J. Lee Thompson

[chriskathome]

Can anyone tell why J. Lee Thompson seems to get so little recognition.
Surely if only for his output in the 50's & 60's he deserves better.

[Lord Brett]

I know what you mean. I think if he died in 1972 (after Conquest for the Planet of the Apes, but before Battle for the Planet of the Apes) he would be quite highly thought of. Unfortunately, all those years of Charles Bronson movies killed his reputation stone dead - I count that he directed nine of them between 1976 & 1989.

I'm also sad that Peter Hunt, who directed the magnificent On Her Majesty's Secret Service, also wound up working on a Bronson movie as his last directing job, namely the appaling Assassination in 1987.

[42ndStreetFreak]

The Bronson films were a big chamge...But lets not look down our noses here.

He directed some very good Bronson flicks, with "The Evil That Men Do", "The Whote Buffalo" and the delightfully sleazy and nasty "10 to Midnight" being essential Bronson viewing.
And "Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects" is worth watching for the end alone.

The well respected Slasher "Happy Birthday to Me" was also nothing to be ashamed of.

[Lord Brett]

I don't altogether disagree with you, particularly in the case of The Evil That Men Do, though the quality of Bronson's movies did dip alarmingly towards the end of his career (e.g. the aforementioned Assassination and the last two Death Wish movies).

Unfortunately, these aren't the sort of films on which critical reputations are built by mainstream movie critics. A shame, but true.

[42ndStreetFreak]

That is very true. Damn critics!

And yeah, "Death wish 5" (though nothing to do with Thompson of course)especially was truly the dregs of cinematic garbage...and hell, Bronson looked so much like an old teddy bear you simply wanted to carefully put the fluffy old fella safely away in a cupboard somewhere.

I always liked the little liked "Ice-Cold in Alex" and "North West Frontier" but had no love at all for "The Guns of Navarrone".
i actually liked the little liked (again) non-Thompson sequel better.

[DB7]

Unlike some directors maybe Thompson wasn't a great self-publicist? With Ice Cold In Alex, Tiger Bay and Cape Fear he directed great films but strangely enough doesn't seem as strongly associated with them as say John Mills in the case of the first two.

Similarly a film like The Ladykillers is never preceded by Alexander Mackendrick's name but almost always referred to as Ealing's The Ladykillers.

[chriskathome]

With just the six films mentioned in the last two posts plus Woman in a Dressing Gown and Yield to the Night you have a great contribution worthy of note. Which brings me on to Yvonne Mitchell - but thats another forum!

[DB7]

Guns of Navarone deserves a mention as both a big box-office success and something of a forerunner to all-star action yarns like The Dirty Dozen, Kelly's Heroes and Where Eagles Dare. (the sort of film where 20 Germans with machine guns hit everything but the 'star')

[DAVID RAYNER]

Another of Thompson's epics, the 1962 Taras Bulba, with Yul Brynner; Tony Curtis and Christine Kaufmann, was on BBC2 a few days ago. Marvellous photography; spectacular scenery and battle scenes; a wonderful music score by Franz Waxman, that included the haunting The Wishing Star; but somehow not the type of picture that would win any Oscars...except for the aforementioned song, which I think did win an award.

Thompson was a real master at making adventure films such as Northwest Frontier, but they were not the kind of pictures that the critics would take seriously...with the exception of Tiger Bay and Ice Cold in Alex, which were superbly done.

[Steve Crook]

Another early gem was The Weak and the Wicked (1953) which let Diana Dors show she was an actress as well as a pin-up. Glynis Johns was very good in it as well.

But Thompson did also give us An Alligator Named Daisy (1955).

Steve

[MrDrakesDuck]

But Thompson did also give us An Alligator Named Daisy (1955).

What's wrong with that?

[Lord Brett]

Quite by coincidence, BBC1 are showing The Evil That Men Do next week (if you see what I mean).

Hope it's uncut this time.

[chriskathome]

It strikes me that there cant be many directors with such a broad church of work - from classy kitchen sink drama - through action adventure - finishing up as boom operator on Bride of Chucky or do you know better?

[kezzy]

And of course Yield to the Night. I'm beginning to think he is the great unsung hero of British cinema.

[Windthrop]

Originally Posted by Lord Brett I know what you mean. I think if he died in 1972 (after Conquest for the Planet of the Apes, but before Battle for the Planet of the Apes) he would be quite highly thought of. Unfortunately, all those years of Charles Bronson movies killed his reputation stone dead - I count that he directed nine of them between 1976 & 1989. I'm also sad that Peter Hunt, who directed the magnificent On Her Majesty's Secret Service, also wound up working on a Bronson movie as his last directing job, namely the appaling Assassination in 1987.

JLT last really worthwhile film IMHO is Country Dance an underrated film which was little seen on it's initial release. After that he just coasted and I can imagine that becoming house director on the Bronson movies would be nice number for a director nearing retirement age. He was coasting but you can understand why - he was getting regular assignments until he was nearly 80 and simply working may have been more important to him than the actual quality of the work. The Cannon films towards the end are poor but Golan and Globus were notorious for making films on a shoestring and even Michael Winner stopped making the Death Wish films when they wanted them cheaper. JLT was a safe pair of hands who could handle actors well and brought films on time and budget. His career would have been much different if he hadn't taken over Naverone and would have stayed with films which were more suited to his talents. He did have a drinking problem and a string of failed marriages when he went to Hollywood and I would suspect that having settled happily in the states he just relaxed a bit too much.

Peter Hunt did direct a decent late Bronson called Death Hunt but I agree about Assasination being feeble.