The Last of Sheila
“Showing off,” writes Steve Martin in L.A. Story, “is the idiot’s version of being interesting.” The Last of Sheila is populated with L.A. idiots who show off, show people in…
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Black Narcissus
Telling someone about a dream is akin to telling them about a physical ailment — no one actually cares — so I’ll keep it short. I had a dream, during…
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The Country Girl
“We would rather be ruined than changed,” wrote W.H. Auden. “We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the present and let our illusions die.”* As…
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Stevie
If a play were to be written based on my life – baseless idea as that is – but if the thing were to be done, I’d probably ask for…
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A Child Is Waiting
The opening title sequence of A Child Is Waiting is a series of striking children’s drawings, primal and observant, done with the pencil pressed hard. At the end of it,…
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Seven Days in May
“The writer’s role is to menace the public’s conscience,” Rod Serling, the adaptor of Seven Days in May, addressed the Congress in 1968. “He must have a position, a point…
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Paris Is Burning
Paris is Burning struck its match when director Jennie Livingston was walking through Washington Square and stopped to watch a group of young men voguing. They invited her to a…
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The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
From the start, I must acknowledge the Ben in the review. Not me. Though I am here. Hi there. No, I must acknowledge the other Ben. Ben Stiller. If you…
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Watch on the Rhine
“In the first week of April 1940 there were few men in the world who could have believed that, in less than three months, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland and France…
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Far From Heaven
For me, the most wonderful time of year is not the end of November to the end of December, but the end of September to the end of October. The…
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