COMIC ART GOES TO THE MOVIES
A generation ago, kids hid their ghoulish E.C. comic books—Vault of Horror, Two Fisted Tales, the original Mad—under their mattresses. Now they have pulled them out and made hit movies inspired by the comics’ style. David Chute traces the influence of comic art on pop movie art, from Russ Meyer’s lurid erotica through Conan the Barbarian and up to Stephen King and George Romero’s tribute to E.C.: Creepshow.
FASSBINDER: TWO TRIBUTES
Rainer Werner Fassbinder died in June at 36. He had been directing films for 13 years, and in that time made more than his contemporaries could plan in a full lifetime. Brooks Riley pays tribute to prolific, protean artist who was also a friend. Harlan Kennedy looks at four Fassbinder women—Maria, Lili, Lola, and Veronika—and sees a dark vision of modern Germany.
MIDSECTION: CELEBRITY
Celebrity: a kiss and a curse, a nose for notoriety, a pleasing eminence that can haunt the lustrous to the grave and beyond. Marilyn Monroe had it, and still does. David Thomson analyzes Marilyn as a pin-up photo supreme; David Stenn reports on the post-modern Marilyn industry and finds where all the bucks are buried. Edie Sedgwick was a celebrity for 15 minutes, as the first Warhol superstar, and now, 10 years after her death, is celebrity fodder again in a book and movie; J. Hoberman has some piquant thoughts. And two current celebrities, Jodie Foster and Nastassia Kinski, discuss the perils of being famous
HAWKS’S PHANTOM FILMOGRAPHY
“Directed by Howard Hawks.” That phrase appeared on 40 feature films, and guaranteed robust entertainment. But there were other projects, with just as much potential, that never made it to the screen. Todd McCarthy has tracked down the inside stories on these “lost films,” and shows how, in Old Hollywood or New, the best-laid scenarios can end up as tax write-offs.
JOURNALS
Mary Corliss finds magic at Cannes. Wendy Keys schmoozes with Robert Redford at Sundance. Mike Greco visits Andrzej Wajda in Paris.
FRENCH SCREENWRITERS
Even in the birthplace of the auteur theory, somebody has to write the scripts. Dan Yakir talks with Gerard Brach, Christopher Frank, Jose Giovanni, and Francis Veber.
BEGELMANIA
Hollywood just finished its hottest summer in ages. E.T. is a metamovie smash. So what are the moguls crying about? An old wound named David Begelman. By Harlan Jacobson.
‘FITZCARRALDO’
Deep in the Amazon, Werner Herzog had his own problems. His cast of thousands included Mick Jagger, Klaus Kinski, Amnesty International, and some angry Indians. By George Dolis and Ingrid Weigand.
PAUL BARTEL’S GUILTY PLEASURES
What should the perpetrator of Deathrace 2000 and Eating Raoul feel guiltiest about? Why, his own movies.
BOOKS
What’s the running time of A Night at the Opera? Which obscure players in Cool Hand Luke are today’s stars? How do you spell E.T.? Leonard Maltin, of TV Movies fame, has some answers.
BULLETIN BOARD
