Gameplay.

"Infamous Second Son" is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective. Players control the main character Delsin Rowe, who can parkour-style climb vertical surfaces like high-rise buildings. Delsin is a Conduit, which allows him to use superpower abilities by manipulating materials such as smoke, neon, video, and concrete. These materials can be weaponized (such that Delsin can perform melee attacks or fire projectiles from his fingertips) or used to deftly navigate the game world (such as using neon to dash up buildings). Using powers depletes a meter in the head-up display (HUD), which can be replenished by drawing from power sources such as smoke from exploded vehicles. Delsin earns new powers as he progresses through the story, which sees him fight against the Department of Unified Protection (D.U.P.) during missions. Each time Delsin gains a new power set he must destroy D.U.P. Core Relays to learn the basic abilities that correspond to it. Delsin upgrades and acquires new abilities by spending Blast Shards that have been collected, they are scattered throughout Seattle. Players become more powerful in combat by expanding Delsin's suite of abilities.  Players may choose to act in either a good or evil way. Examples including healing civilians, doing drug busts, and stopping suspect brutality for good, or killing innocent civilians and killing instead of apprehending enemies. Several times throughout the story, Delsin finds himself in a scenario where he must make a good or evil choice, such as whether to encourage Conduit vigilante Abigail "Fetch" Walker to stop slaying drug dealers, or to train her to become a more prolific killer. Player choices influence outcomes in some later missions. In combat, Delsin may use his abilities to incapacitate foes or obliterate them with headshots. He may choose to open fire on innocent civilians. Delsin's choices manifest in a logo displayed on his jacket and the HUD, which features a blue (good) and red (evil) bird. Performing actions that are villainous gradually change the logo so that the red bird dominates the other, with the opposite happening with heroism. This is a visual representation of Delsin's Karma level, that increases as good or evil depending on his choices. As his Karma level increases, Delsin can acquire new powers that correspond to his play-style (e.g. very destructive powers with high levels of evil Karma) and his jacket also changes. If you have good karma, the jacket completely changes white whereas if evil the jacket turns red. A continual streak of either good or evil actions fills up a bar in the HUD, which then lets Delsin perform a powerful finishing move called a Karma Bomb.  When not completing story missions, players can explore the city and complete activities such as tagging graffiti spots or assassinating D.U.P. secret agents. The city is split into districts that are all initially controlled by the D.U.P., but Delsin gradually liberates each district by completing activities. When D.U.P. control of a district falls below 30 percent, Delsin can enter a District Showdown that requires him to eliminate a wave of D.U.P. forces, eradicating D.U.P. presence there.

Plot.

Setting and characters.

"Second Son" takes place in 2016, seven years after "Infamous 2"s Conduit protagonist Cole MacGrath sacrifices himself to cure humanity of a plague and destroy The Beast. Cole uses the powerful Ray Field Inhibitor weapon, which kills him and most of the other Conduits. The U.S. government establishes the D.U.P. to hunt down and capture the world's remaining Conduits, dubbing Conduits with the pejorative "Bioterrorists ". The protagonist is Delsin Rowe (Troy Baker), a 24 year old graffiti artist and the local delinquent of the Akomish reservation. Delsin has the unique Conduit ability of Power Mimicry, allowing him to mimic the powers of other Conduits he comes into contact with. His brother, Reggie (Travis Willingham), is the local sheriff, and often arrests Delsin for his acts of vandalism. Both are Akomish Native Americans, whose territory lies at the shore of Salmon Bay, Washington. The antagonist is Brooke Augustine (Christine Dunford), the director of the D.U.P. and a Conduit with power over Concrete. Her actions in the Akomish reservation drive Delsin to travel to Seattle, now under lockdown by D.U.P. forces. Delsin and Reggie encounter three other Conduits: Henry "Hank" Daughtry (David Stanbra), a convict with control over Smoke; Abigail "Fetch" Walker (Laura Bailey), an ex-junkie who uses her Neon powers to hunt down the illegal drug dealers in Seattle; and Eugene Sims (Alex Walsh), a reclusive video gamer who uses his Video (digital materialization) powers to save suspected Conduits from the D.U.P.

Story.

In 2016, after Reggie catches Delsin vandalizing a billboard, their subsequent argument is interrupted when a military truck carrying three Conduit prisoners crashes on the Akomish reservation. Two of the Conduits escape, but Delsin manages to pull the third one, Hank, out of the wreckage, and inadvertently absorb his smoke powers. Shocked and frightened, Delsin pursues Hank in an effort to figure out what has happened and how to control his powers. However, they are both cornered by Brooke Augustine. She encases Hank in concrete and questions Delsin, suspecting him of hiding something. Delsin can choose to either tell Augustine the truth about his powers or say nothing. Regardless, Augustine knocks him out before moving on to the other tribe members.  Delsin awakens a week later and discovers that Augustine has tortured the rest of the tribe in an unsuccessful bid to gain information. However, she has left them to gradually die from concrete shards buried into their bodies, including their leader Betty (Karen Austin). Reggie, who was spared from the torture, learns that the only way to remove the shards is to use Augustine's power on them. Delsin realizes that he can absorb Conduit powers and resolves to go to Seattle to take Augustine's powers and save the tribe. Reggie reluctantly accompanies Delsin to keep an eye on him. They reach Seattle and find that it has been put under strict martial law by the D.U.P. in order to find the other escaped Conduits. With Reggie's help, Delsin battles D.U.P. forces and tracks down core fragments to develop his powers. He eventually encounters the other two escaped Conduits, Fetch and Eugene, and absorbs their powers. After both confrontations, Delsin defends the Conduits from Reggie, who initially views them as "freaks", and can choose to either redeem or corrupt them.  Now possessing three powers, Delsin encounters Hank, who has escaped again. Hank tells Delsin that Fetch and Eugene have been captured by the D.U.P., and are being held on an artificial concrete island in Puget Sound. However, the situation turns out to be a trap set by Augustine. Reggie appears and rescues Delsin with a rocket launcher. While the brothers free Fetch and Eugene, Augustine encases Reggie's feet in concrete and blasts them off the platform. As they dangle above the ocean, Reggie realizes that Delsin cannot save both of them, tells him that he is proud of him, and lets Delsin's hand go. Reggie falls to his death as he drowns in the ocean. Distraught and enraged, Delsin climbs back up onto the platform and battles Augustine, destroying the entire island.  Augustine flees back to the D.U.P. headquarters. Delsin tracks Hank down to the docks, where he is fleeing from D.U.P. forces. Hank begs for forgiveness, saying that he only worked with Augustine because she threatened to hurt his daughter. Delsin can choose to either kill Hank out of revenge, or let him escape Seattle with his daughter. Aided by Fetch and Eugene, Delsin rallies an assault on the D.U.P. headquarters. After breaking through the building's defenses, Delsin confronts Augustine and reveals to her that he has figured out she staged the Conduit escape at Akomish to instill fear in the population and give the D.U.P. a reason to continue their regime. Augustine lets Delsin absorb her powers, and tells him that she wants to save the Conduits by imprisoning and protecting them from the population. Delsin battles and eventually defeats Augustine with his new concrete powers.  If Delsin has good Karma, he spares Augustine and exposes her crimes to the world. She is arrested and the D.U.P. disbands. Delsin, Fetch and Eugene convince the humans that they can peacefully coexist with the Conduits. All of the imprisoned Conduits are freed. Delsin returns to the reservation and heals the tribe members, then paints a mural dedicated to Reggie.  If Delsin has evil Karma, he kills Augustine and, together with Fetch and Eugene, takes control of Seattle. He releases all of the imprisoned Conduits and absorbs their powers. Upon returning to the reservation, Delsin is met by a wheelchair-bound Betty who banishes him from the tribe for the killings in Seattle. Shocked and angered, Delsin destroys the entire reservation.

Development.

Origins and PlayStation 4.

Sucker Punch Productions began to develop "Second Son" while the PlayStation 4 was still being designed. Having finished work on "", they began to plan a new entry in the "Infamous" series under the working title "Infamous 3". As early as 2010, they discussed with Sony their desire to bring "Infamous" to a new PlayStation platform.  Sucker Punch were in close connection with the PS4's lead system architect Mark Cerny, who visited the studio several times. They gave Cerny feedback about how much power a new PlayStation system would require to render their ideal open world, how fast it would be capable of doing so and to what degree of texture detail. "We had some experience there that was useful for that team when they were planning some aspects of the hardware design", producer Brian Fleming explained. He found that during the PS4's development, there was a great level of interactivity between the system's designers and game developers such as Sucker Punch.  Sucker Punch made suggested improvements they would like to see for the DualShock 4 gamepad. "Second Son"s designer Jaime Griesemer traveled to Sony's headquarters in Japan to discuss such improvements. The developers found they were able to adopt the DualShock 4's touchpad into "Second Son"s gameplay (for example, players emulate the in-game fingerprint scanner using the DualShock 4 touchpad).  The game was envisioned to take full advantage of the hardware, without the imposition of porting to older platforms like the PlayStation 3. The hardware let developers improve the particle system that lights Delsin's face up while he draws neon power from billboards and add detailed reflections to the game world. The increased memory bandwidth let the team render characters with higher fidelity. They found the PS4's simplified architecture so easy to work with that they were able to reach very high graphical quality even though the hardware was new.  Over 110 developers worked on the game, a number that director Nate Fox considered small. He felt that working with a small team necessitated having a defined vision for the game from the outset, "to answer those first questions about what you want your game to be". Sometimes, ideas came about during development that would have to be thrown out for not fitting with the game's original vision. "We kill our darlings at Sucker Punch. It's not easy; it's necessary", Fox explained. "Second Son" displays a native resolution of 1080p at 30 frames per second.

Design.

Sucker Punch elected to set "Second Son" in their hometown of Seattle as they could draw from their personal experiences in the open world's design. During early development when team members debated where "Second Son" would be set, Seattle rated high on a list of possibilities. Fleming considered that the city had not been featured in many games prior to "Second Son" and so would not be "overblown", and felt that Seattle's weather and mixture of "old and new" architecture would make it an interesting setting. The team conducted fieldwork in Seattle's nearby forests with audio and video equipment, which was used to reproduce local flora and the chirping sounds of local American robins. Seattle landmarks such as Pioneer Square, the Space Needle and Elephant Car Washes feature in the game. The developers licensed logos and signs from local businesses. Griesemer called the game world an "abstraction" of Seattle rather than a re-creation since its layout did not suit "Second Son"s gameplay and required the team to make necessary changes. The team wanted to thematically explore Seattle's heritage of Pacific Northwest, Native American tribes in the game.  The designers used graphic sliders in the game engine to determine the amount of water covering the streets. Like Seattle, rain is frequent in the game. The lighting effects (such as neon light from Delsin's powers) coupled with reflections help bring color into Seattle's dark and rainy atmosphere. Because of the move to the PS4, Sucker Punch were able to render more open world than what was possible in previous "Infamous" games. "You get a better feel of the city when you can see more of it", said Griesemer.  After deciding on Seattle for the setting, the developers began to think about the superpowers that Delsin would possess. They added neon lighting to the city to amplify the "beautiful reflective streets", and subsequently decided to make neon a source of power for Delsin because of its prevalence. Animation director Billy Harper considered Delsin's smoke powers challenging to design, as the team wanted to make powers feel more fluid than in previous "Infamous" games. They removed Cole's "contorted hand poses" to improve the connection between Delsin and his powers. Fox felt that smoke helps Delsin deftly navigate the game world by letting him zip up buildings and through enemies. Griesemer (who previously worked with Bungie on the "Halo" series) wanted to bring the fluidity of first-person shooters to "Second Son"s combat. The team reviewed the control scheme of previous "Infamous" games and "removed some of the complexity that was preventing people from interacting with the game".  Griesemer said that a recurring theme throughout "Infamous" games that they wanted to continue with "Second Son" was the idea of "modern elemental powers", variations on commonplace powers drawn from the game world. Producer Brian Fleming found that the graphical effects helped to inform players of the amount of power Delsin possesses. "This is a game about super powers, so for us, the way the effects look tells you a lot about how you're playing the game", he explained. Fox considered that the game world's resemblance to Seattle helped the superpower elements feel authentic. "Because we have that sweet foundation of plausibility, you buy into the super-powered element", he explained.

Character development.

"Second Son"s premise is built from the ending of "Infamous 2" that sees protagonist Cole MacGrath sacrifice himself to save humanity. They looked at Trophy data and found the majority (78%) of "Infamous 2" players chose this ending, and concurred with the popular choice. This allowed them to create the new protagonist, Delsin, from scratch. "Moving forward onto ["Second Son"], we said 'Alright, Cole's dead. People have voted for this. Let's make a new hero'", Fox explained. Griesemer felt that taking the "Infamous" series to the PS4 signified a new era, and that departing from the story of previous games would help them reach new audiences. "We needed a new entry point, and Delsin was the first step for that", he explained. The idea to move away from Cole's story came about during pre-production staff meetings, and was confirmed after discussions both internally and with Sony Computer Entertainment. Griesemer described the contemporaneous sentiment as "It's going to be new hardware, a new platform and we're going to have a new audience".  Delsin's Native American heritage came from the game's setting in the Pacific Northwest, which features a large Native American population. Delsin wears a beanie inspired by one that Harper would wear around the studio (Harper recounted one particular staff meeting where four of the six team members were wearing hats). Delsin's character was inspired by United Kingdom street artist Banksy, as the development team appreciated Banksy's clandestine, satirical work. Developing Delsin's personality, the team posited the hypothetical: "What if Johnny Knoxville had powers? What would he do with it?". Harper considered Delsin "full of reckless abandon", the kind of character that would, upon gaining superpowers, jump off a cliff to see what happens. Fox considered Delsin "flawed in a way I think a lot of us can relate to", trying to live up to his successful brother Reggie. He called the game's story a "hero's journey".  Digital Domain were brought on board for the motion capture work. Fox helped direct the actors' performances, but found that they did not need much guidance for their roles. "You need to let them understand what you need from a scene, but the actors are so much better equipped to deliver that than me", he explained. Fleming considered that using motion capture added authenticity to the characters. "The ability to capture [Delsin's] facial reaction when he's like 'Oh, shit', but doesn't say 'Oh shit'—that's a big deal", he explained.  Most of the non-player characters (NPCs) that inhabit the open world were motion captured. The developers contacted casting agencies, and asked their friends and families if they would like to appear as extras in the game. Over 75 people were scanned in a three-day period. They were seated in chairs and told not to move or smile, and a high-definition digital camera captured a 3D model of their faces. The camera sent out strobe light patterns to capture the volume and shape of each face. A 360-degree setup captured the actors' moving bodies, but mannequins were also used to help capture different clothing styles. Data collected from the cameras was used by the designers to render digital models, each composed of roughly 1.4 million polygons—any blank spots on the models would be digitally filled in by the designers. To render the models in the game, the data would be compressed by reducing the polygon count.

Release.

On February 20, 2013, Sony held a conference in New York that announced the PlayStation 4. Fox appeared on-stage during the conference and recounted participating in an anti-globalization protest in Seattle in 1999. He announced "Second Son", and a debut trailer was shown that introduced the game's premise and lead character. The game was privately demoed at E3 2013, and its March 21, 2014, North American release date was confirmed during a PS4 launch event on November 14, 2013. By February 25, 2014, "Second Son" went gold (finished development).  On March 8, it was announced that "Second Son"s pre-order sales had surpassed those of "The Last of Us" in the United Kingdom. Two special edition versions of the game were produced; pre-ordered and first-run copies of the game received the Limited Edition, which includes the "Coles Legacy" mission pack that explain story events between "Infamous 2" and "Second Son". The Collector's Edition includes a unique box cover, a replica of Delsin's beanie, eight pins from his vest, an exclusive in-game vest, and a D.U.P.-themed patch. All pre-ordered copies of the game included four in-game vests for Delsin.

Downloadable content.

"Paper Trail" is a free downloadable content (DLC) with alternate reality game features. The story is split into six parts, with the first being available after reaching a certain point in the main story. Each subsequent part was made available each Friday from March 28, 2014 in North America and, concluding with the release of the final part on April 25, 2014.  At E3 2014, the DLC package "Infamous First Light" was announced and was released on August 26, 2014 in North America and August 27, 2014 in Europe. In "First Light", the player controls Fetch. It is a stand-alone expansion and "Second Son" is not required to play the game, but ownership of "Second Son" grants players access to exclusive content and music. The track "Sanctus Immortale" composed and produced by Menelik Eu'el Solomon also features on the exclusive content pack. "Infamous First Light" received mixed to positive reviews from critics.

Reception.

"Infamous Second Son" received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.  Vince Ingenito of IGN recalled being left "staring slack-jawed" at the visuals, and called the open world "beautifully and diversely realized" with impressive lighting effects. Tom Mc Shea of GameSpot called the visuals "incredible". Oli Welsh of Eurogamer praised Seattle's art direction, and found the draw distances and frame rate consistent. David Meikleham of "PlayStation Official Magazine" (OPM) was very impressed with the graphics and 1080p definition, but cited occasional frame rate dips during intense combat. He enjoyed playing in Seattle and using his powers to level the destructible environments. Tamoor Hussain of "Computer and Video Games" (CVG) praised graphical details like the particle and lighting systems. "[The game is] colorful, rich in detail and has some of the best effects we've seen on console", he wrote.  GameSpot's Mc Shea considered the combat well-balanced between "Infamous"'s slower pace and "Infamous 2"s frenetic action, and enjoyed Delsin's agility and power. Chris Carter of Destructoid considered the combat's simplicity its strength, finding Delsin easy to control and navigate the world. "Edge" were underwhelmed with the game's opening because of its "skittish" parkour, but noted that once Delsin gained powers and reached Seattle, the game became very fun. They felt that enemies were clever enough to make combat a fun challenge, and called the main missions "for the most part well designed and generously proportioned". IGN's Ingenito enjoyed using Delsin's powers in combat, and called each set "strong enough to hang an entire game on". He found upgrading Delsin's powers helped keep the combat fresh and made for good replay value. Philip Kollar of Polygon favored using neon power, but praised the balance and variety between all of them. He called the combat "a hell of a lot of fun". Eurogamer's Welsh found the combat imperfect yet fun, but did not think that upgrading Delsin's skills made enough of a difference to his power.  Destructoid's Carter thought that Delsin was a more interesting protagonist than "wooden" Cole, which helped his investment into the story. IGN's Ingenito thought Delsin was an interesting lead character, especially because of the chemistry with Reggie. He found Troy Baker's performance of Delsin "[imbued] with a charm and youthful abandon that keeps it from feeling tropey or overwrought". However, he found supporting characters like Fetch underdeveloped and the narrative too straightforward. Although calling the characters clichéd, "Edge" felt that they were written and acted well. GameSpot's Mc Shea called Delsin annoying and immature, and found the gameplay more interesting than the "tired" story. Eurogamer's Welsh considered the plot driven by "inconsequential MacGuffins" and thought the ending rushed, but praised the story for not stretching on too long. Polygon's Kollar felt that the story did not explore its themes of surveillance and security-over-freedom well enough, such that its impact was diminished. He was overall disappointed with the narrative, despite finding the main characters written better than in previous "Infamous" games. OPM's Meikleham was put off by Delsin's arrogance and was underwhelmed with the story, but he was impressed by the quality of the motion capture performances.  "Edge" and Eurogamer's Welsh faulted the morality system because they did not think it had enough influence on the story. IGN's Ingenito called it "woefully outdated", and felt that making evil choices severely jarred with Delsin's character. He found the system redundant because Delsin became more powerful when he strictly adhered to either a good or evil play-style, rather than crossing in-between. GameSpot's Mc Shea felt that the morality system was too binary because there was no "moral gray area" between playing good and evil. Polygon's Kollar reflected Mc Shea's opinion that the morality choices were too binary, and had difficulty connecting to his choices because they were too polarized between good and evil. OPM's Meikleham felt that the morality system had "little to no impact on gameplay". Danny Cowan of Joystiq thought that the morality system was well-balanced, with equal incentive and drawback tied to Delsin's choices.  GameSpot's Mc Shea found "Second Son"s open world beholden to a dated formula. He described Seattle as "a playground for you to go nuts in" instead of "a living, breathing world", with the Seattleites existing only as fodder for players. "CVG"s Hussain called Seattle "hauntingly empty", with the sparsely distributed NPCs behaving inanimately. He felt that the open world's lifelessness was the game's biggest detractor, and he drew unfavorable comparison with "Grand Theft Auto V", "Sleeping Dogs" and "", which he felt featured better open worlds. Eurogamer's Welsh felt that "Second Son" did not innovate the open world genre as well as it could have because it relied too heavily on many of the genre's tropes. Polygon's Kollar felt that there was not enough variation in the missions and activities, as "virtually all culminate in the goal of beating up more soldiers or thugs". "Edge" found the amount of content in the game thin, finding little merit in additional playthroughs because of the repetitive side-missions. "Approach ["Second Son"] as an action game that just happens to be set in a nonlinear environment and it makes more sense", they wrote. Destructoid's Carter found the amount of content ample, and enjoyed liberating the city and collecting Blast Shards. Tom Watson wrote in "New Statesman" that "Second Son" was his £20-£40 game of the year, and justification for his purchasing PlayStation 4 after owning Xbox 360.

Sales.

"Infamous Second Son" sold over one million copies in nine days after its launch, making it one of the best-selling PlayStation 4 games as well as the fastest-selling installment in the series.

Infamous Second Son (stylized as inFAMOUS Second Son) is an action-adventure video game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 4. It is the third installment in the "Infamous" series. The game was released worldwide on March 21, 2014. The player-controlled protagonist possesses superpower abilities that players use in combat and when traveling across the city. The story follows protagonist Delsin Rowe fighting the Department of Unified Protection (D.U.P.) in a fictionalized Seattle. Over the course of the game, Delsin acquires new powers and becomes either good or evil as player choices influence his morality.


Early life.

Abraham Van Vechten was born on December 5, 1762, in Catskill, Albany County (now Greene County), New York. He was the son of Dutch Americans Teunis Van Vechten (1707–1785) and Judikje "Judith" Ten Broeck (1721–1783).  His brothers were Samuel Ten Broeck Van Vechten (1742–1813) and Teunis Van Vechten (1749–1817), who became a prominent merchant in Albany and held the office of commissary on the staff of Governor Morgan Lewis during the revolution. Their maternal grandfather was Jacob Ten Broeck (1688–1746), nephew of Dirck Wesselse Ten Broeck (1638–1717). Van Vechten was educated at Columbia College, studied law with John Lansing, Jr., and began practice in Johnstown, New York, but soon removed to Albany.

Career.

In 1792, he was elected one of the first directors of the Bank of Albany. From 1796 to 1797, he was Assistant Attorney General for the Fifth District, comprising Albany, Saratoga, Schoharie and Montgomery Counties. He was a Federalist presidential elector in 1796, and cast his votes for John Adams and Thomas Pinckney.  Van Vechten was the first lawyers admitted to the bar after the adoption of the New York State Constitution and ranked among the most gifted men of that time, including Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and Robert Livingston.

Public office.

From 1797 to 1808, Van Vechten served as Recorder of the City of Albany. Concurrently, he was a member of the New York State Senate, serving in the 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th New York State Legislatures from 1798 to 1805, representing the Eastern District, which included Washington, Clinton, Rensselaer, Albany and Saratoga counties.  After leaving the Senate, he was elected to the New York State Assembly, serving in the 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th, 35th and 36th New York State Legislatures from 1808 to 1813, representing Albany County. While serving in the Assembly, he also served as the 10th New York State Attorney General from 1810 to 1811, and again from 1813 to 1815 as the 13th Attorney General, under Governor Daniel D. Tompkins. His successor was Martin Van Buren, who later became the 8th President of the United States.  After serving as Attorney General of New York, he was elected to return to the State Senate, serving in the 39th, 40th, 41st and 42nd New York State Legislatures from 1816 to 1819, representing the Middle District, which included Albany, Chenango, Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Orange, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties.  In 1821, he was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention, where he opposed the extension of the franchise. From 1797 to 1823, he was a regent of the University of the State of New York.  In the 1828 presidential election, Van Vechten was a presidential elector, voting for the 6th President, John Quincy Adams and Richard Rush.

Personal life.

In 1784, he married Catharina Schuyler (1766–1820), eldest daughter of Philip P. Schuyler (1736–1808) of the prominent Schuyler family. She grew up on her father's farm in the Schuyler Flatts section of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck. Catharina was the great-granddaughter of Pieter Schuyler (1657–1724), the first mayor of Albany, and Maria Van Rensselaer, daughter of Jeremias Van Rensselaer (1632–1674). Together, they had thirteen children, including:  Van Vechten died in Albany on January 6, 1837, and was buried at Albany Rural Cemetery.

Abraham Van Vechten (December 5, 1762 – January 6, 1837) was an American lawyer and a Federalist politician who served twice as New York State Attorney General.


Members.

The group included the following Texas state prisoners:

Escape.

On December 13, 2000, the seven carried out an elaborate scheme and escaped from the John B. Connally Unit, a maximum-security state prison near the South Texas city of Kenedy.  At the time of the breakout, the reported ringleader of the Texas Seven, 30-year-old George Rivas, was serving 18 consecutive 15-to-life sentences. Michael Anthony Rodriguez, 38, was serving a 99-to-life term for contracting the murder of his wife by Rolando Ruiz Jr. (who was sentenced to death and subsequently executed in March 2017 for his involvement in the killing); while Larry James Harper, 37, Joseph Garcia, 29, and Patrick Henry Murphy Jr., 39, were all serving 50-year sentences. Donald Keith Newbury, 38, the member with the longest rap sheet of the group, was serving a 99-year sentence; and the youngest member, Randy Halprin, 23, was serving a 30-year sentence for injury to a child.  Using several well-planned ploys, the seven convicts overpowered and restrained nine civilian maintenance supervisors including their boss, four correctional officers and three uninvolved inmates at approximately 11:20. The escape occurred during lunch and at count time, the "slowest" period of the prison day, when there was less surveillance of certain locations, such as the maintenance area. Most of these plans involved one of the offenders calling someone over, while another hit the unsuspecting person on the head from behind. Once each victim was knocked unconscious, the offenders removed some of his clothing, tied him up, gagged him and placed him in an electrical room behind a locked door, which was full of electronics including warning alarms. The attackers stole clothing, credit cards, and identification from their victims. The group impersonated prison officers on the phone and created false stories to ward off suspicion from authorities.  After this first phase, three of the group made their way to the back gate of the prison, some disguised in stolen civilian clothing. They pretended to be there to install video monitors. One guard at the gatehouse was subdued, and the trio raided the guard tower and stole numerous weapons. Meanwhile, the four offenders who stayed behind made calls to the prison tower guards to distract them. They then stole a prison maintenance pick-up truck, which they drove to the back gate of the prison, picked up their cohorts, and drove away from the prison.  Michael Rodriguez's father had provided a getaway car for the men. For this act he was convicted of a crime himself.  A "Crime Library" article about the seven compared the breakout to the June 1962 Alcatraz escape that took place decades earlier.

Crime spree and Aubrey Hawkins.

The white prison truck was found in the parking lot of the Walmart in Kenedy, Texas. The Texas Seven first went into San Antonio right after breaking out of the complex. Realizing that they were running out of funds, they robbed a Radio Shack in Pearland, Texas, in Greater Houston, the following day.  On December 19, four of the members checked into an Econo Lodge motel in Farmers Branch, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, under assumed names. They decided to rob an Oshman's Sporting Goods in nearby Irving. On December 24, 2000, they entered the store, bound and gagged all the staff and stole at least 40 guns and sets of ammunition. An off-duty employee standing outside of the store noticed the commotion inside and called police. Irving police officer Aubrey Wright Hawkins (February 23, 1971 – December 24, 2000) responded to the call, and upon arriving at the scene was almost immediately ambushed, being shot 11 times and run over by the escaped convicts as they fled the scene. Hawkins died at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas shortly after his arrival. Hawkins had been an officer with the Irving police department since October 4, 1999, and was married and had a son.  After Officer Hawkins' murder, a $100,000 reward was offered to whoever could snare the group of criminals. The reward climbed to $500,000 before the six surviving members of the group were apprehended.

Capture.

Following an episode of the television show "America's Most Wanted", that first aired on January 20, 2001, several people phoned in possible sightings of the suspects at the Coachlight Motel and R.V. Park in Woodland Park, Colorado. They had apparently tried to pass themselves off as missionaries, playing loud Christian music within earshot of their neighbours.  The El Paso County Sheriff's Office, Colorado, and Teller County Deputies SWAT team found Garcia, Rodriguez, and Rivas in a Jeep Cherokee in the RV Park, before following them to a nearby gas station where they were arrested, and later found Halprin and Harper in an RV; Halprin surrendered peacefully, but Harper was found dead after a standoff, having shot himself in the chest with a pistol. The surviving four were taken into federal custody.  On January 23, 2001, the FBI received information that the remaining two escapees, Newbury and Murphy, were hiding in a Holiday Inn in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A deal was brokered with the two, allowing them to make live TV appearances before they were arrested. In the early hours of January 24, a local KRDO television anchorman, Eric Singer, was taken into the hotel where he interviewed the two by telephone while on camera. Newbury and Murphy harshly denounced the criminal justice system in Texas, with Newbury adding "the system is as corrupt as we are."

Convictions and executions.

In 2008 authorities indicted Patsy Gomez and Raul Rodriguez, the parents of Michael Rodriguez, for conspiring to help the Texas Seven.  George Rivas, the ringleader, was the first to be brought to trial; he was convicted and sentenced to death. Subsequently, the other five surviving members of the Texas Seven were also brought to trial, convicted, and sentenced to death.  Rodriguez announced that he wished to forgo any further appeal beyond the mandatory death-penalty appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. A court-ordered psychiatric evaluation in January 2007 concluded that he was mentally competent to decide to forgo further appeals. Twenty months later he became the first of the six surviving members to be executed, on August 14, 2008. Rodriguez was TDCJ#999413, and his pre-death sentence TDCJ number was 698074.  George Rivas, TDCJ#999394, was executed almost four years later, on February 29, 2012, at 18:22.  Donald Newbury, TDCJ#999403, was executed by lethal injection on February 4, 2015, at 18:25.  Joseph Garcia, TDCJ#999441, was executed by lethal injection on December 4, 2018, at 18:43.  The remaining two members are incarcerated on death row at the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, located in West Livingston. Neither currently have an execution date.  Murphy was scheduled for execution twice, first on March 28, 2019. The United States Supreme Court granted him a last minute reprieve on the basis that TDCJ's denial of his request to have a Buddhist priest in the execution room with him violated the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the United States Constitution. Murphy was then given a second execution date, November 13, 2019. However, his execution was stayed by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas on November 7 to decide whether his religious discrimination lawsuit had merit.  Halprin was scheduled to be executed on October 10, 2019. However, his execution was stayed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on October 4, 2019, due to concerns of racial and religious discrimination from his trial judge. Halprin is Jewish. Trial Judge Vickers "Vic" Cunningham allegedly referred to Halprin as a "kike" and a "fucking Jew" and said Jews "needed to be shut down because they controlled all the money."

Media portrayals.

In 2001, the American Court TV (now TruTV) television series "Mugshots" released an episode covering Rivas, titled "Mugshots - George Rivas".  In 2007, Wild Dream Films produced "The Hunt For The Texas 7", a 90-minute feature documentary about the prison break. The film was aired in late September 2008 on MSNBC. The film features interviews with members of The Texas 7 currently on Death Row and eyewitnesses to their crimes.  On March 25, 2011, Investigation Discovery aired an episode about the case on the show, subtitled "The Deadly Seven". One year later, on March 23, 2012, Investigation Discovery aired an episode of Werner Herzog's documentary series "On Death Row" which dealt with Rivas and Garcia. The seven were also featured in an episode of "Real Prison Breaks" on ITV4 in the UK.  On July 30, 2014, Investigation Discovery's "I (Almost) Got Away With It" aired an episode titled "Got to Be Part of the Texas Seven."  Rivas had married a Canadian woman by proxy.  Halprin had also married by proxy. In spring 2019 ITV UK produced the series: "Death" "Row: Countdown To Execution" hosted by Susanna Reid"." Episode 1 chronicles the case of one of the members of Texas 7: Patrick Murphy. The series aired in the UK in June 2019.

The Texas 7 were a group of prisoners who escaped from the John B. Connally Unit near Kennedy, Texas, on December 13, 2000. Six of the seven were apprehended over a month later, between January 21–23, 2001, as a direct result of the television show "America's Most Wanted". One of them committed suicide before he could be arrested. The six surviving members were all convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Irving, Texas police officer Aubrey Wright Hawkins, who was shot and killed when responding to a robbery perpetrated by the Texas Seven. Four have since been executed.


Demographics.

According to the 2011 census, the Shopian district has a population of 266,215. This gives the Shopian district a ranking of 577th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of. Its population growth rate over the 2001–2011 decade was 25.85%. Shopian has a sex ratio of 951 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 62.49%.

Healthcare.

The district has a number of hospitals and healthcare facilities, some of which include its adjoining areas they are: District Hospital, Shopian, Sub District Hospital Keller Sub District Hospital Zainapora,NTPHC Ramnagri, PHC Herman, PHC Pinjura PHC DK Pora, PHC Vehil, PHC Sedow.PHC NadiGam.

Places of interest.

Shopian district has many places with tourism potential: Arshi Pora Lahanthour, Sedow, Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary, Dubijan - 6 km from Heerpora Village; Peer Marg/Peer Gali - 20 km away from Heerpora on the historical Mughal Road; Lake Nandansar - 2 km away from the Peer Ki Gali; Hash Wang Bagam Pather, Sok Saray, and Mughal Saray at Jajinar. The Jamia Masjid in Shopian is one of the famous historical monuments built during the Mughal reign resembling that of jamia Masjid Srinagar. The Aasar-i-Sharief Dargah at Pinjura, attracts thousands of devotees on the occasion of Eid-i-Milad-un- Nabi and Shab-i-Mehraj. Darul Uloom Islamia Pinjura where large people gather to seek (spiritual and moral) knowledge and propagate to others.  On the outskirts of Shopian town near Nagbal area, there is a Siva temple called Kapalmochan Mandir with three natural springs and a unique Shivling with small Rudraksh shaped knots spread all over it.

Transport.

The major roads connecting Shopian with neighbouring districts are:

Villages to Visit.

The location code or village code of Sedheve village is 003497.Sedheve is a very beautiful village of shopian district. It is best known for its natural beauty viz, V Mountain (V shaped mountain), orchards, grasslands and bounty forests.The total geographical area of village is 413.2 hectares. Sedheve has a total population of 3,819 peoples. There are about 609 houses in Sedheve village. Shopiyan is nearest town to Sedheve which is approximately 8km away.

Shopian or Shupiyan is a hill district with its administrative division in Shopian, located in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, since it is situated on the historical road commonly known as Mughal Road, most of its area is occupied by forests. Shopian district comes under the Pir Panjal Range which makes it very cold in winter.. After partition of India, it was a tehsil of Pulwama district. In March, 2007, the district status was granted by the Government of India. Shopian is known worldwide for its fresh fruits like apricots, peaches, pears, berries, cherries, and most importantly for apples. Shopian is also known as the 'Apple Town' of Kashmir.


Biography.

Bercovici was born into a poor working-class family in Botoşani, Romania, and received a traditional Jewish education. During World War II he served time at hard labor until the arrival of the Soviet Army in Romania.  After the war, he began his career in Yiddish-language newspapers and radio, notably the weekly "IKUF-Bleter" (1946–1953), and the "Revista Cultului Mozaic din R.P.R." ("Journal of Jewish Culture in the People's Republic of Romania", also known as "Tsaytshrift"). The "Journal" was launched in 1956 and had sections in Romanian, Yiddish and Hebrew. Bercovici edited the Yiddish section from 1970 to 1972.  As a literature student after the war at a secular secondary school in Bucharest, Bercovici published his first Yiddish-language poetry in "IKUF-Bleter". Judging by theater reviews he wrote in the early 1950s, he appears to have been an ardent Communist, grateful for his liberation from the labor camp and for the opportunity to receive a secular education, advocating a socialist realist aesthetic for Yiddish-language theater.  His affiliation with the State Jewish Theater began in 1955, initially as ""literarischer Sekretär"". He continued to be very aware of developments in theater beyond the Yiddish language: he drove the theater toward being a contemporary theater, rather than a mere museum of inherited plays. Elvira Groezinger compares his goals to those of New York City's Arbeter Teater Farband (ARTEF, "Workers' Theatre Society"), goals well-aligned with those of the Communist regime.  Bercovici translated works from world literature: Friedrich Dürrenmatt's "Frank V" (1964), Karl Gutzkow's "Uriel Acosta" (1968), and Henrik Ibsen's "The Master Builder" (1972), and wrote his own Yiddish-language plays, including "Der goldener fodem" ("The Golden Thread", 1963), about Abraham Goldfaden (who in 1876 founded the world's first Yiddish-language theater, in Iaşi, Romania), and the musical revue "A shnirl perl" ("A Pearl Necklace", 1967). He also wrote books about Yiddish theater history.  Toward the end of Bercovici's career, in Romania, as elsewhere in Europe, Yiddish was a language in decline. The State Jewish Theater coped, in part, by installing headphones throughout the theater to allow simultaneous translation of the plays into Romanian; the system is still in use when the theater performs Yiddish-language plays today.  Bercovici's 3000-volume Yiddish-language library is now part of the Universitätsbibliothek Potsdam.  Israil Bercovici claims that the Danse Macabre originated among Sephardic Jews in 14th century Spain (Bercovici, 1992, p. 27).

Works for theater.

The following list is drawn from Bercovici's own history of Yiddish theater in Romania ([Bercovici 1998]). The list may be incomplete; many of Bercovici's works were musical and folkloric revues and some were reworkings of Purim plays. The music for most of Bercovici's plays was composed by Haim Schwartzmann; "The Golden Thread" also uses music by Avram Goldfaden, whom the play is about. Schwartzmann and Eugen Koffler contributed music for "A Pearl Necklace" and "Baraşeum '72"; "Mangheriada" used music by Schwartzmann, Koffler, Dubi Seltzer, Henech Cohn, and Simha Schwartz; a 1976 production of "The Golden Thread" credits additional music by Adalbert Winkler.  The list contains Romanian-language titles and Yiddish-language titles with Romanian phonetic transcription. Some works had only a Romanian language title; when titles in both languages are given by Bercovici, the Romanian title precedes the Yiddish. Unless otherwise noted, the date given is that of first performance by the State Jewish Theater.

Poetry.

Bercovici published three major books of Yiddish poetry:  In addition, Bercovici and Nana Cassian translated into Romanian the work of Yiddish-language poet Itzik Manger. A volume of these translations was published in 1983 as "Balada evreului care a ajuns de la ceneşiu la albastru" ("Jewish ballads that have gone from gray to blue").

Israil (Israel) Bercovici (; 1921–1988) was a Jewish Romanian dramaturg, playwright, director, biographer, and memoirist, who served the State Jewish Theater of Romania between 1955 and 1982; he also wrote Yiddish-language poetry.


History.

The league was formed in 1985 with two regional divisions, Central and West. The number of divisions changed frequently in the following years, as did the name of the league, changing to Verbandsliga for a time. From 1991 it operated under name of Regionalliga again with seven divisions, one in the North and two each in the West, Central and Bavaria. From 1995 the league was reduced to four divisions, South, West, Central and Northeast, a format that remained unchanged until 2004 when the Northeast division was split into North and East divisions. Since 2004 the Regionalliga operates in the current five division format.

Organisation.

The five Regionalligas are organised by the regional American football associations rather than the American Football Association of Germany, like the Regionalliga Süd which is organised by the Bavarian one.  In the 2015 season 33 clubs compete in the league, nine in the central division and six each in the other four.  The top teams of the Regionalliga divisions qualify for the play-offs to the German Football League. The division champions and runners-up of the Central and South division play each other home and away for two promotion spots to the southern division of the German Football League 2, whereby the division winner from one plays the runners-up from the other. In the north, the three division winners of the North, West and East division play each other in a single game round robin for two spots in the northern division of the GFL 2. Promotion is subject to licensing approval and can be enlarged if additional spots in the German Football League 2 become available. An overall Regionalliga championship is not played.  The bottom teams from each division are relegated and replaced with the top teams from the tier below, the American football Oberliga.

Division champions.

The division champions since adaption of the current structure in 2004:

Southern region.

The division champions and runners-up since adaption of the current structure in 2004:

Current clubs.

The Regionalliga clubs for the 2016 season:

The American football Regionalliga is the third tier of American football in Germany, below the German Football League and the German Football League 2.


Background.

Schwartz was born Felice Toba Nierenberg on January 16, 1925, in New York, to Jewish parents – businessman Albert Nierenberg, and his wife, Rose Irene (née Levin). After attending boarding school in Cooperstown, New York, she enrolled in Smith College, where she graduated in 1945. In 1946, she married Irving Schwartz, a physician, with whom she raised three children. After her father's death in 1951, she took over the ailing family manufacturing business with her brother, which they successfully saved and sold four years later.

Career.

After graduation from Smith in 1945, Schwartz sought to address the extremely low number of African American students at the college. Because she had been one of only a few Jewish students at her high school, Schwartz empathized with the isolation of African Americans at Smith. That same year she founded the National Scholarship Service and Fund for Negro Students. The organization petitioned colleges and universities to open their doors to African American applicants, and matched qualified students with available scholarship money. In 1951, Schwartz left the organization to help manage the family business. However, she soon encountered the unpleasant realities of running a company as a woman, and she left to become a full-time mother after the birth of her second child. She had a third child and ultimately was out of the workforce for nine years. During this time, she became frustrated by the obstacles preventing educated mothers such as herself from entering or re-entering the workforce.  In 1962, Schwartz contacted the presidents of several colleges, and a handful of them became the board of directors of Catalyst, Inc., a new organization that she hoped would address the issues she and others had experienced as businesswomen and mothers. At the time, Catalyst's mission was "to bring to our country's needs the unused capacities of educated women who want to combine family and work." Schwartz went on to lead Catalyst as its president for 30 years until her retirement in 1993.  Over her career, Schwartz was a prolific writer. The piece that she is probably best known for, entitled "Management Women and the New Facts of Life," was published in the "Harvard Business Review" in 1989. The article was interpreted as suggesting that companies create two career paths to accommodate women who wish to balance career and family and women whose careers are their primary concern. It sparked a heated debate after "The New York Times" ridiculed Schwartz's idea, dubbing it the "Mommy Track." Schwartz, however, maintained that her article was misinterpreted, saying, "I violated the politically correct thing by saying that women are not just like men. What I said then and still say is that women face many, many obstacles in the workplace that men do not face. I was saying to that group of men at the top, 'Rather than let women's talents go to waste, do something about it'."  Schwartz died on February 8, 1996, in Manhattan.

Felice Nierenberg Schwartz (January 16, 1925 – February 8, 1996) was an American writer, advocate, and feminist. During her career, Schwartz founded two national advancement and advocacy organizations. In 1945, she established the National Scholarship Service and Fund for Negro Students (NSSFNS), an association committed to placing African Americans in institutions of higher education. In 1962, she founded Catalyst, a national organization dedicated to advancing women in the workplace, where she served as president for three decades.


Plot.

The story begins with a narration of the independence of Bangladesh after the 1971 war. Amongst those affected by the partition are two orphans: Bikram Bose (Ranveer Singh) and Bala Bhattacharya (Arjun Kapoor). They meet Lateef (Pankaj Tripathi), who offers them food in exchange for smuggling guns. One of Lateef's customers, an army officer, wants one of the boys as his sex slave; if Lateef refuses, his daughter will be taken. Lateef chooses Bala at first, but Bikram insists that he will go instead. Bala refuses to leave his best friend and returns to save Bikram from the officer, whom they kill. This makes them partners in crime; when the army chases them, Lateef is killed while trying to protect the duo. Bikram and Bala flee to Calcutta and work at a restaurant. After being mistreated and insulted, they learn that pilfering coal is a way to make easy money.  As adults, Bikram and Bala loot coal trains and sell the pilfered coal; their chief competitor is Dibakar (Deepraj Rana). When Bikram and Bala loot one of Dibakar's trains, his men threaten them. Undeterred, they promise to loot his next train as well. When they arrive to loot Dibakar's train, he calls them "refugees" and a fight ensues. Before they kill Dibakar, Bikram and Bala tell him that they are Indians, not refugees. Now having control of the coal business, they expand into other businesses by laundering money with Kaali Kaka's (Saurabh Shukla) help. They become local heroes by building hospitals, donating to charities, and building schools. Although they provide jobs for the poor, their business dealings make them a target of the law. Assistant Commissioner of Police Satyajeet Sarkar (Irrfan Khan) is summoned to arrest Bikram and Bala. Sarkar, knowing that they can cover their tracks with Kaali Kaka, warns them that he will arrest them when he finds evidence against them.  A businessman invites Bikram and Bala to the opening of his new club in Calcutta. He introduces them to Himanshu (Anant Vidhaat Sharma), his assistant. They meet Nandita (Priyanka Chopra), a cabaret dancer. They both fall in love with her, and decide that whoever wins her heart will marry her. Nandita invites them to a theatre to tell them whom she loves. Bala gets into a fight there with a man who insults Nandita and shoots him. Bikram tells Bala to go into hiding, promising not to see Nandita until he returns. Sarkar warns Bikram that if Bala returns to Calcutta, he will be killed. Nandita tells Bikram that she loves him, but if they do not observe Durga Puja together she will never see him again. Bikram agrees to meet her. Later, Bala learns about this through Himanshu, and returns to Calcutta. Enraged when he sees Bikram and Nandita, Bala accuses Bikram of breaking his promise and shoots at him. He hits Nandita instead, who is rushed to hospital and survives.  Bala learns that their businesses are in Bikram's name, and demands his share. Bikram agrees, even sharing the ration card which is proof of their Indian nationality. Bala suggests sharing Nandita; angering Bikram, who fights Bala. Bikram wins but spares Bala as he saved his life. However, he warns Bala that if he bothers Nandita, he will kill him. When Bikram proposes to Nandita, she says she cannot marry him unless he leaves his criminal life behind; Bikram agrees. A vengeful Bala blows up Bikram's coal mines and kidnaps Nandita. As Bikram prepares to kill Bala, Sarkar asks Bikram to turn the state's evidence against Bala so he and Nandita can marry. Bala tells Nandita that he will kill her unless she leaves Bikram; Nandita retorts that she loves Bikram. Heartbroken, Bala apologises to Nandita and returns her to Bikram. In reality, Nandita is an undercover police officer helping Sarkar arrest Bikram and Bala. When Bikram prepares to help Sarkar implicate Bala, he encounters the man whom Bala supposedly killed and learns that he is a police officer. Nandita tries to convince Bikram that he will be treated leniently by the law, he believes the law was responsible for destroying their childhood. Nandita reveals her identity to Bikram, and he realises that she was a trap Sarkar set to separate him from Bala. When she asks him to surrender, he refuses and rejoins Bala.  Himanshu brings Bala into the coal mine to meet Dutta. Himanshu tells him that he is Dibakar's brother and saw him murdered by Bikram and Bala. He reveals Nandita's identity and tries to kill Bala, but Bikram rescues him and Bala impales Himanshu. While trying to escape, they are then cornered by Sarkar and Nandita, who again tells Bikram that she loves him and he should surrender; Sarkar also tries to convince Bala to surrender. Bikram and Bala see a passing train and run towards it. As Bikram and Bala are inches away from catching the train, Sarkar and Nandita shoot at them. The movie ends with the train passing away without the two, implying that they were killed or they made it to the train and survived.

Cast.

The cast is listed below:

Production.

Development.

"Gunday" was announced in August 2012 by Yash Raj Films, with Ali Abbas Zafar directing a film about two 1970s criminals in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata). In a Reuters interview, Zafar said that the film was conceived because of his fascination with history. His father, a 1971 war veteran, told him stories about the war, its immigration and the coal mafia. His father told stories about the illegal coal trade in Calcutta, where trains carrying coal were robbed by unemployed youths. Since coal was a black-market commodity during the 1970s and 1980s, he used it as a plot device. The stories inspired him to create the film's backdrop around which he based his characters. Zafar decided to set the film in Calcutta, since he felt the story suited the city's political climate. Zafar said that films of that era, such as "Deewaar" (1975) and "Kaala Patthar" (1979), influenced his storyline. He believed that the films' portrayal of the conflict between right and wrong gave him an understanding of life as a child, which he used in the script. In an interview, Zafar said that the film depicted the consequences of the outlaws' struggle against the system: "If someone is deprived of basic rights, there will certain youth who will be disillusioned and go over to the dark side. In a way, the system creates its own enemy." "Gunday" was the last film narrated to Yash Chopra.  Since most 1970s and 1980s films emphasized bromance, Zafar wanted to showcase friendship and said that he wanted to "catch that spirit" of friendship of "Jai-Veeru" from "Sholay" (1975); he called the film a "definite reference point", with "Yaarana" (1981), for portraying bromance. Zafar made the friendship between his characters integral to the plot, where the characters would do anything for each other: "The whole idea while making "Gunday" was to bring the right feel of friendship. The idea about friendship which used to be in the earlier times, especially in the heartland of India was something else."

Casting and characters.

In August 2012, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor were cast as the protagonists Bikram and Bala respectively. Zafar gave a joint pitch to both the actors where Kapoor would play Bikram and Singh would play Bala. After hearing the description, both the actors felt that they could play their respective characters as they identified similarities between the characters and their own personalities. However, the director switched the roles as a surprise, giving the part of Bikram to Singh and Bala to Kapoor. Although they initially wanted to play their originally proposed roles, feeling that their respective characters were within their comfort zone, they later agreed to play the opposite roles. Priyanka Chopra joined the cast as the lead actress in October 2012. The following month, Irrfan Khan was cast for the role of a police officer in the film.  Chopra described her character Nandita, the cabaret dancer, as a girl next door who acts as the main catalyst for driving the story further and igniting the conflict between Bikram and Bala when they both fall in love with her. She admired the qualities of her character, saying, "She's very righteous and believes in black and white, which is very like me. She is a no-nonsense person and has this superior air about her, even though she is a very normal girl. I think women should carry themselves like her." Khan described his character of the intelligence police officer as "larger than life". For Khan, who had mostly performed in niche dramatic films, Zafar made his character a lot more flamboyant and mainstream. His character was highly stylised to suit the mainstream popcorn genre of the film.  Singh described his and Kapoor's characters as "two outlaws with a bold attitude". They described the friendship between the inseparable characters as like "two sides of the same coin". Kapoor further explained that Singh's character Bikram brings equilibrium to his character Bala, saying, "He (Bikram) is more in control and aware of his surroundings. Bala, on the other hand, is temperamental and acts in the heat of the moment."

Filming.

Rajat Poddar handled the production design while Aseem Mishra did the cinematography. Subarna Ray Chaudhuri designed the costumes while Rameshwar S Bhagat edited the film. Principal photography began on 14 December 2012 in Mumbai. It was shot at the Chandivali Studio, where the scenes between Singh, Kapoor and Chopra were filmed. The first schedule ended by December 2012. While filming a song sequence, Singh injured himself after falling from a height; he suffered a gash on his cheek. He was rushed to the nearest hospital and had to get a few stitches. The second schedule of the film started in January 2013 in Mumbai, where the streets of Howrah were recreated on the outskirts of the city. The filming moved to Kolkata in mid-February, where the major portion of the film was filmed on-location. One of the early filmed scenes included a dramatic Durga Puja sequence under the Howrah Bridge with a crowd of 1000 people, for which a huge pandal was created. For building the pandal, a very old native professional was hired to give it an authentic 1980s look. The opening song "Jash-e-Ishqa" was filmed at the Howrah Bridge; several scenes were also filmed at the Jagannath Ghat and Maniktala fish market. The Dhapa area was recreated as the refugee camp, standing in for a refugee camp in Bangladesh. Other locations included the Victoria Memorial and Belbad Colliery, where the opening train sequences were filmed. The song "Tune Maari Entriyaan" was shot across various locations, including scenes at the streets of Calcutta High Court, Dalhousie and Dakshineswar Kali Temple. Additionally, a small part of Calcutta was recreated at the Film City in Mumbai, which included places with signboards in Bangla, CPM flags, yellow taxis and the iconic Metro Cinema. Filming in Kolkata continued till the end of March.  Bosco–Caesar choreographed all the songs in the film. The cabaret dance number "Aslaam-E-Ishqum" featuring Chopra was filmed in early July over six days on a set created in Mumbai. The set for the cabaret number was modelled after Kolkata's once very popular bar "Trinka's", known for cabaret, where troupes from Russia and Europe used to come and perform. A huge coal mine set was erected at the Yash Raj Studio, where the four principal actors filmed the action scenes in July. In early September 2013, Zafar informed the media via a tweet that he was scouting locations for the film in Muscat, Oman, where the song "Jiya" was filmed on location as a part of the last schedule. Zafar also revealed that fifteen days worth of shooting was left for the film, which was scheduled to occur in Kolkata and Raniganj. Filming resumed in late September 2013 in Durgapur, where a huge climatic action sequence was filmed in the coal mine area. The filming was done over a period of 110 days and was completed on 25 September 2013.

Soundtrack.

The soundtrack album was composed by Sohail Sen, with lyrics written by Irshad Kamil, except for one ("Gunday") which was written by Zafar. The lyrics for the Bengali version of "Tune Maari Entriyaan" were written by Bappi Lahiri and Gautam Susmit. The album contains ten compositions including seven original songs, a theme and a different versions of two original songs. The vocals were performed by Javed Ali, Shadab Faridi, Lahiri, KK, Neeti Mohan, Vishal Dadlani, Arijit Singh, Neha Bhasin, Shahid Mallya, Altamash Faridi, Sen, Kinga Rhymes and Monali Thakur. The album was released on 20 January 2014 by YRF Music. A Bengali version of the soundtrack, composed by Sen and with lyrics by Sanjay, was released on 30 January 2014.  The soundtrack album received positive reviews from music critics. "The Times of India" gave a rating of 4 out of 5, writing that the album succeeds in transporting the listener to the period when the film is set, but had its fair share of highs and lows. Bollywood Hungama gave the album a rating of 3.5 out of 5, writing, "Sohail Sen seems to have finally got his act right. His songs have immense popular appeal, substance and the right blend of melody and contemporary styles." Writing for Rediff.com, Joginder Tuteja also gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars, noting the musical variety in the soundtrack and the "entertaining songs". The Indo-Asian News Service published on NDTV gave it 3.5 out of 5, pointing out Sen's versatility as a music composer and writing that the album had "songs for every mood and music lovers couldn't have asked for more."  The album was one of the most successful Indian music albums of 2014, with the songs "Tune Maari Entriyaan", "Jashn-E-Ishqa" and "Asalaam-E-Ishqum" topping various charts in India across various platforms.

Release.

The first teaser poster was released in mid-December 2012, when the film began its production for a 2013 release. In April 2013, it was announced that the film was scheduled to release on Valentine's Day, 14 February 2014. The teaser trailer of the film was released on 21 November 2013 and received a positive response, with "India Today" calling it "action-packed" and "promising". In what appeared to be a promotional strategy, Priyanka Chopra's character did not appear in the teaser, generating media buzz. She asked the audiences to wait for the release. On 12 December 2013, one day before the theatrical trailer release, the makers released the first look of Chopra, revealing that her character was a cabaret dancer, which had not been announced during production.  The film's production studio released a range of merchandise, partnering with several brands for promotional purposes. The music and trailers aided its marketing. "Gunday" had its premiere in Dubai on 12 February 2014 with the full cast in attendance. It was released theatrically on 14 February 2014 on 2700 screens. A Bengali-dubbed version of the film was also released in West Bengal's small towns, where only Bengali films are shown. The film was not released in Pakistan, where it was highly awaited, after the country stopped giving "No-Objection Certificates" to Indian films in early 2014 due to pending legislative changes.  After the release of the film, Bangladeshis protested on social media over the introductory narration in the film, which says that Bangladesh was created through the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and that India's participation brought independence to Bangladesh. People from Bangladesh demanded the production house to apologise for its inaccurate representation of its history. Contrary to the film's depiction, the country was created after the Bangladesh Liberation War, and India joined an already ongoing war of independence and was not the sole reason for the independence as told in the film. An article published in "The Wall Street Journal" wrote that "to claim that India's participation alone brought about independence, as the film does, is incorrect [...] Bangladesh was born because Bangladeshi fighters had been battling the larger and better equipped Pakistani military for months. India's participation only quickened the war's end. It is the people of Bangladesh who liberated themselves from Pakistan." Bangladeshis were also offended by a scene in the film where many Bangladeshis called themselves Indians and spoke Hindi. A week later, Yash Raj Films made an official apology statement.  Irate Bangladeshis launched a social media campaign with the hashtag "GundayHumiliatedHistoryOfBangladesh" on Twitter, asking people to bury the film on the Internet Movie Database. Facebook groups were formed to boycott and downvote the film. As a result, the film suffered from vote brigading on IMDb, where it was the lowest rated film at the time of its release, with a 1.4/10 rating based on more than 44,000 votes, 91% of which gave it one star., it holds a rating of 2.1/10.  Distributed by Yash Raj Home Video, the film was released on DVDs on 30 April 2014 across all regions in a two-disc pack in Anamorphic format, with bonus content such as a "making of the film" documentary, deleted scenes and making of the songs. The VCD version was also released at the same time. A two-disc special edition DVD pack was also released later. The Blu-ray version was released on 2 May 2014. The world television premiere of the film happened on Sony MAX on 17 August 2014.

Reception.

Critical reception.

"Gunday" received mostly positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 86% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 7 out of 10. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave a rating of 4 out of 5, calling it an "entertainer" and writing that the film "has an attention-grabbing premise, well-etched-out characters, high-octane drama, is generously peppered with vibrant songs and energetic action pieces, boasts of defining performances from the principal cast." However, he felt that it was too long. Srijana Mitra Das from "Times of India" gave it 3.5 out of 5, calling it an ""Oliver Twist" with a Bollywood twist", writing that "Gunday pays loving homage to Bollywood classics "Sholay", "Kaala Patthar" and other brothers-in-arms films while offering more." Mohar Basu of Koimoi also gave it 3.5 out of 5, calling it a "must watch" for "the oomph and bombastic dialogues", and praised Zafar's direction, writing that "the execution is what makes the fast depleting story hold its ground. The trajectories he builds are shaky but his screenplay is engrossing enough to not let you slip even in the slack moments."  "Mint" gave a highly positive review, calling it a "spectacular tribute to 1970s' Hindi cinema", and wrote that it "moves at a satisfying clip from the beginning to the end. It's formula food for the present day, spiced with flamboyance, a fair sense of rhythm that occasionally slackens during the 153-minute running time, and a clear understanding of the meaning of popular entertainment, Hindi movie style." However, it added that neither Singh nor Kapoor were "particularly convincing as dangerous gangsters". Rohit Khilnani from "India Today" gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5, terming it an "entertaining film" and writing, "It's old wine in a new bottle and it tastes awesome! It's packed with action, emotions, friendship, drama and some terrific performances." Writing for "Hindustan Times", Anupama Chopra gave it 3 out of 5, calling it "an unabashed love letter to the 1970s" and writing, "Though the story is set in the 1980s, Zafar recreates a classic '70s vibe with punchy dialogue-baazi, scenes designed to make you applaud and a relentless background score by Julius Packiam that underlines every beat just in case you missed a high note. Gunday is all slow-motion and swagger, with nods to "Deewaar", "Sholay", "Kaala Patthar", "Kabhie Kabhie" and sprinkles of John Woo's doves and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"."  On the contrary to the positive reviews, Rajeev Masand gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5, terming it "derivative and tediously boring" and writing, "For a while, the film succeeds in grabbing your attention too with its striking period detail and some nicely mounted scenes. But rolling out at 2 hours and 34 minutes, it can't help feeling like a slog." "Daily News and Analysis" gave it 2 out of 5, noting that every critical conflict in the story was flaky and the bromance was a letdown. Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com also gave it 2 out of 5, criticising the script, which she thought was full of "silly loopholes, annoying clichés and glaring superficiality", writing that "No matter how hard Zafar tries to create an action hero [...] he fails to substantiate it with charisma that goes beyond surface value." Shubhra Gupta of "The Indian Express" gave it 1.5 out of 5, calling it a "mash-up of popular blockbusters".

Box office.

A commercial success, "Gunday" is the 10th highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2014 and the highest-grossing February Bollywood release of all time. The film had a very good opening at the box office. It also registered excellent collections at multiplexes, which is rare for an action film in India. It grossed 150 million on its opening day, breaking opening records in several regions for the year at the time of its release. The film went on to collect over 111 million on Saturday and 140 million on Sunday for an opening domestic weekend of over 402 million. The film grossed over $2 million overseas for a worldwide opening weekend of 670 million. "Gunday" grossed a decent 60 million, dropping sixty percent on its first Monday. The film had done good to reasonable business all over, grossing 590 million in its first week domestically. During its theatrical run, the film grossed over 980 million at the Indian box office, with an additional $3.4 million from overseas, for a worldwide total of 1.2 billion.

Remake.

The movie was remade in Dhallywood in 2015 as "Blackmail" starring Anisur Rahman Milon, Eamin Haque Bobby & Moushumi Hamid.

Gunday () is a 2014 Indian action thriller film written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and produced by Aditya Chopra. The film features Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan in the lead roles. Set in 1971–1988 Calcutta, "Gunday" is a story about two best friends and outlaws, who fall in love with a cabaret dancer, which causes rivalry and misunderstandings between them.


Life.

Provenance and early years.

Kurt Sitte was born in Reichenberg, a mid-sized city in North Bohemia that had industrialised and grown rapidly during the previous century. Even after the termination of Austro-Hungary and the transfer of Reichenberg to the new state of Czechoslovakia in 1919, Reichenberg remained ethnically, linguistically and culturally a German city right up till 1944/45. Kurt Sitte's father, also called Kurt Sitte, was a head teacher and a painter. After completing his Abitur (school leaving exams), Kurt Sitte moved on to the Charles-Ferdinand (German) University in Prague where he studied Maths and Physics, and where he obtained his doctorate in 1932. His habilitation, which was in Physics, followed just three years later, in 1935, after which he took a teaching position. He also presided over a leftist discussion group known as "Die Tat" (""the deed"") back in Reichenberg and participated in the. At the time of the (and shortly before the Munich Agreement), Kurt Sitte was a co-founder, on 18 September 1938, of the "National Council of all Peace motivated Sudeten Germans" (""Nationalrats aller friedenswilligen Sudetendeutschen"").  At some point around 1938 Kurt Sitte married Kheda Kraus, a nurse working in Prague. The marriage would end in divorce. His wife remarried in 1958.

Buchenwald.

In March 1939, soon after Czechoslovakia had been annexed to Germany, Sitte was expelled from the university and arrested. He was imprisoned briefly in Prague and then moved to the Dachau concentration camp before he and his wife, as "political detainees", were transferred to Buchenwald in September 1939. Sitte was not Jewish, but his wife was, in part.  Early in 1942 Sitte began working in the SS-Pathology department at the concentration camp where he was employed as a deputy to the "Kapo". Wegerer was a chemical engineer, and according to Eugen Kogon, who was also held at Buchenwald and survived, Wegerer and Sitte provided training courses on medical and biological topics to interested fellow inmates. Another beneficiary of their erudition was the concentration camp doctor, Waldemar Hoven who during this time obtained a doctorate with a dissertation entitled "Investigations into the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis through the inhalation of colloidal carbon" (""Versuche zur Behandlung der Lungentuberkulose durch Inhalation von Kohlekolloid""). It subsequently transpired that the dissertation had been compiled by Wegerer and Sitte.  As the end of the war approached, on 11 April 1945 Kurt Sitte was one of those freed from the Buchenwald concentration camp by members of the United States Army. His wife had also survived Buchenwald.

After the war.

Between 1946 and 1948 Sitte and his wife lived in Britain where he was employed as a university research fellow at Edinburgh and Manchester. Their son Martin was born in 1946.  Starting in April 1947 Sitte appeared as a witness at the Buchenwald Trial. He identified examples of "processed" human skin from the camp. He testified that the principal processes had taken place at Buchenwald, based on intended uses decided elsewhere. His evidence affected the so-called "Buchenwald Commander", Ilse Koch, whose death sentence was subsequently reduced to a four-year jail term because no incriminating evidence was produced that she had selected prisoners for murder according to the tattoos on their skin, nor that she was in possession of any objects made from human skin. The US military tribunal which reduced her sentence in 1948 based its decision on various considerations, taking the view that her earlier conviction and sentencing had been excessively dependent on hearsay evidence. In this connection Sitte later found himself being questioned about his experiences at Buchenwald by an enquiry commission of the US senate. The senators had got hold of a shrunken head from Buchenwald, and Sitte was able to confirm that it was indeed a human head and that it was one of two shrunken heads formerly in the collection of the SS-Pathology department at the concentration camp. The heads were those of two camp internees who in 1939 or 1940 had attempted to escape from Buchenwald but been caught. They had been physically punished before an assembly of their fellow inmates and later hanged. Even in the context of those times, the power to shock of the testimony Sitte was able to provide stands out.  In 1948 he relocated to the United States, taking a position as a Professor of Physics at Syracuse University, roughly equidistant between Buffalo and Albany in Upstate New York. Here he embarked on research in nuclear physics and cosmic radiation. In 1953 he became a member of the New York Academy of Sciences. In the age of McCarthyism, Sitte was the object of official suspicion during his years in the United States, both because of his left-wing politics in the 1930s and because of the contacts he maintained with Czechoslovak communists whom he knew from his time in Buchenwald, and whom he continued to visit even after the Communist take-over in 1948. It was at the instigation of the FBI that in 1953 Sitte's residence permit was not renewed, and he accordingly relocated again, this time to Brazil. He took a teaching post as a visiting professor at the University of São Paulo. Shortly afterwards his inclusion on a list of security risks was confirmed when he booked a flight to Rome that included a transfer in New York City. When Sitte asked if he might stay at a hotel overnight the New York authorities refused his request, placed him under a heavy police guard, and bundled him onto the first available flight out of the country, which took him not to Italy, but back to Brazil.

Israeli espionage conviction.

By 1954 Kurt Sitte had become widely respected as an expert in nuclear physics, and in October he accepted a post at the Israel Institute of Technology ("Technion") in Haifa, where he set up the Nuclear Physics department and became its head. Further official recognition followed in 1955 with his appointment as the president of the Israeli Physics Society. Because of his various offices and duties he also acquired knowledge of research projects in nuclear physics at the Weizmann Institute just outside Tel Aviv and at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  Sitte was also entrusted with overseas research contracts, including space projects of the US Air Force. In 1959 he became deputy chief of the supervisory council of the research institute which was dominated by US, British and Canadians, and in this way he became familiar with the practical evaluation of the space research that was undertaken there. Because of his exposed position Sitte was subject to surveillance by the Israeli Intelligence Services. He drew suspicion through his visits to communist Czechoslovakia and because of two stays in the Soviet Union. More brazen still, from the start of the 1960s, was a series of conspiratorial meetings with a blacklisted (by Israeli intelligence) Czechoslovak diplomat in various cafés. Early in June 1960 Sitte asked his staff to produce written reports on their research projects.  In the end Sitte was arrested at his villa in Haifa on 15 June 1960 and the property was searched. His arrest was based on the allegation that he had betrayed state secrets to an (unnamed) foreign power. In the interrogation that followed Sitte admitted to his contacts with Czechoslovak diplomats. His sister and aging mother were still living in Czechoslovakia, and he testified that he had been keen to protect their positions, and that conversations involving scientific matters had simply involved the free exchange of information among scientists. The Israeli intelligence services reported that Sitte had been afraid that his research on cosmic rays as a potential energy source could lead to a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was in order to prevent such an outcome that he had divulged information to the Soviets. The actual trial was launched in the Haifa district court on 5 November 1960. The public were excluded, but it is known that the secret trial involved crimes against the Israeli National Security Act of 1957. On 7 February Kurt Sitte was sentenced to a five-year jail term for passing on secret information to a foreign power. The sentence was appealed, but without success. However, because of "good behaviour" he was released early, on 26 March 1963.

Professor in Freiburg.

In 1963 Kurt Sitte married, as his second wife, Judith Sitte-Amon (born Judith/Yehudit Krymokowski) and the couple relocated to West Germany. The couple had a son.  Between 1963 and 1971 Sitte was a professor (initially a visiting professor) at the Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg in the southwest of the country. He combined this, between 1964 and 1967, with work at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg. Between 1970 and 1983 he belonged to the scientific committee of the Cosmo-Geophysical Laboratory of the Italian National Research Council, based in Turin, where he had been employed as a teaching professor between 1966 and 1970. He was also the author of numerous scientific papers.

Kurt Sitte (1 December 1910 - 20 June 1993) was a nuclear physicist, originally from northern Bohemia. As a result of frontier changes, he grew up, after 1919, in Czechoslovakia, and from 1938 found himself a citizen of an enlarged Germany. It was primarily because of his political activism that he was detained at the Buchenwald concentration camp between September 1939 and April 1944. Having survived this internment, his scientific skills opened up a range of career options internationally: between 1945 he lived and worked successively in Scotland, England, the United States, Brazil and Israel.


College track career.

Smith attended Auburn University, where he was a successful athlete for the Auburn Tigers. Smith arrived at Auburn as a nationally renowned high-school sprinter from his time at Uniondale High School, New York. "Track and Field News" named him High School Athlete of the Year in 1974.  Smith started his college career as a sprinter. He then switched to the longer distance of 400 m., prompted by injuries incurred in shorter sprints, and by the emergence of competition from up-and-coming sprinters like Harvey Glance. Despite this, Smith was a successful enough 100 m sprinter to be an alternate for the United States 4 × 100 m relay team at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Having finished fifth in the 100 m final at the United States Olympic Trials, he was placed in the third qualifying position up to 80 m of the race.. At his new distance of 400 m, Smith quickly achieved national success, winning two NCAA titles at the distance.  Internationally, Smith won a silver medal at the 1977 World Student Games at 400 m.  When he graduated in 1978, Smith received his university's top honor of Athlete of the Year.

Later track career.

After graduation, Smith continued as an athlete. He was twice United States National Champion at 400m, in 1979 and 1980. His reward in 1979 was a place on the American team for the Pan American Games at 400 m. Here he won bronze. Smith, as American No. 1 was expected to be the main rival to the great Cuban athlete Alberto Juantorena. In the end, a foot injury and a problem with a shoe, plus an inspired piece of running by his American colleague Tony Darden, meant it was Darden and not him who beat Juantorena into second.  Smith finished second in the 400 m final at the United States Olympic Trials for the 1980 Olympics. He was unable to compete due to the United States boycott of those games. A defeat of the Olympic champion Viktor Markin was little consolation. Years later, he did receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.  Smith was also a member of winning United States 4 × 400 m relay teams in the 1979 and 1981 IAAF Athletics World Cups.  In 1983, he competed at the inaugural IAAF Athletics World Championships in the American 4 × 400 m relay team. However, he collided with a competing Soviet Union runner on the third leg, falling, leaving the American final leg runner, the great 400 m hurdler Ed Moses, with no chance of victory despite his valiant but vain effort to catch the leaders - the team eventually finished down the field. Smith said "It was a stupid mistake. I almost quit the sport."  In 1984, Smith finished sixth in the 400 m final at the United States Olympic Trials for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics thus qualifying to be part of the 4 × 400 m relay squad for those games. The United States 4 × 400 m relay team came first and Smith received an Olympic gold medal by virtue of having run a leg for the team in a qualifying heat and the semi-final.  In 1988, he attempted again to qualify for the Olympics, as a 32-year-old. He failed, finishing 8th in a semi-final of the 400 m trial at the United States Olympic Trials. He is reported as working then full-time as a television news director. Smith himself at the time wondered about "what makes him run" and considered the attempt at making the Olympic team like "a bad habit. It gets in your blood".  In 1996, Smith attempted to compete at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as a 40-year-old. His struggle was chronicled in the New York Times. He unfortunately did not qualify, even with advice from the elder statesmen of track coaching Brooks Johnson and Mel Rosen (his old college coach). He, however, did set a master's record.  Since then he has created and worked at sporting camps for young people.  In 1997, Smith was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.  In 2000, he was honored as one of 6 new stars in Auburn's Tiger Trail, Auburn University's replica of Hollywood's walk of fame.

Rankings.

"Track and Field News" ranked Smith among the best 400 m runners in the US and the world from 1977 to 1985.

USA Championships.

Smith was a very successful competitor at 400 metres at the USA National Track and Field Championships between 1979 and 1983.:

Willie Smith (born February 28, 1956) is an American athlete who was the national champion 400 metres runner in 1979-80, and a gold medal winner at the 1984 Olympics in the 4 × 400 m relay.