Lawrence Pitkethly, who produced and directed multiple documentary series shown on PBS and other broadcasters, died Feb. 24 at Albany Medical Center near his home in Hudson, N.Y., of cardiopulmonary arrest linked to complications from Parkinson’s. He was 79.
Pitkethly is best known for “American Cinema” (1995), a 10-part, $7 million series for PBS, BBC and Canal Plus covering U.S. filmmaking that he produced, co-wrote and co-directed. It examined film genres, the rise and fall of the studio system, the creation of stars and other aspects of American movies through interviews with Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Sydney Pollack, George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee, Joel Coen and other major players. John Lithgow served as host; Matthew Modine, Kathleen Turner and Cliff Robertson narrated.
Earlier, Pitkethly co-wrote and co-directed “Voices and Visions” (1988), a 13-part series on American poets, which profiled artists like Hart Crane, T.S. Eliot and Sylvia Plath.
Much...
Pitkethly is best known for “American Cinema” (1995), a 10-part, $7 million series for PBS, BBC and Canal Plus covering U.S. filmmaking that he produced, co-wrote and co-directed. It examined film genres, the rise and fall of the studio system, the creation of stars and other aspects of American movies through interviews with Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Sydney Pollack, George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee, Joel Coen and other major players. John Lithgow served as host; Matthew Modine, Kathleen Turner and Cliff Robertson narrated.
Earlier, Pitkethly co-wrote and co-directed “Voices and Visions” (1988), a 13-part series on American poets, which profiled artists like Hart Crane, T.S. Eliot and Sylvia Plath.
Much...
- 3/2/2023
- by Peter Caranicas
- Variety Film + TV
By Simon Augustine, M.Div
Introduction
Moviegoers and Madmen
Men are more interested in what they see when dreaming than what they see when awake.
- Diogenes
The movie theater is a miniature mental asylum. A temporary home made of cushioned seats (and padded, sound-proof walls) for the bereft, the dazed, the longing, the beautiful losers; men and women who need images almost as much as they need real people.
Maybe that explains why some of the most iconic and compelling characters in American cinematic history are those who embody madness in one of its many forms; like we moviegoers who watch and live vicariously through these fictional people, the characters themselves struggle with a relationship between reality and image, trying to find a fulcrum between the outside world and imagination: Randall P. McMurphy, irreverent would-be savior of "The Cuckoo’s Nest;" Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes, deranged stalker/fan par excellance,...
Introduction
Moviegoers and Madmen
Men are more interested in what they see when dreaming than what they see when awake.
- Diogenes
The movie theater is a miniature mental asylum. A temporary home made of cushioned seats (and padded, sound-proof walls) for the bereft, the dazed, the longing, the beautiful losers; men and women who need images almost as much as they need real people.
Maybe that explains why some of the most iconic and compelling characters in American cinematic history are those who embody madness in one of its many forms; like we moviegoers who watch and live vicariously through these fictional people, the characters themselves struggle with a relationship between reality and image, trying to find a fulcrum between the outside world and imagination: Randall P. McMurphy, irreverent would-be savior of "The Cuckoo’s Nest;" Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes, deranged stalker/fan par excellance,...
- 9/11/2009
- by underdog
- GreenCine
Well, if you thought Hollywood had already scraped the bottom of the barrel, you were sorely mistaken. Granted, not as sorely mistaken as someone who will pay money to see Big Momma's House 3 expecting to find 90 minutes of entertainment, but that's a hard level of disappointment to match.
I guess I'm the dope, but I thought Madea pretty much killed the guy-dressed-as-a-grandma bit for everybody else. Perhaps, though, the success of those films makes this seem more attractive to the outside-the-box thinkers at Fox, who have hired Randi Mayem Singer to deliver what's sure to be an all-important script.
I hadn't heard of Singer, but it turns out she co-wrote Mrs. Doubtfire, making her a perfect candidate for the drag sub-genre.
I guess I'm the dope, but I thought Madea pretty much killed the guy-dressed-as-a-grandma bit for everybody else. Perhaps, though, the success of those films makes this seem more attractive to the outside-the-box thinkers at Fox, who have hired Randi Mayem Singer to deliver what's sure to be an all-important script.
I hadn't heard of Singer, but it turns out she co-wrote Mrs. Doubtfire, making her a perfect candidate for the drag sub-genre.
- 9/3/2009
- by Colin Boyd
- GetTheBigPicture.net
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