Blade Runners, Deer Hunters, and Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: My Life in Cult Movies by Michael Deeley and Matthew Field (Faber and Faber, Hardcover) 288 pages £18.99 Published 2^nd October 2008 ISBN-10: 0571239196

 

The appropriately winding title links three seemingly unconnected cinema classics: Blade Runner, The Deer Hunter and The Italian Job. The throughline for these pictures is their veteran British producer, Michael Deeley. Deeley progressed from ground up in the film business, editing and then dubbing foreign films in the 1950’s. Producing his first pictures and then joining critically-acclaimed Woodfall Films, he journied onwards to produce pictures for Paramount getting acquainted with studio owner Charlie Bludhorn and that irrepressible kid, studio chief Robert Evans while producing the film, The Italian Job. Deeley then went on to manage British Lion Films which was then taken over by EMI. Deeley got a new perspective: that of heading a studio. He outlines the difficult creative and commercial decisions that come with the job. His involvement in The Deer Hunter which led to him winning the 1978 Academy Award for Best Picture was a filmic heart of darkness with director Michael Cimino becoming the Col. Kurtz of the piece. Despite his Oscar win, Deeley’s own personal creative height was the finding, nuturing and producing Blade Runner, Ridley Scott’s dystopian masterpiece which still resonates powerfully with audiences and artistes today. Deeley has remained in touch with the film industry via several advisory, consultant roles.

However, the book is more than just a run through productions. Deeley details life in London at the heart of the Swinging Sixties and laid-back Los Angeles in the 1970’s. He reminisces (sometimes pithily) about working with a galaxy of film-making stars: Peter Sellers, Stanley Baker, Michael Caine, Noel Coward, Peter O’Toole, Christopher Lee, Nic Roeg, Michael Cimino, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Ridley Scott and many others fore and aft of the camera. Deeley is a straight talking, ascerbic story teller who speaks from a position of intimate knowledge of all his productions and knows where the bodies are buried. He also enlightens us on a little explored subject of film-making: the role of producer. The nexus of show and business is entertainingly examined in this terrific tome by the man who came to shoot. The book has a forward by Sir Ridley Scott and sketches by himself and Sir Alan Parker with contributions by Sir Michael Caine and Lord David Puttnam. It also boasts over 30 unpublished black and white and colour pictures: Deeley being presented an Oscar by John Wayne, Michael Caine and Noel Coward at the Savoy, Deeley playfully challenging Peckinpah, Robert De Niro and Michael Cimino off set. Harrison Ford and Ridley Scott. Co-written by Matthew Field (Cinema Retro contributor and author of The Making of The Italian Job and Michael Caine, You’re A Big Man) the book benefits from a wealth of film research and knowledge. This is a must for the Cinema Retro reader.-

Ajay Chowdhury is the Editor-in-Chief of the James Bond magazine Kiss Kiss Bang Bang)

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