Life Itself Page #7

One time,

I went to see Roger.

He was kind of eager and

bouncing to give me something.

He gave me this letter,

actually from Laura Dern.

"Dear Roger,

I want you to know

that your generosity

and expertise

at the Sundance Tribute

meant the world to me.

I've tried to come up with

an appropriate way to thank you.

This box and its contents,

a jigsaw puzzle,

I have treasured for some time.

It was given to me

by the Strasberg family

when Lee Strasberg

passed away.

It was Marilyn Monroe's,

who collected puzzles,

and it had been given to her

by Alfred Hitchcock.

That night at Sundance

you inspired me

about film and contribution

and I wanted to pass along

film and connection in some way.

Thank you again.

Love to you and Chaz.

Laura."

And then Roger gave me this gift,

which I refused.

I said, "You cannot

give me this gift.

I cannot accept this gift."

And then he said,

"You're going to accept the gift,

because you have to one day

give this

to somebody else

who deserves it."

What's it a jigsaw puzzle of?

I've always

been terrified to make it.

I mean, this is

the jigsaw puzzle

that Alfred Hitchcock

gave Marilyn Monroe.

In the autumn of 1967,

I saw a movie named I Call First,

later to be retitled,

Who's That Knocking at My Door.

The energy of the cutting grabbed me.

It was the work

of a natural director.

I wrote a review

suggesting in 10 years

he would become

the American Fellini.

I said, "You think it's gonna take

that long?", and I was serious.

I'm just like, it's over here.

What are you talking about?

It was the first

real strong encouragement.

Yes, there are defects

in the movie.

But he saw something special

and that had to be nourished.

As you know, I carried your review

around with me

when I was in Europe in 1968.

It made me...

I kept reading. Is that really

about me? You know, wow.

So refreshing to find

a director and an actor

working right

at the top of their form.

I think Raging Bull is one of the

great American pictures of the year.

His greatest film is

an act of self-redemption.

In the period before it,

he'd become addicted to cocaine

and told me that after an overdose,

he was pronounced dead

in an emergency room

and resuscitated.

During the '80s was extremely...

I was gone, basically.

Broke, and I'd gone through

some bad, bad periods.

My third marriage had broken up,

and I was basically alone.

The only thing that saved me

or made me want to...

continue just like living,

in a way, was my agent called

and said, "You know, there's

this festival up in Toronto."

I said, "Yeah."

"Roger Ebert, Gene Siskel,

they wanna give you this tribute."

I was kind of scared.

Could I walk down

this theater aisle

and go up on a stage,

knowing who I am?

But I knew

that they believed in me,

and I have that in my house now,

in a special place

where only I can see it,

that I pass by every maybe,

five to six minutes, I see it.

But that night changed it.

And I started

my life again, you know.

It was...

I didn't feel inhibited with Roger.

He was that close.

Roger has, unlike just about

any of the rest of us,

arrived at this point

where he is

kind of the peer of the people,

of some of the people

that he writes about.

It's very complicated,

I think, when you have

personal relationships and

friendships with these people,

because it cannot

but cloud your judgment.

I am infinitely corruptible.

I do not want to get to know

these people as people.

I want to think of them

as fictional characters.

I mean,

my obligation is to write

what I think about a movie,

and not to worry

about someone I know

perching on my shoulder saying,

"No, I wouldn't say that."

When you look

at the nineteenth century

and the great critics in music,

they hung together,

critics and artists.

They were in the same circles.

And that helped the critics

and it helped the composers.

Roger brought back that concept

and he was criticized for it.

That was real

distracting for me there,

the way all those pool balls

bounced around like that,

and the scene gets

even worse as it goes on.

And it's all the more disappointing

because The Color of Money

was directed by Martin Scorsese,

who is one of the two or three

best movie directors around today.

Devastating.

It doesn't have the interior energy,

and the drive,

and the obsession of most

of the best Scorsese films.

- The script isn't good.

- It's just a standard,

sort of predictable narrative.

I said, I know, but beautiful...

Michael Ballhouse, Paul Newman.

But you know,

they wouldn't accept it.

That was a way

of condemning and helping.

In other words,

you've done this now, once,

you may have done it twice,

but watch yourself.

As opposed to

toxic, poisonous, unkind,

ungenerous, lack of charity,

on so many others.

I think he was a tougher critic

when he was younger.

He could be really cutting,

and relentless,

and ruthless, and sarcastic.

You motherf***er!

Not a bad movie,

but it's not original,

- and it's not a masterpiece.

- I think it's very original

and very close

to being a masterpiece.

I have never felt a kill

in a movie quite like that.

Not in Apocalypse Now,

not in The Deer Hunter?

No, not like that.

Not like that.

In that case, you're

gonna love the late show

because they have kills

like that every night

in black and white

starring John Wayne.

They would get

into their cross talk.

The camera would stop,

they would still be at it.

And I disagree particularly

about the part that you like.

They truly felt it

in their soul.

They could still show them

the error of their ways,

the folly of their thinking.

Benji the Hunted exhausted me.

This is the first time

I wanted to tell a dog

to slow down and stop

to smell the flowers.

I don't know, Gene.

Your review is the typical sort of

blas, sophisticated,

cynical review...

I'll take the word "sophisticated."

...I would expect from an adult.

You're wrapping yourself

in the flag of children.

You're wrapping yourself in the flag

of the sophisticated film critic.

- No, boredom.

- You've seen it all.

Boredom with Benji running.

I don't think that any child

is gonna be bored by this movie.

It was not you know,

gentlemanly, it was not,

"Well, I see

you have a good point."

It was I'm gonna crush you.

And this is the show where

you give Benji The Hunted

a positive review

and not Kubrick's film?

Now, Gene, that's totally unfair,

because you realize that

these reviews are relative.

Benji the Hunted is not

one-tenth the film...

- Roger...

...that the Kubrick film is

but you know that you

review films within context.

And you know it, and you

should be ashamed of yourself.

- No, I'm not.

- Now let's take another look...

They almost didn't care what

anyone else thought about anything,

as long as they could try

to persuade the other.

And I'm not talking about just,

about movie reviews.

I'm talking about anything in life,

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