By Jonathan Monovich.
Born in Chicago’s South Side, Davis understands exactly where his characters should be, when they should be there, and why they should be there.”
Throughout his career, Andrew Davis found a way to make Chicago the city of spectacle on the big screen. There have been plenty of films set in the windy city, though Davis’ work stands out for his ability to contextualize Illinois’ metropolis as a character. He has the rare ability to make the second city come alive. Born in Chicago’s South Side, Davis understands exactly where his characters should be, when they should be there, and why they should be there. Davis is very intuitive in his understanding of the city’s layout, taking full advantage of the setting as a way to further his stories. While cities merely serve as a backdrop in some films, Davis thoughtfully incorporates iconic landmarks. This is not just for show, rather Davis carefully considers Chicago’s streets, sidewalks, and transportation systems, from the perspective of a city planner. His directorial debut, Stony Island (1978), premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF) and captivated audiences with a story of a band trying to make it big. The amount of recognizable names in career starting performances in the film is quite astounding. Like many other filmmakers of his era, Davis was a Corman alum. Davis worked as a cinematographer for infamous figures of a bygone era including Gene Corman, Charles Band, Samuel Arkoff, and Menahem Golan, crafting his skills on small-scale B-pictures before expanding into Hollywood. These experiences allowed for Davis to develop his craft before ultimately becoming one of the industry’s leading action filmmakers. Best known for The Fugitive (1993), starring Harrison Ford, Davis became an expert in the art of the chase. Code of Silence (1985), Above the Law (1988), The Package (1989), and Chain Reaction (1996) also offer exquisitely choreographed stunt work that is driven by Chicago, not just set in Chicago.
Though Davis is best known for his films that take place in Chicago, his other works as a director include the low-budget horror film The Final Terror (1983), the military thriller Under Siege (1992), the comedy Steal Big Steal Little (1995), the Dial M for Murder adaptation A Perfect Murder (1998), the revenge-fueled Collateral Damage (2002),the family-oriented Holes (2003), and the coast guard drama The Guardian (2006). Following his success as a filmmaker, Davis has taken his talent as a storyteller to the page with his debut novel, Disturbing the Bones. A blend of themes explored in Davis’ prior work, Disturbing the Bones follows a Chicago detective and an archaeologist who uncover a military conspiracy at the site of dig in Cairo, Illinois. They are tasked with attempting to ensure safety at a global peace summit that is to be held in Chicago. Like his most revered films, Disturbing the Bones sees Davis returning to what he does best—telling stories of mystery, intrigue, conflict, and thrill in his home town.
For the 60th CIFF, Davis has returned for a retrospective screening of The Package. Before he left sunny California for his hometown, I had the great opportunity to speak with Davis over Zoom about his career and his debut novel Disturbing the Bones (available here). Below is our conversation.
I want to start by asking about your beginnings in the film industry working as an assistant cameraman on Medium Cool (1969) with Haskell Wexler. This is a legendary film that I have seen a couple times, and it becomes increasingly more interesting the more you learn about it. The ending really hits every time. Can you talk a little bit about that experience and what specifically you did on the film?
I was very remotely involved with Haskell on Medium Cool. I met him as he was about to dive into the convention footage. I was recommended to Haskell by Studs Terkel who was a friend of my parents. My parents knew Haskell all the way back in the 1930s when they were in theater together. I had just graduated from the University of Illinois and Studs said to Haskell ‘I met this kid who’s into film.’ I had just learned how to load Eclair magazines, and I was assigned to work with a guy named Barry Feinstein. Feinstein was a great still photographer who had been working with Frank Zappa at the time. Haskell saw some of my work and said ‘I want you to be in this phantom unit that’s documenting what is happening in the streets.’ We were shooting with 16mm film. We weren’t connected to the main unit, and we wound up being involved in some very heavy duty stuff. We were one of the only film crews on the other side of the tanks at 16th and Michigan when Dick Gregory invited everyone to go up to his house. There was a lot of incredible footage. I don’t know if Haskell got to see all of it or where the footage is, but it was some pretty amazing footage of the group being teargassed. I visited Haskell a couple times when I was shooting and watched him work. After he went back to California for editing, I had a sample reel for commercials and had just started out as a young cameraman. Haskell was impressed by what he saw, and he recommended me to Hal Ashby to work on Harold and Maude (1971). I couldn’t get in the union because I was too young, and they didn’t want young guys in the union. They wanted you to start all over. To make a long story short, Haskell directed me to start a lawsuit to sue the union for discrimination. That became a very important case. This all sort of launched my career. In the interim, I struggled so much with getting into the union, just like Haskell had, that I decided it was easier to get in the DGA and make your own movie than work on a union movie. Through working on Medium Cool, I also learned a lot about the struggles of getting into the business and how hard it was to make a film with subject matter like that to get released properly.
You then transitioned into work as a cinematographer for films like Cool Breeze (1972), Hit Man (1972), and The Slams (1973). While these films are certainly a product of their time, they have some great stylish opening credit sequences and some great music. Was it your work with Medium Cool that helped you to land these roles, or how did you make that transition?
I was a journalism major at the University of Illinois at that time. During that period I was reading the AP and UPI wire reports about Vietnam, and I was frustrated because they weren’t telling the truth about what was going on there. I decided that filmmaking was a better way to express myself. When it was so hard to get into the union, I decided to become a director. I was very lucky, because in those days, if you were in Chicago and you had the right support from producers or directors you could really start shooting. I had a very interesting commercial reel when I was very young. I shot Duke Ellington for Zenith radios/stereos when I was 21 years old. I also won a Clio for a commercial I did at the Art Institute of Chicago for a gas company. I had some really interesting experiences. I worked on a documentary called The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971)with Mike Gray. I did lots of commercials, strange kinds of industrials, and testimonials for things like hot tubs [laughs]. It was a really interesting mix. A guy named Frank Miller took me under his wing and taught me how be an assistant cameraman. I was hired as a cameraman, and I started shooting commercials very young. That was very important for me to build confidence. Haskell’s documentary and realistic lighting style was a huge influence on me. I kept approaching my work thinking ‘how did Haskell do it?’ Having someone who believes in you who had made it was critical for me.
When I went to work for Corman for Cool Breeze, Hit Man, Private Parts (1972), and The Slams, they had small $300,000 budgets or less. It allowed me to see what it took to make a movie.”
I appreciate Roger Corman/Gene Corman, Samuel Arkoff, and Manahem Golan for their grit with New World Pictures, AIP, and Cannon Films. I’m curious if you have any interesting stories from your experience working with them for The Final Terror, Angel (1983), and Lepke (1975). I think these kinds of films are starting to get more recognition over the years as the drive-in circuit is a market that sadly doesn’t really exist now that there’s streaming and home video. There are really some great scenes in those movies like the shoot out in the movie theater in Lepke, the Hollywood Boulevard scenes in Angel, and the trap in the beginning of the The Final Terror. Can you talk a little bit about your thoughts on that era?
Well, first of all, I’m really touched and impressed that you know this body of work. There aren’t many people your age who even know what those films are about. It was my graduate school. When I went to work for Gene Corman for Cool Breeze, Hit Man, Private Parts (1972), and The Slams, they had small $300,000 budgets or less. It allowed me to see what it took to make a movie. I worked with first time directors, learned with them, and could recommend things, so I was able to get my hands in the works. Everybody was a character. When I worked with Menahem Golan for Lepke, I got to shoot in 35mm anamorphic Panavision and Tony Curtis was a big actor. There were fancy sets and arclights, so it was a big deal for me. I worked on some other really small movies with Charles Band like Crash! (1976)and Mansion of the Doomed (1976). I did this because I wanted to see what it was like to make a movie for very little money. This allowed me to later say ‘let’s try to make Stony Island’. The marketplace has changed now due to technology. Someone like Sam Arkoff would get an idea for a movie, make a poster for it without a script, would be able to sell it to the drive-ins, and could go make the movie. Back then, you needed money for processing and film equipment, and now you can make a movie with an iPhone. Everyone can be a producer or a director instantly. With distribution, you can get it out to billions of people with the internet. It’s a very different world. Those independent movies that gave people the background of how to work with a crew have changed. Now, people go to school, they work with their classmates, form their little entities together, and they’re very capable of going out and shooting.
Of your non-directorial work, my favorite films where you were a cinematographer are Over the Edge (1979) and Private Parts. The camerawork on Private Parts is actually quite similar to the Hitchcockian genre films of the 60s/70s. Over the Edge also has one of the all-time great child performances from Matt Dillon. Its my suspicion that these two films were the ones that really helped prepare you to become a great director. Would you agree?
Private Parts was a real joy. We shot at a studio across from Paramount, and John Retsek was the production designer. He did a great job with that film. I was very into Gordon Willis, Conrad Hall, and of course Haskell, at the moment, and I was able to light on a stage the way I wanted to. I think there’s some really interesting looks to that. I haven’t seen it in years, but I’d love to go back and watch it again. I’m not sure what it would look like on video, though. I really loved working with Paul Bartel, and I’m sorry he died so young. As for Over the Edge, that was the second film I did with Jonathan Kaplan after The Slams—the prison escape film with Jim Brown. The art director for The Slams and Cool Breeze, Jack Fisk,ended up becoming one of the most revered production designers in Hollywood. He recently did The Revenant (2015)and Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). For The Slams, he would be with us at the Lincoln Heights jail, and his wife, Sissy Spacek, would be sitting in the grip truck waiting for him to finish work. It was a great experience working on those films, and it was the training route for a lot of people. Arne Schmidt, who was the assistant director on Private Parts, became the producer for Robocop (1987) and we later did The Package together. These films really were a great way for us to meet each other and work together.
It’s funny you mention Robocop. Something I wanted to ask you about is the ‘prowler’ robot in your film Code of Silence with Chuck Norris. Given that it came out a few years before Robocop, I would imagine it had to have been an influence. Do you know if anyone has admitted to that?
Not that I know of, but there’s a funny scene in Code of Silence with John Mahoney. He was an unknown actor at the time and was talking very technically with complicated dialogue. Chuck Norris turned to me and said ‘where’d you get this guy? I don’t think he can act.’ Then, John of course ended up becoming a big actor [laughs]. I always found that to be a funny story.
Speaking of Code of Silence, I’d like to talk about your work as a director. Your directorial debut, Stony Island, is an incredible Chicago film and a great music film. The funeral scene where everyone breaks into a New Orleans style jazz is just fantastic as is the “O-o-h child” montage where your brother, Richard, is at the Lincoln Park Zoo with Susanna Hoffs. I imagine that this must be your most personal of your films. Would you say so?
Oh, yeah! Stony Island was a story about my brother growing up in the south side of Chicago. I also grew up there, but it was really about his journey in a neighborhood that was changing. My parents had stayed in this neighborhood and my brother was putting together a band with some other kids. It was a joy. It’s very touching and moving to me when I watch it. Gene Barge is still alive. He’s 97 years old, and I hope to see him in Chicago. Ronnie Barren and all these musicians that I got to meet and know were just great. There was also Larry Ball, Windy Barnes, and Susanna Hoffs who became a huge star in her own making. She was beginning to become a songwriter at that point before the Bangles.
It’s amazing how many talented people are in Stony Island. There’s also an early performance from Rae Dawn Chong and Dennis Franz who you collaborated with several times. Tak Fujimoto, the film’s cinematographer, also has a cameo in the film. He’s another person who made Chicago look magnificent on the big screen again with Ferris Buellers Day Off (1986) years later. From then on out, you really became a master of action. How did that fall into place?
It was sort of by accident. I was a cameraman on these Corman films and there was a lot of action in those. After Stony Island, I was hired by Harry Belafonte to direct Beat Street (1984).
It’s a bit ironic that Manahem Golan actually became a competitor later with the battle between Cannon’s Breakin’ (1984) and Beat Street.
Yeah, he came after us with that. I worked on the script and got credit for the script, but there was a problem with Harry and some music. The music wasn’t ready after fifteen days of shooting on a thirty day schedule. I think he didn’t have the guts to tell Orion Pictures that he was off doing “Day-O” in Sweden. They hired a guy named Arthur Baker to do the music, and he said I want all the publishing. I had Herbie Hancock and Chaka Khan lined up to do music and they later won Grammys. They fired me with a three month old baby, and I was devastated. Thank God a guy named Mike Medavoy looked at the footage and said ‘there’s nothing wrong with this footage. I like this footage, and I’m going to hire this guy to do an action movie.’ I sort of fell out of the window with my wife and child in my arms and wound up landing, buying a house in Santa Barbara, and doing Code of Silence. When you do an action movie that’s successful, they want you to do more. That became Above the Law. Steven Seagal saw Code of Silence and told his agent ‘this is the guy I want to direct my debut movie.’ For Above the Law, I was originally hired to direct a movie called “Out” that was going to be a different script about a cop and stolen televisions on the docks of San Francisco. After spending time with Seagal, I told the studio ‘I don’t know if this guy’s full of shit or not, but would he tell the story about going to Japan, having a dojo, and working for the CIA? That’s a more interesting story.’ The studio said ‘how long will it take to write?’ There was a strike coming up, and I said ‘five weeks.’ I got a hold of Ron Shusett, who had written Alien (1979)and was working on Aliens (1986), and Steve Pressfield, and we literally wrote the script overnight.
I like to shoot on location if it’s possible. I think it keeps the actors and everybody more in the moment.”
That’s amazing! With these different action films that we’re discussing there are some great chase sequences. Code of Silence, Above the Law, The Package, The Fugitive, and Chain Reaction have some iconic moments with Chuck Norris on top of the El train and jumping into the river, Keanu Reeves fighting his way through the Field Museum and on top of the airplane in the Science and Industry Museum, Harrison Ford at the Dam and going through the Saint Patrick’s Day parade, Steven Seagal driving underneath the bridges and through the parking garages, and Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones in O’hare and Union Station. Were you influenced by fellow Chicagoan William Friedkin’s chase work on The French Connection (1971)?
Bill Friedkin was a tremendous influence, and The French Connection had a tremendous impact on me. When I worked with Gene Hackman later on The Package, that was a big ‘wow’ moment since he was in The French Connection. Friedkin was a great filmmaker. He had that great Chicago quality of filming under the El, which he brought to New York. He had a big effect on the reality/grittiness of that film. Paired with Owen Roizman’s cinematography, the way that film was put together was just terrific. As a matter of fact, Friedkin hired my father, Nate Davis, who plays the Grandpa in Holes. My Dad was also in Thief (1981). He’s the guy who shows Jimmy Caan how to bust into the safe. I think Friedkin had an influence of Michael Mann too.
That’s incredible. I love Thief. Something that I find interesting about your films is that you include real reporters, real cops, real coast guard members etc. integrated with the lead actors. You also used practical effects for large scale stunt work like the bus/train crash in The Fugitive. Can you speak about why it’s important for you to place so much emphasis on realism in your films?
I like to shoot on location if it’s possible. I think it keeps the actors and everybody more in the moment. We didn’t have the pleasure of having all these digital effects back then. It would have looked lousy to create a train crash with miniatures. The way we did it, you feel it. You literally feel it. There are a few shots in that sequence with Harrison Ford jumping off the train that we did with rear projection. It was just way too dangerous for him, but it’s about keeping it real and keeping it honest. I wasn’t a big fan of Hitchcock because he did all these processed shots. When Jimmy Stewart’s standing on a ledge, you know he’s not really there. The Italians, the French, the Swedes, and the British had more realistic qualities to their films in the 60s/70s. I think that affected me.
You wrote the screenplays for Stony Island, Beat Street, Above the Law, and Steal Big Steal Little, and now have written your first novel Disturbing the Bones. I know screenplays and novels are quite different, but would you say it helped prepare you? Or do you think your work as a cinematographer/director was more relevant?
Disturbing the Bones is actually the child of a screenplay. I worked on the story for many years, trying to make a movie out of it. Finally, when I partnered with this great writer, Jeff Biggers, we worked on it for quite a while. I got frustrated and said ‘there’s so much rich history and research that we’ve done.’ All the backstory and texture we wanted to talk about was hard to put in a screenplay, so we just decided to make it into a novel. This allowed us to be free to say what we wanted, talk about what we wanted, describe what we wanted, and embellish the characters. Once the novel’s done, we’ll have the screenplay reflect the best of the novel. That’s where we are right now. I think the novel has helped a lot to develop the characters.
I pre-ordered the book and am excited to read it soon. The plot seems to be a melting pot of your films in a way. There’s an archaeologist which relates to Holes. There’s a detective which relates to Code of Silence and Above the Law, there’s conspiracy which relates to The Package, The Fugitive, and A Perfect Murder, there is a military aspect like Under Siege, The Guardian, and Collateral Damage, there is a global threat like in Chain Reaction, and its set in Chicago during an important political event like Medium Cool. Was this a conscious decision of yours in revisiting your films while working on the process of writing Disturbing the Bones?
You’re absolutely right on! I’m blown away by your knowledge. You’re really impressive. I’m really flattered. There were three things. First, I became aware of this dig through one of my mentors, John Weir, who taught me how to load magazines at the University of Illinois. He was working for the state of Illinois and was working on this roadbed. He worked for the department of transportation and told me about this dig. I thought twenty-six layers going back thirteen thousand years in one campsite was fascinating. I thought to myself what are we going to be remembered for, and I said ‘probably our missile silos, bunkers in the ground, and atomic weapons that can go around the world and be hidden underground.’ When we did The Package, John Bishop created the storyline. It was originally set in Camp David, and I moved it to Chicago. When we were making the movie, I thought the generals don’t want to give up their weapons whether they’re Soviets, Russians, or Americans. This fight to destroy peace between people and having a peace conference in disarray was going to be a challenge for the world. Then, there was the history of racism in Cairo, Illinois, in the 60s and 70s. Those three elements wove together to create the story.
Your last film was The Guardian in 2006 and you’ve taken a break from filmmaking. Do you have a desire to return to filmmaking, or is writing something you see yourself doing more of in the future?
I would love to direct other movies. The things that were being offered to me were bad action movies that I didn’t want to do. I became busy developing my own films, and then I was marrying children, burying parents, and being a grandfather. I’d like to make Disturbing the Bones into a film. I’ve also been working for a long time on trying to get a modern adaptation of Treasure Island,set in post-Katrina Louisiana, off the ground. It would be a lot like Holes. I’ve also been working on adapting Gene Wilder’s novel, My French Whore. It’s a tragic comedy about a young man who falls in love with a French woman who is impersonating a German officer. It’s a different kind of film for me, but I think it would be a really interesting challenge. Those are the three that I’d really like to do before I pass away.
Those all sound great, and I hope they all work out. This year marks a big milestone for the Chicago International Film Festival with its 60th anniversary. This festival must be important to you since Stony Island premiered there and now they are screening The Package again. I think most people don’t really recognize how many great directors come from Chicago like you, William Friedkin, Michael Mann, John Hughes, and Robert Zemeckis to name a few. Zemeckis’ new film, Here (2024), is also playing at the festival. Can you speak on how it feels to return to the festival and were you ever close with any of the other Chicago directors?
I think we’re certainly very aware of each other. Michael Mann gave me a great quote for Disturbing the Bones. Zemeckis also lives in Santa Barbara. Right now, it’s the 100th anniversary of the Granada Theatre. It’s a gorgeous theatre that’s been restored in Santa Barbara. They recently screened Steal Big Steal Little, Holes, and The Fugitive. They also recently showed three or four of Bob Zemeckis’ films. They call the series ‘Home Movies’ since we’re directors who live in Santa Barbara. The Chicago International Film Festival has been wonderful for me. Michael Kutza is an amazing character who started the festival and backed it for many years. Now, I think Mimi Plauché and Vivienne Teng are doing a great job running it. I’m blown away that it’s so significant. I think because of the festival I’ve met some wonderful people. I was on the jury one year, and that was a lot of fun. There’s a lot of great filmmakers who’ve come out of Chicago and there’ll be more. Now, there are also great people in television coming out of Chicago like Lena Waithe. We’ve proved that you can have a really great talent pool and great labor pool in Chicago. Dick Wolf is another person who has made a career out of filming in Chicago.
Jonathan Monovich is a Chicago-based writer and a regular contributor for Film International. His writing has also been featured in Film Matters, Bright Lights Film Journal, and PopMatters.