Did you get involved with the episode in any way?
Oh, yeah. In fact, I sat around and actually wrote endings for all the sketches. Saturday Night Live had some funny sketches, but they usually didn’t have an ending and could meander. The writers didn’t always find a way to get out of them. So, I sat down and wrote all the endings for the different sketches and gave them to the associate producer, Jean Doumanian. Jean informed the writing staff that she had written the endings. She told me that if she had indicated that I had written them, the staff would have been very upset. The writers were very protective of their work and their noses would be put out of joint if they knew I’d written the stuff. They actually did use most of my material on the show and it was great being around comics like Belushi, Aykroyd, and Murray. I do remember that the last sketch of the show featured Crawford playing Hoover and Aykroyd playing Nixon. Hoover is in his bedroom at night when Nixon breaks in. At the very end of the sketch, I put in a moment where Hoover climbs into bed and pulls a teddy bear out from under the covers. He then wraps his arms around it, closes his eyes and says, “Goodnight, Clyde.”
Wasn’t there a danger that such a joke was endorsing one of the myths about Hoover that you profess to reject?
Well, yeah, I guess so, but if you want to get a laugh sometimes you have to descend into the depths of bad taste!
On October 29th, 2011, you published a memo on your website, which criticized Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar for its perceived inaccuracies. Having reiterated some of them here, it’s safe to assume you have no regrets about doing that.
None whatsoever. J. Edgar was just an awful movie, a terrible smear on a man’s life and reputation. The guy who wrote that screenplay was a perfectly nice gay fellow [15], but he just wrote the gay man’s version of J. Edgar Hoover, that’s all. He had no real information at his disposal, so he just made it all up. None of that stuff ever happened. None of those scenes ever occurred in reality. Everything in that picture is his fantasy. If you want to see a gay man’s fantasy of Hoover, then J. Edgar is the movie for you because that’s exactly what it is. I actually tried to contact Clint Eastwood, whom I’d worked with years before on a project called The Hostiles. For two years in a row, Clint had optioned that script, which we hoped to do with John Wayne. Clint and I had worked together so nicely I thought he would be open to discussing his Hoover project with me. I talked to his producer, but Clint would never agree to meet with me. I did get a chance to read the first draft of the J. Edgar script and sent him some notes on it. They told me they were going to make some adjustments, but naturally, they didn’t. They just shot the first draft — shot everything that I’d told them was all wrong. Of course, I had no right to tell them what to do and I wasn’t trying to. I was simply trying to offer them some advice and additional information that they might have been able to incorporate into the picture. This was mostly regarding the revelations that had come out over the years, particularly the Deep Throat thing and the copying of the Nixon tapes. I thought that would have made some interesting news for Clint’s movie, but instead nobody would talk to me about it.
Would you agree that if we laboured to identify the glaring factual errors in most Hollywood biographies, it would be a long and illustrious list?
I don’t think I have the years left me to undertake such a task! Hollywood has a wonderful way of establishing falsehoods and inaccuracies about history. These falsehoods are continually perpetuated and then become accepted as truths by some members of the audience who don’t know any different. Quentin Tarantino and I were once having drinks together and discussing his movie, Inglorious Basterds. I said, “Quentin, fifteen years from now, kids are going to be telling each other that Adolf Hitler was killed in a movie theater in Paris by a bunch of Jewish guerrillas.” Seriously, that is what people are going to believe because they know so little about history. The kids of today have no background knowledge at all about the events that have shaped this nation and other nations. In fact, they don’t want to know anything about history. Some of them have never heard of the Korean War and — if we’re lucky — they may have heard about World War II. I’ve met kids who don’t know anything about Vietnam either, or any other historical subject of value and importance. I’m sure that a great deal of them believed everything they saw in Inglorious Basterds and that Hitler did indeed meet his end in those crazy circumstances.
You’ve listed your problems with J. Edgar, but what do you think are the deficiencies in your movie?
Well, I wish we’d had a little more money. I wish we’d been able to have a little more production, but what we sacrificed in terms of production values we more than compensated for with integrity and accuracy. We told the story as it really was — the true story. In fact, I consider The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover to be the definitive movie about Hoover. It is utterly superfluous that Clint Eastwood’s picture probably cost twenty-five times as much. The fact of the matter is we made the best picture about Hoover and Broderick Crawford is the best on-screen Hoover there’s ever been, and probably ever will be. I’m extremely proud of the film and of the reviews we got over in England. I only wish we had gotten that same kind of positive attention in America. I mean, some American critics said it was the best FBI movie ever made, and Robin Wood also stated that it was the best political film ever made. Again, not a lot of people saw The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover, and it doesn’t play on television or cable that much. However, it is out on DVD, and pictures do have a way of being rediscovered by audiences. I thought that when Clint’s movie came out, it would renew interest in my film, but J. Edgar was so badly received critically, and did so poorly at the box office, it didn’t do anything for my picture either.
Hoover’s career stretches over so many defining passages of twentieth century America from Prohibition, World War II, McCarthyism and anti-communism, to the Kennedy assassinations, the Civil Rights movement, and Vietnam. But what is the current attitude towards Hoover in America? How is he seen?
I don’t think he is seen at all. There isn’t much talk about Hoover anymore. He only seems to reside in the past as some relic. Back in the 1940s, ‘50s and 60s, even well into the 1970s, Hoover symbolised something significant for the American people. If you mentioned his name or showed someone a photograph of him, everybody knew exactly who he was: the unmistakable bulldog face, the tough grizzled manner, the crisp suit, all that stuff. Today, the whole FBI has been so diluted that there is no personal image to the Bureau anymore. Hoover was the image of the FBI, but nowadays you don’t even know who the FBI director is and you couldn’t care less. There’s none of that singular personification of the Bureau in any one individual. The FBI is as faceless as most organizations are. So, I don’t believe that anyone is currently thinking about Hoover. I don’t think anybody went to see Clint’s picture, because nobody was interested anymore, certainly not in their tired depiction of him as some sort of sissy. That portrayal bears no resemblance to Hoover’s true character.
Do you think you judged Hoover evenly in your film?
I think we gave him a fair shake. You know, in our everyday dealings with people, we rarely encounter somebody who is either totally good or totally evil. I’m sure there are such individuals in the world, but they are rare. Most human beings are a mixture of both good and bad. Sometimes we perform generous deeds and sometimes we commit hideous acts. The idea with The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover was to tell both sides of the story and try to be completely objective about everything, as much as you can be objective when you’re making a movie. I wanted to explore that conflict and show Hoover’s good side and bad side. During his administration, Hoover was a tough guy who inflicted a considerable amount of pain and damage on a lot of people, but he also did a lot of good, too. He succeeded in keeping the FBI free from the politicians and took pains to remove the Bureau from any political influence or affiliation. It was important to him that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans assumed control of his organizatio
n. So, he was tough on the Right and the Left. He was tough on the Civil Rights Movement and the Ku Klux Klan. He was tough on all the various elements and factions that he considered threats to America. Hoover may have been misguided — and perhaps even callous — in many cases, but his intentions were mostly to protect his country. That’s what I strived to show in the movie.
Over the course of researching, writing, and shooting The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover, did your feelings towards the man change in any way?
This is my own feeling on Hoover: what it all boiled down to in the end was that he was merely a frail old man trying to hold onto his job. You can easily get under the skin of a person like that and understand their fears and desires. I think a character like that ultimately becomes a tragic figure. In fact, anybody who starts a company and builds it up into a great success can relate to a situation where they eventually have to deal with the stockholders or new people coming in, trying to take over and kick you out. That scenario has happened to so many people in various fields and organizations. It happened in the movie business to moguls like Louis B. Meyer at MGM and Darryl F. Zanuck at 20th Century Fox. Almost everybody who founded these movie companies in Hollywood ended up getting deposed and removed from the very studio they had more or less given birth to. It was the same story with Hoover as old age and poor health eventually claimed him, as it does each of us. When you consider that this man single-handedly built the FBI up into this powerful and influential force — from nothing — it really is quite some achievement. But then, finally, Hoover had to deal with the knowledge that he’d reached the end of the road. He knew that certain people were trying to take it all away from him and that his power was dwindling. When you consider all that, it becomes very easy to sympathise with him and his vulnerabilities and fallibilities. This is what makes us human and it’s what made Hoover human, too.
Little Lawrence G. Cohen as a toddler in Washington Hiegths. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen poses pensively on his trike. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
A teenage Cohen emcees a variety show at City College in 1957 during his stint as a standup comedian. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen out on the town with his first wife, Janelle Webb Cohen, mother of his daughters Jill and Melissa. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen makes two new friends on the set of “False Face,” his classic episode of Way Out. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
A twenty-year-old Cohen confers with Henry Youngman during the shooting of “The Golden Thirty.” Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen chats with Sydney Pollack on the set of The Defenders episode “Kill or Be Killed” in 1963. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen on location in Utah with Chuck Connors during the making of Branded. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen discusses his teleplay with actor Robert Goulet and producer Buck Houghton on the set of Blue Light. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Yaphet Kotto, Joyce Van Patten and Andrew Duggan enact the class struggle in Beverly Hills in Cohen’s controversial debut film Bone. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
The next Mike Nichols? Cinematographer George Folsey, Sr. discusses camera angles with Cohen during the shooting of Bone. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Dangerous dudes with ‘tude: Cohen and the gangsters of Black Caesar. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen directs the poolside massacre sequence in Black Caesar, lensed at his own home in Coldwater Canyon. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen, shortly after demonstrating to Fred Williamson the proper way to execute a dangerous stunt in a coal yard. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen lines up a shot on location for It’s Alive. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
“Pure id without any restrictions”: The Davis Monster from It’s Alive. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen and actress Sharon Farrell spend some quality time with The Davis Monster on the set of It’s Alive. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Bernard Herrmann talks with Cohen during the scoring sessions for It’s Alive at Cripplegate Church, London. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Janelle Webb Cohen, Larry Cohen, and Bernard Hermann share a joke despite the biting cold at Cripplegate Church. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen and Janelle enjoying the fruits of their success whilst on vacation in Capri, Italy, on August 16, 1974. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
God and monster: Richard Lynch as the messianic hermaphrodite alien of God Told Me To. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Deborah Raffin, Tony Lo Bianco, and Cohen during the shooting of God Told Me To. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen directs Sylvia Sydney on the set of God Told Me To, as cinematographer Paul Glickman looks on. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
“The best Hoover there’s ever been in movies”: The imperious Broderick Crawford as the legendary FBI Director in The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Broderick Crawford consults with Cohen on the set of The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen prepares a scene with Broderick Crawford for The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen on location for The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen with Miklós Rózsa, as the composer conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra during the scoring sessions for The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen directing from a crane during the filming of It Lives Again. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
A rare photograph of the werewolf mask, fibreglass under-skull, feet, and claws created by makeup artist Steve Neill for Full Moon High. Photo courtesy of Steve Neill
Cohen encourages Alan Arkin to ham it up as they rehearse a scene for Full Moon High. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Laurene Landon in a promotional shot from the 1980s. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen with Richard Roundtree, David Carradine, and Michael Moriarty on the set of Q — The Winged Serpent. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Laurene Landon as Velda on the set of I, the Jury in 1981. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen attempts to get Michael Moriarty into the spirit of things during the making of Q — The Winged Serpent. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen reviews his script with Michael Moriarty and David Carradine on the set of Q — The Winged Serpent. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
Cohen directs an unsettled David Carradine on the set of Q — The Winged Serpent. Photo courtesy of Larry Cohen.
It Lives Again (1978)
Do you think the spectacular commercial success of It’s Alive meant there was a certain inevitability to the siring of a sequel in the form of It Lives Again?
Oh, absolutely. Well, that’s the movie business. That’s what a successful picture does: it breeds and multiplies! [Chuckles] When It’s Alive came out and was a huge hit, and was sitting at #1 in the box office charts and making a fortune, Warner Bros. immediately came to me and said they wanted a sequel. I agreed to do one and I went away and wrote the script. The studio then gave me the go-ahead to make It Lives Again, and we started shooting the picture right away. So, it all happened very fast and I had no reservations about doing a sequel to It’s Alive. I wasn’t concerned in any way about the possibility of doing some damage to the original. I was happy to be making another movie and thought I could do a little variation on It’s Alive. I wanted to create something interesting that held an equal amount of dramatic weight as the first picture, and also had some social commentary and metaphorical value.
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