Blog 'em, Dano!

October 13, 2011 1:41 PM

Director, writer, and raconteur, Peter Bogdanovich has a blog where he talks movies -- and you better believe it's called BLOGDANOVICH.

Bogdanovich brings his warm and engaging style to such topics as legendary directors Ernst Lubitch and Jean Renoir, and classic films both foreign and domestic, much of it informed by an insider's view of Hollywood: "Therefore, if I should drop a name here and there, I’ve earned it, and anyway I’m just the conduit really from their spirit through my reports to you."

posted by villanelles at dawn (26 comments total)

He is a great storyteller, and has many to tell from his hangings-out with Welles, Hitchcock, all those guys. But damn if he didn't show so much promise gone to pot. I adore Last Picture Show and Paper Moon and I find it curious what happened to the quality of his work after that. It seems like at some point he just decided he'd rather be a guy who sat around telling stories about old Hollywood than a guy who actually made films.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 1:53 PM on October 13, 2011 [2 favorites]

Are you getting this, Norman Jewison?
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:57 PM on October 13, 2011

"and you better believe it's called BLOGDANOVICH."

[IMG]
posted by Eideteker at 1:59 PM on October 13, 2011 [10 favorites]

I'm with (A)Ha(W)O on this one - as a director Bogdanovich seems to have settled for much less than he's capable of. But I'm actually OK with that since he's done such a great job in his role as film historian with incredibly intimate first hand stories. Bogdanovich has crossed paths as a peer with so many legends that he's sort of the Al Kooper of the cinema world.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 2:01 PM on October 13, 2011

Currently working my way through a Hitchcock box set, and each film has a little 30-45 minute documentary with various contributors, including Peter Bogdanavich, who is invariably the most interesting and incisive. His blog looks equally interesting, so thanks to villanelles at dawn.
posted by afx237vi at 2:06 PM on October 13, 2011

Now, see, THIS is what Roger Ebert should be doing with his blog, not wading into the waters of whether or not video games are Art or not.
posted by crunchland at 2:10 PM on October 13, 2011 [2 favorites]

I adore Last Picture Show and Paper Moon and I find it curious what happened to the quality of his work after that.

Interestingly, Bogdanovich's three good films were the only ones with whom he collaborated with his then wife, the recently deceased Polly Platt.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 2:12 PM on October 13, 2011 [2 favorites]

Omigod he talks about Cassavetes.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:24 PM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is a really great film blog, although I have to admit that BLOGDANOVICH sounds like a second-rank 1970s TV cop show.
posted by jonp72 at 2:29 PM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Polly Platt is the really cool (barely) told story from that time.
posted by victors at 2:31 PM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh, my! And I just discovered At Long Last Love lurking about on Netflix streaming. I'd be ever so curious to hear what he thinks about that one.
posted by Spatch at 2:48 PM on October 13, 2011

On December 30, 1988, the 49-year-old Bogdanovich married 20-year-old Louise Stratten, Dorothy's younger sister, whom he had begun dating a few years after Dorothy's death.

Ever since I learned this, I can't think about Bogdanovich for long without getting queasy.

A true film lover, sure. But ewww...
posted by Trurl at 2:55 PM on October 13, 2011

I can't be the only one who finds Bogdanovich to be an insufferable windbag, great anecdotes, encyclopedic knowledge, or not. Still, great that's he's got a blog and all.
posted by blucevalo at 3:06 PM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I was watching The Cat's Meow, and I was struck at how Bogdanovich depicted Charlie Chaplin in the film. Chaplain was, of course, a film director who had a reputation for fucking his teenaged lead actresses, and Bogdanovich bent over backwards to ensure that Chaplin was portrayed in a positive light (compared to every other character in the film). I wasn't sure if the characters on the screen were supposed to be Chaplin and Marion Davies, or Bogdanovich and Stratten.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 3:13 PM on October 13, 2011

crunchland: "Now, see, THIS is what Roger Ebert should be doing with his blog, not wading into the waters of whether or not video games are Art or not."

Hold a grudge much? Out of all his blog posts, I think Ebert's devoted one or two to video games.
posted by octothorpe at 3:27 PM on October 13, 2011

Book 'em, Blogdano'
posted by zippy at 3:38 PM on October 13, 2011

durn tiny Metafilter post title that I never, ever read until after ...
posted by zippy at 3:38 PM on October 13, 2011

So how much is he really doing and how much is Iris Chester, his long-time assn't, doing? Indiewire is hosting his column for about a year.
posted by Ideefixe at 3:50 PM on October 13, 2011

Bogdanovich's three good films were the only ones with whom he collaborated with his then wife, the recently deceased Polly Platt.

Indeed. What's Up, Doc? is a classic screwball comedy. It even makes Barbra Steisand seem likeable. Though Madeline Kahn steals the movie.

"Where do think you're going with those rocks?! Those are Howard Bannister's rocks!"
posted by BitterOldPunk at 5:01 PM on October 13, 2011

Hah, I was very confused reading this thread... until I realized I was thinking of Eric Bogosian. carry on.
posted by not_on_display at 6:16 PM on October 13, 2011

His (commissioned, for a band anniversary) doc on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is surprisingly great. It's one of the best music docs I've seen, and I say that not even being much into Tom Petty.

More notably, Bogdanovich was the director of one masterpiece in "The Last Picture Show," one of my dozen or so favorites. So he didn't meet your expectations for "promise." Of what? Making another five to ten masterpieces? Something better than "The Last Picture Show," which reached a level of greatness that even the most consistently great directors never match? Do you ask that of everybody?
posted by raysmj at 6:32 PM on October 13, 2011

Hold a grudge much? --- Well, now that you mention it, I still haven't gotten over his glowing review of Garfield, either.
posted by crunchland at 6:59 PM on October 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

I agree that Bogdanovich never lived up to his potential, however I will forgive him that because of Paper Moon, which I adore. And while I find him to be sometimes a little too name-droppy and self-important, I will forgive him that because he does tell some great stories about classic Hollywood, which is one of my favorite subjects.

But must he wear that cravat?
posted by stennieville at 12:28 AM on October 14, 2011

Stennieville, you will be pleased to know that his nickname on Criterionforum.org is "Captain Ascot".
posted by pxe2000 at 4:42 AM on October 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

So he didn't meet your expectations for "promise." Of what? Making another five to ten masterpieces? Something better than "The Last Picture Show," which reached a level of greatness that even the most consistently great directors never match? Do you ask that of everybody?

I'm disappointed that he seemed to stop caring about making movies. I don't ask anything of anybody. But I love to watch great filmmakers make great films. So sue me. (Note: please don't actually sue me.)
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 8:03 AM on October 14, 2011

Speaking of not living up to expectations, have you ever seen Texasville? Not sure what he was trying to do there but he managed make a completely blah sequel to a great movie.
posted by octothorpe at 2:14 PM on October 14, 2011 [1 favorite]