Film producer and director, born in London, UK. He studied at Cambridge, and worked as a journalist and film critic before entering Motion Pictures Ltd as a writer and editor (1956). He has written the screenplays for many of his films, which include The Cool Mikado (1962), The Big Sleep (1977), Death Wish (and its sequels), Bullseye! (1990), and Dirty Weekend (1993). In 1998 he produced and directed Parting Shots. An autobiography, Winner Takes All: A Life of Sorts, appeared in 2004.
Michael Winner (born 30 October 1935 in London, England) is a British film director and producer, active in both Europe and the United States.
Early years
Winner was born into a wealthy family of Jewish expatriates. Despite his legal training, Winner showed an early precocity for film by writing a newspaper column, 'Michael Winner's Showbiz Gossip,' in the Kensington Post from age 14. Winner's first project as a lead director involved another story he wrote, Shoot to Kill, in 1960.
British films
In the early 1960s, Winner emerged as a 'hip, young' director whose films rebelled against prevailing social conventions in Britain. After releasing family drama Old Mac and a potboiler mystery called Out of the Shadow in 1961, Winner brushed with Gilbert and Sullivan in a psychedelic version of The Cool Mikado (1962).
Winner's sex comedy The System (1964) began a partnership with actor Oliver Reed that would last for six films over a 25-year period. Winner and Reed closed out the 1960s as a pair with The Jokers (1967), popular comedy-drama I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967), and the World War II satire Hannibal Brooks (1969).
American films
Hannibal Brooks drew notice in Hollywood and Winner soon received opportunities to direct for larger markets. His jarring style and intense pacing were well-suited for action films, leading to an immediate offer in the Western genre from Dino De Laurentiis, the Italian film mogul who was establishing a production business in the United States. The result was Winner's first American film, Lawman (1971) starring Burt Lancaster and Robert Duvall. 1972 proved the most important season of Winner's career, as he first directed Marlon Brando in The Nightcomers, a prequel to The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, then made his first efforts with box office star Charles Bronson in Chato's Land, concerning a 'half-breed' American Indian fighting Whites, and The Mechanic, a thriller about professional assassins. The following year, Winner booked Lancaster again for the espionage drama Scorpio and reprised Bronson in The Stone Killer.
In 1974, Winner and Bronson led movie headlines with Death Wish, a film that has defined the careers of both men.
Upon the release of Death Wish, Winner became primarily known as an action film director. After directing no films in 1975, Winner resurfaced with Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollwood (1976), an animal comedy starring Bruce Dern, Madeline Kahn, Art Carney, and Milton Berle, amongst others. Also of modest success was his horror flick The Sentinel (1977), a remake of Raymond Chandler's novel The Big Sleep (1978), and the organized crime thriller Firepower (1979) with Sophia Loren.
By the early 80s, Winner found himself in great need of a moneymaker and accepted Charles Bronson's request to film Death Wish II, a sequel to the 1974 blockbuster. Lee Thompson, Cannon Films became Winner's mainstay during the 1980s. Winner made a final splash, however, with Death Wish 3 in 1985. Set in New York City but filmed mostly in London for budget purposes, Death Wish 3 is an outrageously violent yet hilarious spoof on action films in the vein of Rambo II and Commando.
Winner's output sputtered after Death Wish 3, his age leaving him at a disadvantage in the youth-oriented film industry. After Cannon Films entered bankruptcy, Winner confined himself to British productions with the Michael Caine/Roger Moore farce Bullseye! (1990), the Death Wish spinoff Dirty Weekend (1993) starring Lia Williams, and his most recent film, Parting Shots (1999).
Personality and style of directing
The Death Wish series is a fitting entry on Winner's résumé, since it generates a tide of conflicting emotions in ways similar to the man himself. Winner remains a visible figure in Britain, making occasional guest appearances on television and radio besides authoring his restaurant column 'Winner's Dinners' for the Sunday Times and playing a role in social activism. There is plenty of opportunity for Winner to use his droll sense of humor, which angers as many people as it delights.
In the realm of filmmaking, views of Winner are equally mixed. Marlon Brando also voiced his respect for Winner, once noting "He's the only person I've ever met who talks to me as I wish to be talked to." But former crew members and supporting cast often judge him as abrasive. But Mr. Winner was also very witty and funny, in a vicious way."
Although Winner has a demanding reputation, he is known in the business for a short workday and requiring fewer cuts to achieve his goals. Besides his ability to turn out several films in one year, Winner's taut system of filming proved valuable to De Laurentiis and Cannon president Menahem Golan, who needed a quick turnover of their films at the lowest costs possible.
Winner has cited Hitchcock and Billy Wilder as directing influences, but many aspects of his style are unique. Winner's photography tends to be muted while his soundtracks use material from diverse sources, including Gilbert and Sullivan, jazz composer Herbie Hancock, and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Winner has enjoyed the company of numerous female celebrities, including Joan Collins, Sophia Loren, Jenny Seagrove, and Paola Lombard.
Winner has been active on law enforcement issues and helped to establish the Police Memorial Trust after WPC Yvonne Fletcher was murdered in 1984.
In 2006, it emerged that Winner had been offered an OBE in the Queen's 80th Birthday Honours List for his part in campaigning for the Police Memorial Trust. Winner declined the honour, remarking "An OBE is what you get if you clean the toilets well at King's Cross Station."
Winner will soon be appearing in a television series featuring his experiences as a hotel and restaurant customer. – (when asked by a Daily Telegraph reporter how he would respond to Gordon Ramsay's comment that "Winner knows nothing about food.") "Ah, that must be George Best's cremation" – (when shown a picture of the Buncefield Oil Depot Fire whilst appearing as a guest on Have I Got News for You in December 2005, provoking laughter and outrage in equal measure)
Filmography
(from 1967 also producer)
Shoot to Kill (1960) Some Like It Cool (1961) Old Mac (1961) Out of the Shadow (1961) The Cool Mikado (1962) Play It Cool (1962) Behave Yourself (1962) West 11 (1963) The System (1964) You Must Be Joking! (1965) The Jokers (1967) I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967) Hannibal Brooks (1969) The Games (1970) Lawman (1971) The Nightcomers (1972) Chato's Land (1972) The Mechanic (1972) Scorpio (1973) The Stone Killer (1973) Death Wish (1974) Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) The Sentinel (1977) The Big Sleep (1978) Firepower (1979) Death Wish II (1982) The Wicked Lady (1983) Scream for Help (1984) Death Wish 3 (1985) A Chorus of Disapproval (1988) Appointment with Death (1988) Bullseye!
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