Paint Your Wagon Special Fetures Include: Theatrical Trailer Ben and Pardner shared everything -- even their wife! Aspect ratio: 2:35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen Sound: 5.1 Surround Sound Year made: 1969 Country: US Duration: 158 mins. Print: Colour Discs: 1 Genre: Western, Comedy, Musical NEW CAST Directed by: Joshua Logan Writing credits: Paddy Chayefsky (adaptation), Alan Jay Lerner (also play) Lee Marvin .... Ben Rumson Clint Eastwood .... Pardner Jean Seberg .... Elizabeth Harve Presnell .... Rotten Luck Willie Ray Walston .... Mad Jack Duncan Tom Ligon .... Horton Fenty Alan Dexter .... Parson A Michigan farmer and a prospector form a partnership in the California gold country. Their adventures include buying and sharing a wife, hijacking a stage, kidnaping six prostitutes, and turning their mining camp into a boomtown. Along the way there is plenty of drinking, gambling, and singing. They even find time to do some creative gold mining. Many extras in the film were "hippies" who just happened to be living in the woods near where the crew built the sets. The film went notoriously over budget and was a box office failure when originally released. This project reportedly inspired Clint Eastwood to have more control over film budgets and schedules by starting his own production company. Jean Seberg had her singing voice dubbed by 'Rita Gordon (II)' while Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin did their own singing. Although it was a musical, no choreographer was ever hired. This was the only film produced by Alan Jay Lerner. This film version bears little resemblance to the Broadway musical on which it's "based". After the success of several musicals in the 1960s, especially The Sound of Music (1965), producers went looking for other projects to make, and "Paint Your Wagon" made the list. The plot (about an interethnic love story) was discarded, however, as too dated. The only elements retained from the original were the title, Gold Rush setting, and about half of the songs. The first attempt to film this property was by Louis B. Mayer and Jack Cummings in 1957. Planned as a Cinerama release with a screenplay by John Lee Mahin and new songs by Lerner and Arthur Schwartz, the project died with Louis B. Mayer. Gary Cooper was being sought to play Ben Rumson. Lesley Ann Warren and Sally Ann Howes turned down the role of Elizabeth. Kim Novak was also approached but withdrew from the project. George Maharis was a close contender for the role of Pardner. [t] Links: www.thecollectorslot.com/Clint Eastwood - Products list www.thecollectorslot.com/Lee Marvin - Products list
