BBC are reporting that director/producer Andrew McLaglen has passed away. A name I really only became familiar with quite recently...but what a catalogue, and what a legacy...
BBC are reporting that director/producer Andrew McLaglen has passed away. A name I really only became familiar with quite recently...but what a catalogue, and what a legacy...
RIP.
Wow. I was under the impression he'd passed a while ago. But yeah, he made some entertaining films. RIP. I would love it if Sony would release Fool's Parade.
McLaglen did fine work with John Wayne, directing McLintock!, Hellfighters, The Undefeated, Chisum, and Cahill: United States Marshal, and the Wayne productions Man In the Vault and Gun the Man Down. He acted as assistant director on Wayne's Big Jim McLain, Island In the Sky, The High and the Mighty, and Blood Alley, as well as the Wayne productions Plunder of the Sun and Track of the Cat.
He also did good work with Jimmy Stewart in Shenandoah, The Rare Breed, Bandolero!, and Fool's Parade.
McLaglen directed his father, Victor McLaglen, in The Abductors, as well as severel television episodes.
Perhaps his oddest directorial credit was 1967's Monkeys, Go Home! for Walt Disney.
He was a name that seemed to be at the end of every good actioner in the late 60s, and into the 70s he was still making. Traditional war films and actioners most others had stopped doing.
Wild Geese remains a favourite of mine.
Couldnt help noticing in that hollywood reporter story ..."; One More Train to Rob (1971), starringGeorge Peppard; Something Big (1971) with Dean Martin; and The Last Hard Men (1976), starring Charles Bronson!!" Dont these people check their facts even in obits?
A fine director with a body of work to be proud of.
That film has something of an end of line quality to it. In other words, I tend to regard it as being on the "classic movie" side of the fence even if it does have some downside due to a 70s feel. Hence, one of the last of the oldies. RIP.
Second the motion on FOOLS' PARADE, an underrated film which -- even worse -- is underSEEN because it's been so long out of the loop on TV or video. (As I point out in my book on THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, this is the only other feature film based on a novel by Davis Grubb.)
I'll never forget the fantastic impact of seeing BANDOLERO! for the first time, on a Pittsburgh theater screen, in my college days.
Wild Geese was a hoot! Some regard it as racist. Nah. Actually, its heart was more or less in the right place in an endearingly knuckle headed way. Besides, Burton (a serious and conscientious leftie, bless him) wouldn't have touched it if it had been (unless he really needed the hooch money, maybe! ).
Wild Geese was a hoot! Some regard it as racist. Nah.
Do they? I want names and addresses Heath.
Nice pics neo.
Faulkner: I'm dry when I work. Sir Edward Matherson: Yes, so I've heard. Faulkner: There's a separate clause in my contract that says my liver is to be buried separately with honors. Sir Edward Matherson: I'm not a very humorous man. Faulkner: So I've noticed.
Second the motion on FOOLS' PARADE, an underrated film which -- even worse -- is underSEEN because it's been so long out of the loop on TV or video. (As I point out in my book on THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, this is the only other feature film based on a novel by Davis Grubb.)
Found this interview buried in the Hollywood Reporter obituary. Fool's Parade is one of his personal favorites. Did not realize that McLaglen was not really a big western fan. very interesting overview of his career. Some very fascinating bits of info on The Devils' Brigade and The Way West.
If I knew who to talk to at Sony/Columbia Collector's Choice, I'd be inundating them with requests to release Fool's Parade on DVD.
Good shout greg. I liked the bit about Devils brigade too.
McLaglen: "...The Devil’s Brigade took me all over the map and finally to Italy. Originally, they sent me up to Salt Lake City to do the picture. And the art director was hunting all over the side of a mountain, trying to find the right place to build a village here. The producer was David L. Wolper, who did a lot of stuff for TV, and I said, “Jesus, you’re gonna spend all that money to build a set? It’s gonna be a lot cheaper for us to go to Italy and find a little town.” He said, “Well, maybe you’re right.” So they went to the studio and guess what? They agreed with me; it was cheaper. That’s when we went to Italy. Now, I showed the finished cut to United Artists and they just loved The Devil’s Brigade. They said, “Well, we never try to tell you what to do artistically, but I wouldn’t touch anything, and especially the stuff with Bill Holden.” But the producer had a big projection room in his house, and he showed the movie for a solid week to a hundred people, and I think a hundred people had ideas of what we should do with the movie. And without me having any input – I didn’t have the last say – they cut the movie and, in the end, it was not nearly as good as it could have been. I had a great ending, and a lot of good stuff in there, and he didn’t know what he was doing. I still worry about that...."
A Master Director who has left an incredible body of work! THE WILD GEESE - NORTH SEA HIJACK - THE SEA WOLVES Having those on your resume - WOW! R.I.P Mr McLaglen you've earnt it!!
I have a copy of Andrew V. McLaglen's directorial debut, Man In The Vault, which was part of the Batjac DVD box set. Watched it last night. Interesting low-budget noir that has some nice Local L.A. location work. Written by Burt Kennedy, it stars William Campbell, Karen Sharpe, Berry Kroeger, and Anita Ekberg. Some familiar supporting character actors include, Paul Fix, Mike Mazurki, and Pedro Gonzales Gonzales. Ekberg has a few scenes, but she makes for some nice eye-candy.
Future Star Trek guest star, (Squire Of Gothos, Trouble With Tribbles) Campbell plays a locksmith forced by gangster Kroeger to break into a safety deposit box in a bank vault. Film has a lean run time of 72 minutes. The vault robbery scene is effectively tense, but the film is undone by a less than satisfying ending. Thought Campbell acquitted himself well in one of his few film leads.
Good luck on getting FOOLS' PARADE onto a video disc. Here in Hollywood, home of the movies, the American Cinematheque couldn't even locate a film print when they wanted to screen it at their theater a year or two ago. Glad to hear it was one of A.M.'s favorites. It certainly should have been. Know when he said so? He isn't asked to talk about it, unfortunately, in that otherwise cool interview.
Good luck on getting FOOLS' PARADE onto a video disc. Here in Hollywood, home of the movies, the American Cinematheque couldn't even locate a film print when they wanted to screen it at their theater a year or two ago. Glad to hear it was one of A.M.'s favorites. It certainly should have been. Know when he said so? He isn't asked to talk about it, unfortunately, in that otherwise cool interview.
Hi Preston. Yeah I've been suggesting the film to Warner Archive as they are also carrying the Sony Collector's Choice titles. Fool's Parade was shown on cable a within few years back on one of the movie channels and also on Antenna TV. It's clearly available in some form for airing, surprising a print can't be found.
The interview was from 2009, but who knows when it actually was done prior to publication?
I remember watching this on one of the NBC movie nights many years ago and it's stayed with me. I read the Davis Grubb book a couple of years ago. which rekindled my interest in seeing the movie again.
I may just end up resorting to getting a copy from iOffer.com.
Here's another McLaglen interview I found with him talking about his career, with a text transcript.
He's interviewed by his daughter, Mary, and it seems to be more recent. It's roughly 100 minutes long and is more about the nuts & bolts/craft of directing.
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