Flashback: Las Vegas, November 15th 1959 When Clint met Sammy

Flashback: Las Vegas, November 15th 1959 When Clint met Sammy

It’s been a little while since we’ve have had a Flashback feature here on the Archive, so I went digging in some files today and found these great 4 pictures which needed a bit of polishing work before they could be posted in their full glory. These great pictures from CBS capture American entertainment legend Sammy Davis, Jr. shortly after he had finished his performance at The Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, NV. On November 15th 1959. At the time Clint was establishing himself as a TV star appearing as Rowdy Yates in the CBS western series Rawhide. Clint is seen here with his wife Maggie clearly having a great deal of fun and discussing gun law with Sammy. 

100 Years of Warner Bros. (2023)

100 Years of Warner Bros. (2023)

I wanted to mention this 4-part documentary which began streaming in the U.S. on 25th May. 

100 Years of Warner Bros. celebrates the studio’s centenary and takes a historical look at the legacy of one of America's leading studios. The documentary explores the origin, evolution and endurance of Warner Bros. - from a family affair to a global juggernaut. As Clint played a huge part of his career at Warner Bros, naturally he is featured quite a bit. Episode 2 is actually titled, Clint, Kubrick & Kryptonite and takes a look at how Warner Bros. navigated the upheavals of the '60s and '70s. Under a new strategist CEO, the company enters an era of unmatched storytelling with some ground-breaking projects.

Our good friend Davy Turner recently sent me this report from the series director Leslie Iwerks who spoke about her wonderful interview with Clint Eastwood, who became Warner Bros. first franchise star and a prominent, Academy Award-winning director: 

“On July 14, 2022, our documentary crew flew to Tehama Golf Club, Clint Eastwood's private 18-hole golf club in Carmel California for my interview with Clint himself. Over the course of nearly 2 hours, Clint waxed poetic about his early days on the Sergio Leoni Spaghetti Westerns, how he landed at Warner Bros. and wooed him with a bungalow, and what made him stay with the studio his entire career. Clint has made the most movies with WB, and has never gone over budget! At one point during the interview, a mother deer and her fawn entered the back patio and photo bombed him, he called her Bambi. After the interview he invited our crew to dinner in his restaurant, and kissed my hand when we said goodbye, giving me the ultimate compliment by thanking me for a great interview, saying 'they're not always this fun and easy.'  He is truly one of the nicest men I've ever met. I will always cherish this wonderful conversation and day with the one and only Legend.”

Leslie also posted (via the It All Started with Walt Disney Facebook page) some great photos from the day of the interview. I really hope the UK audiences will get a chance to see this documentary, as a lifelong fan of Warner Bros, I would imagine this will prove to be a wonderful watch. Apparently the documentary is streaming on MAX in the U.S. right now. 

Thank you Davy.

Below: 100 years of Warner Bros. Trailer
               

Clint Eastwood Photo Opportunity #38

Clint Eastwood Photo Opportunity #38

June already? How did that happen? We kick off the month of June with another interesting Photo Opportunity. There isn’t too much information behind this one, regardless of possible clues. The lady to the right of Clint is of course the legendary musician Roberta Flack. Flack is famous (among Clint circles) for providing the wonderful ‘The First time ever I saw your face’ which Clint picked up after hearing it on the car radio while driving home in Carmel. Clint thought it was perfect for the love scene with Donna Mills for Play Misty for Me (1971) and the rest is history. 

However, it’s often forgotten that Clint used Flack again in the fourth Dirty Harry film Sudden Impact (1983) where she recorded the song, This Side of Forever (music by Lalo Schifrin, Lyrics by DeWayne Blackwell). It was the first time that lyrics had been added to the familiar Dirty Harry theme/melody. Clint is also clearly seen wearing a Firefox (1982) T-shirt, so this is all loosely from that same time period. It’s not sure if this was just a chance meeting, or alternatively perhaps a very early pre-production meeting for the ‘Dirty Harry 4’ project?

One thing is for certain, you don’t often see a picture of Clint and Roberta together, and that alone makes this the perfect candidate for our June Photo Opportunity.

Happy Birthday Clint

 On behalf of all the fans, and everyone here at the Archive - wishing you a very happy 93rd Birthday.

WHERE EAGLES DARE: The Elusive Style A Quad poster continues to soar in price

WHERE EAGLES DARE: The Elusive Style A Quad poster continues to soar in price

There is no doubt about it, the style A UK Quad poster for Where Eagles Dare (1968) continues to be one of the Holy Grail pieces among Eastwood collectors. It’s hard to establish exactly why this particular version remains so elusive and seemingly in short supply? Nowadays, it’s fair to say that you’re arguably more likely to find a quad poster for A Fistful of Dollars than you are for this poster. 

All things considered; no-one can actually provide any real explanation for its rarity. The film was a huge MGM blockbuster, and the campaign supporting its release far outweighed that of A Fistful of Dollars? Our resident Where Eagles Dare expert Neil Thomson is also baffled by its history, ‘It’s peculiar’, Neil said. ‘There really is no apparent reason why these don`t turn up as much. All of the photos I`ve seen of FOH displays showing the film have all had the style B. It’s possibly a simple case of the Style B being more popular.’  Neil added, ‘There’s also no real reason as to why Style A featured the inclusion of Mary Ure? But overall, I think Style B provided more of an insight of the action which was to follow.’ 

Below: The incredibly rare Style A Where Eagles Dare UK Quad Poster

I tend to agree with Neil’s observations, whilst I still like the style A, the more regularly seen style B remains for me, a more vivid design from an artistic point of view. Both of the UK Quad designs are believed to be by Frank McCarthy. It’s also interesting to note that other European designs such as France and Germany also included Mary Ure’s image in their designs. 

So, why this little piece about the style A quad poster? Well, earlier this month on May 5th, Ewbank's Auctioneers offered up one of these rare treasures during their live Cinema Poster Collection auction. The poster was somewhat conservatively estimated at £300 – £500. But of course, this was soon surpassed and the hammer fell at £1,175 (approx. $1,455) + buyers commission at 25%. 

Not bad for a piece of paper measuring 30” x 40” – I guess it’s all about what’s printed on that particular piece of vintage paper. A nice gift for someone, for the rest of us - we continue to dream and live in hope!   

My kind thanks to Neil Thomson

Below: The more regularly seen Style B UK Quad Poster

Below: The French Poster design which also featured Mary Ure

Firefox Clint Eastwood Visual Effects Oscar Winner Movie Crew Jacket

Firefox Clint Eastwood Visual Effects Oscar Winner Movie Crew Jacket

On the Archive, we occasionally like to feature a piece of crew clothing, perhaps a baseball cap or sometimes a crew jacket. They are hard to find and not many of them tend to surface, but just recently I found this one on the internet – and thought it was simply too good to ignore. 

From the 1982 Clint Eastwood action film Firefox, this is an Original and incredibly rare Movie Crew Jacket. If the jacket itself wasn't rare enough, this particular jacket was owned and obtained from JOHN DYKSTRA who has won Oscars for visual effects on Star Wars (1977). John Dykstra was one of the original founders of INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC for George Lucas. The jacket is marked on back with the Firefox movie logo and on the front is marked Apogee - Special Effects Crew on left and JOHN on the right. The jacket is extra-large in size, black satin and comes in excellent condition. John Charles Dykstra, A.S.C. (born June 3, 1947) is an American special effects artist, pioneer in the development of the use of computers in filmmaking and recipient of three Academy Awards, among many other awards and prizes. He was one of the original founders of Industrial Light & Magic, the special effects and computer graphics division of Lucasfilm. He is well known as the special effects lead on the original Star Wars, helping bring the original visuals for the space battles between X-wings and TIE fighters to the screen.

Kiefer Sutherland added to the cast of Clint's Juror #2

Kiefer Sutherland added to the cast of Clint Eastwood's Juror #2

A couple of stories have surfaced around the web over the last week stating that Kiefer Sutherland has now been added to the cast of Clint Eastwood‘s upcoming film Juror #2, slated to be the legendary director’s final motion picture. Clint has of course been a longstanding friend of Kiefer’s father Donald, starring alongside him in both Kelly’s Heroes (1970) and Space Cowboys (2000).

It was recently confirmed that Zoey Deutch had joined the project alongside Toni Collette and Nicholas Hoult. With a script by Jonathan Abrams, who has only worked in the industry previously as an associate producer on the action movie Escape Plan (2013). The forthcoming project will follow a man named Justin Kemp (Hoult) who is faced with a moral dilemma whilst serving as a juror on a high-profile case.

Eastwood’s is rumoured to have also taken a role as the sponsor for Hoult’s character at Alcoholics Anonymous. Collette is lined up to play the prosecutor in the case, and Deutch will play Hoult’s wife. Abrams had held the script for 15 years before Eastwood decided to use it for his final film. No release date is yet known for the project.

Juror #2 will be the 40th film of Eastwood’s directorial career. He has won two ‘Best Director’ Oscars for Million Dollar Baby in 2005 and Unforgiven in 1992.