The Elephant to Hollywood
Page 34
My Own Favourite Movies
I can’t help being aware of the image I have in the media as a movie icon, not that Shakira allows me to get away with any icon-ish behaviour, as I’ve said. She’s right of course, but I also know that I have made some films that mean a lot to other people – and they are important to me, too. I can’t do a Top Ten of my own movies: it’s got to be a Top Thirteen, because there is something about each one of these that means a lot. I’ve never been superstitious about the number thirteen; my passport number for years was 13 13 13 – and that got me safely to plenty of places – so here they are, in the order in which I made them, and here’s why they matter to me.
Zulu – my first big break. A wonderful introduction to the world of the movies and the first film in which I had a substantial part.
The Ipcress File – this was the first movie in which my name was ‘above the title’. Harry Salzman decided to do this even though it was not in my contract. When I asked him why, he said: ‘If I don’t think you’re a star, who the hell else will?’
Alfie – the biggest movie of my career to this point and the first movie of mine that was not only a success in the UK but also got a US release. It was also my first nomination for an Academy Award . . .
Sleuth – the hardest and the best work I had done up until then. It was a two-handed show and the other hand was Lord Olivier, the greatest actor in the world. I was the greatest actor from the Elephant and Castle.
The Man Who Would be King – a movie co-starring Sean Connery, my great and long time friend, directed by John Huston, my great and long time idol, in which I played the part intended for Humphrey Bogart, my great and long time inspiration . . . As the line in the movie went: ‘we were not little men.’
The Italian Job – written for me by my friend Troy Kennedy Martin, shot in Italy, co-starring Noël Coward – enough said . . .
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – the funniest film I ever made – and the happiest.
Get Carter – based on people I knew in my earlier life (not that they ever found out), this was made partly as a protest against the pornography of violence. And it’s about honour, which was every bit as important where I came from as it was for the British aristocracy or the Sicilian Mafia.
The Quiet American – I really feel that this is among my best work. The character I played is the least like me of any characters I have played – but you’d never know . . .
Educating Rita – like The Quiet American, I was playing another character I had little in common with – and I got an Academy Award nomination for them both.
Hannah and Her Sisters – I was working with Woody Allen, one of my favourite directors, in New York, one of my favourite places. Oh – and I got an Oscar.
The Cider House Rules – perhaps this character was even less like me – but I got my second Academy Award.
Harry Brown – a beautifully made film by the young first time director Daniel Barber. It was shot on my home patch and shocked me when I discovered just how bleak it had become.
Picture Acknowledgements
Author’s collection, with thanks to family and friends: 1, 2, 3, 4, 12, 19 below, 21 below, 22 below, 28, 29 above, 31 below, 32 above and middle. BBC Photo Library: 5 above and below. BridgeClimb Sydney: 28 below. Camera Press/Keystone France: 11 below.
Corbis: 17 middle/Christian Simonpietri, 19 middle/Albane Navizet, 25 above/Sam Mircovich, 26 below/Fred Prouser. Jillian Edelstein/Camera Press London: 27 above. Getty Images: 6 below, 7 middle, 15 below/Lichfield, 18 above/Terry O’Neill, 19 above, 30 above, 31 above, 32 below. Ronald Grant Archive: 9 below/Otto Preminger Films, 10 below/Lowndes Productions, 14 middle/Palomar Pictures, 15 middle/Allied Artists, 21 above/21st Century Film Corp, 30 below/Sony Pictures Classics. Courtesy of Dorrit Grimsson: 28 above.
Kobal Collection: 5 middle/Diamond Films, 7 below /Universal, 11 middle/Cinerama, 14 below/MGM, 15 above/Allied Artists, 16 above/Dial/Meric-Matalon, 16 middle/Columbia, 17 above/Filmways, 17 below/Warner Bros/Louis Goldman, 18 middle/Orion/Bob Penn, 22 above/Blood & Wine Prods, 24 middle/Castle Rock/Fortis/Ron Batzdorff.
NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images: 24 below. Courtesy of Terry O’Neill: 29 below. Press Association Images: 8 above, 13 below, 14 above/AP Photo/Bob Dear, 24 above/Michael Stephens, 25 below/Fiona Hanson. Rex Features/Everett Collection: 7 above, 9 above, 13 above, 20 below. Rex Features: 6 above/ITV, 8 below/ITV, 10 above and middle/Snap, 11 above/Globe, 16 below/Snap, 23 above/Karen Davis, 23 below/Richard Young, 27 middle/Tim Rooke, 27 below/Richard Young.
Reuters: 22 middle/Mike Hutchings, 26 above. TopFoto: 18 below/PA, 20 above/UPPA.
Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders, but if there are any errors or omissions, Hodder & Stoughton will be pleased to insert the appropriate acknowledgement in any subsequent edition.