The scene in which Squire Western turns his horse round and round was unplanned. Hugh Griffith was so drunk during shooting he pulled on one rein viciously. After the turn, the horse reared up and fell backwards onto the actor. The only thing that saved Griffith from injury was his drunkenness. He was so relaxed, he simply rolled with the fall.

Edith Evans, who played Squire Western's sister, loathed Griffith, but knew that his mercurial ways often filmed beautifully. Nonetheless, she was often so exasperated with his lack of control that she swatted him with her character's parasol.

While filming a scene in which Evans was confined to a coach, Griffith lashed at the horses and sent them galloping with the actress still inside. Fortunately, they were shooting in an enclosed yard, and the crew was able to calm the horses down before anybody got hurt.

During the filming at Nettlecoombe, crewmembers helped the proprietor's son open up the crypt beneath the family chapel. They had hoped to find relics from earlier centuries but only found some contemporary coffins floating around in the flooded burial chamber.

The chicken used for the eating scene had such weak bones that Albert Finney and Joyce Redman couldn't get the wishbone to snap as scripted. The props department had to construct an artificial wishbone out of match sticks.

Richardson's wife, Vanessa Redgrave, snuck onto the set one day costumed as a male extra. Not recognizing her, the director yelled at his assistant to move the young man to the back of a crowd scene.

Watch carefully, and you'll see tire tracks along the course ridden by the hunters during the deer hunt sequence.

Albert Finney went on vacation rather than attend the Academy Awards® ceremonies. When he learned that Sidney Poitier had won Best Actor for Lilies of the Field (1963), he toasted the actor and launched into a fierce twist. Although he would be nominated four more times, Finney has never attended the Academy Awards®.

Tom Jones grossed $16.9 million on its initial release, eventually making $50 million internationally on a budget of just $1 million.

by Frank Miller

Famous Quotes from TOM JONES

"Tom Jones, of whom the opinion of all was that he was born to be hanged." -- Micheal MacLiammoir, as the Narrator, introducing the title character.

"Look at him, ma'am. He's the most handsome man I ever saw in my life." -- Patsy Rowlands, as Honor, on discovering Albert Finney, as Tom Jones, sleeping.

"I had the good fortune to know who my parents were. Consequently, I am grieved by their loss." -- David Warner, as Bilfil, insulting Finney, as his stepbrother, Tom Jones.

"It's a good night to be abroad and looking for game." -- Finney, as Tom.

"Tom had always thought that any woman was better than none, while Molly never felt that one man was quite as good as two." -- MacLiammoir, as the Narrator, on the relationship between Finney and Diane Cilento, as Molly Seagrim.

"Rouse yourself from this pastoral torpor, sir!" -- Edith Evans, as Miss Western, to Hugh Griffith, as Squire Western.

"You are such a boor."
"A boar? I am no boar!" -- Evans, as Miss Western, attempting to insult Griffith, as Squire Western.

"Damn me, what a misery it is to have daughters when a man has a good mare and dogs." -- Griffith, as Western.

"Madam, I despise your politics as much as I do a fart." -- Griffith.

"It is widely held that too much wine will dull a man's desire. Indeed it will...in a dull man." -- MacLiammoir.

"Sir, it's as easy for a man to have been at school and know something as it is for a man to have been at school and know nothing." -- Finney.

"We are all as God made us, and many of us much worse." -- MacLiammoir.

"If you take my heart by Surprise, the rest of my body has the right to follow." -- Finney, to Joan Greenwood, as Lady Bellaston.

"In London, love and scandal are considered the best sweeteners of tea." -- MacLiammoir.

"Tom, thou art as hearty a cock as any in the kingdom. Go on after your mistress." -- Griffith, finally giving Finney his consent to marry Susannah York, as Sophie Western.

"Harkee, Allworthy. I'll bet thee a thousand pounds to a crown we have a boy tomorrow nine months." -- Griffith.

"Happy the man and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own,
He who secure within can say:
Tomorrow do thy worst!
For I have lived today." -- MacLiammoir, at the film's end.