Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

Foreword xi

Overture: 'And the Winner Is ...'? 1

1 Robin Hood, the Goons and the Nudist Boom 14

2 Getting The Knack 26

3 Hollywood UK 37

4 Gearing up for The Italian Job 46

5 White-knuckle Ride: Making the Italian Job 60

6 The Greatest Film I Never Made, and the Hellish One that I Did 78

7 Mr Wilson, and His Plans for British Film 89

8 Don't Look Now, or The Prudery of Warren Beatty, and The Wicker Man, or The Wrath of Christopher Lee 98

9 British Business 107

10 Soaring High, Almost Crashing: The Man Who Fell to Earth 116

11 The Lion's Last Gasp 128

12 Peckinpah, Convoy and a Blizzard of Cocaine 141

13 A National Anthem: The Deer Hunter 163

14 Low Grade 182

15 Power, Vainglory and Michael Cimino 192

16 Blade Runner-Incept Date: 1979 200

17 Blade Runner-T-Shirt Wars 227

18 Blade Runner-Waiting for Vangelis 245

19 A Form of Retirement 263

Coda 270

Acknowledgements 275