Joe’s Baby

This chapter provides a detailed account of Levine’s production of A Bridge Too Far. The film was his labor of love and by far the biggest undertaking of his career. The chapter examines how Levine maintained his independence throughout the production by operating without any major funding source and how he funded the film by sparking a bidding war among potential distributors. The chapter also examines the close relationships Levine forged with screenwriter William Goldman and director Richard Attenborough and how Levine’s capacity for leadership enabled a very large-scale production to be completed without any significant problems. The chapter also analyzes the film’s critical reception, notes that the cultural climate of 1977 was not receptive to films of this nature, and suggests that Levine’s marketing campaign may have been inappropriately ostentatious for a film with such dour subject matter.

The Corporate Gadabout

This chapter examines Levine’s role as the president of Avco Embassy. Significantly, this was the quietest period of his career. The American film industry was in recession, and Levine did not enjoy being a corporate executive. He still loved the movies and the movie industry, but the evidence suggests that he was losing interest in films at this point in his career and was turning his attention to collecting art, doing charity work, and making appearances at society events.

Hollywood Undermined

Many critics and commentators felt that America’s censorship bodies had been too lenient with The Carpetbaggers, and voices of protest led to a clampdown on what was deemed cinematic smut—notably Levine’s production of a biopic of Jean Harlow. Interventions from censors and Levine’s own uncharacteristic keenness to avoid controversy led to Harlow being perhaps the most compromised film of his career. Critics who had criticized The Carpetbaggers for being in bad taste now criticized Harlow for not being sexy enough. The chapter also explores Levine’s war of words with Bill Sargent, who was producing his own Harlow biopic, which appeared as an ugly spat in the pages of the trade press. And it examines critics’ accusations that Joe was undermining Hollywood and its institutions with his films’ insinuations.

The Showman in the Art House

Having achieved fame as America’s foremost purveyor of low culture, Levine began dealing in arthouse cinema at a national level—a field of endeavor that many felt he was unsuited for. This chapter focuses on Levine’s packaging of arthouse cinema for American audiences in the early 1960s and on the criticisms occasioned by critics and commentators, who accused Levine of being an interloper and dilettante. The chapter shows how, with the questioning of the concept of “high culture” at this time, cultural gatekeepers and elites sought to fortify their positions and to exert an even greater authority over movie culture. Levine was an ideal target for critics such as Dwight Macdonald and Bosley Crowther, but this chapter argues that their criticisms actually worked in Levine’s favor by portraying him as the maverick outsider that he portrayed himself to be. The chapter also investigates accusations that Levine was seeking critical redemption and an improved public image through his dealings in art cinema—accusations that were never true but were directed at him for the remainder of his career.

The Flim-Flam Man

With the success of Hercules, Levine was often the subject of articles and profiles in the popular press. In addition to being profiled in publications such as Time, Life, and Esquire, he was lampooned as “Joe LeVenal” in the satirical Mad magazine. This chapter concentrates on Levine’s emergence as a public figure of note and the self-promotional tactics he used to achieve what was an unprecedented amount of fame for a film importer and promoter. The chapter also shows how Levine capitalized on the criticism he was subjected to in order to position himself in opposition to America’s cultural elites and how he was able to take advantage of being a divisive figure to keep his name in the press.

Monsters and Man-Gods

This chapter is about Levine’s career in the late 1950s—the period when he first became famous. It was at this time that Levine achieved success with saturation in selling Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Attila, and Hercules. The chapter provides many overlooked details about the success of these films, such as the colleagues who were an integral part of promoting them and the importance of gaining the backing of the film industry as a whole—movie exhibitors in particular—to create a sympathetic climate. This chapter also details Levine’s journey from movie promoter to self-promoting celebrity—from a largely anonymous member of the team that promoted Godzilla to the nationally famous focal point for the Hercules promotional campaign.

Barefoot Boston Boy Becomes Movie Man

This chapter details Levine’s early life, from his birth to his initial work as a film exhibitor, distributor, and promoter. Levine grew up in the horrible poverty of Boston’s West End, and the details of his early life are placed into the historical context of early twentieth-century Boston. As the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Levine not only experienced poverty but also anti-Semitism, and these experiences helped to shape the man he would become. Levine’s numerous early business ventures are also explored, as are his early days as a movie exhibitor and promoter and the importance of his marriage to Rosalie.

A Peculiar Talent

The final chapter stresses the importance of the context of Levine’s rise to prominence—after the Paramount Supreme Court case in 1948 and before the corporatization of the 1960s—and argues that this period was conducive to the flourishing of the independent entrepreneur and showman in American cinema. The chapter also highlights some key figures that Levine influenced and areas of today’s cinema where his influence can be most keenly felt. And it questions whether the kind of entrepreneurial showmanship that Levine was famous for can find a place in the modern corporatized industry and argues that Levine should be much more fully represented in future histories of American cinema.

The Scattergun Approach

This chapter details Levine’s activities during the mid-1960s, a particularly frenetic period for him. It investigates his investments in British and European cinemas, which were largely successful, and the numerous costly coproduction deals he entered into in America, many of which were failures. The chapter also examines his various investments in television. Levine always had a keen eye for opportunities and looked to capitalize on emerging trends, but his gambler’s instinct often led to recklessness, and this period of his career brought many costly failures alongside high-profile successes. The chapter argues that Levine’s production strategy became overreliant on television sales and that his approach during this period was often unfocused.

Bad Taste in Hollywood

This chapter examines Levine’s production of The Carpetbaggers, which he made as an independent producer at Paramount. The chapter explores how Levine capitalized on the loosening of censorship restrictions in America in both literature and cinema to cajole America’s censorship bodies into being lenient with a film that was based on an explicit (for the time) Harold Robbins novel. The Carpetbaggers brought many criticisms for Levine, mostly on the grounds that the film was in bad taste, but there were also some positive words—with some critics expressing appreciation for the film’s camp value. Camp was another cultural zeitgeist on which Levine was able to capitalize while also shoring up his own position as an antagonist of America’s cultural elites.