Uncategorized – The Magnificent 60s

Behind the Scenes: The Overseas Box Office Breakout

For the first four decades of the Hollywood business, success in markets other than domestic was random. Many countries restricted the number of U.S. films that could be shown, others like Britain prevented American studios for a long time taking out of the country money earned at the box office. There was always the chance it could be less profitable if a dominant foreign cinema chain or distributor demanded a larger slice of the box office. In addition, some genres that worked in America stiffed abroad – musicals and comedies found it hard to translate.

Except in extremely sporadic fashion, foreign box office was not reported in the trade media until the 1990s. So there was no such thing as worldwide grosses available on any real scale. These days for many films overseas receipts bring in more than domestic – Zootropolis a current example with around 70 per cent of takings coming from abroad – but that was virtually never the case until the arrival of the James Bond pictures, which acquired a genuine global brand, in the 1960s.

However, the United Artists archives held by the University of Wisconsin provide some fascinating insights into the growing power of the foreign box office in the 1950s. Movies released into the foreign market would make a percentage of their domestic take. But that varied enormously. Even the star-studded Around the World in 80 Days (1956), the second-biggest blockbuster of the year Stateside, with a colossal $16 million in domestic rentals took in less than a quarter of that abroad, just $3.9 million.

For some films, the percentage was better. Controversial William Holden drama The Moon Is Blue (1953) notched up $1.3 million abroad compared to $3.5 million at home. War picture Beachhead (1954) starring Tony Curtis bundled up $1 million overseas as against $1.4 million in domestic. The Barefoot Contessa (1954), boasting Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner, added $2.2 million in foreign coin to its domestic tally of $3.25 million.

Richard Burton as Alexander the Great proved the breakthrough, domestic’s $2.5 million matched by the exact same amount abroad. Robert Mitchum in Foreign Intrigue (1956) went one further, reversing the usual situation, foreign of $1.14 million ahead of domestic’s $1 million.

But the UA star with the biggest consistent pull overseas was Burt Lancaster. Robert Aldrich’s Apache (1954) knocked up $1.75 million abroad compared to $3.25 million at home. Vera Cruz, (1954) also directed by Aldrich and coupling Lancaster with Gary Cooper, hit a home run – the $3.94 million abroad being just short of the $4.5 million at home. The actor’s first venture into directing The Kentuckian (1955) kept up the pace with $1.97 million overseas versus $2.6 million at home.

While these were all action pictures, it was acrobatic drama Trapeze (1956), with Lancaster and Tony Curtis fighting over Italian sex symbol Gina Lollobrigida, that made Hollywood wake up. In the U.S, it came third on the annual box office charts with $7.5 million in rentals. If that took the industry by surprise that was nothing compared to foreign where the movie racked up $7.4 million.

Lancaster remained potent. Submarine war picture Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), co-starring Clark Gable, did virtually as well abroad as at home – $2.42 million overseas compared to $2.5 million at home.

Perhaps learning from the experience of Trapeze, UA went for broke with historical actioner The Vikings (1958) starring Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis. Domestic of $7 million, enough for fifth place in the annual box office league, was beaten by an overseas count of $7.34 million.

For the first time it appeared that Hollywood could count on overseas to swell the box office in sizeable fashion, thus allowing studios to invest more, especially in historical movies with an action angle, thus opening the door for the spate of 1960s roadshows. Such results also cemented star salaries. If a Burt Lancaster picture could make the same again abroad as at home that put him in a new category of dependable stars and allowed studios to gamble on increasing his salary.

That Charlie Chaplin proved a better draw overseas than in the U.S. was largely by default. The actor-producer-director had fallen foul of American politics with the result that his latest release Limelight (1952) flopped. Abroad it was a different story and Limelight hit a tremendous $5.1 million. With the U.S. reissue market also showing resistance to Chaplin oldies, it was left to overseas audiences to show what cinemas were missing as Modern Times (1936) racked up $2.1 million and The Gold Rush (1925) $1.25 million. For comparison the reissue of Red River (1948) pulled in just $19,000 overseas.

Other notable leaders in the overseas market included: Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant and Sophia Loren in The Pride and the Passion (1957) with $3.17 million ($5.9 million domestic); Billy Wilder’s Agatha Christie adaptation Witness for the Prosecution starring Tyrone Power and Marlene Dietrich on $2.81 million ($3.75 million domestic); and Love in the Afternoon (1957) with $2.7 million ($2 million domestic) starring Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn.

Also making a noise overseas were: Stanley Kramer medical drama Not As a Stranger (1955) toplining Olivia De Havilland, Frank Sinatra and Robert Mitchum on a $2 million haul ($7.1 million domestic): Sinatra again in Otto Preminger’s study of addiction The Man with the Golden Arm (1953) on $1.87 million ($4.35 million domestic); Sinatra in war picture Kings Go Forth (1958) on $1.83 million ($2.8 million domestic) and Kirk Douglas as The Indian Fighter (1955) with $1.84 million ($2.45 million domestic).

Bob Hope went against the grain when his overseas tally for Paris Holiday (1958) at $1.8 million bested the $1.5 million of domestic while John Wayne and Sophia Loren’s foreign engagements for Legend of the Lot (1957) counted as a disappointment with just $1.66 million compared to $2.2million domestic.

Low-budget Oscar-winner Marty (1955), produced by Burt Lancaster’s company, was as big a surprise abroad as at home, sprinting to $1.43 million ($2 million domestic). Others worth noting included: Bandido! starring Robert Mitchum on $1.42 million overseas ($1.65 million domestic); David Lean’s romantic drama Summertime (1955) with Katharine Hepburn on $1.3 million ($2 million domestic); Anthony Mann’s Korean War venture Men in War (1957) on $1.26 million ($1.5 million domestic); and Clark Gable in The King and Four Queens (1956) hauling in $1.24 million ($2.5 million domestic).

Olivia De Havilland as The Ambassador’s Daughter (1956) tabbed $1.1 million overseas ($1.5 million domestic) and Gary Cooper in Mark Robson’s Return to Paradise (1953) tallied $1.1 million ($1.8 million domestic). Slow burners numbered Dale Robertson in Sitting Bull (1954) with $1.1 million ($1.5 million domestic) and Stanley Kubrick’s anti-war picture Paths of Glory (1957) with Kirk Douglas shooting up $1 million ($1.2 million domestic).

SOURCE: “Foreign Distribution Gross Estimates,” United Artists Archives, Box 1, Folder 8, University of Wisconsin. Note that in this case “gross” means “gross rentals” not “box office gross.”

Take Me Naked (1966) no stars & Hot Nights on the Campus (1965) no stars

British outfit Talking Pictures has embarked on an educational program. Back in the day this would have been termed a “retrospective”, a coveted description indicating that a director or actor’s portfolio was worth reassessment. However, Talking Pictures has taken something of an outlier approach on this one. What it seems intent on educating us about is the U.S. “skinflick”.

You might not be aware of the difference between movies made in the U.S. and anywhere else that appealed to the lowest common denominator in the 1960s. Movies that featured nudist camps were generally acceptable to the British censor. And although major filmakers continually challenged the censor everywhere during the decade, that generally came under the auspices of artistic merit.

When permissiveness got the upper hand, the British seemed somewhat suspicious of abundant nudity and tended to overload it with comedy – Confessions of a Window Cleaner (1974) and Adventures of a Taxi Driver (1976) – and titles majoring on the double entendre like Keep It Up Downstairs (1976). There was a censor to keep everything in check.

In the U.S. it was different. You could avoid censorship simply by refusing to submit your film to the Production Code. And there were plenty cinemas only to0 keen to show the worst anyone could come up with in terms of sex and nudity.

The pair I’m reviewing here are not just the worst films I have ever seen but the worst films to be shown on a highly reputable channel, British outfit Talking Pictures TV. As you may be aware this channel has often been a first port of call in finding rare British pictures, often of the crime variety, especially the output from Renown. So pretty much I’m a sucker for anything they turn up dating from the 1960s even if it’s a new movie to me since I admit my knowledge of that era still has gaps. I’m the kind of sucker that never does any research on unknown titles, just trusts that TPTV is taking me down an interesting route

So if I’m unfamiliar with the picture, I generally give it the benefit of the doubt as I assume the people who run Talking Pictures will have done the hard yards. But now I’m not so sure.

Admittedly, there’s a fine line between cult and trash. A great deal of what passes for cult these days was dismissed as trash back in the day, so often it depends on your point of view. But it’s hard to make any justification for screening either of these movies.

At the time of their release neither would have been shown without extensive cuts in the UK and would have been shown in US cinemas minus a Production Code seal of approval.

Admittedly, too, I am making this damning judgement – deeming them worse than the awful Orgy for the Dead (1965) which was redeemed if only just by its campness – without having watched much of either picture. A 20-minute sample of each was as much as I could take.

It’s not just that they are devoid of any cinematic or even technical merit – there’s no dialog for a start, just a monotonous voice-over – but basically that they are an excuse for an endless parade of nudes. Skin flicks in the American vernacular, movies for the dirty raincoat brigade the British equivalent.

Take Me Naked purports to be the more artistic of the pair given it’s set in a derelict area of New York filled with alcoholics and bums. But really, it’s an excuse for a rancid low life to spy on a naked woman (Roberta Findlay) and imagine what’s he’s going to do to her. That’s pretty much it, apart from an unsavory violent aspect.

Hot Nights on the Campus has less nudity. But that’s it’s only saving grace. Again, there’s no dialog, just voice-over. Sally (Gigi Darlene) is a farm girl who is led astray at college and her education mostly comprises orgies, lesbianism and seduction. There’s at least an attempt at narrative since Sally’s adventures incur pregnancy and abortion, but like the rest of the picture their purpose is purely exploitational.

Take Me Naked was directed by Michael and Roberta Findlay, the latter making a name for herself helming exploitation, sexploitation and hardcore porn. Hot Nights on the Campus was written and directed by Tony Orlando who made three others in the same vein.

Avoid like the plague.

Half A Million Views – And Counting

Shameless, I know. Egotistical? I plead guilty. But since there’s no financial reward in writing this Blog, I take pleasure in its increasing popularity. I started writing this Blog in 2020 and my first year’s figures amounted to a scant 1,648 views. Certainly nothing to write home about and definitely no inkling that I would hit a grand total of 565,000 views over the six years of the Blog’s existence. I would have been happy to settle for a regular 10,000-20,000 a year.

Luckily, readers had more faith than me and by my third year I was staring at an annual total of just short of 50,000. The following year I topped 75,000 and in 2024 it was a shade below 125,000.

Then came a bonanza. For the year 2025 I registered a phenomenal 301,000 views, more in that single year than cumulatively for the previous five years.

People often ask me why I latched on to the 1960s for the core of my reviews. It’s a question I often ask myself. Although the 1960s were my formative years, I didn’t spend much time at the cinema. I grew up in the new town of Cumbernauld in Scotland which didn’t have a cinema, even though the town planners must have been aware that Scotland had the highest cinema attendance per head of population in the whole of Europe. When I moved to Dumbarton, which had two cinemas, one burned down. Although I remember taking a detour on my journey home from school to stare at the stills on display outside the Rialto, incursions inside were rare. So maybe I’m just catching up on what I missed.

And although I’d written several books on films of the 1960s – one each about The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Guns of Navarone (1961) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and another devoted to the westerns of 1969, it wasn’t until I watched all the movies that comprised The Magnificent 60s: The 100 Most Popular Films of a Revolutionary Decade that my appetite was whetted for more.

I’ve got a huge DVD and VHS arsenal so that was a good place to start. I didn’t have any plan. I just watched what I fancied. Occasionally, I’d plunder TCM, Talking Pictures and other television channels and streamers. Since I still attend the cinema on a Monday, I add to the mix with reviews of contemporary films.

In this indiscriminate fashion, I’ve got to know a huge number of movies that I would probably never had an initial inclination to watch. Pictures such as Fraulein Doktor (1968) or A Dandy in Aspic (1968) or Invitation to a Gunfigfhter (1964) or Guns of Darkness (1962) or The Way West (1967), all underrated at the time – and since, which I am delighted to give a positive fillip. As such films turn up intermittently on streamers or television stations I find I am often the first port of call for people wanting a review of such pictures.

Because several of my books had been about the making of movies, I decided to sporadically investigate, on a smaller scale, how certain pictures were made and those “Behind the Scenes” articles have become a very popular element of the Blog.

Where do my fans come from? United States leads the way followed by China, then the United Kingdom, Thailand, Australia, Canada, India, Spain, Germany and Singapore. But I’ve got at least one reader in virtually every country in the world.

I’ve no idea how people find this Blog because I’m not on social media. The Blog isn’t represented on X or Facebook or Instagram so I can only assume it’s a version of word-of-mouth.

Here’s to the next half a million.

Behind the Scenes: “Ship of Fools” (1965)

Stanley Kramer was on a roll, It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World – an outlier in his portfolio of serious pictures – his biggest-ever hit. Although United Artists, where the director had made his last four pictures, was initially in the frame for Katharine Anne Porter’s 1962 best seller Ship of Fools, the project ended up at Columbia which Kramer had last partnered on The Caine Mutiny in 1951. While the asking price was $450,000 plus a percentage, Kramer secured the rights for $375,000 although he chipped in $25,000 towards the book’s advertising campaign.

Kramer envisioned a character-driven film that would make up for the lack of action. He shifted the timescale to 1933 from 1931 to bring greater overtones of the Hitler threat. “Although we never mention him in the picture,” said Kramer, “his ascendancy is an ever-present factor.” Since there were no seagoing liners available to take over, the movie was shot entirely on the soundstage. “We filmed a ship’s ocean voyage without a ship and without an ocean.” He ransacked old footage for establishing shots of the ship, usually seen in the distance. Decks, staterooms and dining areas were constructed in the studio.

The kind of muted color he would have preferred was not available and since “the theme was just too foreboding for full color” he decided to film in black and white. Shooting in black and white wasn’t yet redundant. Of 27 features going in front of the cameras in 1964, six (including The Disorderly Orderly and Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte) were made in monochrome – down from ten out of 24 the year before.

A thoughtful epic was always going to have trouble finding stars especially as current wisdom was that the industry only had at its disposal 22 genuine box office stars “thinly sprinkled” through the 43 pictures currently in production. While the movie’s marketeers boasted of an all-star cast, the reality was that while overall the actors had “combined heft” they were “minus any individual box office behemoth.”

Spencer Tracy, whom Kramer initially envisioned for the role of the ship’s doctor and who had starred in the director’s last three pictures, would have added definite marquee allure, but he was unavailable due to illness. Greer Garson and Jane Fonda also fell by the wayside.

And unusually, Kramer insisted that many of those actors were not American. Vivien Leigh was born in India, Simone Signoret – who had just quit Zorba the Greek (1964) – was German and Oskar Werner Austrian. Jose Ferrer (who had won the Oscar in Kramer’s production of Cyrano de Bergerac, 1950) hailed from Puerto Rico, Jose Greco from Italy, Charles Korvin from Hungary, Lila Skalia from Austria and Alf Kjellin from Sweden. Signoret and Skala had Jewish ancestry.

His biggest casting coup was luring double Oscar-winner Vivien Leigh (The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone, 1961) out of retirement. But that was a double-edged sword. In real-life she led a tortured existence. Her marriage to Laurence Olivier was over and she had only appeared in two films since A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). She suffered from mental illness and tuberculosis. “Happiness or even contentment” eluded her and in that respect she was ideal for the role. “I’m sure she realized that, in the picture, she was playing something like her own life yet she never, by word of gesture, betrayed any such recognition.” She was another gamble, the reason her dance card was so empty down to directors despairing of getting a performance out of her.

Kramer flew to Germany to persuade Oskar Werner to take on the role intended for Spencer Tracy. At the time Werner, while familiar to European audiences and the American arthouse set through Jules and Jim (1962),was a relative unknown and a casting gamble. On set he proved obstinate. For one scene where he was instructed to enter camera right he did the opposite. When the direction was repeated, he stood his ground, insisting he preferred that view of his face. Despite the cost of reversing the set-up Kramer was forced to concede. Despite these trials, Kramer got along with Werner better than the actors. “They just couldn’t stand him.” Notwithstanding such difficulties Kramer later signed him for another film, but the actor died before shooting began.

James MacArthur (The Truth about Spring, 1964) was mooted for a role as was Sabine Sun (The Sicilian Clan, 1969). The most unlikely prospect was German comedian Heinz Ruhmann who was cast as Lowenthal. The Screen Actors Guild complained when Kramer hired five Spaniards instead of Americans for bit parts paying union scale of $350 a week, but their complaints were ignored.

Kramer admitted the ingénue roles played by George Segal (The Bridge at Remagen, 1968) and Elizabeth Ashley (The Third Day, 1965) were too much of a cliché. “As in most pictures,” observed Kramer, “older actors not only had more stature but they were also better armed by the writers. There was no way Segal and Ashley could compete with Werner and Signoret.”

The film cost $3.9 million. Filming began on June 22, 1964. It was initially a long shot for roadshow release but since Columbia was already committed to the more expensive Lord Jim and there were already 15 others lined up from other studios, Columbia nixed the two-a-day release in favour of continuous program.

Boosted by book sales – it was the number one hardback bestseller of 1962 and had sold millions in paperback – the movie carved out a more commercial niche than had been anticipated. Positive reviews helped. It opened to a “mighty” $88,000 in New York breaking records at the 1,003-seat Victoria and the 561-seat Sutton arthouse.

There was a “socko” $25,000 in Chicago, “giant” $23,000 in Philadelphia, “sock” $14,000 in Baltimore, “strong” $13,000 in St Louis, “lively” $12,000 in Detroit, “stout” 12,000 in San Francisco, “sturdy” $11,000 in Pittsburgh, and “slick” $10,000 in Columbus, Ohio. The only first run location where it toiled was Denver where it merited a merely “okay” opening of $8,000.

There was a sense of Columbia letting it run as long as possible in first run in the hope of garnering Oscars to boost its subsequent runs. But the studio was the beneficiary three times over from the Oscars – with Cat Ballou, Ship of Fools and William Wyler’s The Collector in contention for various awards.

The studio had the clever idea of pairing Ship of Fools in reissue with Cat Ballou, for which Marvin had won the Oscar, and although not the star of Ship of Fools the teaming suggested it was a Marvin double bill. In Los Angeles the double bill hoisted $135,000 from 21 houses followed by $121,000 from 28. But in Cleveland Ship of Fools went out first with The Collector and then Cat Ballou. A mix-and-match strategy also saw Ship of Fools double up with, variously, A Patch of Blue, Darling and The Pawnbroker.

The final tally was difficult to compute. In its 1965 end-of-year rankings Variety reckoned it had only pulled in $900,000 in rentals but it was good for $3.5 million in the longer term, a realistic target once you counted in the $1.3 million in rentals generated by the combination with Cat Ballou.

SOURCES: Stanley Kramer with Thomas F. Coffey, It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, A Life in Hollywood (Aurum Press, 1997) pp203-212; “New York Sound Track,” Variety, May 2, 1962, p4; “375G for Fools Novel,” Variety, May 2, 1962, p5; “Publisher’s Big Break,” Variety, May 23, 1962, p4; “Kramer to Produce Ship of Fools for Columbia,” Box Office, June 18, 1962, p9; “Abby Mann to Script Ship of Fools,” Box Office, November 1962, pSE4; “Top German Comic,” Variety, April 15, 1964, p23; “Simone Signoret Exits Zorba,” Variety, April 22, 1964, p11; “Control of Space,” Variety, May 6, 1964, p4; “Five Spaniards on Ship of Fools Irks SAG,” Variety, June 3, 1964, p5;“To Speed MacArthur for Ship of Fools,” Variety, June 10, 1964, p17; “27 Features Shoot in Color, Only Six in Monochrome,” Variety, August 5, 1964, p3; “Perennial Quiz,” Variety, September 2, 1964, p1; “15, Maybe 17, Pix for Roadshowing,” Variety, October 28, 1964, p22; “Too Many Roadshows,” Variety, August 2, 1965, p5. Box office figures, Variety September-November 1965, “Big Rental Pictures of 1965,” Variety, January5, 1966, p6.

Behind the Scenes: All Time Top 30

Since I’ve expanded the All-Time Top Movies to 100 it seems only fair to enlarge the Behind the Scenes section. So this is now a Top 30. The rankings here relate to this time last year.

Includes three Alistair MacLean adaptations. John Wayne and Gregory Peck feature three times and Kirk douglas, Dean Martin, James Stewart, Steve McQueen and Omar sharif twice each. Andrew V. McLaglen leads the directorial charge with three mentions.

(1)Waterloo (1970). No doubting the effect of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon in increasing interest in this famous flop that had Rod Steiger’s French emperor squaring off against Christopher Plummer.
(3) In Harm’s Way (1965). Otto Preminger takes off the gloves to expose problems in the American military around Pearl Harbor. John Wayne and Kirk douglas head an all-star cat.
(2)Man’s Favorite Sport (1964). Howard Hawks back in the gender wars with Rock Hudson being taken down a peg by Paula Prentiss.
(4) The Guns of Navarone (1961). Alistair MacLean created the template for the men-on-a-mission war picture. Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn topline. Nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director (J. Lee Thompson) and Screenplay (Carl Foreman) and enough jeopardy throughout the filming to qualify for a movie of its own.
(7) The Satan Bug (1965). The problems facing director John Sturges in adapting the Alistair MacLean pandemic classic for the big screen.
(6) Battle of the Bulge (1965). There were going to be two versions, so the race was on to get this one to the public first. A Cinerama number.
(5) Ice Station Zebra (1968). A complete cast overhaul and ground-breaking special effects are at the core of this filming of another Alistair MacLean tale. Second Alistair MacLean outing for John Sturges.
(New Entry) Barbarella (1968). Jane Fonda was fourth choice after Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren and Ira von Furstenberg. Should never have been directed by Roger Vadim who was out of favor with Paramount. One of the first movies to be given a global simultaneous release.
(8) Cast a Giant Shadow (1965). Producer Melville Shavelson wrote a book about his experiences and this and other material relating the arduous task of bringing the Kirk Douglas-starrer to the screen are told here.
(12) Mackenna’s Gold (1969). Tortuous route to the screen for Carl Foreman-produced roadshow western, filmed in 70mm Cinerama, with an all-star cast including Omar Sharif, Gregory Peck and Telly Savalas.
(9) The Girl on a Motorcycle / Naked under Leather (1968). Cult classic starring Marianne Faithful and Alain Delon had a rocky road to release, especially in the U.S. where the censor was not happy.
(12) The Sons of Katie Elder (1965). First envisioned nearly a decade before, Henry Hathaway western finally hit the screen with John Wayne and Dean Martin.
(11). Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). Richard Fleischer dispenses with the all-star cast in favor of even-handed verisimilitude.
(15) The Trouble with Angels (1966). Less than angelic Hayley Mills sparring with convent boss Rosalind Russell. Directed by one-time star Ida Lupino.
(New Entry) The Misfits (1961). Robert Mitchum turned down the male lead. Clark Gable failed the medical, both Montgomery Clift and Marilyn Monroe had drug problems. It went 40 days over schedule and half a million over budget.
(14) The Bridge at Remagen (1969). British director John Guillerman hits trouble filming World War Two picture starring George Segal and Robert Vaughn.
(16) For a Few Dollars More (1965). Sergio Leone sequel to first spaghetti western brings in Lee van Cleef to pair with Clint Eastwood.
(20) The Collector (1963). William Wyler’s creepy adaptation of John Fowles’ creepy bestseller with Terence Stamp and Samatha Eggar.
(13) Sink the Bismarck! (1960). Documentary-style British World War Two classic with Kenneth More exhibiting the stiffest of stiff-upper-lips.
(18) Bandolero! (1968). Director Andrew V. McLaglen teams up with James Stewart, Dean Martin and Raquel Welch to fight Mexican bandits.
(19) The Train (1964). John Frankenheimer replaced Arthur Penn in the directorial chair to steer home unusual over-budget World War Two picture with Burt Lancaster trying to steal art treasures from under the nose of German Paul Schofield.
(17) How The West Was Won (1962). First non-travelog Cinerama picture, all-star cast and all-star team of directors tackling multi-generational western and all sorts of logistical problems.
(New entry) The Way West (1967). Burt Lancaster, James Stewart and Gary Cooper were the original cast. Charlton Heston turned it down. Robert Mitchum couldn’t make up his mind. Director Andrew V. McLaglen claimed it had been savaged by the studio.
(New Entry) The Wicker Man (1973) at the Box Office. A flop on initial release, U.S. release delayed, it took a long long time before the movie achieved both cult status and came out of the red.
(New Entry) The Stalking Moon (1968). Should never have been made, according to existing legislation, even with Gregory Peck’s participation long delayed in part due to original director George Stevens pulling out.
(New Entry) “Barbieheimer” Recalls the Old Double Bill. The perfect double bill aimed to attract different segments of the audience.
(New Entry) Judgement at Nuremberg (1961). Laurence Olivier was first choice to play the role taken by Burt Lancaster. United Artists was not at all keen on the proposition. Innovative use of the camera. Judy Garland and Montgomery Clift overcame personal problems while Marlene Dietrich was acquainted with one of men on trial.
(New Entry) The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). Sean Connery, Jack Lemmon and Brigitte Bardot turned it down. Director Norman Jewison thought Steve McQueen “completely wrong” for the part.
(New Entry) The Cincinnati Kid (1965). Sam Peckinpah was fired. Spencer Tracy quit. Sharon Tate declined.
(New Entry) The Appointment (1969). Booed at the Cannes Film Festival. Denied a release in the U.S., even with Omar Sharif as star and after being heavily edited by MGM. Only shown on American TV. The biggest financial flop of Sidney Lumet’s career.

All-Time Top 100

Given that I’m now closing in on 2,000 reviews, it seems the correct time to expand the scope of the All-Time Views List. So instead of a Top 50, from now on it’s a Top 100. In case it’s not obvious I should point out that these are not necessarily my favourites, but yours, the movies most viewed since The Blog began five-and-a-half years ago. Since this little exercise is undertaken twice a year the rankings are compared to the previous standings in the all-time list from July this year.

There’s still no shaking Ann-Margret, a brace of her movies – The Swinger (1966) and western remake Stagecoach (1966) – embedded in the top three. In terms of number of entries, Dean Martin is in pole position thanks to a quintet of westerns – Bandolero (1968), Rough Night in Jericho (1967), 4 for Texas (1963), Five Card Stud (1968) and The Sons of Katie Elder (1965).

On four apiece are Raquel Welch and George Peppard, the former in spy adventure Fathom (1967), western Bandolero (1968), crime drama Lady in Cement (1968) and One Million Years B.C. (1966), the latter in House of Cards (1968), Pendulum (1968), Operation Crossbow (1965) and Rough Night in Jericho.

Also making a fine showing are Hayley Mills, John Wayne, Charlton Heston, Senta Berger, Alain Delon and Omar Sharif with three entries each. Mills headlines The Family Way (1966), The Trouble with Angels (1966) and The Chalk Garden (1964). Wayne shows up for war picture In Harm’s Way (1965) and two westerns, The Sons of Katie Elder and Andrew V. McLaglen’s under-rated The Undefeated (1969). Heston shows his marquee power in Diamond Head (1962), The Hawaiians/ Master of the Islands (1970) and The War Lord (1965). Senta Berger is seen in Istanbul Express (19668), Our Man in Marrakesh (1966) and The Secret Ways (1961). Alain Delon tried to go straight in Once a Thief (1965), is intent on crime in Farewell Friend / Adieu L’Ami (1968) and is the lover in Girl on a Motorcycle.

Sharif stars in little-seen The Appointment (1969), Genghis Khan (1965) and J. Lee Thompson Cinerama western Mackenna’s Gold (1969). Ann-Margret also has three after you add Once a Thief (1965) to her list. On the directorial front, Robert Aldrich and Andrew V. McLaglen clock up three apiece, the former with Sodom and Gomorrah (1962), 4 for Texas (1963) and The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) and the latter with western trio The Way West (1967), Bandolero! (1968) and The Undefeated (1969).

Oscar-winner Anora (2024), Pamela Anderson as The Last Showgirl (2024) and French crime thriller Squad 36 / Bastion 36 (2025) head up the contemporary list, although only a handful of recent films have made their way into the Top 100.

If, like me, you’re interested in statistics, you might like to know the genre breakdown. Drama is top with 30 per cent of all the movies featured, crime comes next on 24 per cent, followed by westerns on 14 per cent then spy (11 per cent), war (nine per cent), sci fi/fantasy (five per cent), historical (four per cent), horror (two percent) and musical (one per cent).

The figures in brackets represent the positions in July 2025 and New Entry is self-explanatory. .

(1) The Swinger (1966). Despite shaking her booty as only she knows how, Ann-Margret brings a sprinkling of innocence to this sex comedy.
(2) Anora (2024). Mikey Madison’s sex worker woos a Russian in Oscar-winner.
(3) Stagecoach (1966). Under-rated remake of the John Ford western. But it’s Ann-Margret who steals the show ahead of Alex Cord in the role that brought John Wayne stardom.
(5) In Harm’s Way (1965). Under-rated John Wayne World War Two number. Co-starring Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Tom Tryon and Paula Prentiss, director Otto Preminger surveys Pearl Harbor and after.
(6) Fraulein Doktor (1969). Grisly realistic battle scenes and a superb score from Ennio Morricone help this Suzy Kendall vehicle as a World War One German spy going head-to-head with Brit Kenneth More and taking time out for romantic dalliance with Capucine.
(4) The Last Showgirl (2024). Pamela Anderson proves she can act and how in this touching portrayal of a fading Las Vegas dancer.
(9) Squad 36 / Bastion 36 (2025). Corruption and interdepartmental rivalry fuel this French flic directed by Olivier Marchal.
(8) Once Upon a Time in the West (1969). Along with The Searchers (1956) now considered the most influential western of all time. Sergio Leone rounds up Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson and that fabulous Morricone score.
(32) Age of Consent (1969). Helen Mirren frolics nude in her debut as the freewheeling damsel drawn to disillusioned painter James Mason.
(16) A Dandy in Aspic (1968). Cold War thriller with Laurence Harvey as a double agent who wants out. Mia Farrow co-stars.
(New Entry) Our Man in Marrakesh / Bang! Bang! You’re Dead (1966). Humorous spy offering with Tony Randall and Senta Berger.
(7) Fireball XL5. The famous British television series (1962-1963) from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, now colorized. “My heart will be a fireball…”
(14) Baby Love (1969). Controversy was the initial selling point but now it’s morphed into a morality tale as orphaned Linda Hayden tries to fit into an upper-class London household.
(New Entry) The Chapman Report (1962). Jane Fonda, Claire Bloom and Shelley Winters lead this investigation into contemporary sexual mores.
(18) The Family Way (1966). Hayley Mills comes of age in this very adult drama. Co-starring her father John Mills and Hywel Bennett.
(21) The Appointment (1969). Inhibited lawyer Omar Sharif discovers the secrets of wife Anouk Aimee in under-rated and little-seen Italian-set drama from Sidney Lumet.
(23) Pressure Point (1962). Nazi extremist Bobby Darin causes chaos for psychiatrist Sidney Poitier. Stunning dream sequences.
(11) Jessica (1962). Angie Dickinson doesn’t mean to cause trouble but as a young widow arriving in a small Italian town she causes friction, so much so the local wives for on a sex strike.
(16) Pharoah (1966). Polish epic set in Egypt sees the country’s ruler at odds with the religious hierarchy.
(12) Young Cassidy (1965). Julie Christie came out of this best, winning her role in Doctor Zhivago as a result. Rod Taylor as Irish playwright Sean O’Casey.
(30) The Sisters (1969). Incest rears its head as Nathalie Delon and Susan Strasberg ignore husbands and lovers in favor of each other.
(New Entry) Signpost to Murder (1964). Joanne Woodward trapped in a millhouse with escaped lunatic Stuart Whitman in twisty thriller.
(23) Istanbul Express (1968). Gene Barry plays a weird numbers game in spy thriller that sets him up against Senta Berger.
(13) Thank You Very Much/ A Touch of Love (1969). Sandy Dennis dazzles as an academic single mother in London impregnated by Ian McKellen.
(New Entry) Five Card Stud (1968). Gambler Dean Marin faces off against preacher Robert Mitchum and a serial killer in Henry Hathaway western also featuring Inger Stevens.
(20) Go Naked in the World (1961). Gina Lollobrigida finds that love for a wealthy playboy clashes with her profession (the oldest). Look out for highly emotional turn from the usually taciturn Ernest Borgnine.
(37) The Demon / Il Demonio (1963). Extraordinary performance by Daliah Lavi in Italian drama as she produces the performance of her career.
(17) Claudelle Inglish (1961). Diane McBain seeks revenge for being stood up at the altar in the Deep South.
(27) Fathom (1967). When not dodging the villains in an entertaining thriller, Raquel Welch models a string of bikinis as a skydiver caught up in spy malarkey.
(24) Pendulum (1968). Fast-rising cop George Peppard accused of murdering unfaithful wife Jean Seberg
(New Entry) They Came to Rob Las Vegas (1968). Gary Lockwood and Elke Sommer head up a heist thriller.
(19) Vendetta for the Saint (1969). Prior to James Bond, Roger Moor was better known as television’s The Saint. Two television episodes combined sees our hero tackle the Mafia.
(39) Operation Crossbow (1965). George Peppard is the man with the mission in Occupied France during World War Two. Co-stars Sophia Loren.
(25) The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961) Angie Dickinson (again) as African missionary falling foul of the natives and Commissioner Peter Finch. Roger Moore (again) in an early role.
(15) The Girl on a Motorcycle / Naked under Leather (1968). How much you saw of star Marianne Faithfull depended on where you saw it. The U.S. censor came down heavily on the titular fantasizing heroine, the British censor more liberal. Alain Delon co-stars.
(New Entry) The Battle of the Villa Florita (1965). Maureen O’Hara runs off to Italy to join lover Rossano Brazzi. When her kids follow, trouble ensues,
(New Entry) Assignment K (1967). Stephen Boyd in spy caper tangles romantically with Camilla Sparv and is on the receiving end of some tough thugs.
(New entry) Sands of the Kalahari (1965). Stanley Baker, Stuart Whitman and Susannah York are stranded in the desert. Instead of working together, it’s every person for themselves.
(New Entry) The Double Man (1967). Yul Brynner is the target for a kidnapping plot in complex spy thriller co-starring Britt Ekland.
(42) The Chalk Garden (1964). Wild child Hayley Mills, trying to break out of her Disney straitjacket, duels with governess Deborah Kerr.
(26) Diamond Head (1962). Over-ambitious hypocritical landowner Charlton Heston comes unstuck in love, politics and business in Hawaii. George Chakiris, Yvette Mimieux and France Nuyen turn up the heat.
(New entry) Gunn (1967). Blake Edwards turns hit television series into a movie with star Craig Stevens.
(45) A Fine Pair (1968). Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale join forces for a heist picture.
(New Entry) 4 for Texas (1963). Only Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin survive from the Rat Pack, but Ursula Andress and Anita Ekberg more than compensate in Robert Aldrich fun western.
(32) Farewell, Friend / Adieu L’Ami (1968). A star is born – at least in France, the States was a good few years behind in recognizing the marquee attractions of Charles Bronson. Alain Delon co-stars in twisty French heist thriller featuring Olga Georges-Picot and Brigitte Fossey.
(35) Once a Thief (1965). Ann-Margret again, in a less sexy incarnation, as a working mother whose ex-jailbird thief Alain Delon takes a detour back into crime.
(36) Woman of Straw (1964). More Hitchockian goings-on as Sean Connery tries to frame Gina Lollobrigida in a dubious scheme.
(New Entry) Jason and the Argonauts (1963). Ray Harryhausen steals the show in cracking fantasy.
(29) The Golden Claws of the Cat Girl (1968). Cults don’t come any sexier than Daniele Gaubert as a French cat burglar.
(New Entry) The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). When James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch and Hardy Kruger crash in the desert they come up with an ingenious plan to escape. Robert Aldrich directs.
(51) Prehistoric Women / Slave Girls (1967). Martine Beswick attempts to steal the Raquel Welch crown as Hammer tries to repeat the success of One Million Years B.C.
(43) Dark of the Sun / The Mercenaries (1968). Rod Taylor’s guns-for-hire break out the action in war-torn Africa. Jim Brown and Yvette Mimieux co-star.
(31) Moment to Moment (1966). Hitchcockian thriller set in Hitchcock country – the South of France – as unfaithful Jean Seberg is on the hook for the murder of her lover. Also featuring Honor Blackman.
(New Entry) The Red Tent (1969). Sean Connery adds his weight to a rescue mission for an airship crashed in the Arctic. Based on a true story. Claudia Cardinale and Peter Finch co-star.
(New Entry) The Best House in London (1969). David Hemmings heads up a moralistic tale of rescuing sex workers in Victorian London.
(New Entry) The Sons of Katie Elder (1965). John Wayne and Dean Martin join forces to find out what happened to their mother in top-notch Henry Hathaway western.
(New Entry) Anatomy of a Fall (2024). Critically-acclaimed artie thriller starring Oscar-nominated Sandra Huller. The screenplay took the Oscar as well.
(New Entry) Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964). Yul Brynner cleans up the town in under-rated western. Janice Rule adds interest.
(34) Genghis Khan (1965). Omar Sharif as the titular warrior up against Stephen Boyd. Co-starring James Masion and Francoise Dorleac. Robert Morley is hilariously miscast as the Chinese Emperor.
(33) Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024). Kevin Costner’s majestic western that became one of the biggest flops of the year was underrated in my opinion.
(New Entry) Mickey One (1965). Cult Arthur Penn thriller with Warren Beatty as comedian on the run.
(New Entry) House of Cards (1968). Ex-boxer George Peppard gets tangled up in an international fascist conspiracy and with Ingrid Stevens. Orson Welles has a cameo.
(41) Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humpe and Find True Happiness? Fellini would turn in his grave at the self-indulgence of singer Anthony Newley who manages to lament that women falling at his feet cause him so much strife. Joan Collins co-stars.
(New entry) Rough Night in Jericho (1967). Corrupt lawman Dean Martin tangles with George Peppard in under-rated western Jean Simmons is the woman who comes between them.
(New Entry) Deadlier than the Male (1967). Richard Johnson as Bulldog Drummond in the clutches of femme fatales of Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina.
(New entry) The Undefeated (1969). John Wayne and Rock Hudson duke it out in superb Civil War western directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.
(New Entry) Ten Little Indians (1965). Agatha Christie whodunnit. Hugh O’Brian and Shirley Eaton are among the suspects.
(New Entry) The Trouble with Angels (1966). Hayley Mills has the nuns on the run as she causes chaos at a convent school run by Rosalind Russell.
(New Entry) 633 Squadron (1964). You remember the soaring score more than the performances of Cliff Robertson and George Chakiris in World War Two aerial mission.
(New Entry) Black Butterflies (2022). Twisty French mini-series majoring on sex and murder in enjoyable film noir throwback.
(New Entry) The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968). Anthony Quinn is the unlikely candidate for the Papacy in Vatican drama co-starring Laurence Olivier, Oskar Werner and David Janssen.
(44) La Belle Noiseuse (1991). Emmanuelle Beart is the mostly naked model taking painter Michel Piccoli to his artistic limits.
(48) The Venetian Affair (1966). Robert Vaughn investigates spate of suicide bombs. Elke Sommer provides the glamor.
(New Entry) Bandolero! (1968). James Stewart and brother Dean Martin team up with Raquel Welch to evade George Kennedy’s posse in another Andrew V. McLaglen under-rated western.
(46) Lady in Cement (1969). Raquel Welch models more bikinis as the gangster’s moll taken on as a client by private eye Frank Sinatra in his second outing as Tony Rome.
(49) The Secret Ways (1961). The first of the Alistair MacLean adaptations to hit the big screen features Richard Widmark trapped in Hungary during the Cold War. Senta Berger in an early role.
(New Entry) Lost Command (1966). Algerian War picture sets Anthony Quinn and Alain Delon against George Segal.
(38) Guns of Darkness (1962). David Niven and Leslie Caron on the run from South American revolutionaries.
(New Entry) The Adventurers (1970). Adaptation of a Harold Robbins bestseller so it’s sex and violence and more sex as playboy Bekim Fehmiu turns revolutionary. Co-stars Charles Aznavour, Candice Bergen and Leigh Taylor-Young.
(New Entry) The Way West (1967). Andrew V. McLaglen again with an under-rated western again starring Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Richard Widmark on the long trail. .
(New Entry) One Million Years B.C. (1966). Ray Harryhausen’s models cede center stage to Raquel Welch in a fur bikini in the picture that launched her career..
(40) She Died with Her Boots On / Whirlpool (1969). More sleaze than cult. Spanish director Jose Ramon Larraz’s thriller sees kinky photographer Karl Lanchbury targeting real-life MTA Vivien Neves.
(New Entry) The Hawaiians / Master of the Islands (1962). Charlton Heston picks up where Hawaii (1966) left off and it’s chock full of corruption, racism and misogyny.
(New Entry) Subterfuge (1968). CIA agent Gene Barry hunts a mole in British MI5. Joan Collins lends a hand.
(47) Carry On Up the Khyber (1968). The most successful of the Carry On satires poking fun at the British in India.
(New Entry) Mirage (1965). Compelling thriller with Gregory Peck convinced he’s suffering from amnesia.
(New Entry) The War Lord (1965). Very realistic historical drama directed by Franklin Schaffner with Charlton Heston defending his land from invaders.
(New Entry) Petla (2020), Cracking Polish thriller as a cop loses his way in a world of sex, bribery and corruption.
(New Entry) Two for the Road (1967). Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney try to get their marriage off the rocks by retracing their romantic steps when younger.
(New Entry) Battle of the Bulge (1965). World War Two epic filmed in Cinerama with a topline cast including Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Charles Bronson and Telly Savalas.
(New Entry) Sodom and Gomorrah (1962). Robert Aldrich biblical epic sees Stewart Granger facing off against treachery. Co-stars Pier Angeli, Rossana Podesta and Stanley Baker.
(New Entry) Joy in the Morning (1965). Touching romance starring Richard Chamberlain and Yvette Mimieux.
(New Entry) The Appaloosa / Southwest to Sonora (1966). Striking performance from Marlon Brando trying to recover a horse stolen by Mexican bandit John Saxon. Interesting western from Sidney J Furie.
(New Entry) The Titanic (1997). I saw this on reissue in 3D and was knocked out all over again.
(New Entry) Lonely Are the Brave (1962). Prison escape picture featuring cowboy Kirk Douglas who can’t cope with the modern world. Walter Matthau co-stars.
(New Entry) The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die / Catacombs (1965). Cult director Gordon Hessler at his best with husband Gary Merrill finding out trying to kill wife Georgina Cookson isn’t as easy as he expected.
(New Entry) The Lost World (1960). Arthur Conan Doyle fantasy features dinosaurs plus Michael Rennie and Jill St John.
(New Entry) Mackenna’s Gold (1969). J. Lee Thompson big-budget western treasure hunt starring Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Camilla Sparv, Eli Wallach, lee J Cobb, Edward G Robinson, Julie Newmar and Eli Wallach.
(New Entry) Beat Girl / Wild for Kicks (1960). Teenager Gillian Hills prefers becoming a striptease artist rather than hanging out with her pals in Soho milk bars. Cult with a capital C.
(New Entry) Some Girls Do (1969). Sequel to Deadlier than the Male and Richard Johnson has no easier time of it with Daliah Lavi and Beba Loncar preferring murder to seduction.

Celebrating Hitting 50,000 Views Per Month and the Annual Shameless Xmas Plug for My Books

Normally around this time of year I’m – to use a Scottish expression – “bumming my load”, that is, boasting (there’s no other word for it if I’m being honest) about all the books I’ve written which IMHO you should be putting on your Xmas list.

But this time it’s different – because I’m “bumming your load.”

This time I’m celebrating your input into my humble Blog.

Last month I hit 50,000 views and this month I’ve already passed that figure.

So these kind of stats are phenomenal and though I contribute by doing the writing the bigger part in this is down to you, the reader, who has remained with me constantly and clearly informed others about the Blog.

When I first started the Blog I had no idea I’d still be writing it five years later. In the early days I was lucky if I could attract 200 views a month. Gradually, my figures crept up, but still nothing really to boast about. Every year I seemed to attract more views. By May this year I was at 10,000 views a month.

And then the Blog just exploded.

To go from 10,000 a month to 50,000 a month in just six months is beyond my comprehension. At this rate I’ll be easily surpassing half a million a year.

And this is all without the help of social media. I don’t post on Instagram, X or Facebook. I’m not on Rotten Tomatoes or any other critic-friendly or aggregate site.

The only place you can find my Blog is where you’re supposed to find it – on WordPress.

My Xmas has come early so many thanks to you all.

Now back to the shameless stuff. My latest book King of the Action Thriller – Films from the Mind of Alistair MacLean has been a long time coming but now it’s at the final stages of editing and is due out in February 2026. MacLean’s imagination, you might recall, was responsible for, among others, The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare, Breakheart Pass, Bear Island, Ice Station Zebra, Fear Is the Key and Puppet on a Chain.

I even found a long-lost screenplay he wrote that was never made. Eighteen of his books found their way onto the big and small screen.

You can order King of the Action Thriller it direct from the publisher McFarland or on Amazon and other sites and bookshops.

If you fancy going further into films of the 1960s I can recommend some other books to you. Admittedly, these are all books I’ve written but I did say this was a shameless plug.

Here are some of the titles:

The Making of The Magnificent Seven – Behind the Scenes of the Pivotal Western;

The Making of The Guns of Navarone;

The Making of Lawrence of Arabia;

The Gunslingers of ’69 – Western Movies’ Greatest Year;

and The Magnificent ‘60s – The 100 Most Popular Films of a Revolutionary Decade.

If you’re interested in more about the actual business of the movies you could dip into my books about reissues/re-releases and how Hollywood came to release new movies everywhere all at once. Check out my 250,000-word tome Coming Back to a Theater Near You, A History of Hollywood Reissue 1914-2014 and In Theaters Everywhere, A History of the Hollywood Wide Release 1913-2017.

I’m in the process of making available in printed form the reviews from the Blogs. I originally published these under the title 1960s Movies Redux but I’ve revamped these to now include illustrations and they’ll be available shortly in paperback and Kindle format under the title 1960s Movies Vol 1 (then Vol 2, Vol 3 etc).

Happy reading and Happy Xmas.

Thanks once again to all my readers.

Behind the Scenes: “The Learning Tree” (1969)

I am indebted to one of my regular correspondents, who goes by the name of “Fenny100,” for the following “Behind the Scenes” report:

The working title of the picture was Learn, Baby, Learn. Based on his 1963 autobiographical novel, The Learning Tree, it marked the feature film debut of Gordon Parks, who was the first African American staff photographer for Life magazine. With the making of The Learning Tree, Parks became the first African American to direct a major theatrical motion picture. Parks had previously directed “several short film subjects and two one-hour features for National Education Television” (New York Times, 2 April 1968). The project was five years in the making (Variety, 17 April 1964), the writer-director in talks with producers interested in optioning his book. Two independent producers first acquired film rights (New York Times, 17 August 1969) but they were unable to raise the necessary funds. Another producer allegedly offered Parks $75,000 to adapt the script, with the stipulation that he must rewrite the black characters as white. Parks declined.

At some point, Bob Hope’s daughter, Linda Hope, was interested in producing the adaptation, (Variety, 7 November 1968). Parks’ friend, filmmaker John Cassavetes (Shadows, 1958), introduced his work to Kenneth Hyman, an executive at Warner Bros.—Seven Arts, Inc., which ultimately funded the production, although Cassavetes accidentally gave Hyman a copy of Parks’ 1966 memoir A Choice of Weapons rather than The Learning Tree. Hyman became enthusiastic about working with Parks and reportedly struck a four-picture deal with him within a fifteen-minute meeting. The Warner Bros.—Seven Arts deal (Variety, 1 April 1968) referred to Parks as “the first negro in film history to direct a major feature for a major film company.”

Also a well-respected musician, Parks was set to write the score, which (Variety, 12 July 1968) entailed a four-movement symphony. The production budget was set at slightly less than $2 million (Variety, 25 June 1969) and Parks was slated to receive twenty-five per cent of any profits (Los Angeles Times, 19 October 1969).

Principal photography was scheduled to begin on 30 September 1968 in Parks’ hometown of Fort Scott, Kansas, (“Production Chart,” Variety, 27 September 1968). Problems arose when the film crew, including six African Americans, began shooting in the town (Variety, 7 November 1968), a report which implied that the difficulties arose from racial tension. A later article (Variety, 25 June 1969) noted that there were twelve black crew members, not six, and blamed the tension between locals and filmmakers on the fact that Fort Scott residents wrongly assumed The Learning Tree was a “dirty film.” Parks said that shooting there eventually worked well, and that the local Elks Club admitted African Americans for the first time at a party thrown for the cast and crew. Parks was given a key to the city by local officials, and “Gordon Parks Day” was declared in early November 1968.

Following five-and-a-half weeks in Fort Scott, cast and crew moved to the Warner Bros.—Seven Arts studio lot in Burbank, California, where another two-and-a-half weeks of principal photography was scheduled, beginning in mid-November 1968. On 11 December 1968, Variety confirmed that filming had been completed.

Although William Conrad acted as executive producer throughout the shoot, his name was removed from the credits (Variety, 19 June 1969), though it was later explained that Conrad had agreed to help but wanted no credit, since The Learning Tree was “Gordon’s story.”

In discussing the small contingent of African Americans on his crew, Parks said (New York Times, 17 August 1969), “I hired 12 Negroes to work on the production. It was a fight, because the Hollywood unions are all white, but I got enormous cooperation from Warners.” The studio hired a black electrician, Gene Simpson, for the first time in its history (Los Angeles Sentinel, 13 March 1969), while publicist Vincent Tubbs – the only black union head as the president of the Hollywood Publicists Guild – worked on the film. Parks’ son, Gordon Parks, Jr., acted as still photographer. Seven African American craftsmen worked on the film (Box Office, 28 October 1968).

The Learning Tree was first screened on 18 Jun 1969 at a Warner Bros.—Seven Arts press junket held in Freeport, in the Bahamas (Variety, 18 June 1969). Following its debut there, Variety (25 June 1969) suggested that Parks’ “viewpoint on America and its racial problems” in the 1920s-set film might be negatively received by “black militants and other radical types.” Parks contended that black militants had been purposely planted in preview screenings, and although they had sometimes laughed at inappropriate times, they had generally congratulated him for his accomplishment. Parks stated, “But actually, I don’t care what they think. This is my story. I believe that in the black revolution there is a need for everyone.”

Despite the film’s perceived innocence, it received an M-rating (suggested for mature audiences) from the Motion Picture Association of America (Variety, 16 July 1969). It was due to have its world premiere on 6 Aug 1969 at the Trans-Lux East and West arthouses in New York City (Variety, 30 July 1969). Early reviews were mixed. Although the studio had initially planned a slow rollout of the film in arthouse theaters, its success at the more commercial Trans-Lux West – and relative failure at the Trans-Lux East – indicated the picture would play better at larger, inner-city theaters (Variety, 10 September 1969). A new “playoff pattern” was devised to take advantage of its box-office potential at theaters known for action films and other commercial fare.

Within seventeen weeks of release, cumulative box office gross topped $1.327 million from just 27 theaters (Variety, 5 November 1969).

At Los Angeles at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, where The Learning Tree opened on 20 August 1969, a large fiberglass sycamore tree – which the studio planned to donate to the Crippled Children’s Society of Los Angeles County once the film’s run was complete – was built around the box office (Variety, 18 August 1969)

The Learning Tree was the U.S. entry at the Edinburgh Film Festival running 24 August – 7 September 1969. It won the Blue Ribbon Award from the National Screen Council in the U.S. for the month of September. The film went on to garner accolades including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Awards for Best Picture (in a tie with Joanna, 1968) Best Director, Best Actress in a Feature (Estelle Evans), and Most Promising Young Actor and Actress (Kyle Johnson and Alex Clarke).

Parks received an Annual Achievement Award from the Foundation for Research and Education in Sickle Cell Disease of New York City; an Achievement Award from the city of Cleveland, Ohio, presented by Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes on the 24 September 1969 Cleveland premiere; and a Certificate of Merit from the Southern California Motion Picture Council, which also named the film a “Picture of Outstanding Merit.”

On the commercial front, the picture was a solid hit, raking in $1.5 million in rentals (what the studio earns after cinemas have taken their cut) in the annual box office chart (“Big Rental Films of ’69,” Variety, 7 January 1970).

Parks received honorary degrees from Boston University and Fairfield University in Connecticut. A week-long Gordon Parks Festival, also featuring Shaft (1971) and Shaft’s Big Score (1972), ran at Kansas State University in 1973.

Twenty years after its release, in 1989, it became one of the first twenty-five films selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress’ newly founded National Film Registry.

Selling Paul Newman: Pressbook for “Sweet Bird of Youth” (1962)

The big buzzword in movie marketing back in the day was “pre-sold.” The reason Hollywood pumped so much money into buying up the rights to bestsellers and Broadway hits was the notion that they came with a built-in audience, either of readers of theater-goers, and without any substantive proof made the connection that anyone who had read the book or seen the play or musical would be only too desperate to see what a movie maker made of the piece. In the 1960s, as I pointed out in a previous article, Hollywood had discovered the paperback tie-in, which marketing hacks perceived as free advertising, since those book covers would go on display in over a 100,000 book outlets across the country.

Even so, it comes as something of a surprise to see how dependent the marketeers writing the 16-page A3 Pressbook/Marketing Manual were on drawing cinema managers’ attention to the fact that Sweet Bird of Youth had originated on the stage. The three main articles in the Pressbook either went with “repeats role” or made mention in the headline of its origins. Admittedly, it had been a hit on Broadway, and with Paul Newman attached, ran for over a year – its poor performance on tour was naturally omitted. The opening article sensibly went to promoting Tennessee Williams. This was deemed “one of his greatest hits” and moviegoers would certainly be aware of his name thanks to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), both big hits.

However, given that Geraldine Page was the female lead and Oscar-nominated the previous year for Summer and Smoke, it seems odd that more column inches are devoted to third female lead Madeleine Sherwood with second female lead Shirley Knight overlooked except for a couple of postage-stamp-sized photos.

The “distinguished cast” notion was pushed much in the same way as trailers these days will promote anyone with the slightest brush with the Academy Awards.

“People have wondered why I had to work so hard to repeat a role I had done for more than a year in New York,” said Newman. “My only answer is that during the entire Broadway run of the play, Geraldine Page and I worked and rehearsed every day as if we were preparing for first night.” Despite his box office success he nurtured other ambitions. “ I want to be behind the camera. I’ve got my sights on directing. But I’ll start only when I think I know enough.”

*The first stab at artwork was less sensational than the final posters.*

The marketeers fell in line with the notion now being touted in Hollywood that, despite leaving Geraldine Page out in the cold for seven years after she starred opposite John Wayne in Hondo (1954), was “a major talent to be reckoned with by fans and critics alike.”

Commented Page, “I played Sweet Bird and Summer and Smoke on stage for long so that I felt I knew the heroines Alexandra Del Lago (Sweet Bird of Youth) and Alma Winemuller (Summer and Smoke) as well as if they had been sisters of mine. This long-lived familiarity with a part might make some actresses feel cluttered but but it was a great comfort to me…You can work with them forever and never get bored…the longer you get to know them the more you become fascinated with them.”

And what was it, exactly, that was so fascinating about Madeleine Sherwood? It was the fact that she was a method actress, as though this was still big news after being known for over a decade. She explained that “emotional memory” as proposed by Lee Strasberg, method acting’s most famous proponent, was the key to her acting.

Pressbooks always tax the ingenuity of the marketeers who have to dream up snippets which might interest a local newspaper editor. Here we learn that virtually all the cast were blue-eyed, “associated with genius” according to the Pressbook team. For the scenes in which Newman drove a car – on a sound stage no less – he drove 600 miles without hitting a real road. We learned that Newman once wore a beard in a stage show in his early years and that Page once played an old crone also on stage. Also that Page was a dab hand a wearing a negligee, having spent time in her “lean years” working as a model in a negligee factory on Seventh Avenue.

It would appear that there was a difference of opinion when it came right down to it about which advert – there were four to choose from – would lead the advertising pack. The Pressbook led with the tagline – “the big difference between people is not between the rich an’ the poor. The Big difference is between those who have ecstasy in love and those who haven’t.” Instead the team responsible for the posters went with the shorter, “He used love like most men use money.”

That tagline originated from a longer one, that more or less told the story of the movie. “Here he is right up on top of the gaudy world he swore he’d conquer. He’s got a movie contract in his pocket, a fish-tailed convertible in the hotel garage and a dame in his room payin’ for the drinks. He’s Chance Wayne who used love like most men use money!”

The speedboat that makes a brief appearance was central to the marketing campaign. Theater owners were urged to arrange tie-ins with local distributors of not just boats but boat engines. This was on the back of the Dumphy Boat Co of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, providing a $10,000 luxury speed boat for the shoot and because the Scott Racing Team supplied the $200,000 engine that powered it. Claims that the movie contained one of the greatest-ever telephone calls ever committed to celluloid provided the marketeers with an excuse to suggest a tie-in with a local telephone company.

Some ideas were more random. Because Newman wore a watch and Page a fur, tie-ins were suggested with those manufacturers. For no particular reason, except that she used them in her ordinary life, Shirley Knight was associated with cosmetics, perfumes and sportswear

A bit more imaginative was the idea of running a one-act play competition with a local dramatic group. A “Tennessee Williams Week” could be promoted through local libraries. A paperback version of the play had been published by the New American Library.

Actually, the biggest element of the Pressbook was the advertising. Twelve pages out of the sixteen were devoted to adverts in various shapes and sizes, that variety important because in those days cinema owners simply cut out the advert they required and passed it on to a newspaper to make up the advert to run there.

Behind the Scenes: The L-Shaped Street of Dreams, Part II

In theory by the time I discovered the cavernous Green’s Playhouse – the largest cinema in Europe with 4,368 seats and nearly double the size of any other picture house in the city – it should have been entering a cinematic twilight zone. Its glory days were long gone. Situated at the top of Renfield St, which itself sat at a 90-degree angle to Sauchiehall St (thus forming the L-Shape of the title), it had, on opening in 1927, been the epitome of luxury, built with remarkable foresight by the Green family, rather than one of the major chains, ushering in the era of the “super cinema” just in time to meet the demand for the Talkies.

Seats were color-coded according to price and there were “Golden Divans” in boxes for courting couples. It stood out at night through an electric-bulb vertical American-style sign. Business boomed until post-war the cinema began losing out to the major chains in the competition for the best films. By the time I made my first visit it was surviving on exploitation and horror. It was the shabbiest of giants, carpets torn, seats badly in need of reupholstering and a distinct lack of atmosphere.

The only time I ever witnessed anything approaching a full house was for a screening of a full-length showing of the European Cup Final of 1967 when Glasgow’s Celtic beat Inter Milan. But there was a light around the corner in the form of pop concerts and its size allowed it to take over from the Odeon as the venue of choice for touring bands. My best memories are not of seeing a great movie there but of watching a roster of the top bands, The Rolling Stones, The Who and Elton John. It’s the only city center venue which continued plying its trade as a movie merchant and eventually was turned into the Cineworld multiplex, the busiest cinema in Britain.

About 100 yards down Renfield St on the same side of the road was the 1314-seat Regent. Originally, in 1911 it was less than half that size, built for comfort over one storey with stadium seating. Remodelled in 1920 it gained an extra floor and partly by installing a balcony doubled the seating. It was very thrifty where the lobby was concerned. You were virtually at the ticket desk the minute you stepped through the frontage.

It was the only cinema I knew where the programme showed the times of the trailers and newsreels. Like the Playhouse its days of vying for top product with the Odeon, ABC Regal and La Scala were long gone. Now it was primarily a second-run establishment and virtually the minute a movie completed its allocated assignation at the Odeon it was shipped into the Regent. Once in a while, by local mandate, it showed a new film. As long as you were willing to wait a week or possibly two, you could see a top film for less money. It was very comfortable and well run.

Less than 20 yards further down, on the same side of the road, was the majestic 2784-seat Odeon, certainly from the outside the most stylish of the city center houses thanks to its Art Deco design. Oddly enough, despite the Odeon chain’s association with Art Deco, it wasn’t built by Odeon. Instead it was commissioned by the American Paramount organization, at a time when studios also owned cinemas, opening on 31 December, 1934.

It was Glasgow’s first free-standing cinema built from scratch rather than being a conversion of an existing building. It was the size of a city block. As well as erecting the largest neon sign the city had ever seen atop the building, it also imported another American idea, a box office outside the cinema. At the outbreak of war Paramount sold the operation to Odeon and it became its Scottish flagship. This was the key first-run location for films by United Artists, Twentieth Century Fox, Disney and Columbia. Such was the demand for screenings that hardly any films during the 1960s – the Bonds a notable exception – were held over for a second week, in part because Rank had to feed movies into its suburban circuits.

In 1970 the cinema was tripled, which allowed the cinema to double as a roadshow house, and operate more strategically, by switching movies from the bigger to the smaller cinemas to extend their city center runs. It opened with Cromwell in roadshow at Odeon 1, Airport at Odeon 2 and The Virgin and the Gypsy at Odeon 3. Theoretically this increased the flow of films through the Odeon operation, but in reality as often, when two or three long-runners came along at once, the system ground to a halt. I became very familiar with this operation when I had my first stint as a critic, reviewing films for the Glasgow University Guardian.

Another 50 yards down the street on the opposite side of the road was one of my favorite hangouts – the Classic – which, as the name suggests, specialized in reruns of old pictures. Much as I enjoyed spending time checking out the reissues, I would have loved to have been around for its initial iteration when it was known as Cranston’s De Luxe Cinema, an 850-seater opened in 1916 by the same Miss Cranston whose tearooms had been designed by renowned Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

It occupied the third floor of a stylish six-storey building and screened first-run movies in opulent fashion. When business declined after the Second World War it was sold twice, first to the Greens who added a newsreel cinema. Classic bought it over in 1960 and ran it as a repertory house, adding late night films. You felt like you were climbing to the stars, it was a long haul to enter but it was well upholstered inside and they ran a huge range of older films, often double bills and sometimes changing the programme midweek. It was far more useful in my movie education than the arthouse. In 1969 the venue added a smaller operation, the Tatler, showing sexier fare as a “members only” club. It only came into being because the Grand Central in Jamaica St had folded in 1966 (it reopened in 1973 giving Glasgow three soft porn emporiums).

That was the saddest decline tale of any of the Glasgow cinemas. Opened in 1915, the 750-seat Grand Central was an instant hit, classy enough to have an orchestra and technically the first city cinema to feature sound, which emanated from records playing simultaneously with the film. Even when it hit tougher times in the 1950s it attempted to go down the arthouse route but eventually succumbed to sexploitation

The connecting roads of Sauchiehall St and Renfield St should form the boundary for my L-Shaped Street of Dreams but if I had continued about a mile in a straight line from the end of Renfield St I would come to another palace of splendor, a roadshow kingdom, home to 70mm and Cinerama two-shows-a-day advance bookable productions which, like The Dirty Dozen (1967) and Where Eagles Dare (1968) enjoyed nine-month runs. The Coliseum opened in 1905 as a music hall seating 2893 over three levels. It became a cinema in 1925 and played host in 1929 to the first talkie The Jazz Singer which caused a sensation. In 1962, reducing eating capacity to 1300 after an expensive revamp, it reopened as the only cinema in Scotland showing Cinerama.