The Big Idea Behind THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE

Stephen Crane wrote The Red Badge of Courage in 1893.

Although he had never fought in the Civil War, Crane captured the atmosphere accurately by studying Matthew Brady's legendary photographs from that era. Director John Huston would instruct cameraman Harold Rosson to capture the same look for the film.

In 1950, Huston had just been pulled off MGM's big budget production of Quo Vadis? (1951) after a fight over the film's direction between production chief Dore Schary, who wanted to emphasize the picture's contemporary political parallels, and studio head Louis B. Mayer, who wanted a typical Hollywood spectacle. Mervyn LeRoy took over the film, which became a huge hit.

Huston was a friend of producer Wolfgang Reinhardt from their days together at Warner Bros. Reinhardt's younger brother, Gottfried, was producing at MGM and approached Huston, who had just made The Asphalt Jungle (1950) there, about working on a film version of Stephen Crane's classic novel.

MGM bought the rights to Stephen Crane's book for $10,000.

Originally Huston and Reinhardt wanted Norman Mailer, currently enjoying the success of his best-selling novel, The Naked and the Dead, to write the screenplay. When he wasn't available, Schary suggested that Huston write it himself.

The first draft script was written by Huston's production assistant, Albert Band, who would go on to become a prolific producer and director of low-budget films, particularly in the '70s and '80s. Band simply translated the book's dialogue and action into screenplay form. Huston then did the re-write during a trip to Mexico. He took great pride in the fact that two-thirds of the dialogue came directly from the novel.

Mayer hated the film's script and tried to have the production cancelled. He said, "I would rather shoot Huston than shoot the picture. We could then put the money into a defense in court. No jury would convict me." Finally he and Schary appealed to Nicholas Schenck -- head of MGM's parent company, Loew's Inc. -- to choose between them. Schenck sided with Schary.

Mayer then tried to talk Huston and Reinhardt out of making the film. "How can you make a picture of boys with funny caps and popguns, and make people think the war they are fighting is terrible?" he argued. When Huston gave in too easily, however, he lectured him: "John Huston, I'm ashamed of you! Do you believe in this picture? Have you any reason for wanting to make it other than the fact that you believe in it?...Stick by your guns! Never let me hear you talk like this again! I don't like this picture. I don't think it will make money. I don't want to make it, and I will continue to do everything in my power to keep you from making it. But you -- you should do everything in your power to make it!."

Mayer continued badmouthing the picture, most notably in his interview with Lillian Ross for her articles on the film's production in The New Yorker (later republished as Picture in 1952) and at the first preview. This unprecedented behavior for a studio executive would contribute to his ouster from MGM in 1951.

Casting Audie Murphy in the lead was director John Huston's idea. He was intrigued by the contrast between his war record and his physical appearance: "This little, gentle-eyed creature. Why, in the war he'd literally go out of his way to find Germans to kill. He's a gentle little killer."

Reinhardt and Schary wanted an established star like Montgomery Clift or Van Johnson in the leading role. They finally bowed to Huston's wishes when gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, who was a friend of Murphy's, put pressure on them. She later explained, "I called Dore and said it would be nice seeing a real soldier playing the part of a screen soldier for a change. With so many of our young men going to Korea, putting Audie in the picture would aid in boosting their morale. Audie got the part." Ironically, she had never read the original novel.

Murphy had been the most decorated U.S. soldier in World War II, a distinction that put him on the cover of Life magazine and brought him to Hollywood, where he made a series of low-budget Westerns at Universal Studios. After six movies there, the offer to star as the Young Soldier in The Red Badge of Courage was the first role he felt suited for.

Murphy wasn't the only actor in the film on whom Huston was taking a chance. He had met John Dierkes, cast as the Tall Soldier, in London during the war and thought he was right for the part. Dierkes took a leave from his job with the Treasury Department to make the film and never went back, spending the rest of his life as an actor. Bill Mauldin -- who made his name with his political cartoons for the U.S. military newspaper, Stars and Stripes -- had met Huston while the director was filming his documentary The Battle of San Pietro (1945). Huston told him his role as the Loud Soldier was typecasting.

Murphy's salary for the film was $2,500 a week with a ten week guarantee, relatively low for a leading man on a major studio production. Huston was paid $137,334 for directing and another $28,000 for writing the screenplay. Most of it had to be paid to him in advance so he could cover his gambling debts.

by Frank Miller