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In GOING HOME, Jan-Michael Vincent plays nineteen-year-old "Jimmy Graham," who decides to visit his father "Harry" (Robert Mitchum) in prison, after not having contact with him for years. Upon arriving at the prison, he finds to his dismay that Harry had been released months ago. Jimmy decides to seek him out, still bitter that, while in a drunken rage, Harry had murdered Jimmy's mother 15 years earlier.
The film marked the feature-film directorial debut for television producer Herbert B. Leonard. Leonard and Robert Mitchum complained about the final editing of the film by then MGM president and chief executive officer James T. Aubrey, Jr., who did not give the film an opening campaign or any non-public previews. GOING HOME, which was originally rated R, was recut by Aubrey to gain a GP rating before its release (see posters below). Aubrey cut twenty-one minutes from the film, including the role of actress Sylvia Miles, as a housewife involved with Jimmy Graham; several minutes from a rape scene; and one scene involving nudity.
The film quickly closed its limited run in only four cities after one week and, of course, was not a financial success for the studio or director Herbert B. Leonard, who had agreed to work for a deferred salary. Bill Walker 's score for the film has not had a release. (A portion of the film was shot in my home town of McKeesport, PA.)
Jan-Michael Vincent was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture. He lost to Ben Johnson for THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.
Jan-Michael Vincent and Robert Mitchum in GOING HOME
GOING HOME was recut by the studio so close to the film's release that there was no time to print up new posters. So new rating stickers were pasted over the rating symbol of the old posters.
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I'm surprised that Jan Michael-Vincent's first television series was starring in the "Danger Island" segment of "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour" which aired during the '68-69 season wasn't mentioned.
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Posted: |
Mar 8, 2019 - 11:46 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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THE MECHANIC starred Charles Bronson as an aging hitman who befriends a young man (Jan-Michael Vincent) who wants to be a professional killer. Eventually it becomes clear that someone has betrayed them. THE MECHANIC was the first film that Bronson shot primarily in the U.S. since THIS PROPERTY IS CONDEMNED (1966), in which he was a supporting player. From the mid to late 1960s, Bronson acted in a few episodes of American television series, but began to gain prominence as the star of numerous European-made Western and action films. By 1971, Bronson had become one of the biggest stars in Europe, and his popularity in the U.S. was ascending.
The film was originally to be directed by Monte Hellman, who had critical but not financial success in 1971 with the road movie TWO-LANE BLACKTOP, but after a few weeks the film's producers, Irwin Winkler And Robert Chartoff, switched studios and brought in Michael Winner, who would be directing Bronson for a second time, after CHATO'S LAND. Winner would go on to direct Bronson in four additional films, including DEATH WISH (1974), one of the most successful films of their respective careers.
In January 1972, while THE MECHANIC was in production, Bronson received the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Henrietta Award as "World Film Favorite" star of the year. THE MECHANIC grossed $7.3 million in the U.S. Some modern critics have pointed to the THE MECHANIC as a turning point in Bronson's career, solidifying his position as a major star in the U.S. as well as abroad, and catapulting him to a position among the top ten box office stars in the world throughout the mid to late 1970s.
An abbreviated version of Jerry Fielding's score was released on LP by Citadel in 1978 and on CD by Bay Cities in 1990. The complete score was released by Intrada in 2007 and re-issued by La-La Land in 2012.
Charles Bronson and Jan-Michael Vincent in THE MECHANIC
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Posted: |
Mar 9, 2019 - 12:02 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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1973 was Walt Disney’s 50th year of production. The first of Disney’s four film offerings that year was THE WORLD’S GREATEST ATHLETE. The film was about a perennially losing college coach and his assistant, who on a trip to Africa, come across a Tarzan-like young man who is able to excel at any sport. They bring the young man back to campus, and the fun begins.
Tim Conway received top billing as the bumbling assistant coach, in his first of many films for Disney. John Amos was the coach, and Jan-Michael Vincent was the star athlete, each in his only Disney film. Roscoe Lee Browne played a Oxford-educated African witch doctor. Actress-comedian Nancy Walker, who had a brief comic role as a near-sighted landlady, had not appeared onscreen since LUCKY ME, released in 1954. THE WORLD’S GREATEST ATHLETE marked the final film of character actor and comedian Billy De Wolfe (1907--1974), who appeared in the small role of "Dean Maxwell." Although De Wolfe had appeared periodically on television, he had not made a feature film since BILLIE, released in 1965. THE WORLD’S GREATEST ATHLETE marked the film debut of Canadian-born dancer and model Dayle Haddon, who played Jan-Michael Vincent’s college love interest, as well as the debut of the Bengal tiger "G.T." as "Harri."
THE WORLD’S GREATEST ATHLETE was one of only three features directed by Robert Scheerer, a long-time television director, who in a nearly 40-year career directed everything from Barbra Streisand’s TV concert “A Happening In Central Park” (1968) to “Dynasty” (1983) to “Star Trek: Voyager” (1997). Rather than being scored by Disney’s ubiquitous Buddy Baker, THE WORLD’S GREATEST ATHLETE instead had a sprightly score by Marvin Hamlisch. The score included a band number, the "Merrivale Fight Song," with music by Hamlisch and lyrics by screenwriters Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso. A 45 RPM record was issued with two of Hamlisch’s themes.
The film was shot on location near Stockton, CA in Caswell Memorial State Park, which was used for some of the Zambia sequences, and at various sites throughout Southern California, including exteriors and interiors at the Hollywood-Burbank Airport in Burbank, CA (renamed the Bob Hope Airport in 2003), the athletic field at California State University, Los Angeles and Newhall, in Southern California, which was used as the location site for China. In addition to Caswell Memorial State Park, Lion Country Safari in Irvine, CA was also used for some of the Zambia sequences.
Production began on THE WORLD’S GREATEST ATHLETE in Stockton, CA on 24 April 1972. But on 28 April, actor-comedian Godfrey Cambridge, who was initially cast in the role of Coach, collapsed from exhaustion. The production closed for several weeks but resumed on 14 May, with John Amos taking over Cambridge's role. Production continued through early August 1972.
The film had a number of special effects sequences, ranging from the simple, like showing action in either slow or speeded-up motion to emphasize the athletic prowess of "Nanu" (Jan-Michael Vincent), to effects that were much more elaborate. Tim Conway, as "Milo Jackson," was featured alone in several sequences that highlighted his popular abilities as a physical comedian. One long sequence, which was periodically interrupted with scenes that advanced the plot, involved his character shrinking to three-inches tall and attempting to free himself from a cocktail glass and a woman's large purse.
Jan-Michael Vincent did his own swimming in the movie but all the sporty stunts and athletic feats were performed by body doubles and stunt men. Vincent said of the film: "It's a spoof. It was like making a film with real people. I played a nut in GOING HOME and a killer in THE MECHANIC) and now it's fun to do something a little more positive. It sounds like a typical 'Me nanu, you Jane' movie but it's far more interesting than that".
Jan-Michael Vincent in THE WORLD'S GREATEST ATHELETE
THE WORLD’S GREATEST ATHLETE opened in New York on 1 February 1973 to lukewarm reviews. On the positive side were Roger Ebert, who found the film to be “a silly, funny, relaxed fantasy, and just about the best movie to come from Walt Disney Productions since BLACKBEARD’S GHOST” (1968). Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times praised the film’s integrated casting (with John Amos and Roscoe Lee Browne having prominent roles), praised all of the performances, and found in the script by Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso “an uncommon in-ness amid the jollity.”
While no one seemed to hate the film, other critics were more mixed in their assessments. Newday’s Martin Levine imagined “that the picture’s intended audience of pre-teenagers will enjoy it; I can report that it is painless enough for adults.” And Ann Guarino of the New York Daily News agreed that “youngsters will find the mild comedy more entertaining than the rest of the family, for the film unfortunately has a seen-before quality.” One prediction that definitely was spot-on came from Variety’s “Murf” who opined that the film “looks good for boxoffice.” THE WORLD’S GREATEST ATHLETE became the ninth highest-grossing film of 1973, taking in over $11,600,000 at the North American box office. A 1981 re-release increased its total to over $22.5 million.
A few months after THE WORLD’S GREAT ATHLETE opened, the April 1973 issue of Playboy magazine was issued, which featured a nude photo layout of actress Dayle Haddon. That exposure effectively ended her acting career at Disney. She took off for Europe and landed a string of steamy roles, the best known being in Just Jaeckin's THE FRENCH WOMAN (1977). She worked primarily in Europe in the 1970s, cropping up occasionally in small roles in American movies such as NORTH DALLAS FORTY. Since the mid-1990s she has worked in the cosmetics industry.
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Posted: |
Mar 9, 2019 - 12:39 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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BUSTER AND BILLIE, was set in 1948 rural Georgia, where a socially awkward high school girl (Joan Goodfellow) is taken advantage of by the boys, because it's the only way she knows to relate to them. But one, "Buster" (Jan-Michael Vincent), falls in love with her. Jan-Michael Vincent turned down three other higher-paying film roles because he was captivated by the "strong story and characters" in this movie.
Writer Ron Turbeville based the film’s characters on people he knew in high school in Florence, South Carolina, specifically a girl he dated who was known as a “gang-bang.” Turbeville stated that the girl was abused by her parents, had no clothes and was starved for attention. He noted that similar girls were ubiquitous in American high schools.
This was one of the first mainstream American films to feature full-frontal male nudity. The scenes of a naked Jan-Michael Vincent, in his first lead role, caused considerable discussion when this movie was released. In a 1975 interview with Dorothy Manners, Vincent was asked about the nude scene in the film: "The scene was in good taste, and I don't think I sprang any surprises on anyone", he replied with an impish grin on his face. "Just standard equipment."
Daniel Petrie directed the 1974 drama. Al DeLory's score has not had a release. The film's title song, "Billie's Theme", is sung over the opening and closing credits by Hoyt Axton. A re-recorded version appeared on Axton's "Life Machine" album the same year of the film's release.
Jan-Michael Vincent and Joan Goodfellow in BUSTER AND BILLIE
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BITE THE BULLET was inspired by the 1908 700-mile cross-country horse race from Evanston, Wyoming to Denver, Colorado. It was sponsored by the Denver Post, which offered $2,500 prize money to the winner. In the film, one of the race entrants is a young man named "Carbo" (Jan-Michael Vincent). As art imitated life, life imitated art when it was announced that a 495-mile horse race, inspired by BITE THE BULLET, was set to take place between Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, between 12 and 25 April 1975, to coincide with the film's world premiere on 20 April 1975 in Melbourne.
Cast members did not see the script before shooting, as was customary with director Richard Brooks’s films; during production, actors received daily “sides” with their lines for the next day’s shoot. Film editor George Grenville also noted that the film’s finale was entirely unscripted. Another portion of the script was altered when one of the actors, Paul Stewart, suffered a heart attack after the first two weeks of shooting and was hospitalized at Espanola Hospital in NM. Stewart did not appear in the film and received no onscreen credit.
The American Humane Association put BITE THE BULLET on a list of pictures for the organization’s members to avoid, suggesting that horses were improperly treated on set. Brooks vehemently denied the allegation, stating that no horse died or was injured during production. Cleveland Amory, president of The Fund for Animals Inc., came to Brooks’s defense, despite the film’s depiction of a horse falling backward off a cliff and another being “ridden to death” across a desert.
Critical reception was mixed. Vincent Canby of the New York Times named BITE THE BULLET as one of the “10 Worst of ‘75” and stated, “The script wasn’t written. It was compiled as if it were a public opinion poll.” He also noted the film was big and "expensive." The film only cost a reported $4 million dollars, actually a small sum considering the extraordinary cast of Oscar winners and Oscar nominees including Gene Hackman, James Coburn, Candice Bergen, Ian Bannen, and Ben Johnson
In a mostly positive review in the Los Angeles Times, Charles Champlin described the scenery as “absolutely spectacular” and the performances as “strong and confident.” Film critic Rex Reed reported that BITE THE BULLET was, in his opinion, one of the best pictures of 1975.
Estimates of the film's box office take range from $11 - $16 million. BITE THE BULLET received Academy Award nominations for Best Music (Original Score) by Alex North and Best Sound. North lost to John Williams for JAWS.
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Posted: |
Mar 10, 2019 - 12:39 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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DAMNATION ALLEY takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, where a group of survivors travel in huge custom-designed all-terrain vehicles seeking to find other settlements. Jan-Michael Vincent plays "Lt. Tanner" of the 123rd Strategic Missiles Wing of Tipton Air Force Base in California. Vincent did a fair share of his own motorcycle stunts in the film.
Robert Wise was approached to direct the movie, but turned the offer down because he thought the script was impossible to film. Jack Smight helmed the film.
The futuristic twelve-wheel vehicle called "The Land Master" was based on a patented invention by Vehicle Systems Development Corporation. It was thirty-five feet long, twelve feet tall, weighed 21,800 pounds, and included a 391 Ford Truck Industrial Engine. Although two Land Masters were featured in the early part of the film, only one was fabricated, at a cost of $300,000.
After shooting concluded in August 1976, Twentieth Century-Fox spent a year in post-production due to DAMNATION ALLEY’s special effects. According to producer Jerome M. Zeitman, over “300 different blue sky location shots” had to be replaced with various colors to reflect Earth’s post-apocalyptic atmosphere and extreme weather. Additionally, the $7.5 million film featured the studio’s new “Sound 360” system that surrounded audiences with six speakers, and the release date was delayed while 300-400 theaters could be outfitted with the new technology.
DAMNATION ALLEY opened in Japan in early October 1977, a couple of weeks before its American release, because the film was expected to receive huge box office grosses in Japan. In the U.S., the film grossed $14.9 million. Varese Sarabande released 19 minutes of Jerry Goldsmith's score in their 2004 box set "Jerry Goldsmith at 20th Century Fox." Intrada released an expanded 34-minute edition of the score in 2017.
Jan-Michael Vincent in DAMNATION ALLEY
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Posted: |
Mar 10, 2019 - 12:54 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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BIG WEDNESDAY was a John Milius-directed film that followed the lives of some California surfers from the early 1960s to the 1970s. The primary surfers were “Matt Johnson” (Jan-Michael Vincent), “Jack Barlow” (William Katt), and “Leroy ‘The Masochist’ Smith” (Gary Busey). Barbara Hale, in her final theatrical film, played Jack Barlow’s mother, a good fit because she was the actual mother of William Katt, who played Barlow.
Vincent's "Matt Johnson" character is based on real-life surfer Lance Carson, who struggled with alcoholism throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Jeff Bridges turned down the role of Matt.
Basil Poledouris’s score for the film was released by Film Score Monthly in 2004.
Gary Busey, Jan-Michael Vincent, and William Katt in BIG WEDNESDAY
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Posted: |
Mar 10, 2019 - 1:00 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In the 1978 action comedy HOOPER, Burt Reynolds stars as stuntman "Sonny Hooper,' who as the film opens, dresses for work, numerous scars and bandages covering his aging body. He arrives on set of The Spy Who Laughed at Danger as stunt double for the film’s star, Adam West--who plays himself in HOOPER. Jan-Michael Vincent is "Delmore “Ski” Shidski", a young, up-and-coming stuntman, whom Hooper eventually takes under his wing.
The film, originally titled "The Stuntman," was announced with Lamont Johnson attached to direct. Producer-director Richard Rush took Warner Bros., the studio developing the picture with Burt Reynolds, to arbitration before the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) over the film's title. The MPAA ruled that Rush had prior claim to the title. Rush’s project, based on the 1970 novel by Paul Brodeur called The Stunt Man, had previously been in development at Columbia Pictures.
Due to delays caused by the arbitration and by problems with the script, the project was shelved in 1976. Further, Burt Reynolds pulled out due to previous obligations to film SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT and SEMI-TOUGH. Despite the problems, Reynolds said he was committed to doing the project because his film career began as a Hollywood stuntman. He was also contractually obligated to make a film with Warner Bros.
By the fall of 1977, the project had been re-activated by Warner Bros. At the same time, Rush’s THE STUNT MAN (1980) was about to go into production. Worried that the two projects would cause confusion in the media, Rush considered reactivating his appeal to the MPAA to force Warner Bros. to drop their new but similar title, "Hollywood Stuntman," if the studio didn't voluntarily change the title themselves.
Meanwhile, principal photography began on "Hollywood Stuntman" on 31 January 1978 in Tuscaloosa, AL with Hal Needham directing. In the end, Reynolds and Warner Bros. lost the appeal, thus forcing them to choose a new title. In April 1978, it was announced that the title was changed to HOOPER. Hal Needham directed Reynolds for the second time in HOOPER.
HOOPER grossed somewhere between $51 - $78 million (sources differ), putting it in the top 7 at the box office for 1978. The score by Bill Justis was released on a Warner Bros. LP, but it has never been reissued on CD.
Jan Michael-Vincent and Burt Reynolds in HOOPER
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Posted: |
Mar 10, 2019 - 1:19 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In 1980's DEFIANCE, when merchant seaman "Tommy Campbell" (Jan Michael Vincent) receives a six-month suspension, he is stuck in New York City with nothing to do. He rents a cheap, rundown apartment on the Lower East Side, while harassing a supervisor named "Karenski" (Joe Campanella) to find him any ship assignment.
Although he tries to avoid the violent gang plaguing his neighborhood, it does not work. Soon he is battling the Souls and not only changing their attitudes, but the attitudes of his previously intimidated neighbors as well.
Filming occurred in New York City between Avenues A and B on East 12th Street, a neighborhood known for heavy drug use and the presence of gangs. In early scenes shot on the rooftops, residents were not immediately aware of the production. Later, autograph seekers became more prevalent when filming moved to the neighborhood streets.
John Flynn directed this action drama. Dominic Frontiere's score has not had a release.
Jan-Michael Vincent in DEFIANCE
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Posted: |
Mar 10, 2019 - 1:40 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In 1980's THE RETURN, after unusual evidence involving cattle mutilation is discovered, scientist "Jennifer" (Cybill Shepherd) makes her way to rural New Mexico to study the findings, gathering clues that point to the arrival of alien life. Helping her is "Wayne" (Jan-Michael Vincent), a local cop who finds himself mysteriously drawn to the new arrival. The pair's investigation is challenged by angry land owners and bullies. Also on the move is an enigmatic prospector (Vincent Schiavelli) who stalks the area, showing signs of psychological decay as he fills a macabre purpose for reasons he doesn't understand.
Cybill Shepherd claimed in her autobiography that the cast were "a rather sad group of actors, all trying to resurrect our diminished careers. [Raymond Burr] read his lines off a TelePrompter." Jan-Michael Vincent had problems with his alcoholism during the making of this film. For example, when Vincent failed to show up for work one day, director Greydon Clark had to convince Cybill Shepherd and Martin Landau to work on that day even though they weren't originally scheduled to do so. Nevertheless, Vincent did his own stunts for a scene in which he's attacked by a dog, in addition to doing the bulk of his own motorcycle riding.
If the film had a U.S.theatrical release, it was very limited. Dan Wyman's score for the film has not had a release.
Jan-Michael Vincent and Cybill Shepherd in THE RETURN
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Posted: |
Mar 10, 2019 - 12:50 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In the 1981 drama HARD COUNTRY, ambitious young "Jodie Lynn Palmer" (Kim Basinger) wants more out of life than the small Texas country town she lives in has to offer. Jodie realizes that in order to pursue her dreams, she will have to leave Texas and move to the big city. However, her shiftless factory worker boyfriend "Kyle Richardson" (Jan-Michael Vincent) wants to stay in Texas.
The film was based upon a country and western song, "Hard Country," written by Michael Martin Murphey. Murphey wrote the song in the fall of 1978 and presented it, among other songs, to his agents at International Creative Management (ICM). Concurrently, Aaron Latham published an article in the 12 September 1978 Esquire regarding the “new urban cowboy.” Jim Wiatt, a film agent at ICM, felt Murphey’s song could be developed into a feature film about the urban cowboy lifestyle, and hired screenwriter Michael Kane. Warner Bros. picked up the project, and Kane went to Texas to work with Murphey on the story. Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures signed John Travolta to star in URBAN COWBOY (1980), a film based on Latham’s article and co-written by Latham and James Burke. Subsequently, Warner Bros. dropped HARD COUNTRY. Later, Paul Lazarus, vice president of motion pictures at Marble Arch Productions, brought the film to his company.
The film was budgeted between $5 -- $7.5 million. Due to budget constraints, the filmmakers chose to use locations in the Los Angeles area to double for Texas, and the Basque Club in Bakersfield, CA, was transformed into the quintessential West Texas honky-tonk bar. David Greene (GRAY LADY DOWN) directed the film. HARD COUNTRY marked the feature film debut of Kim Basinger, after spending five years in television.
Marble Arch Productions hoped to release the film in the summer of 1980 at approximately the same time as URBAN COWBOY. However, the release was delayed by questions regarding the film's MPAA rating. The MPAA initially rated the film [R] because the film contained two instances of a four-letter sexual expletive. Associated Film Distribution (AFD) agreed to remove the offending words and the film was later re-rated [PG].
HARD COUNTRY was released in March 1981. However, the film’s [PG] rating was revoked in early July 1981. The MPAA claimed that both instances of the questionable word were to be deleted for the [PG] version, but, in a situation that AFD executive vice president Leo Greenfield termed “a misunderstanding,” AFD believed they were only required to delete one instance of the dialogue. After a special panel revoked the [PG] rating, AFD removed approximately 500 prints from distribution and, as required by MPAA guidelines, planned to keep the film out of release for ninety days before submitting it for re-rating. However, HARD COUNTRY had nearly completed its release and, therefore, the effect of the MPAA’s decision was minimal.
HARD COUNTRY was a box office bomb, grossing only $535,000 in the U.S. Jimmie Haskell provided the unreleased score. The film's soundtrack was populated mainly by country songs sung by Michael Martin Murphey, Tanya Tucker, and others, which appeared on an Epic Records song-track LP. The LP has not been re-issued on CD.
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Posted: |
Mar 10, 2019 - 1:43 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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THE WINDS OF WAR was an epic 1983 television mini-series that chronicled the exploits of American naval officer "Victor ‘Pug’ Henry" (Robert Mitchum), who becomes Ambassador to Germany, and his various family members’ activities from 1939-1941. Concurrently, the film also charts the rise of Germany’s Fuhrer Adolf Hitler (Gunter Meissner), and the effects his growing influence has on not only Germans, but the rest of the world, and especially the Jewish people. Polly Bergen is "Rhoda," Henry’s increasingly bored, gauche wife. When her husband is away for long periods of time, Rhoda starts to see an awful lot of widowed uranium scientist "Palmer 'Fred' Kirby" (Peter Graves), who is working on the atomic bomb.
Henry is stationed in Berlin, London, Rome, and even Moscow, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Ralph Bellamy), to be his observer. But ‘Pug’ has got the charming young Brit "Pamela Tudsbury" (Victoria Tennant) to hero-worship him. Jan-Michael Vincent is the family ‘black sheep’ son "Byron," who goes to Italy to work as a research assistant for famed American author "Aaron Jastrow" (John Houseman). There he falls in love with Houseman’s stuck-up, stubborn, rich-girl niece "Natalie Jastrow" (Ali MacGraw).
Jan-Michael Vincent's alcoholism was a major problem during filming, and may be why he was not cast in the 1988 sequel mini-series, WAR AND REMEMBRANCE. The official explanation was that he was unavailable for the second series due to prior commitments to the "Airwolf" television series. Nevertheless, Vincent was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television." He lost to Richard Kiley for THE THORN BIRDS.
Herman Wouk's script ran 962 pages and contained 1,785 scenes. It was shot in 267 locations, in six countries and on two continents, and took 34 months to film and 12 more to edit. There were about 50,000 costumes, and Robert Mitchum alone had 112 changes. When the cameras stopped, producer-director Dan Curtis had one million feet (185 hours) of film, which he cut down to 81,000 feet. The 7-episode series covered 16 hours of air time (including commercials). Originally, the idea was to produce a 12-hour show. At the time it was made, this was the most expensive television production ever mounted, at a cost of $40 million.
The mini-series was scored by Dan Curtis' favorite composer, Robert Cobert, who's soundtrack was originally released by Varese Sarabande and re-issued by them in 2017. On June 3, 1991, a federal jury in Los Angeles ruled that the WINDS OF WAR theme song had been plagiarized from John Woodbridge, a professor of history at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois. He sued in 1986, claiming the theme was actually a song called "Sans Vous" ("Without You"), which he had composed in 1965. Terms of the settlement are not known (to me anyway).
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