After successfully working with Walter Newman on an eleventh hour rewrite of "Underwater," Sturges recruited the screenwriter for "The Magnificent Seven." Newman objected to how Sturges filmed several of his scenes and became furious when Sturges gave some of Yul Bryner's carefully crafted, character-driven lines to Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson. Livid about it, Newman asked that his name be removed from the credits. However, just a few years later Newman and Sturges reteamed for "The Great Escape." Newman felt Sturges was "dilatory" with his preparation of the script and felt the studio unjustly blamed him, not Sturges, for its delay. Again, another argument with Sturges resulted in Newman's name being taken off the script. A final proposed attempt at a collaboration based on unfilmed portions of James A. Michener's "Tales of the South Pacific" was never done.
