Mirage (Universal Pictures) (1965)

MIRAGE" {2-A) _ In a frantic effort to find a clue to his identity, amnesia victim Gregory Peck searches Diane Baker’s purse in Universal’s suspense thriller, ““Mirage.”’ Directed by Edward Dmytryk, it was produced by Harry Keller and also co-stars Walter Matthau. the story (Not for publication) Power failure darkens the Unidyne Building in New York and seconds later, Charles Calvin (WALTER ABEL), plunges to his death from the 27th floor. Pouring out of the building’s darkness is David (GREGORY PECK), who bumps into Shela (DIANE BAKER) and guides her to the outside where she shows shocked recognition and disappears without an explanation. “Welcomed back” in a nearby bar, David isn’t aware that he ever was “away.” Bewildered, he goes to his apartment where a stranger, Lester (JACK WESTON), pulls a gun and forces him inside. David knocks him out. David reports the assault to the police but discovers he cannot remember when or where he was born or anything in the past two years. Now he’s really confused. He wanders into a store and a book catches his attention. From its bibliography he selects “Broden, Augustus J.. M.D., Ph.D., Clinical Psychiatry,” and calls him for an appointment. David is convinced he has amnesia, but the doctor (ROBERT H. HARRIS) thinks he must be in trouble with the police and refuses to help. David then enlists the services of Ted Caselle (WALTER MATTHAUD), a private detective who suggests the investigation begin at the Unidyne Building. In the basement, they are confronted by a thug, Willard (GEORGE KENNEDY), but escape his assault. David recalls a night watchman, Joe Turtle (NEIL FITZGERALD), who knew him at the Unidyne Building where David had been working for the past two years—(he thought)—as a cost accountant. When he arrives at the detective’s office to give this information to Caselle, he finds him murdered. He finds Shela who reluctantly takes him to Turtle’s apartment. Lester is in the apartment but leaves just as the shocked David finds the bloody, lifeless body of the watchman in the bathtub. Shela, waiting outside in a cab, hears police sirens and warns David in time for him to get away. Back at his own apartment, David finds Willard and Lester waiting. He is cornered in an alley and grabs Willard as a shield. Lester, trying to get David, pumps three slugs into his partner. The desperate David returns to Dr. Broden, who now helps him recall some of his past; his position as a physicochemist in California; his employer, Charles Calvin. Slowly, now, David"begins to remember: Calvin was a man whole ideals David worshipped; David discovered a means for eliminating fallout from nuclear explosions and had flown from California to deliver the discovery to Calvin who shocked and disillusioned him by telling him to give the data to Major Crawford (LEIF ERICKSON), who planned to use it for personal gain. He decided to destroy the formula and ignited the paper just as the lights of the building went out. He recalled tossing it out the window of the 27th story office and Calvin, trying to retrieve the (Still No. 1958-28) GREGORY PECK DIANE BAKER in “MIRAGE” co-starring KEVIN McCARTHY JACK WESTON LEIF ERICKSON WALTER ABEL GEORGE KENNEDY and WALTER MATTHAU as Ted Casselle Screenplay by PETER STONE Directed by EDWARD DMYTRYK Produced by HARRY KELLER A Universal Picture the east Dr. Broden.. ROBERT H. HARRIS Frances............-. ANNE SEYMOUR Borde oe es HOUSE B. JAMESON Lt. Franken.......... HARI RHODES Bennyc hs cic cea SYL LAMONT lene so eee EILEEN BARAL Joe Turtle.__...NEIL FITZGERALD Group Leader FRANKLIN E. COVER the staff Based on a Story by Walter Ericson; Director of Photography, Joseph MacDonald, A.S.C.; Unit Production Manager, Wallace Worsley; Art Directors, Alexander Golitzen and Frank Arrigo; Set Decorations, John McCarthy, John Austin; Sound, Waldon O. Watson, Corson Jowett; Film Editor, Ted J. Kent; Make-Up, Bud Westmore; Hair Stylist, Larry Germain; Assistant Director, Terence Nelson; Gowns Designed by Jean Louis; Jewels by Tiffany & Company; Music, Quincy Jones; Music Supervision by Joseph Gershenson. paper, plunging to his death. He now knows he is not Calvin’s murderer. The sudden flood of memory is overwhelming. Obeying an impulse, he goes to Crawford’s office in the Unidyne Building. There, David finds Lester, Shela and Josephson (KEVIN McCARTHY), a former associate who also is involved in the conspiracy. They seem to be expecting him. After David is beaten by Lester, Crawford orders him to write out the formula. When David refuses, Lester points a gun at David’s head. As he is about to pull the trigger, a shot rings out. Lester falls to the floor, dead. All turn suddenly to Shela, who is stunned at having taken a human life, even Lester’s. Josephson snatches the gun from Shela, but David talks him into turning it on Crawford. The ordeal is over. Shela rushes to David, pleading that he help her, and he, in turn, suggests they perhaps can help each other for the future both want together. “Mirage” Villain Kennedy Is Kindly Home Movie Star For Own Film Cameras (Current) Hollywood’s current number one purveyor of blood-andthunder villainy in the movies, Mr. George Kennedy, evidently gets rid of all of his meanness while the movie cameras are pointed at him. Away from the camera, he devotes himself to making home movies that feature such non-violent stars as flowers, birds, Mother Nature and his own two-yearold daughter, Karianne. “T always have at least one 16 mm production going,’ Kennedy explained. ‘Maybe I’m like the sailor rowing in the park, but I find moviemaking a great relaxation after a hard session of movie acting.” Kennedy can be seen currently with Gregory Peck, Diane Baker and Walter Matthau, providing the major portion of cruelty and mayhem in Universal’s hard-hitting suspense drama “Mirage,” at Ha \ pepe ees eee eens Theatre. In the story, he gives Peck a merciless beating, kills a few others who get in his way and—as must happen to all murderers—gets full punishment for his evil deeds. In the last few movie seasons, the 6-foot-4, 233-pound screen heavy has really come into his own as a movie menace. His assault on Cary Grant in “Charade,” wielding an iron hook as a weapon, was a chilling morsel of film footage. He has also been clobbering such popular movie heroes as Kirk Douglas in “Lonely Are the Brave,” Ernest Borgnine in ‘McHale’s Navy,’ and Charles Boyer in the TV series, ““‘The Rogues.” “Obviously,” George confessed, “my little daughter isn’t going to see her daddy in the movies until she’s old enough to understand it’s play-acting. Until then, she’ll have to be satisfied with the movies her daddy makes himself.” Kennedy’s interest in 16mm production stems from his earlier days as a production assistant on the “Sergeant Bilko” TV series starring Phil Silvers. Since he turned to acting as a fulltime career, he has made more than two dozen home movies, designing his own documentary subjects, filming them, and adding the sound, dubbing and music. “One of these days,’ he confesses, with a grin, “I’m going to star myself in one of my home movies — as the nicest hero the world ever knew.” George Kennedy has ample opportunity to engage in his screen specialty as a villain in Universal’s “Mirage,” which co-stars Gregory Peck, Diane Baker and Walter Matthau. (Still No. 1958-114) Controlled Excitement For Gregory Peck In Current Suspense Thriller, ‘Mirage ™ (Advance) Life for Gregory Peck these days is one thrill after an other. “But it’s controlled excitement,”’ he adds hastily, ‘‘and the controls are in my hands.” As happens quite often with a sought-after film hero such as Peck—especially since his performance in ‘““To Kill A Mock ingbird” won him an Oscar—a series of screen roles with similar flavors show up at the same time. What looms as a cycle is built by the fact that the best available scripts concentrate on similar themes. Pezk’s current schedule is a fine example. Soon to be seen in Universal's “Mirage,” coming...... Theatre, a hard-hitting suspense tale written by Peter Stone, who also did ‘‘Charade,’’ Peck revealed that he’ll continue with suspense in his next picture. It is to be made in London for Universal. “And I’ll probably remain abroad,” Greg revealed, ‘because I may then do another fine suspense story backgrounded against the SHAPE headquarters near Paris.” Does Peck feel that three suspense dramas in a row are too much ? “Certainly not,” he says. “I have always felt that adventure stories are best for the screen. However, I am not one to seek one type of role alone. I'm always looking for the best role available, whether it’s a light comedy, an historical ‘drama, a war story, romantic ad vture or mystery. It’s the story that counts—I don’t possess enough of the actor’s vanity to think my performance can supersede the drama itself.” “Mirage” marks the 36th motion picture for Peck during a great career highlighted by five Academy Award nominations and an Oscar for “To Kill A Mockingbird.” In this latest suspense Page 5 story, Peck portrays an amnesia victim who fights to regain his memory in order to save his life. With him in ‘Mirage,’ which Edward Dmytryk directed for producer Harry Keller, are Diane Baker, Walter Matthau, Kevin McCarthy, Jack Weston, Leif Erickson, Walter Abel and George Kennedy. To give the film authenticity exteriors were all shot in actual locales—in New York City, with interiors photographed at Universal City studios. Leif Erickson is. the suave businessman who becomes the nemisis of Gregory Peck, an amnesia victim in Universal’s thrilling suspense adventure story, “Mirage.” (Still No. 1958-119) (Ve Gregory Peck unceremoniously forces Robert H. Harris into his office in Universal’s new suspense thriller, ‘“Mirage.”’ Harris plays the role of a psychiatrist who refuses to treat Peck who has had a traumatic experience causing memory loss. (Still No. 1958-55 ) Walter Abel Back In Films After 8 Years WwW e [LA Absence; In ‘Mirage (Advance) Walter Abel’s return to a Hollywood sound stage for his first movie role in eight years is, to say the least, “a ghostly experience,” Abel, who hadn’t made a motion picture since his appearance in MGM’s “Raintree County” back in 1957, was spotted in New York during location filming of Universal’s ““Mirage,”’ a suspense drama starring Gregory Peck, Diane Baker and Walter Matthau which Theatre. Producer Harry Keller and director Edward Dmytryk, considering the veteran performer to be perfect casting for the role of a wealthy business tycoon and philanthropist in the story, lured him out of acting retirement. “T accepted the part after the role was described to me by them,”’ Abel disclosed. “I didn’t know at the time that my introduction on the screen in ‘Mirage’ would show me hurtling downward to my death on a New York sidewalk from the 27th floor of an office building. After that, I keep popping up here and there in a series of recollection sequences to help Gregory Peck recover from a bad case of amnesia. “It’s enough to give anybody a fine set of creeps.” Actually, Mr. Abel doesn’t feel one bit ghostly about his return to Hollywood for “Mirage.” Fact is, he’s delighted with the whole thing. “But it’s difficult to feel like I’ve come back home, even if I did spend over 20 years in Hollywood,” says Walter. “Universal has a black skyscraper of an office building, there are apartment houses all over 20th Century-Fox, and the freeways have destroyed all my memorized routes to Paramount and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Hollywood’s another world to me.” Even though his chores in “Mirage” have been fun, Abel has no definite plans to return to Hollywood. “My home is in New York,” he says, “in a three-story brownstone apartment house on Tist street. Anyway, my apartment is as famous as I am—it was used as one of the main sets in ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s,’ you know.” N.Y. Traffic Echoes vf e iL le Mirage” Film Scene (Current) For location scenes in Universal’s suspenseful “Mirage,” starring Gregory Peck, Diane Baker and Walter Matthau, now at the Se ee Theatre, director Edward Dmytryk chose a location in a New York garage beneath an apartment house on 56th Street, between Park Avenue and Lexington, and assigned two stunt drivers to crash a pair of automobiles as part of a do-or-die chase through Manhattan. The crash, perfectly executed by the stunt drivers, produced a strange echo, however. Two New York cab drivers, trying to drive and watch the moviemaking at the same time, added a real-life smash to the movie version by crashing head-on into each other.