Word: bucked
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...comedy about life death and love opens as the central character, Joe Pendleton (Beatty), a star quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams, looks as though he is about to suffer a tragic death in a tunnel collision between his bicycle and a truck. A novice heavenly escort, (played by Buck Henry) removes Joe's soul from his body just before the smash-up in order to spare Joe the pain. Of course, the escort does not realize that Joe, being an excellent athlete with quick reflexes, would have avoided the crash and lived for another 50 years. Joe protests...
...other programs, the result of brain research and studies of perception, seem straight out of Buck Rogers. In one, the Advanced Research Projects Agency is working to link fighter pilots directly to computers. As the pilot dons his helmet, fine needles will project into his scalp and enable him to shoot a rocket merely by thinking the command to fire. Another project, developed at Fort Benning, Ga., allows a commander to send silent coded orders to troops in the field-electronic blips are transmitted through electrodes attached to the upper arms or abdomens of each soldier. So far, Watson reports...
Beatty is not only the star of Heaven Can Wait but the co-writer (with Elaine May), co-director (with Buck Henry) and producer. Having already produced two smash hits in his only previous tries, Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Shampoo (1975), Beatty must now be regarded as a major film maker as well as a star. "He is really a perfect producer," says Arthur Penn, who directed Bonnie and Clyde. "He makes everyone demand the best of themselves. Warren stays with a picture through editing, mixing and scoring; he plain works harder than anyone else I have ever seen...
...first time. "I asked Mike [Nichols] and Arthur [Penn], but they were busy," he says. "Then I thought the next best thing would be to do it myself." But Beatty, who becomes deadly serious when working, decided he needed a co-director to keep the movie from becoming ponderous. Buck Henry got the job, as well as the on-screen role of Mr. Jordan's celestial assistant. It was not an easy experience. "We had plenty of disagreements, but they weren't violent," says Henry. "When Warren wants to do something his way, he has it all figured...
...perceived as a monster if you are a star." A few of his colleagues do see him that way. Says one highly respected studio head: "Warren won't make commitments and negotiates forever, trying to get his fees up. I wouldn't wish a negotiation with him on anyone." Buck Henry takes a more benevolent view: "Beatty is psychotic about the possibility of overlooking anything. If he could, he would be up in the projection booth of the theater showing his movie, pushing the projectionist aside, still trying to cut or add frames, humming music he might have forgotten...