Breezy is a 1973 American romantic drama film directed by Clint Eastwood , produced by Robert Daley , and written by Jo Heims . The film stars William Holden and Kay Lenz , with Roger C. Carmel , Marj Dusay , and Joan Hotchkis in supporting roles. It is the third film directed by Eastwood and the first without him starring in it.
146-558: Distributed by Universal Pictures , Breezy was theatrically released in Los Angeles on November 16, 1973 and in New York City on November 18, 1973. The film earned 3 nominations at the 31st Golden Globe Awards , including Most Promising Newcomer – Female for Lenz. The film was not a commercial success. A young couple awakens in bed after a one-night stand. Edith Alice "Breezy" Breezerman hops out of bed, gets dressed, and steps into
292-582: A 21st birthday present. Universal already had a reputation for nepotism —at one time, 70 of Carl Sr.'s relatives were supposedly on the payroll. Many of them were nephews, resulting in Carl Sr. being known around the studios as "Uncle Carl". Ogden Nash famously quipped in rhyme, "Uncle Carl Laemmle/Has a very large faemmle". Among these relatives was future Academy Award-winning director/producer William Wyler . "Junior," Laemmle persuaded his father to bring Universal up to date. He bought and built theaters, converted
438-501: A Time , The Jeffersons , The Facts of Life , and Silver Spoons which premiered on NBC that same fall. At this time, Hal B. Wallis , who had recently worked as a major producer at Paramount, moved over to Universal, where he produced several films, among them a lavish version of Maxwell Anderson 's Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) and the equally lavish Mary, Queen of Scots (1971). Although neither could claim to be
584-465: A big financial hit, both films received Academy Award nominations, and Anne was nominated for Best Picture , Best Actor ( Richard Burton ), Best Actress ( Geneviève Bujold ), and Best Supporting Actor ( Anthony Quayle ). Wallis retired from Universal after making the film Rooster Cogburn (1975), a sequel to True Grit (1969), which Wallis had produced at Paramount. Rooster Cogburn co-starred John Wayne , reprising his Oscar-winning role from
730-504: A box office for hours, counting patrons, and calculating the day's takings. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, Laemmle gave up dry goods to buy the first several nickelodeons . For Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Patents Company (or the "Edison Trust") meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for Trust-produced films they showed. Based on
876-516: A brief subplot has Alana Haim 's character auditioning for a movie called "Rainbow" that's a stand-in for Breezy, with Sean Penn playing the William Holden character. Some dialogue from Breezy was directly copied in Licorice Pizza . Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC , doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios , or Universal ),
1022-496: A budget of $ 6 million, the film grossed $ 10.5 million at the US box office in 1970 and another $ 638,641 in the US on its 1995 restored box-office release, making a total of $ 11,138,641. It was the 17th highest-grossing film of 1969 . There have been several versions of the film: In 1993, Warner Bros. resubmitted the film to the MPAA ratings board prior to an expected re-release. To
1168-488: A certain response that you get from it, an excitement, because we're all violent people." Peckinpah used violence as a catharsis , believing his audience would be purged of violence by witnessing it explicitly on screen. He later admitted to being mistaken, observing that the audience came to enjoy rather than be horrified by his films' violence, which troubled him. Betrayal is the secondary theme of The Wild Bunch . The characters suffer from their knowledge of having betrayed
1314-600: A co-production arrangement with producer Walter Wanger and his partner, director Fritz Lang , lending the studio some amount of prestige productions. Universal's core audience base was still found in the neighborhood movie theaters , and the studio continued to please the public with low- to medium-budget films. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in new Sherlock Holmes mysteries (1942–46), teenage musicals with Gloria Jean , Donald O'Connor , and Peggy Ryan (1942–43), and screen adaptations of radio's Inner Sanctum Mysteries with Lon Chaney Jr. (1943–45). Alfred Hitchcock
1460-565: A contract with Universal ensuring three more years of Oswald cartoons. However, after Mintz had unsuccessfully demanded that Disney accept a lower fee for producing the films, Mintz took most of Walt's animators to work at his own studio. Disney and Iwerks would create Mickey Mouse in secret while they finished the remaining Oswald films they were contractually obligated to finish. Universal subsequently severed its link to Mintz and formed its own in-house animation studio to produce Oswald cartoons headed by Walter Lantz , which would later result in
1606-521: A contract with Universal in the presence of its vice president, R. H. Cochrane. Mintz's company, Winkler Pictures, was to produce 26 " Oswald the Lucky Rabbit " cartoons for Universal. Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks created the character and the Walt Disney Studio provided the animation for the cartoons under Winkler's supervision. The films enjoyed a successful theatrical run, and Mintz would sign
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#17329060251151752-645: A crush on her after the movie and tried approaching Lenz, only for her agent to stop him. Excerpts from the film are used on the music track "Breezy" (sometimes titled "My Name's Breezy") by French house/alternative group Make the Girl Dance , featured on their 2011 album Everything is Gonna be OK in the End . On 24 June 2022 he released the Album titled "Breezy". In the Paul Thomas Anderson movie Licorice Pizza (2021),
1898-400: A dying genre". The Wild Bunch was cited as cinematographer Roger Deakins 's favorite film, and film director Kathryn Bigelow named it as one of her five favorite films. In the 2012 BFI Sight & Sound poll for The Greatest Films of All Time, The Wild Bunch received 27 votes from critics and directors such as Michael Mann , Paul Schrader and Edgar Wright . Decades later,
2044-453: A fifth man blinded and mortally wounded by buckshot, who Pike mercy-kills. The loot from the robbery turns out to be worthless steel washers planted by Harrigan. Needing money, they head for Mexico accompanied by the cantankerous Freddie Sykes and cross the Rio Grande to the rural village where Angel was born. The village elder warns them about General Mapache, a vicious Huertista officer in
2190-613: A formula May–September love affair into a surprisingly tender and frequently witty romance in which an older man is realistically transformed by a much younger woman ... 'Breezy' frequently threatens to collapse into a stereotypical characterization, but Holden's refreshing honesty invariably revitalizes the action. In the title role, newcomer Kay Lenz is sincere, often believable, and rarely maudlin." Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called it "an okay contemporary drama" with "perhaps too much ironic, wry or broad humor for solid impact." Kevin Thomas of
2336-479: A friend and left him to his fate, thus violating their own honor code when it suits them ("$ 10,000 cuts an awful lot of family ties"). However, Bishop says, "When you side with a man, you stay with him, and if you can't do that you're like some animal." Such oppositional ideas lead to the film's violent conclusion, as the remaining men find their abandonment of Angel intolerable. Bishop remembers his betrayals, most notably when he deserts Deke Thornton, in flashback, when
2482-410: A friend's wedding reception and drop off the papers for the house the couple just bought from him. He tells her she could stay and they make plans for his return. He's much later than anticipated and he's disappointed that she doesn't appear to be there. He gets ready for bed and when he's in his room, he sees her in his bed and they make love. In the morning he's very upbeat and seems very happy. At
2628-525: A hit, the arrangement would become the rule for many future productions at Universal and eventually at other studios as well. In the early 1950s, Universal set up its own distribution company in France . In the late 1960s, the company also started a production company in Paris , Universal Productions France S.A. , although sometimes credited by the name of the distribution company, Universal Pictures France . Except for
2774-657: A label within the Universal Music Group. The following year, G. P. Putnam's Sons was sold to the Penguin Group subsidiary of Pearson PLC . Matsushita provided a cash infusion, but the clash of cultures was too great to overcome, and five years later, Matsushita sold an 80% stake in MCA/Universal to Canadian drinks distributor Seagram for $ 5.7 billion. Seagram sold off its stake in DuPont to fund this expansion into
2920-594: A nearby wall. The gun empty, Peckinpah barked at his stunned crew: "THAT'S the effect I want!!" He also had the gunfire sound effects changed for the film. Before, all gunshots in Warner Bros. movies sounded identical, regardless of the type of weapon being fired. Peckinpah insisted that each different type of firearm have its own specific sound effect when fired. The editing of the film is notable in that shots from multiple angles were spliced together in rapid succession, often at different speeds, placing greater emphasis on
3066-498: A niche for the studio, beginning a series of horror films which extended into the 1940s, affectionately dubbed Universal horror . Among them are Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932) and The Invisible Man (1933). Other Laemmle productions of this period include Tay Garnett 's Destination Unknown (1933), John M. Stahl 's Imitation of Life (1934) and William Wyler's The Good Fairy (1935). Universal's forays into high-quality production spelled
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#17329060251153212-403: A posse of bounty hunters led by Pike's former partner Deke Thornton, who ambush and kill more than half of Bishop's gang in a bloody shootout, which also kills many innocent bystanders as Pike uses a serendipitous temperance union parade to shield their getaway. Pike rides off with the only survivors: his close friend Dutch Engstrom, brothers Lyle and Tector Gorch, the inexperienced Angel, and
3358-492: A remake of its earlier 1929 part-talkie production, and produced as a high-quality, big-budget film rather than as a B-picture . The new film featured several stars from the Broadway stage version, which began production in late 1935, and unlike the 1929 film, was based on the Broadway musical rather than the novel. Carl Jr.'s spending habits alarmed company stockholders. They would not allow production to start on Show Boat unless
3504-430: A return on some of the expenditure by launching a sensational ad campaign that attracted moviegoers. Character actor Lon Chaney became a drawing card for Universal in the mid-1910s, appearing steadily in dramas. However, Chaney left Universal in 1917 because of a salary dispute, and his two biggest hits for Universal were made as isolated returns to the studio: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of
3650-451: A rich partner. He located Japanese electronics manufacturer Matsushita Electric (now known as Panasonic ), which agreed to acquire MCA for $ 6.6 billion in 1990. On December 9, 1996, the new owners dropped the MCA name; the company became Universal Studios, Inc. and MCA's music division, MCA Music Entertainment Group, was renamed Universal Music Group . MCA Records continued to live on as
3796-521: A running time of 106 minutes ( NTSC ). A Blu-ray was released in 2014 by the British branch of Universal, which was issuing all their Clint Eastwood catalogue on HD. The film is in widescreen and Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. In the US, it was released on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber in August 2020. Lenz and Breezy figure into the storyline of Philip K. Dick 's novel VALIS , where the narrator Phil mentions he had
3942-445: A sauna after some tennis. Bob reveals that there is no way he himself could embark on such a relationship, as he might feel like a "child molester". He has no intention of being insulting, and is in fact admiring Frank's defiance of society's disapproval, but Frank is not immune to the pressure. All of his shared joys with Breezy, such as their adopted stray dog and "us against the world" mentality, are not enough to enable him to cope with
4088-481: A small role as a veterinarian, in his final attempt at an acting career. Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote, "A cloyingly naive resolution mars 'Breezy,' which opened yesterday, an otherwise engrossing drama of an aging man's infatuation with a tender-hearted 17-year-old girl derelict." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 stars out of 4 and wrote, "Screenwriter Jo Heims has fashioned
4234-520: A spin-off of the studio's 1947 hit The Egg and I and the inexpensive Francis (1950), the first film of a series about a talking mule, became mainstays of the company. Once again, the films of Abbott and Costello, including Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), were among the studio's top-grossing productions. But at this point, Rank lost interest and sold his shares to the investor Milton Rackmil , whose Decca Records would take full control of Universal in 1952. Besides Abbott and Costello,
4380-473: Is an American film production and distribution company that is a division of Universal Studios , which is owned by NBCUniversal , a division of Comcast . Founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle , Mark Dintenfass , Charles O. Baumann , Adam Kessel , Pat Powers , William Swanson, David Horsley , Robert H. Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour , Universal is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States and
4526-504: Is conflicted about his feelings for longtime, close friend Betty Tobin. Finally, when he does awkwardly start to make them known to her, it is too late; Betty gently explains she is marrying a man she very much loves. Frank's friend and workout buddy Bob Henderson is grappling with his own mid-life crisis . He is restless, but afraid to end his now-loveless marriage and face loneliness. Frank takes this into consideration, while still growing closer to Breezy. Bob talks to Frank about Breezy in
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4672-466: Is most interesting in its almost jolly account of chaos, corruption, and defeat". About the actors, he commented particularly on William Holden: "After years of giving bored performances in boring movies, Holden comes back gallantly in The Wild Bunch . He looks older and tired, but he has style, both as a man and as a movie character who persists in doing what he's always done, not because he really wants
4818-540: Is ranked 79th on the American Film Institute 's list of the 100 best American films and the 69th most thrilling film . In 2008, the AFI listed 10 best films in 10 genres and ranked The Wild Bunch as the sixth-best Western. In 1913 Texas, Pike Bishop, the leader of a gang of aging outlaws, seeks to retire after a final robbery of silver from a railroad payroll office. Corrupt railroad agent Pat Harrigan has hired
4964-442: Is still somewhat bitter about his divorce. After escaping a bad hitchhiking experience with an unstable stranger, Breezy loiters near Frank's luxurious post-modern house, the setting for much of the movie. When he leaves for work, she invites herself into his car and happily insists that he give her a ride to her destination, annoying him. She returns to his house that evening to retrieve her guitar that she left in his car earlier in
5110-599: The Los Angeles Times wrote of Eastwood that Breezy was "a deeply felt, fully realized film that is entirely his own. It's an offbeat love story told with rare delicacy and perception that affords William Holden his most fully dimensioned role in years and introduces a smashing newcomer named Kay Lenz." The film opened at the Columbia II theater in New York City on November 18, 1973, but flopped, grossing only $ 16,099 in four weeks and 5 days. Early unfavorable reviews and
5256-599: The American Film Institute placed the film in several of its " 100 Years " lists: In 1999, The Wild Bunch was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". In 2008, the film was ranked #94 on Empire magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time . It was later ranked #254 (out of 301 films) on their revised list in 2014. In
5402-575: The Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP), with studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey , where many early films in America's first motion picture industry were produced in the early 20th century. Laemmle broke with Edison's custom of refusing to give billing and screen credits to performers. By naming the movie stars, he attracted many of the leading players of the time, contributing to
5548-636: The Latham Loop used in cameras and projectors, along with other patents, the Trust collected fees on all aspects of movie production and exhibition and attempted to enforce a monopoly on distribution. Soon, Laemmle and other disgruntled nickelodeon owners decided to avoid paying Edison by producing their own pictures. In June 1909, Laemmle started the Yankee Film Company with his brothers-in-law Abe Stern and Julius Stern . That company quickly evolved into
5694-529: The Mexican Federal Army , who has been stealing food and animals from local villages to support his campaign against the forces of Pancho Villa . Pike's gang ask the general for work at his headquarters in the town of Agua Verde. Angel spots his former lover Teresa in Mapache's arms and shoots her dead, angering the general and nearly getting them killed, but Pike defuses the situation. Mapache offers gold to
5840-656: The Mexico–United States border trying to adapt to the changing modern world of 1913. The film was controversial because of its graphic violence and its portrayal of crude men attempting to survive by any available means. The screenplay was co-written by Peckinpah, Walon Green , and Roy N. Sickner . The Wild Bunch was filmed in Technicolor and Panavision , in Mexico, notably at the Hacienda Ciénaga del Carmen, deep in
5986-505: The highest-grossing films of all time during their initial releases. Universal Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), and was one of the "Little Three" majors during Hollywood's golden age . Universal was founded by Carl Laemmle , Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann , Adam Kessel, Pat Powers , William Swanson, David Horsley , Robert H. Cochrane and Jules Brulatour . One story has Laemmle watching
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6132-548: The 101 best screenplays of all time. The Wild Bunch is also ranked as the 63rd best-directed film of all time by the Directors Guild of America . In 2012, the Motion Picture Editors Guild listed The Wild Bunch as the 23rd best-edited film of all time based on a survey of its membership. In 1999, Entertainment Weekly ranked The Wild Bunch 57th on their list of the 100 greatest movies of all time. It
6278-458: The 2012 BFI Sight & Sound poll of The Greatest Films of All Time, The Wild Bunch ranked 84th on the critics' poll and 75th on the directors' poll. In 2005, the Los Angeles Times included The Wild Bunch on their list of The 129 Best Films of All Time , compiled by film critic Peter Rainer. In 2006, the script for the film was selected by the Writers Guild of America as one of
6424-527: The Bahamas for 450 critics and reporters", said that, back then, he had publicly declared the film a masterpiece during the junket's press conference, prompted by comments from "a reporter from the Reader's Digest [who] got up to ask 'Why was this film ever made?'" He compared the film to Pulp Fiction : "praised and condemned with equal vehemence." "What Citizen Kane was to movie lovers in 1941, The Wild Bunch
6570-670: The Bandit (1977), Animal House (1978), The Jerk (1979), The Blues Brothers (1980), The Four Seasons (1981), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), The Breakfast Club (1985), Back to the Future (also 1985), An American Tail (1986), The Land Before Time (1988), Field of Dreams (1989), Jurassic Park (1993) and Casper (1995), but the film business was financially unpredictable with some films like The Thing (1982), Scarface (1983), Dune (1984), Howard
6716-450: The Bunch makes the walk to Mapache's headquarters to free Angel. As they walk forward, a constant flow of people passes between them and the camera; most of the people in the foreground are as sharply focused as the Bunch. By the time filming wrapped, Peckinpah had shot 333,000 feet (101,000 m) of film with 1,288 camera setups. Lombardo and Peckinpah remained in Mexico for six months editing
6862-520: The Duck (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) or Waterworld (1995), which turned out to be big box office disappointments despite their high budget, however, fortunately, these films became cult films in later years. UIP began distributing films by start-up studio DreamWorks in 1997 due to the founders' connections with Paramount, Universal, and Amblin Entertainment. In 2001, MGM dropped out of
7008-641: The High Country (1962) and The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970). The violence that was much criticized in 1969 remains controversial. Peckinpah noted it was allegoric of the American war in Vietnam, the violence of which was nightly televised to American homes at supper time. He tried showing the gun violence commonplace to the historic western frontier period, rebelling against sanitized, bloodless television Westerns and films glamorizing gunfights and murder: "The point of
7154-563: The Jackal (1973). It was only involved in approximately 20 French film productions. In the early 1970s, the unit was incorporated into the French Cinema International Corporation arm. By the late 1950s, the motion picture business was again changing. The combination of the studio/theater-chain breakup and the rise of television saw the reduced audience size for cinema productions. The Music Corporation of America (MCA),
7300-677: The Laemmles obtained a loan. Universal was forced to seek a $ 750,000 production loan from the Standard Capital Corporation, pledging the Laemmle family's controlling interest in Universal as collateral . It was the first time Universal had borrowed money for a production in its 26-year history. The production went $ 300,000 over budget; Standard called in the loan, cash-strapped Universal could not pay, and Standard foreclosed and seized control of
7446-541: The Mexican film director, writer, actor, and friend of Peckinpah. Among those considered to play Dutch Engstrom were Charles Bronson , Jim Brown , Alex Cord , Robert Culp , Sammy Davis Jr. , Richard Jaeckel , Steve McQueen , and George Peppard . Ernest Borgnine was cast based on his performance in The Dirty Dozen (1967). Robert Blake was the original choice to play Angel, but he asked for too much money. Peckinpah
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#17329060251157592-544: The Opera (1925). During the early 1920s Laemmle entrusted most of Universal's production policy decisions to Irving Thalberg . Thalberg had been Laemmle's personal secretary, and Laemmle was impressed by his cogent observations of how efficiently the studio could be operated. Promoted to studio chief in 1919, Thalberg made distinct improvements of quality and prestige in Universal's output in addition to dealing with star director Erich von Stroheim 's increasing inability to control
7738-750: The Oscar-nominated The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage ), and never-before-seen outtakes. Critical reaction in New York was mixed, with four reviewers with favorable reviews and three with unfavorable opinions, although there was debate as to whether the New York Post 's Archer Winsten 's review was mostly favorable despite asking "was this violence necessary?". Vincent Canby began his review in The New York Times by calling
7884-739: The Pike Bishop role before casting William Holden , including Richard Boone , Sterling Hayden , Charlton Heston , Burt Lancaster , Lee Marvin , Robert Mitchum , Gregory Peck , and James Stewart . Marvin actually accepted the role but pulled out after he was offered more money to star in Paint Your Wagon (1969). Peckinpah's first two choices for the role of Deke Thornton were Richard Harris (who had co-starred in Major Dundee ) and Brian Keith (who had worked with Peckinpah on The Westerner (1960) and The Deadly Companions (1961)). Harris
8030-494: The TV series Felony Squad he had edited in 1967. The episode, entitled "My Mommy Got Lost", included a slow motion sequence where Joe Don Baker is shot by the police. The scene mixed slow motion with normal speed, having been filmed at 24 frames per second, but triple printed optically at 72 frames per second. Peckinpah was reportedly thrilled and told Lombardo: "Let's try some of that when we get down to Mexico!" The director would film
8176-404: The TV series The Rifleman and his previous films Ride the High Country (1962) and Major Dundee (1965). The film was shot with the anamorphic process. Peckinpah and his cinematographer, Lucien Ballard , also made use of telephoto lenses, that allowed for objects and people in both the background and foreground to be compressed in perspective. The effect is best seen in the shots where
8322-523: The UIP venture and went with 20th Century Fox 's international arm to handle the distribution of their titles, an ongoing arrangement. UIP nearly lost its connection with Universal Pictures in 1999 when Universal started Universal Pictures International to take over the assets of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and wanted UPI to distribute their films starting in 2001. Only a small handful of films were released theatrically by Universal Pictures International, up until
8468-527: The United States and Canada, placing it 301st on the list of their films tracked for the year, which with its gross from New York in 1973, gave it a gross of at least $ 156,388. Eastwood thought Universal had decided the film was going to fail long before it was released. He said "the public stayed away from it because it wasn't promoted enough, and it was sold in an uninteresting fashion". Some critics, including Eastwood's biographer Richard Schickel, believed that
8614-507: The advent of sound, these productions were made in the German language or, occasionally, Hungarian or Polish. In the U.S., Universal Pictures did not distribute any of this subsidiary's films. Still, some of them were exhibited through other independent, foreign-language film distributors based in New York City without the benefit of English subtitles. Nazi persecution and a change in ownership for
8760-401: The age difference. He breaks up with her by telling her that they amount to a dirty joke. She's the zing in his life and he's the best score she's probably ever made. She starts crying but keeps her composure as she gets ready to leave. Tells him to keep the dog as she doesn't have enough money to feed him. When Betty is injured and her new husband killed in a car accident, Frank visits her in
8906-422: The audience "some idea of what it is to be gunned down". A memorable incident occurred, to that end, as Peckinpah's crew were consulting him on the "gunfire" effects to be used in the film. Not satisfied with the results from the squibs his crew had brought for him, Peckinpah became exasperated and finally hollered: "That's not what I want! That's not what I want! " He then grabbed a real revolver and fired it into
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#17329060251159052-428: The best of the newer generation of American filmmakers." William Wolf for Cue magazine found no merit in the film and gave it a two sentence dismissal and Judith Crist of New York magazine was also negative about the film. In a 2002 retrospective Roger Ebert , who "saw the original version at the world premiere in 1969, during the golden age of the junket, when Warner Bros. screened five of its new films in
9198-710: The bounty, while he stays behind. After some time, Sykes arrives with the elder from Angel's village and a band of rebels, indicating that they caught up with the bounty hunters, avenged the gang's deaths, and buried them properly. Sykes invites Thornton to join the coming revolution against the Mexican government. Thornton smiles and rides off with them. In April 1965, producer Reno Carrell optioned an original story and screenplay by Walon Green and Roy Sickner, called The Wild Bunch . In 1967, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts producers Kenneth Hyman and Phil Feldman were interested in having Sam Peckinpah rewrite and direct an adventure film called The Diamond Story . A professional outcast due to
9344-435: The breakfast table they get to know each other. They spend the day together and he buys her some new clothes, then they go to dinner and run into his ex-wife. She has some snarky things to say but they don't let it ruin their evening. Another night they go see a movie and run into Frank's friend Bob who seems to always talk about wanting to cheat on his wife. Frank is embarrassed and self conscious to be seen with Breezy. He
9490-403: The chaotic nature of the action and the gunfights. Lou Lombardo, having previously worked with Peckinpah on Noon Wine , was personally hired by the director to edit The Wild Bunch . Peckinpah had wanted an editor who would be loyal to him. Lombardo's youth was also a plus, as he was not bound by traditional conventions. One of Lombardo's first contributions was to show Peckinpah an episode of
9636-614: The comic adventures of infant Baby Sandy (1938–41); comedies with Hugh Herbert (1938–42) and The Ritz Brothers (1940–43); musicals with Robert Paige , Jane Frazee , The Andrews Sisters , and The Merry Macs (1938–45); and westerns with Tom Mix (1932–33), Buck Jones (1933–36), Bob Baker (1938–39), Johnny Mack Brown (1938–43); Rod Cameron (1944–45), and Kirby Grant (1946–47). Universal could seldom afford its own stable of stars and often borrowed talent from other studios or hired freelance actors. In addition to Stewart and Dietrich, Margaret Sullavan and Bing Crosby were two of
9782-566: The creation of Woody Woodpecker in 1940. In February 2006, NBCUniversal sold all the Disney-animated Oswald cartoons, along with the rights to the character himself, to The Walt Disney Company . In return, Disney released ABC sportscaster Al Michaels from his contract so he could work on NBC's recently acquired Sunday night NFL football package . Universal retained ownership of the remaining Oswald cartoons. In 1928, Laemmle Sr. made his son, Carl Jr. , head of Universal Pictures,
9928-540: The creation of the star system . In 1910, he promoted Florence Lawrence , formerly known as " The Biograph Girl ", and actor King Baggot , in what may be the first instance of a studio using stars in its marketing. The Universal Film Manufacturing Company was incorporated in New York City on April 30, 1912. Laemmle, who emerged as president in July 1912, was the primary figure in the partnership with Dintenfass, Baumann, Kessel, Powers, Swanson, Horsley, and Brulatour. The company
10074-458: The day. She persuades him to let her shower, after the shower she tries to get him to invite her to stay the night, but he doesn't go for it. She leaves even though it's raining. The next night he's awakened by police at the door. They found Breezy wandering around and she told them that Frank was her uncle and they had argued earlier. After being chastised by the police they leave and he offers her something to eat. She begs for him to take her to
10220-542: The daylight. Breezy lost her parents years before in a car accident; she lived with her aunt until she graduated from high school. A year later, she left for California, where she is a homeless, free-spirited, carefree hippie spending her nights couch surfing. That same morning, Frank Harmon is bidding farewell to his overnight guest, a blonde who is attracted to him, but he only humors her as she leaves. Middle-aged, divorced and wealthy from his work in real estate, Frank lacks for nothing material, but has no joy in his life. He
10366-571: The decade was primarily a television studio. When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer purchased United Artists in 1981, MGM could not drop out of the CIC venture to merge with United Artists overseas operations. However, with future film productions from both names being released through the MGM/UA Entertainment plate, CIC decided to merge UA's international units with MGM and reformed as United International Pictures . There would be other film hits like Smokey and
10512-625: The desert between Torreón and Saltillo , Coahuila ) and on the Nazas River . Peckinpah's epic work was inspired by his hunger to return to films, the violence seen in Arthur Penn 's Bonnie and Clyde (1967), America's growing frustration with the Vietnam War , and what he perceived to be the utter lack of reality seen in Westerns up to that time. He set out to make a film which portrayed not only
10658-428: The desert between Torreón and Saltillo , Coahuila , and on the Nazas River . The Wild Bunch is noted for intricate, multi-angle, quick-cut editing using normal and slow motion images, a revolutionary cinema technique in 1969. The writing of Green, Peckinpah, and Sickner was nominated for a best screenplay Oscar , and the music by Jerry Fielding was nominated for Best Original Score . Additionally, Peckinpah
10804-435: The earlier film, and Katharine Hepburn , their only film together. The film was only a moderate success. In 1983, Universal Pictures launched an independent film arm designed to release specialty films, Universal Classics, and the division has sights on separation. In 1987, Universal Pictures, MGM/UA Communications Co. , and Paramount Pictures teamed up to market feature film and television products to China. Consumer reach
10950-439: The early 1970s, Universal teamed up with Paramount to form Cinema International Corporation , which distributed films by Paramount and Universal outside of the US and Canada. Although Universal did produce occasional hits, among them Airport (1970), The Sting (1973), American Graffiti (also 1973), Earthquake (1974), and a big box-office success which restored the company's fortunes: Jaws (1975), Universal during
11096-461: The end of the Laemmle era at the studio. Taking on the task of modernizing and upgrading a film conglomerate in the depths of the Great Depression was risky, and for a time, Universal slipped into receivership . The theater chain was scrapped , but Carl Jr. held fast to distribution, studio, and production operations. The end for the Laemmles came with a lavish version of Show Boat (1936),
11242-663: The entertainment industry. Hoping to build an entertainment empire around Universal, Seagram bought PolyGram from Philips in 1999 and other entertainment properties, but the fluctuating profits characteristic of Hollywood were no substitute for the reliable income stream gained from the previously held shares in DuPont. The Wild Bunch The Wild Bunch is a 1969 American epic revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden , Ernest Borgnine , Robert Ryan , Edmond O'Brien , Ben Johnson and Warren Oates . The plot concerns an aging outlaw gang on
11388-419: The expense and length of his films, eventually firing Stroheim on October 6, 1922, six weeks into the production of Merry-Go-Round (1923) and replacing him with Rupert Julian . Louis B. Mayer lured Thalberg away from Universal in late 1922 to his own growing studio, Louis B. Mayer Productions , as vice-president in charge of production, and when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was formed in 1924 Thalberg continued in
11534-539: The few women directing films in Hollywood. Starting in the mid-1920s, Universal branded its most expensive and heavily promoted feature films as "Super-Jewel" productions. These included films such as Erich von Stroheim 's Foolish Wives (1922), Clarence Brown 's The Acquittal (1923), Hobart Henley 's A Lady of Quality (1924), Harry A. Pollard 's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927), and Edward Sloman 's Surrender (1928). Despite Laemmle's role as an innovator, he
11680-402: The fifth oldest in the world after Gaumont , Pathé , Titanus , and Nordisk Film , and is one of the "Big Five" film studios . Universal's most commercially successful film franchises include Fast & Furious , Jurassic Park , and Despicable Me . Additionally, the studio's library includes many individual films such as Jaws and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial , both of which became
11826-476: The film "very beautiful and the first truly interesting American-made Western in years. It's also so full of violence—of an intensity that can hardly be supported by the story—that it's going to prompt a lot of people who do not know the real effect of movie violence (as I do not) to write automatic condemnations of it." He observed, "Although the movie's conventional and poetic action sequences are extraordinarily good and its landscapes beautifully photographed ... it
11972-404: The film is to take this façade of movie violence and open it up, get people involved in it so that they are starting to go in the Hollywood television predictable reaction syndrome, and then twist it so that it's not fun anymore, just a wave of sickness in the gut ... it's ugly, brutalizing, and bloody awful; it's not fun and games and cowboys and Indians. It's a terrible, ugly thing, and yet there's
12118-560: The final cut. Filming for Breezy began in November 1972 in Los Angeles and finished five weeks later. With Bruce Surtees , Eastwood's regular cinematographer, occupied elsewhere, Frank Stanley was brought in to shoot the picture, the first of four films he would shoot for Malpaso. The film was shot very quickly and efficiently and in the end went $ 1 million under budget and finished three days before schedule. Holden's son Scott Holden plays
12264-409: The gang to rob a U.S. Army train so Mapache can resupply his army's dwindling stocks of ammunition and provide samples of American weapons to his German military adviser Commander Mohr. Angel gives his share of the gold to Pike in return for sending one crate of rifles and ammunition to a band of peasant rebels opposed to Mapache. The holdup goes largely as planned until Thornton's posse turns up on
12410-422: The gang, and after a period of reflection while visiting a brothel , Pike and the others arm themselves to rescue their friend by force. Mapache initially agrees to release Angel, only to cut his throat at the last second. The gang instantly opens fire and guns down the general. While the nearby soldiers are frozen in shock, Pike calmly takes aim and kills Mohr. This begins a bloody gunfight that kills Pike, Dutch,
12556-420: The hospital and has a change of heart. He drives to Marcy's house to learn where Breezy is. Marcy tells him and he goes to the park to reconcile with her. He reunites with Breezy, he tells her maybe they can last a year, and they walk off together with the dog, Sir Love-a-lot. Eastwood has described the film as a "big risk at the time" and that Universal Studios let him make the film as a favor. Eastwood "liked
12702-415: The independent company International Pictures , and producer Kenneth Young. The new combine, United World Pictures, was a failure and was dissolved within one year. However, Rank and International remained interested in Universal, culminating in the studio's reorganization as Universal-International; the merger was announced on July 30, 1946. William Goetz , a founder of International along with Leo Spitz ,
12848-498: The late 1930s was Destry Rides Again (1939), starring James Stewart as Destry and Marlene Dietrich in her comeback role after leaving Paramount . By the early 1940s, the company was concentrating on lower-budget productions that were the company's main staple: westerns, melodramas, serials, and sequels to the studio's horror pictures, the latter now solely B pictures. The studio fostered many series: The Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys action features and serials (1938–43);
12994-460: The law catches up to them and when he abandons Crazy Lee at the railroad office after the robbery, ostensibly to guard the hostages. Critic David Weddle writes that "like that of Conrad's Lord Jim , Pike Bishop's heroism is propelled by overwhelming guilt and a despairing death wish." The film opened on June 18, 1969, at the Pix theatre in Los Angeles and grossed $ 39,200 in its first week. Produced on
13140-420: The lucrative non-theatrical field, buying a majority stake in home-movie dealer Castle Films in 1947 and taking the company over entirely in 1951. For three decades, Castle would offer "highlights" reels from the Universal film library to home-movie enthusiasts and collectors. Goetz licensed Universal's pre–Universal-International film library to Jack Broeder's Realart Pictures for cinema re-release, but Realart
13286-414: The major names that made a couple of pictures for Universal during this period. Some stars came from radio, including Edgar Bergen , W. C. Fields , and the comedy team of Abbott and Costello ( Bud Abbott and Lou Costello ). Abbott and Costello's military comedy Buck Privates (1941) gave the former burlesque comedians a national and international profile. During the war years, Universal did have
13432-403: The major shootouts with six cameras, operating at various film rates, including 24 frames per second, 30 frames per second, 60 frames per second, 90 frames per second, and 120 frames per second. When the scenes were eventually cut together, the action would shift from slow to fast to slower still, giving time an elastic quality never before seen in motion pictures up to that time. Further editing
13578-442: The melodramas directed by Douglas Sirk and produced by Ross Hunter , which were critically reassessed more positively years later. Among Universal-International's stable of stars were Rock Hudson , Tony Curtis , Jeff Chandler , Audie Murphy , and John Gavin . Although Decca would continue to keep picture budgets lean, it was favored by changing circumstances in the film business, as other studios let their contract actors go in
13724-527: The money but because there's simply nothing else to do." Time also liked Holden's performance, describing it as his best since Stalag 17 (a 1953 film that earned Holden an Oscar ), noting Robert Ryan gave "the screen performance of his career", and concluding that " The Wild Bunch contains faults and mistakes" (such as flashbacks "introduced with surprising clumsiness"), but "its accomplishments are more than sufficient to confirm that Peckinpah, along with Stanley Kubrick and Arthur Penn , belongs with
13870-415: The motion pictures and television arms of the formerly Universal Pictures Company and Revue Productions (officially renamed as Universal Television in 1966). And so, with MCA in charge, Universal became a full-blown, A-film movie studio, with leading actors and directors under contract; offering slick, commercial films; and a studio tour subsidiary launched in 1964. Television production made up much of
14016-499: The ocean and he does. When they return from the Pacific he carries her in to the guest room as she feigns sleep. Before going to bed himself they have a heart-to-heart where she tells him that she loves him. When he wakes he's surprised and disappointed to discover that she left without saying goodbye. The next day when he comes home from work she's waiting for him by his door. He invites her in but tells her he has to make an appearance at
14162-470: The parent Universal Pictures organization resulted in the dissolution of this subsidiary. In the early years, Universal had a "clean picture" policy. However, by April 1927, Carl Laemmle considered this a mistake as "unclean pictures" from other studios generated more profit while Universal lost money. In early 1927, Universal had been negotiating deals with cartoon producers since they wanted to get back into producing them. On March 4, Charles Mintz signed
14308-399: The picture. After initial cuts, the opening gunfight sequence ran 21 minutes. By cutting frames from specific scenes and intercutting others, they were able to fine-cut the opening robbery down to five minutes. The creative montage became the model for the rest of the film and would "forever change the way movies would be made". Peckinpah stated that one of his goals for the movie was to give
14454-508: The poor performance caused the studio to shelve the film. It then underwent some minor re-editing and was test released in Utah in 39 theaters on July 3, 1974 on a four wall distribution basis for two weeks. The results were positive, so Universal expanded the four wall distribution policy to the Portland and Seattle areas. During 1974, Variety tracked it grossing $ 140,289 in 20-24 key cities in
14600-486: The production difficulties of his previous film, Major Dundee (1965), and his firing from the set of The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Peckinpah's stock had improved following his critically acclaimed work on the television film Noon Wine (1966). At the time, William Goldman 's screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had recently been purchased by 20th Century Fox . An alternative screenplay available at
14746-432: The railroad, but Pike says Thornton "gave his word" to the railroad and must see it through. Dutch angrily declares, "That ain't what counts, it's who you give it to." Pike and the gang bury most of the gold and return to Agua Verde, where the townspeople and soldiers are drunkenly celebrating the weapons sale and Mapache is dragging Angel through town on a rope tied to the back of his car. Mapache refuses to sell Angel back to
14892-400: The reaction to what happens on-screen is through the eyes, both innocent and imitative, of all the children. Almost all of the versions of the film include the missing scenes. Warner Bros. released a newly restored version in a two-disc special edition on January 10, 2006. It includes an audio commentary by Peckinpah scholars, two documentaries concerning the making of the film (one of them is
15038-475: The release of the film Mickey Blue Eyes . UIP then took over the theatrical distribution inventory of future films planned to be released by Universal Pictures International, such as The Green Mile and Angela's Ashes . On October 4, 1999, Universal renewed its commitments to United International Pictures to release its films internationally through 2006. Anxious to expand the company's broadcast and cable presence, longtime MCA head Lew Wasserman sought
15184-431: The remaining gang members, Mohr's aide, every member of Mapache's staff, and most of the assembled troops. Thornton arrives and finds Pike already dead. Thornton finds a loaded revolver on Pike's belt and takes it as a sign that the days of men like him are over. Feeling outdated and tired, Thornton allows the remaining posse members to greedily strip Pike and his men of their possessions before taking them back to Texas for
15330-420: The role completely, so it was easy for him to play." After he signed for the part, Holden said to Eastwood, "You know, I've been that guy," and Eastwood responded, "Yeah, I thought so." Casting the role of Breezy was difficult because the role was young, seventeen according to the script, and nude scenes were required. Screen tests were performed with ten actresses, all with Holden. Eastwood later remarked that it
15476-525: The same corporate entity, the central element of the Studio system era. Following the westward trend of the industry, by the end of 1912, the company was focusing its production efforts in the Hollywood area. Universal Weekly and Moving Picture Weekly were the alternating names of Universal's internal magazine that began publication in this era; the magazine was intended to market Universal's films to exhibitors. Since much of Universal's early film output
15622-493: The same position for the new company. Without Thalberg's guidance, Universal became a second-tier studio and would remain so for several decades. In 1926, Universal opened a production unit in Germany, Deutsche Universal-Film AG, under the direction of Joe Pasternak . This unit produced three to four films per year until 1936, migrating to Hungary and then Austria in the face of Hitler 's increasing domination of central Europe. With
15768-506: The screen in March 1995, one reviewer noted: By restoring 10 minutes to the film, the complex story now fits together in a seamless way, filling in those gaps found in the previous theatrical release, and proving that Peckinpah was firing on all cylinders for this, his grandest achievement. ... And the one overwhelming feature that the director's cut makes unforgettable are the many faces of the children, whether playing, singing, or cowering, much of
15914-426: The sexual content of the film and love scenes were too soft to be memorable for such a potentially scandalous relationship between Harmon and Breezy, commenting that, "it is not a sexy movie. Once again, Eastwood was too polite in his eroticism." However, Schickel claimed that Breezy managed to recoup its low budget. Breezy did not reach home video until 1998. Universal Pictures released the film to DVD in 2004 with
16060-642: The starring role of the realtor Frank Harmon, a bitter divorced man who falls in love with the young Breezy. Although Eastwood confessed to "understanding the Frank Harmon character" he believed he was too young at that stage to play Harmon. That part would go to William Holden , 12 years Eastwood's senior, and Eastwood then decided to direct the picture. Eastwood initially wanted to cast Jo Ann Harris , whom he had worked with in The Beguiled . Eastwood described Holden as "very astute as an actor" and that he "understood
16206-417: The studio incorporated as a distinct subsidiary organization. Unlike other movie moguls, Laemmle opened his studio to tourists. Universal became the largest studio in Hollywood and remained so for a decade. However, it sought an audience mostly in small towns, producing mostly inexpensive melodramas , westerns , and serials . In 1916, Universal formed a three-tier branding system for their releases. Unlike
16352-410: The studio on April 2, 1936. Although Universal's 1936 Show Boat (released a little over a month later) became a critical and financial success, it was not enough to save the Laemmles' involvement with the studio. They were unceremoniously removed from the company they had founded, with studio advertisements referring to "the new Universal". Because the Laemmles personally oversaw production, Show Boat
16498-470: The studio retained the Walter Lantz cartoon studio, whose product was released with Universal-International's films. In the 1950s, Universal-International resumed their series of Arabian Nights films, many starring Tony Curtis . The studio also had success with monster and science fiction films produced by William Alland , with many directed by Jack Arnold and starring John Agar . Other successes were
16644-540: The studio to sound production, and made several forays into high-quality production. His early efforts included the critically panned part-talkie version of Edna Ferber 's novel Show Boat (1929), the lavish musical Broadway (1929) which included Technicolor sequences; and the first all-color musical feature (for Universal), King of Jazz (1930). The more serious All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) won its year's Best Picture Oscar . Laemmle Jr. created
16790-466: The studio was The Wild Bunch . It was quickly decided that The Wild Bunch , which had several similarities to Goldman's work, would be produced to beat Butch Cassidy to the theaters. By the fall of 1967, Peckinpah was rewriting the screenplay and preparing for production. The principal photography was shot entirely on location in Mexico, most notably at the Hacienda Ciénega del Carmen (deep in
16936-564: The studio's output from its wartime average of fifty films per year (nearly twice the major studio's output) to thirty-five films a year. Distribution and copyright control remained under the name of Universal Pictures Company Inc. Goetz set out an ambitious schedule. Universal-International became responsible for the American distribution of Rank's British productions, including such classics as David Lean 's Great Expectations (1946) and Laurence Olivier 's Hamlet (1948). Broadening its scope further, Universal-International branched out into
17082-505: The studio's output, with Universal heavily committed, in particular, to deals with NBC (which much later merged with Universal to form NBC Universal; see below ) providing up to half of all prime time shows for several seasons. An innovation during this period championed by Universal was the made-for-television movie. In 1982, Universal became the studio base for many shows that were produced by Norman Lear 's Tandem Productions / Embassy Television , including Diff'rent Strokes , One Day at
17228-401: The studio's surprise, the originally R-rated film was re-rated NC-17 , which delayed the release until the decision was appealed. The controversy was linked to 10 extra minutes added to the film, although none of this footage contained graphic violence. Warner Bros. trimmed some footage to decrease the running time to ensure additional daily screenings. When the restored film finally made it to
17374-531: The studio. Gone were the big ambitions, and though Universal had a few big names under contract, those it had been cultivating, like William Wyler and Margaret Sullavan , left. Meanwhile, producer Joe Pasternak, who had been successfully producing light musicals with young sopranos for Universal's German subsidiary, repeated his formula in the United States. Teenage singer Deanna Durbin starred in Pasternak's first American film, Three Smart Girls (1936). The film
17520-460: The theme of the end of the outlaw gunfighter era. For example, the character Pike Bishop advises: "We've got to start thinking beyond our guns. Those days are closing fast." The Bunch lives by an anachronistic code of honor that is out of place in 20th-century society. Also, when the gang inspects Mapache's new automobile, they perceive it marks the end of horse travel, a symbol also in Peckinpah's Ride
17666-520: The top-tier studios, Universal did not own any theaters to market its feature films. Universal branding their product gave theater owners and audiences a quick reference guide. Branding would help theater owners judge films they were about to lease and help fans decide which movies they wanted to see. Universal released three different types of feature motion pictures: Directors of "Jewel" films included Jack Conway , John Ford , Rex Ingram , Robert Z. Leonard , George Marshall , and Lois Weber , one of
17812-505: The train the gang has robbed and chases them to the Mexican border. The robbers blow up a trestle bridge spanning the Rio Grande as the posse tries to cross, dumping the entire posse into the river, but the exhausted posse continues their pursuit. Pike, anticipating that Mapache might double-cross him, hides the goods and has his men sell them to Mapache in separate amounts. However, Mapache learns from Teresa's mother that Angel stole some of
17958-567: The two first films it produced, Claude Chabrol 's Le scandale (English title The Champagne Murders , 1967) and Romain Gary 's Les oiseaux vont mourir au Pérou (English title Birds in Peru ), it was only involved in French or other European co-productions, including Louis Malle 's Lacombe, Lucien , Bertrand Blier 's Les Valseuses (English title Going Places , 1974), and Fred Zinnemann 's The Day of
18104-544: The vicious violence of the period, but also the crude men attempting to survive the era. Multiple scenes attempted in Major Dundee , including slow motion action sequences (inspired by Akira Kurosawa 's work in Seven Samurai (1954), characters leaving a village as if in a funeral procession, and the use of inexperienced locals as extras, would become fully realized in The Wild Bunch . Peckinpah considered many actors for
18250-449: The wake of the 1948 U.S. vs. Paramount Pictures, et al. decision. Leading actors were increasingly free to work where and when they chose, and in 1950 MCA agent Lew Wasserman made a deal with Universal for his client James Stewart that would change the rules of the business. Wasserman's deal gave Stewart a share in the profits of three pictures in lieu of a large salary. When one of those films, Winchester '73 (1950), proved to be
18396-403: The weapons and reveals this as Angel and Dutch deliver the last of the weapons. Angel desperately tries to escape, only to be captured and beaten. Mapache lets Dutch go after he states that Angel is a thief who deserves to be punished, and Dutch then tells Pike and the others what happened. Sykes is wounded by Thornton's posse while securing spare horses. Dutch criticizes Thornton for working with
18542-452: The whole comment on the rejuvenation of a cynic" who finds out about life through a seventeen-year-old girl, with her teaching him more about life than he does for her. Eastwood said at the time that he didn't believe the film would "make a dime" but that he was making the movie because he wanted the challenge, and because the material was different than what he was used to. Holden had not made a major film since The Wild Bunch in 1969, and he
18688-459: The world's largest talent agency, had also become a powerful television producer, renting space at Republic Studios for its Revue Productions subsidiary. After a period of complete shutdown, a moribund Universal agreed to sell its 360-acre (1.5 km ) studio lot to MCA in 1958 for $ 11 million, renamed Revue Studios . MCA owned the studio lot, but not Universal Pictures, yet was increasingly influential on Universal's products. The studio lot
18834-544: Was a box-office hit and reputedly resolved the studio's financial problems. The film's success led Universal to offer her a contract, which for the first five years of her career, produced her most successful pictures. When Pasternak stopped producing Durbin's pictures, and she outgrew her screen persona and pursued more dramatic roles, the studio signed 13-year-old Gloria Jean for her own series of Pasternak musicals from 1939; she went on to star with Bing Crosby , W. C. Fields , and Donald O'Connor . A popular Universal film of
18980-416: Was also borrowed for two films from Selznick International Pictures : Saboteur (1942) and Shadow of a Doubt (1943). As Universal's main product had always been lower-budgeted films, it was one of the last major studios to contract with Technicolor . The studio did not make use of the three-strip Technicolor process until Arabian Nights (1942), starring Jon Hall and Maria Montez . Technicolor
19126-429: Was also used for the studio's remake of their 1925 horror melodrama, Phantom of the Opera (1943) with Claude Rains and Nelson Eddy . With the success of their first two pictures, a regular schedule of high-budget Technicolor films followed. In 1945, J. Arthur Rank, who had already owned a stake in the studio almost a decade before, hoping to expand his American presence, bought into a four-way merger with Universal,
19272-447: Was an extremely cautious studio chief. Unlike rivals Adolph Zukor , William Fox , and Marcus Loew , Laemmle chose not to develop a theater chain . He also financed all of his own films, refusing to take on debt. This policy nearly bankrupted the studio when actor-director Erich von Stroheim insisted on excessively lavish production values for his films Blind Husbands (1919) and Foolish Wives (1922), but Universal shrewdly gained
19418-474: Was destroyed in subsequent fires and nitrate degradation, the surviving issues of these magazines are a crucial source for film historians. On March 15, 1915, Laemmle opened the world's largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios , on a 230-acre (0.9-km ) converted farm just over the Cahuenga Pass from Hollywood. Studio management became the third facet of Universal's operations, with
19564-432: Was done to secure a favorable rating from the MPAA , which was in the process of establishing a new set of codes . Peckinpah and his editors cut the film to satisfy the new, expansive R-rating parameters which, for the first time, designated a film as being unsuitable for children. Without this new system in place, the film could not have been released with its explicit images of bloodshed. Critics of The Wild Bunch note
19710-590: Was established on June 8, 1912, formed in a merger of Independent Moving Pictures (IMP), the Powers Motion Picture Company , Rex Motion Picture Manufacturing Company , Champion Film Company , Nestor Film Company , and the New York Motion Picture Company . Eventually all would be bought out by Laemmle. The new Universal studio was a vertically integrated company , with movie production, distribution, and exhibition venues all linked in
19856-545: Was impressed with Jaime Sánchez in Sidney Lumet 's film adaptation of The Pawnbroker and demanded that he be cast as Angel. Stage actor Albert Dekker was cast as Harrigan the railroad detective. The Wild Bunch was his last film, as he died just months after its final scenes were completed. Bo Hopkins had only a few television credits on his resume when he played the part of Clarence "Crazy" Lee. Warren Oates played Lyle Gorch, having previously worked with Peckinpah on
20002-468: Was made head of production at the renamed Universal-International Pictures, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures Company, Inc. which also served as an import-export subsidiary, and copyright holder for the production arm's films. Goetz, a son-in-law of Louis B. Mayer , decided to bring "prestige" to the new company. He stopped the studio's low-budget production of B movies , serials and curtailed Universal's horror and " Arabian Nights " cycles. He also reduced
20148-608: Was measured in terms of the 25 billion admission tickets that were clocked in China in 1986, and Worldwide Media Sales, a division of the New York-based Worldwide Media Group, had been placed in charge of the undertaking. In the early 1980s, the company had its own pay television arm Universal Pay Television (a.k.a. Universal Pay TV Programming, Inc.), which spawned in 1987, an 11-picture cable television agreement with then-independent film studio New Line Cinema . In
20294-453: Was never formally approached; Keith was asked, but he turned it down. Robert Ryan was ultimately cast in the part after Peckinpah saw him in the World War II action movie The Dirty Dozen (1967). Other actors considered for the role were Henry Fonda , Glenn Ford , Van Heflin , Ben Johnson (later cast as Tector Gorch), and Arthur Kennedy . The role of Mapache went to Emilio Fernández,
20440-534: Was nominated for an Outstanding Directorial Achievement award by the Directors Guild of America , and cinematographer Lucien Ballard won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography. Regarded as one of the greatest films of all time , The Wild Bunch was selected by the Library of Congress in 1999 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". The film
20586-454: Was not allowed to show the films on television. The production arm of the studio still struggled. While there were to be a few hits like The Killers (1946) and The Naked City (1948), both produced by Mark Hellinger , Universal-International's new theatrical films often met with disappointing response at the box office. By the late 1940s, Goetz was out. The studio returned to low-budget and series films such as Ma and Pa Kettle (1949),
20732-401: Was released (despite the takeover) with Carl Laemmle and Carl Laemmle Jr.'s names on the credits and in the film's advertising campaign. Standard Capital's J. Cheever Cowdin had taken over as president and chairman of the board of directors and instituted severe cuts in production budgets. Joining him were British entrepreneurs C.M. Woolf and J. Arthur Rank , who bought a significant stake in
20878-472: Was so happy to be approached that he agreed to appear in the film for no salary, receiving instead a percentage of the profits. When the film generated no profits, the Screen Actors Guild told Eastwood that he would have to pay Holden the union minimum of $ 4000. Jo Heims wrote the script about a love blossoming between a middle-aged man and a teenage girl. Heims had originally intended Eastwood to play
21024-514: Was to cineastes in 1969," wrote film critic Michael Sragow , who added that Peckinpah had "produced an American movie that equals or surpasses the best of Kurosawa : the Gotterdammerung of Westerns". Today, the film holds a 91% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 8.8/10 based on reviews from 66 critics with its consensus stating, " The Wild Bunch is Sam Peckinpah's shocking, violent ballad to an old world and
21170-579: Was unusual that Holden was in the screen tests with all the actresses, and that "most guys would say, 'get me some kid.' " The role of Breezy went to a young dark-haired actress named Kay Lenz , chosen because of her chemistry with Holden, who Eastwood described as "very very gentle with her, even during the screen test." According to friends of Eastwood, he became infatuated with Lenz during this period. Lenz had limited experience but approached her role energetically. Eastwood gave her veto power over nude scenes. Unless she approved them, he would not include them in
21316-534: Was upgraded and modernized, while MCA clients like Doris Day , Lana Turner , Cary Grant , and director Alfred Hitchcock were signed to Universal contracts. The long-awaited takeover of Universal Pictures by MCA, Inc. happened in mid-1962 as part of the MCA- Decca Records merger. As a final gesture before leaving the talent agency business, virtually every MCA client was signed to a Universal contract. In 1964, MCA formed Universal City Studios, Inc ., merging
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