Robin Wood
Film critic Robin Wood's Hitchcock's Films was the second in-depth analysis of the films of Alfred Hitchcock that I read as a young lad. (The first was the legendary Hitchcock/Truffaut.) This brave, passionate essay went out on a limb by taking seriously the films of a director who'd been regarded his whole career as a kind of droll comedian. Wood instead saw a series of films rich with perception, shadows, moral ambiguity and profound echoes.
Wood was a huge influence; he'll always be in my pantheon of critics. He died last Friday, but the N.Y. Times obit didn't happen until today.
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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 22, 2009 at 4:14 PM
comment #1
Ulysses
says ...
His book of essays on the horror film, The American Nightmare, is really an excellent read.
Posted by Ulysses
at December 22, 2009 5:14 PM
comment #2
Bilge
says ...
It was announced when it happened, Jeff. It's just that the Times didn't get its obit out until today.
Posted by Bilge
at December 22, 2009 6:51 PM
comment #3
hunterd
says ...
His book "Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan" literally changed my life.
Posted by hunterd
at December 22, 2009 7:16 PM
comment #4
Gaydos
says ...
Can someone send this book to Steven Soderbergh? He might begin to understand why movies mattered and still do, when they're directed by folks with the vision and the chops.
Seriously, I didn't read past the set up paragraph on the "Che" thing as I generally prefer my fish in a lake or ocean, not in the proverbial barrel.
But all of these pieces you deliver, Jeff, remind your fans of why this site is addictive.
You've got your own vision and chops. And a sense of history, marinated in a lifetime of moviegoing passion. Thanks for all the hard work this year. You've enriched my ink-stained life for another 365 days. Merry Christmas!
Posted by Gaydos
at December 22, 2009 9:42 PM
comment #5
LexG
says ...
RIP ROBIN WOOD.
HOLLYWOOD FROM VIETNAM TO REAGAN was (and likely still is) a Film Studies mainstay. Then as now, I don't agree with some of his crazier, Marxist flights of fancy, but I've carried that book around for 17 years and revisit it constantly. Some brilliant essays in there (and the occasional craziness, like his homoerotic read on Raging Bull, or his quickness to attribute some "papering the cracks" fascism on some perfectly harmless '80s popcorn flicks)....
But his take on unfairly maligned films like LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, CRUISING, and HEAVEN'S GATE, to name but a few, are well worth reading (again and again)... He could be a little nutty in his anti-patriarchal zeal, but was a key voice in showing that a "movie review" or analysis didn't have to be a bunch of blurb-worthy capsule superlatives. A really interesting perspective and highly influential...
Again, RIP and thanks for both the brilliant insights AND the frustrating ones.
Posted by LexG
at December 23, 2009 1:24 AM
comment #6
Noah Cross
says ...
I read Wood's take on Hitchcock before I read Truffaut.
I too loved that he took Hitch's films seriously. But I also recall that he argued Hitch's sloppy technic in some films such as the unconvincing rear projection was for a reason, to creat a dream like state.
I was very impressed to see Wood years later retrack that idea and write that Hitchcock was just lazy at times.
How rare and refreshing to see a critic reconsider such an issue.
Posted by Noah Cross
at December 23, 2009 2:27 AM
comment #7
bill weber
says ...
A great critic. Further reading:
http://www.theauteurs.com/notebook/posts/1345
That "sloppy" rear projection was fairly standard form in Hitchcock's day.
Posted by bill weber
at December 23, 2009 3:45 AM
comment #8
Noah Cross
says ...
Bill - Agree Hitchcock used the standard rear projection of his day, but for a time Wood argued it was purposeful artifice - particularly in Marnie. I was just mentioning that Wood had the admirable quality of re-evaluating his reviews and arguments. (I believe. Hitchcock did continue to use rear projection, prefering the stability of a studio even location shooting became more of the standard.)
Posted by Noah Cross
at December 23, 2009 5:04 AM
comment #9
TL
says ...
Wood was such an astute critic and persuasive writer that I'm almost inclined to agree with his take on Marnie, even though all historical accounts of its production that I've read refute it. (Those involved seem to agree that Hitch just stopped caring about the project.)
Stumbling on "Hitchcock's Films Revisited" in a used bookstore, having no prior knowledge about it, was one of the finds of my life.
Posted by TL
at December 23, 2009 6:37 AM
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