User:TPoole/sandbox: Difference between revisions
added next citation |
another citation added |
||
| Line 41: | Line 41: | ||
four films need something else. They need to be reclaimed by film historians, because, while they have held a place in Mailer’s biography, they have usually been ignored in tales of the cinema. | four films need something else. They need to be reclaimed by film historians, because, while they have held a place in Mailer’s biography, they have usually been ignored in tales of the cinema. | ||
The first three of Mailer’s films bear a great deal of commonality to one another, but—at least in his mind—little resemblance to most, if not all, of the films that preceded them. Recounting the production of ''Wild 90'', he claimed, “We got the idea we would do fiction in documentary form” | The first three of Mailer’s films bear a great deal of commonality to one another, but—at least in his mind—little resemblance to most, if not all, of the films that preceded them. Recounting the production of ''Wild 90'', he claimed, “We got the idea we would do fiction in documentary form” {{sfn|Mailer|1967}}. The specific documentary form he had in mind was direct cinema as practiced by D. A. Pennebaker, who had directed ''Don’t Look Back'' in 1967 and ''Monterey Pop'' in 1968, a film that Mailer greatly admired. Pennebaker shot ''Wild 90'', which came—as the film’s credits tell us—“from a script which did not necessarily exist.” Pennebaker also later worked as one of the cinematographers on ''Beyond the Law'' and ''Maidstone''. | ||
Mailer later admitted that ''Wild 90'' was “tremendously amateurish,” but he was also firm in his belief that there were “elements in it that . . . were different from all the movies” he had ever seen | Mailer later admitted that ''Wild 90'' was “tremendously amateurish,” but he was also firm in his belief that there were “elements in it that . . . were different from all the movies” he had ever seen {{sfn|Mailer|1967}}. “Together with all the rough hewn sloppiness of the film,” he said, “there was also in it something vital that I liked” {{sfn|Mailer|1967}}. It was that same kind of vitality that he tried to explore in ''Beyond the Law'' and ''Maidstone''. As he claimed onscreen during a scene in ''Maidstone'', “We made a movie by a brand new process.” | ||
In his published essay “A Course in Film-Making,” which was ostensibly about the production of ''Maidstone'', Mailer modulated his position. He noted that he was not the first to “do fiction in documentary form” (“A Course” 217). Some person or group of persons had evidently brought this fact to his attention. Various filmmakers had worked without scripts, including the likes of Charlie Chaplin. The faking of non-fiction footage had long roots, ranging from the early cinema period (with its fabricated images of the Spanish-American War and famous boxing matches) to newsreels of the thirties (as lampooned in MGM’s 1938 feature ''Too Hot to Handle'' with Clark | In his published essay “A Course in Film-Making,” which was ostensibly about the production of ''Maidstone'', Mailer modulated his position. He noted that he was not the first to “do fiction in documentary form” (“A Course” 217). Some person or group of persons had evidently brought this fact to his attention. Various filmmakers had worked without scripts, including the likes of Charlie Chaplin. The faking of non-fiction footage had long roots, ranging from the early cinema period (with its fabricated images of the Spanish-American War and famous boxing matches) to newsreels of the thirties (as lampooned in MGM’s 1938 feature ''Too Hot to Handle'' with Clark | ||