''Scalawag'' is a 1973 film directed by

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in ''The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Do ...

, his first of two films directed, the other being ''

Posse Posse is a shortened form of posse comitatus, a group of people summoned to assist law enforcement. The term is also used colloquially to mean a group of friends or associates. Posse may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Posse'' (1975 ...

''. The film is a western re-telling of ''

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...

'' by

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

Plot

Cast

Production

The film was based on an original story by Albert Maltz. It was announced in 1966 and was going to be a co production between Kirk Douglas' Joel Production and Malcolm Stuart's Coldwater Productions. Douglas would star. It would be the first time Maltz would receive screen credit in 19 years. Filming was delayed. Douglas formed his own company to make it and raised the money. He hired his wife as producer, his son as stills photographer and another son as office boy. "So if this film stinks we've got the whole Douglas family to blame," said Douglas. He added, "My phone doesn't ring any more. I have to find my own work." In 1972 Douglas said he would produce and direct it as well as star and that the script was by Sid Fleischman. Filming was to start in Yugoslavia in June 1972. By May the cast included Mark Lester, Lesley Anne Down and Danny DeVito. Douglas said he rewrote the screenplay. "I wanted to get back the old feeling of movies I experienced as a kid," said Douglas, "pirates, derring-do, people getting killed, but you don't see any blood." "It's a version of ''

'' set in the old West on horseback," said Douglas. "There's adventure, violence, and there's romance - a girl sings a romantic song while dreaming of a good looking guy. Yes it's old fashioned but that's what I liked as a kid. I guess I haven't lost either my love of romance or my sense of innocence." Douglas said, "There was no pretentiousness about" the shoot. "We lived under primitive conditions with no toilets and learned one Yugoslavian phrase to save our lives - 'Bex bela luka'. That means 'no garlic'. You see old movies on the Late Show and everybody asks why they don't make movies like that anymore. Critics have made it fashionable to be pretentious and incoherent."

References

External links

* * * * * {{Bryna Productions 1973 films 1970s adventure films British adventure films Bryna Productions films Films directed by Kirk Douglas Films scored by John Cameron Films set in the 1840s Paramount Pictures films Treasure Island films 1973 directorial debut films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films