By Erin Free
FilmInk salutes the work of creatives who have never truly received the credit that they deserve. In this installment: director James Fargo, who helmed The Enforcer, Every Which Way But Loose, Caravans and Forced Vengeance.
95-year-old Clint Eastwood is one of the true titans of Hollywood, a producer, actor and director who has built a stellar career on doing things his way. He paved the way for other actors turned directors in the 1970s, and has a long list of bona fide classics on his resume as both an actor (Dirty Harry, the Dollars trilogy) and director (The Outlaw Josey Wales, Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River) that place him well within the firmament of American art and culture. Clint Eastwood also has a large group of creatives and collaborators that have thrived happily within his near-independent cinematic community: editor Joel Cox, cinematographers Bruce Surtees, Tom Stern and Jack N. Green, composer Lennie Niehaus, executive producer David Valdes, production designer Henry Bumstead, biographer Richard Schickel, and more. All have impressive resumes, but most of these gifted creatives have done their best work with Clint Eastwood.
Clint Eastwood has also been a great facilitator and supporter of talent, promoting a handful of his collaborators into the director’s chair, though often under his strict produceorial tutelage and guidance. Buddy Van Horn went from stunt coordinator to director on Any Which You Can (1980), The Dead Pool (1988) and Pink Cadillac (1989); Richard Tuggle went from writing Escape From Alcatraz (1979) to writing and directing the infamous Eastwood dark horse Tightrope (1984); and producer Robert Lorenz moved into directing with Trouble With The Curve (2012). Eastwood also took an uncredited role as producer on Rails & Ties, the very impressive 2007 directorial debut of his daughter, Alison Eastwood, on which the Hollywood legend’s stylistic influence can be keenly felt.
Another director who flourished under the watchful eye of Clint Eastwood is the decidedly under-celebrated James Fargo, who boasts a career resume dotted with unusual works united by a keen sense of movement and fast pacing. Born in 1938 in Washington, James Fargo began his career as an assistant director on films including The Lost Man (1969), Raid On Rommel (1971), The Andromeda Strain (1971) and Steven Spielberg’s telemovie masterpiece Duel (1971). Fargo first met leading man Clint Eastwood as the assistant director on John Sturges’ 1972 western Joe Kidd, and then worked in that role on the actor/director’s films High Plains Drifter (1973), Breezy (1973), The Eiger Sanction (1975) and The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976).
As he did with some of his other collaborators, Eastwood eased James Fargo into the director’s chair when his own busy schedule didn’t allow him to helm a feature that he’d originally intended to. In Fargo’s case, that film was what would eventually become 1976’s The Enforcer, the third film to feature San Francisco cop Inspector Harry Callahan, after Dirty Harry (1971) and Magnum Force (1973). At a time when urban crime was on the rise, “Dirty” Harry Callahan was like a piece of wish fulfillment for the American audience. Armed with his massive .44 Magnum handgun, and a spectacular disregard for petty things like by-the-book police procedures and respect for authority, Callahan has a distinctly Old West approach to enforcing the law. The first two films were hugely successful, and Clint Eastwood succeeded in making Harry Callahan a truly indelible character.
After his bitter quarrels with director and Unsung Auteur Ted Post on the set of Magnum Force, it was Eastwood’s intention to direct The Enforcer himself. But with the sacking of director Philip Kaufman on The Outlaw Josey Wales, and Eastwood’s usurping of the reins on that project, the actor/director was left with insufficient time to set up The Enforcer. The Hollywood powerhouse promoted James Fargo to the position of director, and the pair enjoyed an easy working relationship on the third Dirty Harry film. How much Eastwood influenced Fargo during shooting is up for debate, but either way, The Enforcer is an absolute belter of a film, and one of the best second sequels you’ll ever see.
Exhibiting a real skill for action and pace, Fargo delivers an intense, exciting experience here, as Harry Callahan battles a bunch of ruthless terrorists, leading to an unforgettable finale on the deserted prison island of Alcatraz. But The Enforcer boasts real depth too, particularly in Harry’s relationship with his new female partner, Kate Moore, brilliantly played by Tyne Daly. Showing a strong facility for performance and drama, Fargo teases out the complexities of these two disparate figures with a real sense of grace, and the unlikely bond that forges between Harry and Kate stands as one of the true highlights of the Dirty Harry series. Though a sequel, James Fargo’s debut with The Enforcer remains an auspicious one.
When Clint Eastwood received Jeremy Joe Kronsberg’s script for the blue-collar brawler Every Which Way But Loose – the gritty but broadly comedic story of a bareknuckle fighter and his pet orangutan – everyone around the actor told him not to do it. Broad and backwoods even by Burt Reynolds’ standards, this was seen as a step down for Eastwood, but he had faith in the project, and drafted in his friend James Fargo to direct. Though the film was hated by critics (and still remains divisive amongst Eastwood fans), Every Which Way But Loose was a huge hit for the star. James Fargo got little credit for the film, but he does a fine job in managing its jolting shifts from entertainingly low-brow comedy to gritty action to romance and drama. Fargo also gets terrific performances from all involved (including Geoffrey Lewis, Bevery D’Angelo, Sondra Locke and orangutan Manis), and the film is a rollicking joy from start to finish.
After Every Which Way But Loose, Fargo lit out on his own, and quickly proved his directorial skills with three major projects. Fargo provided the requisite sweep and sense of drama to 1978’s Caravans (a wide-canvas adventure based on James A. Michener’s sprawling, Middle East-set novel); cogently balanced action and politics on 1979’s Rhodesia-set Game For Vultures with Richards Harris and Roundtree; and orchestrated a bloody ballet of violence for action man Chuck Norris on 1982’s effectively rumble-heavy Forced Vengeance. From there, Fargo moved principally into the world of episodic television, but detoured back into feature films occasionally with action B-movies like 1988’s Born To Race (a car racing flick with Joseph Bottoms), 1989’s Riding The Edge (an espionage actioner with Catherine Mary Stewart), 1998’s Second Chances (a horse-themed family film) and 2011’s Born To Ride (a nouveau biker flick with Starship Troopers alumni Casper Van Dien and Patrick Muldoon).
Though existing largely in the shadow of his friend and mentor Clint Eastwood, James Fargo is a strong director in his own right, balancing action, drama and characterisation with deft skill, and bringing a sense of style to genre filmmaking.
If you liked this story, check out our features on other unsung auteurs Jeremy Kagan, Robby Benson, Robert Hiltzik, John Carl Buechler, Rick Carter, Paul Dehn, Bob Kelljan, Kevin Connor, Ralph Nelson, William A. Graham, Judith Rascoe, Michael Pressman, Peter Carter, Leo V. Gordon, Dalene Young, Gary Nelson, Fred Walton, James Frawley, Pete Docter, Max Baer Jr., James Clavell, Ronald F. Maxwell, Frank D. Gilroy, John Hough, Dick Richards, William Girdler, Rayland Jensen, Richard T. Heffron, Christopher Jones, Earl Owensby, James Bridges, Jeff Kanew, Robert Butler, Leigh Chapman, Joe Camp, John Patrick Shanley, William Peter Blatty, Peter Clifton, Peter R. Hunt, Shaun Grant, James B. Harris, Gerald Wilson, Patricia Birch, Buzz Kulik, Kris Kristofferson, Rick Rosenthal, Kirsten Smith & Karen McCullah, Jerrold Freeman, William Dear, Anthony Harvey, Douglas Hickox, Karen Arthur, Larry Peerce, Tony Goldwyn, Brian G. Hutton, Shelley Duvall, Robert Towne, David Giler, William D. Wittliff, Tom DeSimone, Ulu Grosbard, Denis Sanders, Daryl Duke, Jack McCoy, James William Guercio, James Goldstone, Daniel Nettheim, Goran Stolevski, Jared & Jerusha Hess, William Richert, Michael Jenkins, Robert M. Young, Robert Thom, Graeme Clifford, Frank Howson, Oliver Hermanus, Jennings Lang, Matthew Saville, Sophie Hyde, John Curran, Jesse Peretz, Anthony Hayes, Stuart Blumberg, Stewart Copeland, Harriet Frank Jr & Irving Ravetch, Angelo Pizzo, John & Joyce Corrington, Robert Dillon, Irene Kamp, Albert Maltz, Nancy Dowd, Barry Michael Cooper, Gladys Hill, Walon Green, Eleanor Bergstein, William W. Norton, Helen Childress, Bill Lancaster, Lucinda Coxon, Ernest Tidyman, Shauna Cross, Troy Kennedy Martin, Kelly Marcel, Alan Sharp, Leslie Dixon, Jeremy Podeswa, Ferd & Beverly Sebastian, Anthony Page, Julie Gavras, Ted Post, Sarah Jacobson, Anton Corbijn, Gillian Robespierre, Brandon Cronenberg, Laszlo Nemes, Ayelat Menahemi, Ivan Tors, Amanda King & Fabio Cavadini, Cathy Henkel, Colin Higgins, Paul McGuigan, Rose Bosch, Dan Gilroy, Tanya Wexler, Clio Barnard, Robert Aldrich, Maya Forbes, Steven Kastrissios, Talya Lavie, Michael Rowe, Rebecca Cremona, Stephen Hopkins, Tony Bill, Sarah Gavron, Martin Davidson, Fran Rubel Kuzui, Elliot Silverstein, Liz Garbus, Victor Fleming, Barbara Peeters, Robert Benton, Lynn Shelton, Tom Gries, Randa Haines, Leslie H. Martinson, Nancy Kelly, Paul Newman, Brett Haley, Lynne Ramsay, Vernon Zimmerman, Lisa Cholodenko, Robert Greenwald, Phyllida Lloyd, Milton Katselas, Karyn Kusama, Seijun Suzuki, Albert Pyun, Cherie Nowlan, Steve Binder, Jack Cardiff, Anne Fletcher ,Bobcat Goldthwait, Donna Deitch, Frank Pierson, Ann Turner, Jerry Schatzberg, Antonia Bird, Jack Smight, Marielle Heller, James Glickenhaus, Euzhan Palcy, Bill L. Norton, Larysa Kondracki, Mel Stuart, Nanette Burstein, George Armitage, Mary Lambert, James Foley, Lewis John Carlino, Debra Granik, Taylor Sheridan, Laurie Collyer, Jay Roach, Barbara Kopple, John D. Hancock, Sara Colangelo, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Joyce Chopra, Mike Newell, Gina Prince-Bythewood, John Lee Hancock, Allison Anders, Daniel Petrie Sr., Katt Shea, Frank Perry, Amy Holden Jones, Stuart Rosenberg, Penelope Spheeris, Charles B. Pierce, Tamra Davis, Norman Taurog, Jennifer Lee, Paul Wendkos, Marisa Silver, John Mackenzie, Ida Lupino, John V. Soto, Martha Coolidge, Peter Hyams, Tim Hunter, Stephanie Rothman, Betty Thomas, John Flynn, Lizzie Borden, Lionel Jeffries, Lexi Alexander, Alkinos Tsilimidos, Stewart Raffill, Lamont Johnson, Maggie Greenwald and Tamara Jenkins.
