![]() ![]() ![]() Michael Sarrazin excels as black-sheep hippie brother Leland reentering his estranged family’s orbit. Then, in an Oscar-nominated turn as cousin and family cheerleader Joe Ben, Richard Jaeckel’s sunny disposition perfectly masks the film’s shocking conclusion. In a body cast that holds his busted arm 90 degrees off his body, Henry Fonda leers and jeers unforgettably as the influential family patriarch, Henry. Where Sometimes a Great Notion unequivocally thrives, though, is in enlivening Stamper family dynamics, drenched in Olympia lager and 4:30 am maple syrup. (Granted, this didn’t stop Notion from being the first film ever shown on HBO in 1972.) What’s more, one can sense from the classical, painterly filmmaking why Notion eluded lasting fame relative to other 1971 films, which saw The French Connection, Klute, Shaft and A Clockwork Orange help shape New Hollywood aesthetics with hip, provocative urban settings. Composer Henry Mancini’s bluegrass score practically frolics, while Newman’s irrepressible charms endow Hank Stamper with righteous irascibility, as he chainsaws union desks in half and essentially leaves Wakonda to rot while on strike. The Stamper house, built by Universal Studios on the Siletz River near Kernville, is more attractive than the novel’s half-drowned monument to stubbornness. Meanwhile, Kesey bestows Oregon nature with an almost alien power to inspire and madden the Stampers.īy comparison, much of the film’s ambience is almost jaunty, as though the production couldn’t help but be impressed with its own riches of talent, source material and location. In the space of one page, the reader might plunge through three timelines of genealogy and perspective with unfilmable fluidity. In Kesey’s opus, both the setting and style are torrential. The film opens as though washed landward by the Pacific, an aerial shot combing the Central Oregon coastline while country music groundbreaker Charley Pride croons the gospel sentiments of “All His Children.” As establishing shots go, they seldom get more stunning, but we immediately see the movie veer in its own tonal direction. The Stampers have turned scab in the face of a timber strike, and one need only consult the family motto-”never give a inch”-to understand why they’ll keep on cutting, dammit. That, or maybe Paul Newman bought your uncle a beer in Newport during the summer of 1970, per the myriad boozy stories surrounding the film shoot.įifty years old this month, this Paul Newman-directed drama unravels the pathological grit of the Stamper clan, a family of loggers in the fictional coastal enclave of Wakonda, Oregon. With One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (based on another Kesey novel, of course) ranking among the state’s most famous film productions, only devotees of Oregon film history or ‘70s cinema likely recall much about Notion the movie. While Ken Kesey’s Sometimes a Great Notion is regarded as perhaps the quintessential Oregon novel, its 1971 film adaptation is more like a forgotten little brother. Newman’s directing was well received by critics.Sometimes a Great Notion (Biggest Trailer Database) By Chance Solem-Pfeifer Decemat 9:00 pm PST The film's theme song, "All His Children", with music by Henry Mancini, is performed by Charley Pride and was nominated for an Oscar. As co-executive producer, Newman considered replacing Colla with George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy fame), who declined the offer, so when filming resumed two weeks later, Newman was directing as well as acting. At the same time, Paul Newman broke his ankle, and the production shut down on July 29. Colla left the project after 5 weeks shooting due to "artistic differences over photographic concept," as well as a required throat operation. Sam Peckinpah and Budd Boetticher had expressed interest in bringing Ken Kesey's novel to the screen but Richard A. Filmed in western Oregon during the summer of 1970, it was released over a year later in December 1971. The screenplay by John Gay is based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey, the first of his books to be adapted for the screen. ![]() The cast also includes Richard Jaeckel in an Academy Award-nominated performance. Never Give An Inch (also known as Sometimes A Great Notion) is a 1971 American drama film directed by Paul Newman and starring Newman, Henry Fonda and Lee Remick. Original Australian Daybill Poster Never Give An Inch ![]()
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