Ski instructor Johnny is carrying on a romance with Samantha, a married woman who also serves as the hostess at a ski lodge. Samantha coaxes Jack into giving skiing lessons to the Stones, a rich family whose patriarch is the head of a mysterious company planning to take over the resort.
Joseph E. Levine bought the rights to make a film out of the Romain Gary story in 1964, but spent years trying to get a suitable screenplay; those who worked on the project included author and critic Hollis Alpert.[6] At various times Peter O'Toole, Christopher Jones, Warren Beatty and Jon Voight were reportedly considered for the starring role;[5]Robert Redford was also approached but turned the part down.[7] Finally Levine gave a trio of UCLA film students a $750,000 budget and free rein to do what they wanted, resulting in a film that had little to do with the book.[2][6]
Release
The film opened at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco but closed after one week.[2]
Reception
Roger Greenspun of The New York Times wrote, "Almost everybody in 'The Ski Bum' is first rate, much too good for the material, with special honors to Joseph Mell as the ubiquitous Burt Stone and Lori Shelle as his emotionally mature daughter."[8]Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film zero stars out of four and wrote that the young filmmakers "are moderately successful only when photographing snow. Each scene involving what they think is human interaction is either sick or sickly. The film's electronic music and many echo chamber sound effects (which signal trauma) end up being the equivalent of scratches on a blackboard."[6] Har. of Variety wrote that the changes from the novel to the film were "mostly for the worst" and that there was "very little to say about the final cut, since film has so little to say itself."[2] Jeanne Miller of The San Francisco Examiner called the film "an earnest, thoughtful, but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to portray the anguish of its existential hero, a primitive drifter hopelessly trapped in the externals of a materialistic society ... [the filmmakers] seem to view the corporate greed of this affluent society as an insidious poison that inevitably affects everyone it touches. Unfortunately, they were unable to translate their concept into fluid, moving or authoritative cinematic terms."[9]
Notes
^A few sources, including Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, give a running time of 136 minutes, but this is contradicted by the American Film Institute Catalog and the contemporary New York Times review. The longer time may be a misprint for 1 hour 36 minutes.
References
^Miller, Jeanne (January 8, 1971). "The Producer Wanted Young Blood, But..." The San Francisco Examiner. p. 30. "...which opens today at the Fox-Warfield and Spruce Drive-in."
