Tag Archives: Aaron Hunter

Searching for Polly in the Bogdanovich Papers: Reflections

Posted on August 19, 2017 by Aaron

In July of this summer I spent two weeks at the Peter Bogdanovich collection at the Lilly Library at Indiana University. I went searching for material – particularly production-related material – on Polly Platt, who was married to Bogdanovich for … Continue reading →

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Video Essay: Pretty Baby: Faces

Posted on July 26, 2017 by Aaron

Pretty Baby (Paramount 1978) is a pretty drastic film. It’s beautifully shot, tragic, and incredibly difficult to watch because of its treatment of childhood sexuality. Part of what makes it work (if it does), is its total fascination with the … Continue reading →

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Searching for Polly in the Bogdanovich Archives: Week One

Posted on July 16, 2017 by Aaron

I’ve reached the halfway point of a two-week stint at the Peter Bogdanovich archives at Indiana University in Bloomington. I’m going to save the “big conclusions” for after the trip is complete because I still have a lot of material … Continue reading →

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Video Essay: Hal Ashby and the Long Shot

Posted on June 2, 2017 by Aaron

I’d been contemplating an audio-video essay on Hal Ashby and the long shot for ages. It should have been easy. I write about it in a section of my book, and I had ripped the clips I wanted to use … Continue reading →

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The Other Side of the Director:
Polly Platt and Orson Welles’s Last Movie

Posted on March 30, 2017 by Aaron

Recent film and media news has been filled with excitement at the announcement that Netflix has acquired the rights to Orson Welles’s final, unfinished film project, The Other Side of the Wind. And rightly so! Wind was a labor of … Continue reading →

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The Bad News Bears: Design by Polly Platt

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Aaron

The Bad News Bears (1976) is the second film Polly Platt designed after several years of working solely with Peter Bogdanovich. The film features Walter Matthau as Buttermaker, the coach of a ragtag bunch of foul-mouthed kids playing little league … Continue reading →

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The Thief Who Came to Dinner: Design by Polly Platt

Posted on March 7, 2017 by Aaron

I recently watched The Thief Who Came to Dinner for the first time. This 1973 film was written by the great Walter Hill (and it’s got the punchy script to show for it), directed by an unsung Bud Yorkin,* and … Continue reading →

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#52FilmsByWomen

Posted on February 18, 2017 by Aaron

I recently wrapped up a year-long project of watching 52 films by women directors. 52 Films by Women is the idea of Women in Film, and anybody can take part at any time (in other words, you don’t have to … Continue reading →

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The Auteur Paradigm, part 1

Posted on November 14, 2016 by Aaron

(In this entry, I’m playing around with a few concepts and terms – such as “authorship by ownership” or “the idea of ownership.” I welcome thoughts about these concepts, suggestions for alternate terminology, or references to other texts and writers … Continue reading →

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Why New Hollywood?

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Aaron

As I’ve begun to discuss this project with friends and colleagues, one of the questions that regularly comes up is, why New Hollywood? What specifically about this era and the way it accommodated (or didn’t!) women’s work and creativity has … Continue reading →

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