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American
director John Milius is regarded by some Hollywoodites
as the living embodiment of the word "macho;" with this
in mind, it is understandable that Milius would want
to manifest his rugged view of the world in films after
being rejected by the Marines for medical reasons.
Milius
moved into studio work under the guidance of low-budget
king Roger Corman and producer Lawrence Gordon. Milius'
first directorial effort, Dillinger (1973), gave evidence
of Roger Corman's penny-pinching influence, but the
film's combination of stylistic bloodletting and strong
male bonding was pure Milius.
In The Wind and the Lion (1975), the director's first
big-budget project, Milius took a minor incident in
the history of American foreign relations and expanded
it into a world-rattling mano y mano showdown between
a proud Moroccan shiek and President Theodore Roosevelt.
Milius shared an Oscar nomination with Francis Ford
Coppola for the screenplay of Apocalypse Now (1979),
though it's hard to tell from viewing that much-reshaped
project who contributed what.
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