soon after principal shooting on "the loved one" was concluded, southern began work on the script of "the cincinnati kid", which starred steve mcqueen. he was one of several writers who had worked on versions of the screenplay, including paddy chayevsky, george good, and ring lardner jr.. original director sam peckinpah was fired one week into shooting, allegedly because he shot unauthorized nude scenes. (he would not make another film until 1969's "the wild bunch".) he was replaced by norman jewison, and during his work on this production southern formed a close and enduring friendship with cast member rip torn.