One Shot

"One shot is what it’s all about."
Robert DeNiro, "The Deer Hunter"



Margaret Mitchell wrote only one published novel in her life, Gone with the Wind (1936), yet it remains an endearing best seller, not to mention the source for one of the most beloved films of all time. Similarly, Harper Lee’s sole novel, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), still stands as a towering literary achievement and, not coincidentally, the inspiration for another of Hollywood’s most revered motion pictures.

The business of show, in front of and behind the camera, includes instances of one-shot wonders and blunders, some of which we rescued from overlooked footnotes for this outing in the moviehouse.

Klinton Spilsbury’s lone acting credit was the title role in "The Legend of the Lone Ranger" (1981). While fellow newcomer Michael Horse, a Native American jeweler, sculptor, painter and activist, strove to bring an air of dignity to his role as Tonto, Spilsbury (whose sole distinction was being the son of Max Spilsbury, former head coach of the Northern Arizona University football team) became notorious, by all accounts, for his lack of cooperation during production. "One night, he got into a fight," Horse later recalled, and "some guard called me at three in the morning to come and get him. I said, ‘Whoa, that faithful companion stuff is only in the movies.’"

Despite noble efforts by supporting players Christopher Lloyd (as outlaw chief Butch Cavendish), Jason Robards (as President Ulysses Grant) and Richard Farnsworth (as Wild Bill Hickock), the film was such a turkey that it tanked a movie studio. Michael Horse did move on to bigger and better things, including a recurring role as Deputy Hawk on the cult TV series "Twin Peaks," while the 1981 Golden Raspberry Awards gave Klinton Spilsbury two Razzies, for Worst Actor and Worst New Star. The movie itself also garnered a Razzie nomination for Worst Original Song, the talk-sing ballad "The Man in the Mask," featuring lyrics by Dean Pitchford, of "Fame" and "Footloose" renown.

At various times, Spilsbury was later reportedly employed as a model in Europe, working at a Subway sandwich shop, or merely residing in Los Angeles. On top of his career misfortunes, Klinton suffered the ultimate dignity of having all his lines in "The Legend of the Lone Ranger" re-dubbed by actor James Keach.

"Nickelodeon" (1976), journalist-film theorist-turned-director Peter Bogdanovich’s sentimentally corny valentine to the serendipitous days of early Hollywood, starred Ryan O’Neal, Burt Reynolds, Tatum O’Neal, Brian Keith, John Ritter and Stella Stevens. Newcomer Jane Hitchcock was cast as a wide-eyed, naïve starlet who finds herself at the apex of a romantic triangle with O’Neal and Reynolds. The role was obviously intended for Bogdanovich’s girlfriend Cybill Shepherd, a former teen beauty queen and model groomed for stardom by the director in "The Last Picture Show," "Daisy Miller" and "At Long Last Love." Ms. Shepherd was unable to appear in "Nickelodeon," but the same cheekbones and facial features were satisfactorily represented by Ms. Hitchcock.

Jane Hitchcock, a working magazine model at the time, was the latest in Bogdanovich’s tireless quest for the next ingenue. Turned off either by the director’s behavior or by the business of movies in general, she quickly returned to the lucrative world of modeling. And so, like the titular character in a film made by that other Hitchcock, the lady vanished.

Sometimes, being the progeny of a Hollywood legend opens doors to a Hollywood career. Two names that immediately come to mind are Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda, the latter prompting mention of his daughter, Bridget Fonda, as a third-generation representative of Henry Fonda’s legacy.

John Clark Gable, perhaps by personal choice, was not so fortunate. During the arduous filming of "The Misfits" in 1960, a grueling production made all the more difficult by the desert heat of Nevada and by co-star Marilyn Monroe’s irritating penchant for tardiness, 59-year-old Clark Gable eagerly looked forward to the approaching birth of his first child, with wife Kay, former spouse of sugar mogul Adolph Spreckels III. When John Clark Gable came into the world in 1961, however, his father had been dead for four months, succumbing to heart failure before his 60th birthday. Kay didn’t give the baby the first name of Clark because, as the son himself later noted, "Pa thought that name was a handicap for a child to bear."

His birth made international news and the cover of "Life" magazine. Considering he was heir to the combined fortunes of his parents, he had a comfortable childhood, although his mother went to great lengths to raise him in privacy, away from Hollywood, preventing him from being photographed for fear of kidnappers.

In the early 1980s, the young Gable turned his attention to a career as an Off-road Class 8 truck racer. "I know he shared my passion for cars and motorcycles," he said of his father. "My mother told me he raced sprint cars, which made the studios very nervous."

"It’s strange having a famous father you’ve never met," John said in a 1984 interview. "I feel I do know him. From what I’ve been told, my father was a rather private person. I think I take after him in that."

Ultimately, blood told, and in 1990, John Clark Gable was cast in his first - and, to date, only - feature film, a low-budget western called "Bad Jim," appearing alongside James Brolin and Richard Roundtree ("Shaft"). The three play drifting cowboys who come into possession of the horse that belonged to Billy the Kid and decide to become outlaws themselves. (Coincidentally, in 1976, Brolin had portrayed John’s dad in the ill-received romantic screen bio "Gable and Lombard"…One can only speculate if this topic was ever touched upon in off-camera chatter among the actors.)

John Clark Gable subsequently had a small role in the 1994 TV movie "A Burning Passion: The Margaret Mitchell Story," a fanciful look at the author of Gone with the Wind. In January of 1998, on behalf of The Clark Gable Foundation, he cut the inaugural ribbon on the front porch of the recently reconstructed Cardiz, Ohio, home where his father was born in 1901.

On September 10, 1988, Clark James Gable, the first "Clark Gable" since his grandfather, was born to parents John Clark and Tracy Gable. John once remarked, "I’m very proud of the Gable name."

The only non-professional actor to win two Academy Awards for the same role, Canadian-born Harold Russell moved to the U.S. in 1933. He was so disturbed by Japan’s December 7, 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor that he enlisted in the Army the next day. He became a stateside instructor, and while training an airborne division, a faulty fuse detonated an ordinance, resulting in the loss of both hands, which were replaced by metal hooks. Later, as a full-time student at Boston University, Russell was featured in an Army film about rehabilitating war veterans. When director William Wyler saw the documentary, he promptly chose Russell for the heart-wringing role of Homer Parish, a sailor who lost his hands in combat, in "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946).

Early in the ceremony for the 1947 Oscars, Russell was singled out with an honorary award for "bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans," a special nod created by the Academy based on the (ultimately groundless) assumption that he had little chance of a competitive win.

(The 1975 made-for-television remake of "The Best Years of Our Lives," titled "Returning Home," featured real-life double-amputee Vietnam veteran James R. Miller as Homer Parish. In a cast that included Tom Selleck and Dabney Coleman, this would be Miller’s sole acting assignment.)

Director Wyler (who went on to make the multiple Oscar-winning "Ben-Hur") advised Russell to go back to school since there weren’t "many roles for actors without hands." Russell returned to Boston University for a business degree. He later became involved with American Veterans (AMVETS) and served three terms as its National Commander. From the early 1960s to the late ‘80s, he volunteered as the Chairman of the President’s Commission on Employment of the Handicapped.

Nearly 35 years after "The Best Years of Our Lives," Russell appeared in his second motion picture, "Inside Moves" (1980), a gentle and moving character study of physically disabled souls who find a communal bond in a corner bar. A quiet surprise from director Richard Donner, who seemed more at ease with loud, overblown action flicks like "Superman" and the "Lethal Weapon" series, this gem from the ‘80s, co-written by future director Barry Levinson ("Rain Man"), was deemed a celebration of "human solidarity and the true meaning of friendship" on the Spirituality & Practice website.

In 1992, Russell, in dire need of money for his wife’s medical expenses, made the controversial decision to sell an Oscar to a private collector for $60,500. "I don’t know why anybody would be critical," he said. "My wife’s health is much more important than sentimental reasons. The movie will be here, even if Oscar isn’t."

Sometimes, the shot at stardom just doesn’t work out, and in one case, blame could be placed on the actor’s manager. Australian-born George Lazenby was an award-winning skier who moved to London and became the highest-paid male model in the world before landing the cherished role of James Bond in 1968’s "On Her Majesty’s Secret Service," after 007 staple Sean Connery opted to retire from the role.

Although "On Her Majesty’s Secret Service" was financially disappointing compared to the preceding "You Only Live Twice" and the following "Diamonds Are Forever," the film has eventually been praised for its faithfulness to the original novel (more so than any other 007 movie) and for the refreshing lack of high-tech gadgetry in favor of breathtaking, visceral action.

Director Peter Hunt, unbeknownst to Lazenby, told those on the set not to hang out with or even talk to the star. According to Hunt, "The longer we stay away from him, the meaner he looks! And it works for the film." Newspapers, as well, reported a supposed feud between Lazenby and co-star Diana Rigg. Some accounts alleged Diana ate garlic before their lovemaking scenes. In a 2005 interview, Lazenby noted, "She was a serious actress, I was a nobody who suddenly had one of the cherry roles in acting. So you can imagine how someone like her would feel about that."

Lazenby’s pre-release announcement that he would not be reprising the role might have hurt the movie at the box office. In 1999, he recalled, "I was still at an age - I am the youngest actor on record…to portray James Bond, 28, and I wasn’t certain I wanted to be a movie star."

It was during filming that George’s manager, Ronan O’Rahilly, convinced the actor to not sign a seven-film contract, because O’Rahilly thought the character of James Bond was passé and out-of-touch with the liberal youth of the period. In hindsight, of course, the manager was out of touch, and for years afterward, Lazenby regretted the decision. "I realize now, it comes with maturity," he said in 1999, "I made a mistake, walking away from Bond."

Interestingly, in the 1983 TV movie "The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.," Lazenby had an amusing cameo as the very-Bondlike character "J.B." In 2002, the 60-something actor married former tennis champion Pam Shriver, with whom he has had three children, whom he looks forward to growing up in his native Australia.

On a rare occasion, it’s the person behind the camera who steps briefly into the spotlight before pulling a disappearing act. Chicago-born James William Guercio’s main claim to fame came as the producer of early albums by the pop rock band Chicago. When he expressed an interest in moviemaking, he was provided the opportunity to produce and direct the 1973 feature "Electra Glide in Blue," for which he also wrote the soundtrack. Several members of Chicago appeared in small roles, and the band also contributed to the soundtrack.

The film starred Robert Blake as, quoting the A.V. Club’s Nathan Rabin, a "straight-arrow…leprechaun-sized motorcycle cop who longs to trade in his snazzy uniform for a detective’s badge." His dream, once realized, is betrayed by double-dealing bullpen politics, and he ends up back on his bike in the Arizona desert. "It’s a thriller," Rabin noted, "where solving the central crime seems somewhat irrelevant. Only thinly disguised as a cop movie, ‘Electra’ is a profound and ultimately tragic meditation on identity, belonging, and the fickleness of the American Dream."

Guercio accepted a salary of only one dollar, giving his director’s fee to Oscar-winning cinematographer Conrad Hall ("Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"), whose stark imagery of Arizona’s Monument Valley in "Electra Glide in Blue" could rival the singular visions of director John Ford.

Hailed by Rob Zombie (director of "The Devil’s Rejects" and the 2007 remake of "Halloween") as a masterpiece, "Electra Glide in Blue" was released on DVD after Robert Blake’s 2005 acquittal of the 2001 murder of his wife. As for Guercio, he served as producer only for the rarely seen "Second-Hand Hearts" (1981), an offbeat romantic comedy starring Robert Blake and Barbara Harris ("Nashville"), originally titled "The Hamster of Happiness."

Guercio eventually became disenchanted with the film and recording industries and pursued a profitable career in large-scale cattle ranching, property development, as well as oil and gas exploration, drilling and production. In the late 1980s, he started the Country Music Television (CMT) network, which he later profitably sold to a media tycoon.

Finally, we turn our attention to the one-shot show that became the stuff of TV legend. On the heels of their success with "Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In," executive producers Ed Friendly and George Schlatter created "Turn-On" in 1969. Based on the premise that it was "produced" by a computer, the program consisted of risqué sketches and rapid-fire gags, rife with sexual innuendoes and non sequiturs, presented on film (instead of the standard videotape) with synthesized music and no prerecorded laugh track. Production executive Digby Wolfe called it a "visual, comedic, sensory assault involving animation…stop-action film, electronic distortion, computer graphics - even people."

The show was picked up by ABC after being turned down by NBC (home of "Laugh-In") and CBS (where one network official admitted, "It was so fast with the cuts and chops that some of our people actually got physically disturbed by it"). The one-and-only airing of "Turn-On" occurred on Wednesday, February 5, 1969. The "guest host" (by merit of being the highest profile guest star on the sole broadcast) was Tim Conway, of "The Carol Burnett Show" fame. A young Albert Brooks was among the writing staff.

Many viewers perceived the show’s title as a direct reference to LSD guru Timothy Leary’s axiom, "Turn on, tune in, drop out." Those who never even saw a frame of film from the program insisted it contained full frontal nudity.

The long-running joke has been that "Turn-On" was axed midway into its premiere, but the truth is, it was officially canceled days later. Denver and Cleveland affiliates did pull the plug after the first commercial break; the Cleveland station’s general manager wired the network, "If you naughty little boys have to write dirty words on the walls, please don’t use our walls." Other stations never even showed the program, while several decided on their own never to air it again as soon as the episode was over. The never-shown second episode featured Robert Culp (co-star with Bill Cosby on the series "I Spy").

Science-fiction author Harlan Ellison, a fan of counter-cultural comedy who was a TV critic for the "Los Angeles Free Press" at the time, commented, "It wasn’t that it was a bad show, it was that it was an awkward show."


"I don’t think about that much with one shot anymore."
Christopher Walken, "The Deer Hunter"