For fans of classic rock, the name Saul Zaentz means one thing: the guy that John Fogerty claimed ripped off Creedence Clearwater Revival and was in multiple lawsuits over the years. It’s a complicated story, which I’ll get into, and involves three of the best movies ever: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus, and The English Patient. Here’s how it all went down.
Zaentz And Forgerty’s Beef Started At Fantasy Records
Creedence Clearwater Revival, led by John Fogerty and his brother Tom, were signed to Fantasy Records in 1964. The San Francisco-based label was mostly known for jazz, but like the rest of the industry, everything was moving to rock music. At the time, Saul Zaentz was working for the label, and he would become president in 1967. He was also CCR’s manager. That’s where the trouble began, at least in CCR and Fogerty’s minds.
CCR was by far the most successful band signed to Fantasy, and the company (and Zaentz) made a ton of money off of their hit songs like “Bad Moon Rising,” Vietnam war movie staple “Fortunate Son,” and many others. Zaentz used that money to expand his business, but in the process, he alienated Fogerty and his bandmates, who believed he’d promised them a better recording contract but backed out of the deal. That meant Zaentz made a lot of money, and CCR made very little.
After CCR broke up, Fogerty started his successful solo career and continued to take swipes at Zaentz, including, most famously, releasing a song about a pig who can’t dance, but will “steal your money” called “Zanz Kant Danz,” which was later changed to “Vanz Kant Danz” to avoid a libel suit. That doesn’t mean there weren’t lawsuits, as the two were involved in multiple suits over the years.
Zaentz Put That Money To Work
While Fogerty and CCR believed Zaentz had ripped them off, Zaentz took the money earned by CCR’s success and began investing in movies. His first production through Fantasy Films was a lesser-remembered movie starring Rip Torn called Payday.
The second movie, however, was One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which became one of the most beloved movies of all time, and won five Oscars (one of three movies to win “The Big Five”: Best Director (Miloš Forman), Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Actress (Louise Fletcher), Best Screenplay (Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman) and Best Picture, which was awarded to producers Michael Douglas and Zaentz.
In 1984, Zaentz teamed up with Miloš Forman again, and together they won Best Picture and Best Director for Amadeus, the fictionalized telling of the life of Mozart. The film won a total of eight Oscars in 1985. Zaentz wasn’t done. After releasing the critically acclaimed The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Mosquito Coast, and At Play in the Fields of the Lord, Zaentz returned to the Oscars in 1997 and once again won Best Picture with the 1996 war movie The English Patient, which you can watch with the MGM+ add-on with a Prime subscription. In total, Zaentz (who died in 2014) produced movies that collected 22 Oscars out of 34 nominations.
I leave you to make your own decisions on Zaentz’s character. It’s definitely a complicated situation that might be determined by whether you're more of a movie fan or more of a Creedence fan.
