 To borrow the title of his debut feature, Jack Hazan caused two of the bigger
splashes in 1970s independent British filmmaking. Groundbreaking both
technically and conceptually, his portraits of David Hockney (A Bigger Splash,
1974) and The Clash (Rude Boy, co-d. David Mingay, 1980) fused documentary and
fictional elements in a way that was highly controversial at the time - not
least as far as their often uncooperative subjects were concerned.
However, in retrospect they clearly anticipate the post-2000 rise of celebrity
driven 'reality' projects, whose content often proved anything but real.
Born in Manchester on 31 March 1939 to Syrian parents attracted to the
flourishing textile trade, Hazan moved to California in the late 1950s to study
Motion Picture Arts at UCLA. Returning to the UK in the early 1960s, he
joined the BBC Film Department as an assistant cameraman, leaving in 1967 to
form a partnership of technicians, Solus Enterprises, and worked as
cinematographer on television documentaries. By the end of the 60s he had
directed two shorts, Grant North (1969), about the nature painter and sculptor
Keith Grant, and Especially at My Time of Life (1969), about four artists then
working at Camden Studios. In 1970, his partner David Mingay showed him the
David Hockney retrospective catalogue and its double portraits revealed to him
the possibilities of juxtaposing real life and art. Hazan contacted the artist,
showed him his short films and had his proposed collaboration immediately turned
down. Nevertheless, for the next four years, Hazan, often working alone, would
film Hockney and his entourage with his personal 35mm Cameflex, on-call, using
short ends of film donated by friendly assistants and backed up by the in-house
Solus partners.
At the same time, to make a living he continued to work as a cinematographer,
sometimes for Granada's World in Action (ITV, 1963-98) on dangerous
assignments. He also filmed musical subjects, including Jimi Hendrix and
The Doors at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, and directed a short documentary,
The Films of Robert Bolt (1972). Stints on the acclaimed French TV series Pop
Deux gave him invaluable experience of filming stage performances with hand-held
camera.
Hazan was then persuaded by Mingay to look to the punk movement for their
next film and that this should have a similar semi-fictionalised approach. They
followed The Clash's 1978 'Give 'Em Enough Rope' tour, with Hazan filming
on-stage with a studio camera, interweaving that footage into the story of a
roadie whose obsession with the band's music masks the fact that their leftwing
politics don't match his sceptical views. Margaret Thatcher was elected
prime minister during the final months of production, and Rude Boy's lasting
value, besides capturing The Clash in their prime, lies in its vivid snapshot of
the period's social, cultural and political uncertainties.
Despite making two unusually high-profile features for an independent British
filmmaker, Hazan's directing career then stalled: his third feature, the
little-seen Comic Act, set among London's stand-up comedy underground, would not
emerge until 1998. In the meantime, he made pop promos (outstanding examples
being Dexys Midnight Runners' 'This Is What She's Like' and 'Knowledge of
Beauty' in 1985) while continuing to work as a cinematographer, most notably on
commercials in the US. His Isle of Wight footage belatedly appeared in
Message to Love (d. Murray Lerner, 1995).
Michael Brooke
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FILM & TV CREDITS
