An interesting week.
Sorry to see that Don Hewitt died. Hewitt's most notable effort, 60 Minutes, was and is an important part of my life. I essentially stopped watching network television when I headed off to college. There was one exception, 60 Minutes. The other was, years later, The Sopranos. Sunday nights have been sacred television time in my house for years now. That's thanks to David Chase and, especially, to Don Hewitt and the cast, producers and staff of 60 Minutes.
I saw a screening of Ang Lee's new film Taking Woodstock last night. Lee is a great filmmaker and this small, delicate movie is quite good. I have listened to a lot of Woodstock-ology these past few weeks as we mark the 40th anniversary of the event. Some of the commentary has been downright weird. Tom Ashbrook of WBUR did a segment on the event and he seemed to dismiss or reduce its significance with each call he took. I like to think that before there was Facebook and Twitter, Woodstock exemplified what "social networking" was in the late 1960s. Young people got together to, like, y'know... hang out.
My blog about Michael Vick generated a lot of emotional response. Some even sounded like they wanted to take me outside and... well, never mind. It was not my aim to minimize what Vick did. But KLDickson, you gotta chill, man. I wonder what medical experiments can cure you of that tired prejudice you have against people in my business.
Lastly, RJ Cutler has a new film, The September Issue, examining the inner workings of Vogue magazine and its Sphynx-like editor, Anna Wintour. Cutler, who was a producer on The War Room and directed one of my favorite documentaries, A Perfect Candidate (which covered the Chuck Robb-Oliver North Senate race) is a great filmmaker and I think you should get to the theatre to see his latest, The September Issue.
PS...Some wondered why I omitted Martin Scorsese from the list of directors I had worked with in my blog on John Hughes. I suppose it was unconscious. Marty, to me, is not on any list. He occupies a place in filmmaking history entirely on his own.