Norman Jewison (b. 1926) has passed away at the age of 97 and so we thought it incumbent upon us to toss in a few words of eulogy, if not ululation. He's been retired for 20 years, being on the cusp of a hundred, so we who grew up way back when and know his work will have misty, water-colored memories today...even if he didn't direct The Way We Were.
But that was his era, at any rate. Jewison's biggest decade to be sure was 1965-75, when nearly every one of his movies was either a big hit, a multiple Oscar winner, or at the very least popular Seven out of eight of those pictures are ones I caught on television more than once they were so widely esteemed: The Cincinnati Kid (1965); The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966); In the Heat of the Night (1967); The Thomas Crowne Affair (1968); Fiddler on the Roof (1971); Jesus Christ Superstar (1973); and Rollerball (1975). The one movie from that period I have never seen is his adaptation of Ben Hecht's Gaily, Gaily (1969). But I HAVE seen The Landlord (1970), produced by Jewison and directed by his protege Hal Ashby, two or three times.
For the record, I vastly preferred Ashby's films; he had a much stronger authorial voice. I'm not sure Jewison had one at all. He was more of a visual stylist; he made things look pretty and move fast, and that's often not to be sneered at. But to give you an idea of what I mean, Jewison followed up his universally hailed social document In the Heat of the Night (which many might name as THE movie of the decade), with The Thomas Crowne Affair, a virtually bankrupt exercise of style over substance. I watched it not long ago. Looks great. Feels great. Even feels like it means something. Until it's over and you realize it's just about a jerk who steals things.
The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming is more screenwriter William Rose's statement than Jewison's; it's his follow-up to It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Jewison's screen adaptation of Fiddler was naturally my introduction to that musical. I've come to regard it as lackluster and pine for Zero Mostel to be CGI'd into the film to replace Topol. Interestingly, despite having directed that film, as well as The Statement (2003) about murdered Jews in Vichy France, not to mention having "Jew" right in his name, Jewison was not Jewish at all but an Anglo from Canada.
He had started his directing career for the the CBC just as it was getting off the ground. Early credits included a variety show called The Big Revue (1952), On Stage (1954) and The Wayne and Shuster Show (1955). This led to opportunities in American television for which he directed Your Hit Parade, The Chevy Showroom Starring Andy Williams, An Hour with Danny Kaye, Bulova Watch Time with Pat Boone, and The Judy Garland Show. His first theatrical film was a remake of Damon Runyon's Little Miss Marker called 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962). He then did several forgettable romantic comedies before hitting his charmed stretch.
Later, Jewison had a pretty good stretch in the '80s with a series of movies based on stage plays: A Soldier's Story (1984), Agnes of God (1985), Moonstruck (1987) and Other People's Money (1991). One of his last, The Hurricane (1999) was a pretty bio-pic about Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (the same guy Dylan wrote the song about) starring Denzel Washington.
A solid career; a dependable director. If the clouds in heaven have silver linings, he's no doubt looking at them right now through a light meter!
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