American Cinematographer - October 1968 - 24

On the streets and
in the buildings of
Boston, a Hollywood
motion picture crew
films sequences for
a high-style tale of
bank robbery for kicks
, *

.

V

4

Outside the downtown
sprawls

branch of Boston's National Shawmut

Bank,

in the street to look through the camera viewfinder,

Wexler, ASC (nattily attired in business suit, baseball

while

Producer-director
Director

of

Norman

Jewison

Photography

Haskell

cap and sneakers), stands by to shoot a scene for

"THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR."

THE BOSTON LOCATION FILMING OF
"THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR"
"THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR,'' a Mirisch Corporafion

that somebody put in a riot call. Two wagons and a police

presentation, is a fast-moving feature about a big Boston

car responded, but nobody seemed to mind except a few

bank heist. In it, Steve McQueen plays the role of Thomas

office bosses who complained that they couldn't get their

Crown, wealthy, super-cool, and a secret rebel who robs

secretaries back to work, and some winos who thought

banks for kicks. Faye Dunaway is a chic and sexy insur¬

they had stumbled onto a Salvation Army handout and

ance investigator who acts like a swinger, but whose mind

were helping themselves to coffee and doughnuts provided

is really single-tracked in the direction of the reward to be

for the film crew.

had for apprehending the mastermind of the bank robbery.

Director of Photography Haskell Wexler, ASC, who won

The film was produced and directed by Norman Jewison

a 1966 Academy Award for his starkly dramatic black and

and

photographed

by Haskell

Wexler,

ASC-the

same

white cinematography of "WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA

director-cameraman combination that teamed so success¬

WOOLF?", used many imaginative and off-beat approaches

fully

to photographing

on

the

widely

acclaimed

"IN

THE

HEAT

OF

THE

"THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR" was filmed mainly in
Boston where the lively art of sticking

up

a

bank

has

flourished since 1950 when seven masked gunmen hit a
Brinks counting
Jewison and

"THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR." Of

the final result, Director Jewison says: "This film has the

NIGHT."

house for $1.2

million in cash. Norman

his movie troupe spent ten weeks shooting

at 90 locations throughout the city.

most definite photographic style of any picture I've made."
In

the

following

interview

with

AMERICAN

CINEMA¬

TOGRAPHER Editor Herb Lightman, Wexler analyzes these
techniques and describes how he went about solving the
myriad

of

photographic

problems

that

presented

them¬

selves during the location filming phases of the production:

Cinematographer Wexler made frequent use of hidden
cameras to shoot street scenes. Actors mingled with the
traffic and tried to go about their movie business unob¬
served. Meanwhile, film trucks, paraphernalia, and a num¬
ber of attendants

were

stationed

at a

parking

lot,

in

downtown Boston, where they attracted so much attention

740

QUESTION: I'm aware that a good bit of the filming of
"THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR" was done on location
in congested areas of Boston. Can you tell me about
some of the special problems encountered in working
under such conditions?

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, OCTOBER 1968
American Cinematographer - October 1968

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