Oscar Profile #45: Anthony Mann

Born June 30, 1906 in San Diego, California, Anthony Mann was the son of Jewish-Austrian immigrants.

Although he began his career as a stage actor, Mann came to Hollywood as a casting director for David O. Selznick Productions. While working for Selznick, he directed screen tests for such films as Gone With the Wind and Rebecca. In 1941 he worked as Assistant Director on Preston Sturges’ classic, Sullivan’s Travels and by 1942 was directing his own films.

He first gained prominence as director of such well-received late 1940s films noir as T-Men; Raw Deal and He Walked by Night, but is most famous for a string of 1950s westerns, mostly starring James Stewart.

Mann and Stewart worked together on eight films, six of them westerns: Winchester ’73; Bend of the River; The Naked Spur; Thunder Bay; The Far Country and The Man From Laramie. Their two non-westerns were the biographical films, The Glenn Miller Story and Strategic Air Command. These films changed filmgoers’ perception of Stewart from the genial guy next door to the hard edged loner he became in mid-career.

Mann also directed westerns with other stars, most notably The Tin Star with Henry Fonda and Man of the West with Gary Cooper. All of the Stewart westerns, as well as the two with Fonda and Cooper, were heavily influenced by film noir and were very dark while following the conventions of the traditional western.

Mann late in his career ventured into other genres, including war films such as 1957’s acclaimed Men in War and in later years even had his hand at directing spectacles.

Although he started out as the director of 1960’s Spartacus, a falling out with director-star Kirk Douglas resulted in his being fired and replaced by Stanley Kubrick. Mann rebounded with his direction of El Cid with Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren and The Fall of the Roman Empire with an all-star cast headed by Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Alec Guinness, James Mason, Christopher Plummer and Omar Sharif.

Mann suffered a fatal heart and died while shooting the thriller, A Dandy in Aspic, in Berlin in 1967. The film was completed by its star, Laurence Harvey.

Anthony Mann was 60 when he died. Although he never received a single Oscar nomination, he did receive industry accolades on occasion. He was twice nominated by the Directors Guild of America (DGA) for The Glenn Miller Story and the gritty war classic, Men in War. He also received a Golden Globe nomination for El Cid.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

THE NAKED SPUR (1953)

Probably the grittiest of the Anthony Mann-James Stewart collaborations, Stewart is superb as the single-minded bounty hunter whose capture of killer Robert Ryan is undermined by sleazy ex-cavalryman Ralph Meeker. Janet Leigh has one of her edgiest early roles as Ryan’s girl of the moment and Millard Mitchell makes a strong impression as Stewart’s grizzled companion. The effects of Mann’s background in noir are more evident in this than any of his other westerns.

THE MAN FROM LARAMIE (1955)

The nourish elements were still there in this western take on King Lear, but there is a gentler, softer side to this one, with Stewart again at his best as the drifter caught in the middle of a family feud. Arthur Kennedy is the adopted son of rancher Donald Crisp while Alex Nichol is his sadistic natural son. Cathy O’Donnell is the wholesome cousin and the great Aline MacMahon all but walks away with the film as the tough, homely ranch woman who cares for old man Crisp despite his many shortcomings.

MAN OF THE WEST (1958)

Mann and Stewart had a falling out on the set of Night Passage forcing the casting of Henry Fonda in The Tin Star and Gary Cooper in Man of the West. Cooper’s casting is fortuitous as his history with the western predates both Mann and Stewart and gives the film an even deeper level of authenticity than it might have had with Stewart.

Cooper plays a reformed outlaw forced to re-join his inbrd cousins while walking a thin line between good and evil. Julie London and Lee J. Cobb co-star and a pre-Hawaii Five-0 makes a strong impression as the film’s most sadistic villain.

EL CID (1961)

Charlton Heston had one of his most iconic roles as 11th Century Spanish hero Rodrigo Diaz who drove the Moors from Spain. Sophia Loren is very much his match as the future wife who rejects him at first and the supporting cast headed by Genevieve Page, John Fraser, Gary Raymond and Raf Vallone is outstanding. Mann is very much in control of the film’s vast canvas.

THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964)

Mann’s take on the beginning of the fall of the Roman Empire is a mixed bag. Ostensible leads Sophia Loren and Stephen Boyd don’t generate much heat, but Christopher Plummer excels as the Emperor Commodus and Alec Guinness and James Mason bring real authority to their roles of Marcus Aurelius and Timonides, respectively. This was Mann’s last epic and his last hit film.