The Subterraneans (film)

The Subterraneans
File:Subterraneans.jpg Film poster by Joseph Smith
Directed by	Ranald MacDougall
Produced by	Arthur Freed
Written by	Robert Thom
Based on	novel by Jack Kerouac
Starring	George Peppard Leslie Caron Roddy McDowall Janice Rule
Music by	Andre Previn
Cinematography	Joseph Ruttenberg
Edited by	Ben Lewis
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates	1960 (1960)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,407,000
Box office	$765,000

The Subterraneans is a 1960 American drama film directed by Ranald MacDougall based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Jack Kerouac.

Plot

Leo is a 28-year-old novelist who still lives at home with his mother. One night he stumbles upon some beatniks at a coffee house. He falls in love with the beautiful but unstable Mardou Fox.

Roxanne warns Mardou away from Leo, who says his love for her is causing him writer's block. Mardou falls pregnant. She and Leo wind up together.

Cast

• Leslie Caron as Mardou Fox
• George Peppard as Leo Percepied
• Janice Rule as Roxanne
• Roddy McDowall as Yuri Gligoric
• Anne Seymour as Charlotte Percepied
• Jim Hutton as Adam Moorad
• Scott Marlowe as Julien Alexander
• Arte Johnson as Arial Lavalerra
• Ruth Storey as Analyst
• Bert Freed as Bartender
• Gerry Mulligan as Reverend Joshua Hoskins
• Carmen McRae as Herself

Production

The novel was optioned by Arthur Freed of MGM as a possible follow up to Some Came Running. Like that film, it was originally intended to star Dean Martin. Nicole Maurey was announced to play the female lead.

Eventually George Peppard and Leslie Caron were signed. Roddy McDowall also joined the cast, his first film in nine years. Janice Rule was then married to Robert Thom, who wrote the script.

This adaptation changed the African American character Mardou Fox, Kerouac's love interest, to a young French girl (played by Leslie Caron) to better fit both contemporary social and Hollywood palates. While it was derided and vehemently criticized by Allen Ginsberg, among others, for its two-dimensional characters, it is an example of the way Hollywood attempted to exploit the emerging popularity of this culture as it grew in San Francisco and Greenwich Village, New York.

A Greenwich Village beatnik bar setting had been used for scenes in Richard Quine's film Bell, Book and Candle (1958), but Ranald MacDougall's adaptation of Kerouac's novel, scripted by Robert Thom, was less successful.

The Subterraneans was one of the final MGM films produced by Arthur Freed, and features a score by André Previn and brief appearances by jazz singer Carmen McRae singing "Coffee Time," and saxophonists Gerry Mulligan, as a street priest, and Art Pepper. Comedian Arte Johnson plays the Gore Vidal character, here named Arial Lavalerra.

Box-office

According to MGM records, the film earned only $340,000 in the US and Canada and $425,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $1,311,000.

Musical score and soundtrack

The Subterraneans
Soundtrack album by André Previn
Released	1960
Recorded	September 2, 1959, and January 11 & 12 and February 3, 1960 MGM Studios, Culver City, CA
Genre	Film score
Label	MGM SE 3812 ST
André Previn chronology
West Side Story (1959) The Subterraneans (1960) Like Previn! (1960)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by André Previn, with the motion picture also featuring Previn's jazz trio. The soundtrack album was released on the MGM label in 1960.

AllMusic's Jason Ankeny observed: "André Previn had the good sense to recruit cool jazz giants including Gerry Mulligan, Russ Freeman, and Dave Bailey to perform his Subterraneans score: jazz not only fueled Kerouac's work, but his prose sought to evoke the rhythms and energy of bebop. Indeed, this music comes far closer to accurately capturing Kerouac's writing than any of the film's dialogue. Previn also deserves credit for articulating the sadness of the original novel, deftly combining horns and strings to create a score that is dark and emotive".

Track listing

All compositions by André Previn except as indicated

1. "Why Are We Afraid" (Previn, Dory Langdon) – 1:57
2. "Guido's Blackhawk" – 3:05
3. "Two by Two" – 4:00
4. "Bread and Wine" – 4:12
5. "Coffee Time" (Harry Warren, Arthur Freed) – 2:43
6. "A Rose and the End" – 3:24
7. "Should I" (Nacio Herb Brown, Freed) – 2:28
8. "Look Ma, No Clothes" – 1:32
9. "Things are Looking Down" – 5:39
10. "Analyst" – 4:19
11. "Like Blue" – 1:58
12. "Raising Caen" – 3:02

Personnel

• André Previn – piano, arranger, conductor
• Gerry Mulligan – baritone saxophone (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6 and 8–10)
• Carmen McRae – vocals (track 5)
• Art Farmer (tracks 4 & 9), Jack Sheldon (1, 3, 6, 8 & 10 and 12) – trumpet
• Bob Enevoldsen – valve trombone (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6 and 9)
• Art Pepper – alto saxophone (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6 & 8–10 and 12)
• Bill Perkins – tenor saxophone (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6 and 9)
• Russ Freeman – piano (tracks 4, 9 and 12)
• Buddy Clark (tracks 4 & 9), Red Mitchell (tracks 1–3, 5–8, and 10–12) – bass
• Dave Bailey (tracks 4 & 9), Shelly Manne (tracks 1–3, 5–8, and 10–12) – drums
• Unidentified string section, clarinet and oboe (tracks 1, 3, 6, 8 and 10)

See also

• List of American films of 1960

References

• 1958. The Subterraneans, ISBN 0-8021-3186-7

Further reading

• O'Sullivan, S., 'Alene Lee: Subterranean Muse', in Wills, D. (ed.) Beatdom Vol. 4 (Mauling Press: Dundee, 2009) p. 20

External links

• The Subterraneans at IMDb
• The Subterraneans at TCMDB