Film critic Andrew Sarris, who was a leading proponent of the auteur theory that a director is the preiminent figure in the making of a film, died of complications from a fall in a Manhattan hospital on June 20, 2012. He was 83. Sarris was born in Brooklyn on October 31, 1928. He was fascinated by films from childhood, and graduated from Columbia College in 1951. He served in the Army Signal Corps in the early 1950s and began writing for "Film Culture" in 1955. He became the film critic for "The Village Voice" in 1960, and quickly established himself as a leading figure in cinema. He was an advocate of the new wave of foreign directors, including Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, and Akira Kurosawa, whose films swept the United States in the 1960s. He also championed such Hollywood luminaries as Orson Welles, John Ford, Howard Hawks, and Sam Fuller, and gave his critical approval to Alfred Hitchcock, who he described as "the most daring avant-garde filmmaker in America today," in his 1960 review of "Psycho". Sarris later promoted the talents, and occasionally exposing the warts, of younger directors including Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, and Francis Ford Coppola. Sarris penned the influential book "The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968" (1968). Sarris was not adverse to revisiting and revising his previous opinions of films and filmmakers. He originally panned Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey", but upon a later viewing he stated, "I must report that I recently paid another visit to Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001’ while under the influence of a smoked substance that I was assured by my contact was somewhat stronger and more authentic than oregano... Anyway, I prepared to watch ‘2001’ under what I have always been assured were optimum conditions, and surprisingly (for me) I find myself reversing my original opinion. ‘2001’ is indeed a major work by a major artist."
He frequently feuded with fellow critics Pauline Kael and John Simon, who debated the merit of the auteur theory. He penned several other books including "Confessions of a Cultist: On the Cinema, 1955-1969" (1970), "The Primal Screen: Essays on Film and Related Subjects" (1973), "The John Ford Movie Mystery" (1975), "Politics and Cinema" (1978), and "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet: The American Talking Film – History and Memory, 1927-1949" (1998). He also participated in several documentaries including "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood" (2003), "For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism" (2009), and "Andrew Sarris: Critic in Focus" (2011). He continued to write for "The Village Voice" through the late 1980s, and was regularly reviewing films for "The New Your Observer" through 2009. Sarris was also a film professor at Columbia University's School of Arts until his retirement in 2011. He married fellow film critic Molly Haskell in 1969, and she survives him.
Film critic Andrew Sarris, who was a leading proponent of the auteur theory that a director is the preiminent figure in the making of a film, died of complications from a fall in a Manhattan hospital on June 20, 2012. He was 83. Sarris was born in Brooklyn on October 31, 1928. He was fascinated by films from childhood, and graduated from Columbia College in 1951. He served in the Army Signal Corps in the early 1950s and began writing for "Film Culture" in 1955. He became the film critic for "The Village Voice" in 1960, and quickly established himself as a leading figure in cinema. He was an advocate of the new wave of foreign directors, including Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, and Akira Kurosawa, whose films swept the United States in the 1960s. He also championed such Hollywood luminaries as Orson Welles, John Ford, Howard Hawks, and Sam Fuller, and gave his critical approval to Alfred Hitchcock, who he described as "the most daring avant-garde filmmaker in America today," in his 1960 review of "Psycho". Sarris later promoted the talents, and occasionally exposing the warts, of younger directors including Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, and Francis Ford Coppola. Sarris penned the influential book "The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968" (1968). Sarris was not adverse to revisiting and revising his previous opinions of films and filmmakers. He originally panned Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey", but upon a later viewing he stated, "I must report that I recently paid another visit to Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001’ while under the influence of a smoked substance that I was assured by my contact was somewhat stronger and more authentic than oregano... Anyway, I prepared to watch ‘2001’ under what I have always been assured were optimum conditions, and surprisingly (for me) I find myself reversing my original opinion. ‘2001’ is indeed a major work by a major artist."
He frequently feuded with fellow critics Pauline Kael and John Simon, who debated the merit of the auteur theory. He penned several other books including "Confessions of a Cultist: On the Cinema, 1955-1969" (1970), "The Primal Screen: Essays on Film and Related Subjects" (1973), "The John Ford Movie Mystery" (1975), "Politics and Cinema" (1978), and "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet: The American Talking Film – History and Memory, 1927-1949" (1998). He also participated in several documentaries including "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood" (2003), "For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism" (2009), and "Andrew Sarris: Critic in Focus" (2011). He continued to write for "The Village Voice" through the late 1980s, and was regularly reviewing films for "The New Your Observer" through 2009. Sarris was also a film professor at Columbia University's School of Arts until his retirement in 2011. He married fellow film critic Molly Haskell in 1969, and she survives him.
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