Studio: Cinerama Releasing Corporation
Running time: 108 minutes
Hammersmith Is Out (1972)
“The unbeatable team of Taylor and Burton headline this offbeat, crazy award-winning comedy smash! Richard Burton portrays the violent inmate of an insane asylum who is released by attendant Beau Bridges. In return, Hammersmith (Burton) will help Bridges give riches and fulfill promises to waitress Jimmie Jean (Elizabeth Taylor). But when Jimmie Jean becomes a bore, she may be in for the shock of her life—murder!
“Elizabeth Taylor earned the Best Actress Award at the Berlin Film Festival for her role, and Peter Ustinov was named Best Director for his work in this kinky and unforgettable film!” [From the VHS]
Cast
Jimmie Jean Jackson: Elizabeth Taylor
Hammersmith: Richard Burton
Billy Breedlove: Beau Bridges
Doctor: Peter Ustinov
General Sam Pembroke: Leon Ames
Dr. Krodt: Leon Askin
Henry Joe: John Schuck
Guido Scatucci: George Raft
Oldham: Anthony Holland
Princess: Marjorie Eaton
Kiddo: Lisa Jak
Miss Quim: Linda Gaye Scott
Fat Man: Mel Berger
Peter Rutter: Brook Williams
Cleopatra: Carl Donn
Duke: Jose Espinoza
Crew
Director: Peter Ustinov
Producer: Alex Lucas
Screenwriter: Stanford Whitmore
Cinematographer: Richard H. Kline
Set Decorator: Robert Benton
Musical Score: Dominic Frontiere
Songs: “For Openers,” “Requiem,” and “When Your Dreams Were Worth Remembering” by Dominic Frontiere and Sally Stevens
Editor: David Blewitt
Miss Taylor’s Costumes: Edith Head
Wigs: Alexandre of Paris
Hairdresser: Claudye Bozzacchi
Did You Know?
Hammersmith Is Out is a comedic, modern loose retelling of the Faustian legend (which Richard and Elizabeth had previously acted on stage and on screen). The film was directed by Elizabeth’s Beau Brummell (1954) and The Comedians (1967) co-star Peter Ustinov, who also appears as the Doctor. She was also reunited with Leon Ames, who played her father in A Date with Judy (1948) and Little Women (1949), and also appeared in The Big Hangover (1950).
Filming took place in Cuernavaca, Mexico, near Elizabeth and Richard’s Puerto Vallarta home, Casa Kimberley. Richard had referred to the film and the possibility of shooting in Mexico in this sweet letter he wrote to Elizabeth on July 25, 1970:
Dearest Toothache,
I may come up to see you today but won’t know until later...Jim tells me that we’re on the Super Chief on the 1st and the QE2 on the 6th, so what paperbacks are you going to take with you and will you have breakfast with me and watch Kansas roll by and then Illinois...
[Producer Alex Lucas] arrives with scripts. Discuss possibility of filming movie entirely in Mexico. It is very possible if you think about it...for the posh house we could use some great house in Acapulco. For the loony bin we could use any large room, fill it with beds and stick some bars on the windows and Gung Ho!
...
I love you ghastily and horribly and terribly. See you soon...
Four more days...
Rich