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Post by chaney on Oct 19, 2010 9:11:55 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum Mean Little Asskicker. Some of the older threads go more in depth with the dislike Elvis and Charlie had for one another on the set. Most of the books about either man say Elvis was heavily into his karate phase and was always practicing on the set and breaking boards. Charlie thought it was showing off and let it be known to Elvis' cronies that he wasn't impressed. In the early 60's karate was still viewed with suspicion in the United States and boxers (Charlie's background) were always on the defensive as to which style of self defense was better and more functional. Elvis took to referring to Charlie as "the muscular ape".
Robert Relyea was a prominent assistant director and wrote a great book about all the films he worked on such as "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Great Escape". He talks a lot about Charlie and says that on "Kid Galahad" both Elvis and Charlie were romancing co-star Joan Blackman, so there may have been friction as a result of that as well.
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Post by chaney on Oct 6, 2010 18:20:10 GMT -5
It's funny, but it seems like this movie gets somewhat forgotten. Don't think we've discussed it much on here but it's the last of Charlie's outdoor action adventures before he settled into all the DEATH WISH sequels and Cannon fodder. Wish he would have made a few more like this during that era. It's got a nice cast with old pro Lee Marvin starring opposite Charlie and great rugged locations. Charlie barely has any dialog, but he's always excelled as the strong silent type and is perfect in the role. There is a nice scene right before a shootout with Charlie singing "My Darling Clementine" that added some nuance to the character.
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Post by chaney on Sept 25, 2010 19:44:42 GMT -5
Aired in early 1967, this was one of Charlie's last episodic guest shots. He plays an undercover agent trying to catch an embezzler aboard a Mexico bound yacht that Richard Kimball is working on. Along the way, Charlie begins to take an interest in Kimball. Charlie is especially tan and in great shape in this. He spends the last half of the episode with his shirt off.
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Post by chaney on Sept 21, 2010 17:16:01 GMT -5
I've seen the name Kenneth Robert Manley surface as a former Bronson double in a few places on the internet. "Jocco" Manley was apparently a stuntman active during the 1960's and worked on about 10 or so projects with Bronson without credit. Can't even find his name listed on the IMDB, though stuntmen didn't begin to receive screen credit until at least the mid to late 1970's. He was friendly with Charlie and Jill and remained with them as a production liason through many years.
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Post by chaney on Sept 18, 2010 18:24:14 GMT -5
There's an old interview with great character actor Strother Martin at the following site. He talks about Charlie and the making of HARD TIMES. Surprising to hear that the actors were disappointed with the final version of the film and all the footage that was cut out. Strother says they were trying to get Charlie an Oscar! Nice bit about the boxcar jump as well. parallax-view.org/2009/09/12/i-dont-like-those-hard-goodbyes-strother-martin/
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Post by chaney on Sept 18, 2010 18:19:53 GMT -5
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Post by chaney on Sept 16, 2010 9:44:23 GMT -5
For what it's worth, I could envision Charlie putting Elvis down in pretty much any situation as well. However, I do believe at this point in Elvis' career he was at the height of his interest in karate and skill. Look at some of his early fight scenes and you'll see he moves exceptionally well and never uses a stunt double. Stuntmen of the day were surprisingly complimentary of Elvis.
The bodyguard on the set was his long-time friend Red West, the guy who protected him in high school when others teased him about his sideburns. It just so happened that Red West went on to play college football and become a U.S. Marine. He reconnected with Elvis when he got out of the Army and began working on his films as a stuntman who would often do fights with Elvis. Red was primarily Elvis' friend as opposed to bodyguard but began to take on the latter role because Elvis' life was so crazy around this time. Red's cousin Sonny West was also a heavy hitter and the two both learned martial arts alongside Elvis and often served as his sparring partners.
Both Red and Sonny West had side careers as stuntmen in other films and TV shows throughout the 1960's. Red could be seen a lot on THE WILD WILD WEST with Robert Conrad. The point is they were Elvis' friends from back home who stuck with him and looked out for him, not because he had hired a bodyguard to protect him. They also didn't always see eye to eye with him, especially when Elvis began taking so many pills. Elvis eventually took them out of his life the further he descended. They wrote a book shortly before Elvis' death as a revealing wake-up call, but it was too late. Elvis died only weeks after the release of the book. Loyal Elvis fans considered them traitors and didn't believe their stories, but they genuinely cared for the guy.
By the way, pretty much everyone in the movie industry was complimentary of Elvis and his good manners. Some thought he was a little crazy having fun and horsing around on sets with his buddies, but when you're making GIRL HAPPY and CLAMBAKE there's probably not a lot of artistic prepararation. Charlie was one of the only actors I ever heard of Elvis having a beef with but that was probably due to Charlie being so stoic and as mentioned before they might both have been pursuing Joan Blackman on the set. In various interviews, books, and articles with Red and Sonny, they have both stated that they personally liked Charlie, but that he was indeed very quiet and let it be known he didn't care for Elvis.
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Post by chaney on Sept 15, 2010 0:37:53 GMT -5
In regard to Elvis' black belt, he was awarded his 1st black belt in 1960 by a legendary airborne ranger named Henry "Hank" Slomanski. By all accounts this was not a token celebrity belt, and it was Ed Parker who sent Elvis to Slomanski for exactly this reason. He wanted him to legitimately earn his belt before Parker himself trained him further. There are several articles on the internet about Slomanski and some about his training of Elvis. Check out: www.tracyskarate.com/Stories/was_elvis_really_a_black_belt.htmwww.elvischitoryu.com/
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Post by chaney on Sept 2, 2010 9:06:23 GMT -5
Okay, here's a hypothetical question. It's been well-established that Charlie didn't get along with Elvis while making "Kid Galahad". Charlie didn't like Elvis' karate, and Elvis didn't like Charlie's muscles. It's also been reported that they both may have been romancing co-star Joan Blackman behind the scenes. What would have happened if the two had actually got into a fight? (other than Charlie getting blackballed from Hollywood).
Don't forget that Elvis was a legitimate black belt before he got all fat and disoriented in the 70's. What if they had just put on boxing gloves in the ring and gone a round or two? Mushy Callahan, the trainer on the film, said that Elvis had boxing talent as well, but I get the feeling that Charlie would have destroyed Elvis in the ring with gloves on. Outside of the ring would have been interesting. Karate vs. streetfighter.
What do others think?
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Post by chaney on Sept 2, 2010 8:54:16 GMT -5
Charlie seemed to have his moments on a few film sets, most notably "Kid Galahad", "Mr. Majestyk", and "Caboblanco". There were stories of personality clashes with co-stars on the first two films, and on "Caboblanco" co-star Denny Miller has said that most of the crew disliked Charlie. They wanted Denny to knock Charlie out for real in their fight scene.
Denny was a 6'4" former Tarzan and a nice guy. He got along with Charlie professionally but said Charlie was very quiet and a difficult guy to get to know.
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Post by chaney on Aug 22, 2010 17:04:06 GMT -5
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Post by chaney on Aug 19, 2010 9:25:09 GMT -5
Unfortunately, it seems like there are a lot of negative memories floating around about Charlie's surliness during the making of MR. MAJESTYK, so it was nice to find an interview with actress Lee Purcell where she talks about working with Charlie and had a positive experience. The interview is at www.cultfilmfreak.com"I really liked Charlie. He was a stand-up guy who defended me when a particular person was very rude to me. Otherwise, he was very quiet and rather shy. He brought his whole family on location and was always playing catch with his kids when not filming." The site also has an interview with character actor Jordan Rhodes who worked on MAJESTYK as well. He comments: "This was the first time I had met or worked with Charlie. He was certainly a loner. It appears that his wife and kids were his center of focus. We had very little conversation on a social level but he was an absolute professional to work with as long as you did your job." Later in the interview Rhodes talks about working with Charlie again on INDIAN RUNNER and how nice Charlie was to him on that film after Rhodes sent Charlie a personal note.
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Post by chaney on Aug 1, 2010 19:15:29 GMT -5
Bronson wears a tank-top throughout and looks leaner than most of his other 50's films. Might only be 5 to10 pounds of muscle. Wonder if he slimmed down some for the lead in the "Man With a Camera" series around the same time. Big muscles back in that day were generally frowned upon for leading men. Still looks to be in great shape.
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Post by chaney on Jul 12, 2010 16:39:53 GMT -5
Remember some publicity on him during the 80's. He played some college football in Georgia and served in the Army. He later got into movies as a stuntman. He even did several porn films in the 70's. I remember one article telling about how many times he had been in jail and that he was a safecracker.
Walter Hill started using him for his films and gave him the break in 48 HRS. Landham did work in several big films but got a reputation as a wild man. A lot of people in the industry were legitimately afraid of him. He ended up in Kentucky and got into more trouble with an ex-wife and did some jail time. After he got out he unsuccessfully tried to run for state Governor and Senator (people kept bringing up the past).
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Post by chaney on Jul 12, 2010 16:25:10 GMT -5
THE DIRTY DOZEN story involved the climactic shootout. It was a night shoot and Lee was nowhere to be found. Charlie was anxious to finish the scene and get home to Jill. One of the producers found a soused Marvin in a local tavern and hustled him to the location. Charlie was growing angrier by the minute. By the time Lee stumbled onto the set Charlie approached and said something along the lines of "Lee, I'm going to knock your frigging head off." The producer jumped between them begging Charlie not to hit Lee in the face. Charlie backed off and they did the scene. Will have to double check but Lee might even be the one DRIVING the escape vehicle in this scene.
When they were in London there was another incident where Lee said something offensive to an older lady at a party. The woman was some relation of Sean Connery who stalked across the room ready to lay into Lee. The producer again jumped between them begging "Please not the face, Sean. We have close-ups!" Lee sat there grinning and Connery reportedly found the quip amusing after all. Producers used to hire tough guys Robert Phillips and Boyd Cabeen for Marvin movies specifically to jump into fights and keep the star's face from getting damaged.
There was also a columnist who ran a report during the making of THE DIRTY DOZEN that Lee and Jim Brown got into a fight outside of a party. Lee was apparently halfway sober for that one. Don't know who got the better of the exchange. Both later took the diplomatic route and denied there was ever an altercation to the press. Lee praised Brown as an up and coming actor while Brown said Lee gave him a lot of help during the making of the film. Anyway, pretty bold for Marvin to go up against one of professional football's most feared players. Rod Taylor got into a fight with Brown the following year and came out on top.
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