The Slams (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) (1973)

THE IMPORTANCE OF DIGNITY The brawny man came running across the deserted oil field with a sense of urgency. Doubling his speed, legs pumping hard, he threw himself against the gravel pile. He hit hard and lifted his rifle to firing position. “Cut,”’ movie director Jonathan Kaplan yelled. ‘‘That was great, Jim, just great.’’ He turned to the camera crew of Gene Corman’s MGM production of ‘“‘The Slams.” “‘Let’s get ready for the next set-up please.’’ Jim Brown got up from the gravel, brushed himself off and walked over to a chess board on top of a crate. Jim’s chess partner between scenes resumed his position at the board while the star looked for something to sit on, continuing a heavy discussion that had started earlier. “Dignity, like pride and honesty, is a quality that others must see in a person,’’ says Jim. ‘‘It’s not something that one feels as an integral part of one’s personality. Dignity is being respected as a man to look up to. It does not have a greal deal to do with immediate recognition or hero worship. As a veteran Cleveland Browns player | got accustomed to recognition. But the next step is the all important one. Would people still point and whisper if | were not Jim Brown? “It was in England that | took the first objective look at myself. No one had ever heard of Jim Brown in Europe. | began to realize people were judging me simply as another man,’’ says Jim. “This is what | mean by saying a man’s dignity is important. Do these qualities in a man set him aside? Do they make him someone people would like to call a friend? This has nothing to do with recognition and flattery. It is a great feeling to know you’ve made it under this sort of set-up.” He added, ‘Another attribute that is vital to living in this society is pride. Not pride synonymous with boastfulness, but pride in one’s bearing and being and relationships with others.’ guards before he is allowed in the recreation yard. STILL NO. TS-9 MAT NO. 2C FRUSTRATIONS OF A BLACK ACTRESS Judy Pace sits upright in a director’s chair on the set of ‘‘The Slams,” attentive and eager. A passing train drowns out the commotion of movie production activity going inside the Lincoln Heights Jail, but she seems unaware of the locomotive. She absorbs the activity around her and smiles slightly. “| love the fuss and activity of people working. When | first broke into films | used to go onto sets to watch, picking up the mechanics of working in front of a camera. Even if | weren’t working, I’d stay around until the close of a day’s shooting. | was learning then, but | find myself experiencing the same excitement now,’’ explains beautiful Judy Pace, who co-stars in MGM’s ‘‘The Slams” with Jim Brown and Frank de Kova. “I've worked a lot for the few years I’ve been in this business but | realize that Black women have not been given the luxury of picking and choosing parts yet. There really isn’t that much out there for Black women.”’ She closes her eyes and claps her hands together as if in meditation and gathers her thoughts. “The kind of roles | would really like to play have not been written. If they’ve been written | haven’t read them yet. In most scripts, the Black woman is the last item and there is generally only one per picture. There are more roles for Black men than women and I’m not begrudging them the opportunity, but | do wish women were given the same selectivity. Like, | would love to play situation or musical comedy. | wish they had more of that for Black women. Comedy to me is the hardest thing in the world to do and | love it. “Like the role of Iris in ‘The Slams.’ This is the first time I’ve had the challenge of playing a character with more than one or two levels. She has a lot going for her. She’s educated and she knows how to survive in both worlds, Black and White. | kind of like her.’’ Judy plays the part of Jim Brown’s woman, independent enough to have a career of her own, yet vulnerable enough to risk her life for the man she loves in a spectacular prison break. Directed by Jonathan Kaplan and produced by Gene Corman, ‘‘The Slams’”’ is an action drama which follows the exploits of a prisoner and his fight against the penal system. The screenplay was written by Richard L. Adams. Judy has recently taken on a new role as a mother. ‘‘My little girl’s name is Shawn but we call her Pie. Do you think she’ll hate us for that when she is older? She is a little Aquarius, and | love her so much.” Judy is married to Don Mitchell, a regular on the “‘Ironside’”’ series. As Judy is called before the cameras for a particularly demanding dramatic scene with Jim Brown, the determined actress leaves the definite impression that she will soon be playing comedy and a wide variety of other roles. (Jim Brown) during a prison visit in MGM’s ‘‘The Slams.” STILL NO. TB-2 MAT NO. 2E Announcement Story “The Slams,’’ MGM’s rugged action-drama starring Jim Brown in one of his most challenging roles, opens ...... at the... 272%. Theatre. “The Slams” spotlights a convict’s desperate attempt to con ceal the whereabouts of a fortune in stolen loot from several prison factions pressuring to pry the secret from him. Judy Pace, Roland ‘‘Bob’”’ Harris and Paul E. Harris co-star in “The Slams,’’ produced by Gene Corman and directed by Jonathan Kaplan from a screenplay by Richard L. Adams. The suspenseful film was photographed in Metrocolor on locations throughout the Los Angeles area.