I recently attended a lecture by Peter Bogdanovich at the UCLA Hammer Theater. For those of you who don't know as well as being a director he is also a well acclaimed film historian who has interviewed, as well as developed close friendships with actors and directors ranging from Martin Scorsese to Orson Welles. One of his more famous works is "Who The Devil Made It" is a book consisting of interviews with sixteen different directors.
This lecture he lovingly titled "Sacred Monsters" was a more in depth look at a few of the directors from his book. I was expecting the lecture to be a bit dull simply because that is usually the case with two hour lectures. Fortunately I was absolutely wrong. Although Bogdanovich spent the entirety of his time on stage talking about different characters he had encountered in his life, I think he turned out to be the biggest character of all. Bogdanovich's impersonations happened to be spot on. One of my favorite parts of the lecture was him discussing one of the first times he met Alfred Hitchcock. He told the story acting out both his part as well as that of Hitchcock.
Bogdanovich explained that Hitchcock had taken him out for drinks one night for an interview at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. They both got into the elevator to finish the interview in Hitchcock's room. Right as they stepped onto the elevator Hitchcock turned to Boddanovich and said ''Well, it was quite shocking, I must say there was blood everywhere!'' He continued to go on explaining the gruesome details of this event all the way up 25 floors. All of the other hotel patrons on the elevator pretended not to be eaves dropping. "There was blood coming from his ears and from his mouth". Right as the elevator doors open Hitchcock says "And do you wanna know what he said to me?" The elevator doors open and shut once before people finally began to exit. Once everyone had exited Bogdanovich asked what the bloody man had said and Hitchcock replied "Oh nothing, that's just my elevator story." It seems to me that nothing could better explain Hitchcocks theory that suspense is always superior to shock than this little anecdote about him.
Bogdanovich was able to do this with every person that he spoke on. I feel that I learned a great amount about the film world right down to the fact that even Cary Grant was self conscious about his looks because he felt that his "nostrils were the size of parking garages". It was a great experience that I would recommend to anyone with the opportunity to see him speak again.
6 comments:
The story about Hitchcock was very interesting and funny. The fact that he had an elevator story is such a Hitchcock thing to do I feel like. I always liked the way he thinks. I do not know (or didn't know) anything about Peter Bogdanovich, but am very curious if he has any other lectures coming up in the future. A lecture like this is something I would like to attend.
What a fascinating individual. The story about Hitchcock makes me think that he used people around him as testing ground for his different ideas. Surely the elevator story changed each time told it. I would suspect that having spent so much time with Hitchcock and the others that you mentioned; Bogdanovic’s book has some very interesting (and quirky) insights into the quirks of the individuals themselves. Did I mention I just love the picture of him you posted? How did he get his start in the business? What brought him to all these people and how did his personality allow them to become so close?
Peter Bogdanovich is one of the very few critics and writers on film who became a filmmaker himself, although this was common in France in the 50’s and 60’s (Godard, Truffaut, Chabrol et al.). His best films strongly reflected his love of film and touches from his favorite directors such as Howard Hawks, John Ford, Orson Welles, can be seen in his own work. Bogdanovich made three very good films at the beginning of his directing career: “The Last Picture Show” (1971), “What’s Up Doc”(1972) and “Paper Moon” (1973) and then never made a film to match these in the thirty years thereafter. What happened?
There is a theory that this decline began with his divorce from wife Polly Platt who was his costume designer, production designer, soul mate, and muse. They had been together from the earliest days when they began interviewing and actually becoming friends with several great directors. The pretty, charming and very smart Polly was undoubtedly and important asset that helped Bognanavich gain intimate access you these iconic filmmakers. If you’ve ever met her, you can understand why.
Polly Platt had creative input on every level during the preparing and making of Bogdanovich’s first four films. Then he fell in love with Cybil Shepherd, the young star, of the “The Last Picture Show,” which led to Polly divorcing him and permanently leaving Peter’s creative team. Clearly, his films were never again as well chosen or as good. He still occasionally directs a low budget film or for TV and he works occasionally as an actor (“The Sopranos”,) but it as an entertaining lecturer about the great directors of Hollywood’s past where he is still at the top of his game.
Alexander Roos 3.22.09
It is very interesting that the lecturer becomes the subject of discussion. I can visualize Bogdanovish impersonating various actors and almost making a fool out of himself. However, I felt as if your blog was more about his skills in impersonations. Maybe I am wrong, but rather than really talking about the lecture itself you seemed to focus more on the Hitchcock elevator story above all else. Bogdanovish seems like a very interesting person and I would have loved to hear more about his ideologies and thoughts from his lecture.
That sounds like such an interesting lecture. I love hearing from people who have been a part of the business. It is amazing to hear their stories about people that we admire. Especially stories like the Hitchcock one. Hitchcock is regarded as such a genius in the cinema world and yet, he actually had a story just for the elevator. I think that it is an interesting observation that Hitchcock, as a man, relied so much on suspense. His work is obviously a tribute to suspense but it never occurred to me that he would live his life or interact with people that way.
Ah, Christina, how you've made my day...
I think Bogdonavich's criticisms and writings are fascinating and have an incredibly self-awareness to them that makes them almost charming. It's great to know he lives up to that in person.
What sounds to most fascinating is the performative nature of his lecture - it adds this meta-textual, reflexivity to his work. I mean, he's a film critic, turned director, turned (essentially) biographer, conveying "insider" information about the heroes of the film industry in a highly theatrical way. Maybe it's just me weird interest in mixed texts, but I think that's fascinating.
All that aside, I really enjoy his writing and am quite pleased that I got a chance to read this.
Cheers,
Meredith
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