Arkush on Arkush

I've been planning on writing something about the vastly underrated filmmaker Allan Arkush (co-director of HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD and sole director of episodes for such series as "St. Elsewhere", "Moonlighting", "Crossing Jordan", and the recent "Heroes") and his very personal, and somewhat “lost” film GET CRAZY (1983) in the past, but in order to do that I’d like to take in another viewing of the film and my VHS copy is currently in transit.

For now, the above link will take you another blog [Lucy Gray Photography] that's currently housing a video of an interview with the director conducted earlier this year at the Telluride Film Festival. It’s pretty much entirely in Arkush’s own words and amazingly all encompassing when it comes to taking in every facet of his decades long career as a journeyman in film and television, from his days as an editor in Roger Corman's post-production team to his eventual transition to directing television. Think of it as a primer for the next time you happen upon one of his films or hour-long episodes.

One interesting aspect of his films and work in episodic television that I’ve noticed is the fact that almost all of the central characters have impeccable taste when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll – the most famous example being Riff Randell (P.J. Soles) and her love of everything Ramones-related in ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HIGH SCHOOL, but even something as minor as the “Parenthood” pilot features Leonardo DiCaprio with a Lou Reed poster adorning his bedroom wall. This, of course, is a by-product of Arkush’s time accrued as a technician working on lights shows at the Fillmore East in the early 1970s, witnessing trailblazing acts first-hand and musical history going down in the process.