You might not have ever heard of him before, but Hal Ashby was one of the great directors of 1970s Hollywood cinema, right up there, in my opinion, with Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Yates, William Friedkin, Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma.
Ashby juggled tones and genres like a maestro, and movies like his unforgettable oddball dark comedy Harold and Maude, the star-studded drama Shampoo, or the outrageously funny yet achingly sad The Last Detail seem to come from a wholly unique directorial voice.
One of Ashby’s most acclaimed works is his 1976 biopic of American folk singer Woody Guthrie. Called Bound for Glory, the film chronicled the musician’s Depression-era travels that led him to see America through the suffering yet unwavering eyes of the country’s working class, thus finding inspiration for the now-revered ballads that he would compose. The movie was praised for its evocative depiction of Great Depression-era life and a solid performance from actor David Carradine as Guthrie, and it scored Oscars for its impeccable cinematography and soundtrack.
But if you went to a recent March 18 screening of Bound for Glory that was held by the American Cinematheque in California, then you must’ve witnessed a post-screening Q&A that would’ve made all that praise seem like it was for a totally different movie. Star Carradine and director of photography Haskell Wexler pretty much went at each other during the whole thing, flinging allegations of cocaine abuse, backhanded compliments, full-on insults, questions of authorship, and maintaining a general mood of unending animosity. (Co-star Ronny Cox was on-stage too, but apparently couldn’t get many words in during the fracas.)
Some gems:
Wexler: “I went to Hal and I said ‘Hal, just take a minute and STOP SNIFFING THAT STUFF UP YOUR NOSE!’”
Carradine: “Haskell is a little down on people who snort cocaine…And yes, Hal was a great user of cocaine. It does not change the fact that he was…Quentin Tarantino doesn’t beat Hal Ashby, and he’s one of my favorite directors. Quentin is incredible. And he’s a big cocaine freak, too!”
Carradine: “We had this incredible guy… Do you remember the name of the guy that was the handheld camera guy, that used the suitcase camera?”
Wexler: “Do I remember it? How do you think it got in this film, David? Who do you think planned it? Who did the shots? Look it, David, you fuckin’…”
Carradine: “Somebody will talk to me about Haskell and I’ll say ‘Oh yeah, he’s the guy who got an Academy Award for ruining my picture.’”
For the full story — and I highly recommend you check it out, even if you don’t know the film or any of these key players — go to writer Chris Willman’s blog entry about the evening on the Huffington Post.
