Michael Winner
Michael Winner (born 30 October 1935) is an English film director and producer, active in both Europe and the United States, also known as a food critic.
Biography
Early years
Winner was born in London, England, into a wealthy family of Jewish[1] expatriates. His Russian father was successful in property ownership, while his Polish mother lost an estimated £8 million through compulsive gambling. He received a typically upper middle-class education, attending a boarding school with Quaker origins (St Christopher School) and Downing College, Cambridge, where he studied law and edited the university's student newspaper, Varsity. Winner had earlier shown his talent for writing in a newspaper column, 'Michael Winner's Showbiz Gossip,' in the Kensington Post from the age of 14. The newspaper job allowed him to meet and interview several leading film personalities, including James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. He also wrote for the New Musical Express.
He began his screen career as an assistant director of BBC television programmes, cinema shorts, and full-length "B" productions, occasionally writing screenplays. His first on-screen credit was earned as a writer for the 1958 crime film Man With a Gun, directed by Montgomery Tully. Winner's first director credit was on a cinema short entitled Floating Fortress produced by Harold Baim. Winner's first project as a lead director involved another story he wrote, Shoot to Kill, in 1960.
British films
In the early 1960s, Winner emerged as a 'hip, young' director whose films rebelled against prevailing social conventions in Britain. His second project, Some Like It Cool (1961), is the tale of a young woman who introduces her prudish husband and in-laws to the joys of nudism. After releasing family drama Old Mac and a potboiler mystery called Out of the Shadow in 1961, Winner brushed with Gilbert and Sullivan in a psychedelic version of The Cool Mikado (1962) which was produced by Harold Baim. Following were the Billy Fury-led musical Play It Cool (1962), comedy short Behave Yourself (1962), and his first significant project, West 11 (1963), a realistic tale of London drifters starring Alfred Lynch.
Winner's sex comedy The System (1964) began a partnership with actor Oliver Reed that would last for six films over a 25-year period. Winner and Reed closed out the 1960s as a pair with The Jokers (1967), popular comedy-drama I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967), and the World War II satire Hannibal Brooks (1969). A non-Reed comedy, You Must Be Joking! (1965) with Denholm Elliott, and an ambitious Olympic drama, The Games, (1970) were also screened.
American films
Hannibal Brooks drew notice in Hollywood and Winner soon received opportunities to direct for larger markets. His jarring style and intense pacing were well-suited for action films, leading to an immediate offer in the Western genre from Dino De Laurentiis, the Italian film mogul who was establishing a production business in the United States. The result was Winner's first American film, Lawman (1971) starring Burt Lancaster and Robert Duvall. 1972 proved the most important season of Winner's career, as he first directed Marlon Brando in The Nightcomers, a prequel to The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, then made his first efforts with box office star Charles Bronson in Chato's Land, concerning a 'half-breed' American Indian fighting Whites, and The Mechanic, a thriller about professional assassins. The following year, Winner booked Lancaster again for the espionage drama Scorpio and reprised Bronson in The Stone Killer.
In 1974, Winner and Bronson led movie headlines with Death Wish, a film that has defined the careers of both men. Based on a novel by Brian Garfield and adapted to the screen by Wendell Mayes, Death Wish was originally planned for director Sidney Lumet under contract with United Artists. The commitment of Lumet to another film and UA's questioning of its subject matter led to an eventual production by Dino De Laurentiis through Paramount Pictures. Death Wish tracks Paul Kersey, a liberal New York architect who becomes a gun-wielding vigilante after his wife is murdered and daughter is raped. With a script adjusted to Bronson's persona, the film generated major controversy during its screenings and was one of the year's highest grossers.
Upon the release of Death Wish, Winner became primarily known as an action film director. Most of his attempts to branch into other genres failed at the box office. After directing no films in 1975, Winner resurfaced with Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollwood (1976), an animal comedy starring Bruce Dern, Madeline Kahn, Art Carney, and Milton Berle, amongst others. Also of modest success was his horror flick The Sentinel (1977), a remake of Raymond Chandler's novel The Big Sleep (1978), and the organized crime thriller Firepower (1979) with Sophia Loren.
By the early 80s, Winner found himself in great need of a moneymaker and accepted Charles Bronson's request to film Death Wish II, a sequel to the 1974 blockbuster. Bronson had already signed a lucrative deal with Cannon Films, independent producer of exploitation fare and marginal arthouse titles. The sequel, co-starring Bronson's wife Jill Ireland, is considered a rehash of Death Wish with violence raised to more graphic levels. Despite being slammed by critics, Death Wish II earned over $1.8 million during its opening weekend in 1982.
Like fellow British director J. Lee Thompson, Cannon Films became Winner's mainstay during the 1980s. His reputation was already on the decline before releasing two failures, a remake of The Wicked Lady (1983) with Faye Dunaway and the generic thriller Scream for Help (1984). Winner made a final splash, however, with Death Wish 3 in 1985. Set in New York City but filmed mostly in London for budget purposes, Death Wish 3 is an outrageously violent yet hilarious spoof on action films in the vein of Rambo II and Commando. The film earned over $5.3 million during its opening weekend in the United States and maintains a large cult following.
Winner's output sputtered after Death Wish 3, his age leaving him at a disadvantage in the youth-oriented film industry. He directed adaptations of the Alan Ayckbourn musical play A Chorus of Disapproval with Anthony Hopkins and the Agatha Christie novel Appointment with Death in 1988. After Cannon Films entered bankruptcy, Winner confined himself to British productions with the Michael Caine/Roger Moore farce Bullseye! (1990), Dirty Weekend (1993) starring Lia Williams, and his most recent film, Parting Shots (1999).
Directing style
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The Death Wish series is a fitting entry on Winner's résumé, since it generates a tide of conflicting emotions in ways similar to the man himself. Winner remains a visible figure in Britain, making occasional guest appearances on television and radio besides authoring his restaurant column 'Winner's Dinners' for the Sunday Times and playing a role in social activism.
His films with Oliver Reed and Charles Bronson indicate a great compatibility with certain lead actors. Marlon Brando also voiced his respect for Winner, once noting "He's the only person I've ever met who talks to me as I wish to be talked to." But former crew members and supporting cast often judge him as abrasive. Barbara Wilde, who played a gang member in Death Wish 3, recalled "The atmosphere on set was drenched in fear. [He] spent most of his time shouting at everyone, except Charles Bronson, of course. But Mr Winner was also very witty and funny, in a vicious way."
Although Winner has a demanding reputation, he is known in the business for a short workday and requiring fewer cuts to achieve his goals. Many of his films were completed ahead of schedule and under the given budget. Besides his ability to turn out several films in one year, Winner's taut system of filming proved valuable to De Laurentiis and Cannon president Menahem Golan, who needed a quick turnover of their films at minimum cost. He has also sought for maximum control over the filmmaking process, often serving as producer, screenwriter, and editor (under his pen name "Arnold J. Crust").
Winner has cited Hitchcock and Billy Wilder as directing influences, but many aspects of his style are unique. He is known for choppy pacing that is effective in action sequences. His camera work is flamboyant, making use of wobbles, zooms, and scene-opening closeups. Winner's photography tends to be muted while his soundtracks use material from diverse sources, including Gilbert and Sullivan, jazz composer Herbie Hancock, and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.
Celebrity life
The Londoner seems as well-known today for his personal dealings as his professional life. Winner has enjoyed the company of numerous female celebrities, including Joan Collins, Sophia Loren, Jenny Seagrove and Paola Lombard. But he remains prominent in British life for other reasons, including his challenging dinner reviews and his regular appearances on television, particularly in a series of advertisements that he directed for insurance firm esure.
He is also an occasional panellist on Have I Got News for You where Ian Hislop's low opinion of him is clear.
Winner has been active on law enforcement issues and helped to establish the Police Memorial Trust after WPC Yvonne Fletcher was murdered in 1984. 36 local memorials honouring police officers who died in the line of duty have been erected since 1985, beginning with Fletcher's in St. James's Square, London. The National Police Memorial, opposite St. James's Park at the junction of Horse Guards Road and The Mall, was also unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II on April 26, 2005.
His autobiography Winner Takes All: A Life of Sorts was published by Robson Books in 2006. The book largely describes his experiences with many big screen actors.
In 2006, it emerged that Winner had been offered an OBE in the Queen's 80th Birthday Honours List for his part in campaigning for the Police Memorial Trust. Winner declined the honour, remarking "An OBE is what you get if you clean the toilets well at King's Cross Station." [2]
Winner will soon be appearing in a television series featuring his experiences as a hotel and restaurant customer.
Health
In January 2007 Winner was admitted to the London Clinic, a private hospital in Harley Street, after contracting a rare and often fatal bacterial infection Vibrio vulnificus. The Daily Mirror reported[3]that Winner was critically ill and might have to have his leg amputated, the amputation reports subsequently proved to be false.[4]. He was released from hospital in April 2007, but his health was still very frail[5]. Winner has made no public appearances from later 2006 but appeared on the Parkinson TV show on October 13 2007. He is still having treatment at home for ongoing conditions.
Quotes
- "When I tell people I've slept with more than 130 women, they are appalled but, you know, I've been doing it for 55 years so I don't think that's bad going!"
- "You can take the shizzle out of the hizzle, but you can't put the hizzle on the big screen."
- "Calm down dear, it's only a commercial" — the catchphrase of his Esure adverts.
- "God, the truth hurts!" – (when asked by a Daily Telegraph reporter how he would respond to Gordon Ramsay's comment that "Winner knows nothing about food.")
- "Ah, that must be George Best's cremation" – (when shown a picture of the Buncefield Oil Depot Fire whilst appearing as a guest on Have I Got News for You in December 2005, provoking laughter and outrage in equal measure)
Filmography
(from 1967 also producer)
- Shoot to Kill (1960)
- Some Like It Cool (1961)
- Old Mac (1961)
- Out of the Shadow (1961)
- The Cool Mikado (1962)
- Play It Cool (1962)
- Behave Yourself (1962)
- West 11 (1963)
- The System (1964)
- You Must Be Joking! (1965)
- The Jokers (1967)
- I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967)
- Hannibal Brooks (1969)
- The Games (1970)
- Lawman (1971)
- The Nightcomers (1972)
- Chato's Land (1972)
- The Mechanic (1972)
- Scorpio (1973)
- The Stone Killer (1973)
- Death Wish (1974)
- Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976)
- The Sentinel (1977)
- The Big Sleep (1978)
- Firepower (1979)
- Death Wish II (1982)
- The Wicked Lady (1983)
- Scream for Help (1984)
- Death Wish 3 (1985)
- A Chorus of Disapproval (1988)
- Appointment with Death (1988)
- Bullseye! (1990)
- Dirty Weekend (1993)
- Parting Shots (1999)
Footnotes
- ^ "Variety Club - Jewish Chronicle colour supplement "350 years"". The Jewish Chronicle. 2006-12-15. pp. 28–29.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Winner shuns 'toilet-cleaner OBE' , BBC News, Sunday, 28 May 2006
- ^ Mirror report about leg amputation
- ^ Winner in hospital
- ^ How Michael Winner cheated death, Julia Stuart, The Independent, 24 April 2007