John and Mary (film)

John and Mary is a 1969 American romantic drama film directed by Peter Yates, directly following the success of his film Bullitt. It stars Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow in the title roles, directly following their success in Midnight Cowboy and Rosemary's Baby, respectively. The screenplay was adapted by John Mortimer from the 1966 Mervyn Jones novel.

John and Mary
Directed byPeter Yates
Written byJohn Mortimer
Mervyn Jones (novel)
Produced byBen Kadish
StarringDustin Hoffman
Mia Farrow
CinematographyGayne Rescher
Edited byFrank P. Keller
Music byQuincy Jones
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
December 14, 1969 (US)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.5 million[1]
Box office$4.1 million (US/ Canada rentals)[2][3][lower-alpha 1]

Plot

John and Mary begins the morning after John and Mary meet in a bar, during a conversation about Jean-Luc Godard's Weekend, and go home with each other. The story unfolds during the day as they belatedly get to know each other over breakfast, lunch and dinner. Flashbacks of their previous bad relationships are interspersed throughout when something in their conversation brings the thought up.

Cast

Casting

It was the film debut of Tyne Daly.[1]

Release

The film had its premiere at the Sutton Theatre in New York City on Sunday, December 14, 1969 and opened the following day.[4][5] It received an R rating upon its original release, which was later downgraded to a PG rating.

Before the release of the film, both Hoffman and Farrow made the cover of Time in February 1969, with the headline "The Young Actors: Stars and Anti-Stars". This marked and celebrated new actors like Hoffman and Farrow (both hot off their successes in The Graduate and Rosemary's Baby respectively) as significant to their generation.[6][7]

Critical reception

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote "John and Mary is supposed to be a contemporary movie, I guess, and yet it's curiously out of touch. John and Mary shadow box uneasily with the American language, trying to sound like all people their age without sounding too much like any particular person."[8] Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "There is nothing wrong with the idea of 'John and Mary,' just with its execution. John Mortimer's screenplay is short-focused, its action confined mostly to John's apartment where John and Mary eat, talk and lie about with such dreary verisimilitude that you eventually find yourself less interested in John and Mary than in the settings, clothes and objects that surround them."[9]

Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 38%, based on 13 reviews.[10]

Box office

According to Fox records, the film required $6,300,000 in rentals to break even, and by December 11, 1970, it had made $8,150,000, resulting in a profit to the studio.[11]

Musical score and soundtrack
John and Mary
Soundtrack album by
Quincy Jones
Released1970
Recorded1969
GenreFilm score
Length31:10
LabelA&M
SP-4230
ProducerQuincy Jones
Quincy Jones chronology
Cactus Flower
(1969)		 John and Mary
(1970)		 Gula Matari
(1970)

The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones and the soundtrack, featuring vocalists Evie Sands, The Strange Things, Jeff Bridges, The Morgan Ames Singers and four classical pieces performed by a brass ensemble, was released on the A&M label in 1970.[12][13]

Track listing

All compositions by Quincy Jones except where noted

  1. "Maybe Tomorrow (Vocal)" (Lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman) − 3:10
  2. "Bump in the Night" − 1:58
  3. "Lost in Space" (Jeff Bridges) − 3:15
  4. "Silent Movies" − 2:11
  5. "Maybe Tomorrow" (Lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman) − 4:18
  6. "Main Title" − 2:48
  7. "22nd Fugue for Well-Tempered Clavichord" (Johann Sebastian Bach) − 1:31
  8. "Rondo No. 1" (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) − 1:58
  9. "Opus 54, Variations Serieuses" (Felix Mendelssohn) − 2:05
  10. "Allegro from Royal Fireworks Suite" (George Frideric Handel) − 3:58
  11. "Maybe Tomorrow" − 3:58

Personnel
  • Unidentified orchestra arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones
  • Evie Sands (track 1), The Strange Things (track 2), Jeff Bridges (track 3), The Morgan Ames Singers (track 5) − vocals
  • The John and Mary Brass Ensemble (tracks 7–11)

Awards

Won:

Nominated:

  • 1970 BAFTA Award, Best Actress – Mia Farrow (For: Rosemary's Baby, Secret Ceremony and John and Mary)[14]
  • 1970 Golden Globes, Best Actor, Musical/Comedy – Dustin Hoffman[15]
  • 1970 Golden Globes, Best Actress, Musical/Comedy – Mia Farrow[15]
  • 1970 Golden Globes, Best Screenplay – John Mortimer[15]
  • 1970 WGA Awards, Best Adapted Screenplay – John Mortimer[16]

See also

Notes
  1. Please note figures are rentals accruing to distributors and not total gross.

References
  1. "John and Mary (1969)". AFI Catalog.
  2. "Big Rental Films of 1970". Variety. January 6, 1971. p. 11.
  3. Solomon, Aubrey (1989). Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 232. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1.
  4. "John & Mary (Lindsay) No-Show at Fox Film - And 'Twas Made in N.Y.". Variety. December 17, 1969. p. 5.
  5. "Pre-Yule Slows B'way; 15 Pix Due This Wk.; 'Charlie Brown' Huge 290G; 'Cuckoo' Big 15G, 8, 'Z' Record 41G". Variety. December 17, 1969. p. 9.
  6. "Cover". Time. February 7, 1969. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  7. "Cinema: The Moonchild and the Fifth Beatle". Time. February 7, 1969. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  8. Ebert, Roger (December 23, 1969). "John and Mary". RogerEbert.com.
  9. Canby, Vincent (December 15, 1969). "Screen: 'John and Mary' at the Sutton: A Familiar Love Story Is Told Backward Hoffman-Farrow Team in Constricted Roles". The New York Times.
  10. "John and Mary". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  11. Silverman, Stephen M. (1988). The Fox that got away : the last days of the Zanuck dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. L. Stuart. p. 328. ISBN 978-0818404856.
  12. "John and Mary". Soundtrack Collector. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  13. Eyries, P.; Edwards, D.; Callahan, M. "A&M Album Discography, Part 2: SP 4200-4299 (1969-1971)". Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  14. "Film in 1970". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  15. "1970 Winners & nominees". Golden Globes. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  16. "John and Mary". Made in Atlantis. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
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