153-472: Cat Ballou is a 1965 American western comedy film starring Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin , who won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual role . The story involves a woman who hires a notorious gunman to protect her father's ranch, and later to avenge his murder, only to find that the gunman is not what she expected. The supporting cast features Tom Nardini , Michael Callan , Dwayne Hickman , and Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye , who together perform
306-561: A "mythic vision of the plains and deserts of the American West". Specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns, saloons, railways, wilderness, and isolated military forts of the Wild West. Many Westerns use a stock plot of depicting a crime, then showing the pursuit of the wrongdoer, ending in revenge and retribution, which is often dispensed through a shootout or quick draw duel. The Western genre sometimes portrays
459-542: A 1971 pilot starred Jo Ann Harris as Cat, Forrest Tucker as Kid Shelleen and Lee J. Casey as Jackson Two-Bears. Western (genre) The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated with folk tales of
612-448: A deal at Paramount Pictures. Stories are told about the time Hecht was introduced to Lancaster on the last night of the play. The actor said he'd been courted by the big agencies. Hecht told him, "If you sign with a big agency, you'll be assigned to a junior agent who gets a salary, and has two dozen unknowns to find work for." Hecht opted for honesty. "I know everybody, but I have only a few clients. If you signed with me, you'd be at
765-776: A decade later in Fantasia . The short was based on a romantic perspective of the Russian Gypsies' lives, with dance numbers by Hecht and music by Burton Lane and Harold Adamson . The cast featured Mary Jo Mathews, Perry Askam , Joseph Mario and Ilia Khmara. Gypsy Night opened on Friday, May 24, 1935, at the Capitol Theater in New York City. It was considered avant-garde by some but received generally praising reviews towards its artistic aspect. Hecht later claimed that his initial departure from Hollywood
918-528: A general interest in the party, he was apparently never a devoted Communist and did not seek higher placement or positions. In 1937 he became employed at the Federal Theatre Project and was put in charge of producing the musical revue Sing for Your Supper . It took Hecht two years to get the play together, compiling songs, lyrics, sketches, seeking out writers and hiring the cast, designing costumes, choreographing dances and other aspects of
1071-625: A member of the Communist Party but informed the Committee that he was no longer of that state of mind. Because of his cooperation with the Committee and his testimony of known Communists from his past, Hecht was not blacklisted and was allowed to resume his position as a successful producer in Hollywood. In the summer of 1953 Hecht co-founded another Norma Productions subsidiary, Hecht-Lancaster Productions, with Burt Lancaster and signed
1224-482: A new director, quite a generous one. Gypsy Night (known under the working title Song of the Gypsies ) was produced by Harry Rapf from a story by Richard Goldstone. The short was filmed throughout March and April. Through cinematography and lighting Hecht and Berne "emphasized on particular colors which most effectively carried out the moods of the music in each scene", a concept that Disney somewhat recreated half
1377-642: A noted film trailer producer). He attended PS 169 , graduating in spring 1923 at the age of sixteen. Hecht is reported to have frequented the Union Settlement house on East 104th Street in East Harlem . Just as Hecht was looking for his vocation, the very field he wanted to be in was interviewing students for a new school. In November 1923, Richard Boleslavsky , a Russian immigrant and former student of Konstantin Stanislavsky , opened
1530-481: A number of occasions, famous examples being Support Your Local Sheriff! , Cat Ballou , Mel Brooks 's Blazing Saddles , and Rustler's Rhapsody . George Lucas 's Star Wars films use many elements of a Western, and Lucas has said he intended for Star Wars to revitalize cinematic mythology, a part the Western once held. The Jedi , who take their name from Jidaigeki , are modeled after samurai, showing
1683-516: A number that included a line of 36 girls for the Mark Sandrich film starring Charlie Ruggles and Phil Harris . However, after two weeks of working on Maiden Cruise , Paramount recalled him claiming the RKO production had been delayed and that Hecht's work on Paramount's own International House was a priority. Dave Gould took over Hecht's work on the RKO film and received screen credits for
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#17327911052221836-452: A popular art form. Western films commonly feature protagonists such as cowboys, gunslingers, and bounty hunters, who are often depicted as seminomadic wanderers who wear Stetson hats, bandannas , spurs, and buckskins , use revolvers or rifles as everyday tools of survival and as a means to settle disputes using frontier justice. Protagonists ride between dusty towns and cattle ranches on their trusty steeds. The first films that belong to
1989-410: A potential property. In mid-March 1932 Hecht signed a one-year agreement and became a contract choreographer and dance director for Paramount Pictures . Stories exist that it was his friend Busby Berkeley who helped him get in touch with the right people at Paramount, where the two are said to have worked on films together. Hecht's first assignment at Paramount was directing two dance ensembles in
2142-403: A preacher, appears and cuts the rope just as the trapdoor opens. Cat safely falls through and onto a wagon, and her gang spirits her away in a daring rescue. Cast notes Cat Ballou was director Elliot Silverstein 's second feature film, with the pressure of filming leading to some quarrels with the producer Harold Hecht , although the film was ultimately a box office success. Ann-Margret
2295-516: A preacher, distracts the lawman. Arriving home at her father Frankie Ballou's ranch, Catherine learns that the Wolf City Development Corporation is scheming to take his ranch. Frankie's sole defender is his ranch hand, educated Native American Jackson Two-Bears. Clay and Jed appear and reluctantly offer to help Catherine. She hires legendary gunfighter Kid Shelleen to help protect her father from gunslinger Tim Strawn,
2448-570: A setting, where it tasked players to lead a party of settlers moving westward in a covered wagon from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon. The game only grew popular in the 1980s and 1990s as an educational game. The first video game Westerns to engage the mass public arrived in arcade games focused on the gunfighter in Westerns based on depictions in television shows, films and Electro-mechanical games such as Dale Six Shooter (1950), and Sega 's Gun Fight (1970). The first of these games
2601-545: A seven-year contract, the longest term a studio was legally allowed to keep an actor under contract at the time, with Hal B. Wallis' Paramount-financed, independent production company, Hal Wallis Productions. The exclusive contract gave Lancaster an option for one outside, independent picture a year, giving the agent/actor room to produce a yearly film, thought they initially never believed the clause would be used. A few months later, in April 1946, Hecht and Lancaster were sitting in
2754-688: A sheriff in fictional Absaroka County, Wyoming . Originally aired on the A&;E network from 2012 to 2014, it was picked up by Netflix in 2015 until the show's conclusion in 2017. AMC and Vince Gilligan's critically acclaimed Breaking Bad is a much more modern take on the Western genre. Set in New Mexico from 2008 through 2013, it follows Walter White ( Bryan Cranston ), a chemistry teacher diagnosed with Stage III Lung Cancer who cooks and sells crystal meth to provide money for his family after he dies, while slowly growing further and further into
2907-546: A short period of time. Hecht first went to Warner Bros. to choreograph a Vitaphone Technicolor two-reeler short, produced by Gordon Hollingshead . Morocco Nights was directed by Edward Cline and starred Fuzzy Knight , Shirley Ross and future Hecht client Francis McDonald . Morocco Nights was initially to be included in Warner's Broadway Brevities but was never added. Scheduled to make an undisclosed Columbia film in 1934 (it has not been established if this plan
3060-595: A show-going holiday in New York City in late November 1945, Lillian Schary, Dore Schary 's sister, suggested to Hecht that he go see a new Broadway play at the Lyceum Theater . A Sound of Hunting , which had opened off-Broadway a couple of weeks earlier, was showcasing a brand new actor, Burt Lancaster. Hecht was immediately impressed with Lancaster's performance. He later said of that night "When I saw Burt Lancaster in A Sound of Hunting on Broadway (in 1945), I knew he had it. I don't know how you could miss it. He
3213-551: A singing supporting character. Other supporting roles were scheduled for George Frank, Tiny Sandford and Gertrude Astor . Hecht left by plane from New York City to Hollywood on Monday, November 2, his position on the film already confirmed. Once in California, he interviewed 200 girls and 150 men, in order to find the twelve girls and six men necessary for the dance numbers. Hecht hired Frances Grant , fresh from assisting Larry Ceballos at Fanchon and Marco, to help him with
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#17327911052223366-482: A single day. Steiner also composed three original songs and the score for the film adaptation, while the movie's producer, William LeBaron , wrote the lyrics. Humphrey Pearson was brought in for additional dialogue but eventually re-wrote the entire screenplay. Chi Chi and Her Papas was to be a starring vehicle for actress Lili Damita , her third film at RKO. Her leading man was scheduled to be John Warburton , loaned out from Fox Films , with Hugh Herbert as
3519-464: A two-picture deal with United Artists (the deal would be renegotiated and extended several times over the next few years). Their first production for UA was Apache (released in the summer of 1954), a western told from the perspective of a Native American Apache . It starred Lancaster and Jean Peters with a feature role by John McIntire and an early appearance by Charles Bronson (credited under his real name, Charles Buchinsky). Robert Aldrich
3672-453: Is Strawn's brother. Cat poses as a prostitute and confronts Sir Harry Percival, the head of the Wolf City Development Corporation. She attempts to force him into confessing that he ordered her father's murder. A struggle ensues; Sir Harry is killed, and Cat is sentenced to be hanged. With Sir Harry dead, Wolf City's future is hopeless, and the townspeople have no mercy for Cat. As the noose is placed around her neck, Uncle Jed, again disguised as
3825-553: Is a morality drama , presenting the conflict between wilderness and civilization . Stories commonly center on the life of a male drifter , cowboy , or gunslinger who rides a horse and is armed with a revolver or rifle . The male characters typically wear broad-brimmed and high-crowned Stetson hats, neckerchief bandannas , vests , and cowboy boots with spurs . While many wear conventional shirts and trousers, alternatives include buckskins and dusters . Women are generally cast in secondary roles as love interests for
3978-589: Is a genre of literature set in the American Old West, most commonly between 1860 and 1900. The first critically recognized Western was The Virginian (1902) by Owen Wister . Other well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey , from the early 1900s, Ernest Haycox , Luke Short , and Louis L'Amour , from the mid 20th century. Many writers better known in other genres, such as Leigh Brackett , Elmore Leonard , and Larry McMurtry , have also written Western novels. The genre's popularity peaked in
4131-512: Is a series of seven books that meshes themes of Westerns, high fantasy , science fiction, and horror. The protagonist Roland Deschain is a gunslinger whose image and personality are largely inspired by the Man with No Name from Sergio Leone's films. In addition, the superhero fantasy genre has been described as having been derived from the cowboy hero, only powered up to omnipotence in a primarily urban setting. The Western genre has been parodied on
4284-443: Is a war film, but its action and characters are Western-like. The character played by Humphrey Bogart in noir films such as Casablanca and To Have and Have Not —an individual bound only by his own private code of honor—has a lot in common with the classic Western hero. In turn, the Western has also explored noir elements, as with films such as Colorado Territory and Pursued . In many of Robert A. Heinlein 's books,
4437-533: Is full of sort-of-funny and trying-to-be-funny ideas and a movie is not just ideas." Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "I'm in the minority, apparently. Cat Ballou, which is being hailed as a cowboy Tom Jones or something of the sort, seems to me about as funny as a soundtrack burp." The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "The jokes in Cat Ballou are uneven, but the mood behind
4590-413: Is maintained predominantly through relatively impersonal institutions such as courtrooms . The popular perception of the Western is a story that centers on the life of a seminomadic wanderer, usually a cowboy or a gunfighter. A showdown or duel at high noon featuring two or more gunfighters is a stereotypical scene in the popular conception of Westerns. In some ways, such protagonists may be considered
4743-621: Is said to have worked on the Edmond Goulding film Hollywood Party (at the time known under the title Star Spangled Banquet ) at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in March 1934, though no official credit has surfaced to confirm this. In the fall of 1934 Hecht started working on a series of shorts, which he was to direct, under the title Goonies . The shorts were to be based on errors made by college students in filing out official forms, hence making them "goonies". Hecht's new production unit, formed for
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4896-757: Is the place to go for music (raucous piano playing), women (often prostitutes ), gambling (draw poker or five-card stud), drinking ( beer , whiskey , or tequila if set in Mexico), brawling, and shooting. In some Westerns, where civilization has arrived, the town has a church, a general store, a bank, and a school; in others, where frontier rules still hold sway, it is, as Sergio Leone said, "where life has no value". Author and screenwriter Frank Gruber identified seven basic plots for Westerns: Gruber said that good writers used dialogue and plot development to develop these basic plots into believable stories. The American Film Institute defines Western films as those "set in
5049-412: Is usually punctuated with a Western music score , including American folk music and Spanish / Mexican folk music such as country , Native American music , New Mexico music , and rancheras . Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid , desolate landscape of deserts and mountains . Often, the vast landscape plays an important role, presenting
5202-547: The 7 highest-grossing film of 1965 . The film holds a score of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 29 reviews, with an average grade of 7.4 out of 10. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called it "a breezy little film" which "does have flashes of good satiric wit. But, under Elliott Silverstein's direction, it is mostly just juvenile lampoon." Variety wrote that the film "emerges middlingly successful, sparked by an amusing way-out approach and some sparkling performances." Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post praised
5355-625: The American Laboratory Theatre , the first school in the United States to teach Stanislavski's system of acting. Hecht was among the first students accepted to attend the new school in late 1923. While there he studied and appeared in plays with Lee Strasberg (who later took Stanislavski's system and Americanized it into the method acting system), Stella Adler , Harold Clurman , Anne Revere , Lenore Romney and Francis Fergusson . Hecht excelled at The Lab and
5508-1342: The Atari 2600 and Gun Fight (1978) for the Bally Astrocade were derivative of Midway's Gun Fight . These early video games featured limited graphical capabilities , which had developers create Westerns to the most easily recognizable and popular tropes of the gunfighter shootouts. Western radio dramas were very popular from the 1930s to the 1960s. There were five types of Western radio dramas during this period: anthology programs, such as Empire Builders and Frontier Fighters ; juvenile adventure programs such as Red Ryder and Hopalong Cassidy ; legend and lore like Red Goose Indian Tales and Cowboy Tom's Round-Up ; adult Westerns like Fort Laramie and Frontier Gentleman ; and soap operas such as Cactus Kate . Some popular shows include The Lone Ranger (first broadcast in 1933), The Cisco Kid (first broadcast in 1942), Dr. Sixgun (first broadcast in 1954), Have Gun–Will Travel (first broadcast in 1958), and Gunsmoke (first broadcast in 1952). Many shows were done live, while others were transcribed. Westerns have been showcased in short-episodic web series. Examples include League of STEAM , Red Bird , and Arkansas Traveler . Within
5661-566: The Fraternity Stomp , which Oakie and Lorna Andre performed in the film. The new dance was well advertised in newspapers and magazines with a depiction of steps and moves for people to learn it at home. Hecht later stated that he worked with director Frank Tuttle during his days at Paramount. Though no evidence has been found, it is likely that the film he was referring to was The Big Broadcast , starring Bing Crosby, Stuart Erwin , Leila Hyams and George Burns. The Big Broadcast
5814-678: The French Foreign Legion during the Rif War in Morocco . It was written and directed by Willis Goldbeck , co-written by Roland Kibbee and starred Lancaster, Jody Lawrance and Gilbert Roland . It also featured memorable parts by character actors George Tobias , Nick Dennis , Mike Mazurki and Robert Clary . But the real turning point was when Columbia allowed Hecht and Lancaster to produce their first film without Lancaster acting in it. The First Time (released in early 1952)
5967-537: The Grand Canyon , Yosemite , and the giant redwoods , due in part to exhibitors' inability to switch over to widescreen during the Great Depression . After renewed commercial successes in the late 1930s, the popularity of Westerns continued to rise until its peak in the 1950s, when the number of Western films produced outnumbered all other genres combined. The period from 1940 to 1960 has been called
6120-576: The Gulf of Naples , Italy and at Teddington Studios in England. Released in the fall of 1952, it also went on to be a top-grosser for Warner Brothers. Years later Hecht attempted to develop a sequel, Jolly Roger: Son of the Crimson Pirate , but this film was never made. Before completing their contract at Warner Brothers, Hecht and Lancaster signed a two-picture deal with Columbia Pictures through
6273-535: The Metropolitan Opera . In October 1931 Richard Boleslavsky invited Hecht to join him in Hollywood to choreograph the dance numbers on an upcoming project he was set to direct at RKO Radio Pictures . Chi Chi and Her Papas , a 1924 German comedic play originally written by Armin Friedmann and Fritz Lunzer under the title Sie und ihr Zimmerherr , had been translated into English by Max Steiner in
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6426-531: The Mexican Revolution . This was another top-budget Technicolor picture and one of the earliest films to use the widescreen format, using the SuperScope process. Hecht's production company traveled to Mexico and filmed entirely on location, including scenes at the famous Chapultepec Castle . Robert Aldrich and James R. Webb returned as director and writer with Roland Kibbee coming in to help with
6579-598: The New Orleans Mardi Gras carnival in the film, was taken on the road to help promote the picture, with the girls performing it on stage. Meanwhile, Hecht put on a new play for the "Symphonies Under the Stars", a week-long festival beginning on July 25. Skyscrapers opened on Saturday July 29 at the Hollywood Bowl to a cast of over one hundred dancers. Hecht directed the play and choreographed
6732-620: The United States Army Air Corps on August 29, 1942, in support of World War II. His army serial number was 19126700. He was promoted to the rank of staff sergeant and placed in Special Services, the entertainment department. He produced live shows for servicemen with in person appearances by some of the biggest stars of the day: including songwriter Johnny Mercer, vocalist Francis Langford, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and personal friend, actor John Garfield. Hecht
6885-643: The Western United States , particularly the Southwestern United States , as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada . The frontier is depicted in Western media as a sparsely populated hostile region patrolled by cowboys , outlaws , sheriffs , and numerous other stock gunslinger characters. Western narratives often concern the gradual attempts to tame the crime-ridden American West using wider themes of justice , freedom, rugged individualism, manifest destiny , and
7038-457: The space opera series Firefly used an explicitly Western theme for its portrayal of frontier worlds. Anime shows such as Cowboy Bebop , Trigun and Outlaw Star have been similar mixes of science-fiction and Western elements. The science fiction Western can be seen as a subgenre of either Westerns or science fiction. Elements of Western films can be found also in some films belonging essentially to other genres. For example, Kelly's Heroes
7191-419: The "Golden Age of the Western". It is epitomized by the work of several prominent directors including Robert Aldrich , Budd Boetticher , Delmer Daves , John Ford , and others. Some of the popular films during this era include Apache (1954), Broken Arrow (1950), and My Darling Clementine (1946). The changing popularity of the Western genre has influenced worldwide pop culture over time. During
7344-490: The 1940s, every actor, producer and director wanted to start their own production company but few were able to accomplish it due to contractual obligations. The few that did manage to venture into productions of their own, most often did not last long enough to make an impact and rarely made more than a handful of movies. Rantz and Hecht also managed actresses Edith Barrett , Frances Rafferty and Karen Morley and actors Roman Bohnen and Phil Brown in 1945 and 1946. In 1946
7497-481: The 1955 Hecht-Lancaster Productions film Marty . He was again nominated three years later at the 31st Academy Awards ceremony for the 1958 Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions film Separate Tables . The film did not win but Hecht did accept the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in place of Wendy Hiller who could not be present. The Broadway play version of Separate Tables , produced by Hecht-Lancaster Productions,
7650-432: The 1960s and 1970s, Spaghetti Westerns from Italy became popular worldwide; this was due to the success of Sergio Leone 's storytelling method. After having been previously pronounced dead, a resurgence of Westerns occurred during the 1990s with films such as Dances with Wolves (1990), Unforgiven (1992), and Geronimo (1993), as Westerns once again increased in popularity. When television became popular in
7803-416: The 1960s, due in part to the shuttering of many pulp magazines, the popularity of televised Westerns , and the rise of the spy novel. Readership began to drop off in the mid- to late 1970s and reached a new low in the 2000s. Most bookstores, outside of a few Western states, now only carry a small number of Western novels and short-story collections. Literary forms that share similar themes include stories of
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#17327911052227956-458: The 1970s. These games and drew on the imagery of a mythic West portrayed in stories, films, television shows, and other assorted Western-themed toys. When game developers went to the imaginary West to create new experiences, they often drew consciously or unconsciously from Western stories and films. The 1971 text-based, Mainframe computer game The Oregon Trail was first game to use the West as
8109-582: The American West that [embody] the spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier ". Originally, these films were called "Wild West dramas", a reference to Wild West shows like Buffalo Bill Cody's . The term "Western", used to describe a narrative film genre, appears to have originated with a July 1912 article in Motion Picture World magazine. Most of the characteristics of Western films were part of 19th-century popular Western fiction , and were firmly in place before film became
8262-570: The American frontier, the gaucho literature of Argentina , and tales of the settlement of the Australian Outback. A number of visual artists focused their work on representations of the American Old West. American West-oriented art is sometimes referred to as "Western Art" by Americans. This relatively new category of art includes paintings, sculptures, and sometimes Native American crafts. Initially, subjects included exploration of
8415-512: The Columbia Theater in California. In late November 1932 Hecht became involved in a series of Mae West projects, which all eventually culminated into a single picture. Earlier that year Paramount had signed Mae West to a contract and the actress was eager to step up from the lower-billed role she received in her first picture, Night After Night . She was billed fourth, after George Raft , Constance Cummings and Wynne Gibson. West
8568-672: The Eastern Bloc, or action films involving the Russian Revolution , the Russian Civil War , and the Basmachi rebellion. Many elements of space-travel series and films borrow extensively from the conventions of the Western genre. This is particularly the case in the space Western subgenre of science fiction. Peter Hyams 's Outland transferred the plot of High Noon to Io, moon of Jupiter. More recently,
8721-604: The Gilmor Brown production. The production featured music by Ralph Rainger and lyrics by Don Hartman. Hullabaloo opened on May 26 at the Pasadena Community Playhouse and ran until June 19, with a cast featuring Sterling Holloway , Frank Atkinson , Leonard Sillman and his sister June Carroll . In the fall of 1932, Hecht worked on another theater play, a revised and modernized version of Franz Lehár 's operetta, The Merry Widow . The play
8874-483: The Goldstone Agency to head Harold Hecht Productions' literary staff. In the summer of 1947 Hecht co-founded Norma Productions with Burt Lancaster, who named the company after his second wife, Norma Anderson. They worked out a deal with Universal- International , for whom Lancaster had already done The Killers and Brute Force , both for Mark Hellinger Productions . Hecht and Lancaster's first production
9027-564: The Hecht-Rantz Agency. Hecht also signed new talents such as actors Art Smith and Francis McDonald and writers Walter Bernstein , Roland Kibbee and Meta Rosenberg . During this time Hecht became an officer at Irving Mills ' music publishing company, Mills Music Inc., though little is known of his work there. By 1947, Harold Hecht Productions was doing very well as a talent agency and Hecht started hiring staff from other noted Hollywood agencies. In May 1947, E. Henry Lewis left
9180-617: The Marion Davies film Blondie of the Follies (then known under the title Good Time Girl ). The film was produced by Davies who sought out Hecht herself and was directed by Edmund Goulding , who would later reunite with Hecht. The film also starred Robert Montgomery , Billie Dove and Jimmy Durante . Immediately after Lucky Day , Hecht started working on the play Hullabaloo , which took several months of preparation. Hecht co-directed it with Paul Gerard Smith and choreographed
9333-518: The Marx Brothers' college football comedy film Horse Feathers . One of the numbers Hecht directed was I'm Against It , a scene where Groucho Marx , playing Quincy Adams Wagstaff, is first installed as the new headmaster of Huxley College. Hecht trained Groucho alongside twenty elder actors, aged 61 to 77 years old, with naturally grown beards and dressed in academic gowns . Considering that his first known assignment at Paramount Pictures
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#17327911052229486-479: The Norma Productions subsidiary, Halburt Productions. The two moderate-budget Columbia films were shot back-to-back at Columbia Studios and marked the beginning of a professional relationship between Hecht, Lancaster and Robert Aldrich , who was Hecht's assistant producer at the studio. Halburt Productions' first film, Ten Tall Men (released in late 1951) was another Technicolor adventure flick about
9639-1025: The Online Film & Television Association Award; and at the Cannes Film Festival , the Venice Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival . Four of the films Harold Hecht was associated with have been deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States National Film Preservation Board and have been selected for preservation in the Library of Congress ' National Film Registry ; Duck Soup in 1990, Sweet Smell of Success in 1993, Marty in 1994 and She Done Him Wrong in 1996. Harold Adolphe Hecht
9792-524: The Prairie , McCloud , The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams , and the short-lived but highly acclaimed How the West Was Won that originated from a miniseries with the same name. In the 1990s and 2000s, hour-long Westerns and slickly packaged made-for-TV movie Westerns were introduced, such as Lonesome Dove (1989) and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman . Also, new elements were once again added to
9945-515: The Shade and the Sunrise Kid, sing the ballad of Cat Ballou and regale the audience with the tale of how she began her career of crime. Some months prior, Catherine, then an aspiring schoolteacher, is returning home by train to Wolf City from finishing school. On the way, she unwittingly helps accused cattle rustler Clay Boone elude his captor, Sheriff Maledon, when Boone's Uncle Jed, disguised as
10098-419: The Western formula, such as the space Western , Firefly , created by Joss Whedon in 2002. Deadwood was a critically acclaimed Western series that aired on HBO from 2004 through 2006. Hell on Wheels , a fictionalized story of the construction of the first transcontinental railroad , aired on AMC for five seasons between 2011 and 2016. Longmire is a Western series that centered on Walt Longmire ,
10251-881: The Western genre are a series of short single reel silents made in 1894 by Edison Studios at their Black Maria studio in West Orange, New Jersey . These featured veterans of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show exhibiting skills acquired by living in the Old West – they included Annie Oakley (shooting) and members of the Sioux (dancing). The earliest known Western narrative film is the British short Kidnapping by Indians , made by Mitchell and Kenyon in Blackburn , England, in 1899. The Great Train Robbery (1903, based on
10404-705: The Western states and cowboy themes. Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell are two artists who captured the "Wild West" in paintings and sculpture. After the death of Remington Richard Lorenz became the preeminent artist painting in the Western genre. Some art museums, such as the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Wyoming and the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, feature American Western Art. With anime and manga ,
10557-478: The Wild West and modern technology like cars and cellphones, while also focusing primarily on being a Crime drama makes the show a unique spin on both genres. Walter's reliance on the desert environment makes the Western-feel a pivotal role in the show, and would continue to be used in the spinoff series Better Call Saul . The neo-Western drama Yellowstone was streamed from 2018-2024. Western fiction
10710-677: The Workers Alliance of America and entire production of Sing for Your Supper at an anti-communist hearing in Washington, D.C. Sing for Your Supper eventually opened on either March 15 or April 24 (the date is debated) 1939 at the Adelphi Theatre. It was reasonably successful, running forty-four performances and closing on June 30. Feeling that his employment at the Federal Theatre would not be renewed after
10863-408: The advent of talking pictures". The film was directed by Wesley Ruggles and starred Bing Crosby, Richard Arlen , Mary Carlisle , Jack Oakie , George Burns and Gracie Allen . In addition to working with the main stars, Hecht trained The Ox-Road Co-Eds, a group of sixty chorus line dancers, for several original music sequences. He teamed up with Jack Oakie and Boris Petroff to create a new dance,
11016-505: The bar of the Barbizon-Plaza Hotel in New York City, having a last drink before Lancaster was off for the filming of The Killers for Mark Hellinger Productions. Lancaster was worried about the kind of movies he'd be getting in Hollywood when Hecht jokingly told him "Well Burt, if you don't like what you get into out there, we'll just produce our own films. That's the one way you're sure to get what you want!". Throughout
11169-526: The biggest and most important independent production units in Hollywood. Following the end of the Hecht-Hill-Lancaster partnership, Hecht continued as one of the top three independent producers in Hollywood, a position he shared with Stanley Kramer and the Mirisch brothers , for the next ten years. At the 28th Academy Awards ceremony in 1956, Hecht received a Best Picture Oscar for
11322-418: The biggest hits of the year. Released through United Artists, Stagecoach made John Wayne a mainstream screen star in the wake of a decade of headlining B Westerns. Wayne had been introduced to the screen 10 years earlier as the leading man in director Raoul Walsh 's spectacular widescreen The Big Trail , which failed at the box office in spite of being shot on location across the American West, including
11475-754: The biggest names from the Warner Brothers lot at the time, including Virginia Mayo (fresh from White Heat ) as the leading lady and Max Steiner (famous for Casablanca and Gone with the Wind ) who was hired to compose the soundtrack. The Flame and the Arrow was released in the summer of 1950 and became one of the year's top grossers, earning two nominations at the 23rd Academy Awards ceremony in March 1951; one for Best Dramatic or Comedy Score (Max Steiner), another for Best Color Cinematography ( Ernest Haller ). Hecht's next production for Warner Brothers
11628-618: The classic comics of the late 1940s and early 1950s (namely Kid Colt, Outlaw , Rawhide Kid , and Red Ryder ) or more modern ones as Blueberry ), cartoons, and parodies (such as Cocco Bill and Lucky Luke ). In the 1990s and 2000s, Western comics leaned towards the fantasy , horror and science fiction genres, usually involving supernatural monsters, or Christian iconography as in Preacher . More traditional Western comics are found throughout this period, though (e.g., Jonah Hex and Loveless ). Video game Westerns emerged in
11781-488: The company dissolved and Rantz formed the Louis Rantz Agency. In 1946 Hecht formed his own company, Harold Hecht Productions, and set up his new office at 8747 Sunset Boulevard West in Hollywood. The new name reflected what he and Lancaster hoped to accomplish; producing movies. However, Harold Hecht Productions also had an agency division and he retained many of the actors and writers already under contract with
11934-752: The conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature in the name of civilization or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original, Native American, inhabitants of the frontier. The Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor and personal, direct or private justice–"frontier justice"–dispensed by gunfights. These honor codes are often played out through depictions of feuds or individuals seeking personal revenge or retribution against someone who has wronged them (e.g., True Grit has revenge and retribution as its main themes). This Western depiction of personal justice contrasts sharply with justice systems organized around rationalistic, abstract law that exist in cities, in which social order
12087-565: The crew headed to Viti Levu in the Republic of Fiji , where production costs skyrocketed. The film was directed by Byron Haskin and starred Lancaster, Joan Rice and André Morell . It was scored by Dimitri Tiomkin and was the first time that Hecht and Lancaster collaborated with writer James Hill who later became a partner in the company. In December 1952 Hecht joined the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Harold Hecht's name
12240-428: The culture, such as spaghetti Westerns (Italy), meat pie Westerns (Australia), ramen Westerns (Asia), and masala Westerns (India). Being period drama pieces, both the Western and samurai genre influenced each other in style and themes throughout the years. The Magnificent Seven was a remake of Akira Kurosawa 's film Seven Samurai , and A Fistful of Dollars was a remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo , which itself
12393-445: The dance routines. Once Hecht was free from his Paramount contract in April 1933, RKO hired him again, this time to direct the dance numbers on Bed of Roses , a film directed by Gregory La Cava starring Constance Bennett , Joel McCrea , Pert Kelton and John Halliday . For this picture, Hecht trained two hundred girls for the dances and selected the best nine to appear in the film. One number in particular, which took place at
12546-476: The dances to music originally composed by John Alden Carpenter . Hecht refashioned the work into an eight-scene ballet with the help of Blanding Sloane, who worked on the sets, lights and made the masks, and Kay Otteson who designed the costumes. Richard Lert , husband of Vicki Baum , conducted the orchestra. In October 1933, Hecht was offered opportunities to direct dance numbers at Warner Brothers , Universal Pictures , Fox Films and Columbia Pictures within
12699-586: The desperado hideout " Hole-in-the-Wall ". Shelleen is shocked to discover the legendary outlaw Cassidy is, now, a humble saloonkeeper in Hole-in-the-Wall. The gang is thrown out when it is learned what they have done, due to Hole-in-the-Wall's continued existence being dependent on the sufferance of Wolf City. Strawn arrives and threatens Cat. Shelleen, motivated by his affection for Cat, works himself into shape. Dressed up in his finest gunfighter outfit, he goes into town and kills Strawn, then reveals he
12852-407: The earlier British film A Daring Daylight Burglary ), Edwin S. Porter 's film starring Broncho Billy Anderson , is often erroneously cited as the first Western, though George N. Fenin and William K. Everson point out (as mentioned above) that the "Edison company had played with Western material for several years prior to The Great Train Robbery ". Nonetheless, they concur that Porter's film "set
13005-463: The early 1960s, and their replacement by hour-long television shows, increasingly in color. Traditional Westerns died out in the late 1960s as a result of network changes in demographic targeting along with pressure from parental television groups. Future entries in the genre would incorporate elements from other genera, such as crime drama and mystery whodunit elements. Western shows from the 1970s included Hec Ramsey , Kung Fu , Little House on
13158-483: The film as a "springy satire", adding, "What makes this fun is the style. Forming a mighty cool duo, Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye sing their way in and out of the plot with folk songs which Cole ' Don't Fence Me In ' Porter would have relished. The format is novel and stylishly delivered." Pauline Kael in Film Quarterly called it "lumpen, coy, and obvious, a self-consciously cute movie," adding that "mainly it
13311-567: The film is happily consistent." In his Oscar acceptance speech, Lee Marvin concluded by saying: "I think, though, that half of this belongs to a horse somewhere out in San Fernando Valley ", a reference to the horse Kid Shelleen rode, which appeared to be as drunk as Shelleen was. Two separate television pilots were filmed. A 1970 pilot, written and produced by Aaron Ruben , featured Lesley Ann Warren as Cat, Jack Elam as Kid Shelleen and Tom Nardini repeating his role, while
13464-481: The film is unknown. Following Horse Feathers , Hecht worked on Lady and Gent (at the time known under the title The Challenge ), directed by Stephen Roberts and starring George Bancroft and Wynne Gibson , and Devil and the Deep , directed by Marion Gering and starring Tallulah Bankhead , Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton and Cary Grant. In June and July 1932, Hecht was loaned out from Paramount to M-G-M for
13617-422: The film's theme song, and who appear throughout the film in the form of travelling minstrels or troubadours as a kind of musical Greek chorus and framing device . The film was directed by Elliot Silverstein from a screenplay by Walter Newman and Frank Pierson adapted from the 1956 novel The Ballad of Cat Ballou by Roy Chanslor , who also wrote the novel filmed as Johnny Guitar . Chanslor's novel
13770-498: The four weeks of pre-production but neither Selznick nor Schnitzer liked the idea of the film and felt it was too racy and non-conducive to the American taste. A few weeks later Hecht found work in the Los Angeles theater business. LeRoy Prinz was producing and directing the Edmunt Joseph and Nat Perrin story Lucky Day with financial backing from Rodney Pantages, Arthur Silber and Harold Morehouse. Prinz had clashed with
13923-426: The genre tends towards the science-fiction Western – e.g., Cowboy Bebop (1998 anime), Trigun (1995–2007 manga), and Outlaw Star (1996–1999 manga). Although contemporary Westerns also appear, such as Koya no Shonen Isamu , a 1971 shonen manga about a boy with a Japanese father and a Native American mother, or El Cazador de la Bruja , a 2007 anime television series set in modern-day Mexico. Part 7 of
14076-464: The harshness and isolation of the wilderness, and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape. Western films generally have specific settings, such as isolated ranches, Native American villages, or small frontier towns with a saloon. Oftentimes, these settings appear deserted and without much structure. Apart from the wilderness, the saloon usually emphasizes that this is the Wild West ; it
14229-466: The heroes of Westerns frequently rescue damsels in distress . Similarly, the wandering protagonists of Westerns share many characteristics with the ronin in modern Japanese culture. The Western typically takes these elements and uses them to tell simple morality tales, although some notable examples (e.g. the later Westerns of John Ford or Clint Eastwood 's Unforgiven , about an old contract killer ) are more morally ambiguous. Westerns often stress
14382-401: The illicit drug market, eventually turning into a ruthless drug dealer and killer. While the show has scenes in a populated suburban neighborhood and nearby Albuquerque , much of the show takes place in the desert, where Walter often takes his RV car out into the open desert to cook his meth, and most action sequences occur in the desert, similar to old-fashioned Western movies. The clash between
14535-718: The influence of Kurosawa. The character Han Solo dressed like an archetypal gunslinger, and the Mos Eisley cantina is much like an Old West saloon. Meanwhile, films such as The Big Lebowski , which plucked actor Sam Elliott out of the Old West and into a Los Angeles bowling alley, and Midnight Cowboy , about a Southern-boy-turned-gigolo in New York (who disappoints a client when he does not measure up to Gary Cooper), transplanted Western themes into modern settings for both purposes of parody and homage. Harold Hecht Harold Adolphe Hecht (June 1, 1907 – May 26, 1985)
14688-406: The larger scope of the Western genre, there are several recognized subgenres. Some subgenres, such as spaghetti Westerns , maintain standard Western settings and plots, while others take the Western theme and archetypes into different supergenres, such as neo-Westerns or space Westerns . For a time, Westerns made in countries other than the United States were often labeled by foods associated with
14841-788: The late 1940s and 1950s, Television Westerns quickly became an audience favorite. Beginning with rebroadcasts of existing films, a number of movie cowboys had their own TV shows. As demand for the Western increased, new stories and stars were introduced. A number of long-running TV Westerns became classics in their own right, such as: The Lone Ranger (1949–1957), Death Valley Days (1952–1970), The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961), Cheyenne (1955–1962), Gunsmoke (1955–1975), Maverick (1957–1962), Have Gun – Will Travel (1957–1963), Wagon Train (1957–1965), The Rifleman (1958–1963), Rawhide (1959–1966), Bonanza (1959–1973), The Virginian (1962–1971), and The Big Valley (1965–1969). The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
14994-485: The literary descendants of the knights-errant , who stood at the center of earlier extensive genres such as the Arthurian romances . Like the cowboy or gunfighter of the Western, the knight-errant of the earlier European tales and poetry was wandering from place to place on his horse, fighting villains of various kinds, and bound to no fixed social structures, but only to his own innate code of honor. Like knights-errant,
15147-461: The major Hollywood studios rapidly abandoned Westerns, leaving the genre to smaller studios and producers. These smaller organizations churned out countless low-budget features and serials in the 1930s. An exception was The Big Trail, a 1930 American pre-Code Western early widescreen film shot on location across the American West starring 23-year-old John Wayne in his first leading role and directed by Raoul Walsh. The epic film noted for its authenticity
15300-563: The male lead; or in supporting roles as saloon girls, prostitutes or as the wives of pioneers and settlers . The wife character often provides a measure of comic relief . Other recurring characters include Native Americans of various tribes described as Indians or Red Indians, African Americans , Chinese Americans , Spaniards , Mexicans , law enforcement officers , bounty hunters , outlaws , bartenders , merchants , gamblers , soldiers (especially mounted cavalry ), and settlers ( farmers , ranchers , and townsfolk). The ambience
15453-683: The manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is based in the American Western setting. The story follows racers in a transcontinental horse race, the "Steel Ball Run". Golden Kamuy (2014–2022) shifts its setting to the fallout of the Russo-Japanese War , specifically focusing on Hokkaido and Sakhalin , and featuring the Ainu people and other local tribes instead of Native Americans, as well other recognizable Western tropes. Western comics have included serious entries, (such as
15606-515: The movie industry, working with the Marx Brothers , Mae West , Bing Crosby , Cary Grant , W. C. Fields , Gary Cooper , Maurice Chevalier and Marion Davies . In 1947, he co-founded Norma Productions , an independent film production company , with his business partner and managed actor Burt Lancaster . From 1954 to 1959, the Norma Productions subsidiaries Hecht-Lancaster Productions and later Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions, were
15759-551: The national history and identity of the United States . Native American populations were often portrayed as averse foes or savages . Originating in vaquero heritage and Western fiction , the genre popularized the Western lifestyle , country - Western music , and Western wear globally. Throughout the history of the genre, it has seen popular revivals and been incorporated into various subgenres. The classic Western
15912-528: The new routines on Chi Chi and Her Papas . But a week after Hecht's arrival, the film was put on hold. Earlier that fall, RKO had acquired the Pathé Exchange film studio and a number of issues had come of it. New studio head, David O. Selznick clashed with equally positioned Charles Rogers and similar arguments went on between producer William LeBaron and former vice-president Joseph I. Schnitzer. Not only were crew positions scheduled to be cut (as
16065-585: The new trend", to which he answered in her favor; "Dangerous curves are not only ahead, but actually with us. Present-day chorus girls must be slightly more round and more curved than those of a few years ago. Girls with thin, boyish figures definitely are out." Following the Mae West projects, Hecht became one of the more prominent choreographers in Hollywood and was well-in-demand at Paramount and other studios. In January 1933, Paramount scheduled Hecht for three of their upcoming features: A Bedtime Story (at
16218-457: The only plausible ones that were made during the remainder of his first venture in Hollywood were Duck Soup at Paramount in 1933 and A Night at the Opera at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1935. The exact shooting dates for Duck Soup have not been established, but it is known to have been filmed during the summer of 1933, after Hecht's contract at Paramount had expired. It is always possible that
16371-486: The original choreographer, Billy Grant and Hecht came in to replace him. Other crew members included Earl Dancer staging the choir with music by Otis René and Leon René and lyrics by Ben Eilleon. Lucky Day opened at the Mayan Theater in L.A. on December 27 starring Alex Lovejoy, Eddie Anderson , Alma Travers, LeRoy Broomfield and Aurora Greeley. The play was relatively successful, gaining interest from RKO as
16524-432: The pattern—of crime, pursuit, and retribution—for the Western film as a genre". The film's popularity opened the door for Anderson to become the screen's first Western star; he made several hundred Western film shorts. So popular was the genre that he soon faced competition from Tom Mix and William S. Hart . Western films were enormously popular in the silent film era (1894–1927). With the advent of sound in 1927–1928,
16677-477: The picture were lauded by critics. In January 1934, Hecht was approached by Universal again, this time for Glamour a film produced by B. F. Zeidman , directed by William Wyler and starring Constance Cummings and Paul Lukas . In May he was approached by Stanley Bergerman for another Roger Pryor film, Romance in the Rain . This time Hecht provided the dances in the film directed by Stuart Walker . Hecht
16830-501: The play, Hecht left New York in either July or August 1939. In either July or August 1939 Hecht returned to Hollywood and found it difficult to secure employment. He was then living with writer Roland Kibbee and the two became good friends. Kibbee later collaborated with Hecht and Lancaster as a writer for their production companies, and became an equal partner of Lancaster's post-Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions venture, Norlan Productions. In late 1939, after months of unemployment, Hecht
16983-762: The plays that the school produced and Hecht was most drawn by choreography. He also worked under Boleslavsky, both in The Lab's productions and on other Broadway productions, as stage assistant. In 1929 Boleslavsky left for Hollywood and Hecht continued to attend The Lab headed by Maria Ouspenskaya and Maria Germanova. After the American Laboratory Theatre closed in the spring of 1930, Hecht continued working on Broadway as either dancer or choreographer until late 1931. During this period he worked with Mikhail Mordkin , Martha Graham , George White and Albertina Rasch . He also worked on Les noces at
17136-472: The production. Sing for Your Supper featured an elaborate cast of different ethnicity, nationalities, religious and political beliefs and Hecht showed no discrimination when hiring actors or crew members. During one of the rehearsals, on May 30, 1938, one of the African American cast members approached one of the leading ladies of the play, Viennese actress Sally Saunders, for a date. The actress
17289-493: The project Ruby Red . But the censors found far too many similarities between Ruby Red and Diamond Lil and blocked the production completely. West and Paramount decided to merge Ruby Red into another West film in the writing stages, She Done Him Wrong , using the cast and crew already hired for Ruby Red . This final version of the script made it into production. Producer LeBaron, who had left RKO to work for Paramount, hired Hecht to work on She Done Him Wrong back when it
17442-515: The purpose of making these shorts in December 1934, was called Goonies Inc. However, the Goonies shorts were never produced, for reasons unknown. In January 1935, Hecht and his friend Josef Berne were given the go ahead to direct their own Technicolor (using the three-strip process) short at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The color process was still considered a novelty at the time, making this deal, for
17595-458: The script. It starred Lancaster and Gary Cooper with featured roles by Denise Darcel , Sara Montiel , Cesar Romero , George Macready , Ernest Borgnine , Charles Bronson (again credited as Charles Buchinsky), Jack Elam and Jack Lambert . Vera Cruz became Norma Productions' top grosser and one of UA's best box office success, earning over $ 11 million and boosting Hecht and Lancaster to the top as Hollywood's most prominent independent producers,
17748-637: The settlement of other planets is depicted in ways explicitly modeled on American settlement of the West. For example, in his Tunnel in the Sky , settlers set out to the planet New Canaan, via an interstellar teleporter portal across the galaxy, in Conestoga wagons , their captain sporting mustaches and a little goatee and riding a Palomino horse—with Heinlein explaining that the colonists would need to survive on their own for some years, so horses are more practical than machines. Stephen King 's The Dark Tower
17901-429: The studio reached out to Hecht, though no screen credits were provided for the dance numbers (no screen credits were provided for Horse Feathers either). As for A Night at the Opera , it was filmed at M-G-M Studio in the summer of 1935, during a time when Hecht was associated with the studio. However, the film gives screen credits to Chester Hale for the choreography. Whether Hale worked alone or if Hecht had any input in
18054-457: The time known under the title The Way to Love ), directed by Norman Taurog and starring Maurice Chevalier and Helen Twelvetrees , International House , directed by A. Edward Sutherland starring W. C. Fields, Bela Lugosi and George Burns and the highly anticipated blockbuster College Humor . College Humor , another William LeBaron production, was proclaimed by Paramount's publicity department as "the most lavish musical picture since
18207-476: The tin-nosed hired killer who is threatening him. Shelleen arrives and proves to be a drunken bum who is a crack shot only when he is inebriated. His presence proves to be useless, as Strawn abruptly kills Frankie. When the townspeople refuse to bring Strawn to justice, Catherine becomes a revenge-seeking outlaw, known as Cat Ballou. She and her gang rob a train carrying the Wolf City payroll, then take refuge in
18360-457: The top of my list and I have to eat so I'd have to keep you working". Lancaster signed with Hecht and they went out to celebrate at a restaurant. There Hecht said, "You know, I really don't like being an agent. I want to produce pictures". Lancaster replied that he wanted the same, which led to Hecht's famous retort, "Come with me and in five years maybe we can make it". The actual time was 19 months. Through Hecht's negotiations, Lancaster signed
18513-437: The two studios merged into a single location), but some of the pictures too were cancelled. As part of the agreement, all 20 Pathé pictures in production at the time of the acquisition were to be made at RKO's studio. However, the 16 films on RKO's production schedule were not given the same security and for a variety of reasons, Chi Chi and Her Papas was one of the few to get shut down. LeBaron had already spent $ 100,000 within
18666-502: The writers, actors and directors that Hecht and Lancaster had worked with through Norma Productions and Halburt Productions had been named as known or suspected Communists and the Committee was eager to hear Hecht's side of the story. Hecht cooperated with the Committee on every aspect, feeling no shame about his past and answering all their questions regarding his affiliation with the Communist Party . Hecht admitted to once being
18819-561: Was Kiss the Blood Off My Hands , a film noir based on British author Gerald Butler 's best-selling novel. The movie starred Lancaster, Joan Fontaine and Robert Newton and was directed by Norman Foster , famous for the Mr. Moto crime series starring Peter Lorre , with a soundtrack by Miklós Rózsa , a noted film noir composer. Kiss the Blood Off My Hands , a co-production through Norma Productions and Harold Hecht Productions,
18972-573: Was The Crimson Pirate , another Technicolor swashbuckler starring Lancaster and Nick Cravat , a close friend since boyhood, and former acrobat who had worked with Lancaster in the circus (he had also co-starred in The Flame and the Arrow ). It was directed by Robert Siodmak , written by Roland Kibbee and featured an early appearance by Christopher Lee . The Crimson Pirate was made entirely in remote locations, with filming in Ischia , an island off
19125-439: Was Midway 's Gun Fight , an adaptation of Taito 's Western Gun (1975) which featured two players against each other in a duel set on a sparse desert landscape with a few cacti and a moving covered wagon to hide behind. Atari 's Outlaw (1976) followed which explicitly framed the shootouts between "good guys" and "outlaws" also borrowing from gunfighter themes and imagery. Early console games such as Outlaw (1978) for
19278-440: Was a Marx Brothers film, it is quite possible that Hecht found his way to that studio through Nat Perrin, whom he had just worked with on Lucky Day and was Groucho's close friend and collaborator. Hecht was reported to have worked on additional Marx Brothers films, though no specific titles have surfaced to confirm this (i.e.: "Hecht worked on Marx Brothers films", in plural form). If he did work on additional Marx Brothers films,
19431-424: Was a choreographer) have won and been nominated for several awards and prizes at various ceremonies and film festivals, including; Academy Awards , Golden Globe Award , British Academy Film Awards , Bodil Awards , Directors Guild of America Award , Writers Guild of America Award , National Board of Review Awards, New York Film Critics Circle Award, Laurel Awards , David di Donatello Award, Bambi Award and
19584-469: Was a comedy film directed by Frank Tashlin starring Robert Cummings and Barbara Hale , based on a short story by Hugo Butler and Jean Rouverol as first-time parents. Hecht's final Warner Brothers commitment was His Majesty O'Keefe , filmed in mid-1952 but only released in early 1954. His Majesty O'Keefe was granted another large budget for remote location shooting in Technicolor. This time
19737-578: Was a financial failure due to Depression era theatres not willing to invest in widescreen technology. By the late 1930s, the Western film was widely regarded as a pulp genre in Hollywood, but its popularity was dramatically revived in 1939 by major studio productions such as Dodge City starring Errol Flynn , Jesse James with Tyrone Power , Union Pacific with Joel McCrea , Destry Rides Again featuring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich , and especially John Ford's landmark Western adventure Stagecoach starring John Wayne , which became one of
19890-562: Was a serious Western, and though it was turned into a comedy for the film, the filmmakers retained some darker elements. The film references many classic Western films, notably Shane . The film was selected by the American Film Institute as the 10 greatest Western of all time in its AFI's 10 Top 10 list in 2008. Catherine "Cat" Ballou, a notorious outlaw, is set to be executed in the small town of Wolf City, Wyoming . Two banjo and guitar playing "Shouters", Professor Sam
20043-706: Was accepted into its Auxiliary Acting Group, granting him the privilege of appearing in the school's produced plays, while remaining under Boleslavsky's teachings beyond the two years required to graduate. While attending The Lab, Hecht appeared in The Straw Hat (October–November 1926), Big Lake (April 1927, from a story by Rollie Lynn Riggs ), Much Ado About Nothing (November–December 1927), Dr. Knock (February–March 1928), Grand Street Follies (May–October 1928, with dances staged by James Cagney ) and The Wild Duck (November 1928 – January 1929). Many of The Lab's students worked on additional aspects of
20196-659: Was also filmed around the Tunnel Drive Trail and the Wet Mountain Valley . Nat King Cole was ill with lung cancer during the filming of Cat Ballou . A chain smoker , Cole died four months before the film was released. Jay C. Flippen suffered a circulatory failure during filming and, as a result, later had his leg amputated, due to gangrene . Cat Ballou was well received by critics. It earned over $ 20.6 million in North America, making it
20349-530: Was an American film producer, dance director and talent agent. He was also, though less noted for, a literary agent, a theatrical producer , a theatre director and a Broadway actor. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the Screen Producers Guild . During his first stay in Hollywood in the early to mid-1930s, Hecht was one of the leading dance directors in
20502-764: Was born on June 1, 1907, in Yorkville , New York City, to Joseph Hecht and Rose (née Loewy) Hecht. His father was born on November 17, 1882, in Austria. While employed as a sailor at the age of seventeen, he immigrated to New York City in January 1899. Once in New York he worked in construction and eventually made it up to the position of a building contractor. His mother was born on January 18, 1882, in [Austria]. Joseph and Rose were married in 1906 in New York City and had two children; Harold (born 1907) and Janet Hecht (b. 1910, later Janet Garfield, mother of Warren Garfield,
20655-480: Was brought up to date by J. Keirn Brennan with dance numbers by Hecht and vocal numbers by H. L. Heidecker. Karl Hajos composed and conducted the 30-piece orchestra and the cast included Herbert Evans , Ruth Gillette, Alex Callam, Florinne McKinney, Franklin Record, Roland Woodruff, Diane Warfield, Paul Sauter, Rolloe Dix, William Jeffries, Harold Reeves and Evelyn Cunningham. The play opened on Monday November 14 at
20808-467: Was caused by a lack of work in the fast-paced, constantly evolving musical pictures business. His style of dances were refreshing when he arrived in 1931. But by 1935 they had been adapted and used by other choreographers and had been well-used at all the major studios. In November 1935, exactly four years after leaving, Hecht returned to New York City and took employment at the Summer Hotel. He
20961-615: Was during this time that Hecht became a member of the Communist Party, subscribing to the Daily Worker and attending select meetings at the New York City Communist Party headquarters on 4th Avenue and the Workers Alliance of America . He also studied five hours a week, taking classes like labor studies, political economy, current events and the rise of Marxism and Leninism . Even though he had
21114-637: Was fulfilled), Hecht made plans to work at Universal in October 1933 with Stanley Bergerman on I Like It That Way . The film was directed by Harry Lachman and starred Gloria Stuart and Roger Pryor . But shortly before starting production on I Like It That Way in November, Hecht instead opted to go to work on Buddy DeSylva 's film Bottoms Up at Fox. The large production was directed by David Butler and starred Spencer Tracy and Pat Paterson with music and lyrics by Gus Kahn . Hecht's numbers in
21267-752: Was given to the House Un-American Activities Committee by Martin Berkeley on September 19, 1951. At the time that Hecht's name was brought up, he was in Italy working on Norma Productions' The Crimson Pirate for Warner Brothers and a subpoena for his testimony was only procured two years later. On March 23, 1953, Hecht appeared in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, represented by his lawyer Edward Bennett Williams. Many of
21420-422: Was hired as director and James R. Webb wrote the script from an original novel by Paul Wellman . Apache was another box office success for the company and despite the controversy that both leading actors had striking blue eyes, the film met with the approval of Native Americans, who were consulted at private screenings prior to the opening dates. Apache was followed by Vera Cruz , another western, based on
21573-501: Was hired by Nat Goldstone as a talent agent for the Goldstone Agency. The Goldstone Agency initially dealt with actors and Hecht established for them a literary department , first becoming head of the new division and then being promoted to a partner in the company. He worked two years for the Goldstone Agency, eventually handling up to thirty-six writers. Hecht hired one of these writers, George Willner, to be his assistant. Willner later formed his own literary agency. Hecht enlisted in
21726-692: Was honorably discharged on September 3, 1945. After his service in World War II, Hecht returned to Hollywood with plans to head his own talent agency. In the fall of 1945 he formed the Hecht-Rantz Agency with friend and former Goldstone Agency employee, Louis Rantz. Rantz had also worked in Hollywood during the mid-1930s, as an associate producer, mostly with Metropolitan Pictures , George A. Hirliman Productions and B.F. Zeidman Productions. Hecht and Rantz set up their office at 324 South Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills , California. During
21879-470: Was inspired by Red Harvest , an American detective novel by Dashiell Hammett . Kurosawa was influenced by American Westerns and was a fan of the genre, most especially John Ford . Despite the Cold War , the Western was a strong influence on Eastern Bloc cinema, which had its own take on the genre, the so-called Red Western or Ostern. Generally, these took two forms: either straight Westerns shot in
22032-554: Was nominated for the Best Play Award at the 11th Tony Awards ceremony in April 1957 In November 1959 Hecht was chosen by United States President Dwight Eisenhower to accompany the cultural exchange program committee in a trip to Russia when Marty was selected by the USSR as the first American film to be screened in that country since World War II. Fourteen of Hecht's film productions (and an additional three on which he
22185-496: Was produced by Benjamin Glazer , who had written A Bedtime Story , and featured music by Ralph Rainger, who had also worked on A Bedtime Story and International House , as well as Hecht's play, Hullaballoo . Shortly before Hecht's Paramount contract expired, producer Lou Brock at RKO borrowed him to direct the dance numbers on the musical Melody Cruise (at the time known under the title Maiden Cruise ). Hecht put together
22338-434: Was released in late 1948 to moderate success. Following this, Hecht worked exclusively through Norma Productions for the next ten years. In early 1949 Norma Productions made a three-picture deal with Warner Brothers Pictures , all to be produced by Hecht and to star Lancaster. The inaugural picture was The Flame and the Arrow , a Technicolor swashbuckler directed by Jacques Tourneur . The big-budget film featured some of
22491-482: Was so dominating, so much larger than life". Hecht attended the play many more times before it closed after twenty-three performances on December 8. When nearly all the major Hollywood studios starting coming at Lancaster with offers, his friend and co-star in the play, Sam Levene , an established stage and film actor, offered to represent him. Together they were invited to restaurants, hearing offers from David O. Selznick, 20th Century-Fox and Hal B. Wallis , who had
22644-518: Was so insulted that she rushed to Hecht, asking for the man to be fired. Hecht gloriously championed the rights of blacks by responding to her "Sally, I'm surprised at you. He has just as much right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness as you and I have". Saunders was horrified by Hecht's approval of racial equality and in August of that same year testified against him, the Federal Theater,
22797-435: Was still a separate entity from Ruby Red . Hecht was also hired for dance routines on Ruby Red . Ultimately, all of Hecht's material was merged into a single film and used on She Done Him Wrong . The film was directed by Lowell Sherman and starred West, Cary Grant, Owen Moore and Noah Beery . Hecht was interviewed by Motion Picture Magazine in 1933, in response to Mae West's media comments regarding "curvy women being
22950-515: Was the first Western television series written for adults, premiering four days before Gunsmoke on September 6, 1955. The peak year for television Westerns was 1959, with 26 such shows airing during primetime. At least six of them were connected in some extent to Wyatt Earp : The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp , Bat Masterson , Tombstone Territory , Broken Arrow , Johnny Ringo , and Gunsmoke . Increasing costs of American television production weeded out most action half-hour series in
23103-528: Was the first choice for the title role, but her manager turned it down without letting the actress know. Ann-Margret wrote in her autobiography that she would have taken the part. Among others, Kirk Douglas and Dick Van Dyke turned down the role of Shelleen. The film was shot on location in Colorado, including parts of Canon City and Texas Creek , as well as the ghost towns of Rosita and Buckskin Joe . It
23256-639: Was then hired by the Theatre Guild and positioned as assistant director and assistant stage manager for the Leonard Lawrence Atlas play But for the Grace of God in 1936. The play was produced by Sidney Harmon and directed by Benno Schneider. Hecht was not the original stage manager of the play and only came in through Schneider's insistence. But for the Grace of God opened on January 12, 1937, and ran for forty-two performances. It
23409-418: Was working to adapt her notoriously banned play, Diamond Lil , into a film, initially titled Honky Tonk . But the censors objected and Paramount worked quickly to change a few scenes, re-title the film to Diamond Lil and tried again to get it into production. The censors objected again, Paramount went back to work and, hoping to fool the censors into thinking they were submitting an all-new film, re-titled
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