Hurricane (1979 film)

Last updated
Hurricane
Hurricane1979.jpg
Theatrical movie poster
Directed by Jan Troell
Screenplay byLorenzo Semple Jr.
Based on The Hurricane
1936 novel
by James Norman Hall and Charles Nordhoff
Produced by Dino De Laurentiis
Lorenzo Semple Jr. (executive producer)
Starring
Cinematography Sven Nykvist
Edited by Sam O'Steen
Music by Nino Rota
Production
company
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • April 12, 1979 (1979-04-12)
Running time
120 minutes
CountryUnited States
Budget$22 million [1] [2]
Box office$4,541,000 [1] [2]

Hurricane is a 1979 American romantic adventure film featuring Mia Farrow and Jason Robards, produced by Dino De Laurentiis with Lorenzo Semple Jr. (who also wrote the screenplay), and directed by Jan Troell. It is a loose remake of John Ford's 1937 film The Hurricane , itself based on the 1936 novel by James Norman Hall and Charles Nordhoff.

Contents

Plot

In the 1920s Charlotte, an American painter, arrives from Boston on the island of Alava to visit her father, U.S. Navy Captain Charles Bruckner, whom she hasn't seen in quite some time. Bruckner is the U.S. Congress-sanctioned governor of the island. He rules with a stern, patrician, and thoroughly patronizing attitude towards the natives. Charlotte is somewhat taken aback by her father's rigid adherence to the law. She tries to intervene on behalf of Bruckner's charge/houseboy Matangi, who plans to get Bruckner to toss out a harsh penalty issued to a native man who stole a boat "for love." Bruckner refuses, and severely reprimands Matangi, much to Charlotte's dismay.

Matangi is soon anointed the high chief of his island, Alava. Matangi isn't as willing to wholeheartedly accept the edicts of the U.S. forces, particularly if they go against the well-being of his own people. His stubbornness quietly enrages Bruckner.

Charlotte wants to stay for a month on the island, chaperoned by Dr. Danielsson and Father Malone, missionaries who reside on Alava. Despite Captain Bruckner's jealousy over his daughter's attraction to Matangi, he agrees to the stay and sails off for a month. Matangi and Charlotte quickly become lovers. When this is discovered by her father, he has Matangi arrested on a trumped-up charge. He escapes, with Charlotte's help.

Just as tensions are beginning to boil, disaster strikes in the form of a giant hurricane.

Cast

Production

Development

The film is based on a 1937 film The Hurricane , directed by John Ford. Dino De Laurentiis, who had just remade King Kong, was interested in doing more remakes and was shown the film by his associate, John Alarimo. "I saw it, I liked it", said the producer. "People like romance, adventure, escapism. This story gives them all of that. And we have to make it expensive because, cheap, it don't look so good." [3]

He bought the rights and assigned Lorenzo Semple Jr, who had written King Kong, to do the script. It was part of a slate of seven films the producer would make worth $80 million (the others being Stormy Women, King of the Gypsies , The First Great Train Robbery , The Brink's Job , Flash Gordon and Ragtime ). The Hurricane had a budget of $15 million and it was to be distributed by Paramount. [4] The bulk of finance of Hurricane came from Dutch company Famous Films. [5]

De Laurentiis wanted to shoot the film on location. "Today's audiences are not fooled by movies shot on the studio's back lot", he said. "They demand realism!" After considering the Bahamas and Hawaii, he decided to film it on Bora Bora. [3]

Roman Polanski

In May 1977 De Laurentiis signed Roman Polanski to direct. Polanski had been arrested for sex with a 13-year-old girl in March. He was meant to go on trial on June 29 and filming was to begin in Tahiti in October. Polanski flew to Tahiti in May to commence pre-production. [6]

Bora Bora was very isolated at the time. Sets and a giant tank for the hurricane scenes would need to be built, and electricity needed to be brought in. There were only two hotels. Hotel Bora Bora was booked up for three years, and the Club Med was only willing to hire its facilities for 100 days at a fee of $1 million (not including food). [3]

De Laurentiis decided to build a new hotel from scratch, the Hotel Mara, at a cost of $3.5 million (other sources say $4.5 million). He intended to use it on this film and another project he was planning, David Lean's film of the Mutiny on the Bounty story (this became The Bounty (1984)), then sell it for a profit. [7] He also decided to bring in his own $350,000 freighter to bring supplies from Los Angeles and New Zealand and installed a new system of electricity. [3]

On August 8, Polanski pled guilty to the charge of unlawful sex with a minor. Judge Rittenband ordered the director to a psychiatric study as a prelude to sentencing. On September 19 the judge allowed Polanski a 90-day delay for this so he could work on The Hurricane, which was to now start in January 1978. Then the judge saw a newspaper photo of Polanski at Oktoberfest in Munich and, worried the director was on holiday, ordered a new hearing in October. [4] The judge eventually decided to give Polanski the benefit of the doubt on his claim that Polanski had gone to Germany to talk to a distributor. He allowed him to continue to work on the film until 19 December. [8]

Polanski went to prison for 42 days of psychiatric tests. In January 1978 Polanski was fired as director of Hurricane, citing uncertainty as to his availability. He left prison in late January, and on February 1, flew to London, then to France, meaning he missed his sentencing. A warrant was issued for his arrest. [9]

Jan Troell

In February 1978 De Laurentiis replaced Polanski with Jan Troell. [10] The producer says Troell was the first choice anyway, but he had been too busy. "He give scope, sensitivity, quality", said De Laurentiis. [5] Peter Bogdanovich later claimed he was offered $1 million to direct the film but turned it down. [11] Similarly, Brian De Palma also claimed that he took a meeting with the producers to also helm the project, but later rejected the offer.

Lorenzo Semple had worked on the script with Polanski but got sole credit, saying "I don't think he [Polanski] wants it." [5]

De Laurentiis wanted an unknown to play the female lead, like Jessica Lange was in King Kong. Lange herself was once mentioned. [4] The producer said he looked at hundreds of girls. "If the right age the wrong face. If the right face then not in a position to act." Eventually Mia Farrow ("who has the face of an 18 year old") got the job. [5] Unknown Hawaiian surfer Dayton Ka'ne was given the romantic male lead. He studied for several months with Jeff Corey. [5]

By this stage the cost of the above-the-line talent was $4 million and the sets cost $2.5 million. Food insurance was $250,000 and De Laurentiis bought a plane for $1 million. [7] The budget was $20 million. [12]

Shooting

Filming began in May 1978, to enable cinematographer Sven Nykvist to finish on King of the Gypsies. [13] [5]

Filming was extremely difficult. The crew almost went on strike out of concerns for their safety. [3]

The special effects for the hurricane were done by a team led by Glen Robinson, who also did special effects for the 1937 film. [14]

Troell felt that this massive budget actually made directing the film a much more difficult and unpleasant experience. He later remarked that

... I think the more money, the less creative freedom you've got. Dino de Laurentiis is a very strong producer, and he knew what he wanted. I knew that from the start, but I didn't have a good time shooting the film, because I didn't think that I was doing a good job. I wanted to complicate the characters, make them more interesting, but when a movie costs so much, a producer says you have to appeal to a common denominator. Dino had, as his guiding light for that film, the taste of a big audience; sometimes he would touch his nose and say, 'I can smell it!' I like Dino in many ways, but it was difficult making that kind of movie for him. The characters got lost in the special effects. [15]

Filming finished in November 1978. [16] The difficulty of the experience led to De Laurentiis deciding to postpone the David Lean Bounty films. [17] However he did decide to use the facilities for a cheap follow up with Ka'ne, Shark Boy of Bora Bora, which became Beyond the Reef . [18]

The film was the final score of composer Nino Rota, who died two days before its premiere.

Reception

Vincent Canby of The New York Times described the film as "the sort of expensively foolish enterprise that suggests that everyone connected with it needs either a new agent or a legal guardian." [19] Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "The storm blows fiercely but the love story doesn't match its power ... it just doesn't take. To compensate for the romance's implausibility, some emotional history or psychological background was needed for Mia Farrow's character, which is never forthcoming." [14] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 1.5 stars out of 4 and wrote, "It's shameful that more than $20 million may have been spent on this production. It doesn't look like it ... we wait and wait for the hurricane to hit, and when it does genuine disappointment strikes as well. We repeatedly see a cheap and obvious model of an island village. A shot of huge waves is repeated ad sea sickness, as is a shot of water rushing through the doorway of an island church. It's quite a letdown for a film that bills itself as a spectacular." [20] His colleague, Roger Ebert, named it as the worst film of 1979, singling out the film's "bargain-basement sets" and describing it as "a dull 90-minute romance followed by a dull 30-minute rainstorm." [21] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film "a visually stunning romantic epic that's enjoyable but too old-fashioned to be as fully involving as one might wish." [22] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post declared the film "a $20 million wreck. It also confirms producer Dino De Laurentiis as the movie world's least astute remaker of '30s classics. Compared to this Chinese firedrill, his superfluous 'King Kong' was at least an A Production." [23] David Ansen of Newsweek wrote, "On a purely sensuous level, 'Hurricane' is frequently arresting—and sometimes downright sexy ... But it's a humorless, bubble-headed affair, as dramatically underfed as it is visually overripe." [24]

The film holds a score of 38% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 8 reviews. [25]

Release

The film was aired on television as Forbidden Paradise. [26] Legend Films, via their partnership with Paramount Home Entertainment, released the film on DVD on July 1, 2008.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Polanski</span> French and Polish filmmaker (born 1933)

Raymond Roman Thierry Polański is a French and Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, ten César Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Golden Bear and a Palme d'Or.

<i>The Bounty</i> (1984 film) 1984 film by Roger Donaldson

The Bounty is a 1984 British epic action adventure swashbuckler historical psychological thriller drama film directed by Roger Donaldson. It depicts the voyage and mutiny of HMS Bounty, with Robert Bolt's screenplay adapting the 1972 book Captain Bligh and Mr Christian by Richard Hough. It stars Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian and Anthony Hopkins as William Bligh, with supporting roles played by Laurence Olivier, Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson, Bernard Hill and Edward Fox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dino De Laurentiis</span> Italian-American film producer (1919–2010)

Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian film producer and businessman who held both Italian and American citizenship. Following a brief acting career in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he moved into film production; alongside Carlo Ponti, he brought Italian cinema to the international scene in the post-World War II period. He produced or co-produced over 500 films, with 38 of his Hollywood films receiving Academy Award nominations. He was also the creator and operator of DDL Foodshow, a chain of Italian specialty foods stores.

<i>King Kong</i> (1976 film) 1976 film by John Guillermin

King Kong is a 1976 American monster adventure film produced by Dino De Laurentiis and directed by John Guillermin. It is a modernized remake of the 1933 film about a giant ape that is captured and taken to New York City for exhibition. It stars Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, and Jessica Lange in her first film role, and features mechanical effects by Carlo Rambaldi and makeup effects by Rick Baker who also played the title character. It is the fifth entry in the King Kong franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embassy Pictures</span> American film company

Embassy Pictures Corporation was an American independent film production and distribution studio, active from 1942 to 1986. Embassy was responsible for films such as The Graduate, The Producers, The Fog, The Howling, Escape from New York, and This Is Spinal Tap, Swamp Thing, and television series such as The Jeffersons, One Day at a Time and The Facts of Life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Fleischer</span> American film director (1916–2006)

Richard Owen Fleischer was an American film director whose career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave.

Tandem Productions, Inc. was a film and television production company that was founded in 1958 by television director Bud Yorkin and television writer/producer Norman Lear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Phillip Law</span> American actor

John Phillip Law was an American film actor.

<i>Tai-Pan</i> (film) 1986 film by Daryl Duke

Tai-Pan is a 1986 adventure drama film directed by Daryl Duke, loosely based on James Clavell's 1966 novel of the same name. While many of the same characters and plot twists are maintained, a few smaller occurrences are left out. Filmed under communist Chinese censorship, some portions of Clavell's story were considered too offensive to be filmed as written and considerable changes were made.

<i>King Kong Lives</i> 1986 American monster film directed by John Guillermin

King Kong Lives is a 1986 American monster adventure film directed by John Guillermin. Produced by the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group and featuring special effects by Carlo Rambaldi, the film stars Linda Hamilton and Brian Kerwin.

<i>Pirates</i> (1986 film) 1986 film by Roman Polanski

Pirates is a 1986 adventure comedy film written by Gérard Brach, John Brownjohn, and Roman Polanski and directed by Polanski. It was inspired by Polanski's love of classic pirate films, as well as Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. Polanski began planning the film in 1976 as a follow-up to the iconic Chinatown, but production was delayed several times due to lack of funding and Polanski's fleeing the United States to avoid sentencing for his confessed rape of a minor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Collinson (film director)</span> British film director (1936-1980)

Peter Collinson was a British film director probably best remembered for directing The Italian Job (1969).

<i>Texasville</i> 1990 American drama film by Peter Bogdanovich

Texasville is a 1990 American drama film written and directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Based on the 1987 novel Texasville by Larry McMurtry, it is a sequel to The Last Picture Show (1971), and features Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Cloris Leachman, Timothy Bottoms, Randy Quaid, and Eileen Brennan reprising their roles from the original film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lorenzo Semple Jr.</span> American writer (1923–2014)

Lorenzo Elliott Semple III, known professionally as Lorenzo Semple Jr., was an American writer. He is best known for his work on the television series Batman, as well as political thriller films The Parallax View (1974) and Three Days of the Condor (1975).

De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) was an entertainment production company and distribution studio founded by Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis. The company is notable for producing Manhunter, Blue Velvet, the horror films Near Dark and Evil Dead II, King Kong Lives, and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, as well as distributing The Transformers: The Movie.

<i>Maximum Overdrive</i> 1986 film by Stephen King

Maximum Overdrive is a 1986 American horror film written and directed by Stephen King. The film stars Emilio Estevez, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, and Yeardley Smith. The screenplay was inspired by and loosely based on King's short story "Trucks", which was included in the author's first collection of short stories, Night Shift, and follows the events after all machines become sentient when Earth crosses the tail of a comet, initiating a world-wide killing spree.

<i>Death Wish</i> (1974 film) 1974 American vigilante action thriller film

Death Wish is a 1974 American vigilante action-thriller film loosely based on the 1972 novel of the same title by Brian Garfield. Directed by Michael Winner, the film stars Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey, an architect who becomes a vigilante after his wife is murdered and daughter molested during a home invasion. It was the first film in the Death Wish film series. It was followed eight years later with Death Wish II and other similar films.

<i>Rosemarys Baby</i> (film) 1968 film by Roman Polanski

Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American psychological horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on Ira Levin's 1967 novel of the same name. The film stars Mia Farrow as a newlywed living in Manhattan who becomes pregnant, but soon begins to suspect that her neighbors are members of a Satanic cult who are grooming her in order to use her baby for their rituals. The film's supporting cast includes John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Patsy Kelly, Angela Dorian, and Charles Grodin in his feature film debut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raffaella De Laurentiis</span> Italian film producer

Raffaella De Laurentiis is an Italian film producer. Films that she has produced include Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer, Dune, Prancer, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, all films in the Dragonheart series, The Forbidden Kingdom and Kull the Conqueror.

Steve Carver was an American film director, producer, and photographer.

References

  1. 1 2 Beaupre, Lee. "Grosses Gloss: Breaking Away at the Box-Office". Film Comment. Vol. 16, no. 2 (Mar/Apr 1980). New York. pp. 69–73, 80.
  2. 1 2 KNOEDELSEDER, WILLIAM K Jr (Aug 30, 1987). "De Laurentiis PRODUCER'S PICTURE DARKENS". Los Angeles Times . p. 1.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Ebert, Roger (September 17, 1978). "Hurricane Dino in the South Pacific". Roger Ebert.
  4. 1 2 3 Kilday, Gregg (October 19, 1977). "Film Clips: 7-Film Roster for De Laurentiis". The Los Angeles Times. p. f15.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rosenfield, Paul (May 22, 1978). "'Hurricane' on Tahiti's Horizon: De Laurentiis in 'Hurricane's' Eye". Los Angeles Times. p. g1.
  6. ↑ "Polanski Signed to Direct 'Hurricane' for De Laurentiis". Los Angeles Times. May 31, 1977. p. g9.
  7. 1 2 Harmetz, Aljean (1 June 1978). "'The Hurricane' Builds—in Cost". The New York Times. p. C15.
  8. ↑ Farr, Bill (October 24, 1977). "Polanski to Remain Free: Judge Allows Him to Continue Film Project Rules After Hearing on Europe Trip". Los Angeles Times. p. a1.
  9. ↑ "Polanski, Facing Court Sentence, Flies to Europe; Warrant Issued: Released on $2,500 Bail". The New York Times. February 2, 1978. p. B5.
  10. ↑ Krebs, Albin (Feb 4, 1978). "Notes on People". The New York Times. p. 10.
  11. ↑ Mann, Roderick (17 June 1979). "MOVIES: BOGDANOVICH: THE TRUTH OUT BEHIND THE DOGHOUSE". Los Angeles Times. p. m36.
  12. ↑ Warga, Wayne (July 30, 1978). "De Laurentiis Remaking 1937 John Ford Film: 'Hurricane's' Blustery Stay in Bora Bora". Los Angeles Times. p. 1.
  13. ↑ Lee, Grant (May 20, 1978). "An Agent 86 Movie? Believe It". Los Angeles Times. p. b6.
  14. 1 2 McCarthy, Todd (April 4, 1979) "Film Reviews: Hurricane". Variety . 20.
  15. ↑ Sragow, Michael (June 9, 1983). "Jan Troell: Hypnotist on a Grand Scale". Rolling Stone . No. 397. p. 50.
  16. ↑ Kerwin, Robert (Dec 1978). "The big wind on Bora Bora: Rather than running the risk of losing realism, producer Dino De Laurentiis moved the studio to a South Pacific island for his $20-million remake of the 1937 film "Hurricane."". Chicago Tribune. p. f78.
  17. ↑ Mann, Roderick (Nov 14, 1978). "Which Is the Fairest Farrah?". Los Angeles Times. p. f11.
  18. ↑ "RODERICK MANN: An Off Day for Dudley". Los Angeles Times. Jan 25, 1979. p. e12.
  19. ↑ Canby, Vincent (April 12, 1979). "Screen: 'Hurricane', From Bora Bora—Love Affair of the Eyes". The New York Times . C13.
  20. ↑ Siskel, Gene (April 16, 1979). "'Hurricane' eye is bleak, boring, and disastrous". Chicago Tribune . Section 2, p. 6.
  21. ↑ "Top Ten Films of 1979", Sneak Previews . Chicago Educational Television Association. January 10, 1980.
  22. ↑ Thomas, Kevin (April 13, 1979). "'Hurricane': Full-Blown Romantic Epic". Los Angeles Times . Part IV, p. 22.
  23. ↑ Arnold, Gary (April 12, 1979). "'Hurricane' Blown Away". The Washington Post . D1.
  24. ↑ Ansen, David (April 23, 1979). "Stormy Weather in Pago Pago". Newsweek . 69.
  25. ↑ "Hurricane (1979)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  26. ↑ Erickson, Hal. "Hurricane (1979)". AllMovie . Retrieved 31 January 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.