He’s not a filmmaker that really impresses me very much. I appreciate what he tries to do with, very often, difficult subjects, but they rarely work as a whole in my opinion. Paper Moon is by far my favourite of his, and IMO, his best film. I know a lot of people on here like Targets, but for me, it’s a great idea that just isn’t executed (no pun intended, chaps!) very well.
Bogdanovich for me has always seemed like a filmmaker more concerned with “the process” of making a film than really making a great film, because he obviously is very knowledgeable on the subject and hung out with two great directors, Welles and Huston, but despite this strong influence and knowledge, he continues to make very flawed films. He’s a frustrating director for me, because there’s an enormous potential there but for some reason or another it doesn’t pan out like it should.
All that being said though, there are a lot of things I like about his style. He’s certainly a filmmaker that requires one to take a step back and look at his work objectively.
Interesting thoughts. I’m looking forward to seeing “Paper Moon”. That seems to be his “one” film. The one that everybody can agree on.
I thought “The Last Picture Show” was as complete a film as I’ve seen in a while. The pitch was set perfectly, and I actually think the execution was one of the standout points of the film. Honestly, I didn’t see a flaw in it. Not that I’m calling it a perfect film, but I guess I’m calling it flawless…if that makes sense. Hmm.
The film had a magical look to it. It’s as beautiful as I’ve ever seen black and white cinematography. I can’t put it into words exactly, because it didn’t have an ostentatious, showy beauty. Just classical and seamless. It really feels like a film from another era. Obviously it was made in 1971, but it really captured an even earlier classical ambiance powerfully.
Cybil Shepard lit the screen up. Two shots stand out to me. Her introduction when she sort of floats into the movie theater out of nowhere, like a dream, and the scene when she lays down to have sex with Jeff Bridges. She’s captured in a medium close-up with her head on the pillow, and I’ll be damned if I’ve ever seen a woman on the screen look more like a movie star than her. Anyone with half an eye open could see in that shot a luminous star being born.
Targets is his masterpiece. Probably one of my twenty favorite debut films, especially when you consider the constraints that Corman imposed upon him. I’m not a big fan of The Last Picture Show but I think need to rewatch it. A lot of people swear by it and even its maligned sequel Texasville has its defenders. Paper Moon is fun. I’m not sure it’s much better than The Sting but it’s likeable. They All Laughed is underrated. Saint Jack is good if you’re a Ben Gazzara fan.Otherwise, I’d agree with Deckard. I know there are people who attribute his success to Polly Platt. They might have a case (see Irreoncilable Differences for a very fictionalized and trashy fun version of their relationship).
On the other hand, Bogdanovich is one of my favorite film writers. And if you have the pleasure of ever seeing him in person, he’s fantastic. Well-versed and an excellent interviewer. Who the Devil Made It is essential reading.
He has no bad movies and that is more than you can say for most directors
even his questionable films like At Long Last Love and Daisy Miller are expertly shot and include enough expertise of homage and film in general to be watchable.
There are three more books about The lead character of Last Picture Show. Bogdanovich should go make Rhino Ranch ASAP
“The Last Picture Show” is excellent, I agree. I really like Bogdanovich in general, has a lot of interest things to say about a lot of great films. Plus, his dedication to The Sopranos is great as well. (For the record, David Chase should probably be on this site.)
The Last Picture Show is one of my favorite films, and I agree with Bobby that it is very assured and well balanced. I also like Paper Moon even though I haven’t seen it in a long time. But I’m in the camp that many of his other films haven’t been as accomplished as I was expecting them to be. I did think that The Cat’s Meow works rather well, but I never hear anybody mention that one.
It seems like he’s one of those directors that’s slipping through the cracks. Will his career eventually be re-evaluated, or will he continue to be written off as “could have been a contender”?
“He has no bad movies and that is more than you can say for most directors”
Den, I know you’ve defended Nickelodeon elsewhere, but I almost want to hear you defend Illegally Yours, his Rob Lowe starring “zany” comedy from the late 1980s that even Bogdanovich admits is awful. That movie is shockingly unfunny and awful and completely indefensible.
Not to play devil’s advocate, but “why” is Mr. Bogdanovich “made no bad movies” or his films “classic”, etc.? It’s all well and good to support the man, but some explanation would round out this topic nicely.
Not to imply that you all must explain yourselves for my benefit, but it would just make the “support Bogdanovich” side look a little stronger. ;)
Bogdanovich has made several good films, but no great ones. I like The Cat’s Meow a lot. I don’t see much merit in Mask, Noises Off . . ., Illegally Yours, At Long Last Love, or Daisy Miller. To me his films often get too caught up in eulogizing Hollywood’s past.
“To me his films often get too caught up in eulogizing Hollywood’s past.”
This nicely sums up my reaction to The Cat’s Meow.
Yes, PB has made some flawed films and a couple of genuinely bad ones.
He also has two 5-star films to his credit.
A lot of directors who have on their resumes numerous very good films
still can’t claim two 5-star pictures.
I don’t how anyone can observe Paper Moon’s pacing, camera work, art direction,
comic timing and frisson between the two main players,
brilliantly timed introduction of highly memorable ancillary characters, and overall sense of period
(especially the soundtrack) without considering the film a masterwork.
It may be the best buddy picture, or road movie, made in the U.S..
That particular film doesn’t eulogize Hollywood; it recalls a lost time and place called Depression-era America.
As decades pass, it’s looking more and more like one of the key pictures of the 1970s.
The Last Picture Show is a masterpiece.
Fantastic start out the gate (Targets, Last Picture Show), runs steady for a bit (What’s Up Doc, Paper Moon), falls on his ass and never quite recovers (the rest of his career).
The last time I sported an ascot out in public I was beaten within an inch of my life. Just sayin’…
As mentioned before, I can’t support the man’s entire career only for the fact that I just saw my first film of his. But as strong as I felt about “The Last Picture Show”, I just can’t imagine him to be that bad a director.
Yes, I’m sure he made a few bad films. Everyone has. So maybe the statement that he never made a bad film is a little exaggerated. But maybe also his entire career isn’t as bad as some would have it.
“The Last Picture Show” seems to me to be a most unique classic, in the sense that it is a classic of the 70s but also plays like it could be a timeless classic from the even earlier era that it depicts. The film hovers strangely over the bounds of time somehow, and if you can defy time, by whatever means, that’s one of the definitions of a classic.
-That particular film doesn’t eulogize Hollywood; it recalls a lost time and place called Depression-era America.-
Yes, I agree, I like Paper Moon (and The Last Picture Show, and even Texasville and A Thing Called Love and Cat’s Meow_) a lot, and it certainly overcomes its self-consciousness. I had some of the lesser films in mind (_What’s Up, Doc? possession by Hawks’ Bringing Up Baby, for example).
-Cybil Shepard lit the screen up-
Yes, she lit up Bogdanovich too. Which unfortunately led to the folly of Daisy Miller.
The problem with Bogdanovich was/is Bogdanovich. He has some good films, but he’s never seemed to be able to get over himself thinking he knows all there is to know about Hollywood and filmmaking. I think his career can be seen as wasted promise.
Illegally Yours was an attempt at screwball comedy like Doc or Nickelodean.
It was a fun film. Collen Camp and Harry Carey did fine work
Lowe was out of his league trying to be O’Neal who was himself trying to be Grant.
It was a decent comedy, dont count on directors to be right about which films of theirs are good or bad.
“It was a decent comedy, dont count on directors to be right about which films of theirs are good or bad.”
I’m not just going on Bogdanovich’s opinion. It’s mine as well as critical and audience consensus (as much as both of those thigns are possible). That film is an unequivocal turkey. As are Nickelodeon and Daisy Miller.
I just saw “Targets” the other day which is the first film of his I’ve seen. And to be honest, I absolutely loved it, I’d give it a 10/10. For some reason, it just hit all the right notes for me.
I’ve heard a whole lot about “The Last Picture Show” so I will check it out within the next few days.
Nickelodeon is no turkey
it is a very well regarded film that shows up on tcm from time to time
it is considered one of the better 70s comedy films and no doubt on of the better Reynolds vehicles.
I like Daisy Miler for the lovely shots
he could film cybil incredible well (second only to the way John Derek shot Bo)
“Nickelodeon is no turkey
it is a very well regarded film that shows up on tcm from time to time”
Den, reality disagrees with you. The film – along with At Long Last Love – was a commercial and critical disaster. Yes, it has its revisionist champions but don’t equate that with “well-regarded.”
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/04/nickelodeon-the-new-version-of-peter-bogdanovichs-valentine-to-old-hollywood-.html
That article is actually pretty interesting since it gives additional evidence that Bogdanovich’s hubris was a cause of his career’s demise. In that sense, I don’t feel too bad for him (except for the Dorothy Stratten business of course).
Nobody backed me up on this, but I do think there’s a case to be made for Bogdanovich’s first wife Polly Platt being the secret ingredient to his early success. She worked on all of Bogdanovich’s films up until Purple Moon (his good films) and then when he was making mostly crap or not so good films, she was working on Pretty Baby, Broadcast News, Say Anything and Bottle Rocket (okay, I’m not a huge fan of all of these films but they still compare positively against anything Bogdanovich was doing at the same time).
No I agree with u about not feeling bad.
He seems like a real jerk, the Stratten thing was very sad since he had just worked with her & she came off very well I thought in They All Laughed (so did Ritter in that and Noises Off).
I cannot speak of what kind of failure Nick was at the time but now it is on Turner Classic Movies every once in a while and has a respectable dvd package (it has not been lost like Long Last Love) people talk about it more than say Saint Jack.
I think Platt was a good thing for him. I cannot blame him for leaving her at the time, his fame was huge and Cybil was lovely. I remember the book This is Orson Welles where Welles described in the late thirties meeting DW Griffith and being so disappointed cuz his hero was washed up and had not done a movie in some time while Welles was on the way up/ Bogdanovich kind of befriended Welles when Welles was washed up, now Peter is washed up (he was a punchline in Woody Allen’s Hollywood Ending). Bogdanovich, unlike Welles or Griffith, had no real innovation in him just a great reverence for classics and a real talent for framing a scene. I dont think he will ever make a comeback (tho his later films Thing Called Love and even the tv sequel To Sir with Love 2 are good films) because he is more of a good journeyman/workman director who has no distinct style of his own. That being said I will always like his older films and seek out his new ones
the only fim i ever saw any bit of by him was MASK, and only because it came on tv one time. i wasn’t too impressed and only watched 20 minutes of the film at most.
i’m still somewhat interested in the man because i know he was a good friend of orson welles, who left all footage of THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND to be edited and completed by bogdanovich. i’m really hoping that he sticks true to welles’ vision and completes this one soon. i trust he will since they were so close…
I like MASK a lot. And TARGETS. And love PAPER MOON and LAST PICTURE SHOW. And he’s a good actor, to boot. Check out THE SOPRANO’S if you don’t believe me.
Just watched Targets, how are people saying its a masterpiece? Cool movie, sure, but the pace was weird, the balancing of the two stories was totally off, most of the sniping scenes were totally overdone as well as exploitive, and it ended with Karloff slapping someone! I mean, I don’t mean to attack it, I thought it was a good movie with tons of cool touches and smart ideas (like,7/10ish good), but I can’t believe people regard it as a masterpiece. “They All Laughed”, on the other hand, perfect acting, hilarious script, true chemistry, and just a perfect mood the whole way through. One of the great hangout pictures, and an honest masterpiece.
@ JAKE
I haven’t seen THEY ALL LAUGHED. I should?
The Last Picture Show is a powerful film and looks wonderful. Paper Moon is also a great film and looks even better – just beautiful cinematography.
I remember enjoying What’s Up Doc when it first came out. I also enjoyed Mask quite a bit – even Cher was OK in it.
That’s all of his that I think I’ve seen.
Bogdanovich’s film career was perhaps on the slide a bit at the time of the Dorothy Stratten murder (around 1980?) – and who could blame him for faltering in a big way after that.
His knowledge of film is quite astonishing. I have been slowly working through “Who the Hell Made It?” and “Who the Hell’s In It?” and it’s very absorbing reading. He’s a good writer, a shameless name-dropper and self-promoter, yet his interviewing is very effective – he allows the directors and actors to speak freely and manages to get the most out of them with few questions. And of course there are the innumerable film intros on DVD and commentaries that he’s done. It’s this writing and commentary work above all else that makes him something of a treasure.
Bobby Wise
It looks like we need a thread on Bogdanovich. I just saw my first film by him. “The Last Picture Show”. It struck me as a brilliant film. I was moved by the cinematography, the sharp acting, the languid yet assured pacing, and the feel of a strong directorial hand behind it. I think he hit this one out of the ballpark. Surely it’s one of the best “coming-of-age” movies I’ve ever seen. There are so many true notes that the film touched perfectly.
I’m glad to have finally seen a Bogdanovich film. I love it when I finally come around to seeing a directors work after hearing about him for a long time, and the first example I watch goes over wonderfully. I’ll be looking forward to discovering the rest of his cinema. Would anyone care to discuss him, his work, and his place within the history of American cinema?