United Artists

Description

Established in 1919 by Hollywood's top talent United Artists has had an illustrious history, from Hollywood minor to industry leader to a second-tier media company in the shadow of MGM. This edited collection brings together leading film historians to examine key aspects of United Artists' centennial history from its origins to the sometimes chaotic developments of the last four decades. The focus is on several key executives – ranging from Joseph Schenck to Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise – and on many of the people making films for United Artists, including Gloria Swanson, David O. Selznick, Kirk Douglas, the Mirisch brothers and Woody Allen. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, individual case studies explore the mutually supportive but also in places highly contentious relationships between United Artists and its producers, the difficult balance between artistic and commercial objectives, and the resulting hits and misses (among them The General, the Pink Panther franchise, Heaven’s Gate, Cruising, and Hot Tub Time Machine). The second volume in the Routledge Hollywood Centenary series, United Artists is a fascinating and comprehensive study of the firm’s history and legacy, perfect for students and researchers of cinema and film history, media industries, and Hollywood. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures List of contributors Series editors’ preface The Routledge Hollywood Centenary advisory board Introduction: United Artists in film history Bibliography PART 1: Introduction to Part 1 1. ‘One of the United Artists’: Buster Keaton, Joseph Schenck and United Artists Independence United Artists and Buster Keaton Productions Conclusion Notes Bibliography 2. Declarations of independence: Gloria Swanson at United Artists, 1925–1933 Gloria Swanson before United Artists Joseph P. Kennedy Swanson’s final films for United Artists Conclusion Note Bibliography 3. Going independent in 1930s Hollywood: Freelance star and independent producer collaborations at United Artists ‘Stars are re-born’: Fredric March and Janet Gaynor Sacred deal-making: Carole Lombard No prisoner of UA: Ronald Colman Conclusion Notes Bibliography 4. The tramp, the dictator and the knight: United Artists and the roadshowing of prestige pictures in the 1930s and 1940s City Lights (1931) The Great Dictator (1940) Henry V (1944) Roadshowing after Henry V Acknowledgements Bibliography 5. ‘Look, ma, I’m a corporation!’: United Artists and Kirk Douglas’ Bryna Productions, 1955–1959 Bryna Productions The Indian Fighter (1955) Bryna’s B pictures Selling Bryna’s A pictures Conclusion Bibliography 6. The magnificent seven Mirisch companies: Competitive strategy and corporate authorship Entry Maturity Decline Conclusion Notes Bibliography 7. An artist under the influence: United Artists and Woody Allen The company and the artist The ‘early, funny ones’ (Bananas through Love and Death) Portrait of an artist in flux (Annie Hall through Stardust Memories) End of an era Notes Bibliography 8. No shot in the dark: Developing the Pink Panther franchise Birth of the Pink Panther Return of the Pink Panther Conclusion Bibliography PART 2: Introduction to Part 2 9. United Artists, fourth quarter 1980: The rhetoric of Hollywood failure and success Pipeline and locomotion Moving to fourth quarter, 1980 The first Hollywood narrative: The cautionary tale The second Hollywood narrative: Enfotainment and transparency Heaven’s Gate as (negative) primer for Hollywood commerce Notes Bibliography 10. ‘Cruising is a picture we sincerely wish we did not have to show’: United Artists, ratings, blind bidding and the controversy of William Friedkin’s Cruising (1980) The ‘village murder script’: Cruising before United Artists Agony dressed in leather: Protesting Cruising ‘There aren’t enough X’s in the alphabet’: Cruising’s controversial rating United Artists vs the theatre chains: Blind bidding controversies Conclusion Notes Bibliography 11. From Heaven’s Gate to Rocky IV: Reconfiguring auteurism in United Artists’ transition to MGM/UA in the 1980s Heaven’s Gate: A moral and exhilarating experience ‘You can assassinate movies as you can assassinate people’ ‘If Ican change, and you can change, everybody can change!’ ‘You can’t change anythin’’: The road to Rocky IV Conclusion Note Bibliography 12. The next step: Orion Pictures as the new United Artists, 1978–1985 Departing United Artists Establishing Orion Orion Pictures, 1978–1981: The limits of Orion Ventures, Inc. The new United Artists, 1982–1985 Conclusion Notes Bibliography 13. United Artists Films: Re-entering the specialty market, 1999–2005 Phase 1: Before Ray (June 1999–September 2001) Phase 2: Ray’s UA (September 2001–January 2004) Phase 3: After Ray (January 2004–April 2005) Conclusion Notes Bibliography 14. From star-producer to executive: Tom Cruise and/at United Artists, 2006–2012 United Artists hires Tom Cruise Recasting Tom Cruise as both star and producer: Lions for Lambs, Valkyrie, Fame, and Hot Tub Time Machine United Artists after Cruise Notes Bibliography General index Index of titles