Firings, rehirings, and lawsuits: the Burt Reynolds movie that was dubbed “a disaster from day one”
(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Wed 18 March 2026 17:45, UK
No production is guaranteed to go off without a hitch, but despite having some experience with a nightmarish shoot or two, Burt Reynolds got more than he bargained for when one of his movies kept lurching from one disaster to the next.
During his career, he was almost killed while making Deliverance, got sued for punching a director, ended up in a coma before becoming addicted to painkillers after an on-set accident, and tried to knee one of his co-stars in the bollocks, so Reynolds was no stranger to a behind-the-scenes incident.
And yet, it’s remarkable that 1980’s Rough Cut turned out to be a decent and relatively successful picture, since the heist flick had felt doomed from the start. It’s never a good look for any film when the director admits their heart was never in it, but Don Siegel evidently wasn’t in the business of giving a fuck.
Reynolds was the first name attached to the project, playing a jewel thief who tries to get one over on the police officer trying to lure him into a trap that will culminate in his arrest, and since he was still at the tail-end of his reign as Hollywood’s biggest box office draw, he had approval of the director and writers.
Blake Edwards was originally set to helm Rough Cut, and after he rejected the screenplay written by Reynolds’ hand-picked scribe, Larry Gelbart, the latter was fired. Edwards left soon after, and the leading man used his clout to bring Gelbart back aboard, with Siegel stepping in behind the camera, but he wasn’t what you’d call invested.
“If I’d known Escape from Alcatraz was going to be such a success, I don’t think I’d have done this picture,” he admitted while in the middle of shooting. “But because I love England, I thought I’d have a go, but it’s been a disaster since day one.” That was hardly encouraging, and things continued getting worse as the schedule progressed.
Clint Eastwood’s frequent collaborator trashed the script as being “not nearly as good as it should be,” and he couldn’t comprehend why Reynolds was so determined to make it either, admitting, “Frankly, I don’t understand why Burt took this picture,” which does not paint the picture of a happy camp.
Siegel also called it “the worst-prepared movie I’ve been involved with,” and he clashed so frequently with producer David Merrick that the Dirty Harry director was fired and briefly replaced with On Her Majesty’s Secret Service‘s Peter Hunt, before Reynolds managed to convince Merrick to reverse his decision and rehire Siegel.
As if the shitshow wasn’t bad enough, Siegel shot three endings for Rough Cut, but none of them were used, with Merrick sneakily hiring Robert Ellis Miller to craft a fourth to his specifications without telling him. And, to place the cherry on an altogether cursed cake, co-star David Niven sued the production for $1.8 million for not featuring him in the marketing. All things considered, the movie turned out surprisingly well, given that it had been a catastrophe in every sense of the word from start to finish.
ADD AS A PREFERRED SOURCE ON GOOGLE
