Random thoughts - Barry Spikings and Michael Deeley at EMI Films

In the early 1970s, Nat Cohen of EMI was the most powerful person in the British film industry, responsible for something like 70% of British movies. In 1974 he enjoyed his greatest triumph with Murder on the Orient Express. 

However within the year EMI seemed to feel the need for a change. I'm not sure why - Cohen had done well for a while. Maybe it was the a slate of films he greenlit in the mid 70s - Ace's High, Seven Nights in Japan, To the Devil a Daughter, Spanish Fly, Sweeney!, The Likely Lands, and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet. These were all projects that sounded good on paper - a remake of Journey's End, a romantic comedy in the style of Roman Holiday, a Hammer horror with Chris Lee, a Leslie Phillips sex comedy, two adaptations of TV shows, a sequel to All Creatures Great and Small. However only Sweeney! seemed to impress much. (I think a lot of them lacked the stars to put over eg Malcolm McDowell, Michael York, John Alderton)

So EMI brought in the team of Michael Deeley and Barry Spikings, who had impressed with their nous at British Lion. Their films included The Wicker Man, Don't Look Now, The Man Who Fell to Earth and Conduct Unbecoming. These weren't particularly huge hits but they seemed to have "it" so got the job over Cohen, who was presumably annoyed.

Deeley and Spikings did have a good idea - make international focused films, but if they do, make sure you get half the money and distribution from a major studio. That's a sensible approach later used by Working Title.

The films of their regime were pretty good

*Sweeney 2 (1978) - sequel to the original, no nonsense TV adaptation

* Warlords of Atlantis (1978) - part of the John Dark/Kevin Connor collaboration. I can see why they did it - but was probably a mistake not to use a well-ish known source novel like the previous three collaborations from Dark and Connor. It's a much weaker entry.

* Convoy (1978) - based on a song, which is random, but it's a truck movie with crashes and Sam Peckinpah. A safe-ish movie - and proved to be a hit despite the difficult production.

* The Driver (1978) - a solid safe-ish choice, a car chase movie from Walter Hill. Interestingly it did poorly in the US (perhaps because Ryan O'Neal was in the lead) but did well interationally.

*Death on the Nile (1978) - all star Christie from the producers of Orient Express. They got the appeal of the first - lots of names and cool locations.

*The Deer Hunter (1978) - the riskiest film. Vietnam War. Russian roulette. Downbeat.A huge success. Good on them for doing it. But one risky film in six is good odds.

Then Deeley let EMI who dropped their policy of seeking co-finance and distribution. They set up their own distribution with Lew Grade - it turned out to be a massive mistake. 

Let's look at Spikings films:

 *Arabian Adventure (1979) - more Connor/Dark stuff. Probably needed a better known source material - and international names, considering its bigger budget. But a decent choice.

* Can't Stop the Music (1980) - even at the time, a riskier choice than you might think. Disco was on the decline during pre production. No real stars. The leads couldn't sing or dance cf Olivia Newtown John and John Travolta. They should've shared the risk.

* The Awakening (1980)a mummy movie with Charlton Heston. Not a bad choice in theory but should've split the risk.

* Time's Square (1980) - some grittiness a la Saturday Night Fever but it didn't break through. Didn't have dancing or commercial elements.

* The Elephant Man (1980) - great true story, which was a solid basis for a film. Risky choice for director but it paid off in spades.

* The Jazz Singer (1980) - much maligned but a good commercial choice I feel. They just should've locked in their approach before replacing directors during filming.
* The Mirror Crack'd (1980) - didn't do as well as other Christie films but a good solid choice. Perhaps it lacked the spectacular locations of the first two.
* Honky Tonk Freeway (1981) - ridiculous choice. $20 million on a broad comedy from a director untested in that genre with no stars, especially no comedy stars. Absurd.
*Evil Under the Sun (1982) - solid Christie choice. Second tier stars though maybe. Locations - Majorca - felt a bit same-y. Not sure what else I would've picked though.
* Britannia Hospital (1982) - great EMI supported British film. Just probably should've been a cheaper movie.
* Frances (1982) - good solid choice, the lead role was always going to get plaudits.
* Second Thoughts (1983) - why did they think there'd be a market about a woman wondering to have an abortion? Think this was a silly choice.
* Bad Boys (1983) - modern day Jimmy Cagney style film. Decent choice.
* Tender Mercies (1983) - Horton Foote, Robert Duvall. Won Duvall an Oscar.
* Strange Invaders (1983) - really weird choice.
* Cross Creek (1983) - biopic about the writer of The Yearling. Had pretty pictures and a romance. No one remembers this but I think it was probably worth making with a big enough star... didn't have one in Mary Steenburgen.
* Handgun (1983) - low budget gun movie. Weird it got finance.

So, what to think about Spikings' regime? The most bizarre thing is how uncommercial it was. Times Square, Honky Tonk Freeway, Britannia Hospital, Tender Mercies, Strange Invaders, Handguns. These films would have to click exactly right, like say The Deer Hunter, to actually work. Cross Creek needed a big star. Can't Stop the Music was just too late. The only obvious commercial films were Can't Stop the Music and the Christies. The Frances story was always going to attract a bit of attention.

Spikings clearly was out of his element, like Forbes, but to give him his due he wanted to make good films, not crap.