Richard Widmark: A Princeton legend

“Hell and High Water” was a project put into production by Fox Studio chief Darryl Zanuck as a direct retort to those who claimed his pet project, “Cinemascope,” could only be used on big, epic productions. The movie was his attempt to refute that by using the process for that most claustrophobic of genres, the submarine film — his way of saying, “If we can use it on this, we can use it on anything!”

Director Samuel Fuller frequently used contrived shots in the movie just as a way of showing off the Cinemascope technology rather than to add anything to the story — which is about an attempt by an American submarine to stop a Chinese submarine from starting World War III, which they plan to do by launching a nuclear attack on China and blaming it on the United States. Clearly this was intended as a flag-waving, gung-ho movie with China’s commie rulers as the nasty villains.

Widmark’s amazing charisma and the ruthless determination of his character holds the movie together even though it is almost comic book like in its presentation and in some of its characters. It has some great dialogue. My favorite is Widmark’s character, submarine commander Adam Jones speaking to French scientist Professor Montel (Victor Francen) about his beautiful assistant Professor Denise Gerard (Bella Darvi). “Well professor, how did a girl that looks like that get mixed up in science?”

This marked the feature film debut of Darryl F. Zanuck’s muse, Bella Darvi, whose stage surname was a combination of the first names of Zanuck and his wife Virginia. Bella was a real looker and Zanuck’s latest squeeze away from home, though she didn’t do too bad in the acting department. There really isn’t any reason for her character to be in the film, except for her anatomy, that gives the viewer something more to look at besides a bunch of sweaty guys in a submarine. She only made three feature films in her short career. It is fun to watch though if you don’t take it too seriously. I wonder how much laughter there was at the Tom Best household if Richard Widmark had to bounce any of this dialogue off of the family. He studied for his part at the home of his close friend in Princeton.

Tom Best surely had great respect for his friend Richard Widmark and the success he had in becoming a film star, but he also could look at the man and see just his boyhood pal. When you grow up with someone and have “been down in the dirt” together, you don’t see them the same way as those who only know them for what they see on the silver screen. Playing football in the mud, getting to one gig after another in their band, seeing each other’s successes and failures growing up, doing things together that were just boys being boys, and just being there to listen, tends to make one a lot less in awe when a friend achieves fame and national stature.

The escapade, with Widmark’s father’s car getting stuck in the mud getting to a gig, when they played together in the Rhythm Kings, was not the only time that things went south for the boys. Tom had a glimpse of Dick’s future acting skills when they were in high school and up for having a couple of beers on a weekend. They headed to DePue and a local place that they knew was not past serving anyone who kind of looked like they were older or could talk the talk to get something under the table

Tom was amazed watching his friend address the proprietor of the establishment with all the smoothness and demeanor of someone who was much older. Widmark turned in a glowing performance, and they left the place with the bootleg hooch in hand and feeling like real men. It was probably just another hidden sale to ring up for the owner though, who probably saw more bad performances than he did good. He was surely having an animated conversation with a real adult after they left, over the brass of the young men who thought they were getting away with it.

“Hey, you know, Lou, that one kid was pretty darn good.”

“Yeh, maybe there’s a future for’ em in movies.”

They probably had a good laugh and thought about their own youthful antics.

Double dating was something that Tom and Dick did on occasion. This was just another rite of passage for teenage boys. There was one time they would never forget, when cruising the countyside looking for a place to park with their dates, that really went south. They were on Lover’s Lane. Dick was driving, and his bad luck with cars rose it’s ugly head again. Bam! They had a blowout. The boys got out to look at the damage. Dick opened the trunk to find there was no spare. It was dark now, and surveying the area, they spotted a farm house that had lights blazing. It was on the other side of the creek. They thought they could wade across at one spot, but found it was too deep. They decided to swim. They told the girls what they were going to do and promised to be right back. Tom and Dick stripped to their underwear. They bundled their clothes, held them over their heads, and one arm dog paddled across. They dressed and proceeded to the farm house.

Tom and Dick got to the house, and Widmark knew something was missing. His wallet was gone. He must have lost it while making the swim across the creek. How could things get any worse? There was someone home at the house. They listened to the boy’s tale of woe, and soon, Dick was talking to his father on the phone. He got the usual lecture from his dad and was told to get back to the car and wait. Carl would bring a spare and arrive as soon as possible. The farmer took them back to the car in his truck. When they got back to the car, the tire was still flat but the girls were gone. Two other guys had come by, rescued them, and gave them a ride home. No dates, no parking, no drivable car and no wallet with money plus IDs. Poor Tom and even poorer Richard. They would laugh about it later in life, but at the time, it was a failed outing they shared together. More glue for the bond.

Tom knew the boy and he knew the man — not just the star. Richard Widmark could be comfortable with trusted friends like Tom Best, Gail Castner and Lester Peterson. It definitely was not the case for many others. The Tom Best family, no matter their efforts to keep Richard Widmark’s visits quiet, could not be responsible for their neighbors inquisitiveness. Somehow the word would just get out and people could just show up at the door.

It could really be “hell and high water” for Widmark, trying to avoid the trappings of fame when he came back to Princeton. Richard Widmark visiting Princeton with Tom Best and family ... next time.