by Stephen Vagg
Our previous piece in this series examined Barry Spikings’ successful partnership with Michael Deeley at British Lion and EMI Films in the 1970s (you’d probably better read that first to understand this). It was so successful that it encouraged Bernard Delfont, head of EMI, to abandon the policy of Deeley and Spikings – which was basically to only make a film if they could get a fifty percent “buy in” from an American partner – and instead set up its own distribution chain in the US (Associated Film Distributors aka AFD) and tackle the Americans head on. This had been tried in the past by the Rank Organisation with disastrous results, but Delfont thought he knew better. It prompted Deeley to resign from EMI Films, leaving Spikings in charge. It also coincided with the electronics firm, Thorn, merging with EMI to create Thorn-EMI.
The money continued to roll in from The Deer Hunter, The Deep and Convoy, and EMI (or, rather, Thorn-EMI) remained keen on movies.
Spikings had now replaced Nat Cohen as the most important man in the British film industry (NB. Cohen was still around by the way, under contract… we think that Delfont probably wanted to make sure that he didn’t go somewhere else.) Deeley wrote in his memoirs, “I have no doubt that Spikings himself was entirely aware of the risks involved” for Thorn-EMI entering distribution, “but his choices were limited and he may have taken the view that he would ride his luck and try to beat the odds. At least he would be spending time in Hollywood, which is what he wanted. And even if AFD failed, surely it would take at least three or four years to fall apart?”
We’re going to group the “Barry Spikings solo act” slate at Thorn-EMI into two main groups.
The first lot came out not long after Deeley left, and it is likely Deeley helped set up some of these movies (though we’re unsure). They were:
– The Awakening (1980) An attempt at elevated horror, a Bram Stoker mummy story with Charlton Heston and director Mike Newell. The story had been filmed before as Blood from The Mummy’s Tomb.
– The Mirror Crack’d (1980) Another all-star Agatha Christie adaptation, only with Miss Marple (Angela Lansbury) instead of Poirot.
– The Elephant Man (1980) Classic, heartbreaking biopic of John Merrick from director David Lynch, produced Mel Brooks, star John Hurt etc.
– The Jazz Singer (1980) Remake of the famous story with Neil Diamond (!) and Laurence Olivier as Diamond’s dad (!!).
– Times Square (1980) From Allan Moyle about two young women in the big city. Co-produced with Australia’s own Robert Stigwood.
– Can’t Stop the Music (1980) a musical with Village People from producer Allan Carr.
On paper, this was a decent slate – some musicals with big stars (this was right after Grease), an all-star Agatha Christie, an elevated horror, an attempt at the youth market, some prestige drama. Half the films had strong British content.
However, things went wrong.
No one liked The Awakening (even horror fans, traditionally forgiving, didn’t embrace it), The Mirror Crack’d was a Marple story where Marple didn’t do much investigating (she’s injured, so her nephew, played by Edward Fox, does the bulk of heavy lifting) and was a financial disappointment; Lansbury signed to make two more Marples but they were cancelled. The Jazz Singer was a troubled production (the director Sidney Furie was replaced by Richard Fleischer), and disappointed at the box office, though the soundtrack sold well. Times Square also had a troubled production – the film was taken out of the director’s hands and much cut – but has a cult. The Elephant Man was terrific, much praised and made money. But most damaging was Can’t Stop the Music. The movie has a devoted cult but came out too late and missed the disco craze. “It was the only film I ever made just to make money,” Spikings said later, “and that is the wrong way. You have to make something because you believe in it.” (NB. The one country it made money in was Australia, where we love our kitsch.)
Incidentally, Thorn-EMI announced two films that were not made (presumably due to cost) but sound great: The Knight, a medieval epic from Ridley Scott (which sounds like a forerunner to Kingdom from Heaven) and El Diablo, a Western from John Carpenter. Walter Hill was also linked to a film called The Chinese Bandit. El Diablo was filmed for HBO in 1990, but we’re not sure how much was changed.
Thorn-EMI pressed on with its movie making decision – and in the absence of Michael Deeley, the types of movies changed. We think that the failure of Can’t Stop the Music – plus fond memories of The Deer Hunter – might have prompted Spikings to go full “only greenlight if you believe in it” mode. Because what he approved was a fascinatingly non-commercial slate:
– Honky Tonk Freeway (1981) A comedy from John Schlesinger.
– Memoirs of a Survivor (1982) Julie Christie in the post apocalypse.
– Britannia Hospital (1982) Anarchic comedy from Linsday Anderson, the last in his Mick Travis trilogy, following if… and to O Lucky Man.
– Evil Under the Sun (1982) Agatha Christie with Peter Ustinov back as Poirot.
– Frances (1982) Biopic of Frances Farmer with Jessica Lange, from Mel Brooks’ company.
– Handgun (1982) A look at guns in America directed by Ken Loach’s long-time producer Tony Garnett.
– Second Thoughts (1983) Romantic comedy with Lucy Arnaz and Craig Wasson directed by producer Lawrence Turman.
– Tender Mercies (1983) Robert Duvall in a country and western drama written by Horton Foote, directed by Bruce Beresford.
– Bad Boys (1983) Juvenile delinquent drama with Sean Penn.
– Cross Creek (1983) Biopic of the woman who wrote The Yearling with Martin Ritt and Mary Steenburgen (then coming off Melvin and Howard).
– Strange Invaders (1983) Sci-fi from Michael Laughlin, a follow-up to his Strange Invaders.
– Not for Publication (1984) Screwball comedy from Paul Bartel off the back of his success with Eating Raoul (this was made after Spikings left the studio but apparently, he greenlit it.)
Cripes. What a slate.
The overwhelming impression of this is how… uncommercial it is. Yes, we know that’s a loaded word and no one knows anything, but look at it. Maybe a better word is “risky”. The only movie in the whole slate with some sort of built-in insurance was the Christie adaptation – and that didn’t have as many stars as the others (presumably for cost, but that hurt it at the box office). There are a lot of heavy dramas, offbeat comedies, B-list stars, esoterica. It was a very, very risky slate.
Honky Tonk Freeway was a comedy, but a hugely expensive one ($18 million with the budget blowing out to $24 million), no stars, and from a producer (Don Boyd) and director (John Schlesinger) with no track record in that genre. Britannia Hospital was a comedy but very dark, with no characters to empathise with. The romantic comedy Second Thoughts starred second-tier (if that) names and was from a producer with little experience behind the camera. There were projects that simply felt better suited for television (Memoirs of a Survivor, Handgun), biopics of people who weren’t particularly famous (Frances Farmer maybe, the person who wrote The Yearling, no…), a lot of darkness – mental breakdowns, addictions, sexual assault – and quirky oddball auteurists (Strange Invaders, Not for Publication).
We’re not saying these films weren’t worth making, lacked quality or didn’t receive some sort of acclaim. Frances did wonders for Jessica Lange’s career; ditto Tender Mercies, deservedly, for Robert Duvall (who won the Oscar) and Bruce Beresford, and Bad Boys, also deservedly, for Sean Penn. Evil Under the Sun is a lot of fun. Britannia Hospital is amazing. People love Honky Tonk Freeway.
We’re talking about these films as commercial propositions. You look at them and think “everything about these has to work out for it to be a hit” – not just execution, but also critical acclaim and public acceptance (good movies can sometimes simply be ignored).
Spikings deserves all the credit in the world for trying to make intelligent pictures that raised the bar for cinema. He is under-rated as a backer of classy pictures. But he felt ill-suited for his position.
In fairness, some of the Spikings films did fine (Frances, Tender Mercies), especially critically, but Honky Tonk Freeway was a loud flop and there was to no Deer Hunter 2 to save the day at the box office. Spikings didn’t help his position by turning down the chance to invest in Chariots of Fire, Local Hero, and Gandhi – three landmarks of early ‘80s British cinema. In January 1983, Spikings quit Thorn-EMI (apparently pushed) and entered the world of independent production and his name pops up on films like Lone Survivor and Texasville.
The Barry Spikings Story is an interesting one. Clearly a man of many virtues (drive, tenacity, taste), he was perhaps miscast to run Thorn-EMI without Michael Deeley. Their pitch was to make internationally focused films with the cooperation of American majors – left on his own, Spikings’ tastes seemed to lean more towards Oscar contenders, a little like Bryan Forbes, only American leaning. Spikings did help tell some British stories (Elephant Man, Evil Under the Sun, Britannia Hospital), but his heart seems to have lain more with America (The Deer Hunter, Bad Boys, Frances, Tender Mercies, Cross Creek). It’s a shame that he didn’t continue to work with Deeley or find a way to work with Nat Cohen. He made some great movies, but it was another opportunity missed for British cinema.
