R.I.P. Curtis Hanson

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Mister Tee
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Re: R.I.P. Curtis Hanson

Post by Mister Tee »

Curtis Hanson taught me never to say never about a director. I'd sort of enjoyed an early script of his, The Silent Partner, but I thought his early directorial efforts ranged from fully mediocre (The River Wild) to near-awful (The Bedroom Window). And then, from the blue, came LA Confidential -- based on stronger source material, to be sure, but still well beyond what I'd ever have expected from the man. Followed by Wonder Boys, which found a way to adapt a novel that didn't seem to have much cinematic potential at all. Those two achievements are in the books for him forever.

I was unaware of his illness, and sorry he had to endure it.
Heksagon
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Re: R.I.P. Curtis Hanson

Post by Heksagon »

Sad news. Curtis Hanson directed one of my favorite films of the 1990s and one of my favorite films of the 2000s.

L.A. Confidential is one of the best crime films and best adapted screenplays ever. It's faithful to the spirit of the novel but re-imagines the basic story and characters to the framework of an action film, rather than trying to stay literally faithful to the much more complex novel. The acting, the dialogue, and some simple but clever inventions ("Rollo Tomasi") bring depth to the characters, effectively compensating for the more elaborate backstory in the novel.

The critics loved the film (and had it not been for Titanic, it would most likely have won the Best Picture Oscar that year), but few people saw it then - or since. I'm guessing that the setting did not appeal to a lot of younger people, especially as "cop films" were going out of fashion at the time.

And Wonder Boys is even more of a film that critics loved but no-one saw, probably not even Academy members this time. Hanson had his biggest commercial successes with his less impressive films.
Sabin
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Re: R.I.P. Curtis Hanson

Post by Sabin »

I just texted my father that Curtis Hanson died and he said "Two of our favorite films. Sad." It's impossible to overstate the importance that L.A. Confidential and Wonder Boys had on my life. I saw L.A. Confidential at the Cine-Capri in Phoenix, Arizona, and it was the first movie that really imparted on me the importance of the screenwriter. Yes, it was a brilliantly cast, produced, and directed film, but it was such a feat of screenwriting...and I couldn't get anybody to see! This article describes L.A. Confidential as a hit. It was absolutely not a hit at the time. It struggled to find an audience, as did his followup film Wonder Boys, which is almost as great. It was the movie that introduced me to Bob Dylan, Neil Young, John Lennon, and countless other musical gods whom I carry with me. But even more important was how my father and I bonded over it. You see in many ways, it was his introduction to these wonder boy singer-songwriters too! For years after Wonder Boys, my father and I could call each other up and talk about what Dylan lyrics we were stumped on.

Curtis Hanson was a journeyman filmmaker jumping from script to script. Well, there are no scripts anymore. Just franchises. He's very much the product of a different era. There was a small window of time where I couldn't wait for the new Curtis Hanson movie. That window closed a while ago, and now the man has passed away. I really don't think he had the kind of legendary career where ten, twenty years from now people are going to look back and remember Curtis Hanson, but I'm always going to. Rest in peace.
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R.I.P. Curtis Hanson

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