The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 8.1043.  Thursday, 16 October 1997.

[1]     From:   Pervez Rizvi <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 13:44:16 +0100
        Subj:   RE: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

[2]     From:   Tom Marshall <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 10:02:38 -0500
        Subj:   Re: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

[3]     From:   Richard Nathan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 15:14:39 +0000
        Subj:   Re: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

[4]     From:   Martin Jukovsky <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 12:27:11 -0400
        Subj:   Re: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

[5]     From:   Bradley S. Berens <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 08:34:57 -0800
        Subj:   Re: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

[6]     From:   H. R. Greenberg <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 12:56:09 -0400 (EDT)
        Subj:   Re: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

[7]     From:   Stephen Orgel <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 15:31:20 -0700
        Subj:   Re: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

[8]     From:   John Drakakis <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 17:23:32 +0100
        Subj:   RE: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Pervez Rizvi <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 13:44:16 +0100
Subject: 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth
Comment:        RE: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

Curiously, just 5 minutes before this query arrived, I'd discovered the
following website:

http://www.romeoandjuliet.com/author/films.html

This gives very brief info on Joe Macbeth among others. You might also
try the Internet Movie Database.

[2]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Tom Marshall <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 10:02:38 -0500
Subject: 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth
Comment:        Re: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

Nothing on Joe Macbeth, but you might look at _Men of Respect_, a
gangster-noir film of the early 1990's that is a contemporary version of
Macbeth as a power struggle within a mafia family.  The language is
modern New York vernacular, but the plot follows the play and characters
very closely.  It stars John Turturro and Peter Boyle.

[3]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Richard Nathan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 15:14:39 +0000
Subject: 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth
Comment:        Re: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

Ron Ward asked about Joe Macbeth.  This was a British film made in 1955,
in which the story of Macbeth was done as a contemporary gangster
story.  I saw it on television sometime in the late sixties or early
seventies, and remember being delighted by how weirdly awful it was.  I
don't remember any details, except that the Banquo character was called
"Bankie."

According to Halliwell's film guide, it was produced and distributed by
Columbia and Frankovich.  It was written by Philip Yordan and directed
by Ken Hughes.  It starred Paul Douglas, Ruth Roman, Gregoire Aslan,
Bonar Colleano, and Sidney James.

Halliwell's review was, "Amost too bad to be funny, this effort to
update Shakespeare has actors behaving as though they were stuck in
treacle, and its gimmick quality is quickly dissipated by an indifferent
production."

In its defense, I will say that it wasn't as bad as "Female Hamlet," a
Middle Eastern film, with female versions of Hamlet, Rosencrantz,
Guildenstern.  Instead of being sent to England, they went to the beach
to play vollyball in their bikinis.  At the end, everyone blew everyone
else away with shotguns.

[4]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Martin Jukovsky <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 12:27:11 -0400
Subject: 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth
Comment:        Re: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

It's a 1955 Britsh movie directed by Ken Hughes, starring Paul Douglas
and Ruth Roman (who were American).  I remember little about it, except
that its attempts to emulate the original were flatfooted.  I prefer the
more recent MEN OF RESPECT with John Turturro, Peter Boyle, and Rod
Steiger, which is also gangland.  its ventures into Shakespearean
dialogue are well done, albeit bizarre ("Hey, what'd he mean by that-'I
can only be killed by man who is not of woman born'?").

[5]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Bradley S. Berens <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 08:34:57 -0800
Subject: 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth
Comment:        Re: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

Dear Ron Ward,

You might consult the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) and/or Ruby
Cohn's MODERN SHAKESPEAREAN OFFSHOOTS, and there's a pretty thorogh but
concise entry on it in McKernan and Terris's WALKING SHADOWS:
SHAKESPEARE IN THE NATIONAL FILM AND TELEVISION ARCHIVE.  The date of
the movie was 1955.

If gangster Macbeths are your thing, you might also check out MEN OF
RESPECT, a few years old now, and see if Marv Rosenberg has anything
about gangster-themed productions of the play in his exhaustive MASKS OF
MACBETH.

Good luck.

[6]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           H. R. Greenberg <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 12:56:09 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth
Comment:        Re: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

Yes-it was a rather crude update of Macbeth into 40s or 30S
gangsterdom.  Banquo became "Banky" etc. I believe the Macbeth was
played by character actor Paul Douglas. Film is better in the
recollection than actually. More interesting if flawed film recently was
a gangster Macbeth starring John Turturro-MEN OF HONOR-or somesuch.

[7]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Stephen Orgel <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 15:31:20 -0700
Subject: 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth
Comment:        Re: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

I liked Joe Macbeth: the 1955 British film turned the play into a grade
B gangster movie. It starred Paul Douglas and Ruth Roman. Halliwell says
of it, "Almost too bad to be funny, this effort to update Shakespeare
has actors behaving as if they were stuck in treacle...", but I recall
being quite intrigued by the ... um ...intertextuality. The recent 'Men
of Respect' is a whole lot better in the same style-though it too has
its silly moments.

[8]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           John Drakakis <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 15 Oct 1997 17:23:32 +0100
Subject: 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth
Comment:        RE: SHK 8.1042  Q: Joe Macbeth

Yes, 1955, Paul Douglas and Ruth Roman with Sidney James as Banquo!

There's a more recent version, Men of Respect (1989) with John Turturro
in the lead role.  Many of the names have been taken over from the
earlier Joe Macbeth.

This is how Shakespeare should be done!

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