How good a director was Arthur Penn? At one stage his reputation was sky high - not just Bonnie and Clyde but Little Big Man and Night Moves. No one much seems to like his output from the 1980s onwards - Targets has such a great central idea I'm surprised it hasn't been remade but it didn't make an impact at the time.
I admit I haven't seen many of his films. I don't have a lot of feelings about Arthur Penn. I'm uttery neutral. It's interesting how his reputation at one point was sky high but now he's forgotten even among film buffs.
He had a grand career - lucky to be sure, to get through the war and use the GI Bill for a thorough college education, and have opportunities when TV came along because no one knew how it worked... but he made the most of those opportunities, working hard and smart. He was a hugely successful Broadway director, something often not known about him (many of those early TV guys did plays), had a turbulent time in features - there were fights on The Left Handed Gun, The Train, The Chase - before hitting it big with Bonnie and Clyde. That gave him a decade of freedom before The Missouri Breaks dented his status.
Apparently he shot lots of takes from different angles which strikes me as a director who doesn't know his own mind and depends a lot on a strong editor. He struggled when producing Law and Order.
All this stuff actually makes the book more interesting because Penn had such highs and lows. Nat Segaloff is a good writer and benefits from extensive interviews with Penn himself and his family. I wish there was more on the lesser known stuff but every book has a time limit.
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