Anatomy of a Flop: "Camelot" (1967)

The movie musical Camelot (1967) doesn't rate as one of the all-time movie musical bombs of the late 1960s that nearly wiped out Gollywood, but it was a disappointment. It's co-stars, Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave, were hardly singers (though Harris would score a #2 hit with MacArthur Park the following year).

The stars of the original Broadway musical might have salvaged the film, but Richard Burton was offered a fortune by Warner Bros. to recreate the role of King Arthur but didn't think the musical could make a successful transition to screen. Burton's Guinevere, Julie Andrew, then the #1 box office star in America after the great success of The Sound of Music, turned Jack Warner down. Warner had earlier given her a thumbs down, casting Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady instead.

Here's a detailed look at the failure of the show that had been so memorable on Broadway: "Broadway's Camelot Proved a Disappointment when Transferred to Celluoid."

Sources:

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Remember: This is a man who at the age of 44 not only drugged & raped a 13 year-old girl but he did it in the house of a friend (Jack Nicholson). The resulting police investigation resulted in said friend's live-in girlfriend (Angelic Huston) being busted for drug possession and winding up with a criminal record.

The director's latest "defense" (how many times have we heard that he must be forgiven because 1.) he is a Holocaust survivor, and 2.) his first wife Sharon Tate was murdered, not to mention 3.) his victim has forgiven him (as if that has any bearing on his fleeing prosecution) is the same old reason he used to justify bailing out: Someone allegedly overheard the judge overseeing his case saying prejudicial things against him in a country club locker room.

Not only is this hearsay, something that has little value legally, but said judge is now dead and can't defend himself.

What a scoundrel this Polanski is!

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