Documentary

Pharos of Chaos

A superb, moving and thrilling interview with American actor Sterling Hayden (1916-86), held in Besançon, France, on board a dilapidated barge, when he was 65 years old. An unparalleled portrait, in his own words and without any qualms, of a legendary Hollywood star, icon of film noir and the western, who was also a marine, an OSS agent, an anti-communist informer, a writer and a wandering sailor: the hero of his own life.

Release Date : 1983-10-21

Language :EnglishFrenchGerman

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company :

Production Country : Germany

Alternative Titles : Pharos of Chaos: A Profile of Sterling HaydenLighthouse of Chaos

Cast

Character Name : Self - Narrator (voice)

Original Name : Charles Brauer

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self - Actor

Original Name : Sterling Hayden

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Burkhard Driest

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Hannes Wader

Gender : Male

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Hanns Zischler

Gender : Male

Reviews

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2022-03-28

A fascinating opportunity to spend some intimate time learning about the life and career of Sterling Hayden as he lives - aged 67 (ish) - on his dilapidated Parisian barge. Unfortunately, the film allows the subject to randomly rabbit on - frequently about alcoholism, from which he clearly suffered. Without any constructive or even vaguely penetrative direction, this becomes little more than a video diary; sometimes engaging and lucid, other times completely in the realms of "Grey Gardens". It is frequently too much of a monologue - it's as if Manfred Blank was too unwilling and/or intimidated to subject Hayden to anything like the degree of interrogation necessary to elicit anything meaningful from this character who undoubtedly had something to say.