![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() George Wallace began his career as a follower of Alabama's Governor James E. And Frankenheimer is certainly correct in concluding that Wallace's critical role in American politics has been slighted. If it is a bit difficult to imagine the pugnacious southern politician as an American King Lear, the story of his rise to prominence and his tragic downfall does have many of the elements of classical tragedy. "I mean, I think he is a modern-day tragic hero." ![]() "But when I read the script," Frankenheimer told a National Public Radio interviewer last August," I became passionate about doing the movie." He concluded that Wallace was one of the most important, and neglected, figures in modern American history, a figure who could be compared to Richard III, Henry V, and King Lear. Not surprisingly, he was initially uninterested. Frankenheimer, who began his career directing live television drama on Playhouse 90 and later gave us such films as Seven Days in May and The Manchurian Candidate, remains an unreconstructed liberal who often recounts his role as media adviser to Robert Kennedy in 1968 as one of the highlights of his career. When Ted Turner first approached John Frankenheimer about directing the Wallace docudrama for Turner Network Television, it seemed an odd choice. ![]()
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