11 replies to this topic

[TheSaint]

Variety: How UA Bonded With Bond David Picker recalls making the deal of a lifetime

Edited by zencat, 06 May 2005 - 01:34 AM.

[zencat]

Because you need a subscription ot Variety to read this, I'm moving it out of quick links and I've pasted the text into a main pager. This is pretty interesting stuff.

[Bondian]

Coming from CBn's main 'Stalwart', I wouldn't be surprised.

Excellent and fascinating article zen.

This just goes to prove what a good businessman Cubby was.

"was". I hate that word.

Edited by Bondian, 06 May 2005 - 01:39 AM.

[zencat]

I agree with the tone of this article that it's a shame MGM and now Sony seem to have erased UA's Bond connection (they're doing the same thing with the Rocky and Pink Panther series -- these were NOT MGM movies). Heck, UA WAS James Bond. MGM came to the game in the 80s and my feeling is they proved to be more an annoyance to Cubby. MGM is to blame for the 6 year gap. And lets not forget it was UA who made GoldenEye, not MGM.

Here's to UA, the real studio behind James Bond. I'll miss them.

[Bondian]

I agree with the tone of this article that it's a shame MGM and now Sony seem to has erased UA's Bond connection. Heck, UA WAS James Bond. MGM came to the game in the 80s and my feeling is they proved to be more an annoyance to Cubby. Also, lets not forget it was UA who made GoldenEye and TND, not MGM.

Here's to UA, the real studio behind James Bond. I'll miss them.

Doesn't this just prove that times have changed.

We say "goodbye" to UA, and the talented artist who started it, Charles Chaplin.

[zencat]

The Arthur Krim-Robert Benjamin philosophy that reinvented the Chaplin/Pickford company was simple. The film and the filmmaker are more important than the financier and the distributor.

Nice.

[North Scorpion]

It would seem that Mr. Carver did not die on the stealth boat after all. He is alive and well at the helm of Sony.

[Bon-san]

Thanks for posting the article, zencat.

I will always have a fondness for UA, and I could listen to David Picker talk about movies forever.

[Triton]

Many thanks for posting the article zencat.

Sadly, it's hard to believe in an era when the lawyers and bean counters are in charge of the studios that there ever was a studio that felt "the film and the filmmaker are more important than the financier and the distributor."

In addition David Picker mentioned in the "Inside Dr. No" documentary that United Artists had such a high reputation in Hollywood that they could make deals on a handshake.

Very sad how Transamerica and then Kirk Kikorian changed United Artists.

I guess it really doesn't matter if the United Artists logo and brand name will cease to exist because people of honor like Arthur Krim, Robert Benjamin, and David Picker are no longer running the studio.

I also find it interesting that Cubby Broccoli called Columbia Pictures to give them one last shot at producing the James Bond series. Demonstrates what a decent and honorable man he was, despite the unkind things that Sean Connery inferred about him.

[Turn]

This is a nice story. David Picker seems to be an underused source for stories on the series, although he does pop up in interviews on the DVDs, and somebody whose memories of the series should be preserved since the old guard seems to be slipping away.

Sony and MGM can do all they want to try to erase the UA legacy, but for many of us, we can't get that image of the Transamerica logo or just the big UA letters out of our heads before a Bond gunbarrel or the Rocky championship belt comes onscreen.

[DLibrasnow]

Thanks for posting the article, zencat.

I will always have a fondness for UA, and I could listen to David Picker talk about movies forever.

Yes, for me a UA logo at the beginning means a Bond movie. It's more important than the gunbarrel IMO.

[zencat]

I feel kind of bad now how in our reporting all we did was talk about how Sony was going to buy MGM, yadda, yadda, and didn't mention that UA was a part of this. UA was one of the great studios responsible for some amazing films. It was founded by Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford for crying out loud! A real loss and it's a shame it was never given a proper "goodbye" tribute.