Free Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman Page A

Because of se- niority, he isn't fired; instead he is made the night manager of a huge California-type drugstore that is open all night long.
    Now a distant relative dies, so George and his family pay a condolence call at the house of a macho-type fireman who also works at night. During the visit, George sees his son kissing the Fireman's wife, Cheryl. The next day he confronts the kid and asks, are you having an affair with Cheryl? The answer is yes, but the kid adds that he loves her. George says to end it. The kid is upset.
    That night Cheryl visits George in the store to talk about the situation. A few scenes later, George is at Cheryl's house, having a meal, when the kid rings the bell. George quickly sneaks out, hopefully without having been discovered.
    But his son is convinced that his father is having an affair with the woman he loves-this news is spoken in front of George's wife-and George snaps. He packs up and leaves, taking a crummy room in a hotel.
    Eventually, George and Cheryl actually begin an affair, but before it is consummated, she talks a little about her life. And her fears of being a failure. That's why her music is so important to her-she composes and her dream is to be a songwriter. But as she speaks about her music, it's sad. She's just a neb, poor Cheryl; a weak, sweet, quiet, pushed-around lonely lady. (She married her fireman husband only because he had saved her life: She said yes out of gratitude.)
    When George and Cheryl are in love, he quits his job, rents a large space in a warehouse to be an inventor. He goes to a family gathering, bodily takes Cheryl off with him. But then she leaves-she hasn't the guts to stay.
    Finally, she sucks it up and goes to the firehouse to talk to her husband, to try and take a stand. He's Furious, shoves her around, and probably would do worse, when the alarm bell goes off.
    George, it turns out, set the alarm. When the firemen are gone he pleads with her not to be afraid anymore. She hesitates, then slides down a fire pole into his arms and the two of them begin a new and, hopefully, better life. Fox passed on the project.
    Eventually it found its way to producer Leonard Goldberg, a giant television name (Hart to Hart, Family, etc.). Goldberg and his partner Jerry Weintraub (Nashville and Diner) had a deal at Universal that gave them the authority to make movies there whether Universal liked the movie or not-provided that the budget was low enough.
    The budget of All Night Long could scarcely have been lower for these inflated times-three-million-and-change.
    Universal didn't like it, felt they couldn't sell it, didn't want to do it. But for contractual reasons, they were not in a position to pass.
    If Universal hated the project. Gene Hackman loved it. Hackman, an Oscar winner for The French Connection and one of our finest actors, was crazy to play the vehicle part of George. (Getting the script to Hackman undoubtedly caused no problem, since his agent is the most famous in Hollywood, Sue Mongers. Mongers had more than a little interest in the project, since she was married to the director, Jean-Claude Tramont)
    Hackman was so anxious to play the lead that he was willing to gamble: He would forfeit at least part of his up-front salary in exchange for a larger percentage at the other end; if the picture cleaned up, so would he.
    Now, logic would dictate that since Universal didn't have any faith in the picture, they would have grabbed Hackman's offer. Since they felt the picture would stiff, why not keep costs down up front? Beyond that, if their feelings were correct, Hackman would essentially be doing the picture for nothing.
    Universal insisted on paying him his regular salary. So the three-million-and-change movie was now going to cost four and a half.
    With Hackman on board, the problems of casting the rest of the picture arose. Hackman's was the giant part-in almost every shot of almost every scene-but there were four major supporting roles: Hackman's