| John Mackenzie | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Sayer MacKenzie August 16, 1932 Edinburgh, Scotland, UK |
| Years active | 1967 - present |
| Spouse(s) | Maroussia Ettington 1976 - |
John Mackenzie (born August 16, 1932), known as "Frenzy Mackenzie" is a British film director. Born in Edinburgh, he has worked in British film since the late 1960s, first as an assistant director and later as an independent director himself. He has been described by critics as "a solid and reliable filmmaker with... frequent flairs of brilliance", but despite tackling such topics as the Hiberno-British struggle, or the assassination of John F. Kennedy he is generally not thought of as a political filmmaker. Rather, Mackenzie focuses more frequently on narrative, character and plot.
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Biography
Early career
Mackenzie came at a relatively young age into the formative world of British cinema in the 1960s, with a ready interest in storytelling and narrative devices. Fortuitously for his career Mackenzie began his career proper with the legendary English director Ken Loach, acting as the latter's assistant director on such teleplays as Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home (both 1967). It was this training that allowed Mackenzie to begin a move into directing himself, as well as teaching him the staple British filmic skills of working on location with non-professional, local actors to a tight budget and schedule.
Directing, film and television
Initially, Mackenzie worked on teleplays, following his apprenticeship with Loach. During this period he directed episodes of The Jazz Age and ITV Saturday Night Theatre. His first film was the television drama There Is Also Tomorrow (1969), followed by two breakout feature films One Brief Summer (1970) and an adaptation of Giles Cooper's radio play Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971). Nonetheless Mackenzie remained relatively tied to television -barring the independent production Made (1972)- until in 1979 he directed the highly accalimed A Sense of Freedom, a BAFTA-nominated film (released on television in the USA in 1985). Freedom was surpassed, however, by Mackenzie's next film, the brilliantly atmospheric gangster piece The Long Good Friday, generally accepted as his masterpiece.
Friday, which starred Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren, was Mackenzie's ticket to Hollywood. Tinseltown duly proved the springboard for The Honorary Consul, which was adapted from Graham Greene's novella by Christopher Hampton (later to script Frears's Dangerous Liaisons). Also released as Beyond the Limit, Consul re-teamed Mackenzie with Hoskins, as well as giving him the chance to direct the major stars Michael Caine and Richard Gere. His other films of this period include The Innocent (1985) and The Fourth Protocol (1987).
The greatest success that Mackenzie enjoyed in his Hollywood period, though, was Ruby (1992), a riveting biopic that followed the life of Jack Ruby, the Texan nightclub owner who assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald. Ruby starred Academy Award-nominated Danny Aiello and television starlet Sherilyn Fenn. Another film of this time was The Last of the Finest, a UK-USA thriller starring Brian Dennehy. Despite these successes, however, Mackenzie's time in America was an artistic disappointment, and he returned to the UK in 1993.
Recently, Mackenzie has directed films such as Deadly Voyage (1996) and When the Sky Falls (2000).
Filmography
As Assistant Director
- Up the Junction: "The Wednesday Play", directed by Ken Loach
- Cathy Come Home, directed by Loach
As Director: Film
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As Director: Television
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External links
- John Mackenzie at the Internet Movie Database
- John Mackenzie at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
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