June
11
Critics Watch: Sarris Leaves Observer, End of Era
Let's call it. The two greatest critics of American Cinema, bar none, are Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris. During the 60s and 70s they invented what we call film criticism, refined it, fiercely debated it, and lived it.
Historian Sarris, inspired by the French critics, defined auteurism and the pantheon of directors in The American Cinema, which became a Bible for generations of cinephiles. Meanwhile, Kael dismissed the auteurists, and dazzled New Yorker readers with her super-charged passionate prose--while defending her favorite directors.
Now, as newspapers and film critics of all ages are under siege, Andrew Sarris is out as a full-time staffer at The New York Observer, and UPDATE: joins ten years younger Rex Reed as a freelance contributor. To be fair, Sarris has had a great run. He's 80. And Reed represents what criticism has come to in this Darwinian Age. Entertainment.
Here's The Hot Blog. A collection of Sarris's ten best lists over the decades. And Kent Jones's 2005 assessment of Sarris in Film Comment.
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He's not really out, Anne. The Observer eliminated his staff job, along with a dozen or so others this weekend, but he'll continue as a freelancer, which is what Rex's status has been for some time. It is sad, though, that another full time position has ceased to exist.
Posted by: Dave Kehr | June 11, 2009 at 02:00 PM