Director Arthur Hiller has passed away at age 92. After an extensive career in television Hiller transitioned to movies with the Julie Andrews and James Garner rom-com-dram
The Americanization of Emily (1964). But it is the Seventies where Hiller really hit the mark with Neil Simon classics
The Out of Towners (1970) and
Plaza Suite (1971), the box office smash romantic drama
Love Story (1970), the Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor buddy comedy
Silver Streak (1976), and the cult comedy hit
The In-Laws (1979). By the Eighties Hiller's output waned with movies like
Teachers (1984) and
Outrageous Fortune (1987) standing out of a crowd of misfires like the re-pairing of Wilder as a deaf man and Pryor as a blind man in
See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989).
Hiller was really good at capturing distinct characters and pairing them with their opposites to create comic situations, always bringing the two together at the end. He was nominated for one Oscar for
Love Story and in 2002 won the prestigious Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Serpentine, Arthur! Serpentine!
No comments:
Post a Comment