Robert Wise - One of the Truly Great Directors Of All Time - Has Passed Away...

Hey folks, Harry here... In the midst of "Crime Night" my celphone lit up at 12:45am with the text message - "Robert Wise has died!" It completely ripped me out of the film. An Oliver Reed, Richard Widmark crime film set in Israel titled THE SELL-OUT. The last major influence on film culture that passed away during my time at a QT fest was Gene Siskel, that was incredibly sad, but in many ways not directly related to the films in question. Tonight was Italian Crime Night - with a midnight British Crime Film Chaser... Were those films affected by movies like BORN TO KILL with Lawrence Tierney? Or THE SET-UP or ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW or I WANT TO LIVE!?

Moriarty is going to be writing up a proper obituary and eulogy for Robert Wise, he had the honor of meeting him on multiple occassions... My only contact with the man was involved with BUTT-NUMB-A-THON - when I managed to score a stunning print of Wise's ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW - and a mutual friend of ours - David Fein who was working hand in hand with Mr Wise on that brilliant director's cut of STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. Wise was gracious enough to tape an introduction and to answer a few questions about this under watched classic. He was quite proud about the film and quite enthusiastic - and when he wished me a Happy Birthday and said the word "Butt-Numb-A-Thon" I literally haven't recovered. He made arguably the best science fiction film of all time (DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL), the best haunted house film of all time (THE HAUNTING) and definitely the most popular musical of all time (THE SOUND OF MUSIC). Oh - and he edited the best film of all time, CITIZEN KANE. He made films that entertained, made you think about the world you lived in and that simply left you in awe. He was and will always be a giant in this industry - one, we're not likely to see another like again.