Otto Preminger (1905-1986) is the subject of a 23-movie retrospective of his controversial career at Film Forum from Jan. 2 to Jan. 17. I have been graciously quoted in the publicity release as having once noted: “Otto Preminger is still the most maligned, misjudged, misperceived and misunderstood American filmmaker. His films have stood up better Read More
OTTO PREMINGER: THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING
By Foster Hirsch
Alfred A. Knopf, 573 pages, $35
Otto Preminger’s primary problem was that every self-aggrandizing publicity campaign, every outlandishly elongated two-and-a-half-hour movie, implied he was a genius when in fact he only possessed talent.
The backlash was considerable.
It was Preminger’s Read More
In 2005, any slight change in the real-estate market was typically greeted with an ominous headline or cover story.
When mid-year reports showed massive quarter-to-quarter gains, people warned of a bursting bubble on the horizon.
Then, when the rate of appreciation slowed down in the third quarter—with the average sale price of co-ops Read More
Where will Johnny Damon end up living? Our bet is on a big, brassy condo building near the FDR.
Deck-shuffling at the Javits Center has ignited a battle between Moinian and Witkoff to build the convention hall’s hotel.
Manhattan real estate is expensive! That’s about all anyone can agree upon Read More
Breathe easy: I think it’s safe to say without much exaggeration (and only an understandable modicum of self-congratulation) that The Observer has saved Laura. Saved the last, incomplete, unseen Vladimir Nabokov manuscript from a threat of destruction.
In a convoluted way, my plea to Dmitri Nabokov, the son, translator and defender of his father’s legacy Read More
Todd Haynes’ Far from Heaven , from his own screenplay, is well worth seeing for its visual approximation of the Douglas Sirk–Ross Hunter “women’s pictures” of the 50′s, several with closet-gay icon Rock Hudson as the male lead. Having reached adulthood and even gone into the Army during the Korean War in the 50′s, I Read More
Ben Stiller, Drew Barrymore and Harvey Fierstein were standing on the curb in front of an ornate, four-story brownstone at 240 Berkeley Place in Park Slope waiting for something.
Then the front door to the house opened and a couple emerged.
“It’s a dream house. It’s so quiet,” said the woman, coming down the Read More
Peter Bogdanovich’s Movie of the Week
In 1959–when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe were red-hot–one of the finest and most important American films was released, did well, won an award or two (like the New York Film Critics’ selection of James Stewart as best actor) and then passed from the scene. Read More
Deirdre Dolan and Peter Bogdanovich
Candid Camera Dupes Critics … Sitcoms Are Hiring … Koppel’s in the Clink … South Park ‘s Easy Way Out
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Peter Bogdanovich’s Movie of the Week
Since the Museum of Modern Art has been doing a long overdue Otto Preminger retrospective, and New Yorkers have been rediscovering Read More
