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When I was a young teenager and first discovered the joys of director Steven Spielberg’s classic 1975 film Jaws, there was no one I wanted to emulate more than actor Roy Scheider’s Police Chief Martin Brody. Sure, I was attracted to Robert Shaw’s colorful and salty sea captain and the marine biologist so perfectly encapsulated by Richard Dreyfuss, but for my money no one better embodied salt of the earth Frank Capra-esque Everyman than Sceider’s – you’ll pardon the pun – fish out of water transplanted New Yorker character. Steadfast, loyal and coolheaded, he was my thirteen year old’s idea of the ultimate hero.
When Scheider – whose career had spanned such Hollywood classics as The French Connection, All That Jazz, Marathon Man and 2010 – passed away back in 2008, one might be forgiven for assuming that the versatile New Jersey actor’s filmography had come to an end, courtesy of unrelenting Father Time. Little did I realize that there was one last surprise film from the Blue Thunder star awaiting release and that, with a little time and some backstage finagling, the time for its world debut would be nigh…
According to our The Men’s Club aficionados over at Variety, Oscar nominee Roy Scheider’s final and long held-back film Beautiful Blue Eyes is officially set for worldwide release, fourteen years after the star’s passing.
Directed by Joshua Newton of Iron Cross fame and co-starring such acting luminaries as Helmut Berger, Scott Cohen and Sarah Bolger, Beautiful Blue Eyes is a period film that tells the story of a retired NYPD police officer (played by Scheider) who is adamant that his neighbor is in actuality an SS Commander responsible for the execution of his family in 1941.
Scheider passed away in the midst of filming Beautiful Blue Eyes. This prompted the film’s producers to put the incomplete movie on ice until the day when AI and CG technology would catch up and enable them to break through the challenges of completing their star’s unfinished work, sans their star. That time is apparently now, as it was just announced that the project will have an official release.
In a press release announcing the release of the film, Martin Myers of production house Moviefarm which will release the completed movie said that “Beautiful Blue Eyes is a gripping thriller that addresses the premise of what a Holocaust survivor might have done had he come across the Nazi who murdered his family. I’m honored to bring Roy Scheider’s breathtaking final performance to global audiences as Moviefarm’s first release.”
Beautiful Blue Eyes will finally have its day in the sun when it’s released this June 10 worldwide. For this longtime Scheider fan, it’s been a long wait, but one that we should all celebrate!
