Leonard Maltin

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Leonard Maltin

Maltin in 2005
Born December 18, 1950
New York City

Leonard Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian. He has authored numerous mainstream books on the cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Personal life

Maltin was born in New York City, the son of Jacqueline (née Gould), a singer, and Aaron Isaac Maltin, a lawyer and immigration judge.[1] He is married to Alice Tlusty, a researcher and producer. He has one daughter, Jessie Maltin, born in 1986. Maltin is Jewish.[2] He grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, and graduated from Teaneck High School.[3]

[edit] Career

Maltin began his writing career at age 15, writing for Classic Images and editing and publishing his own fanzine, Film Fan Monthly, dedicated to films from the golden age of Hollywood. After receiving a journalism degree at New York University, Maltin went on to publish articles in a variety of film journals, national newspapers, and magazines, including Variety, TV Guide and Good Times.

Maltin in 1990
Maltin in 1990

As an author, Maltin is best known for Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, (some editions titled as his ...Movie and Video Guide), a compendium of synopses and reviews that first appeared in September 1969 and has been annually updated since October 1987. (It was published under the title TV Movies until the 1990s, and in 2005 spawned a spin-off, Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide, limited to films released in 1960 and earlier to allow the regular book to cover a larger number of more recent titles.) He has also written several other works, including Behind the Camera, a study of the art of cinematography, The Whole Film Sourcebook, Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia, Our Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals, and Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons.

Since May 29, 1982, Maltin has been the movie reviewer on the syndicated television series Entertainment Tonight. He also appears on the Starz cable network and hosted his own syndicated radio program, Leonard Maltin on Video, as well as the syndicated TV show Hot Ticket with Boston film critic Joyce Kulhawik (originally E! personality and game show host Todd Newton). He also spearheaded the creation of the Walt Disney Treasures collectible DVD line in 2001,[4] and continues to provide creative input and host the various sets.

In the mid-1990s, he became the president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and is on the Advisory Board of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. For nearly a decade, Maltin was also on the faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York City. He currently teaches in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California.

In 1998, Maltin settled a libel suit brought on by former child star Billy Gray, of Father Knows Best fame, whom Maltin identified as a drug user and dealer in his review of the film Dusty and Sweets McGee for the movie guide book. The allegedly libelous statement appeared in print for nearly 25 years before Maltin made a public apology for the error.[5] Since then, all editions of Maltin's movie guide, which rates the film at three and a half stars, contain no indication of actors in that movie.[citation needed]

He currently hosts a television show entitled Secret's Out on ReelzChannel movie network. Guests on the program have included Chris Klein, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jon Cryer, Allison Janney, Adam Goldberg, Sarah Polley, Emily Mortimer, Garry Marshall, Anthony Anderson, Bill Paxton, Samantha Mathis, Mario Van Peebles, and directors James Mangold and John Sayles.

[edit] Popular culture appearances

Maltin was portrayed in an episode of the animated comedy South Park called "Mecha-Streisand" where Maltin, along with actor Sidney Poitier and singer Robert Smith, fought and defeated Barbra Streisand, who had assumed the form of Mecha-Streisand. He also appeared as himself in Gremlins 2: The New Batch. In a short segment, he gives a bad review of the first film (Gremlins) as several of the creatures creep up on him and strangle him to death. (In his guide, Maltin's three-star review of the movie noted that it contained "gratuitous cameo appearances.") He also made an appearance on the cartoon show Freakazoid! where he voiced himself, only to be abducted by monsters.

Maltin had starred on an episode of Entertainment Tonight, where he was presenting a time machine akin to one in the H.G. Wells novel and film The Time Machine. He sits in the machine and then vanishes, as did the character in the story.

Maltin is one of the few people to appear as a "guest star" on Mystery Science Theater 3000; during a Season Nine episode, he was forced by Pearl Forrester to retract his endorsement of the film Gorgo. In an earlier episode featuring The Undead, Mike Nelson impersonates Maltin and apologizes to viewers for his good review, saying he must have been on drugs. Additionally, his curious rating of two-and-a-half stars to the film Laserblast is the source of much debate in the MST3K episode featuring that film.

In The Simpsons episode "A Star Is Burns" Marge says "Did you know there are over 600 critics on TV and Leonard Maltin is the best looking of them all?". Lisa replies "Ewwww!"[6] In the 1995 video release of the Star Wars trilogy, there was an interview with George Lucas conducted by Leonard Maltin included before the start of the movies.

Maltin is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's shortest movie review. His 2 out of 4 star review of the 1948 musical Isn't It Romantic? consists of the word "No".[7] In 1985 he delivered a three-word movie review on Entertainment Tonight for that year's horror film spoof, Transylvania 6-5000. The review begins with a silent Maltin swaying to a recording of the Glenn Miller Orchestra playing "Pennsylvania 6-5000"; in the song the instrumental melody is interrupted by the sound of a telephone ringing after which the band chants the title of the song. In his review, Maltin timed it so that his review began with the phone ringing: "Transylvania 6-5000 ... stinks!" In 2004 he delivered a five-word review for Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. His 2 out of 4 star review consisted of the statement "It is what it is."

[edit] References

  1. ^ Leonard Maltin Biography (1950-)
  2. ^ Stereotypes overturned
  3. ^ Lumenick, Lou. "LEONARD MALTIN'S REEL-LIFE STORY -- MOVIE MAVEN WENT FROM TEANECK TO HOLLYWOOD", The Record (Bergen County), October 17, 1994. Accessed May 21, 2007. "Leonard Maltin was a so-so student. 'I was the only student in the history of Teaneck High School to fail a take-home, open-book exam,' he says with a mixture of pride and embarrassment."
  4. ^ Ultimate Disney interview with Leonard Maltin
  5. ^ "MALTIN APOLOGIZES TO LIBELED ACTOR", The Buffalo News, July 20, 1998. Accessed October 10, 2007. "Film critic Leonard Maltin, who wrote that the actor who played Bud on "Father Knows Best" became a drug-addicted heroin pusher, issued an apology to Billy Gray as part of a libel settlement, saying it was a mistake."
  6. ^ http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F31
  7. ^ Maltin, Leonard (2005), p. 700. Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. ISBN 0-451-21265-7. Signet Books. Accessed April 15, 2007.

[edit] External links