Wednesday, August 5, 2009

JOHN HUSTON b AUG 5 1906


"The directing of a picture involves coming out of your individual loneliness and taking a controlling part in putting together a small world. A picture is made. You put a frame around it and move on. And one day you die. That is all there is to it." - John Huston

(The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Key Largo (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), Moulin Rouge (1952) The Misfits (1960), Fat City (1972) The Man Who Would Be King (1975), Wise Blood (1979), Under the Volcano (1984).

i could easily add other titles to the list. he made a bunch of films over his 40+ years of filmmaking. his last film, based on james joyce's short story, the dead(1987), was one of his most beautiful. he made great hollywood film entertainments & only sacrificed some of his integrity along the way.

as much as i love most of the films on the list, it's as an actor in roman polanski's chinatown that huston made an indelible mark on my psyche. evil has never been so comfortable in its own skin as it is in the character of noah cross. the scene that the quote below is from is one of the most chilling movie moments i've ever experienced. if you've never seen the film, get ready to be gutted &, if you don't remember huston's delivery of that line & his casual attitude after his great & grotesque confession, rent the film & watch it again.

Noah Cross: See, Mr. Gitts, most people never have to face the fact that, at the right time and the right place, they're capable of... anything!

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