Leo is a 28-year-old novelist who still lives at home with his mother. One night he stumbles upon some beatniks at a coffee house. He falls in love with the beautiful but unstable Mardou Fox.
Roxanne warns Mardou away from Leo, who says his love for her is causing him writer's block. Mardou falls pregnant. She and Leo wind up together.
Eventually George Peppard and Leslie Caron were signed. Roddy McDowall also joined the cast, his first film in nine years.[4] Janice Rule was then married to Robert Thom, who wrote the script.[5][6]
This adaptation changed the African American character Mardou Fox, Kerouac's love interest, to a young French girl (played by Leslie Caron) to better pacify racists. While it was derided and vehemently criticized by Allen Ginsberg, among others, for its two-dimensional characters, it is an example of the way Hollywood attempted to exploit the emerging popularity of Beat culture as it grew in San Francisco and Greenwich Village, New York, without really understanding it.
The Subterraneans was one of the final films Arthur Freed produced for MGM and features a score by André Previn and brief appearances by jazz singer Carmen McRae singing "Coffee Time," and saxophonists Gerry Mulligan, as a street priest, and Art Pepper. Comedian Arte Johnson plays the Gore Vidal character, here named Arial Lavalerra.
Box-office
According to MGM records, the film earned only $340,000 in the US and Canada and $425,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $1,311,000.[1]
The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by André Previn, with the motion picture also featuring Previn's jazz trio. The soundtrack album was released on the MGM label in 1960.[8]
AllMusic's Jason Ankeny observed: "André Previn had the good sense to recruit cool jazz giants including Gerry Mulligan, Russ Freeman, and Dave Bailey to perform his Subterraneans score: jazz not only fueled Kerouac's work, but his prose sought to evoke the rhythms and energy of bebop. Indeed, this music comes far closer to accurately capturing Kerouac's writing than any of the film's dialogue. Previn also deserves credit for articulating the sadness of the original novel, deftly combining horns and strings to create a score that is dark and emotive".[7]
Track listing
All compositions by André Previn except as indicated
^ abcThe Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
^Martin Will Star in 'Subterraneans': Freed Plans Modern Jazz Tale; Martha Hyer Sought for 'Dolls'
Scott, John L. Los Angeles Times December 8, 1958: C15.
^FILMLAND EVENTS: Nicole Maurey Will Confer With MGM
Los Angeles Times June 6, 1959: C3.
^McDowall Paged for 'Inherit'
Los Angeles Times September 11, 1959: B8.
^anice Rule Stars in Husband's Play: 'Earthly Paradise' Is Title; Jourdan One of Viertel Three
Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times September 25, 1959: A11.
^McDowall Returns to Play Beatnik
Alpert, Don. Los Angeles Times October 11, 1959: E2.
