Hollywood and John Updike, who died today at the age of 76, never made
for the easiest of bedfellows. In 1970, the underrated director Jack
Smight took an admirable stab at filming Rabbit, Run,
the first in Updike's tetralogy of novels about the disaffected former
high-school basketball star Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom. But the flm was
taken away from Smight by writer-producer Howard B. Kreitsek, recut,
shelved by the studio (Warner Bros.) after unsuccessful test
screenings, and ultimately dismissed
Hollywood and John Updike, who died today at the age of 76, never made
for the easiest of bedfellows. In 1970, the underrated director Jack
Smight took an admirable stab at filming Rabbit, Run,
the first in Updike's tetralogy of novels about the disaffected former
high-school basketball star Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom. But the flm was
taken away from Smight by writer-producer Howard B. Kreitsek, recut,
shelved by the studio (Warner Bros.) after unsuccessful test
screenings, and ultimately dismissed
Samuel Goldwyn presents a UCLA film-writing award named in his honor. The first-place recipient is Francis Ford Coppola, 23.LA Herald-Examiner/LAPL CollectionClick image to englare
The best film to open the Cannes Film Festival in the seven years I've been attending, and just a lovely film all around, the Pixar studios' Up (which opens in wide release next Friday, May 29) suggests what Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino might have looked like if, instead of standing his ground, Eastwood's Walt Kowalski had simply attached a few thousand helium balloons to his ramshackle craftsman and lifted off into the atmosphere. That's precisely the course of action taken by Up's own cantanke
