Boxoffice-August.11.1975

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Filmmakers listed ten productions going
before the cameras in August, a gain of
five over the previous month. August 1974
looked brighter with 15 scheduled for filming.
The current month shows seven features
lined up by the majors and three are starting
by independents.
COLUMBIA
Harry and Walter Go to New York.
A turn-of-the-century comedy escapade
about two fading vaudevillians who are
down on their luck and turn to safecracking.
Stars James Caan and Michael Caine.
Produced by Don Devlin and Harry Gittes,
a Mark Rydell film directed by Rydell,
with Tony Bill the executive producer.
Screenplay by Robert Kaufman and John
Byrum, based on an original story by
Byrum and Devlin. Shooting at the end
of the month on locations in the East and
the Burbank Studios.
METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER
The All-American Girl. A contemporary
comedy-drama about a free-spirited
girl who has developed her talent for stealing
cars into a fun and fine art. Stars
Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston.
Shooting begins Monday (11) in Tacoma,
Wash., with Jerry Schatzberg directing and
producing. The screenplay was written by
B. J. Perla.
PARAMOUNT
The Bad News Bears. Shooting began
Friday (1) at the studio and Los Angeles
locations on this contemporary comedy
written by Bill Lancaster, about a group of
young neighborhood misfits who are molded
into a winning little league-type baseball
team. Waiter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal
are starred with a cast of youthful newcomers
directed by Michael Ritchie. Produced
by Stanley Jaffe.
Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved
Hollywood. This farce-comedy tells the
story of a superstar movie dog and his
friends who saved a studio from bankruptcy
in the silent flicker days. David V. Picker
is producer and Michael Winner is director.
Stars are Bruce Dern, Madeline Kahn,
Shecky Greene and Ron Liebman. Shooting
starts Monday (25) at the studio.
UNITED ARTISTS
Bound for Glory. The biography of
bailadccr Woody Guthrie with David Carradinc
in the Guthrie role. Shooting starts
Monday (18) on the screenplay by Robert
Getcheli, with Hal Ashby directing. Producers
arc Robert Blumofe and Harold
Leventhal.
Burnt Offerings. Deals with the terrifying
experiences faced by a family with
a young son and an aunt who go away on
a summer vacation. Shooting began Monday
(4) in Oakland, Calif., with a cast
headed by Karen Black, Oliver Reed,
Burgess Meredith, Bette Davis, Eileen
Heckart and Lee Montgomery. Produced
and directed by Dan Curtis with Robert
Singer as associate producer. Screenplay
by William F. Nolan.
WARNER BROS.
Bogart Slept Here. Shooting starts
late
this month on this original comedy written
by Neil Simon about an off-Broadway
actor who hits it lucky and becomes a
Hollywood star. Robert DeNiro and Marsha
Mason star. Mike Nichols will produce and
direct with Howard W. Koch jr. as executive
producer.
INDEPENDENTS
Hikmar Productions
Race With Death. Formerly titled "The
Young Merchants," the story deals with a
young woman narcotics agent who infiltrates
a drug-smuggling gang. Shooting
commences Monday (25). Producer-director
is Hikmet Avedis and executive producer
is Marlene Schmidt.
Max Baer Productions
Ode to Billy Joe. Based on the song
by Bobbie Gentry, with a cast of unknowns,
to be produced and directed by Max Baer.
Shooting began Wednesday (6) in Greenwood,
Miss., with a screenplay by Herman
Rancher ("Summer of '42").
Steckler Enterprises
Le Jour. Shooting started Thursday (7)
in Nevada with a cast consisting of Art
Bourdon, Carolyn Brandt, Corrine Broskette.
Herb Eden, Hitch Huber, Susan Jackson,
Liberty Jones, Will Long, Ed Sher and
Suzanne Vegas. Producer-director is Ray
Dennis Steckler: associate producer is Jerry
O'Farrell.
Universal Film Production
Reaches Industry High
Film production at Universal Studios has
reached an industry high with 24 production
units simultaneously at work, represented
by 19 television shows and five
theatrical motion pictures, it was announced
by Sid Sheinberg, president and
chief operating officer of MCA, Inc., parent
company of Universal Studios. At the same
time the company projects a new record
total of 442 film shooting days for July,
which compares to the studio's previous
high of 400 shooting days reached October
1974. Employment at Universal has also
peaked with 7,000 employees on the payroll.
The studio's 34 stages are at capacity
production. In addition. Universal has 121
show units at work in various stages of post
production. Never before in the 63-year
history of Universal Studios has there been
such a level of film production and employment.
Represented in the five theatrical
motion pictures at work are "Family Plot,"
"Midway," "Lombard and Gable." "W. C.
I'iclds and Me" and "The Bingo Long
Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings'
(filming in Georgia but with daily film
production activity involved from the
studio).
Use Ship Built at $1.5 Million
For 'S'washbuckler' Scenes
Universal Studios has taken a two-month's
rental on the Golden Hinde, the 102-foot
replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship, as a
location for seagoing sequences of "Swashbuckler."
The ship, built in England at a
cost of $1.5 million, is now berthed in San
Francisco after a five-month voyage from
England through the Panama Canal. Universal
will alter and refit the Golden Hinde
to conform to the appearance of early 18th
Century buccaneer vessels. Plans call for
two weeks of sea filming aboard the ship
on a North American west coastline location.
Additional shooting also will take
place at a berth still to be selected.
James Goldstone is directing the costume
adventure drama set in 1718 against backgrounds
of Kingston, Jamaica and the
Caribbean. Elliott Kastner is the producer
and Jennings Lang is executive producer.
Burton Miller has been signed to design the
lavish period costumes.
Frankovich and Self Start
'From Noon Till Three'
"From Noon Till Three," starring Charles
Bronson and Jill Ireland, is being produced
by M.J. Frankovich and William Self for
United Artists release. Filming is now under
way in California. Pulitzer Prize-winner
author Frank D. Gilroy is directing from
his original screenplay. Gilroy is the author
of "The Subject Was Roses," which won
the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for drama. "From
Noon Till Three," a western with an unusual
twist, is the second successive film for UA
by Bronson and his actress wife Jill Ireland.
They recently completed "Breakheart
Pass," on which Elliott Kastner was the
executive producer and Jerry Gershwin the
producer . . . James Clavel has been set to
write, produce and direct two full-length features,
"Richard Sahib" to be filmed in India,
and "Naked Country," based on the novel
by Morris West, to be filmed in Australia.
Eileen Brerman, Jas. Murtaugh,
David Arkin Among Castings
Eileen Brennan has been cast in "Murder
by Death," produced by Ray Stark for
Columbia and starring Peter Falk and David
Niven . . . James Murtaugh will portray the
Library of Congress librarian: John Randolph
will be former U. S. Atty. Gen. John
Mitchell, and Richard Herd will play James
McCord, security officer for the Committee
to Re-elect the President, in Warners' "All
the President's Men." David Arkin has been
signed to portray Washington Post police
reporter Eugene Bachinski—Cara Duff-Mc-
Cormick has been assigned to the role of
Jane Monahan . . . Casting for principal
roles in the Reader's Digest production of
"Sarah," which will star Glenda Jackson as
Sarah Bernhardt, is under way in London
with producer Helen Strauss participating.
10 August 11, 1975