Getting Straight is a 1970 American comedy film motion picture directed by Richard Rush , released by Columbia Pictures .
59-549: Robert Kaufman (March 22, 1931 – November 21, 1991) was an American screenwriter, film producer and television writer known for such films and TV series as Getting Straight , Love at First Bite , She's Out of Control , Divorce American Style , The Cool Ones , Freebie and the Bean , How to Beat the High Co$ t of Living , The Monkees , and The Ugliest Girl in Town . Born to
118-559: A Jewish family on March 22, 1931, Kaufman attended Columbia University for three years before leaving to hitchhike across the US and Europe. He then took a job as a publicist for Mort Sahl in New York City and later as a comedy writer in the late 1950s including as a writer for Dick Shawn . In 1961, he moved to Los Angeles where he focused on television scripts before landing his first film credit in 1965 for Ski Party . In 1983, he inked
177-475: A double feature with Female Jungle (1955), a film noir . Other films released under the ARC banner include a British documentary Operation Malaya (1955) and Corman's Gunslinger (1956). Arkoff and Nicholson had always wanted to name their company "American International Pictures", but the name was unavailable. When the name became available, they changed over. There were three main production arms at AIP in
236-460: A fantastic character." Rush had made several movies with Jack Nicholson and offered him a role but the actor had to decline when deluged with offers post- Easy Rider . "I guess I've lost my standing with him", said Nicholson of the director. Candice Bergen was cast in July 1969. Harrison Ford had been under contract to Columbia, which had expired. However he was brought back to the studio for
295-462: A film to support Day the World Ended , The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955), but lacked the money to make both films. They split the costs with Dan and Jack Milner, film editors who wanted to get into production. The resulting double bill was very successful at the box office. Gordon also produced The Oklahoma Woman (1955), a Western by Corman, made through Sunset Productions. It was put on
354-413: A former student activist, Vietnam War veteran, and graduate student, returns to college to complete a master's degree so he can become a teacher. He does his best to avoid the increasing student unrest that has surfaced at his university and in the country as a whole. However, he finds this difficult as his girlfriend, Jan, is a leader in these protests. Over time, student demonstrations bring police to
413-567: A girl will watch; therefore: to catch your greatest audience you zero in on the 19-year-old male. AIP began as the American Releasing Corporation, a new distribution company formed in 1954 by James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff. They were interested in distributing a car chase movie produced by Roger Corman for his Palo Alto Productions, The Fast and the Furious (1955). Corman had received offers from other companies for
472-493: A label for acquired films for digital and theatrical releases, with MGM overseeing across streaming platforms and United Artists Releasing handling theatrical distribution in North America until 2023 when Amazon MGM Studios took over. Nicholson and Arkoff served as executive producers while Roger Corman and Alex Gordon were the principal film producers and, sometimes, directors. Writer Charles B. Griffith wrote many of
531-412: A lot of rack focus on the film. He later said he did this because he felt the script was very verbal and needed to "make it visual." Rush says "We shot the film on a very long lens, so we could peer inside and outside of the classrooms on the campus to gather relevant information, and get interesting angles in order to create a mood of tension or unpredictability. And this is where we really started using
590-409: A nebbish who won't. " Rush says Kolb later did some work on the script. "It was risky material because the war was still going on and students were at the barricades and Hollywood movies weren’t really addressing this stuff yet head-on", Rush says. Elliott Gould had just made M*A*S*H and was going to make Move when Columbia came to him with Getting Straight . "Columbia said if I didn't take
649-730: A new genre of beach party films featuring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon . The original idea and the first script were Rusoff's. The highly successful and often imitated series ended in 1966 with the seventh film, The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini . Many actors from the beach films also appeared in AIP's spy-spoofs, such as Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) and car racing films like Fireball 500 (1966) and Thunder Alley . During this time, AIP also produced or distributed most of Corman's horror films, such as X: The Man with
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#1732869855090708-507: A non-exclusive deal at Universal Pictures , where Kaufman was allowed to serve as writer-producer for the film studio. Kaufman was raised in Westport, Connecticut , and attended Staples High School . In a December 30, 1970, television appearance on The Dick Cavett Show , Kaufman revealed that when his family moved to the town in 1941 they were the first Jewish family to reside in Westport. He
767-558: A profit, Arkoff quizzed film exhibitors who told him of the value of the teenage market as adults were watching television. AIP stopped making Westerns with Arkoff explaining: "To compete with television westerns you have to have color, big stars and $ 2,000,000". AIP was the first company to use focus groups , polling American teenagers about what they would like to see and using their responses to determine titles, stars, and story content. AIP would question their exhibitors (who often provided 20% of AIP's financing ) what they thought of
826-545: A role in this film. Richard Rush signed Max Julien to a three-picture contract over two years. Filming started July 7, 1969 in Eugene, Oregon , with Lane Community College standing in for the fictional university. Rush later said Gould "had complete abandon. Elliott did a hell of a job." He said the actor was "incredibly inventive, tremendously flexible" and that Bergen was "a genuine dedicated, bright human being" who made "an extraordinary breakthrough." Candice Bergen said
885-399: A signature look. The early rubber monster suits and miniatures of Paul Blaisdell were used in AIP's science fiction films . The company also hired Les Baxter and Ronald Stein to compose many of its film scores. In the 1950s, the company had a number of actors under contract, including John Ashley , Fay Spain and Steve Terrell . When many of ARC/AIP's first releases failed to earn
944-487: A successful low-budget movie years later, during a 1980s talk show appearance. His ideas for a movie included: Later, the AIP publicity department devised a strategy called "the Peter Pan Syndrome": a) a younger child will watch anything an older child will watch; b) an older child will not watch anything a younger child will watch; c) a girl will watch anything a boy will watch; d) a boy will not watch anything
1003-436: A victim of its own success when other companies started copying its double feature strategy. Costs were rising and were not compensated by increased box office grosses. AIP shut down most of their production arms and focused on distributing films from Italy, while they decided what to do next. In October 1959 AIP announced it had secured finance from Colonial Bank (who had financed three of their films to date) for ten films over
1062-438: Is a comprehensive, cynical, sympathetic, flip, touching and hilarious story of the middle generation—those millions who are a bit too old for protest, a bit too young for repression. Elliott Gould's third smash performance in a year, herein as a disenchanted college student-teacher, makes him an undeniable screen star. Ditto for Candice Bergen, in a role that at last befits both her dramatic and physical talents." Gene Siskel of
1121-437: Is a very ambitious film that is too small for its britches". John Calley of Warners wanted to hire Kaufman, Rush and Gould to make a film of Bruce Jay Friedman 's Scuba Duba but no film resulted. Rush wanted to follow the film with The Stunt Man , but that film was not made until 1980. American International Pictures American International Pictures LLC ( AIP or American International Productions )
1180-501: Is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios . In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing films from 1955 until 1980, a year after its acquisition by Filmways in 1979. It was formed on April 2, 1954, as American Releasing Corporation ( ARC ) by former Realart Pictures Inc. sales manager James H. Nicholson and entertainment lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff and their first release
1239-494: The Chicago Tribune gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote that it "fails because no meaningful conflict is established until late in the film", and that every character except Bergen's was "one-dimensional, a thin symbol to be placed wherever the box office dictates." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called the film a "thoroughly equivocal mishmash" that "politicizes everyone and everything. This includes
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#17328698550901298-513: The Anchor Bay DVD of Mario Bava 's Black Sabbath , Mark Damon claims that he first suggested the idea to Corman. Damon also says that Corman let him direct The Pit and the Pendulum uncredited. Corman's commentary for Pit mentions nothing of this and all existing production stills of the film show Corman directing. During the early 1960s, AIP produced a series of horror films inspired by
1357-600: The Blood Beast , She Gods of Shark Reef and The Brain Eaters (all released in 1958). The other key producer for AIP was Alex Gordon who mostly made films though his Golden State Productions outfit, usually written by Lou Rusoff . He made Girls in Prison (1956), with director Edward L. Cahn who would become one of AIP's most prolific directors. AIP released it on a double bill with Hot Rod Girl (1956). Cahn also directed
1416-522: The Cellar , Zabriskie Point and RPM . Getting Straight was the only one that was commercially successful. "We were one of Columbia's biggest grossers of the year, and critics were very supportive", says Rush. Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote, "A brilliant, mercurial performance by Elliott Gould steadies and vivifies but cannot save 'Getting Straight' ... A serious-minded, freewheeling comedy, pivoting on student unrest and rebellion on
1475-667: The Lost City , Portrait of a Sinner (1959, West Germany), The Professionals (1960, Great Britain), and Escape to Paradise (1960, the Philippines). They also bought Why Must I Die? and The Jailbreakers (1960). In the early 1960s, AIP gained kudos by combining Roger Corman , Vincent Price and the stories of Edgar Allan Poe into a series of horror films, with scripts by Richard Matheson , Charles Beaumont , Ray Russell , R. Wright Campbell and Robert Towne . The original idea, usually credited to Corman and Lou Rusoff,
1534-504: The Odd . In 1962, Arkoff said AIP was in a position similar to Columbia Pictures just before they made Submarine and Dirigible : Before that they were on poverty row. Our better position will enable us to obtain more important writers, perhaps more important producers as well. We're a privately owned company at the moment but perhaps within two or three years we will become a public company. Beginning with 1963's Beach Party , AIP created
1593-662: The Poe cycle. Of eight films, seven feature stories that are actually based on the works of Poe. Seven of the films, with the exception of The Premature Burial , featured Vincent Price as the star. Occasionally, Corman's 1963 film The Terror (produced immediately after The Raven ) is recognized as being part of the Corman-Poe cycle, although the film's story and title are not based on any literary work of Poe. Some Poe films announced by AIP but not made include The Gold Bug , The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade , and The Angel of
1652-475: The Western Outlaw Treasure (1955) starring Johnny Carpenter . ARC got Corman to direct another Western and science fiction double bill Apache Woman (1955) and Day the World Ended (1955). Both scripts were written by Arkoff's brother-in-law Lou Rusoff , who would become the company's leading writer in its early days. Apache Woman was produced by Alex Gordon, an associate of Arkoff's, Day
1711-711: The World (1956) from a script by Rusoff that was rewritten by Charles B. Griffith . His films included Rock All Night (1956); Naked Paradise (1957), in which Arkoff had a small role; The Undead ; Sorority Girl ; The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1957); Machine Gun Kelly with Charles Bronson ; and Teenage Caveman (1958), with Robert Vaughn . AIP also distributed films Corman helped finance, such as Night of
1770-533: The X-ray Eyes . In 1966, the studio released The Wild Angels starring Peter Fonda , based loosely on the real-life exploits of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. This film ushered in AIP's most successful year and kicked off a subgenre of motorcycle gang films that lasted almost 10 years and included Devil's Angels , The Glory Stompers with Dennis Hopper , and The Born Losers —the film that introduced
1829-422: The book "very funny". Director Richard Rush had impressed with his AIP films Hells Angels on Wheels (1967) and Psych-Out (1968) and was signed to an independent deal with Columbia. They offered the book to him, and he said he would do it if they let him make a contemporary film about kids at college rebelling against the draft and the war. He wrote a treatment and they eventually agreed. Rush's signing
Robert Kaufman - Misplaced Pages Continue
1888-486: The burning roof of the Usher mansion reappears in most of the other films as stock footage ), making the series quite cost-effective. All the films in the series were directed by Roger Corman, and they all starred Price except The Premature Burial , which featured Ray Milland in the lead. It was originally produced for another studio, but AIP acquired the rights to it. As the series progressed, Corman made attempts to change
1947-406: The campus to quell the unrest, and the ensuing clashes lead to a heavy police presence. Harry is forced to question his changing values. At the height of the rioting, he comes to agree with Jan that "getting straight" is more important than the unquestioning acceptance of the educational establishment. In February 1967, Mike Frankovich, head of Columbia Pictures, announced he had bought the rights to
2006-619: The cast were Candice Bergen as Bailey's girlfriend, Jeff Corey as Bailey's professor, Robert F. Lyons as his draft-avoiding friend Nick, and Harrison Ford as a fellow teaching student and his girlfriend's neighbor. Getting Straight was released during an era of change and unrest in the United States in the late 1960s and early '70s, and was in a long line of films that dealt with these themes. Other films of this period with similar themes were Medium Cool (1969), R. P. M. (1970), and The Strawberry Statement (1970). Harry Bailey,
2065-473: The contemporary campus scene, succumbs to theatrics and, structurally, the very conventions it deplores." Also writing in The New York Times , Dwight Macdonald called it "a bad movie" that "reminds me of a grunt-and-groan wrestling match that tries by overemphasis to make the customers forget it's fixed." However, Arthur D. Murphy of Variety declared, "'Getting Straight' is an outstanding film. It
2124-631: The documentary Naked Africa , The Screaming Skull (1957), The Cool and the Crazy , Daddy-O , Dragstrip Riot and Tank Battalion (1958). AIP developed a mutual relationship with Britain's Anglo-Amalgamated who would distribute AIP's product in the UK. In return, AIP would distribute their films in the U.S., such as The Tommy Steele Story (1957) and Cat Girl (1957). AIP also imported The White Huntress (1954, England), Pulgarcito (1958, Mexico) and The Sky Calls (1959, Russia). AIP became
2183-476: The early films, along with Arkoff's brother-in-law, Lou Rusoff, who later produced many of the films he had written. Other writers included Ray Russell , Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont . Floyd Crosby , A.S.C. famous for his camera work on a number of exotic documentaries and the Oscar winner, High Noon , was chief cinematographer. His innovative use of surreal color and odd lenses and angles gave AIP films
2242-454: The film took her career in "a new direction... my first experience with democratic, communal movie making." When filming ended Kaufman wrote "we have sought to record, with a sense of humor, the reality of today's student protest, campus riots, and establishment reprisals. We will undoubtedly be charged with sensationalism but anything less than a straightforward depiction of these events would be ludicrously false." Rush says when he got to
2301-442: The film, but ARC offered to advance money to enable Corman to make two other films. Corman agreed, The Fast and the Furious performed well at the box office and the company was launched. Corman's next two films for the company were a Western, Five Guns West (1955), which Corman directed, and a science fiction film, The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955). The title from the latter had come from Nicholson. ARC also distributed
2360-679: The following for Gordon: The She-Creature (released as a double feature with It Conquered the World ); Flesh and the Spur , the last Western made by AIP; Shake, Rattle & Rock! , a rock musical with Mike Connors ; Runaway Daughters (1956); Voodoo Woman ; Dragstrip Girl (1957), with John Ashley ; Motorcycle Gang (1957), again with Ashley; Jet Attack and Submarine Seahawk (1958). Most of these were written by Rusoff and directed by Edward L. Cahn . Gordon left AIP and Rusoff alone produced Hot Rod Gang (1958) and Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959). Another key producer for AIP
2419-409: The formula. Later films added more humor to the stories, especially The Raven , which takes Poe's poem as an inspiration and develops it into an all-out farce starring Price, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre ; Karloff had starred in a 1935 film with the same title. Corman also adapted H. P. Lovecraft 's short novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward in an attempt to get away from Poe, but AIP changed
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2478-627: The late 1950s, AIP kept their company afloat by importing films from Italy. These included Sheba and the Gladiator (1959), Goliath and the Barbarians (1959) and Black Sunday (1960); the latter film proved to be one of the company's early successes. There was also Atomic Agent (1959, France), The Angry Red Planet (1959, Denmark), Tiger of Bengal (1959) and The Indian Tomb (1960) from Fritz Lang in Germany, edited together as Journey to
2537-407: The late 1950s: Roger Corman, Alex Gordon & Lou Rusoff, and Herman Cohen. Arkoff and Nicholson would buy films from other filmmakers as well, and import films from outside America. Corman continued to be an important member of AIP (though he also worked for Allied Artists and his own Filmgroup company during this period). He had a big hit for the company with the science fiction film It Conquered
2596-482: The location he saw it was full of glass walls. "We had to suit what was happening inside with what was happening outside, and it opened up enormous opportunities", he said. "Also, I'd never shot a riot before with tear gas and policemen beating up people. When I suddenly had the equipment to do that, with the tear gas and the paddy wagons and the helicopters, it became a different version of the movie than I had originally pictured in my head as I had written it." Rush used
2655-455: The love affair, which is thwarted by some of the worst dialogue I've ever listened to." Richard Combs of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "Perfectly maintaining the balance between acute exasperation and a vivid intellectual energy, Elliott Gould manages to endow Harry with something of the air of a prophet returned from the wilderness, certain of his personal truth although by no means certain of achieving it, and not to be goaded into becoming
2714-586: The next 12 months. The remaining 14 to 20 projects planned were paid by Pathe Laboratories. The ten films were Diary of a High School Bride , Drag Race , The Haunted House of Usher , End of the World , World Without Women , Bombs Away , Blood Hill , Take Me To Your Leader , She and Eve and the Dragon . Not all of these would be made. The company moved into rented office space at the former Chaplin Studios . In
2773-456: The novel Getting Straight by Ken Kolb. Richard Rush described the original novel as "a nice novel about a graduate student taking his orals to get his teaching credentials. The administration of the college is like a medieval torture chamber, and the oral exam is like the Salem witch trials . He barely escapes with his sanity." The novel was published in early 1968. The Chicago Tribune called
2832-458: The part they'd drop it", he said. "I was the only actor they'd go with. I was never so flattered in my life." Gould says when he met Rush the director asked him, "'Can you get angry?' Because I had never been in the Army, nor had I ever gone to college, nor am I an angry person. I said, 'I believe I can show you some passion and emotion for this character.' " Gould said "it's an almost classical part,
2891-497: The rack focus technique. This type of shooting draws the viewer into the shot on an emotional level." The film grossed $ 13.3 million at the domestic box office, earning $ 5.1 million in US theatrical rentals . It was the 21st highest-grossing film of 1970 . The film was one of a number of movies made about campus unrest at this time, others including The Strawberry Statement , The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart , The Pursuit of Happiness , The Revolutionary , Up in
2950-459: The result. Rush then hired someone not on the list, Robert Kaufman, who Rush had known at AIP. Rush called Kaufman "a brilliant, vicious intellectual, total amoral comic. He could make me laugh. He was a bright, funny man." Kaufman signed in December 1968. "All my films are about commitment", said Kaufman later. "Somehow. The moral was, love is better with a monster who'll make a commitment than with
3009-503: The spokesman for a new generation of icon levellers." Leonard Maltin 's movie guide awarded two-and-a-half stars out of four and noted that the film essentially was a "period piece" but that its "central issue of graduate student (Elliott) Gould choosing between academic double-talk and his beliefs remains relevant." Steven Scheuer , however, wrote that the film was reflective of " hippiedom alienation at its shallowest." Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic wrote- "Getting Straight
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#17328698550903068-426: The success of a title, then would have a writer create a script for it. A sequence of tasks in a typical production involved creating a great title, getting an artist such as Albert Kallis who supervised all AIP artwork from 1955 to 1973 to create a dynamic, eye-catching poster, then raising the cash, and finally writing and casting the film. Samuel Z. Arkoff related his tried-and-true "ARKOFF formula" for producing
3127-508: The title to that of an obscure Poe poem, The Haunted Palace , and marketed it as yet another movie in the series. The last two films in the series, The Masque of the Red Death and The Tomb of Ligeia , were filmed in England with an unusually long schedule for Corman and AIP. Although Corman and Rusoff are generally credited with coming up with the idea for the Poe series, in an interview on
3186-599: Was Herman Cohen , who had a huge hit with I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) starring Michael Landon . He followed it with I Was a Teenage Frankenstein , Blood of Dracula (both also in 1957 as a double feature), How to Make a Monster (1958), The Headless Ghost and Horrors of the Black Museum (both in 1959). Other key collaborators who worked for AIP in the late 1950s included: AIP would flesh out their distribution schedule by buying films made by outside producers. These included The Astounding She-Monster ,
3245-447: Was announced in June 1968. "To me the whole 'revolution' is not a political revolution but a personal one", he said. "It is the result of the inability of an entire generation on a personal, individual level to accept the disparities in the morality at the foundation of our society." Rush says the studio gave him a list of writers to do a screenplay and he picked one, but was not happy with
3304-479: Was married three times. He had four children from his first marriage: Melissa, Robin, Richard, and Christopher. His third wife was Robin Krause. Kaufman died in 1991. Services were held at Hillside Memorial Park . Getting Straight The story centered upon student politics at a university in the early 1970s, seen through the eyes of non-conformist graduate student Harry Bailey ( Elliott Gould ). Also featured in
3363-401: Was produced by Corman. Both were made by Golden State Productions, ARC's production arm. Normally, B movies were made for the second part of a bill and received a flat rate. As television was encroaching on the B movie market, Nicholson and Arkoff felt it would be more profitable to make two low budget films and distribute them together on a double feature . Nicholson came up with a title for
3422-403: Was the 1953 UK documentary film Operation Malaya . It was dedicated to releasing low-budget films packaged as double features , primarily of interest to the teenagers of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The company eventually became a part of Orion Pictures , which in turn, became a division of Amazon MGM Studios. On October 7, 2020, four decades after the original closure, MGM revived AIP as
3481-611: Was to take Poe's story " The Fall of the House of Usher ", which had both a high name-recognition value and the merit of being in the public domain , and thus royalty -free, and expand it into a feature film. Corman convinced the studio to give him a larger budget than the typical AIP film so he could film the movie in widescreen and color, and use it to create lavish sets as well. The success of House of Usher led AIP to finance further films based on Poe's stories. The sets and special effects were often reused in subsequent movies (for example,
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