Tuesday, July 01, 2014

RIP Paul Mazursky

I recently revisited The Blackboard Jungle - a noirish JD picture the plot of which was loosely lifted for  cult favourite Class of 1984 - and was surprised and pleased to see Paul Mazursky in a small role; it always pleases me to see the man on the screen, and I always have had some fondness for Mazursky as a director. His Cassavetes-as-Prospero version of The Tempest had lots of great moments, and I really enjoyed Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice when I first saw it, though that was years ago and I haven't revisited it since; same goes for Willie & Phil, his variant on Jules and Jim, which I watched about four times in a row as a teenager when it was on pay TV in the early 1980's, but cannot really vouch for now... In fact many of his films are not so easy to stumble across these days, compared to their ubiquity in the days of VHS. I would probably re-visit Next Stop Greenwich Village if it placed itself in my path in a digital format, but it has yet to do so; ditto Harry and Tonto. Has The Pickle even been released on DVD? I would watch that too, if it placed itself in my path. My respects to Paul Mazursky, departed at age 84.

No comments: