of the Blues: The Very Best of Skip James (Shout!, 2003)
 * Hard Time (Universe, 2003†)
 * Cypress Grove Blues (2004)
 * Hard Time Killin' Floor (Yazoo 2075, 2005)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Skip James


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Vasily Alekseyev

Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev (Василий Иванович Алексеев; 7 January 1942 – 25 November 2011) was a Soviet weightlifter. He set 80 world-records and 81 Soviet records in weightlifting and won Olympic gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 games.

Biography
At the age of 18, Alekseyev began practicing weightlifting at Trud VSS, trained by his coach Rudolf Plyukfelder until 1968, when he began to train solo. He was not a naturally large man like other super heavyweights but was encouraged to gain strength by adding weight. In January 1970 Alekseyev set his first world record, and during the World Weightlifting Championship in Columbus, Ohio, US. In 1970 he was the first man to clean and jerk 500 pounds (227 kg) in competition. During one of his early world records, Oscar State OBE remarked that the weight of over 460 pounds (209 kg) in the Olympic press looked so easy it could have been a broomstick. This was the beginning of a series of 80 world records Alekseyev set between 1970 and 1977. He received bonus funds by the Soviet government every time he set a world record (Soviet athletics were funded by the state); so he made it a point to gradually increase his world records by 1.1 pounds or 0.5 kg. He was unbeaten and held the World Championship and European Championship titles for those eight years. He was the first man to total over 600 kg in the triple event.

Many thought he would be the first to clean and jerk the mythical 600 pounds but it was never to be as his habit of increasing world records by only 1/2 kilo took so long that age caught up to him.

Alekseyev's performance in the Moscow Olympics of 1980 was a disappointment. He had by then become more of a recluse, training by himself without a coach. In the snatch he set his opening weight too high and was unable to lift it, scoring zero kilograms as the result. He retired from weightlifting after the Moscow Olympics.

In 1987, Alekseyev was elected to represent the Ryazan District for the Soviet Union's Congress of People's Deputies. Alekseyev worked as a coach between 1990 and 1992. Under his leadership, the Unified Team earned ten medals in weightlifting at the 1992 Summer Olympics, including five golds.

From 1966 Alekseyev lived in Shakhty, where in 1971 he graduated from the branch of the Novocherkassk Polytechnical Institute. He died on 25 November 2011 in Germany in a clinic where he had been sent for serious heart problems. He was 69. The Russian Weightlifting Federation reported his death and called him a "Soviet sports legend" and "one of the strongest people in the world". He was survived by wife Olimpiada and sons Sergey and Dmitry. Dmitry competed nationally in weightlifting, placing fourth at the 1988 Soviet weightlifting championships.

Legacy and awards
Vladimir Vysotsky devoted his "Song about weightlifter" (Песня о штангисте, 1971) to Alekseyev.

Alekseyev was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated 14 April 1975, titled "World's Strongest Man." In 1999, in Greece, Alekseyev was acknowledged as the best sportsman of the 20th century. He was also awarded: Order of Lenin (1972), Order of Friendship of Peoples, Order of the Badge of Honour (1970), and Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1972). In 1993, he was elected a member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.

In Shakhty, where he lived much of his life, there is a street and park named after him, as well as his monument installed in 2014.

Career-bests

 * Snatch: 190.0 kg (419 lbs) on 1 September 1977 in Podolsk;
 * Clean and press: 236.5 kg (521 lbs) on 15 April 1972 in Tallinn;
 * Clean and jerk: 256.0 kg (564 lbs) on 1 November 1977 in Moscow;
 * Total: 645.0 kg (clean and press+snatch+clean and jerk), on 15 April 1972 in Tallinn, the official world record total in 1972;
 * Total: 445.0 kg (snatch + clean and jerk) in Podolsk.

 * 24 January 1970 Clean & Press 210.5 kg (464lb)  Super Heavyweight  Velikie Luki
 * 24 January 1970 Clean & Jerk 221.5 kg Super Heavyweight  Velikie Luki
 * 24 January 1970 Total (3) 592.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Velikie Luki
 * 24 January 1970 Total (3) 595 kg  Super Heavyweight  Velikie Luki
 * 18 March 1970 Clean & Press 213 kg (469.5lb) Super Heavyweight  Minsk
 * 18 March 1970 Total (3) 600 kg  Super Heavyweight  Minsk
 * 26 April 1970 Clean & Press 216 kg (476lb)  Super Heavyweight  Vilnius
 * 26 April 1970 Clean & Jerk 223.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Vilnius
 * 26 April 1970 Total (3) 602.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Vilnius
 * 26 April 1970 Total (3) 607.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Vilnius
 * 28 June 1970 Clean & Press 219.5 kg (483.9lb) Super Heavyweight  Szombathely
 * 28 June 1970 Clean & Jerk 225.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Szombathely
 * 28 June 1970 Total (3) 610 kg  Super Heavyweight  Szombathely
 * 28 June 1970 Total (3) 612.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Szombathely
 * 20 September 1970 Clean & Jerk 227.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Columbus
 * 17 November 1970 Clean & Press 220.5 kg (486lb) Super Heavyweight  Volgograd
 * 17 November 1970 Clean & Jerk 228 kg  Super Heavyweight  Volgograd
 * 12/4/1970 Snatch 177 kg  Super Heavyweight  Shakhty
 * 12/4/1970 Clean & Press 221 kg (487.2lb) Super Heavyweight  Shakhty
 * 12/4/1970 Clean & Jerk 228.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Shakhty
 * 12/4/1970 Total (3) 615 kg  Super Heavyweight  Shakhty
 * 12/4/1970 Total (3) 620 kg  Super Heavyweight  Shakhty
 * 26 December 1970 Clean & Press 222 kg (489.4lb) Super Heavyweight  Dnipropetrovsk
 * 26 December 1970 Clean & Jerk 229.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Dnipropetrovsk
 * 26 December 1970 Total (3) 622.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Dnipropetrovsk
 * 26 December 1970 Total (3) 625 kg  Super Heavyweight  Dnipropetrovsk
 * 14 February 1971 Snatch 177.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Paris
 * 14 February 1971 Clean & Press 222.5 kg (490.5lb) Super Heavyweight  Paris
 * 14 February 1971 Clean & Jerk 230 kg  Super Heavyweight  Paris
 * 26 March 1971 Clean & Press 223 kg (491.6lb) Super Heavyweight  Wienn
 * 4/7/1971 Clean & Press 223.5 kg (492.7lb) Super Heavyweight  Moscow
 * 18 April 1971 Clean & Jerk 230.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Taganrog
 * 27 June 1971 Clean & Press 225 kg (496lb) Super Heavyweight  Sofia
 * 27 June 1971 Clean & Jerk 231 kg  Super Heavyweight  Sofia
 * 27 June 1971 Clean & Jerk 232.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Sofia
 * 27 June 1971 Total (3) 627.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Sofia
 * 27 June 1971 Total (3) 630 kg  Super Heavyweight  Sofia
 * 24 July 1971 Snatch 180 kg  Super Heavyweight  Moscow
 * 24 July 1971 Clean & Press 225.5 kg (497.1lb) Super Heavyweight  Moscow
 * 24 July 1971 Clean & Jerk 233 kg  Super Heavyweight  Moscow
 * 24 July 1971 Clean & Jerk 235 kg  Super Heavyweight  Moscow
 * 24 July 1971 Total (3) 632.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Moscow
 * 24 July 1971 Total (3) 637.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Moscow
 * 24 July 1971 Total (3) 640 kg  Super Heavyweight  Moscow
 * 26 September 1971 Clean & Press 227 kg (500lb) Super Heavyweight  Lima
 * 26 September 1971 Clean & Press 230 kg (507lb) Super Heavyweight  Lima
 * 26 September 1971 Clean & Jerk 235.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Lima
 * 19 March 1972 Clean & Press 231.5 kg (510.3lb) Super Heavyweight  Bollnas
 * 19 March 1972 Clean & Press 235.5 kg (519.1lb) Super Heavyweight  Bollnas
 * 15 April 1972 Clean & Jerk 236 kg  Super Heavyweight  Tallinn
 * 15 April 1972 Clean & Press 236.5 kg (521.3lb) Super Heavyweight  Tallinn
 * 15 April 1972 Clean & Jerk 237.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Tallinn
 * 15 April 1972 Total (3) 642.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Tallinn
 * 15 April 1972 Total (3) 645 kg  Super Heavyweight  Tallinn
 * 29 April 1972 Clean & Jerk 238 kg  Super Heavyweight  Donetsk
 * 18 June 1973 Clean & Jerk 240 kg  Super Heavyweight  Madrid
 * 18 June 1973 Total 417.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Madrid
 * 1/3/1974 Clean & Jerk 242 kg  Super Heavyweight  Glazov
 * 20 March 1974 Clean & Jerk 240.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Erevan
 * 28 April 1974 Clean & Jerk 241 kg  Super Heavyweight  Tbilisi
 * 28 April 1974 Total 420 kg  Super Heavyweight  Tbilisi
 * 6 June 1974 Snatch 187.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Verona
 * 6 June 1974 Total 422.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Verona
 * 23 September 1974 Clean & Jerk 245.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Moscow
 * 29 September 1974 Clean & Jerk 241.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Manila
 * 29 September 1974 Total 425 kg  Super Heavyweight  Manila
 * 27 November 1974 Clean & Jerk 242.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  London
 * 14 December 1974 Clean & Jerk 243 kg  Super Heavyweight  Zaporizhia
 * 29 December 1974 Clean & Jerk 243.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Lipetsk
 * 7/11/1975 Clean & Jerk 245 kg  Super Heavyweight  Vilnius
 * 23 September 1975 Total 427.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Moscow
 * 11 November 1975 Clean and Jerk 246 kg  Super Heavyweight  Arkhangelsk
 * 11 November 1975 Total 430 kg  Super Heavyweight  Arkhangelsk
 * 12/7/1975 Clean & Jerk 247.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Montreal
 * 15 May 1976 Total 435 kg  Super Heavyweight  Karaganda
 * 27 July 1976 Clean & Jerk 255 kg  Super Heavyweight  Montreal
 * 9/1/1977 Clean & Jerk 255.5 kg  Super Heavyweight  Podolsk
 * 9/1/1977 Total 445 kg  Super Heavyweight  Podolsk
 * 11/1/1977 Clean & Jerk 256 kg  Super Heavyweight  Moscow

title: Vasily Alekseyev


text:
Flinders University

Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator Matthew Flinders, who explored and surveyed the Australian and South Australian coastline in the early 19th century.

Flinders' main campus at Bedford Park in Adelaide's south is set upon 156 acres of gardens and native bushland, making it a verdant university. Other campuses include Tonsley, Adelaide Central Business District, Renmark, Alice Springs, and Darwin. It is a member of the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) Group.

Flinders University led the nation in postgraduate employment outcomes according to the 2021 Graduate Outcome Survey – Longitudinal, released by the Australian Government's Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching.

Origins and construction
By the late 1950s, the University of Adelaide's North Terrace campus was approaching capacity. In 1960, Premier Thomas Playford announced that 150 ha of state government-owned land in Burbank (now Bedford Park) would be allocated to the University of Adelaide for the establishment of a second campus.

Planning began in 1961. The principal-designate of the new campus, economist and professor Peter Karmel, was adamant that the new campus should operate independently from the North Terrace campus. He hoped that the Bedford Park campus would be free to innovate and not be bound by tradition.

Capital works began in 1962 with a grant of £3.8 million from the Australian Universities Commission. Architect Geoff Harrison, in conjunction with architectural firm Hassell, McConnell and Partners, designed a new university that, with future expansions, could eventually accommodate up to 6000 students.

Independence and opening
In 1965, the Australian Labor Party won the state election and Frank Walsh became premier. The ALP wished to break up the University of Adelaide's hegemony over tertiary education in the state, and announced that they intended the Bedford Park campus to be an independent institution.

On 17 March 1966, a bill was passed by state parliament officially creating the Flinders University of South Australia. Although the Labor Party had favoured the name "University of South Australia", academic staff wished that the university be named after a "distinguished but uncontroversial" person. They settled upon British navigator Matthew Flinders, who explored and surveyed the South Australian coastline in 1802. Its original coat of arms, designed by a professor in the Fine Arts faculty, included a reproduction of Flinders' ship Investigator and his journal A Voyage to Terra Australis, open to the page in which Flinders described the coast adjacent the campus site.

Flinders University was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, on 25 March 1966. Peter Karmel was the first Vice-Chancellor and Sir Mark Mitchell the first Chancellor. The university commenced teaching on 7 March 1966 with a student enrolment of 400.

A significant early initiative was the decision to build the Flinders Medical Centre on land adjacent to the campus and to base the university's Medical School within this new public hospital – the first such integration in Australia. Flinders accepted undergraduate medical students in 1974, with the FMC opening the following year.

Expansion and restructuring

In 1990, the biggest building project on campus since the mid-1970s saw work commence on three new buildings – Law and Commerce; Engineering; and Information Science and Technology. Approval for the establishment of a School of Engineering was given in 1991 and degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering were established shortly afterwards.

In 1991, as part of a restructuring of higher education in South Australia, Flinders merged with the adjacent Sturt Campus of the former South Australian College of Advanced Education.

In 1992 a four-faculty structure was adopted.

In 1998, the Centre for Remote Health, a rural teaching hospital based in Alice Springs, was established jointly with the Northern Territory University (now Charles Darwin University). This was expanded further in 2011 with the establishment of the Northern Territory Medical Program.

Since 2000 the university has established new disciplines in areas including Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and more disciplines of Engineering.

In 2011, the bacteria genus Flindersiella was named after the university after the strain was found on a tree on campus grounds.

In 2015, the university opened a new campus at Tonsley, the former site of the Mitsubishi Motors Australia plant in Southern Adelaide. This campus houses the university's School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics, along with the Medical Device Research Institute, the Centre for Nanoscale Science and Technology (now known as the Flinders Institute for Nanoscale Science & Technology) and Flinders technology start-up company Re-Timer.

In 2016, the university celebrated its 50th anniversary with a calendar of public events, and a publication summarising the highlights of the university's history, research, and alumni achievements over the last 50 years. 2016 also saw the opening of the award-winning student hub and plaza, transforming the central campus.

The university's strategic plan Making a Difference - The 2025 Agenda released in 2016 set an ambitious vision for the coming decade for Flinders to reach the top ten of Australian Universities, and the top one per cent in the world.

On 1 July 2017, the university restructured from a two-tier academic system of four faculties and 14 schools, to a single-tier structure consisting of six colleges.

In 2019 the university announced an additional $100 million investment in research and a further $100 million in education over a five-year period to support it to meet its strategic goals.

The university also in 2019 announced plans for a substantial development on a tract on land on the northern portion of the Bedford Park Campus adjacent to the Flinders hospitals precinct. Known as Flinders Village the decade-long development will deliver research facilities, student accommodation, commercial premises and amenities. The catalyst for the initiative was the extension of the Clovelly Park rail line to the Flinders precinct. The $141m rail line and Flinders Station project began operation in December 2020. Stage one of the Flinders Village development is the construction of a Health and Medical Research Building. Construction began in December 2021 and the building, which will be home to Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, is scheduled for completion in 2024.

In 2021 the university announced it would be expanding its Central Business District presence, establishing a vertical campus as the anchor tenant in Festival Tower, a major development scheduled for completion in 2024 adjacent to Parliament House and the Adelaide Railway Station on North Terrace.

In 2022, the newly elected state Labor government led by Peter Malinauskas proposed setting up a commission to investigate the possibility of a merger of South Australia's three public universities: the University of South Australia, the University of Adelaide, and Flinders University. The University of Adelaide and University of South Australia indicated their intention to merge. Flinders University chose to remain an independent entity.

Campuses
The university's main campus is in the Adelaide inner southern suburb of Bedford Park, about 12 km south of the Adelaide city centre. The university also has a presence on North Terrace, in the centre of the city, and Tonsley. It also maintains a number of external teaching facilities in regional South Australia, south-west Victoria and the Northern Territory. As of 2020 international students made up 19.5% of the on-campus student population and a number of offshore programmes are also offered, primarily in the Asia-Pacific region.

Organisation

Flinders University offers more than 160 undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as higher degree research supervision across all disciplines. Many courses use new information and communication technologies to supplement face-to-face teaching and provide flexible options.

Colleges

 * College of Business, Government and Law
 * College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
 * College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
 * College of Medicine and Public Health
 * College of Nursing and Health Sciences
 * College of Science and Engineering

Chancellory

Flinders University has been served by seven Chancellors and eight Vice Chancellors since its establishment in 1966. They are:

Affiliates

 * Australian Science and Mathematics School
 * Flinders Medical Centre
 * The Adelaide Theological Centre Brooklyn Park (comprising the Catholic Theological College and the Uniting College for Leadership and Theology replacing the Adelaide College of Divinity)
 * Helpmann Academy

Rankings
Flinders University is amongst the world's top 300 institutions at 266 according to the 2022 Times Higher Education rankings.

Student Union
Flinders University Students Association (FUSA) is a student union, formerly Student Association of Flinders University (SAFU).

Housing
Flinders has two options regarding on-campus accommodation:
 * University Hall (catered)
 * Deirdre Jordan Village (self-catered).

For off-campus accommodation, Flinders Housing run a free, up-to-date accommodation service which lists private accommodation available on the rental market.

Media
Empire Times was published by the Students' Association of Flinders University (SAFU) from 1969 to 2006. The founder and first editor of the newspaper was Martin Fabinyi, and the newspaper was originally printed in the back of his house by fellow student Rod Boswell. Empire Times had a history of controversial humour and anti-establishment discussion. Notable former editors and contributors included Martin Armiger and Greig (HG Nelson) Pickhaver, Steph Key and Kate Ellis. Empire Times ceased publication in 2006 as a result of voluntary student unionism, but resumed in 2013.

Sports
Flinders University has many sports teams that compete in social and competitive competitions.

Flinders University has 22 affiliated sporting clubs including Aikido, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Cricket, Fencing, Football, Hockey, Judo, Kendo, Korfball, Lacrosse, Men's Soccer, Muay Thai, Netball, Squash & Racquetball, Table Tennis, Ultimate Frisbee, Underwater, Volleyball and Women's Soccer.

Additionally, Flinders University students have the capacity to go away to annual university games events and compete in a range of sports while representing the university.

Entertainment

 * Mario Andreacchio – film director and producer
 * Benedict Andrews – theatre director
 * Donald Brook – Emeritus Professor of Visual Arts
 * Matt Crook – actor
 * Alex Frayne – film director
 * Noni Hazlehurst – actress
 * Scott Hicks – film director
 * Victoria Hill – actress, writer and producer
 * Aimee Horne – actress and singer
 * Craig Lahiff – film director
 * Nina Landis – actress
 * Caleb Lewis – playwright
 * Sam Mac – radio and television personality
 * Anthony Maras – film director, writer and producer
 * Louisa Mignone – actress
 * Doc Neeson – singer, songwriter and front man of The Angels
 * Greig Pickhaver (also known as H.G. Nelson) – actor, comedian and writer
 * Dario Russo – film director and writer
 * Xavier Samuel – actor
 * John Schumann – Michael Atkinson, Verity Truman, Chris Timms (founding members of Redgum)
 * Wendy Strehlow – actress
 * Eddie White – animation writer and director

Humanities

 * Jack Barbalet – professor of sociology
 * Carl Bridge – professor of history at King's College, London
 * Marion Maddox – author and professor of history at Macquarie University
 * Haydon Manning – political scientist
 * Andrekos Varnava – writer and professor of history
 * Wesley Wildman – professor of theology at Boston University
 * Graham Hill – associate professor of missiology and World Christianity at the University of Divinity

Medicine

 * Nazira Abdula – pediatrician and Mozambican Minister of Health
 * Richard "Harry" Harris – anaesthetist and 2019 Australian of the Year
 * Sally Goold – First Indigenous nurse in New South Wales and 2006 Senior Nurse of the Year

Politics

 * John Bannon – former South Australian Premier
 * Zoe Bettison – South Australian state politician and Minister
 * Susan Close – South Australian state politician, Minister and Deputy Premier
 * David Cox – Member of the Australian House of Representatives
 * Kate Ellis – Member of the Australian House of Representatives and Minister
 * Bronwyn Halfpenny – Member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
 * Ian Hunter – South Australian state politician and Minister
 * Tom Kenyon – South Australian state politician and Minister
 * Stephanie Key – South Australian state politician and Minister
 * Jenny Leong – Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
 * Brendan Nelson – former Australian Leader of the Opposition
 * Chris Picton – South Australian state politician and Minister
 * Mike Rann – former Premier, appointed as a Flinders University professor
 * Amanda Rishworth – Member of the Australian House of Representatives
 * Don Russell – former Australian Ambassador to the United States
 * Robert Simms – Australian Senator
 * Andrew Southcott – Member of the Australian House of Representatives
 * Gayle Tierney – Member of the Victorian Legislative Council
 * Sialeʻataonga Tuʻivakanō – Prime Minister of Tonga
 * Lynne Walker – Northern Territory Deputy Leader of the Opposition
 * Pratikno – Minister of State Secretariat of the Republic of Indonesia
 * Nicolle Flint – Member of the Australian House of Representatives

Sciences

 * Rod Boswell – professor, Plasma Research Laboratory, ANU
 * Philip Bourne – professor of pharmacology at UCSD
 * Rodney Brooks – professor of robotics at MIT
 * Sabine Dittmann – marine biologist
 * Mohammad Kaykobad – Computer Scientist, Professor of CSE, BUET
 * Mamoru Mohri – retired astronaut, scientist and engineer
 * Colin Raston – professor of green chemistry, SA Scientist of the Year inventor of the Vortex Fluidic Device
 * Cori Stewart – associate professor and innovator, Women in AI: manufacturing, winner 2022
 * Terence Tao – Fields Medalist, professor of mathematics at UCLA
 * Tony Thomas – professor of physics at the University of Adelaide

Sports

 * Matthew Liptak – Adelaide Crows footballer
 * Agnes Milowka – technical diver and author
 * Nigel Smart – Adelaide Crows footballer

Literature

 * Mem Fox – children's author
 * Hannah Kent – author, winner of the Stella Prize
 * Sean Williams – multi awarded author of novels and short stories for adults, young people and children
 * Peter Martin – economics journalist and commentator (Distinguished Alumnus 2016)
 * Sudesh Mishra – poet
 * Christopher Pearson – journalist, founder of the Adelaide Review and speechwriter for Prime Minister John Howard
 * Mark Peel – Australian historian
 * Petar Pjesivac – Serbian poet and essayist

Flinders has produced one Australian of the Year in Richard Harris, one Fields Medalist in Terry Tao, five Rhodes scholars, and 26 Fulbright scholars.

title: Flinders University