| Beat The Devil: The Films of
John Huston
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"Many Irishmen divide their lives into periods when they had certain
horses. When a man lives out seven or eight horses, he’s led a long life."
– John Huston.
One of the most colorful, durable and brilliantly gifted figures in Hollywood history,
the son of actor Walter Huston, director-actor-screenwriter John Huston (1906
– 1987) began his career at age 3 on the vaudeville circuit. Frail and sickly as a
child, Huston overcame his disabilities to become an amateur boxing champion in his teens
(he carried a broken nose all his life as a result, and once battled Errol Flynn to a
standstill in a legendary brawl at David O. Selznick’s house). After a brief stint as
an actor in New York in the 1920s, Huston turned his talents to writing; his work in the
1930s and 1940s on such films as JEZEBEL, HIGH SIERRA and SERGEANT YORK established him as
one of the most sought-after screenwriters in the industry.
After making his directorial debut with THE MALTESE FALCON in 1941, Huston followed
with an astonishing run of popular and critical hits, many starring Humphrey Bogart,
including ACROSS THE PACIFIC, THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (which won Academy
Awards for Best Picture, Best Direction and Best Supporting Actor for Huston’s
father, Walter), KEY LARGO and THE AFRICAN QUEEN. He served with distinction in the
Army during WWII, where he directed the classic documentary SAN PIETRO. Huston was an
outspoken critic of the Communist witch hunts of the late 1940s and early 1950s, forming
the Committee for the First Amendment to protect the free-speech rights of filmmakers
targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Married and divorced numerous
times, Huston was legendary for his appetites for drink, gambling and women. He lived for
many years in magnificent splendor at his Irish country home, St. Clerans, where he became
(to his great pride) Master of the local fox hunt and kept his collection of modern and
pre-Columbian art. He counted among his friends such figures as Ernest Hemingway, John
Steinbeck, Humphrey Bogart, Carson McCullers, Pauline and Philippe de Rothschild, Orson
Welles and many others. He was also a lifelong animal lover, and his homes were filled
with a menagerie of dogs, cats, chimpanzees, snakes, ocelots, macaws and more.
Throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Huston remained one of the most acclaimed and
bankable directors in Hollywood, with such films as THE MISFITS, NIGHT OF THE
IGUANA, FAT CITY, THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING and WISE BLOOD to his credit.
Huston also established himself as an actor with his craggy features and instantly
recognizable voice in such films as MYRA BRECKINRIDGE, WINTER KILLS and (most famously)
CHINATOWN. Late in his career as a director, Huston experienced a tremendous renaissance
with his final three films: UNDER THE VOLCANO, PRIZZI’S HONOR and THE DEAD.
John Huston passed away in 1987 at the age of 81. Huston is
pictured above on the set of THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE.
Friday, October 3 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature:
THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE,
1948, Warner Bros., 126 min. Dir. John Huston. Based on the novel by famous recluse
B. Traven, TREASURE stars Humphrey Bogart in one of his greatest performances as
flea-bitten adventurer Fred C. Dobbs, who hooks up with fellow packrats Tim Holt
and Walter Huston to search for gold in the mountains of Mexico. The film that
launched a thousand imitations with the classic refrain "we don’t need no
badges." Winner of Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director (John Huston) and
Supporting Actor (Walter Huston). Trailer
| Roger
Ebert Review
FAT CITY, 1972, Sony Repertory, 100
min. Director John Huston’s tribute to damaged dreamers perfectly captures the
aimless lives of couple down-and-out boxers: has-been Stacy Keach and young
up-and-comer Jeff Bridges, who bond in the bars of Stockton, Calif. Together the
men dream of making it big, but Huston’s distanced camera makes it clear that
they’re not going anywhere. Preview | Article
Saturday, October 4 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature:
THE AFRICAN QUEEN, 1951, Paramount, 105 min. Dir. John
Huston. Gin-soaked captain Humphrey Bogart decides to take pity on
skinny, psalm-singing spinster Katharine Hepburn after her brother is killed in a
German attack during WWI – and instead, winds up falling in love and ferrying her
downriver to launch a suicidal assault on a German warship. Brilliantly adapted from the
C.S. Forester novel by Huston and James Agee (with uncredited help from Peter Viertel,
whose novel White Hunter, Black Heart was inspired by his time in Africa during
filming), and photographed by legendary British cinematographer Jack Cardiff. Trailer | Article
PRIZZI’S HONOR, 1985,
Disney, 130 min. Mob hit man Jack Nicholson falls in love with Kathleen Turner,
only to learn that she too is an assassin for hire. In director John Huston’s
hands this relationship between two killers becomes a hilarious parody of domesticity,
until the nature of their work takes a dark, disturbing turn. William Hickey, Robert
Loggia and Anjelica Huston (who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar) provide
solid support. View Trailer
| Article
Sunday, October 5 – 7:30 PM
Double Feature:
THE MISFITS, 1961, MGM Repertory, 124 min. Dir. John
Huston. Aching, elegiac drama of the vanishing American West, with Clark Gable (in
his final film) as an aging cowboy who falls hard for divorceé Marilyn Monroe,
while trying to round up a herd of wild mustangs with the help of former rodeo star Montgomery
Clift. Beautifully scripted by Marilyn’s former husband Arthur Miller, THE
MISFITS was the last completed film in Marilyn’s all-too-brief career. Article
on this Film | View
Trailer
MOULIN ROUGE, 1952, MGM Repertory,
119 min. Wild, wicked, wonderful Paris...all her loves, ladies and lusty legends! John
Huston’s heartbreakingly romantic portrait of the infamous Parisian dance hall
stars Jose Ferrer as its most famous patron, painter Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.
Co-starring Zsa Zsa Gabor as the can-can dancer who breaks Toulouse-Lautrec’s
heart. Academy Award winner for art direction and costumes. More on this film. | Article
Thursday, October 9 – 7:30 PM
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING, 1975, Warner
Bros., 129 min. Sean Connery and Michael Caine play a pair of adventurers
who try to set themselves up as kings in a remote region by convincing the locals that
Connery is a god. John Huston dreamed of adapting this Rudyard Kipling tale for
decades, and the years of thought and passion show on screen: Rousing and visually
sumptuous, it’s one of the director’s best films and another of his sly
meditations on greed and ambition. Preview |
