On Kane and Wayne: Peter Bogdanovich on the Classic Films Citizen Kane and The Searchers

Peter Bogdanovich, the writer and film director, spoke to The Toronto Star about two classic films, Orson Welles' Citizen Zane and John Ford's The Searchers, starring John Wayne.

These are two of my favorite films.

You can read the newspaper story via the below link:

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/article/882513--peter-bogdanovich-talking-kane-and-wayne

Bogdanovich, like many writers and critics, notes that John Wayne played himself in every role.

While it is true that Wayne essentially portrayed a "type" of character in most of his films, the dark, cold and bitter man that Wayne portrayed in The Searchers was certainly not like the characters in his other films, and it was certainly not Wayne.

That was acting.

I believe The Searchers was one of John Ford's greatest films and offers John Wayne in his greatest role.

Read All About It: The Newspaper Picture, Newspaper Reporters In The Movies

I read an interesting piece about newspaper movies by Stephen Whitty at the Star-Ledger.

Newspaper movies, it seems to me, depict newspapers about as well as cop movies depict cops and military movies depict the military - which is to say, not well.

I've wanted to be a writer since I was 12, and like Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain and many more of my teenage literary heroes, my plan was to write for newspapers prior to writing fiction. So in addition to reading newspapers and books about writers, reporters and newspapers, I loved watching the old newspaper movies while growing up.

I went on to write my first piece for the ship's newspaper as an 18-year-old sailor stationed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk in 1970. I would continue to write military journalism for U.S. Navy and Defense Department publications for many more years.

I became a freelance writer in 1993 and I covered crime and politics for a South Philadelphia weekly newspaper that had a larger circulation than most small American city daily newspapers.

 

I later became a weekly newspaper columnist and reporter and I also wrote commentary for The Philadelphia Daily News. I've been a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer since 1999.

 

And I still love the old newspaper movies.

I'm especially fond of The Front Page, Ace in the Hole, Citizen Kane and His Gal Friday.

 

You can read Stephen Whitty's piece via the below link:

 

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/movies/index.ssf/2010/04/the_newspaper_picture_and_a_look_at_how_films_depict_journalism.html