Lost Hollywood: Bob Fosse's UNCUT GEMS

by BrendanMLeonard

Summary:

From the archives of the Hollywood Lost & Found, we take you to New York in the 1970s, when tales of desperate men at the end of their rope were all the rage and one iconoclastic director was about to tackle perhaps the most desperate of them all...

It's 1973 and Bob Fosse, fresh out of a stint in rehab, remains one of the hottest directors in Hollywood. But even with the white-hot Dustin Hoffman attached, big Bob can't seem to get his long-gestating biopic of troubled comedian Lenny Bruce off the ground. Eager to work with Hoffman on something, Fosse lands on a long-circulating script that Sidney Lumet's been trying to get going since The Pawnbroker. The Irish-Norwegian director seems an odd choice for the "very Jewish" story, but the combination of obsession, recklessness, and New York fuckin' City sparks a fire in Fosse and he soon talks Hoffman into it. 

Set during the 1972 NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers, this is...

 

Howard Ratner is having the worst week of his life. 

His wife hates him. So does his mistress. So do his kids.

He owes 100 grand.

But if he can just make it through this Passover...

UNITED ARTISTS PRESENTS:

UNCUT GEMS (1974) 

This is how he wins.

STARRING: 

DUSTIN HOFFMAN as HOWARD RATNER

BETTE MIDLER as DINAH RATNER

KELLY BISHOP as JULIA DE FIORE

From the production notes:

• The role of Howard Ratner went through many incarnations and possible casting choices before landing in Fosse and Hoffman's lap. Originally Lumet wanted to cast Rod Steiger or Danny Kaye. Jack Lemmon and Dick Van Dyke were also considered before Lumet landed on Gene Wilder, whose manic screen test remains the stuff of legend. The project almost went into production at Bob Evans' Paramount with Walter Matthau and Mazursky directing. But Evans balked at shooting on location in NYC, and so it goes.
• Glenda Jackson was the first choice to play Julia as a British expat living in New York, but became far too famous during the movie's various incarnations to have that fresh newcomer vibe Fosse felt the character needed. The role went to theater actress and dancer Kelly Bishop, who would later reference her breakout role decades later on the Warner network's Lighton Ladies. 

RICHARD ROUNDTREE as DEMANY

KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR as HIMSELF

That Matthau-Mazursky draft was set in the mid-1960s, around the time Lumet originally wanted to make the picture, and so the central sporting event was the second Ali-Liston fight. Muhammed Ali was in talks to actually play himself, until his training for the Rumble in the Jungle took priority. Wilt Chamberlain was also considered before landing on the charismatic Abdul-Jabbar. (In a strange bit of coincidence, Fosse wound up casting Abdul-Jabbar to play for a team he wasn't on in 1972 - the Lakers - but would later go on to join the year after the film was released.)

PETER FALK as ARNO MORADIAN

OLIVER REED as PHIL

JOE PESCI as NICO 

• Although Oliver Reed, one of the rare holdovers from the Lumet years, was in a fallow period when he shot the picture, the 1974 release was part of his "comeback year," with critics singling out him for praise among the cast. "Both Reed and his partner, a young actor named Joe Pesci, have an authentic menace to them," wrote Roger Ebert. "As if they could stand side by side with the Kray brothers, or New York's roughest mobsters."
  
  
• Pesci's singing partner at the time, a fellow actor named Frank Vincent, was briefly considered for Phil when Reed briefly flirted with exiting the role. Fosse fought (both literally and metaphorically) for Reed to stay.
  
  
• Under the persistent charm he had become known for, Falk added an air of menace to Arno, which surprised some audiences at the time. It earned Falk a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Both Alan Arkin and Alan Alda have spoken on the record about regretting not taking the part.

LEE STRASBERG as GOOEY

CURTIS MAYFIELD as HIMSELF/THE WEEKEND CLUB SINGER

JIMMY BRESLIN as GARY THE BOOKIE

with
ELVIS PRESLEY (billed as AARON SHELBY) as WAYNE 

and
SIDNEY POITIER as HIMSELF (Julia's neighbor)

• The film's climax centered around a red-eye flight to Las Vegas. It was while shooting on location that Fosse and Bishop ran into, quite by accident, the King of Rock 'n' Roll himself. Elvis was a Cabaret fan, and perhaps too many drugs were involved when hatching the plan to cast him - under several layers of unrecognizable makeup - as Wayne, the tanned lothario who romances Julia in the final act. Not wanting to piss off the Colonel, Elvis had Fosse bill him as "Aaron Shelby" (a variation on his middle name, plus the county Graceland called home).  
  
• Upon the movie's release, there was much speculation as to whether it was actually Elvis, and the full truth, courtesy Bishop (the last surviving member to shoot those scenes) didn't come out until a 45th anniversary screening of the film in 2019. She said the hardest part of acting against the King was having to swear - as in her memorable line "holy shit, holy fucking shit" - in front of Elvis. 

 

Additional production notes: 

• Fosse had his pick of composers to write the score and ran through a number of different options before landing on the minimalist composer Philip Glass. Uncut Gems was Glass' first film score, and, when visiting the set, the composer found himself inspired by musician Curtis Mayfield. The two wound up collaborating on one of the more unique scores in 1970s film. 
• The film was not a commercial success upon its release, earning only two Oscar nominations - for Score (Glass/Mayfield) and Editing. It gained a cult following - particularly for its quotable dialogue and memorable score - over the years. 
   
• The picture is often cited as one of the all time great New York films, and luminaries such as Martin Scorsese called the best edited films of the 1970s, standing alongside Fosse's other work - Star 80, All That Jazz, Winchell - as a masterpiece of timing and rhythm.

Notes:

Title card graphic by me, Brendan M. Leonard.

I hope you enjoyed this sideways journey through a slice of Hollywood might have been and never was. Until next time, I'll see you in those silver screen dreams...