The Split (film)

The Split is a 1968 American neo-noir[1] crime drama film directed by Gordon Flemyng and written by Robert Sabaroff based upon the Parker novel The Seventh by Richard Stark (a pseudonym of Donald E. Westlake).

This article is about the 1968 crime film. For the 1959 horror film, see The Manster. For other uses, see Split (disambiguation).
The Split
Directed byGordon Flemyng
Produced byRobert Chartoff
Irwin Winkler
Written byDonald E. Westlake (novel)
Robert Sabaroff
Based onThe Seventh
by Richard Stark
StarringJim Brown
Diahann Carroll
Julie Harris
Ernest Borgnine
Music byQuincy Jones
CinematographyBurnett Guffey
Edited byRita Roland
Production
company
Spectrum
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • October 1968 (1968-10)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The film stars Jim Brown, along with Diahann Carroll, Julie Harris, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Klugman, Warren Oates, Donald Sutherland and Gene Hackman. The music is by Quincy Jones. It is notable for being the first film with an R rating.

Plot summary

Thieves fall out when more than a half-million dollars goes missing after the daring and carefully planned robbery of the Los Angeles Coliseum during a football game, each one accusing the other of having the money.

The heist has been masterminded by a man named McClain and his partner, Gladys. In choosing their accomplices carefully, McClain challenges getaway driver Harry Kifka to a race, picks a fight with thug Bert Clinger, imprisons electrical expert Marty Gough in an wire-controlled vault to watch him fashion an escape, and has a shooting match with marksman Dave Negli before pulling off the job.

Together, the thieves make off with over $500,000. With the five men having carried out the heist and Gladys having financed it, the plan is to split the money six ways the next day. McClain stashes the money for the night with Ellie, his ex-wife. While his partners impatiently await their split of the loot, Lt. Walter Brill takes charge of the case. Ellie is attacked and killed by Herb Sutro, her landlord, who steals the money as well.

The rest of the gang members hold McClain accountable for the lost money and demand that he retrieve it. Brill quickly solves the murder and is well aware of the connection to the robber. He kills Sutro, but keeps the money for himself. With Ellie's murderer identified, but still no trace of the money, the gang members all turn on McClain, assuming he's hiding it. This leads to a confrontation that ends with the deaths of Negli and Gladys.

McClain escapes and visits Brill, threatening to reveal that Brill has the money. He and Brill decide to divide it up between themselves, but the rest of McClain's gang has other ideas. After a shoot-out at the docks, only McClain and Brill are left—Brill decides to take a small part of the money, giving McClain his rightful sixth, and plans to return the rest to win a promotion. McClain is satisfied with the arrangement, but also haunted by Ellie's death. With his money, he is about to board a flight leaving town when he seems to hear Ellie's voice calling his name.

Cast

Production

The film was produced by Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff who had just made another movie based on a "Parker" novel for MGM, Point Blank. Winkler offered the lead part to Steve McQueen who originally wanted to do it, but then decided to make Bullitt instead. Jim Brown had read the script and was enthusiastic about it and he was cast instead. MGM had made several movies with Brown and agreed to finance.[2][3]

"This negro is no Harvard graduate on his way to winning a Nobel prize," said Chartoff of the lead character. "He doesn't hit a white man just because he had been hit by him first."[4]

Jim Brown was under a long-term contract to MGM at the time.[5] He was paid $125,000 for the role.[2]

Chartoff and Winkler had success in using a British director, John Boorman, on Point Blank, so sought out another one for The Split. They chose Gordon Flemyng, who had impressed them with his work on Great Catherine. A strong support cast was selected to give Brown as much support as possible.[4]

The film was originally called Run the Man Down.[6]

Jim Brown's original action double for the movie was pioneering stuntman Calvin Brown, the first black stunt performer in Hollywood. (Prior to the 1960s, on the rare occasions that a stunt double was required for a black actor, they were typically doubled by a white stunt performer in blackface).

Reception

Winkler called the film "a solid thriller, no more, no less. Nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to be proud of, except the accidental casting that was groundbreaking."[7] The movie was previewed at Oakland in order to ensure a sizable African American audience, but the movie was not particularly well received. Winkler wrote "the film just wasn't good enough to capture an audience."[8]

See also

References
  1. Silver, Alain; Ward, Elizabeth; eds. (1992). Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (3rd ed.). Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-479-5
  2. Jim Brown's End Run Around Race Prejudice TUSHER, WILLIAM. Los Angeles Times 28 Jan 1968: d11.
  3. Winkler, Irwin (2019). A Life in Movies: Stories from Fifty Years in Hollywood (Kindle ed.). Abrams Press. pp. 421–446/3917.
  4. CHARTOFF AND WINKLER: Entrepreneurs of the Offbeat Film Two Entrepreneurs of Offbeat Movies Thomas, Kevin. Los Angeles Times 16 Jan 1968: d1.
  5. http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3518/The-Split/articles.html
  6. MOVIE CALL SHEET: 'Split' Next for Jim Brown Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times 2 Dec 1967: b9.
  7. Winkler p 451/3917
  8. Winkler p 457/3917
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