CinemaDope

by Glenn Lovell

Good news for Western fans who have had to make do with that washed-out bootlegged copy of Marlon Brando’s “One Eyed-Jacks,” directed by and starring the Method legend as a reformed outlaw loosely modeled after Billy the Kid.

According to  Stevan Riley, writer-director of the terrific new Brando doc, “Listen to Me Marlon,” the Brando estate has found the negative for the 1961 Western and plans to digitally restore and color correct the cult film for DVD release.

“One-Eyed Jacks,” an adaptation of “The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones,” began as a script by Sam Peckinpah (later fired and replaced by Calder Willingham). Stanley Kubrick, the original director, fed up with all the delays, asked Brando, “Remind me, Marlon, why are we making this film?” Brando replied, “Because I’ve already paid (contracted costar Karl) Malden $200,000.” With that, Kubrick threw up his hands and left.

With a famously indecisive first-time director at the helm, the film became the very definition of “troubled production.” It went significantly over budget (from almost $2 million to a then-staggering $6 million) and the scheduled 12-week shoot doubled in length. The film was shot by veteran cinematographer Charles Lang Jr. (“Ace in the Hole,” “The Magnificent Seven”) in Mexico, Death Valley, Monterey and, for the scenes in which Brando’s Rio licks his wounds, a never-more-ravishing Big Sur.

Scorsese and Tarantino are on record as calling “One-Eyed Jacks” their favorite Western. (It wouldn’t surprise anyone if Johnny Depp, Brando’s close friend and costar in “Don Juan DeMarco,” someday mounted a remake.) Said Brando’s daughter, Rebecca, “I think it’s wonderful that the film is going to be re-released. It shows another side of my father, the side where he is a good director. I think it’s great.”

Brando’s original cut reportedly ran five hours. It was whittled down by Paramount to 2 hours, 21 min. Fingers crossed that the canisters from the vault hold the director’s cut.

Tags: Billy the Kid, DVD, Marlon Brando, One-Eyed Jacks, Sam Peckinpah, Stanley Kubrick, StumbleUpon.com, Western

This entry was posted on 04/28/2015 at 10:06 PM and is filed under Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.