Production
The film was shot at Goldwyn Studios starting in November 1964. [2] Al Zimbalist said he didn't want to glamourise the gangsters. "We just wanted to tell the story how three young men went wrong in hopes no other young people would make the same mistakes they made", he said. [3]
Shot cheaply in 17 days without period costumes, Robert Conrad recalled that he only did the film to repay a favor to his friend Nick Adams. [4] He says the film had "no budget" so "everyone had to do their own stunts" but it was during filming that he successfully auditioned for Wild Wild West. [5]
John Ashley says the film "was basically all of (producer) Al Zimbalist's footage of machine guns and crashing cars from Baby Face Nelson (1957)." [6]
Ashley added that the film "may have been the most fun of everything I ever did. At the time all three of us [Adams, Conrad and himself] were divorced. We were all living up in Nick's house. This film came along through Allied Artists. They actually approached Nick, and Nick said 'You should go see about getting John and Bobby'. We all agreed to it and we basically rewrote it. We took a lot of liberties with these three guys, but it was a lot of fun and a real pleasant experience." [7] Ashley later produced some TV movies for Conrad. [8]
During filming, the management of Allied Artists were engaged in a proxy fight with rebellious shareholders. [9]
Adams and Zimbalist wanted to make another film together, Guns of the G Men. [10] However it was never made.
Roger William Corman was an American film director, producer and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he was known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film.
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Nick Adams was an American film and television actor and screenwriter. He was noted for his roles in several Hollywood films during the 1950s and 1960s, including Rebel Without a Cause and Giant along with his starring role in the ABC television series The Rebel (1959–1961). He also led the cast of several Japanese productions, including Frankenstein Conquers the World, Invasion of Astro-Monster, and The Killing Bottle.
Robert Conrad was an American film and television actor, singer, and stuntman. He is best known for his role in the 1965–1969 television series The Wild Wild West, playing the sophisticated Secret Service agent James T. West. He also portrayed private investigator Tom Lopaka in Hawaiian Eye (1959-1963) and World War II ace Pappy Boyington in Baa Baa Black Sheep (1976-1978).
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Two on a Guillotine is a 1965 American horror film produced and directed by William Conrad and starring Connie Stevens. The screenplay by John Kneubuhl and Henry Slesar is based on a story by Slesar. The movie would be the first in a series of low-budget suspense dramas made by Warner Bros in the vein of the successful William Castle films, and was followed by My Blood Runs Cold and Brainstorm, both also released in 1965 with Conrad as director. A fourth movie, The Thing at the Door, was proposed, but never made.
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Drop Dead Darling is a 1966 British-American black comedy film directed by Ken Hughes and starring Tony Curtis, Rosanna Schiaffino, Lionel Jeffries and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Alfred N. Zimbalist was a producer of low-budget films such as Robot Monster, Monster from Green Hell, Cat-Women of the Moon, Watusi and Baby Face Nelson.
Suicide Battalion is a 1958 World War II film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Mike Connors and John Ashley, who made the film while on leave from the United States Army. In 1968, it was remade for television by Larry Buchanan as Hell Raiders, which was the film's original working title.
Motorcycle Gang is a 1957 film which is a semi-remake of Dragstrip Girl. It was released by American International Pictures as a double feature with Sorority Girl.
The Young Lovers is a 1964 black-and-white American romantic drama film. It was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in November 1964. The sole directorial effort of its producer, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., it stars Peter Fonda and Sharon Hugueny, with second leads Nick Adams and Deborah Walley. Scripted by George Garrett from a 1955 novel by Julian Halevy, the film was shot in September–October 1963 and released a year later.
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