Reviews

Jake LaMotta was an American professional boxer who held the world middleweight title between 1949 and 1951. He was nicknamed "The Bronx Bull" for his constant brawling and inside fighting technique. LaMotta often took as much punishment as he dished out but was able to absorb an incredible amount of beating throughout his career. All in all, he lived a turbulent life in and out of the ring. In 1970, Jake LaMotta wrote his autobiography, "Raging Bull: My Story".

Robert DeNiro was in Sicily 1974 to shoot "The Godfather Part ll". In his spare time, he read LaMotta's biography and was deeply fascinated. So, the actor contacted his favorite movie director, Martin Scorsese, and suggested that they film LaMotta's book (with DeNiro himself in the starring role). However, Scorsese flatly refused. He had never been interested in sports, and he certainly had no intention of making a picture about some half-forgotten fighter.

Robert DeNiro was not a man to give in that easy, though. Six years later, he finally managed to persuade Scorsese. In the spring of 1979, the two friends began shooting "Raging Bull" in Manhattan. Despite the studio's protests, Martin Scorsese had decided to make the movie in black and white. The director also decided to film all the most challenging logistical parts first - the graphic fight scenes. Often captured with a handheld camera inside the boxing ring.

To play the bloated Jake LaMotta later in life, Robert DeNiro insisted on gaining weight rather than using special makeup effects. The entire production was therefore shut down for two months while the actor put on more than 60 pounds (30 kilos). But despite these extraordinary efforts, "Raging Bull" was not a major success. Not at the box office and certainly not among critics. In recent years, however, the film has been appropriately re-evaluated. It is now considered one of the most important pictures from the early 1980s.

In 1938 novelist John Campbell wrote a book called "Who Goes There?". A story about a group of scientists, trapped on an isolated outpost in Antarctica. There, they find a crashed flying saucer frozen in the eternal ice sheet. Near the spaceship, the guys also discover a seemingly dead, humanoid body. So, they leave the UFO, but take the "carcass" back to their base. The next day, the scientists are forced into battle with an extremely dangerous creature from outer space.

Forty years later, screenwriter Dan O'Bannon wrote a treatment of John Campbell's story. He named his version "Alien" but replaced the research station at the South Pole with a derelict spaceship, light years away from planet Earth. O'Bannon tried to interest 20th Century-Fox in his story, but they flatly turned it down. In the mid-70s, no one could be bothered with science fiction. Then, of course, the first "Star Wars" came along, and it was a whole new ball game.

After George Lukas' space opera broke all kinds of box office records, work on "Alien" began in earnest. British newcomer Ridley Scott took care of the direction, while the female lead went to Sigourney Weaver (also untested on the silver screen). A big, elaborate set was then built at Shepperton Studios in the United Kingdom. Finally, Swiss artist Hans Ruedi Giger was hired to create the extremely scary alien and the unique landscape of its hostile, foreign planet.

Despite having only made one feature film before, Ridley Scott clearly knew how to terrify his audience. By only having the xenomorph appear on-screen for about four minutes, the director made that appearance all the scarier. And it worked. "Alien" was a huge success, both with critics and among the public. The film quickly raked in so much money that it spawned three sequels and two prequels. In addition, TV-shows, comic books and video games followed. "Alien" has now become one of the most successful movie franchises of all time.

The magazine "Harvard Lampoon" was founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For many years, the publication was run as an internal affair for students within the institution. At the beginning of the 1960s, however, some editors began to expand the business. Ten years later, a spinoff called "National Lampoon" was established. It turned out to be a veritable hothouse for budding comedy writers in America.

In 1978, the Lampoon's management decided to gamble even higher. Several of the magazine's campus-related articles had met with an unexpectedly positive reaction from the readers. The board therefore decided to try to make a full-length, comic movie about an "outlaw fraternity". Not surprisingly, most Hollywood studios turned down the mag's proposal, but after some hesitation Universal decided to support the project. "Animal House" was on its way.

Since director John Landis only had a minuscule budget to operate with, he was forced to improvise freely. And unfortunately, that wasn't the only problem he faced. The script was sent out to over 250 schools around the country, but after readign the raunchy text, almost no college administrators were interested in opening their doors to the movie makers. It was only the president of the University of Oregon who finally gave them permission to film on his campus.

Despite mostly negative reviews "Animal House" was a big hit at the box office. However, the success had a negative (and unexpected) downside. Many producers in Hollywood began offering the best National Lampoon writers jobs in the movies. And when the guys realized that there was bigger money to be made in Tinseltown, many left their old work. So, without its top writers, the Lampoon started to lose its readers. The once proud humor magazine declined rapidly and in 1998 it ceased publication entirely. An era was over.

At the beginning of the '70s, a new subculture emerged in the American nightlife scene. Disco music started playing at venues popular among African/Americans, Latino/Americans and young, trendy gays. Then, in 1976, British rock journalist Nic Cohn came to New York to write about the phenomenon. His lengthy article "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night" turned out to be extremely important in the development of the new club landscape.

Back in London, music mogul Robert Stigwood had been given an advanced look at the article. And he liked what he saw. Even before the piece was published, Stigwood bought the rights to Nic Cohn's story. In the central role of the up-and-coming film he wanted John Travolta. A young actor best known for playing a cocky Italian heartthrob in a popular TV sitcom. Stigwood was sure the guy would be perfect for "Saturday Night Fever." And boy, was he right...

Unfortunately, it wasn't an easy movie to make. Travolta was forced to undergo a rigorous training regiment, aided by a personal dance instructor. Nine months later (and twenty pounds lighter) the actor was finally considered ready for the cameras. At that time, John Travolta had become such a skilled dancer that the choreographer decided to add most of his moves into the film. "Saturday Night Fever" was then shot in a real Brooklyn disco, with strobe lights, mirror balls and lots of hazy images cut to the pumping beat of the music.

From the moment John Travolta strutted down the street in "Saturday Night Fever", pop culture was changed forever. The film simply set a whole new standard for marketing synergy. Not only that. The soundtrack (featuring the Bee Gees) became one of the best-selling albums of all time. The disco movement, once an underground oddity, turned into a mainstream pop phenomenon. And John Travolta went from being a mere TV idol into a true, movie superstar.

In the mid-70s, Sylvester Stallone's future didn't seem that bright. "The Italian Stallion" dreamed of a career on the silver screen, but so far he'd only been an extra in a few minor productions. Then something unexpected happened. In the spring of 1975, Stallone watched the heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali fighting Chuck Wepner on TV. Of course, the challenger didn't stand a chance, but despite that, Wepner managed to stay on his feet right into the final round. Something that gave Sylvester Stallone a great idea.

Three days later, Stallone had finished the first draft of what would become "Rocky". A story about a boxing journeyman who gets the chance of a lifetime. Unfortunately, getting the film produced proved to be much harder than writing its screenplay. And things got even trickier when Stallone insisted on playing the main part himself. After lengthy negotiations, however, United Artists agreed to his demands. Sylvester Stallone would work for a minuscule wage but was instead promised a percent of the film's (unlikely) net profit.

United Artists decided to open "Rocky" in a few, select theaters for maximum reaction. The studio's management then decided to send the film's leading man on an extensive promotion tour. For weeks Sylvester Stallone travelled the country, telling the assembled press how he had refused to sell his script unless he himself got to play the lead. A rags-to-riches story the media simply loved.

The very idea that a low-budget production like "Rocky" would stand a chance at the Academy Awards seemed preposterous. Besides, future classics like "All the President's Men", "Network" and "Taxi Driver" were in the competition that year. But the incredible happened. As a true underdog, "Rocky" took home the Best Picture Oscar. The victory also meant that Sylvester Stallone, a former Tinseltown bit player, was on his way of becoming a bona-fide megastar.

In the spring of 1962, Ken Kesey began working the night shift at the Menlo Park Veterans' Hospital in California. He spent large parts of his time in conversation with the mental patients, often under the influence of the hallucinogenic drugs he experimented with. Inspired by what he saw at the clinic, Kesey then wrote "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". To everyone's surprise (not least Ken Kesey's) the novel became a great success, both critically and sales-wise.

One of the book's many enthusiastic readers was Hollywood star Kirk Douglas. He immediately bought the rights from the author, intending to make a semi/documentary film out of the story. Douglas had planned to take on the lead role himself, but the project turned out to be more difficult than he had imagined. To the actor's disappointment, no studio in town was interested in financing a movie that took place almost exclusively in a mental hospital.

And so the years went by. In fact, a great number of years went by. In 1975, Kirk Douglas realized that he had become too old to play the lead role. Instead, the actor turned "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" over to his son, Michael Douglas. He, in turn, brought in Milos Forman to direct. To solve the problem with the film's financing, young Douglas took advantage of the recently instituted US Revenue Act, which allowed investment in movies to qualify for a tax credit as long as they were produced within the United States.

The film's resigned yet optimistic portrayal of a strong-willed rebel (played by Jack Nicholson) apparently touched a nerve, turning "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" into one of the most popular movies of the 1970s. It became the second film in history to sweep all five top Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. Only "It Happened One Night" had done that before, and that was back in 1934.

The hard-drinking, hard-hitting private eye has always been a central character in American popular culture. As early as the 1930s, writers like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler wrote about these vice-cracking anti-heroes and their exploits. And it wasn't long before Hollywood realized what a great source of dramatic material this represented. In 1941, Humphrey Bogart played Sam Spade, the seminal private dick, in Walter Huston's "The Maltese Falcon".

Fast forward to 1974. That year, producer Robert Evans bought a promising screenplay from author Robert Towne. "Chinatown" takes place in Los Angeles and deals with precisely the kind of private investigator that Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler used to write about. Right from the start Evans wanted Roman Polanski to direct, but he turned out to be hard to persuade. Polanski was living in France at the time, and the thought of returning to Los Angeles, where his wife had recently been murdered, seemed overwhelming to him.

Luckily, Evans did manage to persuade Roman Polanski to return to Tinseltown. Where it transpired that the Polish director was not the only celebrity on the studio floor. The cast was filled with major stars like Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston. Having so many high-voltage personalities in one production does not guarantee that a masterpiece will be created, of course. But, when the cameras stopped rolling on "Chinatown", the result turned out to be sensational.

Something a united body of critics agreed with. The film received rave reviews, especially for Robert Towne's outstanding screenplay and Roman Polanski's innovative direction. And it didn't stop with that. Today, "Chinatown" is considered to be one of the best hard-boiled detective stories ever made. It's even used as a teaching point in movie seminars all over the world. So, Roman Polanski and his team have every reason to be pleased with their work.

In the early 1970s, George Lukas tried to sell an autobiographical film idea to the major studios in Hollywood. The story reflected George Lukas' own youth in Modesto, California. How the future director and his pals had spent every weekend cruising the high-street in their hot rods, eating and drinking at the drive-in joints along the way. And, of course, listening to the rock-n-roll music on the radio. Unfortunately, no one in Tinseltown was interested in George Lucas' proposal. Not until his good friend Francis Ford Coppola stepped in, that is.

With Coppola as executive producer, George Lucas started shooting "American Graffiti" in 1972. But it wasn't going to be easy. To finance the film, Universal Pictures demanded the rights to final cuts. Lucas also had to agree to an absolutely minuscule budget. To keep costs down, he therefore began a series of open auditions at high schools and colleges in California. Finally, Lucas managed to hire a cast of cheap unknowns, including a young carpenter named Harrison Ford.

The first public preview of "American Graffiti" was a great success. Unfortunately, though, Universal's management hated it. After intense discussions with George Lucas (in the lobby of the theater), the executives cancelled the premiere and asked the director to radically recut his movie. Since the studio also disliked the film's title, a long list of alternatives was then given to George Lucas. Luckily, he stubbornly stuck to his original choice.

By this point the studio's expectations for "American Graffiti" had sunk even lower. In fact, the movie remained in the company's vaults at Universal City Plaza for over six months. When the film was finally released, the management was shocked at the amazing reception it received. With a production budget of $750,000 and a worldwide box office of over $115 million, "American Graffiti" is now considered to be one of the most profitable pictures ever made.

Sholem Aleichem was a Yiddish author living in pre-revolutionary Russia in the 19th century. At the end of his life, he published a collection of short stories titled "Tevye and His Daughters". Because of their universal themes regarding parents, children and the struggle to adjust to changing times Aleichem's yarns soon became widespread. In 1964, a musical adaptation of the material was made as "Fiddler on the Roof" in New York City. A show that, in its time, became the longest-running musical on Broadway.

Of course, many prominent Hollywood studios noted the play's big success. And executives at United Artists acted first. They bought the movie rights and hired Norman Jewison to direct. To prepare for the task, the Toronto-born filmmaker spent several months in Israel, immersing himself in the Jewish Orthodox community. Jewison then chose his cast based on the actors' lineage and look, as well as their association with the traditional, Yiddish theater.

Although the comedian Zero Mostel had been extremely popular as Tevye on Broadway, Norman Jewison wanted someone who looked more Eastern European in the role. And when he saw Chaim Topol in the West End version of "Fiddler" the director knew he had found his man. Unfortunately, as Topol was only thirty-five at the time, the actor first had to spend hours in the makeup department to be aged for the part. Then, after having thoroughly prepared his star, Jewison shot the whole film to the pre-recorded music.

Luckily, "Fiddler on the Roof" was a tremendously successful adaptation of its stage counterpart. And Chaim Topol's transition from the London production worked perfectly. "Fiddler on the Roof" had the highest domestic box office of the year, with more than $100 in its initial release. The film was then nominated for a total of eight Oscars at the Academy Awards (it won three).

The airliner-in-peril genre has a long and glorious tradition in Hollywood. One of the first examples, "Five Came Back", was made already in 1939 and deals with the passengers on board a commercial flight from Los Angeles to Panama City. In the following years, films such as "The High and the Mighty", "Zero Hour" and "The Crowded Sky" followed. All with a nonhuman "star" in the form of a failing jetliner. Then, in 1970, Universal launched a whole new kind of big-budget, star-driven aviation movie. "Airport" was the new kid on the block.

The studio hired screenwriter and director George Seaton to handle their hot property. At his disposal Seaton got a (then) whopping production budget of $10 million. Leading the cast were Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin, who were paid a percentage of the box office receipts in addition to their salaries. Universal then borrowed a Boing 707 to be used in the outdoor scenes. Six giant wind machines and tons of plastic snowflakes were used to create the film's blizzard.

Unfortunately, problems soon piled up. The costs had spiraled way over budget, so Universal's management ordered George Seaton to shut down production. The director managed to persuade them to give his movie another chance, though. But, as the studio still was convinced that "Airport" would be a costly flop, Universal decided to premiere the film in as many markets as possible. The idea was to recover the studio's losses before word of mouth killed the flick.

Despite generally unfavorable reviews "Airport" was a huge triumph at the cinemas. It also spawned three (less successful) sequels - and triggered a string of disaster movies like "The Poseidon Adventure", "Earthquake" and "The Towering Inferno". So, in retrospect, it turned out that the management at Universal had worried quite unnecessarily. Instead, "Airport" became one of the very first pictures to gross more than $100 million at the box office.

John Schlesinger was an English film and stage director. He had his big break in the early 1960s when he was seen as the leading light of the British New Wave. In his works, Schlesinger often dealt with provocative subject matters openly and empathetically. His 1965 movie "Darling" was nominated for a total of five Oscars and most showbiz insiders expected the director to continue to work in his native country. But John Schlesinger had other plans...

In the spring of 1969, Schlesinger moved to the United States instead. There, he secured the movie rights to James Herlihy's novel "Midnight Cowboy". In the book, a simple-minded Texas drifter named Joe Buck tries to make a living as a gigolo for older, wealthy women in New York. Unfortunately, this doesn't work out too well, so Joe is forced to move in with the sickly, petty criminal Ratzo Risso. To survive in the Big Apple the pair develops an unusual friendship.

The year before, Dustin Hoffman had hit the big time with "The Graduate". Unfortunately, the film also type-casted him. Hoffman was now offered countless roles in which he would play a shy, awkward young man again. So, Hoffman saw Ratzo Risso as a chance to showcase a broader acting range. For the part of Joe Buck, the movie company proposed Robert Redford, but Schlesinger wanted an unknown talent instead. When he saw Jon Voight in a stage-play off-Broadway, the director knew he had found his guy.

Luckily, John Schlesinger's first job on foreign soil was an absolute success. "Midnight Cowboy" became a blockbuster at the box office despite somewhat mixed reviews. And his lucky streak continued at the Academy Awards. John Schlesinger picked up an Oscar for Best Director, while "Midnight Cowboy" became the first X-rated movie to win in the Best Picture category. Ever! The film is now considered to be a ground-breaking work of queer cinema.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Fanny Brice was one of the big names on Broadway. And not only there. Brice was also a star on the radio; she made movies in Hollywood and was one of the first artists to appear on TV (then a new medium). Unfortunately, her private life was not as successful. Just when Fanny Brice had reached the peak of her career, she fell in love with a professional gambler called Nicky Arnstein. A man who embezzled much of her hard-earned fortune before he ended up in Leavenworth Prison.

In 1968, Fanny Brice's son-in-law, producer Ray Stark, decided to make a film about his famous relative. Columbia Pictures was interested in "Funny Girl" but insisted that crowd favorite Shirley MacLaine get the lead role. Fortunately, Stark was of a different opinion. He eventually managed to convince the studio that the young singer Barbra Streisand could better portray Fanny Brice. The Egyptian actor Omar Sharif was then hired to play Nicky Arnstein.

Sadly, that specific cast turned out to cause severe problems for the production. The month before, the so-called Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt was fought, and now lots of people frowned at the budding romance between Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif (both on- and offscreen). However, producer Ray Stark decided to benefit from the bad publicity. He even played it up further, thus creating an early buzz for the upcoming movie.

Luckily Stark's tactics worked. "Funny Girl" became the year's highest-grossing movie at the box office. And it wasn't just the audience who loved what they saw. The critics were unanimous in their praise for Barbra Streisand. Her success then continued at the Academy Awards where she won an Oscar for Best Actress. Seven years later, the same team also made a sequel to "Funny Girl". But not even Barbra Streisand could save "Funny Lady".

Spencer Tracy was one of the major stars in Hollywood during the so-called Golden Age of Cinema. He joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the mid-1930s. During his time at the studio Tracy became the first actor to win two consecutive Oscars (for "Captains Courageous" in 1937 and "Boys Town" the following year). Towards the end of his career, Spencer Tracy then worked almost exclusively for the legendary movie director Stanley Kramer. Together with Kramer, an elderly Spencer Tracy did "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" in 1967.

In the film, a middle-class couple is forced to re-examine their whole life philosophy when their daughter announces that she intends to marry an African-American man. Spencer Tracy is playing the father, which turns out to be a problem. Due to the actor's faltering health, it was impossible to find any company willing to provide production insurance. In the end Tracy's co-star, Katharina Hepburn, had to put her own salary in security to cover the insurance costs.

Stanley Kramer wanted Sidney Poitier to play the young black man - a role Poitier happily accepted when he learned of Tracy and Hepburn's participation. However, he and the others also knew that the film would be controversial. Interracial marriage was still illegal in many states at the time "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" went into production. And that wasn't the only problem. Spencer Tracy was so ill by this time that he could only work a couple of hours a day.

Accompanied by a large advertising campaign with thousands of posters featuring the interracial couple, the studio released the film under the slogan "A Love Story of Today". And luckily, the audience was very much on board (even in the Deep South). "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" became one of Columbia Pictures most profitable movies ever. Tragically, though, Spencer Tracy passed away only a couple of weeks after the completion of principal photography.

In the fall of 1962, Edward Albee's play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" opened on Broadway. The piece deals with a middle-aged academic couple, Martha and George, and their bitter and frustrating relationship. The play was selected for the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, but the award's advisory board (the trustees of Columbia University) objected to its profanity and sexual themes. As a result, no Pulitzer Prize was awarded in that category that year.

Not surprisingly, several major Hollywood studios began to show interest in the red-hot material. So, in 1966, Warner Brothers bought the movie rights to Albee's play for $500,000. The studio had envisioned Bette Davis and James Mason in the lead roles, but the film's new producer, Ernest Lehman, had other ideas. At this time, Elizabeth Taylor was the world's leading female star, and Lehman only wanted the best. The fact that Mrs Taylor was significantly younger than "Martha" in the play apparently didn't bother the producer.

Elizabeth Taylor's contract stipulated that she had the right to choose director, co-star, camera operator, hairdressers and costume designers. In addition, she was guaranteed a salary of $1.1 million, plus 10 per cent of the gross. Since James Mason declined the role of the abusive professor, Mrs. Taylor's real-life hubby, Richard Burton, was hired to play her spouse instead. Then, the film was shot on a closed set at the Warner Brother's studio in Burbank.

Before the film's premiere, Ernest Lehman was forced to contact the Motion Picture Association of America. He needed their approval of the piece's strong themes and vulgar language. The studio also put a special warning at the start of the movie. But it was worth it. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" became a big success at the box office. The film was also nominated for thirteen Oscars, of which Elizabeth Taylor took home one for her performance in the lead role.

In the spring of 1926, widower Georg von Trapp hired the young nun Sister Maria to tutor his seven children. Soon, the couple's feelings for each other deepened, and the following year they married in Salzburg, Austria. But life didn't become what they'd expected. First, Georg von Trapp lost his fortune during the Great Depression, and then Nazi Germany annexed their homeland. In 1938, however, they managed to escape to the USA, where Maria and the children formed a musical group, giving live concerts in order to support the family.

Sister Maria writes about all this in her autobiography "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers". The rights to the book were bought by 20th Century Fox who wanted to make a musical out of it. The film, called "The Sound of Music", was to have Julie Andrews in the lead role (she was hot, after her success in "Mary Poppins" the year before). The part of Georg von Trapp, initially planned for Yul Brynner, was then offered to Canadian character actor Christopher Plummer.

Director Robert Wise utilized the beauty of the alpine landscape around Salzburg to the max. Filmed in DeLuxe Color, "The Sound of Music" opens with a smart helicopter shot of Julie Andrews' hill-top performance of the title song. But then things ground to a halt. Due to persistent heavy rain in Austria, the film crew was forced to stay on location much longer than the six weeks that was budgeted for. And time is money, even for a major Hollywood studio.

Fortunately, "The Sound of Music" became an outstanding, worldwide success. Although most critics were hostile, that didn't stop people from rushing to the theaters in droves. In December 1965, "The Sound of Music" was the number-one domestic box office movie of all time (in adjusted dollars). In addition, the RCA soundtrack album had sold more than twenty million copies. None of the many musicals that followed came even close to matching its popularity.

Walt Disney read "Mary Poppins" for the first time in the late 1930s. He immediately realized that the material had film potential and contacted the book's English author, Pamela Travers. But despite Disney's persistent attempts, Travers refused to sell him the movie rights. She didn't want her "magical nanny" to become another American cartoon character. It would be another 25 years before the novelist finally relented. And then only because Uncle Walt promised her complete script approval and five per cent of the picture's gross.

Walt Disney had originally envisioned Betty Davies or Angela Lansbury in the lead role. However, some studio staffers recommended their boss to first visit Broadway and check out Julie Andrews in "My Fair Lady". Something that turned out to be a great advice. Even though the young British singer had never stood in front of a movie camera before, she was more than ready for the role. The popular sitcom star Dick Van Dyke was then hired for the other major part.

"Mary Poppins" was filmed entirely at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. All four soundstages on the company's back lot were used during the three-month production. More than two hundred matte paintings of London and its environs were then made to fill the many elaborate exterior scenes. Finally, several of Disney's top animators created the famous sequence where Dick Van Dyke "dances" with a bunch of happy penguins.

Pamela Travers sat next to Walt Disney when "Mary Poppins" had its world premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. But she was not happy. Travers instead demanded that significant changes be made to the movie. At which point Disney explained that her script approval applied to just that - the script - and not the final film. Considering that "Mary Poppins" made Pamela Travers a very rich woman, she probably ended up quite content anyway.

Sidney Poitier grew up on Cat Island in the British Crown colony of Bahamas. Although that wasn't quite a given from the beginning. Poitier was born two months early, and his father had already prepared to bury the kid in a shoebox. Fortunately, a soothsayer convinced Poitier's mother that the newborn was going to have an extraordinary future. The knowledge that he almost died before he even began to live apparently pushed Sidney Poitier to celebrate each new day as if it were his last. In a professional career as well as in his private life.

Sidney Poitier got his big break in 1963 when Harry Belafonte turned down the lead in "Lilies of the Field". Poitier took the part, despite knowing that the producer had difficulties financing the film. The work was then carried out in a frenzy, where every conceivable cost was slashed. Interiors were shot inside actual buildings instead of on soundstages, friends of the director played various bit parts, and Poitier himself took a salary cut in favor of a piece of the profits.

Although Sidney Poitier loathed going on publicity tours, he agreed to travel the world to support the finished film. For him, "Lilies of the Field" was an important contribution to the fight for equal rights between blacks and whites in America. Thus, he appeared at special screenings all over the country. Something that gathered the attention of both civil rights advocates and their clamorous opponents. Luckily the movie made a healthy profit.

But the greatest moment for Sidney Poitier was yet to come. On the night of the Academy Awards, he defeated Rex Harrison (Cleopatra), Paul Newman (Hud) and Albert Finney (Tom Jones) to win the Oscar for Best Actor. It was the first time an African/American won that price. Sidney Poitier had indeed reached the pinnacle of his career. The old soothsayer who predicted the aspiring actor's future obviously knew what he was talking about.

The American novelist Harper Lee was born in 1926, in the small town of Monroeville, Alabama. There, she spent her entire childhood, usually in the company of her same-age neighbor (and best friend) Truman Capote. So, when Harper Lee made her literary debut as an adult, it was with a depiction of growing up in the Deep South in the 1930s. A story built around family and friends, about adults' attitudes towards race and class seen through the eyes of two little children. Harper Lee named her book "To Kill a Mockingbird".

To everyone's surprise, (not least Harper Lee's) "To Kill a Mockingbird" became a great sales success. When the book also won a Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1960, Universal Pictures decided to buy the movie rights. The studio picked one of the foremost masters of TV drama, Robert Mulligan, to direct. Then Gregory Peck was asked to do the leading part as Harper Lee's father. Now, it was just a matter of finding some kids who could play the film's important child roles.

The shooting wasn't without complications. Because Monroeville, where Harper Lee's story took place, had changed so radically since World War Two, the film's production manager had to scout for locations more reminiscent of the Deep South in the 1930s. Since the abandoned town he found was going to be demolished anyway, he had most of the houses moved to the Universal back lot in Hollywood. When Lee visited the set on the first day of shooting, she was amazed that everything looked so much like her old hometown.

After the film's premiere, an almost unanimous body of critics praised the director and his cast for their effort. Harper Lee said that the movie managed to keep the spirit of her original story, and Gregory Peck stated that it was his favorite work (and the picture for which he is best remembered). "To Kill a Mockingbird" has since become as much a part of the American myth as Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer.

In the late 1950s, Kirk Douglas began to plan for a film he had dreamed of for several years. Together with his co-producer, Edward Lewis, the actor intended to tell the legend of the gladiator Spartacus and his fight against the mighty Roman Empire. According to Kirk Douglas, it would be a story about a group of desperate men who finally threw off their heavy shackles. A celebration of how thousands of former slaves broke away from their Roman oppressors and became free citizens. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be an easy tale to tell.

Already a week into the shooting, problems arose. Kirk Douglas was so unhappy with the film's director, Anthony Mann, that he fired him on the spot (he still paid Mann his full salary). Then Douglas phoned Stanley Kubrick and asked him to take over. Something that surprised many Hollywood insiders. At the time, Kubrick had hardly any cinematic experience to speak of. And "Spartacus" was an extremely expensive production, with several major stars and over 10,000 extras.

Employing the young, inexperienced Stanley Kubrick wasn't the only bold decision Kirk Douglas made. The producer also hired Dalton Trumbo to write the screenplay, even though the radical author had been blacklisted in Hollywood for over ten years. The film's casting was also unconventional. Douglas had the leading Romans played by British actors while the revolting slaves were portrayed by Americans (with Douglas himself as Spartacus, the head of the rebellion).

At the "Spartacus" premiere, the conservative American newspapers was outraged that the film company had dared to hire a blacklisted scriptwriter like Dalton Trumbo. But most critics fell silent after John F. Kennedy had slipped into a public screening in Washington. And the President wasn't the only one who liked the film. "Spartacus" was a worldwide box office success. Sadly, it was also the last time Kirk Douglas and Stanley Kubrick ever worked together.

In the mid-1950s, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was in a bad shape. The former giant of the American entertainment industry was losing money hand over fist. Pressured by television from one side and new antitrust regulations from the other, the aging movie factory stood with one foot in the grave. If the company was to survive, they really needed to roll the dice. So, the management decided to try the ultimate in studio filmmaking. Win or lose, the studio intended to remake their old 1925 box office blockbuster "Ben-Hur".

MGM placed responsibility for this behemoth with Sam Zimbalist, a producer who had worked for the studio for over 30 years. And who could be more suited for the task? Zimbalist was behind the historical spectacle "Quo Vadis", which became one of the most profitable films the company had ever made. So, after months of elaborate preparation, the cameras started rolling at Cinecittá Studios in Rome in May 1958. "Ben-Hur" was on its way.

Big parts of Cinecittá was rebuilt to mimic the Mediterranean area of biblical times. And it worked brilliantly. The new buildings were so spectacular that they became a proper tourist attraction in the Italian capital. For example, the eighteen-acre chariot arena was the most extensive set ever built by a Hollywood studio. Unfortunately, the shoot was so grueling that several crew members were forced to call in sick due to the immense pressure they were under.

Fortunately, "Ben-Hur" was a huge success. The box office was truly amazing, and the film turned out to be one of the biggest productions of the year. But tragically, Sam Zimbalist didn't get to reap the rewards of his hard work. In the middle of the chariot race he was forced to leave the shooting with severe chest pains. Forty minutes later he died of a massive heart attack. Sam Zimbalist thus became the first producer to receive an Oscar for best film posthumously.

Rosalind Russell was one of the major stars in Hollywood during the 1930s and 40s. Her most famous film was the screwball comedy "His Girl Friday" opposite Cary Grant and Ralph Bellamy. But when the 50s arrived, Russell had become a middle-aged woman. The lucrative offers from the dream factory were evaporating. So, Rosalind Russell decided to transform her career completely. She moved to New York City and started performing on Broadway instead. One of the first plays she appeared in was a comedy called "Auntie Mame".

Meanwhile, back in Tinseltown, Warner Brothers was in serious trouble. Recently, the studio had suffered a string of box office bombs and now found themselves on the verge of bankruptcy. Something must be done, and quickly. So, the management glanced at Broadway, where Rosalind Russell's "Auntie Mame" was running to packed houses. Perhaps the play could attract the fickle audiences back to the movie theaters. At least it was worth a chance.

Unfortunately, the filming got off to a bad start. Rosalind Russell broke her ankle already in the first take where she comes down the stairs for dinner. And the calamities continued. Actress Coral Browne's hair fell out in clumps when she tried to bleach it. Another actor suffered burns on his hands after getting a fiery cocktail of alcohol and Sterno over them. Things eventually got so bad that the production became known as "Auntie Maim" in Hollywood.

When the film finally opened, the big question was - did the name Rosalind Russell still ring box office chimes in Hollywood? And luckily it did. "Auntie Mame" gave Russell a chance to demonstrate her great comedic talent. Show the world that she still was a vital force to be reckoned with. It was also a movie that transformed Warner Brothers. "Auntie Mame" really became the answer to the company's prayers, restoring the studio to its former glory.

In the mid-1950s, Christine Costner Sizemore's fate became well-known throughout America. In a book, her doctor described how Sizemore had struggled since childhood with a multiple-personality disorder that almost took her life. The book depicted how Sizemore was tossed between her existence as a quiet housewife in Savannah, and then transformed into a reckless, promiscuous barfly in the neighboring city of Atlanta. "The Three Faces of Eve" became a major bestseller and was sold in hundreds of thousands of copies.

The following year, director Nunnally Johnson bought the film rights on behalf of 20th Century Fox. Judy Garland was originally offered the lead, but when she turned it down, young actress Joanne Woodward was approached instead. Although she only had a few occasional TV appearances in her résumé, that was not considered a problem. Why? After reading the script, Fox's film consultant declared that whoever played Eva would probably win an Academy Award.

A costume designer created several different "transition dresses" to make it easier for Woodward when she shifted between Eve's three different personalities. When she was supposed to be Eve Black, the sultry, seductive woman, her dress was sewn in, so it was tighter and more revealing. These were mainly subtle changes, but they worked. Filming then took about two months and came in well under budget. And, yes, Woodward did win an Oscar for her portrayal.

After living a quiet, anonymous life, Chris Costner Sizemore returned to the public in 1989. She had now fully recovered and therefore wrote a book, "A Mind of My Own", about her experiences. Actress Sissy Spacek wanted to film it, but 20th Century Fox objected on the grounds that Sizemore had already signed away her life rights. So, she sued the studio and eventually accepted an out-of-court settlement. But "A Mind of My Own" never made it to the silver screen.

John Ford was regarded as one of the most important filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Above all, he was famous for his many Westerns. Ford directed, among others, "Stagecoach" - a film that made John Wayne a superstar, and "My Darling Clementine" which laid the foundation for Henry Fonda's fame. During his career, Ford also won four Academy Awards for Best Director. But surprisingly, neither "The Informer", "The Grapes of Wrath", "How Green Was My Valley" nor "The Quiet Man" was a Western.

Perhaps it was that imbalance John Ford wanted to correct when he began filming "The Searchers" in 1956. The story he bought the movie rights to deals with a man who tries to save his niece, abducted by a group of Comanche. However, unlike the book, Ford portrays his "hero" as a bitter, almost racist loner without empathy or a sense of justice. Most Hollywood pundits were surprised when John Wayne agreed to play such an unpleasant character.

As with many of his previous Westerns, John Ford shot most of "The Searchers" in Monument Valley in Utah. But although the director had filmed there for almost twenty years, he decided to use the landscape in a slightly different way. With the help of his cameraman, Ford tried to make "The Searchers" emulate some of the famous paintings he had seen in his childhood. Images depicting the American continent long before the first Europeans made their entrance.

Sadly, "The Searchers" did not receive a single nomination at that year's Oscars. In the US, most people also found the film dull and incoherent. But then something unexpected happened. In France, several influential critics began to argue that Ford's narrative style elevated the common Western to a whole new level of cinematic art. And soon, reviewers in America followed suit. Today, "The Searchers" has taken its rightful place as one of the best Westerns ever made.

Ernest Hemingway was always fascinated by the armed conflicts on the European Continent. When the First World War broke out, he signed on to the International Red Cross to be an ambulance driver at the Italian front. Years later, during the bloody Spanish Civil War, he travelled to Madrid and Barcelona to cover that battle for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Hemingway then described his experiences in "For Whom the Bell Tolls". A book many critics rightly consider to be one of the author's most important works.

Paramount Pictures bought the film rights just a few years after "For Whom the Bell Tolls" was published. Something that wasn't popular in every circle. Organizations such as the "Legion of Decency" and "Free America" had already condemned Hemingway's book for its radical content. In addition, the Spanish consulate tried to stop the upcoming movie because they believed it gave an inaccurate view of what had happened during the conflict.

Aware of the problem, Paramount hired a group of writers who worked on the screenplay for months. By the time they finished, most of the political elements had disappeared from the story. Instead, the film concentrates on the action and on the love affair between Gary Cooper's and Ingrid Bergman's characters. The production team then moved on to the Sierra Nevada mountains for the outdoor scenes - a difficult location shoot that sent the movie way over budget.

Despite the criticism that the film painted a much too positive picture of the International Brigades, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" opened strongly in theaters across the United States. Most reviewers also gave it a positive rating, especially when talking about Gary Cooper's and Ingrid Bergman's performances in the lead roles. But in Spain, it was another matter. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" wasn't allowed to be shown in that country until well into the 1970s.

In the mid-50s, Hollywood began to invest more and more in lavish movie spectacles. TV had become an increasingly serious competitor, and in order to attract people back to the cinemas, the studios tried to offer stuff that television couldn't match. So, the executives at United Artist laughed scornfully when Harold Hecht told them about his new idea. The producer wanted to make a film about an overweight, middle-aged man who still lives with his mother. Hecht planned to call the movie "Marty", just like the guy whose life he intended to portray.

Ironically, the play Harold Hecht wanted to film was originally made for TV. And its author, Paddy Chayefsky, had many definite demands before selling the rights to his text. First, he wanted to write the screenplay. Then he wanted to have control over the casting. Last, but not least, Chayefsky wanted Delbert Mann to direct "Marty" (the same guy that had handled the television adaptation). If Hecht had any objections to any of this, he at least didn't mention it.

In September 1954 Delbert Mann began shooting exteriors in the Bronx. After a week of intensive work, the cast and crew then moved on to the soundstages at the Goldwyn Studio in Hollywood. But now it turned out that the film was in an awkward predicament. A bout of financial mismanagement had resulted in an empty production account. It was only after the Bankers Trust of America stepped in and granted a loan that "Marty" could be finished.

Unfortunately, the executives at United Artists decided to release "Marty" as a second feature. The modest black-and-white story with no stars, no action and a lot of dialogue seemed slated for an existence in the shadows. But then everyone (not least Harold Hecht) got a big surprise. The film won the prestigious Palme d'Or at Cannes. And the success continued. At the Academy Awards, "Marty" received four Oscars, including best picture and best director.