The only reason Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid got made is that William Goldman stood his ground... something Butch and Sundance don’t do, which is why the movie almost never got made. I’ll explain.
Goldman never hesitated to call out Hollywood’s idiocy. One of his favourite stories is pitching Butch and Sundance.
In the late ’60s, studios followed a basic rule for American Westerns: the heroes stand, fight, and win. They do NOT run.
Goldman’s script broke that rule. Instead of turning to face the relentless “super-posse,” Butch and Sundance pack up and flee to South America.
Execs were horrified. To them, it was narrative cowardice. They were sure audiences would reject protagonists who chose exile over a final shootout on American soil, no matter how handsome they were.
Only one studio showed interest at first, but with a condition: Butch and Sundance couldn’t go to Bolivia. They had to stay and fight. Goldman objected: that’s what really happened. “But they did go to Bolivia!” The studio head replied with the now-famous line: “I don’t give a shit. All I know is John Wayne don’t run away.”
Goldman refused to change the story’s core truth. He made a few minor structural tweaks, then his agent took it out for an aggressive auction. By the time it went back around, the climate had shifted. Studios that had hesitated suddenly went into a bidding war. 20th Century Fox bought it for $400,000, an unheard-of, record-shattering sum back then.
By letting his heroes “run,” Goldman helped create the blueprint for the modern anti-hero and the buddy-comedy dynamic. Their vulnerability, their panic, their humanity, was exactly what late-’60s audiences connected with.
The film became one of the great Westerns, won Goldman an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and proved his ultimate adage: “Nobody knows anything.”
Set in a military academy doomed to closure, the high-stakes drama Taps (1981), directed by Harold Becker, finds a cadre of dedicated cadets — played by an exceptional young cast including @timhutton , Sean Penn and @TomCruise. — taking up arms to defend their school.
Happy 66th Birthday, Hugh Grant! ✨
From Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Love Actually to Bridget Jones’s Diary, he became a rom-com icon.
Michael Douglas won the Oscar for Best Actor for his iconic performance as Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone’s 1987 film Wall Street, a commentary on the unhinged financial system taking over America. Douglas is so unbelievable in this movie & I always return to this because of his performance. I don’t think Douglas gets the credit he deserves for his raw talent as an actor. He also has an upcoming memoir that I intend to read & review on this here app.
Hace 20 años perdíamos a uno de los actores clave en la época dorada de Hollywood. Glenn Ford fallecía un 30 de agosto de 2006, siendo recordado para la posteridad como el enigmático Johnny Farrell, en la película Gilda. Sirva este tweet como homenaje. 💫
Coppola had to fight to cast Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather. At the time, the studio saw Brando as “box office poison.” What finally sold them was his legendary screen test, where he transformed into the Don right in front of their eyes. Coppola explains:
"I remember in one meeting, I was told by the then president of Paramount - "As president of Paramount Pictures, I am telling you that Marlon Brando will not appear in this motion picture." So I continued talking and arguing, and finally, they agreed to let me discuss the idea of Marlon Brando being in the movie if I honored three stipulations.
A - he would do a screen test.
B - he would do the film for free. (he would get a back-end deal)
And C - he would put up a bond so that if any of his shenanigans or any trouble came from him being on the set, that it would guarantee the losses.
So I said, - "Okay, I accept” - What could I do?
I accepted these three things from Marlon. So I then called up Marlon Brando and suggested, "Maybe it’d be nice if I did like a little makeup test or something? I could come over your house." - he said to me, "All right."…
We got to his house very early, and we set up our little lights. And I had brought a bunch of provolone cheese and a little Italian cigars and little props just to kind of put around - sure enough, he wakes up, and he comes out of his bedroom; and he's this great-looking, I don't know, he must have been 47, and in a Japanese robe. He looked very impressive, and I looked at him with this ponytail and I'm like, "God, how's he ever going to play a mafia chieftain?"…
And he walked on. He put on a jacket, and he started mumbling - I remember, he went through great effort to bend the tip of his collar - he said, "So, like, there's a time guys always have the collar bent like that."
And he picked up a cigar, and he started to gesture with it and use it as a prop, and he nibbled on a little bit of provolone cheese - and he rolled up the ponytail, and he kind of pinned it up, and he took some shoe polish, and he darkened it, and while he's doing this, we're photographing…
He took some tissue paper, and he said, "He should have the face of a bulldog."...He stuffed the tissue paper in his jaw, and then he said, "Well, if he's shot in the throat, he ought to have to talk like that a little bit." It really was a transformation of this nice looking young man with a blonde ponytail, into this kind of mafia guy…
I took it to New York, and I went to Mr. Bluthorn's office (head of Paramount Pictures), and I said, "Oh, Charlie, Charlie, I want to show you something." - I flick the video, and sure enough, there's Marlon Brando coming out in a robe with a blonde ponytail, and he looks, and he says, "Never! Marlon Brando, never! Never!"
And as he's doing that, he's watching Brando turn himself into this guy, and Charlie just looks astounded, and he says, "That's incredible! That's incredible!" And once he was sold on the idea that Marlon could do it on his authority, they allowed us to do it."
Al Capone’s “teamwork” speech in THE UNTOUCHABLES is unforgettable. In classic method style, Robert De Niro tracked down Capone’s original tailors and had them recreate his suits for the film.
My Cousin Vinny (1992) is one of the few comedies that somehow gets funnier every single rewatch. Joe & Marisa bounce off each other so naturally it feels like the movie could’ve just followed them arguing for another 3 hours & still worked perfectly.