American Cinematographer - May 2003 - 63

1967
"As all of the great

cinematog¬
raphers have already said, in really
good photography you light just a
few things - whatever is important
and you resist the impulse to add
that extra light that will nullify the

-

whole effect."

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"By its very nature The
Professionals was a difficult picture to
make, but we actually encountered
few problems which had not been
foreseen because the filming was
very carefully planned in advance. I'd
been assigned to work on the film
two months before shooting began
and the gaffer, the key grip, the
prop man and other leading techni¬
cians came onto the picture when I
did. We were keyed to a tremendous
pitch of efficiency as a result of being
involved in every stage of planning
the film. For the cinematographer
this is great, because it allows him to
assume full responsibility for the
picture's photographic quality; if he
is brought in only a few days before
shooting begins, when all the basic
decisions have already been made,
...

then his hands

are

tied. He is not

really responsible if things don't go
well, and he should be responsible."

focus. This

"On Butch

Cassidy, I had

become obsessed with the cliche of

the blue

sky. They look too pretty,
especially in a film that's supposed to
be very dramatic. I tried my best to
get rid of this by overexposing the
film radically and forcing the lab to
print it back; this pales out the blue
to something soft and light, and I
could stomach that."
"The
Butch

cameraman,

help tell your story."

an

against-sharpness

for the most part. I

concerned. In terms of the mechan¬

talking somebody into
shooting it at the right time of day...
and being able to move around to
locations you've picked for certain
ics, it

1970
"I'm

can

bicycle sequence in
Cassidy was simply having fun

with the

camera, as

far

as

I

was

means

effects. You have to send everyone
home except the principals and work
with

small crew. You don't tell
anybody what to do. You just turn
a

very

them loose in

something like that. But it's
haphazard as it sounds -
you've got to have a very good oper¬
ator and an assistant who's really
sharp with the follow-focus, plus
someone to use judgment with the

for indelible

images, Hall
never

felt that he

could

truly catch
ring. "I

the brass

wish I could do

a

picture in which
I liked all of my

work, but that
hasn't

happened

yet, and I'm not
sure

that it

ever

will," he

cows, or

lamented in 1970.

not as

Above: Lee

lens. You should have

dislike

and

cameras

-

field and tell them to

have fun with the bike and chase

zoom

sharpness in the foreground
sharpness all the way to infin¬
ity. I used to love it at one time,
during my 'Citizen Kane phase'; I
used to stop down to f64 and that
sort of thing. But I don't like that
look any more. That doesn't mean
it's not valid, or that I might not use
it if it works for a story I'm telling
which is the only criterion as to
whether anything is valid, anyway.
But generally speaking, I prefer to
place the focus on the part of the
story that's important and leave the
part that isn't important out of

a

Opposite: Despite
his unerring eye

It's the

two

going on a scene like that.
spontaneity that's important."

"Of
time when

course,
we

there will

come a

won't have to worry

about

creating [flame] effects in

order

to

make them look real.

Marvin and Burt
Lancaster go
their battle

over

plans in The
Professionals

(1966). Left: Hall
accepts his first
Oscar, for Butch

Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid

(1969), from a
man who really
knows a good
Western when he
sees one:

John

Wayne.

Someday Eastman will make

a film
the human eye, and
then there won't be any actual light¬

that's

as

fast

as

ing involved. You'll simply be
concerned with the story and the
telling of it from your point of view.
I can hardly wait for that day."
American

Cinematographer 57
American Cinematographer - May 2003

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