The Big Screen (92 page)
Authors: David Thomson
Part IV: Dread and Desire
Dread and Desire
On
Deep Throat
, see Linda Boreman,
Toronto Sun
, March 20, 1981; Al Goldstein,
Screw
, June 5, 1972; Roger Ebert, “Inside Deep Throat,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, February 11, 2005.
On pornography, see Legs McNeil and Jennifer Osborne,
The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Industry
(2005).
“Warn the Duke!”: E. L. Doctorow,
Ragtime
(1975), p. 11.
On
Straw Dogs
, see David Weddle,
“If They Moveâ¦Kill 'Em!”: The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah
(1994).
“I dreaded that rape scene”: Ibid., pp. 419â20.
On
Alien
, see David Thomson,
The Alien Quartet
(1998); Kathleen Murphy, “The Last Temptation of Sigourney Weaver,”
Film Comment
(JulyâAugust 1992); “Making
Alien
: Behind the Scenes,”
Cinefantastique
9, no. 1 (July 1979); Amy Taubin, “Invading Bodies,”
Sight & Sound
(July 1992).
To Own the Summer
See Carl Gottlieb,
The Jaws Log
(1975 and 2001); Antonia Quirke,
Jaws
(2002); Joseph McBride,
Steven Spielberg
(1997).
“one of the most phenomenal”: Pauline Kael,
The New Yorker
, March 18, 1974.
“The shark was supposed”: Gottlieb,
The Jaws Log
, p. 156.
“Spielberg needs to work”: Peter Benchley quoted in
Los Angeles Times
, July 7, 1974. 442 On
Jaws
preview, see Gottlieb,
The Jaws Log
, p. 216.
On Robert Shaw, see ibid., pp. 207â8.
in the men's bathroom: Ibid., p. 216.
On the numbers on
Jaws
: McBride,
Steven Spielberg
, pp. 253â54.
“Spielberg is blessed”: Frank Rich,
New York Times
, June 27, 1975.
“You feel like a rat”: Molly Haskell,
Village Voice
, June 23, 1975.
“Right before our eyes”: Quirke,
Jaws
, p. 69.
On DreamWorks, see Nicole LaPorte,
The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks
(2010).
“a marker in industry”: F. Scott Fitzgerald,
The Last Tycoon
(New York: Penguin, 1960), p. 35.
Brave New Northern California World
See Peter Cowie,
Coppola
(1989) and
The Godfather Book
(1997); Tom Shone,
Blockbuster: How Hollywood Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Summer
(2004); J. W. Rinzler,
The Making of
Star Wars:
The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film
(2007); Michael Rubin,
Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution
(2005).
“brats”: See Michael Pye and Lynda Myles,
The Movie Brats: How the Film Generation Took Over Hollywood
(1984).
“It's not about Vietnam”: Quoted by Geoffrey Dunn,
San Francisco Chronicle
, August 12, 2001.
“This morning I asked Francis”: Eleanor Coppola,
Notes
(1979), p. 254.
On
Heaven's Gate
, see Steven Bach,
Final Cut: Dreams and Disaster in the Making of
Heaven's Gate (1985).
“One thing is certain”: Ibid., p. 415.
“The audience was”: Ibid., p. 360.
“an unqualified disaster”: Vincent Canby,
New York Times
, November 19, 1981.
What Is a Director?
“The film community”:
Minghella on Minghella
, ed. Timothy Bricknell (2005), p. 143. 462 On Michael Curtiz, see Sidney Rosenzweig, Casablanca
and Other Major Films of Michael Curtiz
(1982); Harmetz,
Round Up the Usual Suspects.
On Preston Sturges, see Diane Jacobs,
Christmas in July: The Life and Art of Preston Sturges
(1992);
Preston Sturges on Preston Sturges
, ed. Sandy Sturges (1990).
On Vincente Minnelli, see Vincente Minnelli,
I Remember It Well
(1990); Stephen Harvey,
Directed by Vincente Minnelli
(1990); James Naremore,
The Films of Vincente Minnelli
(1993); Emanuel Levy,
Vincente Minnelli: Hollywood's Dark Dreamer
(2009);
Vincente Minnelli: The Art of Entertainment
, ed. Joe McElhaney (2009).
“In the end”:
Minghella on Minghella
, p. 170.
“For all the horror”: David Edelstein,
New York
, June 6, 2010.
On
The Arbor
and Clio Barnard, interview with Clio Barnard, November 18, 2011.
“The effect is eerie”: Peter Bradshaw,
The Guardian
, October 21, 2010
On Artangel, interview with Michael Morris, November 28, 2011.
On women in film, see Molly Haskell,
From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies
(1987); Jeanine Basinger,
A Woman's View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women, 1930â1960
(1995).
On Barbara Loden and
Wanda,
see Kazan,
A Life
, pp. 792â95.
On Woody Allen, see Eric Lax,
Conversations with Woody Allen
(2007).
“I think those kinds”: Interview with Woody Allen,
Sight & Sound
, April 2011, p. 19.
“deepâon the surface”: Pauline Kael,
The New Yorker
, September 25, 1978.
On Clint Eastwood, see Richard Schickel,
Clint Eastwood: A Biography
(1997); Patrick McGilligan,
Clint: The Life and Legend
(2002)
On Don Siegel and Eastwood, see Peter Bogdanovich, “Working Within the System: Interview with Don Siegel,”
Movie
15, 1968; Don Siegel,
A Siegel Film: An Autobiography
(1996).
On Steve McQueen, see Marc Eliot,
Steve McQueen: A Biography
(2011).
On
The Outlaw Josey Wales
, see McGilligan,
Clint
, pp. 256â70.
“essays in individuality”: President Obama at the White House, February 25, 2010âlater Eastwood admitted to Katie Couric on television that Obama was a “nice fella,” but he didn't think much of him as a president.
Silence or Sinatra?
On Tim Van Patten, see filmography and biography,
IMDb.com
.
“the richest achievement”: David Remnick,
The New Yorker
, June 24, 2007.
“My goal was never”: David Chase, quoted in Mark Lee, “Wiseguys: A Conversation Between David Chase and Tom Fontana,”
Written By
, May 2007.
On Martin Scorsese, see
Scorsese on Scorsese
, ed. David Thompson and Ian Christie (2004); Annette Wernblad,
The Passion of Martin Scorsese: A Critical Study of the Films
(2010); Richard Schickel,
Conversations with Scorsese
(2011).
“It's about the very essence”: Schickel,
Conversations with Scorsese
, p. 367.
On the Sinatra project, announced in 2011 but not started, see
IMDb.com
.
On Quentin Tarantino, see Jami Bernard,
Quentin Tarantino: The Man and His Movies
(1995);
Quentin Tarantino: Interviews
, ed. Gerald Peary (1998).
“I don't give”: Screenplay of
Reservoir Dogs
(2485).
“âWhen you're dealing'”: Ibid.
On David Lynch, see
Lynch on Lynch
, ed. Chris Rodley (1997 and 2005); Michel Chion,
David Lynch
(1995); Greg Olson,
David Lynch: Beautiful Dark
(2008); George Toles, “Auditioning Betty in Mulholland Drive,”
Film Quarterly
58 (2004); Thierry Jousse,
David Lynch
(2010).
“Color to me”: David Lynch biography,
IMDb.com
.
“At a certain point”:
Lynch on Lynch
, p. 148.
“Ah, it is DISASTER”: Ibid., p. 149.
“[It] helped us realize”: David Foster Wallace, “David Lynch Keeps His Head,”
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again
(1997), p. 201; also on Wallace in general, see Jenny Turner, “Illuminating, horrible etc.,”
London Review of Books
, April 14, 2011.
“Rossellini is asked”: Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times
, September 19, 1986.
“could smell a rat”:
Lynch on Lynch
, p. 141.
The Numbers and the Numbness
On Lynda Obst, see
Hello, He Lied and Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches
(1997).
On
Sullivan's Travels
, see Jacobs,
Christmas in July
.
“to make the world”: Mark Zuckerberg on
The Charlie Rose Show
, November 7, 2011.
On Steven Soderbergh, see the book
sex, lies, and videotape
(1990), which includes the script and an extensive journal on the making of the picture.
“I think it's a real privilege”: Steven Soderbergh biography,
IMDb.com
.
“So
Jack and Jill
is”: Mick LaSalle,
San Francisco Chronicle
, November 11, 2011.
On Lars von Trier, see
Lars von Trier: Interviews
, ed. Jan Lumholdt (2003); Jack Stevenson,
Dogme Uncut: Lars von Trier
,
Thomas Vinterberg, and the Gang That Took on Hollywood
(2003).
“A giant achievement”: Lisa Schwarzbaum,
Entertainment Weekly
, November 15, 2011.
“a film that sweeps you”: Joe Morgenstern,
Wall Street Journal
, November 11, 2011.
“When I left the theatre”: J. Hoberman,
Village Voice
, May 18, 2011.
“âThere's one constant'”: Pam Grady, “Jack Bauer Visits the Odd World of Lars von Trier,”
San Francisco Chronicle
, November 13â19, 2011.
“Visually the depth of field”: Seth Schiesel, “Recruiting the Inner Military Hero in Men,”
New York Times
, November 16, 2011.
On piracy, see Edward Wyatt, “Lines Drawn on Antipiracy Bills,”
New York Times
, December 15, 2011.
Epilogue: I Wake Up Screening
There is a book called: See Paolo Cherchi Usai,
The Death of Cinema: History, Cultural Memory and the Digital Dark Age
(2001).
1.5 billion hoursâ¦100 billion hours: Ibid., p. 111.
“All our talk”: Ibid., p. 127.
The “Everything” line: See Brody,
Everything Is Cinema
, p. xiii.
“Whenever I get”: Schrader,
Schrader on Schrader
, p. 214.
“the way people were talking”: Atom Egoyan, quoted in Geoff Pevere, “The Digital Revolution: Part 1,”
Toronto Star
, December 7, 2010.
“He did things with film”: Mark Feeney to David Thomson, e-mail, January 26, 2012.
“January 2012 will”: Nick James,
Sight & Sound
, January 2012.
the Academy published a report: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, “The Digital Dilemma,” 2007.
On the numbers for 2002 and 2011, see David Germain, “Hollywood's Summer Story: More Dollars, Fewer Fans,”
Yahoo! News
, August 31, 2011.
“With electronic media”: Interview with Lewis Lapham,
Truthdig
, September 4, 2011.
“Our mistake was”: Tom Rothman, quoted in Wyatt, “Lines Drawn on Antipiracy Bills.”
“It's not possible”: Jean-Luc Godard in Geoffrey Macnab, “Cinema Is Over. Its Time Was Missed,”
Guardian Weekly
, May 6â12, 2005.
“The situation that”: Perri Klass, “Fixated by Screens, but Seemingly Nothing Else,”
New York Times
, May 10, 2011.
“Cynicism aside”: Letter to
New York Times
, November 26, 2010.
“About 100 children”: Antonia Quirke to David Thomson, e-mail, August 11, 2011.
On John Berger, see
Ways of Seeing
(1972), the book that was derived from the BBC television series.
“You can't tell”: Powell,
A Life in Movies
, p. 563.
“The only difference”: William Powell in
My Man Godfrey
(1936).
On critics' poll, see
Sight & Sound
, September 2002.
“They are taking pictures”: Don DeLillo,
White Noise
(1985), p. 13.
On
Fear Factor
, see Brian Stelter, “It's Back and Even More Disgusting,”
New York Times
, December 12, 2011.
“A certain subgenre”: David Foster Wallace, “E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction,”
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again
, p. 49â50.
“is not simply a work of appropriation”: “Douglas Gordon: what have i done,”
The Guardian
, November 16, 2009.
On
Stalker
, see Geoff Dyer,
Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room
(2012).
including a set of books: Jean-Luc Godard,
Histoire(s) du Cinéma
(1998).
“Hitchcock et L' Art”:
Hitchcock et L' Art: Coïncidences Fatales
, ed. Guy Cogeval and Dominique Paini (2000).
This book owes its genesis to my agent, Steve Wasserman. He conceived the notion of a one-volume history of film and suggested it to me. I was immediately interested, and added to Steve's framework the need to examine all the complicated effects film and screens have had on us. Equally, Steve was a constant support throughout the project. IÂ have said to him several times that he is an agent who might easily have been a publisher or a writer. In fact, as I completed the book, he became a publisherâthough he remains my agent, too. What this mysterious status means for his lucky clients is not just that he is a very effective agent but an exceptional reader and friend.
Jonathan Galassi at Farrar, Straus and Giroux bought the proposal and proved to be a superb, masterly publisher who handled this author's loss of confidence as well as its excess, and who briefly employed my son. Paul Elie edited the book itself and did a magnificent job, patient and incredulous, suggesting areas I had not covered, changing the order of some things, and looking at every sentence like a doctor. I was not always as kind or generous to him as I should have been, and I have apologized for that in person. Having edited the book, Paul set off on a new career as a writer, but I was ably cared for by Sarah Crichton, Dan Piepenbring, Mareike Grover, and Karen Maine, who were kind, thoughtful, humorous, and enthusiastic, especially in the matter of illustration and preparing the text. Still, I want to note the great care and skill of Jenna Dolan, the copy editor who saved me from many errors and made suggestions worthy of an editor. Nor should I forget an old friend, Simon Winder, in London, who is the British publisher for the book.
But most important of all was the careful reading by Mark Feeney, an old friend and a brilliant man, who made a masterful show of barely noticing my vulgarity, lack of education, and aging memory while gently correcting those very things.
In the film business, more or less, I have to thank the company of several people over the decades: Tom Luddy, most of all; three SelznicksâIrene, Jeffrey, and Danny; Joseph Losey, who allowed me to watch some of
The Servant
being shot; Nicholas Ray, who once let me think I was feeding him scrambled eggs; Peter Bogdanovich, Bob Rafelson, Stephen Frears, David Hare, Paul Schrader, Michael Powell, Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese, Harry and Mary Jane Ufland, Bertrand Tavernier, Francis Ford Coppola, Walter Murch, Jim Toback, Robert Towne, Tom Sternberg, Saul Zaentz, Anthony Minghella, Michael Fitzgerald, and Philip Kaufman.
As a freelance writer, I depend on the kindness of editors, and so I thank all of the following for encouragement, ideas, and assignments: above all, Leon Wieseltier at
The New Republic
; Patrick McGilligan; Tim de Lisle, Laurence Earle, and Jenny Turnerâall at
The Independent on Sunday
; Michael Hann and Andrew Pulver at
The Guardian
; Scott Foundas, Ann Kolson, Alex Bilmes, Nick James, Geoff Andrew, John McMurtrie, Steve Erickson, Greil Marcus, Andy Olson, Virginia Campbell, Vendela Vida, and Robert Silvers.
Then there are friends, some of whom know a lot about film, while some are happily unconcerned about it, and none the worse for that: Doug McGrath, Pierre Rissient, Kris Samuels (at Stanford), Edith Kramer, Susan Oxtoby, Judy Bloch and Steve Seid (at the Pacific Film Archive), Meredith Brody, Gary Meyer, Julie Huntzinger, Terry Gelenter, Michael Fox, Ken Connor, Antonia Quirke, Laura Morris, Jamie and Philip Bowles, Bill and Lili Holodnak, Ann Binney, Holly Goldberg Sloan and Gary Rosen, Michael Ondaatje and Linda Spalding, Susan Kakides, Leslee Dart, Geoff Pevere, Hank Lauricella and Mary Pickering, Rainer Rother, and Gerhard Midding. At the San Francisco Film Festival I have benefited from Peter Scarlett, Graham Leggat, and Bingham Ray, the last two dead in less than a year when far too young. In the same city, I am a grateful regular of Le Video, at Ninth and Irving, a stronghold staffed by wonderfully knowledgeable people. Michael Barker is not just a friend and a man who sees many films, he also distributes some of the best. Friendship with Richard and Mary Corliss, Andrew Sarris and Molly Haskell, and Richard Jameson and Kathleen Murphy has been full of insight. I value them all enormously. I also need to thank Darcy Hettrich and the whole operation of Turner Classic Movies.
Many of the themes in this book were developed in a radio series I wrote for the BBC called
Life at 24 Frames a Second
, which played in 2011. I am especially grateful to the two people who helped create that show, Mark Burman and Isabel Lloyd.
There are other friends at other publishers who have taught me so much: Sonny Mehta, Jonathan Segal, Bob Gottlieb, Shelley Wanger, Carol Carson, Katherine Hourigan, and Kathy Zuckerman (all at Knopf), and Will Balliett.
My special thanks go to David W. Packard (to whom the book is dedicated). He is an astonishing multitasker, but one of his passions is the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto, where beautiful 35 mm prints reign, and another is the preservation of film and the collection of related material and archives. He has been very generous to me personally, though he prefers the word “gentlemanly.” I hope this book will encourage him to try more films made after 1960.
Then there is family, the people with whom I have gone to the moviesâAnne, Kate, Mathew, and Rachel. More recently, Lucy, Nicholas, and Zachary, who figure in this book in ways that barely hint at how much I love and depend on them.
