San Francisco Film Society Oral History Project Interview with ...

some of the people who were filming in town. There was also, you offered a UC Extension course in
Eastern European Film Today. Did that bring in more audiences or bring in a new audience?
CLAUDE JARMAN: Not really. We still pretty much had our audience. By this time I think people
were really hooked on the Festival, and there were a lot of people who didn’t really care about Opening
Night; they wanted to know what was going on after that. The Opening Nights were kind for the people
who [were] in for the party, and if you could get a good film, that would be great, but you were never
going to waste a great film on Opening Night. It wouldn’t be appreciated. People look at their watches,
ready to go have a drink or something. I remember Hearts of the West, which was the Opening Night
Film, with Jeff Bridges and Andy Griffith.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: I was thinking Bogdanovich, but that was Nickelodeon. It was the same
kind of silent film. I can’t remember who directed that, Hearts of the West.
CLAUDE JARMAN: It was Howard Zieff, starring Jeff Bridges, Andy Griffith, Blythe Danner and
Alan Arkin.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Not a memorable one, huh?
CLAUDE JARMAN: Not a memorable one. Then we had Jack Lemmon the next day.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: How was he?
CLAUDE JARMAN: He was great. He was such a neat person.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Did you hang out with him at all?
CLAUDE JARMAN: Not really.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Oh, you had Jane Fonda. Now, there was a little controversy surrounding
her.
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