I directed the best political movie never released.
FilmmakerHaskell Wexlerthus describedMedium Cool, his violent feature set during Chicagos riotous 1968 Democratic National Convention.
His movie opened (sort of) exactly 55 years ago this week.
Robert Forster in ‘Medium Cool’Everett Collection
Their criticism was short-lived because the negative would quickly disappear.
A Paramount spokesman was reluctant to confirm it had ever been made.
The mysteries ofMedium Coolseemed relevant to cineastes this week as history threatened to repeat itself in Chicago.
Haskell Wexler shooting ‘Medium Cool’
The convention itself won applause andstrong ratingsfor its electric energy andstar power.
But not in 1968.
One week before the start of production, Wexler called the studio in a state of abject panic.
The convention had started and Chicago was in a state of war, he reported.
An army of protesters had surrounded the delegates.
Hundreds had been injured, some killed.
I am witnessing a story far more dramatic and important then my original script, Wexler said.
I want to shoot it.
You will receive a new draft within an hour.
Its life not fiction.
Ill call later tonight.
As Vice President of Production under Bob Evans, I had made the original deal with Wexler.
I now read Wexlers explosive script.
And I understood his impulsive decision.
When Wexler called his message was straightforward.
I am firmly on the hook anyway, I said.
If you want me to shoot the original script, tell me now.
Youre crazy to do it this way, I replied.
But I am now hanging up.
By weeks end, Wexler was shooting his new script.
I informed the production department.
No one else knew.
No one except Evans, Paramounts production chief, who winced at the news but endorsed my decision.
This is not the way we should be doing things, but what the hell its working so far.
The following week we watched the dailies together.
Evans and I were proud of the film.
Its opening sparked approval and shock during its first week.
But Charles Bluhdorn, chairman of Gulf & Western, which owned Paramount, offered his own succinct reaction.
The board of directors does not wantMedium Coolto be distributed by Paramount, he told a startled Evans.
Why are they even seeing our movies?
Bluhdorn refused to elucidate.
By weeks end, the scheme became clear.
Two members of his corporate board had been top donors and officers of the Democratic National Committee.
Evans and I vigorously protested the decision.
Political censorship would hurt the studio, and ultimately the Democratic Party, we argued.
Leave it alone, he shouted, hanging up on me.
He called me back a day later.
Dont quit or do anything rash, he said.
The movie will be back before long.
Months later,Medium Coolultimately got some of its playdates back and was again rewarded by good reviews.
As such, it joined Paramounts list of successes likeRosemarys Baby, Love StoryandThe Godfather.
But its moment had passed.
Wexler never received the acclaim he deserved.
