7 thoughts on “George Segal Box Office Grosses”

1. Hi, great well researched page.
   I’ve thought that ‘Terminal Man’ was one of George Segal’s most undervalued critically.
   He played a test subject who’s mind becomes electronically controlled and as his wiring goes out of control, igniting his rage beyond all expectations. Instead of playing the rages with the cold robotic detatchment that one might expect of a ‘tech’ tampered brain, Segal’s animalistic bouts of murderous anger was more interesting because Segal’s performance invited vital questions regarding the true depths of human anger and didn’t just lean on the ‘technology’ angle to overwhelm the films overall impact.

   Another fantastic career highlight is ‘Born to win’. Had George Segal cut out the lighter moments that made his character in ‘Born to win’ as likable as it was desperate, the film might have been as lauded by critics as ‘Panic in needle park’ had been, because Al Pacino’s junkie character’s story was similar to Segal’s (a hopeless addict dragging a somewhat innocent love interest down to the gutter with him) except that Segal pushed the director to allow him to interject those lighter moments into ‘Born to win’, perhaps in the belief it gave a balance to the film. Whilst it may not be as grim and gritty a portrayal of the life of heroin addicts that ‘Panic…’ is, there is a wonderfully uneven cult film to be enjoyed for anyone new to ‘Born to win’.

   I also loved the comedy farce of ‘Where’s Poppa’. Why ‘California Split’ wasn’t as well thought of as other similar ‘buddy’s in distress’ films (Scarecrow, Midnight Cowboy) has me stumped. It couldn’t have been the subject matter if we consider how well recieved James Caan was in ‘The Gambler’
   (sure, The Gambler wasn’t smashing box office records but the critics liked it and it did way better than ‘California Split’ on the afore mentioned counts).
   Elliot Gould & George Segal made a great pairing. ‘The Rock’ was a rare thing, a 1970s Robert Redford film that didn’t do big money at the box office. (Redford dislikes the film claiming it to be to light hearted, and i’m inclined to agree, Segal does a good job in his role, but the American and international crime genre was exploding with great movies, with the likes of ‘The Godfather’, ‘Chinatown’, and smaller scale but still critically successful crime films like ‘The Outfit’ (starring Robert Duvall), ‘The Friends of Eddie Coyle’ (starring Robert Mitchum’) and a favourite of mine, ‘The Last Run’ (starring George C.Scott).

   One thing i do remember reading was how it came to be that George Segal commanded such a large fee
   ‘paraphrasing’, “Marlon Brando told me to do it, he said just say that’s the price to get me in your movie, if they really want you they’ll pay it”. Well, that advice paid off until around 1977/78 when Segal’s seven digit fee no longer justified itself in box office revenue.

   Goerge did some solid TV movies in the 1980s, ‘The Cold Room’, ‘Not My Kid’ and ‘Trackdown’ all worth seeing if you’re a fan of George Segal. Its also worth checking out the straight to video movies he appeared in from the late 80s to the early 90s, just before ‘Look who’s Talking’ and ‘Cable Guy’ saw George get another few outings on the big screen, just prior to Segal gaining a whole new audience appearing in successful sit-coms. George Segal may be retired, but reading everyone’s thoughts here show he hasn’t been forgotten.

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2. Hi Bruce,
   I’m also glad to see a page on George Segal, a talented actor and important leading man of the 60s and 70s, who unfortunately found it hard to get good roles after that. Among the films I remember him in the most are King Rat, A Touch of Class, The Bridge at Remagen, California Split, Invitation to a Gunfighter, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf and No Way to Treat a Lady. Apparently, Frank Sinatra was the first choice for the title role in King Rat. James Garner was also offered the role but turned it down due to other commitments. In the end Segal did a great job with it and it’s one of his most memorable roles in my view.

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   1. Hey PhilHoF17….In Joel Hirschhorn’s book, Rating the Movie Stars, he looked at 410 actors and actresses. Over the years we have done UMR pages on about 240 of those stars. Segal is one of the last of the remaining stars, that I really felt needed an UMR page. So finally we have this page…which was actually researched months ago.

      His light comic touch fit nicely into television after his pretty successful run in the 1960s and 1970s. I have seen all of the movies you mentioned with the exception of California Split….but I would like to see that one. He was no match for Yul Brynner in Invitation to a Gunfighter…Yul ruled that movie. I recently rewatched Who Is Killing The Great Chefs of Europe…I enjoyed the movie….but for large portions of the movie his character is absent from the movie….strange that I did not remember that at all.

      Good trivia on King Rat…I can easily see Garner in that role….I guess he turned it down because the role was so close to his role in The Great Escape. Good information.

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3. Hello Bruce.
   I’m Happy to see this page on George Segal. Of his films my favorites are “King Rat”, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, “No Way to Treat a Lady”, “The Owl and the Pussycat”, “Where’s Poppa?”, “The Hot Rock” and “Blume in Love”. Of the films I’ve seen his worst are “The Terminal Man”, “Russian Roulette”, “The Black Bird” and “The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox”. I saw these last four films in a cinema and being a George Segal fan I was very disappointed. I Only paid to see “The Last Married Couple in America” which I was also disappointed in. I also went to see “The Mirror Has Two Faces” in a theater, but this was the last film with George Segal that I actually paid to see. Thank you for doing this page which I believe I requested. Good Job, Bruce.

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   1. Hey Lyle…..you are correct…..this was indeed from a suggestion by you. Glad you liked it and glad you shared your thoughts on Mr. Segal. Of your favorites I have seen them all except for The Hot Rock and Blume in Love. I really was surprised by No Way To Treat A Lady…a very good almost unknown movie. The first time I saw Where’s Poppa? (with my brother at his house with a VHS tape in the late 1980s) we laughed and laughed. Second viewing, by myself, and with a state of the art Blu Ray….I could not even figure out what we were laughing at on that first viewing.

      The string of bad movies you saw in cinemas (“The Terminal Man”, “Russian Roulette”, “The Black Bird” and “The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox”) reminds me of my current “relationship” with Bruce Willis….lol. Over the last 30 years, George best work is easily on his television roles…especially in Just Shoot Me. Good feedback.

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4. In France George Segal is completely unknown, but King Rat is one of my favorite war movies. My father had seen it during his very discreet French release in 1966 and had made a very strong impression. He was 18 years old. He often told me about it when I was a teenager, telling me that he would really like to have the opportunity to see him again. The film is never broadcast on TV.
   In 2007, the film was released on DVD in France to my amazement, and I jumped at the opportunity to buy it. I gave it to my father for his birthday, and very sincerely, I think it was the most successful gift I gave him in his life. A simple DVD.
   It was also the last since he died four months later from a heart attack.
   I have a particular affection for this film, from which I recovered the DVD, which I will keep whatever happens.

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   1. Hey Laurent…..wonderful story about King Rat and your dad. I can see that it would be a memory that you remember and cherish. I can imagine King Rat would not be in heavy rotation in France. For me….it is The Bridge at the River Kwai….my dad loved that movie. For his birthday (which turned out to be his last) I got him the Blu-Ray of that movie…..he was supposed to come over and watch it on our big screen and blu-ray player…..but we never got the chance. That blu-ray is now sitting on my DVD case……and it is bittersweet everytime I run across it. Thanks for sharing this memory…greatly appreciated.

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