Film Geeks Cheer for LAist’s Film Week Extravaganza

Over the weekend, I attended what has become an annual bash beloved by many Angeleno film geeks. For 22 years, Larry Mantle—the on-air voice of hugely popular public radio station LAist 91.3—has hosted an Academy Awards preview show, on which all eleven of the station’s regular “Film Week” critics give their candid opinions about the race for Oscar gold. The show is taped for broadcasting later this week, but in-person audiences also enjoy watching film clips and applauding loudly for their own favorites.

 This is the second year that the show was staged at the Orpheum Theatre, on Downtown L.A.’s historic Broadway. The street is lined with old movie palaces, many of which have been converted over time into churches, clothing emporia, and Apple stores. The Orpheum, originally a vaudeville house (from 1926) with a Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ, has played host to such stars as Will Rogers, Ella Fitzgerald, the Marx Brothers, and Judy Garland (as one of the singing Gumm sisters). It has also played a version of itself in movies like The Artist, A Mighty Wind, Barton Fink, and The Doors.

 This past Sunday, on the Orpheum stage, critics of various ages and outlooks vied with each other to make colorful pronouncements. One described the Best Supporting Actor race between Robert Downey Jr. (for Oppenheimer) and Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things) as Iron Man vs. The Hulk. Another, bringing up a particularly outrageous European film called Mad Heidi, opined, “It makes Poor Things look like On Golden Pond.” At times, the panelists seemed to be competing for the title of Most Curmudgeonly. One snarky older man, the only one who took the stage wearing a jacket and tie, avowed that only four of the Best Picture nominees deserved to be on the list.  And yet a critic praising Celia Song’s Past Lives quoted with admiration a line from the romantic film—“I didn’t know that liking your husband would hurt this much”—and explained that it had moved her to tears.

 It was fascinating to see which films got the most love from critics and audience members. This group was partial to witty flicks like American Fiction but also to those that are sensitive (Past Lives) or tough-minded (The Zone of Interest). Front-runner Oppenheimer garnered much enthusiasm, but Barbie too had her fans. Not so Killers of the Flower Moon or Maestro: I liked both these films a great deal, but seem to be in the minority. In some cases the discussion made me want to watch a film again: such is the case with the complex whodunit, Anatomy of a Fall. There was also much critical appreciation for a movie that didn’t rack up a single nomination, the British entry, All of Us Strangers.

 At the close of the show, audience members were able to ask questions of the panel. I often cringe when questioners use their spot at the microphone to show off their own smarts, but the questions asked at this event were pertinent, and elicited intelligent answers. Someone wanted to compare the Oscar chances of the sound designers behind the films Oppenheimer and The Zone of Interest, in both of which the audio track plays a key role. Another man questioned the public’s declining interest in the annual Oscar broadcast. I didn’t ask a question, but belatedly wished I had. Several of the Robert Downey fans on the panel said he was “due” for an Oscar, after years of strong work. Here’s my question: should Oscars winners be chosen for one outstanding performance or for the legacy of an entire career?

 

And Here’s to You, Buck Henry: Weird and Funny—with a Stroke

Buck as a hotel desk clerk in "The Graduate"

“Ben and Elaine are married still. . . . . Mrs. Robinson, her aging mother, lives with them. She’s had a stroke. And they’ve got a daughter in college—Julia Roberts, maybe. It’ll be dark and weird and funny—with a stroke.”  

This pitch for a sequel to The Graduate was the invention of the film’s screenwriter, Buck Henry. He had been invited to the set of Robert Altman’s 1992 Hollywood satire, The Player, which focuses on the increasingly fraught life of a studio development exec, played by Tim Robbins. Altman had told him to be creative. So as part of a bravura opening sequence, Henry pitched to Robbins’ character his idea for The Graduate, Part II, a follow-up to the hit 1967 comedy he’d written (and appeared in) back in 1967.His trademark deadpan delivery made the moment a delicious lampoon of Hollywood’s eternal search for the next big idea, even one that envisions the glamorous Mrs. Robinson as a stroke victim.

How sadly ironic that circa 2016, when I tried to contact Buck Henry for my Seduced by Mrs. Robinson: How The Graduate Became the Touchstone of a Generation, I learned he was too ill to connect with me. The reason: he’d been severely weakened by a stroke. From what I was told, it was no laughing matter. This man of great verbal inventiveness, a two-time Oscar nominee and frequent guest-host on Saturday Night Live, was not up to being interviewed for a book on one of his most memorable film creations.

Happily for me, I got to meet Buck Henry, though it was six months after my book’s 2017 publication. Larry Mantle, the popular host of KPCC-FM’s AirTalk, had launched a film series highlighting movies set in Southern California. The series kicked off at a vintage DTLA movie palace with a screening of Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown. I’d like to think it was an on-air interview I did with Larry on KPCC that inspired him to choose The Graduate as his series follow-up. I was invited to be part of the post-screening panel, which also featured the film’s producer, Lawrence Turman, and film critic Peter Rainer. To my delight, Buck too agreed to appear. No question that the stroke had taken a toll: he showed up in a wheelchair, fussed over by attendants, and the seating was arranged on-stage so that he could favor the side of his body that still pretty much worked.

I was so awed and thrilled to meet Buck backstage that I didn’t get to ask many questions. He did affirm, though, that his birth name was Henry Zuckerman. “Buck,” he explained, was his birth nickname, borrowed from his grandfather. And he made clear that, despite the gag sequence in The Player, he had never actually considered doing a follow-up to the story of Benjamin Braddock and Elaine Robinson. Like Larry Turman, he could not account for why there had been a stag event on the Graduate set that featured topless young ladies cozying up to the male cast and crew members. (I had brought along copies of archival photos proving this happened, but both Buck and Larry swore they didn’t remember a thing about this obviously lively event.)

One question I didn’t have the heart to ask Buck: why he held in his lap a whimsical teddy bear, upon which his withered arm rested. Stuffed animals and Buck Henry did not seem to go together. Still, when he took the stage, I was glad to see his wit was in no way impaired.

Rest in peace, Buck – you’ve earned it! 

Here’s a link to the broadcast that was aired after our live event, along with a picture of Buck in his wheelchair.

And here's that scene from The Player.