Richard Brooks (Philadelphia, 1912-Beverly Hills, 1992) is specially remembered for making some of the finest screen adaptations of works by widely differing writers including Tennessee Williams in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof(1958) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1962); Joseph Conrad in Lord Jim (1965); Fedor Dostoyevsky in The Brothers Karamazov (1958); Sinclair Lewis in Elmer Gantry (1960); Francis Scott Fitzgerald in The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), and Truman Capote in In Cold Blood (1967).

But Brooks also coaxed excellent performances from the actors in his films, starring names like Paul Newman, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor, Jean Simmons (to whom he was married from 1960 to 1977), Burt Lancaster, Peter O’Toole, Gene Hackman and Diane Keaton. Not happy only to work with the big headliners, Brooks gave their first major parts to Sidney Poitier, in The Blackboard Jungle (1955), and Richard Gere, in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). He was also a cutting analyst of the American politics and society of his time, producing landmark movies condemning racism and underlining the problems of education, like Blackboard Jungle, or others reflecting the idea of the press as the "fourth power" as in Deadline U.S.A. (1952).

Positioned to the left of Hollywood cinema in the 50s and 60s, his films always reflected the strain existing between the independent author and the iron-fisted Hollywood studio system, a feature characterising almost all members of the so-called "generation of violence". But Brooks' films were always different from those of Samuel Fuller, Robert Aldrich, Nicholas Ray, Richard Fleischer and Don Siegel, among other famed figures of the generation who all contributed their grain of sand in the endeavour to change the course of North-American cinema.

Brooks came from the world of writing -as a journalist, novelist and screenwriter-, a past only shared with Fuller. He also lacked the intensity of cahier-writing vindication benefitting Fuller and Ray, as a result of which his extremely ideologically and aesthetically coherent work was often relegated to second place. It's now time to rectify the situation by restoring his work to its rightful position on the American movie map.

Just like his contemporaries, he tackled almost all of the classic genres, giving them a new, realist, mature and personal slant. He did it in westerns, with committed titles like The Last Hunt (1956) -on indiscriminate bison killing- and The Professionals (1966) -the steely portrayal of American mercenaries in the Mexican revolution- and in war movies -Battle Circus (1953) or Take the High Ground (1953)-, melodrama -the solid adaptations of Tennessee Williams- adventure films -Something of Value (1957)- or the now so highly praised seventies thrillers to which he contributed a film like Dollars (1971).

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing for the screenplay of Elmer Gantry in 1961 and three times Best Director nominee, Brooks started as a screenwriter for emblematic thrillers in the 40s, including Brute Force (Jules Dassin, 1947) and Key Largo (John Huston, 1948). Edward Dmytryk adapted one of his novels in Crossfire (1947). Brooks also wrote the screenplay for almost all of his films as a director, with journalism and literature serving as the basis of a cinema substantially contributing to the expressive changes of the 50s and 60s in the quest for images of a more powerful, striking slant.

RICHARD BROOKS. Films in the retrospective
The retrospective on North American director Richard Brooks will include his 24 films as a director and the other five in which he participated as screenwriter or as author of the book on which the film is based.

As a director

1. Crisis (1950)
2. The Light Touch (1952)
3. Deadline, U.S.A (1952)
4. Battle Circus (1953)
5. Take the High Ground (1953)
6. Flame and the Flesh (1954)
7. The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)
8. Blackboard Jungle (1955)
9. The Last Hunt (1956)
10. The Catered Affair (1956)
11. Something of Value (1957)
12. The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
13. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
14. Elmer Gantry (1960)
15. Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
16. Lord Jim (1965)
17. The Professionals (1966)
18. In Cold Blood (1967)
19. The Happy Ending (1969)
20. Dollars (1971)
21. Bite the Bullet (1975)
22. Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977)
23. Wrong Is Right (1982)
24. Fever Pitch (1985)

As a screenwriter

1. Cobra Woman (1944), by Robert Siodmak
2. Brute Force (1947), by Jules Dassin
3. Key Largo (1948), by John Huston
4. To the Victor (1948), by Delmer Daves

Based on his book

1. Crossfire (1947), by Edward Dmytryk

Classic retrospective

A regular chapter in the Festival retrospective section has been a cycle dedicated to a classic director, enabling us to appreciate the little or virtually unknown work of such filmmakers as Robert Siodmak, James Whale, William Dieterle, William A. Wellman, Gregory La Cava, Tod Browning, Mitchell Leisen, Mikio Naruse, John M. Stahl, Carol Reed, Frank Borzage, Michael Powell, Preston Sturges, Anthony Mann, Robert Wise, Ernst Lubitsch and Henry King.