AMERICAN CINEMA

Stanley Kubrick

1928-1999

He was a mad eccentric, bordering on genius. He rarely, if ever, granted interviews. He moved to London from America decades ago, then never returned (presumably because he didn't care for flying.) He was a legendary perfectionist, sometimes doing over 100 takes of the same shot. Can you imagine the strain on his actors? In over 40 years of filmmaking, he only directed 12 films. The last he directed was released in 1987. When Stanley Kubrick died at his London home recently, the world of cinema lost it's most original, iconoclastic voice. No other is so irreplaceable. He was in the midst of finishing up his latest film, Eyes Wide Shut, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The length of time for production has become legendary. He had called back his cast several times for re-shoots, and actually refilmed all the scenes featuring Jennifer Jason Leigh when she became unavailable to redo some of her scenes. The film will be released this July. It will be hard to say whether it was the vision Kubrick saw when it finally reaches the big screen. A quick look at the man's filmography is indication of his unmatched talent. Killer's Kiss, from 1955, a film he produced, directed, wrote, shot and edited, about a boxer's relationship with a gangster's girlfriend. The Killing (1956), with Sterling Hayden as a thief setting up a robbery at a racetrack. Paths of Glory (1957), the most powerful of all anti-war films, in which three men are tried and convicted for the cowardice of their whole platoon. Spartacus (1960), about a slave revolt in the Roman Empire. A film which struck a fatal blow to the Hollywood Blacklist by crediting an accused Communist (Dalton Trumbo) for his screenplay. Lolita (1962), which rewrote the book on sexual mores in film, by telling of the relationship between a man and his 13-year-old step-daughter. Dr. Strangelove or; How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), which began as a serious film about the effects of nuclear war, but quickly became a comedy (one of the wittiest of all time) when it became readily apparent that the subject was too outrageous to be taken seriously. Click here to link to the Screenplay for Dr. Strangelove 2001:A Space Odyssey (1968), the quintessential science-fiction film, with it's excruciatingly slow pace and dazzlingly authentic special effects. One of the few real masterpieces of film. A Clockwork Orange (1971), which examines with a rather critical eye the lengths society could go to in an attempt to curb violence. Barry Lyndon (1975), Kubrick's big-screen version of Thackery's tale of an 18th-century Irish rogue who achieves success, financially and socially, only to watch it all slip through his fingers. The Shining (1980), that rarity (the cerebral horror film) that puts us in a haunted summer resort with a demented writer. A film that not only scares us as we watch, but gives us chills weeks later as we lie in bed, staring at the ceiling. Full Metal Jacket (1987), a gut-wrenchingly powerful film about some recruits in Vietnam. The scenes at basic training are as horrific as the realistic battle scenes. It's been 12 years since we saw a new film from director Stanley Kubrick. Now, Eyes Wide Shut will be the last. For myself, the most eagerly-awaited film of 1999 has gone from that small space-fantasy by director George Lucas, to the final creation of cinema's only true genius.

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