The ten year period between the end of the 34 year old Hollywood Production Code in 1968 and the emergence of STAR WARS as an unparalleled cultural phenomenon in 1977 was a period of great change for the mainstream Hollywood studios. It was the decade of the auteur, the director who became the focal point of a movie (A Film By…or… A ..Film) rather than the stars who were in it.
Over in England during this same time, two larger-than-life personalities emerged with two very different approaches to making movies. Together they would make 20 films during this time period (imagine Martin Scorsese or Stanley Kubrick doing that) and virtually all were made on time under or right at budget. More importantly from a studio P.O.V., until right at the very end when the success of STAR WARS changed everything.
The two people I’m referring to are Michael Winner (b.1935) and Ken Russell (b.1927). Both men are still living although only Russell continues to make movies. Michael Winner is now a well known London film critic (Winner’s Dinners) whose Oscar Wilde like wit is the highlight of his reviews. During their heydey in the mid-1970s both men were controversial for their choice of subject matter (Russell’s THE DEVILS (1971) and Winner’s DEATH WISH (1974) for example) but as long as their movies made money the studios gave them a free hand and both developed cult followings.
While they share certain similarities, their approach to moviemaking couldn’t be more different. Ken Russell was the auteur, a filmmaker who created one of the most distinctive visual styles ever seen while using music (primarily Classical with The Who’s TOMMY (1975) being the notable exception) in some of the most original ways imaginable. He also had a stock company of supporting performers who appeared in most of his films and that gave a strangely familiar quality to them.
On the other hand, Michael Winner was a throwback to the in house studio directors of the past. someone who took whatever material was at hand and then made the most of it. The one big difference is that Winner chose the material himself rather than had it assigned to him. He made movies in almost every genre, Westerns, Crime Dramas, Comedies, Horror Films, and Period Pieces. Many of Hollywood’s biggest stars of the 1950s and 60s appeared in his films and that added to their appeal to moviegoers.
Of the two, Russell has been the more ill served on DVD with many of his tiles being unavailable or shown with the wrong aspect ratio (no widescreen) which diminishes their overall impact. Thanks to the success of DEATH WISH and its sequels, Winner has more titles available but even his filmography is far from complete and some like his remake of THE BIG SLEEP (1978) appear in fullscreen versions only.
Ken Russell titles currently on home video are WOMEN IN LOVE (1969), THE MUSIC LOVERS (1970), THE DEVILS (1971), TOMMY (1975), and some of his films from the 1980s including CRIMES OF PASSION (1984), GOTHIC (1986) and LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM (1988). Michael Winner titles include two films with Burt Lancaster, LAWMAN (1971) and SCORPIO (1973), THE NIGHTCOMERS (1971) with Marlon Brando, and two other Charles Bronson flicks, CHATO’S LAND (1972) and THE MECHANIC (1973). Finally there is the bizarre and entertaining horror film, THE SENTINEL (1977).
It’s interesting to note that in 1977, the year STAR WARS came out, both Russell and Winner made high profile movies (VALENTINO, THE SENTINEL) that flopped. This was a downward turning point in their careers as mainstream financed filmmakers. Both continued to make movies into the 1980s but it became harder and harder as mainstream filmmaking and what constituted it had changed forever.
The Capsule Critic 