I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History

31. Goodbye to United Artists

31 Goodbye to United Artists T he year 1971 had produced a decided upturn for The Mirisch Corporation. Our output, up to this time in our thenoperative United Artists contract, had been most disappointing , but the profits from Fiddler on the Roof were so high that it turned the whole deal around. The Magnificent Seven Ride, released in 1972, is guilty of most of the things sequels are accused of. It is a bald attempt to cash in once more on the mystique of the title and the past success of its formula. We had not been able to secure approvals on a number of projects that we had submitted to the then-current management of United Artists, and it had been three years since we had made a Magnificent Seven film. Since five more films remained to be made to fulfill our output requirements under our deal, I suggested that we attempt another, much less expensive , sequel. The budget was set at $750,000, and we secured the services of Lee Van Cleef, who had acted in many Westerns, mainly playing heavies, but who now had developed a considerable following in the so-called Italian spaghetti Western genre. Having aged somewhat, he had become a more sympathetic character. We felt, with his following as a Western actor, particularly abroad, that he could carry off the Chris role. The script was written by Arthur Rowe and was directed by George McCowan, a television director. The exteriors were shot in the Los Angeles area. The Mexican town shown in the film was a leased standing 314 set on the Universal back lot. The plot followed the usual formula, and the film was shot on a short schedule. It was poorly reviewed and is not a picture of which I am proud, but it was again profitable, mainly because it was produced so inexpensively. Clearly there was still some of the mystique left in the franchise that was intriguing enough to audiences , not only in the United States but also throughout the world. The foreign market, as it had been from the beginning, was the principal customer for the Magnificent Seven pictures. It was a purely commercial venture. We limited its risks, but at the same time we also limited its potential. United Artists was still reeling from its nearly $100 million loss in 1970, and the company pulled the reins in tightly on The Mirisch Company . It was already quite evident to me that the seventeen-year relationship between United Artists and The Mirisch Company would soon come to an end. The confluence of an extremely bad period for the entire industry, 1969 through 1971, and a generally unsuccessful group of our own films, with the exception of Fiddler on the Roof, as well as the changing of the guard at United Artists, indicated that the time had come for us to look elsewhere for a new home. United Artists’ new management obviously preferred to deal directly with the directors whom we had kept under our roof, thereby eliminating one of The Mirisch Company’s functions. At the same time, it kept insisting that we cut overhead, which made it difficult to continue the directors’ housekeeping deals. However, since we had come to the end of our contract, it was time to open negotiations for a new arrangement, if in fact there was to be one. United Artists made a proposal to us. We felt that the fees it offered were not as high as they should have been. Our earlier arrangement had given us a participation in the overall gross of our films, be they profitable or nonprofitable. Now UA proposed profit participations that would be based on two-picture cross-collateralizations. This led to an interim agreement between us to modify our old contract and change immediately to a two-picture cross-collateralization plan on the last four films still remaining on the contract then in force. Earlier when we had agreed that we would produce Fiddler on the Roof, and that we would supply the services of Norman Jewison to direct, UA proposed making it a stand-free picture. Fiddler on the Roof was Goodbye to United Artists 315 / then taken out of the overall group of pictures made under our contract, and we signed a one-picture deal for the film. Because it was clearly going to...