Robert Aldrich

Robert Aldrich was born on August 9th, 1918 in Cranston, Rhode Island and died on December 5th, 1983 in Los Angeles, California. After studying economics at the University of Virginia, he settled in Hollywood in 1941 for a job in film production at the RKO. He soon worked his way up to script clerk, then became an assistant director, a production manager and an associate producer. He worked with Lewis Milestone, Edward Dmytryk, Jules Dassin, Jean Renoir, Richard Wallace, Abraham Polonsky but also Joseph Losey, Max Ophüls and Charlie Chaplin. Aldrich became a television director in the 50s and directed his first feature film, “Big Leaguer”, in 1953. The following year he shot “Apache” with Burt Lancaster, one of the first American films to plead for the Indians, and then directed “Vera Cruz”. Both films were very successful and Aldrich has plenty of freedom for his next feature, the film noir classic “Kiss Me Deadly” which he produced in 1955. He showed once again his taste for extreme violence and his will to destroy the myth of the Hollywood hero while denouncing McCarthyism and an American society riddled with fear. After creating his own production company, he directed in 1956 the war movie “Attack!” exploring the U.S. Army’s corporate careerism far from Hollywood standards. Rejected by Hollywood studios, Aldrich went into exile in Europe at the end of the 50s and co-directed “Sodom and Gomorrah” with Sergio Leone before coming back to the United States in 1962. The same year he directed “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” featuring Joan Crawford and Bette Davis which was commercially and critically successful. In 1967, Aldrich was fully recognized with “The Dirty Dozen”, starring Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson and John Cassavetes as trained convicted murderers during World War II. In 1972, he worked again with Burt Lancaster for the existential western “Ulzana’s Raid”. Three years later, he gathered Burt Reynolds and Catherine Deneuve in the film noir “Hustle”. In 1981, he directed “All the Marbles”, his last feature film.

FILMOGRAPHY

1953 BIG LEAGUER
1954 APACHE (Bronco Apache)
VERA CRUZ
1955 KISS ME DEADLY (En quatrième vitesse) *
THE BIG KNIFE (Le grand couteau) *
1956 ATTACK ! (Attaque) *
AUTUMN LEAVES (Feuilles d’automne)
1959 TEN SECONDS TO HELL (Tout près de Satan)
THE ANGRY HILLS (Trahison à Athènes)
1961 THE LAST SUNSET (El perdido)
1962 SODOM AND GOMORRAH (Sodome et Gomorrhe) – co-réalisé avec Sergio Leone
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (Qu’est-il arrivé à Baby Jane ?) *
1963 4 FOR TEXAS (Quatre du Texas) *
1964 HUSH…HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE (Chut, chut, chère Charlotte)
1965 THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (Le vol du Phénix) *
1967 THE DIRTY DOZEN (Les douze salopards)
1968 THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE (Faut-il tuer Sister George ?) *
THE LEGEND OF LYLAH CLARE (Le démon des femmes) *
1970 TOO LATE THE HERO (Trop tard pour les héros) *
1971 THE GRISSOM GANG (Pas d’orchidées pour miss Blandish) *
1972 ULZANA’S RAID (Fureur apache)
1973 EMPEROR OF THE NORTH POLE (L’empereur du Nord)
1974 THE LONGEST YARD (Plein la gueule)
1975 HUSTLE (La cité des dangers) *
1977 THE CHOIRBOYS (Bande de flics)
TWILIGHT’S LAST GLEAMING (L’ultimatum des trois mercenaires)
1979 THE FRISCO KID (Un rabbin au Far West)
1981 ALL THE MARBLES (Deux filles au tapis)

* également producteur – also producer