Tag Archives: polly platt

Field Day Podcast: Polly Platt interview

At the end of July 2020, the kind folks at the Field Day podcast (specifically, Cormac Deane) invited to me to chat about my research and writing on Polly Platt. The conversation, which stretches just over an hour, ranged from … Continue reading

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Video Essay: Polly Platt – Designing the ’80s

Polly Platt is best known for two phases in her long Hollywood career. First, for her work as a production designer on some of the great films of the New Hollywood era (The Last Picture Show, What’s Up, Doc?, The … Continue reading

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Production Design Texts: Introduction

As any scholar who writes about production design will tell you, film studies has not traditionally been very enthusiastic in its engagement with the topic of who actually creates the practical images we see on screen – or how they … Continue reading

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Video Essay: “Pray for Mama”

“Pray for Mama”: Circumvented Trauma in Paper Moon Paper Moon (The Directors Company/Paramount 1973) is a lovely little film. Set in the Depression-era Midwest, it features charming performances by Ryan O’Neal, Madeline Khan, John Hillerman, and nine-year-old Tatum O’Neal (Ryan’s … Continue reading

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Video Essay: Polly Platt – Authorship by Design

As I’ve discussed in detail in earlier blog posts, Polly Platt was a key Hollywood figure for decades. She’s mainly remembered for her production design on a variety of films, in both credited and uncredited roles, between 1968-1987. But she … Continue reading

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Searching for Polly in the Bogdanovich Papers: Reflections

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

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

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

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

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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