Talk is cheap on TV these days; after all, a talk show is only as smart as the interviewer and dummies populate the public square. Of course, insightful conversation can still be heard on TV and the best talk show hosts were probably inspired by PBS’s Peabody-winning Bill Moyers. Some of his most enduring interviews have been issued on a three-DVD set, “Bill Moyers: A World of Ideas II—Great Thinkers.”
Noam Chomsky is heard here, along with Cornell West and Jonas Salk. Of special interest to movie lovers are the two episodes devoted to British producer David Puttnam. In 1988, when Moyer sat down with Puttnam at Sundance for a long discussion, the producer of The Killing Fields, Local Hero and Chariots of Fire had recently been forced from his brief tenure at the head of Columbia Pictures. He was loved by his staff but despised by shortsighted corporate drones, over-leveraged agents and overpaid stars.
Why? While committed to film as commercial entertainment, Puttnam also believed that filmmakers had obligations larger than laughter or the bottom line. He described to Moyers the “poverty of ambition” he found in Hollywood. “People who communicate have a responsibility to decide what type of society they would like to promote,” he explained. And by the time Puttnam reached Hollywood, the industry lacked a guiding ethos or any core beliefs beside the efficacy of profits; corrosive cynicism and self-loathing were rampant. Art and commerce should work in tandem, Puttnam believed. Instead, art was cowed by commerce.
Moyers’ interview with Puttnam occurred on the eve of the “indie revolution,” which, at least, opened creative channels outside Hollywood. But nearly 25 years later, his main points remain crucial. Filmmakers have a responsibility to the world where they live. Movies matter.
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