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(1954– ). American director and actor.
Produced: From the Earth
to the Moon (tv miniseries) (1998).
Acted in: Chuck Jones:
Extremes and In-Betweens, a Life in Animation (documentary)
(Margaret Selby 2000); From
Star Wars to Star Wars: The Story of Industrial Light and Magic
(documentary) (Jon Kroll 1999); "When You Dish upon a Star"
(1998), "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" (1999) (animated; voice),
episodes of The Simpsons;
George Lucas: Heroes, Myth,
and Magic (documentary) (Jane Paley and Larry Price
1993); The Magical World of Chuck Jones (documentary)
(George Daughterly 1992); "My Favorite Orkan" (1978), episode
of Happy Days; Locusts (tv movie) (Richard T. Heffron 1974); "Genius at Work"
(1969), episode of Land of
the Giants; Village
of the Giants (Bert I. GORDON
1965); The Music Man
(Morton DaCosta 1962); "Walking Distance" (1959), episode of
The Twilight Zone.
At least, I am assuming that is why he became a director, because there is no other discernible reason for this
career choice. Schooled by French film critics, we now prefer to regard directors as auteurs, who make films in
order to explore certain subjects and themes that are personally important to them. And, despite the pressures of big-budget
film production, many contemporary directors who make such films—like David CRONENBERG, Brian DE PALMA,
Stanley KUBRICK, and Martin Scorsese—have forged careers that fit that description. But
there is no such pattern to Howard's directorial career. Rather, his only priorities seem to be: first, to make as
many different sorts of films as possible; second, to make every one of his films as financially successful as
possible; and third, to ensure by doing so that he will always be able to get more directing jobs. In other words, Howard
directs films solely in order to direct films.
This is not to say that Howard came into directing completely without relevant talents: feeling comfortable in the milieu of filmmaking is an asset in itself, and the man manifestly works hard to maintain his valuable connections and oversee the many complexities of film production in the maddening modern industry. But what George Bush the Elder so memorably referred to as "the vision thing" is important too, and that is what is so lacking in Howard's films.
A survey of his remarkably empty career: after Roger CORMAN gave him his first directing job, the forgotten Eat My Dust (1978), Howard began to specialize in making mediocre fantasy films. No one noticed Through the Magic Pyramid, a harmless children's adventure about travelling back in time to the age of King Tutankhamen, but his next venture into the fantastic made more of a Splash .... Inexplicably, one must add, for despite skillful comic performances by Tom HANKS and John Candy, the film was only sporadically funny, and it first displayed a characteristic Howard weakness—a clumsy, overlong conclusion, as if reflecting Howard's reluctance to abandon this film and begin the search for another project to keep him on the set. Cocoon was more palatable, not because of Howard's unique panache,
but because the presence of so many veteran performers managed to balance the film's egregious sentimentality with a special sort of gravitas. As for the weakling Willow, all that it proved was that its creator George Lucas was indeed slipping, that Val KILMER didn't have what it takes to be a star, and that classic heroic fantasy for some reason just doesn't work on the big screen.
Howard spent the next seven years strengthening his résumé by branching out into other genres, but he drifted back in the direction of science fiction with Apollo 13, where an idiot-proof true-life dramatic story proved to be actually idiot-proof. Still, one might have hoped for a film that attempted to probe, or even reflected an interest in, the real reasons why men want to become astronauts. Most recently, after a stumble of sorts with Ed TV (overshadowed by the similar, and superior, The Truman Show [1998]), Howard scored
another huge success with How the Grinch Stole Christmas .... Inexplicably, since one must go back to Steven SPIELBERG's infamous Hook (1991) to find a more club-footed, artless exercise in whimsy. It is a film filled with funny lines that don't make you laugh, impressive special effects that don't impress you, and a charming story that never charms you; a film so obsessed with its own contrived back-story that it utterly ruins Dr. Seuss's
simple fable and stumbles to a unsatisfactory halt, diminishing any emotional impact it might have had by spending more time tying up its inane loose ends than celebrating the Christmas spirit. However, aided by a massive promotional campaign to drive audiences into theaters, Ronny Howard ended up getting exactly the Christmas present he hoped for—a profitable hit, leading to another big directing assignment to keep him home (on the set) for future holidays.
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