Stanley Kubrick - A Look at the Films of a Genius

Stanley Kubrick (Imdb.com)

"If I had my way I would shoot a scene and then go home for a month to think about it"

Stanley Kubrick - In response to film critic Gene Siskel's inquiry about the length of time it takes for Kubrick to shoot a movie. (ChicagoTribune.com)

Director Stanley Kubrick was a mysterious filmmaker and a mysterious man. If ten people were asked about him half would lavish praise on the man while the other half would likely bash him as cold and disrespectful while still extolling his genius as a director.

Kubrick had a career that spanned 46 years in which only 13 films were made during that period. He was known for perfectionism to a degree of obsessive ness as he would take years to work on a single project. Kubrick usually worked in secrecy from his compound in England and spent the last 37 years of his life there with his family, abandoning his New York roots where he was born in 1928. He did, however, have the East Coast part of him remain until his death. He had the New York Times shipped to him daily. He was a die hard Yankees fan and often got tapes of the games to watch. His Bronx accent was still evident to anyone privy to his company.

Kubrick was an almost mythical figure to the press. He rarely gave interviews when he was making a film and never interviewed in between projects. Because he gave so few interviews and was not often photographed in the 12 years between his last two films, the press took it upon them to create stories that likened Kubrick's behavior to the eccentricities of Howard Hughes. Through the years Kubrick was accused of shooting a fan that came to his house and then shooting him again when the fan bled on his lawn. It was reported that Kubrick never drove a car and when he did travel his driver was instructed never to drive faster then 40 m.p.h. It was also reported that Kubrick absolutely hated women and despised the fact that the women's movement created greater opportunities for the fairer sex.

In a word this was all malarkey. Kubrick himself admitted that fans often found their way to his house but since they never knew what he looked like, he would simply tell them he wasn't at home and the fans would move on happy in that their efforts got them that far but never knowing they had been face to face with the icon himself. Kubrick was not prone to violence (as is evidenced by his repeated anti-war theme of many of his films). Kubrick also dismissed the car rumor though he did admit that while he did drive he preferred to be driven. The rumor about hating women was the most amusing to Kubrick and Christiane, his third wife whom he married in 1957 and remained with him until his death. Christiane addressed the rumor by reminding people Kubrick lived in a household filled with women. Not only Christiane but the couple had three daughters, two were his and one from Christane's first marriage, whom Kubrick would adopt as his own.

Such was the reclusive behavior a con man named Alan Conway posed as Kubrick in order to meet actors for supposed film meetings, gain entry into nightclubs and eat at the finest restaurants without waiting. His exploits were the subject of a 2005 independent film, Colour Me Kubrick starring John Malkovich as Conway.

One rumor that did prove to be true was Kubrick's undying affection for animals, particularly cats. He owned many and would even bring them into his editing room at his compound to make up for time he didn't spend with them while shooting. So dedicated he was to his cats, and to illustrate his obsessive need for perfection, his veterinarian recalled a time when Kubrick brought his cat in. The vet wanted to monitor how much the cat was drinking but Kubrick was unable to provide that information because several cats would drink from the same bowl. Kubrick then tried to devise a plan where he would watch the cat drinking the water and attempt to calculate how much water the cat ingested per lick. He believed if he counted the number of licks he could get an accurate answer for the vet. Needless to say the plan didn't work but not without Kubrick's diligent efforts. This kind of behavior went into every movie Kubrick made which may explain why so many of his films are considered masterpieces and why he is considered one of the greatest directors of all time.

While growing up Kubrick was an underachiever in school preferring to concentrate more on photography and jazz music. He was briefly a drummer but the boozy nightclub scene didn't fit Kubrick's style so he decided on a career as a photographer. He also maintained a lifelong interest in chess which was taught to him by his father as a way of keeping his son interested in something that would challenge the mind. Kubrick so loved playing he would often delay shooting on his movies if he happened upon an actor worthy enough to challenge him. They usually lost. Kubrick also became a voracious reader which would prove helpful when he researched his scripts. Most of his films would be adaptations of another author's novel.

Kubrick became a full time photographer for Look magazine in 1947. While traveling Kubrick would often spend his free time seeing movies when he wasn't working and soon was in love with movies and with the idea of making movies. In the late 1940's and into the early 50's Kubrick made several documentaries after quitting his job at Look.

In 1953 Kubrick made his first movie, Fear and Desire, about four soldiers in a fictional war coming to terms with their fears and desires while trapped behind enemy lines. Kubrick's father helped finance the movie for his son who worked on it with only his first wife helping. Kubrick worked all the crew jobs. Shortly after the film had its first run release (with some positive reviews) Kubrick, feeling the film was amateurish and an embarrassment, is rumored to have either destroyed the negative or bought every available print he could find. In the mid 1980's a print was found and is now housed at the Kodak archives in New York. Kubrick's estate gives occasional permission for the film to be shown on the conditions that it the print never leaves the building, is shown only to individuals and not to groups and that the print can never be duplicated. Those who have seen it seem to agree the film is more like a student movie with long stretches of tedious dialogue and no action.

Killer's Kiss, (1955), was Kubrick's second and final film to be financed by friends and family members. The film tells the brief (67 minutes) story of a washed up boxer who becomes involved with the girlfriend of a gangster and soon finds his life in danger. Once again Kubrick made a film that received some positive notices but failed to find an audience. To see the film now is to see Kubrick still trying to find his way but showing signs of the great filmmaker to come.

In 1956 Kubrick gained critical notice for his third film, The Killing, a taut crime thriller with Sterling Hayden as a recently paroled convict who decides to put together a full proof plan to rob a race track for big bucks not realizing his plan could be derailed by the greedy wife of one of his partners. The film was a box office disappointment but critics stood up and took notice of the 28 year old. In 1957 Kubrick would ensconce himself into the public and critical eye and be noticed from then on with the first film in his repertoire to be considered a classic. Paths of Glory tells the story of a mission in World War I by a group of soldiers that is doomed to failure. When it does fail an over zealous general demands that three men from the squadron be charged with cowardice and executed. Kirk Douglas stars as an officer trying to prevent the atrocity from occurring. Douglas gives one of the best performances of his career and the film was Kubrick's first major success with the public as well as the critics.

Next up for Kubrick was supposed to be One-Eyed Jacks starring Marlon Brando but after nearly a year of work on the film before production even began, it became evident that the two men with top egos saw different visions for the film. Brando decided he wanted to direct it himself and the studio politely and quietly removed Kubrick though it is rumored that many of his ideas still remain in one form or another in the final version.

Kubrick spent the next year (as he would often do) working on projects that would never see the light of day. Kubrick had an array of unfinished film projects that never got off the ground for reasons usually related to the time Kubrick spent on researching, writing and pre-production. There are a few notable ones that will be included within the timeline.

In late 1959 Kirk Douglas asked Kubrick to take over the directing job on the epic Spartacus. The original director left due to differences with Douglas and Kubrick would have similar differences with the actor/producer. The film would establish Kubrick as an important director but he would later dismiss the film possibly because it would be the only film in his dossier he didn't have a hand in writing. Writer Dalton Trumbo was still blacklisted at the time and Kubrick wanted to take the credit for the script. Douglas interceded and announced Trumbo would get credit, thus ending the blacklist and thus ending a strong working relationship the two had built up on Paths Of Glory. Kubrick also disliked the fact that he had no control over editing and the Hollywood system and left for England. He would live there the rest of his life.

In 1962 Kubrick tackled the then controversial book Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Starring James Mason, Sue Lyon, Peter Sellers and Shelly Winters, the film told the tale of an affair between a fifty-something man and his twelve (changed to fourteen in the movie) year old stepdaughter. Because of the controversial nature of the film Kubrick made sure the film was released with an "Adults Only" tag not allowing anyone under 18 into the theater. Kubrick allowed this after being forced to make several cuts to the film which toned down the sexual heat between the two leads (Mason and Lyon) to the point where there affair ends up being implied to such a point the viewer is not sure if it really happened or not. With all the hype surrounding the film it is no surprise the film was a huge hit at the box office though critics were divided.

In 1964 Kubrick made one of his true masterpieces, Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Based on the novel Red Alert by Peter George (who would co-write the script with Kubrick and Terry Southern), Kubrick sat down to write Strangelove as a cold war thriller but soon discovered that he was laughing at the scenes he was writing. It struck him that the time was ripe for a black comedy about something that truly scared Americans at that time. Peter Sellers would play three different roles in the film including the title character (he was also slated to play the part Slim Pickens ended up playing. Sellers was frightened he couldn't master a southern accent and, after Kubrick remained vigilant, faked breaking his leg forcing Kubrick to re-cast Pickens) and won an Academy Award nomination. Co-starring George C. Scott (with whom Kubrick spent many hours playing chess), Sterling Hayden and Keenan Wynn, Kubrick would receive the first of four consecutive nominations for Best Director. The film was a hit at the box office but its totals may have been higher had Seven Days In May, a nuclear war thriller with some similar ideas, had not opened.

It was from then on that Kubrick began taking his time with each of his projects. Just after Strangelove was released he went to work adapting Arthur C. Clarke's short story The Sentinel into what would become his most famous film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kubrick enlisted Clarke's help in forming the screenplay (while Clarke was writing the novel simultaneously) and spent over two years perfecting it. Two years after that the film would be released in 1968 to an unsuspecting public that wasn't sure what to make of it. Critics were sharply divided, some calling it a masterpiece while others referred to its ambiguous messages as simply sloppy filmmaking. Kubrick once admitted that over 200 people walked out of the exhibitor's screening of the film before it was over - including the head of MGM. One executive was overheard saying, "That's the end of Stanley Kubrick." Once the film succeeded many critics reversed their opinions.

The film was not a box office hit right away. Kubrick himself came to New York via ocean liner (in what would be his last visit to the United States) for the premiere. Once again many in the audience were confounded by the film and what point Kubrick was trying to make. The 154 minute film clocked just under 45 minutes of dialogue and the first word is not uttered until 25 minutes into the film while the last 23 minutes are also dialogue free. When the film ended Rock Hudson reportedly wailed as he walked up the aisle, "What in the hell was all that about?" Kubrick immediately cut 17 minutes out before the public premiere.

The film's success built slowly through word of mouth. When it was released it was a "roadshow" attraction, which means it was released at one theater in a big city and the only way you could see the film was ordering tickets through the mail. The "roadshow" also featured entrance music, intermission and exit music. These films usually played for months based on demand but each film was contracted to play no less then 6-8 weeks. Kubrick believed had that stipulation not been made 2001 would have failed as its attendance grew each week. In fact, MGM pulled the film while it was still popular because they were eager to get their next "roadshow" film, Ice Station Zebra, in.

The film's highest popularity came in re-release in 1969 and 1970. Teenagers and young adults embraced the film. It became an anthem for the drug culture as many felt the film was better interpretated under the influence. The film reached cult status as a popular notion in the teen culture grew with popularity. It was believed if one took LSD as the film started that its affect would kick in at the beginning of the "Star Gate" sequence that concluded the film and that it would intensify the experience. Even MGM got in on the action when, in its 1972 re-release, the tag line "The Ultimate Trip" was included on all print advertisements.

Under the influence or not, 2001 has been open to interpretation for almost 40 years now. Kubrick always refused to discuss it feeling that any one person's thoughts were no less correct then the next. Arthur C. Clarke famously told a reporter, "If you understand the film then Stanley and I have failed."

2001 was also the film where Kubrick's trademark of using classical music on the soundtrack came to life. This was not his original intention as he commissioned a full score from composer Alex North but during editing Kubrick played the music and soon became so enamored of it he placed it in the film. Today Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra and The Blue Danube are widely identified from the movie. Unfortunately North was never informed by Kubrick that his score would not be used and he didn't find out until he attended the premiere.

Kubrick took charge of the special effects team by bringing in the top names in the field, particularly effects pioneer Douglas Trumball, and oversaw the entire process himself. For it's time the visual effects were revolutionary and Kubrick would be honored with his only career Academy Award though he did receive his second consecutive directing nomination. Most surprising of all was its omission from the Best Picture nominees.

Kubrick would spend the next two years prepping Napoleon, an epic biography in which Kubrick scouted actual locations and wrote a lengthy script. He was prepared to go into production in 1970 when another film, Waterloo, with Rod Steiger as Napoleon, opened and bombed at the box office. Kubrick quickly abandoned the project though he often went back to it through the years.

Next up for Kubrick was 1971's A Clockwork Orange, based on Anthony Burgess's popular novel about Alex, a teen misfit, who enjoys tormenting homeless people, attacking married people in their homes and raping helpless women. Things carry on for Alex (magnificently played by Malcolm McDowell) and his misfit friends until they get sick of his tyrannical leadership qualities and turn on Alex, causing him to be arrested. In prison Alex volunteers to be guinea pig for a new treatment that can cure his violent, sadistic behavior so that it might win him early release. Alex takes all too well to the treatment and is soon repulsed at the very sight of violence of any sort, which is too bad for him when he comes upon some of his past victims when he is released.

Kubrick's film was quite controversial for its unpleasant scenes of rape and violence and was given an X-rating upon its release. Subsequent re-releases in the 1970's would get an R-rating after Kubrick made minor cuts but the present, original version is on DVD with an R-rating.

The film was a smash success at the box office but, again, critics were sharply divided. Many just didn't seem to get Kubrick or his style of filmmaking. For his efforts, Kubrick was nominated a third consecutive time for Best Director along with his screenplay and the film itself. This would be the last time an X-rated film was nominated for the top award.

Sadly the film became an all too real thing when it was released in England. Troubled teenagers took to dressing like Alex and his gang and terrorizing citizens much like in the movie. When a woman was brutally raped and murdered by a man claiming to have been influenced by the film, Kubrick took it upon himself to go to Warner Bros. insisting the film be pulled from the UK and not seen again until minimally one year after his death. Warners agreed and the film would not been seen again until the year 2000.

Kubrick spent the next four years, two of those shooting, on his next project, Barry Lyndon, a picturesque costume drama based on William Makepeace Thackeray's novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon. Ryan O'Neal, then one of the hottest leading men in Hollywood, played the title role as an 18^th century gambler who slowly works his way up in English high society only to discover that not only is he not fooling everyone but that the life he envisioned isn't exactly how it turns out. Photographically, Barry Lyndon is one of the most beautiful films ever made. Kubrick shoots lush landscapes like no other and lit many of his indoor scenes with no artificial lights but simply with candlelight sourced from the actors in the scene. The effect was amazing and innovative. The film failed to capture many critics and even fewer viewers in the U.S. likely due to its deliberate pace and three hour plus (not including intermission) running time. Interestingly the film was a smash hit overseas.

Barry Lyndon was nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Kubrick's fourth and final nomination for Best Director. Not surprisingly it would win four awards in technical categories. This would be the most awards a Kubrick film would win.

Stanley Kubrick was particularly depressed at the poor showing of Barry Lyndon in the United States and decided he had to make a more commercial film the next time around. For two years Kubrick scoured thousands of books looking for the perfect material to bring to the screen. From Kubrick's biography Kubrick's secretary once said, "For over a year Stanley would take piles of books into his office and within minutes I would hear a crash as he would instinctively know if the book could carry over to film. If it didn't hit him by page ten he would toss the book across the room and hit the wall. One day I gave him a book I thought he might like and he took it into his office. I waited and waited and no crashing sound ever came."

That book was by Stephen King and it was called The Shining.

The Shining seemed like an odd choice for Kubrick but King was the hottest writer in the world and horror movies were box office gold. King's brilliant novel told the story of a family who spend a winter isolated in a hotel where the father slowly goes mad. The book packed a frightening wallop and the announcement that Kubrick was adapting it to the big screen with Jack Nicholson has people eagerly anticipating for almost two years.

When The Shining hit theaters in the summer of 1980 critics almost unanimously panned the film while audiences were sharply divided. Most who read and loved the book hated the changes Kubrick made while most who didn't read the book loved the film. Despite the negative reaction the film was a marginal hit.

King himself is not a fan of the film and even engineered a television remake in the 1990's. In Kubrick's biography King says this about the film:

"I think there are two basic problems with the movie. First, Stanley was a cold man - pragmatic and rational - and he had a great difficulty conceiving even academically, of a supernatural world. He just couldn't grasp the sheer inhuman evil of the Overlook Hotel. Instead Stanley looked for evil in the characters and made the film into a domestic tragedy with only vaguely supernatural overtones. That was the basic flaw: because Stanley couldn't believe it, he couldn't make the film believable to others."

It was during the shooting of The Shining that Kubrick's reputation for perfectionism really came to light. Principal photography lasted over a year with Kubrick often demanding more then 100 takes of a single scene. Character actor Scatman Crothers was pushed so hard in one scene that Nicholson finally interceded and reminded Kubrick of Crothers' advanced age. Shelly Duvall was pushed to tears on many occasions though Kubrick took good care of child actor Danny Lloyd. The eight year old from Illinois came to the England set and Kubrick took great pains to cover up the fact that they were making a horror movie. Lloyd was never exposed to any elements that might scare him and admitted later it was a few years before he realized what the movie was.

Despite the fact that it would be seven years before Kubrick's next film, Full Metal Jacket, hit theaters Kubrick worked on the film for almost seven years. Kubrick's usual lackadaisical pace would come back to haunt him this time.

Jacket, based on Gustav Hasford's novel The Short-Timers, tells two stories about a specific unit of marines during the Vietnam War. The first half shows the marines in basic training as they turn from boys to men and how one young man goes from shy fat kid to powerful killing machine with tragic results. This section of the film represents Stanley Kubrick at his filmmaking best. The second half is a more routine war action film as we watch some of these boys in a platoon unit in action. Kubrick ends the film with one of his most poignant and powerful images, that of squads of men walking in the darkness fighting a war they are not ready for when the child in them comes out as they all sing the theme to "The Mickey Mouse Club."

As usual the critical response to the film was mixed but the film was a mild success. Had Kubrick not taken his time his film could have been released earlier and made more of an impact. By the time Jacket came out Oliver Stone's Platoon had already set box office records and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. For the first time Stanley Kubrick had been scooped. It would happen again.

It would be 12 years before Stanley Kubrick's next film would be released and it would come some months after his death. Why 12 years? Kubrick simply worked on other projects that never got off the ground. Kubrick went to work on Aryan Papers, a drama about a mother and son in hiding during the Holocaust. Kubrick researched and wrote the script, based on the novel Wartime Lies by Louis Begley, and was preparing pre-production and casting when Schindler's List was announced as being in production. Kubrick didn't want to go up against Steven Spielberg, boy wonder of Hollywood and abandoned the project after almost four years devoted to it.

Kubrick then concentrated his efforts on A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, a futuristic story of a boy robot who exhibits human characteristics. This is the only film project developed by Kubrick that saw the light of day. Kubrick struck up a friendship with Spielberg and suggested that Spielberg might be better suited for directing it. Kubrick and other writers had done many drafts of the script and story boarded many scenes. Spielberg decided not to make the film at that time.

In 1997 it was announced that Kubrick was making an erotic thriller called Eyes Wide Shut, based on Arthur Schnitzler's novella Traumnovelle about a respected doctor whose life is thrown upside down when his wife admits to almost leaving him and their daughter for a man she never knew but was sexually attracted to. The film follows this doctor as he journeys into a world of sex, cults and danger beyond anything he ever imagined.

The film, with no visual effects or action, took over two years to shoot. Actors Harvey Keitel and Jennifer Jason Leigh shot their scenes and then had to be replaced when they couldn't return for re-shoots. Kubrick re-cast and shot the scenes all over. Director Sydney Pollack came in to replace Keitel and expected to be in England for a week. After shooting his first scene in three takes he began thinking the stories of Kubrick shooting take after take were just that and he would be on a plane within a week. He ended up staying in England three months.

As production went on and on rumors started flying about what the film was about and how sexual the content would be. Some wrote it was expected this would be the "sexiest movie ever made" while some content was speculated on. Most of the rumors turned out to be false but proved to be entertaining fodder for Kubrick and his cast. One such rumor had Cruise molesting a female corpse in a morgue.

In February of 1999 Kubrick delivered the final cut of Eyes Wide Shut to Cruise, Kidman and top executives. When the film was over executives made some suggestions on edits of a particularly racy orgy scene to ensure the R rating and Kubrick agreed to the minor changes. Four days later they were shown the final cut of the American version (in the orgy scene silhouetted figures were digitally added to hide some of the racier bits. This version was shown in the U.S. and Canada. The rest of the world saw Kubrick's intended version) and, reportedly, everyone was quite pleased. Kubrick even admitted to his wife he felt this was his best work to date. That night Stanley Kubrick went to sleep and never woke up. He was 70 and was laid to rest on his estate next to his favorite tree. Kubrick's daughter Vivian reported that her father had planned to give some print and possibly television interviews for the movie because he was so proud of it. Sadly that never came to fruition.

Eyes Wide Shut was released that July to more negative reviews then normal (most critics oddly expected something more since it was Kubrick's last film - despite the fact Kubrick didn't know it would be his last film) but terrific business in its first few weeks. The film suffered from little to no repeat business but still turned a tidy profit.

After Kubrick's death Steven Spielberg did bring AI to the big screen. While he was credited with the screenplay he was quick to point out that he simply took Kubrick's notes and story boards and put it into a coherent order to tell the story. The film starred Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law and William Hurt. Kubrick got a posthumous producer credit and the film's ending credits feature a dedication, "For Stanley." Much like Kubrick's other films, AI was greeted with mixed critical response though it was a box office hit.

Many wondered how much Kubrick and how much Spielberg made it into the film. Many believed Spielberg tacked on the last sequence, a hopeful reunion between mother and son that seemed more along Spielberg's line of themes then Kubrick but Spielberg admitted to Robert Osbourne of Turner Classic Movies that Kubrick did indeed write that sequence and made the story boards for the scene. Kubrick's other trademarks including narration and the theme of inhumanity to humanity was ever present and once again, for just a short time, Stanley Kubrick lived again in the movies.