As is fitting for a Broadway legend, all of the seven films directed by the late Gene Saks were adapted from legit theatre triumphs. He gave legendary comedienne Lucille Ball her most famous bigscreen role in Mame, and guided Goldie Hawn to a Supporting Actress Oscar in Cactus Flower. But it was his collaborations with Neil Simon that have created his true legacy. In honour of the 93 year-old, who passed away on March 28, SCREEN-SPACE revisits the four films that Saks and Simon crafted, each one a vivid, loving and funny slice of East Coast mores and memories…
Barefoot in the Park (1967)
After a hit run of 1530 performances under the guidance of director Mike Nichols, Barefoot in the Park served as the film debut for Saks and the second bigscreen outing for Simon (following After the Fox, the previous year). Robert Redford had become the toast of Broadway as newlywed WASP, Paul Bratter, the stuffed-shirt foil to his new wife, the free-spirited Corie (Jane Fonda). The film got lukewarm reviews (The New York Times said, “an old-fashioned romantic farce loaded with incongruities and snappy verbal gags.”) but audiences adored the chemistry of the leads; it grossed US$20million (converted, a whopping US$142million). Mildred Natwick, reprising her stage role as Corie’s mother, earned the film’s sole Oscar nomination. Still a date night favourite, it is nevertheless undervalued as timely commentary on the changing face of mid-60’s New York, when the ‘Greenwich Village boho’ lifestyle was rattling the establishment cage.
Did you know…? – Redford’s stage wife, Elizabeth Ashley, was not considered for the film role, despite coming off a BAFTA-nominated turn in The Carpetbaggers. Actresses considered for the role included Geraldine Chaplin, Sandra Dee, Natalie Wood, Yvette Mimieux and Tuesday Weld.
The Odd Couple (1968)
When Saks and Simon paired up for their second collaboration, few predicted that the The Odd Couple would turn into one of the biggest hits of the decade; the final US box office figure of $44.5million converts to a staggering $300million, making it Paramount’s highest earner of 1968 and topping the likes of Bullitt, The Planet of The Apes and Rosemary’s Baby (and not far behind the top-grosser, 2001: A Space Odyssey). Having played 964 packed-house performances between March 1965 and July 1967 (again, with Mike Nichols directing), it was going to be a challenge to open up the largely single-set staging to the bigscreen. Another hurdle was recasting the pivotal role of Felix Ungar, after Art Carney was not considered for the movie version. With Walter Matthau still on board as the slovenly Oscar Madison and Jack Lemmon now in place (in their second film together), it fell to Gene Saks to recapture the on-stage magic of Neil Simon’s buddy comedy. The script earned Simon an Oscar nomination and won him the Writer’s Guild Screen Writing trophy; Saks understated direction was harshly ignored, earning just a single nomination from his peers at the Director’s Guild.
Did you know…? – The film broke several records during its season at the famous Radio City Music Hall, including longest single run (14 weeks) and highest gross (over US$3million) in the then 42-year history of the venue.
Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1972)
Saks and Simon would wait four years before reteaming on Last of The Red Hot Lovers, a darker-hued comedy that showed the maturation of two storytellers willing to tackle the very contemporary theme of infidelity. The play ran 706 performances at Broadway’s Eugene O’Neill Theatre with the portly character actor James Coco as anti-hero Barney Cashman, a restaurateur in a lifeless marriage and determined to have an affair. Paramount had more faith in Alan Arkin as their leading man (despite his expensive flop Catch-22 only a year prior), his smooth good looks at odds with the hopeless, chubby lothario that Simon originally envisioned. The play’s temptresses (Doris Roberts, the Tony-nominated Linda Lavin) were also upgraded to the screen sirens of the period (Sally Kellerman, Paula Prentiss). Simon’s and Sak’s trademark ageing, middle-class Jewish spin on the sexual revolution didn’t play well with critics or audiences, already feeling dated despite only having premiered on stage a few short years before the film adaptation.
Did you know…? – A union strike all but shut down location shooting in New York City just as Last of The Red Hot Lovers was getting set to begin filming. Despite Simon’s and Sak’s beloved NYC being central to the narrative, the production was largely shot in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.
Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986)
14 years after the lukewarm response to Last of the Red Lovers, Saks and Simon would reunite for a melancholy walk down memory lane in the form of the acclaimed Brighton Beach Memoirs. As middle age began to encroach on the pair (Saks was 65; Simon, 59), they pooled their collective memories into the autobiographical story of Eugene Jerome (Jonathan Silverman, replacing Matthew Broderick from the Broadway run) and the idiosyncratic family life of 1937 Brooklyn, an existence that influenced his passion for baseball, storytelling and pretty girls. Having directed and shared in the acclaim of the Broadway season, Saks’ adds his trademark flavoursome eye for location detail (aided by the wonderful production design of Stuart Wurtzel), crafting the warmest, most cinematic film of the pair’s oeuvre. Both the film and play took some stick for employing a rose-coloured rear view (Roger Ebert said, “Simon and Saks should have taken some chances and cut closer to the bone.”) but neither apologised for the warm sentimentality and loving embrace they showed in recounting those awkward ‘teenage manhood’ years. Blythe Danner is a standout as the extended clan’s matriarch.
Did you know…? – Despite winning a Tony for playing Eugene in the initial stage run of Brighton Beach Memoirs, Matthew Broderick passed on the film version when the shooting schedule clashed with his lead role in John Hughes’ Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Broderick would, however, play Eugene in the film version of Simon’s sequel, Biloxi Blues, opposite Christopher Walken.