Why the Welles/Bogdanovich relationship became 'poisonous'

[Alan Brody]

There’s a section of an interview with Peter Bogdanovich from Peter Tonguette’s Orson Welles Remembered, which gives a pretty good indication as to why the relationship between Welles and Bogdanovich had, by the early 80’s, become ‘poisonous’, as Joseph McBride puts it. As Bogdanovich relates it, Welles, who had had a hand in the screenplay for Bogdanovich’s 1975 film Nickelodeon, was offered an acting part in the film too, the part eventually played by Brian Kieth. But Welles wanted too much money, and even though Burt Reynolds and Ryan O’Neal both agreed to forego part of their own salaries in order to satisfy Welles’s demands, Welles refused to let them do it when he found out about it.

Jump ahead four years to the production of Saint Jack, which was to be directed by Welles, and produced by Bogdanovich, Cybill Shepard, and Hugh Hefner. Shepard had been given the film rights to the novel as part of an out-of-court settlement with Playboy over the unauthorized publication of nude photos of her. As Bogdanovich says, the only reason why Shepard agreed to the settlement was so she could get those film rights for Orson to direct another picture in Hollywood.

Orson wanted the lead role to be played by Jack Nicholson, so with great effort and difficulty, Bogdanovich and Hefner were able to persuade Nicholson to break his existing contractual obligations and play the part. But then, just as they were getting ready to finalize the contracts with Nicholson, Welles suddenly changed his mind and decided he wanted Dean Martin instead. A furious and humiliated Bogdanovich then had to go tell Nicholson that Welles no longer wanted him. At this point, Hefner began having second thoughts about Welles directing the picture. The film was eventually directed by Bogdanovich himself, which reportedly angered Welles very much. The title role was played by Ben Gazzarra. If this story is true - and I see no reason to doubt it - it is unfathomable why Welles would want Dean Martin over Jack Nicholson, and it also indicates a possible reason why Nicholson, a few years later, turned down Welles’s offer of the lead in The Big Brass Ring.

[evenswr]

If this story is true - and I see no reason to doubt it - it is unfathomable why Welles would want Dean Martin over Jack Nicholson, and it also indicates a possible reason why Nicholson, a few years later, turned down Welles’s offer of the lead in The Big Brass Ring.

Well, Orson and Dean did all of those roasts together, and anyway, Martin was stellar in Rio Bravo.

[RayKelly]

Pure speculation on my part but Dean Martin's close friend and producer, Greg Garrison, had a long standing relationship with Welles. Orson put him through college (according to Joe McBride's book) and he was the executor of Orson's will.
Garrison played a part in getting Orson work in Hollywood. Maybe, just maybe, Orson wanted to do something nice for Garrison's boss, Dean.
OR, maybe like evenswr, Orson thought Dean was superb in Rio Bravo. Great Western I never get tired of seeing.

[jbrooks]

I had thought Nicholson agreed to do "The Big Brass Ring," but he wanted his (then usual) $2 million fee for it.

As for Martin, I wonder if Welles' fondness for him was behind the strong dislike Welles expressed for Jerry Lewis in one of his Dick Cavett show appearances.

[Alan Brody]

That's an interesting irony isn't it: Welles demanding too much money to act in a Bogdanovich film, then Nicholson demanding too much money to act in a Welles film after being given the shaft on a Welles/Bogdanovich film. What goes around...

[Blake Nicholas]

Welles/Bogdanovich:

In addition to Orson Welles, the papers of Peter Bogdanovich and John Ford are in the Lilly Library.
You can learn some interesting things about The Other Side of The Wind in the Bogdanovich Collection at the Lilly.

Think of the symmetry of Welles-Bogdanovich-Tarantino.
Welles plays Fallstaff to Bogdanovich's Hal and then Bogdanovich plays Fallstaff to Tarantino's Hal.

I've also always been struck by the symmetry in the careers as Public Intellectuals, of Peter Bogdanovich and Joe McBride.
Both wrote extensively on Welles, Ford and Hawks.

At his recent talk at the Hammer Museum at UCLA, Bogdanovich seemed to not want to say much of anything about The Other Side of The Wind.

[Harvey Chartrand]

Perhaps by the late seventies Welles realized that Bogdanovich was now a better director and actor than Welles could ever hope to be again... and this dark thought bred a terrible Iago-like resentment. I thought Bogdanovich was terrific as the villain in Saint Jack – a masterpiece, a career best for its star Ben Gazzara. Very moving performance by Denholm Elliott. A truly great picture. Would love to see it again.

[Glenn Anders]

I agree, Harvey. A great deal of misery and frustration must have nagged Orson Welles in the last decade of his life. Perhaps, it is a wonder that he was not so self-destructive as he might have been. SAINT JACK, a film for which Welles is responsible, fully realized by Peter Bogdanovich and his cast, is all you suggest:

An unsung late little masterpiece, giving off the tropical air of our American corruption in Vietnam.

Glenn

[tonyw]

I second Glenn. I've only seen the film once on British TV and it deserves to be better known and available.

[Alan Brody]

Nickelodeon just came out on DVD in a B&W 'Director's Cut', paired with The Last Picture Show, so maybe there's hope for Saint Jack in the near future as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Picture-Show ... 445&sr=8-1