Straight out of development hell - An alternate history of cinema

No George Lazenby...its never a bad thing :)

MaskedPickle is bringing thang to the table! :)

I'm curious to see how film in the 70s will look..
And I wonder....who will end up playing Shaft? :)
 

Stolengood

Banned
Just wanted to say, a lot of things you mention in your post for OHMSS can either only be OTL or ASB, because the crucial thing that solidifies them is Peter Hunt as director.
  • The length only became 140 minutes due to Hunt's influence in the editing room, as well as his keeping the running time a secret from the producers until he showed it to George Pinches, manager of the Rank Organization (which owned the Odeon and Paramount theatres, among others). Pinches's enthusiastic response to the film ("Don't cut a thing") convinced the producers to leave Hunt's baby alone.
  • ...and it was indeed Hunt's baby; the fact that he was passed over for the previous film (YOLT in OTL, due to the switch-up) proved a big reason as to why he was roped into doing the second-unit work on YOLT so late in the game, as well as why he took over the editing when Lewis Gilbert's original editor, Thelma Connell, produced an incredibly bloated cut of the film -- it wasn't suited to a long run-time (mainly because of the incredibly stupid plot), but OHMSS was.
  • The only reason Lewis Gilbert was assigned YOLT was because he had a prior film deal with Harry Saltzman that had gone through; Saltzman felt he had to honor that obligation somehow, and so gave him the directing job. ITTL, a better fit for him could be found in Saltzman's other spy series, Harry Palmer, with Billion Dollar Brain (directed in OTL by Ken Russell... yes, that Ken Russell :D).
  • The only reason Harold Jack Bloom (and, later, Roald Dahl) was assigned YOLT is because Richard Maibaum, the regular Bond screenwriter, was busy with OHMSS; he'd been writing the film, on-and-off, since 1964 (with a break to revise his 1961 Thunderball screenplay in late '64). There's no way EON would let so much development go to waste.
  • ...but, and this is a big "but", Maibaum's '66-'67 screenplay was not the polished, brilliant film of '69; that came after his '68 screenplay was further rewritten by Simon Raven and Peter Hunt. Maibaum's 1966 screenplay featured:
    • Gert Frobe as Goldfinger's brother, Blofeld
    • an amphibious Aston-Martin
    • boots with pop-out skis
    • Bond using a laser-gun during the opening beach fight
    • Bond getting help breaking out of Piz Gloria from a chimpanzee (I'm not making this up)
    • Bond killing Blofeld and Bunt with a thrown trunk after they shoot his car, but before he discovers that Tracy is dead.
  • Finally, the order of films was switched because the producers didn't think it was time yet for Bond to get married; Maibaum himself admitted that he didn't think "we'd earned the right to be serious" yet.
Personally... I think, in your TL (considering how desperate the Bond producers were to cash in on the Space Race), this might be a better fit: ;)


MOONRAKER (1967)

Starring:

Sean Connery – James Bond
Sylva Koscina – Gala Brand
Wolfgang Kieling – Krebs
George Pravda – Kutze
Annette Andre -- Mary Ann Russell

Peter Ustinov – Nico Zographos
Lois Maxwell – Miss Moneypenny
Desmond Llewellyn – Q
Peter Burton – DI Vallance
Bernard Lee – M

John Huston – Hugo Drax
Philip Stone – SPECTRE #5, Masters
(Anthony Dawson) – Ernst Stavro Blofeld

Second Unit directed by Anthony Squire
Edited by Peter Hunt

Color by Technicolor
Filmed in Panavision

Main Title Designed by Maurice Binder

Music composed, conducted, and arranged by John Barry
Additional Cues by Brian Wilson

Title Song by The Beach Boys
Composed by Brian Wilson and John Barry
Lyrics by Van Dyke Parks

Additional Story Material by James Doran
Screenplay by Richard Maibaum & John Huston
From the novel by Ian Fleming

Production Designed by Ken Adam

Director of Photography Edward Scaife, B.S.C.

Produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli

Directed by John Huston

Released through United Artists

Premiere: June 26, 1967 (London)
Worldwide Release: July 10, 1967
 
This gets lots and lots of love from me, so continue it please.

Can I ask, will the fate of Martin Scorcese's most infamously failed project, New York, New York be any different? I'm asking because the failure of that film is attrbuted as the beginning of the end of New Hollywood all together.
 
Thanks to all.

Archibald - I think you've just defined the meaning of Squick on this TL. Excellent take.

jamsodonnell/THEOBSERVER/chipperback -
Thanks a lot, good reading!

Brainbin - I'm not too happy about the casting of Cushing as Blofeld, but it will be difficult to recast him. In fact, switching actors for Blofeld is not an extravagance from the Bond producers, but in the novels, he changes his appearence heavily, to reflect the face change operations he's ready to bear in order to conceal his identity. So it's unlikely, even if I would dream of it. As of Diana Rigg, even if I think that he remains one of the few memorable Bond girls (along with Ursula Andress, Eva Green or Halle Berry), I wanted to give Sharon Tate her chance, and let's Diana Rigg is committed from such a little time to The Avengers that she decides not to see elsewhere?

Stolengood - well, that's damn impressive, and frankly, I think I would've never imagined such a different movie... I would be happy to work with you on the next Bond movies!

'Allo 'Allo Secret Army - On my part, I think that Heaven's Gate has to be blamed... But I have my plans on Scorcese.
 
Cool Hand Luke (1967), by Arthur Penn

« What we’ve got here…Is failure to communicate. »
The Captain

Jack Lemmon had been disappointed by Paul Newman’s refusal of the title role in this new script, Cool Hand Luke. Newman felt already busy in 1966 with the filming of Hombre and wanted to prepare to Fahrenheit 451, Truffaut having convinced him to participate to the movie as the main character, Montag. [1] Without this big name, Lemmon decided to stick with his original plan : still refuse the title role, but produce the movie instead [2] but playing a little role in the film ; in order to bring more attention to the script, he settled for the prison Captain’s role, feeling that going for a negative role would be suitable for his already long career. As a result, he proposed to his pal Walter Matthau a very small role, that of the Sheriff who takes away Luke in the end. [3]

With substantial roles nailed, just in order to show Lemmon’s commitment to the movie and attract would-be producers, remained the question of the two most important roles : that of Luke himself and his friend, Dragline. For Dragline, Donn Pearce accepted to rewrite the role from an old convict to a younger yet still smart detainee, as Lemmon was considering Robert Redford. The young actor had become the favorite of all Hollywood after his performances in Inside Daisy Clover and Barefoot in the Park, but he was struggling to avoid being typecasted as the handsome blond male. [4] The harsh, sweaty script for Cool Hand Luke was perfect for him, as he would show himself as a physical actor and commit himself as a cynical and tough character.

In the same ways, Doris Day, who was quite disappointed of having refused Mike Nichols’ proposal of the first role in The Graduate, and struggling with her « girl next door » image that wasn’t fitting the times anymore and made her career on the down side, decided to accept the role of Luke’s mother. Her screentime was abbreviated, in order to concentrate on the main action, yet Day was really pushed by her husband to accept a substantial role. [5]

If a young and rather good-looking actor was chosen as Luke’ sidekick, and a famous actress to play his mother, it was because an actor considered before for the role had been recontacted.

Telly Savalas had made little roles in heavy productions in the Sixties, but his performance as the religious and sadistic convict Archer Maggott in Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen had established him as an actor to follow : this new unexpected exposure led the producers to confirm him as the main character of Cool Hand Luke, as they felt that the budget had been greatly reduced by the absence of Paul Newman, and that the mention of Jack Lemmon as producer would lead the spectators into the theaters. As director, they finally settled on Arthur Penn, who had been hailed for The Miracle Worker and had worked with Robert Redford on The Chase : Penn felt that this prison story, about the tale of a man who stands alone against the whole system, caught the zeitgeist of this particular era. He brought on French New Wave’s film techniques, in the limits that the producers would accept, of course.

The filming went quite smoothly, under the hard sun of Florida : the relations between the actors were excellent, with the main actors or the numerous extras playing prison convicts who would ultimately prove very famous, such as Dennis Hopper, Harry Dean Stanton and Jack Nicholson. [5] Interestingly enough, the Savalas-Redford worked very well. At first sight, the producers were reluctant, feeling that a bald main actor would never have enough charisma to carry the movie. But with the sun reflecting on his scalp, Savalas would give the character an intense strength, giving him the prestance of someone who has seen it all, but still dispalying a cockiness that would not be awaited from such a tough-looking guy. As of Redford, his youth actually worked out well with the role : when he is hostile to Luke in the beginning, he looks like the unexperienced young wolf who finally went to rule the convict population and wants to control the newcomer too ; but then it turns to genuine admiration to the ever defying Cool Hand Luke. [6]

The film upon release was critically acclaimed, far from the bulk of prison films thanks to the intelligent script, the skills of Arthur Penn’s directing and the performance of Telly Savalas and Robert Redford : Savalas enjoyed a new fame while Redford finally managed to convert his career. As of Doris Day, even if her interpretation was noticed by critics, her personal problems quickly made her to the front page of gossip newspapers. With 14 million dollars made at the American box-office, it was a medium success, but still an excellent gross thanks to the reduced budget of this movie. [7] The movie also made a breakthrough in the Academy Awards, garthering four nominations, including Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, yet failing to gain any.

INFORMATIONS :

Directed by Arthur Penn
Produced by Gordon Carroll
Written by Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson, after the novel Cool hand Luke, by Donn Pearce
Music by Lalo Schifrin
Cinematography by Conrad Hall
Editing by Sam O’Steen
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) November, 1 1967

-Telly Savalas as Luke Jackson
-Robert Redford as Dragline
-Doris Day as Mrs. Jackson
-Jack Lemmon as The Captain
-Walter Matthau as The Sheriff
-Jack Nicholson as Tattoo
-Dennis Hopper as Babalugats
-Dean Stanson as Tramp

Academy Awards performance :
-Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Adapted for the Screen – Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson
-Best Actor in a Leading Role – Telly Savalas
-Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Robert Redford
-Best Music, Original Music Score – Lalo Schifrin

Author’s footnotes :
[1] The title role in Cool Hand Luke was first offered to Jack Lemmon who, after further reading, thought that the role was more suitable to his friend Paul Newman.
[2] Which he did IOTL, although he isn’t mentioned in the credits.
[3] The Lemmon-Matthau pair had begun in 1966 with The Fortune Cookie.
[4) That led him to refuse Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? and The Graduate. He would get this transition with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
[5] Doris Day was considered IOTL for the role. At the death of her husband, she discovered he had been a real crook for their seventeen years of marriage, squandering her earnings with his business partner. Let’s say his husband, in order to gain a few dollars more, push her for the role.
[6] Then-unknowns Hopper and Stanton actually appear in the movie ; Jack Nicholson is an invention of mine, but would be possible, as he was then an actor struggling with Roger Corman productions. ITTL, Cool Hand Luke then becomes the « Hey, it’s that guy ! » movie.
[7] If Telly Savalas’ interpretation is rather close to Paul Newman’s (with the baldness bonus), Redford makes something interesting of the Dragline character, but still not as good as George Kennedy’s, who had really nailed the nature of the character.
[8) Yet the absence of Paul Newman in distribution still convinces less spectators to go to the theaters. The reaction is like : « Seeing a prison movie with a bald guy ? I would rather see that one with the 25-years-old virgin or the gangsters ! »
 
Another fine update! Great to see you're keeping at such a good pace.

The harsh, sweaty script for Cool Hand Luke was perfect for him, as he would show himself as a physical actor and commit himself as a cynical and tough character.
And sweaty is the perfect adjective for it, too - as Cool Hand Luke is remembered as the sweatiest film ever made, as decided by the patrons of a certain bar in Boston :D
 
For a few 1967 movies more :

Valley of the Dolls, by Mark Robson. Starring Candice Bergen as Anne Welles, Ann-Margret as Neely O’Hara, Raquel Welch as Jennifer North, Elvis Presley as Tony Polar, Judy Garland as Helen Lawson. The movie is still impossible to watch to today’s standards but it still enjoys a huge success, further cemented by the casting of Elvis Presley and the publicity surrounding the drunkeness of Judy Garland. The movie is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Music, by John Williams.
Reflections in a Golden Eye, by John Huston. Starring Richard Burton and Liz Taylor as Weldon and Leonora Penderton. The movie still bombs at the box office, but still wins some publicity by starring the Burton-Taylor couple.

The Fearless Vampire Hunters, by Roman Polanski. Starring Roman Polanski as Alfred, Donald Pleasence as Professor Abronsius and Jill St. John as Sarah Shagal. The movie still enjoys success, renewing interest on Donald Pleasence, confirming his foray into artsy European films since Polanski’s Cul-de-Sac. St. John and Polanski have a publicized affair that ends abruptly due to the involvement of St. John’s fiancé, singer Jack Jones.

The Young Girls of Hyères, by Jacques Demy. Starring Brigitte Bardot as Delphine and Audrey Hepburn as Solange. Demy finally decides to have the movie set in Hyères, in French Provence, and manages to get the duo of Bardot and Hepburn. Audrey Hepburn makes one of her last appearences on movie, being over-dubbed much of the time. The movie is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Music, for Michel Legrand.
 
40th Academy Awards results :

Best Picture : In the Heat of the Night
Best Director : Mike Nichols, The Graduate
Best Actor : Rod Steiger, In the Heat of the Night
Best Actress : Susan Hayward, The Graduate
Best Supporting Actor : Robert Mitchum, The Graduate
Best Supporting Actress : Estelle Parsons, Bonnie and Clyde
Best Original Screenplay : William Rose, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner ?
Best Adapted Screenplay : Stirling Silliphant, In the Heat of the Night
Best Foreign Language Film : Closely Watched Trains (Czechoslovakia)
Best Original Score : Elmer Bernstein, Thoroughly Modern Willie
Best Original Song Score : Alfred Newman/Ken Darby, Camelot
Best Original Song : Bob Dylan, The Ballad of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow (Bonnie and Clyde)
Best Costume Design : John Truscott, Camelot
Best Art Direction : John Truscott/Edward Carrere/John W. Brown, Camelot
Best Cinematography : Raoul Coutard, Bonnie and Clyde
Best Sound Mixing : In the Heat of the Night
Best Sound Effects : John Poyner, The Dirty Dozen
Best Film Editing : Hal Ashby, In the Heat of the Night
Best Visual Effects : L. B. Abbott, Doctor Doolittle
 
Thanks to all, now we are heading for 1968. Now that you have seen how I write it, here is a list of what you can expect for future updates. If you want to help me, or even write some, please do.

Witness:

-A mysterious planet populated by monkeys!
-A dude playing harmonica at a train station!
-Dustin Hoffman funding a musical with Nazis in it!
-Kurosawa's foray into American cinema!
-Two actors in a desert island!
-A retard becoming intelligent!
-A young man wanting to hug young women! At their necks!
-A badass in a car!
-A badass millionaire!
-A sexy badass!
 
-A mysterious planet populated by monkeys!
I am curious, MaskedPickle, as to whether you've read the original novel (in the original French, of course). From what I understand, for all its other faults, the Tim Burton version was actually more faithful to the original ending than the (far more iconic) 1968 film IOTL (and you can correct me if I'm wrong about that). Also worth noting (as you obviously know) is that the word in the French title, singes, may refer to either monkeys or apes, though Planet of the Monkeys sounds much more like a B-monster-movie than a (mostly serious) exploration of the human condition. Apes sounds more noble somehow. Monkey is just one of those inherently funny words, I guess.

MaskedPickle said:
-Dustin Hoffman funding a musical with Nazis in it!
Just so long as Gene Wilder still sends out tickets admitting children into his factory of horrors ;)

Looking forward to all of the rest, as well.

Also good to see In the Heat of the Night winning Best Picture - 1967 really was a great year for movies, wasn't it? I'll keep a running tally: you're 1/1 with OTL so far :)
 
I am curious, MaskedPickle, as to whether you've read the original novel (in the original French, of course). From what I understand, for all its other faults, the Tim Burton version was actually more faithful to the original ending than the (far more iconic) 1968 film IOTL (and you can correct me if I'm wrong about that). Also worth noting (as you obviously know) is that the word in the French title, singes, may refer to either monkeys or apes, though Planet of the Monkeys sounds much more like a B-monster-movie than a (mostly serious) exploration of the human condition. Apes sounds more noble somehow. Monkey is just one of those inherently funny words, I guess.

I dunno, Planet of the Apes is kind of like Fight Club in that the ending developed for the movie was better than the one originally in the book. That's just my opinion, however (and unlike Fight Club, which I've both seen and read, I've only seen the Planet of the Apes movie, but I'm aware of the ending used in the book/Tim Burton remake).
 
MaskedPickle said:
-A mysterious planet populated by monkeys!
:eek::eek::eek::eek: I really do hate that damn movie.:mad:
MaskedPickle said:
-A dude playing harmonica at a train station!
Not Dustin Hoffman, I take it?:p
MaskedPickle said:
-A young man wanting to hug young women! At their necks!
That didn't involve a necktie & Hitchcock storyboards, by chance, did it?
MaskedPickle said:
-A badass in a car!
Hmm... Does he have an unnatural attraction to bulldozers? Or a deal with Isaac Hayes?
MaskedPickle said:
-A sexy badass!
Tamara Dobson rules.:cool: (Right?:p)
 
Hello,

Sorry to tell you, but I have entered a deep depression these last days, due to a broken heart. I will have to put this timeline in hiatus until I recover. Sorry to my few readers.
 
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