Tall, sandy haired, mustachioed actor from Texas born Justus McQueen, who adopted the name of the character he portrayed in his first film, Battle Cry (1955). Jones, with his craggy, gaunt looks, first appeared in minor character roles in plenty of WWII films including The Young Lions (1958), The Naked and the Dead (1958), Hell Is for Heroes (1962) and Battle of the Coral Sea (1959). However, 1962 saw him team up with maverick director Sam Peckinpah for the first of Jones’ five appearances in his films. Ride the High Country (1962) saw Jones play one of the lowlife Hammond brothers. Next he appeared alongside Charlton Heston in Major Dundee (1965), then Peckinpah cast him, along with his real-life friend Strother Martin, as one of the scummy, murderous bounty hunters in The Wild Bunch (1969). Such was the chemistry between Jones and Martin that Peckinpah teamed them again the following year in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), and Jones’ final appearance in a Peckinpah film was in another western, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973). Two years later Jones directed the cult post-apocalyptic film A Boy and His Dog (1975) starring a young Don Johnson. He has continued to work in Hollywood, and as the lines on his craggy face have deepened, he turns up more frequently as crusty old westerners, especially in multiple TV guest spots. He turned in an interesting performance as a seemingly good ol’ boy Nevada cowboy who was actually a powerful behind-the-scenes player in state politics who leaned on Robert De Niro’s Las Vegas mob gambler in Martin Scorsese’s violent and powerful Casino (1995).<\/p>\n
Interview from Rusty White’s Filmworld<\/p>\n
Rusty White: \u201cA Boy and His Dog\u201d was a favorite of mine back in high school. I must have seen it 20 times. Seeing it again, I have to say it is still fresh.<\/p>\n
L.Q. Jones: Well thank you Rusty. I\u2019ve gotten to where I call it an Evergreen Picture, because I think it kind of stays that way.<\/p>\n
RW: A good as that movie was, I wonder why you didn\u2019t treat us to another film with you behind the camera. As director?<\/p>\n
LQJ: Two reasons, really. One is, I\u2019m a lazy devil. If you left me alone, I\u2019d act, because God happened to give me that. It\u2019s very fun and it\u2019s easy. I just do what I do and go about my business. Directing is another bag. I\u2019m a nut. It took me 5 years to do \u201cBoy.\u201d One because I didn\u2019t have that much money and another I didn\u2019t have that much talent for God\u2019s sake. You have to do a little more work. But directing, to me is really hard because I end up doing everybody\u2019s job. That\u2019s all you are. As a director, you\u2019re pretty much an observer and that\u2019s it. You try to stretch things so they will go the way you think they ought to go. If you\u2019re creative, that\u2019s really what you have to do. Because if I\u2019m acting, my job is to play for Sam Peckinpah, or Raoul Walsh or John Ford. As a director and a producer I damn well do what I please. But the real part about it is, I was spoiled because I first directed a little picture called \u201cThe Devil\u2019s Bedroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
RW: Right, we saw part of that in \u201cA Boy and His Dog.\u201d<\/p>\n
LQJ: Right. I made that picture for $20,000.00 lock stock and barrel. It may be one of the worst pictures ever made, but isn\u2019t it weird that that film ends up on a whole bunch \u201cTen Best of the Year\u201d lists. That ought to tell you something sports fans. The people are not paying attention for Christ sakes! I think the picture is so bad, the critics think it\u2019s a documentary and so\u2026they say \u201cNo body could make a film this bad on purpose, so they think it\u2019s a documentary and it\u2019s OK with them. But the other part of the problem is, after that, I did \u201cA Boy and His Dog.\u201d Well sports fans, everybody in the world ought to build a house, plant a tree and direct \u201cA Boy and His Dog.\u201d Because it is one of the great experiences of my lifetime. The picture is total imagination. That\u2019s all it\u2019s built on. Your imagination can just run wild. I did that, and now, what do I do next? For Christ sakes. I keep a company to make picture when I get mad enough for making the junk I make as an actor. I read, I don\u2019t as much now, but back then, I would read 2,000 scripts and books a year, just finding thing to do, but I couldn\u2019t find anything. I finally found one, it was like \u201cA Boy and His Dog,\u201d it was just so different\u2026.<\/p>\n
RW: \u201cThe Brotherhood of Satan\u201d?<\/p>\n
LQJ: No, no, no. That was just a horror picture. I like horror. I could get into the business without much money. I even sub-divided that problem. I went out and studied witchcraft, and made a couple of witchcraft pictures. That was fun and imaginative. But back to the question. Once I finished \u201cBoy,\u201d I was stuck. What do you do? People have sent me stuff and would offer me more money to direct it than I had for the entire budget of \u201cA Boy and His Dog.\u201d I\u2019d read it and I\u2019d say \u201cThank you very much, I appreciate the thought, but no thanks.\u201d So then they come back and offer more money thinking I was pulling a ploy. I didn\u2019t want the extra money; I just didn\u2019t want to waste my time and effort.<\/p>\n
RW: They didn\u2019t touch your soul like \u201cA Boy and His Dog.\u201d<\/p>\n
LQJ: Right. It was easier for me to go act, so I\u2019d go act. The years just piled up. Eventually I guess I\u2019ll go out and do another picture. When I get mad enough.<\/p>\n
RW: There\u2019s a lot to get mad at out there. There are a lot of folks wasting money and talent it seems.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Well. They\u2019re doing their own thing and that\u2019s their business. Most of the stuff now\u2026I\u2019m lucky, they send me scripts. They don\u2019t send as many as they used to for Christ sakes, but that\u2019s OK. They send me scripts, and again I say \u201cThank you for the thought, but I\u2019d rather stay home and sulk!\u201d There\u2019s nothing there to do. We don\u2019t seem to have any heart anymore. I don\u2019t know why. Maybe I\u2019m missing it.<\/p>\n
RW: I agree. Life is cheap these days and it is reflected in the arts. Things are reduced to the lowest common denominator.<\/p>\n
LQJ: In our business especially. We\u2019re cannibalistic and we react to the common denominator. I can understand.<\/p>\n
RW: Right, you have to make the money if you want to make the movies.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Right. I did a little thing called \u201cThe Mask of Zorro.\u201d It is hard to pin it down but it cost somewhere between 84 and 91 Million dollars. If I\u2019m going to put 91 Million dollars into a piece of real estate that I can put into two cans, I damn sure want my money back. So, I\u2019m going to take fewer chances. In \u201cBoy,\u201d I put, listen, if \u201cBoy\u201d didn\u2019t work, I\u2019m bankrupt. That\u2019s OK. I\u2019d done what I\u2019d wanted to do. I wouldn\u2019t have been happy with it, but I\u2019d be happy with the picture. Even with it\u2019s mistakes. I just don\u2019t like the stuff we are making today. Not that we don\u2019t have talented people. There are a lot of talented people out there. I guess, when I got into the business I was lucky. I trained with people who made motion pictures. They know how to make them. They made them everyday. They knew what worked and what didn\u2019t work. I\u2019m not saying me made art for Christ sakes; we\u2019re making sausage.<\/p>\n
RW: Some of it was art.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Well, there\u2019s no reason a sausage can\u2019t be artful. So, that\u2019s the premise I worked on. But we had people around. When I first got in the business, the first picture was \u201cBattle Cry.\u201d I had 127 directors.<\/p>\n
RW: Really.<\/p>\n
LQJ: The cameraman would say \u201cIs that where you\u2019re going to stand? Yeah, good, then we don\u2019t need you in this picture because you\u2019re not going to be seen, If you want to be seen, get your fanny over here.\u201d Then I\u2019d do that and the lighting man, the gaffer would say, \u201cIs that the way you\u2019re going to stand?\u201d \u201cYeah.\u201d \u201cYou want to look like Stephen Fetchet, cause that\u2019s exactly what you\u2019re going to look like.\u201d The make-up would say do this and the grip would say do that. Of course I\u2019m a collectic and sponge because I knew I wanted to direct someday so I listened and learned. But the kids today are taking their craft, not from pictures but from television. Television is a pretty sorry medium, and that\u2019s a shame because it could be absolutely marvelous, but we don\u2019t allow it to be.<\/p>\n
RW: The ironic thing about Made for TV movies is the fact that they usually deal with interesting topics and stories, but the static style leaves you dry.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Well, it does me. How old are you?<\/p>\n
RW: 45.<\/p>\n
LQJ: OK, Well, you\u2019re in trouble. I\u2019ve ceased being in trouble, because I\u2019ve passed way beyond it. But if you\u2019re not around 27 or younger, pictures are not made for you. If you\u2019re not a splinter group, even more. Pictures are not made for you. Look at it. It used to be, this is back in the 1930s, certainly in the 40s, 1000,000,000 people a week, a 120,000,000, a 140,000,000 a week went to the pictures. That\u2019s not bad!<\/p>\n
RW: They didn\u2019t have the idiot box, but they had radio.<\/p>\n
LQJ: They had radio, then came television. The problem is now we have groups of 1\/100th of that or 1\/50th of that who are calling the shots because they go to motion pictures. Do you go to motion pictures?<\/p>\n
RW: Yeah.<\/p>\n
LQJ: You do? When. How often.<\/p>\n
RW: Maybe 20 times a year.<\/p>\n
LQJ: How about when you were in college, or when you got out of college?<\/p>\n
RW: A lot more.<\/p>\n
LQJ: You bet. You probably went 5 or 6 times a month. In that time you controlled. But in that time, we made pictures for families. We made pictures for people from 5 years on up to 105. Some pleased everybody, most didn\u2019t. But they pleased enough of them, so it was OK. That audience is now missing. We are dealing with younger people who may or may not have that much education, who don\u2019t have much of an attention span. They want you to get to the problem immediately. You can look at some of John Ford\u2019s stuff. It took you 154 minutes before you found out what the story was about, but you didn\u2019t care because you were enjoying what you were watching. Now, if you don\u2019t do it in 30 seconds, they\u2019ve gone up to the popcorn stand or gone home!<\/p>\n
RW: ADD!<\/p>\n
LQJ: That\u2019s right, they won\u2019t do it. You can not\u2026true story. A motion picture, as most people think today is 10,000 feet of butt, splice and film. Well that\u2019s not true. That\u2019s what people who make television think it is, but it\u2019s not what a motion picture is. If you doubt that, go watch \u201cThe Grapes of Wrath,\u201d go watch \u201cHow Green was My Valley,\u201d go watch \u201cThe Little Foxes.\u201d Put your ass down in a seat and watch \u201cPaths of Glory.\u201d Lighting, cameras, actors, grips, writers\u2026everybody contributed their piece of work and it was marvelous to behold. There was enough to keep you interested and watch what people do. They dealt with little people. Now we deal with little nations and that\u2019s about the size of it. If I want to watch a car wreck or fist fights, I\u2019ll go up to the freeway here. See it everyday. So I don\u2019t have to go pay money to watch that. And that\u2019s not interesting to me anyway. It\u2019s interesting to do. I love to do stunts, but I don\u2019t care to sit and watch it.<\/p>\n
RW: The problem with stunts is that filmmakers have done away with realism for the sake of a big bang. In \u201cDie Hard 3\u201d Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson fall 50 feet onto concrete and then jump off a boat as it explodes with as the shock wave from the blast goes over them. No way. What made great movies great was the fact that the director had his finger on the pulse of human nature. That\u2019s what made Peckinpah great.<\/p>\n
LQJ: But we don\u2019t care about that anymore. That\u2019s not true. They do care about it, but they are petrified to try it. Because if you make that kind of a picture you are up for grabs folks. You either work or you don\u2019t work. You don\u2019t work; your money is gone. You may work, but people may not see that it is working and you are still screwed. We did \u201cThe Mask of Zorro,\u201d we figured 91 million dollars. If I had $91,000,00.00 would I put it into a picture? Probably not, but if I did I sure wouldn\u2019t put it into \u201cThe Little Foxes.\u201d I\u2019d lose my ass! So, I protect my money. There is so much money out there it is worth taking the risk. \u201cMask\u201d could have dropped dead. We took a chance. When it was done I think it made $400,000,000.00 or $500,000,000.00. That\u2019s great. Things worked. But you also have to remember, and this I know because I\u2019m in the business side of our business, less than, slightly less than 80% of all pictures are failures. Of the 20% that are successful, success means you get $1.00 back plus your cost. So, look how few pictures make it. Now we\u2019ve cut way down on the number of pictures made. We used to do 400 or 500 pictures a year. Now it\u2019s between 80 and 120 a year.<\/p>\n
RW: It seems the budget for \u201cThe Mask of Zorro\u201d would have covered the entire operating budget for a studio back in 30s.<\/p>\n
LQJ: It would have been the annual budget for the whole town! Literally. When we did \u201cBattle Cry,\u201d I think \u201cBattle Cry\u201d was expensive, probably $3,000,000.00. It was a big picture.<\/p>\n
RW: \u201cBattle Cry\u201d was Richard Widmark?<\/p>\n
LQJ: No.<\/p>\n
RW: No, that was \u201cHalls of Montezuma.\u201d<\/p>\n
LQJ: We had Van Heflin, James Whitmore, we had everybody in Hollywood. Raymond Massey was in it, Tab Hunter, Aldo Ray, Dorothy Malone.<\/p>\n
RW: Right. That was about the marines in the South Pacific. I had the right movie, wrong actor. Wasn\u2019t that the movie Oswald saw before they caught him? That and \u201cWar is Hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
LQJ: May have been. There\u2019s a case in point. Raoul Walsh directed \u201cBattle Cry.\u201d I have seen \u201cBattle Cry\u201d maybe 12 or 15 times in theaters. Never have I seen the movie in a theater where the audience didn\u2019t stand up and applaud when it was over. That was what Raoul was able to do. How this man did it, I don\u2019t know. He got me started in the business, so I studied him as much as I could. Raoul cranked pictures out like you and I have breakfast. He was the man who saved Warner Brothers. He and\u2026the one who couldn\u2019t speak English\u2026<\/p>\n
RW: Wilder, no. Curtiz.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Thank you! Michael! Michael and Raoul kept Warner Brothers afloat. Because the pictures they made. But again, their pictures were for whole groups, families, people in general. And if you will also notice, almost invariably it was about a person. A small person, who wasn\u2019t big, who wasn\u2019t successful, who had a whole bunch of problems. But now we don\u2019t deal with that. Now we deal with, as you pointed out, How far can a person drop out of a helicopter and not get smashed? We are stunt oriented. But hey, I love stunts. I was one of the few actors in the business who did their own stunts. I enjoyed it. Wherever they would let me, as long as they would pay my stuntman to sit, I\u2019d do them. I\u2019d go home with scrapes and breaks, but I loved them. But I get tired of them very quickly if I\u2019m sitting there trying to watch a story. I belong to the director\u2019s guild and we have one of the finest theaters in town. They practically save me a seat on the back row because I am determined to find pictures that I like. I go over, and I last normally 3 minutes or 4 minutes and then I\u2019m gone home. I don\u2019t want to waste my time. They want to make a lot of money. But I\u2019m not in the business for money. Don\u2019t get me wrong. I like money, but I\u2019m not money driven.<\/p>\n
RW: I understand. That\u2019s why I appreciate the release of \u201cA Boy and His Dog\u201d on DVD. One of the reasons I don\u2019t go to the theater so much is that I review DVDs on the website. I get about 50 or 60 DVDs a month to review. And there is so much crap that this is a breath of fresh air. Some movies you put in and ask, \u201cDo I want to waste 2 hours that I can never get back?\u201d<\/p>\n
LQJ: And a lot of times, the answer is No! But see, I almost, I think I out-foxed myself. You\u2019ve seen the picture how many times?<\/p>\n
RW: About 20.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Now this is going to be a very tough question. How many times did you have to see the picture before you understood most in the picture? If you can recall.<\/p>\n
RW: Maybe I\u2019m being lame, but I think I got it right away. As far as the relationship between the boy and the dog and the ending. I think, as far as the Topeka sequence, there were things I didn\u2019t understand due to the fact that I was young and inexperienced at the time.<\/p>\n
LQJ: That\u2019s my point. I have found. I\u2019ve gone out with the pictures many times. I have been with an audience as small as one and a s large as 8,000. When the picture is done, I like to ask questions. Talk with the audience. What did you see here? What did you like? What didn\u2019t you like? On average I have found that people need to see it about 4 times before they realize. Because everything in \u201cA Boy and His Dog\u201d is new. You don\u2019t think so, but look at it. You see a Police Captain and you know what a police captain does. You know what a detective does. You know what a typist does. But look at \u201cA Boy and His Dog\u201d and everything is scrunched around. There\u2019s a dog. Everyone knows what a dog does. But wait a minute. This Dog talks. Not only does he talk, he\u2019s a general, and a father, and a professor, and a friend. So everything is coming at you from a different angle. When you are downstairs (in Topeka) the stuff coming over the loud speakers.<\/p>\n
RW: From the arrogant Human point of view, the dog is handicapped in that he has four legs instead of two. He\u2019d rule the world if he was human.<\/p>\n
LQJ: That\u2019s right. You\u2019re now to a point, because. People ask me \u201cAre you proud of the picture?\u201d \u201cYou bet.\u201d \u201cWould you do anything different?\u201d \u201cYou bet.\u201d Someone asked me a few minutes ago, \u201cHow would you place (what genre) the picture?\u201d It\u2019s very hard to do. Of course it is my picture, so you have to take everything I say with a grain of salt. But I would say it is a picture totally by itself. Am I saying it is the best picture ever made? Don\u2019t be ridiculous. But, \u201cA Boy and His Dog\u201d is a one of a kind picture that will probably never ever be duplicated because there are several things in it. First it is the only picture I have ever seen where a dog is the only human being and everyone else is an animal. Now, am I wrong or am I right?<\/p>\n
RW: I\u2019ve never thought of it in those terms, but you\u2019re correct. Blood (the dog) had more humanity than anybody did.<\/p>\n
LQJ: He\u2019s the only one concerned about other people, or who thinks about other people.<\/p>\n
RW: Right, everyone else is concerned with \u201cFeed me, and have sex with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
LQJ: It doesn\u2019t make them bad, it\u2019s just means he\u2019s the one who cares. He\u2019s different. The rhythm of the picture is different. I ask you to think, which our business does not like to do.<\/p>\n
RW: That\u2019s what I miss. I miss the pictures of the 70s where you would leave the theater and talk about it. Everything wasn\u2019t tied up in a nice bow, not like a pill you take and then it wears off.<\/p>\n
LQJ: That\u2019s right. They were active pictures. You see, we\u2019ve stopped making that. What has influenced that a great deal is television because of its passivity. Do you watch sports on television?<\/p>\n
RW: Mostly movies. My son\u2019s a jock, so I watch some with him.<\/p>\n
LQJ: If you notice when the program comes on, they tell you what you are going to watch. Who\u2019s going to win. Who\u2019s going to make what catch. Then they show you the game. Then when it is over they go back and recap everything again to tell you what you\u2019ve just seen. And what you\u2019re supposed to think about it. So, we have moved from an active involvement in stories to a passive. They pour everything in us. They tell you what you\u2019re going to see, what you saw and what you are to think about it. I think I went to far, because I think people enjoy watching and thinking. I went to far, because I gave people too much. The first time around, we were successful, but not nearly as successful as the re-release. I made the picture for people to see, not to make money. Of course I wanted to make money, but I wanted people to see the picture. You and 5 million other people. We did alright the first time around. Then we went out seven years later and did much better the second time around. I\u2019m going to go back out again. In fact, I\u2019m working on it right now.<\/p>\n
RW: Are you working on restoring the print?<\/p>\n
LQJ: Oh yeah. Because its about to slide off of the negative. We are going to have to go back in and digitize some of it to save it.<\/p>\n
RW: It\u2019s worth saving.<\/p>\n
LQJ: For me it is. It will be expensive. The DVD should make us some money for the restoration. This picture belongs on the big screen. It is the most complete use of scope that I have ever seen. Notice, even in the opening, we are doing things, we are a half a mile from our subject. You have to watch. At the same time I doing that, I\u2019m slipping something in on the left frame. And I\u2019ve also got something in the right frame. I may also have something going right in front of the camera. So, it takes a while to slice all of this stuff and deal it out like a deck of cards. But I may have gone too far.<\/p>\n
RW: It is beautiful use of the widescreen. The above ground scenes reminded me of Sergio Leone\u2019s use of the widescreen. In the opening scene, Don Johnson comes into frame in a way you don\u2019t expect. Also, the scene in which you first show the committee members. It looks like one person, but the camera turns to reveal three people. It\u2019s pleasing to the eye, and as a filmgoer, it gets my heart going.<\/p>\n
LQJ: But see, unfortunately a lot of the kids today will not see \u201cA Boy and His Dog.\u201d I\u2019m not saying its unfortunate because of \u201cBoy,\u201d but there will be many pictures won\u2019t see because they won\u2019t take the time to devote the first two or three minutes to learn about what they are watching. And it\u2019s a shame, because I really wish everyone in the dang world would see the thing. It doesn\u2019t mean you are going to like it, but I\u2019d like you to take a look at it. A DVD should make it available to more people.<\/p>\n
RW: One of the reasons I like the films of the 70s is the fact that the filmmakers didn\u2019t insult the intelligence of the audience. There was ambiguity. The filmmakers took you on a ride. They assumed you would get it and enjoy it and be challenged by it.<\/p>\n
LQJ: We don\u2019t do that any more. We don\u2019t want to take that chance. People are afraid to do it. I can understand it, but the rewards are so great. I think we did between $00,000,000 and $500,000,000.00 on \u201cMask of Zorro.\u201d That\u2019s a lot of money. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s that much money in the world, but we did it. And a lot of the pictures today are doing that much today. Do you know how much \u201cThe Lion King\u201d is going to do, they project? About 3 Billion. Now, they took a chance with it. They were going for the really wide audience and if they don\u2019t get it, they are in really deep Ca Ca. But they tried it and it worked. And that is what I think we ought to do. I thought we were going to do that type of business with \u201cMask of Zorro.\u201d I was interested in it because I helped change things around. When I did the stuff with Peckinpah, I mean \u201cThe Wild Bunch.\u201d That in its time was the most brutal thing put on film. Today you see more violence on Saturday morning in the kid\u2019s shows. So, we changed the way people made motion pictures. But we bottomed out. The people who are making pictures today don\u2019t realize what Sam realized. You may do all of this crap but you still tell your story with people.<\/p>\n
RW: Exactly. Any moderately talented director can copy Sam Peckinpah\u2019s style, but if you don\u2019t have the characters you miss the point.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Right. So we up and changed the business at that point. I was hoping and it was looking like, the way Martin was directing \u201cThe Mask of Zorro\u201d that it was going to start changing things back. Because if you notice, there\u2019s no violence in \u201cMask.\u201d There\u2019s a lot of action. Now I say violence, of course it is violence whenever you kill a person, but \u2026<\/p>\n
RW: It was old school violence.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Right. There\u2019s no nudity, no curse words. People actually care about each other. So, hey! If this thing would go out and do huge business then maybe we\u2019d start making this kind of picture again. It kind of helped, but it didn\u2019t do what I thought it was going to do. At least we took a shot at it. We started the ball rolling the other way, a little bit.<\/p>\n
RW: How did you get together with Sam Peckinpah? How did you meet? \u201cRide the High Country\u201d was your first job working with him.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Yeah. We met on \u201cThe Annapolis Story.\u201d Don Siegel was directing it. He had Sam around as a dialogue director. So I met Sam on that picture. Or course, he was a great friend of Don Siegel’s. Then I didn\u2019t see him again, and I got a call to go do \u201cRide the High Country.\u201d<\/p>\n
RW: That\u2019s a wonderful movie.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Isn\u2019t it amazing. Sam did about 14 pictures and three of them are total classics.<\/p>\n
RW: And you were in all three of them!<\/p>\n
LQJ: To me, \u201cRide the High Country\u201d is the best Saturday afternoon, hold the girl\u2019s hand, eat popcorn Western ever made. It is marvelous to watch it unfold. \u201cThe Ballad of Cable Hogue\u201d is one of the funniest films and \u201cThe Wild Bunch\u201d is a happening. It doesn\u2019t fit anyplace else. But, I love \u201cRide the High Country.\u201d I picked things up from Sam and I watched. The thing that gets you about Sam was his attention to details. That\u2019s what moved Sam from everybody else. But he carried it to ridiculous lengths. We were doing \u201cThe Wild Bunch\u201d and there was a scene, it\u2019s a long shot of Bob (Robert Ryan), Strother and myself where we are watching the Bunch. As it turned out, we did it on an afternoon, we had a little time and Sam said, let\u2019s do it. So we did the long shot. Two months later, we are doing the close up. They Bob\u2019s close-up, they did Strother\u2019s and mine was the last. When we got through, Sam said \u201cOK, Cut.\u201d Then we realized it was about to hit the fan. Sam said \u201cWhat did you think Q? How\u2019d you like it?\u201d I said \u201cListen Sam, even now I\u2019m writing my acceptance speech!\u201d \u201cOK, How about you Lucien (Lucien Ballard, the great DP)?\u201d Lucien said \u201cSam it\u2019s fine. I could change this or adapt that, but it is fine. No problem.\u201d And Sam went all the way though the cast and crew.<\/p>\n
RW: But he already knew what was wrong?<\/p>\n
LQJ: He knew, and we knew something was wrong. But we didn\u2019t know what. Finally he turned to Tony, and Tony\u2019s the prop man. \u201cTony said \u201cHell Sam, watch the frame. Everything\u2019s there. We talked it over. You looked at it, you approved it. It\u2019s all there.\u201d And Sam said \u201cYeah. Tell me Tony, how many beans did LQ have on his plate?\u201d<\/p>\n
RW: Oh man!<\/p>\n
LQJ: How many beans did he have on his plate! Tony said \u201cHow the hell do I know or even care!\u201d Sam said \u201cHe had thirteen beans. When we shot the long shot, he had eight! You\u2019re fired!\u201d So, he fired the prop master. You don\u2019t fire the prop master after you\u2019ve been filming for a month and a half. So, it took the producer and God to get Tony back on the picture. He was going home. Meaning he was taking all the props with him! So they worked out something they both could live with. Tony said \u201cI\u2019ll stay in the trailer. I\u2019ll send my helpers out. They\u2019ll dress the set. I\u2019ll never set foot on the set again. And if Peckinpah steps in my wagon again, I quit.\u201d And that\u2019s how we finished the second half of the picture.<\/p>\n
RW: That is definitely attention to detail.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Well, that\u2019s what he did. That\u2019s the way Sam was. Sam was a nut. When we did \u201cThe Ballad of Cable Hogue\u201d we fired 63% of the crew. It got so bad that we kept a limousine on the set so that when you were fired it could pick you up and take you to the hotel to get your clothes. And anther at the airport to pick up incoming replacement crewmembers. He fired me three times in one day and I quit four, in the same day. So I was off the picture seven times in one day. That\u2019s the way he was. If Sam were alive today and directed, he would probably be committed. He was crazy. He was very talentedly crazy, but he was crazy.<\/p>\n
RW: I was curious about \u201cMajor Dundee.\u201d Did he assemble a director\u2019s cut and if so, did you see it.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Yeah to both. It didn\u2019t last long because Jerry (producer Jerry Bresler) took it away from him.<\/p>\n
RW: How different was it from what we see today?<\/p>\n
LQJ: Were there mistakes? Sure. Anytime you do what Sam did, which was take chances you\u2019re going to have mistakes. But that\u2019s what cutting is for folks. To remedy it or make it work. Jerry Bresler, on the other hand, was\u2026I\u2019m sure a nice person. I\u2019m sure his family loved him but he had no talent. He was up there doing something he shouldn\u2019t be doing. For some reason people always came to me about trouble with Sam. I guess because I made so many pictures with him they figured we were friends. No body was friends with Sam. I was just used to him. When I heard Bresler\u2019s story I said \u201cYou\u2019re problem is you\u2019re an ass. You don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing. Why did you hire Sam? Only a blithering idiot would hire Sam thinking he could run him, and do the picture the way you want it. All you had to do was call a few places and ask \u2018What do you think of Peckinpah as a director?\u2019 And they would tell you. He\u2019s going to do what he wants to do if it harelips the governor. He doesn\u2019t give a damn. That\u2019s what he\u2019s going to do, so why would you be idiotic enough to hire Sam and then try to change him?\u201d It ain\u2019t gonna work. But the differences. There were shots\u2026What you have to remember about Sam, he was like most directors I know of. He was never happy with the film. He would have cut it till he fell over dead. Like me, he\u2019s a nitpicker. If you leave me alone, I\u2019ll work on a scene for twelve years just till I can get it where I think it\u2019s right. OK. So that\u2019s the way he was. He would not let go of it. Going back to your thing about Sam and his cut. There is for instance a scene in it. I was there when they shot the damn thing. It is right at the beginning. It opens on and you are on a little boy and a little girl. She\u2019s probably five and he\u2019s probably three. There are bits and pieces of it in the regular cut, but that\u2019s all you see. The camera is shooting down at them. Snot is running out of his nose. He’s eating part of it. Both of them are filthy. Two poor Mexican kids. Sam just holds on them, and he holds on them. You think you\u2019re through with it. If you watch closely, you\u2019ll see little bitty eruptions of dust, and they pop up all over the ground. They just pop up, maybe an inch, but you see them. Then as you watch the ground begins to shake. And you think \u2018Aha! What have we got here?\u201d Is it volcano? Are we having an earthquake? And then the kids start to shake and the camera whips up and here comes the cavalry charge right by them. There were like 400 of us. They are dragging us in on the end of ropes because we tried to escape. That never made the picture. That one shot is nearly an Academy Award picture. And Jerry took it out. He put and tripe and crap that he was used to. It was so bad that when they went to the screening, I didn\u2019t go, but I heard about it. Jerry went with the head of Columbia. I forget his name. And they went to the screening. When the screening was over, they got out. The limo was there. They got in the limo. They went around the corner. The head of Columbia kicked Bresler out and he fired him on the spot and made him walk home. That\u2019s how bad he thought it was. But, they could not put it together, because, not only had Bresler cut it, he cut the negative. And once you cut negative, as you know, that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
RW: That\u2019s why we\u2019ll never see a restored version.<\/p>\n
LQJ: If you do see it, it will really be butchered, because that\u2019s the only way they could put it back together. My guess is that they\u2019ve thrown it all away.<\/p>\n
RW: I was so happy that Ted Turner restored \u201cPat Garrett and Billy the Kid.\u201d I enjoyed the movie anyway, faults and all, but it was nice to see it as Sam intended.<\/p>\n
LQJ: There\u2019s the thing\u2026 The thing that people don\u2019t understand about Sam is\u2026pay attention to detail. Sam had\u2026Sam was crazy, as we have talked about. His way of working was, you\u2019d go to work on one of pictures and by the end of the first day no actors would speak to another actor, the actors wouldn\u2019t speak to the crew, the crew wouldn\u2019t talk to the actors. No body would speak to anybody. Everybody was just about ready to break into a fight. I mean it was that way on every picture I did with Sam. He would let that ride for the second day. On the third day, he would start putting the pieces back together. With Peckinpah as the father figure. That\u2019s the way he worked.<\/p>\n
RW: Sounds like Marine boot camp.<\/p>\n
LQJ: That\u2019s exactly the same way, because, see, he was a Marine. He had learned that there. But you have to remember we are dealing with egos here folks. Not only egos, but egos that were earned. These were people\u2026Lucien Ballard! He was one of the best cameramen in the business. At the end of \u201cRide the High Country,\u201d I was standing there talking with him. Lucien said \u201cSam, don\u2019t ever call me again. I don\u2019t ever want to hear from you as long as I fucking live! You have no talent. You\u2019re a pain in the ass and you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing.\u201d And he left. It took Sam five years, six years to ever talk Lucien back to coming to work for him. But that was the way Sam worked. But that takes strength, a great deal of strength. That was why he was able to do it in \u201cRide the High Country.\u201d In \u201cDundee\u201d he did it, but they didn\u2019t let him get away with it. He didn\u2019t do it on \u201cThe Deadly Companions,\u201d I don\u2019t think. But it worked on \u201cThe Wild Bunch.\u201d It worked on \u201cThe Ballad of Cable Hogue.\u201d But it didn\u2019t work in \u201cPat Garrett,\u201d because he\u2019s now ill. Sam was very ill when we did it. He could take it apart, but he couldn\u2019t put it back together. It was hell to watch him. As you notice, in \u201cPat Garrett\u201d there are marvelous moments.<\/p>\n
RW: That\u2019s what it is. A collection of great moments, but it doesn\u2019t cohere.<\/p>\n
LQJ: No it doesn\u2019t. Half of the time it is pure tripe. To me, I was lucky. I was in the best scene in the picture.<\/p>\n
RW: I think so. Katy Jarado and Slim Pickens were wonderful.<\/p>\n
LQJ: And Slim. He was fantastic.<\/p>\n
RW: The scene where Slim Pickens dies and she is sitting by him is one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in any film.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Oh yeah. Tears flowed like wine.<\/p>\n
RW: I loved your line about \u201cUs old boys are getting too old to be shooting each other like this,\u201d and all the while you were just ponying for a better shot.<\/p>\n
LQJ: You bet. I wanted to do him in the back. In the end, you see it was Katy and Slim. I sat there while they were shooting it. Tears just poured watching it. You say Sam can\u2019t do that kind of scene, but there it is! So, he was able to pull that off as long as he had the strength. But he never again had enough strength. I think it started going bad on, the one with Dustin Hoffman.<\/p>\n
RW: \u201cStraw Dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n
LQJ: Right. It started to get away from him there. I think it was that way from what I heard. It was certainly that way on \u201cConvoy.\u201d It was certainly that way on \u201cCross of Iron.\u201d<\/p>\n
RW: That\u2019s an underrated film. I think it is a great war movie.<\/p>\n
LQJ: It\u2019s like \u201cPat Garrett.\u201d Same thing. He could hold it for a while and then he\u2019d lose it. It got so bad, Sam and I had a run in because I wanted to do the part in \u201cPat Garrett\u201d that Dick did.<\/p>\n
RW: Richard Jaeckel?<\/p>\n
LQJ: Yes. I wanted to do his part. Sam wanted me to do Black Harris. I wanted to the other. We got a feud going and finally we worked it out. But, the way it should have worked\u2026 And I told Sam no three or four times. I should have gotten on the plane, got off the plane. Had the wardrobe in the limo. Changed in the limo. Gone to the location. Shot it with Coburn. Got back in the limo and gone home. Because they were paying me a ton of money. Instead, I was there for ten days before I ever saw Sam. He called me up on the third or fourth day and said \u201cListen Q, will you help me with the wardrobe?\u201d I said sure, and I worked on wardrobe for four or five days and made enough money to make my own picture! He just wanted me to get a lot of money is all! When he finally called, when it was time to go to work I went out there. He met me at the car. You know how you have a good friend, and you see him in the afternoon and that night someone calls and says that he just dropped dead and it’s not a shock to you? That’s the way Sam looked. He looked like he was at death’s door. About three or four weeks later, they had to shut everything down to let him go to the hospital. He wouldn\u2019t stay. He was in there for a week. He should have been there for a month. He got up and started shooting again.<\/p>\n
RW: Sounds like he had a lot in common with Roy Scheider\u2019s character in \u201cAll That Jazz.\u201d<\/p>\n
LQJ: Yeah. Same thing. Same thing. The producer produced \u201cCool Hand Luke.\u201d One of the sweetest men in the world. Sam nearly drove him to drink. But that\u2019s Sam. I down shooting, and I finish. Slim and I go home. I should have been there one day and I was there two weeks. I went back about three weeks later to do the sequence at the opening of the picture. In the meantime Sam has decided that I wasn\u2019t dead. This means that I was going to have to go back and shoot the whole picture again! Well, Gordon, the producer about passed water when he told him, but he didn\u2019t know how to handle Sam. So finally they found a guy who would say \u201cEnough of this crap. Jones is dead. Black Harris is dead, let\u2019s finish this picture!\u201d Which we finally did. Sam was not able to maintain his control. He did weird things.<\/p>\n
RW: It\u2019s a shame they didn\u2019t have the psychotropic drugs back then. Maybe Sam could have maintained.<\/p>\n
LQJ: He was that way. I remember I was talking to Fern Lee, his sister. Sam was down in Mexico where he liked to be when he got really ill. They flew him in so he could go to Cedars. When he landed at LAX the doctor who came with him said he was too ill to move very far. So they put him in a hospital close to LAX. They called Fern Lee. So Fern Lee and Walter the friendly Bear went to see Sam. As soon as they got there, the doctor said \u201cYou are his sister, right?\u201d She said yes. The doctor said \u201cWe\u2019ve got to have an understanding. Who\u2019s going to run the sick room? Me or Sam. I told the nurse to do something and Sam would tell her to do it someway else. So we have to have an understanding. Who\u2019s running this damn thing!\u201d<\/p>\n
RW: I\u2019m the director on this set!<\/p>\n
LQJ: He was that way till the moment he died. When we were doing his funeral service I told them \u201cGod\u2019s going to be sorry. He got Sam up there, Sam\u2019s probably going to try and take over!\u201d That was Peckinpah. What can I tell you.<\/p>\n
RW: I had the pleasure of interviewing a couple of friends of yours. Katie West and Jon Locke. They were at the Memphis Film Festival a few years ago. Very nice people. They were great with my kids.<\/p>\n
LQJ: They\u2019ve invited me to go with them a couple of times but I\u2019ve never been able to fit it into the schedule. But there are a lot of nice people in the business. Sam was nice, but he was nuts. Raoul Walsh wasn\u2019t that way too much. He was a bit. John Ford was a nut for Christ sakes! David Lean I understand would do weird things. I worked with Eddie Dmytryk. Eddie was liable to do anything. So none of use are real normal.<\/p>\n
RW: I imagine the freedom of acting is great. I just did a small role in a local indie film. When it was over, I was bummed out. I didn\u2019t want it to end.<\/p>\n
LQJ: As you work as an actor you find that you begin to lose that freedom a tad. When I go to work, my job is to have fun. But for me\u2026you have to find where you fit. You look around. Jason (Jason Robards) will work this way. Another will work that way. Tony Hopkins will do this. Brando will do that. I\u2019ve worked with the best in the business. Chuck (Charlton Heston) will do one thing. So the trick is\u2026and I like to do character work as opposed to leads. The trick is to find out what you can add to the picture. Where is that portion of the tapestry that is incomplete. So you begin to lose a little freedom because there are some things you might want to do but you say \u201cNo. If I do that then so and so can\u2019t do that. Or Brando wants to do this. Or Montgomery Cliff wants to do this. So, I\u2019ll do this instead.\u201d Because I can change easier than they can. So you begin to lose it a bit. People keep asking my, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you direct more?\u201d I don\u2019t direct because it\u2019s a pain in the ass and hard work. When I act, I like to hit my mark, say my lines, pick up my money and go home. It\u2019s just fun for me. But directing, you have to keep your nose at it 24 hours a day.<\/p>\n
I do a lot of things with colleges to give back a little. Invariably they ask \u201cWhat is the most important thing for a director?\u201d I\u2019ve gotten to the point that I use a trick question. I ask them \u201cWhat do you think it is?\u201d Some say it is talent, some say foresight. Others say it\u2019s an understanding of the medium. What to do with this or that. The main thing is that you are strong enough to get through the damn day! If you can get to work and not collapse and die before the work is done then you\u2019ll do great!<\/p>\n
Ford, I consider the best our business has ever seen. For what he could do, cause he did everything. David Lean was marvelous, Raoul was marvelous, but Ford just did so much. I was watching an interview with him and they asked \u201cHow do you do all these things. How can people do what you do?\u201d He would give a flip answers because he was a flip person. They kept crowding him and finally he said \u201cOkay. What I do is get the best material I can find. I get the best actors I can get hold of and hire and then I get the hell out of the way and let them work.\u201d And he\u2019s right. Just stay the hell out of everybody\u2019s way and let them work. But to many directors today won\u2019t give you the chance. Nothing last for more than 16 seconds. There\u2019s no reason for the shots they make. It\u2019s just that they want to do it that way. It has nothing to do with the story. There\u2019s no input other than \u2018blood and guts\u2019 or \u2018tits and violence.\u2019 Not that it\u2019s not good in and of itself, but how long does that last?<\/p>\n
RW: You took your stage name from your character in \u201cBattle Cry.\u201d This maybe a strange question but I\u2019ve always wondered what it would be like to go through life with a \u2018stage name.\u2019 It just seems a bizarre thing to deal with in life.<\/p>\n
LQJ: I know from what you call me, where I knew you from. If it\u2019s one thing it\u2019s High School. If it\u2019s another it was one college, another it\u2019s another college. If it\u2019s another it\u2019s from the business. First off, you have to be crazy to change your name from Justis McQueen to L.Q. Jones. That\u2019s not real bright. Justis is a great stage name. I had done the picture. Warner Brothers asked to change my name. I didn\u2019t care, as long as they got it on the check correctly. I thought about it for a while and I called Leon Uris. Leon was the man who wrote \u201cBattle Cry.\u201d He wasn\u2019t doing that well at the time. So I said \u201cI tell you what Leon. I\u2019ll change my name, and then you sue us for changing it to your character\u2019s name and then you\u2019ll get a lot of publicity. We\u2019ll both get a lot of publicity!\u201d He said \u201cThat\u2019s a great idea.\u201d Then he went off and wrote \u201cExodus\u201d and I never heard from him again. It didn\u2019t do much for him, but its been OK for me. I came along at a time when they were changing names. I didn\u2019t mind what they called me.<\/p>\n
RW: As long as they kept calling you!<\/p>\n
LQJ: Yep! I was eating real good. I was lucky. I started out high up the food chain in the business and I kept working. A lot of the people I started with have long since stopped, but I\u2019ve been able to keep squeezing them out and it\u2019s been a lot of fun.<\/p>\n
RW: Do you have a favorite film from an acting point of view?<\/p>\n
LQJ: You bet. The next one I\u2019m going to do! I just like to work. Some one asked me if there was a particular film I would have liked to been in. I thought about it. I\u2019d loved to have been in every picture ever made! There\u2019s always something you\u2019d like to do. Of course you can\u2019t do that. I\u2019ve been very, very lucky. I started doing leads. I found out this wasn\u2019t fun. If you want to rape the girl and kick the dog you have to character work. So I went with that. I\u2019ve been fortunate.<\/p>\n
RW: Well, so have we. You have given us some memorable characters. TC from \u201cThe Wild Bunch\u201d was a small part, but he one of the more memorable scoundrels on film. The scene between yourself and Strother Martin fighting over who killed who is a classic.<\/p>\n
LQJ: I\u2019ve been lucky with good parts and been able to have fun with them.<\/p>\n
RW: Do you have anything coming up now?<\/p>\n
LQJ: Other than breakfast or bankruptcy, I can\u2019t think of anything. They don\u2019t offer as much as they used to in out business because age shifts to the very young. They still send things over. Unfortunately I usually just send them back.<\/p>\n
RW: Waiting for the right thing to come along.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Right. They think I\u2019m just trying to get more money so they offer more money. I tell them thanks for the thought. It\u2019s fun to think about it, but I\u2019d rather stay at home and sulk. So, I hurt people\u2019s feeling occasionally, but I\u2019m independently poor, so I can do what I damn well please. Of course, everybody starts out doing what you can do to make a buck. I was lucky because I started out with a better part than most people will ever get in the business. Matter of fact it got to be a real problem. Raoul took parts from three actors and put them in my character. You can imagine how popular I was. Here was a guy who had never seen a motion picture set until a day before yesterday and they are taking things away from actors who are professionals and giving it to me. That was just the way Raoul was. He wanted to put me under personal contract. The only other one he had done that to was Rock Hudson. I already had an agent, so he said \u201cAlright kid. We\u2019ll still work together.\u201d And we did. He was so special to me. He was a funny man. Hard working.<\/p>\n
RW: Nice to have a mentor like that.<\/p>\n
LQJ: I was laughing\u2026 Do you know who Richard Schickel is?<\/p>\n
RW: Yes.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Richard did a series on five or six directors. My cameraman on \u201cDog\u201d shot them. I was watching the one on Raoul. Raoul said he was working on the lot at Warner Brothers and bumped into this guy one day who said \u201cListen Raoul, I have this very sensitive love story and I\u2019d like you to direct it. Would you do that?\u201d Raoul said \u201cI guess so if I don\u2019t have anything else to do I\u2019ll do it.\u201d They man told Raoul he was going to talk to Mr. Warner to get permission. So he talked to Jack Warner and Jack said \u201cLet me tell you something. You know Raoul\u2019s idea of a warm love story is to set fire to a whorehouse!\u201d Raoul said that was the end of his big sensitive picture. What a kick in the head he was!<\/p>\n
RW: He went back a ways. Didn\u2019t he play John Wilkes Booth in \u201cBirth of a Nation\u201d?<\/p>\n
LQJ: Yeah. Raoul was a big star until he lost his eye. Then he said to heck with acting. Do you like to read?<\/p>\n
RW: Yes. When I get the time. Most of what I get to read is law related because of work.<\/p>\n
LQJ: I know what you mean. My daughter is an attorney also. Raoul wrote an autobiography called \u201cEach Man in His Time.\u201d Check it out. It\u2019s going to be hard to find, because he did it back in the 80s. Raoul was such a free thinker. He came from a very wealthy family. A very influential family who had presidents by and Mark Twain visited with them. Raoul turned into a cowboy, a pirate, a sailor, a huckster. He was everything.<\/p>\n
RW: A man\u2019s man.<\/p>\n
LQJ: You bet. I told him when we were doing \u201cBattle Cry,\u201d that once I learned what he was like, I wouldn\u2019t jump on that old devil in a dark alley with a stick in each hand. I think at that point, he was like 72. He was a tough human being.<\/p>\n
RW: I had a step uncle who was in his 70s when two 18-year-old kids tried to mug him. He beat the crap out of both of them. Tough old guy.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Raoul was not a big man, in fact he was very small. I\u2019d say five foot eight, but he was one tough mother. We had a lot of fun, but he really caught me out. When I took the screen test, they had already tested 200 people for my part. I showed up and told him how lucky he was to have me to play the part. Burt Kennedy was a friend of Fess Parker. Fess and I were roommates in college. So Burt took me out and rewrote my test scene.<\/p>\n
RW: Had you any acting experience before that?<\/p>\n
LQJ: Hell no. I was a stand-up comic. Nothing professional. Hell, actors are born, not made. So Burt wrote the scene and then told me what he would do with it. He said, \u201cDon\u2019t tell anybody because I\u2019ll get in trouble for doing this.\u201d So I said OK. When I went in to do the test, I asked Raoul if I could change the scene. He said fine. I did the scene. It was funny because I saw the scene later and I wouldn\u2019t have hired me. We got ready to go. We were going to shoot it in the Azores. It\u2019s where the Marines had their summer war games. We were a long way from LA. So they went through the casting and they came to my part. They said \u201cWho do you want here?\u201d and Raoul said \u201cI want this kid.\u201d Steve Trilling, who was a fan of mine later, said \u201cLook Raoul. Let\u2019s look at this thing like we\u2019ve got some sense. You are going to be a day and a half, probably two days away from a replacement. You\u2019ve only seen one thing the kid\u2019s done. You get down there and he can\u2019t do the job you\u2019re screwed. It\u2019s going to cast a lot of money and a lot of time to replace him. He said why not be smart. Let him sit here. Go down and shoot the picture. When you come back, you\u2019re still got six weeks here. Hire him for a little part. That way, if he screws up, it won\u2019t hurt the picture. Raoul said \u201cLook. Either the kid does the picture or you can get another director.\u201d<\/p>\n
RW: Wow.<\/p>\n
LQJ: That was the end of that.<\/p>\n
RW: That had to be a humbling experience, having someone stand up to bat for you like that.<\/p>\n
LQJ: Yeah. But I didn\u2019t know that! That\u2019s the way Raoul was. The first day he had me sit on the set. He wouldn\u2019t let me work. He\u2019s letting me see how the business works. When the day was over he called me over. Unfortunately, because he thought I had written my screen test,,, He said \u201cListen Kid, I don\u2019t like how that scene we\u2019ve got tomorrow. \u201cOh right\u201d I said. It was the scene with Jimmy Whitmore and Aldo. The whole cast. It\u2019s where we\u2019re coming in on landing barges. I think I had maybe a line. Four or five lines. He said rewrite it and give yourself a bunch of things to do. Well shit! Now what do I do? Because we\u2019re down there, I can\u2019t get to a telephone. We don\u2019t have one. I can\u2019t call Burt and say \u201cWhat do I do?\u201d So I had to rewrite it. So I rewrote it and the next morning gave it to him. He said \u201cFine, take this to the office and have them crank it out.\u201d So they did. Now we are getting ready to do the scene and they are giving it to Van Heflin, who has only been a star for 20 years! Jimmy Whitmore. He gives them all the scene and said \u201cThis is what we are going to do.\u201d We did the scene. After that, whereever we worked, I\u2019m sitting around on the set, or at home. He would call and say, I don\u2019t like that scene we\u2019re doing to morrow. Write me a new one.\u201d So I ended up writing 10 or 15% of the movie! Raoul was just a very special man. Everyone should have someone like him when they are starting out.<\/p>\n
Postscript: I got caught up in my conversation with Mr. Jones and let my tape run out. We finished up talking a while longer about Raoul Walsh and our families. He also told me a great story about Charles Laughton, Raoul Walsh and the film “The Naked and the Dead.” However, as I am losing my memory along with my hair, I don’t want to paraphrase what I remember. It was a good story though. I promise! Maybe I’ll use this as an excuse to give Mr. Jones another call. There aren’t many better ways to spend an afternoon. He’s a very open, no bull shit kind of guy. The kind of guy you\u2019d like to hang out and drink a beer with. Or talk movies with. Here\u2019s hoping he gets mad enough to make another movie real soon.<\/p>\n