Remember On the Waterfront began as a series of Pulitzer-winning articles in 1948 about crime and corruption on the New York docks. As in the movie, guys on the waterfront who cooperated with the Commission were disappeared, whereas the movieland snitches were allowed to keep their swimming pools and palatial estates and careers. The only risk to fifties snitching was to whatever self-respect might have survived, although they were able to make movies to render themselves as bold patriots for selling out their erstwhile comrades.
A year or two ago there was some movement on a new Sammy adaptation, with Ben Stiller attached, but the powers that be apparently came to their senses, and the project fizzled. What Makes Sammy Run is blackhearted enough to make The Player look like the Care Bears Movie - it's brilliant, but it's unfilmable.
He may have been a "great artist" (which is somewhat debatable in my book), but he still turned on his friends and colleagues. And that is how I remember him.
Oh well.
@MsMuffinMcGuffin: Eh. Great artists = often great a-holes. Still can't get over how Hollywood booed Elia Kazan when he stepped up on stage to accept his Lifetime Achievement Oscar(TM).
@snugbug: I know that all too well, seen it in person way too many times, snugbug.
As to Kazan, he deserved it. I don't believe that being a talented artist gives one an unlimited get-out-of-jail-free-card to be be a giant asshat.
@MsMuffinMcGuffin: You know, that was my fave and (only?) revealing Oscar moment: Kazan comes on stage (a frail old man who needs assistance to walk). At which: Spielberg + wife Capshaw, Jim Carrey: listlessly applaud while seated. Warren Beatty, Meryl Streep, Kathy Bates, Julie Andrews: heartily applaud in standing-ovation stance. Ed Harris: sits down, hands folded in his lap, looks bummed. Holly Hunter: sits down, arms crossed in protest, looks ANGRY. Nick Nolte: sits down, arms crossed, looks like he wants to machine-gun ‘em all. On stage: Presenter Scorsese embraces Kazan with uncommon tenderness; presenter Robert de Niro kisses him.
@MsMuffinMcGuffin: Yes, I do intend someday to appreciate the works of all the character flaws I am told are worthy of attention, but somehow the less objectionable seem to be taking all my time.
Take a number, Mr Schulberg.
A Face in the Crowd really is a great movie. Along with Ace in the Hole, it's a great reminder that there's nothing new under the awful media sun.
Also, Patricia Neal was seriously sexy.
@depardoo: Griffith was superb. I've always felt this movie got little notice in later years because nobody wanted to see Sheriff Taylor as a maniacal manipulator. It's an extremely relevant movie and I hope it gets more attention in any retrospective pieces on Schulberg's career.
What Makes Sammy Run? was filmed for television in the late 1950s and is now available on DVD with commentary from Schulberg. It was also a Broadway play briefly in the early 1960s, starring Steve Lawrence.
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As to Kazan, he deserved it. I don't believe that being a talented artist gives one an unlimited get-out-of-jail-free-card to be be a giant asshat.
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Take a number, Mr Schulberg.
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Also, Patricia Neal was seriously sexy.
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And Andy Griffith was spectacular in it.
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