This is the thirty-ninth in a series of examinations of urban legends from movies and the people who make them and whether they are true or false. Today we answer the questions: Was Shaft originally intended to star a white actor? Did A Fish Called Wanda really kill one of its viewers? and Did Nightmare on Elm Street originally have a dramatically different ending?

Click here to view an archive of the previous movie urban legends.

Let’s begin!

MOVIE LEGEND: Shaft was originally going to star a white actor.

STATUS: I’m Going With False

Shaft, directed by Gordon Parks and starring Richard Roundtree as the titular private detective, was a massive box office smash upon its release in 1971 and became the face of what was later referred to as “blaxploitation” films (I’ll let you judge whether you feel it qualifies as “blaxploitation”). The film, which won an Academy Award for Best Song for its theme (written and performed by Isaac Hayes), was selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

For years, though, legendary blaxploitation producer and director Melvin Van Peebles has told the story of how Shaft was originally not going to star Richard Roundtree, but the title detective was going to be played by a white actor! Here’s a New York Press blog article that sums up Van Peebles story well:

It’s been almost 40 years since the box office success of Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song (1971), the first-ever independent film to profit commercially and what Van Peebles claims, “changed everything” in the movie making industry. Sweetback boosted the cinematic black image and influenced the lead in films like Shaft, whose black protagonist was originally cast as a white character.

That’s what you’ll generally see told in regards to this story, that the unexpected sucess off Van Peebles’ independent release, Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song, about a young black man who stands up against white authority, changed the course of Shaft’s history. Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song is undeniably an important film. It clearly influenced a number of blaxspolitation films (although, much more so than Shaft, Van Peebles’ film is definitely not an exploitative film – the knockoffs of it, though, were) and, more importantly, it showed that you could have a hit film not only written and directed by black filmmakers (which was not necessarily in doubt at the time, as Gordon Parks had already had success as a director) but that you could have a hit film produced and financed by black people, as well. Comedian Bill Cosby loaned Van Peebles the last $50,000 he needed to make the film. So yes, Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song is an important film. However, I believe Van Peebles is overstating its influence upon the film Shaft.

First of all, Ernest Tidyman’s novel, Shaft, which the film was based on, starred a black private detective. Since one of the most striking aspects of Shaft is the very fact that it IS about a black private detective, it seems hard to believe that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer would have optioned the book only to change the race of its title character. However, to be honest, I cannot say for sure that they would not do such a thing. If they liked the story well enough, perhaps they would have done so.

No, the more important reason as to why Van Peebles is almost surely mistaken in how influential his film was was the fact that Shaft was already well into production by the time Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song was released. Sweet Sweetback hit theaters on April 23, 1971. Shaft hit theaters on July 2, 1971. Richard Roundtree was already cast as Shaft well before Sweet Sweetback was released. Contemporary articles about Shaft in Ebony in June 1971 made it clear that Shaft’s release had no connection to Sweet Sweetback. Now, the success of Sweet Sweetback most likely gave Shaft more attention, which surely helped the film be a success, but it did not get the film made and it did not get the film changed from white actors to black.

Thanks to Pauline Pechin for the New York Press article and thanks to Ebony (author uncredited) for their spotlight on the filming on Shaft from June 1971.

MOVIE LEGEND: An audience member watching A Fish Called Wanda died from laughter.

STATUS: True

The notion of someone dying of laughter watching a film just sounds like an urban legend, doesn’t it? Like someone mixing Pop Rocks and soda and dying. However, in the case of an audience member watching A Fish Called Wanda, it sadly was very true.

In 1989 a Danish audiologist, Ole Bentzen, died watching A Fish Called Wanda. What happened was that he started laughing so hard that his heart was beating between 250 and 500 beats per minute, ultimately leading to cardiac arrest.

The specific scene that got to Bentzen was the famous “fish and chips” scene, where Kevin Kline’s character, Otto, tortures Michael Palin’s character, Ken, first by shoving chips (french fries) up Ken’s nose and then later by eating Ken’s pet fish in front of him.

Apparently the scene reminded Bentzen of a joke/game that he did with his family, where each member would put a piece of cauliflower up their nose and see who could eat the rest of their vegetables fastest without the cauliflower falling out of their nose.

While bizarre, it really is quite sad, as it sounds like Bentzen was a fun-loving guy. In Washington D.C. in 2009, they began a comedy festival in Bentzen’s honor called The Bentzen Ball.

MOVIE LEGEND: Wes Craven’s original ending for A Nightmare on Elm Street was dramatically different than what made it into theaters.

STATUS: True

If you haven’t seen A Nightmare on Elm Street, you might not want to read this one. You are spoiler warned!

The low-budget horror film, written and directed by Wes Craven, was a massive success upon its release in 1984 and a sequel was quickly rushed out for release the next year (the series ultimately became a successful film franchise, with nine films released so far, and I’m sure more to come in the future).

However, when Craven wrote the film, he never intended it as the beginning of a franchise, and in fact, Craven’s original ending for the film had a happy ending. The film’s protagonist, Nancy Thompson, sees basically all of her friends and her mother killed by the evil Freddy Kruegger, who attacks you in your dreams and if you die in your dream you also die in real life. Craven wanted the film to end with Nancy defeating Freddy by basically refusing to believe in him.

The next day would then open with the revelation that it was ALL a dream, and Nancy’s mother and her friends were all still alive. Here are two screen shots of that original ending…

However, the head of New Line Cinema (who financed the film – the first time the independent movie distributor actually produced its own film) Robert Shaye insisted that the ending be done in such a way to set up a sequel. Shaye compelled Craven to have Craven’s original ending modified into a “twist” ending, where what Nancy THINKS is the next day is actually still part of the nightmare, with Kruegger pulling her mother into the house and having Kruegger posess the car she and her friends are driving in and having the film end in that shocking fashion.

They ultimately filmed four versions of the ending – the happy one, the twist one and two compromise versions (mostly the twist ending, but with slight changes). They went with the twist ending. Craven decided not to do the second film, although he had since returned to the film franchise for a few of the sequels.

Okay, that’s it for this week!

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com

-Brian Cronin

NOTE: I posted this over at Spinoff Online last year. I figured it made sense to have a record of it here, too, for my archives.