Legendary film director Arthur Penn has passed away at the age of 88.
The director’s career spanned over five decades, allowing him to work with some of the most iconic film actors of our time. After honing his skills in television, Penn made his debut feature, the western “The Left Handed Gun” starring a young Paul Newman. However, it was his sophomore effort, “The Miracle Worker,” that brought him early attention. The biopic of Helen Keller earned five Oscar nominations with Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke winning Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.
However, it was a few years later when Penn would make his biggest imprint on cinematic history. His bloody and uncompromising 1967 classic “Bonnie & Clyde” ushered in a new era of screen violence. At the time, Warner Bros. were so certain the film would bomb they allowed Warren Beatty, who earned his first production credit on the film, to take 40 percent of the gross. The film went on to earn $70 million worldwide by 1973 and even more since then. Oops. The film was a lightning rod for controversy at the time, but went on to earn 10 Oscar nods and has since been rightly regarded as a milestone.
Penn first met Beatty on the set of 1965 crime click “Mickey One,” which is still not available on DVD (hey Columbia, get on that please, thanks) and was one of the reasons why Penn took on “Bonnie & Clyde.” But before he would get to that film, he would direct Marlon Brando and Robert Redford in the prison break film “The Chase,” making for a trifecta of films and talent most directors could only dream of.
Moving into the 1970s, Penn would continue to work with on-the-rise actors like Dustin Hoffman in “Little Big Man” and Gene Hackman in the underrated gem “Night Moves.” As he moved in the 1980s, his films became further and further apart, though 1989’s “Penn & Teller Get Killed” is a wickedly weird offering that is definitely worth seeking out.
The number of directors whose careers were paved by the work of Arthur Penn is too numerous to mention, but he will be missed. [NY Times]
