The failure of Ishtar could be called, as Mike Nichols referred to it, a “studio suicide;” a purposeful campaign against the film launched internally in order to force it into a negative light. In regards to Ishtar, this theory proposes that following a lack of financial, creative, and media-related support from the Columbia Pictures, critical and public opinion would turn negative and ticket sales would follow suit.
May clarifies, “I thought—only for five minutes—it’s the CIA. I didn’t dream that it would be the studio. For one moment it was sort of glorious to think that I was going to be taken down by the CIA, and then it turned out to be David Putnam [sic., actual spelling: Puttnam]. I think this man was unique in that way, in that he was going to redo Hollywood and make it a better place. He was going to work from the inside.” Puttnam had taken over as C.E.O. of Columbia Pictures in the middle of the production of Ishtar. May speculates that bad blood regarding past industry dealings (specifically with Warren Beatty’s Reds) and a want to “redo Hollywood” drove Puttnam to make an example of someone or something. Ishtar (an over-priced, late, over-budget, late film written and directed by a woman) was an easy target. The fact that May was a near-singular woman in the exclusive boys’ club of “Hollywood directors” and had a history of turning in over-budgeted films late, may have made May an even easier target.
It is not so much a conspiracy theory as it is a believable situation of the hegemony of Hollywood, the entertainment industry, and Western culture.
May’s status as a female director in Hollywood in the 1970s and 80s is impressive in retrospect. Today, there still are a relatively few women making films outside of independent cinema. May elucidates on the subject of making a film as a woman in Hollywood:
“I’m no one to be feared. I’m not one of those women who are not nice women. And in the end, when it comes down to it, you’re just as rotten as any guy. You’ll fight just as hard to get your way. So I think the real trick is for women is they should start out tough. They don’t start out tough. They start by saying, “Don’t be afraid of me. I’m only a woman.” And they’re not only women, they’re just as tough as guys. In that way I think I did have trouble. But only because I seemed so pleasant.”
Even as early as 1959, May seemed aware of having a gender-dictated disadvantageous entry point into the entertainment industry and subversively commented upon in a droll and dry witted manner. On the back cover of the 1959 album by Mike Nichols and Elaine May, improvisations to music, Nichols humorously deals with his want for gloating by masking all of his accomplishements under a thin guise.
“mike nichols is not a member of the actors studio, which has produced such stars as marlon brando, julie harris, ben gazzara, eva marie saint, carroll baker, and others too numerous to mention, he has never toured with mr. roberts and has never appeared on such television programs as the goodyear playhouse and the kraft theatre.”
Of course, Nichols had, by 1959, been and accomplished all of these various things.
May’s entry simply states: “miss may does not exist.”
The current availability of May’s directorial output would largely agree. Most of her films are currently unavailable in the United States.
May’s directorial debut, 1971’s A New Leaf—directed, written by, and starring May—was re-edited by the studio following May’s completion of the film. Albeit over-budget and late, the film was not a bad film. But it was deemed unfinished and was “finished” by the studio. The film received nominations for two Golden Globes and a Writer’s Guild of America award and received largely favorable reviews. It was apparently shown on late night television for a few years following its theatrical release. It was also supposedly aired on HBO in the 1980s and was at one time available for purchase on VHS. But, it has yet to be released on DVD—nor do plans seem in place to release it in the future and it no longer airs on cable or late-night TV.
May’s follow-up was a Neil Simon-penned film entitled The Heartbreak Kid. The 1972 film starring Charles Grodin and Cybill Shephard was largely well-received. It received award nominations—for best supporting actress and best supporting actor. It was also released on VHS and (I assume) shown on television in the past but, like A New Leaf, it is currently unavailable on DVD. Unlike A New Leaf, The Heartbreak Kid did find its way to DVD for a limited time. In 1998 a DVD was released through an assumed limited license agreement with 20th Century Fox. Currently, the Starz/Anchor Bay DVD is only avaialble via the site’s “other sellers” option from $59.99 to $101.50 (as of 10/30/2008).
Likewise, May’s 1987 swan song, Ishtar, is not available on DVD in the Western Hemisphere. The film is avaialble in other, non-Region 1 parts of the world. I won a Region 2 DVD from IshtarTheMovie.com a few months back. Like perhaps: Morocco?
One mustn’t feel too bad for Elaine May. Despite her commercial failure and (publicly viewable) professional demise following Mickey and Nicky, the only May-directed film available from Netflix, May worked as a “script doctor.” Her IMdb entry includes “uncredited work” on Reds (1981), Tootsie (1982), and Labyrinth (1986). Following a near-decade public exile from Hollywood (either professional-mandated or personally-chosen) following Ishtar, May returned to writing. Elaine May reunited with Mike Nichols penning the screenplays for Nichol’s Birdcage (1996) and Primary Colors (1998). Although she will always be attached to the ”greatest film flop of the 80s” and seems likely never direct another major motion picture, the “Elaine May” brand(ing) is still a positive one. At the 2008 Emmys, Alec Baldwin referred to his 30Rock costar, Tina Fey, as “the Elaine May of our generation.”
This is presumably meant as a positive sentiment.
Tags: Dissertation, Elaine May, film, Ishtar, Popular Culture
