ABC Pictures
Aldrich's success with The Dirty Dozen led to the newly formed ABC Pictures offer the Associates and Aldrich Company a four-film contract. Aldrich announced they would be The Killing of Sister George, The Greatest Mother of Them All, Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice and Too Late the Hero.
Aldrich's first film for ABC was The Killing of Sister George (1968), adapted from by Lukas Heller from the play by Frank Marcus. It starred Beryl Reid and Susannah York and was notable for its frank depiction of a lesbian relationship. The movie was popular but because of its high cost lost money.
Aldrich produced but did not direct What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969), a psycho-biddy thriller in the vein of Baby Jane directed by Lee H. Katzin and starring Geraldine Page and Ruth Gordon. It also lost money. (Aldrich announced he would make a third "Whatever Happened to" film, Whatever Happened to Dear Elva? based on the novel Goodbye, Dear Elva by Elizabeth Fenwick. However no film was made.)
Aldrich made a 20-minute demo film, "The Greatest Mother of Them All" (1969), in an attempt to raise money for a feature-length version, but was unable to attract interest from ABC. Peter Finch starred.
ABC wanted Aldrich to make a war film in the vein of The Dirty Dozen so he produced and directed Too Late the Hero (1970), a "patrol" film, which he had been developing since 1959. Despite starring Michael Caine and Cliff Robertson and location work in the Philippines, the film made an overall loss of $6,765,000, making it one of the biggest money losers in the history of ABC Films.
Aldrich's next film for ABC was The Grissom Gang (1971), an adaptation of No Orchids for Miss Blandish set in the 1930s, with Scott Wilson and Kim Darby. It was another flop, losing ABC $3,670,000.
Films Aldrich announced but did not make around this time included Rebellion, a western about Victoriano Huerta with Ernest Borgnine and George Kennedy, and The Movement, about student protest. He also developed scripts for books which were turned into films by others: Coffee, Tea or Me? and Monte Walsh.
By now Aldrich's relationship with ABC had become fraught and devolved into lawsuits, in part caused by ABC refusing to finance other Aldrich projects. Aldrich parted company with ABC and in January 1972 put his studios up for sale.
In a 1972 interview Aldrich said that:
Lasting power is the most important power. Especially in this business, staying at the plate or staying at the table, staying in the game, is the essential. You can't allow yourself to get passed over or pushed aside. Very, very talented people got pushed aside and remained unused... If you must make a choice between luck and talent, you have to opt for luck. It's nice to have some of both, or a lot of both; but if you can't, luck is the answer. Nowhere else more so than in this business. The right place, the right time, the right script, all the right auspices—they made the difference to directors, writers, actors.
