First Artists was a production company that operated from 1969 to 1980. Designed to give movie stars more creative control over their productions, the initial actors who formed First Artists were Paul Newman , Barbra Streisand , and Sidney Poitier ; later joined by Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman . Movies made by First Artists include McQueen's The Getaway and the company's most successful film, Streisand's A Star Is Born .
31-405: The company was formed in 1969 and was the idea of agent Freddie Fields of Creative Management Associates with assistance from his partner David Begelman . Inspired by the formation of United Artists , Newman, Streisand, and Poitier formed First Artists with the understanding that they would have more creative control over their productions in exchange for being paid lower salaries and a share of
62-405: A halfway house , Earl presses Max to name the user. Max, realizing he will never get a break, pummels Earl, takes control of his car, and handcuffs him to a highway divider fence with his pants around his ankles. This deed makes straight life impossible. Max returns to a life of crime, robbing a Chinese-owned grocery store, and planning bigger heists with some willing old accomplices. After robbing
93-607: A Dutch conglomerate. The company also distributed some foreign films in the US, such as Pardon Mon Affaire and That Obscure Object of Desire . In 1976, McQueen made An Enemy of the People , which tested so poorly that it was never officially released. When First Artists refused to option Harold Pinter 's Old Times for McQueen, the actor sued the company. The case was settled out of court. Feldman insisted that Hoffman not make pictures for other studios until his obligation to First Artists
124-402: A bank together, Max and his friend Jerry Schue decide to up the ante and clean out a Beverly Hills jewelry store. The job is botched when Max takes too long trying to steal everything in sight, something Jerry had criticized him for when they pulled the bank job. Willy, acting as getaway driver , panics and takes off, leaving Max and Jerry to flee on foot as police converge on the store. While
155-470: A lifelong thief in Los Angeles who struggles to assimilate in society after serving a six-year prison sentence. The film is based on the novel No Beast So Fierce by Edward Bunker , who also acts in the film. Max Dembo, a lifelong thief in Los Angeles , is released from a six-year stint in prison and forced to report to a boorish and condescending parole officer, Earl Frank. One of the conditions of parole
186-495: A little longer. But his cool, hard disillusion, his unsentimental realism and his fatalistic attitude toward a life that never got going makes its own impact." Arthur D. Murphy of Variety panned the film as "most unlikable" because Hoffman "cannot overcome the essentially distasteful and increasingly unsympathetic elements in the character. Ulu Grosbard's sluggish direction doesn't help." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote that there were "authentic, gripping moments in
217-885: A montage of his booking photos dating back to his teen years (Max's prisoner number, A-20284, is the same as Edward Bunker's prisoner number in real life). The screenplay was written by Alvin Sargent , Edward Bunker and Jeffrey Boam , based on Bunker's novel No Beast So Fierce . Michael Mann served as an uncredited cowriter on the project. Filming of Straight Time took place primarily in Los Angeles County , including Sylmar and Burbank , with additional photography occurring in San Bernardino . Principal photography began on February 9, 1977, at Folsom State Prison in Folsom , California, near Sacramento . In addition to portraying
248-459: A producer and an executive at CBS, Rastar, and Warner Brothers, was brought in as chairman. He increased the development slate, and moved First Artists into film distribution, television, and music to ensure a more constant source of income. Feldman decided to supplement the company's movies with other star's films, such as Bobby Deerfield , originally developed for Paul Newman, and made with Al Pacino at Columbia. First Artists became involved in
279-587: Is an unusual movie out of today's Hollywood and a very fine one. Small in scale, grittily realistic, charged with a fierce intelligence about how people live on the other side of the law, the film makes few concessions to an audience's expectations, but it has an edgy, lingering intensity." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called it "riveting to watch from start to finish", adding, "Hoffman's Max has less dimension than some of his earlier characterizations. You wish his fight [to go straight] had gone on
310-412: Is handcuffed and dragged back to jail, out of a job and a home. Jenny visits him in jail and gives him her number to call when he gets out. After urine tests prove he is clean, Max is picked up by a smug Earl, who feels he actually gave Max a break by not pursuing the fact that someone had been using drugs in his place of residence, which would result in three more years in prison. During their car ride to
341-467: Is that Max find a job. At the employment agency , he meets young Jenny Mercer, a newly-hired secretary who helps him land scale-wage work at a can factory. Jenny accepts Max's invitation to dinner, clearly smitten by his worldly and seemingly gentle demeanor. Earl pays a surprise visit to Max's room, finding a book of matches that Max's friend Willy Darin recently used to cook heroin . Although Max clearly has no track marks nor other signs of drug abuse, he
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#1732898705729372-545: Is the way he is. It requires us to fill in the gaps, and it's the measure of the film that we want to." He also praised the performances, particularly those of Hoffman and Russell. Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film four stars out of four, and called it "a superior thriller, a riveting portrait of an ex-con", adding, "Most criminals in American movies are drooling, trigger-happy psychotics. In 'Straight Time,'
403-636: The First Artists Company with Paul Newman , Steve McQueen , Dustin Hoffman , Sidney Poitier , and Barbra Streisand . While First Artists only lasted for about ten years, it was unique in that it owned the films it produced, such as The Getaway (1972). Fields later served as president of MGM and United Artists . Fields was married four times. He was survived by his wife, former Miss Universe 1964, Corinna Tsopei , and by two adopted children by his former wife, actress Polly Bergen . He also
434-524: The 1980s promoted the likes of Richard Gere and Mel Gibson . While at CMA, he was involved with numerous blockbuster films, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , American Graffiti , and Star Wars . Fields played a key role in the merger of CMA with the International Famous Agency to form International Creative Management (ICM). Starting in 1969, Fields was a partner in
465-752: The brother of band leader Shep Fields . Field's obituary in Variety magazine described his early career: After a stint in the Coast Guard , he joined the Abbe Greshler agency in 1943; there he worked with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis . He was wooed away by MCA in 1946, bringing Lewis and Martin with him, and rose through the ranks to become head of its TV department. He packaged such vaudevillian and radio talents as Phil Silvers , George Burns and Gracie Allen and Jackie Gleason for television. In 1960, Fields and fellow former MCA agent David Begelman founded
496-488: The car so she can vomit. A short time later, the couple arrive at a lone service station and diner near Palmdale . The two have drinks there, but Max has second thoughts regarding their prospects on the lam, and implies that Jenny return to Los Angeles by bus. He decides to leave Jenny for her own good, resigning himself to a criminal life. Outside the diner, Jenny asks Max why she cannot come along. He responds, "Because I wanna get caught", and drives away. The movie ends with
527-554: The company. The company's first slate of films were Pocket Money (1972) with Newman, The Getaway (1972) with McQueen, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) with Newman, and Up the Sandbox (1972) with Streisand. The Getaway and Roy Bean were particularly successful. In 1972 First Artists offered 350,000 shares to investors at $ 7.50. That year Dustin Hoffman joined the company, agreeing to make two films at no more than $ 3 million. He would have creative control, provided
558-400: The criminals are people, and, somehow, that's more disturbing ... Credit ultimately must go to Hoffman, who continues to avoid playing the million-dollar cardboard roles that so many of his peers are drawn to." At the end of the year, he named it the best film of 1978. David Ansen of Newsweek wrote, "Though made up of familiar elements - an ex-con, bank robberies, lovers on the run - it
589-442: The film did not go over budget and schedule. Meanwhile, First Artists' distributor National General Pictures went into liquidation. In November 1973 Warners took over the distribution of First Artists movies. First Artists sued National General, settling in 1976. The company's initial output was sporadic, owing to the commitments of its stars, and by January 1975 it had only made seven films. That month, Philip K. Feldman, formerly
620-437: The film", but "in some unavoidable way [Hoffman] just doesn't look threatening and ruthless. You're tempted to console him rather than run from him. The cunning and aggression that one might accept immediately if actors like Robert De Niro or Harvey Keitel were cast as Max are only theoretically apparent in Hoffman." The film has a score of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes , based on 11 reviews. In 2003, The New York Times placed
651-522: The final cut had been violated, and that the take-over clause did not mean he forfeited all creative control. First Artists' countersuit claimed that Hoffman's "derogatory statements" damaged the film's reception and box-office performance. The outcome of the litigation has not been disclosed. Vincent Canby of The New York Times praised Straight Time as "a leanly constructed, vividly staged film" that "makes no attempt to explain Max. It simply says that this
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#1732898705729682-643: The international talent agency Creative Management Associates (CMA). At CMA, Fields and Begelman pioneered the movie "package" , where the talent agency put their stars, directors and writers together on a single project. CMA developed numerous agents, including Sue Mengers , Mike Medavoy , Sam Cohn , and Jeff Berg (who became president in 1979). CMA was instrumental in the development of such stars as Judy Garland , Woody Allen , Henry Fonda , Marilyn Monroe , Robert Redford , Peter Sellers , Steve McQueen and later Steven Spielberg , George Lucas , Burt Bacharach , Neil Young , and Jack Carter , and into
713-441: The lead character, Hoffman was originally hired to direct the film, and, according to producer Jerry Ziesmer , completed one day in this role. Ziesmer recalled that the first day of shooting at Folsom State Prison consisted primarily of a basic establishing shot, and that Hoffman requested constant camera resets, resulting in not a single frame being captured by day's end. With the studio concerned about Hoffman's ability to complete
744-502: The men attempt to get away via residential backyards, Jerry is shot and killed, while Max shoots a police officer. Max escapes with the loot, settles the score with Willy by murdering him, and flees Los Angeles with a loyal Jenny by his side. While driving through the Antelope Valley , Jenny hears a news bulletin on the radio detailing the extent of Max's crime and the various deaths that occurred. She becomes upset, and forces Max to stop
775-449: The movie business. By this stage, the company's shares were worth $ 4 apiece. The company's last film was Tom Horn . The company closed down a year later in March 1980 and was sold to Warner Bros . Freddie Fields Freddie Fields (July 12, 1923 – December 11, 2007), born Fred Feldman , was an American theatrical agent and film producer . Born to a Jewish family, Fields was
806-708: The production of The Gumball Rally , was a distribution consultant on The Ritz , and did TV movies like Minstrel Man . In July 1977 Feldman announced that Bill Cosby , who had appeared in three Poitier films, would produce and star in a film for the company called Sitting Pretty . "I consider him a member of the team," said Feldman of Cosby. Other films the company planned to make included Repo , with Darren McGavin , Stevie with Glenda Jackson , and Devilfish with Bert Gordon . ( Devilfish and Sitting Pretty would ultimately not be made.) First Artists shared development costs on Bobby Deerfield , The Gauntlet , and The One and Only ; and co-produced Speedtrap with
837-453: The profits. Each star promised to make three productions for the company, which would also be involved in television production , music publishing , and recording. The distributor of the films would be National General Pictures , which would put up two-thirds of the money for a film, with First Artists putting up the rest. In July 1970 Patrick Kelly was appointed chief executive officer of First Artists. The following year Steve McQueen joined
868-549: The project in a timely manner, Hoffman stepped down as director, after which Ulu Grosbard was hired. The film became the subject of litigation between Hoffman and the First Artists Production Company over creative control. Before Hoffman had finished editing the film, First Artists exercised a clause to take over the project, since the shoot had gone 23 days over schedule and approximately $ 1 million over budget. Hoffman's lawsuit alleged that his right to
899-408: Was completed. Hoffman wound up suing First Artists for $ 65 million, claiming that he was denied creative control on Straight Time and Agatha . Feldman counter-claimed that these movies had gone over budget and schedule, allowing him to step in. In July 1978 the company acquired Joel/Cal-Made, a male clothing manufacturer, for $ 8 million. In November the company sought to buy into a London casino but
930-411: Was married to actress Edith Fellows , who died June 26, 2011. Kathy Fields is their child. He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted. Straight Time Straight Time is a 1978 American neo-noir crime drama film directed by Ulu Grosbard and starring Dustin Hoffman , Theresa Russell , Gary Busey , Harry Dean Stanton , M. Emmet Walsh and Kathy Bates . Its plot follows
961-484: Was unsuccessful. Films such as Straight Time (Hoffman, 1978) and Agatha (Hoffman, 1979) performed poorly at the box office, although The Main Event (Streisand, 1979) was very successful. In September 1979 Philip Feldman resigned as chairman and president. The company was put up for sale. On December 31, 1979, the voting trust that ran First Artists on behalf of its founder‐shareholders expired and First Artists left