Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession Page #2

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and everybody was talking about

the Beverly Canon...

especially when he ran

the uncut "Wild Bunch."

I mean, that was like

missile blast.

Everybody, anybody

who loved film knew about this.

And on a rainy day,

in the Beverly Canon theater...

2,000 people, or however many

people showed up...

for the screening.

I think a great coup

in his life happened...

because Peckinpah arrived

with the print.

And it certainly was momentous

because it...

his bond with Peckinpah

just extended from there.

Jerry certainly was one of the

people that looked up to Sam...

as I guess kind of

a father figure.

Jerry felt that way about

a number of creative people...

that he admired and appreciated.

He was always surprising me.

It was Sam this and Bob that,

and I thought, " Whoa!

How did you get

to meet these people?"

That he arranged a screening for

"Some Call It Loving" there...

you can't help

but respect someone...

who has taken all the time

and effort...

to educate himself,

become familiar with...

with not only my films...

ones I did with Kubrick

of course weren't obscure...

but "Some Call It Loving"

was kind of an obscure film.

I met Jerry Harvey

in my mother's living room.

She worked with Jim Harris at

the time, and they were friends.

And I came bounding

into her house...

and he was standing there.

It was kind of love

at first sight, I think.

We stayed on the phone that

night after he left my house...

for 11 hours.

He came over the next night

after that...

and I don't think he ever left

for 3 years.

He had aspirations

to be a filmmaker...

or at least to start out

as a screenwriter.

We wrote a script together

about two college kids...

who were witness to a murder.

And that's how we really started

writing together.

And we ended up getting

the agency off of that...

meeting Monte Hellman.

Jerry was also involved

in the making of a film...

a western that he had written,

I believe, and that...

he was able to

raise the financing...

and went over to Italy to do it.

Are you satisfied now?

You ain't gonna last long, son.

There ain't no soft-hearted

gunfighters.

"China 9" was really great fun.

I always remember,

we flew into Rome.

Landed in Rome...

was picked up by the limo

at the airport...

and then went to Almeria.

Had a great group of people.

Warren Oates was there.

Fabio Testi.

Jenny Agutter, Sam Peckinpah,

Monte Hellman.

We just had the best time, one

of the best times of my life.

There was of course

a tremendous black period...

when his sister, Anne,

committed suicide.

Jerry spoke to his sister

all the time.

They were very, very close.

Great friends.

And he adored her.

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