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IMDbPro

Joseph H. Lewis(1907-2000)

  • Director
  • Editorial Department
  • Actor
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Joseph H. Lewis
The term "style over content" fits director Joseph H. Lewis like a glove. His ability to elevate basically mundane and mediocre low-budget material to sublime cinematic art has gained him a substantial cult following among movie buffs. The Bonnie & Clyde look-alike Gun Crazy (1950), shot in 30 days on a budget of $400,000, is often cited as his best film. This taut gangster flick about two gun-crazy sociopaths on a crime spree is impregnated with an electric atmosphere, zipping along at a breakneck pace. It has been likened to a "tone poem of camera movement" and described by Martin Scorsese as "unrelenting and involving". A master of expressive lighting, tight close-ups, tracking and crane shots and offbeat camera angles and perspectives, Lewis possessed an instinctive sense of visual style, which imbued even the most improbable of his B-grade westerns and crime melodramas. Significant peripheral detail was his stock-in-trade. He acquired these skills working as a camera assistant in the 1920's (his aptitude for the work may have been come from his optometrist father) and further honed them in the MGM editorial department in the early '30s. After that Lewis edited serials at Republic and served the remainder of his apprenticeship as second unit director. He was signed to a full directing contract by Universal in 1937.

During the next two decades, Lewis spent time at Columbia (1939-40, 1946-49), Universal again (1942), PRC (1944), MGM (1950, 1952-53) and United Artists (1957-58), reliably turning out a couple of pictures per year. While he helmed more than his fair share of horse operas, it was invariably his films noir which attracted the most attention. Pick of the bunch were two slick second features during his spell at Columbia, My Name Is Julia Ross (1945), about a diabolical murder plot involving Nina Foch in her first starring role; and So Dark the Night (1946), an offbeat psychological thriller with character actor Steven Geray well cast as a French detective who unwittingly investigates his own crimes. Another candidate for inclusion on any Lewis "best" list would have to be The Big Combo (1955), made for Allied Artists and boasting impressive camera work by John Alton. It marked the beginning of a new cycle of films in which violence became rather more accentuated (the film ran into censorship trouble for that reason) and where the villain (in this case, philosophizing racketeer Richard Conte) was rather more interesting and dynamic than the maniacally obsessive but dullish nominal hero (cop Cornel Wilde).

After suffering a heart attack in 1953, Lewis began to reduce his workload. His cinematic curtain call was the low-budget western Terror in a Texas Town (1958), characterized by deliberate and fluid camera movement and some neat touches, like the hero (Sterling Hayden) sporting a harpoon for the climactic final showdown. The idea of successfully uniting the townsfolk against the tyranny of arbitrary rule was also intended as a veiled attack on McCarthyism. With the credits shot through the spokes of a wagon wheel, "Terror" was a fitting finale to Lewis's career.

He spent a few more years directing episodic TV westerns (including several of the better episodes of The Rifleman (1958)) and finally retired in 1966. When not addressing aspiring directors on the lecture circuit, he spent his remaining decades in leisure pursuits, in particular sailing and deep-sea fishing aboard his much-loved 50-foot trawler "Buena Vista".
BornApril 6, 1907
DiedAugust 30, 2000(93)
BornApril 6, 1907
DiedAugust 30, 2000(93)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • Awards
    • 2 wins total

Photos1

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Known for

Peggy Cummins and John Dall in Gun Crazy (1950)
Gun Crazy
7.6
  • Director
  • 1950
Eleanor Hunt and Conrad Nagel in Navy Spy (1937)
Navy Spy
5.2
  • Director
  • 1937
Anna May Wong in Bombs Over Burma (1942)
Bombs Over Burma
5.2
  • Director
  • 1942
Ben Alexander, William Hall, Robert Warwick, and Jane Wyman in The Spy Ring (1938)
The Spy Ring
5.4
  • Director
  • 1938

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Director



  • Lee Majors, Barbara Stanwyck, Linda Evans, Peter Breck, and Richard Long in The Big Valley (1965)
    The Big Valley
    7.6
    TV Series
    • Director
    • 1965–1966
  • A Man Called Shenandoah (1965)
    A Man Called Shenandoah
    7.6
    TV Series
    • Director
    • 1965–1966
  • James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, and Dennis Weaver in Gunsmoke (1955)
    Gunsmoke
    8.1
    TV Series
    • Director
    • 1965
  • Chuck Connors in Branded (1965)
    Branded
    7.4
    TV Series
    • Director
    • 1965
  • Fess Parker in Daniel Boone (1964)
    Daniel Boone
    7.3
    TV Series
    • Director
    • 1964
  • Bonanza (1959)
    Bonanza
    7.3
    TV Series
    • Director
    • 1963
  • The only authorized DVD edition of all episodes in  Season One.
    The Rifleman
    8.3
    TV Series
    • Director
    • 1958–1963
  • The Dick Powell Theatre (1961)
    The Dick Powell Theatre
    7.4
    TV Series
    • Director
    • 1962
  • The Investigators (1961)
    The Investigators
    7.3
    TV Series
    • Director
    • 1961
  • Zane Grey Theatre (1956)
    Zane Grey Theatre
    7.5
    TV Series
    • Director
    • 1961
  • The Fat Man: The Thirty-Two Friends of Gina Lardelli (1959)
    The Fat Man: The Thirty-Two Friends of Gina Lardelli
    6.9
    TV Movie
    • Director
    • 1959
  • The Detectives (1959)
    The Detectives
    7.4
    TV Series
    • Director
    • 1959
  • Alcoa Theatre (1957)
    Alcoa Theatre
    7.3
    TV Series
    • Director
    • 1959
  • Sterling Hayden, Carol Kelly, and Nedrick Young in Terror in a Texas Town (1958)
    Terror in a Texas Town
    6.8
    • Director
    • 1958
  • Ward Bond, Joseph Cotten, Betsy Blair, and Viveca Lindfors in The Halliday Brand (1957)
    The Halliday Brand
    6.3
    • Director
    • 1957

Editorial Department



  • Sharad of Atlantis (1966)
    Sharad of Atlantis
    6.1
    TV Movie
    • supervising film editor
    • 1966
  • Bat Men of Africa
    TV Movie
    • supervising film editor
    • 1966
  • Eleanor Hunt and Conrad Nagel in The Gold Racket (1937)
    The Gold Racket
    5.5
    • supervising film editor
    • 1937
  • Eleanor Hunt and Conrad Nagel in Navy Spy (1937)
    Navy Spy
    5.2
    • supervising film editor
    • 1937
  • Heather Angel and George O'Brien in Daniel Boone (1936)
    Daniel Boone
    5.6
    • supervising film editor
    • 1936
  • Lili Damita, Francisco Flores del Campo, and Fred Keating in The Devil on Horseback (1936)
    The Devil on Horseback
    5.0
    • supervising film editor
    • 1936
  • Undersea Kingdom (1936)
    Undersea Kingdom
    4.6
    • supervising film editor
    • 1936
  • James Dunn and Mae Clarke in Hearts in Bondage (1936)
    Hearts in Bondage
    5.5
    • supervising film editor
    • 1936
  • Gene Autry in The Singing Cowboy (1936)
    The Singing Cowboy
    5.9
    • supervising film editor
    • 1936
  • Kay Linaker and Conrad Nagel in The Girl from Mandalay (1936)
    The Girl from Mandalay
    6.5
    • supervising editor
    • 1936
  • Alice Brady, Cora Sue Collins, Russell Hardie, and Ann Rutherford in The Harvester (1936)
    The Harvester
    6.1
    • supervising film editor
    • 1936
  • Mae Clarke and Phillips Holmes in The House of a Thousand Candles (1936)
    The House of a Thousand Candles
    5.0
    • supervising film editor
    • 1936
  • Gene Autry in Comin' 'Round the Mountain (1936)
    Comin' 'Round the Mountain
    6.1
    • supervising film editor
    • 1936
  • John Wayne in King of the Pecos (1936)
    King of the Pecos
    6.0
    • supervising film editor
    • 1936
  • Evalyn Knapp and Phil Regan in Laughing Irish Eyes (1936)
    Laughing Irish Eyes
    3.8
    • supervising film editor
    • 1936

Actor



  • Death on Credit
    5.6
    • 1980

Personal details

Edit
  • Alternative names
    • Joe Lewis
  • Born
    • April 6, 1907
    • New York City, New York, USA
  • Died
    • August 30, 2000
    • Santa Monica, California, USA(natural causes)
  • Spouse
    • Buena Lewis? - August 30, 2000 (his death, 1 child)
  • Publicity listings
    • 2 Print Biographies
    • 2 Portrayals
    • 1 Article

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    His nickname was "Wagon Wheel Joe," a name he received early in his career when he was shooting B Westerns for Universal. He had a penchant for framing shots through the spokes of the nearest wagon wheel, to break up the visual monotony of a scene. Several of the editors at Universal complained to the studio brass that they had a hard time cutting Lewis' films because "he keeps putting these damn wagon wheels in front of everything." Director Oliver Drake, a friend of Lewis' and also his boss on those Westerns, jokingly referred to him as "Wagon Wheel Joe," and the name stuck.
  • Quotes
    [regarding the string of "B" westerns he shot at the beginning of his career] You didn't have actors; you had cowboys who owned a horse.
  • Nicknames
    • Wagon Wheel Joe
    • Joe
  • Salaries
      The Return of Wild Bill
      (1940)
      $250

FAQ

Powered by Alexa
  • When did Joseph H. Lewis die?
    August 30, 2000
  • How did Joseph H. Lewis die?
    Natural causes
  • How old was Joseph H. Lewis when he died?
    93 years old
  • Where did Joseph H. Lewis die?
    Santa Monica, California, USA
  • When was Joseph H. Lewis born?
    April 6, 1907

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