Mr. Patman (1981)

Interesting facts

Mr. Patman is a 1980 Canadian film directed by John Guillermin and starring James Coburn.

Production

Philip Hersh originally wrote the film's script, but was rewritten by Thomas Hedley, later famous for writing Flashdance. In May 1977, James Coburn was attached to the project with John Huston as director. John Guillermin, the director of The Towering Inferno and King Kong, was selected to direct the film.

The film was shot from 3 December 1979 to 6 February 1980, in Vancouver on a budget of $6,900,000 (equivalent to $25,749,545 in 2025), with $500,000 coming from the Canadian Film Development Corporation. 1,379 shares in the film were offered at $5,000 by Merrill Lynch.

The film went through multiple names during its development. The film went under the title Midnight Matinee, The Bed Next To Mine, Man In White, The Optimist, and Patman during production and was released under the titles Crossover and Mr. Patman. Vince Hatherley's edit of the film was 111 minutes, but David Nicholson reduced the runtime to 97 minutes. Guillermin was critical of the changing names of the film.

It was one of five films Coburn made over an 18-month period. "Something happened between the first script and the final re-write," he says of Mr. Patman. "In being made clearer, the film lost a lot of its charm and character. But the idea of a guy who works in a psychiatric ward, ultimately choosing to live in the madness there rather than the madness in the outside world, really appealed to me."

Kate Nelligan was Canadian, though based in New York where she had achieved great stage success. She agreed to return home to make the movie and help the film be classified as Canadian. Nelligan later called the movie a nightmare, saying in 1983 that "The Canadian film industry is a joke, and we Canadians should be ashamed of it.

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