Supervising film editor: MARGARET BOOTH. Photographed in CinemaScope and Eastman Color by Joseph Ruttenberg. An Arthur Freed Production.
Copyright 1960 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. New York opening at the Beekman: 6 July 1960. U.S. release: August 1960. U.K. release: floating from July 1961. Australian release: 4 August 1960. As there was never any intention to put the movie into general release in the U.K., there was no London trade show (as required by law if a movie is to be generally released) and no press preview. The film was not submitted to the British Board of Censors either. 89 minutes.
NOTES: After a disastrous preview of the completed movie at the Encino Theatre on 20 January 1960, M-G-M studio chief Benjamin Thau handed the entire project over to the studio's chief cutter, Margaret Booth, who was given carte blanche to re-edit the picture any way she wished. With Thau's blessing and tacit approval, she then proceeded "to mutilate the movie beyond recognition" (to quote director/screenwriter Ranald MacDougall, who himself replaced both the original director Denis Sanders and the original writer, Robert Thom). What was left of the 1957 Jack Kerouac novel was close to zero. In fact, Kerouac's name no longer figures on the official credits issued by the studio's publicity department, although still given prominent attention in many of the department's press release "fillers".
Negative cost: an unbelievable $931,725, of which about $31,725 actually shows up on the screen. Initial world-wide rentals gross: an equally unbelievable $1.5 million which was presumably earned back entirely in the domestic market by renting the movie at flat, fixed rates to unsuspecting exhibitors. Even so, with the addition of distribution expenses, the movie still ended up in the red at M- G-M to the tune of at least $200,000. Not bad though! I can think of at least a hundred M-G-M disasters that lost more than this one!
COMMENT: A dull and totally unsuccessful adaptation of the Kerouac novel, here reduced to the lowest levels of a TV soap opera. Although both Peppard and Caron seem quite at home with the banal, dialogue-bound, cliché-ridden and totally unappealing script, it signally wastes the talents of Roddy McDowall and Janice Rule. Miss Rule was in a difficult position. She was married to the original screenwriter, Robert Thom, and was tempted to leave the production. "I often thought of doing so," she told me, "but I didn't because I felt that at any moment I would be fired from the cast just like June Walker – who was replaced by Anne Seymour – and be entitled to receive my full pay, as specified by my contract."
MacDougall's exceptionally dull direction does nothing to relieve the tedium. Even Joseph Ruttenberg's photography seems totally routine.
The famous musical producer, Arthur Freed, has made a commendable effort to enliven the movie with a little jazz – Gerry Mulligan has a small role as an unlikely minister – but the operative word here is "little".
Copyright 1960 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. New York opening at the Beekman: 6 July 1960. U.S. release: August 1960. U.K. release: floating from July 1961. Australian release: 4 August 1960. As there was never any intention to put the movie into general release in the U.K., there was no London trade show (as required by law if a movie is to be generally released) and no press preview. The film was not submitted to the British Board of Censors either. 89 minutes.
NOTES: After a disastrous preview of the completed movie at the Encino Theatre on 20 January 1960, M-G-M studio chief Benjamin Thau handed the entire project over to the studio's chief cutter, Margaret Booth, who was given carte blanche to re-edit the picture any way she wished. With Thau's blessing and tacit approval, she then proceeded "to mutilate the movie beyond recognition" (to quote director/screenwriter Ranald MacDougall, who himself replaced both the original director Denis Sanders and the original writer, Robert Thom). What was left of the 1957 Jack Kerouac novel was close to zero. In fact, Kerouac's name no longer figures on the official credits issued by the studio's publicity department, although still given prominent attention in many of the department's press release "fillers".
Negative cost: an unbelievable $931,725, of which about $31,725 actually shows up on the screen. Initial world-wide rentals gross: an equally unbelievable $1.5 million which was presumably earned back entirely in the domestic market by renting the movie at flat, fixed rates to unsuspecting exhibitors. Even so, with the addition of distribution expenses, the movie still ended up in the red at M- G-M to the tune of at least $200,000. Not bad though! I can think of at least a hundred M-G-M disasters that lost more than this one!
COMMENT: A dull and totally unsuccessful adaptation of the Kerouac novel, here reduced to the lowest levels of a TV soap opera. Although both Peppard and Caron seem quite at home with the banal, dialogue-bound, cliché-ridden and totally unappealing script, it signally wastes the talents of Roddy McDowall and Janice Rule. Miss Rule was in a difficult position. She was married to the original screenwriter, Robert Thom, and was tempted to leave the production. "I often thought of doing so," she told me, "but I didn't because I felt that at any moment I would be fired from the cast just like June Walker – who was replaced by Anne Seymour – and be entitled to receive my full pay, as specified by my contract."
MacDougall's exceptionally dull direction does nothing to relieve the tedium. Even Joseph Ruttenberg's photography seems totally routine.
The famous musical producer, Arthur Freed, has made a commendable effort to enliven the movie with a little jazz – Gerry Mulligan has a small role as an unlikely minister – but the operative word here is "little".