Barry Norman On Barry Norman

How would you say that film criticism has changed since you started?
Well, I think itās taken not so seriously now as it used to be, which I find sad, because movies are an art form, theyāre not just light entertainment.
And unfortunately, itās also the moviesā fault because theyāre tending more and more towards light easy entertainment rather than serious movies. I mean, particularly the studio films, the Hollywood films.
Theyāre all money driven, itās the financiers who are deciding which films are made now. And since the target audience is about 15 to 18 years old, those are the people that theyāre making the movies for.
This is sad, and I hope this trend will stop soon, I would like to see older people go back to the movies to see good serious films in greater numbers. Which might then encourage studios to start making more films, more good serious films.

And which current film journalists do you respect?
Derek Malcolm I still like, I donāt always agree with Derek, but I always know where heās coming from.
And Philip French who, alas, is retiring, theyāre the two that I take a hell of a lot of notice of. These are guys Iāve known for years.
The other one is, alas now heās dead, is an old mate of mine Roger Ebert. Not so much his television programme particulary, but his stuff in the Chicago Sun Times, which I thought was excellent.

How do you feel about blog culture?
Iām suspicious of it, because I donāt know who these people are. If you get someone on a blog saying this is the best thriller Iāve ever seen, you have no idea how many thrillers heās seen.
If heās seen five, then it doesnāt matter much, if heās seen 50 or 500 then you might think itās worth checking this one out. I donāt know anything about these guys, so why should I take their word for anything?
The great thing about an established critic is you read them and then after a bit you decide, yeah I quite like this guy because his views are similar to mine so Iāll follow him. Or I donāt like this guy because he doesnāt like the films I like.
In that way, I suppose if you followed a blog for long enough you might come to decide certain ones you like and certain ones you donāt, but generally speaking I donāt think people do follow blogs that closely, theyāll just click up the film and see what somebody says about it.
And if you donāt know who the guy is, or indeed what his experience is, or how many films heās seen, you donāt know whether to take his word for it or not.

What was the most significant/memorable interview youve conducted?
Well, I suppose there are two most memorable.
One was before I was on television, when I was working for the Daily Mail, I interviewed John Wayne and he got out of his chair to hit me.
But fortunately he was stopped from doing that.
And the second one was when I did an interview with Robert De Niro around the time GoodFellas opened and again we nearly came to blows and so yeah, those are memorable.
You do tend to remember situations when you feel you might be in physical danger.
What did you say, Barry?
Well, Wayne was a political argument about the Vietnam War.
Iām left of centre politically and he was so far off to the right that I think the last politician he really admired was Ivan the Terrible.
And so we fell out over the Vietnam War, big discussion over that. Mind you, he had drunk 15 miniatures of bourbon before lunchtime so that might have accounted for his bad temper.
And De Niro hates doing interviews, he does them only because heās contractually obliged to do so, and so therefore, as Iād feared, the interview was going nowhere. It was just monosyllabic. In fact there was a story that Iād seen repeated in several American magazines that he had begged for the role of Big a few years earlier, and the producer kicked him out of his office, saying no they wanted a real star.
I thought well this is rubbish because Tom Hanks was a star, but he wasnāt nearly as big as De Niro in those days.
So when I realised I was getting nothing else out of the interview I brought this up and said, you know, what was that about?
And he very very gradually told me his version of the story, which was that the producers approached him and heād agreed to do it, but when theyād got to discussing where and when and how and maybe how much money he was gonna get, they fell out, he walked away, the producers then spread this story that theyād kicked him out, saying he wasnāt big enough.
And I had a thought that it was in his interests to have this publicised, because his version made much more sense than the other version, and somehow he just thought I was trying to stir up trouble.
So he got angry, and I was angry, and he stormed out at the end of the interview, and I stormed out after him and said whatās your bloody problem?
And he said, you know what my problem is. And we stood there snarling at each other nose to nose, and I thought no this is not good because heās much fitter and younger than I am, and if it comes to blows Iām in trouble here.
That would never happen now, everything is so tightly controlled.
I know, which is one of the reasons I was glad to get out. When you get the publicity arm dictating everything - which is what youāve got - itās the tail wagging the dog.
And itās very hard now to get a decent interview with anybody.

What advice would you give to a young person starting out?
See as many decent films as possible and think very deeply about them. If you want to be a decent critic, youāve got to think deeply about them.
And then, the other thing is to be totally honest, whatever you think of the film and whatever anyone else may have said, and what the hype may say, tell people what you think, truly what you think.
You may be right, you may be wrong, people may disagree, they may agree with you entirely, but if you can do that, tell the truth about the film, then at least you can look at yourself in the shaving mirror in the morning without blanching.

Do you still get as excited about new movies?
Oh, good ones, yes. And I get as irritated with bad ones as I ever did.
Is there anything coming up that youāre looking forward to?
Actually, Iām looking forward this afternoon to seeing The Great Gatsby , because itās one of my favourite books, it is the great American novel and Iāve seen at least three of the previous versions of it, and didnāt think much of them. So Iām just very interested to see what Baz Luhrmann has done with it this time around. I think itās an unfilmable book actually, because of the beauty of the writing.
And what is your favourite thing about going to the cinema?
The anticipation I think, the hope, often totally dashed, that what youāre going to see is something that will live with you for a while, something memorable. Doesnāt happen a lot, but itās worth going to see nine crappy movies if the tenth one turns out to be something like that, something that you can think, āwow I saw that.ā

How did you get involved with A Night At The Oscars?
I did something very similar, three years in a row, a few years back in Belfast with the Ulster orchestra, where they did three yearsā concerts in each of three different years of film music.
On one of those, Carl Davis was the conductor, and I think Carl suggested that Iād be a good person to introduce this one at the Festival Hall. Which I was thrilled to do, because Iāve appeared in theatres all over the place, but never at the Festival Hall in London before, so Iām quite delighted and flattered.
What are you most excited about hearing live on the night?
Well, nothing particularly, because itās all bloody good music and by and large from bloody good films.
A couple of films Iām not so crazy about that theyāve got the music from, like Black Swan and Titanic , but by and large yes, heās chosen music from films I like and it is very very good.
Youāve got people like John Williams and John Barry and Vangelis, and god knows what, you canāt go far wrong, and Maurice Jarre, you canāt go far wrong with guys like that.
And what do you think the secret is to a memorable film score?
The really memorable ones are those that enhance the film, you know, youāve got a very good film and itās made even better by the music.
Now, this is probably true of most films, but there are some films where the music stands out. The two that come to mind are Vangellisā music for Chariots Of Fire , and, of course, the zither music in The Third Man .
You canāt think of The Third Man without thinking of the music in that. And in much the same way with Chariots Of Fire , every time I think of the film I hear the music in my head.
What causes that I really donāt know, I think that happens by accident.
Barry Norman will present A Night At The Oscars on June 1. You can find more information at the official website.