Deathwatch (1965 film)

Deathwatch is a 1965 drama film directed by Vic Morrow. It is an adaptation of the French play Haute Surveillance by Jean Genet.

Deathwatch
Directed byVic Morrow
Produced byVic Morrow
Leonard Nimoy
Written byBernard Frechtman (translation)
Vic Morrow
Barbara Turner
Based onHaute Surveillance by Jean Genet
StarringLeonard Nimoy
Michael Forest
Paul Mazursky
Music byGerald Fried
CinematographyVilis Lapenieks
Edited byVerna Fields
Production
company
Deathwatch Company
Distributed byAltura Films International
Release date
1965 (San Francisco International Film Festival)[1]
March 1966 (USA)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Greeneyes and Snowball are both murderers in prison awaiting their death sentences to be carried out by guillotine. The jewel thief Lefranc and hoodlum Maurice are imprisoned for less serious crimes but must align themselves with tougher inmates for their own survival in prison. They both seek to get closer to Greeneyes, leading to conflict between them.

Cast

Production

Vic Morrow had played Lefranc in the first New York production of Deathwatch in 1958.[2][3] The three actors Leonard Nimoy, Paul Mazursky, and Michael Forest had already staged a version of the play in 1959.

Vic Morrow announced he wanted to make the film back in December 1960. He said his dream cast would include Cornel Wilde, Dan Duryea and George Hamilton.[4]

The New York Times printed that Vic Morrow and Leonard Nimoy had acquired the movie rights to the play in the issue published November 27, 1962.[5] Leonard Nimoy obtained the rights to film Haute Surveillance directly from Genet, though Genet had no further involvement with the project.[6]

The screenplay was adapted by Morrow and his then-wife Barbara Turner.[7] Part of Deathwatch was shot in the nineteenth-century Nevada State Prison, where the actors lived for six months to prepare for their roles. Some of the inmates took part in the production.[6]

Release

The film was first shown at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1965[1] but it was not given a general release nor was it widely reviewed.[2] It was later given a limited release in the USA in March 1966. One of the first films to be directly marketed to a gay audience, Deathwatch was quickly buried in the States and never released in the UK.[6]

Reception

In a review years later, a reviewer for the San Francisco Bay Guardian wrote that in "the feature, adapted from a Genet play, which has been unjustly forgotten for 23 years, Vic Morrow’s direction captures a consistent, if not very interesting, mood, and the editing seems ahead of its time in the way flashbacks are inserted. Leonard Nimoy and Michael Forest are the butch guys sharing a cell with nellie Paul Mazursky in this unromantic triangle that’s hard to tear your eyes away from, even if it’s not very good."[8]

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References
  1. "Deathwatch - San Francisco Film Festival". history.sffs.org.
  2. Plunka, Gene A. (21 July 1992). "The Rites of Passage of Jean Genet: The Art and Aesthetics of Risk Taking". Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press – via Google Books.
  3. Kabatchnik, Amnon (14 April 2011). "Blood on the Stage, 1950-1975: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery, and Detection". Scarecrow Press – via Google Books.
  4. King Bros. Renew With 'Gorgo' Trio: Morrow Takes 'Deathwatch'; Hatfield Co-Star in 'El Cid' Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times (1923-1995); Los Angeles, Calif. [Los Angeles, Calif]16 Dec 1960: A13.
  5. "DRAMA BY GENET WILL BE FILMED; Vic Morrow and Leonard Nimoy Buy 'Deathwatch' Fox Post for Harold Rand Sartre's 'No Exit' Coming Record Gross for 'Cybele'".
  6. Finburgh, C.; Lavery, C.; Shevtsova, M. (31 October 2006). "Jean Genet: Performance and Politics". Springer – via Google Books.
  7. Warren, Bill; Thomas, Bill (16 November 2009). "Keep Watching the Skies!: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties, The 21st Century Edition". McFarland – via Google Books.
  8. San Francisco Bay Guardian (21 July 1989). "San Francisco Bay Guardian Issue 24.37" – via Internet Archive.
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