Editing George Stevens (section)

====''The Only Game in Town''====
{{Main|The Only Game in Town (1970 film)}} 

During that same time, [[Warren Beatty]] had conversed with Stevens about directing ''[[Bonnie and Clyde (film)|Bonnie and Clyde]]'' (1967). Beatty remembered, "And we would have long silent meetings in Chinese restaurants, And he would think, silently [...] And I could never get him to do the movie but I sure had a lot of meetings with him."<ref>{{harvnb|Moss|2004|p=292}}; {{harvnb|Harris|2008|pp=150–152}}</ref> In 1968, Stevens read [[Frank D. Gilroy|Frank Gilroy]]'s script for ''The Only Game in Town'', which he adapted from [[The Only Game in Town (play)|his own play]]. [[Frank Sinatra]] was intended to star opposite of Elizabeth Taylor, but Sinatra pulled out. Stevens then asked Beatty to assume the role, which Beatty immediately agreed without reading the script. Principal photography began in [[Paris]] on September 30, 1968 and lasted until February 1969. They relocated to [[Las Vegas]] for a week before wrapping the shoot on the Fox studio backlot on March 3.{{sfn|Moss|2004|pp=289–290}} 

In the film, Taylor stars as Fran Walker, a middle-aged chorus girl, who is the midst of a divorce. She falls in love with Joe Grady (Warren Beatty), a frustrated musician and compulsive gambler who dreams of escaping Las Vegas for success in New York City. ''The Only Game in Town'' opened on January 23, 1970 to favorable reviews.{{sfn|Moss|2004|p=291}} [[Charles Champlin]] of the ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote the film was "an endearing old-fashioned romance, even if its premise could hardly be more up-to-date and permissive. (And at that the permissiveness is granted verbally. It's all tell, no show, and I'm glad.)"<ref>{{cite news |last=Champlin |first=Charles |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-charles-champlins/170816562/ |title=Stars Shine in 'Only Game' |work=Los Angeles Times |at=Part IV, p. 16 |date=January 23, 1970 |access-date=April 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250505191418/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-charles-champlins/170816562/ |archive-date=May 5, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com |url-status=live}} {{Open access}}</ref> 

In 1970, Stevens was appointed as the president of the jury at the [[20th Berlin International Film Festival]].<ref name="berlinale 1970 jury">{{cite web |url=https://www.berlinale.de/en/archive/jahresarchive/1970/04_jury_1970/04_jury_1970.html |title=Berlinale 1970: Juries |access-date=2020-07-27 |website=berlinale.de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250312145450/https://www.berlinale.de/en/archive/awards-juries/juries.html/y=1970/o=desc/p=1/rp=40 |archive-date=2025-03-12 |url-status=live}}</ref> A screening of the film ''[[o.k. (film)|o.k.]]'', directed by [[Michael Verhoeven]], was interrupted when the jury held a 7–2 vote to pull the film from competition after they had expressed concerns over whether the film "encouraged understanding between nations," as stated in the statutes for the festival.<ref name="berlinale 1970 yearbook">{{cite web |url=https://www.berlinale.de/en/archive/jahresarchive/1970/01_jahresblatt_1970/01_jahresblatt_1970.html |title=Berlinale 1970: Yearbook |access-date=2020-07-27 |website=berlinale.de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250312140500/https://www.berlinale.de/en/archive/yearbooks/1970.html |archive-date=2025-03-12 |url-status=live}}</ref> Based on the 1966 [[Incident on Hill 192]] during the [[Vietnam War]], the film depicts a young Vietnamese girl who is kidnapped, raped, stabbed and shot by four American soldiers and dies. A fifth American soldier takes no part in the assault, and his official report goes ignored in the files. Verhoeven denied the film was anti-American, stating in an interview with the German newspaper ''[[Hamburger Abendblatt]]'': "If I were an American, I would even say my film is pro‐American. The biggest, part of the American people today is against the war in Vietnam."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/07/04/archives/war-film-dropped-by-berlin-festival.html |title=War Film Dropped by Berlin Festival |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 10, 2020 |archive-date=November 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103155606/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/07/04/archives/war-film-dropped-by-berlin-festival.html |url-status=live}}</ref> 

Yugoslavian filmmaker [[Dušan Makavejev]], a member of the jury, accused Stevens of censorship and overstepping his authority. After many press conferences and numerous declarations of protest, the jury announced its resignation, thereby halting the continuation of the festival. Berlinale director {{ill|Alfred Bauer|de|Alfred Bauer}} and the umbrella organization Berliner Festspiele GmbH, Walther Schmiederer, tendered their resignations, though Bauer returned. On July 5, 1970, the competition was cancelled and no major prizes were awarded.<ref name="berlinale 1970 yearbook" /> In 1973, Stevens was a member of the jury at the [[8th&nbsp;Moscow International Film Festival]].<ref name="Moscow1973">{{cite web|url=http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1973 |title=8th Moscow International Film Festival (1973) |access-date=2012-12-25 |work=MIFF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116194922/http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1973 |archive-date=2013-01-16 }}</ref>