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When The American Cinema came out in the 60s, I devoured it, I memorized it, I underlined all the movies in the yearly lists as I saw them. I've still got my original dog-eared copy. I collected his Voice columns, still have those too. Mostly it was his enthusiasm, and his romantic view of looking at movies (and life,too) that meant the most. A great critic from a great era!

Sarris is a huge loss. His advocacy of auteurism can be felt in details as simple as how we title our forum threads.

david hare wrote:Let's hope for the best for Molly Haskell, another very fine (and overshadowed) writer on film.

Amen. From Reverence To Rape was another big influence for me. Holding My Own In No Man's Land is a fine collection and her recent book on Gone With The Wind is an excellent introduction to Margaret Mitchell and Selznick. I can't say I'm a fan of the film, but her appreciation of Mitchell was nuanced and informative. Her retelling of the film's production history was very engaging. One of the best books that I read that year.

Jeff Keen.

A shame. She had really hit a nice stride with the underpraised Julie & Julia and Hollywood filmmaking won't be the same without her.

Emi of The Peanuts (71 years old)

hearthesilence wrote:Nora Ephron

mfunk9786 wrote:A shame. She had really hit a nice stride with the underpraised Julie & Julia and Hollywood filmmaking won't be the same without her.

Regardless of the results, she was one of the very few female filmmakers who could get a film made by a studio. It's a great shame to lose one of them when so little progress has been made over the decades.

It is certainly good that Ephron did not bow out with that Bewitched remake. This seems like the best time to link to that episode of Where's Elvis This Week? on which Ephron appeared, hosted by a pre-Daily Show Jon Stewart!

I think the A.V. Club nailed it, her movies made her much more wealthier and better known, but by far her best writing was in print, especially her earlier stuff.

Stephen Dwoskin.

Link to follow.

What with Jeff Keen too, this has not been a good month for the British avant-garde.

Joan Scott (wife of and front for blacklisted producer/writer Adrian Scott).

A pair of classic sitcom stars:

Doris Singleton, best known to I Love Lucy fans as Carolyn Applebee.

Don Grady, the eldest son on My Three Sons.

Takeo Chii, at 70 years old.



Debut film acting was "Kill!", starred in countless movies and TV shows. He had his own daily TV series "Chii Sanpo) which he walked around mostly in Tokyo, discovering places and people (he came right by my house 3 years ago). He retired from the show a few months ago due to health concerns.

I remember him also as the main male character Muraki (the actors, characters and situations change for each film in the series but the names of the lead characters, Nami and Muraki, are a constant) in the best, or at least most jaw-dropping, of the Angel Guts films, Nami!

Count Robert de la Rouchefoucauld. Though I can't say I agree with everything the man did, his obituary is a blast to read.

It's depressing how many of the heroes of the Resistance turn into Colonel Mathieu figures of imperialism after the war. Still, I don't think that negates the heroism of what he did during the resistance, and it is one hell of a story.

bearcuborg wrote:Andy Griffith passes away at 86.

I feel sadder about this than I normally would about someone his age dying. What a great guy who left behind some truly wonderful work. If you're one of the few members of this forum that has never seen A Face in the Crowd, then do it. Do it now.

It is a great film and hints at dramatic possibilities unrealized by his genial work elsewhere. I grew up on the Andy Griffith Show and Matlock, so he was an ever-present personality in my childhood. RIP indeed

My introduction to Andy as a five-year-old. I wore out at least two copies of this (with the B side No 1 Street) on my kiddie Victrola. I still think the ending is a pretty good metaphor for trying to get through life.

I absolutely loved seeing Andy Griffith with Elinor Donahue on that first season of his show. I remember reading that Elinor left cause she thought they didn't have chemistry, but I thought both had amazing chemistry with each other. Was a huge fan of his show when I was younger and I still catch it every once in a while when I'm channel surfing. Sad to see him gone. Great guy that I looked up to as a kid.