Avid fan of good cinema. You could say that I have an eclectic taste because of the sheer scope of what cinema can do. It’s really hard for me to find one single moment in my life when I just started totally loving film. I generally didn’t see any classic movies as a little tyke other than “It’s a Wonderful Life”, an all-time fav. The medium of cinema has always fascinated me and as early as I can remember I’ve been preoccupied with visual stories. It’s funny that we saw that Raiders of the Lost Ark clip in class because I remember that film being very influential on me when I was around 11. The first time I saw it (on cable) I was riveted, having never seen a film so thrilling.
In 7th grade, when I was around 13, I made two decisions that greatly impacted my future in film. First, I saw a rerun of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a show which is tough to explain but is essentially a really great cult classic series that adds hilarious commentaries to terrible b-movies. Over the next few years I collected and saw every episode of the series, learning a great deal about how not to make films by observing the many flaws in these films…issues with continuity, editing, audio problems, the whole nine yards. Second, I decided that I wanted to expand my horizons and see really great movies, so I bought the latest Leonard Maltin movie guide and started browsing it and seeing movies that got good ratings in there. I have since learned that I disagree with Maltin on a great many films (He gave “48 Hours” 3 1/2 out of 4 stars but “Leon” gets only 2?). Around that time, I started really getting into classics and have never really gotten out. The work of Ford, Hitchcock, Welles, Sturges, Wilder, Lang, Powell & Pressburger…all of the essentials have become very important to me.
I specifically remember some films that I saw between those last couple years of junior high and my freshman year of highs school that had profound impact on me. “The Terminator”, which I found more inventive, compelling and thrilling than any action film I had ever seen. “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly”, which totally swept me up in Leone’s ridiculously awesome style and has never let me go. “Dirty Harry”, which I could not stop thinking about for the entire week after I saw it. “A Shot in the Dark”, the second (and I think, the best) pink panther film, made me laugh more than I ever had before. From thereon out, through high school I remember being mesmerized by dozens of great films. I remember experiencing the “Station Steps” scene from Brian DePalma’s “The Untouchables”, which led me to its inspiration, “Battleship Potemkin”, which was every bit as incredible. I remember seeing the opening shot of “The Searchers” and just sort of inhaling…and I don’t think I exhaled until the film ended. I discovered the over-the-top melodrama of Sam Fuller’s films, with their dynamically visceral cinematography that involved you in every aspect of the story, such as “Pickup on South Street” and “Shock Corridor”. I was equally enthralled with quietly poetic films like Bergman’s “Winter Light”, Wenders’ “Wings of Desire” and Kurosawa’s “Ikiru”. The hypnotic, liturgical trance of “Last Year at Marienbad”, the hilarious, bizarre blend of comedy and tragedy that is Godard’s “A Woman is a Woman”, the interweaving intricacy of Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts”, the visual smorgasbord of Bertolucci’s “Il Conformista”, the stark noir-ness of Jules Dassin’s “Night and the City”, the candy-colored cinematic insanity of Argento’s “Suspiria”. I suppose you could say that I love film.