Peter Bogdanovich (1939-2022)
Thursday, January 6, 2022 at 6:00PM by Eric Blume
Oscar-nominated director Peter Bogdanovich has died at age 82. Famous primarily for directing three classic films consecutively early in his career, he was a true lover of the medium and a key influence on fostering in a new energy in American cinema during the 1970s.
Bogdanovich's early career was as a film programmer for New Yorks' Museum of Modern Art. He watched over 400 films a year and kept reviews for each one of them. His passion for and understanding of film got him a gig as assistant to Roger Corman, who helped him direct his first film, Targets, in 1968. This led to the three-film master stretch for which Bogdanovich is most remembered and treasured...
Directing Cybil Shepherd in "The Last Picture Show"
In 1971, his film adaptation of the Larry McMurtry novel The Last Picture Show debuted to rave reviews and eight Academy Award nominations. Bogdanovich brought a perfect visual equivalent and aching lyricism to McMurtry's prose, shooting this film of stagnant lives in stark black-and-white, and pacing it with subtlety and grace. He got ace performances from early-career Cybill Shepherd, Timothy Bottoms, and Eileen Brennan. Jeff Bridges and Ellen Burstyn got Oscar nominations, and Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson both won supporting awards for their incredible performances. This is a stunning film that's essential American Cinema viewing. It's aged beautifully, and if Bogdanovich had only made this movie, it would have been a major accomplishment.
With Babs on the set of "What's Up Doc"
He followed up the following year with What's Up, Doc?, an updating of classic screwball farce from "Old Hollywood". Bogdanovich's affection for the genre is front-and-center, and he commands a fierce talent for constructing physical comedy. He also found an incredible balance in this film: he has firm control of how to set up a joke, while allowing for a breezy sense of improv and whimsy. The film is both meticulously planned and also gloriously loosey-goosey. He brought out a sensuality and sexiness in Barbra Streisand that nobody else ever captured as well, and he focused Madeline Kahn into a marvelously funny caricature performance for the ages.
with Tatum O'Neal on "Paper Moon"
He teamed with Kahn and Ryan O'Neal again the following year for 1973's Paper Moon, which The Film Experience has discussed extensively in the past. It's doesn't play very funny decades later, but it's a truly interesting nostalgia piece with complex characters and a love-of-old-movies energy that's very infectious. Bogdanovich really saw something in O'Neal and used his handsomeness to great effect, and of course he directed the actor's daughter Tatum to the Best Supporting Actress Oscar that year.
On the set of "Mask" with Cher
Bogdanovich made twelve films after this triad, including 1981's They All Laughed with Audrey Hepburn, 1985's Mask with Cher and Eric Stoltz, and 2001's The Cat's Meow with Kirsten Dunst. He made some real duds in there (including 1975's unwatchable musical At Long Last Love, with Burt Reynolds and Cybill Shepherd), and never got anywhere near his heydey in the early 70s. But he's left us with three indisputable classics, which is more than most directors give us, and his love of the artform was always very moving. We don't have a lot of the great 70s directors left, and he's a treasured member of the heights we had during that incredible decade of film.
Directors, Oscars (70s), Peter Bogdanovich, RIP
Reader Comments (11)
He was great and just a lot of fun as a person. Including his deep love of film, I'll always remember his gonzo appearance on the Good Wife in 2014. His work with Ryan O'Neal was great, and it's an interesting star/director combo.
Here is my list of his work that I've seen from him so far as he is someone that deserves his props and I also enjoyed the fact that he was also an appreciator of history. He will be missed.
I love The Last Picture Show, but I wouldn’t dub Cybill Sheperd’s performance as the aces. The fashion model struggled in her first acting role. In interviews she credited director Elaine May (The Heartbreak Kid) for later teaching her that an actress should listen to the other actors when they are speaking. I have always felt Bogdanovich chose incorrectly when he cast Jacy Farrow with the magazine cover girl over the runner up, Sissy Spacek.
All of this, and I also have to mention Orson Welles and The Sopranos when bidding farewell to Bogdanovich.
His three classics are a cinematic blessing. I respect the guy for his love of 'the film masters' and classic movies. His interviews with fabled directors are definitely worth reading. It was great that old-time directors trusted/appreciated his movie love that they'd go into details about their work. RIP, Mr. Bogdanovich!
Loved his guest appearances in The Sopranos.His three first movies are fabulous and -as William Friedkin just tweeted- he had many more to give.
The Thing Called Love was good.
I just watched SAINT JACK tonight and I was shocked by how unexpectedly.... queer it was, or at least something queer theorists could have a field day with. The closest, most profound relationship in the film (maybe in any film I've seen in weeks) is the one between Ben Gazzara's character and Denholm Elliott's character in this film. Then you've got George Lazenby as the gay US Senator and Gazzara's moral dilemma regarding him. It's not flashy, but it's going to make me do a lot of thinking about Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick for the next 12 hours or so.
it may feel odd, but my two faves are Targets and Noises Off (which is a splendidly directed comedy).
R.I.P.
Targets is great (and depressingly timely in the 2020s), and while I haven't seen it in ages I remember Noises Off being a fun, bright, lively adaptation. The Last Picture Show is a treasure (and a feast for those who appreciate '70s actresses), but as a kid What's Up, Doc? was my favorite movie (and I still think it's one of the best comedies Hollywood ever produced) so I'd go with that one as my favorite.
Vulture did a great if eyebrow-raising interview of him a couple of years ago that they're running again. I don't particularly admire his attitude towards women (and he's just wrong about Cher), but he was certainly frank and unapologetic about who he was, which was rather refreshing.
In Conversation: Peter Bogdanovich