Happy Birthday, John Guillermin! Born today in 1925 as Yvon Jean Guillermin, this British screenwriter, producer and film director was most active in big budget, action-adventure films throughout his lengthy career.
Guillermin grew up in England and, years later, attended the City of London School and the University of Cambridge. Post-graduation, he joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) at age nineteen.
After mustering out of the Royal Air Force at the age of twenty-two, Guillermin's directorial career began in France with documentary filmmaking.
According to a critical review of his work, it reads: "One of his stylistic constants, an expert use of handheld camera to add grit and muscle to key scenes, may be rooted in those early efforts, and they function as counterweights to Guillermin's penchant for forceful lines, a very plastic sense of interior spaces, and use of overhead shots...
Guillermin's interest in conveying how people and spaces relate to one another and how decisions are reached and carried out suggests a spark to his filmmaking that one might call Griersonian even if the grandfather of British documentary focused on social development and progress as opposed to collapse."
In 1948, Guillermin moved back to London. With British director, writer, editor and producer of films Robert Jordan Hill, Guillerman set up a small production company, Advent Films. Guillermin's company was backed by Adelphi Pictures, for whom he made four further features.
In 1950, Guillermin went to Hollywood into study filmmaking methods. The following year, he had made three short films.
In 1953, Guillermin worked on a handful of television shows as well as series. According to the British Film Institute (BFI), "it was a modest beginning but he soon hit his stride with a string of films that transcended their meagre budgets to reveal a genuine talent."
Later that same year, Guillermin co-wrote and directed the 1953 British black and white crime drama/mystery film 'Operation Diplomat'.
It was later described as "the first example of prime Guillermin... a 70-minute programmer so tautly directed that every image counts, every detail matters, every actor's movement feels perfectly timed—a true gem."
In 1956, Guillermin married his first wife, being Kenyan-born British actress and author Maureen Connell. They had two children together.
The following year, Connell appeared in her husband's 1957 British black and white mystery film 'Town on Trial'. She played Mary Roper, the wife of posh tennis club's secretary.
According to the BFI regarding the film, "Detractors have too often accused Guillermin of being merely a journeyman, lacking any real style of his own.
The defense would do worse than to offer Town on Trial as its Exhibit A, drawing particular attention to its breathtakingPOV shot of the killer stalking a second victim that anticipates the camera gymnastics of Dario Argento."
Two years later, Guillerman's reputation also increased when he directed the 1958 British black and white drama/thriller film 'The Whole Truth'. It had starred Stewart Granger, George Sanders, Donna Reed, Gianna Maria Canale and Peter Dyneley.
Afterwards, Guillermin was later hired by American movie and television producer Sy Weintraub to help re-invigorate the Tarzan series.
The result was the 1959 American Eastmancolor drama/action film 'Tarzan's Greatest Adventure'. It is now regarded as one of the best Tarzan features.
One writer called it "the most relentless and brutal Tarzan film ever made - it's Guillermin's Heart of Darkness".
'Tarzan's Greatest Adventure' was followed by two heist features. The first was the 1960 British black and white caper story/mystery film 'The Day They Robbed the Bank of England', starring Peter O'Toole.
The second was the 1960 British black and white thriller/drama film 'Never Let Go', starring Peter Sellers.
Two years later, Guillermin wrote and directed the 1962 British Technicolor comedy film 'Waltz of the Toreadors' (also known as 'The Amorous General').
This reunited Guillermin with Sellers for the 1962 American Metrocolor action/adventure film 'Tarzan Goes to India', which later became another popular Tarzan film.
Two years later, Guillermin directed the 1964 British black and white drama/action/adventure film 'Guns at Batasi', set in the last days of British colonialism.
It was released by 20th Century Fox, whose head of production, American film producer and studio executive Darryl F. Zanuck, became a fan of Guillermin and signed him for two more films.
At the time, Zanuck was also a mentor to Guillermin. "If he'd said he'd wanted a picture on a lab technician in the Sahara, I'd have done it eagerly," said Guillermin.
Four years later, when Guillermin was directing American television and film producer David L. Wolper's 1969 American DeLuxe Color war/action film 'The Bridge at Remagen', some members of the Czech crew were late for the first day of filming.
Guillermin later screamed at them. He was told by a crew member if he did this again, the entire crew would walk off the set.
Guillermin later told Wolper he could not set foot on the set one day because of the complexity of the filming. Wolper told Guillermin he was therefore sacked. He soon after apologized and was graciously re-employed immediately.
In the early 1970s, Guillermin directed the 1972 American disaster thriller/action film 'Skyjacked'. It later became a popular thriller with Charlton Heston.
Heston later described Guillermin as an "imaginative and skillful director" with an "irascible streak."
One year later, Guillermin directed the 1973 American blaxploitation/thriller film 'Shaft in Africa'. This was the third installment of the Shaft film series but the first to by directed by a British filmmaker.
This was aside from African-American photographer, musician, writer and film director Gordon Parks ('Shaft'), of whom had directed the first two features.
The following year, Guillermin had a big hit with the film of which he is best known for directing. This was the 1974 American action/disaster film 'The Towering Inferno'.
With a runtime of almost three hours, this classic 1970s disaster feature tells of a fire that breaks out in a state-of-the-art San Francisco high-rise building during the opening ceremony attended by a host of A-list guests.
An overworked fire chief and the building's architect must cooperate in the struggle to save lives and subdue panic while a corrupt, cost-cutting contractor tries to evade responsibility for the disaster.
However, the overworked SFFD Chief Michael O'Halloran (Steve McQueen) and the building's architect Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) must cooperate in the struggle in order to save lives and subdue panic while a corrupt, cost-cutting contractor tries to evade responsibility for the disaster.
The film was based off of two books: the first being American novelist Richard Martin Stern 1973 suspense fiction novel The Tower.
The second was American author Thomas N. Scortia and American fiction writer Frank M. Robinson and American 1974 thriller fiction novel The Glass Inferno.
On a budget of $14 million, 'The Towering Inferno' grossed $203.3 million at the box office. It was scripted by Oscar-winning American screenwriter and producer Stirling Silliphant and scored by John Williams.
The following year, Williams would compose the two-note Oscar-winning score for Steven Spielberg's 1975 American thriller drama/mystery film 'Jaws'.
Roger Ebert later gave 'The Towering Inferno' three out of four stars and praised it as "the best of the mid-1970s wave of disaster films".
Gene Siskel gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "a stunt and not a story. It's a technical achievement more concerned with special effects than with people. That's why our attitude toward the film's cardboard characters is: let 'em burn."
American film and theatre critic Vincent Canby, then chief film critic for The New York Times, wrote that the film is "overwrought and silly in its personal drama, but the visual spectacle is first rate.
You may not come out of the theater with any important ideas about American architecture or enterprise, but you will have had a vivid, completely safe nightmare."
American film critic Pauline Kael, then writing for The New Yorker, panned the writing and characters as retreads from the 1972 American drama/disaster film 'The Poseidon Adventure', and further wrote "What was left out this time was the hokey fun.
When a picture has any kind of entertainment in it, viewers don't much care about credibility, but when it isn't entertaining we do. And when a turkey bores us and insults our intelligence for close to three hours, it shouldn't preen itself on its own morality."
One year later, 'The Towering Inferno' received five Oscar nominations. These included Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Fred Astaire), Best Music (Original Score), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, and Best Sound. However, it didn't win.
Instead, the film won three Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Music (Original Song): "We May Never Love Like This Again". This occurred at the 47th Academy Awards in early April 1975.
Unfortunately, American film and television producer and director Irwin Allen got most of the critical kudos for producing 'The Towering Inferno', which annoyed Guillermin.
"I wanted to fight it because dammit I made that picture," said Guillermin. "But I let the studio talk me out of it. They said it would only hurt business. But I was wrong, I should have fought."
The following year, Guillermin's next job came from Italian film producer Dino De Laurentis. He was seeking a director for his remake of Merian C. Cooper Ernest B. Schoedsack's 1933 American pre-Code black and white monster adventure/fantasy romance film 'King Kong'.
However, De Laurentis had been turned down by Spielberg, Roman Polanski, Sydney Pollack and Miloš Forman ('The Firemen's Ball', 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', 'Amadeus') before going with Guillermin.
"To me John Guillermin is a talent guy," said De Laurentis. "He is a strange character, but this don't mean anything to me.
All directors are strange characters. Bergman is a strange character, Fellini is a strange character - all directors. He was very open to special effects.
And then, believe in the story; believe in the love story. And if he believe in it, it works. Because John Guillermin believe in this fantastically human love story...
Every director atone point jump from one category to another category. No director can be genius from first movie. You must give a chance when people are talented.
And I recognize in John some quality. And he did it with KONG. He surprised you, surprised all critics."
"The original 'Kong' was part of my childhood and I loved it," said Guillermin. "I dreamed about it. What I wanted to do was to re-create what I'd felt about it the first time I saw it, but still adapt the story to our own day.
I didn't think and still don't that you could simply remake it... We all wanted and tried to get back to that lyrical childhood idea of the beauty and the beast.
It was tricky trying to balance all the jokes on the one hand and the danger of bathos on the other, but I wanted it to be obvious that we regarded the material with sincerity."
Guillermin's 1976 American monster adventure/fantasy film 'King Kong' starred Jessica Lange (in her film debut as Ann Darrow) and Jeff Bridges (as Jack Prescott), who recalls "so many problems" on the film.
"Every week or so John Guillermin would just explode, yelling at everybody. It got to the point where we waited for his blow ups."
American screenwriter and sometime playwright Lorenzo Semple Jr. (of whom scripted 'Kong') said there was "a creative tension" between Guillermin and De Laurentiis which "helped us all".
Canadian-born film editor Ralph E. Winters (of whom edited 'Kong') was employed after a nice conversation with Guillermin. Winters described the director as "A skinny guy, dark, with very sharp features."
In the screening room, Winters witnessed a frustrated Guillermin kicking the seat in front until it broke; Winters got an apologetic phone call the next day. Twenty-three years after the film was released, Guillermin called to compliment him on his work on 'King Kong'.
Guillermin said in a 1976 interview, "I've been directing all over the bloody world for 27 years, learning my craft, and by now it's dripping from my fingers.
I was ready for Kong and it was a lovely opportunity. It could've been better if we'd had more time. Still I'm damned proud. It works. It ain't bad."
On a budget of $23–24 million, 'King Kong' grossed $74.9–90.6 million at the box office. However. critical responses towards the film continue to be mixed. Nonetheless, the film was a box office success.
One year later, 'King Kong' received two Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Sound. However, the film won the Special Achievement Award for Best Visual Effects. This occurred at the 49th Academy Awards in late March 1977.
The following year, Guillermin followed this up with another success. This was the 1978 British mystery/crime film Death on the Nile'.
"In Britain they seem to have run out of things to film," he said. "Over here there's an extraordinary freedom to take on an enormous variety of subjects."
"Guillermin was not very nice to me," said American actress and former fasion model Lois Chiles, of whom had a small role in the film. "On my very first day when I questioned a direction I didn't understand, he stood there swearing at me. It was awful."
In the late 1970s, Guillermin was attached to direct the third installment of The Godfather series.
He had worked on a script with Mario Puzo and American film and television writer Dean Reisner. However, the position went to the series' original filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.
In the 1980, There were two attempts to repeat the success of 'King Kong: Sheena' and 'King Kong Lives'.
Guillermin first started out directing the 1984 American adventure/action/adventure film 'Sheena' (also known as 'Sheena: Queen of the Jungle').
The film starred American actress and producer Victoria Leigh Blum (known by the stage name Tanya Roberts).
She late recalled: John screams until you get it right. He shouted at me to be 'honest’, and he wouldn't let up until I was. I'd be upset, but I worked harder until he was satisfied. He did his research, and he got sustained performances out of all of us.”
Three years later, Guillermin directed the 1986 American monster adventure/fantasy film 'King Kong Lives' (released as 'King Kong 2' in some countries). The film stars Linda Hamilton as surgeon Dr. Amy Franklin.
On a budget of $18 million, the film only grossed between $2.2 million or $4.7 million in North America alone.
Ebert gave the film one out of four stars and stated, "The problem with everyone in King Kong Lives is that they're in a boring movie, and they know they're in a boring movie, and they just can't stir themselves to make an effort."
The Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) later sent a notice to Ebert and Siskel, notifying the two critics that they were allowed to show snippets of the film on television in their native Chicago, but were forbidden to show the same snippets on the national scale.
Siskel remarked "Obviously, they were scared [...] If you don't believe me or Roger, believe the film company, that, think about it, couldn't find a single scene that it wanted you to see."
Guillermin was still grieving while making 'King Kong Lives'. He occasionally left the set halfway through a day's shooting to go sailing.
After one argument with the production staff, he stayed away for days. Filming was completed by an uncredited twenty-one-year-old documentary filmmaker named Charles McCracken.
One year later, 'King Kong Lives' was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Visual Effects for creature creations (Carlo Rambaldi) at the 7th Golden Razzie Awards in late March.
American actor Peter Michael Goetz later received a residual check of twelve cents for his role as Dr. Andrew Ingersoll. He later decided to frame it as a tribute, never cashing it.
On March 24, 1989, Michael-John, Guillermin's son, passed in a car accident in Truckee, California. He was 26. This was during his father's making of 'Sheena'.
On April 15, 2003. 'The Towering Inferno' was initially released on DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
German film director, screenwriter, and producer Roland Emmerich ('Independence Day') names 'The Towering Inferno' as one of his favorite movies.
In 2005, 'King Long Lives' was listed in American co-founder of the Golden Raspberry Awards John J.B. Wilson's non-fiction humor book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.
One decade later, Guillermin passed from a heart attack in Topanga, California on September 27, 2015. He was 89.
In regards to Guillermin's personality, he in time became known more as a general entertainment director than as an auteur director.
In his later career as a director for films with big budgets and spectacular effects, he also became known as a pipe-smoking exacting perfectionist, filming and refilming scenes to get exactly what he was looking for. Unusual camera angles and hand-held camera shots were among his preferred options.
However, memoirs of actors, editors and producers indicate that Guillermin was a difficult man to work with.
Wolper wrote that Guillermin was "the most difficult director with whom I'd ever worked." He further described Guillermin as "a real pain in the ass."
Despite his reputation, Guillermin's work was re-appraised in Film Comment: "Why has Guillermin's career gone unrecognized? Easy: bad timing.
Guillermin hit his stride at the end of the Fifties, just as a post-studio system style of filmmaking was arising with the French New Wave, Britain's Free Cinema, and so on [...]
The problem wasn't so much the disdain of new wave hipsters, as it was one of the director's attitude.
Guillermin is something of a melancholic: in his coolly unflinching cinema, tired, traumatized men in desperate situations fight with dour determination for a few shreds of dignity.
There's nothing conventionally uplifting about his films; his tales of violence, grimy glory, and defeat conceded with stoicism, don't make for easy viewing experiences.
At their finest, Guillermin's films are howls from the soul's darker recesses—theirs is a savage heart."
According to one obituary, "Regardless of whether he was directing a light comedy, war epic or crime drama, Mr. Guillermin had a reputation as an intense, temperamental perfectionist, notorious for screaming at cast and crew alike.
His domineering manner often alienated producers and actors... But Mr. Guillermin's impeccable eye and ability to capture both intimate moments and large-scale action scenes usually overcame that reputation."
Guillermin had been active from 1947–1988.
#borntodirect
@BFI
@tcm
@mubi
@RogerEbert
@nytimes
@theguardian
@entertainmentweekly
@newyorker
@HollywoodReporter
@Variety
@filmommentmagazine
@TVGuide
@letterboxd
@Brtiannica
@TopangaFilmFest
No comments:
Post a Comment