Lou Lombardo (filmmaker): Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Film editor of feature films released from 1968 to 1991}} |
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{{Infobox person |
{{Infobox person |
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|name=Lou Lombardo |
|name=Lou Lombardo |
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|birth_name=Louis Joseph Lombardo |
|birth_name=Louis Joseph Lombardo |
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|birth_date={{Birth date|1932|02|15}} |
|birth_date={{Birth date|1932|02|15}} |
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|birth_place=Missouri |
|birth_place=[[Missouri]], U.S. |
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|death_date={{Death date and age|2002|5|8|1932|2|15}} |
|death_date={{Death date and age|2002|5|8|1932|2|15}} |
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|death_place=Woodland Hills, California |
|death_place=[[Woodland Hills, California]], U.S. |
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|occupation=filmmaker}} |
|occupation=filmmaker}} |
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'''Lou Lombardo''' ( |
'''Lou Lombardo''' (February 15, 1932 – May 8, 2002) was an American filmmaker whose editing of the 1969 film ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' has been called "seminal". In all, Lombardo is credited on more than twenty-five feature films. Noted mainly for his work as a film and television editor, he also worked as a cameraman, director, and producer. In his obituary, [[Stephen Prince]] wrote, "Lou Lombardo's seminal contribution to the history of editing is his work on ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' (1969), directed by [[Sam Peckinpah]]. The complex montages of violence that Lombardo created for that film influenced generations of filmmakers and established the modern cinematic textbook for editing violent gun battles."<ref name=Prince /> Several critics have remarked on the "strange, elastic quality" of time in the film,<ref name=Weddle /><ref name=Seydor94 /><ref name=Snider /> and have discerned the film's influence in the work of directors [[John Woo]], [[Quentin Tarantino]], [[Kathryn Bigelow]], and [[the Wachowskis]], among others.<ref name=Snider /><ref name=Woo /><ref name=Cook /><ref name=EdgarHunt /> While Lombardo's collaboration with Peckinpah lasted just a few years, his career was intertwined with that of director [[Robert Altman]] for more than thirty years. Lombardo edited Altman's 1971 film ''[[McCabe & Mrs. Miller]]'' (1971), which had "a radical approach to the use of dialogue and indeed other sound, both in and beyond the frame."<ref name=Crittenden /> Towards the end of his career Lombardo edited ''[[Moonstruck (film)|Moonstruck]]'' (1987) and two other films directed by [[Norman Jewison]]. While his editing is now considered "revolutionary" and "brilliant", Lombardo was never nominated for editing awards during his career.<ref name=Monaco /><ref name=Prince3 /><ref name=imdb /><!--possible exception: The Hamilton Award?--> |
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==Early career== |
==Early career== |
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==''The Wild Bunch'' and the Peckinpah collaboration== |
==''The Wild Bunch'' and the Peckinpah collaboration== |
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The first feature film that Lombardo edited was ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' (1969), which was directed by [[Sam Peckinpah]].<ref>Lombardo told Vincent LoBrutto that ''The Wild Bunch'' was his first feature film editing job. At present, Lombardo's filmography at the Internet Movie DataBase lists ''The Name of the Game is Kill'' (1969) as his first credit.</ref> It is a [[Western (genre)|Western]] noted for its violence, which was unusual in its time, and for its innovative and effective storytelling, camerawork, and editing. The film has proven to be profoundly influential long after its 1969 release, and was |
The first feature film that Lombardo edited was ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' (1969), which was directed by [[Sam Peckinpah]].<ref>Lombardo told Vincent LoBrutto that ''The Wild Bunch'' was his first feature film editing job. At present, Lombardo's filmography at the Internet Movie DataBase lists ''The Name of the Game is Kill'' (1969) as his first credit.</ref> It is a [[Western (genre)|Western]] noted for its violence, which was unusual in its time, and for its innovative and effective storytelling, camerawork, and editing. The film has proven to be profoundly influential long after its 1969 release, and was an inductee of the 1999 [[National Film Registry]] list.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|title = Complete National Film Registry Listing | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs | Library of Congress|website = [[Library of Congress]]}}</ref> <ref>{{cite web|title=Films Selected to the National Film Registry |date=November 16, 1999 |publisher=Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/film/nfr99.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080904232417/http://www.loc.gov/film/nfr99.html |archive-date=September 4, 2008 }}</ref> In 1995 Peter Stack wrote, "It's astonishing how harrowing ''The Wild Bunch'' is, more than 25 years after it blasted its way onto the big screen to become maybe the best shoot-'em-up ever made, the one that turned meanness into a haunting pictorial poetry and summed up the corruption of guilt, old age and death in the American fantasy of the Old West."<ref name=sfgate /> Stephen Prince wrote in 1999 that, "''The Wild Bunch'' is an epic work, and it has had an epic impact on American cinema" and noted [[Martin Scorsese]]'s description of the film as "savage poetry".<ref name=Prince2 /> Paul Seydor has described the film as "one of the great masterpieces of world cinema", and then further notes that "Any discussion of ''The Wild Bunch'' implicitly acknowledges the editing by Lou Lombardo and [[Robert L. Wolfe|Robert Wolfe]]<!--credited as associate editor-->, so integral is it to the style, meaning, and effect of the film. Still, one should at least observe that the art and craft of film editing know no higher peaks than ''The Wild Bunch'', and very, very few that are anywhere near its summit."<ref name=Seydor /> |
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===Connection to ''The Felony Squad''=== |
===Connection to ''The Felony Squad''=== |
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Lombardo became acquainted with Peckinpah when he moonlighted as a cameraman when Peckinpah was directing the television movie ''[[Noon Wine#1966 Television|Noon Wine]]'' (1966). Ultimately this connection led to Lombardo's joining Peckinpah to make ''[[The Wild Bunch]]''; Peckinpah was particularly interested in the editing techniques that Lombardo had devised while editing ''Felony Squad''. Lombardo described the crucial scene from the television show in a later interview with Vincent LoBrutto, "Joe Don Baker came out and was being shot by all these police. I printed every frame three times and created slow motion. I intercut him being shot, falling, this guy shooting, that guy running, Baker falling. Sam and Phil Feldman, the producer, saw it and said, 'You've got the job – and, as a matter of fact, we'll use that kind of thing.'"<ref name=LoBrutto /> The episode of ''Felony Squad'' was "My Mommy Got Lost."<ref name=Weddle /><ref>{{cite web |title=Howard Duff & Dennis Cole - 1968 - My Mommy Got Lost - guest star Joe Don Baker - Peckinpah moment |url= |
Lombardo became acquainted with Peckinpah when he moonlighted as a cameraman when Peckinpah was directing the television movie ''[[Noon Wine#1966 Television|Noon Wine]]'' (1966). Ultimately this connection led to Lombardo's joining Peckinpah to make ''[[The Wild Bunch]]''; Peckinpah was particularly interested in the editing techniques that Lombardo had devised while editing ''Felony Squad''. Lombardo described the crucial scene from the television show in a later interview with Vincent LoBrutto, "Joe Don Baker came out and was being shot by all these police. I printed every frame three times and created slow motion. I intercut him being shot, falling, this guy shooting, that guy running, Baker falling. Sam and Phil Feldman, the producer, saw it and said, 'You've got the job – and, as a matter of fact, we'll use that kind of thing.'"<ref name=LoBrutto /> The episode of ''Felony Squad'' was "My Mommy Got Lost."<ref name=Weddle /><ref>{{cite web |title=Howard Duff & Dennis Cole - 1968 - My Mommy Got Lost - guest star Joe Don Baker - Peckinpah moment |website = [[YouTube]]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWZcHl4JRzs}}</ref> At that time, slow motion cameras were not commonly used for television work. Lombardo used the laborious trick of stretching time by repeating the individual frames of film two or three times, which required that there be a film splice at every frame. There are typically 24 frames of film exposed each second by standard motion picture cameras, so after tripling Lombardo had 72 frames per second. Intercutting involves the splicing of sections of film from different cameras, or from different "takes" of the same scene. |
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===Montage in ''The Wild Bunch''=== |
===Montage in ''The Wild Bunch''=== |
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===Origins and legacy=== |
===Origins and legacy=== |
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The immediate inspiration for the gunbattle montage in ''The Wild Bunch'' was likely the 1967 film, ''[[Bonnie and Clyde (film)|Bonnie and Clyde]]'', which Peckinpah apparently screened a few days before filming began.<ref name=Prince4 /> ''Bonnie and Clyde'', which was directed by [[Arthur Penn]] and edited by [[Dede Allen]], has a famed scene at its ending showing the killings of Bonnie and Clyde by state police.<ref name=Monaco2 /> The scene mixes slow and accelerated motion and several cameras, which were aspects of ''The Wild Bunch''. Still earlier these techniques had been employed in [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s films, and in particular in ''[[Seven Samurai]]'' (1954). Kurosawa generally both directed and edited his films. Stephen Prince has written, "The kinetic attributes of Kurosawa's style, then, entered deeply into international cinema. In terms of the representation of violence, they influenced Arthur Penn and Sam Peckinpah and, from there, Hong Kong director [[John Woo]], as well as virtually everybody since. Every filmmaker who uses slow motion, montage, and multiple cameras to stylize violence in the ways that Kurosawa had demonstrated in ''Seven Samurai'' owes him a great debt."<ref name=Prince4 /> But Tony Williams notes that ''The Wild Bunch'' "extended those influences in more creative and dynamic ways",<ref name=Williams /> and [[Michael Sragow]] argued that "Peckinpah did it right in ''The Wild Bunch''. He produced an American movie that equals or surpasses the best of Kurosawa. Scorsese tries to match it in ''Gangs of New York'' – and doesn't come close. ''The Wild Bunch'' is the ''[[Götterdämmerung]]'' of Westerns."<ref name=Sragow /> |
The immediate inspiration for the gunbattle montage in ''The Wild Bunch'' was likely the 1967 film, ''[[Bonnie and Clyde (film)|Bonnie and Clyde]]'', which Peckinpah apparently screened a few days before filming began.<ref name=Prince4 /> ''Bonnie and Clyde'', which was directed by [[Arthur Penn]] and edited by [[Dede Allen]], has a famed scene at its ending showing the killings of Bonnie and Clyde by state police.<ref name=Monaco2 /> The scene mixes slow and accelerated motion and several cameras, which were aspects of ''The Wild Bunch''. Still earlier these techniques had been employed in [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s films, and in particular in ''[[Seven Samurai]]'' (1954). Kurosawa generally both directed and edited his films. Stephen Prince has written, "The kinetic attributes of Kurosawa's style, then, entered deeply into international cinema. In terms of the representation of violence, they influenced Arthur Penn and Sam Peckinpah and, from there, Hong Kong director [[John Woo]], as well as virtually everybody since. Every filmmaker who uses slow motion, montage, and multiple cameras to stylize violence in the ways that Kurosawa had demonstrated in ''Seven Samurai'' owes him a great debt."<ref name=Prince4 /> But Tony Williams notes that ''The Wild Bunch'' "extended those influences in more creative and dynamic ways",<ref name=Williams /> and [[Michael Sragow]] argued that "Peckinpah did it right in ''The Wild Bunch''. He produced an American movie that equals or surpasses the best of Kurosawa. Scorsese tries to match it in ''Gangs of New York'' – and doesn't come close. ''The Wild Bunch'' is the ''[[Götterdämmerung]]'' of Westerns."<ref name=Sragow /> ''Seven Samurai'', ''Bonnie and Clyde'', and ''The Wild Bunch'' were all in the listing of the best edited films of all time compiled in 2012 by the [[Motion Picture Editors Guild]].<ref>''Seven Samurai'' was listed as the 33rd best-edited film of all time. ''Bonnie and Clyde'' was listed fifth, and ''The Wild Bunch'' was listed 23rd. See {{cite journal |title=The 75 Best Edited Films |journal=Editors Guild Magazine |date=May 2012 |volume=1 |issue=3 |url=https://www.editorsguild.com/magazine.cfm?ArticleID=1101 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317101140/https://www.editorsguild.com/magazine.cfm?ArticleID=1102 |archive-date=2015-03-17}}</ref> |
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Many critics have noted the influence of the editing of the setpiece gunbattles in ''The Wild Bunch'' on later films. Paul Monaco has written, "Lombardo pushed the revolution in Hollywood editing further than anyone else, and ''The Wild Bunch'' was established at the end of the 1960s as the epitome for fast-paced editing in a narrative film."<ref name=Monaco /> David A. Cook included an extended list of the film's influences in a 1999 essay.<ref name=Cook /> In an interview, the director [[John Woo]], who is widely celebrated for his martial arts films, explicitly acknowledged its influence.<ref name=Woo /> Director [[Quentin Tarantino]] is often included. Eric Snider writes, "We noted in our discussion of ''[[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly]]'' that it was a huge influence on Quentin Tarantino. ''The Wild Bunch'' must sit next to it on Tarantino’s shelf. He and numerous other directors – John Woo, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola – have emulated Peckinpah’s slow-motion violence and realistic bloodletting. Much of what happens in ''The Wild Bunch'' seems cliche now, so frequently has it been copied and repeated."<ref name=Snider /> Director [[Kathryn Bigelow]] has written of ''The Wild Bunch'' that it seemed "almost ''gestalt'' editing ... because it imploded standard theories ... and was radical and tremendously vibrant."<ref name=Cook /> For ''[[The Matrix]]'' (1999, directed by [[The Wachowskis]] and edited by [[Zach Staenberg]]), Edgar-Hunt and his co-authors write that the "eye-catching violence upgrades the 'bullet ballets' of director Sam Peckinpah and the martial arts movies of Bruce Lee."<ref name=EdgarHunt/> John Goodman wrote in 2011, "Peckinpah’s combination of different film speeds and his offbeat, elliptical editing style were a revelation. John Woo, and also [[Takeshi Kitano]] and [[Wong Kar-Wai]], have referenced Peckinpah’s innovations, but the original still packs the greatest punch for me."<ref name=Goodman /> Ken Dancyger notes the influence on ''[[Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon]]'' (2000, directed by [[Ang Lee]] and edited by [[Tim Squyres]]).<ref name=Dancyger /> |
Many critics have noted the influence of the editing of the setpiece gunbattles in ''The Wild Bunch'' on later films. Paul Monaco has written, "Lombardo pushed the revolution in Hollywood editing further than anyone else, and ''The Wild Bunch'' was established at the end of the 1960s as the epitome for fast-paced editing in a narrative film."<ref name=Monaco /> David A. Cook included an extended list of the film's influences in a 1999 essay.<ref name=Cook /> In an interview, the director [[John Woo]], who is widely celebrated for his martial arts films, explicitly acknowledged its influence.<ref name=Woo /> Director [[Quentin Tarantino]] is often included. Eric Snider writes, "We noted in our discussion of ''[[The Good, the Bad and the Ugly]]'' that it was a huge influence on Quentin Tarantino. ''The Wild Bunch'' must sit next to it on Tarantino’s shelf. He and numerous other directors – John Woo, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola – have emulated Peckinpah’s slow-motion violence and realistic bloodletting. Much of what happens in ''The Wild Bunch'' seems cliche now, so frequently has it been copied and repeated."<ref name=Snider /> Director [[Kathryn Bigelow]] has written of ''The Wild Bunch'' that it seemed "almost ''gestalt'' editing ... because it imploded standard theories ... and was radical and tremendously vibrant."<ref name=Cook /> For ''[[The Matrix]]'' (1999, directed by [[The Wachowskis]] and edited by [[Zach Staenberg]]), Edgar-Hunt and his co-authors write that the "eye-catching violence upgrades the 'bullet ballets' of director Sam Peckinpah and the martial arts movies of Bruce Lee."<ref name=EdgarHunt/> John Goodman wrote in 2011, "Peckinpah’s combination of different film speeds and his offbeat, elliptical editing style were a revelation. John Woo, and also [[Takeshi Kitano]] and [[Wong Kar-Wai]], have referenced Peckinpah’s innovations, but the original still packs the greatest punch for me."<ref name=Goodman /> Ken Dancyger notes the influence on ''[[Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon]]'' (2000, directed by [[Ang Lee]] and edited by [[Tim Squyres]]).<ref name=Dancyger /> |
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Of the five films with Altman, the most influential is likely ''[[McCabe & Mrs. Miller]]'' (1971). The film was selected for the US [[National Film Registry]] in 2010. The film has been called an "anti-Western"; McCabe establishes a successful brothel in a mining town, with the essential assistance of its madam, Mrs. Miller. In 1999, [[Roger Ebert]] wrote, "Robert Altman has made a dozen films that can be called great in one way or another, but one of them is perfect, and that one is ''McCabe & Mrs. Miller'' (1971)."<ref name=Ebert /> Walter Chaw has written, "The father of contemplative American classics like Jim Jarmusch's ''Dead Man'' and Andrew Dominik's ''The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'', ''McCabe & Mrs. Miller'', like ''The Wild Bunch'', packs every bit the wallop of relevance and currency that it did over three decades ago. No hint of hyperbole, they are two of the best films ever made."<ref name=Chaw /> |
Of the five films with Altman, the most influential is likely ''[[McCabe & Mrs. Miller]]'' (1971). The film was selected for the US [[National Film Registry]] in 2010. The film has been called an "anti-Western"; McCabe establishes a successful brothel in a mining town, with the essential assistance of its madam, Mrs. Miller. In 1999, [[Roger Ebert]] wrote, "Robert Altman has made a dozen films that can be called great in one way or another, but one of them is perfect, and that one is ''McCabe & Mrs. Miller'' (1971)."<ref name=Ebert /> Walter Chaw has written, "The father of contemplative American classics like Jim Jarmusch's ''Dead Man'' and Andrew Dominik's ''The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'', ''McCabe & Mrs. Miller'', like ''The Wild Bunch'', packs every bit the wallop of relevance and currency that it did over three decades ago. No hint of hyperbole, they are two of the best films ever made."<ref name=Chaw /> |
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As he had done for Peckinpah on ''The Wild Bunch'', Lombardo acted as a second unit director for additional film footage. Altman and Lombardo spent nine months editing the film in North Vancouver, close to the location of the filming itself.<ref>{{cite book |last=Plecki |first=Gerard |title=Robert Altman |page=41 |publisher=Twayne |year=1985 |isbn=9780805793031}} No online access.</ref> The editing of the film has apparently never been singled out for critical attention, with the exception of the innovative style of sound editing. In his textbook on film production, Bruce Mamer uses the film to exemplify the blending of dialogue from many speakers, "Robert Altman was famous for using this style of layered dialogue cutting. The frontier barroom scene that opens his ''McCabe & Mrs. Miller'' (Louis Lombardo, editor) has snippets of conversations underlying the foreground action."<ref name=Mamer /> Roger Crittenden wrote, "the questions Altman asked about the function of sound encouraged a radical approach to the use of dialogue and indeed other sound, both in and beyond the frame. Lou Lombardo must have played a major part in making the ideas work."<ref>{{cite book |last=Crittenden |first=Roger |title=Film and Video Editing: Second Edition |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1995 |page=160 |url= |
As he had done for Peckinpah on ''The Wild Bunch'', Lombardo acted as a second unit director for additional film footage. Altman and Lombardo spent nine months editing the film in North Vancouver, close to the location of the filming itself.<ref>{{cite book |last=Plecki |first=Gerard |title=Robert Altman |page=[https://archive.org/details/robertaltman0000plec/page/41 41] |publisher=Twayne |year=1985 |isbn=9780805793031 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/robertaltman0000plec/page/41 }} No online access.</ref> The editing of the film has apparently never been singled out for critical attention, with the exception of the innovative style of sound editing. In his textbook on film production, Bruce Mamer uses the film to exemplify the blending of dialogue from many speakers, "Robert Altman was famous for using this style of layered dialogue cutting. The frontier barroom scene that opens his ''McCabe & Mrs. Miller'' (Louis Lombardo, editor) has snippets of conversations underlying the foreground action."<ref name=Mamer /> Roger Crittenden wrote, "the questions Altman asked about the function of sound encouraged a radical approach to the use of dialogue and indeed other sound, both in and beyond the frame. Lou Lombardo must have played a major part in making the ideas work."<ref name=Crittenden>{{cite book |last=Crittenden |first=Roger |title=Film and Video Editing: Second Edition |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1995 |page=160 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f4rQO_sGp8AC&pg=PA160 |isbn=9781857130119}}</ref> Stephen Prince chose a related theme in summarizing Lombardo's collaboration with Altman: "Though his work for Altman was less trendsetting than that for Peckinpah, the partnership with Altman lasted much longer, and Lombardo found the perfect visual rhythms for Altman's wandering and diffuse audio style."<ref name=Prince /> |
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After ''California Split'' (1974), Altman wanted Lombardo to edit his next film ''[[Nashville (film)|Nashville]]'' (1975). Lombardo declined because he had turned to directing and producing. Altman chose [[Sidney Levin]] to edit, who was then succeeded by Lombardo's assistant editor on several films, Dennis M. Hill.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Nashville Chronicles: The Making of Robert Altman's Masterpiece |last=Stuart |first=Jan |page=275 |isbn=9780879109813 |year=2003 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |url= |
After ''California Split'' (1974), Altman wanted Lombardo to edit his next film ''[[Nashville (film)|Nashville]]'' (1975). Lombardo declined because he had turned to directing and producing. Altman chose [[Sidney Levin]] to edit, who was then succeeded by Lombardo's assistant editor on several films, Dennis M. Hill.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Nashville Chronicles: The Making of Robert Altman's Masterpiece |last=Stuart |first=Jan |page=275 |isbn=9780879109813 |year=2003 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ELwzIw6G8vgC&pg=PA275 }}</ref> In 1977, Lombardo edited ''[[The Late Show (film)|The Late Show]]'', which was produced by Altman but directed by [[Robert Benton]]. ''The Late Show'' is a [[film noir]] detective story; [[Pauline Kael]] wrote at the time, "''The Late Show'' never lets up; the editing is by Lou Lombardo (who has often worked with Robert Altman) and Peter Appleton, and I can't think of a thriller from the forties that is as tight as this, or has such sustained tension."<ref name=Kael>{{cite magazine |last=Kael |first=Pauline |title=The Current Cinema: The Late Show |magazine=The New Yorker |date=February 7, 1977 |page=110 |url=http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1977-02-07#folio=110}} Subscription required for online access.</ref> |
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Lombardo's final project with Altman was the film ''[[O.C. and Stiggs]]'', which was produced around 1984 and released in 1987. Lombardo left the film before post-production was completed; he is uncredited on the film.<ref name=McGilligan /> |
Lombardo's final project with Altman was the film ''[[O.C. and Stiggs]]'', which was produced around 1984 and released in 1987. Lombardo left the film before post-production was completed; he is uncredited on the film.<ref name=McGilligan /> |
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==Producing and directing== |
==Producing and directing== |
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From 1975–1985 Lombardo worked as a producer and director as well as an editor. Lombardo's debut as a director was ''[[Russian Roulette ( |
From 1975–1985 Lombardo worked as a producer and director as well as an editor. Lombardo's debut as a director was ''[[Russian Roulette (film)|Russian Roulette]]'' (1975). The film is an espionage thriller that starred [[George Segal]]. A review in ''New York Magazine'' was unfavorable; "Lou Lombardo directs uninspiredly from a far from inspiring script co-authored by Tom Ardies, the original author of the novel."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Simon |first=John |title=The Critical Condition |date=August 18, 1975 |journal=New York Magazine |page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kOkCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA65}}</ref> The film was released for home video in 1986, and has recently been reviewed more favorably.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hodgson |first=Mark A. |title=Russian Roulette (1975) – not on DVD |date=June 23, 2009 |work=Black Hole Reviews |quote=Director Lou Lombardo indulges the cast to throw in improvised dialogue to add to the realistic feel. The best example is a scene where Segal tries to get an old lady to remember a really important message. The worst is his throwaway line to a traumatised Raines in the middle of a car chase, "How do you feel, killing a man?". Sometimes his comedy touch makes the film a little lighter than the subject deserves. |url=http://blackholereviews.blogspot.com/2009/06/russian-roulette-1975-not-on-dvd.html |access-date=2012-01-14}}</ref> |
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Lombardo both produced and edited ''[[The Black Bird]]'' (1975), which was a humorous sequel to the [[film noir]] classic ''[[The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)|The Maltese Falcon]]''; the film also starred George Segal, and was poorly reviewed upon its release.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kael |first=Pauline |title=5001 Nights at the Movies |year=1991 |chapter=The Black Bird |quote=a dumb comedy, with an insecure tone and some good ideas mixed with some terrible ones. |page=76 |publisher=MacMillan | |
Lombardo both produced and edited ''[[The Black Bird]]'' (1975), which was a humorous sequel to the [[film noir]] classic ''[[The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)|The Maltese Falcon]]''; the film also starred George Segal, and was poorly reviewed upon its release.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kael |first=Pauline |title=5001 Nights at the Movies |year=1991 |chapter=The Black Bird |quote=a dumb comedy, with an insecure tone and some good ideas mixed with some terrible ones. |page=76 |publisher=MacMillan |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0NlZpWZn4JsC&pg=PA76 |isbn=9780805013672}}</ref> |
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Lombardo co-produced [[Cheech & Chong]]'s first film, ''[[Up in Smoke]]'' (1978), which is now known as the "classic stoner comedy".<ref>{{ |
Lombardo co-produced [[Cheech & Chong]]'s first film, ''[[Up in Smoke]]'' (1978), which is now known as the "classic stoner comedy".<ref>{{citation |last=Levy |first=Emanuel |author-link=Emanuel Levy |title=Up in Smoke (1978) |date=April 12, 2008 |work=emanuellevy.com |url=http://www.emanuellevy.com/review/up-in-smoke-1978-2/ }}</ref> The film enjoyed great box office success. Lombardo is also credited as the supervising editor on the film. |
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About 1981 Lombardo directed ''[[P. K. and the Kid]]'', which starred a very young [[Molly Ringwald]]. The film was not released until early 1987, when Ringwald had become well-known; it nonetheless attracted little attention.<ref>{{cite web |title=P.K. and the Kid (1987) |last=Weisberg |first=Sam |date=October 11, 2011 |work=Hidden Films |url=http://hidden-films.com/2011/10/07/p-k-and-the-kid-1987/}}</ref> |
About 1981 Lombardo directed ''[[P. K. and the Kid]]'', which starred a very young [[Molly Ringwald]]. The film was not released until early 1987, when Ringwald had become well-known; it nonetheless attracted little attention.<ref>{{cite web |title=P.K. and the Kid (1987) |last=Weisberg |first=Sam |date=October 11, 2011 |work=Hidden Films |url=http://hidden-films.com/2011/10/07/p-k-and-the-kid-1987/}}</ref> |
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==Return to editing and the Norman Jewison collaboration== |
==Return to editing and the Norman Jewison collaboration== |
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In 1986 Lombardo returned to editing with the fairly inconsequential ''[[Stewardess School]]''. The film was produced by Phil Feldman, who had produced ''The Wild Bunch'' about 15 years earlier. Lombardo's next film was ''[[Moonstruck]]'' (1987), which was being directed and produced by [[Norman Jewison]]. ''Moonstruck'' was extremely successful at the box office, garnered three Academy Awards and three additional nominations, and has been well-regarded by many critics.<ref>{{cite book |last=Citron |first=Marcia J. |title=When Opera Meets Film |chapter=An "honest contrivance": opera and desire in ''Moonstruck'' |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |page=173 | |
In 1986 Lombardo returned to editing with the fairly inconsequential ''[[Stewardess School]]''. The film was produced by Phil Feldman, who had produced ''The Wild Bunch'' about 15 years earlier. Lombardo's next film was ''[[Moonstruck]]'' (1987), which was being directed and produced by [[Norman Jewison]]. ''Moonstruck'' was extremely successful at the box office, garnered three Academy Awards and three additional nominations, and has been well-regarded by many critics.<ref>{{cite book |last=Citron |first=Marcia J. |title=When Opera Meets Film |chapter=An "honest contrivance": opera and desire in ''Moonstruck'' |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |page=173 |isbn=9781139489638 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ar5Nc6klWb4C&pg=PA173}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=Moonstruck |date=June 22, 2003 |publisher=Chicago Sun-Times |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20030622%2FREVIEWS08%2F306220301%2F1023 }}</ref> Stephen Prince has written, "Another brilliant editor of late-sixties American cinema, Lou Lombardo (who edited ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' (1969) to seminal effect) worked sporadically in the eighties and mainly on low-key films (''[[Moonstruck]]'', ''[[In Country]]'' (1989)) where his editing choices showed the intelligence and subtlety that rarely wins Oscars. The wonderful comic effectiveness and timing of ''Moonstruck'', for example, depends as much on Lombardo's editing as on John Patrick Shanley's script or the performances by Cher, Nicolas Cage, and the rest of the cast."<ref name=Prince3 /> Lombardo next edited ''[[The January Man]]'' (1989), which was also produced by Jewison but directed by [[Pat O'Connor (director)|Pat O'Connor]]. Lombardo worked on five more films through 1991, of which the very popular comedy ''[[Uncle Buck]]'' (1989, written and directed by [[John Hughes (filmmaker)|John Hughes]]) is likely the best known.<ref name=Willman /> The final film edited by Lombardo was still another of Jewison's productions, ''[[Other People's Money]]'' (1991). |
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==Final cuts== |
==Final cuts== |
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Lombardo |
Lombardo and his wife, Lynn, had two daughters and a son, Tony Lombardo, who also became a film editor.<ref name=Daley>{{cite news |title=Lou Lombardo |first=Ashley |last=Daley |date=July 10, 2002 |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2002/scene/people-news/lou-lombardo-1117869525/}}</ref><ref>{{imdb name |0518505 |Tony Lombardo}}</ref> In addition to his son, Lombardo mentored Dennis M. Hill and [[Paul Rubell]] in the early stages of their careers.<ref>Rubell was credited as an assistant editor on ''The Changeling'' (1980); Lombardo was the supervising editor. See also {{cite journal |last=Kunkes |first=Michael |title=Six Editors in Search of Oscar |journal=Editors' Guild Magazine |date=May–June 2005 |volume=26 |issue=3 |url=https://www.editorsguild.com/Magazine.cfm?ArticleID=94 |quote=My own style is lot like my mentor, the late Lou Lombardo, who cut for Sam Pekinpah as well as a lot of Robert Altman’s best films of the 1970s.}}</ref> Lombardo was interviewed about his career by Vincent LoBrutto in 1991.<ref name=LoBrutto /> In that same year, he suffered a stroke that left him comatose until his death in 2002.<ref name=Prince /><ref name=Daley /> |
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Lombardo had been selected as a member of the [[American Cinema Editors]].<ref>Members of the American Cinema Editors are often credited with the designation A.C.E. following their names; for Lombardo, see {{cite book |title=Make the Cut: A Guide to Becoming a Successful Assistant Editor in Film and TV |page=164 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KwJBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA164 |
Lombardo had been selected as a member of the [[American Cinema Editors]].<ref>Members of the American Cinema Editors are often credited with the designation A.C.E. following their names; for Lombardo, see {{cite book |title=Make the Cut: A Guide to Becoming a Successful Assistant Editor in Film and TV |page=164 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KwJBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA164 |first1=Lori |last1=Coleman |first2=Diana |last2=Friedberg |publisher=CRC Press |date=2014 |isbn=9781317567776}}</ref> |
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==Filmography== |
==Filmography== |
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This filmography is based on the Internet Movie Database.<ref name=imdb /> Lombardo's credits are listed in the first parentheses. The director and release year are indicated in the second. |
This filmography is based on the Internet Movie Database.<ref name=imdb /> Lombardo's credits are listed in the first parentheses. The director and release year are indicated in the second. |
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*(editor) ''[[The Name of the Game Is Kill]]'' ([[Gunnar Hellström|Hellström]]-1968) |
*(editor) ''[[The Name of the Game Is Kill!]]'' ([[Gunnar Hellström|Hellström]]-1968) |
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*(editor) ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' ([[Sam Peckinpah|Peckinpah]]-1969) |
*(editor) ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' ([[Sam Peckinpah|Peckinpah]]-1969) |
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*(editor) ''[[The Ballad of Cable Hogue]]'' (Peckinpah-1970) |
*(editor) ''[[The Ballad of Cable Hogue]]'' (Peckinpah-1970) |
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*(editor) ''[[Brewster McCloud]]'' (Altman-1970) |
*(editor) ''[[Brewster McCloud]]'' (Altman-1970) |
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*(supervising editor) ''[[Red Sun]]'' ([[Terence Young (director)|Young]]-1971) |
*(supervising editor) ''[[Red Sun]]'' ([[Terence Young (director)|Young]]-1971) |
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*(editor) ''[[McCabe & Mrs. Miller]]''(Altman-1971) |
*(editor) ''[[McCabe & Mrs. Miller]]'' (Altman-1971) |
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*(editor) ''[[The Long Goodbye (film)|The Long Goodbye]]'' ([[Robert Altman|Altman]]-1973) |
*(editor) ''[[The Long Goodbye (film)|The Long Goodbye]]'' ([[Robert Altman|Altman]]-1973) |
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*(editor) ''[[Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies]]'' ([[John Erman|Erman]]-1973) |
*(editor) ''[[Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies]]'' ([[John Erman|Erman]]-1973) |
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*(editor) ''[[Thieves Like Us (film)|Thieves Like Us]]'' (Altman-1974) |
*(editor) ''[[Thieves Like Us (film)|Thieves Like Us]]'' (Altman-1974) |
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*(editor) ''[[California Split]]'' (Altman-1974) |
*(editor) ''[[California Split]]'' (Altman-1974) |
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*(director) ''[[Russian Roulette (film)|Russian Roulette]]'' (Lombardo |
*(director) ''[[Russian Roulette (film)|Russian Roulette]]'' (Lombardo-1975) |
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*(producer and editor) ''[[The Black Bird]]'' ([[David Giler|Giler]]-1975) |
*(producer and editor) ''[[The Black Bird]]'' ([[David Giler|Giler]]-1975) |
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*(editor) ''[[The Late Show (film)]]'' ([[Robert Benton|Benton]]-1977) |
*(editor) ''[[The Late Show (film)|The Late Show]]'' ([[Robert Benton|Benton]]-1977) |
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*(producer and supervising editor) ''[[Up in Smoke]]'' ([[Lou Adler|Adler]]-1978) |
*(producer and supervising editor) ''[[Up in Smoke]]'' ([[Lou Adler|Adler]]-1978) |
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*(supervising editor) ''[[The Changeling (1980 film)|The Changeling]]'' ([[Peter Medak|Medak]]-1980) |
*(supervising editor) ''[[The Changeling (1980 film)|The Changeling]]'' ([[Peter Medak|Medak]]-1980) |
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*(executive producer) ''[[Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains]]'' (1982) |
*(executive producer) ''[[Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains]]'' ([[Lou Adler|Adler]]-1982) |
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*(director) ''[[P.K. and the Kid]]'' (Lombardo-1985) (finished in 1982, shelved; released in 1987 because of Ringwald's success.) |
*(director) ''[[P.K. and the Kid]]'' (Lombardo-1985) (finished in 1982, shelved; released in 1987 because of Ringwald's success.) |
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*(supervising editor) ''[[Just One of the Guys]]'' ([[Lisa Gottlieb|Gottlieb]]-1985) |
*(supervising editor) ''[[Just One of the Guys]]'' ([[Lisa Gottlieb|Gottlieb]]-1985) |
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{{reflist |colwidth=33em |refs= |
{{reflist |colwidth=33em |refs= |
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<!--Hold in reserve, or transfer to film article.<ref name=Brooks>{{cite news |title=McCabe and Mrs Miller |last=Brooks |first=Xan |quote=Until now, I always had the bold, bawdy ''Nashville'' filed as the ultimate Altman movie. I'm now wondering if this minor-key masterpiece might not just have the edge. |date=May 3, 2007 |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/may/04/drama.robertaltman |work=The Guardian}}</ref>--> |
<!--Hold in reserve, or transfer to film article.<ref name=Brooks>{{cite news |title=McCabe and Mrs Miller |last=Brooks |first=Xan |quote=Until now, I always had the bold, bawdy ''Nashville'' filed as the ultimate Altman movie. I'm now wondering if this minor-key masterpiece might not just have the edge. |date=May 3, 2007 |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/may/04/drama.robertaltman |work=The Guardian}}</ref>--> |
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<ref name=Chaw>{{cite web |last=Chaw |first=Walter |title=TCM Greatest Films Classic Collection – Western Adventures |quote=The father of contemplative American classics like Jim Jarmusch's ''Dead Man'' and Andrew Dominik's ''The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'', ''McCabe & Mrs. Miller'', like ''The Wild Bunch'', packs every bit the wallop of relevance and currency that it did over three decades ago. No hint of hyperbole, they are two of the best films ever made. |url=http://filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/tcmwesterns.htm |
<ref name=Chaw>{{cite web |last=Chaw |first=Walter |title=TCM Greatest Films Classic Collection – Western Adventures |quote=The father of contemplative American classics like Jim Jarmusch's ''Dead Man'' and Andrew Dominik's ''The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'', ''McCabe & Mrs. Miller'', like ''The Wild Bunch'', packs every bit the wallop of relevance and currency that it did over three decades ago. No hint of hyperbole, they are two of the best films ever made. |url=http://filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/tcmwesterns.htm |work=Film Freak Central |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409062728/http://filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/tcmwesterns.htm |archive-date=2010-04-09}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Cook>{{cite book |last=Cook |first=David A. |chapter=Ballistic Balletics |title=Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch |editor1-last=Prince |editor1-first=Stephen |page=150 | |
<ref name=Cook>{{cite book |last=Cook |first=David A. |chapter=Ballistic Balletics |title=Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch |editor1-last=Prince |editor1-first=Stephen |page=150 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DLeircvoAt8C&pg=PA150 |year=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521586061}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Dancyger>{{cite book |title=The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice |
<ref name=Dancyger>{{cite book |title=The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice |last=Dancyger |first=Ken |year=2010 |publisher=Focal Press |page=182 |isbn=9780240813974 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m20GrX-ZmmoC&pg=PA182|edition=Fifth }} This book notes Peckinpah on 26 pages, but does not mention Lombardo at all.</ref> |
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<ref name=Eagan>{{cite book |title=America's film legacy: the authoritative guide to the landmark movies in the National Film Registry |last=Eagan |first=Daniel |year=2010 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=9780826429773 |page=648 |quote=The ''Wild Bunch'' had 3,642 edits, more than five times the Hollywood average for a feature. ... Montage this dense hadn't been attempted since Sergei Eisenstein back in the 1920s. Lombardo persuaded Peckinpah to film the major shootouts with up to six cameras, some operating at different speeds ... By overwhelming viewers, Peckinpah hoped to disarm their normal defenses – "it's only a movie" – and immerse them in the experience of violence and death. Exactly why he wanted to expose mainstream audiences to such relentless violence was never clear. |url= |
<ref name=Eagan>{{cite book |title=America's film legacy: the authoritative guide to the landmark movies in the National Film Registry |last=Eagan |first=Daniel |year=2010 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=9780826429773 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americasfilmlega0000eaga/page/648 648] |quote=The ''Wild Bunch'' had 3,642 edits, more than five times the Hollywood average for a feature. ... Montage this dense hadn't been attempted since Sergei Eisenstein back in the 1920s. Lombardo persuaded Peckinpah to film the major shootouts with up to six cameras, some operating at different speeds ... By overwhelming viewers, Peckinpah hoped to disarm their normal defenses – "it's only a movie" – and immerse them in the experience of violence and death. Exactly why he wanted to expose mainstream audiences to such relentless violence was never clear. |url=https://archive.org/details/americasfilmlega0000eaga|url-access=registration }}</ref> |
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<ref name=Ebert>{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=McCabe & Mrs. Miller |date=November 14, 1999 |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19991114/REVIEWS08/911140301/1023 |publisher=Chicago Sun Times}}</ref> |
<ref name=Ebert>{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=McCabe & Mrs. Miller |date=November 14, 1999 |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19991114/REVIEWS08/911140301/1023 |publisher=Chicago Sun Times}}</ref> |
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<ref name=EdgarHunt>{{cite book |title=The Language of Film |first1=Robert |last1=Edgar-Hunt |first2=John |last2=Marland |first3=Steven |last3=Rawle |year=2010 |publisher=AVA Publishing |isbn=9782940411276 |url= |
<ref name=EdgarHunt>{{cite book |title=The Language of Film |first1=Robert |last1=Edgar-Hunt |first2=John |last2=Marland |first3=Steven |last3=Rawle |year=2010 |publisher=AVA Publishing |isbn=9782940411276 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3xoxZUYY80C&pg=PT82 |page=80}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Goodman>{{cite journal |title=I Found It At the Movies: 1969—The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah) |last=Goodman |first=John |date=July 27, 2011 |journal=Movie Maker |url=http://www.moviemaker.com/blog/item/i_found_it_at_the_movies_1969_the_wild_bunch_sam_peckinpah_20110727/ }}</ref> |
<ref name=Goodman>{{cite journal |title=I Found It At the Movies: 1969—The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah) |last=Goodman |first=John |date=July 27, 2011 |journal=Movie Maker |url=http://www.moviemaker.com/blog/item/i_found_it_at_the_movies_1969_the_wild_bunch_sam_peckinpah_20110727/ |access-date=March 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806163910/http://www.moviemaker.com/blog/item/i_found_it_at_the_movies_1969_the_wild_bunch_sam_peckinpah_20110727/ |archive-date=August 6, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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<ref name=imdb>{{imdb name|0518470|Lou Lombardo}} Accessed 2011-12-21.</ref> |
<ref name=imdb>{{imdb name|0518470|Lou Lombardo}} Accessed 2011-12-21.</ref> |
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<ref name=LoBrutto>{{cite book |last=LoBrutto |first=Vincent |chapter=Lou Lombardo |title=Selected Takes: Film Editors on Editing |location=New York |publisher=Praeger |year=1991 |pages=125–133 |isbn=9780275933951 | |
<ref name=LoBrutto>{{cite book |last=LoBrutto |first=Vincent |chapter=Lou Lombardo |title=Selected Takes: Film Editors on Editing |location=New York |publisher=Praeger |year=1991 |pages=125–133 |isbn=9780275933951 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IIoK9au88v8C&pg=PA125}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Mamer>{{cite book |title=Film Production Technique: Creating the Accomplished Image |
<ref name=Mamer>{{cite book |title=Film Production Technique: Creating the Accomplished Image |last=Mamer |first=Bruce |page=393 |quote=''Interruptions and blending of dialogue''...Robert Altman was famous for using this style of layered dialogue cutting. The frontier barroom scene that opens his ''McCabe & Mrs. Miller'' (Louis Lombardo, editor) has snippets of conversations underlying the foreground action. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HwfxlkeYgMQC&pg=PA393 |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2008 |isbn=9780495411161|edition=Fifth }}</ref> |
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<ref name=McGilligan>{{cite book |last=McGilligan |first=Patrick |title=Robert Altman: Jumping Off the Cliff |pages=533–534 |url= |
<ref name=McGilligan>{{cite book |last=McGilligan |first=Patrick |title=Robert Altman: Jumping Off the Cliff |pages=533–534 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6zzxOVHFL_oC&pg=PA533 |publisher=Macmillan |year=1989 |isbn=9780312304676 |oclc=18521062}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Monaco>{{cite book |title=A History of American Movies: A Film-by-film Look at the Art, Craft, and Business of Cinema |last=Monaco |first=Paul |page=191 |quote=Lombardo broke one of the few rules of editing that had survived Dede Allen's editing work on ''Bonnie and Clyde'' by cutting directly into slow motion shots, and he also set a record for the number of separate shots in a feature film at 3624. Lombardo pushed the revolution in Hollywood editing further than anyone else, and ''The Wild Bunch'' was established at the end of the 1960s as the epitome for fast-aced editing in a narrative film. |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2010 |isbn=9780810874343}}</ref> |
<ref name=Monaco>{{cite book |title=A History of American Movies: A Film-by-film Look at the Art, Craft, and Business of Cinema |last=Monaco |first=Paul |page=191 |quote=Lombardo broke one of the few rules of editing that had survived Dede Allen's editing work on ''Bonnie and Clyde'' by cutting directly into slow motion shots, and he also set a record for the number of separate shots in a feature film at 3624. Lombardo pushed the revolution in Hollywood editing further than anyone else, and ''The Wild Bunch'' was established at the end of the 1960s as the epitome for fast-aced editing in a narrative film. |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2010 |isbn=9780810874343}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Monaco2>{{cite book |title=The Sixties, 1960–1969 Volume 8 of History of the American cinema |last=Monaco |first=Paul |quote=Several of the movie's scenes are remarkable and memorable because of the editing. For example, the killing of Bonnie and Clyde at the end of the film, when they are ambushed by the police, is polished artistry. Without the extraordinarily careful layering of the visuals and the sound, Allen's [[fast cutting]] could easily have resulted in a confused and jumbled scene. |page=90 |publisher=University of California Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780520238046 |url= |
<ref name=Monaco2>{{cite book |title=The Sixties, 1960–1969 Volume 8 of History of the American cinema |last=Monaco |first=Paul |quote=Several of the movie's scenes are remarkable and memorable because of the editing. For example, the killing of Bonnie and Clyde at the end of the film, when they are ambushed by the police, is polished artistry. Without the extraordinarily careful layering of the visuals and the sound, Allen's [[fast cutting]] could easily have resulted in a confused and jumbled scene. |page=90 |publisher=University of California Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780520238046 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WG97toYUqagC&pg=PA90}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Murray>{{cite journal |title=Sam Peckinpah |last=Murray |first=Gabrielle |date=May–June 2002 | |
<ref name=Murray>{{cite journal |title=Sam Peckinpah |last=Murray |first=Gabrielle |date=May–June 2002 |journal=Senses of Cinema |issue=20 |url=http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/peckinpah/}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Prince>{{cite book |title=Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film Volume 2 Criticism-Ideology |date=December 15, 2006 | |
<ref name=Prince>{{cite book |title=Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film Volume 2 Criticism-Ideology |date=December 15, 2006 |chapter-url=http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Criticism-Ideology/Editing-THE-EXPRESSIVE-FUNCTIONS-OF-EDITING.html |chapter=Lou Lombardo b. 15 February 1932, d. 8 May 2002 |page=124 |last=Prince |first=Stephen |editor1-last=Grant |editor1-first=Barry Keith }} An obituary for Lombardo is included as a sidebar in Prince's article "Editing" for the ''Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film'', pp. 115–125.</ref> |
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<ref name=Prince2>{{cite book |title=Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch |chapter=Introduction: Sam Peckinpah, Savage Poet of American Cinema |last=Prince |first=Stephen |page=2 | |
<ref name=Prince2>{{cite book |title=Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch |chapter=Introduction: Sam Peckinpah, Savage Poet of American Cinema |last=Prince |first=Stephen |page=2 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DLeircvoAt8C&pg=PA2 |year=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521586061}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Prince3>{{cite book |title=A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow 1980–1989 (Volume 10 of History of the American cinema) |last=Prince |first=Stephen |date=2002 |publisher=University of California Press |page=196 |quote=Another brilliant editor of late-sixties American cinema, Lou Lombardo (who edited ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' (1969) to seminal effect) worked sporadically in the eighties and mainly on low-key films (''[[Moonstruck]]'', ''[[In Country]]'' (1989)) where his editing choices showed the intelligence and subtlety that rarely wins Oscars. The wonderful comic effectiveness and timing of ''Moonstruck'', for example, depends as much on Lombardo's editing as on John Patrick Shanley's script or the performances by Cher, Nicolas Cage, and the rest of the cast. |isbn=9780520232662}}</ref> |
<ref name=Prince3>{{cite book |title=A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow 1980–1989 (Volume 10 of History of the American cinema) |last=Prince |first=Stephen |date=2002 |publisher=University of California Press |page=196 |quote=Another brilliant editor of late-sixties American cinema, Lou Lombardo (who edited ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' (1969) to seminal effect) worked sporadically in the eighties and mainly on low-key films (''[[Moonstruck]]'', ''[[In Country]]'' (1989)) where his editing choices showed the intelligence and subtlety that rarely wins Oscars. The wonderful comic effectiveness and timing of ''Moonstruck'', for example, depends as much on Lombardo's editing as on John Patrick Shanley's script or the performances by Cher, Nicolas Cage, and the rest of the cast. |isbn=9780520232662}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Prince4>{{cite book |title=The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa |
<ref name=Prince4>{{cite book |title=The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa |last=Prince |first=Stephen |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1999 |quote=Although he denied that Penn's film had any influence on him, Peckinpah's archived papers contain a letter from Warner Bros. to the production manager of ''The Wild Bunch'' confirming shipment of a print of ''Bonnie and Clyde'' to Peckinpah's Mexico location the weekend of March 23–24 prior to the start of principal cinematography on March 24. Peckinpah evidently wished to study Penn's design in order to surpass it. That Peckinpah felt the force of Kurosawa's lineage upon his own work is evident in his remark to ''Film Quarterly''s Ernest Callenbach that he wanted to make Westerns like Kurosawa made Westerns. |page=350 |isbn=9780691010465 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vdchVqMSiDEC&pg=PA350|edition=Second }}</ref> |
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<ref name=Seydor>{{cite book |last=Seydor |first=Paul |title=Peckinpah: The Western Films. A Reconsideration |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=1997 |page=190 |quote=The slow-motion intercuts with their hypnotic allure distance us from the action by aestheticizing it, thus intensifying aesthetic feeling as such but ameliorating any vicarious experience we might have of the physical sensations the action produces . Peckinpah developed a technique that tends to divorce feeling from sensation (which is what makes his art so seductive, hence disturbing) and that enables him to strike exactly the right balance between an emotional, indeed an almost palpably physical proximity to the violence and an aesthetic distance from it. |url= |
<ref name=Seydor>{{cite book |last=Seydor |first=Paul |title=Peckinpah: The Western Films. A Reconsideration |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=1997 |page=190 |isbn=9780252068355 |quote=The slow-motion intercuts with their hypnotic allure distance us from the action by aestheticizing it, thus intensifying aesthetic feeling as such but ameliorating any vicarious experience we might have of the physical sensations the action produces . Peckinpah developed a technique that tends to divorce feeling from sensation (which is what makes his art so seductive, hence disturbing) and that enables him to strike exactly the right balance between an emotional, indeed an almost palpably physical proximity to the violence and an aesthetic distance from it. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jamhwSywQCEC}} Also: "Any discussion of ''The Wild Bunch'' implicitly acknowledges the editing by Lou Lombardo and Robert Wolfe, so integral is it to the style, meaning, and effect of the film. Still, one should at least observe that the art and craft of film editing know no higher peaks than ''The Wild Bunch'', and very, very few that are anywhere near its summit." (p. 195). Robert Wolfe was the associate editor of ''The Wild Bunch''.</ref> |
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<ref name=Seydor94>{{cite book |last=Seydor |first=Paul |editor1-last=Bliss |editor1-first=Michael |chapter=The Wild Bunch as Epic |title=Doing It Right: The Best Criticism on Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch |page=144 |publisher=SIU Press |isbn=9780809318636 | |
<ref name=Seydor94>{{cite book |last=Seydor |first=Paul |editor1-last=Bliss |editor1-first=Michael |chapter=The Wild Bunch as Epic |title=Doing It Right: The Best Criticism on Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch |year=1994 |page=144 |publisher=SIU Press |isbn=9780809318636 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mtdqNjWg-5UC&pg=PA144 }}</ref> |
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<ref name=sfgate>{{cite news |last=Stack |first=Peter |title=FILM REVIEW – Peckinpah's 'Wild' Western |work=The San Francisco Chronicle |date=August 18, 1995 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1995/08/18/DD1139.DTL}}</ref> |
<ref name=sfgate>{{cite news |last=Stack |first=Peter |title=FILM REVIEW – Peckinpah's 'Wild' Western |work=The San Francisco Chronicle |date=August 18, 1995 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1995/08/18/DD1139.DTL}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Simmons>{{cite book |first=Garner |last=Simmons |title=Peckinpah, A Portrait in Montage |publisher=University of Texas Press |year = 1982 |page=127 |url= |
<ref name=Simmons>{{cite book |first=Garner |last=Simmons |title=Peckinpah, A Portrait in Montage |publisher=University of Texas Press |year = 1982 |page=127 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sPFstxHbWDQC&pg=PA127 |isbn=0292764936}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Snider>{{cite web |title= |
<ref name=Snider>{{cite web |title=What's the Big Deal?: The Wild Bunch (1969) |last=Snider |first=Eric D. |date=December 14, 2010 |quote=We noted in our discussion of ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' that it was a huge influence on Quentin Tarantino. ''The Wild Bunch'' must sit next to it on Tarantino’s shelf. He and numerous other directors – John Woo, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola – have emulated Peckinpah’s slow-motion violence and realistic bloodletting. Much of what happens in ''The Wild Bunch'' seems cliche now, so frequently has it been copied and repeated. |work=Film.com |url=http://www.film.com/movies/whats-the-big-deal-the-wild-bunch-1969}}</ref> |
||
<ref name=Sragow>{{cite news |title= |
<ref name=Sragow>{{cite news |title='Wild Bunch' is Western writ large |last=Sragow |first=Michael |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=February 14, 2003 |url=http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2003-02-14/features/0302140119_1_wild-bunch-peckinpah-quiet-american }}</ref> |
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<ref name=Sterritt>{{cite book |title=Robert Altman: interviews |editor1-last=Sterritt |editor1-first=David |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |year=2000 |page=15 |isbn=9781578061877 | |
<ref name=Sterritt>{{cite book |title=Robert Altman: interviews |editor1-last=Sterritt |editor1-first=David |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |year=2000 |page=15 |isbn=9781578061877 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sxud8G_2dNwC&pg=PA15 |last2=Harmetz |first2=Aljean |last1=Altman |first1=Robert |chapter=The 15th Man Who Was Asked to Direct M*A*S*H (and Did) Makes a Peculiar Western}} 1971 interview.</ref> |
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<ref name=Weddle>{{cite book |first=David |last=Weddle | |
<ref name=Weddle>{{cite book |first=David |last=Weddle |author-link=David Weddle |title=If They Move...Kill 'Em! : The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah |quote=Lombardo's intercutting of slow and fast motion in one continuous sequence had at last provided the key. Peckinpah now knew how he would integrate slow motion into the action sequences. He would film the major shootouts with six cameras, all operating at variable frame rates – 24 frames per second, 30 frames per second, 60 frames per second, 90 frames per second, 120 frames per second – so that then when cut together the action would constantly be shifting from slow to fast to slower still to fast again, giving time within the sequences a strange elastic quality. Later, Lombardo would further alter the speed of the shots with an optical printer, speeding them up or slowing them down so that just the right rhythms could be achieved. |publisher=Grove Press |year = 1994 |page=334 |isbn=0802115462 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C6J17sT7qHYC&pg=PA334}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Williams>{{cite journal |title=The Wild Bunch |last=Williams |first=Tony | |
<ref name=Williams>{{cite journal |title=The Wild Bunch |last=Williams |first=Tony |journal=Senses of Cinema |issue=39 |year=2006 |url=http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2006/cteq/wild_bunch/ |quote=Stylistically, Akira Kurosawa’s ''The Seven Samurai'' (1954) and Arthur Penn’s ''[[The Left Handed Gun]]'' (1958) influenced Peckinpah. But he extended those influences in more creative and dynamic ways.}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Willman>{{cite news |title='Uncle Buck': John Hughes' Valentine to Teenhood |date=August 16, 1989 |first=Christ |last=Willman |work=The Los Angeles Times |quote=Hughes can be surprisingly daring in introducing bits and pieces of tense domestic turmoil into his comedies, and this one is no exception. (Lou Lombardo, Tony Lombardo and Peck Prior did the editing, which nicely mixes tight comedic gag timing with an unusually relaxed, dramatic narrative pace. |url=http://articles.latimes.com/1989-08-16/entertainment/ca-376_1_uncle-buck | |
<ref name=Willman>{{cite news |title='Uncle Buck': John Hughes' Valentine to Teenhood |date=August 16, 1989 |first=Christ |last=Willman |work=The Los Angeles Times |quote=Hughes can be surprisingly daring in introducing bits and pieces of tense domestic turmoil into his comedies, and this one is no exception. (Lou Lombardo, Tony Lombardo and Peck Prior did the editing, which nicely mixes tight comedic gag timing with an unusually relaxed, dramatic narrative pace. |url=http://articles.latimes.com/1989-08-16/entertainment/ca-376_1_uncle-buck |access-date=2015-01-13}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Woo>{{cite book |title=John Woo: Interviews |last1=Woo |first1=John |last2=Elder |first2=Robert K. |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |year=2005 |isbn=9781578067763 |quote=''The Wild Bunch'' by Sam Peckinpah is one of my favorite Westerns. I liked the way he used slow motion editing. |page=12 |url= |
<ref name=Woo>{{cite book |title=John Woo: Interviews |last1=Woo |first1=John |last2=Elder |first2=Robert K. |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |year=2005 |isbn=9781578067763 |quote=''The Wild Bunch'' by Sam Peckinpah is one of my favorite Westerns. I liked the way he used slow motion editing. |page=[https://archive.org/details/johnwoo00robe/page/12 12] |url=https://archive.org/details/johnwoo00robe|url-access=registration }}</ref> |
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}} |
}} |
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{{Persondata |
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|NAME = Lombardo, Lou |
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|ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Lombardo, Louis Joseph |
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|SHORT DESCRIPTION = film editor and film director |
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|DATE OF BIRTH = 1932-02-15 |
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|PLACE OF BIRTH = Missouri |
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|DATE OF DEATH = 2002-05-08 |
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|PLACE OF DEATH = Woodland Hills, California |
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}} |
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Revision as of 05:25, 22 July 2023
Lou Lombardo | |
---|---|
Born | Louis Joseph Lombardo February 15, 1932 Missouri, U.S. |
Died | May 8, 2002 | (aged 70)
Occupation | filmmaker |
Lou Lombardo (February 15, 1932 – May 8, 2002) was an American filmmaker whose editing of the 1969 film The Wild Bunch has been called "seminal". In all, Lombardo is credited on more than twenty-five feature films. Noted mainly for his work as a film and television editor, he also worked as a cameraman, director, and producer. In his obituary, Stephen Prince wrote, "Lou Lombardo's seminal contribution to the history of editing is his work on The Wild Bunch (1969), directed by Sam Peckinpah. The complex montages of violence that Lombardo created for that film influenced generations of filmmakers and established the modern cinematic textbook for editing violent gun battles."[1] Several critics have remarked on the "strange, elastic quality" of time in the film,[2][3][4] and have discerned the film's influence in the work of directors John Woo, Quentin Tarantino, Kathryn Bigelow, and the Wachowskis, among others.[4][5][6][7] While Lombardo's collaboration with Peckinpah lasted just a few years, his career was intertwined with that of director Robert Altman for more than thirty years. Lombardo edited Altman's 1971 film McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), which had "a radical approach to the use of dialogue and indeed other sound, both in and beyond the frame."[8] Towards the end of his career Lombardo edited Moonstruck (1987) and two other films directed by Norman Jewison. While his editing is now considered "revolutionary" and "brilliant", Lombardo was never nominated for editing awards during his career.[9][10][11]
Early career
Lombardo's career began in Kansas City, where he was Robert Altman's cameraman working on training films and "industrials" for the Calvin Company.[12] Altman ultimately became a prominent feature film director. Lombardo and Altman both relocated to Los Angeles in 1956, where Lombardo was employed as a cameraman by Republic Pictures. Lombardo's goal had been to become a director, and he decided that film editing was a more promising path. Lombardo became an apprentice editor at Revue Studios, at about half the salary he'd received as an assistant cameraman. As was common at that time for studio editors, an editing apprenticeship lasted eight years, during which Lombardo's work was uncredited. At the end of this apprenticeship, Robert Altman used Lombardo to edit a pilot program for television. This led to Lombardo's becoming an editor for the television program Felony Squad, which ran from 1966–1970.[13]
The Wild Bunch and the Peckinpah collaboration
The first feature film that Lombardo edited was The Wild Bunch (1969), which was directed by Sam Peckinpah.[14] It is a Western noted for its violence, which was unusual in its time, and for its innovative and effective storytelling, camerawork, and editing. The film has proven to be profoundly influential long after its 1969 release, and was an inductee of the 1999 National Film Registry list.[15] [16] In 1995 Peter Stack wrote, "It's astonishing how harrowing The Wild Bunch is, more than 25 years after it blasted its way onto the big screen to become maybe the best shoot-'em-up ever made, the one that turned meanness into a haunting pictorial poetry and summed up the corruption of guilt, old age and death in the American fantasy of the Old West."[17] Stephen Prince wrote in 1999 that, "The Wild Bunch is an epic work, and it has had an epic impact on American cinema" and noted Martin Scorsese's description of the film as "savage poetry".[18] Paul Seydor has described the film as "one of the great masterpieces of world cinema", and then further notes that "Any discussion of The Wild Bunch implicitly acknowledges the editing by Lou Lombardo and Robert Wolfe, so integral is it to the style, meaning, and effect of the film. Still, one should at least observe that the art and craft of film editing know no higher peaks than The Wild Bunch, and very, very few that are anywhere near its summit."[19]
Connection to The Felony Squad
Lombardo became acquainted with Peckinpah when he moonlighted as a cameraman when Peckinpah was directing the television movie Noon Wine (1966). Ultimately this connection led to Lombardo's joining Peckinpah to make The Wild Bunch; Peckinpah was particularly interested in the editing techniques that Lombardo had devised while editing Felony Squad. Lombardo described the crucial scene from the television show in a later interview with Vincent LoBrutto, "Joe Don Baker came out and was being shot by all these police. I printed every frame three times and created slow motion. I intercut him being shot, falling, this guy shooting, that guy running, Baker falling. Sam and Phil Feldman, the producer, saw it and said, 'You've got the job – and, as a matter of fact, we'll use that kind of thing.'"[13] The episode of Felony Squad was "My Mommy Got Lost."[2][20] At that time, slow motion cameras were not commonly used for television work. Lombardo used the laborious trick of stretching time by repeating the individual frames of film two or three times, which required that there be a film splice at every frame. There are typically 24 frames of film exposed each second by standard motion picture cameras, so after tripling Lombardo had 72 frames per second. Intercutting involves the splicing of sections of film from different cameras, or from different "takes" of the same scene.
Montage in The Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch is bookended by two gun battles, one near the beginning of the film and one near its end. The gun battles are virtuosic demonstrations of the possibilities of film storytelling. Lombardo worked with Peckinpah both to design the camerawork for The Wild Bunch and to edit the film. As many as six cameras were filming simultaneously from different locations; the cameras were operating at various film rates from 24 to 120 frames per second. He and Peckinpah then edited the massive length of film footage for six months in Mexico, where the film had been shot. In his 2011 assessment, Daniel Eagan wrote, "The Wild Bunch had 3,642 edits, more than five times the Hollywood average for a feature. ... Montage this dense hadn't been attempted since Sergei Eisenstein back in the 1920s."[21] Stephen Prince writes, "The editing is audacious and visionary, as the montages bend space and elongate time in a manner whose scope and ferocity was unprecedented in American cinema."[1] In his biography of Peckinpah, Daniel Weddle wrote of the effect: "the action would constantly be shifting from slow to fast to slower still to fast again, giving time within the sequences a strange elastic quality".[2] Gabrielle Murray summarized how The Wild Bunch affected filmmaking: "Peckinpah, with the help of the brilliant editor Louis Lombardo and cinematographer Lucien Ballard, developed a stylistic approach that through the use of slow-motion, multi-camera filming and montage editing, seemed to make the violence more intense and visceral."[22]
Origins and legacy
The immediate inspiration for the gunbattle montage in The Wild Bunch was likely the 1967 film, Bonnie and Clyde, which Peckinpah apparently screened a few days before filming began.[23] Bonnie and Clyde, which was directed by Arthur Penn and edited by Dede Allen, has a famed scene at its ending showing the killings of Bonnie and Clyde by state police.[24] The scene mixes slow and accelerated motion and several cameras, which were aspects of The Wild Bunch. Still earlier these techniques had been employed in Akira Kurosawa's films, and in particular in Seven Samurai (1954). Kurosawa generally both directed and edited his films. Stephen Prince has written, "The kinetic attributes of Kurosawa's style, then, entered deeply into international cinema. In terms of the representation of violence, they influenced Arthur Penn and Sam Peckinpah and, from there, Hong Kong director John Woo, as well as virtually everybody since. Every filmmaker who uses slow motion, montage, and multiple cameras to stylize violence in the ways that Kurosawa had demonstrated in Seven Samurai owes him a great debt."[23] But Tony Williams notes that The Wild Bunch "extended those influences in more creative and dynamic ways",[25] and Michael Sragow argued that "Peckinpah did it right in The Wild Bunch. He produced an American movie that equals or surpasses the best of Kurosawa. Scorsese tries to match it in Gangs of New York – and doesn't come close. The Wild Bunch is the Götterdämmerung of Westerns."[26] Seven Samurai, Bonnie and Clyde, and The Wild Bunch were all in the listing of the best edited films of all time compiled in 2012 by the Motion Picture Editors Guild.[27]
Many critics have noted the influence of the editing of the setpiece gunbattles in The Wild Bunch on later films. Paul Monaco has written, "Lombardo pushed the revolution in Hollywood editing further than anyone else, and The Wild Bunch was established at the end of the 1960s as the epitome for fast-paced editing in a narrative film."[9] David A. Cook included an extended list of the film's influences in a 1999 essay.[6] In an interview, the director John Woo, who is widely celebrated for his martial arts films, explicitly acknowledged its influence.[5] Director Quentin Tarantino is often included. Eric Snider writes, "We noted in our discussion of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly that it was a huge influence on Quentin Tarantino. The Wild Bunch must sit next to it on Tarantino’s shelf. He and numerous other directors – John Woo, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola – have emulated Peckinpah’s slow-motion violence and realistic bloodletting. Much of what happens in The Wild Bunch seems cliche now, so frequently has it been copied and repeated."[4] Director Kathryn Bigelow has written of The Wild Bunch that it seemed "almost gestalt editing ... because it imploded standard theories ... and was radical and tremendously vibrant."[6] For The Matrix (1999, directed by The Wachowskis and edited by Zach Staenberg), Edgar-Hunt and his co-authors write that the "eye-catching violence upgrades the 'bullet ballets' of director Sam Peckinpah and the martial arts movies of Bruce Lee."[7] John Goodman wrote in 2011, "Peckinpah’s combination of different film speeds and his offbeat, elliptical editing style were a revelation. John Woo, and also Takeshi Kitano and Wong Kar-Wai, have referenced Peckinpah’s innovations, but the original still packs the greatest punch for me."[28] Ken Dancyger notes the influence on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, directed by Ang Lee and edited by Tim Squyres).[29]
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Lombardo edited Peckinpah's next film, The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970). The film itself has not had an impact comparable to that of The Wild Bunch; Prince writes that in this film Lombardo and Peckinpah "experimented less successfully with edits combining normal speed and accelerated action."[1] The Ballad of Cable Hogue was their last collaboration; Peckinpah approached Lombardo about editing Straw Dogs, but Lombardo had already contracted to edit McCabe & Mrs. Miller with Robert Altman.[30]
Five films with Robert Altman
Lombardo had worked as a cameraman with director Robert Altman in Kansas City, and the two men both moved to Hollywood in 1956. In the 1970s, Lombardo edited five films directed by Altman, commencing with Brewster McCloud (1970) and concluding with California Split (1974) just four years later.
Of the five films with Altman, the most influential is likely McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971). The film was selected for the US National Film Registry in 2010. The film has been called an "anti-Western"; McCabe establishes a successful brothel in a mining town, with the essential assistance of its madam, Mrs. Miller. In 1999, Roger Ebert wrote, "Robert Altman has made a dozen films that can be called great in one way or another, but one of them is perfect, and that one is McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)."[31] Walter Chaw has written, "The father of contemplative American classics like Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man and Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, like The Wild Bunch, packs every bit the wallop of relevance and currency that it did over three decades ago. No hint of hyperbole, they are two of the best films ever made."[32]
As he had done for Peckinpah on The Wild Bunch, Lombardo acted as a second unit director for additional film footage. Altman and Lombardo spent nine months editing the film in North Vancouver, close to the location of the filming itself.[33] The editing of the film has apparently never been singled out for critical attention, with the exception of the innovative style of sound editing. In his textbook on film production, Bruce Mamer uses the film to exemplify the blending of dialogue from many speakers, "Robert Altman was famous for using this style of layered dialogue cutting. The frontier barroom scene that opens his McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Louis Lombardo, editor) has snippets of conversations underlying the foreground action."[34] Roger Crittenden wrote, "the questions Altman asked about the function of sound encouraged a radical approach to the use of dialogue and indeed other sound, both in and beyond the frame. Lou Lombardo must have played a major part in making the ideas work."[8] Stephen Prince chose a related theme in summarizing Lombardo's collaboration with Altman: "Though his work for Altman was less trendsetting than that for Peckinpah, the partnership with Altman lasted much longer, and Lombardo found the perfect visual rhythms for Altman's wandering and diffuse audio style."[1]
After California Split (1974), Altman wanted Lombardo to edit his next film Nashville (1975). Lombardo declined because he had turned to directing and producing. Altman chose Sidney Levin to edit, who was then succeeded by Lombardo's assistant editor on several films, Dennis M. Hill.[35] In 1977, Lombardo edited The Late Show, which was produced by Altman but directed by Robert Benton. The Late Show is a film noir detective story; Pauline Kael wrote at the time, "The Late Show never lets up; the editing is by Lou Lombardo (who has often worked with Robert Altman) and Peter Appleton, and I can't think of a thriller from the forties that is as tight as this, or has such sustained tension."[36]
Lombardo's final project with Altman was the film O.C. and Stiggs, which was produced around 1984 and released in 1987. Lombardo left the film before post-production was completed; he is uncredited on the film.[37]
Producing and directing
From 1975–1985 Lombardo worked as a producer and director as well as an editor. Lombardo's debut as a director was Russian Roulette (1975). The film is an espionage thriller that starred George Segal. A review in New York Magazine was unfavorable; "Lou Lombardo directs uninspiredly from a far from inspiring script co-authored by Tom Ardies, the original author of the novel."[38] The film was released for home video in 1986, and has recently been reviewed more favorably.[39]
Lombardo both produced and edited The Black Bird (1975), which was a humorous sequel to the film noir classic The Maltese Falcon; the film also starred George Segal, and was poorly reviewed upon its release.[40]
Lombardo co-produced Cheech & Chong's first film, Up in Smoke (1978), which is now known as the "classic stoner comedy".[41] The film enjoyed great box office success. Lombardo is also credited as the supervising editor on the film.
About 1981 Lombardo directed P. K. and the Kid, which starred a very young Molly Ringwald. The film was not released until early 1987, when Ringwald had become well-known; it nonetheless attracted little attention.[42]
Return to editing and the Norman Jewison collaboration
In 1986 Lombardo returned to editing with the fairly inconsequential Stewardess School. The film was produced by Phil Feldman, who had produced The Wild Bunch about 15 years earlier. Lombardo's next film was Moonstruck (1987), which was being directed and produced by Norman Jewison. Moonstruck was extremely successful at the box office, garnered three Academy Awards and three additional nominations, and has been well-regarded by many critics.[43][44] Stephen Prince has written, "Another brilliant editor of late-sixties American cinema, Lou Lombardo (who edited The Wild Bunch (1969) to seminal effect) worked sporadically in the eighties and mainly on low-key films (Moonstruck, In Country (1989)) where his editing choices showed the intelligence and subtlety that rarely wins Oscars. The wonderful comic effectiveness and timing of Moonstruck, for example, depends as much on Lombardo's editing as on John Patrick Shanley's script or the performances by Cher, Nicolas Cage, and the rest of the cast."[10] Lombardo next edited The January Man (1989), which was also produced by Jewison but directed by Pat O'Connor. Lombardo worked on five more films through 1991, of which the very popular comedy Uncle Buck (1989, written and directed by John Hughes) is likely the best known.[45] The final film edited by Lombardo was still another of Jewison's productions, Other People's Money (1991).
Final cuts
Lombardo and his wife, Lynn, had two daughters and a son, Tony Lombardo, who also became a film editor.[46][47] In addition to his son, Lombardo mentored Dennis M. Hill and Paul Rubell in the early stages of their careers.[48] Lombardo was interviewed about his career by Vincent LoBrutto in 1991.[13] In that same year, he suffered a stroke that left him comatose until his death in 2002.[1][46]
Lombardo had been selected as a member of the American Cinema Editors.[49]
Filmography
This filmography is based on the Internet Movie Database.[11] Lombardo's credits are listed in the first parentheses. The director and release year are indicated in the second.
- (editor) The Name of the Game Is Kill! (Hellström-1968)
- (editor) The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah-1969)
- (editor) The Ballad of Cable Hogue (Peckinpah-1970)
- (editor) Brewster McCloud (Altman-1970)
- (supervising editor) Red Sun (Young-1971)
- (editor) McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Altman-1971)
- (editor) The Long Goodbye (Altman-1973)
- (editor) Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies (Erman-1973)
- (editor) Thieves Like Us (Altman-1974)
- (editor) California Split (Altman-1974)
- (director) Russian Roulette (Lombardo-1975)
- (producer and editor) The Black Bird (Giler-1975)
- (editor) The Late Show (Benton-1977)
- (producer and supervising editor) Up in Smoke (Adler-1978)
- (supervising editor) The Changeling (Medak-1980)
- (executive producer) Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (Adler-1982)
- (director) P.K. and the Kid (Lombardo-1985) (finished in 1982, shelved; released in 1987 because of Ringwald's success.)
- (supervising editor) Just One of the Guys (Gottlieb-1985)
- (editor) Stewardess School (Blancato-1986)
- (editor) Moonstruck (Jewison-1987)
- (editor) The January Man (O'Connor-1989)
- (editor) Uncle Buck (Hughes-1989)[45]
- (editor) In Country (Jewison-1989)
- (supervising editor) Defenseless (Campbell-1991)
- (editor) Fires Within (Armstrong-1991)
- (editor) Other People's Money (Jewison-1991)
References
- ^ a b c d e Prince, Stephen (December 15, 2006). "Lou Lombardo b. 15 February 1932, d. 8 May 2002". In Grant, Barry Keith (ed.). Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film Volume 2 Criticism-Ideology. p. 124. An obituary for Lombardo is included as a sidebar in Prince's article "Editing" for the Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film, pp. 115–125.
- ^ a b c Weddle, David (1994). If They Move...Kill 'Em! : The Life and Times of Sam Peckinpah. Grove Press. p. 334. ISBN 0802115462.
Lombardo's intercutting of slow and fast motion in one continuous sequence had at last provided the key. Peckinpah now knew how he would integrate slow motion into the action sequences. He would film the major shootouts with six cameras, all operating at variable frame rates – 24 frames per second, 30 frames per second, 60 frames per second, 90 frames per second, 120 frames per second – so that then when cut together the action would constantly be shifting from slow to fast to slower still to fast again, giving time within the sequences a strange elastic quality. Later, Lombardo would further alter the speed of the shots with an optical printer, speeding them up or slowing them down so that just the right rhythms could be achieved.
- ^ Seydor, Paul (1994). "The Wild Bunch as Epic". In Bliss, Michael (ed.). Doing It Right: The Best Criticism on Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. SIU Press. p. 144. ISBN 9780809318636.
- ^ a b c Snider, Eric D. (December 14, 2010). "What's the Big Deal?: The Wild Bunch (1969)". Film.com.
We noted in our discussion of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly that it was a huge influence on Quentin Tarantino. The Wild Bunch must sit next to it on Tarantino's shelf. He and numerous other directors – John Woo, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola – have emulated Peckinpah's slow-motion violence and realistic bloodletting. Much of what happens in The Wild Bunch seems cliche now, so frequently has it been copied and repeated.
- ^ a b Woo, John; Elder, Robert K. (2005). John Woo: Interviews. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 12. ISBN 9781578067763.
The Wild Bunch by Sam Peckinpah is one of my favorite Westerns. I liked the way he used slow motion editing.
- ^ a b c Cook, David A. (1999). "Ballistic Balletics". In Prince, Stephen (ed.). Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. Cambridge University Press. p. 150. ISBN 9780521586061.
- ^ a b Edgar-Hunt, Robert; Marland, John; Rawle, Steven (2010). The Language of Film. AVA Publishing. p. 80. ISBN 9782940411276.
- ^ a b Crittenden, Roger (1995). Film and Video Editing: Second Edition. Psychology Press. p. 160. ISBN 9781857130119.
- ^ a b Monaco, Paul (2010). A History of American Movies: A Film-by-film Look at the Art, Craft, and Business of Cinema. Scarecrow Press. p. 191. ISBN 9780810874343.
Lombardo broke one of the few rules of editing that had survived Dede Allen's editing work on Bonnie and Clyde by cutting directly into slow motion shots, and he also set a record for the number of separate shots in a feature film at 3624. Lombardo pushed the revolution in Hollywood editing further than anyone else, and The Wild Bunch was established at the end of the 1960s as the epitome for fast-aced editing in a narrative film.
- ^ a b Prince, Stephen (2002). A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow 1980–1989 (Volume 10 of History of the American cinema). University of California Press. p. 196. ISBN 9780520232662.
Another brilliant editor of late-sixties American cinema, Lou Lombardo (who edited The Wild Bunch (1969) to seminal effect) worked sporadically in the eighties and mainly on low-key films (Moonstruck, In Country (1989)) where his editing choices showed the intelligence and subtlety that rarely wins Oscars. The wonderful comic effectiveness and timing of Moonstruck, for example, depends as much on Lombardo's editing as on John Patrick Shanley's script or the performances by Cher, Nicolas Cage, and the rest of the cast.
- ^ a b Lou Lombardo at IMDb Accessed 2011-12-21.
- ^ Altman, Robert; Harmetz, Aljean (2000). "The 15th Man Who Was Asked to Direct M*A*S*H (and Did) Makes a Peculiar Western". In Sterritt, David (ed.). Robert Altman: interviews. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 15. ISBN 9781578061877. 1971 interview.
- ^ a b c LoBrutto, Vincent (1991). "Lou Lombardo". Selected Takes: Film Editors on Editing. New York: Praeger. pp. 125–133. ISBN 9780275933951.
- ^ Lombardo told Vincent LoBrutto that The Wild Bunch was his first feature film editing job. At present, Lombardo's filmography at the Internet Movie DataBase lists The Name of the Game is Kill (1969) as his first credit.
- ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs | Library of Congress". Library of Congress.
- ^ "Films Selected to the National Film Registry". Library of Congress. November 16, 1999. Archived from the original on September 4, 2008.
- ^ Stack, Peter (August 18, 1995). "FILM REVIEW – Peckinpah's 'Wild' Western". The San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ Prince, Stephen (1999). "Introduction: Sam Peckinpah, Savage Poet of American Cinema". Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. Cambridge University Press. p. 2. ISBN 9780521586061.
- ^ Seydor, Paul (1997). Peckinpah: The Western Films. A Reconsideration. University of Illinois Press. p. 190. ISBN 9780252068355.
The slow-motion intercuts with their hypnotic allure distance us from the action by aestheticizing it, thus intensifying aesthetic feeling as such but ameliorating any vicarious experience we might have of the physical sensations the action produces . Peckinpah developed a technique that tends to divorce feeling from sensation (which is what makes his art so seductive, hence disturbing) and that enables him to strike exactly the right balance between an emotional, indeed an almost palpably physical proximity to the violence and an aesthetic distance from it.
Also: "Any discussion of The Wild Bunch implicitly acknowledges the editing by Lou Lombardo and Robert Wolfe, so integral is it to the style, meaning, and effect of the film. Still, one should at least observe that the art and craft of film editing know no higher peaks than The Wild Bunch, and very, very few that are anywhere near its summit." (p. 195). Robert Wolfe was the associate editor of The Wild Bunch. - ^ "Howard Duff & Dennis Cole - 1968 - My Mommy Got Lost - guest star Joe Don Baker - Peckinpah moment". YouTube.
- ^ Eagan, Daniel (2010). America's film legacy: the authoritative guide to the landmark movies in the National Film Registry. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 648. ISBN 9780826429773.
The Wild Bunch had 3,642 edits, more than five times the Hollywood average for a feature. ... Montage this dense hadn't been attempted since Sergei Eisenstein back in the 1920s. Lombardo persuaded Peckinpah to film the major shootouts with up to six cameras, some operating at different speeds ... By overwhelming viewers, Peckinpah hoped to disarm their normal defenses – "it's only a movie" – and immerse them in the experience of violence and death. Exactly why he wanted to expose mainstream audiences to such relentless violence was never clear.
- ^ Murray, Gabrielle (May–June 2002). "Sam Peckinpah". Senses of Cinema (20).
- ^ a b Prince, Stephen (1999). The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa (Second ed.). Princeton University Press. p. 350. ISBN 9780691010465.
Although he denied that Penn's film had any influence on him, Peckinpah's archived papers contain a letter from Warner Bros. to the production manager of The Wild Bunch confirming shipment of a print of Bonnie and Clyde to Peckinpah's Mexico location the weekend of March 23–24 prior to the start of principal cinematography on March 24. Peckinpah evidently wished to study Penn's design in order to surpass it. That Peckinpah felt the force of Kurosawa's lineage upon his own work is evident in his remark to Film Quarterlys Ernest Callenbach that he wanted to make Westerns like Kurosawa made Westerns.
- ^ Monaco, Paul (2003). The Sixties, 1960–1969 Volume 8 of History of the American cinema. University of California Press. p. 90. ISBN 9780520238046.
Several of the movie's scenes are remarkable and memorable because of the editing. For example, the killing of Bonnie and Clyde at the end of the film, when they are ambushed by the police, is polished artistry. Without the extraordinarily careful layering of the visuals and the sound, Allen's fast cutting could easily have resulted in a confused and jumbled scene.
- ^ Williams, Tony (2006). "The Wild Bunch". Senses of Cinema (39).
Stylistically, Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai (1954) and Arthur Penn's The Left Handed Gun (1958) influenced Peckinpah. But he extended those influences in more creative and dynamic ways.
- ^ Sragow, Michael (February 14, 2003). "'Wild Bunch' is Western writ large". The Baltimore Sun.
- ^ Seven Samurai was listed as the 33rd best-edited film of all time. Bonnie and Clyde was listed fifth, and The Wild Bunch was listed 23rd. See "The 75 Best Edited Films". Editors Guild Magazine. 1 (3). May 2012. Archived from the original on 2015-03-17.
- ^ Goodman, John (July 27, 2011). "I Found It At the Movies: 1969—The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah)". Movie Maker. Archived from the original on August 6, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
- ^ Dancyger, Ken (2010). The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice (Fifth ed.). Focal Press. p. 182. ISBN 9780240813974. This book notes Peckinpah on 26 pages, but does not mention Lombardo at all.
- ^ Simmons, Garner (1982). Peckinpah, A Portrait in Montage. University of Texas Press. p. 127. ISBN 0292764936.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (November 14, 1999). "McCabe & Mrs. Miller". Chicago Sun Times.
- ^ Chaw, Walter. "TCM Greatest Films Classic Collection – Western Adventures". Film Freak Central. Archived from the original on 2010-04-09.
The father of contemplative American classics like Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man and Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, like The Wild Bunch, packs every bit the wallop of relevance and currency that it did over three decades ago. No hint of hyperbole, they are two of the best films ever made.
- ^ Plecki, Gerard (1985). Robert Altman. Twayne. p. 41. ISBN 9780805793031. No online access.
- ^ Mamer, Bruce (2008). Film Production Technique: Creating the Accomplished Image (Fifth ed.). Cengage Learning. p. 393. ISBN 9780495411161.
Interruptions and blending of dialogue...Robert Altman was famous for using this style of layered dialogue cutting. The frontier barroom scene that opens his McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Louis Lombardo, editor) has snippets of conversations underlying the foreground action.
- ^ Stuart, Jan (2003). The Nashville Chronicles: The Making of Robert Altman's Masterpiece. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 275. ISBN 9780879109813.
- ^ Kael, Pauline (February 7, 1977). "The Current Cinema: The Late Show". The New Yorker. p. 110. Subscription required for online access.
- ^ McGilligan, Patrick (1989). Robert Altman: Jumping Off the Cliff. Macmillan. pp. 533–534. ISBN 9780312304676. OCLC 18521062.
- ^ Simon, John (August 18, 1975). "The Critical Condition". New York Magazine: 65.
- ^ Hodgson, Mark A. (June 23, 2009). "Russian Roulette (1975) – not on DVD". Black Hole Reviews. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
Director Lou Lombardo indulges the cast to throw in improvised dialogue to add to the realistic feel. The best example is a scene where Segal tries to get an old lady to remember a really important message. The worst is his throwaway line to a traumatised Raines in the middle of a car chase, "How do you feel, killing a man?". Sometimes his comedy touch makes the film a little lighter than the subject deserves.
- ^ Kael, Pauline (1991). "The Black Bird". 5001 Nights at the Movies. MacMillan. p. 76. ISBN 9780805013672.
a dumb comedy, with an insecure tone and some good ideas mixed with some terrible ones.
- ^ Levy, Emanuel (April 12, 2008), "Up in Smoke (1978)", emanuellevy.com
- ^ Weisberg, Sam (October 11, 2011). "P.K. and the Kid (1987)". Hidden Films.
- ^ Citron, Marcia J. (2010). "An "honest contrivance": opera and desire in Moonstruck". When Opera Meets Film. Cambridge University Press. p. 173. ISBN 9781139489638.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (June 22, 2003). "Moonstruck". Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ a b Willman, Christ (August 16, 1989). "'Uncle Buck': John Hughes' Valentine to Teenhood". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2015-01-13.
Hughes can be surprisingly daring in introducing bits and pieces of tense domestic turmoil into his comedies, and this one is no exception. (Lou Lombardo, Tony Lombardo and Peck Prior did the editing, which nicely mixes tight comedic gag timing with an unusually relaxed, dramatic narrative pace.
- ^ a b Daley, Ashley (July 10, 2002). "Lou Lombardo". Variety.
- ^ Tony Lombardo at IMDb
- ^ Rubell was credited as an assistant editor on The Changeling (1980); Lombardo was the supervising editor. See also Kunkes, Michael (May–June 2005). "Six Editors in Search of Oscar". Editors' Guild Magazine. 26 (3).
My own style is lot like my mentor, the late Lou Lombardo, who cut for Sam Pekinpah as well as a lot of Robert Altman's best films of the 1970s.
- ^ Members of the American Cinema Editors are often credited with the designation A.C.E. following their names; for Lombardo, see Coleman, Lori; Friedberg, Diana (2014). Make the Cut: A Guide to Becoming a Successful Assistant Editor in Film and TV. CRC Press. p. 164. ISBN 9781317567776.