65
Fifty Years of Film
with LA Times Critic
Kevin Thomas
You have seen many movies over the years.
If somebody ever really wanted to survey, I probably was the most prolific movie reviewer
of my time. I was a glutton for work and I loved it passionately. And starting in 1984, I was
particularly productive because the UCLA film archive was emerging, as well as American
Cinematheque and LACMA. Our daily calendar editor said that I was using up too much
space for all these scattered things, in addition to mainstream reviews. So I called a
meeting and proposed a column called
“Screening Room,” which still exists but
in a different format. I would go to see
anything, something like six to eight extra
pictures, and do capsule reviews. This
would call attention to key films in film
festivals, the series at LACMA, the UCLA
film archive and American Cinematheque.
In all honesty I think that I was really
crucial in creating audiences for those
three institutions from day one.
As for the quality of the movies, I
remember the good ones. The bad stuff
you sort of flush out immediately because
you want room for the good stuff. I’ve been privileged to review many great films, but I’ve
also covered miles and miles and miles of junk. That goes with the territory. I think it’s very
healthy to be a movie reviewer in a big mainstream daily, because you have to be confronted
with everything. A lot of the time, I got things that were a little more on the esoteric side
that suited my temperament. And in that way I reviewed a lot of really great major films.
F
ilm Critic Kevin Thomas has been reviewing films for over fifty years. With a staff
position at the LA Times from December 5, 1965 until March 2012, Mr. Thomas has
watched thousands of films and developed a special relationship with the Laemmle
family. We sat down with Mr. Thomas to look back over the past fifty years and the impact
Laemmle has had on the LA film scene.
Kevin Thomas, Bob and Greg Laemmle
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I met Max Laemmle when I was assigned to review a French film called the Mirror Has Two
Faces starring the beautiful Michelle Morgan in 1963. I had done a ton of reviews, and most
of them foreign films. Not long after I met Max he said, “Kevin, do you think I dare show a
series of six French films?” And I said, “If you dare, I will support you.” He got prints of those
six films, and on six Saturday mornings in a row, I went over to the Los Feliz theatre before
the matinee screening and then came to the paper and wrote up an overview as a way of
calling attention to them before they were
released. After that was a success he said,
“Now, I’m thinking maybe I should do the
same thing with six Italian films.” So I had
six Saturdays looking at Italian films and did
an overview of that.
with the Laemmle’s social
We did not “socialize” but I think Max was
generally fond of me as I was fond of him.
I remember when I first met Max, there was
a period he could get very angry with me if
I didn’t think everything he showed was a
masterpiece. Towards the end of the first year we met, we got into a shouting match. I can
remember trying to slam the door at the Los Feliz but it was spring loaded and I couldn’t
get the dramatic “Boom” so instead there was a less forceful, rather funny, “Ugghhh!” which
had a lesser impact. Then around Christmas, Max called me up and said, “Kevin, listen,
I don’t want to have bad feelings between us as the holiday season approaches,” and I
said, “Well, that’s wonderful, Max.” Because of course I adored him – he was a dynamic,
courageous man. He was passionate about music; he had a sense of obligation to support
good causes; He was passionate about trying to be a quality exhibitor.
Max had determination and imagination. He realized that you had to create an audience
for these films and you didn’t have the internet, Netflix or other alternatives. Max’s staff
developed an incredible card catalogue system. They had flyers in the Los Feliz for people
to sign up for their newsletters so that they could get a mailing list and keep their customers
apprised at what was coming down the pike. This was a tremendous amount of work
and dedication. And Max thought beyond that. If you were going to show a French film,
any French publications, French organizations, cultural organizations, the consulate were
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contacted by his staff. He also reached
out to schools if it was a suitable film for
children. And various organizations, which
were nationality or culturally oriented would
be contacted and offered group rates.
There was a tremendous amount of detail
work put into each film and as far as I know,
no other theater ever in fifty years did this
kind of personalized, focused marketing. And all of this intense, imaginative and creative
effort is the foundation of the whole Laemmle chain. I think that you could say that the
Laemmles were responsible for creating a healthier climate for alternative cinema, so to
speak. And I think they continue to do that role increasingly single-handedly.
It’s very interesting because when I started reviewing films, mainstream theaters, in
particular, had their changeover day on Wednesday. The drive-in movies, of which I reviewed
hundreds and hundreds, double features and other routine stuff often would open without
previews. They would open on a Wednesday, so you would go to the matinee, and then you
would schlep down to the paper and knock out a review for Friday. Friday is the weekend
paper, the one that people actually read most to see what they want to see of the pick
of the new crop of pictures opening that day. In the old days when these Beach Blanket
Bingo-type pictures opened without a review on a Wednesday they’d set themselves up
for a Friday review, because the deadlines were too tight to get in the Thursday edition.
So, if the picture wasn’t very good they were just setting themselves perfectly for a negative
review to appear on the opening day of the weekend. The trade then got smarter as the
years got on and opened on Fridays. I would either go over to some old movie palace on
Hollywood Boulevard or on South Broadway and dart back to the paper and knock out
my review for Monday.
As a kid, I loved movies. I was 5 1/2 at the time of Pearl Harbor and all of America went to
the movies every week. This is where you saw the newsreels and could visually see what
was going on with the war in the Pacific or Europe, because we didn’t have television yet.
As far as I know and can recall, the first movie I saw was in 1940. Paulette Goddard was
the leading lady in the Great Dictator at the lovely old United Artists Theatre on south
Broadway. I loved the movie-going experience and I grew up going to the Saturday movies
on my own. The turning point was at Berendo Junior High, near Pico and Vermont. I had a
very inspiring teacher in drama class who was so vivacious and passionate about things.
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She gave us an assignment that would change my life. She told us that all of the students
were to keep a scrapbook of reviews, mainly of movies. I must have been about thirteen
and I don’t think I had ever read a movie review, but I clipped out the reviews of what were
known as the “three S’s” — Edmund Schallert, who was at the LA
Times from 1921-1958, Phil Scheuer, who was there from 1927-1967,
and John Scott, who was also there from 1927-1967. I remember
thinking, “Oh my God, people can actually get paid for going to the
movies and then writing them up. They can make a living at this, and
they get their name in the paper and everything.”
How did you get your start at
I started on December 5, 1961 in a menial, temporary job in
circulation, filling orders for the “Learn a Language” record offer
promotion and looking for winners in the cash word contest.
But by November of 1962 I got a break to try to start writing reviews
because Phil Scheuer, the long-time lead drama critic and movie
critic, had me do a test review of the Manchurian Candidate. He
said, “If you can write a good review of that film, you’re in. You can
review anything if you can review that.” Well, I labored mightily. I
was a desk assistant in the weekend news section ‘perspective
and opinion’ and there were about four or five guys in there — the editor and the writers
of that section — and they all helped me edit this. What they taught me was how to turn
a term paper into an actual newspaper movie review. I was a stringer [freelancer] until
I got on staff on December 5, 1965 where I stayed until my last review in March, 2012.
I think the standards are going up all the time and the tragedy is that it is an endangered
profession. I think it’s always been an esoteric profession and you’re crazy to try to get into
it unless you have an absolutely burning passion, and then you have to have a lot of luck.
I was at the right place at the right time and I lucked out, big time.
Big metropolitan print dailies are really endangered species and with cutbacks, the first
non-essential is a film critic. So many people today are reduced to being freelancers or
part-timers. I’d hate to be starting out now — the competition is beyond belief and the
opportunities miniscule. But, I think that younger critics are probably better-trained as
writers and as critics because they’ve studied courses in critical writing and film history.
And, if you have that burning passion, go for it because nobody’s going to stop you anyway.
- Written by Allison Levine
