| Wind Across the Everglades | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Nicholas Ray |
| Produced by | Stuart Schulberg |
| Written by | Budd Schulberg |
| Starring | Burl Ives Christopher Plummer Gypsy Rose Lee Chana Eden Mackinlay Kantor Emmett Kelly |
| Music by | Paul Sawtell Bert Shefter |
| Cinematography | Joseph C. Brun |
| Editing by | Georges Klotz Joseph Zigman |
| Release date(s) | September 11, 1958 |
| Running time | 93 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
Wind Across the Everglades is a 1958 film directed by Nicholas Ray. Ray was fired from the film before production was finished, and several scenes were completed by screenwriter Budd Schulberg, who also supervised the editing.[1]
The film features Christopher Plummer in his first lead role (and his second film role overall) and, in a minor role, Peter Falk in his film debut. Former stripper Gypsy Rose Lee and circus clown Emmett Kelly also are among those in an unusual cast.
It was filmed on location in Everglades National Park[2] in Technicolor.
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Set in the early 20th century, the film follows a game warden (Christopher Plummer) who arrives in Florida in the hopes of enforcing conservation laws. He soon finds himself pitted against Cottonmouth (Burl Ives), the leader of a fierce group of bird poachers. The film was loosely based upon the life and death of Guy Bradley, an early game warden who in 1905 was shot and killed by plume hunters in the Everglades.[3]
Due to Ray's having been fired from the production before the film was completed, Wind Across the Everglades holds a contentious place in film scholarship. In a short review of the film, critic Jonathan Rosenbaum described it as "a kind of litmus test for auteurists"[4]. After citing the film's editorial history, Rosenbaum goes on to say that "Ray's masterful use of color and mystical sense of equality between the antagonists (also evident in Rebel Without a Cause and Bitter Victory) are made all the more piquant here by his feeling for folklore and outlaw ethics as well as his cadenced mise en scene."[4]
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