Movie Details
| Title: | Billy Wilder Speaks | |
| Director: | Volker Schlondorff | |
| Year: | 2006 | |
| Genre: | Documentary | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 01.21.07 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 01.21.07 | Netflix | videotaped interviews with Billy Wilder. It's only 70 minutes long and I guess originally aired on TV somewhere but with another 60 minutes of additional scenes on the disc, I am counting it as a feature. This disc is worth a rental just for the last deleted scene... at a tribute for recently-deceased I.A.L. Diamond, Wilder directs a scene taken from an Early Diamond student script using Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. They play writers trying to come up with the perfect adverb and it's great. A new glimpse into their chemistry together as well as a glimpse of seeing Wilder at work. It's a really great three or four minutes. The rest of the disc is all interviews that slide back and forth between English and German. He gives a little more candor since he insisted the interviews wouldn't be publicly released until after his death, but for the most part it's like an abridged version of Cameron Crowe's interview book Conversations with Wilder. There's lots of interesting bits as well as the fun in hearing his voice as he speaks, but since I read the book there wasn't much new stuff here. Still, as a big fan of Wilder, I enjoyed hearing him talk, especially when he's asked if he'd direct films even if they didn't pay him. |
