By Jeff Swindoll Feb 23, 2011, 15:06 GMT
Joseph McBride is a man at the ready. For six years in the 70s, he worked on a film with the great director Orson Welles that has still yet to see release. His costume is in a box in the attic just in case the need arises again. To pass the time he’s even written a book or two.
But seriously, Joseph McBride is a renowned author, screenwriter, journalist and teacher. He’s had a hand in greater Hollywood doings than I even realized as this fine documentary details.
I was amazed at the famous faces he appears with during the “early years” section. McBride’s father was a reporter so it’s in the blood. McBride’s journalistic training also comes from an age when you dug into your subject, not produced a puff piece to fill a page.
This dogged reporter’s drive would serve him well when he turned his gaze towards writing biographies. His fascination with Hollywood appeared at an early age and it also served him well in his career. His reporting career began in newspapers and his editor joked that he was the only reporter that carried a copy of Variety under his arm (I bet the other reporters had racing forms under theirs). That appendage may have served him well since he moved to California asking after a job on the iconic entertainment trade magazine and eventually landed one.
This association opened many doors to film sets and got McBride access to many of the old time Hollywood stars and directors he admired. He also got to write tributes for the American Film Institute for five years in a row, which also opened many doors to iconic names in the industry.
One of his remembrances recalls Henry Fonda rewriting one of his lines into a much better one – which he was thankful to Fonda for. After traipsing down memory lane we then have more detailed sections divided into the subjects of his books – John Ford, Frank Capra, and Steven Spielberg (his Spielberg book is just coming out in an updated second edition).
Each section offers interesting revelations about each subject. Ford believed his work spoke for itself and would grouchily play with interviewers, Capra was not the person you thought he was, and McBride recognized a talent in Spielberg and wrote a serious biography of him when others hadn’t delved into him. The final epilogue has him talking about his association with Orson Welles’ unfinished film the Other Side of the Wind.
It’s all fascinating stuff for film buffs, especially since it’s one of our own made good as McBride started off as a fan and found himself in the industry. One of his claims to fame is having worked on the script for cult classic Rock n’ Roll High School (1979). I have to confess fully that I’m friendly enough with Joe that he will return my emails, but I learned so much more about him in this grand documentary.
The documentary will premiere in April 2011 at the Tiburon International Film Festival in Marin County, California.
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