Film historian Leonard Maltin, promoting the latest edition of his Movie Guide, recently chatted with me about movies. The teacher, critic and historian, a regular on the syndicated television show Entertainment Tonight since 1982, who teaches a film class at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, is also the author of The Disney Films, The Great American Broadcast, and Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide. Leonard Maltin writes, co-produces and hosts the Walt Disney Treasures DVD series, which he tells me has been suspended, and produces a newsletter.
Scott Holleran: What single movie do you get the most out of with repeat viewings?
Leonard Maltin: It’s a tie between my two favorite movies—Citizen Kane and Casablanca. In both cases, I seem to notice and appreciate new things each time out. With Casablanca, I recently wound up writing a lengthy article on all the background music—it occurred to me that there’s “Love for Sale” by [composer] Cole Porter and others—and here we thought just about everything that could be written about Casablanca had been written.
Scott Holleran: Why are you migrating old movies from your annual Movie Guide to your classic film guide? Why not jettison some of today’s mediocre, irrelevant pictures?
Leonard Maltin: Because in a reference book I don’t feel it’s my place to decide what’s irrelevant in the main scheme of things. I certainly express my opinion film by film—it’s as thick as it can be without falling apart—and that’s what gave birth to the Classic Guide, so those films have a place to reside.
Scott Holleran: And it’s another way to make money?
Leonard Maltin: Uh, no. Let me just say that being in the reference book business in the Internet age is not a doorway to great riches.
Scott Holleran: What is the primary purpose of the Movie Guide?
Leonard Maltin: It hasn’t changed since it was introduced—to be a fingertip guide to movies for people who watch movies at home—to provide a brief review and opinion and to provide more information than one can get from TV guides and screen guides.
Scott Holleran: What single, consistent reader response do you get to the Movie Guide?
Leonard Maltin: Well, now when we make a mistake, we hear about it right away by e-mail—they used to let us know through snail mail. People still seem to be grateful for some guidance. I hear a lot of comments like “I was deciding whether to stay up late and watch this movie and, thanks to you, I did”—or, “thanks to you, I didn’t.”
Scott Holleran: Do you think film criticism can be reduced and aggregated to a number?
Leonard Maltin: No. That’s not criticism, that’s shorthand for an opinion. It may be a consumer service. We hope that in our brief reviews we offer a compact form of criticism.
Scott Holleran: You use stars in the Movie Guide. Does your friend Roger Ebert’s Thumbs Up symbol dumb down motion picture criticism?
Leonard Maltin: No. It’s another form of shorthand, and it’s legitimate within the boundaries of what it can cover. An editor forced the stars on me. I argued with him but he said people will love it and he was right. People respond to those things.
Scott Holleran: Are you primarily a teacher, a critic or an historian?
Leonard Maltin: I wear different hats at different times. If I could do only one, I would be an historian.
Scott Holleran: What’s the next installment in the Walt Disney’s Treasures DVD series?
Leonard Maltin: There is no next installment. That is out of my hands. I would love to do more but it’s up to the Walt Disney Company.
Scott Holleran: What’s your favorite Hollywood movie theater?
Leonard Maltin: I love Grauman’s Chinese Theatre [on Hollywood Boulevard]. I also like [Disney’s] El Capitan, the ArcLight Hollywood and the Samuel Goldwyn Theater at the Academy [of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences] on Wilshire [Boulevard]. If I had to pick one, I would probably pick the ArcLight. It’s a nice environment and a nice theater.
Scott Holleran: What’s your best movie review?
Leonard Maltin: I can’t say. I can tell you the review that has gotten more compliments than any in my career. It was a review of a [horror spoof] movie called Transylvania 6-5000 [Maltin delivered a short sentence during an appearance on Entertainment Tonight in 1985 in which he declared that the movie “stinks” on cue with the tune “Pennsylvania 6-5000” by the Glenn Miller Orchestra]. The review appeared on ET and it was as thorough and as definitive a review as that movie warranted.
Scott Holleran: What’s your most controversial movie review?
Leonard Maltin: Either Blade Runner or Taxi Driver. Both get negative reactions. There’s also my positive review of Cecil B. DeMille’s [1952] The Greatest Show on Earth [starring Charlton Heston, Jimmy Stewart, and Betty Hutton], a film which gets attacked as undeserving of winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. I feel somewhat vindicated by Steven Spielberg’s praise for The Greatest Show on Earth, which he has said influenced the train wreck scene in Super 8.
Scott Holleran: Who is your favorite movie critic?
Leonard Maltin: I don’t read a great many movie critics—I certainly don’t read reviews before I write my own—but of those I read, I like David Denby in the New Yorker, also Anthony Lane and [former newspaper critic] Kenny Turan and possibly the best film critic in America is Todd McCarthy now with the Hollywood Reporter. He is incredibly knowledgeable and incisive and eloquent. And I like Roger Ebert.
Scott Holleran: I’m going to put you on the spot and ask you for a one-word evaluation or estimate of 22 movies you recently added to this year’s edition of the Movie Guide. 22 movies in 30 seconds—are you ready?
Leonard Maltin: I’ll try—unless it’s a movie that one of my associates [editors for the Movie Guide] saw and reviewed for the Guide.
Scott Holleran: Super 8?
Leonard Maltin: Terrific.
Scott Holleran: Win Win?
Leonard Maltin: Great.
Scott Holleran: The Tillman Story?
Leonard Maltin: Profoundly moving.
Scott Holleran: Atlas Shrugged, Part 1?
Leonard Maltin: Didn’t see it.
Scott Holleran: Tangled?
Leonard Maltin: Great fun.
Scott Holleran: The Social Network?
Leonard Maltin: Exceptional.
Scott Holleran: The King’s Speech?
Leonard Maltin: Wonderful.
Scott Holleran: District 9?
Leonard Maltin: Disarmingly original.
Scott Holleran: Up?
Leonard Maltin: Enchanting.
Scott Holleran: The Hangover?
Leonard Maltin: Really funny.
Scott Holleran: Milk?
Leonard Maltin: [pauses] Ambitious—and emotionally stirring.
Scott Holleran: Frost/Nixon?
Leonard Maltin: Brilliant.
Scott Holleran: Slumdog Millionaire?
Leonard Maltin: Also brilliant. [pauses] Awfully tough but rewarding.
Scott Holleran: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?
Leonard Maltin: Great entertainment.
Scott Holleran: There Will Be Blood?
Leonard Maltin: Tremendously compelling.
Scott Holleran: No Country for Old Men?
Leonard Maltin: Riveting.
Scott Holleran: Juno?
Leonard Maltin: Unexpectedly winning.
Scott Holleran: Little Miss Sunshine?
Leonard Maltin: Sleeper.
Scott Holleran: The Lives of Others?
Leonard Maltin: Unforgettable.
Scott Holleran: The Queen?
Leonard Maltin: Superb.
Scott Holleran: The Sea Inside?
Leonard Maltin: Unjustly undervalued.