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CHARLIE ROSE:
Uh, Robert?
ROBERT HUGHES:
Um, I wanted to add to the list of the uh, to the list that Rob was making, a couple of me own favorites. I mean, I would completely agree with you about the bizarre ability of having two (Inaudible) for instance, on the list of wills. What about (inaudible) I mean, you know, he certainly had an immense impact upon me, and upon the idea that I thought about film, and the way in which he, you know, uh, he introduces that extraordinary complexity into, uh, the imagery of film, which comes out of surrealism. And uh, the, the, I mean (inaudible) was probably...
NORM PEARLSTINE:
And Kurasawa.
ROBERT HUGHES:
...yeah, and Kurasawa, too. Uh, you see the trouble is, this is one of these party games which is almost impossible to get your real favorites into. You know, the, the uh...
CHARLIE ROSE:
It's almost impossible to get the real favorites into it, or is it impossible to narrow it down to one particular person?
ROBERT HUGHES:
It's impossible to do either, because, you know, that stuff that you know about, you have so many favorites in...
CHARLIE ROSE:
I got you.
ROBERT HUGHES:
...uh, but you know, for one reason or another. Uh, I mean personally, I, I'd like to think about this in terms of the impact, to take your phrase, of what uh, the impact that the artist has had upon his or her particular gen—, creative genre. You know, but the ones you obviously can't leave out, Griffith is one. You know, I mean, it is Griffith who establishes the idea of the film as a major dramatic experience, you know, one which tears at the heart and which makes you laugh and cry and all the rest of it. Um, Welles, I can't imagine leaving Welles out. Although Welles was, his own filmography, is actually so small.
CHARLIE ROSE:
Yeah.
ROBERT HUGHES:
But, you know, there he is with two masterpieces.
CHARLIE ROSE:
You disagree with anybody that Rob...
ROBERT HUGHES:
No, I do not.
CHARLIE ROSE:
You don't want to...?
ROBERT HUGHES:
I do not. I just want to jam more in.
CHARLIE ROSE:
All right.
(LAUGHTER)
NORM PEARLSTINE:
I think the one question that uh, you'd asked about film making is, how important it is to bring out the actor, as part of the process. And I think in that respect, Hitchcock would be at the top of my list. And I'd probably, put Spielberg behind him, even though influencing the culture Spielberg, even though his career is certainly in, in midstream right now has been extraordinary.
CHARLIE ROSE:
SHERYL?
SHERYL CROW:
I have to throw Scorsese in, for the reason that he brought rock 'n' roll into film making, and I think since that time, we see it in so many films, and, although he, he kind of falls into the category with Coppola and Spielberg, it seemed to me that no one had really incorporated rock and roll in to film making like he had, up to that point.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
Well, the early relationships he had with rock 'n' roll.
SHERYL CROW:
And he also...
NORM PEARLSTINE:
Stars.
SHERYL CROW:
..brought out his actors. So how that, I think he's known more for the, uh, the performances he's pulled out of his actors than even his films, probably.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
And I know this, because of having talked to you, Sydney Portier, you think made a huge contribution (OVERLAPPING VOICES).
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
And I think that we have a little bit of a problem, in a way, you know, even as we progress through this day, and we go through the various categories is, because such a remarkable thing happened in our country in the sixties, in terms of opening up the idea of who an artist was, uh, and uh, more people got to be seen, who became visible. We have a problem of, when we evaluate a person, are we evaluating because they made a breakthrough, that they were the first black, or the first woman, or the first Asian, or the first Latino? And that always makes our, our situation a little bit more complicated, as we try to recognize people, at a very moment that we know, that we've been able to recognize more kinds of people, after 1965, than we would have, if we were doing this at the turn of the last century.
ROB REINER:
Right. But, but, but you make a good point, because we're also talking about what impacts society. And when you talk about the impact players of society, you have to talk about Paul Robeson, you have to talk about Sydney Portier, he was the first black man who was accepted by mainstream audiences, and made it acceptable for, for blacks to be portrayed in movies, in ways that they hadn't been up till that point. So that same thing, when you talk about Jackie Robinson, I mean those impact society in a vast way, so you have to, and Brando, you definitely have to talk about Marlon Brando, because he created the style of acting, we created it, was the Stanislavsky method, but he made it popular. Thanks to Stella Adler and Lee Strassberg, and lots of people who, uh, helped bring that method to America, Stanislavsky, but he made it a part of the...
CHARLIE ROSE:
Then let me just throw this question out. Just on sheer talent. Talent. Which may or may not have the impact. Who is the greatest actor of this century?
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH:
That's a very, very hard question.
SHERYL CROW:
Yeah.
NORM PEARLSTINE:
Lawrence Olivier.
ROB REINER:
See, I would say Brando, and I would say Olivier second.
ROBERT HUGHES:
But do you know...
CHARLIE ROSE:
Why would you say second?
ROB REINER:
Those are the arguments I used to have as a kid when we were in, in New York City. Who's better, Mays or Mantle?