An Enemy of the People (film)
| An Enemy of the People | |
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Film poster for An Enemy of the People
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| Directed by | George Schaefer |
| Produced by | George Schaefer Steve McQueen (Executive Producer) |
| Written by |
Alexander Jacobs from Arthur Miller's translation of Henrik Ibsen's play |
| Starring |
Steve McQueen Charles Durning Bibi Andersson |
| Music by | Leonard Rosenman |
| Cinematography | Paul Lohmann |
| Edited by | Sheldon Kahn |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Warner Brothers |
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Release date
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Running time
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103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2.5 million |
An Enemy of the People is a 1978 American drama film directed by George Schaefer based on Arthur Miller's 1950 adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's 1882 play. The film stars Steve McQueen in the lead role of scientist Thomas Stockmann, Charles Durning as his brother Peter and Bibi Andersson as his wife Catherine.
Thomas Stockmann (Steve McQueen) is a doctor and amateur scientist in a small unnamed Norwegian town. The town is expecting a major boost in tourism due to the therapeutic powers of nearby springs but Stockmann has discovered they are being polluted by waste from the town's tannery. He writes an article exposing the contamination for the local newspaper, the Messenger, but the staff is intimidated by Stockmann's brother Peter, the town mayor. Peter offers to use the springs' revenue to implement the changes his brother wants if Thomas will keep quiet but the doctor remains uncompromising.
Thomas calls a town meeting in order to spread the news but his brother and the newspaper's publishers shout him down and deride him and he is unable to state his case. The townspeople treat the previously respected and popular Stockmann family as pariahs - his daughter is dismissed from school and rocks are thrown through the windows of their house. Thomas' family remain loyal to him, however, and decide against emigrating to America. Instead they decide to stay in the town and wait for Thomas' discovery to be proved in time. As they celebrate their decision, a fresh hail of stones come through the family home's windows.
After working on The Towering Inferno, McQueen was one of the highest-earning film stars in the world. Nevertheless, he would be absent from films for four years; while he received several offers during this period, he had high wage demands and insisted that his wife Ali MacGraw work with him. Among the projects which failed to materialise for the pair during this period were Deajum's Wife with producer Elliott Kastner, The Johnson County War with director Michael Winner (eventually made as Heaven's Gate by Michael Cimino) and The Betsy alongside Laurence Olivier. He also vetoed MacGraw taking part in Heaven Can Wait and either turned down or priced himself out of roles in A Bridge Too Far and Apocalypse Now - McQueen was offered the role of Captain Willard with a $1.5m salary but then demanded $3m for the smaller role of Colonel Kurtz. Bored with inactivity but unwilling to lower his demands for mainstream work, McQueen took an unbilled role as a stunt rider in B-movie Dixie Dynamite for $175 a week.
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