Straight out of development hell - An alternate history of cinema
- Thread starter MaskedPickle
- Start date
Charlie (1968), by Franklin J. Schaffner
Cliff Robertson, since he had purchased the rights to Daniel Keyes’ science-fiction novel Flowers for Algernon [1], was desperately looking for a producer. This story of a retarded man who becomes intelligent and self-aware thanks to a scientific treatment, only to become amoral, disgusted by his own behavior and eventually regressing intellectually, wasn’t so Hollywood fuel. Adapting the novel was also difficult, given its structure: all narrated through the point of view of the hero, Charlie Gordon, with his grammar and spelling ameliorating as his intelligence grew bigger. Robertson had lost 30,000 dollars to William Goldman for a first draft of a screenplay, and he was now in talks with screenwriter Richard Matheson [2]. But now Cliff Robertson had a new plan to promote his movie.
With the new fame of The Graduate star and newcomer Harrison Ford, all Hollywood gossipers were expecting his next move. Some spoke of him starring in an action movie with Steve McQueen, others of French director Jacques Demy proposing him a role in his next musical, set in Los Angeles [3]. For now, his relation with his Graduate co-star Carol Lynley was already making the headlines. Robertson saw the opportunity: he could capitalize on the notoriety of the young actor, giving him an Oscar-bait role of a retarded man. He would graciously elope, taking the supporting role of Dr. Nemur, one of the scientists involved in Charlie Gordon’s treatment, and becoming co-producer, giving of his own money to help funding the film. The young Ford liked Matheson’s script and announced in a press conference that Charlie (the movie’s name) would be his next role.
United Artists, eager to work with the new sensation, quickly helped Cliff Robertson. The great studio’s backing was determinant into convincing the great movie composer Alex North (who was then working with Stanley Kubrick [4]) and convincing another media sensation, Julie Christie, to star in the movie as Alice Kinnian, Charlie’s psychologist and love interest. Kim Hunter, of Streetcar Named Desire fame, joined the cast as Dr. Anna Straus. Franklin J. Schaffner, a rising film director, was picked to film the movie, which began filming in December 1967.
Cliff Robertson, as holder of the film’s rights and supporting actor (his performance as Dr. Nemur would earn him an Academy Award nomination [5]), acted as some sort of executive producer on the set, sometimes overpassing Schaffner’s decisions, to the outrage of the director. Meanwhile, while Ford was always eager to learn more about acting, still fresh from his good experience with Susan Hayward, had much to do with the prima donna behavior of Julie Christie [6] who, after filming under the orders of David Lean and John Schlesinger, was not easy with acting in a Hollywood movie. She was then more attached to her high-profile relation to Warren Beatty.
Plus, the Matheson script was very demanding. Rythmed by the voice-over of Charlie Gordon, first in a childish vocabulary when he is retarded, then in common or often stilted language, his relation with Alice puts the stress on sexual innuendos, with Alice maintaining a cold distance between the two of them, in a master and servant style. When Charlie wants to marry her before he finally regresses into his past status, Alice refuses. [7] In the middle of his life of perdition, rythmed by montage sequences, Charlie goes to his childhood’s neighbourhood, where he has a face-to-face with his alcoholic and dementia-torn widowed mother, played by Jo Van Fleet, already seen in a similar role in East of Eden. [8] The movie ends with Charlie in a child playground, being looked after by Alice Kinnian, as in the beginning.
Charlie was an instant hit, crushing all competition, becoming the 13th highest-grossing film of 1968 [9]. It cemented Harrison Ford’s place as a rising star, consecrated Julie Christie’s arrival on the American scene, and laid out perspectives to a sequel, much to the pleasure of Cliff Robertson. [10] Earning seven Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actors, it finally came out with one, for Julie Christie, shared with The Lion In Winter’ star Katherine Hepburn, who had narrowly lost to Susan Hayward the previous year. Richard Matheson was more lucky in Britain, where he won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay.
Harrison Ford had failed for the second time to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. His determination wasn’t foiled at all, and he was eager to return to the studios…
INFORMATIONS :
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Produced by Cliff Robertson and Ralph Nelson
Written by Richard Matheson, based on the novel Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
Music by Alex North
Cinematography by Leon Shamroy
Edited by Fredric Steinkamp
Distributed by United Artists
Release date(s) September, 23 1968
-Harrison Ford as Charlie Gordon
-Julie Christie as Alice Kinnian
-Kim Hunter as Dr. Anna Straus
-Cliff Robertson as Dr. Richard Nemur
-Jo Van Fleet as Charlie’s mother
Academy Awards performance :
[FONT="] [/FONT]
-Best Picture
-Best Director – Franklin J. Schaffner
-Best Actor – Harrison Ford
-Best Actress – Julie Christie
-Best Supporting Actor – Cliff Robertson
-Best Adapted Screenplay – Richard Matheson
-Best Original Score (Not a Musical) – Alex North
Author’s footnotes :
1 – Robertson had already played the part in 1961 in The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon, a TV movie.
2 – IOTL, Robertson contacted Stirling Stilliphant, who eventually made the final script for Charly.
3 – Demy proposed a then unknown Harrison Ford the leading role in his American gig Model Shop IOTL. The producers barked at the idea, preferring a better known 2001 actor , Gary Lockwood.
4 – Alex North had been making a score for 2001: A Space Odyssey; unknown to him, Kubrick had already decided to use classical music.
5- Cliff Robertson won the Academy Award for Best Actor this year as Charlie Gordon. Nevertheless, jury members acknowledged they were subjected to intense pressure to give him the award.
6 – That would lead her to refuse various roles in the 1970s, slowing down her career.
7 – It’s the other way IOTL.
8 – This scene, pivotal in the novel, is absent from the OTL film.
9 – Three places behind of OTL.
10 – Robertson blew up its chances at a sequel when he was implicated as a whistleblower against Columbia Pictures head David Begelman in the 1970s, blacklisiting Robertson until 1983.
« They say, Charlie, that true love is letting go. »
Alice Kinnian
With the new fame of The Graduate star and newcomer Harrison Ford, all Hollywood gossipers were expecting his next move. Some spoke of him starring in an action movie with Steve McQueen, others of French director Jacques Demy proposing him a role in his next musical, set in Los Angeles [3]. For now, his relation with his Graduate co-star Carol Lynley was already making the headlines. Robertson saw the opportunity: he could capitalize on the notoriety of the young actor, giving him an Oscar-bait role of a retarded man. He would graciously elope, taking the supporting role of Dr. Nemur, one of the scientists involved in Charlie Gordon’s treatment, and becoming co-producer, giving of his own money to help funding the film. The young Ford liked Matheson’s script and announced in a press conference that Charlie (the movie’s name) would be his next role.
United Artists, eager to work with the new sensation, quickly helped Cliff Robertson. The great studio’s backing was determinant into convincing the great movie composer Alex North (who was then working with Stanley Kubrick [4]) and convincing another media sensation, Julie Christie, to star in the movie as Alice Kinnian, Charlie’s psychologist and love interest. Kim Hunter, of Streetcar Named Desire fame, joined the cast as Dr. Anna Straus. Franklin J. Schaffner, a rising film director, was picked to film the movie, which began filming in December 1967.
Cliff Robertson, as holder of the film’s rights and supporting actor (his performance as Dr. Nemur would earn him an Academy Award nomination [5]), acted as some sort of executive producer on the set, sometimes overpassing Schaffner’s decisions, to the outrage of the director. Meanwhile, while Ford was always eager to learn more about acting, still fresh from his good experience with Susan Hayward, had much to do with the prima donna behavior of Julie Christie [6] who, after filming under the orders of David Lean and John Schlesinger, was not easy with acting in a Hollywood movie. She was then more attached to her high-profile relation to Warren Beatty.
Plus, the Matheson script was very demanding. Rythmed by the voice-over of Charlie Gordon, first in a childish vocabulary when he is retarded, then in common or often stilted language, his relation with Alice puts the stress on sexual innuendos, with Alice maintaining a cold distance between the two of them, in a master and servant style. When Charlie wants to marry her before he finally regresses into his past status, Alice refuses. [7] In the middle of his life of perdition, rythmed by montage sequences, Charlie goes to his childhood’s neighbourhood, where he has a face-to-face with his alcoholic and dementia-torn widowed mother, played by Jo Van Fleet, already seen in a similar role in East of Eden. [8] The movie ends with Charlie in a child playground, being looked after by Alice Kinnian, as in the beginning.
Charlie was an instant hit, crushing all competition, becoming the 13th highest-grossing film of 1968 [9]. It cemented Harrison Ford’s place as a rising star, consecrated Julie Christie’s arrival on the American scene, and laid out perspectives to a sequel, much to the pleasure of Cliff Robertson. [10] Earning seven Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actors, it finally came out with one, for Julie Christie, shared with The Lion In Winter’ star Katherine Hepburn, who had narrowly lost to Susan Hayward the previous year. Richard Matheson was more lucky in Britain, where he won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay.
Harrison Ford had failed for the second time to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. His determination wasn’t foiled at all, and he was eager to return to the studios…
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Produced by Cliff Robertson and Ralph Nelson
Written by Richard Matheson, based on the novel Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
Music by Alex North
Cinematography by Leon Shamroy
Edited by Fredric Steinkamp
Distributed by United Artists
Release date(s) September, 23 1968
-Harrison Ford as Charlie Gordon
-Julie Christie as Alice Kinnian
-Kim Hunter as Dr. Anna Straus
-Cliff Robertson as Dr. Richard Nemur
-Jo Van Fleet as Charlie’s mother
Academy Awards performance :
[FONT="] [/FONT]
-Best Picture
-Best Director – Franklin J. Schaffner
-Best Actor – Harrison Ford
-Best Actress – Julie Christie
-Best Supporting Actor – Cliff Robertson
-Best Adapted Screenplay – Richard Matheson
-Best Original Score (Not a Musical) – Alex North
Author’s footnotes :
1 – Robertson had already played the part in 1961 in The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon, a TV movie.
2 – IOTL, Robertson contacted Stirling Stilliphant, who eventually made the final script for Charly.
3 – Demy proposed a then unknown Harrison Ford the leading role in his American gig Model Shop IOTL. The producers barked at the idea, preferring a better known 2001 actor , Gary Lockwood.
4 – Alex North had been making a score for 2001: A Space Odyssey; unknown to him, Kubrick had already decided to use classical music.
5- Cliff Robertson won the Academy Award for Best Actor this year as Charlie Gordon. Nevertheless, jury members acknowledged they were subjected to intense pressure to give him the award.
6 – That would lead her to refuse various roles in the 1970s, slowing down her career.
7 – It’s the other way IOTL.
8 – This scene, pivotal in the novel, is absent from the OTL film.
9 – Three places behind of OTL.
10 – Robertson blew up its chances at a sequel when he was implicated as a whistleblower against Columbia Pictures head David Begelman in the 1970s, blacklisiting Robertson until 1983.
Runaway Train (1968), by Akira Kurosawa
At 56, Akira Kurosawa was looking forward to a new life. His exclusive contract with Toho Studios had come to an end in 1966, and his reputation now established abroad, far from Japan, he could now travel and undertake new experiences. The appeal of Hollywood was too much for the Japanese filmmaker, who crossed the Pacific.
His first American project would take its inspiration from a Life Magazine article, about a train that went loose in upstate New York. Called Boso Kikansha on Kurosawa’s desk, he would finally achieve a coherent translation by late 1966. [1] Embassy Pictures, who hoped to capitalize on Kurosawa’s name, now had their movie, Kurosawa’s first color. [2] The filming of Runaway Train would take place during the Autumn of 1967, in Wisconsin.
Accompanied by his frequent Japanese collaborators, Kurosawa was assisted by American filmmakers and a translator. [3] Hollywood actors were in turn eager to work with the famed Japanese director: Henry Fonda pulled out of the production of the Sergio Leone western to work with Kurosawa. He refused to play the railwayman in order to play the leading role, wanting to play an antihero. [4] Lee Marvin, who was familiar with Japanese culture from his WWII experience, also joined the cast, along with William Daniels and Tony Curtis. Academy Award-nominated thespian Peter Falk also joined, just after his failure to get the role on an incoming TV series, Columbo, by Lee J. Cobb. [5] A then-unknown Jack Nicholson, on the verge of retiring from business, also took the role of the second escaped convict in an audition; Kurosawa was reported to have been fascinated by the wicked stare of Nicholson, that reminded him of his stock actor Toshiro Mifune. Nicholson had got to the auditions on the advice of his friend Peter Fonda, son to the main actor. [6]
The pitch of Runaway Train is simple. Two convicts, Manny Mannheim, a tough wife murderer (Fonda) [7] and a dim-witted sex offender (Nicholson), manage to escape their jail in Wisconsin by boarding a freight train. [8] The lead engineer falls off the train while taking a curve too fast, leaving the two convicts alone on a brakeless train with a lone and goofy hostler, John Barstow (Falk). [9] Desperate attempts are made to stop the train, as its road will collide against a derailed locomotive in the middle of a city. [10] The authorities, from cautious railway executive Peter Finch (Daniels) to sadistic prison warden Ranken (Curtis), try all to stop the runaway train, even sending two locomotives to chase it. Meanwhile, relations between the three men aboard the train prove uneasy. Ranken finally takes on the train by plane, has a very violent fight with Manny, that breaks his arm. Finally overpowering Ranken, Manny decides to sacrifice himself by separating the lead engine from the rest of the train, sending him and Ranken falling off a cliff, where the runaway has been driven.
The filming took place in upstate New York for three months, from October to December 1967. The filming conditions in snow proved to be harsh for the actors, most notably the aging Henry Fonda, here cast in a very rare antihero performance. Tony Curtis was almost wounded during the very violent fight scene against Fonda’s character. The New York railroad authorities gave their support to the movie, on the condition that their name and logo weren’t showed. [11] The unpredictability of Kurosawa’s methods also dazzled the producers and the actors, mostly for his attention to detail. [12] Uneasy with the director taking so much importance on the set, the producers relented, knowing that Kurosawa’s name would bit an Oscar bait, and that the presence of French director Francois Truffaut on Bonnie and Clyde had set a precedent.
Renowned for his gorgeous scenery and the talent of its performers, Runaway Train opened to rave reviews on October 1968. The promotion was assured by Henry Fonda and William Daniels, as Kurosawa, uneasy with the English language, was back to Japan to work on other projects. If the action-themed plot managed to draw audiences, critics applauded the idea of a Japanese director entering American filmmaking and producing such a script, even if it was seen as “absurd” at some points. [13] Runaway Train would earn seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor for Henry Fonda and Best Supporting Actor for Jack Nicholson, making the new media sensation; as some journalists put it, “the new Harrison Ford with a bad guy face”. Henry Fonda won his first Academy Award for Best Actor there, thanking Kurosawa to have cast him in a role against type, and Best Art Direction for Kurosawa’s collaborators. [14]
Meanwhile, Akira Kurosawa could undertake his American trilogy…
INFORMATIONS :
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Produced by Joseph E. Levine
Written by Akira Kurosawa
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography by Asakazu Nakai and Charles F. Wheeler
Edited by Pembroke J. Herring and Chikaya Inoue
Distributed by Embassy Pictures
Release date(s) October, 1 1968
-Henry Fonda as Oscar “Manny” Manheim
-Jack Nicholson as Buck McGeehy
-Peter Falk as John Barstow
-William Daniels as Peter Finch
-Tony Curtis as Warden Ranken
Academy Awards performance :
[FONT="] [/FONT]
-Best Picture
-Best Director-Akira Kurosawa
-Best Actor-Henry Fonda
-Best Supporting Actor-Jack Nicholson
-Best Original Screenplay-Akira Kurosawa
-Best Art Direction
-Best Cinematography-Asakazu Nakai and Charles F. Wheeler
Author’s footnotes :
1 – IOTL the translation for the script of Runaway Train came very late, leading to a postponed filming date, that was shelved due to the lack of snow in upstate New York. It would only be filmed in 1985 by Soviet-emigrated-to-America director Andrei Konchalovsky.
2 – Dodes’ka-den was the first color movie, coming out in 1970.
3 – Kurosawa’s bizarre methods would work out against him in IOTL 1970, as he was fired from his other American project, Tora! Tora! Tora!
4 – Henry Fonda, along with Lee Marvin and Peter Falk, was considered for the leading role in the movie.
5- Lee J. Cobb, best known for his role on On The Waterfront and Twelve Angry Men, was on the run for the role of Lt. Columbo. Also was Bing Crosby, who refused the role on the grounds that he wanted to take time for his golfing.
6 – Peter Fonda, who persuaded Nicholson to star in Easy Rider, making Jack Nicholson, then considering changing his career to film director, a star overnight.
7 – The revised script changed Manny into a bank robber, as Konchalovsky’s screenwriter felt that other inmates wouldn’t respect a murderer.
8 – The 1986 movie took place in Alaska, and as in Kurosawa’s original script, there is no prison sequence. A sequence that would feature a very young Danny Trejo, in his first film role.
9 – The hostler is played by a woman in the 1985 version, played by the forgettable Rebecca De Mornay. This all-male cast would not be an oddity for Kurosawa, well-known for the lesser female roles in his scripts. See his only foreign film, Dersu Uzala, to see women desperately lacking to the picture.
10 – This is changed to a chemical plant in the OTL movie.
11 - So did the Alaska Railroads for the 1985 movie.
12 – A well-known example: the people who built one of the castles in Ran had to mold the stones from photographs of actual stones. And assembling them through a months-long process.
13 – Same was said about OTL Runaway Train.
14 – Jon Voight’s career was revived by Runaway Train, even if he first refused to star. He was nominated to an Academy Award and was soon cast in action hero roles.
« I'm at war with the world and everybody in it. »
Manny Manheim
At 56, Akira Kurosawa was looking forward to a new life. His exclusive contract with Toho Studios had come to an end in 1966, and his reputation now established abroad, far from Japan, he could now travel and undertake new experiences. The appeal of Hollywood was too much for the Japanese filmmaker, who crossed the Pacific.
His first American project would take its inspiration from a Life Magazine article, about a train that went loose in upstate New York. Called Boso Kikansha on Kurosawa’s desk, he would finally achieve a coherent translation by late 1966. [1] Embassy Pictures, who hoped to capitalize on Kurosawa’s name, now had their movie, Kurosawa’s first color. [2] The filming of Runaway Train would take place during the Autumn of 1967, in Wisconsin.
Accompanied by his frequent Japanese collaborators, Kurosawa was assisted by American filmmakers and a translator. [3] Hollywood actors were in turn eager to work with the famed Japanese director: Henry Fonda pulled out of the production of the Sergio Leone western to work with Kurosawa. He refused to play the railwayman in order to play the leading role, wanting to play an antihero. [4] Lee Marvin, who was familiar with Japanese culture from his WWII experience, also joined the cast, along with William Daniels and Tony Curtis. Academy Award-nominated thespian Peter Falk also joined, just after his failure to get the role on an incoming TV series, Columbo, by Lee J. Cobb. [5] A then-unknown Jack Nicholson, on the verge of retiring from business, also took the role of the second escaped convict in an audition; Kurosawa was reported to have been fascinated by the wicked stare of Nicholson, that reminded him of his stock actor Toshiro Mifune. Nicholson had got to the auditions on the advice of his friend Peter Fonda, son to the main actor. [6]
The pitch of Runaway Train is simple. Two convicts, Manny Mannheim, a tough wife murderer (Fonda) [7] and a dim-witted sex offender (Nicholson), manage to escape their jail in Wisconsin by boarding a freight train. [8] The lead engineer falls off the train while taking a curve too fast, leaving the two convicts alone on a brakeless train with a lone and goofy hostler, John Barstow (Falk). [9] Desperate attempts are made to stop the train, as its road will collide against a derailed locomotive in the middle of a city. [10] The authorities, from cautious railway executive Peter Finch (Daniels) to sadistic prison warden Ranken (Curtis), try all to stop the runaway train, even sending two locomotives to chase it. Meanwhile, relations between the three men aboard the train prove uneasy. Ranken finally takes on the train by plane, has a very violent fight with Manny, that breaks his arm. Finally overpowering Ranken, Manny decides to sacrifice himself by separating the lead engine from the rest of the train, sending him and Ranken falling off a cliff, where the runaway has been driven.
The filming took place in upstate New York for three months, from October to December 1967. The filming conditions in snow proved to be harsh for the actors, most notably the aging Henry Fonda, here cast in a very rare antihero performance. Tony Curtis was almost wounded during the very violent fight scene against Fonda’s character. The New York railroad authorities gave their support to the movie, on the condition that their name and logo weren’t showed. [11] The unpredictability of Kurosawa’s methods also dazzled the producers and the actors, mostly for his attention to detail. [12] Uneasy with the director taking so much importance on the set, the producers relented, knowing that Kurosawa’s name would bit an Oscar bait, and that the presence of French director Francois Truffaut on Bonnie and Clyde had set a precedent.
Renowned for his gorgeous scenery and the talent of its performers, Runaway Train opened to rave reviews on October 1968. The promotion was assured by Henry Fonda and William Daniels, as Kurosawa, uneasy with the English language, was back to Japan to work on other projects. If the action-themed plot managed to draw audiences, critics applauded the idea of a Japanese director entering American filmmaking and producing such a script, even if it was seen as “absurd” at some points. [13] Runaway Train would earn seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor for Henry Fonda and Best Supporting Actor for Jack Nicholson, making the new media sensation; as some journalists put it, “the new Harrison Ford with a bad guy face”. Henry Fonda won his first Academy Award for Best Actor there, thanking Kurosawa to have cast him in a role against type, and Best Art Direction for Kurosawa’s collaborators. [14]
Meanwhile, Akira Kurosawa could undertake his American trilogy…
INFORMATIONS :
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Produced by Joseph E. Levine
Written by Akira Kurosawa
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography by Asakazu Nakai and Charles F. Wheeler
Edited by Pembroke J. Herring and Chikaya Inoue
Distributed by Embassy Pictures
Release date(s) October, 1 1968
-Henry Fonda as Oscar “Manny” Manheim
-Jack Nicholson as Buck McGeehy
-Peter Falk as John Barstow
-William Daniels as Peter Finch
-Tony Curtis as Warden Ranken
Academy Awards performance :
[FONT="] [/FONT]
-Best Picture
-Best Director-Akira Kurosawa
-Best Actor-Henry Fonda
-Best Supporting Actor-Jack Nicholson
-Best Original Screenplay-Akira Kurosawa
-Best Art Direction
-Best Cinematography-Asakazu Nakai and Charles F. Wheeler
Author’s footnotes :
1 – IOTL the translation for the script of Runaway Train came very late, leading to a postponed filming date, that was shelved due to the lack of snow in upstate New York. It would only be filmed in 1985 by Soviet-emigrated-to-America director Andrei Konchalovsky.
2 – Dodes’ka-den was the first color movie, coming out in 1970.
3 – Kurosawa’s bizarre methods would work out against him in IOTL 1970, as he was fired from his other American project, Tora! Tora! Tora!
4 – Henry Fonda, along with Lee Marvin and Peter Falk, was considered for the leading role in the movie.
5- Lee J. Cobb, best known for his role on On The Waterfront and Twelve Angry Men, was on the run for the role of Lt. Columbo. Also was Bing Crosby, who refused the role on the grounds that he wanted to take time for his golfing.
6 – Peter Fonda, who persuaded Nicholson to star in Easy Rider, making Jack Nicholson, then considering changing his career to film director, a star overnight.
7 – The revised script changed Manny into a bank robber, as Konchalovsky’s screenwriter felt that other inmates wouldn’t respect a murderer.
8 – The 1986 movie took place in Alaska, and as in Kurosawa’s original script, there is no prison sequence. A sequence that would feature a very young Danny Trejo, in his first film role.
9 – The hostler is played by a woman in the 1985 version, played by the forgettable Rebecca De Mornay. This all-male cast would not be an oddity for Kurosawa, well-known for the lesser female roles in his scripts. See his only foreign film, Dersu Uzala, to see women desperately lacking to the picture.
10 – This is changed to a chemical plant in the OTL movie.
11 - So did the Alaska Railroads for the 1985 movie.
12 – A well-known example: the people who built one of the castles in Ran had to mold the stones from photographs of actual stones. And assembling them through a months-long process.
13 – Same was said about OTL Runaway Train.
14 – Jon Voight’s career was revived by Runaway Train, even if he first refused to star. He was nominated to an Academy Award and was soon cast in action hero roles.
Another great update, MaskedPickle - you're on a roll! Also good to see William Daniels cast in this film to make up for his absence from The Graduate 
Or how about directing the Japanese half of Tora! Tora! Tora!, as he nearly did IOTL? In fact, how about both halves? He has some experience with the American film industry now, and if anyone was daring and domineering enough to attempt to tell the story from both sides, it would have been Kurosawa
Story of O (1968), by Henri-Georges Clouzot
On one hand, you had Henri-Georges Clouzot, one of the masters of French cinema, the director to The Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques, who would inspire filmmakers for years and even centuries. Alas, his career was in the doldrums due to the critics of the French New Wave and the true hell that the filming of Inferno (L’Enfer), that he had to cancel in 1964. [1] On the other hand, we had Histoire d’O, a erotic and sadomasochistic novel written by literary critic Dominique Aury, under the guise of Pauline Reage, made as a love letter to world renowned critic Jean Paulhan. Story of O, as it was known abroad, had shell shocked a still very prudish French society in 1954, with its story of a woman compelling to all humiliations in order to compel to her lover’s orders and desires. [2]
The one wanted to adapt the other to the big screen, among other projects. [3] When she heard about that, Jean Paulhan managed to convince Dominique Aury to lend the rights to Clouzot. “I told you women were unable to write erotic novels; we will see if we can make erotic movies.”, said Paulhan. [4] Producers who had approached Clouzot for another script finally settled on Story of O, hoping the book’s inflammable reputation would reward them.
In order to pass through the harsh censorship of France (it was a few months after the May 1968 demonstrations), Clouzot had to work heavily on the script. The most crude scenes were removed, including that of the piercing, replaced by that of the branding, [5] the Roissy scenes were more subjective, and nudity remained scarce and never full frontal. Even if the final movie remains moist by moments, it’s hard to find it pornographic, some would call it an artsy schlock. But it was a true scandal by 1968 standards.
Clouzot had difficulty recruiting his comedians. Thepsian Laurent Terzieff, already committed to his last project, had already signed on the very blurred role of O’s lover, René. Christopher Lee, the famous Dracula from Hammer Films’ works, was also cast as Sir Stephen, the English aristocrat to whom O is offered. Lee, even if he was somehow revulsed by roles in adult movies [6], was eager to work with Clouzot and to endeavour into French cinema, helped by his near-perfect French. As for O, after the refusals from Brigitte Fossey, Catherine Deneuve, Francoise Dorleac or Charlotte Rampling, Clouzot finally recruited a British newcomer, Jane Birkin. Her only role so far had been that of the topless model in Antonioni’s Blow Up; freshly installed in France and divorced from John Barry (who agreed to sign the film’s music), the slim model was recruited due to her commitment and readiness. As of her heavily accented French, Clouzot said that her part wasn’t made of highly memorable lines. [7]
To this day, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Story of O still divides the historians. Even if Birkin, Terzieff and Lee’s careers weren’t damaged (after all, they had done not a lot of things, or too much in the case of Lee, to see this movie sink it all), it effectively ended Clouzot’s career. It was his last theatrically released movie, and he would plagued with debt and criticism until his death in 1977. [8] Even if it was a public success, even with the harsh censorship opposed to this movie, that was heavily cut and forbidden to minors aged less than 18, critics were very harsh at the time. The movie was booed when screened at the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals. Even nowadays, some find that Clouzot was at the dead end of his career: even if the images remain gorgeous, it’s pretty hard to believe that such a filmmaker had wasted all his talent into this bondage and sadomasochistic tale. Others hail the genius in such a bold adaptation: the praise of the New Hollywood directors to Clouzot helped to the renewal of this movie, in an uncut version, in the 1970s. It would influence Stanley Kubrick in his project for a mainstream pornographic movie, but that’s another story…
INFORMATIONS :
Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot
Produced by Robert Dorfmann
Written by Henri-Georges Clouzot, based on the novel Story of O (Histoire d’O), by Pauline Reage (Dominique Aury)
Music by John Barry
Cinematography by Andreas Winding
Edited by Noelle Balenci
Distributed by Films Corona and Véra-Films
Release date(s) November, 20 1968
-Jane Birkin as O
-Laurent Terzieff as René
-Christopher Lee as Sir Stephen
Author’s footnotes :
1 – Inferno’ screenplay was used in 1994 by Claude Chabrol, and extracts from Clouzot’s reels were used in a critically acclaimed and Cannes screened documentary in 2009.
2 – I tend to consider Story of O as a better written Fifty Shades of Gray. Even if this kind of eroticism fails to arouse me, so do Sade’s works (even if I’m related to the Marquis de Sade), I must say it was still revolutionary, even by today’ standards.
3 – Clouzot’s projects in these years included an epic about Indochina, but it failed to materialize. He even considered making a pornographic movie in the 70s. La Prisonniere, that came out in 1968, was his last movie.
4 – That’s this quote of Jean Paulhan that convinced Dominique Aury to write the novel. Story of O would be adapted to the big screen in 1975 by Emmanuelle’s director Just Jaeckin, a forgettable pink film starring horror movie star Udo Kier and future James Bond Girl Corinne Clery.
5 – Go check on Google. This is a family-oriented board.
6 – Upon learning that he had unwillingly lent his voice to a pornographic movie, Christopher Lee reacted very harshly IOTL, denouncing his contract with the production. Christopher Lee was considered IOTL for Just Jaeckin’s movie.
7 – Jane Birkin’s ambition was quite heavy by these times, but her heavy British accent didn’t let her win any role in France, until she was cast in a suspense movie, Scandale. That’s where she met Serge Gainsbourg, to whom she would become a muse. Butterflies now created in French music…
8 – Not different from OTL.
« You have found happiness in slavery. »
Sir Stephen
On one hand, you had Henri-Georges Clouzot, one of the masters of French cinema, the director to The Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques, who would inspire filmmakers for years and even centuries. Alas, his career was in the doldrums due to the critics of the French New Wave and the true hell that the filming of Inferno (L’Enfer), that he had to cancel in 1964. [1] On the other hand, we had Histoire d’O, a erotic and sadomasochistic novel written by literary critic Dominique Aury, under the guise of Pauline Reage, made as a love letter to world renowned critic Jean Paulhan. Story of O, as it was known abroad, had shell shocked a still very prudish French society in 1954, with its story of a woman compelling to all humiliations in order to compel to her lover’s orders and desires. [2]
The one wanted to adapt the other to the big screen, among other projects. [3] When she heard about that, Jean Paulhan managed to convince Dominique Aury to lend the rights to Clouzot. “I told you women were unable to write erotic novels; we will see if we can make erotic movies.”, said Paulhan. [4] Producers who had approached Clouzot for another script finally settled on Story of O, hoping the book’s inflammable reputation would reward them.
In order to pass through the harsh censorship of France (it was a few months after the May 1968 demonstrations), Clouzot had to work heavily on the script. The most crude scenes were removed, including that of the piercing, replaced by that of the branding, [5] the Roissy scenes were more subjective, and nudity remained scarce and never full frontal. Even if the final movie remains moist by moments, it’s hard to find it pornographic, some would call it an artsy schlock. But it was a true scandal by 1968 standards.
Clouzot had difficulty recruiting his comedians. Thepsian Laurent Terzieff, already committed to his last project, had already signed on the very blurred role of O’s lover, René. Christopher Lee, the famous Dracula from Hammer Films’ works, was also cast as Sir Stephen, the English aristocrat to whom O is offered. Lee, even if he was somehow revulsed by roles in adult movies [6], was eager to work with Clouzot and to endeavour into French cinema, helped by his near-perfect French. As for O, after the refusals from Brigitte Fossey, Catherine Deneuve, Francoise Dorleac or Charlotte Rampling, Clouzot finally recruited a British newcomer, Jane Birkin. Her only role so far had been that of the topless model in Antonioni’s Blow Up; freshly installed in France and divorced from John Barry (who agreed to sign the film’s music), the slim model was recruited due to her commitment and readiness. As of her heavily accented French, Clouzot said that her part wasn’t made of highly memorable lines. [7]
To this day, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Story of O still divides the historians. Even if Birkin, Terzieff and Lee’s careers weren’t damaged (after all, they had done not a lot of things, or too much in the case of Lee, to see this movie sink it all), it effectively ended Clouzot’s career. It was his last theatrically released movie, and he would plagued with debt and criticism until his death in 1977. [8] Even if it was a public success, even with the harsh censorship opposed to this movie, that was heavily cut and forbidden to minors aged less than 18, critics were very harsh at the time. The movie was booed when screened at the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals. Even nowadays, some find that Clouzot was at the dead end of his career: even if the images remain gorgeous, it’s pretty hard to believe that such a filmmaker had wasted all his talent into this bondage and sadomasochistic tale. Others hail the genius in such a bold adaptation: the praise of the New Hollywood directors to Clouzot helped to the renewal of this movie, in an uncut version, in the 1970s. It would influence Stanley Kubrick in his project for a mainstream pornographic movie, but that’s another story…
INFORMATIONS :
Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot
Produced by Robert Dorfmann
Written by Henri-Georges Clouzot, based on the novel Story of O (Histoire d’O), by Pauline Reage (Dominique Aury)
Music by John Barry
Cinematography by Andreas Winding
Edited by Noelle Balenci
Distributed by Films Corona and Véra-Films
Release date(s) November, 20 1968
-Jane Birkin as O
-Laurent Terzieff as René
-Christopher Lee as Sir Stephen
Author’s footnotes :
1 – Inferno’ screenplay was used in 1994 by Claude Chabrol, and extracts from Clouzot’s reels were used in a critically acclaimed and Cannes screened documentary in 2009.
2 – I tend to consider Story of O as a better written Fifty Shades of Gray. Even if this kind of eroticism fails to arouse me, so do Sade’s works (even if I’m related to the Marquis de Sade), I must say it was still revolutionary, even by today’ standards.
3 – Clouzot’s projects in these years included an epic about Indochina, but it failed to materialize. He even considered making a pornographic movie in the 70s. La Prisonniere, that came out in 1968, was his last movie.
4 – That’s this quote of Jean Paulhan that convinced Dominique Aury to write the novel. Story of O would be adapted to the big screen in 1975 by Emmanuelle’s director Just Jaeckin, a forgettable pink film starring horror movie star Udo Kier and future James Bond Girl Corinne Clery.
5 – Go check on Google. This is a family-oriented board.
6 – Upon learning that he had unwillingly lent his voice to a pornographic movie, Christopher Lee reacted very harshly IOTL, denouncing his contract with the production. Christopher Lee was considered IOTL for Just Jaeckin’s movie.
7 – Jane Birkin’s ambition was quite heavy by these times, but her heavy British accent didn’t let her win any role in France, until she was cast in a suspense movie, Scandale. That’s where she met Serge Gainsbourg, to whom she would become a muse. Butterflies now created in French music…
8 – Not different from OTL.
Brainbin - as of having Kurosawa direct both halves of Tora! Tora! Tora!, I don't think US executives would let a foreign non-English-speaking director handle such a huge movie.
phx1138 - Remember that Caligula never was a pornographic movie. Taking inspiration from an idea of Roberto Rossellini, Gore Vidal wanted a series of movies depicting the hubris of some great monarchs. It's only when the production needed cash that they turned to the Penthouse company, that insisted to insert hardcore scenes. They will have another fate in here, and so the entry of pornography into mainstream cinema.
I would be happy to have reviews on the casting of Kirk Douglas and Terence Stamp in Once Upon A Time, Story of O, Kurosawa's American movie and Charlie (with Richard Matheson as the screenwriter!)
phx1138 - Remember that Caligula never was a pornographic movie. Taking inspiration from an idea of Roberto Rossellini, Gore Vidal wanted a series of movies depicting the hubris of some great monarchs. It's only when the production needed cash that they turned to the Penthouse company, that insisted to insert hardcore scenes. They will have another fate in here, and so the entry of pornography into mainstream cinema.
I would be happy to have reviews on the casting of Kirk Douglas and Terence Stamp in Once Upon A Time, Story of O, Kurosawa's American movie and Charlie (with Richard Matheson as the screenwriter!)
Hell in the Pacific (1968), by Richard Donner
Hell In The Pacific had a scenario that was able to hold on a little footnote and was a very reduced remake of the 1965 Sinatra movie None But The Brave, but it was viewed by its producers as a double bait. Yet it failed. The first target was British director John Boorman, who had just been noticed for Point Blank, but who finally decided against it, to direct a film version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead ; a disappointed Lee Marvin decided to leave the project. [1] The second target was Akira Kurosawa’s favorite actor, Toshiro Mifune, made famous by Rashomon and Yojimbo. Even if Mifune was ready to undertake a career in the western world, that began two years before in the John Frankenheimer movie Grand Prix, he finally claimed that his poor knowledge of English made him unable to act in an American movie. In fact, many think that it was his new grudge against Kurosawa, who was then filming Runaway Train, that decided him against this turn. [2]
As such, even if the script was left without a famous director and famous actors, the producers nevertheless decided to have it produced, yet on a much reduced budget, for instance moving the set from the Palau islands to Hawaii. In the absence of a much wider script than « an American and a Japanese are stranded together in a desert island during the Pacific War », there was most room for changing it during filming. In lack of a better candidate, the studio finally settled on Richard Donner, a director who had made his debut seven years ago and had not been given any work on the silver screen, doing instead work for television. [3]
For actors, young ones were finally cast. Burt Reynolds, a second-hand TV and Spaghetti Western actor, who had just been noticed for his resemblance with Marlon Brando, was cast as the American pilot. [4] For the Japanese actor, a little trick was made by casting a Japanese American actor, who had never been to Japan : a then-unknown George Takei, who was then committed to the science fiction TV show Star Trek. [5] In order to blur a bit the inconsistency of a Japanese American actor, Takei asked his parents to teach him a few words of Japanese in order to add flavour to the filming, and a small line where Takei’s character reveals that he lived for some time as a child in California, before moving back to the motherland.
The filming on Kauai Island in the Hawaii archipelago, that lasted for four months, was quiet and really entertaining for the whole team. Donner was too happy to gain at long least a new movie contract, and the scarceness of the scenario left him with some sort of creative liberty, allowing him to build a rewriting of the story of Robinson Crusoe, where everything finally falls apart due to the war and cultural differences. [6] A sense of tragedy is added when the two men spot a passing cruiser, that respond by bombing the island and killing them on the spot. [7] Reynolds and Takei, two struggling actors who were trying to make their way through television, built on a solid friendship that would last in Hollywood. No matter what can be said about the range of their acting skills by then, they still managed to solely carry an in camera movie. [8]
When it came out on December 1968 on limited release, Hell In The Pacific not only managed to repay his much reduced budget, but to make it triple. The studios had taken new confidence into Richard Donner, and Burt Reynolds and George Takei proved that they were able to make it to a bigger screen. Although largely unnoticed by critics at the time of its release, quickly fading into obscurity, Hell In The Pacific is now considered as a cult movie, both for its unlikely style, the presence of its actors that later propelled to fame and his rather humanist message on war and different cultures. [9]
INFORMATIONS :
Directed by Richard Donner
Produced by Reuben Bercovitch, Henry G. Saperstein and Selig J. Seligman
Written by Reuben Bercovitch, Alexander Jacobs and Eric Bercovici
Music by Lalo Schifrin
Cinematography by Conrad Hall
Distributed by Cinerama
Release date(s) December, 18 1968
-Burt Reynolds as The American Pilot
-George Takei as The Japanese Sailor
Author’s footnotes :
1 – Lee Marvin had made considerable lobbying for Boorman, who was considering an adaptation of the play back then.
2 – Kurosawa and Mifune were irreconcilable after working on Red Beard in 1965 : the role required Toshiro Mifune to grow a beard and made him unable to participate to other movies during the long filming, putting both of them into financial disarray. Even if they had harsh works against each other during interviews, both of them still spoke highly of the other, as they formed one of the most legendary duos of world cinema.
3 – Donner made IOTL his return to cinema in 1968 with Salt and Pepper, starring Sammy Davis, Jr.
4 – Reynolds was then on an up-and-down path, that can been compared to Harrison Ford’s in the 70s, as he was forced to make odd jobs before landing very small roles on television and some parts in low budget Spaghetti Westerns.
5 – Even if my ex-girlfriend is a Trekkie, I would never endeavour into the small world of Star Trek, as Brainbin has his own hold on it ! And yes, I have big plans for Takei.
6 – As IOTL, where the scenario was really written during filming.
7 – Boorman used the whole premise to play tricks on the producers, such as a movie that would be silent for the first half. But the end he proposed was to have the protagonists leave the screen after a dispute, making their ultimate fate ambiguous. The producers decided against it and added the new ending, where the island was bombed, doing it with an explosion stockshot from Blake Edwards’ The Party. I consider that this « buddy movie » setting along with big explosions is closer to Richard Donner’s style.
[8] And that is impressive, for any actor : even if Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune managed to do it well, it takes the performances of accomplished comedians such as Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine in Sleuth to do the trick.
[9] OTL Hell In The Pacific is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated movies of 1968, and, if it didn’t had the cachet it had in this timeline, well, I’m making it a better movie for the next generations.
« Oh, for a second I thought you were a Jap. »
The American Pilot
Hell In The Pacific had a scenario that was able to hold on a little footnote and was a very reduced remake of the 1965 Sinatra movie None But The Brave, but it was viewed by its producers as a double bait. Yet it failed. The first target was British director John Boorman, who had just been noticed for Point Blank, but who finally decided against it, to direct a film version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead ; a disappointed Lee Marvin decided to leave the project. [1] The second target was Akira Kurosawa’s favorite actor, Toshiro Mifune, made famous by Rashomon and Yojimbo. Even if Mifune was ready to undertake a career in the western world, that began two years before in the John Frankenheimer movie Grand Prix, he finally claimed that his poor knowledge of English made him unable to act in an American movie. In fact, many think that it was his new grudge against Kurosawa, who was then filming Runaway Train, that decided him against this turn. [2]
As such, even if the script was left without a famous director and famous actors, the producers nevertheless decided to have it produced, yet on a much reduced budget, for instance moving the set from the Palau islands to Hawaii. In the absence of a much wider script than « an American and a Japanese are stranded together in a desert island during the Pacific War », there was most room for changing it during filming. In lack of a better candidate, the studio finally settled on Richard Donner, a director who had made his debut seven years ago and had not been given any work on the silver screen, doing instead work for television. [3]
For actors, young ones were finally cast. Burt Reynolds, a second-hand TV and Spaghetti Western actor, who had just been noticed for his resemblance with Marlon Brando, was cast as the American pilot. [4] For the Japanese actor, a little trick was made by casting a Japanese American actor, who had never been to Japan : a then-unknown George Takei, who was then committed to the science fiction TV show Star Trek. [5] In order to blur a bit the inconsistency of a Japanese American actor, Takei asked his parents to teach him a few words of Japanese in order to add flavour to the filming, and a small line where Takei’s character reveals that he lived for some time as a child in California, before moving back to the motherland.
The filming on Kauai Island in the Hawaii archipelago, that lasted for four months, was quiet and really entertaining for the whole team. Donner was too happy to gain at long least a new movie contract, and the scarceness of the scenario left him with some sort of creative liberty, allowing him to build a rewriting of the story of Robinson Crusoe, where everything finally falls apart due to the war and cultural differences. [6] A sense of tragedy is added when the two men spot a passing cruiser, that respond by bombing the island and killing them on the spot. [7] Reynolds and Takei, two struggling actors who were trying to make their way through television, built on a solid friendship that would last in Hollywood. No matter what can be said about the range of their acting skills by then, they still managed to solely carry an in camera movie. [8]
When it came out on December 1968 on limited release, Hell In The Pacific not only managed to repay his much reduced budget, but to make it triple. The studios had taken new confidence into Richard Donner, and Burt Reynolds and George Takei proved that they were able to make it to a bigger screen. Although largely unnoticed by critics at the time of its release, quickly fading into obscurity, Hell In The Pacific is now considered as a cult movie, both for its unlikely style, the presence of its actors that later propelled to fame and his rather humanist message on war and different cultures. [9]
INFORMATIONS :
Directed by Richard Donner
Produced by Reuben Bercovitch, Henry G. Saperstein and Selig J. Seligman
Written by Reuben Bercovitch, Alexander Jacobs and Eric Bercovici
Music by Lalo Schifrin
Cinematography by Conrad Hall
Distributed by Cinerama
Release date(s) December, 18 1968
-Burt Reynolds as The American Pilot
-George Takei as The Japanese Sailor
Author’s footnotes :
1 – Lee Marvin had made considerable lobbying for Boorman, who was considering an adaptation of the play back then.
2 – Kurosawa and Mifune were irreconcilable after working on Red Beard in 1965 : the role required Toshiro Mifune to grow a beard and made him unable to participate to other movies during the long filming, putting both of them into financial disarray. Even if they had harsh works against each other during interviews, both of them still spoke highly of the other, as they formed one of the most legendary duos of world cinema.
3 – Donner made IOTL his return to cinema in 1968 with Salt and Pepper, starring Sammy Davis, Jr.
4 – Reynolds was then on an up-and-down path, that can been compared to Harrison Ford’s in the 70s, as he was forced to make odd jobs before landing very small roles on television and some parts in low budget Spaghetti Westerns.
5 – Even if my ex-girlfriend is a Trekkie, I would never endeavour into the small world of Star Trek, as Brainbin has his own hold on it ! And yes, I have big plans for Takei.
6 – As IOTL, where the scenario was really written during filming.
7 – Boorman used the whole premise to play tricks on the producers, such as a movie that would be silent for the first half. But the end he proposed was to have the protagonists leave the screen after a dispute, making their ultimate fate ambiguous. The producers decided against it and added the new ending, where the island was bombed, doing it with an explosion stockshot from Blake Edwards’ The Party. I consider that this « buddy movie » setting along with big explosions is closer to Richard Donner’s style.
[8] And that is impressive, for any actor : even if Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune managed to do it well, it takes the performances of accomplished comedians such as Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine in Sleuth to do the trick.
[9] OTL Hell In The Pacific is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated movies of 1968, and, if it didn’t had the cachet it had in this timeline, well, I’m making it a better movie for the next generations.
having looked it up (on TV tropes) Takei is in fact tri-lingual, speaking English, Japanese, and Spanish fluently.
here's a quote from his CMOA page
here's a quote from his CMOA page
Another great update, MaskedPickle!
I look forward to seeing your plans for Takei's film career ITTL.
I assume that Takei appears in this film instead of The Green Berets, for which he missed several second-season episodes IOTL. Other than that, as Jcoggins points out, Takei does indeed speak Japanese, though apparently with an American accent (which would no doubt greatly amuse Japanese audiences if his dialogue were left intact).
You flatter me, sirMaskedPickle said:
I look forward to seeing your plans for Takei's film career ITTL.Well, it seems I didn't had everything on George Takei! Yet I will honor his origins in further updates.
The Good, the Bad and the Movies :
2001 : A Space Odyssey, by Stanley Kubrick. Starring Keir Dullea as David Bowman, Gary Lockwood as Frank Poole, William Sylvester as Heywood Floyd, Douglas Rain as HAL 9000. Kubrick’s preparedness makes it impossible to butterflies to change the production of 2001, yet they help the movie winning an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, as IOTL.
The Producers, by Mel Brooks. Starring Zero Mostel as Max Bialystock, Gene Wilder as Leo Bloom, Dick Shawn as Lorenzo St. DuBois and Dustin Hoffman as Franz Liebkind. Nothing is changed from OTL, except Dustin Hoffman steals the show as the Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind, going so far as to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is established as a prime comedy actor.
Oliver !, by Lewis Gilbert. Starring Peter Sellers as Fagin, Mark Lester as Oliver, Shani Wallis as Nancy, Michael Caine as Bill Sikes. Lewis Gilbert, thanks to the production of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, managed to undertake the production of Oliver !, convincing Peter Sellers to play Fagin in the process. Still a popular success and nominated in many categories for the Academy Awards, it only wins one, for Best Original Song Score.
Bullitt, by Richard Fleischer. Starring Steve McQueen as Frank Bullitt, Katharine Ross as Cathy, Richard Burton as Walter Chalmers. Peter Yates is unable to work on the movie, so McQueen recruits Fleischer instead. The director’s great talent and the editing of the car chase make the movie all the more enjoyable, earning Bullitt two Academy Awards, for Sound Mixing and Film Editing.
The Boston Strangler, by John Frankenheimer. Starring Robert Redford as Albert DeSalvo, Charlton Heston as John S. Bottomly, George Kennedy as Phil Di Natale. Nothing to say about the differences from OTL movie, except Robert Redford continues his descent into bad guy roles after Cool Hand Luke.
The Thomas Crown Affair, by Norman Jewison. Starring Sean Connery as Thomas Crown, and Natalie Wood as Vicki Anderson. Except for the main actors, nothing is changed from the original movie, which still wins the Academy Award for Best Original Song with Windmills of Your Mind. The movie is viewed as more commercial by critics, benifiting from the cast presence of Sean Connery in his first post-James Bond role.
Barbarella, by Roger Vadim. Starring Faye Dunaway as Barbarella. Jane Fonda is not so desperate as to make this extravagant picture ITTL ; it’s Faye Dunaway, without Bonnie and Clyde, who is. The overall result is still over the top and cult material, but it has… interesting consequences on Dunaway’s career.
2001 : A Space Odyssey, by Stanley Kubrick. Starring Keir Dullea as David Bowman, Gary Lockwood as Frank Poole, William Sylvester as Heywood Floyd, Douglas Rain as HAL 9000. Kubrick’s preparedness makes it impossible to butterflies to change the production of 2001, yet they help the movie winning an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, as IOTL.
The Producers, by Mel Brooks. Starring Zero Mostel as Max Bialystock, Gene Wilder as Leo Bloom, Dick Shawn as Lorenzo St. DuBois and Dustin Hoffman as Franz Liebkind. Nothing is changed from OTL, except Dustin Hoffman steals the show as the Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind, going so far as to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is established as a prime comedy actor.
Oliver !, by Lewis Gilbert. Starring Peter Sellers as Fagin, Mark Lester as Oliver, Shani Wallis as Nancy, Michael Caine as Bill Sikes. Lewis Gilbert, thanks to the production of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, managed to undertake the production of Oliver !, convincing Peter Sellers to play Fagin in the process. Still a popular success and nominated in many categories for the Academy Awards, it only wins one, for Best Original Song Score.
Bullitt, by Richard Fleischer. Starring Steve McQueen as Frank Bullitt, Katharine Ross as Cathy, Richard Burton as Walter Chalmers. Peter Yates is unable to work on the movie, so McQueen recruits Fleischer instead. The director’s great talent and the editing of the car chase make the movie all the more enjoyable, earning Bullitt two Academy Awards, for Sound Mixing and Film Editing.
The Boston Strangler, by John Frankenheimer. Starring Robert Redford as Albert DeSalvo, Charlton Heston as John S. Bottomly, George Kennedy as Phil Di Natale. Nothing to say about the differences from OTL movie, except Robert Redford continues his descent into bad guy roles after Cool Hand Luke.
The Thomas Crown Affair, by Norman Jewison. Starring Sean Connery as Thomas Crown, and Natalie Wood as Vicki Anderson. Except for the main actors, nothing is changed from the original movie, which still wins the Academy Award for Best Original Song with Windmills of Your Mind. The movie is viewed as more commercial by critics, benifiting from the cast presence of Sean Connery in his first post-James Bond role.
Barbarella, by Roger Vadim. Starring Faye Dunaway as Barbarella. Jane Fonda is not so desperate as to make this extravagant picture ITTL ; it’s Faye Dunaway, without Bonnie and Clyde, who is. The overall result is still over the top and cult material, but it has… interesting consequences on Dunaway’s career.
Two questions about the scheduling of "Hell in the Pacific": does this keep George from doing "Green Beret"? And does it keep him from doing "Tribbles"? Or any other episode(s) of "STTOS"?
I've always wished he could've done "Tribbles", myself...tho it turns out it's a trifle funnier if he doesn't.
You are tampering with the iconic car chase of film history! Just what did you have in mind?
You really do want to put a crimp in McQueen's career, don't you? This may be my favorite film of his. He's got the playboy glam & the thiefly cool. This is as close to Batman as he'll get...
This film always struck me as perfect for Fonda: the brainless bimbo...
I've always wished he could've done "Tribbles", myself...tho it turns out it's a trifle funnier if he doesn't.
MaskedPickle said:
You are tampering with the iconic car chase of film history! Just what did you have in mind?MaskedPickle said:
You really do want to put a crimp in McQueen's career, don't you? This may be my favorite film of his. He's got the playboy glam & the thiefly cool. This is as close to Batman as he'll get...MaskedPickle said:
This film always struck me as perfect for Fonda: the brainless bimbo...
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Two questions about the scheduling of "Hell in the Pacific": does this keep George from doing "Green Beret"? And does it keep him from doing "Tribbles"? Or any other episode(s) of "STTOS"?
I've always wished he could've done "Tribbles", myself...tho it turns out it's a trifle funnier if he doesn't.
If Takei's schedule in Star Trek is not that changed, he could not do Green Berets ITTL. Another Asian American actor filled the role.
The car chase is the same (how it could be changed?). It's all the more exiciting.
Well, I have other and better plans for McQueen... I never liked him, he didn't had the same smoothiness as Paul Newman, and his ego had Marlon Brando levels. Wait and see.
On the other hand, I always liked Jane Fonda. I think she accepted this very strange role out of disappointment, after refusing Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate in a row. I also took notice that I had not cast Faye Dunaway, so I gave her another career, but in Europe.