John Frankenheimer
Encyclopedia
John Michael Frankenheimer (February 19, 1930 – July 6, 2002) was an American film and television director known for social dramas and action/suspense films. Among his credits were Birdman of Alcatraz
(1962), The Manchurian Candidate
(1962), Seven Days in May
(1964), The Train, (1964), Grand Prix (1966), Black Sunday
(1977) and Ronin
(1998).
He won four consecutive Emmy Awards in the 1990s for the television movies Against the Wall, The Burning Season
, Andersonville
, and George Wallace
, which also received a Golden Globe award
. He was considered one of the last remaining directors who insisted on having complete control over all elements of production, making his style unique in Hollywood.
His 30 feature films and over 50 plays for television were notable for their influence on contemporary thought. He became a pioneer of the "modern-day political thriller," having begun his career at the peak of the Cold War
. Many of his films were noted for creating "psychological dilemmas" for his male protagonists along with having a strong "sense of environment," similar in style to films by director Sidney Lumet
, for whom he had earlier worked as assistant director. He developed a "tremendous propensity for exploring political situations" which would ensnare his characters.
Movie critic Leonard Maltin
writes that "in his time [1960s]... Frankenheimer worked with the top writers, producers and actors in a series of films that dealt with issues that were just on top of the moment—things that were facing us all."
. His father was of German
Jewish descent and his mother was Irish Catholic
, and Frankenheimer was raised Catholic.
He grew up in New York City and became interested in movies at an early age; he recalled going to the cinema every weekend. In 1947, he graduated from La Salle Military Academy
in Oakdale, Long Island, New York. In 1951, he graduated from Williams College
in Williamstown, Massachusetts
, where he studied English. He also developed an interest in acting as a career while in college but began thinking seriously about directing when he was in the Air Force. This led him to join a film squadron based in Burbank, California
, where he shot his first documentary. He also began studying film theory by reading books about other famous directors, such as Sergei Eisenstein
along with how-to books about the craft of film making.
In May 2001, amid rumors that he was the biological father of film director Michael Bay, Frankenheimer stated he had a brief relationship with Bay's birth mother. After the rumors surfaced that Bay's natural father was a filmmaker, there was much speculation about Frankenheimer, who continued to deny the story and told the Los Angeles Times that there had once been "tests" to determine paternity (long before DNA testing).
, Climax!, and Danger
, including The Comedian
, written by Rod Serling
and starring Mickey Rooney
as a ragingly vicious television comedian.
His first theatrical film was The Young Stranger
(1957), starring James MacArthur
as the rebellious teenage son of a powerful Hollywood movie producer. Frankenheimer directed the production, based on a Climax! episode, "Deal a Blow", which he directed when he was 26.
He returned to television during the late 1950s, moving to film permanently in 1961 with The Young Savages
, in which he worked for the first time with Burt Lancaster
in a story of a young boy murdered by a New York gang.
began under director (Charles Crichton
). Burt Lancaster, who was producing as well as starring, asked Frankenheimer to take over the film. As Frankenheimer describes in Charles Champlin's interview book, he advised Lancaster that the script was too long but was told he had to shoot all that was written.
The first cut of the film was four-and-a-half hours long, the length Frankenheimer had predicted. Moreover, the film was constructed so that it could not be cut and still be coherent. Frankenheimer said the film would have to be rewritten and partly reshot. Lancaster was committed to star in Judgment at Nuremberg
, so he made that film while Frankenheimer prepared the reshoots. The finished film, released in 1962, was a huge success and was nominated for four Oscars, including one for Lancaster's performance.
Frankenheimer was next hired by producer John Houseman
to direct All Fall Down, a family drama starring Eva Marie Saint
and Warren Beatty
. Because of the production difficulties with Birdman of Alcatraz
, All Fall Down was actually released first.
. Frankenheimer and producer George Axelrod
bought Richard Condon
's 1959 novel after it had already been turned down by many Hollywood studios. After Frank Sinatra
committed to the film, they secured backing from United Artists.
The story of a Korean War veteran, brainwashed by the Communist Chinese to assassinate the candidate for President, co-starred Laurence Harvey
and Janet Leigh
and Angela Lansbury
as Harvey's evil mother. Frankenheimer had to fight to cast Lansbury, who had worked with him on All Fall Down, and was just two years older than Harvey. Sinatra's preference had been for Lucille Ball
. The film was nominated for two Oscars, including one for Lansbury.
The film was unseen for many years. Urban legend has it that the film was pulled from circulation due to the similarity of its plot to the death of President Kennedy the following year, but Frankenheimer states in the Champlin book that it was pulled because of a legal battle between producer Sinatra and the studio over Sinatra's share of the profits. In any event, it was re-released to great acclaim in 1988.
(1964). He again bought the rights to a bestselling book, this time by Charles Bailey II and Fletcher Knebel
, and again produced the film with his star, this time Kirk Douglas
.
Douglas intended to play the role of the General who attempts to lead a coup against the President, who is about to sign a disarmament treaty with the Soviets. Douglas then decided he wanted to work with Burt Lancaster, with whom he had just costarred in another film. To entice Lancaster, Douglas agreed to let him play the General, while Douglas took the less showy lead role of the General's aide, who turns against him and helps the President.
The film, written by Rod Serling
, costarred Fredric March
as the President and Ava Gardner
as a former flame of Lancaster's, was nominated for two Oscars.
. The Train had already begun shooting in France when star Lancaster had the original director fired and called in Frankenheimer to save the film. As he recounts in the Champlin book, Frankenheimer used the production's desperation to his advantage in negotiations. He demanded and got the following: his name was made part of the title, "John Frankenheimer's The Train"; the French co-director, demanded by French tax laws, was not allowed to ever set foot on set; he was given total final cut; and a Ferrari.
Again saddled with an unfilmably long script, Frankenheimer threw it out and took the locations and actors left from the previous film and began filming, with writers working in Paris as the production shot in Normandy. The poorly chosen locations caused endless weather delays. The film contains multiple real train wrecks. The Allied bombing of a rail yard was accomplished with real dynamite, as the French rail authority needed to enlarge the track gauge. This can be observed by the shockwaves traveling through the ground during the action sequence. Producers realized after filming that the story needed another action scene, and reassembled some of the cast for a Spitfire attack scene that was inserted into the first third of the film. The finished movie was successful, and the script was nominated for an Oscar.
(1966) tells of an elderly man John Randolph
given the body of a young man Rock Hudson
through experimental surgery. It was poorly received on its release but has come to be one of the director's most respected and popular films subsequently. The film is an expressionistic, part-horror, part-thriller, part-science fiction film about the obsession with eternal youth and misplaced faith in the ability of medical science to achieve it.
and Eva Marie Saint
. The making was a race itself, as John Sturges
and Steve McQueen planned to make a similar movie titled Day of the Champion. Due to their contract with the German Nürburgring
, Frankenheimer had to turn over 27 reels shot there to Sturges. Frankenheimer was ahead in schedule anyway, and the McQueen/Sturges project was called off, while the German race track was only mentioned briefly in Grand Prix. Introducing methods of photographing high-speed auto racing that had never been seen before, mounting cameras on the cars, at full speed and putting the stars in the actual cars, instead of against rear-projections, the film was an international success and won three Oscars, for editing, sound and sound effects.
, starred David Niven
, Faye Dunaway
, Alan Alda
and Mickey Rooney
. The film was a failure at the box office and critically. Frankenheimer calls it in the Champlin book "the only movie I've made which I would say was a total disaster."
Then came 1968's The Fixer
, about a Jew in Tsarist Russia and based on the novel by Bernard Malamud
. The film was shot in Communist Hungary. It starred Alan Bates
and was not a major success, but Bates was nominated for an Oscar. Frankenheimer was a friend of Senator Robert Kennedy and drove him to the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles
the night Kennedy was assassinated in June 1968.
The Gypsy Moths
was a romantic drama about a troupe of barnstorming skydivers and their impact on a small midwestern town. The celebration of Americana starred Frankenheimer regular Lancaster, reuniting him with From Here to Eternity
co-star Deborah Kerr
, and it also featured Gene Hackman
. The film failed to find an audience, but Frankenheimer always called it one of his personal favorites.
in 1970. The film, starring Gregory Peck
and Tuesday Weld
, about a Tennessee sheriff who falls in love with a moonshiner's daughter, was set to songs by Johnny Cash
. Frankenheimer's next project took him to Afghanistan.
The Horseman
focused on the relationship between a father and son, played by Jack Palance
and Omar Sharif
. Sharif's character, an expert horseman, played the Afghan national sport of buzkashi
. Impossible Object
, also known as Story of a Love Story
, suffered distribution difficulties and was not widely released. Next came a four-hour film of O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh
, in 1973, starring Lee Marvin
, and the decidedly offbeat 99 and 44/100% Dead a crime black comedy starring Richard Harris
.
With his fluent French and knowledge of the culture, Frankenheimer was asked to direct French Connection II
, set entirely in Marseille. With Hackman reprising his role as New York cop Popeye Doyle, the film was a success and got Frankenheimer his next job, Black Sunday
in 1976.
Black Sunday
, based on author Thomas Harris
's only non-Hannibal Lecter novel, involves an Israeli Mossad agent (Robert Shaw
), chasing a Palestinian terrorist (Marthe Keller
) and a disgruntled Vietnam vet (Bruce Dern
), who plan to blow up the Goodyear blimp over the Super Bowl. It was shot on location at the actual Super Bowl X
in January 1976 in Miami, with the use of a real Goodyear Blimp
. The film tested very highly, and Paramount and Frankenheimer had high expectations for it. When it failed to become the hit that was expected, Frankenheimer admitted he developed a serious problem with alcohol
. In later years, Frankenheimer theorized that the audience may have developed an affinity over the course of the movie for the character played by Bruce Dern
and thus felt conflicted when he was defeated at the end.
He is quoted in Champlin's biography as saying that his alcohol problem caused him to do work that was below his own standards on Prophecy
(1979), an ecological monster movie about a mutant grizzly bear terrorizing a forest in Maine.
, with Scott Glenn and legendary Japanese star, Toshiro Mifune
. He tells Champlin that his drinking became so severe while shooting in Japan that he actually drank on set, which he had never done before, and as a result he entered rehab
on returning to America. The film was released in 1982, along with his television adaptation of the acclaimed play The Rainmaker
In 1985, he directed an adaptation of the Robert Ludlum
bestseller The Holcroft Covenant
, starring Michael Caine. That was followed the next year with another adaptation, 52 Pick-Up
, from the novel by Elmore Leonard
. Dead Bang
(1989) followed Don Johnson
as he infiltrated a group of white supremacists. In 1990, Frankenheimer returned to the cold-war political thriller genre with The Fourth War
with Roy Scheider
(with whom Frankenheimer had worked previously on 52 Pick-Up
) as a loose cannon Army colonel drawn into a dangerous personal war with a Russian officer. It was not a commercial success.
and George Wallace
, that were highly praised.
His 1996 film The Island of Doctor Moreau
, which he took over a few weeks into production from Richard Stanley, was the cause of countless stories of production woes and personality clashes and received scathing reviews. It was said that the veteran director could not stand Val Kilmer
, the young star of the film. When Kilmer's last scene was completed it was reported that Frankenheimer said, "Now get that bastard off my set." In an interview, Frankenheimer refused to discuss the film, saying only that he had a miserable time making it.
However, his next film, 1998's Ronin
, starring Robert De Niro
, was a return to form, featuring Frankenheimer's now trademark elaborate car chases woven into a labyrinthine espionage plot. Co-starring an international cast including Jean Reno
and Jonathan Pryce
, it was a critical and box-office success. As the 1990s drew to a close, he even acted for the first time, appearing in a cameo as a U.S. General in The General's Daughter
(1999).
, starring Ben Affleck
, underperformed. But then came his final film, Path to War
for HBO in 2002, which brought him back to his strengths – political machinations, 1960s America and character-based drama, and was nominated for numerous awards. A look back at the Vietnam war, it starred Michael Gambon
as President Lyndon Johnson along with Alec Baldwin
and Donald Sutherland
.
One of Frankenheimer's last projects was the 2001 BMW
action short-film Ambush for the promotional series The Hire, starring Clive Owen
.
Frankenheimer was scheduled to direct Exorcist: The Beginning
, but it was announced before filming started that he was withdrawing, citing health concerns. Paul Schrader
replaced him. About a month later he died suddenly in Los Angeles, California
, from a stroke due to complications following spinal surgery at the age of 72.
Despite the many celebrated films he directed, many of which won Academy Awards in various categories, Frankenheimer was never nominated for a Best Director Oscar.
Cannes Film Festival
New York Film Critics Circle Award
Venice Film Festival
Birdman of Alcatraz (film)
Birdman of Alcatraz is a 1962 film starring Burt Lancaster and directed by John Frankenheimer. It is a fictionalized version of the life of Robert Stroud, a federal prison inmate known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz" because of his life with birds. In spite of the title, much of the action is set at...
(1962), The Manchurian Candidate
The Manchurian Candidate (1962 film)
The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 American Cold War political thriller film starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury, and featuring Henry Silva, James Gregory, Leslie Parrish and John McGiver...
(1962), Seven Days in May
Seven Days in May
Seven Days in May is an American political thriller novel written by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II and published in 1962. It was made into a motion picture and released in February 1964, with a screenplay by Rod Serling, directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk...
(1964), The Train, (1964), Grand Prix (1966), Black Sunday
Black Sunday (1977 film)
Black Sunday is a 1977 American thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and based on the novel by Thomas Harris. The film starred Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, and Marthe Keller and was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture in 1978...
(1977) and Ronin
Ronin (film)
Ronin is a 1998 action-thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and written by J.D. Zeik and David Mamet. It stars Robert De Niro and Jean Reno as two of several former special forces and intelligence agents who team up to steal a mysterious, heavily guarded suitcase while navigating a maze of...
(1998).
He won four consecutive Emmy Awards in the 1990s for the television movies Against the Wall, The Burning Season
The Burning Season (1994 film)
The Burning Season is a 1994 television movie directed by John Frankenheimer. The film chronicled Chico Mendes's fight to protect the rainforest.-Plot:...
, Andersonville
Andersonville (film)
Andersonville is a film directed by John Frankenheimer about a group of Union soldiers during the American Civil War who are captured by the Confederates and sent to an infamous Confederate prison camp....
, and George Wallace
George Wallace (film)
George Wallace is a 1997 television film starring Gary Sinise as George Wallace, the former Governor of Alabama. It was directed by John Frankenheimer, who won an Emmy award for it; Sinise and Mare Winningham also won Emmies for their performances...
, which also received a Golden Globe award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
. He was considered one of the last remaining directors who insisted on having complete control over all elements of production, making his style unique in Hollywood.
His 30 feature films and over 50 plays for television were notable for their influence on contemporary thought. He became a pioneer of the "modern-day political thriller," having begun his career at the peak of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. Many of his films were noted for creating "psychological dilemmas" for his male protagonists along with having a strong "sense of environment," similar in style to films by director Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
, for whom he had earlier worked as assistant director. He developed a "tremendous propensity for exploring political situations" which would ensnare his characters.
Movie critic Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
writes that "in his time [1960s]... Frankenheimer worked with the top writers, producers and actors in a series of films that dealt with issues that were just on top of the moment—things that were facing us all."
Early life
Frankenheimer was born in Queens, New York, the son of Helen Mary (née Sheedy) and Walter Martin Frankenheimer, a stockbroker. Frankenheimer once speculated that he might be related to actress Ally SheedyAlly Sheedy
Alexandra Elizabeth "Ally" Sheedy is an American film and stage actress, as well as the author of two books. She is best known for her roles in the Brat Pack films The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire.-Early life:...
. His father was of German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Jewish descent and his mother was Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...
, and Frankenheimer was raised Catholic.
He grew up in New York City and became interested in movies at an early age; he recalled going to the cinema every weekend. In 1947, he graduated from La Salle Military Academy
La Salle Military Academy
La Salle Military Academy was a Catholic school with middle school/junior high school and high school divisions located in Oakdale, New York. It closed in 2001, and the school's extensive campus is now owned by St...
in Oakdale, Long Island, New York. In 1951, he graduated from Williams College
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
in Williamstown, Massachusetts
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Williamstown is a town in Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,754 at the 2010 census...
, where he studied English. He also developed an interest in acting as a career while in college but began thinking seriously about directing when he was in the Air Force. This led him to join a film squadron based in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, where he shot his first documentary. He also began studying film theory by reading books about other famous directors, such as Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
along with how-to books about the craft of film making.
In May 2001, amid rumors that he was the biological father of film director Michael Bay, Frankenheimer stated he had a brief relationship with Bay's birth mother. After the rumors surfaced that Bay's natural father was a filmmaker, there was much speculation about Frankenheimer, who continued to deny the story and told the Los Angeles Times that there had once been "tests" to determine paternity (long before DNA testing).
Career
Frankenheimer began his directing career in live television at CBS. Throughout the 1950s he directed over 140 episodes of shows like Playhouse 90Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
, Climax!, and Danger
Danger (TV series)
Danger is an anthology series which brought half hour-long dramas to television from 1950 to 1955.-Television:It first aired on September 19, 1950 on CBS. The first episode, entitled "The Black Door", was directed by Yul Brynner with a story by Henry Norton and a teleplay by Irving Elman. It...
, including The Comedian
The Comedian (1957 TV drama)
The Comedian is a 1957 live television drama written by Rod Serling from a novella by Ernest Lehman, directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Mickey Rooney....
, written by Rod Serling
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...
and starring Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
as a ragingly vicious television comedian.
His first theatrical film was The Young Stranger
The Young Stranger
The Young Stranger is a drama film which is also the first film directed by John Frankenheimer.- Plot :Teenage Hal Ditmar, the son of a wealthy movie producer, gets into an argument in a theater, which ends with Hal hitting the theater manager. Neither the police nor Hal's father believe his claim...
(1957), starring James MacArthur
James MacArthur
James Gordon MacArthur was an American actor best known for the role of Danny "Danno" Williams, the reliable second-in-command of the fictional Hawaiian State Police squad Hawaii Five-O.-Early life:...
as the rebellious teenage son of a powerful Hollywood movie producer. Frankenheimer directed the production, based on a Climax! episode, "Deal a Blow", which he directed when he was 26.
He returned to television during the late 1950s, moving to film permanently in 1961 with The Young Savages
The Young Savages
The Young Savages is a 1961 crime drama film directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Burt Lancaster, and written by Edward Anhalt from a novel by Evan Hunter....
, in which he worked for the first time with Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
in a story of a young boy murdered by a New York gang.
Birdman of Alcatraz
Production of Birdman of AlcatrazBirdman of Alcatraz (film)
Birdman of Alcatraz is a 1962 film starring Burt Lancaster and directed by John Frankenheimer. It is a fictionalized version of the life of Robert Stroud, a federal prison inmate known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz" because of his life with birds. In spite of the title, much of the action is set at...
began under director (Charles Crichton
Charles Crichton
Charles Crichton was an English film director and film editor. He became best known for directing comedies produced at Ealing Studios...
). Burt Lancaster, who was producing as well as starring, asked Frankenheimer to take over the film. As Frankenheimer describes in Charles Champlin's interview book, he advised Lancaster that the script was too long but was told he had to shoot all that was written.
The first cut of the film was four-and-a-half hours long, the length Frankenheimer had predicted. Moreover, the film was constructed so that it could not be cut and still be coherent. Frankenheimer said the film would have to be rewritten and partly reshot. Lancaster was committed to star in Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg is a 1961 American drama film dealing with the Holocaust and the Post-World War II Nuremberg Trials. It was written by Abby Mann, directed by Stanley Kramer, and starred Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy...
, so he made that film while Frankenheimer prepared the reshoots. The finished film, released in 1962, was a huge success and was nominated for four Oscars, including one for Lancaster's performance.
Frankenheimer was next hired by producer John Houseman
John Houseman
John Houseman was a Romanian-born British-American actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane...
to direct All Fall Down, a family drama starring Eva Marie Saint
Eva Marie Saint
Eva Marie Saint is an American actress who has starred in films, on Broadway, and on television in a career spanning seven decades. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama film On the Waterfront , and later starred in the thriller film North by...
and Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
. Because of the production difficulties with Birdman of Alcatraz
Birdman of Alcatraz (film)
Birdman of Alcatraz is a 1962 film starring Burt Lancaster and directed by John Frankenheimer. It is a fictionalized version of the life of Robert Stroud, a federal prison inmate known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz" because of his life with birds. In spite of the title, much of the action is set at...
, All Fall Down was actually released first.
The Manchurian Candidate
He followed this with his most iconic film, The Manchurian CandidateThe Manchurian Candidate (1962 film)
The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 American Cold War political thriller film starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury, and featuring Henry Silva, James Gregory, Leslie Parrish and John McGiver...
. Frankenheimer and producer George Axelrod
George Axelrod
George Axelrod was an American screenwriter, producer, playwright and film director, best known for his play, The Seven Year Itch , which was adapted into a movie of the same name starring Marilyn Monroe...
bought Richard Condon
Richard Condon
Richard Thomas Condon was a prolific and popular American political novelist whose satiric works were generally presented in the form of thrillers or semi-thrillers...
's 1959 novel after it had already been turned down by many Hollywood studios. After Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
committed to the film, they secured backing from United Artists.
The story of a Korean War veteran, brainwashed by the Communist Chinese to assassinate the candidate for President, co-starred Laurence Harvey
Laurence Harvey
Laurence Harvey was a Lithuanian-born actor who achieved fame in British and American films.- Early life :Harvey maintained throughout his life that his birth name was Laruschka Mischa Skikne. However, his legal name was Zvi Mosheh Skikne. He was the youngest of three boys born to Ber "Boris" and...
and Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
and Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury
Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
as Harvey's evil mother. Frankenheimer had to fight to cast Lansbury, who had worked with him on All Fall Down, and was just two years older than Harvey. Sinatra's preference had been for Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
. The film was nominated for two Oscars, including one for Lansbury.
The film was unseen for many years. Urban legend has it that the film was pulled from circulation due to the similarity of its plot to the death of President Kennedy the following year, but Frankenheimer states in the Champlin book that it was pulled because of a legal battle between producer Sinatra and the studio over Sinatra's share of the profits. In any event, it was re-released to great acclaim in 1988.
Seven Days in May
He followed with another successful political thriller, Seven Days in MaySeven Days in May
Seven Days in May is an American political thriller novel written by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II and published in 1962. It was made into a motion picture and released in February 1964, with a screenplay by Rod Serling, directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk...
(1964). He again bought the rights to a bestselling book, this time by Charles Bailey II and Fletcher Knebel
Fletcher Knebel
Fletcher Knebel was an American author of several popular works of political fiction.Knebel was born in Dayton, Ohio, but moved a number of times during his youth. He graduated from high school in Yonkers, New York, spent a year studying at the Sorbonne and graduated from Miami University in...
, and again produced the film with his star, this time Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
.
Douglas intended to play the role of the General who attempts to lead a coup against the President, who is about to sign a disarmament treaty with the Soviets. Douglas then decided he wanted to work with Burt Lancaster, with whom he had just costarred in another film. To entice Lancaster, Douglas agreed to let him play the General, while Douglas took the less showy lead role of the General's aide, who turns against him and helps the President.
The film, written by Rod Serling
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...
, costarred Fredric March
Fredric March
Fredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr...
as the President and Ava Gardner
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
as a former flame of Lancaster's, was nominated for two Oscars.
The Train
This film was again taken over from another director, this time Arthur PennArthur Penn
Arthur Hiller Penn was an American film director and producer with a career as a theater director as well. Penn amassed a critically acclaimed body of work throughout the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
. The Train had already begun shooting in France when star Lancaster had the original director fired and called in Frankenheimer to save the film. As he recounts in the Champlin book, Frankenheimer used the production's desperation to his advantage in negotiations. He demanded and got the following: his name was made part of the title, "John Frankenheimer's The Train"; the French co-director, demanded by French tax laws, was not allowed to ever set foot on set; he was given total final cut; and a Ferrari.
Again saddled with an unfilmably long script, Frankenheimer threw it out and took the locations and actors left from the previous film and began filming, with writers working in Paris as the production shot in Normandy. The poorly chosen locations caused endless weather delays. The film contains multiple real train wrecks. The Allied bombing of a rail yard was accomplished with real dynamite, as the French rail authority needed to enlarge the track gauge. This can be observed by the shockwaves traveling through the ground during the action sequence. Producers realized after filming that the story needed another action scene, and reassembled some of the cast for a Spitfire attack scene that was inserted into the first third of the film. The finished movie was successful, and the script was nominated for an Oscar.
Seconds
SecondsSeconds (film)
Seconds is a 1966 American film starring Rock Hudson. Characterized sometimes as a science fiction thriller, but with elements of horror, neo-noir, psychedelia, and drama, it was directed by John Frankenheimer with a screenplay by Lewis John Carlino. The script was based on a novel by David Ely...
(1966) tells of an elderly man John Randolph
John Randolph (actor)
John Randolph was an American film, television and stage actor.-Early life:Randolph was born Emanuel Hirsch Cohen in New York City, the son of Jewish immigrants Dorothy , an insurance agent, and Louis Cohen, a hat manufacturer...
given the body of a young man Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
through experimental surgery. It was poorly received on its release but has come to be one of the director's most respected and popular films subsequently. The film is an expressionistic, part-horror, part-thriller, part-science fiction film about the obsession with eternal youth and misplaced faith in the ability of medical science to achieve it.
Grand Prix
He followed Seconds with his most spectacular production, 1966's Grand Prix. Shot on location at the Grand Prix races throughout Europe, using 65mm Cinerama cameras, the film starred James GarnerJames Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
and Eva Marie Saint
Eva Marie Saint
Eva Marie Saint is an American actress who has starred in films, on Broadway, and on television in a career spanning seven decades. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama film On the Waterfront , and later starred in the thriller film North by...
. The making was a race itself, as John Sturges
John Sturges
John Eliot Sturges was an American film director. His movies include Bad Day at Black Rock , Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , The Magnificent Seven , The Great Escape and Ice Station Zebra .-Career:He started his career in Hollywood as an editor in 1932...
and Steve McQueen planned to make a similar movie titled Day of the Champion. Due to their contract with the German Nürburgring
Nürburgring
The Nürburgring is a motorsport complex around the village of Nürburg, Germany. It features a modern Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a much longer old North loop track which was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains. It is located about...
, Frankenheimer had to turn over 27 reels shot there to Sturges. Frankenheimer was ahead in schedule anyway, and the McQueen/Sturges project was called off, while the German race track was only mentioned briefly in Grand Prix. Introducing methods of photographing high-speed auto racing that had never been seen before, mounting cameras on the cars, at full speed and putting the stars in the actual cars, instead of against rear-projections, the film was an international success and won three Oscars, for editing, sound and sound effects.
Late 1960s
His next film, 1967's all-star anti-war comedy The Extraordinary SeamanThe Extraordinary Seaman
The Extraordinary Seaman is a 1969 American comedy war film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring David Niven, Faye Dunaway, Alan Alda and Mickey Rooney.-Plot:...
, starred David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
, Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
, Alan Alda
Alan Alda
Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo , better known as Alan Alda, is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and author. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H...
and Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
. The film was a failure at the box office and critically. Frankenheimer calls it in the Champlin book "the only movie I've made which I would say was a total disaster."
Then came 1968's The Fixer
The Fixer (film)
The Fixer is a 1968 British drama film based on the 1966 semi-biographical novel of the same name, written by Bernard Malamud.-Plot:Like the book, the film's main character Yakov Bok, a Jew living in the Russian Empire, who was unjustly imprisoned based on prejudice and the charge of having...
, about a Jew in Tsarist Russia and based on the novel by Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud was an author of novels and short stories. Along with Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, he was one of the great American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseball novel, The Natural, was adapted into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford...
. The film was shot in Communist Hungary. It starred Alan Bates
Alan Bates
Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE was an English actor, who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he demonstrated his versatility in films ranging from the popular children’s story Whistle Down the Wind to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving...
and was not a major success, but Bates was nominated for an Oscar. Frankenheimer was a friend of Senator Robert Kennedy and drove him to the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
the night Kennedy was assassinated in June 1968.
The Gypsy Moths
The Gypsy Moths
The Gypsy Moths is a 1969 American film starring Burt Lancaster, based on the novel of the same name by James Drought. It is the story of three barnstorming skydivers and their effect on a midwestern American town. At the time, the sport of skydiving was in its infancy, yet the movie featured an...
was a romantic drama about a troupe of barnstorming skydivers and their impact on a small midwestern town. The celebration of Americana starred Frankenheimer regular Lancaster, reuniting him with From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity is a 1953 drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and based on the novel of the same name by James Jones. It deals with the troubles of soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the...
co-star Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...
, and it also featured Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
. The film failed to find an audience, but Frankenheimer always called it one of his personal favorites.
1970s
He followed this with I Walk the LineI Walk the Line (film)
I Walk the Line is a 1970 film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Gregory Peck and Tuesday Weld. The film is the story of Sheriff Henry Tawes who develops a relationship with town girl Alma McCain ....
in 1970. The film, starring Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
and Tuesday Weld
Tuesday Weld
Tuesday Weld is an American actress.Weld began her acting career as a child, and progressed to more mature roles during the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960...
, about a Tennessee sheriff who falls in love with a moonshiner's daughter, was set to songs by Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
. Frankenheimer's next project took him to Afghanistan.
The Horseman
The Horsemen (1971 film)
The Horsemen is a 1971 film starring Omar Sharif, directed by John Frankenheimer; screenplay by Dalton Trumbo. Based on a novel by French writer Joseph Kessel, Les Cavaliers shows Afghanistan and its people the way they were before the wars that wracked the country, particularly their love for...
focused on the relationship between a father and son, played by Jack Palance
Jack Palance
Jack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
and Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif is an Egyptian actor who has starred in Hollywood films including Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won two Golden Globe Awards.-Early life:...
. Sharif's character, an expert horseman, played the Afghan national sport of buzkashi
Buzkashi
Buzkashi or Kok-boru or Oglak Tartis or Ulak Tartysh is a traditional Central Asian...
. Impossible Object
Impossible object
An impossible object is a type of optical illusion consisting of a two-dimensional figure which is instantly and subconsciously interpreted by the visual system as representing a projection of a three-dimensional object although it is not actually possible for such an object to exist An impossible...
, also known as Story of a Love Story
Story of a Love Story
Story of a Love Story, also known as Impossible Object, is a 1973 drama film starring Alan Bates and Dominique Sanda. It was directed by John Frankenheimer and based on a novel by Nicholas Mosley...
, suffered distribution difficulties and was not widely released. Next came a four-hour film of O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh
The Iceman Cometh (1973 film)
The Iceman Cometh is a 1973 film directed by John Frankenheimer. The screenplay was written by Thomas Quinn Curtiss, based on Eugene O'Neill's 1939 play of the same name. The film was screened at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, but wasn't entered into the main competition.This was the last film for...
, in 1973, starring Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
, and the decidedly offbeat 99 and 44/100% Dead a crime black comedy starring Richard Harris
Richard Harris
Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....
.
With his fluent French and knowledge of the culture, Frankenheimer was asked to direct French Connection II
French Connection II
French Connection II is a 1975 crime drama film starring Gene Hackman and directed by John Frankenheimer. It is a fictional sequel to the initially true story of the 1971 Academy Award winning picture The French Connection...
, set entirely in Marseille. With Hackman reprising his role as New York cop Popeye Doyle, the film was a success and got Frankenheimer his next job, Black Sunday
Black Sunday (1977 film)
Black Sunday is a 1977 American thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and based on the novel by Thomas Harris. The film starred Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, and Marthe Keller and was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture in 1978...
in 1976.
Black Sunday
Black Sunday (1977 film)
Black Sunday is a 1977 American thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and based on the novel by Thomas Harris. The film starred Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, and Marthe Keller and was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture in 1978...
, based on author Thomas Harris
Thomas Harris
Thomas Harris is an American author and screenwriter, best known for a series of suspense novels about his most famous character, Hannibal Lecter...
's only non-Hannibal Lecter novel, involves an Israeli Mossad agent (Robert Shaw
Robert Shaw (actor)
Robert Archibald Shaw was an English actor and novelist, remembered for his performances in The Sting , From Russia with Love , A Man for All Seasons , the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three , Black Sunday , The Deep and Jaws , where he played the shark hunter Quint.-Early life...
), chasing a Palestinian terrorist (Marthe Keller
Marthe Keller
Marthe Keller is a Swiss actress and opera director. She studied ballet as a child, but stopped after a skiing accident at age 16...
) and a disgruntled Vietnam vet (Bruce Dern
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
), who plan to blow up the Goodyear blimp over the Super Bowl. It was shot on location at the actual Super Bowl X
Super Bowl X
Super Bowl X was an American football game played on January 18, 1976 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida to decide the National Football League champion following the 1975 regular season....
in January 1976 in Miami, with the use of a real Goodyear Blimp
Goodyear Blimp
The Goodyear Blimp is the collective name for a fleet of blimps operated by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for advertising purposes and for use as a television camera platform for aerial views of sporting events...
. The film tested very highly, and Paramount and Frankenheimer had high expectations for it. When it failed to become the hit that was expected, Frankenheimer admitted he developed a serious problem with alcohol
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. In later years, Frankenheimer theorized that the audience may have developed an affinity over the course of the movie for the character played by Bruce Dern
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
and thus felt conflicted when he was defeated at the end.
He is quoted in Champlin's biography as saying that his alcohol problem caused him to do work that was below his own standards on Prophecy
Prophecy (film)
Prophecy is a 1979 horror film directed by John Frankenheimer and written by David Seltzer. It stars Robert Foxworth, Talia Shire and Armand Assante....
(1979), an ecological monster movie about a mutant grizzly bear terrorizing a forest in Maine.
1980s
In 1981, Frankenheimer travelled to Japan to shoot the cult martial-arts action film The ChallengeThe Challenge (1982 film)
The Challenge is a 1982 American action film directed by John Frankenheimer and co-written by John Sayles. The film stars Scott Glenn and Toshirō Mifune.-Plot:...
, with Scott Glenn and legendary Japanese star, Toshiro Mifune
Toshiro Mifune
Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
. He tells Champlin that his drinking became so severe while shooting in Japan that he actually drank on set, which he had never done before, and as a result he entered rehab
Drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...
on returning to America. The film was released in 1982, along with his television adaptation of the acclaimed play The Rainmaker
The Rainmaker (play)
The Rainmaker is a play written by N. Richard Nash in the early 1950s. The play opened on October 28, 1954 at the Cort Theatre in New York and ran for 125 performances. It was directed by Joseph Anthony and produced by Ethel Linder Reiner....
In 1985, he directed an adaptation of the Robert Ludlum
Robert Ludlum
Robert Ludlum was an American author of 23 thriller novels. The number of his books in print is estimated between 290–500 million copies. They have been published in 33 languages and 40 countries. Ludlum also published books under the pseudonyms Jonathan Ryder and Michael Shepherd.-Life and...
bestseller The Holcroft Covenant
The Holcroft Covenant (film)
The Holcroft Covenant is a 1985 film based on the Robert Ludlum novel The Holcroft Covenant. The film starred Michael Caine and was directed by John Frankenheimer...
, starring Michael Caine. That was followed the next year with another adaptation, 52 Pick-Up
52 Pick-Up
52 Pick-Up is a 1986 crime thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer. The film stars Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret and is based on Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name.-Plot:...
, from the novel by Elmore Leonard
Elmore Leonard
Elmore John Leonard Jr. , better known as Elmore Leonard, is an American novelist and screenwriter. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.Among his...
. Dead Bang
Dead Bang
Dead Bang is a 1989 action film starring Don Johnson and Tim Reid, and directed by John Frankenheimer. Johnson's character, based on real-life LAPD officer Jerry Beck, tracks the killer of a Los Angeles Sherrifs Deputy and uncovers a plot involving hate literature, white supremacist militias and...
(1989) followed Don Johnson
Don Johnson
Donnie Wayne "Don" Johnson is an American actor known for his work in television and film. He played the lead role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice, which led him to huge success. He also played the lead role in the 1990s cop series, Nash Bridges...
as he infiltrated a group of white supremacists. In 1990, Frankenheimer returned to the cold-war political thriller genre with The Fourth War
The Fourth War
The Fourth War is a 1990 film directed by John Frankenheimer. It is set in Berlin in 1988.-Plot:Cold War drama about two gung-ho border commanders who carry out their own private war against each other on the German – Czechoslovakia border.-Cast:*Roy Scheider ... Col. Jack Knowles*Jürgen...
with Roy Scheider
Roy Scheider
Roy Richard Scheider was an American actor. He was best known for his leading role as police chief Martin C...
(with whom Frankenheimer had worked previously on 52 Pick-Up
52 Pick-Up
52 Pick-Up is a 1986 crime thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer. The film stars Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret and is based on Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name.-Plot:...
) as a loose cannon Army colonel drawn into a dangerous personal war with a Russian officer. It was not a commercial success.
1990s
Most of these 1980s films were less than successful, both critically and financially, but Frankenheimer was able to make a comeback in the 1990s by returning to his roots in television. He directed two films for HBO in 1994: Against the Wall and The Burning Season that won him several awards and renewed acclaim. The director also helmed two films for Turner Network Television in 1996 and 1997, AndersonvilleAndersonville (film)
Andersonville is a film directed by John Frankenheimer about a group of Union soldiers during the American Civil War who are captured by the Confederates and sent to an infamous Confederate prison camp....
and George Wallace
George Wallace (film)
George Wallace is a 1997 television film starring Gary Sinise as George Wallace, the former Governor of Alabama. It was directed by John Frankenheimer, who won an Emmy award for it; Sinise and Mare Winningham also won Emmies for their performances...
, that were highly praised.
His 1996 film The Island of Doctor Moreau
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 film)
The Island of Dr. Moreau is a 1996 science fiction horror film, the third major movie version of the H. G. Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau about a scientist who attempts to convert animals into people...
, which he took over a few weeks into production from Richard Stanley, was the cause of countless stories of production woes and personality clashes and received scathing reviews. It was said that the veteran director could not stand Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer
Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
, the young star of the film. When Kilmer's last scene was completed it was reported that Frankenheimer said, "Now get that bastard off my set." In an interview, Frankenheimer refused to discuss the film, saying only that he had a miserable time making it.
However, his next film, 1998's Ronin
Ronin (film)
Ronin is a 1998 action-thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and written by J.D. Zeik and David Mamet. It stars Robert De Niro and Jean Reno as two of several former special forces and intelligence agents who team up to steal a mysterious, heavily guarded suitcase while navigating a maze of...
, starring Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
, was a return to form, featuring Frankenheimer's now trademark elaborate car chases woven into a labyrinthine espionage plot. Co-starring an international cast including Jean Reno
Jean Reno
Jean Reno is a French actor. Working in French, English, Spanish and Italian, he has appeared not only in numerous successful Hollywood productions such as The Pink Panther, Godzilla, The Da Vinci Code, Mission: Impossible, Ronin and Couples Retreat, but also in European productions such as the...
and Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
, it was a critical and box-office success. As the 1990s drew to a close, he even acted for the first time, appearing in a cameo as a U.S. General in The General's Daughter
The General's Daughter
The General's Daughter is a 1999 murder mystery film starring John Travolta. The plot concerns the mysterious death of the daughter of a prominent general. The movie is based on the novel by the same name written in 1992 by Nelson DeMille, and was directed by Simon West...
(1999).
2000s
His last theatrical film, 2000's Reindeer GamesReindeer Games
Reindeer Games is a 2000 American film, directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, and Charlize Theron. It was Frankenheimer's final theatrically released film and received poor reviews.-Plot:...
, starring Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...
, underperformed. But then came his final film, Path to War
Path to War
Path to War is a 2002 American biographical television film, produced by HBO and directed by John Frankenheimer that deals directly with the Vietnam War as seen through the eyes of United States President Lyndon B...
for HBO in 2002, which brought him back to his strengths – political machinations, 1960s America and character-based drama, and was nominated for numerous awards. A look back at the Vietnam war, it starred Michael Gambon
Michael Gambon
Sir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlowe in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as...
as President Lyndon Johnson along with Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
and Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
.
One of Frankenheimer's last projects was the 2001 BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
action short-film Ambush for the promotional series The Hire, starring Clive Owen
Clive Owen
Clive Owen is an English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991...
.
Frankenheimer was scheduled to direct Exorcist: The Beginning
Exorcist: The Beginning
Exorcist: The Beginning is a 2004 prequel to the 1973 film The Exorcist. This is the second version of the third Exorcist sequel. It was adapted by William Wisher Jr., Caleb Carr and Alexi Hawley, and directed by Renny Harlin...
, but it was announced before filming started that he was withdrawing, citing health concerns. Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....
replaced him. About a month later he died suddenly in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, from a stroke due to complications following spinal surgery at the age of 72.
Despite the many celebrated films he directed, many of which won Academy Awards in various categories, Frankenheimer was never nominated for a Best Director Oscar.
Filmography
- The Young StrangerThe Young StrangerThe Young Stranger is a drama film which is also the first film directed by John Frankenheimer.- Plot :Teenage Hal Ditmar, the son of a wealthy movie producer, gets into an argument in a theater, which ends with Hal hitting the theater manager. Neither the police nor Hal's father believe his claim...
(1957) - The Young SavagesThe Young SavagesThe Young Savages is a 1961 crime drama film directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Burt Lancaster, and written by Edward Anhalt from a novel by Evan Hunter....
(1961) - All Fall Down (1962)
- Birdman of AlcatrazBirdman of Alcatraz (film)Birdman of Alcatraz is a 1962 film starring Burt Lancaster and directed by John Frankenheimer. It is a fictionalized version of the life of Robert Stroud, a federal prison inmate known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz" because of his life with birds. In spite of the title, much of the action is set at...
(1962) - The Manchurian CandidateThe Manchurian Candidate (1962 film)The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 American Cold War political thriller film starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury, and featuring Henry Silva, James Gregory, Leslie Parrish and John McGiver...
(1962) - Seven Days in MaySeven Days in MaySeven Days in May is an American political thriller novel written by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II and published in 1962. It was made into a motion picture and released in February 1964, with a screenplay by Rod Serling, directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk...
(1964) - The Train (1965)
- SecondsSeconds (film)Seconds is a 1966 American film starring Rock Hudson. Characterized sometimes as a science fiction thriller, but with elements of horror, neo-noir, psychedelia, and drama, it was directed by John Frankenheimer with a screenplay by Lewis John Carlino. The script was based on a novel by David Ely...
(1966) - Grand Prix (1966)
- The FixerThe Fixer (film)The Fixer is a 1968 British drama film based on the 1966 semi-biographical novel of the same name, written by Bernard Malamud.-Plot:Like the book, the film's main character Yakov Bok, a Jew living in the Russian Empire, who was unjustly imprisoned based on prejudice and the charge of having...
(1968) - The Extraordinary SeamanThe Extraordinary SeamanThe Extraordinary Seaman is a 1969 American comedy war film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring David Niven, Faye Dunaway, Alan Alda and Mickey Rooney.-Plot:...
(1969) - The Gypsy MothsThe Gypsy MothsThe Gypsy Moths is a 1969 American film starring Burt Lancaster, based on the novel of the same name by James Drought. It is the story of three barnstorming skydivers and their effect on a midwestern American town. At the time, the sport of skydiving was in its infancy, yet the movie featured an...
(1969) - I Walk the LineI Walk the Line (film)I Walk the Line is a 1970 film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Gregory Peck and Tuesday Weld. The film is the story of Sheriff Henry Tawes who develops a relationship with town girl Alma McCain ....
(1970) - The HorsemenThe Horsemen (1971 film)The Horsemen is a 1971 film starring Omar Sharif, directed by John Frankenheimer; screenplay by Dalton Trumbo. Based on a novel by French writer Joseph Kessel, Les Cavaliers shows Afghanistan and its people the way they were before the wars that wracked the country, particularly their love for...
(1971) - The Iceman ComethThe Iceman Cometh (1973 film)The Iceman Cometh is a 1973 film directed by John Frankenheimer. The screenplay was written by Thomas Quinn Curtiss, based on Eugene O'Neill's 1939 play of the same name. The film was screened at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, but wasn't entered into the main competition.This was the last film for...
(1973) - Story of a Love StoryStory of a Love StoryStory of a Love Story, also known as Impossible Object, is a 1973 drama film starring Alan Bates and Dominique Sanda. It was directed by John Frankenheimer and based on a novel by Nicholas Mosley...
(aka Impossible Object) (1973) - 99 and 44/100% Dead (1974)
- French Connection IIFrench Connection IIFrench Connection II is a 1975 crime drama film starring Gene Hackman and directed by John Frankenheimer. It is a fictional sequel to the initially true story of the 1971 Academy Award winning picture The French Connection...
(1975) - Black SundayBlack Sunday (1977 film)Black Sunday is a 1977 American thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and based on the novel by Thomas Harris. The film starred Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, and Marthe Keller and was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture in 1978...
(1977) - ProphecyProphecy (film)Prophecy is a 1979 horror film directed by John Frankenheimer and written by David Seltzer. It stars Robert Foxworth, Talia Shire and Armand Assante....
(1979) - The ChallengeThe Challenge (1982 film)The Challenge is a 1982 American action film directed by John Frankenheimer and co-written by John Sayles. The film stars Scott Glenn and Toshirō Mifune.-Plot:...
(1982) - The Rainmaker (HBO 1982)
- The Holcroft CovenantThe Holcroft Covenant (film)The Holcroft Covenant is a 1985 film based on the Robert Ludlum novel The Holcroft Covenant. The film starred Michael Caine and was directed by John Frankenheimer...
(1985) - 52 Pick-Up52 Pick-Up52 Pick-Up is a 1986 crime thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer. The film stars Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret and is based on Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name.-Plot:...
(1986) - Dead BangDead BangDead Bang is a 1989 action film starring Don Johnson and Tim Reid, and directed by John Frankenheimer. Johnson's character, based on real-life LAPD officer Jerry Beck, tracks the killer of a Los Angeles Sherrifs Deputy and uncovers a plot involving hate literature, white supremacist militias and...
(1989) - The Fourth WarThe Fourth WarThe Fourth War is a 1990 film directed by John Frankenheimer. It is set in Berlin in 1988.-Plot:Cold War drama about two gung-ho border commanders who carry out their own private war against each other on the German – Czechoslovakia border.-Cast:*Roy Scheider ... Col. Jack Knowles*Jürgen...
(1990) - Year of the GunYear of the Gun (film)Year of the Gun is a 1991 thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and starred Andrew McCarthy, Sharon Stone and Valeria Golino.-Plot:...
(1991) - Against the Wall (HBO 1994)
- The Burning SeasonThe Burning Season (1994 film)The Burning Season is a 1994 television movie directed by John Frankenheimer. The film chronicled Chico Mendes's fight to protect the rainforest.-Plot:...
(HBO 1994) - AndersonvilleAndersonville (film)Andersonville is a film directed by John Frankenheimer about a group of Union soldiers during the American Civil War who are captured by the Confederates and sent to an infamous Confederate prison camp....
(TNT 1996) - The Island of Dr. MoreauThe Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 film)The Island of Dr. Moreau is a 1996 science fiction horror film, the third major movie version of the H. G. Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau about a scientist who attempts to convert animals into people...
(1996) - George WallaceGeorge Wallace (film)George Wallace is a 1997 television film starring Gary Sinise as George Wallace, the former Governor of Alabama. It was directed by John Frankenheimer, who won an Emmy award for it; Sinise and Mare Winningham also won Emmies for their performances...
(TNT 1997) - RoninRonin (film)Ronin is a 1998 action-thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and written by J.D. Zeik and David Mamet. It stars Robert De Niro and Jean Reno as two of several former special forces and intelligence agents who team up to steal a mysterious, heavily guarded suitcase while navigating a maze of...
(1998) - Reindeer GamesReindeer GamesReindeer Games is a 2000 American film, directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, and Charlize Theron. It was Frankenheimer's final theatrically released film and received poor reviews.-Plot:...
(2000) - The Hire (BMW short) − Ambush (2001)
- Path to WarPath to WarPath to War is a 2002 American biographical television film, produced by HBO and directed by John Frankenheimer that deals directly with the Vietnam War as seen through the eyes of United States President Lyndon B...
(HBO 2002)
Awards
British Academy Film AwardsBritish Academy Film Awards
The British Academy Film Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . It is the British counterpart of the Oscars. As of 2008, it has taken place in the Royal Opera House, having taken over from the flagship Odeon cinema on Leicester Square...
- 1964 Train nominated for Best Film - Any Source
- 1962 Manchurian Candidate nominated for Best Film - Both Any Source and British
Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
- 1966 Seconds nominated for Competing Film
- 1962 All Fall Down nominated for Competing Film
New York Film Critics Circle Award
- 1968 Fixer nominated for Best Direction
- 1968 Fixer nominated for Best Film
Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
- 1962 Birdman of Alcatraz nominated for Competing Film
- 1962 Birdman of Alcatraz won for San Giorgio Prize
Further reading
- Mitchell, Lisa, Thiede, Karl, and Champlin, Charles (1995). John Frankenheimer: A Conversation with Charles Champlin (Riverwood Press). ISBN 9781880756096.
- Armstrong, Stephen B. (2008). Pictures About Extremes: The Films of John Frankenheimer (McFarland). ISBN 0786431458.
External links
- John Frankenheimer OpsRoom.org
- John Frankenheimer, Senses of Cinema, Issue 41 "Great Directors Series"
- Interview with John Frankenheimer video TV Legends, 28 minutes
- John Frankenheimer's The Extraordinary Seaman – How Bad Could It Be? (Movie Morlocks)
- Literature on John Frankenheimer
- http://thehollywoodinterview.blogspot.com/2008/02/john-frankenheimer-hollywood-interview.html John Frankenheimer: The Hollywood Interview