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Harper (film)

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Harper
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJack Smight
Screenplay byWilliam Goldman
Based onThe Moving Target
by Ross Macdonald
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyConrad Hall
Edited byStefan Arnsten
Music byJohnny Mandel
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • February 23, 1966 (1966-02-23)
Running time
121 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.5 million
Box office$12 million[1]

Harper (released in the United Kingdom as The Moving Target) is a 1966 American mystery thriller film directed by Jack Smight from a screenplay by William Goldman, based on the 1949 novel The Moving Target by Ross Macdonald.[2] The film stars Paul Newman as Lew Harper (Lew Archer in the novel), with a cast that includes Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris, Arthur Hill, Janet Leigh, Pamela Tiffin, Robert Wagner and Shelley Winters.

Goldman received a 1967 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay. Newman reprised his Harper role in The Drowning Pool (1975).

Plot

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Private investigator Lew Harper is retained to search for multi-millionaire Ralph Sampson, who has disappeared after flying into Los Angeles. Sampson's physically disabled wife Elaine wants to ensure her husband is not squandering the fortune she hopes to inherit. Harper interviews Allan Taggert, Sampson's private pilot, and his flirtatious daughter Miranda. An old photo of a glamorous starlet in Sampson's bungalow leads Harper to Fay Estabrook, now an aging alcoholic. Harper gets her drunk to see if she is connected to Sampson's disappearance. When she passes out, he encounters the armed Dwight Troy, Fay's husband, who falls for Harper's cover story that he is a fan of the former star.

Having intercepted a call at Fay's, Harper tracks down Betty Fraley, a lounge singer. When he asks about the missing Sampson, she recognizes his voice and has the bouncer, Puddler, take him out to beat him in a back alley, but Taggert arrives and knocks Puddler unconscious. Taggert joins Harper as they head back to Troy's house to check on the truck Betty warned Fay to head off on the phone. Harper leaves Taggert standing watch outside, but the truck gets away when Taggert shoots at it, though it leaves distinctive tire marks in the dust.

Elaine now receives a message from Sampson, asking her to cash in $500,000 worth of bonds and Harper deduces that he has been kidnapped. Driving to a remote mountaintop property that Sampson previously had given to Claude, a bogus holy man for his cult's temple, Harper evades attempts to distract him and finds the familiar tire prints.

Back at the Sampson estate, Harper finds a ransom note with instructions to drop the cash that night outside town. Harper sends Taggert and Albert Graves, Sampson's attorney, to deliver the cash while he keeps watch. During the ransom drop, the man picking up the money is shot dead and the cash is taken by someone in a white convertible. A matchbook on the body leads Harper to The Corner, a seedy bar where Harper discovers from the barmaid that the dead man was Eddie, a regular customer who had made a long-distance call from the bar three nights before. Outside, Harper spots Puddler driving the truck that earlier escaped him, which he follows back to Claude's temple. There, he uncovers a smuggling operation of illegal immigrant labor run by Troy. Harper is caught and questioned by Troy, who knows nothing of the kidnapping or Eddie's part in it but realizes the white convertible belongs to Betty.

When Puddler takes Harper to a dockside location, Harper escapes and Puddler falls to his death trying to stop him. Harper suspects that it was Taggert, Betty, and her brother Eddie who kidnapped Sampson. When questioned, Taggert pulls a gun on Harper but is shot by the arriving Graves. Harper then finds Betty at her cottage being tortured by Troy, Claude, and Fay. As Betty reveals where the money is hidden, Harper bursts in, shoots Troy, slugs Claude unconscious and locks Fay in a closet before helping Betty to escape. When Harper informs Betty that Taggert, her secret lover, is dead, she reveals that Sampson is being held in an abandoned oil tanker. Harper calls Graves to meet them there, but as Harper searches the ship, he is knocked unconscious from behind. Some time later, Harper comes to, and the pair discover that Sampson has been murdered. Meanwhile, Betty drives off in Harper's car, is pursued by the two men, and dies when she loses control on a winding road.

Harper and Graves retrieve the money and Graves drives Harper to the Sampson home. On the way, Harper tells Graves he knows that he killed Sampson. Graves admits he did because of his hatred for him and knowing that Sampson would oppose any relationship with Miranda. Harper tells Graves that he has to turn him in to the police and that Graves will have to shoot him to stop him. However, when Harper gets out and walks toward the door, he drops the bundle containing the half million dollars in cash to the ground. Graves cannot bring himself to shoot him, and Harper raises his arms in resignation.

Cast

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Production

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Development

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William Goldman had written the novel Boys and Girls Together (1964), the film rights to which had been optioned by producer Elliot Kastner. Kastner met with Goldman and expressed a desire to make a tough movie, one "with balls". Goldman suggested the Lew Archer novels of Ross Macdonald would be ideal—Goldman had long been an admirer of Macdonald, saying the Archer books were "the finest series of detective novels ever written by an American" and that Macdonald was "one of the best American novelists now operating, and he keeps getting better."[3]

Goldman offered to do an adaptation. Kastner agreed, saying he would option whatever of the novels Goldman suggested. Goldman chose The Moving Target, the first novel. Kastner later said he paid Macdonald $1,000 for the film rights and Goldman $5,000 to write the script.[4]

According to Goldman, the script was offered first to Frank Sinatra, who turned it down, then to Paul Newman, who was eager to accept as he had just starred in the period film Lady L (1965), and was keen to do something contemporary.[5] Newman's signing was announced in March 1965.[6] Kastner set up the film at Warner Bros. for a budget of $3.3 million, of which Kastner received $500,000.[4]

The script originally was called Archer. The name of the lead character was changed from Lew Archer to Harper because the producers had not bought the rights to the series, just to The Moving Target. Goldman later wrote, "So we needed a different name and Harper seemed OK, the guy harps on things, it's essentially what he does for a living."[7] Newman also requested that the character's name be changed from Archer to Harper due to his success in two films beginning with the letter "H"—The Hustler (1961) and Hud (1963).[8]

"It's a Bogie kind of film", Newman said, adding the difference in the private eye character "is the level of commitment. He has more of a sense of humor about his job."[9]

Director

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Goldman said the film was originally offered to a director who was engaged in a legal fight with Warners. The job eventually went to Jack Smight, known then for his TV work, who had recently signed a six-picture deal with Warner Bros. The Third Day (1965) was the first and Harper was to be the second.[10]

According to Smight, Newman had admired some of the director's work for live TV. The director met with Newman, discussed the script, and received the star's approval. In contrast with his first two features, Smight loved the script for Harper.[11]

Smight later said, "Attempting a private eye story at the height of all these Bonds could have been a risky business. We wanted to capture some of the qualities of Double Indemnity and all those earlier Raymond Chandlers and Hammetts – in other words to do a really good movie movie – without being accused of retrogressing. I studied some of those pictures to see what made them tick. One great thing they had going for them was that the character people were so visually explicit: When Peter Lorre or Sydney Greenstreet walked in on Bogart, you didn't need an explanation. Today it's harder to find them; they just aren't being developed in the way they used to be."[10]

Smight asked for and was granted rehearsal time for the film.[11]

Filming

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Principal photography began on June 7, 1965, on the Warner Bros. Studios lot in Burbank, California, and concluded on August 20 of that year. Filming took place on 23 locations in the Los Angeles area, including Malibu Canyon, Marion Davies' former mansion in Beverly Hills, the Moon Fire Temple in Topanga Canyon, Westwood, Bel Air, Trancas Beach in Malibu, Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, Newhall, San Pedro, Terminal Island, and the Huntington Beach oil fields.[12]

In the title sequence, Newman dunks his head into a sinkful of ice cubes to rouse himself awake, a bit that he repeated in the 1973 film The Sting. Newman reportedly followed this routine every morning in real life.[13]

Robert Wagner later recalled Smight "lacked confidence; his wife was with him on the set for the entire shoot and seemed to function as a kind of security blanket. That was annoying, because a film set derives its specific temperature from the star and the director. Our director was nervous, which can make the cast and crew nervous. But Paul pretended not to notice, and his confidence spread to the rest of the cast. The reason he was confident was because William Goldman's script was tight and amusing, and the cast kept things bubbling."[14]

Reception

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Box office

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Harper earned $5.3 million in North American rentals in 1966.[15] The film is credited with launching Goldman's career as a screenwriter.[16]

Accolades

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Award Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Edgar Allan Poe Awards Best Motion Picture William Goldman Won [17]
Laurel Awards Top Action Drama 5th Place
Top Action Performance Paul Newman 3rd Place
Writers Guild of America Awards Best Written American Drama William Goldman Nominated

Sequel

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Goldman adapted The Chill (1964), another Macdonald novel, for the same producers, but it was not filmed.[18] Newman pulled out of the project, and Sam Peckinpah became attached as director for a while as the film was set up at Commonwealth United Entertainment. When that company ended its film operations, The Chill was not made.[19]

Newman reprised the role of Harper in the 1975 film The Drowning Pool, based on Macdonald's 1950 novel of the same name.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Harper (1966) – Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  2. ^ Variety film review. February 16, 1966. p. 6.
  3. ^ Goldman, William (June 1, 1969). "The Goodbye Look: By Ross Macdonald. 243 pp. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. $4.95". The New York Times. p. BR1.
  4. ^ a b Webster, Jack (1991). Alistair MacLean: A Life. London: Chapmans. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-85592-519-9.
  5. ^ Goldman, William (1983). Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting. New York: Warner Books. pp. 177–179. ISBN 978-0-446-39117-7.
  6. ^ Martin, Betty (March 31, 1965). "MOVIE CALL SHEET: 'Winkle' on Tap at MGM; 'Target' Due". Los Angeles Times. p. c9.
  7. ^ Goldman, William (1997). Five Screenplays with Essays. New York: Applause. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-55783-266-5.
  8. ^ Miller, Frank. "Harper (1966) – Articles". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on June 7, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  9. ^ Champlin, Charles (August 18, 1965). "No Blinkers on This Private Eye". Los Angeles Times. p. D9.
  10. ^ a b "Hollywood Kind to TV Directors". Los Angeles Times. May 17, 1966. p. c9.
  11. ^ a b Myers, JP (March 8, 2018). "This is the story of Director Jack Smight's life in entertainment written by himself". Medium. Archived from the original on May 17, 2019.
  12. ^ a b "Harper (1966) – History". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  13. ^ Borden, Marian Edelman (2011). Paul Newman: A Biography. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-313-38311-3.
  14. ^ Wagner, Robert J.; Eyman, Scott (2016). I Loved Her in the Movies: Memoirs of Hollywood's Legendary Actors. New York: Viking. p. 193. ISBN 9780525429111.
  15. ^ "Big Rental Pictures of 1966". Variety. January 4, 1967. p. 8.
  16. ^ Tyler, Ralph (November 12, 1978). "'Butch Cassidy' Was: My Western, 'Magic' Is My Hitchcock' 'Magic' Is My Hitchcock". The New York Times. p. D23.
  17. ^ "Category List – Best Motion Picture". Edgar Awards. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  18. ^ Brown, Dennis (1992). Shoptalk: Conversations About Theater and Film with Twelve Writers, One Producer—and Tennessee Williams' Mother. New York: Newmarket Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-55704-128-9.
  19. ^ Adler, Dick (January 31, 1971). "TOP PIX DEALS GOPOOF: "Say, what ever happened with that script I read you had all set up to shoot in Swaziland with Paul Newman, Raquel Welch, the Spanish Air Force, Godzilla and the June Taylor Dancers?" he asked, folding his copy of the Hollywood Reporter. "Don't ask", the man answered". Los Angeles Times. p. u14.
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