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Joseph E. Levine and A Bridge Too Far (1977): A Producer's Labour of Love

2011; Routledge; Volume: 31; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01439685.2011.572606

1465-3451

Andrew Mckenna,

Cinema and Media Studies

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgement I would like to thank Andrew Spicer for his help and advice during the writing of this essay. Notes 1. William Goldman, Story of A Bridge Too Far (New York, Dell, 1977), no pagination. For a less partisan account of the making of the film see Iain Johnstone, The Arnhem Report: the story behind A Bridge Too Far (London, Star Books, 1977). 2. Howard Gottleib Archival Research Center, Boston University, Massachusetts Joseph E. Levine Collection (hereafter HGARC). NB: This collection is currently being catalogued. Letter from Joseph E. Levine Presents to William Goldman, 6 December 1976. 3. Andrew Spicer, Creativity and commerce: Michael Klinger and the new film history, New Review of Film and Television Studies, 8(3) (September 2010), 297. 4. Christopher Meir, The producer as salesman: Jeremy Thomas, film promotion and contemporary transnational independent cinema, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 29(4) (December 2009), 470. 5. For a detailed analysis of this see A. T. McKenna, Guilty by association: Joe Levine, European cinema and the culture clash of Le Mepris, Scope: An Online Journal of Film Studies, Issue 14, http://www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk/article.php?issue=14&id=1135§ion=article&q=levine (accessed 23 May 2010). 6. Personal correspondence with author, 18 November 2005. 7. Arthur Mayer, LA Times, Calendar, Letters, 24 November 1974, O30. This letter was written in response to an interview with Levine, Charles Champlin, He's Banking on the Last Laugh, LA Times, 1 November 1974, H1. 8. Guy Flatley, Cary—From Mae To September, The New York Times, 22 July 1973, AL89. A Touch of Class was co-produced by Joseph E. Levine Presents and Brut Productions—the latter company was a subsidiary of Faberge, of whom Grant was a director. 9. William Goldman, Adventures in the Screen Trade (London, Futura 1985), 280. Though Goldman cannot account for Levine's decision, it is certainly possible that Levine wished such a particularly British movie's opening to coincide with Queen Elizabeth II's official Silver Jubilee Celebrations, which ran throughout June 1977. 10. Leo C. Rosten, Hollywood: the movie colony, the movie makers (New York, Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1941), 238. 11. Christine Saxton, The collective voice as cultural voice, Cinema Journal, 26(1) (Autumn 1986), 21–22. 12. Calvin Tomkins, Profiles: The Very Rich Hours of Joe Levine, The New Yorker, 16 September 1967, 135. 13. Charles Champlin, Levine: Maestro of Hoopla, Hope, LA Times 2 June 1967, D10. 14. Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, California (hereafter MHL AMPAS), John Huston Collection, Will Adams file, Telegram from Dalton Trumbo to Joseph E. Levine, February 18 (no year but almost certainly 1965). 15. Ibid, Letter from John Huston to Jules Buck, 12 February 1966. 16. British Film Institute Library (hereafter BFI), A Bridge Too Far clippings file, John Higgins, Richard Attenborough's Quest for an Indian Grail, The Times, 24 July 1975. 17. MHL AMPAS, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, Dorothy Manners, Ike-Monty Saga to McCarthy, LA Herald Examiner, 29 September 1975. 18. Joe Levine: Still Adapting—And Still Cashing In, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Weekend Magazine, 17 November 1978, 1. 19. Andrew Spicer, Creativity and commerce: Michael Klinger and the new film history, and An impossible task? Scripting The Chilian Club, in: Jill Elmes (ed.), Analysing the Screenplay (London, Routledge, 2010), 72–88. 20. HGARC, Letter from William E. Chaikin to Joseph E. Levine, 11 November 1975. 21. MHL AMPAS, Joseph E. Levine clippings file, Joe Levine's Retirement Is Postponed, LA Herald Examiner, 2 July 1975. 22. Richard Attenborough: A Filmmaker Remembers, Disc 2, A Bridge Too Far DVD, MGM Entertainment, 2004. 23. HGARC, Letter from Edward Bryson to Joseph E. Levine, 8 December 1975. 24. William Goldman, The Story of A Bridge Too Far (no pagination). 25. HGARC, Telex from Joseph E. Levine Presents Inc. to Wildwood Enterprises, January 22 1976, and Telex from Wildwood Enterprises to Joseph E. Levine Presents Inc. 26 January 1976. 26. MHL AMPAS, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, Eye View: Gambling Again on Arnhem, Women's Wear Daily, 1 September 1976. 27. HGARC, Contract sent from Joseph E. Levine Presents to Nordisk Film Kompagni (distributor for Denmark and Iceland), 17 May 1976. 28. BFI, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, Victor Davies, How The Bridge At Arnhem Came To Be Paved With Gold, Daily Express, 7 February 1977. 29. William Goldman, Adventures in the Screen Trade, 284. 30. A Budget Too Big, The Economist, 29 May 1976, 96. 31. HGARC, Telex from Sean Connery to Joseph E. Levine, 2 November 1976. 32. Calvin Tomkins, Profiles: The Very Rich Hours of Joe Levine, The New Yorker, 16 September 1967, 76. 33. For more on this see A. T. McKenna, Harlow's bridle, or how avoiding sex and engaging the competition can lead to failure, Journal of Popular Film and Television, 38(1) (January–March 2010), 34–43. 34. William Goldman, Adventures in the Screen Trade, 280. 35. William Goldman, Story of A Bridge Too Far (no pagination). Again, this line did not make it into Adventures in the Screen Trade, in which he describes Levine's decision to hire Attenborough as being ‘not a commercial one’, 278. 36. In their sociological study of blockbuster film-making, Wayne E. Baker and Robert R. Faulkner suggested that the emergent blockbuster period ‘put the producer in the center of Hollywood … Indeed, the specialised producer became the initiator of films in ways that seem to evince disdain for artistic contributions’. Role as Resource in the Hollywood Film Industry, The American Journal of Sociology, 97(2) (September 1991), 291. 37. BFI, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, John Higgins, Richard Attenborough's Quest for an Indian Grail, The Times, 24 July 1975. 38. Richard Attenborough, In Search of Gandhi (London, The Bodley Head 1983), 158. 39. HGARC, Telex from Joseph E. Levine to Richard Attenborough circa April/May 1976. Attenborough's reply was similarly gushing: ‘Have just read you telex and am completely bowled over by your wonderful but monstrously over generous reaction to the sequences you saw’. Telex from Richard Attenborough to Joseph E. Levine, circa April/May 1976. 40. HGARC, Telex from William Goldman to Richard Attenborough, circa April/May 1976. 41. Marjorie Rosen, A Movie Too Far, Playboy, 92–94 and 146–154; Colonel John Waddy, The Making of A Bridge Too Far, After The Battle No. 17, 1977, 30–52. 42. HGARC, Telex from Joseph E. Levine to Richard Attenborough, circa April 1976. 43. HGARC, Rosalie Levine's personal diary circa April 1976. KLM is a Dutch airline. 44. MHL AMPAS, Joseph E. Levine clippings file, Frank Segers, His Mightiest All-Time Film, Variety, 18 February 1976. 45. MHL AMPAS, Joseph E. Levine clippings file, Let There Be Light, Variety 18 February 1976. 46. BFI, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, Victor Davies, How The Bridge at Arnhem Came To Be Paved With Gold, Daily Express, 7 February 1977. 47. BFI, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, Barry Powell, Scapegoat General, News of the World, 25 May 1977. 48. Cornelius Ryan, A Bridge Too Far (London, Hodder and Staunton, 1977), 93–94. 49. BFI, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, Barry Powell, Scapegoat General, News of the World, 25 May 1977. 50. John Sandilands, Tanks, David Darling, Observer Magazine, 27 March 1977, 26. 51. Colonel John Waddy, The Making of A Bridge Too Far, After The Battle No. 17, 1977, 30–52. 52. BFI, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, Barry Powell, Scapegoat General, News of the World, 25 May 1977. 53. BFI, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, Douglas Orgill, A Bridge Too Far From The Truth, Daily Express, 5 July 1977. 54. BFI, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, Patrick Gibbs, Arnhem Through The Smoke, Daily Telegraph, 24 June 1977. 55. MHL AMPAS, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, Richard Schickel, Clumping Around Market Garden, Time, 13 June 1977. 56. BFI, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, Andrew Sarris, Films in Focus. A War Picture To End All War Pictures, Village Voice, 27 June 1977. 57. MHL AMPAS, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, Time, 21 June 1976. 58. Gary Arnold, A Bridge Too Far: War Epic at the Head of Its Class, Washington Post, 16 June 1977, C. 1. 59. BFI, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, Andrew Sarris, Films in Focus. A War Picture To End All War Pictures, Village Voice, 27 June 1977. 60. Ibid. 61. Joe Baltake, Levine's Bridge Won’t Go Too Far, Philadelphia Daily News, 16 June 1977, 36 and 38. 62. Letter from Danton Rissner to Michael Klinger, 7 January 1975 (File MK219, Michael Klinger Collection, University of the West of England). 63. HGARC Telex from Arthur Krim to Richard Attenborough circa April/May 1976. 64. MHL AMPAS, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, UA To Release Bridge, Hollywood Reporter, 18 May 1976. 65. David Robinson, Richard Attenborough (London, National Film Theatre, 1992), 58. 66. BFI, A Bridge Too Far clippings file, Robert Muller, The Great Joe, Daily Mail circa 1960 (date illegible). 67. MHL AMPAS, Joseph E. Levine clippings file, Guy Flatley, ‘I Have Butterflies,’ Says Joseph E. Levine. A Bridge Too Far Opening Has Him Nervous, LA Herald Examiner, 18 June 1977. 68. Frederick M. Esry, Film Pirates, New York Times, Letters, 2 August 1977, C4. 69. HGARC, Earl Wilson, The Last Hustler, The Dallas Morning News, 23 October 1978. 70. Joe Baltake, Fun? Flops? Levine Has ’Em, Detroit Free Press, 23 November 1978, 20B. 71. Robert E. Kapsis, Hitchcock: the making of a reputation (Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press, 1992), 218. 72. James Monaco, American Film Now (New York, Oxford University Press, 1979), 124. 73. John Desplas, Moving Pictures: Magic, Figaro, 22 November 1978, Section 2, 21. 74. MHL AMPAS, Joseph E. Levine clippings file, Guy Flatley, ‘I Have Butterflies’ Says Joseph E. Levine. A Bridge Too Far Opening Has Him Nervous, LA Herald Examiner, 18 June 1977. 75. A Bridge Too Far Press Book, 1977. 76. HGARC, Undated letter from Joseph E. Levine to Richard Attenborough, circa early 1977. 77. HGARC, Letter from Walter Cronkite to Joseph E. Levine Presents, 9 June 1977. 78. Earl C. Gottschalk Jnr. Film Flap: Theatres Chains’ Revolt Against Movie Marketing Widens, Wall Street Journal, August 9 1979, 26. 79. Return of the Blockbuster, The Economist, 27 January 1979, 35. 80. Lou Cedrone, Had Big Stars, Got Little Acclaim. Magic Director Talks About Earlier Film, The Baltimore Evening Sun, 16 November 1978, 12. 81. Joe Queenan, Newman, Hoffman, Redford and Me, Interview with William Goldman, The Guardian, 25 April 2009. Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/apr/25/william-goldman-screenwriter-interview (accessed 30 April 2010). 82. Richard Attenborough, who has observed that Levine was ‘not overtly Jewish’, has suggested that Levine's decision to pull out of Gandhi was motivated, in part, by the Indian government's decision to grant full diplomatic status to the Palestine Liberation Organisation in March 1980. Richard Attenborough and Diane Hawkins, Entirely Up To You, Darling (London, Hutchinson, 2008), 32–33. Also, correspondence suggests that Levine was having doubts about his involvement of Gandhi prior to March 1980. In early 1979, Peter Rosen Productions had contacted Levine to suggest a ‘Making of’ documentary about Gandhi. In his reply to Rosen, dated 14 February 1979, Levine wrote, ‘I must tell you now that at this time I am not sure whether Gandhi will or will not be made. If it is made, I very much doubt whether I will make it’ (HGARC). Of course, this letter may well be a brush off, though it would be uncharacteristic of Levine to close down an avenue of potentially valuable publicity. That said, subsequent correspondence from that year suggests that Levine was deeply involved in casting decisions. 83. Andrew Spicer, Sidney Box (Manchester, University of Manchester Press, 2006), 2–3.