I’m all for Warren Beatty getting a lifetime achievement award from AFI. I just hope he keeps his acceptance speech under two minutes.
The actor/director/Casanova has produced a body of work that deserves his industry’s praise, something we’ll witness at 9 p.m. EST tonight on USA Network. Classics like “Bonnie & Clyde” and “Heaven Can Wait” proved Beatty was far more than just another handsome Joe.
But he’s a horrible interview subject and I fear any speech he gives will have more ‘ums’ and ‘ahhs’ then any viewer can stand.
Beatty already received the honor last month – the show is a telecast of that event. Expect the usual faces to fete Beatty, from wife Annette Bening and his sister Shirley MacLaine to Julie Christie, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Nicholson. Even former President Bill Clinton made an appearance. Maybe they compared black books backstage.
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If Beatty was a gung-ho for right wing causes as he is for the left ones, do you think he would have won any of those awards? I don’t think so. Someone should point out in the film press that movie awards for some time have had an ideological criteria that renders them diluted and corrupt.
K – I think in the past some films were both ideologically driven and good … and the critics responded accordingly. The intelligentsia applauding a lefty filmmaker like Beatty could feel good about their stance, because the finished product was actually solid.
Today, seriously inferior fare (cough, cough, Michael Moore films, cough cough) get those same accolades. Intellectual honesty has taken a hit in recent years.