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Posted: |
Mar 1, 2023 - 12:49 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In STAND UP AND BE COUNTED, Jacqueline Bisset stars as “Sheila Hammond,” a fashion reporter assigned to do a magazine story on the burgeoning women’s movement. To do so, she flies to her hometown of Denver. During the flight, Sheila rekindles her romance with an ex, “Eliot Travis” (Gary Lockwood). In Denver, Sheila discovers that her mother (Anne Francine) is part of a “Senior Women’s Liberation” organization, and that her ultra-feminist younger sister, “Karen” (Lee Purcell), wants to hire a man to impregnate her. Torn between new and old ideas about gender roles, Sheila moves in with Eliot, only to discover he’s a patronizing chauvinist. Sheila also meets “Yvonne Kellerman” (Stella Stevens), the spoiled wife of “Lou” (Hector Elizondo), the manager of a lingerie factory, who, she admits, treats her only as a sex object.
Stella Stevens in STAND UP AND BE COUNTED
Jackie Cooper made his directorial debut with the 1972 film. Helen Reddy’s signature song, “I Am Woman” was heard on the soundtrack. The unreleased score was by Ernie Wilkins. The film only had limited distribution.
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Posted: |
Mar 1, 2023 - 10:46 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In the 1972 Blaxploitation film SLAUGHTER, Jim Brown plays the title character--an ex-Green Beret captain looking for the culprits who murdered his parents with a car bomb. The chase leads him to South America where, after ruining a Treasury Department investigation into the same suspects, Slaughter is pressed into working for the agency. His assigned partner is a ne’er-do-well named “Harry Bastoli” (Don Gordon). Harry tells Slaughter that the head of the local organization is “Mario Felice” (Norman Alfe), but that it was probably his right-hand man, the psychopathic “Dominick Hoffo” (Rip Torn), who made the hit. In the countryside, at a lavish estate, Felice, who is indeed the “capo,” or head, of the local Mafia, meets with “Ann Cooper” (Stella Stevens), Hoffo’s voluptuous mistress, who has brought him the latest batch of microfilmed data from Hoffo.
Stella Stevens and Rip Torn in SLAUGHTER
In a 2004 interview, Stella Stevens said that co-star Rip Torn was the most horrible person she'd ever worked with in her life. They shared a dressing trailer, and one day she came out of the bathroom and he was grinning ear to ear. He told her, "Oh, I love to hear you pee."
Stevens said in an interview that when Jim Brown filmed his sex scene in 100 RIFLES (1969) with Raquel Welch, he had a towel put between them because he didn't want their skin touching while they were naked. However, when she and Brown filmed their nude sex scene, they didn't have anything between them except "good feelings and fun."
Stevens revealed that, being from Mississippi, there was a big resentment towards her in the South because of that sex scene. She said she heard that a man in a theater in Memphis stood up, screamed "You slut!" at her on the screen, then walked out of the theater.
Jack Starrett directed the film, which had an unreleased score by Luchi De Jesus. Like most American International Pictures productions, SLAUGHTER was done on the cheap, with a budget of just $850,000. Nevertheless, according to an August 1972 Hollywood Reporter news item, the highly successful film brought AIP “the biggest business in the 18-year history of the company.” The film grossed $10 million.
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Stella Stevens was part of an all-star ensemble cast in producer Irwin Allen’s first big disaster film, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. Allen was a writer, director and producer who began his film career making spectacle films such as 1961’s VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, then worked in television on such series as “Lost in Space.” THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE marked his first film in ten years. The film begins with the following written statement: “At midnight on New Year’s Eve, the S.S. Poseidon, enroute from New York to Athens, met with disaster and was lost. There were only a handful of survivors. This is their story….”
Paul Gallico’s novel The Poseidon Adventure was published in 1969. The story was inspired by a trip he took on the R.M.S. Queen Mary ocean liner in 1937. When he was having breakfast in the dining room, the liner was hit by a large wave, sending people and furniture crashing to the other side of the vessel. He was further inspired by a true incident which occurred aboard the Queen Mary during World War II. Packed with American troops bound for Europe, the ship was struck by a gargantuan freak wave in the North Atlantic. It was calculated that if the ship had rolled another five inches, she would have capsized like the Poseidon. Gallico carried out extensive research to ensure that the disaster scenario was realistic and feasible. The film follows the same basic story of the novel, tracing a charismatic, rebellious preacher (Gene Hackman) as he leads survivors of an overturned ocean liner toward the ship’s hull. Unlike the film, however, the book includes additional characters, more deaths, and some incidents not portrayed in the film.
On 26 March 1969, Avco Embassy purchased the novel. Irwin Allen’s production company, Kent Productions, signed a deal with Avco Embassy to produce three films, including THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. The start of preproduction work and a finished script were due by October 1969. In July 1971, however, it was announced that Allen would produce the film in collaboration with Twentieth Century-Fox rather than Avco Embassy. Allen noted in a December 1972 Variety article that he had first approached Fox with the idea of the film, turning to Avco after Fox turned him down. However, when Avco’s new president canceled the production, Allen returned to Fox.
But even Fox, hoping to cut costs after a string of failed big-budget musicals (DOCTOR DOLITTLE; STAR; HELLO, DOLLY!), pulled out of the expensive production just weeks before shooting began. Allen persuaded Fox to provide just half of the $5 million budget, then reportedly, Allen found outside backers by crossing Pico Boulevard from Fox's main gate to the nearby Hillcrest Country Club, where he found some friends (Sherrill Corwin and Steve Broidy) playing cards. During the card game, Allen cajoled them into backing his film by putting up half the budget. But costs were less than estimated, and because the studio never spent any of the backers' money, the backers made a tidy profit from the success of the film without actually spending a dime.
The film’s first script was written by Wendell Mayes, but in November 1971, Hollywood trade papers noted that Stirling Silliphant had been hired as a writer. While the sources stated that Silliphant would rewrite the script completely, both he and Mayes received onscreen credit for the screenplay.
The cast included multiple former Academy Award winners, and during filming, Gene Hackman was awarded the 1971 Best Actor Oscar for his work in THE FRENCH CONNECTION. Sally Kellerman was considered to play "Linda Rogo," the wife of police detective “Mike Rogo” (Ernest Borgnine), a part that ultimately went to Stella Stevens. Petula Clark was offered the role of singer "Nonnie Parry," which ended up being played by Carol Lynley. And Gene Wilder was originally cast as haberdasher "James Martin," with Red Buttons eventually playing the role.
The cast of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE:
Standing (l. to r.): Ernest Borgnine, Arthur O’Connell, Carol Lynley, Red Buttons, Jack Albertson
Sitting (l. to r.): Pamela Sue Martin, Stella Stevens, Gene Hackman, Shelley Winters, Roddy McDowall
Stella Stevens said in a 1994 interview that she hated working with Shelley Winters in the 1969 film THE MAD ROOM so much, she swore she'd never work with her again. Winters had been under a lot of stress because Robert Kennedy was assassinated during the filming of it and she had a very bad reaction to it. She began soothing her nerves with white wine and was drunk most the time. A year later Stevens was cast in this role and soon found out Winters had been cast too. She told the producers she wasn't going to do the film. They told her she wouldn't have to be in any scenes with Winters one-on-one, so she agreed to do it and was glad she did. Winters wasn't drinking anymore, and they got along fine.
Stevens said in a 2006 interview that when she first read the script, she could tell by the writing that whichever actress played the "fat lady" (“Belle”) in the movie would end up getting an Oscar nomination. And she was right. The role went to Shelley Winters, and she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Stevens said that after she was cast as Linda Rogo, Irwin Allen asked if she had read the Poseidon Adventure novel upon which the film was based. When Stevens told him no, Allen urged her not to read it, saying everyone hated the Linda character in the book, and he wanted her film version of the character to be likeable.
Stevens recalled that working on the film was a lot of fun, and that Ronald Neame was a wonderful, amazing, and talented director, and a delightful man with a great sense of humor. So, no matter how tough the work was, the cast did absolutely everything they could. She also said Neame used to go to some of the Venture Fan Club autograph luncheons she attended, to sign pictures of him on the set. Then he would donate all the money he made to his favorite charity.
Years later, Stevens said that she always wished she had kept the panties she had worn in the film, as she could "sell them on eBay and make a fortune."
Stella Stevens in THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE
The film, shot in sequence in order to follow the characters faithfully as they became more and more bedraggled, began production on location aboard the Queen Mary. The ship had launched in 1934 as an ocean liner carrying up to 2,020 passengers. Upon its retirement in 1967 in Long Beach, CA, it was restored as a hotel and tourist attraction. For the storm sequence, director Ronald Neame mounted cameras on gyros to create the illusion of a swaying ship. The scenes that occur after the ship overturns were shot on the Fox lot, where Neame and production designer William Creber used historical photographs and plans to build near-exact replicas of various areas of the ship. The dining room was built right-side-up, hoisted with a forklift so it tilted up to thirty degrees to film the initial stages of the capsizing. With the actors removed, the set was then flipped upside-down, and the actors were returned to continue the sequence. The filmmakers also constructed a miniature Queen Mary, measuring twenty-two feet long, that was photographed inside a studio tank. The replica now resides in the Los Angeles Maritime Museum in San Pedro, CA.
The stars personally performed most of the stunts for the film, and this was done by design as part of the studio's marketing plan. Much publicized was the fact that Shelley Winters gained thirty-five pounds to play the role of “Belle Rosen” and studied for weeks to learn to swim like a champion. Originally Reverend Scott was to send Belle on the underwater mission and then save her life, but Gene Hackman suggested that the situation be reversed. The scene in which the character of “Terry” falls from a table and crashes into the ballroom skylight has since become an iconic cinematic shock moment. Actor Ernie Orsatti was asked by the filmmakers to perform the fall himself, and despite his reluctance he did it. Orsatti went on to become a renowned stunt man. Allen and Neame planned for the film’s final shot to be an aerial view of the sinking ship, but budget constraints forced them to drop the shot.
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE premiered in New York on 12 December 1972. It proved a critical success and was the top grossing film of 1972, at which point it had earned almost $100 million. The picture's success initiated a spate of disaster films, many produced by Allen, and is considered to be one of the genre’s finest. The film received an Academy Award for Best Song and a Special Achievement Award in Visual Effects (L. B. Abbott and A. D. Flowers), as well as nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Winters), Art Direction (Creber and Raphael Bretton), Cinematography (Harold E. Stine), Costume Design (Paul Zastupnevich), Film Editing (Harold F. Kress), Sound (Theodore Soderberg and Herman Lewis) and Music, Original Dramatic Score (John Williams). Williams lost the Oscar to Charles Chaplin, Ray Rasch, and Larry Russell for the score to the 1952 film LIMELIGHT (which had played in Los Angeles for the first time in 1972).
Jack Albertson, Carol Lynley, Red Buttons, Ernest Borgnine, Stella Stevens, Eric Shea and Pamela Sue Martin in THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE
The film’s theme song was officially entitled "The Song from The Poseidon Adventure," but became more widely known as “The Morning After.” Although contemporary articles stated that Carol Lynley sang the song during the film, the voice heard was actually stand-in singer Renee Armand. Armand had turned down the opportunity to sing the single, which was released by Maureen McGovern simultaneously with the picture. After composers Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn won the Academy Award in the spring of 1973, it was re-released and became a number-one hit.
The success of THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and Irwin Allen’s next film, 1974’s THE TOWERING INFERNO, earned him the nickname “Master of Disaster.” When ABC bought the television rights to THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE in 1973, the network paid a then-record $3.2 million for one showing. John Williams’ score was first released by Film Score Monthly in 1998. It was re-issued by La-La Land in 2010, and again in 2019 as part of the “Disaster Movie Soundtrack Collection.”
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Posted: |
Mar 3, 2023 - 12:51 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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ARNOLD is a comedy horror film in which the dead “Lord Arnold Dwellyn” (voice of Murray Matheson) marries his lover, “Karen” (Stella Stevens), in spite of his widow, “Lady Jocelyn Dwellyn” (Shani Wallis), and leaves deathtraps accompanied by audiotapes and his preserved and articulate corpse for those who cared only for his money.
Farley Granger and Stella Stevens in ARNOLD
Georg Fenady directed the low-budget film, which had an unreleased score by George Duning. The film suffered from low grosses after its limited release in November 1973 and was pulled from theatres. New ads were run that focused on the comedic, rather than macabre, elements of the story. When the film was re-released, it set a house box-office record at a theater in Florida and proceeded to bring impressive grosses in its wider release, totaling $4.3 million.
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WANTED: THE SUNDANCE WOMAN finds the former schoolteacher and outlaw moll “Etta Place” again played by Katharine Ross, reprising her role from the original film BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID in 1969. This film is a sequel to the 1974 TV movie MRS. SUNDANCE that starred Elizabeth Montgomery in the Etta Place role. In this latest film, it’s 1903 and Etta is a wanted woman using an alias while hiding out in an Arizona border town as a general store clerk for the past year. Etta travels alone since her ‘Hole-in-the-Wall Gang’ lover has been killed in Bolivia a few years ago. The obsessed Pinkerton detective, “Charlie Siringo” (Steve Forrest), relentlessly pursues her in town but she escapes his grasp. Instead, the detective arrests her employer, the general store owner “Dave Baker” (Michael Constantine), for harboring a fugitive.
Etta returns to stay in town unrecognized in the boarding house of an old friend, “Lola Wilkins” (Stella Stevens), as she schemes to break Dave out of jail. When Etta learns that one of her former outlaw friends is riding with the nearby Pancho Villa (Hector Elizondo), just across the border, she schemes with the womanizing revolutionary leader to break Dave out of jail and in return informs him how to get rifles being shipped by train to the Mexican army.
Stella Stevens in WANTED: THE SUNDANCE WOMAN
Lee Philips directed the film, which aired on ABC on 1 October 1976. Fred Karlin’s score has not been released.
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A lawyer, then a writer, then a film director, is the career path of the bashful "Leo Harrigan" (Ryan O'Neal) in the days of the NICKELODEON. But Leo has problems as well, such as being hopelessly smitten with his leading lady (Jane Hitchcock), who chooses to reward his attentions by getting herself hitched to Harrigan's vulgar leading man, "Buck Greenway" (Burt Reynolds). Stella Stevens plays another one of Leo’s lead actors, “Margaret ‘Marty’ Reeves.”
Tatum O’Neal, John Ritter, Burt Reynolds, Jane Hitchcock, Ryan O’Neal, and Stella Stevens in NICKELODEON
Peter Bogdanovich directed the 1976 release. Richard Hazard arranged and conducted some period songs for the 1976 film's score, which was not released. The film’s budget was estimated at between $7 million and $9 million, and it grossed $18.2 million domestically.
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Posted: |
Mar 7, 2023 - 12:59 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Six cast members from the 1960s television series returned to face a MURDER IN PEYTON PLACE. Back were Dorothy Malone and Tim O’Connor as “Constance McKenzie Carson” and her husband “Elliott,” Ed Nelson as “Dr. Mike Rossi,” Chris Connelly and Joyce Jillson as “Norman and Jill Smith Harrison,” and Kimberly Beck as “Bonnie.” (Beck, who was a pre-teen in the original series, now plays a different character.) Mia Farrow also appeared as “Allison McKenzie.” via footage from the original series.
In this new film, “Stella Chernak” (Stella Stevens), a former resident of Peyton Place, now wealthy and powerful, secretly returns to the town and sets in motion a spate of killings designed as revenge for past wrongs.
Bruce Kessler directed the made-for-television film, which aired on NBC on 3 October 1977. The original director, Robert Hartford-Davis, died after three days of filming. Laurence Rosenthal’s score has not had a release.
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THE MANITOU takes place in San Francisco, where “Karen Tandy” (Susan Strasberg) has a strange, irritating growth on the back of her neck, much to the bewilderment of two specialist doctors (Jon Cedar and Paul Mantee) who conclude it’s some sort of “fetus.” Before going into the hospital to be operated on, Karen looks up old flame “Harry Erskine” (Tony Curtis), a charlatan tarot card reader who caters to rich old ladies. During their rekindled romance, Harry believes the tumor is nothing to worry about until he hears Karen utter something in a strange language in her sleep. One of his clients (Lurene Tuttle) later says the same mysterious passage right before floating on air and falling to her death down a flight of stairs.
These strange occurrences, the fact that Karen seems possessed, and the doctors’ continued bafflement leads Harry to seek the help of another fortune teller, “Amelia Crusoe” (Stella Stevens) and her husband (Hugh Corcoran), and together they perform a revealing (and turbulent) séance. As Karen’s growth gets larger, an old anthropologist (Burgess Meredith) is called upon, and he believes the neck lump is a 400-year-old Indian Spirit out for revenge.
Tony Curtis, Burgess Meredith, and Stella Stevens in THE MANITOU
William Girdler directed the film, his last. Lalo Schifrin’s score has not had a release. The $3 million production barely broke even at the U.S. box office, with a $3.3 million gross.
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Raymond Burr plays “Frank Jordan, a no-nonsense lawyer, who in early life spent seven years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. Now, he has established a foundation dedicated to helping those wrongfully accused and unjustly convicted, giving them THE JORDAN CHANCE. In the film, when Jordan sets out to free a young girl who has already been behind bars four years for murder (Maria Elena Cordero), he gets a lot of opposition from the local sheriff (George DiCenzo) who was one of the arresting officers four years ago. Stella Stevens appears as the victim's widow, “Verna Stewart,” who has the town all fired up.
Jules Irving directed this made-for-television feature, which aired on CBS on 12 December 1978. Pete Rugolo provided the unreleased score.
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THE FRENCH ATLANTIC AFFAIR was a 3-part miniseries adaptation of Ernest Lehman’s 1977 novel. Telly Savalas starred as charismatic cult leader “Father Craig Dunleavy,” who informs Louis Jourdan, the captain of the SS Festivale, that Dunleavy and his followers, most of whom are posing as passengers, have taken the luxury liner hostage. Their demand: 13 tons of gold sitting in a Paris vault.
The all-star cast of this JUGGERNAUT-like tale included Michelle Phillips as cruise director “Jenny Barber,” John Rubinstein and Rebecca Balding as young couple “Herb and Harriet Kleinfeld,” Shelley Winters as blowsy “Helen Wabash,” Carolyn Jones as the seasick “Peg,” and Stella Stevens as “Louise Crawford," the suspicious wife of one of Dunleavy’s flock.
Douglas Heyes wrote and directed the film, which aired on ABC on 15,16, & 18 November 1979. The unreleased score was composed by John Addison.
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Posted: |
Mar 10, 2023 - 12:50 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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FRIENDSHIPS, SECRETS AND LIES was the story of six former sorority sisters who are suspected of a murder 20 years earlier, when a baby's skeleton is found in the ruins of their sorority house. The six women were the slightly zany, slightly promiscuous, divorced ballet teacher “Sandy” (Paula Prentiss); the quiet, not-yet-out-of-the-closet “Mary Alice” (Shelley Fabares); the pill-popping, heavy-drinking “Joan” (Tina Louise); the hard-working newspaper editor, whose man left her, “Martha” (Cathryn Damon); the OK-with-it wife and mother “B.J.” (Loretta Swit); and the dumb-but-sweet blonde who just wants to keep her husband happy, “Edyth” (Stella Stevens). Sondra Locke played young reporter “Jessie Dunne,” who pursues the case with fervor.
Paula Prentiss, Shelley Fabares, Tina Louise, Cathyrn Damon, Loretta Swit, and Stella Stevens in FRIENDSHIPS, SECRETS AND LIES
This was touted as the first all-female made-for-television film. Not only was the entire lead and supporting cast made up of women, but the directors, writers, producers, editor, and most of the other technical personnel were women as well. The most noted male in the crew was cinematographer Michael D. Margulies.
Marlene Laird and Ann Zane Shanks co-directed the film, which aired on NBC on 3 December 1979. Angela Morley provided the unreleased score.
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