Oedipus Rex?

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• Keith Uhlich says:

  June 10, 2009 at 2:37 pm

  I’m curi­ous if this post came about because of the whole Andrew Sarris débâcle, or if it’s just a happy (per­haps karma-induced) acci­dent? Either way, good timing…

• bill says:

  June 10, 2009 at 2:52 pm

  “the whole Andrew Sarris débâcle”
  Zuh? What’d I miss?

• Ryan Kelly says:

  June 10, 2009 at 3:06 pm

  Bill, Sarris was fired from his review­ing pos­i­tion at the New York Observer. Though T‑Rex was allowed to keep his position.
  What kind of ass-backwards world are we liv­ing in? Soon we’ll be wear­ing hats on our feet and ham­burgers will EAT PEOPLE.

• THE FUTURIST! says:

  June 10, 2009 at 4:03 pm

  A Fake Rex Reed Quote from the full day cel­eb­ra­tion of rip­ping Rex Reed a new A‑Hole fest­iv­al on Twitter:
  “I’m up for the Glenn Kenny role in the THE BOYFRIEND EXPERIENCE, the sequel to THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE. I can act.”

• Matthias Galvin says:

  June 10, 2009 at 4:40 pm

  Ryan,
  good call on the Simpsons quote.
  Someday, I hope to go to Rand McNally, though (as you poin­ted out) it seems like Rand McNally is com­ing here.
  Shame about Andrew Sarris, and just after his wife pub­lished the book.

• Sal C. says:

  June 10, 2009 at 6:25 pm

  “Adam Lambert doing some­thing, some­where, circa 2009”
  “I under­stand Mr. Lambert is an enter­tain­er, of a sort.”
  C’mon, Glenn – don’t be one of those guys. We all know who Adam Lampert is, even if we haven’t watch a minute of American Idol. Ever.
  (And for those of you who are gonna say, “Actually Sal, I really had no idea who Mr. Lambert is,” con­sider this a pree­mpt­ive “Pfft!” to you.)

• Glenn Kenny says:

  June 10, 2009 at 6:43 pm

  @Sal C: What can I tell you? Like the ’50s strip club com­ics used to say, these are the jokes. Of course I know who Lambert is. And if you really want to play, I will bet you real money that he’ll nev­er cut a record as good as a ran­dom Kelly Clarkson single. Or move as many units, for that matter.

• swhitty says:

  June 10, 2009 at 8:38 pm

  I missed the announce­ment of Andy Sarris’ ter­min­a­tion at the Observer. If any­one has a link (or is this still whispered bad news this point…)?
  Of course, the fact that any paper would let him go is the defin­i­tion of out­rag­ous short-sightedness. All nods to Agee, Farber, Kael et al aside, I’d argue that the man basic­ally INVENTED ser­i­ous American film cri­ti­cism. All of us are in his debt and the only bright spot is that he no longer has a need to see “Tranformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”
  We are also, I’d add, all in Sarris’ shad­ow. Despite the rather cut-and-dried rank­ings of “The American Cinema,” Andy has always been a gen­tle­man – his reviews, even today (when you would expect his patience to grow short – lord knows, mine has) are good-natured and respect­ful. He has, in short, always giv­en people the bene­fit of the doubt, even when they failed to live up to his expect­a­tions. And that’s an atti­tude that grows rarer every day, and with every post.
  That said, please let’s not use this hor­rif­ic dis­missal as an excuse to dump on Rex Reed.
  There are many reas­ons to argue with his taste in film – although he’s hardly as pre­dict­ably reac­tion­ary as some assume (Yes, he hated “Oldboy,” and with a kim­chee vig­or – but he also loved “Irreversible.” Go figure.)
  But – lord – his per­son­al­ity pro­files from the “New Journalism” era are about as good as it gets. (Ava Gardner, Tennessee Williams, even Alice Cooper – all gems).
  Was Sarris an influ­ence, as I stumbled toward my own pre­cari­ous slot in this career? Yes – and Carlos Clarens, and Manny Farber, and James Agee and, of course, Pauline Kael served as sign­posts, as well.
  But sit­ting on the floor of my grand­mother­’s sew­ing room, read­ing Rex Reed ledes about Sandy Dennis com­ing into a room like a Yellow Cab with both doors open? Yeah, him too. And he deserves a little cred­it for that, at least.

• bill says:

  June 10, 2009 at 8:40 pm

  Glenn, you are so lucky you quit jok­ing around and admit­ted you know who Adam Lambert is. I was get­ting so pissed off, I don’t even know what!

• Glenn Kenny says:

  June 10, 2009 at 11:18 pm

  Well. I’m finally back home, and no longer obliged to com­ment via Blackberry.
  And yes, I do think it’s awful about Andrew. What Jean-Luc Godard said about Orson Welles applies here, for me, Mr. Whitty, and so, so many others—and I may just devote an entire post to this sen­ti­ment, so don’t call me out if I do—“All of us will always owe him everything.”
  But honestly—the only reas­on I con­cocted this post was because, at the gym this morn­ing, they were run­ning Access Hollywood on one of the sets (okay, five of the sets) and there was all this ran­dom foot­age of Lambert, and I’m think­ing, “He looks like SOMEONE…” and then it hits me. And that’s why. Really.
  I still have nev­er heard Mr. Lambert sing.

• jbryant says:

  June 11, 2009 at 6:43 am

  The first time I saw Lambert on American Idol (yeah, I watch it), I thought “Dude looks like Rex Reed.”

• Jett Loe says:

  June 11, 2009 at 12:23 pm

  I under­stand Mr. Reed has a fine singing voice

• Dan Coyle says:

  June 12, 2009 at 1:16 am

  Having watched Rocky 6 the oth­er night- You heard me, Rocky SIX, god­dam­nit! I moment­ar­ily thought that was Milo Ventimgilia for a second.