In Memoriam
Peter Yates: The End?
Remembering the great director of Bullitt and Breaking Away — and the movie deal he didn’t close.
The passing of transatlantic film director Peter Yates teleported me back to a surreal time when one word from him — even a nod — might have jump started what I hoped to be my brilliant career as an A-List Hollywood producer. As the poet said (Damon Runyon actually), “A Story Goes With It.”
This one begins in the late 1960s on the wrong end of Sunset Boulevard at the then down-at-heels Chateau Marmont Hotel. (Think Barton Fink.) And in the pre-Balasz lobby of that legendary Old Hollywood landmark, I ran into The Sweet Smell of Success director Sandy (Alexander) MacKendrick who introduced me to his fellow Brit, Peter Yates. (“Brit” because no Glaswegian — like Sandy — would ever choose to be taken for a Sassenach — like Peter.)
With his first American film Bullitt both a box office and critical smash (and which made Steve McQueen a marquee name) Yates looked to be a pre-Cameron “King of the world.” Witness his films that followed: John and Mary, an insider’s peek at a new New York social phenomenon. Then Friends of Eddie Coyle, the dissection of Boston’s Irish mob. And who can forget Breaking Away, the ultimate dramedy of Town & Gown conflict in the American Heartland.
Circumstances for me were a little different. Awhile back I had persecuted Walker Percy into virtually giving me Rights to his novel The Moviegoer. But after that, per my attempts to put together a “package,” I was getting nowhere in La La Land.
Even industry vets trying to help (Ralph Meeker, Sam Peckinpah) felt constrained to tell me that what I knew about Hollywood could fit on the head of a pin. So I was about ready to abort the mission and get back to documentaries: a medium I understood; and one in which I had enjoyed some success.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, stood TheManWho could “make it happen.” This because his “character & auto-centric” Bullitt had turned the musty old police procedural on its tin ear; and whose San Francisco car chase elevated a Keystone Kops standby to the shape of things to come.
More importantly, in a town where Money Talks, Bullitt had upped only yesterday’s “Peter WHO?” to the stratosphere of “BANK-able director.” There was even talk that Yates might score that elusive Hollywood Holy Grail: a “3PD+CC4DD” (Three Picture Deal with pre-approved Budget; plus Control on Domestic Distribution).
Moreover, in a place where “Nobody reads,” Yates — intrigued by The Moviegoer’s title, had actually read — and liked — the novel. Thinking Eureka, much to Sandy’s embarrassment, I pounced: “Mr. Yates, I own Rights to THE MOVIEGOER (a slight résumé inflation since all Walker would part with was an Option) and I want YOU to direct.” Then the audio: sound of one hand clapping. Echoing the Author’s own gloomy assessment, Yates pronounced Percy’s masterpiece “un-filmable,” a new word on me, one I immediately detested. So much for instant gratification. So I stormed out. After all, what did he know?
Cut to noon of the following day. INT: the late, lamented Cock & Bull on Sunset. Ambiance at this popular watering hole for Tinsel Town Brits (whose lunch bunch resembled a casting call for UK ex-pats for the film version of Evelyn Waugh’s Hollywood novel The Loved One) fell somewhere between early Fleet Street and late Saint James’s Square. And there he was. Again. Peter Yates. This time with another Englishman, Philip Leacock, whose TV western Gunsmoke had struck Hollywood gold. Taking this incredible encore for serendipity, and quickly apologizing for yesterday’s huffy departure from the Chateau, I volleyed with: “Mr. Yates, I REALLY want YOU to direct THE MOVIEGOER.”
They say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Well Q.E.D. Because Yates’s response was “Don’t be a loon, old boy. Terrific book and that but no film there. All ‘Interior Monologue.’ Won’t work on screen. But do call me ‘Peter.’”
And as far as The Moviegoer went, that was that. Learning that I lived in Manhattan, he talked of his explorations in a New York “singles bar,” mise en scène of John and Mary.
This detour into pop sociology in the guise of romantic comedy featured the famous Mia Farrow/Dustin Hoffman “hookup” (long before that dreadful word wormed its way into the language).
After that we stayed in touch to some extent — usually when he was on location in New York. (Piffle like The Hot Rock; meatier fare like Eyewitness. But our best visit was in Boston where Yates had cast my old drinking buddy Bob Mitchum in Friends of Eddie Coyle’s title role. Following Bullitt, this brilliant noir (far and away superior to Martin Scorsese’s better known but way over-hyped The Departed) represents the second part of Peter Yates’s American triptych — with his matchless Breaking Away obviously the third panel. With these extraordinary films, he validated his claim to explicator of our culture. Nobody but nobody (native or foreign born) ever “got” America better than this Englishman abroad.
All of which calls into question the lack of respect and/or appreciation for Yates among cinéastes — a fact which bothered his friends more than himself. (He called this lot “Cine-asses.”) Despite placing #81 in a recent IMDB list of “The 250 Greatest Directors,” Yates commands little respect. Most damaging was the quote from David Thomson whose indelible charge that Yates had “done nothing more profound than send hubcaps careering around corners” appeared in most of the obits. And in view of the renown of its perp, this lethal quote will no doubt continue to resonate at collegiate film schools.
So those still smarting at this cavalier take might do well to recall Some Like It Hot’s Joe E. Brown’s parting shot: “Nobody’s perfect”; and that even the best (like Thomson) can miss by a country mile. Check his praise for The Long Goodbye, Robert Altman’s travesty of Raymond Chandler: notably, his “star-casting” of Elliott Gould (by all accounts a fine fellow and quite good in other roles like Big Greenie in Warren Beatty’s Bugsy). No offense, but frankly, Elliott Gould is to Philip Marlowe as Adam Sandler is to Longfellow Deeds.
PCC| 2.11.11 @ 8:21AM
Dear Mr. Parmentel,
Mr. Yates introduced you to the word "unfilmable".
I'd like to introduce you to another word: "unreadable".
DeesBull| 2.11.11 @ 12:06PM
And I thought it was just me that couldn't understand half of what he wrote.
DeesBull| 2.11.11 @ 12:37PM
Please forgive my bad grammar. Must have caught it from the article. I promise to do better next time.
WRTolkas| 2.11.11 @ 11:35PM
Dear DeesBull,
Thank you for the clarification I desperately needed after reading this article. I can not understand what I just read. This doesn't happen often and never with The American Spectator. My personal opinion of La La Land and Hollywood is the less read and seen the better.
Steve A| 2.11.11 @ 12:44PM
PCC, Too funny. I (reference to myself in "Italics") find ("Discover;" with no immediate reference to the Discovery Channel or the guy who went nuts & shot people over there) Mr. Parmentel's piece to be a headache inducing mess as well.
Silver Streake| 2.11.11 @ 8:43AM
Noel, Yates' directed "The Friends of Eddie Coyle", not "Doyle". We Boston Irish are very protective of our names and gangsters!
Eddie Doyle was the bartender at the Hampshire House on Beacon Street in Boston. Few people know where the Hampshire House is (or was) but if you say "Cheers" then everyone knows the bar. Doyle was the basis for the Sam Malone character in the TV series of the same name.
As far as I know, Eddie Doyle never robbed a bank or boosted a truck load of good as the fictional Eddie Coyle did.
PCC| 2.11.11 @ 4:28PM
The Bull & Finch. A good bar.
PCP Smoker| 2.11.11 @ 6:59PM
He did get caught driving a truck with about 200 cases of Canadian Club, and he would not "play ball" with the prosecutor in New Hampshire but as Eddie stated, "he did not know that man from Adam. He was minding his own business when the man asked him to drive a truck".
However, Eddie never robbed banks. Not his line of work. He did get guns for the "man" from Jackie Brown.
Lovely gritty movie. The hardest scene to watch is when Dillon puts a 22 to the base of Coyle's head.
W| 2.11.11 @ 8:37PM
the book by george v. higgins, a former prosecutor, is great. try Kennedy for the Defense, about a boston criminal lawyer
Doctor Right| 2.11.11 @ 9:57AM
"Breaking Away" is one of the most under-rated films of all time, and one of my absolute favorites.
KyMouse| 2.14.11 @ 12:21PM
The day I spent as a paid extra ($25) in "Breaking Away," on the Indiana University campus, has remained with me long after I've forgotten what I learned in my IU classes. I cut school to be among the hundreds of kids at the stadium in which the Little 500 bike race was re-staged for the film.
I took lots of photos of the action and the stars, such as when Dennis Christopher was having fake blood painted on his leg. A friend took photos of me with Paul Dooley and Jackie Earle Haley, both of whom were very nice and had plenty of time to chat between scenes. The crew showed some of us the storyboards and let us look through their gigantic cameras.
At one time I thought I saw myself in a gigantic shot of the infield crowd, but now I think that I didn't make it out of the cutting room. However, I still have a photocopy of my check as proof that I was involved.
I will always treasure the words Mr. Yates said to me -- "Lady with a camera! Get down!" I'm thinking of that carved on my tombstone.
Bill| 2.11.11 @ 10:20AM
Steve McQueen was a top actor long before Bullitt. He was one the major actors in The Great Escape, several years earlier.
Bill| 2.11.11 @ 10:29AM
One other thing: I agree that Peter Yates was a great director, but let's acknowledge that a lot of his movies are long (and in many cases, rightfully) forgotten or fading. The Friends of Eddie Coyle was a good movie, but let's face it, who's watching it these days? How often does it appear in film festivals or on TV?
Robbery was a great flick, but come on, Mother, Jugs and Speed? The Deep? Krull?
And what's with the suggestion that Yates do a re-make of The Ruling Class? Thank God that never took shape as a project.
gearjammer| 2.11.11 @ 12:04PM
Coyle will endure. There are always people who know better-the crashing waves of the raging popular culture can't destroy everything in a nation of free men. Now, if Glenn Beck is right and the Caliphate encompasses the entire globe, well then it and everything is gone.
Occam's Tool| 2.11.11 @ 12:27PM
"Krull?' That's MST3K fare, old boy.
ConantheContrarian| 2.11.11 @ 1:02PM
Krull was horrible. The plot was mind-numbingly stupid.
radiodaddy| 2.11.11 @ 2:52PM
Alas, the Biograph in Georgetown has been dead and buried for a decade and a half - like the MacArthur Theatre (where I, along with a full house of other aghast Trekkers, saw the world premiere of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" in 1979) turned into a discount drug store.
Still remember forking over my couple of dollars at the Biograph box office and getting a subway token in lieu of a ticket. Now I feel old.
Bill| 2.14.11 @ 3:27PM
Theater 80 St. Mark's has probably gone too.
froglegs| 2.11.11 @ 4:40PM
I don't get it. What is the point of this article? I am a retired research scientist and we use to make a whole lot more sense in our shop talk than this gibberish.
All I agree with from what little I understand here is that Breaking Away IMHO was a good, not great movie and John and Mary was a piece of excrement. Bullitt had way too many scenes of the same car being crashed IMHO but otherwise the movie inspired Bill Cosby to do a very very funny album called 180 MPH or whatever I believe.
Stormzeye| 2.11.11 @ 8:26PM
The Friends of Eddie Coyle was the best of the modern noir films. He got the Boston gangster patois down perfectly as well as "the life". Bullitt of course was fantastic. Steve McQueen was the definition of "cool". He was great in The Sand Pebbles.
Bee Free| 2.11.11 @ 10:09PM
----AH, for when adult film didn't mean soft-porn.
BTW ---as Hollywood heavily programs us with
'eugenics friendly' themes as the day of the 'RED Chinese model' swiftly approaches, where are
our once so promising Boomer generation?
Scorsese, DePalma, Coppola, Stone ---each one
unbelievably rutted and dead in the water at a moment of unparallelled sellout, treason,
moral and cultural collapse.
Truly this 'cutting edge' is so sold out and creatively
bankrupt they couldn't cut a stick of butter.
Paul McGrath| 2.11.11 @ 11:17PM
The Dresser was good. Your article is incomprehensible.
Paul McGrath| 2.11.11 @ 11:39PM
And if you wish to use a parenthesis, you better BY WELL BLOODY GOD, remember to end your comment with one. When you don't, your reader gets lost because he is waiting for the end of the parenthesis and when it doesn't appear he has to go back and try to figure out where it should have been and then gets angry and decides that the person who is writing the article maybe isn't worth the time anyway.
Bob K.| 2.12.11 @ 12:07AM
A suggestion here, Mr. Parmentel, if you please?
When you finish assembling that collection of your essays please review them for any rewriting they might need.
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.| 2.12.11 @ 10:10AM
For what is worth, in our print version's Continuing Crisis I note that the victorious team in Breaking Away was not composed of stone-cutting Townies but of Indiana University swimmers, two of whom have served on the magazine's Board of Directors. They were not from the underclass but upper-class, note their love of opera and tony dress.
Tesich had this thing for the lower orders, just as he had the upper-class's tastes.
ret
skip| 2.12.11 @ 3:14PM
Thank you for your significant contribution to Conservatism.
I saw you on Book TV this morning.
Anti-capital punishment?
Conscious refusal to discuss God and Christianity and thereby avoid offending the often virulently offensive anti-God and anti-Christian atheist Hitchens?
I am sure you had ulterior motives for these statements.
But, respectfully, you have alarmed me, sir.
When an individual has taken an innocent individual's life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness that individual has forfeited his own life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. There is little to poor justification for the huge monetary expense of rehabilitaton and life imprisonment, and the deterrence factor of consistent application of capital punishment can prevent untold future misery and suffering of innocent victims.
What favor is done on behalf of Hitchens by avoiding topics critical to his eternal well being while it is not too late?
Taxpayer| 2.14.11 @ 12:08AM
Yep, a bunch of rich kids in a bike race isn't very dramatic. Teisch was smart to make the underdogs locals.
College towns (still) have a caste system that is rather pathetic. Indiana University is no exception.
Roscoe| 2.12.11 @ 5:01PM
Anybody even partially responsible for the opening sequence of The Deep, with the gorgeous Ms. Bisset diving in white t-shirt, can't be all wrong.
John II| 2.12.11 @ 8:52PM
In defense of Mr. Parmentel, who's taken quite a beating on this thread, I'd like to point out that he's exactly right on the most important point. If "A Separate Peace" is filmable, so is "The Moviegoer."
Hell, the Brits made a terrific 11-hour miniseries out of the unfilmable "Brideshead Revisited." It's not just Yates. It's something about Brit filmmakers. When they put their minds to it, they really CAN do anything.
And now back to "Kind Hearts and Coronets" (1949), possibly the greatest comedy ever filmed, but in any event, the only flick I've ever seen more than 10 times.
ConantheContrarian| 2.13.11 @ 2:55PM
Kind Hearts and Coronets was a great movie. I've only seen it six or seven times, though. Zulu I've seen at least ten times.
Noel E. PARMENTEL Jr.| 2.13.11 @ 3:42PM
Dear John II=
Thanks for the few kind words. Nice to know that
"SOMEbody Up There Likes Me". Because I have not taken such a pounding since TheNATION actually ran my tribute to old friend PatRobertson
(in my view, far more sinned agin than sinning).
re: those COMMENT-taters, I have to concede
that some are on target. My"PeterYates:TheEnd?"
could've used a rewrite. Maybe two. In any case, my efforts rarely do well in the peanut gallery.
Philadelphia INQUIRER columnist Tom Fox used to dine out on then Philly Mayor Franks Rizzo's critique as follows: "Jeez, I love Noel but I can't read him." When Tom asked "Why Not?", Hizzoner replied "Cause he writes in LATIN".
All the Best. s/Noel E. PARMENTEL Jr *
(*"who's taken quite a beating on this thread"
Taxpayer| 2.14.11 @ 12:10AM
And your post is less readable than your article.
PCC| 2.13.11 @ 6:42PM
A nice riposte, Mr. Parmentel. Now you've made me feel guilty for my critical remarks. Godspeed.
Taxpayer| 2.14.11 @ 12:11AM
I agree with the other folks on this thread. Between the flood of name-dropping and random commentary, this article would get a D in my English course.
PCC| 2.14.11 @ 5:55AM
Dear Mr. Taxpayer,
Thank you. Now I feel better.
Reebok | 8.11.11 @ 3:50AM
is good
العاب | 4.11.12 @ 4:28PM
thank you