Zach,

Brother, I'm an old fart and I saw the movie in its initial run. it was fantastic.

Here's what Wiki says about your issue:

According to rumor, Sinatra removed the film from distribution after the John F. Kennedy assassination on November 22, 1963. Michael Schlesinger, who was responsible for the film's 1988 reissue by MGM/UA, denies the rumor. According to him, the film's apparent withdrawal was not due to the assassination, but due to lack of public interest by 1963. The film, in fact, became the premiere offering of The CBS Thursday Night Movie on the evening of September 16, 1965, and was rerun in April 1974 on NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies. Sinatra's representatives acquired rights to the film in 1972 after the initial contract with United Artists expired, but he later stated that he was unaware of the transaction at the time. After a successful showing at the New York Film Festival in 1987 renewed public interest in the film, the studio reacquired the rights and it became again available for theater and video releases.[5][6]

It was not that unusual at the time for there to be a large gap in time between a film's theatrical run and its appearance on television. Also, the film, despite critical acclaim, was not a commercial success (even as of today its lifetime gross is less than $3 million). It wasn't really appreciated by the public until years after its release.

This post was edited on 12/21/14 at 8:23 am

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Posted by Zach

Gizmonic Institute

Member since May 2005

112719 posts

Posted on 12/21/14 at 9:37 am to VOR

I saw it when it came on TV. I thought it was an excellent movie. But so were lots of movies that were not shown in the theaters due to controversy.

In the early 70s I frequently went to 'film festivals' ... screenings in front of 20 or 30 people. The movies were not available in theaters mostly due to 3 reasons:

a. they offended some group
b. foreign films with subtitles
c. they were too complicated for the average audience

These screenings probably don't occur anymore since we've got the internet.

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