Director Of The Week: Franklin J. Schaffner

Franklin J. Schaffner, born May 30th, 1920, in Tokyo, Japan, has a long and diverse resume dating back to his earliest work on television.

Raised in Tokyo by his missionary parents, he eventually moved to the United States, where he ended up studying law at Columbia University in New York.  Before graduation, he was drafted into the US Navy during WWII.  Upon return from the war, he shifted careers, and began work in television.  There he had a highly successful run, winning several awards.  Most notably, he directed the teleplay of 12 Angry Men in 1954, which predated both the stageplay and film.

His first theatrical film was The Stripper (1963), which was decently received, though taken out of his hands and re-edited.  Next was The Best Man (1964), a political film based on a play by Gore Vidal.  But, a mere three films later, he created the first truly epic, highly-merchandised sci-fi film franchise.

Planet Of The Apes (1968), based on a novel by Pierre Boulle, with a script by Rod Serling, involved the adventures of a team of astronauts on a world turned upside down;  one in which Apes were the dominant species, not man.  Charlton Heston, who had previously worked with Schaffner on The War Lord, got him on board the picture.  Combine this with the musical genius of Jerry Goldsmith (His work here was arguably the best score of his career) and make-up fx by John Chambers, and you have the makings of a masterpiece.  Both a wonderful, Twilight Zone-esque thriller, and a biting political satire, Planet Of The Apes has endured for decades, followed by several sequels, TV series, and a Tim Burton remake.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Schaffner again knocked one out of the park with Patton (1970), which ended up sweeping the Academy Awards, including Best Director.  The opening scene with George C. Scott as Patton, delivering the speech in front of a giant American flag, has become one of the most parodied and referenced of all time.

Other significant works include the historical romance Nicholas and Alexandra (1971); Steve McQueen prison break film Papillon (1973); and the bizarre Hitler-clones horror film The Boys From Brazil (1978).  Schaffner died in 1989, aged 69.  He will be remembered as a director who could capture the epic and the intimate all in one story, and had an intense ferocity in his action scenes which predated such directors as Michael Bay and Paul Greengrass.

ESSENTIAL FILMS:  Planet Of The Apes, Patton

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