Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 21, 1995 TAG: 9501240015
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SUSAN KING LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: HOLLYWOOD LENGTH: Long
Produced by the New York Center for Visual Art, KCET-TV (the PBS station in Los Angeles) and the BBC, ``American Cinema'' is not a typical clip anthology but a serious study of American filmmaking over the last 100 years. Each hour examines an aspect of American movies - from the style of filmmaking to the concept of the movie star to the rise and fall and rise of the studios to specific genres known as film noir, the western, the combat film and the screwball comedy.
``American Cinema'' also features a stellar array of interviews with leading directors, producers, industry executives, stars, film historians, screenwriters, editors and cinematographers. To drop a few names: Robert Altman, James L. Brooks, Clint Eastwood, Michael Eisner, Peter Falk, Harrison Ford, Samuel Fuller, Charlton Heston, Jack Lemmon, George Lucas, Joseph Mankiewicz, Sidney Lumet, Sydney Pollack, Julia Roberts, Gena Rowlands, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Oliver Stone. John Lithgow is the host.
The series is to serve as a fully accredited college course, which will include a textbook, ``American Cinema/American Culture'' by John Belton; a study guide by Edward K. Sikov, and three additional half-hour programs. A glossy companion book, ``American Cinema - One Hundred Years of Filmmaking,'' by Jeanine Basinger, was published last fall by Rizzoli.
Lawrence Pitkethly is the executive producer of ``American Cinema.'' The Northern Ireland native is a writer, journalist, filmmaker and co-founder of the New York Center for Visual History. He previously conceived and developed ``Voices & Visions,'' the acclaimed 13-part documentary series on American poetry that aired on PBS in 1988.
Pitkethly discussed ``American Cinema'' over the phone from his house in New York.
Q: ``American Cinema'' looks at film as an industry, an art form and a mirror of our culture. How did you arrive at the concept for the series?
A: The general public has a kind of love affair with movies, an obsession with movies. Not just in Los Angeles, but in every city in the United States. But there is actually very little on television for people who want to get a handle on a lot of things they are talking about. There is very little history. One of the strongest reasons for doing the series was to make a lot of information available in a general way.
We are obviously coming up to the centenary of cinema [this year]. So this was really a project looking to 100 years of film and saying this is a way to celebrate one of America's greatest cultural achievements, the entertainment success story of all time.
There is a third [reason] that was really behind this thing. I think we have really reached an interesting moment in our society for retrieving the history of Hollywood. That is to say, you looked at old films in revival houses or you looked at old films on TV and then videocassettes came long. For the first time in American culture you could actually have the pleasure of seeing films for the first time or of seeing films that you hadn't seen since you were a kid. This is a very interesting moment where I think people across America can surf between decades. It is an incredible opportunity for the culture at this point to get a handle on its history. What this TV series does, for the first time, is offer the public a way of getting a lot of handles on film and thinking about films in a way they probably haven't thought of them before.
Q: ``American Cinema'' also makes a very strong case for film preservation.
A: It was very important that we include ... some way of drawing attention to people that movies are not just popular entertainment; they are more than popcorn. They are an incredible artistic achievement, and if you convince people that ... then, of course, you make the preservation argument because you have to keep the heritage and preserve the culture.
It has been incredibly important to have all of the major studios back this project. It is a celebration of Hollywood. Everybody has gotten together and been very supportive. Bill Kobin, president of KCET, and Stephen Kulczycki, station manager, have been enormously helpful in arranging interviews in Los Angeles and in putting the project together.
We have worked very closely with the Museum of Modern Art in New York and with Mary Lea Bandy, the director of the Department of Film. She, along with Jeanine Basinger, who is our senior consultant, and the late Ron Haver of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, became our ambassadors to the studios to really articulate our cause. I have just been very appreciative of that.
Q: How would you define ``American film''?
A: I think what we wanted to do with this series is really explain, ``Why do we love the cinema?'' and, to be begin with, ``What is American film?'' The first three programs really look at style, the system and the star, which is what the American film is. I think that's a very interesting, kind of radical way of going about it, which is to say there is such a thing as an American movie. You can recognize it. It's a certain kind of product and it's also a certain kind of art. It's all recognizable - the style and the way stories are told. It's a certain kind of storytelling and a certain way of using character. I think a lot of people out there never thought about this. I think it's wonderful when you get very engaging directors who think about these things all the time, like Martin Scorsese and Sydney Pollack - people like that taking you into that world and how they think, not just in terms of their own films, but films they learned from and the tradition and history of Hollywood.
``American Cinema'' will air Monday and Jan. 30 and Feb. 13, 20 and 27 from 9 to 11 p.m. on WBRA-Channel 15.
by CNB