My Life as a Mankiewicz (57 page)

This was the perfect time for me to have lived, both as a writer and director, aesthetically and politically. The talking movie is eighty years old. And I knew people from every generation in its history. Billy Wilder and George Stevens were directing in the thirties. My father was producing in the thirties. I saw television come into being, then cable and DVDs. I saw the biggest revolution in American history, the sixties and the seventies, when people started free love and “Hell, no, we're not going to fucking Vietnam”; unbelievable tragedies with Martin Luther King and others saying, “No, we're not going to put up with this racial shit anymore.” The whole country was in revolt. My generation changed this entire country, the landscape of movies, of social mores. I saw rock ‘n' roll come in. People smoking grass. People saying thank-you by screwing each other after a date. It was a whole different mentality. Films became very different. There were wonderful filmmakers like the Hal Ashbys, the Sydney Pollacks, and Mike Nichols in his way. They were so observant about what was happening to the country and what was happening to the world.

I think now everything has been debased a little, communication's been cheapened a little. You think about when you were driving and you didn't have a cell phone on which to tweet or text, and you actually had to think about things. I would not want to be twelve years old today. Even if there's never another world war, I don't envy what's going to be happening to the world. There's too much communication now. When Antonioni was making all of his films, there was a wonderful comedian named Tom Lehrer who was a mathematics professor at MIT and played little, wonderful, satirical songs. At one point, he said, “This man keeps making films about how there's such a lack of communication in the world. I feel if you're obsessed with that, the least you could do is shut up once in a while.” There's too much communication. Stop communicating!

The best advice I ever received, life-wise, was what Cubby Broccoli said to me: “First, you've got to be a gent.” The people I dislike the most are people who are rude, who put people down to their face, who humiliate or marginalize people. There's plenty of time to do that when you're alone or with your friend in another room. But first, you've got to be a gent. The best professional advice was Dick Donner saying to me, “If you're over budget and over length and it's a good picture, all they'll remember is it's a good picture. And if you're under budget, under schedule, and it stinks, they'll never remember you were under budget; they'll just remember the film stinks. So don't worry about that. It's really difficult to fire a director unless he's making a fool of himself or spending money like water. So figure out the movies that you want to make, and if you're a few days over, you're a few days over.”

Leonard Goldberg said the same thing, having done thousands of hours of television. Most hour-long series, in those days, were on a seven-day shoot. He said, “If a guy comes in in five days and it's a lousy show but we saved a lot of money, I don't mind. If a guy comes in at eight and a half days and it's the best episode of the season, I don't mind. The only thing I mind is somebody comes in at eight and a half days and it's a lousy show.” If you throw yourself into the project and you're true to the project, that's all they remember. Nobody remembers the dramas and crises in
Superman
that Dick and I went through. They only see what's on the screen.

We were shooting
Hart to Hart
and it was about to rain. I said, “Let's just do this all in one because it's going to rain.”

R.J. Wagner said, “It's not going to look very good, is it?”

I said, “No.”

He said, “See, it won't say on the bottom of the screen the reason this looks so shitty is it was about to rain. They don't get to see that. So why don't we shoot it properly and hope the rain holds off?”

Good advice very early on. All the audience knows is what they see.

Acknowledgments

Pat McGilligan, Anne Dean Watkins, Liz Smith (copyeditor), Bailey Johnson, David Cobb, Mack McCormick, the staff of the University Press of Kentucky, Grace Kono-Wells and Vernon Wells of Keystrokes, Ashley Zastrow, Dan Leonard, Andy Erish, Chapman University.

Bob Stevens, Ann Moss, Russell J. Frackman and Abe Somer of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, Gail and Jerry Oppenheimer, Stefanie Powers, Jill and R.J. Wagner, Richard and Lauren Donner, Alex Mankiewicz, Sandra Moss, Cedric Castro, the Palm West Hollywood, Connie Morgan, Genie Vasels.

Desly Movius, David Arnoff, Kathy Holt, D.J. Hall, Toby Watson, Judy Diamond, Deborah Hildebrand, Richard Harris, Barbara Margulies, Leslie Bockian, Jerry Henderson, Istvan and Rosa Toth, John Cerney, Bret Gallagher, Jane and Doug Poole, Kel O'Connell, Marilyn Bagley, Dr. Joe and Liz Ruiz, Susan and Joe Coyle, Jonne-Marie and Paul, Steve and Pete.

Leslie Bertram Crane, Meagan Hufnail, Chloe Crane, Anne and Charles Sloan, Deborah Agar, Eric Agar, Ian and Kim Agar, Steve and Karen Wilson, Bill and Marlene Bertram, Michael Bertram, David Bertram, Bob Page.

Christopher Fryer, David Diamond, Suzy Friendly, Niki Dantine, Drs. Tom and Jeri Munn.

Filmography

Writer

Superman II: aka The Richard Donner Cut
(2006; Video; Warner Brothers)

Richard Lester, Richard Donner (uncredited)—director

Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster—creators

Mario Puzo—story

Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman, Tom Mankiewicz (uncredited)—screenplay

Tom Mankiewicz—creative consultant

Ilya Salkind, Pierre Spengler—producers

Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Valerie Perrine, Marlon Brando, Jackie Cooper, Terence Stamp, Susannah York, Ned Beatty—cast

Dragnet
(1987; Universal Pictures)

Tom Mankiewicz—director

Dan Aykroyd, Alan Zweibel, Tom Mankiewicz—screenplay

Bernie Brillstein, David Permut, Robert K. Weiss—producers

Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks, Christopher Plummer, Harry Morgan, Elizabeth Ashley, Dabney Coleman—cast

Ladyhawke
(1985; 20th Century Fox/Warner Brothers)

Richard Donner—director

Edward Khmara—story

Edward Khmara, Michael Thomas, Tom Mankiewicz, David Peoples —screenplay

Tom Mankiewicz—creative consultant

Harvey Bernhard, Richard Donner, Lauren Shuler Donner—producers

Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Leo McKern, Alfred Molina—cast

Gavilan
(1982; MGM Television/NBC)

Tom Mankiewicz—creator

Leonard Goldberg—executive producer

Robert Urich, Patrick Macnee, Kate Reid—cast

Superman II
(1980; Warner Brothers)

(credits—see
Superman II: aka The Richard Donner Cut
, above.)

Hart to Hart
, “Hit Jennifer Hart” (1979; ABC/Columbia Pictures Television, Rona II, Spelling-Goldberg)

Tom Mankiewicz—director

Tom Mankiewicz—teleplay, creative consultant

Rogers Turrentine—story, teleplay

Sidney Sheldon—creator

Leonard Goldberg, Aaron Spelling, David Levinson—producers

Robert Wagner, Stefanie Powers, Lionel Stander—cast

Hart to Hart
, “Pilot” (1979; ABC/Columbia Pictures Television, Rona II, Spelling-Goldberg)

Tom Mankiewicz—director

Tom Mankiewicz—teleplay, creative consultant

Sidney Sheldon—creator

Leonard Goldberg, Aaron Spelling—producers

Robert Wagner, Stefanie Powers, Lionel Stander—cast

Superman
(1978; Warner Brothers)

Richard Donner—director

Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster—creators

Mario Puzo—story

Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman, Robert Benton, Tom Mankiewicz (uncredited)—screenplay

Tom Mankiewicz—creative consultant

Alexander Salkind, Ilya Salkind, Pierre Spengler—producers

Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Jackie Cooper, Susannah York, Terence Stamp—cast

Mother, Jugs & Speed
(1978; 20th Century Fox Television)

John Rich—director

Tom Mankiewicz—teleplay

Bruce Geller—producer

Ray Vitte, Joanne Nail, Joe Penny—cast

The Eagle Has Landed
(1976; Columbia Pictures)

John Sturges—director

Tom Mankiewicz—screenplay

Jack Higgins—novel

David Niven Jr., Jack Wiener—producers

Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall, Jenny Agutter, Donald Pleasence—cast

The Cassandra Crossing
(1976; Avco Embassy Pictures)

George P. Cosmatos—director

Robert Katz, George P. Cosmatos—story

Tom Mankiewicz, Robert Katz, George P. Cosmatos—screenplay

Giancarlo Pettini, Carlo Ponti—producers

Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Martin Sheen, O.J. Simpson, Lionel Stander, Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster—cast

Mother, Jugs & Speed
(1976; 20th Century Fox)

Peter Yates—director

Stephen Manes, Tom Mankiewicz—story

Tom Mankiewicz—screenplay

Joseph Barbera, Tom Mankiewicz, Peter Yates—producers

Bill Cosby, Raquel Welch, Harvey Keitel, Allen Garfield, Larry Hagman, Bruce Davison—cast

The Man with the Golden Gun
(1974; United Artists)

Guy Hamilton—director

Richard Maibaum, Tom Mankiewicz—screenplay

Ian Fleming—novel

Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman—producers

Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Maud Adams, Herve Villechaize, Clifton James, Bernard Lee—cast

Live and Let Die
(1973; United Artists)

Guy Hamilton—director

Tom Mankiewicz—screenplay

Ian Fleming—novel

Cubby R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman—producers

Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour, Clifton James, Bernard Lee—cast

Diamonds Are Forever
(1971; United Artists)

Guy Hamilton—director

Richard Maibaum, Tom Mankiewicz—screenplay

Ian Fleming—novel

Cubby R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman—producers

Sean Connery, Jill St. John, Charles Gray, Lana Wood, Jimmy Dean, Bernard Lee—cast

Georgy!
(1970; Broadway)

Peter H. Hunt—director

Tom Mankiewicz—book

Carole Bayer—lyrics

George Fischoff—music

Dilys Watling, John Castle, Melissa Hart, Stephen Elliott—cast

The Sweet Ride
(1968; 20th Century Fox)

Harvey Hart—director

Tom Mankiewicz—screenplay

William Murray—novel

Joe Pasternak—producer

Michael Sarrazin, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Franciosa, Bob Denver—cast

The Beat of the Brass
(1968; CBS)

Jack Haley Jr.—director

Tom Mankiewicz—teleplay

Jack Haley Jr.—producer

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass—cast

Movin'with Nancy
(1967; NBC)

Jack Haley Jr.—director

Tom Mankiewicz—teleplay

Jack Haley Jr., Nancy Sinatra—producers

Nancy Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra—cast

Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
, “Runaway Boy” (1966; NBC)

Ben Masselink—story

Ben Masselink, Tom Mankiewicz—teleplay

Dick Berg—producer

Lola Albright, Carol Lynley, Robert Wagner—cast

Director

Hart to Hart:Till Death Do Us Hart
(1996; Columbia TriStar Television)

Tom Mankiewicz—director

Bill Froehlich, Mark Lisson—teleplay

Sidney Sheldon—creator

Stefanie Powers, Robert Wagner, James Veres, Uwe Schott—producers

Robert Wagner, Stefanie Powers, George Hamilton—cast

Taking the Heat
(1993; Showtime)

Tom Mankiewicz—director

Gary Hoffman—story

Dan Gordon—teleplay

Gary Hoffman, Neal Israel—producers

Tony Goldwyn, Lynn Whitfield, George Segal, Peter Boyle, Alan Arkin—cast

Delirious
(1991; MGM)

Tom Mankiewicz—director

Lawrence J. Cohen, Fred Freeman—screenplay

Doug Claybourne, Richard Donner—producers

John Candy, Mariel Hemingway, Emma Samms, Raymond Burr, Dylan Baker, Charles Rocket, Jerry Orbach, Robert Wagner—cast

Tales from the Crypt
, “Loved to Death” (1991; HBO)

Tom Mankiewicz—director

Joe Minion, John Mankiewicz—teleplay

Richard Donner, David Giler, Walter Hill, Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis—producers

Andrew McCarthy, Mariel Hemingway, David Hemmings, Kathleen Freeman—cast

Dragnet
(1987; Universal Pictures)

Tom Mankiewicz—director

(additional credits—see Writer section)

Hart to Hart
(1979–1982; ABC)

“Harts and Palms” (1982)

“From the Depths of my Hart” (1982)

“Murder Up Their Sleeves” (1981)

“The Latest in High Fashion Murder” (1981)

“Homemade Murder” (1981)

“Murder in Paradise” (1981)

“Murder Is a Man's Best Friend” (1980)

“Murder, Murder on the Wall” (1980)

“Death Set” (1980)

“Downhill to Death” (1980)

“The Man with the Jade Eyes” (1979)

“Hit Jennifer Hart” (1979)

“Pilot” (1979)

Tom Mankiewicz—director

(additional credits—see Writer section)

Producer

Hot Pursuit
(1987; Paramount Pictures)

Steven Lisberger—director

Steven Lisberger—story

Steven Lisberger, Steven Carabatsos—screenplay

Pierre David, Tom Mankiewicz, Jerry Offsay—producers

John Cusack, Robert Loggia, Jerry Stiller, Ben Stiller—cast

Mother, Jugs & Speed
(1976; 20th Century Fox)

Joseph Barbera, Tom Mankiewicz, Peter Yates—producers

(additional credits—see Writer section)