Partners (1982 film)
Partners | |
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Directed by | James Burrows |
Written by | Francis Veber |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Victor J. Kemper |
Edited by |
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Music by | Georges Delerue |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 93 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $6 million[1][2] |
Box office | $6.1 million (US)[3] |
Partners is a 1982 American gay-themed buddy comedy film directed by James Burrows and starring Ryan O'Neal and John Hurt as a mismatched pair of cops.
Plot
After a series of murders in
Benson grows close to Jill (Robyn Douglass), the photographer of his shoot, and plans a weekend getaway with her. Kerwin suspects her of the murders, but his superiors put it down to jealousy. Kerwin uncovers evidence implicating Jill; but, when the police move to apprehend her, they discover her corpse. Her death unknown to Benson, he arrives for his rendezvous with Jill; and Kerwin races to his aid. Jill's killer, a closeted man whom Jill and one of the victims were blackmailing, admits to Benson that he killed Jill and two of the men but insists that Jill killed her partner in crime. Realizing that Kerwin is outside, the killer shoots at Kerwin who returns fire. Kerwin is wounded, but the other man is killed.
Cast
- Ryan O'Neal as Sgt. Benson
- John Hurt as Kerwin
- Kenneth McMillan as Chief Wilkins
- Robyn Douglass as Jill
- Jay Robinson as Halderstam
- Denise Galik as Clara
- Joseph R. Sicari as Walter
- Michael McGuire as Monroe
- Rick Jason as Douglas
- James Remar as Edward K. Petersen
- Jennifer Ashley as Secretary
- Darrell Larson as Al
- Tony March as Aide #2
- Seamon Glass as Gillis
- Steven Reisch as Counter Boy
- Wendy Hughes
Production
Veber wrote the film in Paris, with little knowledge of the gay scene in Los Angeles. Veber wanted to do it because "it seemed to me it could be amusing and I wanted to do something quite different from Cruising which seemed to me to be a really bad eye on the gay world.[4]
The film was developed by
Burrows later wrote in his memoirs "We needed an overtle masculine character who felt out of place in the gay community."[5]
The leading roles were originally offered to Clint Eastwood and Woody Allen. Eastwood expressed interest if Allen signed, but Allen declined. Other actors considered were Alan Arkin, James Caan and Nick Nolte.[1] Burrows said they almost cast Sam Elliott and Peter Riegert but Barry Diller who ran Paramount "didn't think he could sell the movie with them attached."[5] Eventually the two stars were John Hurt and Ryan O'Neal. Burrows thought O'Neal "would have been great as the gay cop" but was cast as the straight cop.[5]
The film was one of six relatively low budgeted films rushed into production by Paramount Pictures in 1981 prior to an impending director strike, with budgets between $4–8 million. Paramount were interested to see what the results would be like on films with a shortened pre-production process. The other films were Some Kind of Hero, Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again, I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can, White Dog and An Officer and a Gentleman. A seventh film, Young Lust, was "picked up" from another production company. Partners was not championed within the studio by Don Simpson (Michael Eisner, also at the studio, said that he "hated" the script.) who lumped it together with every other rush-job project except for "An Officer and a Gentleman, which ultimate yielded a deal where Simpson agreed to get the fast tracked projects done on time and on budget as long as Eisner gave a green light to the eventual Richard Gere-Debra Winger-Louis Gossett Jr. starring blockbuster. Of all the seven films, Paramount executives were most enthusiastic about the script for Partners.[6]
The movie was one of a number of gay-themed films being made in Hollywood at the time, the others being Making Love and Deathtrap. According to Burrows, Francis Veber "wanted it to be apparent that John's character was gay. He wanted to advance the gay rights movement, which was still taboo as a film subject in 1981.[5]
In the original script and cut of the film Hurt's character commits suicide "because his life was so sad," said Veber. "We shot the scene but when people saw the film they had grown to like Hurt so much that by the point that the suicide came as too much of a shock, so we took it out. In France it would have been quite acceptable. I found that interesting."[4]
Burrows wrote "after the experience, I knew that feature films were not in my wheelhouse."[4]
Reception
In his book
When asked if the film drew any complaints from gay men during filming, John Hurt said, "They didn't like it that I was wearing a lilac-colored track suit in it. They say homosexuals do not necessarily do that. And the person who's saying this is sitting there in a pink track suit, It's a crazy world we live in."[11]
The film was a financial failure. Head of Paramount Barry Diller later said "Partners was the essence of a badly made movie, partly because it was rushed against a date."[6]
An article in the Vulture noted the film's comparison in story terms to Cruising, observing "Where Cruising has been rediscovered and embraced, Partners remains defiantly and appropriately unloved, a movie that was dismissed as a tacky and offensive exploitation of retrograde stereotypes at the time of its release and whose reputation hasn’t exactly improved in the ensuing decades."[12]
Soundtrack
Partners: Music from the Motion Picture Composed and Conducted by Georges Delerue | |
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Soundtrack album by | |
Released | March 20, 2014 |
Recorded | 1982 |
Studio | Record Plant Evergreen |
Length | 53:04 |
Label | Quartet Records |
Producer | Georges Delerue |
Partners: Music from the Motion Picture Composed and Conducted by Georges Delerue is a 1.000 Units Limited Edition soundtrack album from the film of the same name, released on March 20, 2014, by Spanish label Quartet Records.[13] The album, released on CD, contains 21 tracks composed and conducted by Georges Delerue, plus 3 bonus tracks.[14]
Critic James Southall describes the soundtrack as "typical of [Delerue's] work on American movies at the time – light, airy, wonderfully tuneful and very enjoyable", and concluded that it was "never unappealing."[14]
Track listing
All music arranged and conducted by Georges Delerue. All music composed by Georges Delerue, except bonus tracks.[15]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Partners Theme" | 2:14 | |
2. | "1M2 / 1M3" | 2:02 | |
3. | "Meet Hardelstam" | 1:21 | |
4. | "3M1" | 1:11 | |
5. | "M51" | 1:08 | |
6. | "I Need Some Air" | 1:36 | |
7. | "The First Clue" | 1:41 | |
8. | "M52" | 1:01 | |
9. | "The Market" | 2:01 | |
10. | "Domestic Scene" | 3:14 | |
11. | "M61 / M62" | 1:02 | |
12. | "8M4" | 1:48 | |
13. | "Where’s Everyone?" | 2:06 | |
14. | "The Bait" | 4:40 | |
15. | "10M1 / 10M3" | 1:26 | |
16. | "Thanks Kerwin" | 1:32 | |
17. | "Kerwin Searches House / Close Encounters / The Invitation" | 3:30 | |
18. | "Kerwin’s Suspicion" | 1:44 | |
19. | "Find Benson / I Want The Negatives" | 3:48 | |
20. | "I’m No Crying" | 1:36 | |
21. | "Partners Theme" | 1:08 | |
22. | "In The Mood" (bonus track) | 3:34 | |
23. | "Moonlight Serenade" (bonus track) | 3:36 | |
24. | "Tuxedo Junction" (bonus track) | 3:07 | |
Total length: | 53:04 |
References
- ^ a b c Lee, Grant (8 July 1981). "RUSSO ON LIFE AFTER MIDLER". Los Angeles Times. p. g1.
- ^ "The Unstoppables". Spy. November 1988. p. 92.
- ^ "Partners". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
- ^ a b c 'A LITTLE FRENCHMAN' TRIES HIS LUCK IN AMERICA Los Angeles Times 19 Jan 1982: g4.
- ^ a b c d Burrows, James (2022). Directed by James Burrows. Ballantine Books. p. 175.
- ^ a b Harmetz, Aljean (23 May 1983). "How Paramount 'Seven' Fared at the Box Office". New York Times. p. C13.
- ^ Russo, Vitto. "The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies". Harper & Roe, Publishers Inc. 1987 (Revised Edition). P282.
- ^ Gene Siskel, Roger Ebert. "Sneak Previews – 1982: Stinkers of 1982". siskelebert.org. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
- Golden Raspberry Award. Archived from the originalon May 11, 2013. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-06-096132-9.
- ISBN 9781555831646.
- ^ Rabin, Nathan (4 November 2015). "Homosexuality in Mainstream Comedy and the Confused, Fascinating Sexual Politics of 'Partners'". Vulture.
- ^ "Partners (1982)". The MovieMusic Store. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
- ^ a b James Southall (May 16, 2014). "Partners". Movie Wave. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
- ^ Partners: Music from the Motion Picture Composed and Conducted by Georges Delerue (CD liner notes). Georges Delerue. Quartet Records. 2014. QR141&1.
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External links
- Partners at IMDb
- Partners at Box Office Mojo
- Partners at Rotten Tomatoes
- Partners at the TCM Movie Database
- Partners at The Numbers