Movie Review: Hal

Hal **** / *****

Directed by: Amy Scott.

 

Hal Ashby had one of the most remarkable decades any filmmaker has ever had in the 1970s – a period of time in which he made seven films, all of which deserve to be seen, and several of which help define the era. And yet, until recently, I don’t think Ashby’s name was often mentioned in the same breath as filmmakers like Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola or Martin Scorsese – whose films are often seen as the defining films of that time, or even the likes of Peter Bogdanovich or William Friedkin who, fairly or not, are often seen as figures who had a great run of films in the 1970s, but whose careers kind of stalled after that decade. It would be fair to say the same thing happened to Ashby – who did make a few films in the 1980s, none of which are remembered fondly, and then died in 1988 – when he was only 59. Was it his death that made him overlooked – because he was prevented in speaking about that time in Hollywood that became romanticized at some point in the 1990s? Was it that his films were often quite different from each other, not because he was not an auteur, but because you have to dig deeper to find those signifiers? But while Ashby’s name was hardly ever mentioned alongside the giants of the 1970s – it would be unfair to say his films were ever really forgotten. I only gradually realized that there was a great director that wasn’t often talked about when you start stacking up the films of his I watched.

 

Those seven 1970s films were The Landlord, Harold & Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo, Bound for Glory, Coming Home and Being There – and while I don’t love all of them, I love most of them (I have never been a huge fan of Harold and Maude – although I have to admit that it is a film that sticks in your mind, and its influence is undeniable). By the time Ashby started directing, he was already an Oscar winner – for editing his good friend Norman Jewison’s In the Heat of the Night – and it was Jewison who handed over the directing reins of The Landlord to Ashby, because he felt Ashby was ready, and knew he really wanted to do it.

 

Amy Scott’s documentary Hal is half a tribute to those films, and half an exploration of the man himself. Ashby had problems with authority his whole life – growing up in Utah (never a Mormon, we hear him say at one point) – who ran away from a wife and child in his late teens, and made his way to Hollywood, where he kind of fell into moviemaking – and then fell in love with it. He was always a great editor – his strength lied in being able to put together the footage he shot in interesting, sometimes unexpected ways (one of the ironies about his 1980s work is that often the studio would take the film from him, and edit it themselves – thus taking away the aspect of filmmaking Ashby was best at).

 

You can argue that the film edges in hagiography at some points – but then again, the film doesn’t shy away from people who would have a legitimate beef with him – like that daughter he essentially abandoned early on (the film doesn’t get into child support issues or anything – but one assumes he did pay). It’s that everyone the film interviews really seemed to love Ashby. To his collaborators, he was a great guy – someone who allowed them to experiment and do their best work. It’s all those studio executives, who never believed in him, that he held in contempt – who probably did hate him. But standing up and swearing to studio executives is the type of thing Hollywood heroes do – and he certainly did, often in writing. This was probably not the smartest thing in the world for him to do – but it works wonders for this documentary, because it gives them a treasure trove of things to read out.

 

The film is also smart about the filmmakers it chooses to interview – it’s not the same talking heads you see in most films talking about old filmmakers. There’s no Scorsese or Bogdanovich. But it’s Alexander Payne, David O. Russell, Lisa Cholodenko, who can tell you how much Ashby’s films meant to them growing up – and how they influenced them.

 

I do think Ashby is getting more and more notice as the years go by – and that run of films is seen as the masterclass in filmmaking it was. My favorite will always be Being There – with Peter Sellers as a simpleton, who becomes a political genius to people for his simple sayings. That’s almost more relevant now than ever. But you cannot go wrong with any of those films. See Hal – and then watch them all.