Stephen Farber
WRITING ABOUT MOVIES
Movie critics seem to battle more frequently and more abu–
sively than critics of the other arts, and that may be because they are
trying to conceal how little they have to say. For all the fury of their
disputes, these film critics have more in common than they would like
to admit. Most of them are essentially literary in approach, insensitive
to experimental and innovative films ; they rely on imprecise assertions
and irrelevant opinions, flaunting their most eccentric reactions without
making any attempt to validate them. The most recent critical battle
was waged by Andrew Sarris and John Simon in the
New York Times
last year, and although there may seem to be radical differences in their
positions (Simon defending high art against the assaults of the philis–
tines, Sarris speaking for the hidden artistry of Hollywood trash), there
are also some disturbing similarities.
Sarris is unquestionably the more important figure ; he has prob–
ably been more influenticil than any other critic currently practicing
in America. As most people know, Sarris is the foremost American
proponent of the
auteur
theory of film criticism - a theory borrowed
from the French that identifies the director as "author" of a film, and
that emphasizes the virtues of many old-line Hollywood directors (like
John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, and Howard Hawks ) , whose artistry is
said to grow from tension between their personal vision and the crip–
pling constraints placed on them by the studio system. On the positive
side Sarris has helped to focus attention on the role of the director,
and has alerted many people to the possibility that talent and originali–
ty might be found in American films . In the early sixties, when Sarris
published his "Notes on the Auteur Theory," almost the only respect–
able films were a handful from Europe, while American films - which
had and continue to have many strengths - were ignored and despised.
That situation has changed drastically ; in fact, criticism has now moved
too far in the opposite direction. Sarris introduced a more catholic ap-
