Nightmare in the Sun | |
---|---|
Directed by | Marc Lawrence |
Written by | Ted Thomas Fanya Lawrence |
Story by | George Fass Marc Lawrence |
Produced by | Marc Lawrence John Derek [1] Douglas Stewart |
Starring | Ursula Andress John Derek Aldo Ray Sammy Davis Jr. Richard Jaeckel |
Cinematography | Stanley Cortez |
Edited by | Douglas Stewart William Shenenberg |
Music by | Paul Glass |
Production company | Afilmco Productions |
Distributed by | Zodiac Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $250,000 [2] |
Nightmare in the Sun is a 1965 drama film directed by Marc Lawrence in his feature theatrical directing debut. It stars Ursula Andress, John Derek, and Aldo Ray, with a cameo appearance by Sammy Davis Jr. and an early role of Robert Duvall.
Beautiful young Marsha Wilson is married to Sam, a wealthy, jealous, much-older man. She is having an affair with the sheriff.
Marsha picks up a handsome hitch-hiker one day, and brings him to husband's ranch and falls for him.
Marsha wants to run off with the hitch-hiker, but he too is married and won't take her along. Sam returns home in a jealous rage, discovers what happened and kills Marsha with a rifle in a drunken rage.
The town's sheriff concocts a scheme to blackmail Sam, promising to frame the hitch-hiker for Marsha's murder if Sam provides a hefty payment.
The hitch-hiker is caught and jailed, escapes and then is recaptured. By then, a remorseful Sam has had enough. He kills the sheriff, then confesses to committing both murders.
Marc Lawrence was best known as an actor, but he had moved into directing television. He helped come up with the original story, and his wife co-wrote the screenplay. The movie was financed by Ricky du Pont, one of the very rich du Pont family. Du Pont wanted on screen credit but Lawrence refused, stating in a later interview that "I said, 'I can't. If all these guys knew the money came from a millionaire, they'd cut my throat. If I sell the picture and your name is on it, I won't get a penny for it'." [2] However Hedda Hopper announced that Du Pont financed the film in her column in September 1963. [3]
Sammy Davis Jr. played a cameo and was reportedly going to sing the title track, but it is not in the final film. [3]
Filming started on 13 September 1963. The movie was filmed in and around Calabasas, California over 15 days. Several of the cast agreed to appear for less than their usual fees as a favor to Lawrence. Lawrence made John Derek a co-producer in order that his then-wife Ursula Andress would do a nude scene. He says this would be in the scene at the beginning "when Aldo Ray rapes her" [2] (although in the final film the sex is consensual).
"Derek promised to allow his wife Ursula to do a nude scene with Aldo Ray", Lawrence later wrote, "but the day before shooting he changed his mind. Years later he did a nude layout of Ursula for Playboy and got $15,000 for his art." [4]
DuPont hindered filming by insisting filming should be dictated by astrology. [5]
After filming was completed, Lawrence assembled a rough cut which Du Pont bought for $50,000. "When I got a $50,000 note to get out of the picture, they put in a nude scene", claimed Lawrence. [2]
He defaulted on his payments and release of the film was held up when Lawrence attempted to reclaim his money or ownership of the film. [5]
Lawrence only directed one more film, Daddy's Deadly Darling .
Filmink argued "Derek was showing his age by now – more a grey fox than pretty young thing – and he gives a decent performance and the movie is interesting." [6]
Ursula Andress is a Swiss actress and former model who has appeared in American, British and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, Dr. No (1962). She later starred as Vesper Lynd in the 1967 Bond parody Casino Royale. Other credits include Fun in Acapulco (1963), 4 for Texas (1963), She (1965), The 10th Victim (1965), The Blue Max (1966), The Southern Star (1969), Perfect Friday (1970), Red Sun (1971), The Sensuous Nurse (1975), Slave of the Cannibal God (1978), The Fifth Musketeer (1979), Clash of the Titans (1981), and Peter the Great (1986).
Aldo Ray was an American actor of film and television. He began his career as a contract player for Columbia Pictures before achieving stardom through his roles in The Marrying Kind, Pat and Mike, Let's Do It Again, and Battle Cry. His athletic build and gruff, raspy voice saw him frequently typecast in "tough guy" roles throughout his career, which lasted well into the late 1980s. Though the latter part of his career was marked by appearances in low-budget B-movies and exploitation films, he still appeared occasionally in higher-profile features, including The Secret of NIMH (1982) and The Sicilian (1987). In 1980, Ray was awarded Best Actor for his role in Sweet Savage from the Adult Film Association's third Erotica Awards.
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4 for Texas is a 1963 American comedy Western film starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Anita Ekberg and Ursula Andress, Charles Bronson and Mike Mazurki, with a cameo appearance by Arthur Godfrey and the Three Stooges. The film was written by Teddi Sherman and Robert Aldrich, who also directed.
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Frontier Circus is an American Western television series about a traveling circus roaming the American West in the 1880s. Filmed by Revue Productions, the program originally aired on CBS from October 5, 1961, until September 20, 1962. It was also shown on the BBC in England.
The Rainbow is a 1989 British drama film co-written and directed by Ken Russell and adapted from the D. H. Lawrence novel The Rainbow (1915). Sammi Davis stars as Ursula, a sheltered young pupil, then schoolteacher, who is taken under the wing by the more sophisticated Winifred.
Gone with the West is a 1975 American Western film starring James Caan and Stefanie Powers, directed by Bernard Girard.
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