When A Handshake Meant Something: Lawyers, Deal Making, and the Emergence of New Hollywood

Abstract

Jack Warner loved shutting down films. It was tradition on the Warner Bros. lot, one he continued long after his three brothers departed the studio. As director Arthur Penn described it, “Warner would give a time frame and then come down to the set, no matter how far along they were, and say ‘Your picture wraps tonight.’”2 It was a display of power, a way to demonstrate who ran the studio.When it came to Bonnie and Clyde—a filmWarner hatedwith every bone in his body—he was overjoyed to finally force the hand of Penn and his coproducer/star Warren Beatty. Even though they were right on schedule, “The Colonel,” as many referred to Warner, barged his way into their wrap party and forced the crew to shoot the still photos that would be featured in the opening credits. Everyone was taken aback by Warner’s actions but felt forced to oblige. Penn caught the eye of Walter MacEwan, Warner’s right-hand man, who “stood behind Jack with a chagrined expression, as if to say, ‘What can I do?’”3 But Bonnie and Clyde was not Warner’s project to control. Before production began, the executives at Warner Bros. had negotiated a deal with Penn and Beatty. Their memo featured several brief but thoughtful stipulations that seemed agreeable to both sides.Most notably, the location of where to edit the picture would be arranged later by mutual agreement among the parties.4 Warner soon realized Penn and Beatty were shipping dailies to New York instead of the studio’s own editing bays and planning to edit the film without the possibility that the executive might barge through the doors. He fired off a memo, declaring, “I would not have gone throughwith this contract if I had known these uncalled gimmickswere in it.”5 But none of the studio’s executives could do anything to reverse it and please the Colonel. They had