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Posted: |
Jul 28, 2019 - 5:51 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE is a modern updating of the television Western series of the same name, which aired on the American Broadcasting Company network from 1958-1961. Actor Steve McQueen had his first starring role in that series playing “Josh Randall,” the bounty hunter who pursued his prey with a sawed-off carbine. The film’s executive producer Arthur M. Sarkissian was a longtime fan of the television series and pondered the notion of doing a modern-day bounty hunter movie. At the same time, producer Robert C. Peters was developing a script titled “Firepower,” about a bounty hunter on the trail of a South American terrorist. New World Pictures put Peters and Sarkissian together, and they developed their story.
Peters bought the rights to use the name “Wanted: Dead or Alive” from Four Star Productions. With those rights, Peters and Sarkissian made the lead character, “Nick Randall” (Rutger Hauer), the great-grandson of McQueen’s character from the series.
The casting of rocker Gene Simmons in the role of a Middle Eastern terrorist was a better idea than many people thought, as Simmons speaks 5 languages, was born in Haifa, Israel, and is an experienced performer with his band KISS. The movie marked the first feature film for actress Mel Harris, who plays the role of the girlfriend “Terry.” Harris previously appeared in a handful of small television roles.
Rutger Hauer and Gene Simmons in WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
Principal photography began in the Los Angeles area in the April-May 1986 timeframe. Production continued for nine weeks on a $4.5 million budget. The Haynes Generating Plant in Long Beach, CA, doubled as the “Sendrax” chemical plant, while an old factory in Long Beach that once belonged to Henry Ford served as “Nick Randall’s” loft apartment and office. The exterior of the Fox movie theater in Inglewood, CA, was used for a theater explosion scene, while the gutted Picwood Theater in West Los Angeles was used for the bombed-out movie theater interior. Scenes were also shot in the harbors of San Pedro and Marina Del Rey, CA.
Gary Sherman directed the film, which has an unreleased score by Joseph Renzetti. The movie was originally set to open on 1,200 screens on 14 November 1986. However, the opening was delayed until the new Martin Luther King holiday weekend. On 16 January 1987, WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE opened on 1,017 screens, taking in $2.8 million in its first three days of release. Ultimately, the film grossed $7.6 million in the U.S.
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FATHERLAND was based on a 1992 alternative history detective novel by English writer and journalist Robert Harris. Like the book, the film is set in a universe where Nazi Germany won World War II and corralled all European countries into a single state called Germania. Now in 1964, Germany continues fighting a bitter guerilla war with the Soviet Union and desperately needs an alliance with the United States in order to finally beat Stalin's war machine. As his 75th birthday approaches, Hitler (Rudolph Fleischer) wants to talk peace with the U.S. President Joseph Kennedy (Jan Kohout).
However, when SS homicide detective “Xavier March” (Rutger Hauer) begins investigating the mysterious death of a retired Nazi Party official, a cover-up is revealed involving the Jewish Holocaust of World War II. With the assistance of an American journalist, “Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Maguire” (Miranda Richardson), March probes deeper and discovers the full truth about what happened to the Jews; a truth that could destroy the peace process with America, and a truth that Nazi and SS leaders will stop at nothing to keep hidden.
Mike Nichols originally bought the bestselling novel for $1 million, intending to produce it as a theatrical film. When none of the Hollywood studios were interested, he sold off his rights and the production was reduced to a made-for-cable film for HBO.
Location shooting was done in the Czech Republic, primarily because it contained plenty of dreary and depressing-looking Cold War-era buildings. Older Czech natives who remembered World War II took part in the filming of crowd scenes with reluctance. They later reported that the sight of so many swastikas and Nazi uniforms made them ill.
Christopher Menaul directed the 106-minute film, which aired on HBO on 26 November 1994. The film has an unreleased score by Gary Chang.
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Turbulence 3 - Heavy Metal . Hauer plays a small part as one of the pilots (and bad guys) of a plane taken over by terrorist and saved by a Marilyn Manson wannabe performer Maclane (Die hard) style.
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