Development Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry

dirty mary, crazy larry based on novel titled chase (later renamed pursuit) richard unekis, , published in 1963. story incorporated phenomenon relatively new in 1963: major auto manufacturers putting powerful v-8 engines mid-sized cars (the dawn of muscle car era) , young thieves behind wheel of these cars able outrun economy 6-cylinder sedans driven police in many jurisdictions. protagonists of chase used such vehicle, chevrolet, , made use of checkerboard of roads in farm country of illinois outrun police.

according unekis son, rights book bought little money director howard hawks, had steve mcqueen in mind title role of future film project. hawks commissioned 3 scripts, of followed book closely (and consequently out of date automobile technology of 1970s) hawks elected opt out of project when offered us$50,000 film rights 2 wealthy english industrialist partners, sir james hanson , sir gordon white. white , hanson (who, @ time, owned eveready batteries , ball park franks) had purchased book read on plane while flying u.s.. both felt chase make entertaining film , presented idea personal friend michael pearson, had produced earlier successful car chase cult movie, vanishing point.

after pitching project movie mogul friends, not included pearson albert r. broccoli, harold robbins, , sam spiegel, discovered movie business not easy had suspected. in addition, saddled out of date book - , no screenplay - grossly overpaid. no interest in picking project sir james , sir gordon lost interest in making movies.

over dinner 1 evening @ hanson s estate in palm springs, california told plight friend , neighbor jimmy boyd. boyd read book , agreed hanson , white make great car chase. boyd, race car enthusiast, had built , raced cars along friend lance reventlow, , had come close pursuing race car driving career. guaranteed hanson , white fifty thousand dollars in return rights book. boyd wrote screenplay himself along lines of butch cassidy , sundance kid, updating dialogue , humor 1970s audience. changed 2 main characters escaped convicts in book larcenous - likable - nascar dreamer , mechanic, nicknamed fast floyd , dirty deke. boyd incorporated one-night stand female stowaway , added dimension of nascar-engined getaway car capable of 165 miles per hour (266 km/h). except tires , wheels, stock-appearing ford built famous race car builders traco engineering.

on strength of script boyd had raised $2 million budget (a big budget @ time). boyd had 2 young, then-unknown actors, david soul , sam elliott, in mind lead roles when got phone call james nicholson, president , partner of sam arkoff @ american international pictures, major producer of b movies . nicholson leaving aip form own company, academy pictures, in partnership 20th century fox: fox finance , distribute films , give him complete control. nicholson told boyd had read script pursuit , wanted first film academy pictures. risky making indie film in 1970s without distribution deal. important film festivals sundance film festival did not exist. boyd decided enter partnership nicholson s academy pictures.

fox got peter fonda interested in project , nicholson hired english director john hough. hough had directed horror film nicholson @ aip , bring english actress susan george mix, providing 1 of male leads rewritten her. became apparent nicholson , boyd had 2 different philosophies of how film should made. boyd wanted make realistic, exciting, humorous, helicopter-versus-car chase. nicholson wasn t interested in content of film in attaching recognizable names , catchy titles market it. after long series of legal battles on control , nicholson s rewrites of film, boyd accepted settlement offer , left project.

in 2005 dvd , later blu-ray releases, director john hough says 6 (6) blue 1966 chevrolet impala , 6 (6) limegreen dodge charger used in filming. 6 chargers, including both 1969 , 1968 models, can seen , identified in movie different each other. had mechanic work on cars overnight repair damage. car haulers follow filming team additional cars.

john hough, in same interview, revealed ending in charger crashes train not in original script , he, cast , film crew knew it. studio, 20th century fox, furious when saw movie, because had plans sequel.