Jump to content

The Angry Hills(film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Angry Hills
Directed byRobert Aldrich
Written byA. I. Bezzerides
Based onThe Angry Hills
1955 novel
byLeon Uris
Produced byRaymond Stross
StarringRobert Mitchum
Stanley Baker
Elisabeth Müller
CinematographyStephen Dade
Edited byPeter Tanner
Music byRichard Rodney Bennett
Production
company
Raymond Productions
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • 29 July 1959(1959-07-29)
Running time
105 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,190,000[1]
Box office$1,285,000[1]

The Angry Hillsis a 1959 American-Britishwar filmdirected byRobert Aldrichand starringRobert Mitchum,Stanley BakerandElisabeth Müller.It is based onthe novelbyLeon Uris.

Plot[edit]

Set in Greece in 1941, before and after theAxis invasion,the film follows an American journalist who possesses a list ofGreek resistanceleaders. Having memorized the list he destroys it and is then pursued by various groups of people keen to have it:Communistresistance fighters, theGestapoandGreek collaborators.

Cast[edit]

Production[edit]

Uris' novel was published in 1955.[2]Because of its Greek setting, Uris was hired to write the screenplay forBoy on a Dolphin.[3]

Film rights were bought byRaymond Strossin England, who said he wantedClark Gablefor the lead.[4]Stross eventually set up the film with MGM and New York's Cine World Productions, and announcedRobert Mitchumwould star.[5]According to Mitchum,Alan Laddwas meant to play the lead but the producers drove out to Ladd's house and met him after "he'd just crawled out of his swimming pool and was all shrunken up like a dishwasher's hand. They decided he wouldn't do for the big war correspondent. So, what happened? Some idiot said, 'Ask Mitchum to play it. That bum will do anything if he has five minutes free.' Well I had five minutes free so I did it."[6]

Pier Angeliwas wanted for the female lead.[7]Elizabeth Mueller was cast instead.[8]

Leon Uris did the first draft of the screenplay. However Aldrich had it rewritten by A.I. Bezzerides, who had writtenKiss Me Deadlyfor Aldrich.[9]

The film was shot from June to December 1958 with location shooting in Greece and interiors atMGM-British Studios.[10][11]

Robert Aldrich had just madeTen Seconds to Hellin Germany. He later recalled:[12]

I stayed to makeThe Angry Hillsfor Raymond Stross. He understood that Metro was buying film by the yard then, and Mitchum was reasonably hot. So they thought that as long as it was an hour and a half with Mitchum and some Greek scenery, it would work. Obviously it didn't... The Strosses of this world just hang back there and let you work your ass off, till you're all through, and then say, "Fine. Goody-bye. Thank you, very much." Despite whatever promises about length or final cut they made to you, they take it back then and do what they were going to do in the first place.

Box office[edit]

According to MGM records the film earned $510,000 in the US and Canada and $775,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $497,000.[1]

It had admissions of 588,260 in France.[13]

Legacy[edit]

Robert Aldrich later said the film was "disappointing not because it's not a good picture but because it could have been good. It had a potential that was never remotely realised... you feel sad aboutThe Angry Hills... I'd know how to makeThe Angry Hillsbetter in a thousand ways. "[14]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcThe Eddie Mannix Ledger,Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ^Dempsey, David (October 16, 1955)."Unwitting Go-Between".New York Times.RetrievedAugust 5,2016.
  3. ^Drama: Indie Setups Announced by Cummings, Chandler; Hello, Barry Fitzgerald Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times November 21, 1955: 41.
  4. ^Smart Detective Role Pursued for Peck; Ross Story Stars Mitchell Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 14 Jan 1957: C9.
  5. ^"Film to be Made of Novel by Uris".New York Times.August 17, 1957.RetrievedAugust 5,2016.
  6. ^Roberts, Jerry, ed. (2000).Mitchum: In His Own Words.New York: Limelight Editions. p. 159.ISBN9780879102920.RetrievedAugust 5,2015.
  7. ^Disney Will Produce New Film in Ireland Hopper, Hedda. Los Angeles Times 26 Feb 1958: 20.
  8. ^Pryor, Thomas M. (May 1, 1958)."Perlberg, Seaton to Film 'The Hook'".New York Times.RetrievedAugust 5,2016.
  9. ^Nixon, Rob."The Angry Hills (1959)".Turner Classic Movies.RetrievedJanuary 15,2024.
  10. ^Alain Silver and James Ursini,Whatever Happened to Robert Aldrich?,Limelight, 1995 p 251
  11. ^On Location in Greece By John N. Rigos. The Christian Science Monitor [Boston, Mass] 22 July 1958: 7.
  12. ^mr. film noir stays at the table Silver, Alain. Film Comment8.1 (Spring 1972): 14-23.
  13. ^French box office results for Robert Aldrich filmsat Box Office Story
  14. ^Miller Jr., Eugene L.; Arnold, Edwin T., eds. (2004).Robert Aldrich: Interviews.University Press of Mississippi. p.47.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Angry_Hills_(film)&oldid=1222092465"