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Death of a Soldier
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Wikipedia article
'Death of a Soldier' is a 1986 Australian film based on the life of American serial killer Eddie Leonski. The film was shot using locations around Melbourne, Victoria.
The film is directed by Philippe Mora and stars James Coburn, Bill Hunter and Reb Brown.
Production
The idea of making the film came from William Nagle, who wrote a screenplay to produce himself; David Hannay came on board as co-producer. Dick Richards was originally meant to direct but then Philippe Mora became involved. Mora and the producers wanted to import Americans to play three roles: Leonski, his best friend Gallo and lawyer Danneberg; Actors Equity only agreed to two.David Stratton, 'The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry', Pan MacMillan, 1990 p45-47
At one stage it was announced that the movie would be called 'Leonski' and be shot in August 1981 with Don Lane as a US Army major."Lane into Film", 'Cinema Papers', MayJune 1981 p148
The budget was originally meant to be $3 million but this was found to be inadequate during shooting and additional funds had to be raised. To save money the shooting schedule was reduced; some of the crew complained to the Australian Theatrical and Amusement Employees' Association, which put a black ban on the film. This meant it was a year before the film was released in Australia.
Cast
* James Coburn as Maj. Patrick Dannenberg
* Bill Hunter as Det. Sgt. Adams
* Reb Brown as Pvt. Edward J. Leonski
* Maurie Fields as Det. Sgt. Martin
* Max Fairchild as Maj. William Fricks
* Belinda Davey as Margot Saunders
* Randall Berger as Pvt. Anthony Gallo
* Michael Pate as Maj. Gen. Sutherland
* Jon Sidney as Gen. Douglas MacArthur
* Terence Donovan as John Curtin
Reception
James Coburn later said, "It wasn't very good. There were a lot of problems with the picture. For one thing we had an auteur producer. He was also the screenwriter. He wrote it too much like a comic strip. We also had a lot of auteurs working on the fucking thing. The director didn't have enough time to prepare it. I was very disappointed by the way it turned out. It was a hellava good story. It's too bad."
See also
*Cinema of Australia
References
Sources
* [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oMwzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3JQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4606%2C3274756 Mathews, Jack, "When the Whole Truth is Not Enough", 'The Age', (Tuesday, 15 October 1985), p.14.]
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