The Happening

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For other uses, see The Happening (disambiguation).

The Happening
Directed by	Elliott Silverstein
Produced by	Jud Kinberg
Written by	Frank R. Pierson James O. Buchanan Ronald Austin.
Starring	Anthony Quinn Michael Parks Faye Dunaway Robert Walker Jr.
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	March 1967
Running time	101 min.
Language	English
Budget	N/A
IMDb profile

The Happening is a 1967 comedy film starring Anthony Quinn, Michael Parks, Faye Dunaway, Robert Walker Jr. and released in March 1967 by Columbia Pictures. The film, produced by Jud Kinberg and directed by Elliott Silverstein, is about four hippies who kidnap a retired Mafia mob boss named Roc Delmonico (Quinn) and hold him for ransom. When none of his friends or family members will pay the ransom, Delmonico takes charge of his own kidnapping. Attempting to blackmail his relatives and associates, he raises his own ransom to three million dollars and demands that it be paid.

The movie is an anti-establishment film which questions the values of Middle America and the older generation. In this story, an important, influential, and rich man is stunned to learn no one will help him out of trouble, so his life is essentially worthless.

Only a minor success as a film, The Happening is most notable today both as Faye Dunaway's film debut and for its dixieland-influenced self-titled theme song. Recorded by The Supremes with Diana Ross on lead vocal, "The Happening" became a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when released as a single on the Motown label. "The Happening", produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier and written by Holland-Dozier-Holland and The Happening's musical director Frank DeVol, was the final Supremes single issued under that name. Between the release of "The Happening" and the next Supremes single, "Reflections", the group's billing would be changed to Diana Ross & the Supremes, and group founder Florence Ballard would be replaced with Cindy Birdsong of Patti LaBelle & the Blue Belles.

Preceded by: "Somethin' Stupid" by Nancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra	Billboard Hot 100 number one single May 13, 1967	Succeeded by: "Groovin'" by The Young Rascals