Hank and Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart by Scott Eyman

Author:Scott Eyman
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: biography
ISBN: 9781501102172
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2017-10-24T04:00:00+00:00

Eleven

Beginning in 1950, Stewart reeled off a long succession of hit movies that resonated for audiences at the time and ever since: Harvey, Broken Arrow, Winchester ’73, Bend of the River, The Naked Spur, Rear Window, The Far Country, The Man from Laramie, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, Anatomy of a Murder. In the critical imagination, the 1950s belong to Brando, Monroe, and Dean, but none of them racked up the roster of smashes that Stewart did. He was the favorite culturally respectable movie star of middle America.

Except for Harvey, he avoided comedies in this period as if they were a staph infection. He made eight films with Anthony Mann, three for Alfred Hitchcock, one for Otto Preminger. He played cold, he played cynical, he played bloviating, he played manipulative, he played obstinate, he played obsessive, he played crazy, he played just about every quality an actor could play, and he was believable every time.

Winchester ’73 took the tenacious Stewart of Call Northside 777 and moved him out west. As far as Jim was concerned, it was an obvious choice. When he was asked about the difference between the gentle prewar Stewart and the man on view in Winchester ’73 and after, he would say, “I’d matured.”

Winchester ’73 was an add-on to Stewart’s deal for Harvey. Everybody figured Harvey was going to be a commercial smash. Wasserman’s recollection was that it was a two-picture deal and Universal could either pay Stewart $200,000 per picture or half of their respective profits.

Universal opted for the percentage deal because, said Wasserman, “Universal didn’t have the $400,000.” But to Universal’s surprise Harvey underperformed and took a while to turn a profit, while the modestly budgeted black-and-white western overperformed and made a lot of money for both the studio and Stewart. Wasserman said that Stewart earned between $800,000 and $900,000 for his piece of Winchester ’73 alone, making him the highest-paid star in the movie business by far. The beauty part was that the money was taxed at the lower capital gains rate rather than as straight income.

Winchester ’73 is a fine western with an innovative circular structure that follows the Winchester rifle through its various owners, with Stewart in constant pursuit. His character, Lin McAdam, is edgy and borderline hostile, and Anthony Mann uses more deep focus than any film since The Best Years of Our Lives.

Winchester ’73 provided Stewart a new friend in the person of Dan Duryea, who specialized in sniveling heavies, but who in reality was the most solid of citizens. The two men bonded over a mutual love of long, rambling stories and practical jokes, and Duryea would work in three more films with Stewart. In Thunder Bay, Duryea’s character asks Stewart if he has any entertainment skills.

“I can do a swell imitation of that tall, drawling movie star,” says Stewart.

“That guy?” says Duryea with evident distaste. “Never mind!”

Winchester ’73 was followed by Harvey—the only picture that would have jibed with Stewart’s prewar screen character. But even there he converted Elwood P.

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