We dive back into the Kennedy Center Honors, this from 1990 for the great writer-director Billy Wilder. It's all helped, too, with Jack Lemmon as a terrific host with engaging stories. And Walter Matthau adding some great stories of his own. The film clips of his remarkable range of movies -- from comedies to serious drama and film noirs -- are what stand out. He's a tough honorees to figure out what to do for the entertainment section. But although it's sort of an uncommon selection, they came up with a very entertaining fit. It's a long scene and song from the Broadway musical City of Angels, which is about movie screenwriters and film noir. (With a book written by Larry Gelbart, I must note.) I have two minor overlaps with Billy Wilder. The first is that I used to sub-lease a small, cubicle-like office in an old building in Beverly Hills. And one of the tenants there was Billy Wilder. (I'm sure he had a much bigger office.) I never chose to knock on his door and interrupt, though occasionally I would wander by just to look at it. And the other is that I once attended a tribute evening for him at the Writers Guild theater. And after the movie, he did a long, wonderful Q&A. I remember a few things from the occasion -- He wasn't especially crazy about the idea of turning his movie Sunset Boulevard into a musical. He was reasonably okay with remaking his film Sabrina, but was very bothered by how they were doing it. And his reasoning was really smart. To paraphrase him, he said -- "When I made Sabrina, the two male leads were Humphrey Bogart and William Holden, who were the two top box-office stars of the day. The audience didn't know who Audrey Hepburn would chose, and it kept their curiosity up. In the remake, it stars Harrison Ford and some guy named Greg Kinnear." (It was one of Kinnear's first movies, and his first starring role.) To which Wilder then added, "Who do you think the girl is going to end up with?" And third thing was a great story he told about being with the U.S. Army in WWII and serving on the repatriation board, that determined if "former Nazis" who had renounced their party membership could return to positions in society. (Wilder was born in Poland, but worked in Berlin as a screenwriter before escaping and making his way to Hollywood.) One of the people coming before the board was a famous German actor who was renowned for playing Jesus Christ in the Passion Play at Oberammergau for many years. He had renounced his membership as a Nazi and wanted to be allowed to against play Jesus in the Passion Play. Wilder said that he looked at the man and said, "Permission granted. As long as they use real nails." Here's his presentation.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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