0 Comments

Robert Stigwood passed away January 4.

If it hadn’t been for him, Jacob Brackman and Allan Moyle would have likely continued to develop the screenplay for Times Square for another year or two. The result would have been a more coherent story, somewhat darker in tone, with more overt indicators of Nicky and Pammy’s relationship, and a soundtrack that only filled a single LP.

That soundtrack, however, wouldn’t have included many New Wave songs, if any.

And the film, being made two or more years later (if at all), wouldn’t have starred Robin Johnson, who would probably have been in college studying pre-law or something by then.

It was a cynical move to load up the movie with New Wave music in order to sell records to a newly burgeoning market… and Robin’s casting was more than anything a case of right place-right time… but without those two things, Times Square would have been a very different film. Would it have been a better film? Quite possibly… but it wouldn’t be the film we’re still obsessed with and talking about all these years later. Maybe someone might be, but not you and me.

And yeah… Robert Stigwood is the guy who dealt Robin’s career a blow it never fully recovered from: signing her to a three-picture deal and then never making the other other two movies, while refusing to let her out of the contract and keeping her from working as an actress until two years had passed and nobody remembered her name…

… but he did make the movie without which we would never have seen her at all.

So, thank you, Robert Stigwood. Rest in peace.
 

Robert Stigwood's production credit from TIMES SQUARE (1980)

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

Close-up of Robin Johnson as Nicky, from a shot in the soundtrack promo video not in the movie.

Times Square Soundtrack Promotional Video

Apparently, in 1980, RSO sent this videotape to record retailers to play in-store to promote the soundtrack to Times Square. It features the two songs performed in the film, "Your Daughter Is One" and "Damn Dog." The fact that the lyrics to "Your Daughter Is One" consist primarily of curse…

More stills from the UK series

  I nearly passed over this lot of five black and white stills, except it had one photo I'd never seen. Rather than try to haggle for just the one photo, I bought the lot, and I'm glad I did, because they're all from the UK series, three of them…

Another Full-Page Times Square Teaser Ad

The same ad as last time, this one appearing on the inside front cover of Circus No. 248, dated October 28, 1980. As the ad is for a movie opening October 17, the magazine must have come out before then. Either that, or it came out bursting with hope as…