I've toyed off and on whether or not to do a piece on ONE-EYED JACKS (1961). Never felt I was qualified enough to take on such a task of this caliber that would add anything new or substantial to what's already been said, discussed, or shown regarding the film itself, doing justice to such a piece of work on-screen.
But after re-watching the film in its 4K restoration (I know, I know, if you've been following me, you're probably tired of me talking about my recent 3-Night Criterion watch: THE UNINVITED (1944) (look for an update on that CINEMA COFFEE piece coming soon!), ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS (1958) and ONE-EYED JACKS (1961)), I knew I had to write a piece on this Western and add it to my Marlon Brando Series. It's in this beautifully restored print, that you not only see why it's worthy of its 4K restoration, but also why and how it sets apart from any other Western of its time. And how it's exactly the sort of Western you envision Marlon Brando to be in. A Western of its own class.
The imagery, the improv dialogue, the table throwing, the shots, the casting, the subject … You sit in awe.
In fact, I've been stuck with my lackluster $2 print for so long, that seeing it restored was like watching it for the first time. A brand-new experience.
I've wanted the 4K restoration for quite some time, but at every store, I'd always get, "We don't have it in. But it's available online." Much to the point, I was determined to find it "in-house" on my own. Sort of like Robert Montgomery in MR. AND MRS. SMITH (1941), you know, when the floorwalker tries to make it easier for Robert Montgomery to find what he's looking for, "Don't bother, it's a game I'm playing." Well, almost two weeks after my birthday, I stopped in my favorite Barnes & Noble, list in hand, and decided to ask if they had ONE-EYED JACKS in. After looking questionably at the screen, the clerk said in a don't-get-your-hopes-up manner, there was only a probability they had it. He tackled one side, I tackled the other, and before I could plant my stiletto on the floor in stride, my eyes found "Jacks" and was in my hand before the yelp could leave my lips. Even the clerk seemed amused and happy for me as he chuckled and congratulated me.
In fact, I've been stuck with my lackluster $2 print for so long, that seeing it restored was like watching it for the first time. A brand-new experience.
I've wanted the 4K restoration for quite some time, but at every store, I'd always get, "We don't have it in. But it's available online." Much to the point, I was determined to find it "in-house" on my own. Sort of like Robert Montgomery in MR. AND MRS. SMITH (1941), you know, when the floorwalker tries to make it easier for Robert Montgomery to find what he's looking for, "Don't bother, it's a game I'm playing." Well, almost two weeks after my birthday, I stopped in my favorite Barnes & Noble, list in hand, and decided to ask if they had ONE-EYED JACKS in. After looking questionably at the screen, the clerk said in a don't-get-your-hopes-up manner, there was only a probability they had it. He tackled one side, I tackled the other, and before I could plant my stiletto on the floor in stride, my eyes found "Jacks" and was in my hand before the yelp could leave my lips. Even the clerk seemed amused and happy for me as he chuckled and congratulated me.
Now, it's a good picture for them [Paramount], but it's not the picture I made . . . now the characters in the film are black-and-white, not gray-and-human as I planned them.
―Marlon Brando
Well, if you know anything about ONE-EYED JACKS, I'm sure you've heard about the controversy behind it. Much as with MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962) (read my CINEMA COFFEE blog piece here) and CLEOPATRA (1963). And if you know anything about me, you know "tea" isn't my jam. I'm a coffee girl from the coffee grinds. I stick to what makes the film … Cinema.
The point of this piece, for me, isn't to give you a play-by-play of everything that went on in front of and behind the camera. There's too much. The scale of which is as massive as the film itself. "Jacks" inspires a truly conversational piece. It would be almost impossible to cover it all in a single written text. And yet, you feel as if you could write a book on the subject. That seems the only way you can give this 2h 21m film its just due. Marlon Brando's first and only directorial piece—In fact … wait! A ONE-EYED JACKS coffee table book? Hmm ... Did I just commit myself to tackling such a task? Why not?! I suddenly feel inspired to do just such a project. Double, in fact, you heard it here first. If there's an interest in this, I may seriously look into doing it! OMGosh, the set photographs by Sam Shaw alone are worth a space on the table, beautifully bound in hardback. With a Noir-esque cover. A word that will be revisited as we go along. Noir.
Ha! Okay, enough daydreaming, back to the cinema coffee.
Instead, my intent with this piece is to emphasize its importance not only in the Western genre, Brando's filmography (possibly even more so than "Streetcar," "Waterfront," Brando's own personal favorite film of all the films he'd done, BURN (1969), or quite possibly right up there with Don Vito Corleone in THE GODFATHER), but in film history. Cinema.
Giving an account of everything discussed, shared, and included in the double disc Criterion release, would be sort of like someone telling you what's inside your gift box right as you're tearing open the wrapping paper. Spoiler. Not a good look. And to be frank, there is a selection included in the extras that I am personally glad I didn't know about until I put in the second disc, to get lost further into the West. Being a Marlon Brando fan, if you are, you will completely know which selection I'm referring to and will completely understand where I'm coming from (boy, that one four-letter-word though, does fly off the handle, don't it?!).
Giving an account of everything discussed, shared, and included in the double disc Criterion release, would be sort of like someone telling you what's inside your gift box right as you're tearing open the wrapping paper. Spoiler. Not a good look. And to be frank, there is a selection included in the extras that I am personally glad I didn't know about until I put in the second disc, to get lost further into the West. Being a Marlon Brando fan, if you are, you will completely know which selection I'm referring to and will completely understand where I'm coming from (boy, that one four-letter-word though, does fly off the handle, don't it?!).
But to put this massive production, if only for the course of time it took to film it, into perspective, it might do well to get the timing down by months, dates, and yes, years, lest it's easy to get confused in the scheme of things that went along with Brando's first (and only) directorial film.
Here's the timeline, as best as I could get it into frame:
1955: Marlon Brando forms Pennebaker Productions (after his mother's maiden name, Dorothy Pennebaker-Brando).
Early 1956: Brando accepts THE TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON (1956) (my CINEMA COFFEE piece here), followed by SAYONARA (1957) (my CINEMA COFFEE here) Oct. 1956: Charles Neider's novel "The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones" rights are bought by Frank P. Rosenberg (per The Hollywood Reporter) to adapt the novel into a film, then by Rod Sterling. However, Frank, unhappy with this adapt, it was dropped. End of 1957: Marlon Brando wraps on THE YOUNG LIONS (1958) (my CINEMA COFFEE piece read here). Sept. 15, 1958: The deadline Brando had with Paramount to have a film to shoot arrives. May 11, 1958: Brando and wife Anna Kashfi's son Christian is born May 12, 1958: Stanley Kubrick signs a contract for ONE-EYED JACKS |
Summer of 1958: Rewrites stretch throughout the summer
July 1958: Calder Willingham has a finished draft. Then titled GUNS UP before its title changed to ONE-EYED JACKS
Early Nov. 1958: Art director, McMillian Johnson, leaves for Monterey to prep for location shooting (per Variety)
Nov. 19, 1958: Announced that Stanley Kubrick had resigned
Dec. 2, 1958: ONE-EYED JACKS finally begins filming (without an ending script)
Christmas and New Years of 1958/59: Brando shuts down production and foots the bill personally to fly everyone home for the holidays
July 1958: Calder Willingham has a finished draft. Then titled GUNS UP before its title changed to ONE-EYED JACKS
Early Nov. 1958: Art director, McMillian Johnson, leaves for Monterey to prep for location shooting (per Variety)
Nov. 19, 1958: Announced that Stanley Kubrick had resigned
Dec. 2, 1958: ONE-EYED JACKS finally begins filming (without an ending script)
Christmas and New Years of 1958/59: Brando shuts down production and foots the bill personally to fly everyone home for the holidays
Jan. 1959: The production moves to the Paramount lot, using its Western streets and sound stages
Tues., Jan. 6, 1959: A storm blows in, causing $300,000 worth of wind damage, which includes the ONE-EYED JACKS sets Feb. 1959: The desert scenes at the beginning of the film are scouted to shoot, but would be some of the last scenes shot due to delays, causing these scenes not to be filmed until April 1959 Productions are delayed in shooting the desert scenes shown at the beginning of the film, caused by Brando's dislocated shoulder when trying to demonstrate the whip crack scene to co-star/friend Karl Malden ... April 3, 1959: Cast and crew celebrate Bud's birthday (with a sign reading "Do not feed the director.") … Another storm blows in, a desert storm, causing more delays with sets being blown down. Brando sends the cast and crew to Las Vegas while the sets are rebuilt over the weekend. Henry Willis, Brando's stunt double, breaks his pelvis while on horseback during the desert chase scene (toward the beginning of the film), and is flown back to Los Angeles … more delays. June 2, 1959: Principal photography wraps, concluding six months of filming 1959: Brando begins shooting Sidney Lumet's THE FUGITIVE KIND (1960) in New York during the week and flies back to Los Angeles every weekend to edit ONE-EYED JACKS Jan. 1960: Additional scenes begin to be filmed March 1960: Another scene is shot between Bud and Karl Malden Mid Oct. 1960: A new ending is shot with Brando, Malden, and Pina Pellicer, all in one day. (The next day Brando flies to Tahiti to begin shooting MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962)) |
(For spoiler reasons, for those who *haven't* seen ONE-EYED JACKS, I won't mention the alternate ending here.)
March 30, 1961: ONE-EYED JACKS premieres without its star, still shooting "Mutiny" in Tahiti. Instead, Karl Malden would tour with the film July 1961: "Jacks" is awarded the Golden Seashell and the Prize San Sebastián (for Pina Pellicer) at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, 1961 1966: The film gets a re-release 1994: Paramount releases "Jacks" on laserdisc 2016: Criterion releases a new 4K digital restoration by Universal Pictures in partnership with The Film Foundation (consultation with Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg) |
"I want to make a frontal assault on the temple of clichés." |
There has been much said about Brando's patience, impatience, difficulty or ease to work with on set, during filming, his procrastination (which even Brando admits to doing because he didn't know what he was doing, what his film was about, or where it was going to go,
"By the fifth week, and even the fifth month, I was still trying to learn." —Brando
... but wanted to lead an appearance he did and could handle it). And yet, when you look at the timeline, and put that into perspective, you begin to paint a picture of what amount of stress this must have put on him, personally, mentally, and physically. Like the Bob Fosse of acting. You have a full plate in front of you, on top of personal issues in his life at the time (marries Anna Kashfi, October 1957, has a baby in May 1958, separated (1958) then divorced in April 1959), a production company you're trying to establish, you start to see how it is very possible this film got away from him, how it became bloated in budget, time, film, editing, and so on.
Paramount would say, "We're over budget, we're behind schedule," so Marlon would just put another load on them and shoot another 10,000 feet. If they'd left him alone, this thing would have come in at half what it cost. |
The production was taken from Brando by Paramount in its editing stage, where Brando was flying back and forth between Lumet's THE FUGITIVE KIND in NY during the week and "Jacks" editing room in LA on weekends. As make-up artist Philip Rhodes (VIVA ZAPATA!, SAYONARA, SUPERMAN, THE FRESHMAN, THE GODFATHER (for full filmography) put it:
"... He was into everything - the cameras, the lighting, the wardrobe, the make-up. He was working on the script; he had writers coming in and helping. He was even going to rushes, which he'd never done before. He was on a roll, so when they yanked it he was hurt. It wasn't Brando's swansong as far as his energy was concerned but on Jacks it reached a peak and never appeared again in that force."
"... He was into everything - the cameras, the lighting, the wardrobe, the make-up. He was working on the script; he had writers coming in and helping. He was even going to rushes, which he'd never done before. He was on a roll, so when they yanked it he was hurt. It wasn't Brando's swansong as far as his energy was concerned but on Jacks it reached a peak and never appeared again in that force."
Before becoming what we know today as ONE-EYED JACKS, the story took on several transitions to get there. Including a script written by Marlon Brando himself, titled A BURST OF VERMILION. Which, according to friend, producer, director, and then one of the first, if not the first, members of Brando's Pennebaker Productions, George Englund states in his book "The Way It's Never Been Done Before," was 312 pages long. Telling Bud ("Mar," as Englund calls him) in a memo after he'd read it:
"I cheered his staying with the work and writing at such length. But the large number of pages, I said, did not mean the treatment was overwritten; I believe it to be underwritten in terms of character and story structure." Telling us, the reader, "Though there were interesting elements in it, the writing was undisciplined, the story incoherent and rambling. It could certainly not be turned into a screenplay for shooting in the middle of May." There's that timeline again.
Prior to "Vermilion" however, written by Brando while shooting SAYONARA in Japan, the journey to "Jacks" began when an agent, Maury Grashin, brought a manuscript to Brando of the Louis L'Amour novel "To Tame a Land." Englund and Brando soon met with the author, who, according to Englund, looked more like "a Greek Mafia don," than a Western writer. Never judge a book, right? They decided they were going to make this their first Pennebaker Productions picture, going through some suitable names on who to hire as the screenwriter. Unhappy with the adapted scripts, "To Tame a Land" was out, and "Vermilion" was in … well … sort of, but not really. A. S. Fleischman's "Yellowleg" came into the mix by way of Bob Dorff, before Brando, Englund, Sr., and Brando's agent, Jay Kanter, would discuss going forward with "Vermilion" or "Yellowleg," a film Brando addressed at this meeting, he did not want to get behind. This causes Englund to tell Brando on the spot, that he'd be leaving Pennebaker, but unbeknownst then, earning a lifelong friend instead. As it seemed Englund was the only one to tell the truth to Brando's face about his script, while everyone else, including Sr., flipped their story on what they really thought of the script once they were in the room with Bud. Something Englund witnessed firsthand after the three had had a conversation about sticking to their guns when they met with Brando on the truth of "Vermilion." A tactic I'm not quite sure Brando did not know what he was doing all along.
During this time, Charles Neider's "The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones" (based on Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid) was being adapted to screen through producer Frank P. Rosenberg, first by Rod Serling, then Sam Peckinpah. All of which eventually led to Brando and Peckinpah teaming up to tackle the film, which soon led to Kubrick being brought in to direct, and through several rewrites, discussions, and mis-agreements later, both Peckinpah (who would later say, "I think there are two sequences of mine in the picture, and I did not receive credit for them.") and Kubrick, were out and Brando was in as director.
"I cheered his staying with the work and writing at such length. But the large number of pages, I said, did not mean the treatment was overwritten; I believe it to be underwritten in terms of character and story structure." Telling us, the reader, "Though there were interesting elements in it, the writing was undisciplined, the story incoherent and rambling. It could certainly not be turned into a screenplay for shooting in the middle of May." There's that timeline again.
Prior to "Vermilion" however, written by Brando while shooting SAYONARA in Japan, the journey to "Jacks" began when an agent, Maury Grashin, brought a manuscript to Brando of the Louis L'Amour novel "To Tame a Land." Englund and Brando soon met with the author, who, according to Englund, looked more like "a Greek Mafia don," than a Western writer. Never judge a book, right? They decided they were going to make this their first Pennebaker Productions picture, going through some suitable names on who to hire as the screenwriter. Unhappy with the adapted scripts, "To Tame a Land" was out, and "Vermilion" was in … well … sort of, but not really. A. S. Fleischman's "Yellowleg" came into the mix by way of Bob Dorff, before Brando, Englund, Sr., and Brando's agent, Jay Kanter, would discuss going forward with "Vermilion" or "Yellowleg," a film Brando addressed at this meeting, he did not want to get behind. This causes Englund to tell Brando on the spot, that he'd be leaving Pennebaker, but unbeknownst then, earning a lifelong friend instead. As it seemed Englund was the only one to tell the truth to Brando's face about his script, while everyone else, including Sr., flipped their story on what they really thought of the script once they were in the room with Bud. Something Englund witnessed firsthand after the three had had a conversation about sticking to their guns when they met with Brando on the truth of "Vermilion." A tactic I'm not quite sure Brando did not know what he was doing all along.
During this time, Charles Neider's "The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones" (based on Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid) was being adapted to screen through producer Frank P. Rosenberg, first by Rod Serling, then Sam Peckinpah. All of which eventually led to Brando and Peckinpah teaming up to tackle the film, which soon led to Kubrick being brought in to direct, and through several rewrites, discussions, and mis-agreements later, both Peckinpah (who would later say, "I think there are two sequences of mine in the picture, and I did not receive credit for them.") and Kubrick, were out and Brando was in as director.
"Marlon," he said, "I've read the script and I just can't understand what this picture is about." I said, "This picture is about my having to pay $250,000 [sic] a week to Karl Malden." … "Well," Stanley said, "If that's what it's about, I think I'm doing the wrong picture." |
The rest, as they might clichély say, is history … Though, not quite as simple as that. Then again, nothing with Brando ever is. There are a lot of in-betweens, goings-on, and years for the audiences to catch up before this history was made.
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"I quit ONE-EYED JACKS and within a couple of weeks I was directing SPARTACUS. Apparently Anthony Mann couldn't get on with Kirk Douglas." |
However much Malden got paid, which apparently was indeed substantial, as Bud and Malden would later joke of Malden's home, "Is this the house that Jacks built?," You wouldn't want any other actor to be opposite Brando in his first and only directorial film, even after finding out Spencer Tracy (an actor Brando admired) was considered for the role of "Dad" before it was known Brando had already hired Malden. Not of this magnitude. Not knowing now what we know this film would become to cinema lovers around the world. I mean, this is more than just two co-stars, this is more than just two co-stars who were friends. Lifelong friends. For me, their chemistry, their bond on and off screen, is never so apparent, never so appreciated, as it is in the jail scene. Of all the scenes Marlon and Karl share, this is the one scene that sticks with me long after it's over. I watch in awe. Saying, "This is 1947 (when Bud and Karl first met). This is Broadway. This is "Truckline Cafe." This is Stanley and Mitch. Father Barry and Terry. This is stage to screen. Bud and Karl. Acting."
And yet, even still, even so, amid characters acted by Ben Johnson, Slim Pickens, Katy Jurado, Timothy Carey, Elisha Cook, Jr. (however brief), Míriam Colón, Ray Teal, Hank Worden, Larry Duran (earlier Brando's double in 1952 for VIVA ZAPATA! (my CINEMA COFFEE piece here)), and Philip Ahn, the performance that stills you in your seat ... Brando's leading lady, Pina Pellicer.
Born Josefina Yolanda Pellicer López de Llergo, in Mexico, in 1934, Pellicer would commit suicide 30 years later in 1964, only three years after the release of "Jacks." Scouted out by Rosenberg, Pellicer, who learned to speak English for the role, brings a performance so sincere, so honest, you can't look away from her. Much as Miyoshi Umeki does in her Oscar-winning performance in SAYONARA.
By all accounts, Pellicer was so nervous, and so shaken, during filming, Brando put a lot of effort into working with her, easing her through a scene, trying to calm her when needed, and walking her through what emotions needed to be brought to the character. Even making funny faces or wearing funny masks to make her laugh. And yet, all this plays in Pellicer's favor, in my opinion. Not a moment of her performance is phoned in. There is not a moment that you do not believe every second of what she's feeling. What she's going through. Every gesture, motion, words spoken, her eyes, her hands. You're there. She brings you in.
Born Josefina Yolanda Pellicer López de Llergo, in Mexico, in 1934, Pellicer would commit suicide 30 years later in 1964, only three years after the release of "Jacks." Scouted out by Rosenberg, Pellicer, who learned to speak English for the role, brings a performance so sincere, so honest, you can't look away from her. Much as Miyoshi Umeki does in her Oscar-winning performance in SAYONARA.
By all accounts, Pellicer was so nervous, and so shaken, during filming, Brando put a lot of effort into working with her, easing her through a scene, trying to calm her when needed, and walking her through what emotions needed to be brought to the character. Even making funny faces or wearing funny masks to make her laugh. And yet, all this plays in Pellicer's favor, in my opinion. Not a moment of her performance is phoned in. There is not a moment that you do not believe every second of what she's feeling. What she's going through. Every gesture, motion, words spoken, her eyes, her hands. You're there. She brings you in.
While revisiting the film, in this new vibrant print, you notice something that is almost evident in any of the set photos or screenshots from the 4K restoration you've seen of the film. A Noir-esque tone. I mean, is this a Western Noir that is not Randolph Scott in THE WALKING HILLS (1949)? Is this a Neo-Noir? Up there with the likes of Alain Delon in LE SAMOURAÏ (1967)? Now there's a thought. A question I think only Eddie Muller can confirm. And yet, something I've always done with certain color films, be it classic or modern-day cinema, is turning the saturation off on my TV, just to get the black-and-white POV.
Does the end result, in watching it in black-and-white confirm whether or not this colorful, albeit gritty, Western is a Noir in disguise or in plain sight? Well, that's something for the viewer to decide. For me, while I still enjoyed the watch even without color, personally, I found the noir tone you sense in screencaps and set photos more apparent when you are watching the film as is. (*cue Technicolor Beat by Oh Wonder*)
I'm not sure if I have hurt or helped in contributing to the importance of seeing ONE-EYED JACKS (selected in 2018 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress) or spurring your interest in seeing it if unseen, or revisiting it if it has been a while, through all my ramblings on the subject of this film ... And I could *still* go on more about it, in so many different directions, with more words to spare ... Though I just may keep those to myself for that coffee book I'll be looking into creating (I'm not quite so sure I was joking). But one thing I hope I've done if nothing else, is made you aware of this film. If nothing else, showcasing through all the controversy—or because of—you are affected by and in every frame, from beginning to end. Through it all, it comes together. Even giving you just enough room to wonder, though you would not change the end result, what would this film have been if Brando had completed its editing. Including the stories of his 5-hour edit. What it would've been like if "Dad" was the only one who told the truth the way Brando had set out to do.
Brando may have said this film was not "gray-and-human," but, again, in my opinion, presents so many unconventional edges. Not just for a Western, but for cinema, as it was known and as we know it. Gray in its own specific, individual, colorful way.
Brando may have said this film was not "gray-and-human," but, again, in my opinion, presents so many unconventional edges. Not just for a Western, but for cinema, as it was known and as we know it. Gray in its own specific, individual, colorful way.
*exhales* … Now that we have chatted, let's have a cup of coffee and watch the other side of that face … "The One-Eyed Jack." While I wait for the coffee table book to finish brewing. This cup is on me … *in my Rio voice* "You bet."
Fast forward to 2021:
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Had a mail-day come my way by way of a Twitter-friend, "@rudyfan," who sent me her original ONE-EYED JACKS poster!!