The Split (film)
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The Split | |
---|---|
Directed by | Gordon Flemyng |
Written by | Donald E. Westlake (novel) Robert Sabaroff |
Based on | The Seventh by Richard Stark |
Produced by | Robert Chartoff Irwin Winkler |
Starring | Jim Brown Diahann Carroll Julie Harris Ernest Borgnine |
Cinematography | Burnett Guffey |
Edited by | Rita Roland |
Music by | Quincy Jones |
Production company | Spectrum |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Split is a 1968 American neo-noir[1] crime drama film directed by Gordon Flemyng and written by Robert Sabaroff based upon the Parker novel The Seventh by Richard Stark (a pseudonym of Donald E. Westlake).
The film stars Jim Brown, along with Diahann Carroll, Julie Harris, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Klugman, Warren Oates, Donald Sutherland and Gene Hackman. The music is by Quincy Jones. It is notable for being the first film with an R rating.[citation needed]
Plot summary[]
Thieves fall out when more than a half-million dollars goes missing after the daring and carefully planned robbery of the Los Angeles Coliseum during a football game, each one accusing the other of having the money.
The heist has been masterminded by a man named McClain and his partner, Gladys. In choosing their accomplices carefully, McClain challenges getaway driver Harry Kifka to a race, picks a fight with thug Bert Clinger, imprisons electrical expert Marty Gough in an wire-controlled vault to watch him fashion an escape, and has a shooting match with marksman Dave Negli before pulling off the job.
Together, the thieves make off with over $500,000. With the five men having carried out the heist and Gladys having financed it, the plan is to split the money six ways the next day. McClain stashes the money for the night with Ellie, his ex-wife. While his partners impatiently await their split of the loot, Lt. Walter Brill takes charge of the case. Ellie is attacked and killed by Herb Sutro, her landlord, who steals the money as well.
The rest of the gang members hold McClain accountable for the lost money and demand that he retrieve it. Brill quickly solves the murder and is well aware of the connection to the robber. He kills Sutro, but keeps the money for himself. With Ellie's murderer identified, but still no trace of the money, the gang members all turn on McClain, assuming he's hiding it. This leads to a confrontation that ends with the deaths of Negli and Gladys.
McClain escapes and visits Brill, threatening to reveal that Brill has the money. He and Brill decide to divide it up between themselves, but the rest of McClain's gang has other ideas. After a shoot-out at the docks, only McClain and Brill are left—Brill decides to take a small part of the money, giving McClain his rightful sixth, and plans to return the rest to win a promotion. McClain is satisfied with the arrangement, but also haunted by Ellie's death. With his money, he is about to board a flight leaving town when he seems to hear Ellie's voice calling his name.
Cast[]
Actor | Role |
---|---|
Jim Brown | McClain |
Diahann Carroll | Ellie Kennedy |
Ernest Borgnine | Bert Clinger |
Julie Harris | Gladys |
Gene Hackman | Detective Lt. Walter Brill |
Jack Klugman | Harry Kifka |
Warren Oates | Marty Gough |
James Whitmore | Herb Sutro |
Donald Sutherland | Dave Negli |
Joyce Jameson | Jenifer |
Harry Hickox | Detective |
Jackie Joseph | Jackie |
Warren Vanders | Mason |
Production[]
The film was produced by Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff who had just made another movie based on a "Parker" novel for MGM, Point Blank. Winkler offered the lead part to Steve McQueen who originally wanted to do it, but then decided to make Bullitt instead. Jim Brown had read the script and was enthusiastic about it and he was cast instead. MGM had made several movies with Brown and agreed to finance.[2][3]
"This negro is no Harvard graduate on his way to winning a Nobel prize," said Chartoff of the lead character. "He doesn't hit a white man just because he had been hit by him first."[4]
Jim Brown was under a long-term contract to MGM at the time.[5] He was paid $125,000 for the role.[2]
Chartoff and Winkler had success in using a British director, John Boorman, on Point Blank, so sought out another one for The Split. They chose Gordon Flemyng, who had impressed them with his work on Great Catherine. A strong support cast was selected to give Brown as much support as possible.[4]
The film was originally called Run the Man Down.[6]
Jim Brown's original action double for the movie was pioneering stuntman Calvin Brown, the first black stunt performer in Hollywood. (Prior to the 1960s, on the rare occasions that a stunt double was required for a black actor, they were typically doubled by a white stunt performer in blackface).
Reception[]
Winkler called the film "a solid thriller, no more, no less. Nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to be proud of, except the accidental casting that was groundbreaking."[7] The movie was previewed at Oakland in order to ensure a sizable African American audience, but the movie was not particularly well received. Winkler wrote "the film just wasn't good enough to capture an audience."[8]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Silver, Alain; Ward, Elizabeth; eds. (1992). Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (3rd ed.). Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-479-5
- ^ Jump up to: a b Jim Brown's End Run Around Race Prejudice TUSHER, WILLIAM. Los Angeles Times 28 Jan 1968: d11.
- ^ Winkler, Irwin (2019). A Life in Movies: Stories from Fifty Years in Hollywood (Kindle ed.). Abrams Press. pp. 421–446/3917.
- ^ Jump up to: a b CHARTOFF AND WINKLER: Entrepreneurs of the Offbeat Film Two Entrepreneurs of Offbeat Movies Thomas, Kevin. Los Angeles Times 16 Jan 1968: d1.
- ^ http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3518/The-Split/articles.html
- ^ MOVIE CALL SHEET: 'Split' Next for Jim Brown Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times 2 Dec 1967: b9.
- ^ Winkler p 451/3917
- ^ Winkler p 457/3917
External links[]
- The Split at IMDb
- The Split at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Split at TCMDB
- 1968 films
- English-language films
- 1968 crime drama films
- American films
- American crime drama films
- Films scored by Quincy Jones
- Films based on American novels
- Films based on works by Donald E. Westlake
- Films directed by Gordon Flemyng
- Films set in Los Angeles
- American heist films
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
- Films produced by Robert Chartoff
- American neo-noir films
- 1960s heist films