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Posted: |
Jun 21, 2022 - 4:48 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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SUMMERTREE was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Ron Cowen, and was adapted for the screen by Edward Hume. The film follows “Jerry McAdams” (Michael Douglas), a wavy-haired 20-year-old college student torn between doing what is expected of him (finishing school with a degree) and what he really wants to do (dropout and play his guitar). Jerry falls for an older woman, “Vanetta” (Brenda Vaccaro), a nurse whose husband is in Vietnam. He also takes a young inner-city kid, “Marvis” (Kirk Callaway), under his wing. Jerry fights with his parents about what he wants to do with his life; particularly with his father (Jack Warden) – the gruff all-American who continually pushes his son, telling him that he should be entering the military to fight for freedom, proclaiming that it is his duty. William Smith plays a lawyer in the film, one who helps young men in dealing with the military draft.
Michael Douglas had played the leading role in “Summertree” when it received its first performance at the 1967 Eugene O'Neill Theatre Memorial Foundation in Waterford, CT. He was not selected to appear in the Broadway version, however, which featured David Birney as "Jerry McAdams". Kirk Douglas bought the film rights to the play as a gift to his son and produced the film version of SUMMERTREE.
Anthony Newley directed the 1971 drama. David Shire’s score has not had a release. The film had only moderate grosses of $2.1 million domestically.
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Who knew Mr. Smith was a poet? I found this one on his website along with others -- many of them are his musings on old age and remembrances of younger days:
THE REAPER
I remember when my friends and I
Thought that youth and games would never die
We cherished the girls, grog and laughter
Ribald at night, meek mornings after
But now malt’s too strong and girls too young
All our stories old, our song’s been sung
We mumble in search of long dead wit
Humor now is the daily obit
Our high is sharing a friend’s demise
He was a fine lad, echo our lies
While we gloat that it’s him not me
Knowing that they always fall by three
Wallowing secure ’cause Sam was third
Surely there’s time ’fore my taps are heard
Then there’s news of the death of old Hugh
Well, hell, that clown never paid his due
Nights alone you feel the Reaper’s chill
Then at dawn there’s a fine, undead thrill
Check pulse, poke liver, no pain, no fear
Hit the bars ’cause he’s dead, you’re still here
No canes or taxis for you today
On this fine and smogless first of May
Jauntily out the door to the street
Gaily you greet all those that you meet
Then as you stroll you think of old Hugh
The wind sighs, “He was younger than you”
As a maverick tear rolls from your eye
You know you gotta laugh instead of cry
You’ve done some bad and you’ve done some good
You wouldn’t change things even if you could
’Cause through the years you’ve run a good race
The Reaper chased and couldn’t keep your pace
So toast those that live and those that die
And while you can, spit in the Reaper’s eye
--William Smith
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Posted: |
Jun 23, 2022 - 12:32 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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The dark, violent British production GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE stars Michael Pataki as a brutish vampire apparently lacking in Dracula's powers of seduction, since he finds it necessary to brutally rape a young woman (Kitty Vallacher) in order to sire a child. The product of this unholy mating is a half-human, half-vampire baby boy, bottle-fed on the blood of his now-insane mother until her eventual death from anemia. Later as a young man, the son (William Smith) is able to spend short periods in daylight, and his bloodlust is considerably lesser than that of his father. Tormented nevertheless by his evil condition, he curses his bloodline and defies his vampire heritage, tracking his father down to the university where he teaches occult sciences.
William Smith in GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE
Even though he had top billing, William Smith did not appear on-screen until 35 minutes into the film. John Hayes directed the 1972 film, which has an unreleased score by Jaime Mendoza-Nava. Reportedly, the film was shot in just 11 days for a paltry $50,000.
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Posted: |
Jun 23, 2022 - 10:49 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Fred Williamson stars as “B.J. HAMMER,” a former prize-winning boxer who's now working as a rough-and-tumble warehouse worker. When he beats the daylights out of a racist co-worker (John Quade) and gets fired, he is immediately embraced into the boxing world of “Big Sid” (Charles Lampkin), a promoter who deals smack and pulls hits on the side. His right-hand man, “Brenner” (William Smith) does the really dirty work for him, like running down defecting pushers in dead-end alleys. Hammer thinks he has it made: he's got his career skyrocketing and Big Sid's beautiful secretary “Lois” (Vonetta McGee) has taken a shine to him. But things are about to take a turn.
Fred Williamson, William Smith, and Charles Lampkin in HAMMER
In a 1991 interview, Fred Williamson said, "Bill Smith is the perennial bad guy. He's always the kind of guy I need to fight. I've always got to have a big guy to fight, so, I've killed him two or three times. I've had some gigantic fights with him. I'm always looking for guys who are both actors and stuntmen, which is very hard to find. Bill is definitely a believable bad guy, but he's a good stuntman too."
Bruce Clark directed this 1972 film, which has an unreleased score by Solomon Burke.
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Posted: |
Jun 24, 2022 - 3:04 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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PIRANHA! PIRANHA! (the movie so good they named it twice!) pretty much has nothing to do with the piranha fish. Instead, it’s a seemingly endless slog through the jungle disguised as a violent adventure film. In the story, a photographer named “Terry” (Ahna Capri) ropes her brother, “Art” (Tom Simcox), into heading into the wilds of South America for a photo shoot of diamond mining in the midst of nature at its most savage. They hire a guide named “Jim” (Peter Brown) to keep them safe along the way, but they still run afoul of ruthless hunter “Caribe” (William Smith), whose name happens to mean "piranha," and who has a tendency to hunt more than just big game.
In a 2010 interview, William Smith spoke about the stunts he had done in films: “Another dangerous stunt was on the film PIRANHA! PIRANHA!, which was shot down in South America. I did a stunt with a very large anaconda in the water. The local snake wrangler, who did not have the experience to handle this snake, had a hard time, and the snake almost crushed me to death.” William Gibson directed the 1972 film, which has an unreleased score by Richard La Salle.
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Posted: |
Jun 30, 2022 - 7:19 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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William Smith became a producer when he and Peter Brown created a new company, Redwine International Films, to finance writer Sean MacGregor’s original script for “Once Upon a Tribe,” in which an Indian (Smith) is accused of the rape and murder of a white girl, “Betsy Shaeffer” (C.J. Hincks). The girl's stepfather, “Kent” (Kevin Hagen), incites the townspeople to punish the Indian—to cover up the fact that it was actually he who committed the crime.
MacGregor brought the script to William Smith with the intention of starring in the film, but Smith wavered in his decision to produce it. The men reportedly decided to finance the film themselves for $500,000, and Smith took over the role of “Camper John Allen.” Although he directed the film, retitled CAMPER JOHN, MacGregor is not credited onscreen as a producer.
The film was first shown in Minneapolis in 1973 under the title CAMPER JOHN, and over the next few years it played around the country under no fewer than a half dozen other titles. Luchi De Jesus provided the unreleased score.
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